Unedited chapter. It will be edited soon.

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The shrill sound of those heels seemed to echo from all directions, forming a powerful echo that alarmed the powerful ones.

They thought they were under attack.

And the attack of someone extremely powerful.

But where did the sound of footsteps come from?

It was clearly not just one person. There were at least five of them, but the sound of the heels was firm and steady. They were not disorderly, so the people who arrived had perfect coordination.

Each step seemed to have been previously planned and practiced.

Soon, the sound disappeared, with a final *tap*, revealing the location of the new arrivals.

The emperor, Robert Priestley, and everyone else turned abruptly to look at the top of the arena buildings. One was occupied by Aster Mane, so that one was ignored.

But the other five had been free before.

Now they were not.

"Lord Dan!" they shouted.

At the top of one of them stood Dan Lockward, the most powerful man in the empire. Next to him was another powerful man, holding the magic that the emperor had cast earlier in his hand as if it were nothing more than a mere arrow.

In the other four buildings surrounding the arena, there were eight more executioners. Two in each building. Counting the one holding the emperor's magic, there were nine executioners.

If one thing was certain, it was that the Lockward Family did not have many people with the level of an executioner; having nine here was impressive. But seeing that the person leading them was Dan Lockward himself, it made sense that there were so many. Only he could deploy so many powerful people at once.

"I disappear for a while and already there are a bunch of idiots who want war." Suddenly, Dan spoke, making several of those present tremble.

"Sir..." The emperor immediately felt intimidated and wanted to back down. It would be foolish to continue wanting war now that Lockward had arrived.

But he was not allowed to act.

Dan gave an order to the executioner behind him, who reacted by throwing the magic in his hand back at its caster.

"Learn to hold back your anger, it will help you when you make plans for the future," Dan replied.

The emperor looked up in shock and tried to defend himself.

"Hmph." Dan put pressure on him once more, but this time it was concentrated. The emperor couldn't act in the short time he had, his movements slowed down.

In the end, the same magic he had cast before ended up returning to him and hitting him in the shoulder.

The magic arrow pierced him, but he endured it and stared at Dan.

"Damn bastard... you think you're so great when you can't even reach your core family." He clenched his hands, but didn't dare say anything. He had to remain silent.

For now, confronting Dan was impossible.

Lady Loren glanced at him and smiled briefly. Although that smile vanished immediately afterward, it had been a malicious smile.

She seemed to mutter something, an inaudible whisper, and returned to normal.

Finally, Dan spoke again.

"I will not get involved in your senseless battle. I am only here to serve as a witness for the next fight. I am also interested in knowing the results of the upcoming Battle of the Hierarchies. After that, you can do whatever you want." He declared and sat down in a seat provided by the executioner behind him.

But then, just as he did that, he frowned and looked behind him.

Above the city, a huge explosion suddenly occurred, followed by five more, all within Lockward territory.

In addition, suddenly, a bunch of magicians wearing dark hoods unleashed powerful attacks from the city with various weapons and magic, targeting the huge combat arena, especially the arena buildings.

Dan frowned. "A planned attack," he said. "The restaurant, the Duke's House, and two other areas under my command."

Those had been the explosions.

Chaos erupted in the city thanks to those explosions.

Even so, he paid no attention to that and looked at the magic flying toward him.

The executioner beside him looked at him. "They're aimed at you, sir. It's an attack on Lockward."

Dan nodded and looked toward where the Emperor's group was standing. "Good guts," he said with a clear mockery on his face.

He prepared to attack, but then he looked at another building, one close to where he was standing, and saw the man there standing up.

"Although this attack is not directed at me, there is someone of utmost importance in my life in this place. If he were to die... you would all go to hell with me," he declared and looked at Dan. "I will do it."

Then he simply snapped his fingers, amplifying the sound with a special item.

The sound was thunderous and spread throughout much of the city. It was so powerful that it left many of the civilians with ruptured eardrums.

Even so, suddenly, on the combat arena, a bunch of people stood up and took off the clothes they were wearing, revealing dark and white garments, as if they had been split in half. It was a peculiar combination reminiscent of old times.

Between the union of white and black, there was a huge insignia of a dragon circling a spear that seemed to be on fire.

It was the symbol of the Golden Dragon Group, the Central Mafia of the Empire.

There were many of them among the spectators in the stands, and they simply turned upward, and a shower of different types of magic shot out to counteract all those that entered.

At the same time...

In the city.

In one of the alleys near the Royal Academy, there was a muscular and rather large man wearing black and white clothes with the typical Golden Dragon symbol, but this time with five stars adorning a crown on the dragon's head. He had a vertical scar on his left eye, but his gaze with his one eye was piercing.

He suddenly looked up when he heard a click echoing in the surroundings and laughed. The tobacco in his mouth was thrown to the ground and soon trampled by his own feet.

"Time to move, boys. Finally, the Boss is back. It's time to restore the majesty to his name and our organization."

He immediately stepped forward, and in the darkness of the alleys, a crowd of men followed him. There were barely 100 of them, but like those groups... there were many more.

As they emerged from the alleys, many of them already had their prey located, and the smiles turned sinister among those present...

Soon, screams began to echo throughout the academy's surroundings. Occasionally, explosions occurred and explosives were detonated, blowing to pieces the magicians inside the houses who were continuously trying to fire at the stadium.

The attacks were decisive. Suddenly, a bunch of people were lying on the ground, bleeding around the academy.

"Heh." The one-eyed man mocked the man at his feet. "Men of the church. It seems you really didn't see our master's arrival coming."

BOM*

He stomped hard and crushed his neck with a strong stomp, sending him to his death and grabbing his head, which joined three others he had in his hands.

"The brothers have finished their part," he said, looking up at one of the buildings. "And I just happen to be standing right below that guy. How dangerous, how dangerous."

In front of him stood Dan Lockward and that executioner, standing tall like a sword that feared nothing.

"That's the Executioner of the First Seat, right?" For a brief moment, he shuddered with fear. Although he was a powerful mobster who had instilled terror in the four regions at some point in his life and now commanded large troops and part of the remnants of the Golden Dragon, he was nothing in front of the executioners.

Perhaps he could stand up to the weaker ones, but even that was not a certainty. And the first seat, the most powerful?

Completely impossible for him.

He is a man who, even in the other clans of great power, is respected as one of the most powerful men in the empire.

"I wonder what a fight between my master and this guy would look like." He started walking again, and it was clear that he was limping, a mark of the war he had experienced years ago; because of this, he usually had to use a cane, but today he wasn't carrying it.

As one of the representatives of the Golden Dragon, a 5-star Underworld King! He must hold his head high. He cannot show weakness before the powerful of the empire.

After entering the academy grounds, he left his men guarding the entrance and surrounding the arena before continuing on to the building where his master was.

Less than 20 minutes had passed since the snap echoed when five men were already in front of Aster Mane, handing him several heads.

"We couldn't cover the whole city, sir. Our fault. There are explosions in the Industrial District and a wave of people has risen up during the morning. On the other hand, these small attackers belonged to the church and the empire," reported the oldest of them all, the man with one eye missing.

Aster Mane looked at him and smiled. "Old Arrow, you've done a great job," he replied. "I'm pleased with your services after all this time. It was a good decision to leave you in charge of the Golden Dragon all this time."

"Haha, you flatter me, sir. I'm just a servant."

Aster Mane smiled at him and looked at Dan.

"I suppose I don't need to give you any information about who they were, do I, Your Honor?"