Hal had finally completed his part of the pill refining and all that was left was for Arya to do her part.

So he decided to come over to the lounge and see how things were going with the envoys.

He was actually quite tired as he had been working the last two days with little to no rest and wished he had done the smart thing by using Arya's Blue gems to purchase it from grimoire directly.

However, he and Grimoire had agreed that it was much more prudent that he refine a good amount of pills because it was quite likely all of Arya's blue gems would not get him all of the pills he would require to replenish blood to feed the thousands of beasts that reside in Tretch forest.

With one of those pills costing 100 blue gems each and he required about two pills each for one beast, the cost was amounting to over 300000 Blue gems which was a sum Arya did not have on hand.

In fact, had Grimoire allowed him to purchase the pills with Gold equivalent, his massive wealth would not have been enough.

On the other hand, purchasing the ingredient with gold coins and refining it proved to be far more frugal and cost-effective.

It only cost Hal about 500 million gold coins which was a sum he could afford, even before taking all the Plebeians had to offer.

Anyway, when he walked in as a show of solidarity to his woman and heard the seductive-looking lady in the room stand to her feet and say she 'wanted him', he could not help but grin.

In a cautious manner of course.

There was something about the look in her eyes when she said she wanted him that made him feel he was heading into a territory of fetishes.

That said, he would not be Hal the pervert, and definitely not he deserving of his Devil bloodline if he shied away from her practically giving herself away.

Argo looked at his sister,

"What?!" He exclaimed.

Evelyn did not take her eyes off Hal as she walked closer and placed her hand on his chest while she spoke to her brother who looked shocked, to say the least,

"You heard me, brother. I want him. You are not going to interfere, are you?" She said the last part with a look over her shoulder.

Towards that attitude, Argo gulped and sat back down.

Then Evelyn turned away from Hal and towards Melinda,

"I wonder where you got such prime material as your servant. They don't make them this good at the capital"

Evelyn was obviously sourcing for Hal's identity from Melinda as Hal's attire should have made it clear that he was no servant and if he was, then he was very important to her.

Melinda's eyes narrowed to silts and she was about to retort most likely with a cosmic attack to boot when Hal winked at her from behind Evelyn while mouthing words at her,

'I'll deal with her'

At the sight of that assurance, Melinda swallowed her anger and said,

"Hal is very close to me"

Evelyn smirked at those words. Thinking, if she had such a servant, she would keep him close as well,

"Mind if I borrow him?" She asked but was expecting hostility and for Melinda to show possessiveness, but the golden-eyed lady simply smiled,

"Be my guest.

But, you have to give your brother to me. I wish to spar with him"

Evelyn grabbed Hal's hand while she smiled,

"By all means"

Argo leaped to his feet,

"Now wait just a minute. I have not agreed to this and I refuse..."

"You refuse?" Evelyn asked with a raised brow.

Argo's face twisted with annoyance before he yelled,

"Fine. But I will not be pulling my punches. Just remember my lady, you asked for this"

So angry was he that he raised his voice to Melinda and forgot to simply marvel at her beauty.

Melinda grinned and her light gold eyes flashed with evil intent,

"I wouldn't have it any other way" she said.

Evelyn nodded with satisfaction and pulled Hal away,

"Come on handsome, I am going to show you a lot of wonders and if you're lucky, I might even let you touch me"

Hal raised his brow and chuckled,

"Oh, I don't think luck will have anything to do with this."

Once they were out of sight which Melinda secretly shook her head at the seductive lady's naivete, she stood to her feet with her Armament in hand while she led Argo to the part that was for sparring in the courtyard.

Argo's guards followed them and so did Melinda's but he could not shake the feeling that besides those two groups, there were still some sets of eyes watching them and anticipating the spar.

"This is not a spar" Melinda suddenly said as though she had heard his thoughts,

"This is a duel and we will only stop when one of us bleeds" she added and turned to him to show that they were at their destination.

Not only that, but she also let out the pressure of her Early-stage Cosmic phenomenon realm cultivation base, a pressure that caused Argo's eyes to widen in surprise.

"How could you have possibly cultivated that much in just five years. Without the family's resources?" He asked.

Melinda simply flicked her sword,

"I don't want to talk, I just want to fight. This will be the perfect way to relieve some stress and let off some of my frustration"

Argo sneered,

"Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself" he said and released his pressure that surpassed hers at the Mid-stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm.

Melinda was not fazed in the slightest and walked towards him in quick and ready steps to strike at him with her sword which was covered lightly in a Cosmic phenomenon.

*Clang*

Argo summoned his yellow sword Cosmic Armament as well to intercept the strike which knocked him a few steps back.

Heavy!

That was his thought as his wrist numbed from the attack.

It would seem, Melinda had not forgotten all she had been thought in swordsmanship while she was at the Dane family.

He could almost see her father's shadow around her as he felt the strike.

That said, he did not have that long to wallow in his thoughts as Melinda was already coming after him for another strike.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

What annoyed Argo the most as the duel went on was how easily Melinda dominated him despite being one stage lower.

Was this really the reality of the cultivation world?

Since when did being one stage above seem like being one stage below?

"Ahhh"

In his frustration, he blasted out a Cosmic attack just by yelling and it hit Melinda square in the chest or it would have, had it not being her quickness in placing her sword across her chest and defending herself.

The moment she was no longer moving back, she was tossing a Cosmic attack of her own at Argo who leaped up and did a flip in the air to avoid it completely.

He had only just landed when he saw Melinda was already in front of him and stabbing at his shoulder blade with her sword.

*Clang*

He deflected it only to see a fist charged with a Cosmic attack heading towards the side of his face at a speed he could not possibly evade...

*Bamm!!!!*