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"Yes, senior. Even though I knew who lady Hannah was, I never acted against her. It was all done by Wiley." Dean chimed in, shifting all the blame onto Count Wiley.

Count Wiley didn\'t try to give any explanation because he knew he was the main culprit of the Garfield\'s family\'s tragedies. He just stared at the old lady, and stealthily took out his [Witch\'s destruction talisman], gripping it tightly in his hand.

He knew even though the talisman was very strong, its effects were limited to five-star and maximum to king ranked mages. It couldn\'t harm an emperor ranked mage at all. 

However, he felt a little safer with in his hand and he planned to launch it at Dean and the masked man when the old lady attacked him. Since he couldn\'t do anything to her, he would at least kill or severely injure these traitorous companions of his.

To his delight, the old lady only gave them a cursory glance before shaking her head. "It\'s your revenge. You should take it."

Before Mina or others could say anything, she looked at the King and indifferently said, "Take these pieces of trash out of my sight and remember, if you dare to target this family again, I\'ll annihilate your family."

The king gave the old lady a deep look before saying, "We\'ll keep that in mind, senior. Now, please excuse us."

Saying this, he glanced at the formation disk, which then flew down toward him as if being summoned. After storing it away, he waved his hand, enveloping the masked man\'s trio with his mana, and flew out of the Garfield mansion, leaving the claymore town within seconds.

This development surprised everyone because they had thought the old lady would kill count Wiley and others.

The masked man looked at the king and asked, "My king, why did she spare us?"

"Spare us?" The king snorted before saying, "She is seriously injured. So, her current strength isn\'t enough to kill you guys while fighting me. Even if she could, it would\'ve aggravated her injuries, so she decided not to act against us."

…

Meanwhile, Mina looked at the old lady with an incomprehensible look on her face. 

Take revenge ourselves? Couldn\'t she see all of them were only two-star mages? How were they going to take revenge against four and five-star mages?

The old lady understood what she was thinking, but didn\'t bother to explain her reasoning. She glanced in the air above instead and called out,

"Come out!"

Confused, everyone followed her gaze and saw a beautiful lady in white robes appear there silently.

Seeing her standing in the air, everyone knew she was above mortal boundary and from how she was hiding until now, they became wary of her.

"Mm? You don\'t seem to be from the thunder family. So why were you hiding here?" 

The old lady asked, secretly letting out a breath of relief when she noticed the woman in front of her wasn\'t from the thunder family. The thunder family\'s members had dark violet hair and eyes, which the woman in question didn\'t have.

Initially, she thought the person hiding was someone from the thunder family and this was one of the reasons why she didn\'t try to kill count Wiley and others. If it wasn\'t for her, she might have killed them to avenge her niece, Hannah\'s death.

The white-robed woman glanced at her, bowed slightly toward her, "Greeting, senior. I\'m an Elder of the Ice Sovereign Mountain."

Although she bowed and seemed respectful, it was evident she didn\'t care much about her from how indifferent her voice sounded. 

The old lady nodded in acknowledgement, not at all angry with the lack of respect. She knew this woman only addressed her as senior because she was an emperor mage. Although injured, an emperor mage was not someone she — a king mage — could take lightly.

"Someone from the Ice Sovereign Mountain? What are you doing here?" The old lady asked, her tone becoming a little gentler. 

Although her Valiant family—before it was destroyed — was one of the top families of the central plains and had a few monarch realm mages holding the fort, the Ice Sovereign Mountain was on a different level. A supreme mage established it, after all.

"My master ordered me to take the Garfield family to safety since the war with demons will be happening in less than a week now." The woman answered.

"What?!" The old lady\'s expression changed when she heard this and asked, "Isn\'t there still over half a year left before the agreed upon time?"

"It seems the senior isn\'t aware of this, but the demons had broken the pact and to take us off guard, they are coming right now. From the news from the scouts, their army will be here in a few more days, and this area will become the center of the battlefield." The woman explained calmly.

The old lady fell in deep thought. She had planned to use the few months she had to recover completely and find the thunder sword. 

When the demons attacked, the thunder family — as one of the powerhouses of the continent — would have to focus its attention and manpower on the war. This would give her an opportunity to save her family members. 

However, now with the war happening a lot sooner than she expected, things wouldn\'t be so easy for her.

She took a deep breath and put these thoughts at the back of her mind. So what if things weren\'t going as she planned and saving her family members would be a lot harder? She still had to do it. However, recovering to her top condition and taking the thunder sword back were now her main priorities. Fortunately, the sword was almost in her hand now…

She then shifted her attention to the woman in white and asked, feeling confused, "Why would your master, who I suppose should be an inner Elder at least, ask you to save this family?"

"It\'s because her personal disciple is from this family and she requested my master to ensure their safety." The woman replied.

"I see." The old lady nodded in understanding while feeling surprised by the fact that someone of this small family was a personal disciple of the famed Ice Sovereign Mountain. 

Of course, she wasn\'t looking down on them, but only the top family or institutions that had a five-star or stronger mage could send their kids to their central continent. But from what she could see, Ashton, before becoming crippled, was only a three-star mage.

"Is your master that white-haired senior?" Esther asked when she heard their conversation.

The woman in white raised her brow but nodded. "Yes. She is."

Hearing this, Esther and others felt admiration toward Lilly. Even though she had left and her status had elevated a lot, she still hadn\'t forgotten them.

"Now, you guys should hurry and follow me. I\'ll take you somewhere safe." The woman added.

Esther looked at Ashton, then at Chloe\'s corpse, and asked, "Can you give us some time?"

The woman glanced at them, thought for a moment, and nodded. "You have three days. Do everything you need to. Also, call your sons and daughters back."

"This…" Esther hesitated and said, "It will probably take more than a week for them all to come back."

"No. That won\'t do." The woman frowned and shook her head. After a moment of thought, she sighed and said, "One of you come with me to bring them back."

Esther and Mina exchanged glances and Mina volunteered, "I\'ll go with you."

She then glanced at the old lady asked, "Senior must be here for Hannah\'s sword, right?"

"Yes." The old lady nodded.

"Please wait until Ashton wakes up. He knows where it is." Mina said, she then left with the white clothed woman.

---

The cloud academy, Max\'s dorm room,

Knock! Knock!

Max knocked on his dorm room\'s door, expecting to see Anna\'s surprised and happy face when she saw him upon opening the door.

Creak~

However, when the door opened, his expression changed. 

Anna was standing in front of him with a vacant look in her eyes. Her hair was messy, lips parched and dried up, tear stains on her cheeks.

"A-Anna?" He called out.

Hearing his voice, her eyes regained some focus. When she saw him, tears appeared in her eyes. She slowly lifted her hand and touched his face as she asked in a trembling voice, "I-Is that you, little Max?"

"Yes, it\'s me." Max nodded and hurriedly hugged her. "Don\'t cry. It\'s alright. Everything\'s alright. I\'m here." He consoled her as he patted her back.

Anna cried even more loudly when she felt his warm embrace and kept mumbling, "I\'m sorry. I\'m sorry."

He didn\'t know what happened, but seeing her cry like this, he felt unimaginable anger bubbling in his chest.