Noah warily advanced toward Lord Raptor. He held the [Ice Spear] steady in his hand. Fire excitedly danced over the surface of his armour, illuminating the inside walls with flickering golden-red light. It seemed to be agitated by the Shadow Walker's disappearance, causing it to ignore Noah's mental commands to activate the [Inferno] ability.

"There's no need to be so agitated, Noah. Girls, please entertain our guest. Noah, would you kindly be still and watch with me" Lord Raptor said.

Noah trembled as he struggled to resist the command, his eyes turning to focus on the twins, his body fixed in place.

What is this Ability? It's almost impossible to resist. It doesn't even alert my [Battle Instinct] ability! The Ability sigil is hidden as it activates, which means it must be undetectable for my Ability. If I can't rely on that to anticipate it, I will have to solve this myself.

"Attention girls, would you kindly fight one another until you either drop from exhaustion or one of you is dead," Lord Raptor said.

After his [Suggestion], pink-lifeforce gathered at his throat before suddenly flashing. The reaction was immediate. The motionless twins sprang into action. Meghan lunged, knocking aside Missy's outstretched hands to viciously claw at her face.

Noah stepped forward with extraordinary effort on shaky legs to mediate. He struggled to raise his [Ice Spear], gritting his teeth under the strain. Before he could advance, Lord Raptor appeared beside him, placing a golden-claw over his hand.

「Now, now. That's not very gentlemanly of you. These two ladies are in the middle of a performance...ugk亅Lord Raptor was cut off mid-speech by one of Noah's spirit arms clutching his throat in a vice-grip. He had taken the opportunity to activate his [Six Spirit Arms] while he was so close.

I get it, his ability is triggered by the phrase "would you kindly". All I have to do is render him speechless and he should no longer be able to force anyone to do his bidding.

"You talk too much," Noah said.

Noah faced away from Lord Raptor to flip the butt of the [Ice Spear] away from him, thrusting it between the girls. He then used it as a wedge to separate Meghan away. At the same time, he used his [Archaic Armament] ability to once again summon a dagger held in his spirit arm's grip.

Briefly shifting his attention away from the bloodied girls struggling against each other, he turned toward Lord Raptor. Up close, it could be seen that the man's face was caked in a layer of make-up that was being smeared under Noah's grasp. He had a panicked expression as Noah continued to smother his voice away.

As Noah raised his dagger, he used a spirit hand to grip Lord Raptor's hair to tilt his head back. Lord Raptor's eyes remained fixated on the approaching knife-edge as sweat beaded his brow. At the same time, a spirit hand pried open his mouth as another one fumbled around inside to expose his tongue.

"Uhh…" Lord Raptor couldn't speak with Noah holding his tongue still.

Lord Raptor scrambled against his grip, failing to find any purchase on the ethereal arms. His thrashing was becoming more urgent as the dagger drew closer. At the last moment, he slammed his clawed hand onto the blade to prevent Noah from inserting it into his mouth. He let out a muffled scream while pulling away, managing to successfully break free of Noah's grip.

"That was absolutely uncouth behaviour. You caused me to lose my composure. Everyone, would you kindly kill this barbarian. Except for you, Chad. Be a dear and dust me off," Lord Raptor said in a pleasant tone, one again smiling with expressionless eyes.

After he spoke, he straightened his posture while raising both arms to allow Chad to dust off his clothes. Noah was alerted to danger from behind, instinctively adjusting the [Ice Spear] to fend off an attack from behind. It was accompanied by the clang of metal against ice. The distraction allowed the girls to shift their attention away from each other toward him. Under the influence of Lord Raptor, they both simultaneously attacked him.

"Wait!" Noah cried.

Noah was suddenly bombarded by a wave of nausea that left him disorientated with his vision spinning. He stumbled while losing grip of the [Ice Spear]. It dispersed in a shower of ice clattering on the floor after it left contact with his hand.

The confusion lasted only a moment before he recovered. It was weak, but he could now see pink-lifeforce flowing underneath the surface of both girls' skin. An ability sigil hovered above Meghan's head, proving that she had now completed her [Rite of Awakening] and formed her first Ability. Noah was alerted to something behind him, instinctively ducking to narrowly dodge a blade slashing where his head had been.

He glanced over his shoulder to investigate the threat. It was the final Fallen member he had seen accompanying Lord Raptor earlier. His hand had become fused together with a sword at the hilt, becoming an extension of his arm. Red light flowed from his body to infuse the ordinary sword with lifeforce. Noah could hear the sword faintly screeching in protest as it vibrated at an ultrasonic frequency.

"You don't seem so tough. If those ghost arms are the best of your Abilities, you're minced meat. You're not much for Grade-3," the Fallen goaded.

"Big talk coming from the man too cowardly to attack me front on. That's to be expected from the kind of trash who join the Fallen. By the way, are you afraid of dropping your sword? It's trembling so badly right now, you may as well be pissing your pants," Noah retorted.

The Fallen scoffed lightly at the response, cautiously circling Noah while searching for an opening to attack. Another wave of [Confusion] washed over Noah. The Fallen seized the opportunity that presented itself to strike. Noah's [Battle Instinct] took over to come to his rescue. He powerfully stomped the Fallen's chest, knocking him stumbling backward, allowing Noah to deflect the blow along his armour. The sword dragging over the metal created a shrieking sound as sparks flew in every direction before disengaging.

Pink-lifeforce flared in Noah's peripheral. Without thinking, he struck out with the dagger clutched in his ethereal hand. There was a feminine gasp of shock as it made a deep impact with flesh.