FAMILY ABOVE ALL: BATTLING AGAINST GODS

Immediately after leaving Arianne, Arlo, and Joe behind, Evangeline soared into the blue sky, as she expertly used her will over Mana to carry Ella along with her. Together, they moved at great speed towards the central area of the academy.

Here there were several small yet high-class buildings arranged orderly around each other. This was the living area of most teachers in the academy.

Moving to an especially tall building compared to the others, Evangeline entered and arrived in a dark hall.

"...Since when do we allow a little brat to summon us? We answer to Scarlett and Scarlett alone." An old voice suddenly grumbled, his voice tinged with annoyance.

"Just say you are angry Scarlett took the little girl with her instead of us, and stop giving excuses..." Another voice, this one female, voiced out.

"Humph!" The first voice harrumphed in displeasure.

All this discussion entered Evangeline's especially sharp hearing, however, she merely dismissed it without a care and only spared a glance at the grumbling old man who was Lord Cromwell.

Nine figures were already present within the hall, awaiting Evangeline's arrival after receiving a summoning message from her. If it wasn't because they were all curious as to what happened in her journey with Scarlett, all of them would have ignored her summon. In fact, most if not all of them weren't supposed to be at the academy, however because of the first ranked Second-year student who had been demonized and killed by Scarlett during the awakening ritual, they had been charged by their liege to search the entire academy personally for another victim.

*Tap!* *Tap!*

Lord Holden, who was the Headmaster of the Darkblood Academy and one of the strongest among the nine lords suddenly tapped his walking cane on the ground, a gesture for silence.

After garnering the attention of the other eight Lords, he turned to Evangeline and smiled, "Little Evangel, something must have happened for you to summon us, not to mention..." He paused before narrowing his eyes at Ella who stood behind Evangeline, her face a bit pale from the monstrous pressure unconsciously exerted by the mightiest force of the vampire race.

"...the situation must be unusual for you to bring a werewolf to our territory, and a princess no less."

The other Lords including Lord Cromwell suddenly put on serious expressions as they awaited Evangeline's reply.

Evangeline's mouth twitched a bit when she heard Headmaster Holden call her little, but she didn't refute him as he was indeed her senior not to mention that she respected him greatly.

Thinking deeply, Evangeline pondered on how to break the situation to them. In the end, she decided to start with...

"...The situation is critical..." She slowly recounted everything that happened outside the secret realm, the nine Lord's expressions distorting the more they heard her words.

After a short yet seemingly long period, Evangeline finished recounting what happened.

A deafening silence ensued...

Slowly the aura within the hall turned stiffening. The nine lords who were usually aloof now put on grave looks. The thought of a situation similar to what happened almost a decade ago made even these grand figures feel a sense of fear.

"Hmmm..." Headmaster Holden lowered his head to hide his furrowed brows. After some time he raised his head.

"Cromwell and Hayes shall continue with the student's investigation. We have already secured the first, third, and fourth-year students. Only the second-year students remain, and considering they aren't many, the task wouldn't take much of your time."

"After you are done, you will return outside, to join the others who will ensure the safety of our people, focusing mainly on the King and Queen's safety and the capital city."

"Aaron and Vlad shall go in pursuit of our liege and offer whatever assistance they can render. As for me, I shall remain behind, and ensure that the academy is safe."

Nodding to his orders, the nine lords quickly but quietly vanished from the hall. But before leaving, Evangeline heard Lord Cromwell addressing Lord Hayes.

"Those second-year students should be having a ranking war right now. That will make our work easier as the bulk majority if not all, would be present in the same place."

"Okay." a short reply soon followed.

"Evangeline..." Lord Holden called to her gently, pulling her attention back to him. "You have done well. You shall remain here and guard the academy with me, your main focus shall be the human Khan. Also, make sure to keep the wolf girl with you. We don't want any commotion breaking out now that we have our hands full."

Evangeline nodded her head as she maintained her usual indifference. It was only when she was with the few she counted close that she revealed the other sides to her. In that aspect, she was quite similar to Arianne.

Left alone within the hall, Headmaster Holden sighed, before glancing up, his eyes seemingly able to pierce through the roof and lock at the sky, "I fear troubling times are coming... and it won't be long..."

.....

High up, in the sky above an auditorium within the northern region of the academy, two figures quietly appeared.

"It seems they have started." Lord Cromwell spoke, his spiritual energy enveloping the building below without the knowledge of those present within it.

"Hmm..." Once again, Lord Hayes simply nodded. It seemed he treated his words dearly.

Lord Cromwell's eyes suddenly shone:

"Incredible! The princess broke through several levels and is now at the peak of the master realm. She must have consumed a lot of mana fruits. Speaking of which, did they bring any more back from the realm?"

Only silence answered him, however, he didn't mind as he was already used to his friend's behavior.

A look of contempt briefly showed on his face when his gaze fell on Stefan, "Useless impure..." Realizing he had voiced his thoughts, he quickly shook his head and kept quiet. Luckily, the only other person around him was one he considered close.

"Oh! What an interesting show!" He wisely ignored Joe's existence as he felt like he might do something he would regret if he didn't. Just the thought of an outsider and a beast at that, enjoying what one of their kind should have, made him feel greatly displeased. But as it was his Liege's will, he had no choice but to accept it, but that didn't mean he could stomach it. So, he wisely ignored the brat.

As for Landon and the others who had died, he didn't really care about them. While their deaths were definitely a great loss for the vampire race, it was also not anything worth distressing over, especially for great figures like them. The third years were the least talented among the current batch if students after all.

Looking at the center of the ring, a look of amusement flashed on his face as he watched Jude throw several punches and kicks at his opponent.

"Now that is how things should be. Impures should know their place. Only those of noble blood have the right to rule."

While he was enjoying the little show taking place in the building below him, he didn't notice how the usually stoic expression of his friend quickly broke before giving way to shock.

Lord Hayes ignored the fight currently ongoing, and the people altogether and instead watched a golden-haired boy excitedly converse with three little creatures within a room.

Not intending to interrupt the competition, they both silently agreed to wait for it to finish before continuing with their investigation.

Like this, time quickly passed.

However, the more time passed, the more Lord Cromwell's expression fell. Watching the situation that unfolded within the hall, his eyes slowly turned cold, and when one of the few supreme geniuses that the current generation had suddenly fell...and by a human's hands no less, Lord Cromwell felt something snap in his brain.

Even the always-quiet Lord Hayes now had a gloomy look on his face.

.....

Arlo watched Jude disappear into his shadow territory, his expression serene unlike the despair look on the latter's face. A figure suddenly appeared within the ring intending to save Jude, however he was a split second late. What remained at Jude's previous position was an empty floor of the ring made of strong material.

Arlo's muscles slowly tensed when he noticed the stark similarity in the appearance of the new arrival and the now-dead Jude. He watched as the middle-aged man lowered his head, his emotions unknown and his body not showing any sign of movement. But it didn't take Arlo a genius to know how the man would feel considering he might be related to Jude.

At the same time, the entire place remained silent for several minutes.

All the students had shocked looks on their faces, not believing one of theirs had fallen...just like that, and before them no less. It was one matter to wound and torture a student like Jude had done to Roy, and it was another matter to kill someone. Considering that their race was few and numbered compared to other great races, the vampires took the lives of every member importantly. It was why the majority of them were shocked by Landon and his mate's death within the secret realm, and if it wasn't for their anger toward Joe and Arlo entering the secret realm and enjoying the privileges that occupied their minds, the great majority of them would have been anguished by the sudden loss of many members.

However, one such member just died before them...and it was Jude who was far more talented than Landon and his mates. Not to mention that his status was greatly different from Landon's. As a child of high-class nobles with relations to a Count's family, Jude enjoyed several benefits, not to mention that he was Toon's most loyal follower. Speaking of Toon...

"Father..." Toon rose to his feet, mad fury burning within his eyes. Count Cromwell didn't reply, his face distorted because of the sense of shame he felt when Arlo ignored his command. The same was for Count Hayes who sat a short distance from him. Both of them had instructed Arlo to stay his hands, yet the latter had simply ignored their commands. They felt humiliated.

Especially Count Hayes who already harbored hatred for Arlo, because he had defied him when he commanded him to kneel at the start of the awakening ritual.

As the shock slowly passed, it gave way to anger. Many eyes stared daggers at Arlo, yet no one acted. It was almost as if they were waiting for someone to act before following their lead. Still, being subjected to several burning gazes would have made an average person succumb to fear, yet Arlo's back remained straight, as he paid strict attention to the middle-aged man before him, and prepared to react at any moment.

As the deafening silence increased to the point of palpitating...

An angry voice suddenly resounded in Count Cromwell and Toon's head.

"What are you waiting for? Get him!"

Toon and his father's expression changed slightly when they recognized the voice within their head.

'But father, Our Liege said not to harm him.' Even though he was angry and displeased at Arlo, and wanted nothing but to hack him into pieces, Count Cromwell was a leader of an entire clan and was able to keep a cool head. He knew it was entirely unacceptable for them to go against Scarlett's orders.

There was a brief silence before an old voice resounded once more in their minds.

"...Don't worry. We can use the guise of trying to capture him to hurt him. Of course, don't kill him."

That was all Toon needed to hear.

While his father still hesitated, Toon exploded with blinding speed, and in merely two breaths, he appeared within the ring and behind Arlo.

But to his surprise, Arlo was able to react to his arrival thanks to his dragon sense, and with fluid yet fast movement, he turned back, and used his speed to his advantage, throwing a punch with all the power he could muster.

The sound barrier was broken... and before the sound of the explosion could spread, Toon watched with widened eyes how a beam...no, a massive pillar of compressed air flew in his direction, the ring exploding in its path.

"Humph..." Harrumphing, Jude released his will.

*Booooooooooooooom....* A deafening explosion spread out only to be cut abruptly, as a domain of darkness spread out before swallowing the pillar of compressed air effortlessly, continuing on its path, its target, Arlo.

Arlo's two hearts pounded fiercely against his ribcage when he realized he didn't have any more time to react. Under his slowly contracting dragon eyes, the darkness encroached on him in just a split second...

Only to be stopped!

Another will exploded outward, a domain of darkness spreading out, and stopping Toon's own in its path.

Stefan flashed beside Arlo.

Just when Arlo breathed a sigh of release, his dragon sense suddenly tingled greatly, overwhelming him to the point of almost suffocating.

The vampires who had been boiling in anger about Arlo being allowed into the secret realm...

The vampires who were shocked to see one of their kind killed before them, and felt stifled because they couldn't hurt a hair on Arlo's body due to Scarlett's command...suddenly moved.

And all hell broke loose!