“Hmph — !”
A cold snort echoed from the other side of the manor’s front courtyard.
Everyone’s gaze instantly focused on the source.
Upon a pile of collapsed ruins, the Western Commander, Zane, was gently stroking the longsword in his hand.
His once-crisp commander’s uniform was now tattered in several places and stained with blood.
A few scratches marred his face, but the madness and hatred in his eyes burned more intensely than the surrounding flames.
Only a few equally scarred officers remained by his side.
Clearly, they had gained no advantage in the previous battle against Earl Harris and his group.
“Just as expected, a bunch of useless trash…”
Zane’s gaze shifted toward Mephia and Tia, and he pulled his lips into a twisted smile.
“So many people, such a wide net, and yet they couldn’t even keep you here.”
“I originally intended to gather evidence to indict you, but it seems that won’t be necessary now,” Mephia replied indifferently.
Earl Harris stepped forward, faintly shielding Tia behind him.
“Zane, the City Guards from the East and North Districts have already appeared at the street corners. Your Rebel Army is scattering, and these monsters won’t last much longer. The situation is settled. Do you still intend to put up a desperate struggle?”
“The situation is settled?”
Zane repeated those four words, then suddenly threw his head back and erupted into a hoarse, frenzied laugh.
The sound echoed through the courtyard littered with corpses, sending chills down everyone’s spines.
“Haha… Hahaha! Old man, you always have that look as if you’re in control of everything!”
The laughter stopped abruptly.
Zane’s face was now filled with nothing but venomous resentment and a suicidal determination.
He suddenly reached into his coat and pulled out a Pulsing Heart.
The Pulsing Heart was only about the size of a fist, throbbing irregularly.
Its surface was covered in a dark red membrane, emitting a sinister glow.
Simply looking at it caused Tia’s soul to feel a sense of discomfort and pollution.
Zane stared fixedly at Earl Harris.
The last traces of humanity in his eyes were rapidly extinguished, swallowed by pure desire and madness.
“Even if I can’t take Hela City today, I’ll still kill you! I’ll make you and your precious daughter be buried with me!”
Before he finished speaking, under everyone’s horrified gazes, he unhesitatingly shoved the Pulsing Heart into his wide-open mouth!
In the next moment, his body underwent a terrifying transformation.
His uniform was torn into rags, hanging off white bone plates that grew from his skin.
His flesh turned a wet, crimson shade, and thick black veins pulsed visibly.
His arms mutated into asymmetrical, giant claws covered in sharp bone spurs.
Most horrifying was his head, which grew jagged horns like a Demon, and his eyes turned completely black, with no whites remaining.
He stood there, a 3-meter-tall distorted torso rising and falling with his breath.
Every exhale released a foul stench mixed with blood mist.
His Magic Power surged, reaching the peak of Silver Grade and even faintly touching the threshold of Gold Rank.
The invisible hurricane of Magic Power caused the surrounding flames to twist like a cyclone.
However, Earl Harris merely watched the hideous monster quietly.
There was no fear in his eyes, only a high-and-mighty indifference and a touch of mockery.
“Hmph, foolish.”
He stared at the monster and said coldly, “Do you think selling your flesh to a Demon will allow you to kill me? Zane, you are too naive.”
“Nai… ve…?”
Whatever remained of Zane’s will seemed to understand the words.
He opened his maw, and foul saliva dripped down, corroding the ground.
“Kill… kill you!”
His hind limbs kicked off the ground, and his massive body exploded with a terrifying speed that defied its size, lunging straight for Earl Harris!
This strike carried the full Power of a peak Silver Grade, enough to turn the entire manor into ruins!
However, just as he was halfway through his leap, a figure stepped out from beside the Earl.
It was the middle-aged soldier who had been standing by Earl Harris’s side from the very beginning.
He drew the longsword from his waist and simply held the blade horizontally in front of him.
*Clang — !*
The roar of the impact resounded as the claws struck the longsword.
Zane’s forward momentum came to a dead stop as if he had hit an invisible wall.
Then, his massive body flew backward even faster than he had come, plowing a trench several meters long through the rubble.
The monster Zane was embedded in the ground, his pure black pupils trembling violently.
He struggled to stand, but the bone plates on his chest were already covered in fine cracks.
The horrific injuries made it nearly impossible for him to control his body.
“How… how is this possible?!”
Filled with unbelievable confusion, he cried out in terror, “This… this is Power close to Gold Rank!”
The East Commander slowly lowered his longsword.
From start to finish, his expression had not changed, as if he had merely swatted away a bothersome fly.
“The Earl saw your treacherous heart long ago, Zane.”
He looked up, his gaze falling on Zane with a hint of a sigh.
“If not for the sake of our many years of friendship, you would never have become the Western Commander.”
Silence fell over the courtyard for a brief moment.
Then, Zane laughed.
He struggled desperately to crawl up from the ground.
The laughter was extremely hoarse and intermittent, like the final screams of a dying man.
“Heh, hehe… Hahaha…”
His voice suddenly stopped snarling and became strangely calm, like a final flash of lucidity before death.
He took step after step toward Earl Harris.
“Harris… even if I die… I will curse you. I curse you to a death without a whole…”
The final word remained forever trapped in his throat.
The East Commander had appeared before him at some unknown point, swinging his sword to sever the head.
Without its head, the monster Zane’s body instantly stiffened and collapsed, losing all signs of life.
The East Commander retracted his sword and stepped back, returning to Earl Harris’s side like a shadow.
Earl Harris shifted his gaze away from the lifeless, twisted corpse.
His voice regained its usual composure as he spoke to the East Commander.
“Go. Take the men into the city and wipe out all the other Experimental Subjects. Then, investigate who Zane’s accomplices were. Once you find them, do not bother with an interrogation—kill them immediately.”
As he spoke, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.
“Yes, Master.”
The East Commander bowed his head, and his figure quickly vanished into the night, with the other officers silently following.
In that moment, a brief tranquility returned to the courtyard.
Zane’s rebellion seemed like nothing more than a farce.
Earl Harris slowly turned around.
His gaze landed on Tia, who had been standing quietly to the side.
Aside from indifference, there was a lingering coldness in his eyes.
“Tia, can you tell me where you went tonight?”
Tia’s breath hitched slightly.
She could feel the anger simmering within Earl Harris.
She hesitated for a long time, her voice tight as she tried to speak.
“I…”
“I took her out of the city.”
Mephia interrupted her, drawing Earl Harris’s attention.
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