by Jason Hale
"And I am beyond the boundaries of greatness!"
Ilaina stared slack-jawed at that outrageous display of impudence. And seeing her waste time in pointless staring, Konnor decided to take the bull by the horns, hauled her on his shoulder, and pulled her back toward her quarters.
"What are you doing?"
"I know I'm a fantastic specimen, but I can't afford to have you waste time in bewildered stares when I have smooches to get."
"Since you're so concerned about face, I will have to rearrange our deal to receive and give!"
"Wait, wait…"
But wait he would not. And so, Ilaina was dragged back to her bed and pulled into a consuming session of smooches!
"Mhm…not there…!"
…
Time flew by in a flash, and Konnor's body was now covered with red lipstick marks while Ilaina's was full of hickeys at unchaste spots.
"How can I face my dad like this…"
She complained with her flushed cheeks held within her palms.
"Just tell him that you've been marked by his future son in law."
Defeated, Ilaina could only rearrange herself and prepare for the imminent departure.
The Empress had granted them an escort of four royal ladies at the middle stages of the Arch-Knight rank. Naturally, that escort wasn't meant merely for her protection, but also as an additional show of goodwill toward Count Wolfgang, her father.
With the descent of night, the group departed from the imperial palace through a teleportation circle. At the gate, a luxurious red and gold carriage driven by a head eunuch awaited.
They embarked, with Konnor making sure to keep the flushed Ilaina pressed against his chest.
"We…are not…alone."
She whispered in a mental message.
"Glad to see you know where your priorities lie."
He replied in kind.
"In any case, once we get to your family's mansion, you won't have to worry about my misdeeds for quite some time."
Hearing that, a stinging sense of loss burst within Ilaina's chest and her struggles collapsed.
…
With forty million citizens and six thousand square miles, the Holy Flame City was the largest of the Holy Continent and perhaps even of the entire Ancient Crystal World. Yet, not everyone had the means to put a roof above their heads. In fact, with commoners being unable to own land, they had to rent whatever dwelling they possessed from either nobles or the imperial court.
The latter being the primary source of commoner lodgings within the Holy Flame City. Commoners and slaves constituted the two lowest social classes and had drastically different statuses. Commoners could choose to be servants, but slaves only had that option.
Humans were the primary source of slaves within the Holy Continent. Their status within the three empires and twenty-eight kingdoms that composed the Holy Continent was meager. They were either waiters, housekeepers, farm workers or prostitutes.
With the latest being the most lucrative option. Commoners, on the contrary, had the right to own a business which they could operate by renting space from the authorities or some noble.
For that reason, having a half-human bloodline had always been a source of great mockery for Ilaina among children of nobility.
As for human nobles…in the hundred thousand years long existence of the Holy Flame Empire, while more than one powerful human eunuch or maid had appeared, not one human noble house had managed to establish itself.
All potential in that area was squashed in the cradle. But within the Barbarian continent, the situation was radically different.
The carriage moved past the streets at moderate speed, the horses carrying it spared of rough handling.
But while Ilaina subconsciously snuggled against Konnor's chest, large scalding spears of golden flames flew from the shadows and shot toward the carriage! Konnor's demonic instincts kicked in, pulling him into awareness and causing him to kick open the door to carry Ilaina out of harm's way in a rapid leap.
The four Arch-Knight royal ladies were faster, summoned their energy swords coated in a variety of elemental powers, and flew to meet the flame spears.
*BOOM*
The deafening noise created by the collision sent the carriage spiraling into the air and the poor horses and head eunuch to violently crash onto the ground with eruptions of blood and a fatal fate.
"Again? Negligent. I was negligent."
Konnor rebuked himself as they landed on the ground. The situation had just settled within Ilaina who stared at the repelled court ladies with horror.
"Golden flames...the second division of the Holy Flame Knight Order? I don't understand…Why?"
As the highest power of the Holy Flame Empire, the Holy Flame Church was composed of more than priests. They possessed their own personal knight order trained in four different elemental flames that made up for four divisions. The White Flame, the Golden Flame, the Blue Flame, and the Innate Flame. Each possessed its own unique ability, and each represented a division of the Holy Flame Knight Order.
Without a shred of doubt, the attack came from the second division. But why? This time Ilaina didn't believe that the Holy Consort had anything to do with this.
But she would get no answer. Five armored figures emerged from the shadows, illuminating the night sky with the golden flames swirling around their forms, and carrying great flaming swords which they hurled at the royal ladies baring their paths.
The elemental affinity and aura bursting from their form made their Arch-Knight status evident. More precisely, three were mid-level Arch Knights while two were of the high-level. Konnor wasted no time to bolt alongside Ilaina.
It was impossible for the royal ladies to hold them back for long…if they could even hold them back.
And although they were confused by the sudden, harmful appearance of members of the Holy Flame Church, the ladies didn't waste time in idle chatter and met their assailants with their elemental swords.
Alas, one of the two high-level Arch Knights managed to slip through and pursued the pair at breakneck speed.
They didn't have time to cross two blocks before the blazing figure of the two meters tall Arch-Knight stood in front of them.
Konnor quickly assessed the perimeter, as far as the eye could see, there was no living soul. There never was in cases like these.
At his back, the royal ladies had already fallen, and the remaining Arch-Knights were breaching the distance toward them. That was to be expected. Although their cultivation was high, those ladies spent all their time within the inner court while those men were trained warriors used to work in tandem. The power gap was enormous.
"My family doesn't have any enmity with the church. Why target me?!"
Ilaina snarled with soaring rage and hatred. She was almost there, so close to returning to the warmth of home. But those hateful creatures had reared their heads and shattered her dreams.
Why?
"You don't need to know. You only need to follow us, and no harm will befall you."
"As for the pretty boy by your side, he can only blame himself for being at the wrong place, at the wrong time."
The knight facing them stated, and his words caused Ilaina to despair.
Konnor, however, was surprisingly calm. His gaze went beyond the knights at their back and locked on the four royal ladies that now laid lifeless in a pool of their own blood.
Once he confirmed they were indeed dead, and that no undesirable witness remained, he heaved a sigh of relief. But to Ilaina's ears, it seemed more like a sorrowful one.
"Konnor I'm…so sorry."
"Sorry for what? If anyone should be sorry, it's them."
All traces of apprehension vanished from his gaze, and he stared at his assailants as if facing dead meat.
"You really should have just let us leave. But hey, we should all be free to choose the date of our deaths. And since you've so crudely chosen yours, I absolutely don't mind seeing you off."
"Awaken and bring them all to their knees, Man-Breaker!"
He stretched out his hand, and from the whirlwind of violet flames emerged a terrifying jet-black war hammer engraved with purple veins that glittered with extreme demonic might.
And as soon as it appeared, boundless suppression force crashed onto the Arch-Knights, and as if gravity had increased by a thousandfold, it pressed them all onto their knees in a resounding thud.
Chapter 32 - Hidden Dragon
Konnor clasped his hands around Man-Breaker, his lineage weapon and locked its enormous suppression force on the assailants. His eyes shone with purple light while his body bathed in violet flames. But although the scene was akin to the one that marked Freya's subjugation, this time, Ilaina felt neither lust nor enticement.
A crushing force carrying the unconstrained desire to dominate was the only thing at play here. Worse, that purple veined weapon seemed to beat with a will of its own and corrupt Konnor's eyes with its eldritch force.
As for the Arch-Knights, the three at the mid-level could not resist Man-Breaker's horrifying power while the two at the high-level struggled to get back onto their feet with clear dread within their eyes.
"How can this be? What is a pureblooded demon noble doing in the heart of the Holy Flame Empire? Who summoned you?!"
Regardless of their might, lineage weapons were a privilege of the noble houses of the Infernal Realm, and it is was usually impossible for members of such houses to appear within a mortal world without being summoned by powerful cultists.
To say nothing of the Infernal Realm's nobility, even lesser demons needed summoning rituals.
Thus, the knight assumed Konnor had been brought straight from Hell by some barbarian cultist and snuck into the Holy Flame City for a nefarious purpose.
"As if any of that mattered now."
Konnor whirled Man-Breaker into the three suppressed knights, dislodging and shattering their skulls in one deft circular motion, then shot toward the two high-level Arch Knights that had managed to regain their motion abilities.
But although Man-Breaker didn't entirely suppress them, their fighting capabilities had been severely weakened, with their strength somewhere around the first step Arch-Knight Rank. A level Konnor paid little attention to.
The two knights exchanged a glance and saw confidence in each other's gaze. Although the situation had experienced a drastic change, they could see Konnor's energy signature of the fifth step Grand Knight rank. Thus, although they were now stuck with the battle power of first step Arch Knights, they didn't believe they couldn't handle him!
Executing demons was a great merit! Perhaps they could use it to obtain high-level baptisms and have their cultivation soar!
In tandem, they shot toward him, the golden flames coating them burning brighter, and the flaming broadswords they dragged searing the ground below.
"Die!"
Their broadswords came crashing on Konnor in dual cleaves. But he didn't evade, standing still like an unmovable mountain.
*Clang*
Spinning Man-Breaker above his forehead, he deflected the two incoming blows and caused the knights to fall off balance. They somersaulted to get away, but how could he allow them to retreat without a price?
White-purple light erupted from his body, a perfect replica of himself appeared, and the two Konnor shot toward the falling knights.
*Bang*
Two identical hammer blows crashed into the knights' chest, shattered their chest plates, and sent them spiraling into the air with blood spurts.
But Konnor gave them no time to regain their foothold and pursued with his hammer brandished.
"Hateful! How can a Grand Knight possess an attribute? And such a powerful one at that?!"
They could see that Konnor hadn't just created a doppelganger. His light attribute just made him so fast that he seemed to be at two places at the same time. For his cultivation level, that was inconceivable.
"Healing Flame!"
Their golden flames kicked into gear, healing their wounds at breakneck speed. The golden flame of the second division could not only be used to destroy; it could also mend physical wounds and increase the body's vitality.
"Oh? Interesting. Let's see how many blows you can repair!"
The two Konnor became four, and each rained hundreds of hammer blows down the still healing knights.
*Crack* *Crack* *Crack*
Their armors collapsed, their bones cracked, and they flew backward with hundreds of overlaying blood red hammer imprints covering their bodies.
"Aaaargh!"
The knights howled as they tumbled onto the ground. Again, they exchanged glances, but this time, despair was the only thing they saw in the other's gaze.
"This is not something we can handle! Retreat!"
"Too late."
The four Konnor once again became two, turned into purple beams of light and appeared by the fleeing knights' side.
"Shortening my cuddle time is a cardinal sin."
Two precise hammer blows that shattered his knees crippled the left knight's legs while a descending smash crushed the right one's head.
He didn't even have time to wail before life left him.
As for the left knight, his screams pierced the night sky.
The extra Konnor then vanished in a purple haze.
All this happened in the span of a few breaths and shocked Ilaina to the very core of her soul.
"What kind of horrible weapon is that?"
She didn't have a clear knowledge of the infernal hierarchy and didn't understand what a lineage weapon was. However, if the Arch-Knights of the Holy Flame Church considered it enough to brand Konnor as a pureblooded demon, then he indeed was one.
But wasn't he just a half before?
What was going on?
Konnor had yet to pay attention to her thoughts as he stepped closer toward the disabled knight who desperately crawled away from him.
"S-spare me…I can tell you who wants to capture her. This isn't worth my life!"
He pleaded, but Konnor was unfazed.
"I'm sure the ladies you slaughtered wished they could have seen the morrow. Since you didn't grant them that courtesy, why should I give it to you?"
"As for figuring out who is behind this, that is simple."
Konnor slammed Man-Breaker onto the ground, causing a screeching sound to spread within the air and purple flames to dive into the knight's forehead.
His pupils dilated, and he stopped struggling.
"Who wishes to harm Ilaina?"
"A joint force between a Semi-Holy Priest of the Holy Flame Church and house Leitner."
The knight flawlessly answered.
Hearing this, Ilaina's eyes widened with a mixture of enlightenment and incomprehension.
House Leitner was the maternal family of Alex, her elder half-brother. For them to make a move on her was something she could understand. But what did any of this have to do with a Semi-Saint of the Holy Flame Church?
Could his mother have pulled some strings? But with her status and strength, how could she?
"Where were you supposed to bring her. Is there another ambush lying ahead?"
"House Kracht. We were supposed to bring her to house Kracht to force count Wolfgang to abdicate his lands, assets, and estates to his son, Alex Kracht."
Ilaina was horrified while confusion grew within Konnor's eyes.
"Regardless of birth, eunuchs cannot inherit lands. How could an exception be made for him?"
"The Semi-Saint promised house Leitner that he would help restore Alex as a man should this endeavor succeed."
*BANG*
Having found out all he wanted from the knight, Konnor crushed his head and brought all his demonic forces back i
nto his body. Man-Breaker then vanished alongside the purple flames.
In the meantime, Ilaina no longer had time to worry about Konnor's increasingly demonic nature and rushed toward her family's mansion.
But he wasn't going to let that suicidal move happen under his watch and pulled her back within his arms with a surge of telekinetic power.