Miho hesitated only a second before sending a few more shots, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Alric," Lily said coldly, "remember this. If you so much as stroll near Miho again, there will be no one worse than me for you."

Her eyes sharpened.

"Now leave. Never appear before us again—unless you're courting death."

Alric didn't even realize he was practically naked as he stumbled away, running blindly while muttering to himself, eyes stretched wide with terror.

"Never… I'll never get close to that woman. Fuck, what was I thinking trying to take her as a concubine? I'll die. Shit—how does that Leo guy even manage her? She's a monster!!"

He would never forget those devilish eyes that had watched his agony with unmistakable delight.

---

"What's the situation?" Brant asked as he stepped through the door into the study.

Inside, a man who looked roughly the same age as him sat behind a cluttered desk. His eyes were sunken and weary, the kind that suggested sleepless nights spent staring at reports no one wanted to read. He lifted his gaze toward Brant.

"They say the intelligent specimen count still hasn't been met."

At those words, Brant's expression darkened almost instantly.

The other man continued, his voice flat, as if he'd repeated this line too many times already.

"One thousand five hundred intelligent beast cores… or one hundred and fifty thousand human bodies in place of them. They're still short by nearly twenty thousand."

Brant's jaw tightened. His teeth clenched hard enough to ache.

"And it's not even the proper ritual," he muttered bitterly. "Why is this new world so cruel?"

"There was a manuscript found," the other man said, breaking the silence.

He leaned back slightly, fingers brushing against a stack of yellowed documents.

"It says the World Dragon implemented these laws in the beast world to control overpopulation—and to create an elite force capable of handling the invading Carnal Desire Incarnates."

Brant listened quietly as the explanation continued.

"Eventually, even after the WorldFall, these laws had to be preserved," the man said. "Those Incarnates found their way here, too. Fucking Demons."

As he spoke, his fingers tightened around a single piece of paper on the desk, crumpling it slightly. It looked like a letter—creased, worn, and read far too many times.

"The World Dragon's hands are tied," he went on. "He needs God-tier beings as quickly as possible for the survival of this new world. And eventually—someone to replace himself."

Brant frowned. "Was it really that bad?"

The man exhaled slowly.

"I don't know," he admitted. "In fact, we don't know anything beyond this point. Even gathering this much information cost us one of our Queens."

He gave a humorless chuckle. "Talk about a tough life."

Brant let out a long sigh.

"Humans are far too behind in these matters," he said. "It's barely been five hundred years. And that's not even accounting for how much of our technological advancement we've already lost."

"That's true," the man replied. "But have you heard? Another time capsule has been found."

Brant raised an eyebrow, a faint crease forming between them. "Hm?"

"Don't 'hm?' me," the man scoffed, clicking his tongue in irritation. "Are you saying you don't even know what that implies?"

"Tsk." Brant clicked his tongue

"Old coot. I'm better at these things than you. I'm asking what they found inside. You're a 5-star—you should have at least that much information."

"Hah, saying that as if you're any less," the man shot back, lips curling. "Hiding like a fox, as always. Anyway, I was informed it contains something related to communication…"

"Communication?" Brant echoed, his brow furrowing slightly. "Don't we already have magic for that?"

"Exactly," the man replied, spreading his hands. "That's why it hasn't caused much excitement. But we're talking about communication without magic. I can't help but wonder how people five hundred years ago managed that."

Brant hummed thoughtfully, his fingers tapping once against the armrest.

"Well, only a handful of people from that era are even still alive—and they're all locked away by the Emperor, pampered like sheltered kids. Of course, we know next to nothing about that time. At least these time capsules help us piece things together."

He paused, eyes narrowing slightly as another thought surfaced.

"Does this one also mention firearms? That discovery was incredibly useful. Now even the weak can defend themselves."

"Bah!" The man snorted, waving the idea away with clear disdain. "Defend against who? Rats? Forget even that. Those tiny, corn-like metal pieces can't even dig properly through flesh. Not to mention they're complicated to make and to function. Before they can even pull that thing called a trigger, I might've already finished erasing them from existence."

His voice dripped with contempt as his hand fell back to his side.

"Old Lu, are you stupid?" Brant snapped, irritation bleeding through. "Who's defending against us? We don't even have time to terrorise them. I'm talking about defending against people with no power. Human nature is vile—an evil person will always find a way to torment the good and the weak, even if they themselves are an insect on the grand scale. Banding together, using underhanded means, everything under the pretence of living better. That's where firearms come in. By giving them to people, we ensure their safety."

Old Lu scoffed, folding his arms.

"More like a false sense of security. Didn't that even help the criminals?"

"That's why firearm licensing has strict protocols," Brant replied evenly. "Only people with safe records get them."

"Nah." Lu shook his head. "You're just trying to justify the importance of the old era—just like how you justify your old body by saying it's a sign of enlightenment. In reality, nothing from that era compares to now. Didn't someone claim they had a weapon of mass destruction called an atomic bomb or a nuke or whatever? Then they went on about a complete destruction range of 'a massive 2 km' and a moderate damage zone of 10 km."

He scoffed again.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.