Vale walked down the long corridor of the governor’s estate with measured steps.
His posture remained straight, but the expression on his face was stiff, and his jaw was tight.
There was a heaviness to his steps, like the weight of what had just transpired hadn’t fully settled yet.
When his communication device buzzed, he almost didn’t check it. But then he saw the name.
Celia.
His eyes narrowed slightly before tapping the screen.
Celia: Can we meet?
Vale: Okay. I’ll be in the guild office. Come meet me there.
He pocketed the device and didn’t hesitate.
Even with everything on his plate, Vale didn’t put off a request from Celia.
He stepped into his car, his mind still partially stuck on the governor’s last words, and made his way to the Titan Edge Guild building.
On his way inside, a few guild members greeted him politely.
He offered nods in return but didn’t stop.
By the time he reached his office on the top floor, Celia and Arlene were already there.
“Brother,” Celia greeted with a small smile. She stood as he entered.
“Celia, Arlene.” Vale gave them both a nod and moved to take his seat across from them. “You didn’t wait long, I hope?”
“Just a few minutes,” Celia replied.
He made some small talk to ease into the meeting.
But even as they exchanged casual words, Vale could see Celia was hesitating.
She kept fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist, and she wasn’t looking him in the eye.
Finally, he leaned forward slightly. “Alright. What happened?”
Celia looked at Arlene once, then turned back to Vale. “Isaac invited me.”
Vale nodded. He knew about that.
Celia continued, “He said he wanted to talk in person… and during the meeting, he revealed something important.”
Vale straightened in his seat. “What was it?”
Celia hesitated for only a second before she said it.
“He’s a Lord Candidate.”
The room went still.
Vale froze, eyes locked on her.
“A Lord Candidate?”
For a short second—no longer than a blink—his gaze flicked toward Arlene.
She didn’t react, simply standing beside Celia with her usual professional calm.
But now everything clicked in Vale’s mind.
He quickly masked his expression, then leaned back and looked at Celia again. “Are you sure? It’s not a misunderstanding?”
“I’m sure. He showed me proof.”
Vale stared up at the ceiling, tapping his fingers slowly against the armrest of his chair.
His mind was moving fast.
If Isaac was a Lord Candidate, then that changed everything.
’So he really intends to become a True Lord.’
’He’s going to go up against the governor.’
It should’ve been obvious what Vale needed to do next.
Isaac was a threat to the current balance.
The safe play would be to act quickly: pressure him, push him back down before he got any higher.
And keep using him to farm crops.
But Vale didn’t think about that at all.
He glanced at Celia, quietly watching him with her hands in her lap.
’The Governor or the Isaac.’
The moment Vale thought of the governor, a strong disgust rose in his mind.
’I’m not going to let that bastard have my sister.’
Supporting Isaac publicly wasn’t an option Vale could choose yet.
If Vale made a move too early, and Isaac failed to become a True Lord, then Vale would lose everything.
His status, his power, and his sister’s safety.
But at the same time, if Isaac really had the qualifications of a Lord and could defeat the governor’s faction, then Vale needed to be ready to back him.
In secret, at least for now.
But there was a problem.
His gaze shifted slightly toward Arlene again.
She met his eyes with a neutral look.
Vale didn’t say anything. But in his mind, the pieces had clicked together already.
’I’ve told Celia so many times to be careful of the people around her. But she… she never listens.’
He had no concrete proof that Arlene was a spy of the governor. But his instincts—honed from years of watching the governor’s power games—were screaming at him.
The first red flag had been during Celia’s last concert.
She had gone missing for a while before the show, and the whole team had scrambled to find her.
Arlene must’ve known where Celia was. There was no way she didn’t know something so simple.
’She could’ve told someone. She could’ve helped. But she didn’t.’
The concert had almost been ruined.
If Celia’s reputation took a hit, that would’ve opened the door for the governor’s faction to “step in” and offer support, and build goodwill.
Arlene’s inaction hadn’t felt like an accident.
And then there was the timing.
’She started sticking to Celia more and more the moment Isaac tried to meet her.’
That part had bothered him even more. It felt coordinated. Arlene had insisted on accompanying Celia to meet Isaac, and now she was even here, visiting his guild office with her.
She didn’t seem surprised about anything.
She stayed close but quiet, like she was taking notes for someone else.
Vale clenched his fists under the desk.
’Arlene suddenly became too obvious about the fact that she is a spy.’
’The governor made her do it purposefully.’
’This is his way of sending a message to me.’
’He is telling me to choose a side carefully.’
A bitter taste spread in his mouth.
That man… Governor Marcellus Dane was dangerous in ways most people would never realize.
Every move he made had layers.
He never acted without a plan already in place.
And now Vale was certain.
’This is why he told me to use the Nagas to attack Isaac.’
It all made sense.
At first, Vale had thought the governor was overreacting. But now…
A cold chill crept up his spine.
’He already knew Isaac was a Lord Candidate. Arlene told him.’
Which meant the governor was already taking Isaac seriously.
Not as a talented student or a promising youth, but as a real threat.
Someone who needed to be crushed before he rose too far.
Vale stayed quiet for a long while.
Neither Celia nor Arlene interrupted him.
Celia waited patiently, sensing he was lost in thought. Arlene continued to stand by, polite and unreadable.
Finally, Vale exhaled and stood up.
“We’ll talk more later. I have some matters to take care of.”
Celia nodded. “Okay. And… can I join Isaac’s guild? He promised he would help me gather my class advancement materials with the World System Shop.”
“You won’t join his guild.”
Vale’s answer came without hesitation.
Celia didn’t protest.
She had expected that answer from the beginning.
She simply gave a small nod and didn’t push further.
Arlene, who had been quiet the entire time, stood and opened the door for Celia.
Celia turned to her brother, gave him a brief smile, and walked out.
Vale didn’t look at Arlene.
He didn’t accuse her. He didn’t ask any questions either.
But in that silence, as their gazes briefly met, and a heaviness settled between them.
After the door closed behind them, he leaned back into his seat and stared at the ceiling.
His fingers tapped slowly on the armrest of his chair, lost in thought.
Then he stood.
There was no hesitation in his steps as he left the office and made his way to the building’s private teleporter.
As one of the top four guilds, they had made their base near the teleporters.
The dark-bluish cloud swallowed Vale as he stood on the teleportation platform.
A moment later, Vale was standing inside the teleportation hall of the Master of Sanctum Stronghold, located in the Akaza Ruin within Fortified City 89.
He didn’t linger inside.
Stepping out of the stronghold, Vale crouched low.
Then, with a quiet exhale, he launched upward.
Shockwaves cracked across the surface below as his feet left the ground, but Vale had enough control to suppress the full force.
He moved through the air in a smooth, controlled arc, flying higher and higher into the sky.
The wind rushed around him, thinning out the farther he flew.
The buildings, streets, and people below shrank until they were just patterns, small and indistinct.
He didn’t go past a certain height. The Fortified Cities’ aerial defenses were notoriously sensitive. The last thing he needed was for automated turrets or Sentinel to start tracking him.
For a while, Vale just hovered.
Suspended in the air, he looked down at the stronghold.
The sky was clear.
The clouds hung still, and the world below seemed calm.
But his mind wasn’t.
He tapped his bracelet once.
A shift rolled across his body.
Two curved horns appeared from the top of his head, black and smooth with faint ridges etched into them.
From his back, two enormous wings unfurled.
They were jet black, and majestic, with edges that shimmered faintly under the light.
A thin tail, tipped with a dark crescent, flicked once behind him.
He looked nothing like the man from before.
Now, he resembled something else entirely. Something that should’ve belonged in stories passed down from ancient times.
A devil.
Once, long before the apocalypse had descended, the beings from the Underworld (Hell) had fought endless wars with the surface world.
The stories of devilkind soaring across the skies, bringing ruin and chaos with every step during the wars were still passed down.
Back then, the devils had disappeared from the surface world and the wars between Hell and surface world stopped.
No one knew why.
Most scholars believed the apocalypse had reached the Underworld too.
Others speculated that the Underworld had resisted the apocalypse entirely, and a new Devil King had taken control, stopping anyone from invading the surface world.
There was no proof either way.
But one thing was certain: after the apocalypse, the devils had never returned.
Until now.
Vale tapped his bracelet again.
This time, his form shimmered and vanished entirely.
Even the mana around him was hidden, suppressed by the artifact that was in the shape of the bracelet.
Without specialized detection, he wouldn’t be noticed by anyone below.
But Vale didn’t fly toward the location of the Nagas.
Instead, he changed course and flew toward Isaac’s home.