"Kill him!"
The Celestial Dragon Ari's voice exploded in the Duke's ears, deafening him.
He looked up in terror at the furious face of the Celestial Dragon riding on the King's head.
Then he looked at Norton's calm expression, as though thunder were brewing beneath that stillness.
This is bad!
We're doomed!
If the two sides came to blows, there was no telling what would happen. That was a Celestial Dragon. If anything happened to him, the entire country might be destroyed!
The Duke swallowed, forced down his fear, and shakily rose to his feet.
"Your Excellency, please calm down..."
The Celestial Dragon Ari turned his gaze toward the Duke.
"Hey, who is this guy?" Ari kicked the King beneath him.
"A duke ennobled by my late father, Saint Ari," the King replied with a fawning smile.
"So he's just one of your dogs. If I hadn't known, I'd have thought he was one of the God's Knights, telling me to calm down!"
Ari's expression turned terrifying. His dim-witted face looked like a demon's now.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!"
The Duke staggered back in fright and nearly fell, but Funing caught him just in time.
Sensing Ari's anger, the King hurriedly told the Duke, "My loyal subject, apologize to Saint Ari at once!"
The Duke swallowed and immediately dropped to his knees. The courage he had struggled to muster crumbled under the Celestial Dragon's gaze.
"I meant no offense, Your Excellency! No offense!" the Duke apologized over and over.
"Dad..." Funing looked up at the Duke with worry. She had never seen him so terrified. In her eyes, her father had always been dependable and composed.
"Hmm? Who is she?" Ari suddenly noticed Funing's beautiful face.
"The Duke's daughter, Saint Ari," the King answered. "She built the White Pearl."
"Oh?!" Saint Ari's eyes lit up. "That unlucky girl who keeps building cursed ships?"
"Uh, yes." The King gave the Duke an awkward look.
"Quite a collector's item! And beautiful, too! It's settled! She'll be my sixth wife!" Ari announced with a laugh.
The Duke's expression changed instantly. He sprang to his feet and shielded Funing behind him. "No! Your Excellency, you cannot do that!"
"Well..." The King hesitated too.
"Hmm?" Ari kicked the King out from under him. "Don't you want the right to attend the Reverie anymore?"
"Of course I do!" the King hastily replied.
Hadn't he sacrificed his dignity and played mount for the Celestial Dragon precisely to secure a seat at the Reverie?
"Then offer me both the White Pearl and this unlucky girl! Once I return to the Holy Land, I'll submit your application to the Five Elders right away!" Ari said.
"Really?" The King was overjoyed. Ignoring the Duke's pleading expression, he said, "Saint Ari, please take Funing with you! It would be her honor to become your wife!"
"No! Your Majesty! You cannot do this! I will never agree..." the Duke said urgently, unconsciously moving toward the Celestial Dragon and the King.
Funing tried to hold the Duke back, but Nami grabbed her arm.
"Don't go over there!"
Funing froze and turned toward Nami, only to hear a gunshot the next second!
Bang!
The Duke fell at the sound of the gunshot, but it wasn't the bullet that brought him down.
Norton ground the bullet between his fingers into powder, then looked at the Duke under the Celestial Dragon's astonished gaze. "I've saved your life again."
The Duke was ashen-faced. Between the crushing weight of power and the threat of death, he had been frightened out of his wits.
Lifting her skirt, Funing went to the Duke and helped him up. "Dad, are you all right?"
"I'm fine..." The Duke gripped Funing's arm with a trembling hand and murmured, "Run! Funing, flee to the Sea!"
Only the Sea lay beyond the reach of the Celestial Dragons' power.
Seeing her father driven out of his mind by fear, Funing glared angrily at the Celestial Dragon. "You ugly freak! I'm not marrying you! I hate you!"
The King's expression changed. "Funing! Don't be rude! Marrying Saint Ari would be a blessing! Saint Ari is a Celestial Dragon, one of the world's nobles!"
"You've disappointed me terribly, Your Majesty!" Funing stared coldly at the King. "I won't marry this ugly freak, and I won't hand over the White Pearl to you either!"
Nami was secretly astonished. She hadn't expected such courage to lie beneath Funing's seemingly sweet, airheaded exterior.
The courage to denounce the world's nobles was something even Funing's father, the Duke, had never possessed.
"Well said!" Norton applauded with a smile.
"What did you say?!" Ari's face flushed with rage as he ground his teeth. "I've changed my mind! I'm going to kill every last one of you!"
"Mongula!"
"At your service." The CP0 agent wearing the Black Chrysanthemum Mask bowed slightly.
"Kill that silver-haired man, and the Duke too! Leave the white-haired girl and the orange-haired woman alive. I'll torture them to death myself!" Ari said viciously.
"Saint Ari, if word spreads that you arbitrarily executed a country's high-ranking noble, it may damage the World Government's reputation," the CP0 agent in the Black Chrysanthemum Mask said quietly.
"Are you defying me too, Mongula?!" the Celestial Dragon panted.
"No. I meant that we should kill everyone who witnessed this, to prevent any leaks." As he spoke, the CP0 agent in the Black Chrysanthemum Mask looked at the King.
The King shuddered in terror. "I won't tell anyone! Please dispose of these people however you wish!"
The CP0 agent in the Black Chrysanthemum Mask withdrew his gaze. "What do you think, Saint Ari?"
"What a bother. Just kill them all, then! Every last one!" Saint Ari waved impatiently. "Remember to leave those two women alive! I'll torture them to death myself!"
Nami went pale and hid behind Norton in fear.
The King's face turned even whiter. He scrambled to his feet to flee.
The CP0 agent in the Black Chrysanthemum Mask suddenly vanished. A second later, the King's head hit the ground before he could even scream.
The CP0 agent in the Black Chrysanthemum Mask licked the blood from his fingers and let out a chilling laugh. So this was what a king's blood tasted like.
The King's head rolled to the Duke's feet.
The Duke opened his mouth, his mind utterly blank. His legs were too weak to support him, and nothing but fear remained in his eyes as he looked at the Celestial Dragon and the CP0 agent.
This had gone far beyond anything the Duke had anticipated.
"Mongula, you sick bastard. All those excuses-you just wanted to kill a few more people, didn't you?" Ari smiled too. "Bringing you along was the right choice. Now I get another good show!"
The CP0 agent in the Black Chrysanthemum Mask was named Mongula. Even among CP0, he was an outlier for his bloodlust.
Ari had not informed his family of this unauthorized trip to the Lower World, so he had brought only a small entourage.
But with Mongula there, Ari had no concerns about his safety.
Because Mongula was terrifyingly strong!
Ari didn't mind Mongula's little schemes. Though cruel, Mongula was loyal enough. Everyone in Mary Geoise acknowledged that.
The Duke grabbed Funing, turned, and ran!
"What do we do now?" Nami peeked out from behind Norton, her face just as pale.
A country's sovereign had died right before her eyes. Nami had never witnessed anything so shocking in her life!
"What do we do?" Norton looked at Mongula as he slowly approached, a wild, arrogant grin spreading across his face.
"Fight, of course!"
"Then I'm off, Norton!" Nami was already far away, waving and shouting her farewell.