SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will - Chapter 414 Layla

Nobody moved as the leaders of the two factions began to speak. Layla’s subordinates watched the doorway like statues, not a single one stepping forward without command. Moon’s team fanned out behind him, filling the entrance, weapons drawn, shields raised.

The two sides faced each other across the length of the throne room.

Layla spoke first.

“You are more handsome than people describe you.” She smiled. It was soft, almost warm, a smile that could make a man forget where they were standing.

Moon didn’t reply. His eyes moved across her body, reading her posture, the placement of her hands. Analyzing every detail.

Layla wasn’t tense, or afraid, she was very relaxed, contrary to what he expected. ‘She is confident…but why?’

“Awe.” Her lips curved downward in a pout that looked practiced to perfection. “Don’t look at me with such cold eyes. I really don’t deserve them.”

Moon held her gaze. When he spoke, his voice wasn’t warm. “Layla. What do you want. We are not friends. We are not comrades. And we will certainly never become such.” He paused, letting each word marinate into the silence of the room. ”

You have caused these people a great deal of suffering, and will only continue to do so. We aren’t here to form alliances. We are here to decide a victor.” He gestured towards the team behind him.

He tilted his head slightly. “I don’t believe we have much to speak about.”

The room was silent. Even the breathing seemed to stop moving. Hearing his words, Joseph’s heart skipped a beat, and he couldn’t help but stare at Layla from the corner of his eyes, curious about her reaction.

Layla’s smile didn’t fade immediately. It lingered for a moment, the way a flame lingers on a wick after you blow it out. “How touching….How very touching. I was rejected…yet again.” Her eyes were no longer smiling, coldness replacing them.

Layla uncrossed her legs and leaned forward on her throne, her ruby eyes fixed on Moon intensely. “Suffering?” She repeated the word like she was tasting something sour. “The suffering you speak of is born from their incompetence. Don’t blame me for their weakness, Moon. I gave them a chance to become more than what they were. I offered them power, purpose, a reason to exist beyond rotting in a cave waiting to die.”

Her voice rose, not in volume, but in purpose.

“Some of them took that chance and thrived. Others broke. That is not my sin. That is the natural order of things. The strong rise. The weak crumble. I didn’t create that law. I simply stopped pretending it doesn’t exist.”

She stood from her throne.

The simple act of rising changed the pressure in the room immediately. Her aura, which had been restrained until now, unfurled outward like a cloak being thrown open. It pressed against Moon’s skin, heavy yet warm, carrying with it a sweetness that tugged at the edges of his consciousness.

Moon’s expression remained neutral. He felt it a subtle, insidious pull, like a whisper telling him to relax.

But he pushed it away immediately.

Layla descended the steps of her throne slowly, step by step. Her red eyes never left Moon’s face.

On either side of her throne, the chained men followed a step behind. At the bottom of the throne steps, the subordinates also became more vigilant, ready for a fight that could break out at a moments’ notice.

Joseph stood beside them, his combat staff in hand, his expression unreadable. A man Moon didn’t recognize stood to his right, his hands in his pocket.

Lukas.

“You are intelligent… quick-witted… talented!” She stopped three steps from the bottom. “And most importantly, you are strong. Truly strong.”

She extended her hand toward him. Her fingers were slender, her nails painted fully black, matching her clothes.

“So join me, Moon Outlaw.”

The words rang through the chamber. An electric pulse ran through Moon’s team, shocked by the invitation. Moon had killed tens of her subordinates, and was rude to her…yet she still wanted him.

‘Just how charming is our boss…he even got her to yield to him.’ The brute thought in shock, staring at Moon’s back, curious about his response to the invitation.

For a moment, he felt jealous, but shook those thoughts away.

“With you by my side, we will take this floating island and everything on it. The pavilion, its spirits, its resources, all of it will be ours. Not mine. Not yours. But ours.”

Her red eyes burned brighter in excitement. She could already envision Moon accepting the proposal.

“You are good enough to be my equal. My partner.” The corner of her lips curved upward. “My spouse.”

The room held its breath. Moon’s team behind him went rigid. Joseph’s eyes widened. Even the three First Star Evolvers exchanged glances of disbelief. Nobody saw that coming, not even Moon himself.

Moon looked at the hand extended toward him. Then at the woman behind it. The ambition in her eyes wasn’t a performance. It was real. She believed every word she had spoken, and she meant the offer with the same conviction she used to rule the people kneeling at her feet.

She wasn’t desperate or bargaining from weakness.

She was a queen offering a crown to the only person she considered worthy of wearing one.

“I appreciate the offer…but I have to reject. I don’t deem you as my equal, nor are you worthy. If there was one kind of women, I hate the most…it would be manipulators. I despise them.”

Hearing his words, Layla’s eyes widened, her hands shook for a moment, before they fell to her side. She stayed silent for a moment, before smirking, “It appears that I made a mistake…your arrogance will be your downfall, Moon outlaw.”

She turned around, and rose back to her throne, “Kill them all.”

The fifty plus subordinates immediately roared. The men in chains slowly took them off their necks, and held them in their hands, ready to fight.