Way of the Knights

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"...you killed it?" 

"Uh, yeah."

Raven inhaled sharply and pinched the bridge of his nose, he felt a massive headache creeping in thus he asked: "Did you kill it without asking for my opinion or did I just forgot about giving you the go signal? Which one happened?" 

"Uhh..." Paolo was sweating as he saw Raven's expression, he felt rather awkward as he stutteringly said: "U-m...I-uh...I-It's the former." 

"Haaaah!" Raven released an exhausted sigh which almost sounded like a groan. He massaged his temples and went silent for a bit. 

'Yep, he is reckless. Dang it.' Raven scolded Paolo in his mind as his thoughts accelerated. Raven immediately notified the Avatars he left at the Private Chambers to monitor the situation, giving them orders as he did so. 

Raven's silence felt ominous to Paolo. It also didn't help that there were four other people around them who were giving him judgmental gazes. Paolo wanted to weep but had no tears, how's he supposed to know that he needed to tell Raven first before killing that huge pair of eyes and disembodied voice? He thought that Raven already gave them the go signal when he told them about their existence. 

*Swoosh!*

Paolo shivered. The other four snickered when they saw him reacting that way. The people here didn't even need to look up to know who just arrived. The sound of flapping wings and the piercing gaze that Paolo felt penetrating through his soul were enough clues to know who this was. 

Levi landed behind Paolo, his gaze was cold and furious, Paolo felt a prickling sensation on his skull. He sweated coldly and smiled in a defeated manner. He then thought to himself...

'This is it, goodbye world. It was nice knowing you. He's either going to kill me or castrate me. I'm done for.'

"It seems that my gut feeling was correct." Levi's icy voice caused Paolo to shiver uncontrollably on his seat. "What did this idiot do?"

"He killed one of the Fog Wanderers." Henry snickered beside Paolo, telling Levi the long and short of it. 

Levi's expression darkened even further upon hearing that. He smiled coldly and said: "Hoho, excellent work." 

He said so but he pulled out a sword from his spatial ring. Paolo was trembling, he didn't even need to look behind to see what kind of face Levi was making. He in deep shit right now and he had no one to blame other than himself. 

"Castration it is..." Levi's voice sounded merciless. Paolo panicked and wanted to defend himself but he can't muster up strength to stand up against Levi's wrath. 

"Calm down. It's okay." 

As if granting Paolo solace and salvation, Raven's words were just on time to prevent Levi from cutting off Paolo's horns. Paolo's shoulder's drooped down as if he was released from life or death situation. He then looked at Raven with a face filled with gratitude. 

"...I've checked with the Avatars just now. The enemy camp in panic since one of their Leader's died. However, someone came to pacify them. I don't think they'll schedule the war earlier with just this. If anything, I bet they're already expecting it."

"In short, no Castration...for now at least." Raven of course didn't forget to give Paolo a tired gaze which contained all the message Paolo needed to know. 

Levi, hearing Raven's words, snorted and place his sword back to his spatial ring. However, he just couldn't let this one slide so he needed to give Paolo a good lesson. 

*WHAM!*

Summoning a spiked wooden club, Levi mercilessly whacked Paolo's head with enough force to shatter the damn thing. Paolo flew to the other side of the room, feeling dazed and seeing stars for a brief moment. 

"...there goes the rest of his brain cells." Theo muttered as he slumped down on his chair, his comment caused the others to chuckle softly. 

Paolo hadn't even recovered fully from the surprise attack when he saw Levi's furious face near him. He shivered as he tried to prepare himself for a good scolding. Levi pinched both of his cheeks and started stretching them.

"You! Y-you!!!" Levi was releasing his pent up stress on stretching Paolo's cheeks. "How many times do I need to freaking tell you to not be careless!! You idiot!! You big, big idiot!!" 

"Woah, Captain must've been feeling a bit stressed from work. Even his manner of speech is impaired right now." Henry commented as they witnessed the spectacle of Levi stretching Paolo's cheeks in unnatural angles.

'S-sorry! I really didn't know-ack!!' Paolo communicated through voice transmission since he really can't use his lips with what Levi's currently doing, however Levi's just really stressed. 

"Sorry!? That's what you say!? You big horny idiot!!! Because of your recklessness, you nearly caused the enemy camp wage war on us earlier than expected!! You know how much work there is left to do!? Huh? You obviously don't since you're stupid! Stupid idiot!!!" Levi was now grasping Paolo's collar and shaking him. 

The other's watched the development in amusement, it was really a sight to see when Levi's this incensed, especially if Paolo's stupidity was it's cause. 

"Be freaking thankful that Young Lord stopped me from castrating you, you big stupid idiot!? Have you thanked him already!? Thank him!! Or do you still need me to teach you that you stupid son of a bitch!?"

Those who have the Heavenly Taotie Bloodline flowing them, will inevitably grown horns. The stronger they get, the longer and thicker their horns get. They take pride in their horns, much like how the winged-race symbolizes their wings with power, those who have horns do the same. 

The major difference is that, if Paolo's horns were cut, he'll get weaker and his physique will get smaller as well. Additionally, it will also affect his libido as well as his reproductive ability, so it's no different from Castration really.

'I-I...I already - ack! Stop shaking me, I can't focus!'

"Thank him!!!"

The audience were now roaring in laughter. Raven shook his head and went silent once more. 

Although he said that they were fine for now, it's just a temporary thing. What Paolo did was really reckless and dangerous, Levi acting this way was justified since it was highly possible that the war might occur earlier than they expected. 

The Ancient Elysium Sect is located in a pocket dimension. It rests within the Mount Olympus itself, which also serve as the outer seal for the Devil Emperor's Pagoda. Outside of the sect however, was a vast and expansive land blanketed in white fog. Nobody lives there simply because the land became inhabitable. 

The land was damaged permanently due to the conflict between the Sect and the Exiles. In addition, there are certain creatures left in there that roams around the land, searching for ways to infiltrate the sect. These are lower creatures that accompanied the Devil Emperor back when it was still free. After the Devil Emperor was sealed, all of them were sealed on the land rather hastily but since they carry out the Will of the Devil Emperor as well, they don't really die. 

The white fog that blanketed the land outside was a defense mechanism created in order to not only impair the senses of these creatures but to also imprison them. The sect labeled these creatures as 'Fog Wanderers' since they are cursed to forever be lost in the same land where they were defeated. 

The Exiles made contact with these Fog Wanderers though, offering them freedom in exchange of something. The Fog Wanderers wanted to regain their freedom so they consented with Life Oath. 

Raven was still researching the contents of their Oath. The Exiles promised to free the Fog Wanderers but what did the creatures gave to the Exiles? And who amongst the many people at their enemy base signed the Oath? That's what he wanted to know. 

Raven originally wanted to take things slow however, Paolo just gave him a big scare and pushed the ball rolling. Right now, his Avatars were still informing him that the enemy camp were shaken since the contractor of the one Paolo killed was one of the big shots in their ranks. Seeing their leader suddenly turning into ash really spooked them and they are now in full alert. Even spying at them in real time becomes risky. 

'Still, I don't think that this is enough for them to launch a pre-emptive war. At worst, they'd just replace the dead guy and move along. Like I said, they should've been expecting this to happen anyway.'

When Raven's attention snapped back to reality, he saw Levi standing over the unconscious Paolo who's mouth was frothing. Only the whites of his eyes were visibly and his body was twitching. He could also see that Paolo's cheeks were sagging, probably due to Levi's relentless assault. 

"Is he dead?" Raven asked.

"Kind of, but not really." Theo replied. For some reason, Raven understood what he meant. 

He then saw Levi picking up Paolo's unconscious body, carrying him on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. He then looked at Raven and said:

"I apologize for this guy. I'll tie him up at home so that he won't make things complicated again. Please, excuse us." 

With that, Levi took off with the unconscious Paolo.