Larry stared, terrified, the images of all the dismembered limbs of the dead soldiers and their dried corpses resurfacing in his mind as he watched Ben move toward Akhil.

'This idiot wants to get me killed!' His chest clenched tightly as Ben exploded forward.

Ben moved so fast that the wind burst from where he once stood, and his figure became a blur tearing through the distance between them. The other orcs could barely react to his speed.

But to Akhil, his speed was still in slow motion. 'Fast, yes... But not enough to look down on me,' Akhil thought, his gaze narrowing as he was about to make a move of his own. But right before he could raise a finger, Aria was already in motion.

He had no idea how she had read his exact movement, but when he moved, she did too. She stopped midway and stepped aside at the last instant, letting Ben's momentum carry him past her.

In that moment, Ben's eyes widened as he sailed past her, but she wasn't done yet. Her arm anchored and slammed into his gut—not a punch, but something more brutal. Her forearm caught him like a clothesline, using his own speed against him to stop his charge and redirect all that force backward in one uninterrupted motion.

Ben let out a pained groan as he tried to stand from the sharp pain shooting through his body, but as he tilted his head slightly, his eyes followed the shiny surface of a blade straight to the sharp, cold eyes staring down at him.

He could feel the cold tip of the blade on his neck, and he knew even the slightest move could mean his death. He stared up at Aria with a terrified expression, nervously gulping down air.

"You better compose yourself, or we'll send back a corpse to the human settlement," Aria's threat was sharp as a blade, triggering an instinctual fear that drenched him in sweat.

"Aria, put down your weapon, let's hear what he has to say first," Akhil said, walking up from behind.

'She's really got a strong grudge on the humans now,' Akhil thought to himself with a wry smile as he reached the two.

Ben stared up at him, still in shock at the ease with which he had been defeated.

"Sir Orc, please don't mind him! He had a drink before coming here, it might be affecting his thoughts," Larry ran up to the three, standing in front of Ben with a protective, yet terrified, stance.

"I did?" Ben asked with a startled voice. But Larry didn't bother with him; he only gave an awkward smile as he stared at Aria and Akhil.

Seeing him closely now, Akhil quickly recognized him. 'He was the one standing behind Samxon then, could he be the assistant?' Akhil thought to himself as he calmly observed the timid-looking man.

"S-sir Nexus, we're actually here to inform you of the speech that we arranged for you to make," he stuttered, edging between embarrassment and fear.

Akhil ran his hand through his hair. "Oh, so that's why you're here. We've been waiting for days after Langdon informed me, but you never appeared," Akhil said firmly.

"Well, the Bureau has been causing a lot of trouble lately, so we had to deal with that first before coming," Larry explained with a stiff smile. Ben, who was behind him, had managed to get back on his feet, but Aria's threatening gaze remained fixed on the young soldier, making him stiffen with fear.

His earlier arrogance had utterly vanished, replaced with an odd quietness. 'Shit, my body still aches. If she's that strong, then just how strong is he?' Ben couldn't help but ask himself as he stared at Akhil.

Larry saw Ben's terror and subtly checked the system information available to them.

{Player Nexus}

{Mutant Level: 5}

Ben's face went sheet-white as he saw the system's info. Invisible cold sweat rolled down his back. 'A freaking Level Five Mutant!' He had almost screwed himself over completely.

"The Bureau? What did they do this time?" Akhil asked with a raised brow.

"Well, recently, the people started rioting; I believe it had something to do with them," Larry explained quickly. "And they've been protesting against swearing Sir Ben here as the new lord of the city. Thanks to that, the ceremony has been delayed, but today is going to be Sir Ben's official speech. We came to bring you along. As your speech will not only help calm the people but solidify the new relationship with the humans starting henceforth..." Larry paused, swallowing hard.

"They've also been pushing the false narrative that the orcs want to destroy the humans, and that we should eliminate you first."

'They're really troublesome, aren't they?' Akhil let out a deep sigh. "So he's the new City Lord?" Akhil asked, glancing toward Ben, who felt his skin crawl under the mutant's gaze.

"Yes, he is," Larry confirmed with an awkward smile.

Akhil stared at Ben for a long minute with an assertive, unblinking gaze.

"You should better be co-operative. After this speech, I don't want to lie again." Akhil's gaze grew cold for a split second, sending a freezing chill down Ben's spine.

"I'll be very co-operative! Please don't be misled by my actions from earlier, I was only anxious," Ben stammered, frantically waving his hands in a calming gesture.

"Then we're good. So far as you respect us orcs, we'll respect you as well." The smile that followed Akhil's words felt more like a tangible threat than a smile of acknowledgement.

Ben and Larry both gulped nervously, seeing him like that.

"Yeah, right after telling them not to threaten us, you went ahead and issued your own?" Aria whispered quietly into his ear so the other two couldn't hear.

Akhil chuckled slightly. "Oh, it's not a threat, it's a promise. Two different things." Aria scoffed with a responsive chuckle.

Akhil turned his gaze back to the two humans. "If that's the case then... let's get going."

Ben and Larry both nodded, taking the lead. They mounted their hoverboards, and slowly, the machines lifted them into the air.

Akhil activated his Air Walk ability and joined them up in the air. He threw a final gaze at Aria. "You manage the building and everything while I'm gone. I'll be back soon. Let's meet the Bureau." Akhil said as he slowly flew in the direction of the human settlement.

The two times he had been there, it had always resulted in problems. Would this trip be any different? He was going to find out.

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