"Some real monsters are coming through from the outside!"
Within the secret realm, a man clutching a longsword sighed as he surveyed the wounded imperial lackeys scattered across the entrance.
A young woman beside him couldn't help but remark, "Aren't you all just vying for supremacy?"
"They knew we were coming."
The swordsman remained noncommittal. "There's no such thing as second-best in the martial world."
"Besides, weren't those imperial lackeys eager to show off in front of their new masters? That's why they took the initiative."
A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "Come to think of it... does the outside world also have an imperial court?"
The swordsman wasn't fully aware of the situation beyond their realm. He only knew that the outside world, organized by their imperial court, had initially conducted explorations of their world. However, due to their deep connection to another realm, those attempts had been unsuccessful.
Thinking of this, he glanced at the longsword in his arms, which was covered in tiny cracks. "I'll have to find those weirdos to help repair it again."
With a silent sigh, the man's tone gradually became indifferent. "Now it's our turn to act."
"This is a good opportunity for me to see what this world is like. I hope it's not as boring as the last one."
Thinking back to the last world they'd descended into, it had been simply too weak. Why that being would choose such a world as their target was beyond comprehension. The swordsman hadn't even made a move the entire time.
Hearing this, the woman was no longer surprised by the swordsman's arrogance. She rather thought that his personality was worthy of the name Marve, though she didn't know why his parents, who were clearly a family of martial artists, had given their son such a sophisticated name.
Shaking her head, the woman turned to leave the secret realm entrance. "Don't worry. They're not ready yet."
"Otherwise, the court wouldn't have sent only those useless people out."
Marve shrugged, following the woman's lead. "You're right."
Just then, a strange aura suddenly caught his attention.
He involuntarily stopped and turned to look at the secret realm entrance. "Huh?"
"They came in on their own initiative?"
What he saw was a figure in a white uniform, a long blade slung at his waist.
The wounded who had been lingering there clearly recognized the figure and scattered the moment they saw him. Unfortunately, the other party didn't seem to intend to let them go.
Watching the pale green beam suddenly engulf several wounded who were trying to escape, Marve couldn't help but smile. "It seems this world isn't as weak as the court claims."
The man naturally sensed the vague threat posed by the pale figure. There was no doubt that the other party was a master of his level, provided he didn't use the blade in his hand.
"This blade should hold up for another fight," the swordsman thought to himself, his longsword trembling.
The next moment, he vanished from sight.
Meanwhile, Ulquiorra stood at the entrance to the secret realm, using his Void Flash to dispatch the fleeing demons from afar.
Just then, he suddenly looked up at the sky.
What he saw was a gigantic robot constructed of an unknown metal, piercing through the clouds.
Azrael, outside the secret realm, had naturally received Ulquiorra's message.
His eyes twitched. "Oh my goodness! This isn't a martial arts secret realm!"
He had initially assumed the secret realm he'd encountered in Ande would be something high-level within the martial arts genre, but he hadn't expected it to suddenly transform into a robot war.
Artoria and the others hadn't encountered anything like this before in the ruins.
Having sent his own card into the secret realm alongside Ulquiorra, Constantine was well aware of what was happening. Coincidentally, the distribution of personnel entering these two secret realms was completely random, so it was sheer luck that he had a card next to Ulquiorra. Otherwise, it was possible that both cards were either with Ulquiorra or with Pierre's cards. Of course, it was also possible that Ulquiorra and Pierre's cards were together.
Constantine gave a wry smile. "Lord Azrael should know, right?"
"That's what I call a combo."
After a pause, he continued, "It's just that I've never seen this person before."
"And... were their robots this large before?"
The middle-aged man asked, a trace of confusion forming in his heart.
Meanwhile, Pierre had also sensed something was amiss. The secret realm he'd entered was far from what he'd imagined. His previous encounters with the demons had led him to believe that the two secret realms were ancient in nature, yet his cards had appeared in a highly technological setting.
"...?"
Pierre looked at Constantine, bewildered.
Seeing this, Constantine hesitated and asked, "You two, how about we retreat?"
"We're not far from the entrance anyway."
Since they'd already ascertained that a powerful demon was guarding the secret realm's entrance, there was no need to continue fighting and wasting their energy. It would be better to withdraw first and then find a solution. That was his idea.
However, upon hearing his words, Azrael shook his head slightly. "It's fine. Let me test it with my cards first."
He then fell silent.
Meanwhile, upon receiving Azrael's command, Ulquiorra in the secret realm returned to his blade without hesitation.
"Enclose, Murciélago!"
A pale green spiritual pressure surged from the ground, colliding directly with the robot falling from the sky.
Marve, standing in mid-air on the robot's chest, glanced at the spiritual pressure being displaced to the sides by the fuselage, a look of curiosity on his face. "Interesting ability."
He could sense the aura of the outsider below suddenly rising significantly.
"But if that's all, then it's not enough."
The swordsman muttered to himself, then tightened his grip on the longsword.
The next moment, immense sword pressure, like a foul wind from hell, tore wounds into the ground before even making contact.
Yet Ulquiorra's expression remained unchanged upon witnessing this. He simply performed the second stage of his release.
A heavier, more terrifying spiritual pressure instantly filled the area surrounding the secret realm's entrance.
"Boom!"
The ground shattered, and under the immense backlash, a black and white figure, like a meteor, hurtled from the ground toward the giant robot in midair.
In a mere breath, the two figures, large and small, had already touched.
Although Ulquiorra seemed dwarfed by the robot piloted by Marve, size was of little importance in a battle between extraordinary beings.
"Bang!"
As a pale hand pressed down hard on its massive head, the robot's upper body involuntarily jerked backward.
At that moment, in plain sight and in obscurity, powerful and weak, countless eyes silently watched the battle unfolding at the entrance.
"How is this possible?!"
They had never imagined that their first encounter would end this way. No one knew Marve's strength better than they did. While not the best in the world, he was at least in the top five, and that was a conservative estimate.
Seeing his attack succeed, Ulquiorra felt a rare ripple of emotion. He spoke calmly, "I admit that you do pose some threat to Lord Azrael."
Though he lacked Artoria's [King of Perfection], he could barely reach the Diamond level. The fact that the opponent had withstood his blow without sustaining damage clearly showed that he was far more powerful than the Emerald-level demons he'd previously encountered.
Upon hearing Ulquiorra's words, Marve's expression darkened. He glanced at the cracked longsword in his hand and said, "Tsk."
"Or was it too damaged earlier? It's almost broken after just one strike?"
A family knows its own business, and he knew he was currently at a disadvantage. Without further ado, the swordsman had already made a decision.
As he moved, the giant robot began swinging its blade. The roaring sword pressure instantly enveloped Ulquiorra.
Then, as Ulquiorra watched, the unknown demon sped away.
Marve felt no shame at his escape, and couldn't help but mutter inwardly, "They say a blade is a swordsman's second life. My second life is almost gone, so what else can I do but run?"
Seeing this, Ulquiorra chose not to pursue. After all, no one could tell if this was a tactic to lure the enemy deeper. Of course, another factor was that, from his perception, the opponent's aura hadn't weakened much. Therefore, Ulquiorra, unsure of the reason for his opponent's sudden flight, simply stood there and watched him go.
After this battle, the only cards left around the secret realm entrance were Ulquiorra and Constantine's.
Outside the secret realm, Constantine swallowed softly, recalling the description of his own card. As a teammate, the middle-aged man could better appreciate Ulquiorra's strength. He silently apologized for his earlier suspicion of Azrael. The young man was indeed confident, and with good reason.
But was it truly an Emerald-level card? How had President Vladimir recruited such a monster into the mobile unit?
Clearly, he didn't know that Azrael was previously the president of the Donglai Cardian Master Association. Otherwise, he wouldn't have such doubts. While both locations were within the Qilu territory, they weren't actually that close.
"Ahem."
Constantine feigned a cough to mask his embarrassment, saying to Azrael, "Thanks to you, Lord Azrael."
"Leave the rest to me."
Azrael was perfectly fine with this. He and Pierre had only come to support the other side in clearing the secret realm.
Pierre, standing nearby, glanced at Constantine with a hint of surprise. Having not seen Ulquiorra's reaction, he couldn't help but wonder at Constantine's sudden change of attitude. He'd clearly been reluctant when Azrael had suggested exploring the secret realm.
Shaking his head, Pierre said gravely, "I haven't seen any demons here."
"Alright."
Constantine nodded and immediately began deploying men to set up defenses at the secret realm's entrance. Once the wounded in Ande City had recovered, they could launch a counterattack.
That night, Azrael was visited by a rather surprising visitor, the young man standing beside Constantine earlier.
The young man briefly introduced himself. "Lord Azrael, I'm Carion."
Although somewhat puzzled by the young man's intentions, Azrael let him into his tent.
Confused, he asked, "Did President Constantine ask you to come?"
This was the only possible explanation the young man could come up with, as he didn't know Carion.
But Carion, in response to Azrael's question, shook his head slightly, dismissing his suspicions. "No, I'm here on my own behalf."
This puzzled Azrael even further. The two had no prior experience. Could it be that Carion had come to him in the middle of the night to curry favor?
But he wasn't from Shudoria, and he wasn't one for that sort of thing.
"Lord Azrael, although President Constantine explained Ande's current state during the day, I imagine there are still some things you find puzzling?"
"For example, why, even though Ande isn't far from the Capital, haven't we seen a single Lore Cardian affiliated with the Imperial Court?"
Hearing him say this, Azrael suddenly understood.
Indeed, Ande wasn't a coastal city, and normally the Association and the Imperial Court would have jointly governed it. So why was he only seeing Lore Cardians from the Association in the city?
Carion didn't keep him in suspense, but stated bluntly, "They withdrew from Ande City after we suffered casualties while exploring the secret realm."
"?"
Azrael raised a brow.
This was distorted. Even if the Imperial Court and the Association had been at odds before, they wouldn't have allowed the Secret Realm to invade the city at will. Furthermore, according to the young man before him, the Imperial Court hadn't contributed at all during the initial exploration of the secret realm.
This left Azrael even more baffled.
He instinctively asked, "Do you have any conflicts with them?"
Carion shook his head and continued, "No."
With these words, the tent fell into silence.
After a long pause, Azrael finally asked, "Why did you come to me?"
"Because you're Master Lucian's disciple," Carion blurted out, as if anticipating the question.
Azrael wasn't surprised by his answer. He simply sighed. "Okay, I understand. You can go back first."
Seeing this, Carion hesitated to speak, but ultimately left the tent.
Whenever it came to matters involving the court and the association, Azrael knew he was inextricably linked. After all, his teacher, Lucian, was a member of the Iron Blood Association.
But even if it had nothing to do with Lucian, he was ready to investigate the inside story. It would be even better if he could make things difficult for the court.
Azrael had not forgotten anything about the Pixar Mizuno family and the Capital Sun family in Donglai who'd instructed President Kavach to assassinate him. He'd been thinking about how to settle accounts with those people.
Of course, he would not kill innocent people.
As for whether Carion came to him out of his own will or at the suggestion of Constantine, he did not care.
"But why did the court suddenly become like this?"
Azrael began to think carefully about whether there were any major events recently. He always felt that there was something else hidden.
Suddenly, he thought of something crucial.
"By the way, is there any connection between the court and the Crimson Oath Society?"