The well-drilled Royal Guards were just as horrified, but duty is duty. They drew their weapons at once and closed in from all sides on the four figures at the center, swordpoints glittering coldly, leveled at Rei Ao and the two at his sides.
"Stop!"
Seeing this, Gazef felt his guts twist and shouted to halt them. "Stand down! All of you, withdraw!"
He was a step too late—or rather, someone's playful mood had already been stirred.
"Hee-hee~ What impolite little bugs," Shalltear chimed, her laugh like a silver bell. There was no mirth in those crimson eyes, only killing frost.
She didn't even move her feet. She merely lifted one pale, elegant hand.
The next moment, something eerie and terrifying unfolded. The charging guards jerked to a halt as if bound by invisible shackles. From the gaps in their metal armor—and even from the mouths they had opened to shout—anywhere blood ran, fine red droplets suddenly began to seep out.
They didn't simply dribble. Under some dreadful force, the droplets coalesced in an instant, shaping themselves into countless slender, razor-edged blades of blood that gleamed with an uncanny crimson light.
Squelch—squelch—squelch—
The wet staccato of blood-blades punching through flesh came so fast it made one's teeth ache. As if alive, those blades lanced—faster than the eye could follow—through the chests, throats, and skulls of every guard who had stepped forward, from inside or out.
They couldn't even scream. Shock and fury were still stamped on their faces when their life's breath vanished.
Thud… thud… thud…
Bodies hit the floor one after another. The heavy stench of blood swept away the throne room's perfumed incense in an instant. In less than a second, more than a dozen elite royal guards had become corpses sprawled across the ornate carpet, dyed red by their own blood or that of their comrades. It gushed forth, pooling quickly into spreading, glossy patches that caught the light from the dome and threw back a blinding scarlet.
"…"
Silence fell again—but this time it was threaded with absolute terror. Ministers blanched and trembled; many clapped hands over their mouths, choking back vomit. Prince Barbro went limp in his seat, and a dark stain spread across his crotch, stinking up the air.
Marquis Raeven had gone ashen, but he forced himself to stand steady, one hand clamped to his sword hilt—though he knew it meant nothing. Even the usually unflappable old king lurched to his feet, face iron-blue, body faintly shaking. Princess Renner's pupils pinched down for an instant; she quickly recovered her pure, innocent smile, though something like utmost gravity—and… curiosity?—flickered deep in her eyes.
"Y-Your Majesty! Forgive me! Please—no more hostile moves!"
Gazef dropped to one knee with a hard thump, his voice hoarse with urgency and fear. He lifted his head; the look he turned on the king was all plea and warning.
"These three… lords are not our enemies! I was ambushed by the Slane Theocracy's Sunlight Scripture on the border. I fought and was on the brink of death when these three lords intervened and saved me!"
He kept it quick and clear, deliberately stressing "intervened and saved" to defuse the tension—though he knew the real point was still to come.
"The Sunlight Scripture… was annihilated. Their captain, Nigun Grid Luin, and every angel they summoned—none of them lasted five seconds before these three."
Gazef's voice carried a tremor he himself didn't notice. He swallowed and forced himself on: "The three lords possess power beyond mortal understanding. They are here to seek audience with Your Majesty. In my humble judgment, they must be treated with the honors owed to such guests—do not provoke them."
He bit off those last words, then swept an earnest gaze over the king and the assembled grandees—especially Shalltear, who still reeked of blood.
King Ramposa III was no fool. He had seen that instant of bizarre, horrifying slaughter with his own eyes: a dozen elite guards wiped out like ants at the very heart of the Kingdom's power. Add to that Gazef's unprecedented fear and his thinly veiled, unmistakable warning—
The Sunlight Scripture, annihilated in under five seconds?
He understood at once: the three before him were not beings the Kingdom—or any neighboring human realm—could hope to oppose. Anger them, and the palace—and the capital—might drown in blood the very next moment.
Forcing down the storm in his chest and the humiliation of a king, Ramposa III drew a deep breath and made his voice as steady and respectful as he could. He even dipped a slight bow in courtesy.
"I… I see. My thanks to the three of you for saving my loyal Warrior Captain." A faint tremor hid in his tone. "May I have your honored names, and to what purpose do you grace our humble realm?"
He had lowered himself as far as he dared, hoping humility might soothe any wrath—and draw out their intent.
But he missed one detail. He was still before—indeed, because he had stood up, he had only just stepped away from—the throne that was his by right, and he was addressing Rei Ao standing below.
Albedo caught that at once.
"'Instruction?'" The frost slammed down over her face. Her voice was as pleasant as ever, but carried a polar chill. "Who permitted the ruler of a mere ant-heap of humans to stand on high and look down from above when speaking to Rei Ao-sama, the supreme?"
Before her words even finished, she vanished. In the next heartbeat, Ramposa felt an irresistible force crash into the small of his back.
"Urgh!"
With a strangled grunt he pitched off the dais like a kite with its string cut, crashing to the cold, hard floor below in humiliating sprawl.
Clack… His crown tumbled aside with a bright ring. He tried to rise, but pain and shame pinned him where he lay.
~~~~
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