Devouring Dragon Heir

"Well, Mr. Goof, get ready for round two," Klaus stated, his voice calm. He looked at Arthur with a faint smile, snapping him out of his tired daze. Arthur looked back at Klaus with a puzzled expression.

"Hey, who are you calling a goof?" Elara said, her voice sharp with anger. She had heard Klaus's comment.

Klaus just ignored her. He continued eating his ramen noodles, slurping quietly.

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "What round two?" he asked calmly, trying to understand Klaus's meaning.

Slurp.

"Well, isn't that obvious? Round two of a battle," Klaus said, slurping onto his ramen, his voice flat.

Arthur completely misunderstood his meaning. " So you want to fight me?" he asked calmly

. Klaus finished his mouthful of noodles and looked at Arthur as if he were a fool for not understanding.

"Man, I don't even know how you reached the first rank on the points table. About two hundred participants have already surrounded the camp.

But you just sit there, thinking that I, the one and only Klaus Bennet, would bother to fight a weakling like you."

Klaus's revelation brought a wave of gasps among the three of them.

Elara, Arthur, and Flora stiffened, their expressions shifting to shock.

Julie, however, already knew that they were surrounded. She just hadn't wanted to panic anyone, as she knew she could deal with the threat if needed.

"What? Surrounded? By two hundred people?" Elara gasped, her eyes wide with alarm. She immediately spun around, facing Klaus, disbelief clear in her voice.

"Tell me you are joking, right?" Her gaze darted towards the surrounding bushes, trying to perceive the hidden enemies.

"He is right," Arthur said, his voice now grim.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, focusing his perception. He could feel distinct mana signatures of many people; a large encirclement had been formed around the camp.

Arthur calmly opened his eyes and looked at Klaus, his expression serious.

"Can you and Julie take Elara and Flora with you? I will hold them back here." Arthur was ready to face the threat alone, to protect his friends.

Klaus, however, just placed his finished bowl of noodles into a nearby trash bag. He wiped his mouth. "Nope, my camp remains. You can take these dogs elsewhere if you want."

His voice was intentionally loud, so loud that all two hundred people heard him.

Klaus's blatant words, calling their adversaries "dogs," immediately provoked a reaction.

From the surrounding bushes and tree shadows, dozens of figures emerged. Some deactivated their stealth skills, their forms shimmering into view.

"Who are you calling a dog?" Veridian sneered as soon as he appeared.

His purple hair and unsettling smile were visible.

"Do you not know any etiquette of a Legacy Family scion?" His voice was laced with contempt.

Klaus calmly looked at the purple-haired youth, Veridian, whom he instantly knew from Elara's previous description.

"Etiquette for whom? For a clown like you?" Klaus said as he looked at Veridian like he was looking at something small and dismissive.

Veridian's face immediately contorted with furious rage. Klaus's insults dug much deeper for some reason, the way he said them, with such sheer disregard for their status and strength.

In the distance, Michael Helios intervened. He stepped forward, putting himself between Veridian's group and Klaus.

"We have no animosity among ourselves, Klaus," Michael spoke, his voice smooth, attempting to de-escalate the situation, at least outwardly.

"We are here for Arthur. Just hand him over, and you can go. We do not need to fight you."

"Well, I never stopped anyone from fighting," Klaus replied, his voice flat. He gestured casually. "It's just that my camp does not move from here. You all can take him and those two to somewhere else. Just get them out of my sight."

He pointed directly at Ellara and Flora, who now looked at him with weird, hateful gazes, both offended and stunned by his dismissal of their safety.

Michael was about to counter peacefully, trying to maintain a facade of reason, when something happened.

A young man, who hadn't made an appearance in this particular group till now, suddenly walked out of the bushes, his face grim.

This was Henry Chromewell.

Looking at the new arrival, Klaus's lips curved into a distinct smile. "Henry Chromewell," he said, his voice filled with a mocking warmth, a stark contrast to his usual tone.

"The fried chicken. How are you, dude?" he addressed him casually.

His tone might have been mistaken as friendly if not for his contradictory words.

Henry looked at Klaus with a hateful gaze. He came to stand beside Michael before he muttered something low to Michael.

Listening to this, Michael's expression instantly changed, and a sense of urgency radiated from his voice.

He turned around, and his gaze swept over everyone in his group.

"Everyone, we don't have much time! Just kill him directly here, no more games, no more hiding!" Michael knew there was no point in expecting cooperation from Klaus, someone who was famous for his abnormal level of arrogance among the families after his famous brawl at the conclave. Delaying would only lead to more unpredictable moves from Klaus.

But suddenly, Veridian stepped in. He moved forward, his purple hair swaying, and pointed directly at Julie, whom he mistook for another commoner since he hadn't attended the banquet.

His unsettling smile widened, and he uttered words he should never have said. "Let's take that bitch also! I want to taste him..."

BOOOMM!

Veridian's head exploded. The sound was deafening, a wet, sickening pop that instantly silenced all other noise in the forest.

His body, headless, stood frozen for a split second before collapsing to the ground, dissipating into pixels on live television.

All that remained was a single steel chopstick, still vibrating slightly, impaled squarely on the ground where Veridian's head had been a few milliseconds ago.

It was the very chopstick Klaus had just been using to eat his ramen.

To confirm the one behind the instantaneous, lethal attack, spectators watching the global broadcast could also clearly see Klaus, still standing in the background, subtly regaining his posture from the lightning-fast movement he had used to throw the chopstick.

His arm was just lowering from the throwing motion. He had not even moved from his spot.

"Oops!! My hand slipped," Klaus gave a smile that horrified the whole crowd.

A few minutes ago.......

During the time of Klaus's conversation with Julie, the VR's broadcast had experienced a brief disruption.

The screen displaying their section of the map had gone black for a short period. It had recovered in a few minutes, returning the live feed. Although this brief blackout became a minor news item, it was completely overshadowed by the subsequent dramatic events.

The truly astonishing act of Klaus asking Julie to prove her worthiness, and her subsequent, immediate response of summoning a full-sized meteor, a perfect replica of Klaus's own Blazing Meteor, to convince him, dominated all headlines.

The audience in the World Heritage Centre, and indeed viewers across the globe, roared with amazement.

They cheered, completely stunned by the visual spectacle of the colossal fiery meteor appearing out of nowhere.

Meanwhile, inside the observation room where the Paragons sat, William and Magnus both laughed heartily, their eyes fixed on the screen, seeing the scene unfold.

"Finally, that brat has some competition!" William exclaimed, a wide smile on his face, a triumphant note in his voice.

He was referring to Klaus, clearly pleased by Julie's unexpected display of power that matched his grandson's.

"Yea, yea, just look at his face, hahahaha!" Magnus retorted, his laughter echoing. He pointed at Klaus's shocked expression on the screen.

"Hmph! He dared to question my daughter's worth!" Magnus's tone held a mix of pride and amusement, celebrating Julie's overwhelming display.

Meanwhile, the other Paragons visibly sweated. Their faces were grim, etched with concern.

They were witnessing the undeniable birth of another monster, a powerful individual comparable to Klaus.

This new threat was rising from within one of the strongest factions, the Guardian Academy, directly under Magnus Ashburn's influence.

This was a significant shift in the balance of power they had meticulously maintained.

"We have to bring her to our side," the patriarch of the Helios family thought, his eyes narrowed, a calculating glint in them. "I'll tell Michael later to seduce the Ashburn girl. She clearly doesn't understand the power dynamics of this world, or her own immense power."

For him, Michael, his grandson, was as strong as both Klaus and Julie. This was a fact he had kept secret from the world, believing it would eventually be revealed today, during the conclave, securing Michael's dominance.

He saw Julie as a valuable asset to be acquired through manipulation and nothing more.

Magnus and William, however, saw both Klaus and Julie finally getting together on the screen, walking side-by-side.

On the inside, they were both happy. Their strategic alliance, formed through shared ideals and a common enemy, had now been naturally extended to their heirs. This was an unexpected, yet immensely welcome, development.

But still, Magnus felt a subtle uneasiness. He looked at Julie's actions, her silent communication, and her clear attraction to Klaus.

"She has not fallen for him, has she?" Magnus thought, a flicker of concern crossing his mind.

His daughter was acting like a smitten girl.

"Or is it just an alliance?" A subtle anxiety about the nature of their relationship arose in Magnus's heart.

He was protective of his daughter.

"Hmph, sorry, William," Magnus thought in his mind, his eyes fixed on Klaus's figure on the screen.

"I will have to straighten your brat a little bit. Let him come to the Academy." Magnus recognized Klaus's power, but also his arrogance and disregard for social norms.

He knew the Academy was the perfect place to refine such raw talent, to teach him discipline and strategy beyond brute force.

Since there was a chance of his daughter liking this brat, he would personally have to groom him to be a worthy man for her.

He planned to personally take an interest in Klaus's education, to shape him into a formidable weapon for humanity's cause and a more sincere and kind individual.

He had been thinking all this while looking at Klaus's interaction with the newcomers.

"Hehe, good, he is fearless even in the face of so many."

Magnus silently approved of Klaus's courage.

But then, something happened, something that rubbed Magnus the wrong way.

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