What?
I tilted my head at the rough sensation of cloth being draped over my face. This wasn’t some surprise celebration—why the sudden hood?
A hollow laugh escaped me at the completely unexpected turn of events.
Then—
Thwack!
Searing pain exploded across the back of my neck. Enough force to drop any ordinary knight instantly. Someone had struck me with the edge of their hand, delivering what should have been a knockout blow.
Abduction?
I analyzed the situation while the dull ache spread through my skull. Honestly, this wasn’t nearly enough to render me unconscious. I wasn’t some mere Aura Adept—I had reached mid-level Expert level. It would take at least a Master-level strike to put me down for good.
However...
“Urgh!”
I groaned and collapsed to the ground in a convincing display.
Getting up immediately to identify my attackers was tempting, but since they’d bothered with the hood, they clearly intended to transport me elsewhere. Someone had obviously orchestrated this entire operation.
In situations like these, it was usually best to play along and feign unconsciousness—better for catching the entire network in one sweep than dealing with individual pawns.
Once I hit the ground and remained still, my captors began muttering among themselves, exactly as I’d expected.
“This bastard isn’t even twitching? Is he really an Aura Expert?”
“Course not. The Elder just got spooked for nothing. You lose your edge once you’re out of active service.”
“True enough.”
So one of the Elders had ordered this. Interesting. If it had been the High Elder behind this operation, he would have warned these men to guard every word. So not that particular fox, then.
But which Elder?
I catalogued potential suspects while they hoisted me up and began carrying me somewhere.
Thud.
“Ugh, he’s heavy! Why does this bastard weigh so much?”
“Must eat well.”
The soldiers dumped me unceremoniously onto what felt like a wagon bed and continued their casual chatter. I spread my aura carefully to sense my surroundings, confirming I was indeed on some kind of cargo transport.
They were planning to move me to a secondary location.
I maintained my unconscious act while listening to their conversation. The wagon lurched into motion, wheels creaking as we rolled forward. The soldiers settled in beside me, resuming their discussion.
* * *
“Hey, what do you think they’re planning to do with this guy?” Knight Rotten muttered, staring down at Louis’s still form.
They’d been ordered to bring him in, so they were following orders, but if this man survived the night, they’d all be dead by morning. After all, you couldn’t exactly kidnap a noble and expect to live if he managed to escape.
The moment this bastard got free, wouldn’t he hunt them all down?
“Shit, if this guy doesn’t die tonight, we’re all screwed.”
As Rotten voiced his growing concern, his companion chuckled and shrugged.
“Well, we can always kill him ourselves, can’t we?”
“Damn it, if I’d known it would come to this, I should’ve just stayed a regular guard.” At least then he wouldn’t have to risk his neck on jobs like this—could’ve lived a relatively peaceful life.
Rotten grumbled irritably at his circumstances.
His companion snorted and leaned back against the wagon’s side. “I doubt that would’ve made much difference. Orders are orders, whether you’re a guard or a knight. Chain of command doesn’t change.”
“True enough. Still, it’s a waste. If I’d known he was this much of a weakling, I might’ve tried my luck earlier.”
“With what?”
“What do you think? Lady Lea, of course.” Rotten’s grin turned predatory as he continued.
“I mean, this bastard killed our senior officer just for bothering his men. I kept my mouth shut because I was scared shitless of him. But looking at him now, wasn’t that all an act?”
“Probably. Most likely his subordinates did all the real work and he just took credit.”
“That’s what pisses me off. Can’t believe I was intimidated by some scheming fraud.”
To think he’d been cowering before someone who’d collapse from a single neck chop. What a disgrace to his family name.
Thunk.
Rotten’s fist connected with Louis Berg’s jaw.
“Ow!”
His knuckles stung for some reason, but that was probably just from hitting bone at an awkward angle.
Rotten clicked his tongue and flexed his fingers while his companion laughed.
“Ha, you idiot.”
“Shut up.”
“So what’s all this got to do with Lady Lea anyway?”
“What do you think? I want to try something with her too. Damn... if I’d known she’d turn out that beautiful, I would’ve closed my eyes and proposed marriage years ago.”
“You’re completely insane. Just go to sleep. You’ll lose your head talking like that if anyone else hears you.” His companion shook his head in disgust.
Rotten frowned at the other knight’s reaction. Wasn’t losing his head already a foregone conclusion once you kidnapped a noble? Yet the man spoke as if he were being overly cautious.
To Rotten’s ears, it sounded like condescension—like someone like you doesn’t deserve a Duke’s daughter.
Perhaps that’s why he raised his voice, trying to sound casual despite his growing irritation.
“Hey, did I say something so terrible? Just wanting to bed her once isn’t such a crime. Maybe when we get back from this job, I’ll slip into her chambers one night and—wait. Why is that cloth lying there empty?”
Mid-sentence, Rotten stared blankly at the space where Louis had been lying. Or rather, at the hood that now sat crumpled and abandoned on the wagon bed.
Rotten blinked rapidly, trying to process what he was seeing.
Crack!
Iron fingers closed around the back of his neck, and Rotten groaned as his vision swam.
“You... what...?”
Looking sideways, he saw his companion already unconscious and slumped against the wagon’s side. When had that happened? He hadn’t seen or heard anything.
Damn it! When did he wake up?
From the crushing grip on his throat, it had to be Louis Berg—that bastard—who’d somehow gotten behind him.
He must have regained consciousness when Rotten struck his jaw.
Rotten forced out a thin breath and spoke quickly. “L-look, just let me go, all right? I’ll tell you everything you want to know!”
What this man wanted was information about who was behind the kidnapping, nothing else. After promising to cooperate, Rotten could find an opening to slip away and strike from behind. That would let him subdue him again.
Just wait till your hand’s off me. Rotten glared while carefully concealing his true intentions.
Then the voice he’d been waiting for came from directly behind his ear. “You talk far too much. How irritating.”
“What—?”
CRASH!
Before Rotten could finish his confused response, tremendous force slammed his body against the wagon’s side wall. The sudden impact startled the driver into reining in the horses.
<Crushing Presence>
Whoosh—!
The coachman and horses collapsed unconscious under the wave of killing intent that Louis Berg released into the night air.
What the hell!
Rotten writhed in agony and shock. Had this bastard just used Crushing Presence to knock everyone out simultaneously? Everyone except him?
Rotten’s pupils dilated as he forgot even the iron grip crushing his windpipe. This level of aura control was incomparably superior to his own abilities.
“Spare me!”
As Rotten desperately began begging for his life—
Crack!
Louis Berg forced Rotten’s mouth open and gripped his jaw firmly. “You have plenty of teeth. You won’t miss a few.”
Crunch.
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
Rotten’s screams turned to muffled agony as his teeth were wrenched out by the roots. But with his throat held fast, the sounds barely escaped into the night air.
Only silence filled the wagon.
“Don’t struggle. It makes extraction more difficult.”
Rotten stared up at Louis Berg, whose voice carried no inflection whatsoever. The man’s expression seemed drained of all human emotion—except for rage.
Cold, methodical rage was all that remained.
* * *
Cough!
“Pwease... spah me...”
The knight looked up at me through streaming tears. Or rather, he was begging for his life through what remained of his mouth.
Around the knight lay more than a dozen teeth, extracted by the roots. Fragments of flesh and blood were scattered across the wagon bed in messy streaks.
The scene resembled a torturer’s workshop. Anyone witnessing this display would recoil in revulsion at the grotesque tableau.
I studied the knight and released a long, measured breath.
“There. Now I’m finally beginning to calm down.”
I’d planned to remain quiet until we reached whatever prepared location they had in mind. But this fool had to bring up Lea and ruin my patience entirely.
What? Sleep with her? And what else had he been planning to say?
I suppressed another surge of fury and slowly pressed my boot down on his kneecap.
Squish.
Crunch-crack-crack.
“AAAAAAHHHHH!”
The joint shattered with a wet, grinding sound that harmonized perfectly with the knight’s screams. Good lung capacity—still able to produce that volume despite everything.
I lifted my foot and crouched down beside the sobbing man. Gripping his head and tilting it up, I asked calmly, “Who gave the order for this?”
“Huuuuuhhhh...” The knight said nothing coherent, only wept and gasped.
How tedious.
Crack-crack-crack.
“AAAAAHHHHHHH!”
I bent his fingers backward until they snapped and asked again. “Answer me. I asked who ordered this kidnapping.”
“Ith the Elder! Ith the Elder!”
The knight seemed to suffer a complete mental break, shaking his head violently while screaming.
I released his skull and stood up. Then I withdrew my handkerchief, methodically wiped the blood from my hands, and ran my fingers through my hair with a sigh.
“An Elder... First Elder? Or Seventh Elder?”
Whoever had orchestrated this, they were definitely one of the Council members. Probably one of those positioning themselves to claim the High Elder’s seat.
I released an irritated breath and glanced at the other unconscious knight.
Originally, I’d planned to eliminate them all here and dispose of the evidence, but it seemed I needed to revise my approach.
First Elder or Seventh Elder—either way, this ambush had taken place outside the family compound. Outside the estate was indeed the perfect location to eliminate those who harbored hostility toward me.
The problem was determining how to reach whoever had sent these men...
I sighed and looked up at the night sky. A full moon illuminated our surroundings, revealing grassland and scattered trees stretching in all directions.
This appeared to be one of the roads leading toward the Demonic Realm.
“Where exactly are we?”
I asked the maimed knight hopefully, but he only continued weeping without offering any coherent response.
Clicking my tongue in frustration, I delivered a sharp slap to the other knight’s cheek.
Slap!
The tremendous shock snapped his eyes open as he stared at me in confusion.
“What—what’s happening?”
The knight immediately looked around, trying to assess his situation. His gaze fell on his collapsed companion, taking in the blood and scattered teeth.
In that instant, the knight threw both hands up defensively and yelled, “Please spare my life!”
From his expression, he genuinely intended to surrender completely.
I’d decide whether to kill him later—for now, I sat cross-legged in front of him and spoke matter-of-factly. “I’ll spare you if you guide me to wherever your Elder is waiting.”
“Of course I’ll guide you! Absolutely!” The knight nodded so vigorously I was concerned he might injure himself.
I gestured toward the driver’s seat and released my grip on his collar. “Go wake the coachman, then.”
“Yes sir!” The knight answered with enthusiasm and immediately scrambled to the front of the wagon to rouse the unconscious driver.
I watched the knight and coachman briefly, then turned my attention back to the only remaining problem.
The maimed knight still lay weeping on the blood-stained wagon bed.
I approached him slowly.
“P-pwease don’t...”
The knight tried crawling backward along the wooden planks, but soon encountered the wagon’s rear wall.
I looked down at him and spoke conversationally. “Most sins start with a careless tongue. You should be more careful.”
“Yeth! Yeth!”
The knight seemed to think I was offering him mercy and kept nodding frantically.
How foolishly optimistic.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!
I twisted his neck a full one hundred eighty degrees and tossed the corpse over the wagon’s side.
“Assuming you get a next life, of course,” I muttered.
I watched the body recede into the darkness as our wagon continued its lurching journey through the night.