Chapter 78: Sons of Helios Part 5

Gar stiffly walked to the chair and sat. He tried his best to not show his shaking hands, but it was clear that he was feeling the pressure of the monster in front of him.

“Have you been here long, Sir?”

“Sir?” the skulled-mask monster guffawed. “Not going to call me, monster?”

“Did you hear?” he asked.

“The Alician family rules this city, huh, or is it the whole of this Empire? I thought it was odd that a noble is working as a courier for a gang of thugs—who knew that those gangs of thugs are controlled by an order of knights. How the mighty and honorable have fallen. Even this world cannot escape the fall of chivalry.”

The skulled-mask monster had his face turned into something worse. The complicated expression of the monster left him wondering what did he discovered while searching. Gar couldn’t understand why the stolid face of that monster turned odd.

Gar didn’t need to think about anything else. He might not have that of a good relationship with family, but family was family, and he would never wish them harm. He thought of himself as a man and as a man, he would put his foot down and stare at the monster that might slaughter his family. There was no need for cowardice at this moment.

“Please spare my family,” he pleaded with sincerity. “They are good people, and they do not deserve slaughter for my sins.”

The skulled-mask man stared at him with unblinking eyes. “You think that I would slaughter everyone who doesn’t deserve it? You mistake me. I had searched for your crimes and found none. Your family have done good deeds and are against the labor of children. Ah, do you think that I kill before asking? I do not kill people for the sake of blind justice. I gather the facts and then figure out who needs to be punished. But you are guilty of association. I won’t murder you, but you must atone for the sins of helping such degenerates. I figured out that they were doing this to have control over the districts. It made sense now why a great empire would let these thugs roam around freely. They were backed up by noble houses and knight orders. Tell me, would you help me or should I cripple you as punishment instead?”

“That’s too little of a choice!”

“So you prefer being beaten down like a dog?”

Gar shuddered. He dug his nails on his palms.

“As long as it doesn’t betray my family or those who are allied with my family.”

“You are pushing your luck too much,” the skulled-mask man said. “The Alician family is a house that has control over most districts. Tell me, why would I let them go, knowing, that they had their symbols on the thugs that I kill? A bastard from the Sons of Helios told me that they are the one that should because of the suffering. They might be doing this for the greater good — but I will tell you now that I cannot easily let them go.”

“You’ll fail,” Gar said with confidence. “As long as the blessed maiden moves then you’d be dead.”

“I heard of this blessed maiden,” the skulled-mask man said. “I will find a way to deal with her — but I am confident that I can find a way to defeat her.

Gar continued to look at him as if he was a dead man. Hearing that there was someone so brazen enough to think he could take on the slayer of the Overlord of Demons was a big joke to Gar’s ears.

Gar thought how reasonable and unreasonable this monster was. But he felt his heart calm down after knowing that his family wouldn’t suffer because of his actions.

Gar was about to accept the conditions of the monster in front of him. The door was kicked open. “Get down!” shouted a voice.

Gar dived down immediately after hearing that voice. The monster glanced calmly at the person who kicked the door down and readied an extremely terrible weapon.

“I call the Pale Sword of Zachariah. Through blood and flesh; through sacrifice and courage; let this blade shall cut through its enemies."

The skulled-mask man’s body was suddenly covered by obsidian-like flesh. He took a step forward with his right foot, conjured a gauntlet of flesh, and jabbed on the sword’s hilt. The sword’s tip was pointed up, and in turn, the skulled-mask man thrust his other arm and palmed the sword wielder right on the stomach.

“Ah!” the sword wielder had his back thrown on the wall. He threw up a mouthful of blood as he slides down helplessly.

“Sleep for a while,” the skulled-mask man said as he pivots his leg to knock out the sword wielder.

“You will stop right there!”

A rifle shot the back of the skulled-mask man. He staggered for a bit but was fast enough to react against the attack.

“A familiar strike, yet a bit improved?” he said while grabbing the wrist of the attacker, and levered her arm on his shoulder, throwing her out of the way and following it with a quick stomp on the diaphragm. Her eyes rolled back as she stops moving.

“You bastard!” shouted the sword wielder.

The sword wielder tried to swing the sword at the man’s neck. But the skulled-mask man parried the sword wielder’s wrist with a left backhand and followed it with choke slam that immediately whitened the eyes of the sword wielder.

Gar couldn’t even react. He only saw that his brother, Cero, and his fiancee, Lady Nia Alician was done in with a flourish of moves.

The skulled-mask man’s arm was cracked. But he could tell that it was an easy battle. He had seen that sword move and the way they fought once. He had always believed that his brother and Lady Nia was a good fighter. But the monster had beaten them.

“How did you?”

“Experience, painful experience has made me strong. Even I won’t lose to you, greenhorns. But it looks they gathered enough attention. I see. Do you like watching me that much, shadow?”

This time the skulled-mask drew out a pistol from his holster. The shadow hiding in the shadows fell down as blood poured from her side. She seems to be out cold.

“Wait for me in the tower,” the skulled-mask man said. His silhouette disappearing from Gar’s sight.