Instead of confronting the newcomer, Ilias backed away toward the door with his sword drawn. He'd already achieved what he set out to do, there was no use in wasting any more time.

The figure appearing from the wall transformed into a man with long black hair. He said, "You should have simply asked if you were only looking for this specific information, and we might have given it to you for free. But now that you intrude upon the division, you must be judged. The commander will be here any moment. No one can enter or leave the city until then."

He unsheathed his blade and, with practiced ease, slashed at Ilias, sending a burst of sword essence forward. Ilias had been expecting the attack but still, he barely dodged it by ducking, whereupon it cut through the wall behind him with a shrill sound. Ilias quickly returned the man's gesture with an equally powerful slash. And a fierce battle ensued.

Armad was about to enter the building and look for Ilias when he heard the shrill sound coming from the top of the building. Dust and debris fell off the roof. Two men flew out of the building as they battled each other midair.

From the side, the demonic lions summoned by Spoon kept fighting the soldiers. Inara didn't need to do much now and he just focused on keeping the archers away from him. Annoyingly, Spoon was still eating. Every time an arrow or spear flew toward him, one of the summoned lions would jump and catch it with its mouth or block it with its body like a meat shield.

Armad was satisfied by their performance. He turned to the four captains lying on the ground in the pool of their blood. They were alive but no longer conscious. None was in a position to challenge him anymore.

After a moment of hesitation, he flew to the battlefield above and stood beside Ilias.

"Have you found it?" He asked.

Ilias nodded. "It says Nusi Kil'zanki is the only person who has entered the equatora region in the last seven hundred years. Although I don't know any Kil'zanki, 'Nusi' isn't a common name that can be found anywhere. Ikenga might just be telling the truth about her situation."

The man attacking Ilias ground his teeth in anger. Armad and Ilias were chatting and ignoring him. Such insolence... Didn't they know he was the leading captain of the Duka division of the jinzidal army, second only to his highness Uznu Ururu? Anyway, he would show them the error of their ways. With a single thought, his sword turned black and he slashed forward.

Armad drew his sword, but instead of hitting the captain, he struck Ilias' neck with the hilt, knocking the man down immediately. He then dodged the captain's flying sword and, at the same time, threw Ilias into the storage ring. The ring didn't carry a conscious person.

Armad then flew to the ground and appeared behind Spoon. He knocked the man unconscious with a single hit and threw him into the ring dimension. He did the same to Inara and then jumped a couple of miles away from the battlefield and across the city walls.

After appearing outside the city, he brought his horse Ubbaru out of the ring and rode into the forest, heading for the next town where the Eycigan gate was located. It was time to return to the Sisiya.

Meanwhile, the summoned lions had disappeared in response to Spoon losing consciousness. The battlefield had fallen silent. Everything had happened so fast. From the moment Armad knocked Ilias out to the moment he disappeared, only three seconds had passed. Armad and his companions had come and gone like the wind, easy and swift. Many soldiers around couldn't believe their eyes. Who would dare attack the black-eyed?

***

Somewhere in the second world...

***

A certain man sat at the top of a mountain looking at the sky. Due to the sheer size of the mountain, the man could see the stars. And with his special eyesight, he could even see the speed and direction of these stars as if they were on his palm.

Just as every human being possessed a djinn when they were born, every human being also possessed a star that represented their soul. If their star died, that person would also die and vise versa. Many believed that the healthy light of a star represented the health of the human it represented.

The man on this mountain was tall with big shoulders. His hair was covered with gray stripes that emphasized his old age. His eyes were as black as the darkness beyond the stars. He looked eerily mysterious.

As this man looked at the passing stars, he had the look of someone who considered themselves utterly invincible. A predator who wouldn't hunt lesser prey. Someone at the top of the food chain who would only take the priceless and most powerful souls. A true hunter of old.

The man lay on a small couch, studying the sky. It was difficult to know whether he was focused on the stars or the darkness beyond the stars, but he currently held a long, black staff that had a simple hook at its end.

At one point, the man smiled broadly and raised his staff, causing the wooden stick to extend in length and shoot toward the sky until it touched a star. He then used the hook to pull the star down.

The star screamed and begged for mercy. But the man yanked it nonetheless. When it was close enough, he reached out with his mighty hand and the star shrunk. He then squeezed it in his hand. A small noise resembling the cracking of an egg rang.

Meanwhile, in Daldas - a small village in the fifth world - an old man was spitting curses on Ururu.

"How dare they snatch power from us! They are just bloody mortals. Wilberforce II has cursed them. They would rot in hell, I promise you this. They would..."

The old man didn't finish his sentence. He suddenly began to sweat before falling to the ground dead. Just like that. No one there knew what happened to him. But in reality, the old man's star was just crushed by someone far away and he was dead without even knowing what killed him.

Back in the second world, the hunter smiled and continued to search for more stars to crush. He was King Dul'Ururu of the second world, and he didn't want to be interrupted when he hunted.

So Uznu Ururu waited patiently by his side until he was done. He didn't dare interrupt the King.

"Commander," Uznu Ururu said, bowing his head. "It's as you have predicted, the boy carrying the book-sword arrives in Duka and looks for information about the equatora. And as you commanded, I didn't stop him. He has now left the city."

King Dul'Ururu lowered his staff and turned his head around. He said, "Now you have all the excuse you need to get involved in the war of the Kings."

He looked at Uznu meaningfully for a few seconds before he looked away and continued his hunt. Throughout the short exchange, the King's face had been expressionless. It was difficult to know how much he cared about the situation regarding the book-sword.