Flourishing Vivacity double- and triple-checked everything, making sure her subordinates were all fully informed and coordinated for the operation. If required, they would trickle in from all directions, coming to her aid as she valiantly fought off Lionheart's assailants while putting her own life on the line. On one hand, she didn't want too much help, but on the other, she obviously didn't want to die herself. It had to be just right.

Crucially, it was supposed to be fluently executed in order to hide all artificiality, because it would backfire disastrously otherwise. To this end she also hired her own countrymen from Jade Lotus and kept them entirely out of the loop, banking on the authenticity such a move would produce. How could anyone ever suspect it was her doing? If all went well, the blame could even be laid on Blood Brothers, and the elusive Lionheart would owe her a debt of gratitude, possibly opening up to cooperation – and if not just yet, this would be an ideal first step on this road.

Naturally, this daring gambit had a substantial cost to it, as no guild would put their core members in harm's way without a guarantee of a profitable transaction, and Xielong was not one to squander its wealth, either, despite a staggering daily income approaching a quarter million Gold Crowns. After all, whatever they earned was immediately disbursed, and they constantly experienced a nagging shortage of funds, considering the countless avenues of investment they pursued.

Failure was not an option. It would be both humiliating and devastating.

But then everything fell apart like a house of cards …

“Sister Chang-Chang, he noticed them!”

“Young Mistress, are you not taking action?”

“Sister Chang-Chang, what do we do?!”

A slew of messages assaulted her as she hesitated. And this was her undoing.

Initially she thought it was over, that Lionheart would escape with the forewarning he had – but he did the opposite. Meanwhile, her command to stand down was already in circulation. By the time she told her men to resume and prepared to engage herself, the scarlet demon had dealt with the two vanguards, shocking her with his battle prowess for a second. Doubt crept up on her. Did he even need help? Then he got badly hit with a couple special arrows and it looked like he was done in, so she dashed towards him, but astoundingly, he behaved as if nothing happened and continued his mad charge. Eventually, a personal aegis manifested around him, proof he possessed some of the best life-saving tools available at this stage of the game.

What else did he have up his sleeves? Should she join in and try to salvage the situation, or pretend to be a coincidental spectator?

Normally, she was pretty comfortable with improvising, but this roller coaster had overwhelmed her. Half of her commands were chaotic, while the other half got stuck in her throat and she never uttered them.

She watched in awe as Lionheart slaughtered the illustrious Jade Whirlpool like a common mob and jumped on a vulnerable archer with the speed of a cheetah, spectacularly cutting one of the mages on his way and bulldozing through the others, while outrunning Piercing Heaven, the lethal spearman next to him.

With her feet glued to the ground, she witnessed the party of professionals scrambling disorderly to deplete the physical aegis as fast as they could, debilitating magic seemingly having no effect on the inhuman player, and only the entropic kind doing gruesome damage, burning Lionheart's exposed head, his skin melting and hair smoldering.

In stupefaction she gawked as Piercing Heaven fell in defense of a female ranger, the last one, followed closely by the woman who got her jaw crushed with an iron fist and fainted. Even the few empowered arrows which somehow defeated the aegis and lodged themselves into tissue did not impede the blood-soaked monstrosity, merely serving as decoration.

Then, only the three mages remained, one severely injured …

…

Carl wasn't doing so well.

Unfortunately, the amazing health capsule he carried in his mouth had a fatal flaw. As a last resort, it was a modified formula, with shorter duration and more potency, which resulted in extreme scarring that expeditiously decreased maximum health. On top of that, it couldn't repair the wrecked organs, which added to his plight.

Furthermore, after activating the Necklace of Preservation, his mana and health regeneration did indeed receive a big boost, as promised by the item's description, but it came at the cost of the forcefield's internal energy source – the more he took advantage of it, the quicker the aegis would vanish, 15 seconds of gradual dissipation being the limit in a strain-free scenario.

In this exchange, however, he had no choice – reducing enemy numbers was of utmost importance. Fighting for survival was pointless, as they would burst him in no time at all. No, he had to dominate the battlefield, and this meant combining Last Hurrah with Champion's Conviction at near max output.

There were many reasons to do that – lessening the dangers the former brought to his exhausted body when utilized alone, improving his low stamina, better resisting the pain, increasing his maximum health, but most crucially to control the crowd. He did it by first toppling the mages, who were dangerous pushovers, possibly holding high-yield consumables like disposable wands or stun grenades, then focusing down the problematic rangers, who were armed with special arrows of various sorts, all of them poisoned to boot.

He could clearly feel the venom coursing through his veins, his strength and senses waning. It wasn't too urgent, maybe threatening to put him out in a couple minutes on its own, but it all compounded, so he had to hurry. His goal was to rush the three archers before the aegis dwindled beyond usefulness, which he almost succeeded in, swiftly killing two. Subsequently, he finished the last one off together with her unnerved guardian after it expired.

That's where his troubles began.

He was hurting all over, mentally drained, sick in his stomach, burning from within and rapidly weakening. It was already agony, and the soul-wringing death defiance was yet to engulf him.

He got hit by 5 arrows in total – 2 fragmentation, 2 armor-piercing, and worst of all 1 electrocuting to his back, which continued to jolt him. The mages were also hell-bent on bringing him down, firing non-stop now that there were no obstacles in the way and he slowed down, the entropic one particularly annoying, counteracting the emergency capsule's healing on her own and turning his head into an unrecognizable lump, impairing his vision in the process.

But he would not back down!

Suddenly, a mighty roar tore the flabbergasted plaza, shaking up the speechless spectators like a thunder out of the blue.

…

Flourishing Vivacity saw her chance in the end, as Lionheart appeared spent and in dire straits. She decisively leaned forward and took a step, but then froze on the spot, beset by goosebumps.

The man's roar was so unexpected and so terrifying her heart involuntarily sped up from fear, beating like a drum. She once more watched hopelessly as he impetuously dove on and eviscerated a thin cleric, before jumping and executing the one he previously injured, leaving the crimson-robed entropic mage that caused him so much grief for dessert. The woman pulled out a Rod of Lightning with trembling hands in a last ditch effort to knock him down, and fired it in sequence, loud crackling cannonade of ionized plasma channels filling the ambience.

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

Five!

…

Carl never faltered or shrunk back, overboosted Champion's Conviction mitigating the electric shocks to a manageable level. Enduring the convulsions, he briskly walked towards his final opponent, charred, mutilated and exhausted, but unrelenting, radiating shuddersome wrath. However, he didn't make it in time …

... because the elegant beauty, with horror painted on her hideously contorted face, fainted when he reached out to grab her. It would remain a mystery whether she ejected deliberately or was forced out by the automated panic response system.

…

Flourishing Vivacity was at a complete loss.

“It's a huge overkill,” they said. “Average mercs would totally suffice,” they said. “Okay, we can hire Jade Lotus's core members if you insist, but there's no need for more than three,” they said. “We shouldn't waste money like that,” they said …

What a load of rubbish!

She wanted to laugh both at them and at herself, but was too dejected.

A thousand gold down the drain …

Who was this man, for crying out loud?! Was he even human?!

It almost felt … as if he was native to Immortal Frontier!

Sure, he used a powerful tool, but his handling of the situation, his impeccable timing, the haste with which he dispatched his enemies, and his intimidation techniques, were just ridiculous. There was only a handful of peerless experts capable of such a feat.

Truly, Xielong could not let a free agent like him be. Either they befriended him, or he'd become their competitor.

But what if … he was a supersoldier from a rival state? Although Cybercore declared all non-sanctioned brain implants would make one ineligible to play the game, he could still be a biologically enhanced operative, right? That would explain his hostile stance towards China and India …

As her mind raced, the man in question looked around, scanning the subdued crowd, and turned to her in the end. Despite a horribly disfigured visage, he emanated boundless dignity.

Then, his tired eyes lit up once more, his muscles tensed, squeezing the knives, and he advanced …

Only now did Flourishing Vivacity realize her blunder – she must have been sticking out like a sore thumb, with her trident and shield at the ready.

“No! It's not what you think!” she shouted desperately with an innocent expression.

“Is that so?” Lionheart challenged without pause, his tone deep like the ocean.

She balked and lost her composure for a split second, and that was enough. Even if he wasn't convinced at first, he now had the proof he needed …

“Oh no, I messed up so bad!”

…

Carl was in a critical condition.

The 85/s of mana regeneration allowed his Champion's Conviction to generate over 12 vitality, more than doubling his health, but it still hovered just above zero, and the poison would soon get him. He had to urgently drink a stamina potion and rush to the temple before it was too late, because he remembered how difficult it would be to scale the steps with Unyielding Will engaged.

After the Chinese woman from the auction run away, the guards arrived on the scene, not half a minute into the incident.

“What is this insolence!”

“Is that Lord Lionheart again?!”

“Whoa … ! Lord Lionheart, are you alright?”

The squad of six showed outrage, perplexity, fright, worry, and awe.

Carl glanced at them while walking wearily towards his original destination.

“They're assassins from a distant land. Mark them if you can,” he simply advised.

“Lord Lionheart,” the guard captain hailed, “I believe you, but we have to verify with the witnesses. Forgive me, it's protocol. If it is as you say, would you please request permission from the high priest to bring these immortals to the Altar of Revival before their bodies vanish? We wouldn't want such rascals to get away with it!”

“Sure, I'm on my way to meet him anyway,” Carl agreed, hiding his bitter-sweet glee. He welcomed the opportunity to teach everyone a lesson, but on the other hand, he completely forgot to consider suicide as easy means of escaping imprisonment. After all, there were premium services at the temple to set a default revival spot, and certainly a multitude of other methods as well.

The masses stirred, gaped and goggled.

That was also possible?!

And … a meeting with the high priest?!

To many, this was too much. They either chuckled absentmindedly or laughed with incredulity.

Just how ludicrous was all this?

Not only did one player vanquish ten ubers from China in mere moments, but he was now going to annihilate their characters, too?

Oh, these poor fools …