Chapter 274: Chapter 201: Interested in Developing in the Empire?
Boos clearly remembered, the day he first saw the ’Many-Armed Count’, the Celestial Calamity shattered the eastern defenses of the Empire.
The Sell Family, stationed at the border, collectively betrayed the glory of the Empire. They sacrificed the entire city’s populace to the demon lurking behind the snowstorm, turning them all into monsters wearing human skins.
The enraged Frost Falcon Duke dispatched the War Giant Structure under his command to the eastern front.
And standing before him, Master Elio, was the core pilot of the giant structure, the mechanical prosthetics on his back born for this very reason.
As the most outstanding graduate of the Empire University, Boos was assigned by the institution to the front line, personally involved in the maintenance work of the giant structure.
That day, Boos witnessed the whole city being ground into powder by the humanoid construct, with severed limbs nearly staining the ruins a tragic red.
All the traitors howled incessantly under the construct’s artillery fire. Even as the women and elders of the Sell Family knelt, begging the Duke’s forgiveness, Master Elio chose to leave none alive, the construct mercilessly crushed their spines, even the infants turned into bloody mire beneath the rubble.
Facing the surface of the construct, filled with human fragments wedged in its gaps, Boos finally succumbed to the terror in his heart, hiding at the rear, unable to stop vomiting and trembling.
The officer leading the logistics team felt disappointed with this soft-hearted technician, reporting Boos’s performance in full, and the senior officials promptly transferred Boos to a shipyard on the edge of the Empire.
Yet Boos would still often dream of the traitors’ demise.
The world was dark, the Nightmare enshrouding the towering blood city, eyes shattered and hidden within the crevices and shadows, malevolently watching everyone, countless maimed hands stretching out from the ruins, only to be torn to shreds once again by the Many-Armed Count.
All high-ranking officials of the Empire were fiends tempered in blood and fire.
Boos knew better than anyone, that this Count deeply devoted to the Frost Falcon Duke before him harbored an extreme loathing for those who betrayed the Empire.
Beneath Master Elio’s cavalier facade lay a heart of ice.
Now, the cold-blooded butcher was smiling at him intently...
"Master Elio, I would never dare betray the Empire!"
Reflecting on his earlier chat with Elma, Boos felt like he plunged into an ice chasm, his voice distorted by fear: "I was just..."
"Don’t be so nervous, young man."
Seeing Boos’s face filled with fear, Elio, who appeared youthful, merely waved his hand casually.
He squeezed between the two, comfortably crossing his legs, exhibiting a familiar demeanor: "Truth be told, during the time here in Seagull City, even I’ve nearly forgotten the days of licking blood off the blade..."
"Speaking of which, the atmosphere on this Small Island is indeed peculiar..."
Elio turned his head, staring at Feis, squinting slightly: "Who would have thought, there’d be a day when Empire people and Alliance people coexist harmoniously?"
"I..."
Faced with this odd stranger, Elma’s orange ears instinctively flattened against his head.
"Rest easy, I won’t be seeking trouble on the Ark Leader’s turf."
Elio’s face wore a gentle smile as he turned to shout at the boss: "Add ten more servings of the most expensive Roro Fish Stuffed Rice! And a whole barrel of beer for me!"
"Got it!" The shop owner swung his ladle into action, laughter spreading across his face.
Soon afterward, a mechanical arm warmly draped over the young Feis’s shoulders from behind Elio.
"The Roro Fish I just ordered, it’s on me."
He smiled, "Eat as much as you want today, pack what you can’t finish and take it home for a midnight snack if you like!"
"Really?"
Elma looked at the oddball in front of him with skepticism.
Smelling the enticing sweet aroma of the Roro Fish, he wagged his tail, a naive smile appearing on his lips: "Thank you, you’re pretty nice."
What a joke! You Fes people are just so easily fooled with your simple hearts!
On the side, Boos hesitated to speak, stopping and starting, looking uneasy, but after receiving a glare from Elio, sat quietly where he was.
"By the way, I’ve heard that the Fes people can sense ’phenomena’ that ordinary people can’t detect."
Elio took a hearty swig of beer, patted the young Feis on the shoulder, and asked in a casual tone: "What can you sense from me?"
Upon hearing the words, Elma perked up his ears, turning them sideways. He chewed on fried rice, listening intently.
The next second, his expression froze.
’Elio! You vicious butcher! You will pay one day!!’
’I don’t want to die... sobbing...’
’Why don’t you spare the innocent children in the family?! What did they do wrong?!’
’When you die, we’ll chew your soul to bits piece by piece! You will descend into eternal suffering!!’
’Soon... heh heh heh heh... even if he maintains a youthful appearance with that damned prosthetic, I can feel his soul rotting away bit by bit...’
’Spare us... spare us...’
Countless strange, fragmented voices drilled into his ears, Elma stiffly turned his head.
Unknowingly, Elio’s face had become obscured in the night, as if hundreds of chaotic faces of men, women, elderly, and children overlapped upon it.
They entwined with the Empire Duke’s body full of prosthetic components, some laughing madly, some weeping, some filled with hatred, some venomously, emitting frenzied and piercing screams every moment.
