"I want her!!"
Saint Childers's frenzied, hideous laughter echoed through the eerily silent street.
Gion and her partner's faces instantly drained of color.
Just then, a man covered in dirt and grime shoved his way through the packed crowd of kneeling people. He stumbled forward and dropped to his knees before Saint Childers with a thud.
He yanked his daughter toward him and shielded her behind his back, his face deathly pale as he stammered,
"S-Sir, I'm sorry. My daughter got in your way. I'll take her away right now."
Seeing the terror on her father's face, the little girl named Lia finally realized she had done something wrong. Her small face went pale, and she clutched her father's clothes tightly.
"Got in my way? No, no, she didn't get in my way at all."
Saint Childers gave a strange, mocking chuckle, his sickened gaze never leaving the little girl.
"This is your daughter, right? Hmm, very nice."
"From today on, your daughter will be blessed with the greatest fortune of her life: she'll become the eighteenth wife of the great Saint Childers!! Hahahahaha!!"
At those words, the middle-aged man's legs gave way, and his eyes widened.
He frantically knocked his head against the ground, his eyes bloodshot as he cried,
"Please, Saint Childers, don't take my daughter away."
"She's the only family I have left in this world."
Thud, thud, thud...
The sound of the man's forehead striking the ground was painfully clear. He hit it so hard that a faint smear of blood appeared on the pavement.
Behind him, the little girl was so terrified she couldn't make a sound. Tears the size of beans slid from her eyes.
Saint Childers gave an annoyed snort, then planted his foot on the back of the man's head and snarled,
"What's wrong? You're unwilling?"
"My choosing your daughter is the greatest honor your family could ever receive. You should be grateful!!"
"Do you know how many people across these seas would love to marry their daughters to the great, holy, and noble Celestial Dragons?"
"Your daughter will become my wife, and you'll enjoy a lifetime without want and live like one of the upper class!"
The Celestial Dragon's foot ground the man's face into the pavement, scraping it bloody and leaving it twisted.
The man let out a hoarse cry, struggling to force a smile.
"Saint Childers... I'm grateful for your offer, but Lia is still so young. I only want to live in peace with her."
Saint Childers flew into a rage and kicked the man hard in the face.
The man rolled several meters away. His face swelled at once, and blood gushed from his mouth.
"Dad..."
The little girl finally burst into tears.
Gion's face turned rigid with fury. She instinctively gripped the hilt at her waist.
Her partner gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
The civilians around them knelt, trembling. They dared neither show their anger nor speak, their hearts heavy with sorrow.
The Celestial Dragons were descendants of nineteen of the twenty kings who had founded the World Government 800 years ago. They called themselves "descendants of the creators" and enjoyed every privilege.
They wielded absolute power. Any action that dared to defy or oppose them would bring the World Government's ruthless retaliation.
If one of them was offended, a Marine Admiral or CP0 had to be dispatched to protect them.
The fact that a Celestial Dragon had taken an interest in the little girl was no good thing.
The Celestial Dragons' obsessive, perverse, and twisted natures were no secret across these seas. They made no effort to hide them, either.
They called their captives "wives," but in reality, they were nothing more than playthings.
The Celestial Dragons, who saw everyone else as vermin and ants, didn't care whether their playthings lived or died.
In most cases, once someone became a Celestial Dragon's plaything, death became their greatest wish.
The little girl was going to become Saint Childers's eighteenth wife... So where had his first seventeen wives gone?
The answer was obvious.
"Hahahahaha! Come on, let's go back to the Holy Land of Mary Geoise."
Saint Childers didn't even glance at the man lying there, bleeding from the mouth. Laughing, he strode toward the little girl, about to reach out to her.
"No! You're a bad person!! I won't go with you!!"
Tears filled the little girl's eyes. She bit Saint Childers's hand as hard as she could, then wrested herself free.
Saint Childers cried out in pain, but his eyes only grew more excited.
"That's it. That look in your eyes... What a wonderful look."
He licked the corner of his mouth and smiled with satisfaction at the little girl, who was struggling to be brave.
She was terrified, her face pale, yet still stubbornly fighting back... It was thrilling.
What a fascinating experience. He probably wouldn't get bored of it for a long time.
"Bring her here. Be careful not to hurt her, or I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs."
He gave the two CP agents behind him a vicious grin as he issued the order.
The agents didn't hesitate. They moved quickly, closing in on the little girl from all sides.
"Damn it!! No!!"
The man, who had fallen to the ground, finally caught his breath. His eyes bloodshot, he struggled to his feet and charged at Saint Childers with a furious roar.
One of the CP agents stepped forward and drove a heavy punch into his stomach.
The man doubled over, his eyes bulging as if he were choking.
He slowly crumpled to the ground, blood spilling from his mouth.
"What an ungrateful fool..."
A flash of impatience crossed Saint Childers's savage gaze. He suddenly pulled out a golden pistol.
"Damn it!" her partner cursed, bending his knees.
Gion tightened her grip on the hilt at her waist.
Just as the two were about to spring into action,
a figure suddenly appeared between them like a ghost. One hand pressed down on her partner's shoulder, while the other held Gion's sword in place, forcing them back.
Gion and her partner froze. Before they could react, their pupils suddenly contracted, bloodshot veins spreading through them.
"Die!! You worthless vermin!!"
Saint Childers laughed viciously,
as the man stared at him in despair,
as the little girl screamed in anguish,
and pulled the trigger.
Bang!!
The gunshot rang out.
The world fell utterly silent.
Everyone's eyes widened.
The CP agents froze.
Saint Childers froze.
The man and the little girl froze, too.
A faint hum rang out in front of the man, as if something had been suppressed to its breaking point.
He knelt there, staring blankly, his breathing stopped.
A bullet spun at tremendous speed just before his brow, trembling and humming.
It hung motionless in midair.
As if some strange force had trapped it in the void.
One second,
two seconds,
three seconds,
"Damn it!! Who the hell did that?!"
Saint Childers roared in fury, veins bulging across his forehead.
A figure with a deep, terrifying presence slowly emerged from among the Marines.
He had short black hair, deep-set features, and sharply defined, cold lines to his face, like the sheer face of a cliff.
He was extraordinarily tall, nearly three meters in height.
A broad, snow-white coat billowed behind him despite the still air.
He walked to the man, dazed and covered in blood, and plucked the bullet from the air.
Then he turned,
his towering frame looming over Saint Childers like a mountain, bearing down on him with terrifying pressure.
The black-haired Marine looked down at the Celestial Dragon before him.
Only after Saint Childers could no longer suppress his fear and unconsciously stepped back half a pace
did the Marine smile and say,
"I'm the North Blue Admiral, the highest-ranking Marine officer in North Blue, Marine Headquarters Colonel Darren. It's an honor to meet you, Saint Childers."
Before you continue