Every gaze zeroed in on Leander. Twelve Chief Arbitrators loomed above him like a descending tempest. A lineup like that could level a small nation before anyone even blinked.He had taken down three Chief Arbitrators earlier-an unbelievable feat on its own.But twelve?No one in their right mind thought he still had a chance.To everyone watching, he had only one logical option: swallow his pride for now,step back, play along... then think of something later.Because if he said one wrong word, all twelve would strike at once.He'd be crushed before he could take a second breath.Three against twelve wasn't just a difference in headcount.It was a gulf in absolute strength.The whole crowd watched in suffocating silence. Above, the twelve Chief Arbitrators hovered like divine judges, waiting for his decision."Join you?" Leander let out a low chuckle. "I've already answered that more than once. In this entire world, there isn't a single faction I'd bow to."I fight for myself and for my homeland. You expect me to kneel to your Arbitration Office and help you terrorize the world? Keep dreaming."His gaze sharpened into blades. He swept his eyes across the twelve, lips curling in a sharp, mocking grin."Enough talking. Since Jeframon burned his soul just to open that gate and drag you here... why would I waste his effort?"He lifted his hand lazily, giving the twelve a smile dripping with contempt."Come at me together. Dead men walking don't get to negotiate—no matter how many of you show up."Silence slammed across the valley. Faces went slack.He was really about to fight twelve Chief Arbitrators alone?That wasn't courage—that was pure lunacy.Worse, he wasn't even pretending to respect them.He flat-out called them dead men.How bold could one man be?"Jeff Ashcroft, you must be sick of living!"The Flame Witch's stare turned glacial. Flames surged beneath her feet, her robes rising in the heatless wind, her pupils like frozen crystal.Beside her, Edis-the Master of the Fable Court-flicked his coat aside. A fist slid out of his sleeve, gleaming with killing power.Dholous, the Son of Europa, lifted the Sword of Light to his chest, ready to carve a path through the air.And the remaining nine were no less terrifying.Their life force pulsed like ocean tides, depths impossible to measure.Give them even the tiniest opening, and they would unleash a strike capable of ripping Leander apart.His answer had completely wiped out whatever patience they had left."Enough talking." Leander's voice stayed level.During the fight with Reefus and the other two, he had already sensed it-the spiritual energy inside the Bloodjadea leaves was reaching its eruption point.And a treasure like that, once it peaked, would quickly lose its potency.If he dragged this out, he'd miss the perfect moment to gather it.He couldn't afford delays.Even facing twelve Chief Arbitrators, he needed to finish this quickly.The moment the words left his mouth, he didn't wait for anyone to react-he moved first.His figure shot upward, wind exploding around him. He streaked into the sky like a bolt of deep-blue lightning, aiming straight for the Chief Arbitrator standing in front."Hmph!"The man in front wore a short-sleeved shirt, bronze muscles bare and bulging. He was a notch stronger than Reefus and the other two combined.Seeing Leander charge, he didn't dodge-he just snorted and threw a punch.The air split into thin, jagged seams.A massive fist shadow-over a hundred feet wide-filled the heavens and slammed toward the blue streak like a mountain collapsing."Seal of Heavens Fist? That's Inas Cage, the former master of the Taybourne Sect!"A chorus of shocked cries followed.noveldramaIn the old days, the Taybourne Sect dominated the entire state. Even the king had to tip his head to Inas Cage.Rumor said he once challenged the elders of the Arbitration Office directly, then vanished for decades.No one thought he'd reappear as one of the Chief Arbitrators.People inhaled sharply.That was the terrifying thing about the Arbitration Office. It gathered the strongest from every corner of the world, bent them faits will and keptW:them mits shadow. fo No wonder it had ruled for centuries, standing above giants like Agylae, Astria, and Skarovia.With a crash, the colossal fist came down.Below, Leander merely lifted a single finger.His finger wind tore through space, tapping the weakest node beneath the descending fist.Finger and fist collided in midair and locked, dead even.Seeing someone block Leander, the Flame Witch let out a cold, amused snort."Jeff, you really don't understand your limits."She gestured lazily at the figures beside her."Any one of us twelve could overpower the vast majority of the International Combat Units. Yes, you killed Reefus and Orianna, but among the twenty-four Chief Arbitrators those two were mid- lower-tier at best You take them down and suddenly think you can fight all of us at once?" "Fight you?"were mid-toLeander lifted his head, his eyes glinting like frozen steel."You misunderstood. I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to wipe you out."Silence crashed over the valley.Then, in the next breath, flames of rage erupted in all twelve pairs of eyes."Jeff Ashcroft—today, we'll show you what true fear of the Arbitration Office feels like!"Inas' expression turned cruel. He stepped down hard, unleashing another punch. Layers of force piled over each other, burying Leander from above.Leander slid one foot back half a step, pressed one finger forward, and intercepted the blow again.Two vicious torrents of power clashed and tore the sky apart.At that moment, another figure shot out like a cannonball. His clothes inflated from the force blasting. through his body. He broke the sound barrier and rammed Leander from the side. "Body Check!"The shout shook the air. Ripples exploded around them.He slammed in with the side of his body—an invisible wall materializing andexpanding like a shockwave.This was Eckhart—a monster of body refinement.Years ago, he'd made his name across Northara by stopping a moving cargo trainwith nothing but his body.Every inch of him was a weapon.One body check from him could turn an Infernal Crown Transcendent into paste."Not bad." Leander laughed softly.His palm snapped upward, finger force exploding, lifting both of Inas' massive fist shadows clean off the sky.Freed, he stepped down and thrust his shoulder forward, launching himself into Eckhart head-on.Shoulder to shoulder.No tricks.A bare, brutal collision.The entire world shook with a boom. It felt like a mountain had cracked open.The cliffs in the valley detonated outward. Rock blasted toward the heavens. A ringof invisible shockwaves rippled across the sky, twisting clouds into spirals.Far beyond the Aorinth Peaks, native villagers saw the heavens distort and droppedto their knees, praying to their sacred mountain.And deep within those mountains, Leander and the twelve Chief Arbitrators had only just begun their furious battle.