The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 178: Trickery

"Ha.. How should we settle this, according to Miss Aria?" Cha Seol-hyun spat out with a poisonous tone, massaging her temples.

Facing people like Aria, who she couldn't dominate with her presence and authority was something she hated with all her heart.

"Simple. I want to give Reina.. and Lichte the recognition they deserve. I want Reina and my name be placed down for Xenos' kill achievement. You guys can slide your name in for the general contribution list, but not Xenos'." Aria stated bluntly.

She was unwilling to give them any sort of free credit to these parasites.

"Oh, please. When I came here, I was expecting a lot from Athena. But what I saw was nothing close to being good. Those guys are messy in fighting, and panicked right away when they saw a lot of enemies approaching. Not to mention when Xenos came out... Their fear couldn't be more pronounced. I almost laughed seeing their faces." Aria giggled.

"..Were you not scared as well? It's a natural reaction, nothing to be ashamed about." Blythe tried to fight her claim.

In response, Aria merely laughed even harder.

"Well yeah, I admit that I did fear the Serpent ju~st a tiny bit. But what you need to understand is that Athena was hyped by you guys, and the public sees them as this perfect new team. What would happen if it was revealed that they were nothing but cowards who became deadweight for the fighters in the boss fight? Like powerless ants, scattering about in fear, afraid of facing Xenos even if it was just the slightest poke?"

"I think you dug yourself a trap to fall into, Miss Aria. Do you not realize a fatal flaw in your twisted plan? Just as you said, the team is well accepted by the public, and.. Your position in this dungeon subjugation is a guest member. An additional person with no team backing you. If we were to come back into the real world and face the media, who do you think they would believe? My brother and I, or your words?" Cha Seol-hyun chuckled. "I think it's about time that you realize that things won't go your way so easily. You are very arrogant, and I admit that you might have the skills to back it up, but.. You don't have the thing called 'authority'. You are just a nobody."

Cha Seol-hyun must have felt so satisfied with her rant. Sadly, Aria had expected her to say that.

"Unfortunately.. I have a little surprise for you."

'Thinking back, this was probably the real reason the System made me get Xenos.' Aria theorized.

For this exact moment, she could utilize Xenos' existence inside her space.

"What do you think.. did I do inside Reina's box. Within those few minutes I went away, surely you are curious what happened inside?"

The pair of siblings had a troubled look on their face. Without sparing any more time for them to relax and think, Aria went ahead and told the truth.

"Xenos is in my hands now, and experts can tell that for a monster like Xenos to submit itself to each other, the person controlling the spell needs to be recognized by the creature." Aria revealed.

With her magic, she called out to Xenos for a little assistance. She let the two feel Xenos' energy emanating from her. Although it was very faint, it was enough proof that Aria was now able to control Xenos.

"With this, I'm sure that you know what you have to do, right? Do I need to spell it out to you even further, or..?"

"...Understood. We will have to discuss the terms of this further with the higher ups." Blythe thought that retreating would be a better option. They needed to get out of this realm quickly, but this dungeon matter was something he didn't want to give up entirely.

Backing off would be too detrimental for them. For such a large project, if Athena was revealed to not have done anything, what does that make them?

"No. I'm not making a request. I don't want an empty promise just because you want to evade me. This is an order. Xenos is on my side, and I won't allow you to inch further than what you actually did, which is protecting your members and not letting them fend for themselves because you guys were scared of the losses you will take. Don't lie, this fight would've been finished much faster if you joined in on the fight. The others could've fought with their lives on the line, too. Reina didn't need to be strained this much. You were reluctant to do so and chose to use your power to protect your group."

"But you were the one who agreed that I should protect the people.. You encouraged me to do so, remember?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"..What?" Blythe frowned.

"Did I say that you couldn't join in on the fight? Didn't you say that you were going to join me when the time comes? Where were you? I didn't catch a sight of you when I was running around like a madman. Shouldn't you take the initiative to get in battle? Are your titles just for show, Blythe? Do you need to be ordered around about every single thing? Are you a child or what?"

"What on Earth are you-"

"Ahh, really, how troublesome. Do you need me to clear it up even more? I. Tricked. You. Well, not intentionally, but it turned out that you were truly dumb."

"..." The two were silent as they processed the situation.

"Just admit that you have been trapped. You lost. I will be expecting great results from the publications you two make once we're in the real world." Aria left them with one last blinding smile before parting ways with them.

Cha Seol-hyun clenched her fists tightly. Her long nails dug into her palm and almost draw blood out of the contact. Her expression was ugly, the same as her mood right now.

She mumbled Aria's name multiple times under her breath. Her voice was so low that Blythe couldn't hear the mumbles clearly, but he knew that his sister was pissed.

So pissed.

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