The Blood Queen Jezeneth… had lost?
The wave of shock that spread throughout the onlookers was immense.
It wasn!t only the grand elders, even the human paragons were shellshocked. To think that goofy man was that strong.
The battle between the human paragons and the grand elders had paused, waves of emotions settling in. Neither party knew just what to do next. They had been battling with the intent to kill earlier, but now the situation had changed.
Both Whisker and Jezeneth were beings capable of changing the dynamics of the battle. Should either of them intervene now, their side would claim victory.
And from the current scene, it wasn't difficult to tell who the victor was.
Only Atticus had a smile on his face as he stared at the scene. At this point, he didn't even know how to feel about the beast anymore. While he had been battling Elderish, he had wanted to teach Whisker a lesson, but now that he had come to help him…
He simply shook his head as he, along with all the others, focused on Whisker.
It was a tremendous feat. Striking down the Blood Queen Jezeneth? It was the kind of achievement that would engrave one's name into the history books.
Yet, as the blue-haired man hovered just above the epicenter of the impact, he appeared so casual and peaceful it seemed as though he was taking a leisurely stroll.
He smiled as he fixed his gaze downward.
The haze began to clear.
There, in the middle of a crater so vast and deep it was akin to a scar carved by the gods themselves, knelt the figure of a woman who radiated a coldness so intense that the air around her seemed frozen.
Streams of blood-like energy pulsed from the impact site, radiating with deadly intensity.
She knelt on one knee. Her once-pristine armor was battered, smeared with blackened blood, and cracks spread across its surface like fractured glass.
Her abyssal black eyes pierced through the distance, locking directly onto Whisker as he hovered in the air.
Her entire body vibrated.
Not with power. No, this was something else. It was from the overwhelming surge of rage coursing through her.
Jezeneth was angry. She was seething.
The humiliation. The embarrassment. This was an event she would never forget for the rest of her life.
A human trash had dared…
Her gaze burned with a rage so intense it was almost visible.
She didn't care to think about how a human could be that strong. She didn't care to wonder how a child was beating the strongest paragons of her race.
That expression…
The casual, carefree expression on Whisker's face. The way he gazed down at her, staring as though she were beneath him.
At this moment, the only thing the Blood Queen Jezeneth cared about was obliterating that expression from existence.
"You—"
Before she could finish, Whisker suddenly cut her off, his smile undisturbed as he tilted his head slightly, as though scrutinizing her.
"Even covered in blood and bruises, you're still hot, Jezy."
The silence that gripped the area was deafening.
So was the shock.
Was this really happening? Did he really just give the Blood Queen Jezeneth a nickname!?
Whisker's smile widened as he shamelessly continued.
"Gotta admit, I've got a thing for women who make my heart race. Look, let's skip the whole blood feud thing and just have some fun. I promise you the world. Heck, as a start, you can call me Pounce," he finished with a wink.
'This beast has a talent for pushing people's buttons,' Ozeroth muttered in Atticus's head.
'Let's just be happy we're not on the receiving end,' Atticus tried hard to hold back his laughter as he responded.
Ozeroth scoffed. 'No one dares treat the great Ozeroth with such disrespect. I would have gone to the ends of the universe to kill him.'
'He's stronger than you,' Atticus replied nonchalantly.
'That's only because I'm bonded with you!'
'Doesn't change the fact,' Atticus said with an amused shrug.
Ozeroth went silent for a moment before muttering under his breath, 'Annoying little brat.'
It was clear he wasn't enjoying the idea of Whisker being stronger than him. Atticus simply shook his head and refocused on the unfolding scene.
Jezeneth audibly exhaled. Her body had stopped trembling, and surprisingly, the blood-red energy emanating from the crater had also ceased.
But this wasn't because her anger had disappeared. In fact, it had only intensified.
Jezeneth's rage had reached such an intensity that she no longer showed it in her expression. Her face was placid, her abyssal black eyes shockingly calm as they locked onto Whisker.
Slowly, she rose from her kneeling position, the cracks in her abyssal black blood armor repairing themselves.
The atmosphere became unnaturally still. It wasn't cold. It wasn't hot. Just… still.
All eyes were on her, waiting to see what she would do next. Jezeneth was known as a no-nonsense ruler, someone who had gone on slaughters and rampages for far less.
But it was obvious the Vampyros were losing. What would her next move be?
Her lips parted, her voice carrying across the battlefield.
"You… you humans have forgotten your place."
She didn't shout. She didn't need to. Every word was effortless, yet it reverberated deep into the hearts of everyone.
The still air began to change, its weight rising.
"…I promise you, I will turn your arrogance into screams, your defiance into rivers of blood. I will tear apart everything you hold dear and ensure your suffering is eternal."
Her words carried a weight of their own, hanging in the air and suffocating the battlefield.
The stillness broke.
The air quaked. The ground trembled. The sky darkened as her aura erupted outward in a cataclysmic surge.
BOOM!
Her abyssal black energy exploded, flooding the entire battlefield. The black aura surged outward, painting the sky black and staining the land with its oppressive glow. It was suffocating, primal, overwhelming.
Every breath became a struggle.
Her voice, now louder, boomed across the battlefield.
"Grand Elders of the Vampyros race!"
The earth shook. The skies echoed her call.
The blood-red energy surrounding the Vampyros elders erupted violently. Their crimson auras flared, swirling around their bodies like living storms.
Their expressions hardened, their gazes locking on Jezeneth with absolute reverence.
They awaited the word of their queen.
Jezeneth's voice carried authority so absolute it seemed to reverberate through existence itself.
"From this moment on—"
The expressions of Atticus and the human paragons changed violently.
This…
They didn't know how to react to this.