"Tie up every one of these Astrians and dump them in the Volga River." Denzel's eyes turned cold as he stared straight at Leander's group. He was done pretending.He had hosted tonight's ball, and he hadn't planned to cause a scene before the main event even began. But Maeve ignoring him while showering Leander with attention had pushed him past his limit. The anger he had been holding in finally snapped.Besides, tossing a few Astrians out of a massive ballroom like this was nothing. With the Benjamins running the whole event, he had every right to decide who stayed and who got dragged out.As for throwing Leander and the others into the river, disappearing a few people in the Sahar Wastes never made much noise anyway.Denzel lifted a hand. Dozens of men in black security gear stepped forward. Their sunglasses caught the light with a sharp, icy glint.Nathan and the others immediately tensed. The girls, especially Livia, went pale on the spot. Deep down, they had already been blaming Leander. They had no idea why he insisted on attending a high-society party run by the Benjamins. If they had just flown out of Yelem yesterday and gone back to Astria, they wouldn't be standing in the middle of this mess.With those men closing in, Nathan, Luke, and Evander all turned to Leander.Now that Denzel had made his move, the only person they could rely on was Leander. In a place like Yelem, a few students from Astria had no chance of standing up to the Benjamins."These Astrians really drew the short straw. I wonder what they did to piss off Denzel."Plenty of local elites shook their heads. The heads of the families who hated the Benjamins just watched from the side. They looked almost entertained by the idea of Leander and his friends getting crushed.There was no point in talking about resistance. The Benjamins had people stationed everywhere in the ballroom. A handful of foreign students from Astria had nothing waiting for them except helpless resignation.That was the difference between power and insignificance. The weak had no choice except to bow their heads.The two women standing beside Maeve, Zara and Liana, didn't move at all. They weren't the least bit worried that anyone here would dare lay a hand on her.Maeve was an international star. Anything that happened to her inside a Benjamin- hosted event would explode across global media. Even major nations hated dealing with international outrage. A single family had even less room to take that hit."Hmph. That foolish boy. Now that Denzel really came for him, I want to see how he plans to get out of this." Zara and Liana folded their arms. They were ready to step in if things became critical. Before that, they wanted to watch Leander pay for his stubborn pride.Just as the security team closed in on Leander's group, a sudden gust ripped across the ballroom. The men were thrown backward all at once, smashing into tables and chairs until everything around them shattered.The horror didn't stop there. When the men hit the ground, blood seeped from every orifice. Every single one of them died where they fell. Dozens of lives were wiped out in an instant.The entire ballroom froze. No one understood what had just happened. When they finally snapped back to reality, a slim figure rose slowly at Leander's side. Touch my Master Leander and die."Celia's complexion had gone cold. She was usually the picture of soft, delicate beauty, yet the moment she stepped forward on her own, a sharp chill rolled off her and spread through the room. Everyone watching sucked in a breath the second they felt it.So this was the woman who took out dozens of people in a heartbeat?"Infernal Crown Transcendent?" Denzel's eyes tightened. He was already a Transcendent Realm master, and the moment the wind surged around them, he had felt that wild pressure rolling out of Celia's body. The power in her was at least on his level, maybe even stronger.He never saw this coming. He had no idea someone like that was traveling with Leander's group.What really shook him was the way Celia stood there. Her position and the direction she faced made it obvious she was treating Leander as the one in charge. The "Master Leander" she spoke of could only mean him.She's a Transcendent Realm master, and not just any master but an Infernal Crown Transcendent at the very top. Yet she still calls Leander "Master Leander." So who exactly is Leander supposed to be? How terrifying does his background have to be for someone like her to speak to him that way?The moment Celia rose to her feet, Zara and Liana's expressions shifted. Both of them looked genuinely shaken.She doesn't make a sound. She doesn't even move, and in an instant, she wipes out dozens of people. Even our Southern Wyvern Blade captain wouldn't be able to pull that off. And this girl who looks like some gentle, soft-spoken college student turns out to be a fighter who's way stronger than our captain could ever hope to be? They couldn't stop staring at Leander. It suddenly dawned on them how ridiculous their earlier assumptions had been.That was why he acted as if he owned the place. With someone like that at his side, of course, he didn't care who he offended. Zara and Liana exchanged a glance, their eyes flickering with a mix of shock and disbelief, and for a moment, they struggled to find their words.The air in the hall turned heavy. Every gaze drifted toward them, and no one dared make a sound. Even Zendel, the one caught in the middle of it all, froze. His pupils tightened, and that usual swagger dropped right off his face.He never would have imagined that, among this group of Astria college kids on a casual trip, there would be an Infernal Crown Transcendent hiding in plain sight.Even the Benjamins, as powerful as they were, had only produced one Infernal Crown Transcendent in their entire recorded history, the Hermit. These people, whom he thought he could crush like insects, suddenly had someone beyond anything he could handle watching over them.Livia and the other girls from the various institutions finally snapped out of their fear. When they looked at Celia, their expressions were filled with pure disbelief. They never would have guessed that the sweet Stanton Academy beauty who had been traveling with them was carrying the kind of power that could end a life without blinking. Nathan and the others were just as shaken. Their eyes kept shifting, trying to make sense of what they were seeing.The room stayed silent for a long beat. Leander finally lifted his head after taking a bite of watermelon. His eyes were cold when he looked straight at Zendel. "I told you yesterday I didn't just dare hit you. I'd kill you too. You remember that?"Zendel's expression twisted the moment he heard it. He shot backward almost instantly. The Primordial Energy he had kept hidden for years burst out all at once, and he pushed his speed to the absolute limit.He had barely moved when Leander lifted a finger. Celia was already in motion. She shot forward twice as fast as Zendel and drove a punch straight toward his chest.noveldramaA violent blast ripped through the hall. Tables and chairs flew everywhere. Wealthy guests scattered across the floor like someone had dropped them into a hurricane. Zendel's innate vitality surged around him and formed a shield, but Celia's punch cut through it like a blade cutting into soft clay. Her fist slammed into his right chest, and the impact echoed through the entire space."Pwah!" Zendel spat a mouthful of blood. He might have reached the Transcendent Realm, but he was only barely inside it. He had no chance against an Infernal Crown Transcendent like Celia. One punch was all it took to send him flying a hundred yards away.Celia hadn't even tried. That casual hit had already crushed him. She stepped forward once more and threw another punch from afar. That one swing alone would have erased ten Zendels on the spot.Her force roared out like an enraged dragon. At the last second, Zendel let out a desperate scream. "Great-great-grandfather, help me!"The moment his shout tore through the air, a surge of wind dropped from the dark sky. It slammed down between Zendel and Celia and shattered the incoming punch.The remaining force was so strong that it sent Celia skidding backward. She only stopped when she reached Leander's side.A wave of shock rippled through the crowd. Everyone looked up, and there he was, standing on the church's bell tower like some kind of solemn divine figure.The Hermit had finally shown himself.