The high ranking officer who died at Caelum’s hands had been one of the stronger people under Javier.
He was also a hidden piece Javier had planted inside the military.
Unfortunately for him, no matter how well he had concealed himself, Caelum still pulled him out by following the trail. From him, Caelum obtained Javier’s intelligence and confirmed that Javier was connected to the hostile system player.
Of course, it was still only a guess.
Whether Javier truly was the hostile system player would be clear once they met.
Caelum had not been quiet when he destroyed that military branch. Plenty of people noticed the commotion.
A townsman picked up the newspaper in his hand, glanced at it, and cried out.
"It is Owl!"
"The one with a 5 billion bounty?"
A bounty hunter passing through widened his eyes at those words. He snatched the newspaper from the townsman and stared at it in disbelief.
"This guy really has a 5 billion bounty?"
The townsman nodded.
"Really."
"I think his wanted poster is still posted inside the Empire’s military branches. It has been more than ten years, and it was never withdrawn."
The bounty hunter’s eyes lit up.
A savage smile spread across his face, and he started walking toward Caelum.
The townsman nearly jumped at his boldness.
"Wait, what are you doing? Do not drag our town into this!"
"Relax. I am a famous bounty hunter. I do not even know how many criminals with bounties above a hundred million I have killed. Today is perfect. I will see for myself how strong the World’s Strongest Sword Master is."
Frogs at the bottom of the well existed everywhere.
He had no idea how large the gap was between a bounty above a hundred million and one above a billion.
Let alone Caelum, whose bounty reached 5 billion.
The bounty hunter smiled with confidence.
As he spoke, flames began rising from his body, giving off a terrifying heat.
He was clearly a bloodline inheritor.
As a bounty hunter, he believed in using whatever means worked.
Fair contests, open battles, honorable victories.
All nonsense.
As long as he killed the target and took the bounty, any method was fine.
Sneak attacks were nothing unusual to him.
Looking at Caelum’s back, the bounty hunter grinned.
It was as if he could already see 5 billion waving at him.
The flames around him surged in an instant, and he prepared to strike Caelum from behind while he was unguarded.
Caelum’s steps paused.
He turned and met the bounty hunter’s eyes.
The instant their gazes crossed, the bounty hunter almost stopped breathing.
A terrifying presence crashed over him.
Despair rose on its own.
Just as he thought Caelum was about to attack, thunder exploded in the sky.
A flash of azure lightning cut across the heavens and struck the street, stopping the bounty hunter’s sneak attack.
When the lightning faded, a figure stood there, firmly gripping the bounty hunter’s fist.
Electric arcs crackled.
The dragon scale patterns on his face, along with those golden pupils, revealed the newcomer’s identity.
Mavren.
One of the Empire’s Six Calamities.
He had personally experienced the Hot Spring Island Incident and had watched Caelum wipe out the Empire’s Executioner Unit.
At the time, he had wanted to test himself against Caelum.
But after sensing the enormous gap between them, he had decisively abandoned the idea.
More than ten years had passed, and he had come again with the same thought.
He wanted to measure himself against Caelum.
The bounty hunter jolted.
"Mavren?"
He tried to pull his fist back, only to discover in fear that he could not break free from Mavren’s grip.
Pain dug in.
It felt as though his bones were about to be crushed.
Mavren’s face held no warmth.
"You do not even know how to use the power of a bloodline inheritor properly. A frog at the bottom of the well should stop jumping out and embarrassing himself. There is no place for you to act here."
As he spoke, the markings on Mavren’s face turned into real dragon scales.
His golden pupils instantly became vertical pupils like a dragon’s.
That terrifying sense of danger made the ignorant bounty hunter’s whole body go cold.
This was the power of a Calamity.
The bounty hunter’s face paled.
The Danger Beast instincts in his blood told him that if Mavren became serious, he would die here immediately.
"I... I understand..."
Before he could finish, Mavren punched him away.
The tremendous force sent him flying several hundred meters, smashing through every building along the way.
Whether he lived or died was unknown.
Mavren turned back.
He and Caelum faced each other in silence.
Counting carefully, nearly seventeen years had passed since the Hot Spring Island Incident.
Seventeen years ago, after that brief meeting, Mavren had believed he was no match for Caelum.
So he had not attacked.
He had thought that after seventeen years of growth, he might finally have the strength to contend with him.
Yet now, standing before Caelum for real, he discovered something.
There was no difference from seventeen years ago.
Before Caelum, his Observation Haki was useless.
Even though Mavren’s bloodline power had fully awakened, the Danger Beast instincts hidden in his blood made his heart pound hard.
Silence stretched for a while.
The heavy atmosphere gradually faded.
Mavren’s awakened state slowly receded.
He sighed, turned, and left.
From beginning to end, he did not say a single word to Caelum.
Once again, he gave up the idea of challenging him.
There was no comparison.
He would lose.
If they fought, he would absolutely lose.
Since that was the case, why invite humiliation?
Caelum knew this fight would never happen.
He said nothing the entire time.
After watching the brief show, he did not take it to heart. The two men simply walked away from each other in opposite directions.
Several days later, a subordinate reported to Javier.
"Your Highness, according to the intelligence, Owl’s trail is getting closer and closer to the royal capital. Should we send people to intercept and kill him?"
"Intercept?"
Javier paused, then laughed.
"Who goes? Me?"
The subordinate had no answer.
Owl’s strength was obvious to all.
If Javier’s people went, they would only be delivering themselves.
By Javier’s estimate, perhaps only he possessed the strength to fight Owl.
He had not expected that the opposing faction would have such a powerful player.
World’s Strongest Sword Master?
He did want to weigh that title for himself.
As Javier thought this, his inner voice was precisely caught by Caelum.
The information inside it was clear enough.
Because of that, Caelum completely confirmed Javier’s identity as a hostile player.
Caelum’s Observation Haki had a perception radius of 100 km.
More importantly, he was standing right outside the Imperial capital at this very moment.
Once he knew Javier’s identity, Caelum drew Cloudrend at his waist from outside the royal capital.
Without hesitation, he swung.
From several kilometers away, a gigantic slash tore toward the capital.
Javier believed that if he faced Caelum, victory would surely be his.
No one in this world was stronger than him.
With a smile on his face, he said, "I hope this so called World’s Strongest Sword Master can give me a battle worth enjoying."
The words had barely left him when his face changed sharply.
Alarm crossed his features.
A thunderous roar followed.
The brutally powerful slash destroyed the detached palace in an instant.
It continued straight through the royal capital itself, cutting the entire city in two and leaving behind a heavenly abyss that would divide the capital from that day onward.