Chapter : 1313

Lloyd did not show any reaction. He did not even blink. He did not let any feeling show on his face. His heart beat slowly and steadily. He simply met the assassin’s eyes with his own calm, empty stare and held it. For one long moment, the two of them fought a silent battle of wills across the room. It was a moment of clear and perfect understanding between two top hunters who had finally met on the battlefield.

Then, Jager looked away. He turned his attention back to the ceremony below, and his bored, noble expression returned to his face. He was an expert at his job.

Lloyd’s mind, however, was working fast. Jager's move was a common trick to make someone look in the wrong direction. By showing himself, he was making Lloyd focus all his attention on him. Jager wanted to be seen as the main danger. But a master like Jager would never be the main attack. He was the distraction. He was a clever and well-done fake move to draw attention, while the real, deadly attack came from somewhere else.

Where was the second attacker?

His mind raced as he looked over the entire situation again. The wine server. Was he the real threat? Was Jager showing himself just a trick to pull Lloyd's attention away from a normal, physical attack happening in the back hallways of the palace?

He sent a new, urgent command to Annalisa: ‘What is the server doing?’

The answer came back to his mind right away, clear and exact. ‘The target is continuing as planned. He has not changed his path. He is getting close to the King's private study. My team is hidden. We are ready to stop him.’

It still felt wrong. It was too simple and normal for someone as smart as Beelzebub.

His eyes went back to Jager. The man stood like a statue, seeming to be focused on the High Priest’s words. But with his special senses, Lloyd could see a tiny bit of tightness in his body. He was not just watching; he was waiting. He was counting down to a specific moment.

What was he waiting for?

The High Priest raised his hands. His old, deep voice filled the room. "In the name of the first kings, and by the light of the eternal sun, I ask you now, do you, Crown Prince Linkon of Bethelham, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

The Prince’s voice was clear and strong as it rang out. "I do."

A wave of happy sighs and tears went through the crowd. This was the moment. It was the most emotional moment of the event. It was the moment when every person in the room was focused on the two young royals at the altar.

It was the best possible moment to distract everyone.

Lloyd’s eyes opened wide as he understood with horror. He had been a fool. Jager was not the distraction. The entire wedding was the distraction.

He had been looking for a second attacker, a hidden knife. He had been thinking like a soldier. But his enemy was a devil. And a devil thinks in a way that is twisted, but also smart and awful. There was no second attacker. There was only Jager. And his target was not on the side or in the back. His target was the main person.

The High Priest turned to the bride. "And do you, Princess Arisa of Muramasa…"

In that perfect, holy, and completely unguarded moment, Jager moved.

It was not a physical move. He did not pull out a knife or use a magic spell. He just… smiled. A new smile. A smile of pure victory and total pride.

And behind Princess Amina, who was standing in a place of honor near the bride’s family, the air wiggled. A flicker of warped space, a tear in the world itself.

The hidden attack was about to happen. And Lloyd felt a cold certainty in his heart. He knew he was just a little too late to stop it. The king had planned a trap for his enemy, but the enemy was about to take someone important from the king's side.

Everything seemed to slow down. The High Priest’s voice, which had been loud and deep, stretched out into a long, strange sound that had no meaning. The happy, loud music from the orchestra became one long, strange note. The tiny bits of dust floating in the sunlight stopped in the air, like a frozen, sparkling galaxy.

For Lloyd Ferrum, time was no longer moving. It had become a set of still, clear, and terrible pictures.

Chapter : 1314

Picture one: The wiggle of warped air behind Princess Amina. It was a perfect, silent tear in the world, the sign of a master’s teleportation spell.

Picture two: Jager. He was no longer a bored noble in the crowd. He was a ghost-like figure made of shadows and metal appearing out of nowhere. He moved with a single, silent goal. His face had a proud and confident look of victory. His eyes shone with the cold, happy light of a hunter who had just caught its food.

Picture three: The blade. It was a thin knife made of black, evil metal. It was not made by a blacksmith but grown like a plant. A faint, wicked purple light swirled on its surface. It was a piece of an evil spirit's soul. It was a weapon made to destroy a person's spirit, not just their body. It was already moving. It was coming down in a silent, perfect, and unstoppable path toward Amina’s unprotected back. Her death was not just possible; it was something that was sure to happen. It was a result that was already decided in this frozen, awful moment.

The Royal Guards, who looked grand in their polished armor, were like statues. Their hands were only just starting to move toward their swords. Shock was just beginning to show on their faces. They were far too slow.

King Liam, a man with great power sitting on his throne, was also like a statue. But he was still for a different reason. He was like a master chess player who just saw his opponent make a surprising and brilliant move that ruined his whole game. For a split second, his eyes opened wide in pure, total shock. He had been beaten at his own game.

And Lloyd, watching from his high balcony, was like a helpless, screaming ghost. He was a hundred feet away, a distance he could not cross. His mind, which was like a super-computer that could think of a thousand things in a microsecond, saw only one result: failure. Amina, his partner, the woman who was as smart as he was, the woman who had seen the real person behind his masks, was about to be killed right in front of him.

Anger. A pure and very hot anger, an anger so strong it was like a force of nature. This anger burned away all his plans, all his thinking, and all his fear. It was the anger of a man who had lost too many people he cared about. It was the anger of a soldier who would not, and could not, give up.

The anger was like a key. It opened a door deep inside him. It was a door to a power he was only just starting to understand. It was a power he had never used this way before.

He did not think. He did not make a plan. He just acted.

He took a single, impossible step. It was not forward or to the side. He stepped outside of normal time and space. He stepped into the emptiness between worlds.

The world did not get blurry. It broke into pieces. The ceremony room disappeared into a spinning mess of blue light and broken, silent images of the world. For one long, endless moment that didn't really exist, he was everywhere and nowhere. He was like a pure thought, moving through a place between worlds.

And then, he was there.

He reappeared in the real world in a quiet burst of blue and white light. He was no longer on the balcony. He was on the platform, between Jager and Amina. He was a ghost who had just crossed an impossible distance in the time it takes for a heart to beat once.

His hand shot out with a speed that was not physical, but something beyond that. His fingers, made extra strong by his special power, grabbed Jager’s wrist. His grip was as tight as a metal clamp made from a star.

The black dagger stopped. It was an inch from Amina’s back.

The silence was complete.

The world suddenly returned to normal speed. The High Priest’s voice finished its sound. The orchestra's music finished its note. The bits of dust began to dance again.

And in the middle of it all, a new and impossible scene was now set. The hero, the villain, and the princess were locked in a perfect, silent, and world-changing triangle.

The look on Jager’s face was a perfect and priceless picture of total shock. His pride, his confidence, and everything he thought he knew had just been broken. What just happened should have been impossible according to the laws of magic and science.