Thump—thump—
Deafening. Impossible to ignore.
From the dragon woman standing high above, the sound of a heartbeat rolled through the space like an explosion beside the ear—clear, powerful, and forceful enough to make everyone feel it in their bones.
As if it were about to tear through her chest and burst free of whatever seal restrained it.
"Seeing me gets you that excited?"
A relaxed male voice cut through the eerie silence. The teasing lilt in it made a few of the students behind him go weak in the knees—
And, strangely, it also cooled the turbulent heart Talulah had been suppressing.
Talulah frowned. She released the death-grip she'd had on the collar at her chest, and her eyes—unmasked and undisguised—filled with disgust as she looked down at Chen Mo.
"How can an unforeseen variable like you exist… Draco?"
"Do you truly believe that with blood-kin fire and your crude tricks, you can suppress me—then simply reclaim the 'pure will' inside this body?"
"Your courage is commendable," she said coldly, "but your stupidity is impossible to hide."
Chen Mo only chuckled, neither denying nor conceding. In his hand, Ashes flared to life.
"You didn't look nearly this majestic when you were clutching your chest like you were having a heart attack just now," he shot back. "Don't talk so big, you old fossil."
With Patriot already on his side, Chen Mo's confidence was up—what was there left to be afraid of?
Besides, watching Talulah react to him like she'd been hit with sudden cardiac arrest had sparked a quiet suspicion in his mind.
Like the original account holder trying to force their way back into the login.
But first—
He needed the spectators gone.
"What are you still standing around for?" he barked over his shoulder. "Move! Get out of here!"
Only then did the students snap back to themselves. Under Anna's lead, they sprinted toward Rhodes Island's evacuation route.
"Tch. I was completely useless," Sonia spat, irritated by her own helplessness.
Then she dragged the still-worried Zoya and ran after the others.
In the end, only Rhodes Island—still covering the retreat—remained behind Chen Mo.
Amiya, staring at the man who stood between them and Talulah, finally accepted the call that had been ringing in her earpiece from the start.
A calm, heavy female voice answered immediately.
"Amiya. I'm detecting an abnormal high-temperature phenomenon near your position. Leave at once. That is not an opponent you can handle right now."
"Doctor Kal'tsit!"
The familiar flat tone made Amiya's eyes brighten with relief—but almost at once, her gaze slid back to Chen Mo in front.
"Please wait just a little longer… There's still a gentleman who hasn't—"
"Trying to run?" a sneering voice cut in. "After you made an enemy of Her Highness, you still think you deserve to live?"
Bang—
Dobermann drove her boot into Talren's side, kicking the sword swing off-line before it could take Amiya's head. Her whip cracked like thunder.
"Prepare for combat, Amiya. We can't break out for now."
Amiya turned—only to see the mindless Infected packed so tightly around them it was a living wall.
Rhodes Island operators immediately tightened their formation, pulling Amiya and the Doctor into the center while watching the "herd" for any sudden lunge.
Talren let out a cold laugh and lifted her sword again, about to charge.
Whoosh—
A wall of searing flame surged up in her path. The horrific sea of fire forced her to halt mid-stride.
"Your Highness?!"
Why stop her?
Aren't they enemies of Her Highness?
The oppressive heat made Talren instinctively look up at Talulah—
And what reflected in Talren's eyes was Talulah's stare, fixed tightly on the masked figure a short distance away, as if nothing else existed.
Talren followed that line of sight.
She saw Chen Mo—his flames tearing into Talulah's, ripping and biting at each other.
In an instant, the urge to slaughter vanished from Talren's chest like it had never been there. Her sword drooped at her side as she spoke, uncertain and disbelieving.
"Chen Mo… Your Highness?"
"…Your Highness?"
Amiya and the others froze as well.
Did that man have some special connection to Reunion's leader—Talulah?
Chen Mo, meanwhile, had already noticed the "blonde Feline" doctor. He even lifted a hand in greeting.
"Well, this is rare," he called. "You're still alive."
"Your reaction time's awful, though. And tell that disgusting coworker of yours to move these zombie-looking things out of the way—just looking at them makes me nauseous."
Whip—
A specially-made arrow cut past the edge of Chen Mo's mask and struck the ground behind him with a dull, vicious thud.
Chen Mo tilted his head, narrowly avoiding the killing line, and immediately snapped his gaze toward a distant high-rise.
"Faust?" he said. "So that's why I haven't seen you in the open. Hiding, huh."
He returned fire without hesitation.
A massive dragon-shaped flame roared upward, carrying blistering heat as it lunged straight for Faust's concealed position.
The answer was the creak of a crossbow being drawn again.
The ambusher—ragged, filthy, half-scrambling in the shadows—barely evaded the flame and tried once more to put a bolt through Chen Mo.
"Stop!"
Whip—
The arrow jerked off its intended line, losing its force and dropping uselessly near Chen Mo's feet.
Every eye turned to Talulah.
She had been the one to shout—her face twisted tight, as if she were fighting something inside herself.
"Talulah, why—" Mephisto started.
"…Shut up. That's not—tch. Damn it."
Mephisto stared at her, baffled. The herd—still mid-attack against Rhodes Island—also stopped as if a switch had been thrown.
Why call off Faust?
Wasn't that arrogant man the one who most deserved to die?
A sharp cracking sound interrupted his spiraling thoughts.
Click.
"Ah. It broke," Chen Mo said casually. "Whatever. I don't need this thing anymore anyway."
His mask hit the damaged ground with a crisp, hollow tap.
Chen Mo ran his fingers back through his silver hair. His tail swished lazily behind him as he looked up at Talulah and grinned.
"If you don't come down here and try to chop me up, you old fossil—then I'm coming up there to beat you down."
Silence.
The entire battlefield went still—so still that the only thing anyone could hear was Talulah's breathing, growing faster and harsher by the second.
A long moment passed.
Then—
"Talulah… two Talulahs?!"
Skullshatterer's shout detonated the quiet.
Even Reunion's forces—who had been pressing the attack moments ago—stalled in collective shock.
"W-what's going on? Two leaders?"
"They look—too similar! Is that man Talulah's family?!"
"Do we keep fighting or not?!"
Whispers spread, swelling into a chaotic murmur.
Talulah, hand pressed hard to her heart, didn't even have the spare focus to silence them.
Even the flames she kept hurling at Chen Mo slowed—weak and sluggish now, as if drained of intent.
Chen Mo seized the opening. Without even fully turning away from Talulah, he split his attention and burned the herd surrounding Rhodes Island to cinders.
Boom—
The sudden blaze snapped Rhodes Island back from their shock—
But before they could move, Chen Mo shouted over the firestorm:
"Now! Get back to Rhodes Island while you can. I can't hold this for long."
He paused, then added as if it were the most important part:
"And don't actually leave. I don't have transportation. I'm not walking all the way back on my own two legs."
"…Understood," Amiya said, nodding hard. "We'll wait for you, Mr. Chen Mo!"
Once Amiya led Rhodes Island away, Chen Mo finally loosened the tension in his shoulders and exhaled, satisfied.
"That little bunny really is cute."
At least she hadn't launched into the usual dramatic lines about refusing to abandon companions.
Besides, two of their main combatants were heavily injured. Staying would only force him to divide his focus.
In a genuinely good mood, Chen Mo turned back toward Talulah.
The moment Talulah saw his face—her expression twisted like she'd swallowed something foul.
Chen Mo burst out laughing.
"What, does my face have some Type-Moon 'Demonic Visage' effect?" he mocked. "One look and you can't even bring yourself to fight me?"
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