William smiled faintly before reaching into his inventory storage. He pulled out several more chocolate bars and casually tossed them toward the others gathered in the lobby.

The young men instinctively caught the unfamiliar items, though most of them stared at the colorful wrappers with visible confusion. Compared to the luxurious desserts and meals spread across the tables earlier, these oddly packaged sweets looked strangely ordinary.

Meanwhile, William kept the promise that he had casually made moments ago.

He walked roughly ten steps away from Galeion before stopping in the middle of the spacious lobby. Then he slowly turned around to face the towering Titan prince.

"I won’t use mana or spiritual energy," William said calmly. The statement alone was enough to make several people frown.

William continued speaking. "I won’t use one of my hands, and I won’t attack with my legs either."

Now the expressions around the room became even stranger.

William slowly moved his dominant right hand behind his back while maintaining a relaxed posture.

"I also won’t use talents, spells, techniques, or divine sense." By the time he finished listing restrictions upon himself, even Galeion’s grin had faded into irritation.

William looked at him quietly before adding one final statement. "I would advise you to fight seriously and use everything you have."

That sentence finally pushed Galeion past disbelief.

"Aye, ay, ay... aren’t you getting a little too confident?" Galeion said with a sharp laugh.

Naturally, he would react this way.

Unlike Ethan and the others, Galeion had been unconscious during the moment William had killed the vampire. He had not witnessed the horrifying scene where William drained the creature of her cultivation and erased her existence effortlessly.

To Galeion, the situation would naturally feel absurd.

"Sure, I was surprised when I ended up waking up in front of you; it turns out you stopped our exploration," he continued while rolling his shoulders, "but there is no way you became this much stronger in just a few months. You’re practically giving me an eighty percent handicap."

The Titan prince stepped forward heavily while cracking his knuckles.

The pressure from his massive frame alone was intimidating.

"Galeion..." Maximus tried to interrupt cautiously from the side, sensing that something was terribly wrong about the situation.

However, Galeion simply waved him off with a grin.

"Relax and enjoy the dessert while watching the fight. Don’t interrupt us."

Without wasting another second, Galeion exploded forward.

The floor beneath his feet cracked slightly as he used his S-Rank physical speed to close the distance instantly. To the others, Galeion practically vanished like a gust of wind rushing through the lobby.

But to William, the movement felt painfully slow. William watched the incoming fist calmly.

There was no tension in his expression, nor any sign that he considered the attack dangerous.

The instant Galeion’s punch appeared in his range, William casually raised his left hand and caught the massive arm before redirecting the momentum effortlessly.

In the next moment, Galeion’s enormous body was flung through the air.

The Titan prince crashed directly into the solid stone wall of the lobby with enough force to shake the entire chamber. Cracks spread across the reinforced structure from the point of impact as dust scattered into the air.

A low groan escaped Galeion’s mouth. The impact had felt monstrous. Pain shot through his back as he slowly slid down the damaged wall in disbelief.

For several seconds, he genuinely wondered whether William had secretly poisoned the chocolate beforehand because there was simply no logical explanation for this level difference in their strengths.

The William he remembered was someone he could fight evenly when it came to harmless sparring.

How had things reached this point? Was this guy even human anymore?

Meanwhile, William looked toward the writhing Titan prince with an awkward smile. Honestly, he had already held himself back significantly. In the end, he still ended up injuring Galeion.

William simply shook his head before casting Luminous Embrace over Galeion’s injured body. Gentle light spread across the Titan prince as the pain and bruising rapidly began to heal.

After making sure Galeion would recover quickly, William prepared to leave. As he turned, he noticed Maximus staring at the chocolate bar in stunned silence.

It seemed the taste had triggered an old memory.

To Maximus, the flavor was unmistakably similar to The Infinite Chocolate House.

Which used to be Lia’s favorite dessert store.

At most, Maximus would probably realize that William somehow had a connection to the owner of that shop, or he himself was the owner. William did not particularly care about that since his involvement with Lia would remain a secret.

He gave the group a final nod before quietly turning toward the exit.

However, just as he was about to leave, Desmond suddenly spoke up.

"Wait a minute... where exactly are we right now?"

William stopped briefly before glancing back over his shoulder.

"The Eternal Sun Empire."

As those words left his mouth, William vanished from their sight.

"Eternal Sun Empire...?" Every single one of them wore the same bewildered expression. None of them had heard that name before.

Fortunately, before their confusion could deepen further, Maris re-entered the hall. She greeted the group politely and welcomed them properly as guests of the empire.

The boys exchanged uneasy looks.

At this point, all of them felt mentally exhausted. Between ancient ruins, vampires, impossible strength displays by William, and now an entirely unknown empire, their minds could barely process everything happening around them.

Most importantly, they realized their families and guardians were likely already searching for them. The guards secretly assigned to monitor them during their expedition had probably reported their disappearance long ago.

Because of that, the group quickly expressed its intention to return home.

Maris listened respectfully before giving a small nod.

"Pardon me, Lord Ethan," she said politely, "but Her Majesty Empress Anastasia wishes to meet all of you before your departure."

"Empress Anastasia?"

None of them had ever heard that name before.

"Please allow me to explain while we walk toward Her Majesty’s study," Maris said as she began guiding them through the palace corridors.

During the walk, she calmly explained everything she was permitted to reveal.

She told them about William’s true identity, about how he had turned out to be the long-lost son of Anastasia, and about the circumstances that eventually led him to take control of the former Holy Sun Empire.

The more Maris explained, the stranger the expressions on the young men’s faces became.

Every new piece of information sounded increasingly absurd.

So much had happened within the span of less than a week that their minds genuinely struggled to accept it as reality. When Maris casually revealed that the vampire woman from earlier had actually been a Primarch-level existence, several of them visibly shuddered.

Even now, the memory of her oppressive aura remained vivid in their minds.

Honestly, digesting all these revelations would likely take them longer than it had taken William to conquer an empire.

Eventually, the group arrived outside Anastasia’s study. A few moments later, they were escorted inside.

The moment they entered the room, Anastasia welcomed them warmly with a gentle smile. Her voice, captivating and soft, immediately eased the tension within the atmosphere.

For several seconds, the boys forgot they had spent the past half hour listening to an unbelievable story. When Anastasia introduced herself as William’s mother, none of them doubted it for even a moment.

The resemblance was impossible to miss. The sapphire blue hair, the eyes, the natural aura surrounding her. William clearly resembled her too much for it to be a coincidence.

More importantly, there was something strangely persuasive about Anastasia’s voice.

Unknown to the boys, Anastasia was subtly using the power of the Voice of the Moon. She was not aggressively manipulating them, but merely softening their thoughts and easing their minds enough to make conversation flow naturally.

Right now, she wanted to know everything about William’s life at the academy.

How he behaved, whether he caused trouble, what kind of relationships he formed, and whether he had gotten into conflicts.

What sort of person had he become during the years they spent apart?

Under the calming influence of Anastasia’s voice, the boys spoke more openly and without any more restraint than they normally would have. Their guard gradually lowered as they recounted story after story involving William.

Meanwhile, Ethan found himself repeatedly staring at Anastasia in disbelief.

He genuinely could not understand how such a graceful, soft-spoken woman had somehow given birth to someone like William, someone who had given the archon’s speech.

Still, the conversation continued smoothly.

Over the next half hour, Anastasia practically learned the entirety of William’s academy life.

The boys spoke about the invasion of the Amon Cult and how William had saved countless students during the chaos. They recounted his unforgettable Archon speech, his frightening combat ability, and eventually his growing relationship with Seraphine.

At that point, Anastasia quietly smiled.

The conversation later shifted toward William’s conflict with Arwen, as well as his overwhelming performance during the military camp exercises.

By the end of it all, William’s entire six months at the academy had been summarized in remarkable detail.

And strangely enough, Anastasia found herself becoming even more intrigued by her own son.

Her attention especially remained on the topic of Seraphine. A possible future daughter-in-law.

Naturally, her thoughts immediately became complicated.

At first, she wondered whether William might simply be playing around with multiple women as she thought of his kiss with Tamasya. However, that assumption quickly changed.

William was her son, after all.

There was also the possibility that he genuinely intended to pursue multiple relationships seriously.

Polygamy was not unheard of among powerful individuals, though very few possessed the capability to manage such relationships properly. Still, Anastasia had complete confidence that William could handle two women if he truly desired it.

Unfortunately, another issue existed.

Interracial relationships.

Such marriages were still heavily frowned upon across much of the Aris, and as a mother, Anastasia naturally worried about the complications that could arise if William pursued Seraphine openly.

After a moment, however, she shook the thought away. It was too early to worry about such matters.

There were more immediate concerns demanding attention first. People like Arwen, the son of the Elven Prime Minister, or Professor Morgan, who repeatedly tried to target her son.

As Anastasia became increasingly absorbed in her own thoughts, the boys sitting before her gradually became nervous.

They could not help wondering if they had said something wrong.