Chapter 187: Ch-187: Consequences
"Damn, who the hell is attacking us?" Duke Brightflame said with frustration.
Then, the next moment, his eyes widened to the size of saucers as he looked at the army and muttered,
"What in the heavens...?"
Duke Brightflame exclaimed when he saw that they were surrounded by an army made up of what seemed to be iron giants.
Never in his entire life had he seen such an army. From what he could tell, there were soldiers inside the giant constructs.
Then a thought suddenly popped into his head.
’Is this some kind of armor... no, they are far too large.’
He was left speechless by the sight, but whatever they were, they certainly had hostile intentions toward them.
The next moment, the undead leader, who was watching his army get cut down and reduced to cinders, could no longer control his anger and was about to make a move. Suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine as a massive shadow loomed over them.
He looked up, and his pupils constricted to the size of needles.
"Shit!"
Duke Brightflame also cursed and immediately activated all his defensive equipment and skills to cover himself as a huge black axe made of lightning descended from the sky without giving them any chance to react.
The soldiers of the Brightflame Duchy nearly had their eyes pop out of their sockets as they looked at the sky in fear.
"What in the heavens is that?!"
"Shit, run! I have a feeling that if we get caught in that attack, not even our bodies will remain intact!"
"Quick, get away!"
Even the undead felt threatened and tried to escape, but to no avail.
BOOM!
Amid the panicked screams of the soldiers who saw the lightning axe descending at an alarming speed, the lightning axe crashed directly on top of them as a huge explosion consumed a large portion of their army, leaving them no chance to defend themselves.
"Tsk, looks like they are still alive," Victor, who was with Rina, said as he looked into the distance.
As the smoke cleared, he saw two figures battered but still standing firm.
He unequipped his armor as he watched them.
"Huff... Huff... If I hadn’t used my skill, I would have died. That was dangerous," the undead leader said as he breathed heavily.
"Huff... Damn, those were my family heirlooms that got destroyed. Which bastard launched such a powerful attack?" Duke Brightflame cursed as he gulped down a healing potion to partially heal himself.
He looked ahead and saw two figures approaching them.
"Rina Hall?"
Duke Brightflame’s eyes widened in shock when he saw Rina standing beside an unknown man.
The way Rina was looking at him made it seem as though she wanted to tear him apart.
"Duke Brightflame, you sure took your time slaughtering the residents of the Hall Duchy," Rina said with a furious expression.
"Lady Rina, it’s been some time. Is he your backup? And is that the army you brought as reinforcements? Is he some kind of secret child of one of the great Duchies?" Duke Brightflame asked.
"Secret child? No, I am the Lord of the Silvernum Barony," Victor replied with a twitch of his lips.
"Have the standards of the Hall Duchy fallen so low? I did not expect you to stoop this low and ask aid from a mere barony," Duke Brightflame said, his voice dripping with contempt, which caused Victor to narrow his eyes.
"You bastard, you are talking about falling low? You and your soldiers slaughtered so many innocents, and you even teamed up with the undead!" Rina said as she angrily pointed at the undead beside the Duke.
"What is wrong with allying with the undead? We are in a mutually beneficial relationship," the undead leader, who had been silent and healing himself, replied.
"Indeed, this is just war," Duke Brightflame said with a shrug, but there was a curl on his lips as he enjoyed her despair.
"Heh, let’s see if you can still remain smug when you see your son," Rina said.
Duke Brightflame was hit by a wave of unease, and his heart sank when he saw her wave her hand. A mangled figure appeared on the ground in front of her.
The moment the human-shaped figure fell to the ground, his pupils constricted and his eyes turned red.
Blaze had both of his limbs shattered and was drenched in blood.
Seeing his father, a glimmer of hope lit up in his eyes as he screamed,
"Wuuuu! Father, save me! That bitch is crazy!"
Blaze said as he pointed at Emily and looked at her with fear, even forgetting the pain for a moment.
"B-Blaze... YOU BITCH, YOU DARE!" Duke Brightflame shouted in anger. Any father would be furious seeing their child in such a state.
Whoosh!
Amber and Emily came to Victor and Rina’s side.
Victor looked at Emily and then at Amber and could not help but whisper,
"She is more cruel than you."
Amber rolled her eyes upon hearing this but could not help agreeing. In fact, she had developed a certain admiration for the maid.
"RINA HALL, YOU SON OF A BITCH! I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU HURT EVEN A SINGLE HAIR ON HIS BODY, I WILL—"
Duke Brightflame roared at the top of his lungs, causing the entire place to tremble.
However, he was quickly interrupted by Rina, who reached for the hair on Blaze’s head and grabbed a handful before viciously ripping it out from the scalp, tearing away a chunk of skin and causing blood to gush out.
"AHHHHHH!"
Blaze, in Emily’s grasp, screamed in agony and squirmed like a fish out of water.
"SON!"
Duke Brightflame cried out as he subconsciously flew toward her, but he was quickly stopped by Victor, who casually pressed his sword against the man’s throat, threatening to cut it if he got any closer.
Seeing this, Duke Brightflame could only halt his movements and hover in the air with a helpless look on his face, not daring to move a single muscle for fear of his son’s life.
"Save me... save me, Father..."
Seeing the blade slowly approaching his hand, Blaze howled and shrieked, with snot, drool, and tears making his face an even bigger mess.
"Don’t move, or he will die," Rina threatened.
Duke Brightflame could only clench his jaw and glare furiously.
Pah!
"BASTARD! WHY DID YOU HIT HIM?!" Duke Brightflame shouted when he saw Victor kick Blaze in the groin.
"Your partner was about to launch a sneak attack," Victor said, pointing at the undead leader. "If he attacks, I will kill your son."
"DAMN IT, YOU UNREASONABLE BASTARD! YOU DON’T DO ANYTHING!" Duke Brightflame cursed and then shouted at the undead leader.
The undead leader frowned but wisely remained silent as he thought,
’If I didn’t need you, I would never have allowed you to speak to me like this. And those two... are dangerous.’
The undead leader’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Victor and Amber.
"Emily, go do your thing," Rina said.
"As you wish," Emily replied as she took a knife and walked toward Blaze.
"Father, help me!" Blaze shouted in terror.
After a few minutes...
There were several shreds of skin tossed casually to the side. Some shreds were thin and long, others were thick and short, and there were more "shreds" that could barely be considered shreds, as they were no larger than a fingernail—a result of a failed cut.
Blaze was alive; Emily had made sure of it.
Not only was he alive, but he was also conscious. He had remained conscious through the longest and cruelest minutes of his life. Emily made sure to use every method possible to wake him up whenever he fainted, never giving him even a single moment of peace.
However, there was nothing that could possibly identify the current Blaze with the Blaze of the past, or even the Blaze from a few minutes ago.
The present him was no different from a piece of bloody meat.
All the skin had been stripped from his body. It now lay among those shreds of varying sizes carelessly scattered not far away.
From the tip of each little toe to the top of his skull, there was not a single patch of skin left.
He was crying. His appearance was horrific, and he couldn’t even close his eyes now that both eyelids had been peeled away.
Even the tears streaming down his face, which once caused him so much pain, no longer hurt—not after all the agony he had been subjected to.
But Blaze was wrong if he believed there was no greater pain than what Emily had already put him through.
On the other hand, Duke Brightflame’s body was trembling with fury, hatred, and despair, but he still did not move.
As long as his son did not die, he could use a treasure to restore him. It was a family heirloom his ancestors had discovered long ago.
He clenched his teeth as he thought,
’But this will probably leave him with severe mental trauma, or even drive him into madness later.’
’They say we undead are the most evil... but humans are even worse.’
Even the undead leader felt a chill run down his spine as he watched the torture inflicted upon the human body.
Comments