Everyone knew that ever since the dark mist invasion, the night sky had been stuck with that crimson blood moon. Few folks could even remember what the moon used to look like.

Time has a way of smoothing over everything. Most people had gotten used to living under the blood moon's shadow, with almost nobody knowing the blood moon's godawful true nature.

And Moon-Devouring Power was exactly the twisted force that belonged to the blood moon—a piece of its nightmarish essence, only born through the blood moon's real blessing.

In the 'Blood Moon's Cry' expansion, tons of bloody and vicious blood moon servants showed up, but only the top-tier blood moon bosses had mastered this power.

So Moon-Devouring Power meant the blood moon had its eye on you, while also meaning that without some serious outside help, you'd eventually get turned into one of its lackeys.

Carlos's face went through a whole range of emotions. The Shadow Twins' little 'accident' had him torn up about what to do with Blood Silver.

If he left things alone, by the third expansion, Blood Silver would definitely get turned into a blood moon servant, ending up on humanity's bad side.

This wasn't something Blood Silver could choose—it was baked into the Moon-Devouring Power's DNA. Free will didn't mean squat.

But if he dealt with it early, forget about losing a super life form's incredible power—even the emotional bond from raising the little guy made it damn hard to be ruthless.

After mulling it over, Carlos decided that when the time was right, he'd use the high-level version of the retainer ritual to simply make Blood Silver his own vassal. With that leash, the blood moon's grip would get a lot weaker.

"Moo moo~"

Blood Silver lovingly nuzzled Carlos's cheek, totally clueless about the storm brewing in 'mommy's' eyes.

...

Dotruu Kingdom, above the palace, black and yellow were duking it out. The shockwaves from their brutal fight sent air blasting everywhere—for now, they were dead even, neither able to get the upper hand.

Ginya's eyes blazed with murderous light. Since its regular form couldn't take down these two punks, it was time to break out the bond ability.

The next second, its aura went absolutely berserk. The withered yellow domain instantly steamrolled the shadow domain, turning the sky yellow like sunset was crashing down early.

The Shadow Twins could smell serious trouble brewing as the pressure cranked up. Their grinning and stone-faced little heads looked at each other:

"Sister!"

"Sister!"

With a sharp clang, the pitch-black crescent scythe smashed into the white banner staff.

The next moment, shadow power so thick you could cut it with a knife turned into a massive black dragon that came roaring forward.

"Pathetic last stand!"

Ginya sneered with total contempt. Countless domain powers gathered as withered yellow leaves materialized in the sky, howling and spinning into countless yellow streaks packed with devastating power, shooting forth!

BOOM!

Rolling shockwaves exploded outward. Countless yellow streaks punched through, and the massive shadow dragon screamed in agony but kept pushing forward with no intention of backing down.

Ginya smelled a rat and quickly hurled its lance. The bone-crushing force obliterated the shadow dragon like it was made of paper. The leftover momentum crashed down like a meteor with a thunderous impact that shook the whole damn palace.

Ginya's face turned ugly as sin. The crater's center was completely empty—the Shadow Twins had vanished into thin air.

"They got away?!"

With a furious roar, the terrifying domain exploded outward, rapidly spreading from the palace center to hunt them down...

The Dotruu Kingdom nobles suddenly looked scared shitless. "What a horrifying aura!!!"

This awful presence made them feel like they couldn't breathe. Sword Saint Levi felt the aura's owner's rage and instinctively got intimidated—not something you could fight with willpower, but basically a weak creature's fear of the apex predator.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

Ginya searched high and low with growing frustration, finally having to accept the cold hard fact that the Shadow Twins had slipped through its fingers.

Its mood got nastier by the second. The capture mission had gone to hell—how was it supposed to explain this screwup to its master?

No, it had to do something to make up for this mess.

With that thought, the Dotruu Kingdom's treasury popped into Ginya's head...

...

"It's over!"

Wave after wave of terrifying aura scared the crap out of the Dotruu Kingdom nobles, who couldn't help worrying that this powerhouse might take out its anger on the kingdom. Thankfully, that nightmare scenario didn't happen.

One noble looked completely lost:

"So who won?"

The nobles around him all gave him looks you'd reserve for village idiots—such an obvious thing still needed asking?

Cough, cough.

Sword Saint Levi hacked several times and said weakly:

"Go fetch that gentleman, with all the bells and whistles. We need to pay up properly."

Pain flashed across the nobles' faces, but nobody raised a stink.

You scratch my back, I scratch yours—that was universal law. Without that gentleman, whether they'd still be breathing was anybody's guess.

Most of the folks present were sharp cookies who knew that even if that gentleman didn't ask for anything, they should step up and offer payment anyway.

But when they went to roll out the red carpet, they discovered that golden knight had mysteriously vanished.

"Where'd that gentleman go?"

"Did he bail?"

"What do we do now?"

"I think we gotta send somebody to Ember City..."

Before the nobles could hash out a game plan, several massive explosions suddenly erupted from deep inside the palace.

Sword Saint Levi's eyes immediately went razor-sharp:

"Trouble—that's coming from the palace treasury!"

"Someone's using the chaos to rob us blind!!!"

The nobles were pissed and shocked. Just as they were getting ready to go check it out, they saw the King's Right Hand Levi stop them cold, his face dead serious:

"Don't bother."

"Lord Levi, what are you getting at?"

The nobles were confused. Sure, they couldn't handle those nightmare Shadow Twins, but some two-bit treasury thief was definitely manageable.

Besides, this was the palace treasury. Going to help catch the thief while maybe grabbing a little something for themselves seemed perfectly reasonable.

Sword Saint Levi pointed at the sky. A yellow light blazed over their heads, disappearing into the distance...

"Well I'll be..."

"That gentleman..."

The nobles laughed bitterly, their hearts all twisted up with mixed feelings.

How the hell were they supposed to describe this situation?

They couldn't wrap their heads around that gentleman's logic for a hot minute. Hell, even if that gentleman had straight-up demanded payment, these nobles would've handed it over without a peep—why go and take it himself!

So brazenly, not even trying to be sneaky about it—wasn't he worried they'd rat him out to the Human Supreme Council?

"Look, this isn't the worst thing that could happen."

Sword Saint Levi shut down everyone's chatter, stroking his beard to calm them down.

"My lord's got a point—this isn't the worst thing."

The nobles slowly got it. The payment had been made, even if that gentleman had helped himself to it.

Was this a bad thing?

Hell no... you could say it couldn't have worked out better.

"Everyone, we're not done yet. Let's head to the king's chambers."

Sword Saint Levi took a deep breath. If the king couldn't be saved, the Dotruu Kingdom would probably be looking at some major shake-ups.

Between the two princes, they'd have to pick a winner eventually...

...

In the clock tower's top room, the palace's highest perch,

Princess Taff watched the golden light streak away and smiled:

"The first act just dropped the curtain, and the second act's about to kick off."