"Don’t take her words seriously for now, just focus on your goals. All the answers will find you eventually."

Before Emperal could think any further, the Infernal Dragon intervened. His arrogant voice ripped through his confused thoughts and cleared his mind.

Emperal nodded without saying anything, and even Soleine seemed like she didn’t want to continue further.

Wusha sighed in relief when she saw things had finally calmed down. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth again.

"That was the first major announcement. Now that it has been settled, let me proceed with the quota allotment."

Wusha waved her hand, and a small green sigil appeared on her palm. It was a strange symbol of a leaf and a tree simultaneously.

"This time quota slots have risen significantly. Previously, each nation used to get around fifty each. That was the deadline, but!"

She paused, letting her words sink in.

"This time, according to the Elven Lord, the limitations are removed or, more precisely, raised up to one hundred and fifty per nation!"

She spoke with a radiant smile on her face. Alas, no one was focused on her face.

The moment those words left her mouth, chaos unfolded.

"Soleine, just what is happening? The things you said to me about this realm and the things that woman is spewing...don’t match at all."

This time, Emperal didn’t lose his calm. He tried to keep his heart as steady as possible. But the small vein at the corner of his forehead...betrayed his mood.

"Well...the EverHeart Tree never fails to surprise."

Soleine merely chuckled, but didn’t answer Emperal’s question. Turning his head, he saw every single one of them having conversations and discussions.

Even the usually distant Titans seemed to be talking among themselves.

"We should convey this to our Lord immediately."

Volethane spoke, for some reason. His voice sounded heavy. Mysterious symbols floated in his eyes as he slowly closed them.

Before he could continue doing so, a small streak of green light ripped through space and time and struck his forehead.

"ARGHHH!!!!"

Volthane roared in pain, his brain itself seeming to reverse and melt. His subordinates were petrified when they saw this.

Volthane desperately struggled, but the green light kept flickering in his forehead like some parasite, refusing to let him go.

A pair of ashen grey eyes pressed down on all four of them, alongside Volthane.

"Even your leader didn’t appear here and chose to disrespect all of us. And now, even a mere ant is behaving like he owns this place?"

Zeratheil spoke, his heavy voice, of course, not unheard of.

"ELVEN LORD, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"

Volthane, although in unimaginable pain, still roared in defiance. His roar travelled dozens of miles before vanishing.

Zerathial snorted in disdain, his eyes flickered ever so slightly..

Whoooshh!!

Another small streak was sent straight towards the Titan. He froze in horror. Just before it could get close to them, a small green ray of fire tore through space and hit the beam!

BOOM!

A small explosion occurred as the two mighty abilities cancelled each other out thoroughly. The Elven King, for the first time, had a visible change of expression in his eyes.

Mild surprise.

"...Nirvana?"

He spoke. It wasn’t just him; the Dragon Lord, Aldric, and the rest flew towards the scene. They were utterly shocked; never in their lives had they expected such an extreme action from someone as intelligent and ancient as he.

But an even more shocking thing was Soleine’s actions!

Looking down, they saw her smiling and sipping her wine as if nothing had happened. Upon hearing Zeratheil’s words, Soleine chuckled in a melodious tone.

"Zeratheil, I apologize for my friend’s absence. Don’t take it personally."

Emperal stood frozen behind her. Although his mind was capable of processing what had just happened, his common sense refused to align with it.

Zeratheil looked at Soleine’s smiling face for a few seconds before nodding.

"Nirvana, it’s because of your words that I’m letting this go. The disrespect of their leader will not be tolerated again."

He spoke flatly, with a tone that contained no arrogance. But...a will.

An ancient, overwhelming will.

"Heh, of course."

Soleine chuckled. "Shall we continue the meeting? I have to travel a long way, and my old bones are already feeling heavy."

"This...shameless woman!"

Aldric couldn’t help but shake his head. Marren clutched her sword, feeling the tension diffuse a bit.

Zeratheil nodded when he heard those words. "Of course."

A few seconds later, everybody was back in their seats. Every single soul had different thoughts running through their mind, but the most prominent one was, of course, Why?

"Why? What could be the reason, Soleine?"

Emperal finally asked. He couldn’t help it any longer. Hearing this, Soleine sighed.

"Even though I do not know, Emperal, it seems he was trying to pull a stunt right there. Although on the surface, it may seem rash and arrogant, believe me, he is anything but rash." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Soleine spoke, taking another sip.

"Does he want to provoke the Titans into a...war?"

"Hmph, how could it be so simple? The coldness of the north has sharpened their brains to a terrifying degree. There’s no way that man would fall for such stupid bait."

A mysterious glint shone in her eyes as she watched Zeratheil from the corner of her eye. Her golden orbs reflected something no one among the present practitioners could even hope to see.

"Sigh, this woman’s mysteriousness irks me to no end. Infernal Dragon, can’t you suppress this woman? I really want to do some...things with her."

"..."

Infernal Dragon was speechless when he heard Emperal’s words, and being the wise creature he was...he kept his silence.

"Hmm? Did you think something about me?"

Soleine innocently turned around. The timing was so terrifying that Emperal’s soul almost left his body. Taking a deep breath, he calmed down and forced a smile onto his face, which was ten times uglier than the beaten-up Titan’s face.

"Nothing, I was just admiring your strength, my lady."

Soleine raised her brow when she heard that. Just as she was about to retort, an arrogant voice rang out.

"Elven Lord, if you have a problem with those Titans, then why did you allow such trash to sit among us?"