"Roar!" Under the heavy pressure of the blood aura, the massive tiger beneath the villain Kurt couldn't help but bend its legs, tucking its tail as it let out a low, fearful whimper.
"S-sir!" With his killing intent completely shattered and his body encased in the dark red blood aura, Kurt felt as if he were trapped in a giant mass of amber. At that moment, he realized he had provoked someone he should never have crossed. Cold sweat dripped from his ugly, ferocious face as he forced a pathetic smile. "Spare me!"
"Hmm?" The butcher, holding a butcher's knife, slowly approached the thug. "What did you say? I didn't quite catch that."
"Please, sir, spare my life!" Kurt, overwhelmed by the blood aura, fell off his mount and quickly knelt on the ground, his forehead thudding heavily against the stone pavement.
"Weren't you acting all high and mighty towards my daughter just now? What happened? Where's that arrogance now? Keep it up!" The butcher sneered.
"Sir, I was blind! I frightened your daughter, and I'm willing to compensate and apologize. Please, have mercy!" Kurt's head repeatedly slammed against the pavement, a far cry from the swaggering stance he had when confronting Aeolos earlier.
"If apologies worked, why would we need swords and knives?" The butcher grinned viciously. "If you could stand your ground, I might have respected you a bit. But now, seeing you grovel like this, makes me want to puke!"
"Are you really not going to spare me?" Kurt's eyes flashed with a dangerous glint as the butcher got closer.
"Yes, that's the look. Come on, if you want to fight back, I'll give you the chance." The butcher's smile became even more twisted as the blood aura around him condensed into grotesque, wailing heads, vaguely forming the shapes of powerful demons. These were the beings he had personally slain. His overwhelming blood aura was earned during the war to cleanse the Synapsis Subcontinent over twenty years ago, where he had killed countless demons, earning him the title "Demon Butcher" despite being a paladin.
"I... I can't." Kurt's fleeting desire to fight back evaporated the moment his eyes met the butcher's. His earlier determination dissolved completely.
Compared to the butcher, his own killing intent was as insignificant as that of a harmless rabbit.
"Pathetic!" The butcher spat in disgust, then grabbed Kurt by the hair and began dragging him toward a dark alley.
"Mercy! Please, have mercy!" Kurt's wails echoed as he was dragged across the ground. He had strength left, and his sword was still on his back, but he lacked the courage to draw it and strike at the butcher, even with the butcher's back turned.
"Stop whining! I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to beat you up a bit!" The butcher threw Kurt against the wall as they entered the alley, creating a deep indentation.
"Thank you for your mercy!" Hearing that the butcher wouldn't kill him, Kurt's face lit up with relief.
"Don't thank me. I'm just leaving you alive for now!" The butcher tucked his butcher's knife back into his belt and then landed a heavy punch on Kurt's face. His teeth shattered, and blood sprayed everywhere.
"Hey, this big cat looks pretty good!" While Kurt was being dragged away, his trembling beast, paralyzed by the butcher's blood aura, attempted to slink away unnoticed. However, it quickly realized that a slender man had appeared in front of it, seemingly out of nowhere. Without much intelligence, the tiger let out a growl at the man, releasing a wave of foul stench.
"Hmm, that smell…" The man sniffed the air and smiled kindly, though his eyes held a dangerous glint as he looked at the tiger. "You've eaten humans. And not just any humans—regular ones."
"Roar!" The hungry tiger, feeling uneasy at the man's smile, lunged forward, jaws open to devour him.
"Perfect timing. My son could use some tiger bone soup, my wife needs a new coat, and I could use a drink made from tiger parts." Before the tiger could make its move, it staggered and collapsed to the ground. Its eyes dimmed as its life force quickly drained, and blood began to ooze from its orifices.
"Thud!" In the alley, Kurt slammed into the wall, his eyes unfocused, and his armor shattered into fragments scattered across the ground. His limbs twisted at unnatural angles as he lay on the ground, barely breathing—just as the butcher had promised, still holding onto a sliver of life.
"Your body's in good shape, but you're a waste of a person. You've already reached the gold rank, yet you didn't even dare punch back. How did a coward like you break through to gold?" The butcher looked down at Kurt, now showing signs of relief for having survived the ordeal. He couldn't understand how someone with such strength could be so spineless.
When he first arrived on this continent, he was only at the gold rank. Yet in the heat of battle, he didn't hesitate to face off against demons, fiends, and cultists, some far stronger than him.
Crack!
A faint cracking sound echoed, followed by the emergence of a black, eerie domain that enveloped the narrow but clean alley. A sense of dread hung thick in the air.
"Hhh... hhh…" Under the influence of the aura seeping from a spatial rift, Kurt's teeth began chattering uncontrollably, and he made a few dry, croaking sounds. He was terrified, feeling like prey in the gaze of a predator.
"What a disgusting aura!" The butcher slowly drew the butcher's knife from his waist. In a flash of holy light, the blood-stained butcher's knife transformed into a magnificent, heavy sword.
"Calm down, Demon Butcher Balu," a voice said as the rift widened. A young man with black hair, dressed in an elegant suit, stepped out of the rift. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Miles from the Abyss."
"So, you're from the Abyss." The butcher's cold demeanor softened slightly. He had already guessed the identity of his visitor. Given the current situation, devils from the Hell dimension would never dare openly appear in a core city like Holy Flame City—that would be suicide. Therefore, this devil could only be from the Synapsis domain, having signed the most binding of contracts and pledged allegiance to the Lord of Synapsis, betraying Hell.
For these devils, the butcher held no enmity but also no goodwill. They had proven themselves during the cleansing wars by spilling their kind's blood, slaughtering their own in the most brutal ways.
His lack of friendliness stemmed from the simple fact that he was a paladin, and they were devils. If he ever saw them stray from their agreements, he would kill them without hesitation.
"What brings you here?" the butcher asked, his face expressionless as he looked at the devil disguised as a human.
"My presence here is not without reason. Someone of my standing only moves when necessary," Miles replied.
"And what is the reason for your actions today?"
"The one at your feet—that's why I'm here," Miles said with a smile.
"Hm?"
"He's offended someone he shouldn't have," Miles explained with a light chuckle.
The butcher blinked in surprise, glanced at the thug lying on the ground, and then, without hesitation, transformed his sword back into a butcher's knife and tucked it into his belt. Returning to his casual demeanor, he walked out of the alley.
He didn't ask who Kurt had offended; that wasn't information he needed to know, nor did it matter to him.
He wasn't a fool. After living in this city for so many years, he had noticed plenty of unusual things. For example, many of his neighbors were just as strong as he was.
Exaggerating a bit, one could say that if a leaf fell from a tree in this city, it might hit three people of gold rank. Plus, the teachers at the elementary and middle schools seemed far too powerful for ordinary educators. Whenever he attended parent-teacher meetings, the principals and headmasters were so intimidating that even he, a seasoned warrior, would feel his body tremble involuntarily. He could easily guess their true strength.
But despite these suspicions, he never said anything. After all, it didn't affect him negatively, so why meddle?
Today's events confirmed his previous guesses: this city had been carefully orchestrated by someone powerful. His son was simply benefiting from this arrangement.
...
After the butcher left the alley, Kurt instinctively tried to crawl away from the devil, but an invisible force gripped him, snapping all his limbs.
"Mercy, sir! Please spare me!" Kurt wailed in desperation.
"Mercy? There's no need to beg me. Don't worry, you won't die. After all, you dared insult His Highness! Death would be a luxury for you!" Miles grinned as he extended his hand toward Kurt. In Kurt's despair-filled eyes, he was dragged into the spatial rift, disappearing from the city...
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