To everyone's surprise, what followed wasn't an execution, but the retreat of the Guardian Sword clan instead.

Such a conclusion was obvious in hindsight. The clan had tried to use its influence to capture the Four Star Sorceress, but she would rather battle against them. They had a Four Star cultivator of their own, but not here in the Arena, so while they could win in a straight fight, they would sustain too many losses. Someone had decided it wasn't worth it.

Still, they had refused to pay ten thousand gold coins and send word to Aaron that he would bitterly regret his actions.

Aaron, of course, ignored the warning and boredly watched the members of the Guardian Sword run with their tails between their legs. He needed to take care of Lana and he couldn't chase them, but either way, he was in no hurry to kill them.

He would use them to make a statement later. Giving them the chance to prepare for his coming would make people understand better what he wanted to say.

Shortly thereafter, the circle of observers once again parted for new people to approach the Fire Wolves. This time, they were soldiers with the blue griffin of the royal family escorting a short, muscular man wearing silk robes with the same royal symbol. The scribe who had registered the Ironblood Clan in the competition was beside him.

Aaron could guess that this was the Royal Judge responsible for arbitrating the Clans Arena.

The judge stopped and looked from the corpses on the floor to Aaron, who stood up and yawned. As soon as the scribe saw the scene, he shivered at the thought of what would have happened to him if he had refused to register the Ironblood Clan less than two hours ago.

"Explain yourself," demanded the judge.

Aaron raised an eyebrow at that but concluded that a law enforcement officer had the right to demand an explanation on the twenty-two corpses in front of him.

"They tried to kidnap us," said Aaron. "I resisted."

"You call this 'resisting'?" The judge made a gesture with his hands, indicating the bodies. Aaron shrugged, and the judge asked another question. "Was it necessary for you to use lethal force against all of them to prevent them from capturing you?"

"Of course not," said Aaron. "But they raised weapons against me and I reserve the right to kill anyone who does so."

"There is no law in Illyria that gives you such a right."

"Judge... What was your name again?"

"Royal Judge Layson Essorns," he replied with pride.

"Judge Essorns, I'm Aaron Ironblood. Let's avoid wasting time here. Contact your king, describe me, explain the situation, and ask him how many meters away from me you should stay."

The judge hesitated for an instant but did as suggested. He took a palm-sized blue crystal out of his pocket and focused on it. He said nothing for several minutes, then spoke in a loud and good tone.

"In the name of the King of Illyria, Third Sentinel of the Southwest, Guardian of the Blue Ice Mountain, hundred forty-third in the succession line for the Imperial Throne, I command all present to eliminate Aaron Ironblood immediately!"

Most of those present didn't act at once, but Aaron was always prepared for the worst. No more than a second after the judge ordered his death, the man's head rolled on the floor, separated forever from his body. The few guards who had come with the man were quick to accompany him. Aaron left only the scribe alive and only because he had no weapon on hand like the other guards.

Before everyone else could recover from the shock, Aaron quickly pillaged the spatial ring from the judge's body and returned to Lana's side. He examined the crowd and concluded he would need Alys. There were thousands of people there, and he didn't have enough Qi to kill everyone.

He gave Alys a light kick to wake her up and smirked.

This would be fun.

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The king was asleep when he was awakened by the sparkling light from one of the communication crystals he had placed on the nightstand before sleeping. He touched the crystal and asked mentally, "Who is it?"

"Layson," answered a male voice.

The king removed the cord with the ring of three stones from inside his clothing and checked the condition of Layson's stone. He always did this when one of the three contacted him, to make sure they weren't compromised. As the stone was perfect, he continued the mental conversation.

"What is it? Another idiot broke through the blockade and died?"

"No. We have a problem..." He explained everything that had happened to the king. "What do you want me to do?"

The king's sleep disappeared completely when he understood the murderer was Hero he had kidnapped from another world. Why in the seven hells was he even in the Clans Arena? The king didn't know, but he was very pleased with that. If the young man entered the caves, the king would get rid of that headache once and for all.

"In no way whatsoever, I repeat, in no way whatsoever, do anything to offend him! Let him do whatever he wants!" The memory of his Royal Guards dying was firmly engraved in his mind. But suddenly, he had an idea. "Forget that order. I want you to order all the clans to kill him in my name while you escape to the caves."

"Escape?"

"He... You said his name is Aaron Ironblood? He might die when you give the order, which would be great for us. But he might also kill everyone, which would be even better. And after killing everyone, he'll follow you to the caves, where our mutual friend will take care of things."

"And if he runs away?"

"Didn't you say that he's surrounded?"

"Yes."

"It's impossible for him to run away from thousands of people, no matter how fast he is."

"Indeed," agreed Layson, cutting the connection.

It pleased the king to know that he would soon have one less problem to worry about. He was about to go back to bed when he heard a cracking noise. Looking at the necklace with the three-stone ring, he saw Layson's stone break and turn to dust.

'How?' he thought.

He knew Ironblood was powerful. He had killed two Two Stars Royal Guards when he was still an Inept and was now miraculously at the Three Star level, according to Layson's report. But as incredible as that was, how could he kill Layson so quickly?!

Layson was a Four Star Qi Manipulator!

The difference in power between an Inept and a Two Star Qi Manipulator, like the Royal Guards that Ironblood had killed, was vastly smaller than the power difference between a Three Star Qi Manipulator and a Four Star one!

It made no sense!

The king had heard reports of Qi Manipulators capable of great exploits, but he believed they were just lies fabricated to make Qi Manipulators seem less useless. Qi Manipulation was hardly considered an Energy Specialization at all.

Was it possible that he was wrong about that? That Ironblood had abilities like the ones he had heard the Imperial Nobles possessed?

As he looked at the ring in confusion, all he could think about was that he had made a terrible mistake.

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Alys woke up with Aaron's light kick.

"Stand beside me, fast. And carry Tia with you."

The urgency in his voice woke her up, and she obeyed, using a spell to make Tia float close to them.

Only then did she look around and realized that hundreds of people still surrounded them. But there was a difference in the number of bodies on the floor. Six of them were new, most of them Royal Guards, and one of a man who, by his clothes, was an important officer in the kingdom.

"What happened?" she asked, confused.

"I'll explain later," replied Aaron. "Can you open a portal so we can get away from here?"

"Just one, for a few seconds, with a distance limit of six hundred and fifty feet, but then I'll pass out for a few days," she explained briefly.

Aaron sighed. Six hundred and fifty feet would not help much. Meanwhile, the surrounding people were discussing what to do. Most of them were already holding their weapons.

He looked around quickly and had an idea.

He didn't have the energy to fight thousands of people, mainly because continuous attacks from all directions would demand a lot from him to deflect, dodge, or block. He would end up dying after killing a few hundred and running out of energy, and even that much was only possible because he had chosen the Earth element, which gave him superior stamina.

Even his death aura couldn't help him much. Even if no one neutralized it with a skill, its effect would be greatly diminished when spread over a large area. It would still cause some weak-willed enemies to make fatal mistakes at critical moments, but it wasn't enough to help him overcome the overwhelming odds.

However, inside the caves, space was limited and fewer people would be able to attack him at the same time. There, he would last much longer and be able to focus his death aura on fewer enemies. It was likely that the attackers would become afraid of the living meat shredder he would become and retreat instead.

"We can't leave now because of Lana," he said. "When they attack, focus on protecting the four of you using as little energy as possible and I'll do the same outside your protection. Be sure to reserve enough energy to use the portal and let me know if you are close to the limit. We'll try to wait for Lana's level up to finish, but if it isn't possible, we'll have to move her."

Although the king's order only spoke of killing him, he doubted the Fire Wolves would be left alone. While he wouldn't needlessly risk his life for them, his honor didn't allow him to let them suffer for being relatively close to him.

Well, he would put his life first if he had no other choice; the universe depended on him. But the current situation was far from being hopeless.

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Alys felt her heart sink hearing his words. He had said, "when they attack." Who were "they"? All the thousands of people around them? Why were these people getting in position to attack? She had the impression that she hadn't slept for more than twenty minutes; what in the seven hells had happened during that time?!

"Where should I open the portal to?" she asked.

"I'll tell you at the time. Someone may be listening to our conversation. Oh, and force Tia to stay asleep. If she wakes up at the wrong time, it might cost a few lives."

Logan, on the other hand, looked almost dead and wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

Heart pounding, Alys cast a sleeping spell on Tia and created a thin transparent barrier around the three Fire Wolves and herself. She could easily kill a little over half of the Two Star attackers there, but that was far from enough to change the tides of such a big battle.

She could only wonder what her new clan leader had planned to salvage the situation.

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Aaron had to admit that he hadn't expected the king to order his death when he told the judge to call the man.

He considered himself an excellent reader of people, and the little he had interacted with the king had revealed that he was a coward who valued his life above all else. When the king had tried to enslave Aaron and failed, he hadn't tried a second time; instead, he had ordered his men to do his dirty work. His instinct had been to distance himself from the danger he did not understand and let others take care of it for him.

Afterward, when Aaron had noticed no one following him and no killer came to take his life, he became sure that the king just didn't care what Aaron did as long as it didn't threaten the king's life. Even when Aaron had acted against the captain, the king still had done nothing against him.

For Aaron, it had been clear that the man had backed away for good.

He had been wrong.

So, he repeatedly revisited his memories, trying to find any sign that the king would act that way. No one reached the top without learning from their mistakes.

Meanwhile, men in armor and shield had already formed a circle around the Fire Wolves, while the ranged attackers were positioning themselves behind the defensive line. Boxes and other objects were used to improve the ranged attackers' line of sight and thus their aim.

One of the Arcanists on the boxes, a middle-aged woman dressed in white robes with a black cloud insignia, spoke for the group.

"Ironblood, the king ordered your death! Surrender and maybe I will make this quick."

It was no surprise that she had been the one to take control of the attackers. Her robe identified her as a member of the Dark Cloud clan, another one of the Big Five, and she was a Three Star Arcanist in her own right.

Aaron didn't even waste time answering, but recorded her face well in his memory. Even if he didn't kill her today, he would take revenge on another day.

But then, something unexpected happened. A glow came from her clothes and she took a white crystal out of her pocket. After a few moments of silence, in which she was probably talking to someone through the crystal, she spoke not to Aaron, but to everyone else.

"Friends, it is with great regret that I must disappoint you, even after I was tasked by you all with honoring the king's will. The Illyria Kingdom is at war against the Arcane Circle!"

Those words caused a great commotion.

"What?!"

"War?"

"What do you mean, war against the Circle?! The Circle is much more powerful than our kingdom!"

"The Dark Cloud Clan Leader," the woman continued, ignoring everyone, "ordered the end of all external operations and the immediate return of all our members. I want to kill this butcher, but from what I saw from his fight before, he might cause the death of one of my clan members. In times of war, the life of each of us is too valuable. I fear I must leave you at once."

"What?!"

"No!"

"Help us kill him! It'll be quick!"

Once again ignoring everyone, she climbed down from the crate and left with her clan. Not only her, but members of several other clans also left the place and went to their tents, quickly dismantling everything and leaving the place in less than half an hour.

Aaron understood their decision perfectly. Winning the king's favor by killing Aaron would be nice if the king was in a stable political position. A war, however, especially a war against the powerful Arcane Circle, meant a free for all until things got clearer. In such times, the value of each clan member increased exponentially, as it could be the difference between survival and the extermination of the clan!

Although useless in battles, even an Inept could get lucky, witness an enemy sneaking around and sound the alarm. A One Star Cultivator might not be so useful in a Clans Arena, but in a large-scale battle, every enemy they kept occupied, no matter for how little time, allowed the stronger clan members to focus on things more important than killing weaklings!

The clans probably didn't even know if they would side with the king or the Circle in this war, and Alys was a Sorceress wearing a black cloak with silver arcane symbols, the common uniform of the Arcane Circle. Before entering political alliances, no one wanted to attack either side.

Not too long after, less than four hundred people remained around the Fire Wolves, most of them imperial mercenaries or members of small clans who needed the king's favor and protection more than ever because of the war.

Aaron smiled cruelly.

"Alys, change of plans. We can take care of those who left at a later date. For now, kill all who dared to raise weapons against the Ironblood clan."

Without waiting for her reply, he attacked.