Chapter 1277: Faceoff [Part 3] Not wanting to accidentally kill the annoying teenager, Rana eased up the pressure she emitted and resumed asking him questions. "Tell me, did you use Charm on my daughter, Carina?" Rana asked. "Did you control her into inviting you here to the palace? Is this all part of your plan?" "My lovers said I’m not very charming," Thirteen replied. "But one of them says I release something called the Zion Virus, which makes girls attracted to me. I don’t believe her, though. "As for your second question, everything that happened is just a coincidence. While I did plan to have a conversation with you, I didn’t expect that it would be done so fast and in this manner." Rana was feeling annoyed because Zion was telling the truth, or at least, what he thought was the truth. "Now it’s my turn to ask questions," Thirteen said. "If any Celestial, or anyone for that matter, wishes to take the throne by force, will you support them?" "No," Rana replied. "What’s the point of replacing a tyrant with another tyrant? Nothing will change. In fact, things might even get worse if either of those two old fools sits on the throne." This was the piece of information that Thirteen really needed. If Rana was opposed to having a new King to replace Erasmus, then there was still a leeway for cooperation. Thirteen originally planned to take over Artem by force, but he understood that it simply wasn’t feasible. First, they didn’t have enough manpower. Second, the army of Artem far outclasses the forces under his banner in terms of Rank and numbers. Because of this, he decided to create a Plan B. What was that Plan B? That was to keep Erasmus on the throne and ensure that a second expedition to Pangea by the Artemian Army would not happen again. This plan was plausible to pull off, especially since no one would know that their King was already dead and that his body was only being used as a vessel by the Lord of Death. Unfortunately, according to King Astrion’s memories, he suspected that Rana Avior, Castor Deneb, and Regulus Serpens were aiming to usurp his rule. Now that Thirteen had confirmed that Rana wasn’t aiming for the throne, she could become an ally... if she didn’t treat Zion as an enemy. Since he had divulged his identity as someone who came from the world they had tried to invade, she might think of him as a threat to their world. "One last question," Rana stated. "Why should I let you live?" "Because I have no plans of hurting you or your family," Thirteen answered. "Also, I will appreciate it if the two of us can part ways on friendly terms. I am not your enemy. I only wish to protect my world from another invasion." "And what if I refuse to let you go?" Rana narrowed her eyes. "Although I won’t kill you, I can still imprison you." "That is a very bad idea." Thirteen shook his head. "Did you forget? I didn’t come here alone. I brought a Celestial with me." Rana was about to say that Zion’s Celestial friend didn’t scare her, but she stopped midway when she felt a fluctuation within her palace. "Do you sense him?" Thirteen asked with an amused look on his face. "What do you think? Are you stronger than him?" Rana didn’t answer right away, too shocked to say anything. Her Palace had countless layers of protection inside and should’ve prevented any hostile forces from entering her domain. In fact, even if a Celestial were to attack the palace, the barriers she had in place would be enough to keep it safe for a period of time. However, no matter how strong the palace’s defenses were, it was useless if the enemy was already inside of the palace! "I’ll repeat it again, I am not here to harm you or your family," Thirteen said after a few minutes of silence had passed. "So let’s not do anything reckless, okay? You’ve treated me well, so I don’t want to repay your hospitality with bloodshed." Thirteen made sure that Rana wouldn’t think that he was a pushover. If she decided to back down, then he would back down. If she decided to escalate this situation... well, she would be the one who would be regretting it in the end. For the most part, Cranky was stronger than Rana. If the two of them were to fight, the Honey Badger would win hands down. Rana might have perceived this as well, so she decided to release her domain, allowing the teenage boy to breathe easier. As if waiting for that moment, Cranky appeared right beside him with his arms crossed over his chest. He gazed at Rana coolly as if telling her to behave herself while he was still being polite. "Are you really not my enemy?" Rana asked, looking at the handsome man warily. "Is Zion your enemy?" Cranky asked back. "If yes, then you are my enemy. If not, then you’re not my enemy. Simple enough to understand, right?" Rana sighed and leaned back on her chair. "Leave." Rana stated. "I will pretend that I never saw the two of you." "Of course, we will leave. But you have to sign something first," Thirteen said with a smile as he placed a magic contract on the table. "If you sign it, we will leave at once and never bother you again." Thirteen wasn’t so naive to believe Rana wouldn’t inform the other Celestials that a threat was present in their world. They were not close enough that he could readily accept a verbal promise. He only believed in the contracts that Metatron issued, which was a binding contract. Although she didn’t want to read it, Rana forced herself to read what was written in the contract. The first clause that was written in the contract was for Rana to not disclose anything about Zion or Azrael. The second clause was for her and Zion to enter a non-aggression pact. There was another clause that stated that Rana would not interfere if they were to wage war against her countrymen. Those were the only conditions that were written in the contract, but the second one made Rana glare at the teenage boy, who looked too calm for his age. "Do you really expect me to sign this nonsense?" Rana asked, her voice cold, and dripping with hate. "If you don’t want to sign it, then you don’t have to," Thirteen replied. "But if a battle were to break out between us, we will treat you as an enemy. Don’t expect us to hold back when that happens." "Are you threatening me?" Rana was so close to strangling the teenage boy, who was starting to get on her nerves. Sensing her killing intent, Cranky took a step forward and put himself between Rana and Zion, making sure to release his own killing intent as well. The clash of killing intent resulted in a sound that was similar to a clap of thunder, which made Rana flinch. After being overwhelmed by Cranky’s killing intent, she repressed her own killing intent but continued to glare at the Celestial in front of her. "Are you going to sign it or not?" Cranky asked calmly. He didn’t really care if Rana signed the contract or not. For him, it was just adding one more enemy to his list, which wasn’t a big deal. At that moment, Carina suddenly entered the office. When she saw that her mother was with Zion and a man she hadn’t seen before, the young lady froze in place. "Um, am I disturbing something important?" Carina asked shyly. "Yes," Thirteen replied. "Can you come back later, Carina? Your mom and I are talking about something important." Carina glanced at her mother, as if asking her whether she should really leave the room or not. "Come back later, sweetheart," Rana said softly. "I’m busy right now." "Okay!" Carina nodded and gave Zion one last glance before leaving the room. The three were too occupied with each other that they didn’t sense Carina approaching the office. After a minute had passed, Rana sighed before looking at Zion with a less hostile gaze. "Thank you for not involving my daughter in our affair," Rana said. "I’m not someone who likes to involve the innocent in these kinds of negotiations," Thirteen replied. "In fact, I hate using family members as hostages to seal a deal. You can be assured that even if we become enemies, I will not target your family members. Of course, that only works if they don’t actively attack us." A moment of silence passed between the two parties before Rana spoke out her mind. "Can you give me some time to think about this proposal?" Rana asked. "Very well, I will give you a day," Thirteen replied. "On the condition that you will not inform anyone about what we discussed here inside your office." "Okay." Rana nodded in agreement. "You have my word." "I’ll trust you just once." Thirteen made a gesture for Cranky to follow him. The two left the palace quietly without anyone noticing their departure. Since Zion had already placed a teleportation circle inside the guest room, they could easily return anytime they wanted to. He just hoped that Rana would not betray his trust because if she did, he would make her understand how scary he could be to people who dared to betray his trust. The thing that Zion hated the most was betrayal. His Hosts had been betrayed so many times that he had lost count of it. After sensing that his guests had truly left the palace, Rana finally sighed in relief. The Celestial beside Zion made her realize that she was not his match, which made her feel relieved that their confrontation didn’t turn into a full-blown battle. "Astrion..." Rana muttered as she looked at the contract on top of her table. "You poked the hornet’s nest this time around." She was starting to consider whether she should warn his countrymen about Zion and Azrael. But she understood that by doing so, she would be burning bridges with the teenage boy, who might just order Azrael to obliterate Lyra City, killing everything that she held dear in the world. —--------- A/N: Only one Chapter today. Ely is suffering.