"I'm going to lose?" The leader growled. He was one of the strongest Greater Apprentice Exalts close to the Elite Exalt realm. Yet this girl dared to disrespect him. "My subordinates will kill your friends, starting with those Middle Apprentice Exalts."

Celestina finished tying her hair into a bun. "I don't know about that. There are some incredible people in our group. Right now, I'm interested in your motives. This isn't a regular hunt but a culling. Are you that greedy for their cores?"

The leader with the scar on his lips smirked maliciously. "How about this? If you agree to be my woman, I'll tell you. You're much too beautiful to die."

Celestina gazed without emotion as if she were looking at a bug.

"Woah, that's quite the face you're making! At least be emotional and make this fun for me." The leader's Ein surged out in a terrifying display. The leaves around scattered everywhere.

"You're not from the Blue Ocean Pavilion. More importantly, you're not from the Brilliant Drake Empire." Celestina didn't respond to the leader's Ein but kept probing calmly.

The leader's eyes twitched for a short moment. He was experienced and quickly quelled his face back to neutral, but it did not escape Celestina's watchful gaze.

"So you aren't from here. Wanderers do go between borders, and you ended up here. I wonder what you're hiding?" Celestina could not allow this unknown foreign element to skulk around her empire. Her instincts were telling her that this person wasn't a regular wanderer.

The leader clicked his tongue. "I guess I'll enlighten you before you die. Have you heard about the Black Tortoise Empire?"

"The Black Tortoise Empire? That's the empire to the east." Celestina grew more curious. "I heard in there they have academies set up in every region, and then the top students of each academy can go to the central Earth Core Academy."

The Earth Core Academy was a powerhouse equal to the Blue Ocean Pavilion, boosting a King Exalt as its principal. It had a branched-out system with sub-academies that operated like the Outer and Inner Halls of the Pavilion.

"I was from Sandwyrm School with a Grade Six Exolsia Core. But I failed to advance to the Earth Core Academy. What a load of horseshit! Their bullshit system cast me out."

"A system can be flawed, but you should reflect on your personal responsibilities. What a joke." Celestina sighed. She didn't want to hear this man's life story and cut it short.

"You dare make light of me?!" The leader pulled out an exalt grade one armament. It was a long spear with a jagged tip. "This was my spoils from when I was a student. I'll tear you apart."

His Ein condensed into a beast. It was his Anima, a hyena. It looked and drooled at Celestina, wishing to tear her soft flesh with its large fangs.

"I wanted to know about your past here, not in some other empire. I suppose I'll have to ask someone else." Celestina took out a black orb and reached inside it. Her hand pulled out to show a white-blade rapier with white gold adorning its hilt.

The leader looked greedily at the black orb. It was a space pocket! He had never held one before. "I'll be taking that!"

Celestina held her rapier with one hand.

There was a crash of thunder that sounded behind her. She turned back. It must be Oscar and Emily who were fighting.

"My subordinate is a powerful user of thunder spells. Those little Middle Apprentice Exalts won't survive."

"Then I'll just defeat you and go to their aid." Celestina looked back at the leader with cold, hostile eyes.

The next moment, a dangerous silver Ein burned fiercely around Celestina. Compared to the leader's Ein, it was like a roaring inferno.

His face grew white as a sheet as his hands trembled. His hyena anima whimpered; it would have if it could piss itself.

"E-Elite Exalt??!!" His teeth wouldn't stop chattering. "Impossible!"

From what he could tell, this girl was young, likely only a year or so above fifteen. Was she able to reach this level after a year or two?

Even for Grade Eight Exolsia, the usual progress wasn't this fast. But with a constant stream of resources like the Pavilion had been providing, then it was possible.

Celestina didn't say anything. The silver, shining Ein around her made her look like an unconcerned deity about to swat a fly.

With her arm raised, she pointed the rapier at the leader. He tensed up and tried to move.

But a bright flash of light encompassed his view, followed by a big sound of the ground shattering apart—all of it in a single instant.

The next thing he knew, he was in a small crater full of rubble. He looked down to find a large hole in his chest.

"A-ah…." His eyes faded as the last of his breath escaped his lungs.

Celestina did not waste time and began to rush behind her. She had to get to Oscar before it was too late. She held faith that he would be able to hold on but that had its limits.

In a moment, Oscar, Emily, and the enemy came into sight. She saw the enemy about to swing his broadsword. Anger flashed across her face, and she increased her speed.

"Hey!" She said as she came out of the forest. The enemy had stopped to look at her dumbfounded.

"Looks like I made it in time."

"What are you doing here? Where is our boss?" The man continued to be confused. This was the girl who his boss targeted. How could she be here? Then the answer came. That terrifying Ein earlier must have belonged to her.

"Shit!" He tried to run.

FLASH

Celestina was already right before him and swept her Ein-empowered foot across his face. The man flew through the air and crashed to the ground.

"I wouldn't show mercy to anyone who tries to kill my friend, but I need to ask you a few questions, so sleep there for now."

Oscar and Emily stared in awe at Celestina's power. An Elite Exalt was terrifying that even this Greater Apprentice Exalt they faced was nothing but a toy.

"Are you alright?" Celestina strode right in front of Oscar. Her disguise elixir was expiring, so her hair transitioned back to silver and her eyes back to emerald.

"You came just in time. I was about to do something crazy." Oscar got to his feet. "How was your opponent?"

"He was quite rude and not willing to cooperate. He's dead in a hole." Celestina put away her rapier.

"What about this person?" Emily dragged the unconscious wanderer over.

"We may have to put a pause on our mission. I need to interrogate this person to find out what they're up to."

With Celestina in charge, they returned to where they encountered the wanderers. Oscar and Emily winced at the sight of the large crater and the dead person inside.

George and Phillip were there. Phillip was resting while George was in awe of the crater. They immediately bowed to the princess.

"So that Ein was from the princess. That's incredible." George praised her while Phillip nodded.

"What's our next move, princess?" Phillip asked. His disguise was also lifted, revealing his rosy hair and purple eyes.

"Let's take the time to recover and wait for this fellow to wake up." Celestina said as Emily tossed the other person into the crater next to his dead leader.

George and Phillip returned to retrieve their opponents' bodies and tossed them into the crater. Then the group decided to rest.

As they rested and meditated, they discussed their opponents and what manner of spells and battle styles they faced.

"From what it seems, they were more suited to fight as a group." George petted his Sapphire Hedgehog, which was resting on his lap. To release a large quill for George to use as an arrow drained its energy and Ein heavily.

"They were too relaxed when they noticed that Emily and I were only Middle Apprentice Exalts. Though if they fought in a group, I don't think it would have made a difference." Oscar finished recovering. His heart and mind were not aching anymore.

"Celestina is amazing. I want to spar against her." Emily wished to fight against such a strong person.

"I admire your will to fight and fearlessness, but there are limits to how bold you can be." Phillip said.

"I can spar against you, Emily. Though I don't think it would be useful for you." Celestina laughed.

The group atmosphere would make one forget that they just battled to the death against wanderers.

"I almost forgot. What did they have on them?" Oscar asked. These wanderers should have something on them that can be of use.

"Let's check." Phillip forgot about their spoils of victory.

After a clean sweep, they gathered everything from the wanderers. On the ground were a full set of armor, a few heal elixirs, the grade one armament of the leader, various cores of the Greater Apprentice Exalt Beasts, and some food.

"Not even any spells?" Emily complained.

"Some they must have learned during their time as students. For wanderers to learn spells, they would have to be employed by someone who could provide it like a noble or buy it." Phillip explained.

"If they buy it, wouldn't they have it on them?" Emily asked.

"No; unlike the Pavilion, where you return the spells, wanderers buy special scrolls that embed the spell's details in their minds for a one-time use." Oscar answered.

"Where do you get spells?" Emily asked.

"The Alchemy and Fabricator Guilds sell them. Some nobles also set up shops to sell spells. Some auctions can have the chance of selling a high-grade spell." Celestina said. "But the best place would be the Pavilion or similar places."

"Ugh."

A groan interrupted their conversation. Everyone stared down the crater to see their prisoner slowly waking.

"Where is this?" The man stumbled around, trying to get up. There were hard, unstable rocks and something soft yet sturdy. He finally awoke and looked around.

"What the hell?!" His two comrades and leader were beside him, but they were dead. "Guys? Guys?"

He shook them around to wake them up. There was only a cold silence in return.

"Awake?"

"Heeeee!" The man nearly fainted from fright when someone talked. He peered up to see five people looking down on him in their pristine uniforms. "What is this?!"

Celestina, with her disguise elixir in effect, addressed the man. "What's your name?"

"Joseph…." The man gulped. This was the girl that killed his leader—the Elite Exalt.

"Joseph, if you can answer my questions, I can let you go. But if you refuse, then it'll only be worse for you. Now, why are you exterminating the Greater Apprentice Exalt Beasts." Celestina held up the small bag of cores with a serious expression. They could be a random group that wanted to hunt all the beasts down, but she had to be careful.

"We….we were ordered." Joseph gave in under Celestina's pressure.

""Ordered?""

Celestina and the others were concerned by these words. If this group of Exalts was ordered, how strong was that person? Most likely an Elite Exalt.

"I had hoped this would be an ordinary group of exalts hogging all the beast cores, but if they were ordered….This makes things more complicated. Who is your real leader?"

"I…." Joseph became silent. His lips were bleeding.

""?"" Everyone was puzzled.

"Shit!" Oscar jumped down with a healing elixir in hand. Celestina also realized something was happening to Joseph.

Joseph vomited out tons of blood. His flesh visibly decreased within his skin.

"I!" A large centipede burst out from his heart. It had the powers of a Lower Apprentice Exalt. It moved with its metal pincers at Oscar.

Oscar blocked it with his buckler, but the centipede quickly tried to wrap around him.

At this moment, Celestina charged in with her rapier and stabbed the centipede all over its body, tearing it apart.

"A Black-Heart Centipede!" Oscar exclaimed.

It was a vile creature that laid its eggs inside the heart of other creatures. It was no coincidence that the egg happened to hatch at this moment. Its mother remotely controlled it.

The crater became a small puddle of blood from Joseph's mutilated body, with the pieces of the centipede floating around.

Oscar and others felt something ominous was about to happen.

…….

In an unknown location within the Floating Islands of Edin, a large black centipede wriggled around with its legs.

"So it's done?" A man in a dark cloak with a featureless black mask petted the vile creature. "I was curious why the eggs for four of them broke while the other was untouched. Since he survived, it's only right he perishes with the rest."

"Shreeek!"

"Oh? Is your child dead? What did it see before it died?" The mysterious man asked the Mother Black-Heart Centipede.

The mother centipede clamped its mouth on the man's head, forming a connection. A disgusting scene, as if the centipede was going to swallow the man.

It relayed what it saw—a boy with black hair and black eyes and a girl with black hair and blue eyes.

"What a beautiful girl, but the boy is lacking next to her. Interesting, did they defeat Regi's group? Hehe. We're almost finished here. Why don't we go on a hunt?"

The centipede shrieked with its mandibles open wide and lifted itself halfway off the ground. It wanted vengeance for its child.

"Let's enjoy ourselves." The mysterious man cackled as he set out with his centipede.