Absolute Beast Dominion

So much for a 'Grand' Auction... Leo thought, completely bored out of his mind.

He was seated in the front row of a large, dark hall, with the stage before them illuminated as various treasures were showcased one by one.

By now, only the starter treasures in the Blue(3) tier were being auctioned, and the limited number of students present were eagerly snatching them up. Since Leo was waiting for higher-tier treasures to appear, he hadn't spent a single coin.

As for why the auction host hadn't brought out any high-ranking treasures, it was because there were no bidders.

If one looked around the hall, only the students who had been invited to the auction were present. No guests from across the Empire had arrived so far, even though the auction had already been going on for more than half an hour.

Ashton, who was seated just two seats away from him, looked equally frustrated as he repeatedly tapped the floor with his boots.

"What is happening? Where are the guests from across the Empire?" Ashton whispered sharply to Jubal, who had just returned after gathering information. His fluster was slowly turning into anger.

"L-Lord, I went and checked. All the invitees are sending apology letters one by one, saying they won't be able to attend the auction."

"What?!" Ashton shot to his feet.

"Lord, please calm down. It seems some very disturbing news has come out of one of the cities. Should I play it here?" Jubal asked carefully, gesturing toward the large white screen behind the stage.

"Do it," Ashton ordered, though his anger had yet to subside.

Jubal quickly walked over to the host, conveyed the situation, and handed him his phone, where the news broadcast was already playing.

Leo was actually surprised by the projector and the screen.

It's actually quite advanced in here... Maybe the outskirts are really—

Leo's thoughts came to an abrupt halt, and his eyes widened. Not only him, but even Ashton froze in place. The same was true for the other students.

All of them had their eyes glued to the screen.

"HAHAHAHAHA! HUMANSSSSSSSS!" a being on the screen roared into the camera.

But that wasn't the shocking part.

The horrifying part was the scenery behind the being as it casually turned whatever device it was holding to reveal the surrounding area.

Dead bodies.

Dead, ripped, cut apart, dismembered, writhing, and bleeding bodies. All humans.

Not just one or two, but an entire expanse of land stretching as far as the camera captured.

Not even thousands did justice to the number. People from young to old, infants to women—everyone was mixed together, forming countless piles of corpses that towered over 2nd-storey buildings.

As for the being itself, it was unnaturally large. Though its exact height couldn't be determined through the screen, it stood well above any 1st-storey building and possessed the head of a bull.

A Demon.

Its grotesque appearance, combined with the gruesome scene behind it, gave off a terrifying aura that made the students watching shiver in sheer terror.

"HUMANS! Your kind is so tasty!" the demon bellowed before extending a hand toward one of the corpse piles and plunging it into the mangled mass.

"Thanks to the higher authorities, so many people gathered in one place—"

BOOOOOOMMM!!!

Ashton blasted apart an entire wall, revealing the distant city beyond.

Jubal immediately used his wind powers to control the flying rubble so it wouldn't end up harming anyone.

Many servants rushed toward their Lords after the explosion.

Even Naelith and Thalvyr appeared beside Leo.

His mind was still processing what he had just witnessed.

"DEMONS!!!!" Ashton roared, his voice echoing through the hall. The temperature around him rose considerably, and Jubal stood ready to suppress the flames should they erupt.

But Ashton quickly composed himself and turned toward the horrified students, whose eyes remained wide with shock.

"I am deeply sorry for this, but the Grand Auction has been called off, and I officially declare the end of the Ember Family Realm Exploration event."

With that, Ashton stormed off alongside Jubal.

"Jubal! Don't you know the younger generation isn't supposed to watch this sort of thing?!" Ashton snapped.

"Lord... I didn't think the broadcast would suddenly escalate like that. Before that, the demon's face had been covering the entire camera. Even I wasn't aware of what was happening in the background..."

"Tsk." Ashton clicked his tongue.

After that, Jubal quickly explained the gist of what had happened in that particular city.

"So... the City Lord invited people from all across the Empire to attend a festival and an auction just like mine, even promising that an Orange-tier vitality treasure would appear?"

"Yes. Because of that, countless people gathered there. But it turned out that the City Lord had embraced a demon's blessing and orchestrated everything. He even sacrificed his entire city... a Tier 4 bordering city with a population of over 10 million... just to obtain a powerful demon body..."

Hearing that, Ashton fell silent.

But Jubal added one more thing.

"And it seems around 29 cities have suffered the exact same fate within the past 3 days. The news I just showed you is from a city that was destroyed 3 days ago, but the footage was only aired a few hours ago. It seems their plan has ended successfully... and now they want to flaunt it."

"Damn it! No wonder nobody came here. Our exploration event ended up overlapping with the demons' ploy," Ashton cursed.

He immediately began thinking about more pressing matters.

"Call all the leaders responsible for defense and have them sweep through every inch of the city for any unusual activity. Eliminate any uncertainty on the spot without a second thought. I'll have the Holy Priests cast magic barriers so nobody escapes."

Back in the auction hall, Gunther had already appeared before all the students who had witnessed the scene.

He had one hand raised as radiant emerald-green light emanated from his palm, gently washing over the students. The servants who had arrived afterwards seemed completely unaffected.

Gunther let out a sigh.

"Sorry, but you're not supposed to know about this so early. I will be erasing what you just witnessed from your memories."

One by one, the students slumped back into their chairs before losing consciousness.

Gunther then looked toward Leo.

"Even you... even if you're gaining strength at a rapid pace, your mind hasn't been conditioned to the ways of the world."

But when Gunther attempted to erase the scene that had played on the projector, he frowned.

"He isn't affected...?"

Unlike the other students, who had been left trembling by what they witnessed, Leo appeared to have taken everything in as though he had already been conditioned to such horrors.