Chapter 157: Two experts were about to face off
"It really is a beautiful night." Kael turned his face to the side again and added, "Don’t you agree?"
More figures appeared on the roof of the luxurious mansion, observing the corpses of their companions. Filled with rage and hatred, they glared murderously at Kael, who was looking at the moon with indifference.
"Mr. Expert, I apologize for bothering you at this time of night," one of the group members stepped forward.
He had brown hair, brown eyes, and a scar on his lips; he was muscular and approximately 1.81 meters tall.
"Mr. Expert?" Kael raised an eyebrow, his expression unchanged.
"So, people in rank 7 are called experts, and you’re not one," said the brown-haired guy, gesturing with his eyes.
"Oh..." He feigned surprise, but it was clearly a lie; he knew from the start. "And that doesn’t make you an expert, too, thinking I would send one for a young man like me," he said, noticing the brown-haired man’s rank 7 aura.
"You? A young man? If that were the case, you wouldn’t have killed my men, and I wouldn’t have had to show up, but now is not the time to talk about that. What is your relationship with the third princess?"
"Third princess?" Kael showed an extremely genuine look of confusion, as if he really had no idea what they were talking about.
The brown-haired man completely bought Kael’s act, so a look of hesitation appeared on his face.
Kael took advantage of that moment of hesitation, disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye, attacking the brown-haired man head-on. The man managed to react in time, crossing his daggers to block the sword’s thrust.
Clang!
The metallic sound exploded in the air, reverberating throughout the place and echoing in the silent night. The brown-haired man clenched his jaw as he endured the weight of the sword of coins pressing down on him mercilessly.
He put more strength into his arms, his veins bulging, and with a fierce push, he threw Kael backwards. The impact sent him back a few inches, enough to catch his breath and prepare himself.
"Attack!" he roared angrily at his subordinates.
But all he got was silence. None of them moved; it was as if they had turned into statues.
The man frowned. It was then that, one after another, his subordinates began to split in two. The bodies fell grotesquely onto the roof of the luxurious inn, which remained oblivious to everything that was happening.
The man’s eyes widened with surprise and a hint of fear. He hadn’t realized when his subordinates had been killed.
What happened was simple. Kael, in a brief moment of hesitation, attacked them all, using all his speed, as he wasn’t stupid enough to leave the group intact. They outnumbered him.
The smartest thing to do was to finish them off first and then deal with the leader.
Kael’s body was covered by a black and white aura, forming a perfect representation of yin and yang.
At the same time, the brown-haired man was enveloped by a silvery aura. His expression hardened, and his eyes flashed coldly, like those of a newly unsheathed blade.
They looked at each other in silence. The night breeze ruffled their hair, waving like flags on a battlefield.
Two figures stood facing each other, both covered in energy: one surrounded by a fusion of black and white, the other glowing with an unbreakable silver.
Both were rank 7.
Two experts were about to face off.
...
In another part of the city, with the moon high in the sky like a silent watchman, Audrey sat cross-legged on a rooftop, while her maid Martha stood beside her, holding a large pair of scissors in her hands.
It was a rather unusual weapon.
"My lady, are you sure you will be attacked?" she asked, gazing out at the silent city, shrouded in darkness.
"They’ll come, but I guess they’ll attack Jasper first, to ask about his relationship with me or something like that," Audrey said, as if it weren’t a problem that they were after her.
"My lady, how can you be so sure?"
"It’s too obvious that they’ve been watching me since I arrived at the mountain; this is just the prelude to what’s to come." Audrey stood up, grabbed her rapier, and sighed, "But it’s a pity he didn’t decide to accept my deal, that would save me a lot of trouble."
Martha’s expression turned serious as she sensed several presences nearby; there were around twenty or more.
In short, they were completely surrounded!
"This is going to be a pretty long night..." Audrey stretched her body as she circulated her mana essence to her dantian, converting this energy into an aura that completely enveloped her.
The same thing happened to Martha, who looked at the figures appearing in the moonlight.
"Princess Audrey, why don’t you just give in and make it easier on yourself? We won’t hurt you, we’ll play with your body until we get tired of it," said one of them with an arrogant smile, and with that look, we had already violated Audrey’s body five or even ten times.
However, despite those words, Audrey’s expression did not change in the slightest. She was indeed assessing her chances of survival, but an idea had just come to mind.
A slight smile appeared on her indifferent face, but now she had another problem: she had to get rid of all the stalkers.
"My lady, I have already checked, and none of them are in rank 7. Almost all of them are in ranks 8 and 9, beginner and intermediate levels," Martha reported after checking the ranks of the people nearby.
"Why are you so quiet, Princess Audrey? Could it be that you’re considering my wonderful offer? At least we won’t kill you, you’ll just be our slave," said the man again with a big smile, licking his lips.
Audrey simply pushed her thoughts aside and fixed her gaze on the guy covered in a black suit, perfect for murder. Without thinking twice, she launched herself into the attack.
In the blink of an eye, she closed the distance between herself and the assassin. Her rapier moved swiftly, unleashing a flurry of attacks. The assassin reacted in time, leaping to the side, but in his attempt to escape, he failed to realize that he had thrown himself directly to his death.
Martha appeared with her unusual weapon: a huge pair of scissors that glinted in the dim light. With a clean, precise movement, she decapitated the murderer. The head rolled across the roof, leaving behind a crimson trail that stained the dark tiles.
Before the others could react, Audrey and Martha had already run off the roof. Staying in the same place was impossible: they were outnumbered, and mobility was their only advantage.
The other assassins ran after them in the moonlight, jumping from roof to roof, to catch up with them and kill them, since capturing them was still not an option.
...
In the Kirth family mansion, the head of the family, Lucien Kirth, sat in his office looking out over the city with a serious expression.
"Are you sure you want to break that neutrality by letting the two kingdoms send their troops to capture the third princess?" one of his most loyal subordinates asked, his voice heavy with concern. The man knew that this was not a simple political decision, but an action that could seal the fate of the entire city.
Lucien didn’t respond immediately. He remained silent, gazing at the dark city through the window. His eyes reflected distant lights, as if he were seeing something beyond. Only after eight seconds did he speak calmly:
"The benefits are too great to ignore. All this is for a better future for my people."
His subordinate, his face tense with stress, raised a hand to his forehead before replying:
"My lord, with that action, you have just condemned this mountain. It will become a direct enemy of the kingdom of Aragon."
Lucien turned his gaze toward him, his expression a mixture of indifference and severity.
"You seem to be mistaken about something. The Augustus royal family is also involved. That puts the three sides on equal footing. My neutrality is not broken; on the contrary, it is strengthened. I have allowed my city to become a chessboard... where three powers now play."
Calmly, he took a cigarette from one of the drawers in his desk. His movements were slow and calculated, as if even that small gesture was part of his strategy.
"The royal family is also involved..." The subordinate exclaimed, incredulous.
Lucien nodded, lighting the cigarette serenely. A slight cloud of smoke began to rise in front of him.
"That’s right. It seems that someone within the royal family doesn’t want the princess to live. But that’s not my problem. As long as I maintain my neutrality, the city can turn into a graveyard, and it will still be mine."
His eyes shone brightly as he gazed at the dark city beyond the windows.