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Ruler Vol 6 Chapter 16

Author: Anit666

Editor: Weasalopes

【3rd person’s POV】

“They’re all dead?”

“Y-yes.”

“All of them? The entire organisation?”

“Yes, every single member of the Black Hand was annihilated.”

How is that possible? Baron Loit couldn’t understand it.

“Hmm…” He stroked his chin. “I want you to raise the security of this mansion. Also contact Greed Fingers and ask them to send reinforcements.”

I may need to contact her as well.

Black Hand was the top trafficking group in this country. It dealt in all sorts of creatures; humans, demihumans, demons, and even an elf. Of course, to maintain that position, they had to have some political connections, one of which was Baron Loit.

Baron Loit helped them continue their illegal activities by providing them information about raids and letting them cross checkpoints. In return the Black Hand had to provide money and women to him. Occasionally the Baron would fancy a woman he saw somewhere so the organisation would have to kidnap her and turn her to him.

Today was another such day. The Baron witnessed the most beautiful woman he had ever set his eyes upon in the market. The woman came out of nowhere yet swept the eyes of all the bystanders, men and women alike; it was as if a Goddess had descended.

The Baron was smitten in an instant and decided that he must have that woman at all costs, and with all haste, so he immediately sent men provided by the organisation after the woman. He resolved to keep the woman by his side for the rest of his life; she wouldn’t be a mere slave, but his wife.

By now, that blonde woman should have been in his bed, moaning and crying under his intense jerks, yet here he was receiving news that the organisation sent to retrieve her had been wiped out in its entirety.

Something had clearly gone wrong, but he could not point out what. What he could tell was that his life could be in danger, hence he had ordered for the security to be increased and asked for reinforcements from another organisation, the Greed Fingers. Greed Fingers was the largest drug cartel which he had connections with, and they were capable enough to protect him. He’ll have to return the favour, but that was cheap when compared to his life.

“I should be fine now…” He sighed.

All this thinking had made him exhausted, so it was time for some service.

Leaning back on his chair, he rang the bell to call his personal maid. However, no response came, so he rang the bell again, giving the same result one more time.

Now this, was unusual. His maid was a demihuman who had been made a slave of her carnal desires through precisely administered drugs. Someone as eager as her to get rewarded by her master couldn’t possibly resist his orders, so by now she should have been kneeling in front of him.

That’s when he noticed it; it was unusually quiet. It was a large mansion, with many maids, soldiers and workers, so one could usually hear all sorts of noises. However, the silence enveloping his office was so profound that he was sure he could hear his heart beating and blood flowing. That didn’t make sense.

He rang the bell again, and when no one answered, he stood up and circled around the desk. He wanted to know the situation, but was currently unsure whether to go out and check or stay here where he was safe.

Just then, he heard the click of his office’s door, and heaved a sigh of relief. His maid must have arrived.

“Here you are-” However, he stopped the moment the door opened.

“Oh? Thanks for the warm welcome.” The invader smiled.

The one who had entered was a woman with black hairs tied into a ponytail, bright blue eyes with a pair of spectacles adorning them.

“You are!”

And it was someone the Baron recognised. It was the woman who was with the woman he had sent the men after. He was right; the annihilation of the Black Hand had something to do with these two women.

“Ah, finally someone who recognises me.” The woman scoffed with a face dyed crimson. “As you can see, I’m Serasta La Graes, and I’ll be taking care of you today.”

“S-Serasta?! Do you mean that Serasta?!” Baron Loit shrieked.

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

“Uh… what? So you didn’t know that I was Serasta?” She rolled her eyes.

“P-please do not kill me! I’ll give you money, I’ll give you anything you want!” The Baron was already wetting his pants while slowly stepping backwards.

And why wouldn’t he? There was no human alive who wasn’t familiar with the name ‘Serasta La Graes’. That demon was notorious for being a human hunter. Death followed wherever she went. She had destroyed numerous villages and towns, so she had been designated as a national threat.

“Can you bring back my child?” Serasta crossed her arms.

“Urk!” He grunted. “I-I can hire the best priests and magicians! If I give them enough money, they will research resurrection magic to revive your child!”

“I already tried that, but it didn’t work.” She pursed her lips. “Apparently, a person can be revived only within 2 days of their death, and I was a bit late.”

“Hueh! P-please, we can negotiate. R-right! I can help you in killing the other humans! Just spare me and my family.”

The Baron was already at his desk by now, while Serasta, who had been following his steps, was standing in the middle of the room.

“Unfortunately for you, I already have a helper. So yeah, you’re going to die today.”

“Wait, no, please-hah!” Suddenly the Baron dived to his right, just behind his desk and pressed a button.

Immediately, a large magical formation appeared with Serasta as the centre.

Oh? She could feel her mana being sealed, thus turning her magic useless.

Vines popped out from the formation and bound her legs, while the 6 suits of armour decorating the walls of the office moved with a clatter and surrounded her, their swords pointing at her neck, and she raised her hands.

“Hah!” Baron Loit scoffed. “Not so high and mighty now, are we?” He pulled himself from behind the desk, but did not dare to approach Serasta.

This was a defence mechanism installed in his office by the Black Hand. With just a push of a button installed under his desk, a magic formation would appear, entrapping the intruders and sucking away their mana which in turn would power 6 autonomous suits of armour which could follow simple verbal commands.

Any group invading a noble’s mansion would be sure to have a mage in it. This formation would sap the mana out of everyone while effectively weakening their mage thus breaking their formation. The assault of the armours would then crush them.

And that’s precisely how it had happened till now.

“A nice toy you have there.” Serasta commented while scrutinising the suits of armour.

“Toy? Hahahaha, this has sealed your magic, so you cannot do anything!”

“You’re right about that. Without my magic, I’m as weak as a normal human.”

“Right-”

“But that reminds me, you have a son, don’t you, Baron Loit?”

“Eh?” Colour drained from his face at the mention of his son.

His only son was 17 years old and was his pride and joy. That son was the only good thing his useless wife had given to him, and the Baron loved him dearly.

“This is your son, isn’t he?” Serasta grinned as a large ball of blood appeared from the open door.

It was floating in the air and stopped in front of the Baron. He looked inside, and while the crimson of the blood made it difficult to look inside, he could see a young man banging on the walls of the ball from its inside.

“Num!”

Of course, the man was none other than his son. He whacked the ball, but the seemingly frail ball was as sturdy as a thick metal shield.

“Now.” Serasta clapped to get his attention. “Why don’t we play a game?”

“G-game?”

“Yes! We’ll both order our weapons to attack at the same, which would be these toys for you and that ball for me. The faster one would be the winner. For your information, I can crush that ball faster than you can blink. So-”

“Wait, wait, wait! Anything but that!”

“Oh? But with these knights, you don’t leave me any other choice, do you?” She tilted her head.

“Then I just need to get them to step back-”

“Ah, but if you do that, I’ll kill you.” She stroked her chin. “That is my mission after all.”

“W-why…?”

“Sorry, I cannot answer that. So now choose. It’s either your life, or your son’s. This is non-negotiable, so one of you is going to die. Of course, you have my word that the other one will live.”

“But that’s…” His voice trailed off as he couldn’t think of what to do.

Right, there truly was nothing he could do. The one in front of him was none other than Serasta La Graes, the cruellest and vilest demon this world had seen. She would make sure to follow through her word.

He could try to kill her using his knights, but his son would be dead by then, so he couldn’t risk that.

He could stall for time until reinforcements from Greed Fingers arrived- no, that wouldn’t work either. He wasn’t sure whether they would be able to deal with a monster like her, so he couldn’t risk that either.

In the end, he was left with only one choice.

“Oh?” Serasta raised her eyebrows as the knights stepped back to their former positions and the formation disappeared.

“Please… kill me… and let my son go…” Baron Loit muttered as he fell onto his knees.

There was a certain serenity in his eyes, gained after accepting his death- no, after sacrificing his life for his own flesh and blood.

“I like that.” Serasta smiled as she walked towards him. “As a bonus, I’ll release your son before your eyes.”

“…Thank you.” The Baron smiled bitterly; might as well see his son for one last time before dying.

Serasta nodded and approached the ball. She pulled back her hand, and thrust it into the ball at great speed, pulling something out. She held it in her hand for some moments, then threw it in front of the Baron.

“Here.”

“Ah, ahhhhhhhhhh, no, why, but, aaahh, you said that you wouldn’t do it!” He sputtered and screamed as he took the head of his son into his hands.

“Pfft! Hahahahahahahaha!” Serasta burst out laughing. “Did you truly think that I, Serasta La Graes, would let a human live? Hahahahahaa, what an idiot!”

The Baron couldn’t believe his ears and eyes. He wanted it to be a lie; he wanted all of it to be a lie, but the lifeless eyes of that head staring into his were a testament that this was, in fact, reality.

“Y-you, you, you, you, you lied to me!” He hollered as tears streamed down his eyes.

He immediately went to press the button again, but his hand didn’t feel anything there. He looked at it, only to see that the button was missing.

“Did you think I would fall for the same trick twice?”

“Aaaaaaarrgggghhh! Num! My son!” He cried as he embraced the head of his son.

“Ahh, this is it.” A wide manic grin spread across her face as she started squirming. “This taste of despair that Lord Hayden was talking about, I love it. He was right; it was wrong to just kill the humans. I… could get addicted to this.”

Oh, right. Serasta was so intoxicated by pleasure that she almost forgot her mission, but managed to pull herself at the right time.

“Now.” She licked the blood on her thumb and beamed. “It’s your turn.”