Atlas stood in the arena with hundreds of others that had arrived to take part in the selection. There were just so many people that it was hard to locate someone amidst the crowd.

Time kept passing, and people kept increasing. The seats in the stadium also started getting filled. The stadium, which looked mostly empty until recently, was now mostly filled. Many citizens of the city of Sagos had arrived to witness the trials.

The trials were the responsibility of the Two Great Families. Both worked together to make this event a success; however, it was also a beneficial endeavor for them since they were allowed to charge money from the spectators for allowing them entry. Only participants weren’t charged anything.

The beautiful arena was so big that even after accommodating over a thousand participants, it was still only half full. All the participants looked at each other, waiting for the moment when it was going to start.

Some were even worried if they were going to last until the end. Meanwhile, most were just concerned about the tests that were going to be placed before them.

Atlas stood in the line, observing the spectators to find Lia amongst them. Unfortunately, she was still not here. He was just about to lower his gaze in disappointment, thinking she had missed.

He could hear some men who were part of the management say that it was time for the doors to be closed and no one else was going to be allowed in.

The doors which were used by participants were closed first. The time for participation was up, and no one was going to take part anymore. The guards next closed the spectator’s gate, sealing the entire stadium.

“She missed,” Atlas muttered, frowning. “So much for keeping my hopes on her.”

“Look to your left,” Lilith chimed in, seeing the disappointment of Atlas. “She is here.”

“Huh?” Atlas looked to his left, frowning. His gaze roamed over the people sitting on the seats before ultimately landing on one petite figure of a young woman who sat with a beautiful smile on her face.

“At the last moment,” Atlas sighed. “Could’ve been worse.”

“Ah, Atlas. I think you should hide your face.” Atlas just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the grim tone of Lilith.

“What happened?” he asked, frowning.

“Yovana… She is here.” Lilith grimly stated.

Atlas hastily glanced towards the special seats, which were surely reserved for the Vampires, only to realize that Lilith was right.

He noticed a tall woman, wrapped in a beautiful black gown, walking to the highest seat. Her eyes seemed a bit dull, yet her beauty was impeccable. Her dark hair waved with the wind as she climbed the steps to reach the highest seat.

Amongst the special seats, there was only one seat that Atlas was interested in, one which seemed like a throne. He was sure that Carlisle was going to sit there. Why was Lia going there? He couldn’t understand.

As Lia reached the throne, she stopped. She moved to the seat, which was right beside the throne, and sat down, resting one leg above the other as she observed the arena.

Atlas hastily lowered his head. “This is bad. I thought she wouldn’t be able to get up, let alone come here. Only one night has passed since she was poisoned by someone. This isn’t good. I’m in the middle of the Vampire City. All the well known Vampires are going to be here from the Carlisle Clan.”

“If Yovana recognizes me and tells Carlisle, I’ll be trapped. Should I leave? No. I won’t get a chance like this again! I can’t leave! But if I stay, I might get caught. It might be too late later.”

Atlas didn’t know what to do. It was as if his head was overloaded at the moment. He just covered his head with his hood, trying to hide as much as he could. Fortunately, he hadn’t forgotten to wear a cloak. But still, he didn’t feel entirely safe.

More and more Vampires started arriving, taking their seats. Ultimately, only two seats were left, one which was the throne and a seat on the right of the throne, which also seemed special.

The participants were getting slightly nervous by now. Almost everyone was here, and the event was going to start. Their heartbeat had already begun to fasten.

The spectators had also started chattering amongst themselves, trying to guess who was going to be selected amongst all the participants based on initial glance.

In fact, the two great families also ran a betting center. It allowed the spectators to bet on the participants. One could only bet once and on one person. However, since there were thousands of people and no one knew who could win, the odds were also very high. One coin was turned into thousand coins if one won.

Most wealthy families made random guesses since there was no way to know who was going to win as they started placing bets.

Thud~

Suddenly, a loud thud was heard. Multiple men stepped into the stadium and announced the arrival of Lord Carlisle. Everyone swiftly went silent and stood up in respect, taking a knee. Over thirty thousand spectators were on their knees, awaiting the arrival of Lord Carlisle.

Even the participants in the Arena went down on their knees, including Atlas.

Atlas sneakily gazed up, keeping his eyes on the entrance.

“What?!”

Atlas felt as if his heart suddenly skipped a beat as he saw Lord Carlisle enter the stadium. His mouth slightly opened in shock as his eyes widened. He hadn’t expected what he was seeing.

Lord Carlisle… He hadn’t arrived alone.

“Why… Why?!” Atlas repeated blankly.

There was another figure walking right beside Lord Carlisle. It was the figure of a man just as majestic as Lord Carlisle, who didn’t seem lacking in the slightest. A powerful aura surrounded the man as well as he walked with authority, not feeling the lead inferior.

“Ah, Atlas. I think you should sneak out. This place isn’t safe anymore!” Lilith warned Atlas. “Even I didn’t expect him to be here. Your luck is really bad. Yovana only saw you in a forest and didn’t know for sure if you killed anyone. But this man… He knows much more. If he sees you here, it’ll be a nightmare come true.”

“You’re right! I… I know I might not get a chance like this to enter the Carlisle Castle again, but I can’t risk everything. Severis is here. If he knew I was here too, he would be so enraged. He already knows what I am. I thought he would stay busy after I destroyed his castle and everything he held there, but it looks like I was wrong,” Atlas muttered, deeply frowning.

“Well, you’ve been wrong about many things today,” Lilith responded. “We better not talk about this. We must find a way out before Severis recognizes you. If a battle takes place between you and him, the way you are now, you won’t win. Even Lia won’t be able to help you. Moreover, I can guarantee as you start getting hurt, you’ll enter Blood Lust, and you’ll lose yourself forever. You must leave!”

Atlas lowered his head. He knew he needed to leave, but how. The doors were already closed. If he attempted to leave, he was going to attract even more attention than he could while staying.

Lord Carlisle and Lord Severis took the last two seats.

“Come on, stop brooding. You are in my city now, and it’s an occasion of entertainment. For the rest of the day, forget what happened and enjoy,” Lord Carlisle commented, glancing at Lord Severis.

“How can I forget? That bastard… Someone from a different lineage came and destroyed my home. He didn’t destroy my home; he destroyed my self-respect and dignity. What I experienced was worse than death. I can never forgive that person. I want to meet him again! I want to kill him with my own two hands! The next time he comes before me, I won’t return alive!’ Lord Severis declared grimly.

He still couldn’t forget the insult he had suffered. The man came to his castle, had drinks with him, sat right before him, and left, destroying his castle. For a Vampire Lord, his dignity was everything. Even he felt as if he had lost his dignity.

The work of recreation of the castle had begun. The castle could be made again, but the self-respect that he lost wasn’t as easy to recover. He couldn’t forget it.

“I know. I have memorized the description you gave me. Don’t worry, we will find him. Then we will show him what it means to mess with us. Until then, just try to calm down. You’ve come to my castle to stay while your Castle is being made again. So just relax for now. I promise we will get our revenge,” Lord Carlisle stated.

“Attack on you is an attack on Lord Ramiel’s lineage by that traitor Castiel’s lineage. We can’t let it go. We will find him!” he further added. “Just wait for a few days. I’ve called a special guest to locate an enemy of mine… A witch who killed some of my men. When that special guest arrives, we can take their help to locate that bastard Azarel as well.”

He didn’t realize that the name that Atlas had given wasn’t his real name. He has given his last name to Severis only. Meanwhile, he used his real name to participate in this event.

“I hope so.” Severis nodded. He couldn’t wait to meet Atlas again.

He didn’t realize that the man he was looking for far and wide was right before his eyes, sitting on his knees. He could never have expected that someone like Atlas would come to the city of Carlisle to take part in this measly servant competition.

Severis wasn’t even much interested in this tournament. He had just arrived in this city, and he was dragged here by Carlisle.

“You can begin,” Carlisle commanded the new heads of the Two Families to begin the competition.

The two heads signaled their men to begin. The men in the arena walked before all the participants and commanded them to stand up. They were all instructed to form lines with one meter of gap between each other.

Atlas stood up, frowning. He didn’t know what to do. How could he leave this place without attracting too much attention? How could he get out of here? The doors were closed. He couldn’t fly, and even if he lost, he wasn’t going to be allowed to leave until the entire tournament was over.

He wondered if he should pretend to be sick but immediately dropped the idea. If he did that, all the Vampires were going to look at him, wondering what was happening. He might even be asked to remove his cloak to get some fresh air. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Lilith, any ideas?” he asked. His mind was mostly blank at this point, not only because he was in Trouble but because both of Misella’s killers were sitting before him.

Fortunately, so far, the two lords weren’t focused on the event. Lord Carlisle was talking to Yovana, asking her if she was fine. On the other hand, Lord Severis had his eyes closed as he sat.

However, Atlas was sure this wasn’t going to last long. He could be caught at any moment.

Lord Severis slowly opened his eyes, frowning. He felt as if someone was looking at him. He glanced at the participants in the arena.

The hunter, and the prey, both were in the same place. However, it was unclear who the prey was going to be and who the hunter was if things got bad. There were just so many uncertain factors at play and each of those factors were enough to destroy the city itself.