Liam’s face twisted with resentnt as his glare fixed squarely on Ethan.
"I want—"
"No."
Ethan cut him off before he could finish, his tone blunt and final.
"I haven’t even said what I want yet!" Liam snapped, his voice sharp, his expression darkening.
Markham let out an unexpected snort of laughter. When Matriarch Whitmore turned her head, he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was done. The rest of the room looked utterly bewildered.
What was Ethan playing at? To everyone else, it looked like he was deliberately provoking Liam into pressing that detonator.
"Uh... sorry, go on." Ethan scratched the side of his head, dislodging a clump of dried mud from his hair.
"Hmph..."
Liam inhaled slowly, trying to steady himself. Ethan’s antics had rattled him more than he cared to admit, but after a pause he composed himself enough to continue.
"I want you to sign this agreent."
From inside his jacket, Liam produced a folder and flicked it toward Ethan with his left hand. Ethan caught it effortlessly, then tossed it behind him without even looking. It landed neatly in front of Lyla, who opened it and pulled out a stack of papers. Her eyes widened as she read the title on the cover, and the sa uneasy look spread across Leo, and the others.
Lyla hesitated, then carried the docunt to Ethan.
"Hah... is that all? So you’re just Zachary Steele’s errand boy." Ethan laughed openly, his tone dripping with scorn.
On the cover, in bold print, were the words: Ethereal – Renegade Alliance Guild Transfer Agreent.
One glance was all Ethan needed. He understood the contents perfectly. He also knew exactly whose na would appear on the receiving end.
---
Thousands of miles away, in Ember City, a lavishly decorated bar sat quietly beneath neon lights.
In a private suite on the top floor, two n and a woman sat together in silence. None of them spoke, waiting for soone. Eventually, the door opened.
An old man shuffled inside, stooped beneath a heavy gray robe. His hood cast his face in shadow. The three in the room imdiately stood.
"Master."
If Ethan had been there, he would have recognized one of them instantly. Henry Joe—the sa man Ethan had once seen while buying his VR Capsule, one of the culprits behind Jade Taylor’s death. At that ti, he had been referred to as Damien by the girl he was with.
The gray-robed elder gave a slight nod, more a twitch of his hood than a gesture. Henry turned to introduce the young man beside him.
"This is Zachary Steele, eldest son of the Steele Consortium, the one I told you about."
The elder responded only with a sharp exhale through his nose and lowered himself onto the sofa. Zachary and Henry exchanged a brief glance before sitting as well. The woman slipped out, only to return monts later with a tray of food and drinks.
Ethan would have recognized her too. His ex-girlfriend, Ivy.
According to Lars’s reports, Ivy had been discarded by Zachary long ago and reduced to working in seedy nightclubs. But this scene revealed that story for the lie it was. Everything had been staged—a carefully arranged ruse to connect her with Liam. What other parts of her involvent remained hidden, no one yet knew.
Ethan had encountered the gray-robed elder once before. It was when Markham had tracked Henry Joe’s energy. Ethan, ignoring Markham’s warning to retreat, had spread his Soul Sense across the building. The backlash ca instantly: Ghostlie Parasites swarming under the elder’s command. Ethan barely survived. By the ti the elder revealed himself, Markham had already carried Ethan’s unconscious body to safety. That ambush had forced Ethan to pour all his remaining Soul Power into his Mindscape, condensing the Twilight War Spear.
Now, with these four gathered, their purpose could only be sinister.
---
Back in the Silverwood family’s Hidden Territory, Liam seed strangely calm despite Ethan’s taunts. Holding the detonator aloft, he gave a cold chuckle.
"A man’s got to live for himself, right? This is the last ti I’ll ever be anyone’s dog. It’s just a guild in a ga. Trading it for the lives of so many people seems fair enough."
"You’re not wrong about that," Ethan replied casually.
A pen appeared in his hand as if from nowhere. Without even scanning the contents, he flipped to the last page of the agreent and scrawled his guild na—NotADruid—followed by his own. Then, with a flick, he sent the folder sailing back to Liam.
The sight of Ethan’s signature hit the others like a knife to the gut. Lyla, Victor, Leo, Williams, Celia—all of them looked stricken. Renegade Alliance wasn’t just a guild. It was Ethan’s creation, and they had all bled and fought to build it alongside him. To watch him sign it away so casually left them reeling.
"Alright," Ethan said grimly, "you’ve got what you want. Now get out."
Liam tucked the folder inside his jacket with an eager glint in his eye. "Do you take for an idiot? I’ll wait until the servers reopen and the transfer is complete. Then I’ll leave."
"Fine," Ethan said coolly. "By the way, how much did Zachary pay you for your life? Enough to play this little ga?"
"A price you couldn’t possibly afford."
"I couldn’t afford it?" Ethan raised a brow. "Then what do you call this?"
He swept his arm out, and in an instant, a massive translucent structure appeared, roughly twenty cubic ters in size. It shimred brilliantly, composed of perfect one-ter cubes.
Everyone froze.
Liam squinted, dazzled by the glow. The first thought to cross their minds was ice. Then crystal. Then—
"Holy hell, don’t tell that’s diamonds," Williams blurted out.
Ethan almost turned to give him a thumbs-up. He thought privately, ’Leave it to the married man to recognize the expensive stuff.’
But before he could respond, Leo piped up. "Are you stupid? You ever seen a diamond the size of a car? Let alone twenty of them?"
Williams instantly backpedaled, leaving Ethan half-turned in exasperation.
"Hmph. A pile of broken glass? Do you take for a fool?" Liam sneered.
Ethan bit back the urge to shout that they really were diamonds. Of course, Leo was right. Diamonds that size didn’t exist on Earth—at least, not naturally.
"Fine. Call it glass if you want. But what about this?"
With another wave of his hand, the ground thundered as a golden mountain slamd into existence. The earth shook three tis beneath its weight.
"Pfft... boss really has lost it," Leo muttered. "First he throws out a pile of glass, now he dumps brass all over the place."
Ethan finally snapped. "Would it kill you to shut up for once?"
Leo flinched at the sudden outburst. Still, as Ethan turned away, he muttered under his breath, "If that’s gold, then I’ll stand on my head and eat dirt. Who even has this much gold? Did you rob the treasury or sothing?"
His voice was quiet, but not quiet enough. Every person there heard him.
Victor smirked. "Sounds like your ’eating dirt while standing on your head’ might actually happen."
Leo froze. Following Victor’s gaze, realization dawned—and he instantly wanted to slap himself across the face.
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