Even after his Victory, Hal had to admit that all the information he had received about the Tretch King, no matter how little had proved useful.

Scarface had once faced the Tretch King and was defeated, escaping with only the scars on his face. His experience had told Hal to prepare for some sort of Demonic presence.

The news from Darryl that the Tretch King had been having occasional bursts of blood lust gave this even more credence and only served to make him even more interested in going after it.

Through the Devil mark, Hal could see into all of Borus' experiences and memories and through it confirmed all of his suspicions.

Suspicions that had begun since they stormed Holger Estate and Melinda faced Brysen Holger and his Beast physique.

Melinda was from the high-end part of the Haron Continent and she knew how valuable and impractical it was to own a Beast physique.

While Beast physiques help in reinforcing the body of a cultivator, it also causes them to exhibit Beast-like characteristics which (thanks to the Bad-blood between the Human and beat continent) is a behavior highly frowned upon.

As such, the components required to master such physiques or even assimilate them with a human body were quite rare in the continent but not impossible to find.

However, as it can already be surmised, they are very expensive thanks to their rarity. The demand for them was also not that high thanks to the increase in Pure-blood fanatics, who believed any similarities to Beasts were well worth the death penalty.

Due to its value, Hal doubted the 'Master', the Plebeians now serve could actually spend an exorbitant amount of wealth on the Plebeians, just so they could break free of the Status quo.

Which meant the 'Master' must be from somewhere where getting such a Physique, while expensive, was still well within reason.

Finding Sassy in Tretch Forest, despite her connection to an ancient beast bloodline, was giving this thought more credence.

The reason Sassy was here was also somewhat obvious to him, with the rate at which she grows and the surety of her Bloodline becoming even stronger along with that growth, this 'Master' was obviously setting up a trap for those that perform the Haron Genocide.

When they show up to kill the Toxic Viper which would inevitably become Tretch King, they would have bitten more than they could chew and the beast was bound to take a few of them down with her, even if they did succeed in killing her eventually.

And if they did not succeed and the Toxic Viper was able to attain a human form, there must be a way for the 'Master' to ascertain her submission.

This was something else Hal would need to check for when treating Sassy's condition.

This was all still mostly a guess on Hal's part, but if he was correct, then that Master should be smacked for their stupidity.

They had released such a Valuable Beast into the wild, with an absurd hope that not only would it survive quite well, but no one would succeed in taming it either.

If this was not stupid overconfidence, Hal did not know what was.

That said, he could also see that there was hatred for the Haron Continent in this person's actions, most likely it was someone with ties to this Continent, albeit little.

Back to the Tretch King, he had met this 'Master' -most likely on the very same day Sassy had been released into Tretch forest- where he was fed so many half-truths mixed lies.

The Haron Genocide was truth, but a one-sided one. Just as Demon Beasts are not allowed to attain the ability to transform into human forms and mix in with society, Humans in the Dystopian Continents were by default Slaves.

Means of amusement and ultimately, in times of war, they are meat shields.

Humans were not born into freedom in the Dystopian Continents, they were worked to the bone and usually become Cultivation cauldrons both for Dual cultivators and 'conventional' Cultivators.

When Grimoire had provided Hal with this information, it had been surprised by Hal's casual approach, expecting Hal to sympathize with one of the two races.

However,

To Hal, neither of the two Continents was wrong and neither of them was right. They were just doing it out of spite and for the degradation of the other race.

What he cared about was how to take advantage of their discord and lord over them.

But of course, this is a tale for another time.

This was the First Half-truth, the second was that there truly was a way to escape the cruel fate of death and yet the Hooded figure had declined to tell Borus.

Not all beasts with the Potential to reach the Aurora beast realm were killed, some (A very small percentage) let go of their pride and swore allegiance to the Haron Continent.

They are then shipped off to become generals and fight skirmishes and the occasional war against Dystopia. Thereby earning themselves honor and prestige with the number of kills to their name.

At the phenomenon beast realm, they already possess the ability of human speech and can be negotiated with, however, all those beasts who die are those that stick to their pride and resent a life fighting against their kind for the progress of the Human race.

They prefer to fight and they die unceremoniously.

Hal felt they were idiots and he did not hide this thought from Borus as he passed on all this information to him.

The lie that the Hooded figure had told him, lay in the Cultivation Technique he had been given, the one that was supposed to give him the strength to break free from the cruel hand of fate.

This was a mere pipe dream and but another pit-stop on the path of destruction.

Suppose Borus even became an Aurora Beast before he was attacked. There was still the very likely possibility that those sent after him would be at the same realm.

At that time, was there really any hope of survival?

Of course not.

The Technique was truly to make him a Demon, but a pseudo-Demon at best. It was merely an elaborate way of turning Borus into a Demonic Cauldron.

A Cauldron that would refine all the Blood essence for its master to collect once it was time.

At that time, Borus would be drained to the last bit and lose his life in the process. This was... Inevitable.

Borus shivered on his knees as Hal passed on this information to him.

Had he really being tricked?

Was his hope of survival truly just a trap?

"Yes, it was" Hal answered in a brash manner to the Beast's unpacked question.

Marla's eyes were sad as she looked at the large kneeling Beast whose entire life now seemed to be crumbling down.

Hal had shared all he found with her through their Contract and despite his insensitive demeanor, she knew he pitied Borus as well.

The fact that Borus had slaughtered so many in his quest for power did not faze her one bit. To her, he had merely been trying to become stronger.

Who was she to say his way was evil?

Where was the assurance that she would not do the same or even worse?

In this Dog eat Dog world, was there truly a righteous way of Cultivation?

"Help me" Borus said and even though Marla could not understand his speech, she got the gist of it.

"With what?" Hal asked and Borus looked up with a confused expression.

Hal sighed,

"If it's to escape the Haron genocide, consider yourself helped. You won't be killed. But if it's to not be that bastard's Cauldron, then I won't"

"Why not?" Borus asked.

"Why not?" Marla asked.

Hal turned to her and smiled,

"It's simple, Borus here is the perfect bait for my plan, and said plan requires for that bastard's plans to go smoothly. At least for the most part.

Don't worry, even if he is siphoned of all his energy, he won't die. Not anymore"

Marla nodded with a reassured expression.

Borus looked between the two,

Wait a minute, it looks like my position remains the same.

To Marla, he pleaded,

"Please, don't let me be bait"

Marla could not understand him but when he suddenly burst into tears, She once again got the gist of it.

"Don't bother begging. Think of it as your punishment for going after her" Hal snorted.

"But that was just a trick" Borus wailed.

"Am I supposed to care?"

Borus opened his mouth to argue but shut it quickly when Hal gave him a look that chilled him to the bones.

Hal then turned towards the Horizon,

"It's almost sundown," he said.

Marla blinked and watched the sun begin to set.

That's right. The competition is supposed to be ending soon.

Hal left Borus with an Edict that he was not to absorb any more Blood essence. Absorbing anymore would prove troublesome once the 'Master' comes to collect.

...

Right outside of Tretch Forest, Darryl stood to await the rest of the participants.

Normally, he should have probably left but as Hal was still in the forest and it was not yet sundown, he had no choice but to await his inevitable exit and victory.

After all, Darryl knew Hal must now hold all the tiles.

All the Great family scions that had already exited the Forest, the ones that had managed to find Rune tiles, had claimed that it was missing or in Alexander's case, it had been stolen.

Darryl was not an idiot, he knew all the Tiles had already made their way into Hal's hands.

This was mostly because Hal had told him so in a forthright manner and forbade him from leaving until he exchanged the Tiles for Gold.

Suddenly, Karon arrived and stood beside him,

"Master Darryl, You're still here?" He asked.

"Yes, I still need to award the winner," Darryl said in an attempt to be casual.

Karon was about to speak about how unnecessary that would be in the current climate when Hal and Marla walked out of the Forest, arm in arm.

Despite the Tension from the aftermath of the Plebeian attacks, the two's movements were casual and seemingly at ease.

When Darryl saw Hal, he was glad to finally get this over with, however, when Karon saw Hal, his expression soured and he frowned.