"You?!"

"So… all this time you were supporting them?!" Jacques shouted.

The man fell from his seat and began convulsing, the poison had filled his throat, destroying his heart, leaving his body like that now.

Not only him, but the other representatives who came with him also died. They drank wine from Ethan, a type of wine that had already been laced with Venomfang poison from Hissy.

Ethan drank the poison too, but was he affected by it? Unfortunately, no. Toxic Resistance made him immune to all poisons, including Hissy's venomfang poison.

No matter how much Ethan drank that wine, he would not die a pathetic death like them. Ethan drank the wine to show them it was safe, even though it actually wasn't.

In less than five minutes, Jacques and the red faction's representative team died on the spot.

Ethan looked over coldly and walked out of the City Hall, where hundreds of LionArk members were waiting.

He turned to the side, watching members of the red faction waiting calmly. They had lowered their guard because they believed in LionArk's neutrality.

"Sir Ethan," they greeted him with friendly smiles.

Ethan smiled back at their friendliness. Not long after, Sherly arrived with several LionArk members.

Everyone in the red faction knew Sherly had gone to the white faction's territory to deliver the negotiation invitation, so they suspected nothing.

There were a total of 345 LionArk members stationed in Porco City. They gathered in the front courtyard of the City Hall, all holding their weapons.

No one felt suspicious. In their opinion, it was normal for LionArk members to act strict like that when the conflict had just escalated.

They needed to show their strength in case both factions clashed around the City Hall.

"How is it?" Ethan asked.

"They accepted the letter and are ready to go," Sherly answered.

Ethan nodded. He stayed in the front courtyard of the City Hall, waiting for something that would never come.

Not long after, an explosion sounded from the east, shocking everyone. Zidan turned, and many LionArk members also looked in the same direction.

The most panicked group was the red faction. The large explosion happened in the eastern area, right inside their district. It was clearly the work of the White Faction.

"They betrayed us! They attacked the base when the negotiation was about to begin," someone from the red faction shouted.

"Sir Ethan! You have to do something as the mediator of this conflict," the man said, walking closer to Ethan.

Ethan turned calmly, seeing the red faction's man standing beside him. His hand lifted and gently patted the man's shoulder. Ethan's gesture confused them.

"We will try to end this conflict. I promise."

"Zidan!" Ethan said sharply. Zidan nodded.

He turned and gave a nodding gesture to the people under his command. One by one, they stepped toward the red faction's group, making all red faction members freeze in shock.

"What's happening?!" the man shouted at Ethan.

"Sir Ethan?" Zidan asked, turning to him.

"Not a single member of the Red Faction is allowed to live. Attack them," Ethan answered.

"WHAT?!" the man screamed.

He swung his sword to the side to slash Ethan. But Sherly moved fast and blocked the man's strike.

Chaos erupted, LionArk members attacking the surrounding red faction members. The mages recited their spells, activating debuffs on the enemies, debuffs that effectively reduced their ATK and DEF.

A massacre broke out, LionArk members killing every red faction member without mercy. Ethan's order was clear, they could not allow them to live, could not allow them to tell anyone, including Silver Star.

In less than half an hour, 200 red faction members died, their blood pooling across the City Hall courtyard.

Ethan looked around, only 21 LionArk members had died. But their deaths were the key sacrifices needed to save Porco City.

Without their valuable sacrifice, Porco City would continue falling into endless chaos.

"Heal the wounded and send them to Mavelard."

"Take the bodies of those who died, bury them in the LionArk cemetery."

"Yes, Master Ethan," Sherly and Zidan answered in agreement.

Ethan looked forward, toward the eastern part of the city where black smoke still rose high, explosions continued, the last battle still raging.

He and the LionArk members could not be seen there. To maintain neutrality, Ethan and the others would remain at the City Hall.

Six hours passed, and the LionArk members had been fully healed. Together they began carrying the bodies of the Red Faction members to be buried.

The graves had been prepared, Ethan still treated them humanely even though they had to be buried in a mass grave. Zidan was the one supervising the process.

The doors of the City Hall opened, Sherly walked in quickly and approached Ethan. He was writing a peace resolution for both sides.

The peace resolution was finished. Ethan turned and saw Sherly arrive. The woman said the Red Faction had been defeated.

"450 people surrendered, the leader of Eagle War Guild surrendered," Sherly said.

"That's exactly what I expected."

Ethan rolled up the paper and walked out of the City Hall. The doors opened, and Ethan saw 1,250 White Faction members bringing 450 Red Faction members who had surrendered.

Among them was a middle-aged man kneeling in the front. He was clearly the leader of the Eagle War Guild, his face bruised, his body covered in wounds.

Now he no longer had the strength to fight. He admits defeat.

"I heard about you from Jacques. He called you… a visionary," the man said.

"Ending a conflict only needs realistic principles. The White Faction outmatches you, but you kept forcing the fight."

"That is not realistic at all," Ethan replied.

Ethan stepped closer to the man, opened the rolled paper, and showed it to the Eagle War Guild leader.

It was the peace resolution. Ethan asked him to immediately sign the resolution, then he would spare all their lives.

"In the end, my struggle ends with one piece of paper."

He lifted his hand and began signing the paper, without even knowing what it meant. Ethan smiled, took the peace resolution back, and rolled it neatly.

"Thank you for surrendering."

"Now you're obligated to free us, according to the agreement in the peace resolution!" the man said firmly.

"I never wrote that."

"What?!"

"It says here that you agree to surrender and pay the city's damages with your life and the lives of all your faction members," Ethan said.

"YOU TRICKED ME?!" the man shouted in anger.

"It was strategy," Ethan answered briefly.

"Kill them all!"

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