Chapter 534: Arrogant Lucia Grimes

Chapter 534: Arrogant Lucia Grimes

Max arrived before the towering structure known as the Tower of Resonance, its blackened walls pulsing faintly with dormant energy, as if sensing the approach of a new challenger. The tower loomed like a slumbering beast, ancient and proud, a place where inheritance and comprehension were tested not in thought, but in action.

Around its base, clusters of geniuses lingered—many of them adorned in black-and-gold robes bearing the emblem of the Grimes Family. They stood watchful and silent, eyes tracking every movement, but none dared block his path. Not a single one stepped forward to stop him.

Their gazes flickered with unease, some even holding a hint of respect veiled behind pride. Max passed them easily, their presence like statues, unmoving, unwilling to provoke the one who had effortlessly shattered their arrogance just days ago.

But just as he approached the tower’s threshold, a calm voice echoed behind him, soft yet clear, carried by a breeze that hadn’t existed a moment before.

“You finally came out.”

Max paused, turning slowly, his expression composed, but his thoughts already alert. Standing a few paces behind him was her—the red-haired young woman with an aura so deep and still it seemed to distort the air around her.

Lucia Grimes.

She stood effortlessly poised, her crimson robes trailing faint embers, her gaze fixed on him with a strange intensity—one not of arrogance, but curiosity sharpened to a blade.

Max’s eyes narrowed slightly. ‘I didn’t sense her approach at all…’ he thought, inwardly surprised. Even with his Three Dimensional Body active, her presence had slipped through like smoke through a lattice.

That could only mean one thing—her strength had ascended far beyond the realm where his perception could follow. She was not just strong. She was terrifyingly strong.

“You must be Lucia Grimes,” Max greeted calmly, giving a respectful nod. “It’s an honor to meet you. I’m Max Morgan.”

Lucia didn’t return the greeting. Her eyes bore into his, not with hostility, but with a relentless curiosity that sought answers. “Tell me,” she said quietly, her voice layered with restrained force, “how did you remain unaffected by my bloodline suppression?”

Max smiled faintly, as if the answer were as plain as the sun in the sky. “Isn’t that obvious?” he said casually, his tone neither mocking nor proud—simply matter-of-fact. “Because my bloodline is more pure than yours.”

Lucia’s eyes narrowed, and though her voice remained calm, her reply came sharp and decisive. “That is impossible. I carry the direct bloodline of the Grimes Family, one of the Seven Main Families of the Black Dragon Palace. Aside from the other six families, no one should be able to stand under my pressure without kneeling.”

Max lifted a brow, shrugging slightly, an amused glint in his eyes. “Is that so?” he said lightly. “Then I suppose I’m just special.”

For a moment, silence stretched between them. Lucia studied him as though trying to pierce through the surface and glimpse the truth buried beneath. Her bloodline pulsed faintly, instinctively responding to his presence, but it met only stillness in return—like waves crashing against an unmoving cliff.

She didn’t press further. Not yet.

Instead, she said quietly, “You’re hiding something. I don’t know what, but it’s not normal. Your bloodline… it shouldn’t exist in the Mortal Realm.”

Max met her gaze without flinching. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Lucia’s eyes narrowed sharply at Max’s calm yet defiant words. Her aura tensed, barely contained, like a volcano poised on the edge of eruption. “It seems I’ll have to use force to get answers from you,” she said, her voice like frost—quiet, but piercing.

Max’s gaze turned cold in an instant, the warmth from before vanishing like a snuffed flame. “Do you really want to do that?” he asked flatly, his voice void of fear, echoing with quiet menace. “You should already know… I can use bloodline suppression too. Last time, I only made your people lie down. But if you insist, I can make it so they never stand again.”

He wasn’t kidding. These Divine Realm geniuses were turning out one arrogant than others. She wanted to use force just because he wasn’t affected by her bloodline suppression? Just because he didn’t reveal his bloodline? What bullshit was that?

Lucia’s eyes gleamed with the threat of battle, her presence darkening. “Do you dare to go against the Grimes Family?” she said icily, her words dripping with the authority of a Divine Realm powerhouse.

Max didn’t flinch. He didn’t blink. His eyes locked with hers, unwavering, unshaken. “What do I have to lose?” he asked with a shrug, as if the idea was beneath concern. “At most, I’ll be branded an enemy by the Black Dragon Palace—by your family—but I doubt your Grimes Family could do anything too outrageous within Obsidian Dragon City. This city isn’t under your family’s domain, is it?”

He stepped a little closer, lowering his voice just slightly, but each word landed like a hammer. “In fact, I’m willing to bet the ruling powers of this city have already set their sights on me. With the potential I’ve shown—there’s no shortage of factions willing to shield me.”

Then he smiled—not mockingly, not arrogantly—but with the confidence of a man who had already weighed the consequences and found them wanting. “So now, you tell me,” he said, eyes drilling into hers, “do you really think I don’t dare?”

For a moment, time itself seemed to hold its breath. The air between Max and Lucia crackled with invisible pressure as her aura surged like a storm-tide threatening to breach its banks. Waves of oppressive, searing force radiated from her body in all directions—an instinctual release of the bloodline of the Grimes Family, honed and feared in the Divine Realm.

And yet, standing in the very eye of that rising tempest, Max remained unmoved. His expression was calm, almost bored, as if he were standing under a spring breeze rather than an onslaught of divine fury. The pressure simply didn’t touch him.

The tension between them spiked like a drawn bowstring on the verge of snapping. Around them, the gathered geniuses—both from the Divine Realm and the mortal world—immediately sensed the volatile collision building and retreated several dozen meters back.

None dared stand too close to the wild, unpredictable wrath of Lucia Grimes. She was known not just for her strength but for the sheer destruction she could unleash when slighted—and right now, she was clearly provoked.

“This city is indeed not under the Grimes Family…” Lucia said, her tone now dipped in a deadly chill that could freeze blood. Her crimson eyes locked onto Max’s, unwavering. “But that doesn’t mean my family can’t do anything here.”

Max stared right back, unaffected by her tone or her threat. His eyes remained cool, steady. “Yeah?” he said quietly, his voice like a steady flame refusing to be snuffed. “Then do it.”

He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t flinch, didn’t show the faintest hesitation. It was a simple truth from him—if she forced his hand, he would suppress her too. He wasn’t afraid of backlash, or of the Grimes Family. He had nothing to lose.

But just as the tension teetered at its peak, a laugh cut through the rising storm like a blade through mist.

“Hahahaha…”

Everyone turned sharply. From the edge of the field, a brown-haired young man stood relaxed, hands behind his head, looking up at the distorted sky as if this entire standoff were little more than a background hum.

“Man, today’s weather is nice,” he said casually, as though commenting on a gentle breeze.

But above him, there was no blue sky, no sun, no clouds—only a black, swirling distortion etched with ancient engravings, pulsing faintly like a sleeping beast. There was nothing nice about it.

Only those with sharp perception would realize that the distortion wasn’t part of nature at all—it was a pressure seal, a space-locking formation meant to contain overwhelming energy.

The absurd contrast of his words with the twisted sky startled everyone.

But more than that, it cut the rising fury between Max and Lucia like a sudden jolt, forcing both to momentarily shift their attention.

Max’s eyes narrowed slightly, sizing up the brown-haired youth.

Lucia turned as well, her brows drawn. “You…” she said, voice low.

The newcomer grinned, not bothering to explain himself, and simply waved lazily. “You two can keep measuring bloodlines and exchanging death threats, but if you break the resonance field we will be scolded by the seniors. And honestly? I just had breakfast. So can we not do that?”

His tone was light, but the weight of his words couldn’t be ignored.

The surrounding fell into an uneasy silence once more—this time not from tension, but from confusion.

Max glanced at the man again, then at Lucia. The moment was broken, the storm halted at its edge.

Just then…

“You, Jason!” Lucia shouted her eyes breaming with rage. “What are you doing here?!”

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!