The gala hall had fallen utterly silent.

  Not the polite hush of expectation, nor the brief pause before applause, but a suffocating, instinctive stillness, the kind born when every soul present senses danger and chooses not to breathe.

  The uninvited visitor stood at the threshold.

  He was a tall man with sun-tanned skin and neatly styled brown hair, his blue eyes sharp and wrong, predatory, hollow in a way that betrayed the monster hiding behind a human face. He wore a pristine white suit, immaculate in cut and fit, though dark red stains splattered across the fabric like careless brushstrokes of violence.

  A wicked smile twisted his lips, heavy with malice.

  Vale’s eyes narrowed as he began to move through the crowd, carefully slipping between frozen figures to get a clearer view.

  'Why is he here?' Vale thought, his jaw tightening. 'Of all places… of all times.'

  As Tericon advanced into the hall, the people around him recoiled instinctively, stepping back as though repelled by an invisible force. His presence alone warped the air, his twisted aura pressing down on everyone nearby like a suffocating weight.

  Two others followed behind him.

  They bore the markings of the Tyrant Dynasty, yet they did not share their leader’s delight. Their expressions were restrained, uneasy, men who did not want to be here, but knew better than to refuse. They kept their heads low, eyes flicking nervously across the hall, shadows trailing their master.

  Vale continued forward, keeping Tericon in sight.

  The man moved with deliberate calm, eyes scanning the crowd with lazy curiosity, until they locked onto someone.

  Eskar.

  Vale’s breath caught.

  Eskar had already taken a step back, his face drained of color, eyes wide with raw, unmistakable terror.

  ''Father.''

  Vale gritted his teeth and pushed forward faster, anger flaring in his chest, but before he could close the distance, Tericon stopped.

  Vale stopped as well.

  Between Tericon and Eskar stood an old man.

  Rikin.

  The air between them crackled.

  Rikin’s eyes were narrowed, burning with fury barely held in check. His hand clenched tightly around his cane, knuckles pale with strain. For a long moment, neither man spoke.

  Then Tericon laughed.

  It was not a pleasant sound.

  The laughter crawled across Vale’s skin like insects, warped and hollow, echoing through the silent hall with something deeply wrong beneath it. It was the sound of cruelty amused, of a predator enjoying the fear of its prey.

  Tericon laughed until tears welled in his eyes. He wiped them away lazily and finally spoke.

  “Ohhh,” he said mockingly, “I’m sorry. Did I anger you?”

  He took a step closer.

  Rikin lifted his cane instantly, pointing it straight at Tericon’s chest, his voice shaking with restrained rage.

  “If you know what’s good for you,” Rikin snarled, “you will leave. Now.”

  For a moment, Tericon’s gaze froze.

  Then his grin widened.

  “Oh? Is this really how you greet me after all these years?” he said lightly. “Weren’t my parents such dear friends of yours?”

  His eyes gleamed cruelly.

  “How do you think they’d feel,” he continued, “knowing you treat me like this?”

  Rikin’s composure shattered.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  He slammed his cane into the marble floor with explosive force, the tip cracking and splintering under the impact.

  “LEAVE!” he roared.

  Tericon’s eyes flicked past him.

  Straight to Eskar.

  “Oh, I would,” Tericon said smoothly. “But I’m here to see someone.”

  Rikin’s eyes widened.

  “And I won’t be leaving,” Tericon continued, his voice dropping, “until I speak to him.”

  He chuckled softly.

  “Oh, but you already knew that, didn’t you?”

  Barbatos appeared at Rikin’s side in an instant, towering, radiating barely restrained fury. His presence alone shifted the balance of the room.

  Tericon spread his arms theatrically and spun once, gesturing to the hall.

  “Of course,” he said pleasantly, “even if you could kill me in an instant…”

  His smile sharpened.

  “I’d be sure to take a few with me.”

  He glanced around, eyes lingering on the gathered elites, dignitaries, paragons.

  “Do you really want to endanger the lives of so many important people,” he asked mockingly, “just to end me?”

  He sighed dramatically.

  “How cruel.”

  Vale clenched his fists.

  'He’s manipulating them,' Vale thought bitterly. 'Anyone can see it.'

  For a brief moment, Vale looked back at Eskar.

  The boy was trembling, but then he moved.

  Slowly, Eskar stepped forward.

  “Get back,” Rikin ordered sharply. “This is not your burden.”

  Eskar shook his head, fear etched into every movement.

  “He wants me,” Eskar said quietly. “So let me do this.”

  Rikin hesitated, then, with visible pain, lowered his arm.

  Eskar stepped past him.

  The hall felt impossibly small as Eskar stopped directly before Tericon. Tericon loomed over him slightly, looking down with unmistakable contempt.

  Then his expression twisted into pure disgust.

  “Look at you,” Tericon sneered. “You filthy, fucking abomination.”

  He raised his fist.

  Eskar braced himself.

  The punch never landed.

  A hand caught Tericon’s wrist mid-strike.

  The impact echoed.

  A man stood between them, brunette hair, tanned skin, eyes burning with fury.

  Caesar.

  With raw strength, Caesar forced Tericon’s arm down, overpowering him without hesitation. Rage radiated from Caesar like heat from a forge.

  Vale stared, wide-eyed.

  At his side, Yuki had appeared silently, her posture coiled and vicious, ice already forming at her fingertips.

  Caesar spoke, his voice low and lethal.

  “Leave,” he said.

  A pause.

  Then, colder still.

  “Now.”

  Tericon stared at Caesar.

  For a single, fragile moment, the wicked grin vanished from his face, replaced by wide-eyed disbelief, as though the very idea of being opposed by this man was something his mind refused to accept.

  Then he laughed.

  Deep, Hollow and Twisted.

  The sound echoed through the gala hall, bouncing off marble and crystal, sinking into the bones of everyone present. It was not laughter born of joy, but of madness, of a man who found amusement in horror itself. The air seemed to ripple with it, sending cold shivers down spines and tightening throats.

  Slowly, Tericon retracted his fist.

  His gaze locked onto Caesar’s.

  “Is that any way,” Tericon asked smoothly, mockery dripping from every syllable, “to treat your own older brother?”

  The reaction was instant.

  Caesar snapped.

  His arm shifted with a violent mechanical hiss, metal plates sliding and unfolding over one another. Flesh vanished beneath iron as the limb reconfigured itself into a weapon, still shaped like an arm, but unmistakably forged for battle. Blue streaks of light pulsed along its surface like veins of living energy.

  Caesar’s eyes burned.

  “We stopped being brothers,” he said, voice shaking with fury barely held in check, “the moment you killed Mom and Dad.”

  The words hit the hall like a detonation.

  A stunned silence followed, thick, suffocating.

  Vale took an involuntary step back, his heart pounding. He wasn’t alone. Around him, people recoiled in shock, whispers dying on their lips. This was more than a confrontation, it was a revelation.

  Caesar, the world’s greatest engineer, the brilliant scientist, the composed genius, had just laid bare a truth that sent ripples through the very foundation of the gala.

  Eskar staggered back, trembling violently now.

  Rikin moved instantly, pulling the boy behind him, his expression hardening into something cold and lethal. With a sharp snap of his fingers, the air crackled.

  Thunder answered.

  Arcs of lightning formed around Tericon, caging him in flickering bands of violent energy. At the same time, spikes of ice erupted from the floor beneath him, shadow intertwining with frost as Evelyn and Yuki advanced, their powers coiling with deadly intent.

  Across the hall, Callum and Alexandria stood poised at opposite ends, their focus absolute, predators waiting for the smallest excuse to strike.

  Barbatos stepped forward as well, every inch of him radiating the promise of annihilation.

  Tericon stood at the center of it all.

  Surrounded.

  Outnumbered.

  Smiling.

  He glanced down lazily and poked one of the ice spikes with his finger. The sharp edge bit into his skin. Blood welled up, dark red against tanned flesh, dripping down onto his pristine white suit and staining it further.

  Then, slowly, deliberately, Tericon raised his finger to his mouth.

  He licked the blood away.

  Several people flinched.

  Tericon sighed in pleasure and looked around at the gathered paragons and legends.

  “How fabulous,” he murmured, voice trembling with manic delight.

  He raised his hand.

  Then the ice shattered.

  The shards flew outward, but before they could strike anyone, reality itself fractured. The air split like glass, swallowing the frozen debris whole. Shards of space hung suspended for a heartbeat, then collapsed inward.

  From the distortion stepped a man.

  Long black hair framed his face, his expression carved from fury. He wore a black suit that seemed to drink in the light around it, his presence bending the room without effort.

  Tharion.

  He took one step forward.

  “You dare,” Tharion said, his voice carrying effortlessly through the hall, heavy with hatred and authority, “to come here,”

  Another step.

  “to the celebration of my ascension?”

  The words rang like a sentence.

  Tericon turned slowly.

  For the first time, his grin faltered.

  Resentment twisted his features as his gaze locked onto Tharion, venom simmering just beneath the surface.

  Silence followed.

  Long.

  Uneasy.

  The entire hall held its breath, united by a single unspoken thought.

  What will happen now?