Chapter 92: [Chapter 92 ● The Lady of Burningblight!]
Meanwhile, Auguszta had already finished dealing with the rank five law keeper responsible for maintaining order within the auction house.
The unfortunate man had long since been reduced to ash. With all of the girls in the room already dead by Aezaleon’s hand, her task had become considerably simpler.
She moved leisurely through the ruined auction house, collecting spatial rings, valuable treasures, natural resources, and anything else worth taking. The bodies were gathered as well, for nothing of value would be wasted.
Partway through her work, a message arrived from Aphryne. The excited sister informed her that the corpses had already been gathered within the auction hall and that she intended to collect even more before returning. She also encouraged Auguszta to join her afterward, claiming that hunting the outsiders had proven surprisingly entertaining.
Auguszta could not help but shake her head, a small smile appearing on her face as she continued sorting through the spoils.
Somehow, she was not surprised in the slightest.
As she swept the contents of another spatial ring into her own, her smile widened. She had to admit it—this whole banditry business was beginning to grow on her. Treasures, unknown resources, rare materials, energy stones, weapons, and advanced potions; one valuable item after another continuously flowed into her possession.
The majority of the wealth naturally came from the auction house’s treasury, its vip patrons, and the hedonistic law keeper who had overseen the establishment. Yet that only made sense, as this was one of the branches of the three largest auction houses in Varion.
Anyone capable of participating in today’s auction was either wealthy, powerful, or both, and now all of it belonged to her. The thought alone left her in an exceptionally pleasant mood.
More importantly, she could already imagine presenting everything to her husband later. That thought caused the smile on her face to deepen considerably. Auguszta could practically picture Aezaleon’s reaction: the praise, the approval, and the satisfaction of knowing she had been useful.
Auguszta found herself looking forward to it far more than she probably should have.
"There were, what... twenty-five, maybe thirty vip guests here today?" She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I don’t think I’ve met all of them yet." A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. "Some of them must have survived."
Among them, one individual in particular drew her interest: that blacksmith from House Ironroot, the creator of the Ironroot Blade. If a single weapon of that quality had appeared at the auction, who knew what other treasures the man might be carrying?
Auguszta rubbed her hands together in anticipation. At this point, the greed in her eyes had become almost tangible.
Unfortunately for the survivors, that greed was every bit as dangerous as Aphryne’s enthusiasm.
Whenever she encountered someone who had somehow survived Aezaleon’s outburst, she rarely bothered asking questions. Everyone met the same fate—burned alive, mercilessly and efficiently. And most disturbingly of all, she did it with a cheerful smile.
The screams of those unfortunate enough to cross her path only seemed to improve her mood further.
She was a calamity, the Lady of Burningblight. To the vast majority of outsiders, if not all, calamities were not living beings; they weren’t deserving of any rights, dignity, or freedom. They were but mere resources, materials, sources of cores, with dangerous bloodlines for law-concept extraction, organs, essence, and countless other treasures.
Many calamities lacked intelligence entirely, existing as little more than powerful monsters. Those that possessed sentience often fared little better, considering they were feared and henceforth hunted, captured, enslaved, experimented upon, and harvested. Auguszta had never forgotten that reality since she came to know of it, nor had she forgiven it or accepted it.
Killing such people brought her a certain satisfaction, and looting them afterward only made the experience better.
By the time she finished her search, she had encountered several additional vip patrons and some other outsiders too, who had luckily survived the initial massacre. Not a single one survived their encounter with her. One after another, they were reduced to ash by the same beautiful woman they had previously admired with greedy eyes and lustful thoughts.
Their wealth followed shortly afterward, naturally.
———
On the other side, Clementine wasn’t far from the auction hall.
Just a few rooms away, she found her target struggling pathetically against the overwhelming will of her husband. Being so close to where it had manifested, Azara had it much worse than those farther away.
The weight of an Absolute soul, empowered by another Absolute, her own Absolute, and four absurdly powerful Elemental Powers pressing down upon a mere High Monarch with a spiritual ascension rank of three—the result was obvious.
Clementine couldn’t help but feel proud of her husband. To crush a material ascension rank five ascendant so thoroughly without even being physically present was no small feat. "Though it looks like she was still able to resist somewhat. The fear hasn’t corrupted her heart just yet, and the terror hasn’t completely broken her resolve either," Clementine noted as she entered the room.
Of course, Professor Azara was still a High Monarch after all. As a material rank five and spiritual rank three existence, her soul was dense enough to endure the weight, while her Will was firm enough not to shatter so easily.
Even so, she remained completely suppressed.
The room, despite not being as large as the auction hall, was still spacious. At its center lay Azara. Her face was pale, her eyes unfocused, her jaw tightly clenched, her back rigid, and her fists balled so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Evidently, she was not in a very good condition.
"Now, now, you can’t die yet, girl," Clementine spoke softly to herself as she approached. "As a senior professor and a direct student of one of the sentinels, you’re far more useful to us alive than dead." She stopped before her, calmly observing the woman struggling on the ground.
Not far away lay the serpent calamity Azara had purchased earlier. Unfortunately, it had already died. Considering its savage nature and lack of mental resilience, that outcome was hardly surprising.
