Feeling the aura oozing out of her, the body of every creature, humanoid or beast, trembled from the deepest of instincts.

With a snap of her fingers, the dangerous poison that would trouble most rank 9s popped like a soap bubble.

This dumbfounded not only the beasts but also the guardians.

Such strength was possessed by only a few people. And this woman...she stood at the pinnacle of rank 9! Why did she come here today? Did the stars bless them with fortune in their misfortune?

Ignoring them, Miss Calamity turned to the beasts and said in a hurried and blunt tone. "Get back to your choices. Or I'll beat you back."

It was if the dozens of powerful beasts meant nothing to her. And that she alone was enough to beat them.

But if she could so casually neutralize that poison…

The mastermind frog struggled to open its mouth under her overwhelming presence.

However, it was the beast-shaped creature that opened its mouth. "O-Orcs are never slaves!"

Miss Calamity eyes narrowed and she swiped her finger in the air. A wisp of aura floated from the beast and entered a spinning crystal that suddenly appeared in front of her.

Once the aura entered, a large screen appeared in front of her.

[Revas Ilionar

Sentencted to death for assulating and killing his blood mother, brother's wife and own daughter.

But the mistake he made was trying to drug and force an Empire's envoy, unaware of her true identity.

He tried to buy his way out with his rank 9 status but it didn't work.]

With each of her word, the beast-headed creature's face turned purple and black before it slammed itself against the ground.

The gazes of the beasts looking at it changed.

Miss Calamity then turned to the mastermind frog.

[Ohiku Yoft

Betrayed his own comrades on the battlefield and used them as shields to survive a dangerous battle.

Then, he played it out as a heroic struggle, describing himself as a leader who watched his team die despite his best efforts.

He exploited the fame and enjoyed a happy life of 1,000 years. When the truth was exposed, he was sentenced to execution.]

The Frog's huge body began to tremble.

Miss Calamity glanced at the creature with disgust and then glanced at the remaining beasts. "Should I go on?"

Instinctively, the beasts all took a step backward.

"The Empire isn't dumb to waste military power such as rank 9s in the lab of a kingdom.

How the Pala kingdom views you is none of its issue. But wasting rank 9s is.

The reason you weren't executed right away and were sold to this place means it is approved by the Empire.

Yes, everyone of you here recieved a death penalty because you committed heinous crimes. Crimes so heinous that even your rank 9 value cannot save you.

So, stop pretending to be innocents and fuck off to your cages. Or I'll break you piece by piece and put you together back in the cave. Your call."

The morale of the beasts—their reason for taking the risk and going against adversity—vanished. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝒘𝙚𝓫𝒏𝙤𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝒎

As they looked at each other once again, the beasts no longer saw 'comrades' but creatures there equally or more hideous than themselves. A sense of disgust rose from the bottom of their hearts.

The beast-headed creature slowly stood up and began to walk back to his locked up facility.

"Crawl!"

Miss Calamity's thunderous voice rang in his ear and before he knew it, he was, indeed crawling.

Following him, most of the beasts began to slowly crawl forward.

A few resisted with defiant eyes.

"I couldn't care less about these stupid laws! Why should rank 9s like us be subject to the laws of these puny beings?" One of them roared.

"Puny, you say." Miss Calamity's lips curled into a cold smile. "To the Empire, you aren't significantly different from a rank 1. You are all puny. This is the law of the empire. If you really believe you have what it takes to opposite the empire, be my guest."

A dreadful silence filled the air. Then, sighs of resignation and despair were released. With the final straw of their hopes crushed, all the beasts returned to their cages.

Miss Calamity maintained her presence until the guardians recovered to a certain degree.

"Thank you so much!"

"We didn't know you came here in disguise! Forgive us for not treating you with proper respect."

"Could your highness allow us the honor to properly host you in our humbe laboratory?"

Facing the unceasing flatteries of the old men and women, Miss Calamity frowned in displeasure. "If only you guys weren't so useless, I wouldn't have wasted this long here!"

Before they could reply to her words, she disappeared in front of their eyes and appeared above the X1 facility.

This was the place where the recent aura fluctuations came from. One of the aura belonged to Zara Woz.

And the other Telor but it was more unrestrained compared to the usual times, as if he was using his full strength.

She effortlessly broke the restrictions and went in.

Except for an academy uniform, there was nothing related to people here!

Zara Woz, Samatv and that mysterious man—all disappeared!

"Wait a minute…"

Miss Calamity clenched her fists as she realized that two of the three storage discs—the pinnacle materials of the lab—were missing.

Before she could give it some thought, bits of aura that was accidentally caught up in between barriers of the security system caught her eye.

She broke it with plain hands and noticed the aura once again. That man's aura in its most unrestrained form.

Miss Calamity thought long and hard about where she encountered this aura. As she rummaged through all the auras she encountered in the last 100 years for the third time.

And suddenly, a name struck her.

It was purely accidental as she was just going through the name of every person she knew in the century.

But once the name appeared—

"No way…"

Her eyes widened.

"C-Constantine!"