The air in the shattered restaurant seed to quiver as Max, scales still glinting gold and black over his skin, strode out of the debris and stared straight at June, whose elegant green robes and delicate face belied the sharp frost glinting in her eyes as she flicked a dismissive glance at him and tilted her chin ever so slightly, voice dripping with cold disdain.
"You’re still alive?" she said, as though his survival were so vile inconvenience rather than a miracle, and Max’s own face twisted with suppressed fury, his jaw clenched tight as he shot back, voice low and trembling with rage, "I want to ask why Miss June attacked ."
He could still feel the searing pain of her blow, and it burned hotter than any wound that this woman, beautiful as a star yet cruel as an executioner, had tried to end him without a shred of hesitation, her fist strike carrying lethal force that would have pulverized his insides if not for the protection of his draconic scales.
From the side, Frank stepped forward, eyes bulging with offended pride as he snapped, "How dare you, a nobody, question her?" but Max didn’t even glance at him, his eyes locked on June like blades honed for slaughter, making Frank’s face darken with a mix of fury and humiliation, his fists shaking as he hissed.
"Since you’re still alive after being hit by Miss June’s attack, I’ll kill you myself!" Yet before Frank could step closer, June lazily waved her slender hand, stopping him, her gaze never leaving Max as she spoke in that soft, musical voice that sohow managed to scrape against one’s bones like ice, "This eting was arranged by , so I had to ensure nobody died here."
Max let out a harsh laugh, rage and anger swirling in his eyes as he sneered, "Nobody dies here? Then why didn’t you make a move when Julio tried to kill ? Why were you just sitting there like so high-and-mighty goddess watching fight for my life? Where did your so-called sense of responsibility go when he wanted to kill ?"
His words were sharp, each one a dagger flung into June’s perfect composure, her lovely face darkening as his voice grew louder, slicing through the tense silence of the hall.
"What? Cat got your tongue?" Max mocked, glaring at her as if trying to see through to the rotten core beneath her pretty facade. "Since you claim you arranged this eting, why didn’t you lift a finger to stop Julio from trying to kill ? Or is it because you only value the lives of the Seven Overlord Forces and think the rest of us are worthless insects? Is that it?"
He leaned closer, voice dropping into a deadly growl. "And on top of that, you delivered a killing blow on . You could’ve just tried to subdue so I’d release Julio. But no, you went straight for my life. That wasn’t protection, that was assassination."
As Max’s accusations hung heavy in the air, June’s eyes glittered like shards of frozen eralds, her voice frosty as a winter wind as she spat back, "How could your life possibly compare to Julio’s? He’s useful for the secret cave expedition, and he’s from the Thunder Monarch Hall—one of the forces I personally invited. As soone I invited, I must take responsibility for him."
Max snorted, contempt pouring off him in waves as he demanded coldly, "I see. So why the need for the killing blow? You could have ordered to let him go. I might have listened, knowing I’d have to face a 5th level Legend Rank genius. But no—you tried to kill outright. What a cold-hearted woman you are under that pretty face."
His words stabbed at her pride, and June’s lips thinned, her eyes flashing with sothing dark and vicious as she declared, "You’re not qualified to know the reason why I struck to kill you," her body beginning to glow faintly with blue light like a coiling serpent ready to strike.
Max laughed then, harsh and scornful, his voice ringing through the hall like iron striking stone, "So there’s the truth—a bitch hiding behind a pretty face. A cold-hearted bitch."
The insult cracked through the air like a whip, and June’s face contorted in fury, her eyes blazing as she scread, "You! How dare you call a bitch?!" while those gathered around held their breath, sensing that the storm swirling between these two titans was only growing darker and more deadly by the second.
Frank’s voice bood across the wrecked restaurant, trembling with rage as he roared, "How dare you call Miss June such words?!"
But Max only cast him and everyone else a cold, disdainful glance before his body vanished in a blur so sudden it seed he’d simply dissolved into thin air; and before the stunned crowd could so much as blink, a black flaming claw, wreathed in dark infernal flas, burst out through Julio’s chest, erging slick and glistening on the other side as Julio’s eyes widened in a silent, shocked scream, the Phantom Devour Claw having struck true and ruthless, ending his life in a single, rciless blow.
The entire hall seed to freeze in that instant as blood dripped in eerie silence, until the spell broke with howls of horror.
"No! Julio!"
"How dare you!"
Furious voices erupting from all sides as the reality sank in that Julio—just saved monts ago by June’s intervention—now lay dead at Max’s hand, his body slumping lifelessly forward, blood soaking into the cracked floor.
Josh’s face twisted into sothing monstrous, shock and rage blending together as he pointed a shaking finger at Max, voice cracking, "You killed him?! unable to comprehend that Max had not only dared strike but had actually killed Julio, a peak Champion Rank genius of the Thunder Monarch Hall, right under the collective noses of the seven overlord forces gathered there.
Scott, beside him, stood rigid with disbelief, his eyes wide as he whispered hoarsely, "We...we didn’t even see him move..." but his words were cut off as Josh bellowed in a voice trembling with fury, "You killed him!" and his sword erupted into blazing purple lightning, arcs of savage energy dancing wildly as he lunged forward, howling, "Die!" unleashing a fearso lightning arc that slashed through the air like a blade of divine judgnt.
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