Areth swept his gaze across the figures gathered in the hall, weighing who would be the best choice for the task he intended to assign. The mission was clear: leave the flying island, survey the nearby lands, and report any potential threats. For that, he needed someone professional, quiet, and composed.
If his theory was correct, they were not currently in the world of Blood Banner, or at the very least, they were in a land that did not exist within the game itself. To prove this theory, he needed to send someone out.
His eyes settled on a woman dressed in an elegant suit. She had black hair and blue eyes. Like every woman in the hall, she possessed striking beauty. It was not limited to her face alone; beneath the black suit, her body's curves were far from concealed.
Her posture was flawless. Shoulders straight, hands clasped behind her back. Despite the chaos filling the hall, even her breathing was measured. She observed everything around her without truly engaging in any of it. Exactly the kind of person he needed.
Her name was Rina.
Though not a main supporting character, Rina was someone who could be recruited into the camp in the game. She carried herself with extreme professionalism and formality. A romantic route with her existed, but it was notoriously difficult to complete. Naturally, Areth had been one of the players who succeeded.
Rina's gaze met Areth's for a brief moment. There was no surprise, no excitement. Only awareness. She looked calm, almost expectant, as if she already knew she would be called. As always, Rina had already grasped the rhythm of her surroundings.
Areth stepped forward a few paces. The hall gradually fell silent.
"Rina, step forward," he said, his voice low and precise.
All eyes turned toward her. She moved ahead, knelt on one knee, and inclined her head slightly. The motion was not theatrical. It was trained, habitual, instinctive.
"I await your orders, Lord Areth."
Areth paused for a brief moment. The Rina in the game had been the same. She never asked unnecessary questions and completely shut down her emotions during a mission. Yet the person before him now was more than a game character, and he felt that truth as he chose his words.
"You will leave the flying island. Explore the surrounding lands and investigate settlements, threats, and living entities. Do so discreetly, and withdraw immediately if you encounter danger."
"Understood," she replied. Her voice was calm, but firm. "Do you want me to make contact, or observe only?"
"Observation only," Areth answered. "This is a reconnaissance mission, not a diplomatic one. They do not need to know who we are."
Rina inclined her head slightly. "Return deadline?"
"Before sunset," Areth said, then added, "If conditions differ from what we expect, do not risk yourself for the sake of a report. You may go and prepare."
That final sentence caught the attention of several people in the hall. Rina noticed it as well. For a fleeting instant, something stirred in her eyes, whether gratitude or caution was unclear.
She bowed her head once more. "As you command."
When she rose, her impeccable discipline settled back into place like armor. She offered no thanks and no unnecessary words. Yet just before turning toward the exit, Areth noticed her glance briefly return to him. This time, it held more than duty. It was a silent love.
"I will return and report."
When the doors closed behind her, the hall did not return to its previous murmur. No one dared whisper. Areth remained where he stood, his gaze fixed on the place where Rina had disappeared.
His mind, however, was occupied by a far different scene.
If this was not the Blood Banner universe he knew, what would he do?
He had memorized every kingdom, theocracies, and federative states. He knew hundreds of characters and every significant detail of the game by heart. If this was the classic Blood Banner world, there was little to fear. But if it was not, then this could become a serious problem.
"Areth… is something troubling you?"
The question came from a beautiful voice rising from the back of the crowd. The fact that she addressed him without a title immediately irritated many, Lysandra most of all. When Areth turned toward the source, he found himself facing the character with whom forming a romantic bond in the game was considered the most difficult.
She had golden hair and white pupils, but what truly drew the eye was not her beauty. It was the enormous, angelic white wings that extended from her back, far larger than her upper body.
She was a princess of the angelic race.
The moment Areth saw her, he felt the weight on his shoulders grow heavier. This woman was an even greater anomaly than Rina.
Her name in the game was Aurelia Seraphyne.
A character who directly influenced the main storyline, yet one that the vast majority of players never fully unlocked. Romance was technically possible. The option existed, the dialogues were there, but the outcome never came. No matter how perfect the choices, the relationship always remained incomplete. To truly pursue Aurelia, one had to complete one of the hardest quest chains in the game: The Path of Rebellion.
Aurelia stepped forward a few paces. As she walked, her wings opened and closed slightly, an unconscious habit born of long periods without flight.
"You did not answer," she said, her tone gentle but unavoidable. "Is something troubling you, Areth?"
She spoke his name without a title again. The air in the hall tightened. Even the other women who were close to Areth always used the title "Lord" before speaking his name. For that reason, many of the women in the hall were unsettled by Aurelia's familiar manner of address. However, both Aurelia's overwhelming divine power and the fact that she too was genuinely one of the women closest to Areth led most of them to choose silence.
"Aurelia! You are being disrespectful to Lord Areth. Not only do you address him by name, you dare to question him. This is heresy."
The words exploded from a massive silhouette standing on the left side of the hall.
The voice was deep, rough, and unrestrained, more like stone grinding against stone than anything human. When the speaker stepped forward, the floor seemed to tremble.
It was Vargreth.
An overwhelmingly powerful, inhuman creature, a Tyrant-Beast of the Obsidian Bloodline. In the game, he was rarely encountered, usually appearing only in late-game or hidden scenarios. His body was covered in thick, armor-like plates of dark gray and black, veins glowing crimson like molten lava beneath the surface. His horns curved backward, and the protrusions along his spine resembled a crown. His eyes were not yellow, but nearly white, shining with a light devoid of mercy.
Vargreth took another step forward. His chained pauldrons shifted with a metallic growl.
Many recoiled instinctively. Some lowered their heads, others held their breath. When Vargreth spoke of heresy, it was not a simple accusation of disrespect. In his kind, the word meant a sin that demanded cleansing through blood.
Aurelia stopped.
Her wings spread fully for a moment, their whiteness stretching wide and cutting through the light. It was not a threat, nor a defensive gesture. It was simply a reminder of her presence.
She met Vargreth's gaze. There was no fear, and no anger.
"Choose your words carefully, Tyrant," she said calmly but clearly. "You confuse faith with blindness."
Vargreth bared his teeth. It was not a smile.
"My faith is absolute," he said. "This island stands by Lord Areth's will. To question him is to question order itself."
Aurelia replied without taking her eyes off Areth.
"I am not questioning him," she said. "I am trying to understand him."
For a moment, the hall felt trapped between two immense forces when a third stepped in.
A woman with crimson skin emerged slowly from the crowd. Her complexion was a deep red, smooth like metal forged in fire, radiating a dangerous warmth. She was tall and muscular, yet not coarse. Her body embodied a perfect balance between power and elegance. The lines from her shoulders to her hips spoke of relentless discipline, one that accentuated rather than concealed her curves.
What she wore could hardly be called armor. It was revealing, bold, almost defiant. The design of her chest and waist seemed crafted not only for combat, but for psychological domination. Among demons, nakedness was not weakness but a weapon, and this woman wielded it masterfully.
From her back extended jet-black wings, the complete opposite of Aurelia's white. They were not feathered but leathery and rigid, their tips curling slightly, dragging shadow along as they moved. When they opened and closed, it was silent, yet the hall's light seemed swallowed by their darkness.
Long black horns rose from either side of her head, curving backward in an elegant arc. Her eyes were amber, not like open flame, but like controlled embers. Not meant to burn everything at once, but to wait and strike at the right moment.
This was no ordinary demon.
She was one of the Chief Generals of the Demon Legions, Morvethra, known as the Crimson Terror.
Even in the game, her name alone was enough to change the scene.
Morvethra stopped, positioning herself directly between Aurelia and Vargreth. That alone was an act of open defiance, stepping without hesitation between two divine and destructive powers.
A slow, dangerous smile curved her lips.
"How noisy you all are," she said, her voice velvety, with restrained fire beneath it. "Stop behaving like pests disturbing Lord Areth, or I will turn both of you into insect oil."
The lava veins in Vargreth's body flared brighter. His chained pauldrons tightened. One more step would be enough to drown the hall in blood. Aurelia's wings did not fully open this time. Not a single feather stirred. The stillness was more unsettling than the demon general's threat.
At last, Areth spoke.
His voice was not loud. He did not shout. There was no divine echo, no threatening edge. Yet the moment he spoke, a cold line ran down everyone's spine.
"Enough."
The ground trembled slightly. No one felt it as magic. It was as if the island itself had acknowledged the word. The glow in Vargreth's veins dimmed. The tips of Morvethra's wings tensed for an instant. Aurelia's gaze turned fully toward Areth for the first time.