-1567- The third party

"Buzz!"

Just as Rozen stretched his hand in Cris's direction, at the sound of Cris's cry, a rune on her chest began to glow.

"This is..."

Seeing this, Emilie was stunned.

"This is the one from before..."

Cris also noticed the rune and recalled the previous incident.

Previously, in Mistgun, due to the failed plan against Rozen, Cris and Elis were both marked with two runes by Rozen. No matter how they tried to examine it, they couldn't detect anything unusual.

Now, under Rozen's control, the rune resurfaced.

"Snap!"

Rozen snapped his fingers.

"Crack!"

The rune etched on Cris's body immediately shattered like glass, disappearing without a trace.

"This is a poisonous rune that causes power to go out of control. It hides within the human body, and once activated, the power of the one marked by the rune will lose control."

Rozen spoke as he withdrew his hand.

"Originally, I intended to activate it at the right time in front of humans, causing your jutsuryoku to run rampant, exposing your identities as Armored Beetles to everyone."

At that time, Rozen had planned to expose the Armored Beetles led by Zeth and completely root them out, revealing their conspiracy.

However, plans couldn't keep up with changes. Rozen hadn't expected so many secrets to be hidden within this matter—Cris wasn't an enemy, and even the Armored Beetles were innocent, merely caught up in a conflict from humanity's past.

Moreover, Zeth was planning to use the Sky Wizards Martial Arts Festival as a stage for proxy warfare to showcase the strength of the Armored Beetles, forcing humanity into submission. Thus, the trap Rozen had set became useless.

Even if it could still be used, now that Cris was no longer an enemy, Rozen couldn't activate it on her anymore.

So, Rozen retrieved the rune.

"So, this was the thing etched into our bodies?"

Cris touched her chest, her expression complicated.

Because of Rozen's rune, both Elis and Cris had been on edge for quite some time, worrying endlessly without knowing what to do.

Now, Rozen had withdrawn the rune from her body.

But what about Elis?

"Don't worry about her."

As if he could see through Cris's thoughts, Rozen shook his head.

"She's different from you. As soon as she arrived at Vebel, she must've gone to find her brother, right?"

After that, Elis had never appeared again.

"If I'm not mistaken, she must've fallen victim to Zeth." Rozen said, ignoring the change in Cris's expression. "Elis was originally an enemy sent to deal with me, and her identity as an Armored Beetle was exposed. In Zeth's eyes, she would've been dealt with by me. Since she returned unscathed, knowing Zeth's character, it's impossible he wouldn't be suspicious of her."

Under such circumstances, Zeth would surely suspect that Rozen had done something to Elis.

As a result, Elis's current situation was probably grim.

"In the best-case scenario, she has been captured by Zeth and thoroughly investigated. But unless I activate the rune, only someone with higher proficiency in runes than I could detect it. Given Zeth's suspicious nature, if he couldn't find anything wrong with Elis, he would likely place her under house arrest."

Rozen looked at Cris.

"As for the worst-case scenario, I don't need to explain, do I?"

The worst-case scenario...

Besides being executed on the spot, what else could it be?

"Elis..."

Cris couldn't stop herself from worrying.

"You've really come to see Elis as a close friend, haven't you?"

Seeing Cris like this, Rozen shrugged.

In response, Cris gave a bitter smile.

"Elis is actually a very kind person. In our previous world, she always cared for the people. Even after coming to this world, she worked hard to assist Lord Xevai, and she was very close to me. It wasn't until Zeth spread the news of Lord Xevai's death, claiming he was killed by humans, that Elis began to resent humanity."

This resentment, combined with her blind trust in Zeth, caused Elis to become somewhat twisted in personality.

This left Cris feeling helpless. She didn't dare tell Elis the truth and could only watch as Elis walked down a crooked path. That kind of psychological torment was undoubtedly difficult to endure.

And if Elis were to ultimately fall victim to Zeth's schemes without knowing the truth, that would be far too pitiful.

Of course...

"That has nothing to do with me."

Rozen said, a bit coldly.

Cris fell silent.

Meanwhile, Emilie, who had been watching the whole scene, didn't ask anything. She simply stared at Rozen.

"What are you planning to do next, Rozen?" Emilie asked. "From the looks of it, you've clearly decided not to side with the human faction, but you also don't want to cooperate with Zeth."

In that case, Rozen wasn't aligned with either the human or the Armored Beetles factions. What did he plan to do?

The answer was simple.

"From beginning to end, my purpose in coming to Vebel has always been singular: to make Zeth pay."

Rozen answered without hesitation.

It wasn't about getting involved in the battle between factions, nor was it about uncovering the world's secrets. It was simply about having a showdown with Zeth.

That was Rozen's only goal.

If the human faction had a justifiable reason, Rozen wouldn't have minded joining them and uprooting the Armored Beetles.

Unfortunately, Rozen now knew the whole truth and didn't want to get involved in the conflict between the two factions.

So...

"I just need to bring down Zeth. That's all."

That's what Rozen intended to do.

And how to do it was already clear.

"I will first crush Vebel's representative team in the Sky Wizards Martial Arts Festival, destroy Zeth's plans, and then drag him out to crush his ambitions."

Rozen declared.

"As for everyone else, they're none of my concern."

With those words, Rozen vanished in a flash.

Cris and Emilie watched Rozen disappear, each lost in thought.

"It seems the Sky Wizards Martial Arts Festival will continue."

Emilie summarized.

"The real show is just beginning."

Cris responded solemnly.

Now that the "truth behind the creation of the world" had been revealed, Rozen had chosen not to side with either the human or Armored Beetles factions. Instead, he was preparing to intervene as a third-party force.

As the representative of this "third-party," what kind of change would Rozen bring to the world?

Only time would tell.