"Hmmm..."

Staring at the hand that reached out for him, Edward didn't immediately take it. Rather, he continued to carefully scrutinize the individual in front of him.

'He's not simple...'

That was the conclusion he came up with after carefully examining him.

As the Guildmaster of the first-ranked guild in the human domain, Edward had the ability to discern, with a glance, whether someone was more than what met the eye.

Raising his head, their eyes met.

"White Reaper, right?"

"...Yes, that's my name."

"What a peculiar name..."

Lowering his head, Edward's eyes paused on his extended hand.

At that moment, he was astonished to discover two small words written on his index finger.

[Play along]

Closing his eyes, Edward's face remained stoic. Although he was surprised, he knew better than to show his outer emotions. Taking his eyes away from the hand, he glanced at the individual in front of him.

Once their eyes met, the ends of the White Reaper's lips curled ever so slightly. Edward's head cocked slightly as he noted this.

'Alright, I'll play along...'

Was it perhaps because of the sense of familiarity he gave off? ...Or was it because of something else?

In the end, he decided to play along.

"...What do you want?"

There was a slight tremor in the room as he opened his mouth. He was acting as he normally did when someone tried to meet him.

Lowering his head to glance at his hand, he smacked it away. He then indifferently muttered.

Smack!

"Be quick, I don't have much time."

"Ah...nothing special."

The smile on White Reaper's face stiffened a tad bit.

He then replaced it with a flattering one as he clasped his hands together.

"I...well, I just wanted to pay my respects to you."

"Respect?"

Edward's eyes squinted.

'What are you trying to get at?'

He couldn't quite understand what he was trying to get at. Regardless, he continued to act as he normally did.

Glancing at the demon waiting at the door, he ordered.

"Get him out of my sight."

"...Huh, what?"

White Reaper's face changed. Turning his head back to glance at the demon waiting at the door, he raised his hands.

"Hold on a second, I'm not done speaking."

Focusing his attention back toward Edward, he spoke in a rather rushed manner.

"Mr. Overlord, please hear me out."

There was clear panic on his face as he said those words. Of course, having seen what was written on his hand, Edward knew that he was acting.

'But what exactly is he trying to tell...ah'

It was then that he finally saw it. It disappeared as fast as it came, but Edward was able to see it.

A small black ball that was resting in the middle of his tongue.

'Is that a dimensional space?'

Taking note of the black ball, Edward already seemed to get an idea of what the individual wanted him to do.

"Did you not hear me?"

Edward pressed his hand in a downward motion.

A terrifying pressure pressed against White Reaper's body as Edward channeled his mana into the air, forcing him to fall to his knees.

Thud!

Edward grimly glanced down at White Reaper who was lying on the ground.

"Did you not hear what I just said?"

"Ukh..."

Pressing his right hand on the ground, White Reaper forcefully raised his heaad to stare at Edward. There was clear hatred in his eyes as he stared at him.

Opening his mouth, he spoke through his gnashed teeth.

"You...I'm a human. Shouldn't you be helping me?"

"I should help you because you're a human?"

Edward scoffed and bent down until his eyes stood at the same level as White Reaper. Bringing his head closer, he softly muttered.

"Let me give you a reality check. Had you not been human, you would've already found yourself clo!"

"Spu!"

In the midst of completing his sentence, White Reaper spat on his face.

Edward was quick to react. Right as White Reaper was about to spit, Edward noticed the movement of his jaw and brought his hand forward and blocked his mouth, stopping the spit from reaching his head.

As Edward secretly grasped the black ball that was hidden in the spit, he glared at White Reaper.

"You..."

He raised his hand and slapped White Reaper in the face. The movement was so fast that White Reaper was unable to react on time.

Bang!

With a powerful crashing sound, White Reaper was sent crashing against the wall.

"Uaakkh!"

Letting out a pained groan, White Reapers' body slowly slid toward the ground.

"Take him away."

Edward ordered as he turned his body and no longer looked back at White Reaper.

"Keke."

Letting out a chuckle, the demon helped White Reaper up and dragged his body up. It had to be noted that, it was only after the conflict was over that the demon moved into action.

Clearly, he was expecting such a scene to occur from the very beginning.

"You bastard!"

On his way out, Edward could hear White Reaper's enraged shout.

"Mark my words, as soon as I become the next Emperor, I'll fucking kill you. I'll fucking kill you!"

But his words went deaf ears as Edward continued to ignore him.

Clank!

The door eventually closed and silence returned to the room. Instead of immediately checking out the contents of the dimensional space, Edward put the orb away and continued to meditate in the middle of the room.

That said.

Right before putting the orb away, he was able to check what was inside of the dimensional space.

What he found was a piece of paper and a couple of other things...

Even though he wanted to check the contents immediately, he stopped himself from doing so.

There was no doubt in his mind that every move he made was being closely monitored by the demons.

Therefore, the only thing he could do was be patient.

***

"Akh, that hurt."

Dumped back into my room, I massaged my shoulder as I leaned my back against the wall.

"...Ugh, although I wanted him to hit me, he should've held back a bit."

Taking out a potion, I quickly ingested it. The pain in my shoulder slowly subsided.

"Haa..."

Letting out a relieved sigh, I stared at the ceiling of the room.

"If everything works out correctly, we should be able to escape soon, right?"

"Yes."

A voice answered as a figure appeared at the other end of the room.

"If Edward heeds your words, you will be able to escape soon."

Leaning my head against the wall, I muttered.

"Nice..."

I wanted nothing more than to get out of this place as fast as possible.

Taking my eyes away from the ceiling of the room, I recalled something.

"Hm, now that I think about it, shouldn't I be given a new room?"

Now that I had beaten Skull Crusher, I had rightfully become a top ten contender.

This meant that I would soon get a new room. One that was bigger and more comfortable than this room.

Kind of wanted it.

Massaging my chin, my eyes turned into narrow slits.

"There's only one problem..."

And that was the fact that the room was probably going to be monitored by the demons.

My brows furrowed at the thought.

"...I guess I should finish all my preparations now."

Standing up from my bed, I stretched my back and immediately got to work.

I had to make the most of my time if I wanted to escape within the next week.

***

At the same time.

Throughout a large office space, an amused voice echoed.

"Something like that happened?"

"Yes, your excellency."

Duke Anozech drummed his long and slender fingers on his desk while holding his hand over his mouth to hide the smile on his face.

"...What an interesting development."

He murmured after a while. With one knee to the ground, his servant noticed the Duke's interest and asked.

"Is there anything you would like me to do, your excellency?"

Duke Anozech glanced at his servant before responding.

"...Monitor him closely. In the off-chance that something goes wrong in the next match, we can make use of him to get rid of the current Overlord."

"As you wish."

The servant's figure slowly merged in the shadows as he placed his hand over his chest.

Silence returned to the room.

With his gaze lingering on the spot where his servant left, Duke Anozech took a deep breath.

A cold light flashed in his eyes when he opened them again.

"...This might be even better than I thought."

***

To Tok!

Overhearing a loud knock at his door, Edward raised his head.

"What is it?"

"....Your match will begin in two hours."

Answering him was the demon that guarded the entrance to his room.

"Understood."

Replying to the demon, Edward calmly walked to his desk and sat down. He then took out a piece of paper from his dimensional space.

'I should have no problems looking at this now...'

Four days had passed since White Reaper's visit, and during those days, Edward had not once touched the things that were inside of the dimensional space that was given to him.

It was simply too risky to do it in an area that was most likely monitored.

Since then, he had been sitting down at his desk every day and picking up a piece of paper to write on.

In order to make the real paper look less suspicious, he decided to use this method. Taking a deep breath, he secretly took out the piece of paper from his dimensional space and placed it on the desk.

'Let's see what your intentions are...'

He could finally see what White Reaper was trying to tell him.

===

To : Edward Stern.

===

The moment Edward's eyes stopped on the first sentence of the letter, his hands shook and he almost lost his cool.

If not for his tough mentality, his face would've already changed.

Calming his unevenly beating heart, he proceeded to read the message.

===

You probably don't remember me, but we've met once before. Back then, my hair wasn't exactly white so that probably explains the reason why you didn't recognize me.

But that isn't really important at the moment.

The reason why I'm contacting you like this is simple. It's because I have to tell you something really important.

Your next match is rigged.

===

Pausing, Edward's brows furrowed tightly.

'Rigged? ...What is he talking about?'

He continued to read the letter.

===

I know what I'm saying sounds strange, but the competition is rigged. It doesn't matter how many matches you win, you won't be free again.

The demons use this strategy to make the 'show' more thrilling by making you fight with everything on the line. After all, who doesn't want freedom?

Anyhow.

During your next match, the demons intend to get rid of you by rigging the device that suppresses your rank. It will only be for a brief moment, but they will stop your mana flow to create an opening for your opponent.

===

Clenching his teeth, Edward tried his best to suppress his boiling rage that was threatening to come out any second now.

'...I should've known better.'

Clenching his teeth even harder, he continued to read the letter.

===

If you trust me, I will help you escape.

You may not know, but I know your daughter quite well. Furthermore, when I said that we've met before, that wasn't a lie.

Remember the proposal with the magic cards system?

...That was me.

===

'...Huh?'

Re-reading the sentence again, Edward had a hard time processing the information.

'How is this possible?'

From the moment the 'Magic cards' were mentioned, Edward had already figured out who White Reaper was, but it was exactly because he knew who he was that he was having a hard time grasping the information.

Ren Dover.

That was the name of the youth that had presented him with the Magic Cards concept a couple of years ago.

He had set quite a positive impression in his mind back then.

But that was all that impression amounted to. After all, he had met many such talented youths in the past.

As far as he was concerned, he was just a dime of a dozen.

But...

'...What happened to him?'

How did he become so strong in such little time? Last he recalled, he was nowhere near what it was now.

In just four years, he managed to climb all the way to where he was now? A rank that was near his?

Wasn't that a little bit too frightening?

Lowering his head, he continued to read the letter.

===

The reason why I'm telling you my identity is to make you trust me more.

I know that you have a lot of questions, but we don't really have the time. All I can say is that I can help you meet Amanda again.

All you have to do is follow my instructions...

===

And so...

For the last remaining time before his match, Edward carefully scrutinized the letter in his hand.