Chapter 253: The Truth Behind the Smile

Steve’s sword sliced through the air, gleaming with sharp, deadly light. It was fast—too fast—and headed straight for Ana’s neck. There was no hesitation in his swing, no mercy in his grip. The moment felt final.

Just before the blade touched her skin, Ana screamed in panic.

“Steeeeeve!”

But his arm didn’t stop. His hand didn’t tremble. His eyes were cold, focused.

Then came the words that made it freeze mid-swing.

“Stop! There’s a traitor in your Empire!”

The blade halted—just an inch from her neck.

Ana had her eyes squeezed shut, waiting for death. When she realized she was still breathing, she opened them, gasping for air. Her eyes darted between the unmoving sword and Steve’s face. She spoke quickly, her voice shaky but defiant.

“You don’t know who I am. I’m the granddaughter of the Whitefeather Roc Tribe’s head. He’s a Grandmaster! If you kill me, you’ll never have peace again!”

Steve’s eyes didn’t flicker. He nudged the blade forward—just a bit—and the edge cut into her neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

He leaned in and whispered, “Anything else?”

Ana’s face twisted in shock. Her fear snapped, replaced by rage. She shouted like a wild beast.

“Are you fucking stupid, you human mongrel?! How dare you touch me?”

My eyes narrowed.

That was… unexpected. I’d thought of Ana as sweet, maybe a little stubborn, but nothing like this. Now, with her mask torn off, I wasn’t sure who I was looking at anymore.

She kept going, voice rising with every word.

“You should be grateful that I even looked at you. I let you stand beside me, let you call me friend. Do you know what I could do with one command? Humans would crawl, beg, obey anything I say! And you—you threaten me?!”

I stood up slowly, letting out a long breath. So this was her real face.

We had been completely wrong about her.

She wasn’t kind. She wasn’t helpless. She was dangerous. And worse—she knew too much about me. About things she had no right to know.

Steve and I didn’t need to speak to understand what came next. Unless Lily stopped us, Ana’s story would end here. But not before we squeezed every drop of truth out of her.

Steve’s sword began to crackle with lightning, sparking with sheer power. His voice was quiet but firm.

“The next words out of your mouth better be the name of the traitor in our Empire. Say anything else, and I’ll end you.”

I stepped beside him, eyes locked on Ana. I could see it—pure fury in her face. She wasn’t just angry. She felt insulted, disrespected, powerless. That was the real pain for her.

She clenched her teeth and hissed, “How do I know you won’t kill me anyway?”

Steve didn’t even blink.

“You don’t,” he said flatly.

Her lip curled in disgust.

“Then I choose to die without telling you a damn thing. Go ahead. Do it. You have no idea what’s coming for your little Empire.”

I exhaled slowly, letting my breath drag out the silence that followed.

And then… my will flared outward like a storm breaking loose.

The wooden floor beneath me creaked and groaned under the sheer pressure of my presence. Even the lightning dancing on Steve’s sword seemed to hesitate, calming from its violent crackle as if it too sensed the shift.

But I didn’t stop there. I took all of that pressure, that building storm of control, and slammed it directly into Ana’s mind.

I didn’t speak. I didn’t need to.

What I projected through my Psynapse was simple—brutal.

She was nothing. A lowly creature. A helpless bird caught beneath the gaze of a predator so far above her that even defiance was pathetic.

Her eyes widened. The pride that had clung to her face shattered like glass.

She felt it. The weight. The humiliation and her weakness in the situation.

But I didn’t care.

With a thought, I forced her to lower her head. Her knees trembled, but her body remained stiff. Her mind fought, but my Psynapse—evolved, sharpened, transcendent—tore through her mental walls like they were paper.

Her head drooped. Her eyes locked to the floor.

She stared at our feet like a servant who had just realized her place.

I stepped closer and spoke, voice steady and cold.

“You see, Ana… maybe I don’t know what the Ferans are truly planning. Maybe they’ll even succeed and burn my world to ash.”

I crouched slightly, just enough to meet her lowered gaze.

“But now I know what they did to Azalea. What they’re doing to the Nagas right now.”

I leaned in closer.

“And I wonder… when the Nagas find out the truth, mixed with a few carefully placed lies from me about the tortures their people endured here, what do you think they’ll do in return?”

She stayed silent, eyes locked on the floor.

“If you want even the slightest chance to survive, then open your mouth and tell us everything you know. Because whether you talk or not, Lily can send us out. And once we’re out, all I have to do is shout—tell the world what I saw here.

Let’s see who survives in the end—you Ferans, or us.”

I straightened, my gaze fixed on her, waiting.

But before Ana could speak, Steve stepped in, his voice sharp.

“What were you doing in that pocket space with Dahlia? Why are you even in this realm?”

A few seconds passed in heavy silence. Then Ana finally spoke, her voice low, stripped of all defiance.

“I came to this realm with my brother. It was his mission—I just tagged along. As for the pocket space… I was there to study Dahlia. I wanted to understand how the Nagas create their guardians.”

Steve’s eyes narrowed.

“Your brother? Is he one of the contractors?”

She nodded weakly.

“Yes.”

My eyebrow raised at that.

“Where is he now? And how many contractors have been sent here?”

Ana shook her head slowly.

“I don’t know where he is. But two Ferans were assigned to this realm. One of them is my brother.”

I asked the question that had been eating at me since all of this started.

“Then why did you pretend to be friendly with us? You knew we’d escaped from the prison.”

She didn’t answer right away. A few seconds passed before she finally spoke.

“Because you were… different. An anomaly. I was being honest when I said I’d never seen a human so strong at your age.

I assumed you’d either be dragged back to the prison or caught by the Holts. But then you surprised me again—you deactivated the collars. After that, when you told me about your mission, I just decided to go along with the lie.”

I stared at her.

“And the part about being captured with other Ferans?”

Her voice dropped lower.

“That was a lie too.”

My eyes narrowed.

“Do the Holts know you’re here?”

She gave a small nod.

“A few of them. Not all.”

‘So at least some Holts know the Ferans are involved.’

Steve cut in before I could speak, asking the question both of us needed answered.

“What are the Ferans planning? And who’s the traitor in our world?”

Ana’s lips trembled, but she answered.

“I don’t know the full plan. I was never told everything. All I know is that it involves human worlds… and the traitor is a Grandmaster in charge of the Eastern Continent. I heard the Holts mention it once.”

Her words struck me like a hammer. My mind went numb.

There were only two Grandmasters powerful enough to fit that description—Reginald and Arthur Kent. Both of them were war legends. Trusted. Revered.

Then I remembered—the massacre at Unit 77 had also taken place in the Eastern Continent. The secret base where the Holts were hiding… that too was located in the East.

I tried to steady my voice.

“Do you know which one? The name?”

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