The assistant swallowed hard and forced himself to speak. "T-the staff said… the board decided not to associate with House Roose. They said… our presence was no longer required."
Richard laughed.
It was sharp, dry, and filled with disbelief.
"No longer required?" he repeated softly.
His eyes darkened.
House Roose was a Marquis household. One of the Empire's pillars. A family that had bled for the throne. And now a mere company thought it could discard them like trash?
His laughter stopped abruptly.
Richard's gaze drifted toward the massive glass windows overlooking the city. From this height, Arcadia Metropolis looked orderly and calm, completely unaware of the storm brewing beneath its polished surface.
"They refused to meet me, huh!"
"Then let's see if they can refuse me again after I kill them."
The loud noise attracted everyone, and soon his own guards tried to calm him down.
"Your Heir, please control yourself."
Richard felt overwhelmed, but the anger burning in his heart due to the sudden refusal blinded him.
"What the hell is this? How can you all cancel the meeting out of nowhere?"
"Is this you people behaving without a shred of civil ethics?"
Roose decided to make the matter big and push the other side, since someone had looked down upon him so much.
Hearing this, the head knight's expression turned chilly.
"Heir, think carefully. If you don't stop making a scene, then I promise you that the electricity provided to your region will be cut and Apollo Innovations is going to put heavy restrictions on you."
Richard's expression faltered as the speech served as a death sentence. It was enough to shake the entire economy of his estate.
Gritting his teeth, he glared at the group of men and asked, "Why?"
"Why are you doing this suddenly?"
"Because you offended someone you shouldn't have."
A cold voice echoed in the hallway.
The air in the plaza became heavy, and the atmospheric pressure spiked so sharply that everyone felt frost starting to fall.
Richard snapped his head and saw a man walking towards them casually with his hands in his pockets.
"And who the hell are you?" he roared.
"Sir, you should calm down. As a noble, don't you know that a noble should maintain a certain decorum?"
Richard's expression changed, and his mana burst out with a violent, golden blur that shattered the sound barrier.
"Decency is for the weak!" Richard hissed, his voice echoing from three places at once as he materialized before the man.
"No, stoooop!"
His men shouted as Richard grabbed the man by the throat, shoving him to the side wall and slamming him brutally.
The impact was so violent that a part of the reinforced concrete wall was pulverized, forming a huge dent.
BANGGGG!
The wall blasted with a crackling sound as he grabbed the man's throat and glared.
"You dare teach me manners..." Richard laughed wildly.
"I am the Son of Marquise... Even the Princes treat me with respect, yet you, a street dog, barked at me."
The guards from the Marquise estate were really terrified, fearing Richard might kill the man who tried to intervene.
"Young Lord, please stop.."
"Yes, please stop it.." the staff from Apollo also pleaded, which irked Richard.
"Stop... If you don't want to clean the corpse, then quickly inform the Apollo Innovation head to meet me." He roared, pulling back his head to point at them, only to find blood splattering over his face.
He paused for a moment as a sudden sense of weightlessness struck him.
His arm felt light, weightless... No, not just weightless, he couldn't even feel his arm.
He looked back, and his jaw hit the floor.
The man who rested against the wall looked at him casually with a hand grabbing the throat, cut from the elbow, and said, "I will give you a moment."
The man leaned against the wall with a loose posture, looked up. In his right hand, he idly tossed a severed limb that was still twitching, severed cleanly at the elbow.
"I'll give you a moment," he said, his voice a low, terrifying calm. "To say goodbye."
"MOVE!"
The hand... It was none other than Richard's.
Richard stared at his own hand and stepped back, trembling in pain and shock.
The next moment, a horrendous scream erupted from his lips.
"GYAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"MY HANDDDDD!"
"ARGHHHH!"
Richard rolled on the ground in deep pain and agony, clutching his cut arm.
"I am warning you. Shut up!"
"No, Sir Jules, stop.. You can't.." the staff screamed in horror.
"You dar-" Before Richard could finish his words, a hoarse sound akin to a nail hitting a coffin emerged.
BAAAAMMM!
Something invisible passed through Richard, and his body was split apart into two.
"Kyaaa!"
"Noo!"
"Young Lord!"
"Master!"
The servants from the Marquise roared in shock and horror.
Just as everyone was panicking, a voice echoed behind Jules.
"Did you really think it was over?"
SWISSSHHH!
Soon countless figures of Richard appeared, filling the room.
"Huh! No wonder I couldn't find the Mystic core when I cut.."
The several Richards filling the entire passage cast a deadly gaze at Jules. "Do you think you can kill each one of us easily?"
"I can copy as many as I want, and none of them are weaker than my original self. I will exhaust you and then slowly wring you dry and then kill you, hahaha."
Richard laughed wildly.
The sudden turn of events literally shocked everyone out of their wits.
The staff of Apollo even grumbled and looked at the servants of the Marquise with disgust.
'Since you knew your Master could create multiple bodies, then what was the act earlier?'
However, they didn't have the time to think about this and started to turn around and leave, startling the servants.
"Hey.. Where are you going?" the Knights asked in shock, to which one of the staff patted the man on the back.
He opened his lips to say something but then shook his head.
"Haaa... Let's not make it worse."
....
Meanwhile, Richard released his strong killing intent, locking Jules in a cage, pressing from all sides, trying to crush him.
"I have to give it to you. You aren't an ordinary joey, but so what?"
"Last time you took me out due to a mistake, but this time... Hahhaa." Richard laughed wildly, which made Jules sigh.
Richard's smile disappeared at the unexpected reaction.
"What happened?"
"Others might see this as a great Mystic ability, but do you know what I see?"
"What?"
"I just see several more ways for a person to suffer and experience death."
Richard's expression turned ugly, and he roared, "Shut up and DIEE!"
Following his call, several figures shot out towards Jules, trying to crush him down.
In an instant, several figures around Jules shot their fists.
Jules tilted his head and moved his body to dodge while interlocking his fingers.
The next moment, a low, raspy voice erupted.
"DISMANTLE!"
As soon as the words echoed, his aura finally unfurled. It wasn't a burst of power; it was an abyss. It swallowed the midday sun, turning the district into a monochrome nightmare.
CRUNGGGG!
For a moment, the entire world seemed to cease. Everything came to a standstill, and for Richard, in this paused world, his squinted eyes started to widen in absolute horror because in the next instant—
BOOOOOOOOOOOMN!
A crushing force erupted, exploding everything within a certain periphery.