That night, Gelda emerged from a portal.
"Lord, I have the report ready," she said.
Liebe said, "Good. I will take care of the rest."
"Lord… are you sure?" Gelda asked.
"Yeah. It will be a good opportunity to test the Drop of Death."
Later that night—
Licht asked, "So you're heading out, huh?"
Liebe said, "Yeah. Let's see if the blade bits work as they're supposed to."
"Okay then," Licht said.
"Dark Magic: Dark Castling," Liebe said, and teleported to Dame's residence.
Dame felt a presence but didn't know what it was. Liebe appeared before him.
Dame gasped, "Liebe… what are you doing here?"
Liebe said coldly, "Ending you."
Dame tried to reach for his dagger, but Liebe slashed off his right arm. It went flying.
"My arm! My arm!!" Dame screamed.
"Shut up," Liebe said. "There is no one here to save you. I knocked them out cold. I have at least 17 hours to torture you to death."
Dame shouted, "Liebe, you are mistaken! If anything happens to me, the entire Black Rose region will turn to nothing! The nobles with me will destroy you all. Our faction has over fifty noble families—including your extended family!"
Liebe said, "I know. It's because of my family that my mother married Gabriel. You bought them out just to force her into the wedding. She had no choice."
Dame said, "It's not what you think—"
Liebe growled, "Because of you, my mother and I are strangers in our own home. I will turn you all to ash."
Dame laughed nervously, "I am a first-class knight of fire. If I die tonight, your precious Black Rose will be destroyed."
Liebe said, "Think again. Dark Magic: Dark Portal."
The ground turned black. From the portal emerged corpses—not one or two, but dozens. Members of Gabriel's faction, the ones who plotted against Black Rose—including the extended members of House Faust. There were over seventy-five corpses.
Dame screamed, "What madness is this?!"
Liebe said, "These are the fools who followed you. Anyone who sympathized with your twisted goals is present. And soon, you will be added to the list."
Dame begged, "Liebe, please! Listen to me. We haven't done anything yet! We are innocent!"
Liebe snarled, "Innocent? Because of you, my mother is suffering. You supported Gabriel. Black Rose bows to none. I negotiate with the rebellion and give blood and hammer to the traitors."
Dame pleaded, "Liebe, please! Forgive me! Let me live! You can have everything you want—title, rank! I'll even kill Gabriel if you want! Please, spare me. We can negotiate!"
Liebe smiled darkly. "Of course, we can negotiate."
Dame sighed in relief. "You see? I knew you were a sensible person."
Liebe's voice turned ice-cold: "In hell, we can."
Then he killed him.
Liebe returned to his dorms. He sat on the forge bench as Licht entered.
"Did you do it?" Licht asked.
"Yeah," Liebe said, then broke into tears. "I have become… a mass murderer."
Licht said gently, "It's okay. Let yourself break down. Even if it's just for today."
Liebe cried in silence. The pain of cutting human flesh was unbearable.
The following morning, before Black Rose HQ, Dame was crucified. His body was dry—without a single drop of blood. The seventy-five others were cremated, their ashes placed on the ground. On the pole where Dame was crucified, a note read:
"Those who defend scum are worse than scum itself."
Next to it lay the file:
"I am Teno. For the crime of treason, all 75 were executed. If you want to investigate, all the evidence is present here."
Seeing the file, Lilith knew that if investigated, Gabriel would be caught. The minimum sentence would be life. That's why it was never investigated—the evidence was simply burned.
Liebe told Licht, "Looks like Mother burned it for my sake… at least."