[What do you mean?] Evangeline asked with confusion, watching their exchange.


    What would you say I''m doing right now? he quickly asked, raising a question of his own.


    [Trying to scam the auctioneer?]


    Precisely, Neraxis said before turning his gaze onto Amara, whose smirk was now visible even to the auctioneer himself as she spoke teasingly,


    "40 trillion. I have more, dear, you should stop."


    He couldn''t help but let out a sigh. This act was beginning to feel a bit too obvious.


    At first, she got away with it due to her reputation, but now the auctioneer had grown suspicious.


    Eventually, he began closing the ck box quietly, careful not to attract their attention.


    However, before he could do so, Amara stretched out her arm, and before Neraxis could even tell what had happened, the auctioneer''s head flew up into the sky, the ck box following with it.


    "You could have just given up," he said with a frown, for a moment forgetting that they were not exactly on the same side.


    Amara opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly red lights began shing all around the auction. The windows were being closed and barricaded with some reinforced material.


    Immediately, an rm resounded, and some form of gas began closing in on them. However, before it could reach them, Neraxis headed straight for the stage, attempting to grab the ck box.


    s, he was the weakest one in the room, as Amara simply used mana to whisk it toward herself, holding it in her hand before shing a massive smile.


    "It seems like Ie out on top in this exchange...?" she began, but she stopped mid-sentence, watching in amusement as a red sword floated right above the ck box.


    "Is this y—" Just before her wordsnded, the red sword prated the ck box before disappearing into thin air, the mana particles flying back into Neraxis''s sword tattoo.


    Did you get it? he asked with slight hope.


    [It will take a little bit to digest, but yes, I got it, but it''s still a very reckless n] Evangeline replied in an exhausted tone before continuing, [You should try to get out now. I won''t be able to protect you for long if that gas closes in—or, well, if that woman attacks.]


    Got it, Neraxis nodded and began moving toward a nearby wall. However, the sound of something falling to the ground startled him.


    It was the ck box that had previously contained the red skill book—but now, it waspletely empty.


    Suddenly, he found himself unable to move,pletely frozen under the pressure she was emitting—it was simr to what he had felt when she was going up against Valthor.


    But this time, it was far stronger.


    His lungs felt as though they were copsing on themselves, and he could feel each and every blood vessel slowly pop in his body, dyeing his skin red.


    However, before it could get out of hand, Neraxis saw all of that excess blood flowing toward the tattoo on his wrist, before once again flowing outwards.


    This time, back to where it was supposed to be.


    It was an excruciating process and it hurt like hell, but at the very least, he wasn''t going to die anytime soon.


    "Do you want to know something funny?" Amara asked as she began walking toward him, her tone growing colder.


    "That skill was the reason I came to this bullshit auction in the first ce, and I nned on getting my hands on it at any cost."


    She finally stopped, standing within arm''s reach of his face.


    "I don''t know what you did, but I will give you two choices."


    Neraxis listened attentively. The pain was bing even more severe than before—he was even beginning to feel dizzy.


    Just before she could speak again, a red sword shot out from his tattoo, aiming straight for her eyes.


    But to no one''s surprise, Amara simply smacked it away with her arm—it sounded as though a bomb had gone off during that collision.


    However, Evangeline was flung backward and straight into a wall, embedding the sword deep within it.


    It created a few cracks in the wall before dispersing anding back to Neraxis''s tattoo.


    Evangeline? he called out, but did not receive an answer. The connection felt extremely faint, as though she was dying.


    As his worries increased, his vision momentarily darkened, and immediately, the connection was fully restored—just like it had been mere moments ago.


    [Sorry I took your blood without permission, that crack was the most I was able to do in my current form. If an opportunity arises, make your way there,] Evangeline exined with a serious tone, to which Neraxis merely nodded, cing his eyes back on the amused Amara.


    "Well, that was fun. Sort of. Nice artifact." She giggled, but in the very next moment, her expression turned cold, just like it had been before.


    Taking a deep breath, she spoke, "Two choices. The first: Die right now. Sound nice?"


    Neraxis narrowed his eyes as she continued,


    "Now, option two: Work with me."


    His eyes widened upon hearing those words as he began moving his mouth, mustering everyst bit of his stamina to get them across. He needed answers—"What do you mean?"


    "It''s simple. I have a little group I formed not too long ago, and we''re currentlycking members. I was going to use that skill book to be even stronger, but I can''t do that anymore now, can I?" Amara said sarcastically with a tinge of annoyance.


    A hostage situation then... It doesn''t help that I don''t know anything about her either. He thought before asking another question.


    "What guarantee is there that I will be left alive even after I join?"@@novelbin@@


    However, her answer was far from what he anticipated. "That''s the beauty of it, you don''t have a guarantee."


    Amara''s smile widened. "If anything, your life will be in even more danger once you join my group."


    [You don''t really have much of a choice, either join her or die. It''s funny...] Evangeline snickered while Neraxis was preupied with his thoughts.


    Who even is she? How did she even know about this ce? And how was she so confident in scamming the auctioneer the entire time... How did no one call her out...?


    His mind was a swirl of questions, but it was quickly interrupted as an ethereal sword materialized from seemingly nowhere.


    Amara grabbed a hold of the hilt and aimed the sword directly at his face, mere centimeters away from slicing him in half.


    Even as the sword did not touch him, he could feel the heat—the sheer sharpness of the de.


    Her power was no joke, and he was a fool for even thinking of being able to escape in the first ce.


    Ever since he arrived, everyone was already in the palm of her hand.


    Amara gazed down at him, her smile slowly fading away as she spoke, "Make your decision. You have five seconds." The air grew chilly at her words, as if they held her raw emotions.


    Neraxis frowned in reluctance, but not even after a second of thought, he decided, "I''ll join. Just tell me about the group."


    The moment his words were spoken, the previous pressure he felt—as well as the ethereal sword—both vanished.


    Instead, a massive grin appeared on Amara''s face, one that entuated her already stunning beauty with the shing red lights.


    But before his confusion could grow further, he saw her raise her arm and ce it over his head, the grin from before widening even more.


    Immediately, she brought her arm down over his head, knocking him unconscious. Thest thing he heard was a giggle, followed by Amara''s mischievous voice,


    "Get some sleep. I''ll exin in just a moment."