两男一女的双龙挺进

Simply knowing more about the Hound wasn\'t enough for Amos. Like all demons, there was a spark of greed in his heart—a greed for power. For decades, he had been a mere subordinate, but he yearned for more. He aspired to be an apostle himself.

To achieve that, he needed to learn from the Hound. Only by following a great being could he become great. This ambition was why he had boldly stepped through the portal.

What he didn\'t expect was finding himself in a small cramped room…even the air here felt pure, unlike the tainted miasma-filled air in the Demonic Empire. Instinctively, he could tell he was no longer in the Demon domain.

As if that wasn\'t enough, he saw a human woman with red eyes and striking hair of the same color kneeling before the legendary Hound, covering his features. Upon closer inspection, Amos sensed from her aura that the woman was not human. Instead, he realized she was something much more.

At that moment, Aina, who was tending to Nox by pouring a healing potion into his mouth, noticed the demon\'s presence.

"A demon!" she exclaimed, stunned by the towering figure. Although he lacked horns or any hideous features, Aina\'s extensive experience with demons allowed her to recognize one immediately. It was almost impossible for her to be mistaken.

However, the reason she was shocked was that demons were prohibited from entering the Human Domain. Moreover, this demon was standing inside her son\'s bedroom of all places. Was he the cause of her son\'s serious injury?

She didn\'t know the answer to most of these questions, but she knew she needed to deal with the demon first.

"You vermin." Aina frowned as she stretched out her hand, and a glorious sword, shrouded in a radiant white glow, appeared in her grasp.

"Go back to where you came from!" she shouted, executing a horizontal slash at the demon\'s neck. The blade of the sword flashed forward at an alarming speed, causing Amos\' eyes to widen.

"Such strength!" Amos watched the sword inch closer, his eyes wide with shock. He hadn\'t expected the human-like woman to possess such power, further confirming his suspicion that she wasn\'t human. The entire process—from the sword appearing in her grasp to executing the slash—had taken barely two seconds.

This was the peak of swordsmanship!

In a desperate attempt to lessen the sword\'s impact, Amos crossed his arms like a shield, blocking the blade from striking his vitals. Though he managed to deflect the blow, the fierce power behind the slash sent him flying through the open door.

As he tumbled through, the dimensional door shut close simultaneously.

Seeing the dimensional door close, Aina wasted no time and hurriedly rushed Nox to Celine, the town healer. Meanwhile, Nathan, who had heard about the incident, began an investigation. He even contacted friends in the capital, inquiring if they had noticed any strange movements at the border.

In the end, the information wasn\'t particularly helpful, and suspicion fell back on the Armstrong Duchy. Though Nathan had other enemies, they had not acted in a long time.

His current rival was none other than the duke!

A day later, inside the meeting room:

"For all we know, he might\'ve sent an assassin to target little Nox after finding out that he\'s already awakened," Elvin stated, and the others nodded. It was a common tactic during competitions for opponents to weaken their rivals, ensuring they couldn\'t participate at 100 percent.

Though they all tacitly agreed that the Armstrong Duchy was likely behind the attempt to eliminate one of their key competitors, Nathan still planned to consult his grandson when he woke up.

Right now, Nox was one of the most important contestants; they needed him to be in the best state possible. As such, everyone silently prayed for his fast and safe recovery so that he could continue training.

\'I hope you\'re not the one that tried to hurt my grandson, Felix, because if you did, you have crossed the final limit and I won\'t remain passive any longer.\' Nathan swore with a clenched fist. He had remained passive all this while because of the king, but that would soon change.

It was high time he went back to his old ways, to let the king and everyone know why he was called the mad dog in the Great War of Rebirth.

Three days later, inside Celine\'s clinic:

A panda watched the face of a black-haired boy with worry. Naturally, that panda was Thirteen.

The boy had remained like this for three days straight, and Thirteen and the rest of the pets felt their connection with him severed. Thus, Thirteen and Fluffington decided to leave the taming space to look for their master.

When they did, Thirteen, despite his fierce personality, quickly burst into tears upon seeing that his master was badly hurt and he hadn\'t been there when he was needed most.

[He\'ll be fine, kid.] Fluffington tried coaxing the panda as he was much older. Even older than Nox, he could control his emotions pretty well.

[Panda failed!] Thirteen repeated, putting his hands on his face. Perhaps if only he had come out of the taming space when Nox was battling, things wouldn\'t have escalated to this point.

Ever since Nox threw his life on the line to save Fluffington from the horde of beasts, the panda had a strong connection with him; it was the reason he was mostly hurt because he had no recollection of his parents whatsoever. The only person that filled that gap was currently resting motionless.

Thirteen held his little heart.

It hurt!