Rasmus and the others were taking a short break in the nearby town where they could have a proper lunch. They had been traveling for a week, and they were only a day away to reach Marooth, the territory that exclusively belonged to the Asghar family. They had been staying in estates that belonged to Anastasha, not the Asghar family, and it showed how big the connection that Anastasha had. It was still a mystery how influential Anastasha was without her last name’s influence.

Rasmus, Aris, Rullein, and Serena were sitting at the table, waiting for their lunch. Anastasha didn’t join them since she had some business to take care of while they were in that town. Although Anastasha didn’t have any guard with her, she didn’t show any fear when her head was being hunted by her siblings.

"She’s quite an interesting woman, don’t you think?" Serena glanced at Rasmus. "Now that I think about it, you wanted your former students to be like her, correct?" She added as she grabbed a glass of water.

"That’s a dangerous one instead of an interesting one. And no, I don’t want them to be like her, she’s too ambitious and I have seen enough what kind of things she would do for that ambition," Rasmus shook his head.

"Hmm, I think I know someone with that kind of personality," Serena chuckled as she stared into Rasmus’ eyes, the person that she had just mentioned. "So, you’re calling yourself dangerous? But didn’t teach your former students to think like you?" She wondered with her arms crossed and her head tilted to the side.

"If I wanted them to be like me, I would have killed them before they could become like me," Rasmus answered and glanced at the maids coming into the dining hall with trays of food. "If a world needed someone like me, that world was bound to fail," he muttered and let the maids put the food and utensils on his side of the table.

‎Serena decided to stop the topic to enjoy the food with the others. As soon as the maids left, she was waiting for everyone to dig on their food, especially Aris and Rullein since they were the ones who usually took the first bite. However, none of them even grabbed their utensils and they sat still like a statue. When she turned to look at Rasmus, he was the same, motionless and his gaze was distant.

‎"What’s the matter?" Serena asked, wondering why everyone was acting so strangely.

‎Rasmus, Aris, and Rullein looked at each other, and they all had the same stare. The three of them immediately looked out the window on the east side of the hall.

‎"We feel the presence of a True Dragon, it’s so strong that we can feel the distress it feels," Aris answered with her eyes narrowed, finding the feeling to be bizarre.

‎"Distress is an understatement. Its fear, anger, hatred, and desperation are too strong, I can feel the bitterness in my mouth," Rullein corrected as she looked at her hands, trembling and beyond her control. "Is that from the True Dragon that we defeated?" She glanced at Aris since she was the one who had awakened and one step closer to becoming a True Dragon herself.

‎"Yes, it’s the same True Dragon. Someone or something brought it back to life in the most forceful way possible..." Aris muttered and her fists clenched slightly, finding it disturbing and dangerous.

‎Serena raised her brows and looked at the three of them. They all had something in common on their faces, the uneasiness and the discomfort of knowing such a being could be resurrected.

‎"Satan? Did she finally find where you buried the dragon?" Serena asked with concern in her voice. "Resurrection on that scale, that’s not possible for any being, so it should narrow down into certain beings," she pointed out.

‎"I’m not sure. It could be Videl as well since he knew where we buried the body of the True Dragon. My instinct tells me it’s Videl’s doing, and it’s his way to gain more force to his side," Rasmus crossed his arms and his gaze fixated on the window, expecting this to happen the moment he decided to cut ties with Videl. "After all, he knows everything, and he’s going to use that everything against me," he added.

Aris glanced at Rasmus, remembering that there was a way to know who was the one behind it.

"We can find the answer if you visit Sanya. I’m sure she knows, after all she’s the one who has been protecting the Dragon’s Maw being discovered," Aris suggested. "I know that she must have felt it as well, and I know she won’t stay still when she feels a presence of a True Dragon," she pointed out with a serious expression.

Rasmus nodded with understanding and it was a good idea. He made himself comfortable in his chair when he slowly closed his eyes. His consciousness slowly faded away along with the sounds of his surroundings. The moment he opened his eyes, he was in the middle of a flattened land in the middle of the night. He could see the damage on the vast land he was at, noticing the land was the evidence of a great battle that had happened. He then saw Sanya standing still while her left hand clenched on her chest, she looked exhausted and weak, but that wasn’t the most surprising part. He saw Satan standing in front of Sanya with her wings folded on her back, staring at Sanya with an impassive expression.

"A truce?" Sanya stared Satan in the eye.

"A truce," Satan nodded. "As you can see, we have a common enemy. I’ll leave North Neva alone and I’ll never touch that land without any harm intention or any ulterior motive," she said with a serious expression.

"You took a few of our people, turning them into your own. Why should I consider your suggestion?" Sanya tilted her head.

"What’s taken can’t be given back. I can give them back to you, but they’ll become merely a vessel without a soul, a corpse. I did what I needed to do, for my own survival and those who are following me. If we want to trace the string to the very beginning, it wasn’t me who came and tried to get rid of you or the humans, it was the opposite," Satan pointed out, reminding Sanya about what happened back then beyond the Blackcliffs.

"And look at you now, what did you do to human civilization? You caused chaos and bloodbath. Your survival is equal to this world’s destruction, you’re not here to survive, you’re here to cause chaos and destruction," Sanya responded with a calm expression.

"Yes, that’s true, but that doesn’t change the fact what I did was for my own survival," Satan smiled coldly. "We can argue about this for as long as you want, or I can use this opportunity to take you while you’re in that state. However, I don’t want either of those, I want a truce, not an alliance. The enemies are powerful, and I want to survive, and so are you and the remaining people of yours," she slowly walked toward Sanya with her hands raised.

Sanya knew that Rasmus was there and was listening to the conversation. He wasn’t there physically, he was there through her perception that Satan wouldn’t be able to notice.

"The beings that caused the extinction of the dragons are here already, and that being that we both fought against was another force that is growing exponentially fast. You don’t care about humans, you never did. Orthias is the protector of this world, not the lives that live in it," Satan stood in front of Sanya as she slowly lowered her hands. "I also made a truce with Rasmus Blackheart," she revealed.

Sanya was about to ignore the words Satan said until Satan mentioned Rasmus, and that was the only reason it took her interest. Satan could see it in Sanya’s eyes as well that Sanya was intrigued by the fact that Rasmus had made a truce with Satan.

"Are you interested in what I’m about to tell you?" Satan asked with her brows raised.

Sanya stared into Satan’s eyes, and she wasn’t worried if Satan was telling the truth or not since Rasmus was right there to tell her if Satan was telling a lie or the truth. It was a good opportunity for her to understand the true nature of Satan, and what kind of a being she was.

"Speak," Sanya said with a cold expression.