Darius’s foot gave a flick, and Cody immediately emerged from the ground. He picked Cody up and waved him around as if he were a weapon, using him to parry the attacks of the four Guardians. If you can’t beat your enemy directly, then use their weaknesses against them.

Darius had always held this rule close to his heart, yet he could never understand why, in the countless novels he had read, none of the villains truly targeted the protagonist’s female companion. Funnily enough, even when they did, they merely took her hostage instead of crippling or killing her. Such stupidity from the villains...

When he used this human weapon, the four Guardians naturally did not dare press their attacks any further and quickly retreated.

At this moment, a young man merely at the ninth layer of the True Qi Realm was displaying overwhelming might, forcing four elite ninth-layer True Qi Realm cultivators to retreat repeatedly, not daring to launch even a single attack.

"Despicable!"

"Shameless!"

The four Guardians all shouted angrily.

When they saw Darius acting as though he were shooing away a flock of ducks, the spectators could not help but laugh. Wherever he stepped, the four Guardians scattered as if they were frightened birds. At the same time, the spectators were secretly amazed by Darius’s courage to actually dare oppose Wolf Fang and Cody’s brother, James.

James had already become the uncrowned king of the Academy and one of the most promising talents to inherit control of the guild in the future.

First, he had nearly killed a fellow student during the Academy’s annual tournament, crippling him for life. Yet when the Academy had prepared to punish him, it was as though the heavens themselves had split apart. Wolf Fang publicly announced that anyone who dared touch a single hair on James’s head would not live to see the next day.

This was practically lawlessness, with absolutely no regard for rules. Not even a Core Student or a member of the Imperial Family would dare disregard the Academy’s regulations so openly. Yet to James and the Wolf Fang Guild behind him, such matters seemed as ordinary as drinking water.

Many people speculated that Wolf Fang had terrifying backers behind it—wealthy tycoons and several Divine Realm experts—or else they would never dare act with such arrogance. Of course, these were only rumors. Yet after today’s events, more and more people found themselves believing those rumors, and their fear of Wolf Fang only grew stronger.

And now, someone had finally appeared who dared stand against Wolf Fang. How could they not secretly give him a thumbs-up and admire his courage?

"Hahahaha!"

The spectators laughed loudly. They did not dare openly oppose James, but a little harmless laughter should be acceptable. He couldn’t possibly hold a grudge over a bit of laughter, right?

The four Guardians felt angry, enraged, and helpless all at once. In terms of strength, they were confident they could completely suppress Darius. However, he held Cody hostage, forcing them to be extremely cautious. There was simply no way for them to unleash their full power. They could only run around helplessly, and this left them feeling incomparably frustrated.

Darius did not treasure the "weapon" in his hands in the slightest. He simply smashed, swung, threw, and battered the "weapon" however he pleased. Under such treatment, Cody was actually awakened by the intense pain coursing through his body.

"Darius! Darius!" he screamed shrilly, incomparable rage filling his voice.

How many times had this happened?

As the envoy of the Wolf Fang Guild, had he ever suffered such humiliation at anyone’s hands? Never!

Such a thing was unheard of. No one had ever dared oppose him. Even on Earth, where experts gathered in great numbers, he could still hold his head high. Much less here in the Sanctuary, a place that had yet to attract much attention from the major empires and powers.

"I want you to die! I want you to die!" he roared furiously. If he could not vent his anger through a roar, he felt he would truly go insane.

"Oh? You’re awake?" Darius revealed a cold and eerie smile before casually tossing Cody onto the ground. "Good. Then you can personally watch as both of your arms are sliced off."

"Y-you dare!" Cody’s face turned pale with terror.

"Why would I not dare?" Darius replied calmly. "Earlier, you wanted to slice off my friend’s arm. Now I want to slice off yours. Isn’t that fair? Or do you think someone like me isn’t even qualified to compare to an idiot like you?"

"My brother will definitely not spare you!" Cody grasped at the final straw of hope available to him—using his brother’s name to threaten Darius.

"You speak as though your brother would become my subordinate if I let you go." Darius shook his head and lightly waved his sword. "Treasure these final moments and take one last look at your arms. Very soon, you’ll be bidding them an eternal farewell."

"No! No! No!"

Cody was finally so terrified that tears and snot streamed down his face. He did not want to become crippled. He was still young. If he lost his arms, how would he bully others or play with beautiful women in the future?

"Stop!"

The four Guardians shouted in unison.

"No one can save him." Darius shook his head, his voice as cold as ice.

"Oh? Then what about me?" A dignified voice suddenly rang out. James appeared, his hands were clasped behind his back as though he were an emperor surveying his domain. A powerful aura of dominance radiated from his body, causing many people to involuntarily hold their breaths.

"Commander!"

The four Guardians immediately dropped to one knee and respectfully paid their greetings.

Darius watched the scene with great amusement. These people were practically treating a guild leader as though he were an emperor.

At that moment, he suddenly realized how power could twist an entire society’s culture and values into something completely different.

And honestly, it disgusted him.

People were playing emperor here instead of protecting humanity and defending their kin from the demons and foreign races that sought to exterminate them.

Did such people truly deserve to stand above others?

Darius snorted coldly, the dissatisfaction and anger in his heart growing stronger by the second.