The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master's voice responded loudly in everyone's ears. Suddenly, their excitement over Jiao Mei's position dimmed.
The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master was furious. His gaze panned across his own disciples, but he only saw clueless looks on their faces. Soon enough though, his eyes crossed a boy whose head was hung in shame.
"Look at me." He commanded. The boy shakily obeyed his direction. If he didn't, he would surely die.
"Tell me what happened before I force it out of you." The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master continued.
The boy's body trembled in fear. He didn't want to say what he witnessed. He was terrified of the consequences. Yet, if he didn't speak, he'd be punished worse!
Realizing this, he hesitantly opened his mouth. "S-senior brother Marcus is…he is dead."
The disciple didn't speak loudly, but his words reached the ears of everyone around him. Hearing them, the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master froze.
"You said…he died?"
The disciple nodded fearfully. "Y-yes. Senior brother took a strike from terrifying silver lightning to save us. Afterwards, we didn't see him at all, even before entering the next trial."
"Nonsense!" The Palace Master roared. "Marcus wouldn't die from a mere bolt of lightning! Who are you trying to save with your lies?!"
"I swear on my life that I am not lying! But…I also think Senior Brother shouldn't have died! My fellow sect brothers who were with me can attest, when Senior Brother was struck, the only one near him was…the Eclipse Princess!"
The disciple hatefully glared at Jiao Mei. It was only a suspicion at first, but now that Jiao Mei had achieved such wondrous results in the Mystic Realm, his guess was all but confirmed!
The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master's gaze coldly turned to Jiao Mei. His domineering awareness covered her body and examined her internal situation.
'This lightning energy…'
The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master's eyes hardened. With the strength he sensed from Jiao Mei, it wouldn't be impossible for her to kill Marcus, especially with the Mystic Realm's aid.
"You vile woman…you dare kill my sect's young patriarch?!"
A towering aura spread and covered the square, enveloping Jiao Mei within.
"Keuk…!"
She coughed out a mouthful of blood and fell to her knees, pale. The pressure placed on her was far more than she could bear! She would surely die if the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master didn't stop!
"Mas…ter…" she struggled to speak. Her desperate gaze landed on the Eclipse Sect Master, begging for his help.
However, he merely sighed and turned his head away. The Heavenly Jewel Palace ruled the Dawn World. Rebelling against them was futile.
It was just a shame that he'd lose such a talented genius.
"Hmph." The Palace Master scoffed upon seeing this interaction. "Do you realize the weight of your sins?! Since you felt that Marcus deserved death, I'll allow you to join him in the afterlife!"
The Palace Master's aura exploded! In that instant, the square shattered to pieces and Jiao Mei's body flew back with immense force, blood leaking from her orifices.
Jiao Mei wanted to cry. This pain was terrible. If she hadn't tempered her body in the Mystic Realm, she would've died already.
Still, she was going to die in a few seconds anyway, so her improvements hardly mattered.
She smiled wryly to herself as she realized this. She was the only one who knew the truth of that incident, that Damien was the true perpetrator. She also knew that Damien definitely had the power to contend with these sect masters.
Yet, she didn't pin the blame on him. He was the one who showed her the wider world she desired and gave her a proper goal to aspire to. Even if she had to die to protect him, it wouldn't be enough to repay the gratitude she felt.
At least, because of him, she achieved the dream she'd held for so long, and surpassed it by leaps and bounds. For her, this was enough.
The smile on her face turned wholesome. She regretted dying young, she regretted not being able to fulfill her ambitions, she regretted not being able to see him one more time. But if she had to die here for his sake, she would do so with grace.
The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master raised his hand. The ground around Jiao Mei began to move as if it were alive, swallowing her.
But before she could be swallowed whole…
"Yeah, let's not do that."
A casual voice rang out, dispersing the surrounding pressure. Jiao Mei's body vanished and reappeared far away amidst a cluster of golden light.
At the same time, the Dimensional Leaderboard in the sky began to shine with splendiferous light. It was Heaven and Earth compared to the reaction Jiao Mei induced.
The audience, who had yet to adapt to the first sudden change of events, was dazed beyond belief. Even the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master halted his attack in shock.
Innumerable eyes locked onto the massive scroll in the sky. Whether it was the 1,000,000s, 100,000s, or even the 1,000s, there were no changes.
At this point, shock transformed into confusion. Why was the Dimensional Leaderboard acting so wildly if there were no changes?
"L-look!" A voice suddenly rang out from the crowd. There, a little boy pointed at the Dimensional Leaderboard, his eyes wide as saucers.
When people saw the direction he pointed in, their confusion intensified. Wasn't that…a bit too high?
Still, out of curiosity, many turned their gazes over fast enough to see a single name etched into the Dimensional Leaderboard's surface. Each letter was carefully written, containing endless profundity.
This scene of a name being written letter by letter would only appear once per person; during their introduction on the Dimensional Leaderboard.
"T-this…what is this?" The Heavenly Jewel Palace Master exclaimed.
"That is…it couldn't be…" the Eclipse Sect Master's face paled in sudden realization.
Written slowly and steadily for all to see…
[420. Damien Void]
Damien's name rested proudly in its spot. Its grand appearance was accompanied by waves of golden light and auspicious signs, as if the Dimensional Leaderboard was showing its support.
These phenomena continued for many minutes without end, and when they finally concluded, the Dimensional Leaderboard also began to fade from the sky.
Damien didn't pay attention to any of this, though. His eyes were focused on Jiao Mei's bloody form in his arms.
[Heal]
As her body was covered in greenish-white light, the fury in Damien's eyes slowly increased.
While he didn't have any strong connection to Jiao Mei, she was still an acquaintance. She was a kid with a lot of potential, potential he felt worth investing in.
And now, someone decided to put their hands on the kid he was raising?
Unacceptable!
Not to mention, Jiao Mei kept his involvement secret even at death's door. Her loyalty to her comrades couldn't be questioned at all!
Damien's eyes didn't leave Jiao Mei's body, but his awareness was already spread to its limits. His gaze alone was cold enough to lower the surrounding temperature.
"I wanted to leave the Dawn World peacefully." He spoke. His voice was neither loud nor soft, but projected to every corner of the audience clearly. "Since the strongest people here are only around the middle of 4th class without any substantial law comprehension to speak of, I wanted to let you live your small lives without getting involved."
His gaze panned the crowd before landing on the Heavenly Jewel Palace Master. "But, I guess it's true that no matter where you go, there'll be some idiots begging to die."
"Fine. If that's what you want…just die then."
