Samur was expecting a bit more 'resistance', such as unexpected factors cropping up, but everything seemed to be going as he had planned.

  Well, expected, rather.

  "What if I promise to give you a fate worse than death?" Samur asked.

  "Heh," Tristan scoffed. "There's nothing worse than death."

  "Huh," Samur raised his eyebrows. "I didn't think that your imagination would be so limited."

  Did Tristan really think that death was the worst thing that could happen to a living being?

  If yes, he was truly a fool and someone not worth Samur's time.

  To think he had wasted so much time on this. Setting up this stage to test the drone really wasn't the most tactical decision on his part, especially when he considered that his drone just got destroyed.

  Thankfully, he was using Azell's persona, so this wasn't an entirely fruitless endeavour.

  At the very least, he could pull an epic prank on Azell.

  "Only someone who hasn't experienced death could say that," Tristan smiled in ridicule.

  "Pfft!" Samur almost burst out laughing.

  "…"

  ?…?

  Of course, Neia was listening in on their conversation. Samur hadn't implemented the feature that only captured his voice.

  "…" Samur covered his mouth with his hands and took some deep breaths. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

  "…"

  "You might have talent as a comedian, Mr. Kidnapper," Samur chuckled. "Why don't you get out of this dangerous kidnapping business and pursue a career in making people laugh?"

  "…"

  "No?"

  "Once you get in this game, it's impossible to get out," Tristan replied. "The only way to leave is by dying."

  "Then just fake your death," Samur said in a matter-of-fact tone. "In fact, I'll help you. We will make the people behind you believe that you are dead. That way, you can move to another country and start a new life."

  "…"

  "Think about it. You can start an honest job. The pay might be less but at least you'll enjoy it, knowing that you aren't harming anyone. There you will meet a girl. Her bright smile and positive outlook on life will teach you what it's like to be a human. You will settle down with her. Within a few years, you will have a small family. Times might be hard, but you will be happy."

  "…" Tristan furrowed his brows.

  "Of course, if you're lucky enough someone third rate thug organisation will mess with you."

  "What?"

  "You'll try to resolve the situation diplomatically but they'll come after your family. You will snap and return to your persona of Tristan, the monster whose name echoed in the depths of the Underworld. And you will show those fuckers that there are limits which must never be crossed."

  "…" Tristan cupped his chin.

  "And then you will live happily ever after with your family. Doesn't that sound great?"

  "Well, it does, I admit," Tristan slowly nodded. "But that's all it does; sound good."

  "Oh?"

  "I'll never be able to get away from my organisation. Their reach goes far deeper than what you can possibly imagine."

  "Oh my."

  An interesting piece of information.

  "Even if I somehow did, I'll never be able to fall in love with a woman, let alone make her fall for me."

  "Hey, have faith in yourself. Even the Devil finds love, you're just a shitty human."

  "What if I told you I'm worse than the Devil?"

  Ew, cringe.

  "Believe me when I say this, Mr. Kidnapper, but even the most morally despicable things you can imagine are nothing more than a child's play for the Devil. So no, you're not worse than the Devil."

  The Devil was Samur's homie, so of course, he knew what the Devil was actually capable of.

  He had done things that made even Samur go, 'Hot damn, bro, calm the fuck down!'

  "Anyway, there are several things wrong with your scenario. Let's say that someone goes after my family and I use my full strength to raze them to the ground. But that would be the same as announcing that I'm alive. And once they know I'm alive, they will come after me."

  "So you'll just end up putting your family in more danger," Samur nodded in understanding.

  What despicable humans. No one should go after their enemies' families.

  "What? No, we might be villains, but even we won't stoop so low."

  "Oh, that's nice."

  Another interesting piece of information.

  "Anyway, your plan will fail. It's not possible. My only option is to stop you here."

  "Or die trying," Samur reminded.

  "Don't worry," Tristan smirked. "That won't happen."

  "I see."

  Samur snapped his fingers and just like before, several ice spears appeared in the air behind him.

  In response, the Aura inside Tristan's body churned. The next moment, the overwhelming amount of Aura burst out of his body and engulfed the guards beside him.

  The crimson Aura wriggled on their bodies for some moments before forming a set of full body armour.

  "You have some nice party tricks."

  "We'll be partying with your blood, after all."

  Wow.

  "Well, as you wish," Samur raised his hand then brought it down.

  Heeding his command, the ice spears launched themselves forward.

  "Ready yourself!" Tristan shouted as a cooler full body armour appeared on his own body.

  Responding to his command, the guards took defensive stances. As they did, the Aura on their bodies spread out and formed shields.

  These shields were obviously much stronger than the Aura shields the guys outside had used. Strong enough to perhaps stop Samur's spears.

  The guards braced for impact, readying themselves to counterattack after defending against this onslaught.

  However, the might of these ice spears never descended on them. After all, they had stopped just inches before their shields.

  A deafening silence descended.

  "Arrghh!" What broke this silence was Lecia's agonising groan.

  "Now do you understand your position…?" Tristan grinned as he twisted the knife he had plunged into Lecia's arm, but the next moment, he froze.

  Now, as one might expect, the wind generated by the rapid movement of the ice spears had blow away the fog shrouding this room.

  And as Samur had been hiding behind the fog, his figure also became visible.

  Tristan silently stared at the boy before him. The boy was thin, scrawny even. It seemed that he would shatter into two with just a punch.

  However, the sheer confidence radiating out of his body told him otherwise.

  "You are…" Tristan's eyes widened as he recognised the figure in front of him.

  After being threatened and losing his men, he had looked into the members of the New Dawn Guild in order to prepare. As such, he knew what each of them looked like.

  There was only one person he hadn't been able to investigate into, because there literally wasn't anything to investigate. And that person was Samur.

  By process of elimination, it made sense for the person before him to be Samur.

  "Is something the matter?" Samur asked in Azell's voice.