"Corvin, come with me." Emma was beyond furious. For days, the alliance staff had brought her the freshest produce and the purest beast cores. They had smiled and called her "Boss" while sharing alliance gossip. She had done nothing but enjoy their care; now that the alliance was under attack, she could not hide in the cabin like a chicken—neither as their boss nor as a friend. Corvin seemed to understand what she intended. He nodded hard. "Ms. Tibarn, do whatever you must. I'll follow you—no matter life or death." At his words, he shifted into his beast form and, without another hesitation, carried Emma out of the cabin toward the arrogant serpent. Coalball watched them bolt outside but did not follow. He hurried to Emma's bedroom, flapped up onto the desk, and pecked twice at Silas. "Alright, alright. I know, stop pecking." "Chirp!" Lucien pecked two more times. "Okay, okay, I'm trying." Silas thought Lucien was deliberately getting back at him. Of course, he wouldn't stand by and let his huntress go out to fight. The birdman had to be spoiling for revenge. A soft indigo glow bloomed along the thin branch. Small, tender green leaves slowly unfurled, and a tiny translucent flower peeked out. Lucien eyed the bloom's four petals with displeasure. "Chirp!" He pecked Silas once more. Silas called back, "This is already something. Emy is waiting for you—go!" Emy? How dare he call her so fondly?! But Lucien had no time to argue; he swallowed the four-petaled blossom and flew off.… Emma and Corvin arrived at the scene of the battle just in time to see the wretched serpent throw an alliance worker high into the air and open its blood-smeared maw to bite the person in half. "Stop!" Emma unleashed her ability. A column of water shot up, laced with blue lightning, and slammed straight toward the female who rode the serpent's head. She knew her rank was too low to harm a Rank 9 directly. Hit the head, and the body would have to protect the rider. As she had hoped, the serpent abandoned the man in its mouth and lunged to shield the woman on its head. Corvin seized the moment Emma had created and dashed forward to pull the injured worker down. He carried the man to Emma—she recognized him; he had been the one delivering produce that very day. "Boss, what are you doing here? This place is dangerous—leave now." The man's hand had been bitten off, and his legs were twisted grotesquely, yet his immediate concern was for Emma's safety, not his own wounds. Every alliance staff member on the ground was ruined—none of them intact. At the sight of Emma, their instinct was to protect her. "Boss, you need to go. We'll hold these b*stards." This was a matter for the Empire's noble families; the Empire police would not intervene. And the enemy contained Rank 9 fighters—police would not stop this massacre. "You dared to harm my huntress—prepare to die!" Sulien surged forward, furious. Corvin stepped between Emma and Sulien without hesitation. "Emma, I'll hold him back. You go." As her suitor, he would protect his huntress with his life. "Go?" Sulien sneered. "No one's going anywhere!"His serpentine body swelled again, and a terrifying Rank 10 aura washed over the battlefield. Corvin's face drained of color. "Rank 10!" No wonder Sulien dared slaughter openly here—he had already ascended to Rank 10. The woman who had stood on the serpent's head glared at Emma with loathing and pointed. "Sulien, is she Edric's huntress?" Sulien nodded with reverence. His massive body condensed into human form, and he cradled the woman who had ridden him. "Ms. Adderly, that's Emma Tibarn, Edric's huntress." Sulien's huntress leaned in his arms and appraised Emma with contempt. "Edric refused me for a Rank 4 female? Bring her to me. I will kill her with my own hands. If Edric cannot be of use to me, the Interstellar Hunter Alliance will belong to me." If Edric's huntress died, even if Edric had not bonded with this woman, his failure to protect his huntress would cost him everything—he would be demoted to ruin. "Yes, Ms. Adderly," Sulien said, turning toward Emma with a bloodthirsty smile. "I have never tasted a female's blood. After she's slaughtered, I will drain her dry—see how female blood differs from males'."