At Aulus's order, the sixty auxiliary guards already in formation clashed with Septimus's sixty private clone guards.
The fight began suddenly, and the private clone guards, using their experience as gladiators, engaged the auxiliary guards with their gladii.
In just over ten minutes, both sides suffered losses. The private clone guards had experience as gladiators, but in Roman formation fighting they were at a slight disadvantage. Likewise, gladiator combat relied on excessive and flashy movements that were less efficient on a battlefield.
On the other hand, the sixty auxiliary guards did not have much of an advantage either. In individual combat they could not defeat the clone guards, and their formation advantage gradually eroded as the clone guards adapted to that style of fighting.
After a little more than twenty minutes, the auxiliary guards' formation broke, and the clone guards began their charge.
Thanks to skills learned in hundreds of fights in the underground arena, the clone guards were accustomed to killing by any dirty means necessary.
The clone guards began slaughtering the panicked auxiliary guards with ease, as if they were unarmed civilians.
Seeing this, Aulus turned pale. He had never imagined that this young man and these people would be so bold as to attack and kill his auxiliary guards. He was a prefect and was carrying out his duty.
Realizing the situation was irreversible, Aulus knew this man intended to rebel, so he prepared to flee.
When Aulus mounted a horse, ten clone soldiers took horses brought by other clones and began the pursuit. Since matters had reached this point, Septimus had no intention of showing mercy.
In the worst-case scenario, he would rebel. In a few months, with Consul Marius dying of old age, Consul Cinna would launch an even more intense witch hunt against Sulla's supporters.
If Septimus were forced into a dead end, he could rebel and seize Capua. With his ability to easily generate clones, he could assemble a completely loyal army and hold out in the Campania region.
The ten clone guards pursued Prefect Aulus and managed to intercept him after riding twenty kilometers. With a slash of a gladius, one of the clone guards killed Aulus's horse, causing him to fall hard to the ground.
The clone guards surrounded Aulus.
Aulus staggered to his feet, dazed, seeing his horse dead and himself encircled.
"What are you doing? I am a prefect—you are defying Rome!" Aulus shouted cowardly.
"To hell with Rome," one of the clones said, staring coldly at Aulus.
As they approached with malice, they dismembered Aulus's body before decapitating him and mounting his head on a spear to take back to the villa.
Septimus knew his actions would bring serious consequences, so it was time to bare his fangs. The nearest legions to Capua were three days away on a forced march, and the closest force was five thousand men under the admiral of Campania. Those troops were tasked with protecting the region from pirates and were trained for naval combat; only half were considered marine infantry and could be deployed.
With the situation now set, Septimus ordered the battlefield cleared. He had lost twenty-six clone soldiers and taken thirty-two prisoners. With a gesture of his hand, the clone soldiers killed them amid screams and pleas. Septimus was not one to show mercy to his enemies.
At the same time, three hundred clone soldiers left the villa and headed for Gaius's ludus. Septimus was not going to let that man get away with it; he had to pay a blood price with his own blood.
Septimus also sent clones to buy more armor and weapons. Before the situation became widely known, he planned to form a full legion of clones.
After assigning tasks, Septimus returned to the villa under the nervous gazes of the beautiful slave women, who were full of questions but did not dare to ask.
A red-haired slave woman with a well-proportioned body nervously looked at Septimus and gathered her courage.
"Dominus, one of the sisters heard shouting outside—the prefect accusing you," the slave said with a hint of panic.
Septimus understood. It was when Aulus had been shouting at the clone guards that a nearby slave must have heard. The prefect of Capua was also their administrator and represented Rome, so it was understandable that the slaves were so worried.
In Septimus's villa, aside from attending to Septimus's physical needs and doing household tasks, the slave women performed no other labor and endured no humiliation from the clone guards, who kept their distance and only helped with tasks requiring strength. Moreover, Septimus treated them kindly, as if they were his own women.
For these slaves, having a master like Septimus was a blessing from all the gods, and they feared losing their way of life.
If Septimus were taken away and judged by the prefect of Capua, they would lose the good life they had. That was why, though she was a slave and knew Septimus was good and tolerant toward them, the red-haired slave dared to ask.
Septimus looked at her and, responding to her soft cry, embraced her, grabbing her hips and looking her in the eyes.
"You are my woman and my slave. You don't need to worry about anything else—you only need to serve me," Septimus said seriously as he kissed her forehead.
The slave nodded quickly while in Septimus's arms.
The other slaves remained silent and also nodded at Septimus's words without asking further questions. They understood that Septimus would not harm them and treated them like his women, though they still retained the status of slaves.
With the slave in his arms, Septimus grabbed a second slave at random and headed to the room. He was going to vent some of his fury through sex.
Meanwhile, Gaius's ludus turned into hell.
The three hundred clone guards advanced and launched a direct attack without making noise or shouting.
At first, the guards at the ludus gate believed they were auxiliary guards from the prefect coming to deliver the results of Septimus's judgment. But when they saw their comrades being attacked, they fell into shock.
Two hundred clone guards entered the ludus and unleashed a massacre against the guards, gladiators, and slaves of the ludus.
The screams grew louder, and the smell of blood permeated the entire place.
Two clone guards dragged Gaius along while the other clone guards killed the slaves, along with Gaius's wife and children, with a single slash of the sword.
"Who are you? Damn you, you've made a mistake—I'm a friend of the prefect!" Gaius shouted in pain as he heard the screams of his wife and children.
He still did not understand who these people were or why they were attacking him. The shock of the massacre of his entire ludus overwhelmed him, and he could not process the death of his family, believing it to be a nightmare.
Seeing him in that state, the clone soldiers brought the heads of his wife and children close to Gaius, forcing him to see the expressions of terror frozen on their faces at the moment of death.
Gaius stared at the heads in horror, unable to understand whether this was a nightmare.
"In the name of Septimus Novius, the Impaler of Heads, I send you my regards. In your next life, pray to your gods not to offend my lord," the clone soldier said as he cut off Gaius's arms and legs.
After hearing the clone soldier's words, before Gaius could process them, he felt intense pain as his arms and legs were severed. One of the clones waited ten minutes until he bled out, then cut off Gaius's head.
Septimus planned to forge a name for himself and proclaim himself the Impaler of Heads. He also planned to adopt a motto and personalize a banner using cheap colors in Rome, such as gray, black, brown, and red.