War Zone

Guarded secrets (1)

"If you didn't do this, I would have given it to you eventually without any trouble, but you're still as impatient as ever." Azrael uttered.

"And you would have asked for something in return." The king of Ma-i spat in disgust. "Do you want revenge? But I'm not your real enemy-"

"Well... I do have something I want." Azrael casually narrowed the gap between the blade and the skin that was beating from the pulse underneath, drawing blood.

"Okay! I understand! I'll give it to you! I'll give it you, dammit!" Conrad Coldmore, the sixth generation King of the Royal family of Ma-i, had never felt fear for his life until this moment. Azrael was merely a subservient rat before, but how quickly the tables turned. He didn't expect the man to escape Aji, causing the first turmoil in the history of the organization. 

His personal guards that he was confident could stop Azrael from taking revenge on him, stood frozen without much of a fight. If Conrad had known Azrael was this powerful, he would have taken him from Crassus a long time ago! Pain errupted from the cut on his neck that was growing deeper by the second. 

"Okay! You want the leaf of Biyya, right!? I got it! You-!" He pointed at the guard that had almost caught Azrael a while ago. He seemed to be the most agile among the rest. He couldn't recall, but Crassus called him a monarch of the Wolf clan from a small country he couldn't remember where it was located with how insignificant it sounded. "Go and get the leaf of Biyya in the treasury! Quickly!" 

"...Yes... master..." The creature uttered before disappearing in a flash. 

Finally, the knife was drawn to the surface again and he inhaled air in quick succesions. Any longer and his jugular would have been cut. 

"So you do know how to make clean business, after all. You should have been like this from the start. Then your neck wouldn't have been cut like this, but what to do..? It's taking so long for your servant to retrieve it, and I'm getting awfully bored..." 

Conrad gulped at the mass of sinister aura behind him. Complaining when he clearly saw the guard had departed merely a second ago. It's clear, he only wants to torture him.

"Aren't you curious about where your lover is? If you kill me, you won't be able to find her!" He couldn't help but taunt the man in hopes that he'll be spared. Azrael was egged on enough at her disappearance to create such a big scene, after all. 

"One." As soon as Azrael spoke, an excruciating pain emanated from Conrad's right ring finger.

He screamed as he raised his hand to look at the finger that was forcefully bent away from his palm. Sweat beaded his forehead as he screamed yet again. "You bastard! If you don't stop this insolence, I'll kill her! I'll kill that bitch!" 

"Two." Azrael replied, and the middle finger was pulled back in the same manner, breaking the healthy joint that once made it able to move in a normal manner. His eyes turned red from the pain as he screamed yet again. 

"Bastard! You're just a r-aaaaahhhkkk!!" This time, it was his pointer finger's turn and he watched in horror as small strands of black tentacles snaked around the finger, ruthlessly pulling it backwards. What the hell are those things..? It isn't telekinesis, otherwise it won't work on him since he bought the nullification necklace. The pain made him panic as the joint was being pushed to the limit.

"Don't you care about her, at all, huh!? I'll really kill her!" 

"You're mistaken, Conrad..." 

The finger was finally broken, and another scream erupted. The awful sound echoed in the room, attracting a new number of knights that couldn't do anything as their King was being held hostage by a demon. They were promptly instructed by the King's close guards not to make a move as it will only incite the assailant. 

Despite this, everyone could see their eyes burning with satisfaction that their master is in pain. After all, nobody knows what kind of abuse they had gone through in the King's hand. 

"It's a bartering item... Much like your fingers right now."  Azrael added, not sparing the man's thumb even after the guard finally came back with a glass box that held the leaf of Biyya in it. "I thought I was going to break all your fingers." 

"D-damn you..." Conrad could only curse as he didn't have any strength left to struggle. He could have endured the pain, but being humiliated in front of his subjects was even more so. He is a King. He is supposed to live easily without pain and worry... How dare a mere lab rat do this to him..! "Take the leaf and go..." Then I will hunt you down and pay back what you've done to me...

An invisible energy lifted the glass box from the guard's hands, then it traversed mid air towards Azrael, stopping above him.  

"Not yet. Of course we have to see the results first." Azrael uttered as the leaf went in his mouth. Everyone stood in anticipation about what was going to happen. As soon as the guards reached the throne room, they were already informed that a corrupted assassin has entered the palace. If that leaf truly is from the tree of Biyya, then it could erase the effects of the Clock of Death. 

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A/N: Crassus and Aji will be discussed in a flashback in a future chapter.