Rise of the Lustful Evil Monarch (Re)

Third Person's POV

And to diffuse the awkwardness he was feeling, he suddenly smiled and chuckled.

"By the way," he said casually, "Would you care to share how you found me in that crowd?"

Though his tone was light, his smile teased knowingly.

He didn't call out the way her gaze had lingered or how long she had been watching him, but the implication hung in the air, unspoken.

The sound of his chuckle pulled her from her brief daze, and she caught herself quickly, yet the faint warmth of embarrassment that crept to her cheeks remained hidden beneath her veil, and she refused to let it show.

Even on backfoot, her posture didn't falter, and her voice stayed calm as she replied.

"It was the wooden emblem I gave you that night in the Tower back in the City of Vord," Adeline said softly, her voice carrying a calm certainty.

"You see, I can sense the presence of anyone bearing my emblem, even if I cannot see them with my eyes. They are like bright torches to my senses… flickering in the dark night of the spirit world."

Her tone was serene, but Ethan's ears perked up at the last sentence.

He remained silent with his crimson eyes locked on hers, but his mind had already begun to question the vague but confusing contents of her last sentence.

'The dark night of the spirit world…?'

Her words sounded like a simple metaphor, yet the way she spoke them made him think twice. It didn't feel figurative; instead, it felt like a fragment of something deeper and something veiled.

Still, he didn't let his inner musings show on his face, and with a practiced calm, he reached into his spatial storage ring and pulled out the small emblem, a carved black piece of wood with a huge black tree under a blood moon drawn upon it.

As he held it, its bark-like texture faintly glowed with a suppressed spiritual energy that he hadn't been able to detect the night she had given it to him in that city.

He held it up to his eyes and let her see, as if confirming that she really meant this.

She gave a faint nod, and her veil shifted slightly as she acknowledged it without speaking further.

Ethan extended the emblem toward her, and without hesitation, she took it back.

Her delicate fingers brushed against his momentarily, giving a gentle and cool sensation that he found to be kind of intimate.

He seemed to have no words to describe it, but one thing was certain, and it was that he could not sense any deceit in her aura.

She hadn't needed to explain the emblem and the secret behind her ability to find him, but she had done so.

And in doing so, Ethan understood that this was her way of expressing her sincerity and the truth she wanted to convey to him.

In a realm where deception was commonplace and words were often layered with traps, it was rare for anyone to show their cards first.

And he could tell that it was a gesture meant to build something beyond advantage, perhaps trust.

Adeline turned her gaze back to the arena, where blood still stained the stone floors and the echoes of the crowd's ecstatic howls bounced through the space while the demon beasts fought madly.

After a quiet pause, she asked, her voice low and thoughtful,

"Do you know why a solemn place like the Crimson Kill Tower has transformed into such a vulgar entertainment hub, Mister Eryndor?

Why so many still willingly step into the ring as entertainers for this madness?"

Ethan shook his head slowly as he indicated his ignorance on the matter, though his eyes never left the arena below.

She continued on his assent with her tone dipping into a hint of bitterness and cold truth.

"Because this is the only way to ascend the Tower, at least for the earlier levels…"

The screams of the crowd mingled with the sound of chains clanging somewhere far below while the flickering torchlight painted their booth in shifting hues of orange and crimson.

Ethan let out a small breath and nodded, his voice quiet.

"I guessed as much... but may I ask why you are telling me this?"

She didn't look at him immediately but spoke while her eyes remained on the brutal dance of flesh and fury beneath them.

"Because I need your cooperation to climb the higher floors of the Tower. You may not be aware yet, but my proposal will benefit you as well.

The higher one goes, the fiercer the competition becomes. Especially among those under the Sky Realm as beyond the thirty-fifth floor, it's a different world."

Her fingers tightened slightly around the bronze goblet she held, but her voice stayed smooth.

"For beings like us, still below the Sky Realm, the thirty-fifth floor is our ceiling. But even reaching that point is a bloody ordeal.

It is not just about strength, but it's about forming groups, forging alliances, and that is absolutely necessary as everyone is vying for the limited but pure and rare resources, elite practice grounds, and most importantly, authority."

Ethan listened in silence and processed her words. A part of him had already expected something like this, but it was still sobering to hear it spoken so bluntly.

Then, after a moment of contemplation, he asked the question that had been sitting at the edge of his mind,

"Are the students from the Sanctum a major part of this fight for ascension? This whole bloody competition?"

At his words, Adeline turned to him, suddenly, and a soft chuckle escaped her lips. It was such a lovely sound in its low, rich, and almost musical tone that Ethan was inwardly mesmerized, though he didn't let it show on her face.

A desire to listen to her voice couldn't help but rise in his chest, yet there was no change on his face on the outside.