Supreme BeastTamer: I Can Copy and Upgrade Skills 10x!

Finally, Number Two spoke. "The castle proves to be more difficult than we thought. We have already lost several of our members to it, so I suggest we cease the frontal attack and instead sneak in to disrupt their arrays and formations from the inside."

"Well, do what you've got to do," Eve said as she lazily swirled a goblet filled with dark liquid. Probably blood. Maybe wine. Hard to tell.

His eyes twitched slightly when he heard the demon's nonchalant tone. He seemed to be having an inner conversation with himself before mustering the courage to speak.

"You do know the castle would be easier to take over if you attacked?" he asked with a frown.

"That might be possible if not for all the holy treasures—it's as if the place was built to repel demons." She sipped from her goblet and then looked up. "I'm here to completely take over the Vermilion Kingdom, and I haven't done that yet. Till then, I won't take any unnecessary risk that could leave me weakened."

One of his brows twitched, and just when it seemed like he was about to snap, someone rushed into the room.

A young man in a dark robe stumbled in, his face pale, lips trembling, and blood dripping from his arm. His eyes were filled with panic, as if he had seen a ghost—or something worse.

Everyone at the table turned to look at him.

Number Two narrowed his eyes. "You better have a good reason for interrupting this meeting. Speak."

The man swallowed nervously and dropped to his knees. "Forgive me, sire, but I bring urgent news from the Royal Academy."

That got both Eve and Number Two's attention. They had long been aware that the headmistress, along with some instructors and students, were alive.

They had been relentlessly searching for them over the past few days, but the search had yielded nothing.

It was as if they had vanished.

Naturally, any news from the Academy was critical.

Eve, who had been quietly sipping from her goblet, finally raised her eyes.

"Speak," she said in a calm but cold tone.

The man took a shaky breath. "The operation at the Academy… it failed."

Silence.

Number Two's fingers twitched. "Failed?"

"Yes, sir… the students survived. They escaped."

"How?" he slammed his desk in anger.

The Academy was, without a doubt, one of the most secure places in the capital. It had been used as a temporary base, housing thousands of demons.

It should have been impossible for a group of students to escape so easily.

"What happened back there? How did you all fail to catch a group of kids?"

The man swallowed again. "A boy showed up. He wasn't in our reports. Just one person—but he…"

"But he what?" Eve asked flatly, now staring directly at him.

The messenger gritted his teeth. "He summoned dragons."

The room froze.

Not a single sound.

"...Dragons?" Number Two muttered in disbelief.

The messenger nodded quickly. "Yes. From their actions, it seemed the boy could somehow control them."

"That's impossible," someone whispered.

But the messenger continued, desperate to explain. "They bowed to him. Protected him. Even let the students ride on their backs. They flew out of the island… under his command."

Even the demons across the table shifted uncomfortably.

Eve's eyes flickered with a strange light.

She didn't speak.

She didn't blink.

His face darkened. "Describe him."

"From his appearance, he seemed to be in his early teens… his hair was dark with streaks of red, and his eyes looked like they swallowed the light around him."

Eve's fingers froze around her glass when she heard that last part.

A somewhat complicated expression appeared on her face as she slowly set her wine glass down.

A few seconds passed in silence.

Then she whispered to herself,

"…So he's back, huh."

He turned to her. "You know him?"

She didn't respond right away. Her eyes were distant. Finally, she exhaled and muttered in a neutral tone, "Used to."

"Eve," he asked again, his voice low. "Who is he?"

She stared at the Vermilion Kingdom map on the wall. Her fingers traced the border, slowly stopping before a marked area.

He followed her hand. When his gaze fell on the marked area—Cromwell Barony—his eyes glinted with recognition.

How could he not recognize that small town? It had significantly contributed to their failed mission in the western region a couple of years back.

He vividly remembered how their years-long plan of capturing the Western Region had failed.

From his associates, he had later learned the reason for the failure: a certain dark-eyed brat who possessed strange powers that allowed him to control beasts.

A wave of realization crashed into him as he clenched his fists, seething with anger.

"Now I remember him," he said through gritted teeth and bloodshot eyes. "He's always been under our radar, even back at Snowhelm. Always disrupting our plans. Even when we tried to tighten the net around him, he'd somehow slip through. That damn boy…"

His voice trembled with frustration. His fingers curled until his knuckles turned white.

"I'll go."

Suddenly, a new voice echoed in the meeting room, and all heads turned to the door where it had come from.

There stood a red-skinned girl with cold, ruthless eyes. A giant blade was strapped to her back, its hilt wrapped in cloth.

"Kira, you..." A complicated expression appeared on his face.

"He has dragons. How do you plan to slip past that?" Eve asked, leaning back in her seat once again.

"I'll need at least a troop of 5,000 demons and 1,000 members of the Flaming Rose," the red-skinned girl said, a determined expression on her face. "With that, it would be more than enough to kill him—along with his dragons."

"Y-You are sure about this?"

"I failed once in Snowhelm. I won't fail again."

He frowned. "Kira…"

She turned to him. "Let me handle this, Father. I know his face. His tactics. His arrogance. He thinks his beasts will shield him again."

Her eyes gleamed dangerously. "But this time, I'll bring back his head."

The atmosphere in the room shifted. The demons and members of the Flaming Rose present exchanged glances, as if silently questioning whether it was wise to assign such a large force to Kira.

Eventually, Number Two relented and stared into her eyes with conviction. "Very well then. Don't disappoint me again…"

"I won't." She gave a low bow and began to leave the room, her steps filled with purpose and her back straight as a sword.

Eve's gaze lingered on the red-skinned girl who had grown much stronger in the past months due to constantly killing Awakened.

She was now as strong as an Expert rank.

"I wonder how much you've grown, stupid disciple," a faint smile appeared on her face. "Let's see how long you'll fare against her."