Chapter 174: The Legendary Horsemen IV
Toussaint coughed angrily as his body crashed into an unlit fireplace.
A heavy wheeze escaped his throat. His sternum screamed at him in agony, causing every breath he took to be far too shallow.
’This... What is happening to me...?’
Toussaint was a step away from reaching the rank of violet core. His master had ensured it.
The attack he had just suffered was hardly at that level. But his body was so infuriatingly weak that even the attacks of insects were bringing him to his knees.
He couldn’t stand for this. He wouldn’t.
"I will not let my master down!!!"
Toussaint stood up abruptly, unleashing a roar of power that manifested through the house as a wave of pure power.
It ripped through the structure of the palace as if it were all made of papier-mache.
While the entire palace began to crumble, Solomon stepped through the holes in the way, clearly falling deeper into his anger.
His mask had appeared on his face again, but there was a question about just how much of his flesh was actually left. Everything that wasn’t covered by his mask... was alight in sun flame.
"Where... Is... Yari...!?" Solomon’s voice came out as the same demonic howl.
"SCURRYING AWAY LIKE THE RAT SHE IS!!!"
The entire castle seemed to come down at once, and both men fell with the rest of the debris.
Even as gravity acted against them, it did nothing to stop the two hate-filled warriors from going after each other.
Solomon moved with Dakota’s agility and grace as he leapt from stone to stone until he reached Toussaint, stabbing him in the stomach with his spear.
The heat of Solomon’s weapon was worse than the actual feeling of being punctured. Within a second, Toussaint’s wound was nearly cauterized.
"Insect..!" Toussaint placed his hands on Solomon’s wrists, slowly pushing the blade out of his stomach.
It was an agonizing experience. Since the wound had cauterized, the hot blade had seared into the scabs. Every new motion reopened the scab and brought even more discomfort.
But the pain seemed to fuel something darker within Toussaint. As he showed his own display of strength to push Solomon back, the veins in his biceps were steadily growing.
And so was he.
The knowledge that Solomon had landed two strikes on the elven king, as opposed to his none, was really all that it took to see the man unsettled.
He grabbed Solomon by his chest plate and flung him away as if he were a simple children’s toy.
Solomon’s back struck the ancient wood of Muria. He recovered quickly, willing his feet to stick against the bark like a surface.
Solomon clapped his hands together, and his entire body went up into flames.
"Do you think I’ll be fooled by your games?!"
Toussaint grabbed at his robes, ripping them away in one smooth motion to reveal the domineering muscles lying in wait underneath.
His green aura propelled him forward like an arrow, undaunted by the wall of flames he believed Solomon was using to protect himself.
However, as soon as he came within Solomon’s striking distance, a monstrous hand lashed out from the flames and grabbed him by the face, slamming him into the ancient wood of Muria.
Toussaint was hyper aware of every tooth in his lower jaw becoming dislodged and flying from its place. He could taste the blood filling his mouth as the flames licked at his skin.
As his flesh blistered and weakness continued to wreak havoc on his body, Toussaint continued to struggle, not wanting to let his master down.
But then, he saw the face of the creature behind the flames, and he realized for the very first time that his master had abandoned him.
- Komen, 4 Days Ago...
Raidis never usually took carriages. Due to his old age, he was prone to falling asleep on long voyages unless they were spent in the presence of others.
This time was no different. As such, when his carriage finally rolled to a stop, he woke up annoyed and drowsy.
He knew right away that he was going to conduct business messily today. Abrupt awakenings were never good for his moods.
He stepped out of his carriage while yawning, finding his attendant already standing outside and awaiting him.
Their destination was a medium-sized estate, not something one of Raidis’ stature would necessarily look twice at. Though he would admit that the cool, gray stone did look quite pretty underneath the brilliance of the blue sky.
They stopped just in front of a metal gate with two guards in front of it.
"Halt there, man. The Duke is not expecting any more visitors today."
Raidis began to simply knock the guards out with his aura when the gates opened to allow another carriage to exit.
When he saw them, he felt a wave of irritability swim up within him.
A priest in white robes waved at Raidis, and every man outside.
"Peace be upon you, lads! The fortune of the immortals rains down on all of their flock, lost or found!"
Raidis sneered distastefully. Believers, he could stomach, even if he thought they were dumb.
But fanatics commanded a special level of his ire. He wished that he could have killed the priest right then and there, but that would have drawn far too much attention.
"...Right then." One of the guards shook his head once the priest’s carriage was far enough down the road. "Perhaps if you’ll tell us your name, we’ll see if the Duke is up for accepting visitors."
Raidis watched the carriage until it disappeared from sight, a distant look in his eyes. One of the guards reached for him.
"Hey there, sir. If you aren’t going to give us your name, then-"
Raidis made a simple twisting gesture in the air. Nothing that anyone would have even thought to look twice at.
And yet, it was enough to twist both guards’ necks a full 360 degrees.
The carnage continued inside, even after all of the guards had dropped dead.
Not a single person was spared from Raidis’ irritability. He butchered maids, gardeners, cooks, and concubines alike.
He held the limp, lifeless bodies of two young men in both hands, while a third younger boy lay dead at his feet.
Cruelly, he chucked the dead bodies over his shoulder and yawned.
"Now... that’s only one son left. Do you feel like telling me where the last one is now?"
On the ground, a sobbing man held the still body of a woman who had already passed out, the bodies of numerous other women were scattered around them.
"I-I told you! I do not know where Everett is! Why are you doing this to me??!"
Raidis brought a finger to his lips to shush the man. Duke Deucalion was quiet, but he did release the occasional whimper as he fought his sobs.
"...Truth be told, I hadn’t anticipated that you would know where he was. And if I wanted to know, then there were surely more... discreet ways that I could have asked."
Raidis paused and stared at the man, his inhuman eyes making the duke shrink back in fear.
"But I am terribly tired of having my possessions taken from me while no one else around seems to be losing theirs. I will take it into my hands to be the balancing force if need be."
A new voice nearly made Raidis slip on the blood on the floor.
"Now, y’see? It’s that kind of talk that’s why we had to eliminate all of you in the first place. No one really likes those who don’t play fairly."
Slowly, Raidis turned around.
When he found a tall figure leaning against the bannister across the room, black claws reflexively popped out of his fingertips.
"Oof. Scary."
Beneath his helmet, the four-armed warrior clad in purple smiled as wide as a Cheshire Cat.
"Is it too late to say... It was nothing personal?"
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