“But, I told you! Hey, I’ll do anything, so let me live!”
“That is true, but…”
Sebas breathed out a sigh and shook his head.
“I refuse.”
“You… you’re kidding, right?”
“If that is what you wish to believe. There is only one result to come of this.”
“… Please…god.”
Sebas remembered when he picked up Tsuare and slightly narrowed his eyes.
What right did a man of this kind of profession have to ask something of god? And to Sebas, the 41 Supreme Beings were his gods. It felt as if they had just been insulted.
“This is what you deserve.”
From the steely voice that rejected everything, the man seemed to have realized that he was going to die.
Was he going to run, or fight? The moment when that choice was placed before his very eyes, without hesitation, the man chose— to flee.
Even if he were to fight Sebas, the result was obvious. Instead, no matter how small it was, he had a better chance of surviving if he ran. The thinking behind his decision was correct.
Because for a few seconds, no, even though it was only for a tenth of a second, his life had been extended.
Having instantly caught up to the man who was making a break for the door, Sebas lightly turned his body. The gust of wind went past the man’s head and he collapsed like his strings had been cut. A round object hit the wall with a thud and rolled down to the floor, leaving behind a trail of blood.
A moment later, blood sprouted from the man’s headless neck and sprayed onto the floor.
That was truly a splendid technique. To blow away a head with a roundhouse kick, although it had the speed and power to make something like that possible, the most frightening part was that not a single stain could be found on Sebas’ shoe covering his foot.
With the sound of his footsteps, Sebas walked towards the man who had fainted with his eyes rolled back and brought down his foot. With the sound like an old tree breaking, the man’s body convulsed. After a few spasms, he no longer budged.
“…Is it not self-evident what would happen to you from everything that you people have done thus far? But rest assured, at the very least, you have atoned with your bodies.”
Sebas retrieved their corpses.
He lined the area around the stairs with the utterly destroyed bodies. Even looking at them was horrifying; it would strike fear and hesitation to any who tries to flee. It was a method that Sebas thought of should he be unable to destroy the point of entry.
After moving the corpses, Sebas brought his foot down on the secret floor entrance.
First was the sound of mechanical parts being destroyed. Following that, a large hole opened up on the floor. The broken floor cover loudly tumbled down the sturdy stairs.
“Aha… If I just destroy these stairs, then it would be difficult for them to escape through this way.”
♦ ♦ ♦
The room was not very large.
The desolate interior had a wardrobe to store garments and a bed, nothing else.
The bed was not the shoddy kind which would only have a sheet on top of it. Rather, it was a mattress stuffed with cotton, a luxury used by nobles. However, as if they focused on functionality, the design was plain and its ornaments lacked flavor.
And on top of it was a naked man.
He looked to be well over his middle age. Due to a life of indulgence, his body was fat and unattractive.
Although his looks could have been passed off as barely average, the blubber on his face lost him points fast. Looking at him, anyone would think that this man was like a pig. Pigs were smart, charming animals that liked things that were clean. However, in this case, the pig was stupid and base, used as an insult.
His name was Stafan Hevish.
He brought down his raised fist— towards the mattress. The sound of hitting flesh rang out.
A look of euphoria rose to Stafan’s flabby face. It was because the sensation of crushing flesh was transmitted to his hand and he felt a quivering pleasure ride up his spine. His body then shivered.
“Ohhh…”
As he slowly raised his fist, it came away sticky with blood.
Stafan was lying on top of a naked woman.
Her face was swollen and her skin was dyed with red spots due to internal bleeding. The blood flowing from her crushed nose matted her face. Both her lips and eyes were swollen as well and her former attractive face was nowhere to be found. The bedding was discolored, the scattered blood staining the sheets.
The hands that had been raised in the air to try and protect her face now rested on the bed. The image of her hair sprawled out on top of the sheets made it look as if she was floating on water.
“Hey, what, you’re already done? Ahn?”
The woman no longer seemed to be conscious.
Stafan raised his fist and slammed it down.
Smack. The fist and the cheeks, along with the cheekbone inside, pain from the collision was also transmitted to Stafan’s hand.
“Che, it hurts!”
In a fit of rage, he struck again.
The bed creaked along with the sound of beating. The woman’s skin that was swollen like a ball split open and his fist became covered in blood. Fresh, sticky blood splattered onto the bed sheets and stained them in red.
“… …Uuu.”
Even though she was being beaten, the woman no longer moved and her body barely showed any reaction.
If this repeated beating continued, her life would be in danger. Even so, the reason that she was still alive was not because Stafan was controlling his strength. It was because the impact was absorbed by the mattress. If she had been beaten on the hard floor, she would have already been dead.
Stafan didn’t hold back his strength not because he knew this, but because there would not be any problems even if the woman were to die. If he just paid the cost to have her disposed, then everything would be taken care of.
In reality, Stafan had killed multiple women in this shop.
Since he had to paid the disposal fee back then, leaving his pockets lighter, perhaps he unconsciously held back the strength from his hands.