Chapter 977: [977] : The Guild

Shin had already started laughing. The man standing in front of him was genuinely hilarious.

Had he not made his own strength clear enough—or did this guy simply have no idea who he was actually dealing with?

Lucy, fuming and beside herself, snapped at the brute. "Hey, you overgrown meathead—what exactly do you think you’re doing?? I am the Princess! If you lay a single hand on me, my father will have you dealt with the moment he finds out!"

"Don’t you dare take another step! You think I don’t know what you’re worth? Let me be upfront with you—my brother is extraordinarily powerful."

"He split your Guild Master clean in half. That’s the truth. So I strongly suggest you back off before you do something you’ll deeply regret."

"And another thing—the Minotaur Guild is supposed to answer to my father. So what in the world is going on here?"

The brute let out an easy laugh, then said casually, "Sure, our boss takes orders from your old man—but trust me, none of us are happy about it."

"On top of that, our Guild Master has already made it clear—we’ll have the power to take down your father before long. Whether that’s happened yet, I honestly don’t know."

"But our Guild Master never makes empty promises. Whatever he says, he delivers—hahaha!"

"So since that’s how things stand, this little princess of yours is going to keep me and the boys company for a while. That said—if you behave yourself, I might just keep you all to myself."

"After all, you’re not bad looking. So just be a good girl, submit to me, and save yourself a world of hurt. Drop the attitude."

Shin was ready to snap. This guy had zero read on the situation—standing right there, running his mouth without the faintest idea who he was up against.

He’d been right in front of him this entire time. And still, this idiot hadn’t put it together.

Shin let his expression settle into something calm, and said, "You know what—I genuinely respect the confidence. I was actually going to kill you on the spot, but there’s something I need to ask you first."

"Do you know where Guild Four-Two-Zero is?"

The brute blinked, momentarily thrown off. "Wait—are you with Four-Two-Zero? No... you can’t be. You don’t have a single guild crest on you. And you actually think you can beat me?"

"Heh. Even if you were from Four-Two-Zero, I wouldn’t flinch. You know what I am? I’m the Vice Master of the Number One Guild."

Lucy scoffed immediately. "The only reason your guild ever beat Four-Two-Zero’s Alice in the last Guild Tournament is because you cheated."

"Alice wields the power of all Four Elements. If your guild hadn’t played dirty, you never would have taken her down—not in a million years."

Shin glanced over at Lucy. "Who’s Alice?"

"She’s the Vice Master of Guild Four-Two-Zero," Lucy explained. "She’s about my age, but she carries the magic pressure of a ruler."

"Honestly, she might be the second most powerful person in this entire kingdom—right below my father. She may have even surpassed him by now. She’s still so young."

Shin let out a short laugh, then said, "So let me get this straight. The so-called ’strongest guild’ earns that title because the Guild Master is the strongest—and there are only three Guild Masters total?"

Lucy sniffed dismissively. "That’s not quite how it works. What he means is that his guild holds the number one ranking overall, and he claims to be the strongest member within it."

"But when it comes to actual power? Their guild wouldn’t even crack the top tier of this country."

"There are twelve guilds in this nation—but only two showed up to that tournament. Alice had the win in her hands, and they stole it from her."

"That’s the whole story."

Shin nearly lost it right there. He’d honestly been wondering how a so-called empire-wide strongest could be that spectacularly underwhelming—and now it all made perfect sense.

These people were embarrassing themselves just by throwing that title around.

"No wonder—the Minotaur Guild is dead last. That explains why your Guild Master was such a pushover."

"But wait—"

Something clicked. He turned to Lucy. "What’s your relationship with Alice?"

Lucy grinned up at him. "Why do you ask? Alice is actually my older sister."

"She’s ridiculously talented—honestly, I always felt like my father favored her over me. But my sister has always been wonderful to me. And looking back now... my father really has been good to me too."

Lucy had been bracing herself for some big revelation—but instead found herself watching Shin fix her with a thoroughly exasperated stare.

"She’s your sister," he said flatly, "and you don’t know where Four-Two-Zero is?? Are you pulling my leg right now? Or did you just not want to take me there in the first place?"

"It’s not like that! She comes to visit me all the time. I genuinely don’t know where her guild is based."

At that moment, the brute finally hit his limit. He erupted.

"You two are seriously standing here ignoring me?? What is wrong with you?? You—some mana-less little punk dragging a princess around—and you have the nerve to tell me you killed our Guild Master??"

"DIE!"

The brute surged forward with a violent burst of speed, axes raised.

"CHARGE!"

Shin reacted in an instant.

"Hollowification—Standard."

The opponent was, frankly, too weak to warrant anything more. Shin applied only the most basic layer of his Hollow power—and even so, the gap between them was a canyon this man could never hope to cross.

As the axe closed in, the brute sneered with contempt.

"Just as I thought—an absolute moron. He’s not even trying to dodge. Has his brain completely shut down?"

"No skill, no sense, and he still had the nerve to run his mouth. You are officially the dumbest person I have ever had the misfortune of meeting—hahaha!"

But the moment the axe was about to make contact, Shin simply vanished from where he stood.

"Bankai—Wind."

The brute felt a sudden chill crawl up his arm. Then he looked down.

His right arm was gone.

"My arm—" he choked, staggering back in horror. "MY ARM! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?? HOW DID YOU—??"

"Does that mean... does that mean you were telling the truth?? Our Guild Master really is dead??"

Before the sentence was even finished, his other axe-wielding arm disappeared as well.

The brute let out a blood-curdling scream. Only now—staring into Shin’s cold, utterly indifferent eyes—did it finally hit him. The young man standing before him was no ordinary human. No mana, no crest, no guild rank—it didn’t matter. This person was a monster.

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