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Knock knock.

In the stillness of the night, two sharp knocks suddenly rang out. The door, adorned with an intricate golden beast, slowly creaked open. A drowsy concierge peered out, rubbing his eyes. He scrutinized the two individuals before him and grumbled, “What is it?”

“I’m looking for Diana.”

“Diana?”

The concierge froze for a moment, but quickly recalled that Diana was one of the recent guests here. The girl had a captivating presence and appeared to be an old friend of his master. Due to their connection, she was assigned the finest room in the east wing.

“You are…” The concierge, now more alert, asked suspiciously, “What business do you have with Miss Diana?”

“I am a friend of hers and I have pressing matters to discuss.”

“Friend…?” The concierge studied the blonde girl who spoke to him. She appeared to be around twelve or thirteen years old. Although it was dim, he could see her strikingly beautiful face. Her attire also hinted at her wealthy background, suggesting that she might be the daughter of a prestigious family.

The person standing behind her was a different case. Despite his tall and imposing stature, he cowered beneath a tattered black coat, resembling a hunchbacked giant. He had an unkempt beard and there was mysterious stuff stuck in his messy hair, making it difficult to see his real appearance. When the dim light occasionally hit his bare skin, it appeared to have an abnormal hue.

Upon noticing the concierge’s hesitation, the blonde girl in front of her smiled sweetly and asked, “Is there a problem?”

“Well…” The concierge looked rather troubled. He had no issues with the girl, but the person standing behind her was…

In these uncertain times, a humble concierge like himself found it difficult to bear the weight of such responsibilities.

“Can you make an exception? We’re not bad people.” The blonde girl took two steps forward and discreetly shoved something into the concierge’s hand. “You could also inform Diana beforehand, that way you’ll be fully aware of what needs to be done.”

“Well…” The concierge weighed the object in his hand before a huge smile spread across his face. “Alright, I’ll take care of it right away.”

The concierge retracted his head back into the room, no longer feeling drowsy. He quickly made his way toward the room in the west wing, tightly clutching the money bag in his hand, chuckling to himself.

As expected of a wealthy individual, the handsome reward was equivalent to six months’ worth of his salary.

Meanwhile outside the door…

Skarst looked at the closed door, rubbing his chin in confusion as he asked, “Aren’t we supposed to be registering at the Great Celestial Rite? Why are we visiting someone in the middle of the night?”

Rolling her eyes, the blonde girl, known as Lilith, shrugged her shoulders and replied, “This isn’t part of my initial plan, but I just realized something.”

“What is it?”
“There’s no way for us to sign up.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because we’re wanted criminals.” Lilith clenched her teeth. “I didn’t expect that strange array to work so well! The moment I took a step, sirens filled the entire city.”

“Sirens?” Skarst’s thoughts shifted, and a surge of magic power filled both of his ears. The once serene night underwent a sudden transformation, as piercing sounds echoed and fluctuated throughout the surroundings. Not only that, it was also accompanied by noises from spectrum stones, alarms, and even voice transmissions of powerful experts. In any case, the night was far from peaceful.

“Good ears.” Skarst was secretly impressed with Lilith.

“Then… What about the maid…? Where did she go?” Skarst asked.

“To go to get rid of our arrest warrant through a connection, of course.” Lilith patted her chest and said smugly, “Although I’m not afraid of all this stuff, things would be easier if we weren’t wanted. Luckily, I know the son of the chief security enforcer in this town, so I sent her to get in touch with him.”

That’s not what you said before. What an interesting person my sworn sister is.

Skarst could not help but stifle a laugh as he reminisced about how fearlessly Lilith had acted earlier.

“Now that the entire city is on high alert, are you not worried that your maid might get caught in the middle again?” Skarst joked.

In his long life, Skarst had witnessed numerous misunderstandings caused by a mismatch of information and intelligence, even though his sworn sister was far from ordinary to humans.

The city was too big and the high number of people deployed could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. Therefore, for the maid to act alone in such a situation was akin to venturing into a tiger’s den. There was a possibility that she might be accidentally beaten to death by experts who were in a foul mood from being woken up by all the commotion in the middle of the night.

“Don’t worry. I know Kieran will definitely be able to do it,” Lilith said confidently.

“You really have faith in your maid.” Skarst nodded in admiration, impressed by the genuine bond between the master and her servant. It had been so long since he had witnessed such an unwavering trust.

“Of course. If I didn’t at least pretend to trust him a little, I would have to be the one doing all these dangerous tasks.” Lilith scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“If you want a horse to run, you have to feed it grass. Even if there’s no grass, it’s better to promise some. Before the horse reaches its destination safely or falls into any intended traps, false promises play a vital role in keeping it going.”

“…Hm, that’s truly remarkable, my sworn sister. Your thinking is incredibly quick.” Skarst’s cheek twitched.

Lilith gazed up at the sky and boasted, “Of course, don’t you know who I am? The art of manipulation has been ingrained in me since childhood.”

The dark sky, though clear, lacked any hint of moonlight or starlight, as if they were concealed behind an invisible iron curtain.

Skarst looked up at the sky too, and exclaimed, “I have to say, this formation array in Jeorgetown City is certainly impressive. I never expected someone would be capable of setting up such a grand one at the current stage of development. It appears that the strength of this most powerful human nation is far greater than what meets the eye.”

“What do you mean?”

Skarst gave Lilith a puzzled look, silently thinking that she, as the imperial princess, should have more knowledge about this than him. Since it was a question from his sworn sister, Skarst patiently explained to her.

“Over there, over there, over there…” Skarst pointed, indicating a total of five directions.

“In the north, south, east and west of this city, with the palace situated in the center… Each area is guarded by a saint-level expert. Additionally, there is a formation in the sky.” Skarst raised his gaze to the pitch-black sky once again.

“The five powerful experts stationed in every eye of the formation act as pillars supporting the sky, fortifying the formation array. But the most crucial aspect is not the formation itself, but rather its effect.”

“Effect?” Lilith tilted her head. “You’re not saying they have the power to eliminate anyone within the formation at their will, are you?”

“Not exactly that terrifying, but that’s a close guess.” Skarst continued, “The formation’s main function is to converge and magnify.”

“The symbol of a saint-level expert is their domain, which can be perceived as an imperfect little world. The more powerful experts can even establish their own laws within their domain, thus becoming masters who have complete control over it. The process of gradually integrating the laws of their small world into the larger world around them is known as the path of divinity.” Skarst’s eyes revealed a hint of longing before it quickly vanished.

“My apologies for going off-topic. Anyway, the primary purpose of this formation is to converge the domains of these five saint-level experts together and magnify them to the extent that they can cover the entire city.”

“A domain that covers an entire city?” Lilith’s eyes slowly widened as she recalled encountering an early saint-level expert whose domain had only a diameter of about twenty meters around her.

How would it work if it could cover an entire city, particularly one that was currently the most prosperous and densely populated on the continent?

Skarst extended his hand and slowly balled it up into a fist. “With the aid of this formation and a domain that covers the entire city, I wonder what else in this city can possibly escape the scrutiny of those five experts?”