Vol 4. Chapter 68: Nighttime Lightning

Western Anqieka Continent,

within Saint Lomari, the Multi-Racial United Empire.

Night had fallen.

Everything within the empire seemed to have returned to tranquility, peaceful and silent.

Yet at that very moment, a hysterical roar suddenly erupted from a mansion on the outskirts of the capital, violently shattering the stillness of the night.

“Fuck! Why the hell is there still no news?! What the fuck are all of you doing?!”

Inside an office somewhere within the mansion, a short, distinguished-looking middle-aged man wearing black glasses furiously slammed his fist onto the desk.

Along with a violent surge of deep-blue mana, the sturdy desk instantly shattered into pieces, debris scattering all over the floor.

Seeing this, the male servant beside him and several attendants immediately dropped to one knee.

The leading servant spoke in fear and trepidation.

“Please calm your anger, Lord Bafilo! Lord Krim’s assassination squad will return with that lowborn girl’s head very soon!”

“Then why the hell haven’t they returned yet?! They’re already more than half an hour later than the scheduled time!”

The man named Bafilo glared viciously at his subordinate.

“No contact at all? Don’t tell me they failed and are too afraid to come back and face me?”

“N-No, that should be impossible, Lord Bafilo! That lowborn girl is only at the Fifth Tier, while Lord Krim is a Mid Sixth-Tier powerhouse. He’s also an expert who specializes in assassination! Once his team makes a move, success is guaranteed. You really don’t need to worry.”

“That may be true, but hasn’t that lowborn bitch recently gained the support of that silver-haired old loli? Who knows whether that old loli arranged some powerful guards for her?”

“There’s no need to worry, Lord Bafilo. According to our intelligence, the Elder has not temporarily provided that lowborn woman with any direct support. There cannot possibly be anyone around her capable of opposing Lord Krim. The reason Lord Krim hasn’t returned yet is probably because he spent some time disposing of the bodies. After all, that lowborn woman is still a candidate for Imperial Sovereign. The aftermath has to be handled carefully.”

The male servant cautiously explained.

Hearing this, Bafilo gradually calmed down.

“I certainly hope so...... No matter what, that damned lowborn bitch, that filthy woman, has to die......”

The moment he thought of that young girl with bright emerald-green hair, Bafilo ground his teeth in hatred.

A terrifying flame of jealousy blazed fiercely within his heart.

The Antreishu Family was one of Saint Lomari’s Ten Great Noble Houses.

As its family head, Bafilo had always placed enormous importance on bloodline.

And yet now,

a lowborn commoner girl had actually obtained the status of an Imperial Sovereign candidate?

She had even become one of the empire’s new Consuls because of the Elder’s backing?

That position of Consul should have belonged to him!

And yet it had been stolen by that filthy commoner?!

He had been absolutely determined to obtain the position, only to make a complete fucking fool of himself in front of everyone!

Bastard!

At the thought, Bafilo clenched both fists tightly, his brown eyes filled with venomous resentment.

At this moment, the family head had only one thought left in his mind.

Kill that lowborn bitch.

As long as she died, the position of Consul might fall back into his hands!

Besides......

that lord would also have one less thorn in their side......

The increasingly anxious Bafilo no longer had the patience to continue waiting.

He desperately wanted to see that girl’s severed head.

Thus, with a sudden flash, Bafilo appeared directly in front of the male servant and roughly seized him by the collar.

“Find a way! Contact Krim immediately! I need to know right now whether that damned girl is dead! As long as she’s alive, I won’t be able to eat or sleep in peace!”

“Y-Yes, Lord Bafilo! This subordinate...... this subordinate will contact him immediately!”

Under his master’s urging, the servant hurriedly nodded again and again, preparing to contact Lord Krim through a communication magic stone.

However,

as he turned around, an uneasy expression involuntarily appeared on his face.

Enmm......

“I...... have a really bad feeling about this.”

The servant kept muttering inwardly.

He knew very well just how isolated and powerless that lowborn girl was.

There were countless factions within Saint Lomari that wanted that candidate dead.

And yet?

Why had that candidate remained perfectly safe until now?

After all, the candidates backed by the other great noble houses were hardly kindhearted people.

Logically speaking, someone like that lowborn girl should never even have survived long enough for his own master to personally make a move.

She should have been killed long ago......

How could she possibly have lasted until now?

......

The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt.

The unease in his heart only continued to rise.

And the next moment,

when the servant opened the office door, the ominous premonition in his heart seemed to become reality......

?!!

Huh?!

What?!

“Th-This is?!”

The instant the door opened, a silver figure rapidly enlarged within the servant’s vision!

Before Bafilo’s loyal servant could react in any way, that figure came hurtling directly into the room without the slightest sign of slowing down, smashing violently into the enormous mural behind Bafilo.

“BOOM~!”

Along with an earth-shaking crash and the sudden spread of a dense stench of blood, the silver figure slammed into the mural.

Dust exploded outward.

A violent gust of wind swept through the room......

?!

“W-What happened?!”

The sudden scene left Bafilo completely stunned.

Having been cursing that girl only moments ago, he abruptly snapped back to reality and cried out in confusion.

As the dust gradually dispersed, the mural that had been shattered by the impact came into view.

And together with it,

everyone saw a silver-armored knight embedded deeply into the wall.

His entire body was drenched in blood.

His face was horribly distorted.

An eerie dark-purple energy sword had been driven straight through his chest......

The moment they recognized the silver-armored knight, all six or seven people in the room, including Bafilo, revealed expressions of utter disbelief.

“Lo...... Loderich?! H-How?! How could this happen?!”

To their horror, the knight nailed to the wall and already dead was none other than Loderich, the strongest knight responsible for protecting the Antreishu Family.

An Early Seventh-Tier powerhouse.

And yet now, this immensely powerful expert whom Bafilo trusted so deeply had somehow......

died just like that?!

Who the hell had done this?!

There was no time to think.

The stunned Bafilo abruptly turned his head toward the outside of the office, in the direction from which the silver-armored knight had come flying.

And after seeing the scene beyond the doorway, the family head’s pupils violently contracted.

His heart nearly stopped.

An indescribable terror immediately spread throughout his entire body.

“Th-That is......”

At this moment,

reflected within Bafilo’s eyes, the Antreishu Family’s once magnificent and beautiful courtyard was nowhere to be seen.

It had already been reduced to shattered ruins.

And spread across those ruins was a layer of crimson ‘gauze’......

The main components of that ‘gauze’ were unmistakably blood, internal organs, and mangled corpses so thoroughly torn apart that they could barely even be called human......

Judging from the scraps of clothing still clinging to some of the scattered pieces,

there was no doubt that these people had been guards of the Antreishu Family.

The hellish scenery, the thick stench of blood saturating the air, and the invisible murderous pressure so terrifying that it seemed capable of making one’s very soul tremble all brought Bafilo an unprecedented sense of oppression.

And it was not only Bafilo.

Everyone else in the room felt the same.

......

The next instant,

under their deeply uneasy gazes, a figure wrapped in a crude brown cloth cloak slowly stepped across the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, walking leisurely toward Bafilo and the others.

At the same time, a thoughtful voice from the unidentified person drifted into their ears.

“Hmm~ looks like the infiltration went pretty smoothly.”

The voice sounded somewhat androgynous, making it impossible to determine whether the speaker was male or female.

The words themselves were merely an idle observation.

There was almost no emotion in the speaker’s tone.

Bafilo stared fixedly at the mysterious person whose face remained concealed and involuntarily swallowed.

As the head of the family, he understood perfectly well that although this mysterious figure did not radiate any particularly powerful aura, someone capable of effortlessly killing his family’s strongest warrior was unquestionably terrifying......

Absolutely not someone they could oppose in their current state.

“Who...... the hell is this person? When did I ever provoke someone like this?”

Bafilo gritted his teeth and muttered inwardly.

But regardless,

he had to find some way to stall this mysterious figure.

He only needed to hold out until reinforcements from Saint Lomari’s other families arrived......

Thinking this,

Bafilo took a deep breath and politely stepped forward.

“Esteemed unknown powerhouse, I am Bafilo, head of the Antreishu Family. May I ask for what reason you have come to our Antreishu Family...... Hm?!!”

However,

before Bafilo could finish speaking,

the family head suddenly realized that the atmosphere surrounding the mysterious figure had changed.

That androgynous voice once again entered Bafilo’s ears.

Only this time, unlike the emotionless voice from before, it contained an indescribable fury,

along with a chilling coldness that made his entire body tremble......

“Fuck! So you’re that old fuck Bafilo!! You’re the fucking old bastard who had nothing better to do than send a bunch of small fry over to fuck with me, huh?!”

The next moment,

under Bafilo’s slightly dumbfounded gaze, the figure directly raised a hand toward him and gave him a standard international gesture of friendship.

Seeing the raised middle finger, Bafilo’s eye twitched.

“O-Old fuck?! Small fry?! What...... what exactly do you mean by......”

But,

in the middle of speaking, Bafilo’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Pure terror instantly filled his brown eyes.

At that moment, he suddenly realized that the figure before him looked strangely familiar......

“Wait, you...... you...... you’re the one beside that filthy woman?!”

However, just as the family head finally came to this realization,

the mysterious figure suddenly distorted.

Then, at an incomprehensible speed, they instantly flashed directly in front of Bafilo.

A pale sword blade abruptly expanded within his vision.

“FUCK YOUR MOTHER, YOU GODDAMN OLD BASTARD!!!! You’re the fucking worthless piece of shit who made me work overtime! It’s the middle of the fucking night and I still have to come here and work overtime cleaning up garbage because of you! Fuck your ancestors!”

The mysterious person’s words were filled with an indescribable amount of resentment.

It was as though an enormous mass of pent-up rage had been festering inside them,

and now,

all of it finally erupted.

“Now hurry up and fucking die already! You annoying piece of shit!”

Along with that hysterical roar,

under Bafilo’s despairing gaze, the razor-sharp sword blade suddenly pierced straight through his chest......

......

“BOOOOOOM!!!”

An earth-shaking explosion thundered across the land.

The tranquility of the empire’s night vanished completely.

Amid the darkness,

a dark-purple pillar of destructive lightning erupted from the ground without warning.

The entire Antreishu Family estate was swallowed by the lightning,

and within that terrifying radiance,

it gradually vanished into nothingness......