Chapter 54: The Ball (4)
The Corduil Corruption was the worst disease that had to be controlled as soon
as it was found.
There was no cure. For that reason, the Corduil Elimination Force had been
trained in one thing and one thing only: to kill the corrupt.
Whether it was by finding the demon causing it or by killing everyone affected,
they had been tasked with the elimination of the corruption to a degree of
fanaticism.
For the third time in a single day, Adam was hit by the same blankness in his
mind, followed by the effect of it all dawning on him.
His sister was corrupted.
He looked at the CEF soldiers. They looked at him.
"AAAH!" One of the CEF soldiers immediately stood up and tackled Adam, pushing
him to the wall. Adam drove his knee into the man’s chest, but he avoided it
all. The other quickly started running away.
"Fucking LET GO!"
With a twist, Adam wrapped his arms around the other one’s waist and tossed him
to the side. No mercy, no time, no noise, either. Everything had to be silent.
He wrapped his fist in sword aura and punched the man’s face over and over. The
CEF soldier used a divine spell to shield himself, but Adam quickly broke
through. There was no fucking time.
Adam brute-forced his way to open the man’s mouth wide. A magic circle formed,
and a sharp dagger of water cut through the inside of the man’s mouth, reaching
out from the top of his head.
Without wasting a second, he left him for dead and ran. Arlene would drag that
body inside.
"Don’t fucking dare!"
There was no cure for the Corduil Corruption.
The only thing they could do was kill the corrupted. Kill? Kill the corrupted?
Kill his sister?
From the turn ahead, holding beer in their hands, came Dumas and Nea. The
soldier passed them by and started heading down. Adam didn’t see them; he ran,
too.
"Huh!?" "Young Master—"
Dumas felt a chill running down his spine. He and Nea ran up and dashed to the
room they were in just moments ago. And within minutes, Adam heard another
voice.
"Stop right there, CEF motherfucker!"
The soldier twisted over the railings and leaped down. Adam used another spell
and sent one more spear of water shooting at the man. No loud noises. If they
were too loud, it was as good as giving it away.
There was only one thing he had to do right now: kill anyone who had seen his
sister.
The spear of water shot toward the man and pinned his hand into a wall.
"GUHHH!" The man screamed and formed a spell in his other hand. That solid block
of water remained rooted, sucking mana from Adam as he rushed down to kill him.
But.
The soldier had formed a blade of divine magic and swung it at his wrist. His
hand, stuck to the wall, was cut off as he set running again.
On the ground floor. There would be people here.
Adam used his water magic once again and swooped up the blood the soldier
dropped as he ran after him. There was a waiter in that passageway, about to
head to the ballroom; the soldier passed him by, and Adam followed right behind.
He used another spell to reflect the back of the passageway immediately as the
waiter turned toward them from the noise.
"Huh?" The waiter went and left.
The soldier pushed another large room’s door open. Like a barracks, it was a
place the lord allotted to the CEF members for this very ball.
"AHHH!" He pushed the door open.
The CEF members were getting ready for the ball. They wanted to enter the party
together and leave together; it was not right for anyone of their group to be
overstaying their welcome.
Flutes and violins were playing in the distance.
It was a feast and a ball, though, and they were expected to enjoy it fully,
just as CEF members should.
"Mmm, is the tie looking good?" Morphos asked another.
"Nuh-uh, sir. You must lose it; it looks rather constricting."
The heavy doors swung open—both of them. A soldier came striding inside, his
hand bleeding; it was missing a wrist.
Morphos was stunned to silence.
A low percussion and spread of cello started ringing from the ballroom’s
orchestra.
"Ar..." the man took a deep breath. "Arlene Reinvelt... is corrupted!"
A spear of water lined with sword aura stabbed through the back of the soldier
at the door. His blood spilled out on the ground; the sword was pulled out, and
he slumped to the ground.
Standing there at the door was a red-haired man. His mouth was sealed shut, and
his eyes narrowly gazed over every single face in the room as the soldier fell
to the ground.
He saw them.
All of them. One by one. Memorizing each of their faces.
Morphos’ tie fell to the ground. All of them were stunned for a second, and a
second only.
It was building up. A crescendo. The flutes joined in.
The next second, they started charging in. Some of them ran to the windows, and
the others charged toward Adam.
Adam Desmond il Reinvelt stretched his hand ahead, and a bubble of water spread
over the entire room. It was a thick layer of water meant to keep all the noise
inside, covering the entire room like a layer.
The violin.
With his other hand, he summoned more mana and created a blade; on his back was
a spear, and around him were two flying shields of water.
"Come," he said.
"GAHHHH!"
The CEF soldiers all charged in.
It was a battle—a battle between the Shield of the North and the soldiers of the
Corduil Elimination Force.
They all charged in at once. Adam quickly moved through them and swung his
blades at their necks. Unlike before, neither party was trying to stop anything.
The cello and trumpets.
From the beginning, the CEF was trained to do one thing, and one thing alone.
Kill. The. Corrupted.
Their screams of valor were accompanied by the burst of firecrackers and the
piano.
Either they would be killed, or they would kill the corrupted and everything in
their way.
A bloodbath was beginning in the room.
