Theron looked up toward the two women, his gaze hard to read. He had no idea who these two women were, but judging by the momentum of their Mana, it didn't take him long to guess that they were the Lilac and Violet he had constantly been seeing in the top six positions of the leaderboard.

He had seen those two names many times now, and every time he looked, they had the same exact number of points. That already confirmed to him that these two were almost certainly traveling together and evenly splitting their winnings.

What were the odds that there would be another two women, this deep in the Forest of Ice, likewise traveling together and carrying this much strength?

The chances were basically zero.

Much the same way Theron was deducing who they were, Lilac and Violet both also had a pretty good guess as to who Theron was. But to them, it was beyond just figuring out who he was on the list.

In truth, they weren't yet 100% certain that the Theron before them was, indeed, the number one ranked Theron Galethunder. In their opinion, accumulating as many points as Theron had while in the inner ring felt almost like fantasy.

However, an unknown Silver Mancer who was powerful enough to completely subdue a group of Inner Disciples like this… this person had to be the one their former master had taken under her wing.

The moment the two realized this, they immediately reacted with rage and angst.

If Theron was truly the first on the list, he was definitely stronger than either one of them individually. But it was a different matter altogether when the two of them were together.

If they added up their points together, they had more than either Theron or Orin. This wasn't a perfect measure of their strength when they fought in tandem, but it was a decent starting point.

When they were together, they didn't fear any of the other Core Disciples.

Their new master's grandson, Little Third, knew this well. That was why he wasn't here harassing them. He only dared to do that when his First Elder grandfather was around.

To the twins, this was an opportunity.

If they could deal with Theron, not only would it make the First Elder happy, but they would immediately skyrocket up several places by stealing his Ice Spirit Crystals.

On top of that, they could do it under the guise of protecting their fellow disciples as well, so no one would be able to openly accuse them of trying to get revenge for their own mistakes of the past.

The situation was almost too perfect, and the minds of the twins were so connected that they didn't even have to exchange a glance for the both of them to understand their next play.

Unfortunately for Theron in this case, he was missing context. He didn't know that Lilac and Violet had such deep-seated reasons to target him. He had no idea that Lyrah had once had disciples who betrayed her by joining another.

Fortunately for Theron, though… that tidbit didn't really matter. He knew how to read mannerisms, and he could see the stance of a pair of women that had the intention of "teaching him a lesson" even if he did follow their words.

Brenson seemed to almost immediately regain his courage.

"Senior disciple sisters! Thank you, thank you! This beast has no respect for the disciples of our Sect!"

"When is the last time someone entered the valley?" Theron asked.

The words cut through the echo of the twins' and Brenson's gloating as though he hadn't heard either.

Brenson looked back, stunned for a moment before he sneered.

"Did you not hear what—?!"

A scream cut him off. One of Theron's tendrils flexed and flicked, a disciple brother of Brenson's being flung over Theron's head and into the valley behind them.

He was shredded apart in the hail of ice before he could even turn his scream into a cry for help, vanishing below.

"Other than that time," Theron continued calmly.

Brenson's eyes opened wide. It wasn't just his, but the twins immediately stopped their steps, their hearts beating out of their chests.

Too bold.

Far too bold.

There were no rules against killing in the gathering. In fact, it was unspoken that such things were very much allowed. Many disciples died at the hands of Ice Spirit Beasts anyway. To say that there could be no competition between disciples themselves made little sense.

However, when was the last time an outsider had killed a Hall disciple?

It simply never happened.

Killing the children of the host in front of them? Was he a madman?

"Answer the question," Theron said coldly.

"I—I don't know! I don't know!"

The twins looked at one another, the surprise painted across their pretty features.

"I see." Theron reached back, and the black box he carried clicked, rearranging itself into a dense, heavy black spear that seemed formed of three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles.

With a flicker of Water Mana, more screams echoed as Brenson and his lackeys were all hurled over the cliff.

"NO! NO! NO!" Brenson howled before his voice, too, was swallowed whole.

Theron took a step, standing with his back to the valley and his spear pointed toward the twins. He looked quite calm and unmoved by it all.

"Make a decision. Are you going to waste my time more, or are you going to battle?"

There was something fishy about the two of them being here. They should know that this valley was here, which meant that disciples like them with adequate backing should not even be around here.

It was either that these two didn't have a very high standing, or they had been following him from a distance.

The former of the two was far more likely, and that felt like an interesting pressure point to press against. It was also precisely why Theron didn't try to deescalate the situation.

He knew to them that he was a meal ticket.

But to him, they were a whetstone.

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