The landscape of the treasury was unrecognizable from just a few minutes ago. All the luxury and grace were gone, leaving behind only broken stone, glass, and metal.
The grandeur of the lofty duchy and its treasury were now in tatters, both in material and spirit.
"Oh fuck." Varian sucked in a breath of cold air.
To his horror, many treasures in the cabinets were shattered and barely a few were intact.
Varian's hopeful eyes ignored the obvious aura fluctuations between a heavily injured woman who lost both her arms and a red-robed man whose raised hand seemed like it was about to deal a final blow.
'Not here, not there, where, where, the little glowing—ah, yes!' Varian's eyes lit up and he jumped towards the little box.
Baldur who had followed him here was petrified and stared at the two bloodied figures with a pale face.
He recognized the woman. Her legends were too loud and too unreal. And the man, while it was his first time seeing that guy, it was a familiar aura that Havoc Ancestor used.
That old guy even threatened him that this 'powerhouse' would kill Baldur if he didn't spare the Havoc clan and of course, his old bones.
"Was this all his plan?"
While Baldur was having the shock of his life, Miss Calamity's clone and Crimson Specter both froze as Varian brazenly ran past them and grabbed the little treasure box.
"What? This is mine." Noticing their gazes, he frowned and put it into his storage ring right away.
"You're about to die, but the bug you baited hadn't. What an irony!" Crimson Specter chuckled with a pitying expression.
"…This is unexpected, even for me." Miss Calamity, on the other hand, looked at Varian with disbelief and regret.
She shouldn't have dragged him into this. Even though he's as weak as a bug and practically useless for almost everything, Miss Calamity's conscience hurt a bit as she used him to further her goals. Of course, just a bit.
"With this third treasure, I'm done." Varian waved his hand and walked out of the treasury room or what once was a room.
Crimson Specter chuckled softly and tapped his toe on the floor. The space fluctuated and an invisible spatial barrier enveloped them all.
"Everyone who has seen me is dead. So should you the three of you." The robe revealed a bit of his rotten chin and his cold smile.
With a swipe of his hand, a strong spatial explosion happened right within Miss Calamity's body and she collapsed onto her knees, bleeding glowing blood. As a clone, she was breaking down and slowly turning into particles of light.
Unless the Original Miss Calamity returned, no one could save her. Of course, he didn't kill her right away. He put her through a slow death that would torture her dearly as his spatial storm tears through every vein, muscle, and bone of her body, inflicting her with pain so excruciating that even her main body would be affected.
"Now then, do you guys have anything to say?" Crimson Specter looked at the two of them with sadistic amusement.
"I…I'm here by, I mean…" Baldur stuttered.
Even though he's heavily injured and weakened, this was still a strong rank 4. Baldur was damn sure he couldn't survive that fight.
Use his treasures? He had nothing to kill this guy. The only treasures he had would help him escape.
'Oh right, I have a space-breaking orb. Even though this Specter's barrier is strong, unless it's some strong formation, I can—'
BOOM!
Varian took out the treasury's key and smashed it into the floor. The buried formations surfaced and the hidden formations also activated.
In an instant, the space around the treasury grew more and more chaotic, eliminating any chance of anyone teleporting away.
Baldur looked at Varian with wide eyes. 'Son of a bitch, what the fuck have you done?'
While Varian looked at Crimson Specter with a cold smile. "Son of a bitch, you can't teleport out now, can you?"
"W-What?"
Forget the utterly dumbfounded Specter, even Miss Calamity's clone on the verge of death was confused by Varian's words.
Was this what people call insanity?
"You're a rank 3, no, a rank 2, whatever. You think you can beat me?" Crimson Specter raised his voice and crossed his arms.
"I can't." Varian shrugged, catching everyone off guard again. Taking that gap, he pushed the frozen Baldur forward. "But he can."
Baldur slipped toward the Crimson Specter and danced a rapid dance with his legs to stop himself before he collided with the Specter.
He stopped just in front of the man, right from where could he smell the horrible blood and rotten flesh.
Crimson Specter's glowing red eyes under the hood stared right into Baldur, sending shivers right down his spine. "So you're gonna defeat me, huh?"
"Yes. He's the Prince of the Kingdom, the bane of gutter rats like you. He already called reinforcements." Before Baldur could open his mouth, Varian started bragging.
'But I didn't!' Baldur cried inwardly.
"Look at his muscles, he killed a dozen like you in a typical afternoon. Spies of Jai Empire? Heh. Merely spice for his breakfast."
'J-Jai Empire? If you want to die so much, please do so. Why are you dragging me down?'
Varian patted his chest as if he was reassuring them that it was the truth. "If not for the Prince deliberately erasing his records and keeping a low profile, you'd be pissing your pants now."
'You bastard, I'm about to piss my pants now.' Baldur had an ugly smile on his face. Whatever the chance for reconciliation and getting out of this safely was present, it all vanished now.
No, not just that, looking at the increasingly hostile eyes of the robed man, Baldur realized even if he surrendered, he wouldn't have an easy death.
So, he had only one option.
Fight and fight to the better end for that slim chance of victory.
Baldur clenched his fists with a serious expression. Alright, I'll put my life on the line for—'
"You can't imagine his greatness. He knew that this mouse was sneaking into the Duchy and came to hunt him down undercover!"
Whatever courage Baldur gathered was blown away by those words.
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