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n“Sorry, this might be above my abilities with my current law of Libra star level…”

nZoemi sighed apologetically towards the still unconscious Alan whose wounds began to heal properly but were still a way off from disappearing.

n“Kaaraal, dad needs your help.”

nThe black-haired man added, sending his whisper into the passing gust of wind.

n“William, today I act as the representative of the princess of the white tower. Even at this very moment a repugnant filth is recovering and gathering strength deep within the ground. It’s a remnant of a so-called demon lord class adversary that even the god of stars, guide, wanted to get rid of. The princess deemed your power to be useful for aiding us in dealing with it.”

n“…!”

nAfter that, Zoemi looked back at the trio of martial artists and declared – one of the two conscious people amongst them flinched.

nAnd it wasn’t William.

nInstead, the guardian of the Aquarius, Victor, looked down and then back up as if a realization hit him in the head like a brick.

n“As I said, I want to get some answers first, and you just added another one. How come you of all people know about the white tower and the princess?”

n“…”

nWiliam asked and his voice made Victor tense up and fix his shocked expression in a hurry – it should be something that the heavenly Star Warrior could have noticed, but it seemed that he was too focused on the black-haired man for that to happen.

nOr he simply ignored it for a moment.

nThe Heavenly Star Warrior was loyal to the Heavenly Star Nation, that was one trait that could never change no matter what. He might have doubts, he might have disagreed, or even refuse to take and complete an order even from the Heavenly Emperor or the emperor’s advisors residing with him in the Star Pagoda. He might have fought with some of the Heavenly Guardians over some trivial matters.

nAll of that did not matter if he was faced with a potential threat coming from the outside.

nWhen faced with new information, William’s default way of doing things was to side with the Heavenly Star Nation and its people over some outsider – and it was clear in the way he was acting at that very moment.

nGuardian of the Aquarius and Guardian of the Leo attacked him while working under an order from the official from the Star Pagoda but Zoemi was the only one being questioned as a high priority. Funnily enough, that did seem to make Victor slightly uncomfortable, as if he was feeling bad that even despite being obviously betrayed and abandoned by the nation, the Heavenly Star Warrior’s resolve didn’t falter.

n“Mister guardian, here, return this to the lawful sect that distributes it – I know that you are their lapdog anyway, so do me a solid, alright?”

nAll this time while protecting Alan, Zoemi had one of his fists clenched, but when he motioned at the fox-faced man, he threw whatever he was holding on to at him.

nThe action came out of nowhere and succeeded in confusing the others.

n“Wha…?!”

nVictor gasped and reached out his hands – not for catching the item, mind you, but to create a wind barrier thanks to the control over the element that his mastery in the law of Aquarius had given him.

nThe item was expelled away from him and fall on the burnt ground between him and William.

nIt turned out to be a little crystal vial – it was empty but had a particular, easily recognizable shape.

n“Now, now. What’s the big deal? Until now I only returned what was given to me – did you think that I would attack? Pfft.”𝔬𝒱𝗅xt.𝔠𝑶𝓂

n“…!”

nThe black-haired man smirked and winked at the fox-faced man who gritted his teeth in annoyance over being mocked.

n“Don’t make me laugh, do I look like the errand boy for the Heavenly Archer sect?”

nVictor scoffed, deactivating the shield and kicking the crystal vial away, making the glass flicker in the light as it tumble away.

n“No, of course not. You are one of the twelve Heavenly Guardians. It’s obvious that you are the protector of the heavens… and heavens only, as it’s clear that you do not care for the people of the nation. Shame.”

nZoemi’s face darkened as he sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

n“And now you’re implying that a simple monster lure that you can buy on the market is threatening the people of the Heavenly Star nation… you are not making yourself look any better, that’s for sure.”

nWilliam furrowed his brows, looking at the vial before shaking his head in disappointment.

n“…available on the market you say..?”

nZoemi asked honestly confused.

nThe whole scene with the vial was only a little trick. He wanted to buy some time before his dragon daughter arrives as he continued healing his unconscious friend.

nWhile keeping up the law of Libra which allowed him to gain access to the healing law of Virgo, Zoemi was vulnerable to a wide arrange of attacks because of the low level of the balancing star power, the star level of his law of Aries decreased momentarily from its supernova status.

nAnd yet, the diversion meant to only keep the marital artists from realizing the momentary weakness, turned out to be a great way to confirm the suspicion that the black-haired man had.

nThere were two types of dark sects after all.

nThe original ones, and the fake ones created by the Heavenly Archer sect and the Star Pagoda – Zoey, the traitor of the Great Ram sect who gave Alan the mana potion saying that it was a monster lure, he… he might not have got it from the dark sect at all.

nIt might have been because on his journey up until that point Zoemi didn’t browse the markets thoroughly, the ones he was in were only the ones in smaller towns and villages which all might have resulted in him not encountering the mana potion disguised as the monster lure in the wild. That originally made him assume that it was something that only the dark sect members had access to and shared in secret.

nAnd yet the dismissive tone in William’s voice suggested that the potion wasn’t anything special, just a common item.

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