Chapter 13:
Fury
I N LIAM'S AUDIENCE CHAMBER, Isaac hung his head and clenched his fists
in frustration. Damn it! A mere backwoods noble dares to defy me?
He had believed the implied promise Calvin's spy had given him,
but upon his return, Liam had dismissed him immediately. His pride badly
wounded, Isaac raised his head to glare at his brother.
Isaac had seen Liam only once before, when he was young. Almost
half a century ago, his father and grandfather had invited him to a
ceremony because a relative of theirs was receiving an award. During that
ceremony, he'd seen Liam from afar. Even at the time, Isaac hadn't
thought much of Liam, despite hearing that they were brothers. If
anything, he'd been annoyed to learn he had a brother who was a
backwater lord.
He turned to Keith and gave him a meaningful look. "Keith, could
you help me here?"
He was essentially ordering Keith, who was capable enough to have
served as head knight, to kill Liam on the spot. It was a rash decision, the
result of Isaac's youth, but Keith's pride was wounded as well. Keith
looked up at the man standing next to Liam—Claus.
"The Way of the Flash is a contrived, nonsensical sword style," the
former head knight told Isaac. "The ones who will be a little trouble are..."
He glanced at the bandaged Tia and Marie. Their injuries had been
treated, but they weren't at a hundred percent, so Keith felt he could defeat
them. He considered his loss to Claus to be a fluke; he wanted a rematch
with the man. In fact, he was indulging Isaac's childish demand simply to
get revenge on Claus for humiliating him.
"I can take them," Keith concluded. "We have the numbers, too."
Calvin's spies had laid the groundwork for plenty of knights and
soldiers loyal to the prince to back Isaac up if necessary. Traitorous
servants had let them into the mansion, and at one word from Keith, they
would charge into the audience chamber.
Believing his head knight, Isaac nodded. "All right. Then hurry and
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—"
Before he finished giving the order, Liam's voice rang through the
audience chamber. "Where's Tateyama?"
Isaac sensed the air in the room grow tenser. From the knights to the
officials, everyone was suddenly openly fearful. Keith wasn't sure why
until he noticed that Liam's mood had changed. He'd stood to talk to those
beside him.
"Tateyama. She isn't here?" Liam demanded. "Is she in
maintenance? Shouldn't her regular maintenance have been a few days
ago?"
Having apparently noticed that a maid robot was missing, Liam
asked Claus where she was.
"She's undergoing manufacturer repair," Claus answered hesitantly.
"I don't believe she'll be back for another month."
"Huh? Why does she need repairs?"
Liam seemed bothered by the maid robot's absence. He also seemed
to have all the maid robots' schedules memorized. And he
seemed...worried about the doll.
"This is our chance," Keith whispered to Isaac. "Shall we take it?"
Isaac opened his mouth to tell Keith to move in on Liam, but this
time Claus interrupted him, explaining why the maid robot Tateyama had
been sent for repairs.
"She was vandalized so badly, we had to send her to the
manufacturer."
A maid robot nearby was holding a sword. Liam reached out, and
the moment his hand closed on the weapon, a large fissure appeared in one
of the chamber's support columns. Soon the floor, ceiling, and walls were
also cracking. Dust and rubble rained down, and one of the larger pillars
collapsed with a heavy crash. Still, everyone was too terrified to run for
shelter; on top of that, Isaac was now too bewildered to continue giving
orders to Keith.
"Who did it?" Liam asked Claus.
Despite the terrifying change that had come over Liam, Claus
answered calmly, "A knight serving Lord Isaac."
"Which one?" Liam turned toward Isaac.
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Claus pointed out the knight who had damaged Tateyama. A second
later, the man—who stood behind Isaac—vanished in a spray of bloody
fragments.
No—he hadn't vanished. He'd been cut to shreds in an instant. Gory
chunks of him splattered the area where he'd stood.
Some of the blood struck Isaac's face. "Eek!" He fell to the ground.
Liam stared down at him. "Did you order this, Isaac?"
Isaac couldn't speak with Liam glaring at him that way. He trembled
in fear. A-augh...! As he struggled to form coherent thoughts, Claus
reported his investigation's results.
"The knight you eliminated made that decision independently. I
delved into the matter thoroughly, but I thought the man's punishment
could wait until your return, Lord Liam."
Liam heaved a sigh, then grinned. "Good decision, Claus. I'll punish
the lot of them myself."
He again glared at Isaac and his men again, so forcefully that Isaac
wetted himself and passed out on the spot.
***
"Lord Isaac?"
Keith called out to his master, but made no attempt to catch the boy
as he collapsed, instead gripping the hilt of his saber.
I was beside myself with worry for Tateyama. "Claus, Tateyama's
okay, right? They can repair her, can't they?"
Claus nodded several times, sweating. "The manufacturer says there
shouldn't be issues repairing her."
Amagi had been quiet through all this, but now came to my side.
"Master, I confirmed Tateyama's well-being myself. There was no damage
to her memory. She can return to her regular duties after one month."
"R-right. That's good." I sighed with relief.
Then an irritating voice spoke up. It was Keith. "What are you so
worried about a goddamn doll for?"
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I gave him a stony look as a buzz went through the chamber.
Drawing his saber, Keith began to expound on just how unworthy a
lord I was.
"It's absurd for an Imperial noble to keep artificial intelligence by
his side, and to make heavy use of it! Liam is unfit to lead House Banfield!
Is that not the case?" he demanded of those assembled around us.
As Keith shouted, a number of armed soldiers rushed into the
chamber. He must've set that up in advance. Had Calvin himself, or just
his underlings, provided this force to Isaac?
I unleashed a Flash at the idiots who'd stormed in, and a second
later, the once-beautiful audience chamber was splashed with their blood.
Several hundred of their troops having been obliterated in an instant,
Keith and his men stood gaping in shock. I looked at Keith with the
slightest of grins.
"What did you think you could do to me with so few men?"
Keith pointed his saber at me, striding forward. "I'll handle you
myself!"
My Royal Guard stepped in front of me, but I motioned for them to
back off.
"Move—you're in my way."
I took a step, and in the same motion, Keith was already on the
floor.
"Wh-what just—huh?"
He seemingly tried to figure out why he'd fallen. When he looked
down at himself, he saw that his feet had been severed from his ankles.
Keith glanced between his legs and feet several times, as if he couldn't
believe what had happened. While he was busy doing that, I severed the
arm that held his saber.
"M-my arm! My arm!"
Tia glowered at the wailing Keith. "Just a fool incapable of judging
a person's true strength. He really thought he could beat Lord Liam?" Her
voice echoed coldly through the chamber.
Why had Keith challenged me? Had he really believed people would
rally to him if he declared me unfit to lead?
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"Pretty pathetic, former head knight," I chastised him. "You
genuinely thought you'd manage to take me down?"
I was sure Calvin would've orchestrated a move on me in a smarter
way. I didn't buy that Isaac had his official support. Behind Keith, his
knights were in a panic. I left the room's raised platform and walked
straight to the fallen knight's side.
"You believed that people would fall over themselves to side with
you?" I needled.
Curled on the ground, miserably clutching the stump of his arm,
Keith looked up at me. His face twisted in terror, his eyes pleading for
mercy.
"I-I was tricked! Isaac, over there—he joined forces with Calvin! I
had no choice but to go along with him! Pl-please have mercy!"
Staggeringly, Keith was now embarrassing himself even more. A
wave of disgust went through the room at his increasingly pitiful behavior.
Well, this was fairly funny, and it might have been fine to let the
knight live. After all, he was no threat to me. Having roughed him up
enough that he wouldn't move against me again, I could send him home to
my parents. I wouldn't choose that option after what had happened to
Tateyama, though. Anyone who allowed violence against her deserved
whatever they got.
"Kukuri," I called.
My special operative rose from my shadow. "Right here."
I decided to have Kukuri's people deal with the rest of the scum
who'd mistreated Tateyama. I'd already executed the main offender, but
his friends deserved the same. And if I did it instantly using the Flash, that
would hardly be hardly punishment enough.
"I'll leave them to you," I told Kukuri. "You can only touch what's
below their heads, all right? Send the heads to Cliff on the Capital Planet. I
want him to think hard about who he's messing with."
"Hee hee hee... Are you sure, my lord?"
I wouldn't have minded tormenting these knights, but I suspected
I'd lose control. Besides, Kukuri's organization did specialize in such
procedures. "I'd kill them too fast. That wouldn't be right when Tateyama
went through something so scary."
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"Hee hee hee hee! Do you wish us to give them our warmest
welcome?"
Keith and his knights paled at the assassin's offer of...hospitality. I
was sure they could easily imagine what was in store.
My mouth quirked into a smile. "Use everything at your disposal to
entertain them."
"As you wish, Master Liam."
As Kukuri said this, his operatives appeared one by one from the
room's shadows and apprehended Keith's men, dragging them back down
into the darkness.
"H-help!"
"No! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"
"I'll tell you everything! Anything you want to know! Just, please,
don't kill me!"
Keith sobbed and wailed at the end, becoming completely
incomprehensible.
I'd dealt with the scum who'd damaged Tateyama, but that left other
issues to address. I looked down at the unconscious Isaac. He was a rotten
brat, but he was technically an adult. I thought maybe I should kill him too
and send a message to my father. But the Empire's technology mass-
produced brats like this at the press of a button, and I didn't want Cliff
sending more tykes my way. I decided to caution Isaac by putting him
through the wringer before sending him back alive.
"Prepare to return Isaac to the Capital Planet," I told my people.
"And kick out the vultures hovering around here, looking for scraps. I'll
decide how to deal with the moronic traitors who took this brat's side."
They were some of the less intelligent among my subjects.
Three traitorous bureaucrats who fell into that category pleaded as
my knights rounded them up.
"Have mercy, Lord Liam!"
"We weren't involved, really! Pl-please!"
I was tired of hearing excuses. "Interrogate the traitors, then execute
them. Banish their families from my domain as well. Take them away."
My knights followed my orders and dragged the traitors from the
chamber.
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I was so pissed—positively seething—I didn't know what to do with
myself. On top of sweet Tateyama being damaged, I couldn't digest how
much things had degraded after I was absent a few days.
"I need to do some cleaning," I decided. "It's been a while since we
really cleaned up."
Claus hurried over. "Cleaning, sir?" he cocked his head. "The
servants do a decent job of tidying the mansion, don't they?"
Despite the question, he was sweating, which suggested he
understood my meaning. He must have hoped I was joking.
"I mean we've been too negligent," I replied. "Garbage is piled up
everywhere here, and this is an opportunity to clean house. We'll root out
all the traitors and make sure they're punished. We're going to be
thorough—this is our chance to get rid of those idiots in one fell swoop."
I used a tone that brooked no argument. I thought Claus would
protest anyway, but to my surprise, he nodded.
"Understood."
He was gutsier than I'd thought. And the guy had worked hard to
maintain the status quo while I was gone, proving he was way more
reliable than Tia and Marie.
Yeah... Guess it's gotta be Claus, then.
Clapping my hands, I announced in a light tone, "Okay, it's cleaning
time! Everyone go back to your posts and make them nice and clean! You
get me? If there's any garbage left anywhere when you're done, I'll give
the slackers the same punishment as the trash they didn't tidy."
Everyone kneeled, expressing their obedience. "As you command!"
It was past time to wipe out the stupid turncoats who'd shown up in
my domain.
***
Claus was at the end of his rope in any number of ways. He was
particularly exhausted from helming things during Liam's absence.
When Liam announced his plan to clean things up, Claus resigned
himself to the idea that even more work was getting dumped in his lap. All
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he could think was, Fine... Whatever you say. There are still traitors
around here, so "cleaning" is an opportunity to secure things. What
should we do with Chengsi, though? At this point, it seems like she's
beyond help.
Looking around the audience chamber, Liam cocked his head. "Wait
a second. Where are my junior pupils? I don't see Chengsi, either."
"Those three?" Claud replied. "Uh, well..."
Liam's junior pupils and most bloodthirsty knight had gotten into
quite a situation.
***
Riho and Fuka were once again fighting Chengsi, and again
destroying a section of the mansion in the process. This time, though,
fighting the monstrous, insectoid machine was exhausting them. Chengsi
had ultimately undergone so many procedures, she had abandoned her
humanity entirely.
"It's impressive that you keep coming, no matter how many times I
cut you," Riho panted. "I'll give you that."
"Gotta say I'm sick of it, though," added Fuka.
Every time they'd defeated Chengsi, she only returned to challenge
them again. She got stronger each time, and now she was powerful enough
to injure them. Before today, battling this unrelenting adversary had
seemed entertaining, but now they were in a bit of trouble.
With her twin swords, Fuka hacked off one of Chengsi's insectoid
legs. The severed limb melted into liquid metal that slithered back to her
body like mercury and rejoined it. Chengsi repeated that reattachment
process no matter how many times they cut her.
"I can't take any more of this! You handle it, Riho!" Fuka urged,
sick and tired of contending with the liquid metal.
But Riho was struggling as it was. "You can't back out now! I'm
sick of this, too!"
There should have been a solid core inside Chengsi's current liquid-
metal form, but her body was in constant flux, so Riho couldn't pin down
its location. She carved into Chengsi over and over again without
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destroying her vital center.
After being hit with Flashes over and over, Chengsi even began to
adapt—until finally she dodged Fuka's Flash.
Fuka leaped back in shock. "She dodged it?"
She couldn't hide her surprise that Chengsi had managed that.
"Hee hee. I've enjoyed playing with you two," Chengsi told them.
"I've learned a little about the Way of the Flash thanks to you. Now I'm
ready to fight Liam."
Hearing this, Riho jumped forward and slashed at Chengsi angrily,
but Chengsi divided herself to avoid the attack. She continued to divide
into smaller, independent sections until she surrounded the pair.
"Tch!" Riho crouched low.
Fuka warily did the same. "Guess we played around too much."
Now that Chengsi had them on the ropes, it appeared her intention
was to torture them to death.
"I'll show your corpses to Liam so he'll take our fight seriously!"
Chengsi's sole purpose in life was to fight, and challenging Liam
would be the apex of her existence. Nothing else mattered but to defeat
him.
Just then, a crumbling hallway wall split apart—and Liam appeared
from behind it. His hand gripped his sword, and as soon as he saw
Chengsi, he looked upon her in disgust.
"Quite a sorry state you've ended up in."
"Liam? Ah! Aaaah...Liaaam!"
Chengsi screeched in joy, gathering her separated pieces and
recombining them into an insectoid whole—the monster she had become
to contend with the Way of the Flash.
She leaped at Liam, intending to bring him down at last.
Fuka tried to warn Liam. "Senior pupil, she's—"
Liam cut her off. "Don't worry. I have to say, Chengsi, you betrayed
my expectations."
Chengsi anticipated his Flash, and intended to counter it. Yet in the
next instant, her liquid metal body burst, splattering the walls. Before
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anyone saw him take hold of it, Liam gripped the orb that had formed
Chengsi's core in his free hand. Her liquid metal body couldn't reform
without it.
"You found my core just like that?!"
Liam ignored Chengsi's surprise. When his Royal Guard finally
caught up to him, he tossed the core to the captain. "Regenerate her body,"
he ordered. "If this is the best she can do as a machine, she'll be better off
in an organic body."
Chengsi had given up everything to challenge Liam, yet he'd still
defeated her. She was fine with that, but she couldn't accept Liam's intent
to restore her original body. The outcome of their battle was only too clear,
and she didn't understand why he wouldn't simply kill her.
"Are you showing me mercy? Kill me! If you don't, I'll come back
for your life over and over again!"
"You're misunderstanding something. I'm keeping you alive for my
junior pupils' sake. You're not worth my time."
"Are you breaking your promise to me?" Chengsi wailed inside her
core. "I swear I'll be the one to kill you!"
Liam just laughed. "That's quite the joke. When you can't even beat
my junior pupils, how are you supposed to kill me? You can keep playing
with Riho and Fuka. In thirty years or so, Ellen can join in too."
His interest in Chengsi expended, he went over to Riho and Fuka.
"Explain why you couldn't beat her. Are you trying to give the Way
of the Flash a bad name? Huh?"
Riho and Fuka shrank under his criticism.
"W-we're sorry. It w-was only today we couldn't beat her," Riho
said.
"We kept leaving her alive so we could fight her again for practice,"
Fuka added. "W-we beat her a billion times. She just held her own this
time..."
Liam looked at them coldly as they made excuses. "It's back to
square one with you two."
All the pair could do was hang their heads in shame.
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***
Riho and Fuka had advanced less than I'd thought. I couldn't
believe they'd struggled against Chengsi. It made me embarrassed to be in
the same school as them, and I decided to make their training harsher
going forward.
Dressed in tank tops and leggings, they lay next to me, passed out.
They'd collapsed from exhaustion due to my training. I'd had Ellen
participate at the start too, but since she was still a novice, I let her finish
up early.
I sat cross-legged and meditated, continuing my mental training on
my own.
"I took those two under my wing, and they couldn't hold their own?
How can I face Master like this? I'm not happy that I struggled against that
small fry, either."
I thought back to the weakling who'd called himself a demon lord.
I'd almost wielded my favorite blade to finish him off, but in the end, I had
the Avid destroy him for me. I really should've ended things myself before
help even arrived. My own inability vexed me.
"How to cut an uncuttable enemy...? There must be a way."
At least, thanks to that battle, I'd learned there were adversaries that
couldn't be damaged by traditional physical or magical attacks. In that
case, I had to figure out a way to damage them. But where to start with
that? I suspected I'd figure something out eventually if I just kept training
hard. I didn't want it to take too long, though.
My attention had been drifting, so I focused once more, meditating
on how to cut something uncuttable. I couldn't be complacent about my
swordsmanship. As an evil lord, I could throw my weight around and goof
off all I liked. But when it came to the Way of the Flash, I needed to be all
business.
***
Finally freed from training with Liam, Riho and Fuka walked
through the mansion's grounds, using their wooden swords as canes. They
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hadn't undergone such harsh training since their days with Yasushi.
Riho looked close to tears. "H-he's a monster."
Fuka's whole body was screaming. She trembled all over. "We
should have killed him back when we had the chance. He said we'll be
training a while, so this won't end anytime soon."
The two had already attained full mastery of the Way of the Flash,
but Yasushi's senior pupil trained them so hard every day now, they had to
moan and complain to get through it. They already wished they could
abandon their training, but Liam planned to press ahead with it until he had
to return to the Capital Planet. All because they'd let Chengsi get the upper
hand.
They sank onto a bench.
"He should just go back to the Capital Planet now."
"Yeah. He still needs to finish his noble training or whatever, right?
Why'd he even come back here?"
Riho took out her tablet and checked the news. Almost every day
lately, there were reports of bureaucrats, knights, and soldiers being
executed for crimes like embezzlement. A lot of people had been disposed
of, their families banished.
"Wait a second. This article..." Riho trailed off.
"Wh-what is it?" Fuka asked, agonized.
Evidently, it wasn't just House Banfield experiencing turmoil.
***
"All of them were wiped out?"
In the Capital Planet's Imperial palace, Calvin listened to a report
from one of his allies, his eyes widening at the news.
The noble who'd delivered the report found it just as hard to believe.
"Y-yes! Every single spy we sent to House Banfield's domain failed to
report in. Everyone who supported Isaac or sought to pillage Liam's
territory was also disposed of."
"What about the traitors in Cleo's faction?"
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"They were removed from the faction on Liam's orders. Several
heads of house have gone missing."
When Calvin heard that Liam had disappeared due to summoning
magic, he'd used those people who responded hastily to the incident to
sow chaos in Liam's territory. He'd fed those impulsive parties
information, then sat back to watch them wreak havoc on their own.
Meanwhile, he'd harshly warned his own faction not to lay a hand on
House Banfield for the time being.
"Liam got the better of us. He really is fearless, to do this now."
"Your Highness?" The noble who'd brought the news didn't
understand what Calvin meant.
The crown prince resisted a sigh, explaining, "He waited until his
faction's numbers exploded before weeding out the bad seeds. If he'd
overlooked them, some fiasco would have befallen his territory. But the
fools took the bait, just like he expected, and he purged them from Cleo's
faction. It was just as I feared—a trap."
"Th-that was what he did? Then we—"
"We played right into his hands. Luckily, we kept our own faction
out of it, so our strength didn't suffer. Only Liam and those idiots lost out.
It could have been much worse," Calvin lied.
If they'd dared go for broke while Liam was gone, they might well
have dealt his domain a significant blow. My caution backfired.
In the end, Liam had eliminated every single one of Calvin's spies.
The crown prince would have a harder time gathering information now. It
could be worse, though. They'd at least avoided serious damage.
"Anyway, what happened to the fools who invaded Liam's
domain?" Calvin asked. "Could he really have killed them all? Isn't it
possible he took some as hostages?"
Nobles often took hostages in this kind of aristocratic conflict. That
was an intelligent strategy, since ransom money was far more useful than a
dead noble. However, Liam wasn't a typical noble.
"I believe Liam treated them as pirates and slaughtered them
mercilessly."
"All of them? He's so extreme. He'll just cause more trouble for
himself."
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Those dead nobles might have invaded his territory, but by reacting
so ruthlessly, Liam would make enemies of their families. Of course, if
their families managed to bring Liam down, that wouldn't be a bad thing
for Calvin.
"We can use this. Support those he's antagonized from now on."
"Your Highness, I have one more important thing to report," the
noble said awkwardly.
"What is it?"
"Well, relatives of the nobles Liam declared pirates do wish to join
your faction. They want to take Liam down."
"Wh-what...?"
"There's no one to lead all the nobles who hate Liam. So they...
well...they've declared that they're joining us."
"They think they can just decide that?!"
Calvin was furious. The dead nobles had committed blatant piracy
against another house. It would only hinder him if their families declared
support for him in retaliation, now that the tables had turned. Needless to
say, he had no intention of accepting the families into his faction. Still, if
they threw his name around without permission, that would be just as
troublesome.
Thanks to this incident, Liam's faction had purged many
shortsighted individuals. Those same shortsighted people now planned to
join him instead. Is Liam blessed by a god of luck, or am I cursed by a god
of misfortune? He really is a thorn in my side.
Calvin decided to take action before things could get any worse.
"Give me a list of all the nobles who have decided to join our faction. I
can't have them drag me down."
Dismissing the other man, he prepared to run himself ragged
addressing the trouble they were about to be in. It was a crucial moment,
and he was stuck sorting this mess out.
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