The voice echoed vividly through everyone’s mind, and every person in the room froze.
Not a single soul moved from their seat.
The sa individual who had occupied everyone’s thoughts for days was sohow present within the kingdom’s most heavily secured courtroom.
"Where are you?! Show yourself!" the Duke roared, completely disregarding everything Arthur and rlin had told him.
He did not care how powerful William was. He did not care what he had accomplished.
"In my eyes, you are nothing but a monster that needs to be put down!"
His gaze swept across the room as he searched for the source of the voice, fury burning in his eyes.
The council mbers seed to find so confidence as well. Whatever was happening in the courtroom challenged not only their authority but also the security of the capital itself.
Their displeasure was written plainly across their faces.
Astaroth instinctively moved to stand and inspect the periter, but Kevin turned toward him and shook his head.
"He isn’t here."
Astaroth blinked in surprise.
"What do you an? He isn’t in the palace?"
Kevin released a weary sigh.
"He isn’t even in the capital, Commander. They simply failed to understand what kind of person they’re dealing with."
{Hmm, I wonder what His Majesty has to say about this. Are you in agreent with their decision to suppress ?}
Every eye imdiately shifted toward the King.
The man had remained silent ever since the discussion began, listening without offering a single opinion.
The blond monarch exhaled softly and leaned back in his seat.
Many of the council mbers expected him to show the sa hostility they felt. In their eyes, William was nothing less than a threat to the entire world.
However, much to their shock, the King calmly asked,
"I am simply curious about your intentions toward us... toward humanity."
The Duke’s face reddened with anger.
"My Lord?! How can you be so casual with a being like this?!"
{Duke Valebridge, now, now. I have been watching you for quite so ti for a very specific reason.}
The voice suddenly grew heavier.
A suffocating pressure settled over the room.
Everyone could feel the emotion the speaker wanted them to experience.
Fear.
{You are the one who ordered surveillance on my family, aren’t you? Old grudges. You even instructed your n to provoke my father and brother so conflicts would arise, all while calling it a form of retaliation.}
The Duke visibly stiffened.
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
{I can read your mories, Duke, so there is little point in lying to . I can even tell you how many curses you have muttered inside your head. Roughly half of them were directed at the King.}
The King’s expression darkened.
Astaroth let out a low growl.
The Duke suddenly slamd both hands onto the table, rattling the docunts spread across it.
"Enough! How can all of you keep listening to him?!"
The Chief Advisor rose from his seat as well.
"This proves our concerns were justified."
His firm voice echoed through the silent chamber.
"Soone capable of reaching the most secure room in the capital can reach countless other places as well. How can we possibly trust an individual with such abilities?"
The room fell silent once more.
Several council mbers exchanged uneasy glances.
Others nodded in agreent.
Kevin, anwhile, felt an overwhelming urge to slam his hand against his forehead.
The sheer stubbornness on display was astounding.
Couldn’t they understand that labeling William untrustworthy changed absolutely nothing?
Trust only mattered when both sides possessed the power to act against one another.
Soone who had effortlessly overwheld the three strongest figures in the nation stood on an entirely different level.
What exactly did they think they could do to him?
Threaten him?
Arrest him?
Suppress him?
The very idea was laughable.
Kevin rubbed his temple and stared at the gathered officials.
They were behaving as though they still held all the cards when reality had already shifted beneath their feet.
The balance of power had changed.
The problem was that nobody in this room seed willing to admit it.
William humd.
{I ca here for a peaceful conversation, but it appears peace is sothing the two n here have never appreciated.}
"Ah..."
"What?!"
Without warning, the Duke and the Chief Advisor began to rise into the air.
Panic instantly spread across their faces as they struggled with all their strength, yet their bodies continued to ascend as though an invisible force had seized them.
The soldiers rushed forward.
Several grabbed their legs, their waists, even their arms, desperately trying to pull them back down.
It accomplished nothing.
The two n continued to float upward.
Even Astaroth stepped forward.
The towering commander planted his feet firmly and grabbed hold of the Duke’s arm, his muscles bulging as he exerted every ounce of strength he possessed.
Yet it was as if gravity itself had changed.
No matter how hard they resisted, the two officials continued rising.
"Save ! Help! Gaaaah!"
"No! Noooo!"
Their screams echoed through the courtroom.
The strain on their bodies beca visible.
Their arms stretched farther and farther as soldiers desperately clung to them.
Joints twisted.
Muscles tightened.
Then ca the sickening sound of flesh giving way.
SQUELCH
The room froze.
Blood sprayed across the floor.
The Duke and the Chief Advisor shrieked in pure agony as both of their arms were ripped from their sockets, torn free by the opposing forces acting upon them.
The severed limbs crashed onto the ground with wet thuds alongside the soldiers.
For a mont, nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Everyone simply stared.
The detached arms lay in growing pools of blood while the two n continued to float upward, screaming as crimson poured from the ruined stumps of their shoulders.
A wave of horror swept through the courtroom.
Several council mbers stumbled backward.
Others turned pale.
One of the nobles nearly collapsed into his chair.
The soldiers who had been holding on monts earlier stared at their blood-soaked hands in shock.
Even seasoned veterans looked tensed.
The brutality of the scene had happened so suddenly that their minds struggled to process it.
Only then did the terrifying reality sink in.
Just then, William spoke again.
This ti, only the King and Arthur could hear him.
{As you may have realized, I can do this from any corner of the world, and no one is beyond my reach. It does not matter how deeply you hide or whom you place at your side for protection. None of it will make a difference.}
The King narrowed his eyes.
For the first ti since the voice had appeared, he spoke directly to it.
"What do you want?"
The question imdiately told Arthur that His Majesty could hear the voice as well.
{I don’t need anything.}
The reply ca without hesitation.
{I simply want you to let my family live their lives. If you do that, I promise I will not interfere with you or your work.}
A brief silence followed before William continued.
{More importantly, if you ensure their safety, then I give you my word. Should a disaster ever befall humanity, I will be the first to stand in its path.}
The King’s gaze hardened slightly as he listened.
{So I hope you will judge this matter carefully once the influence of those two fools is no longer present.}
The voice faded.
Silence settled over the courtroom.
THUNK.
THUNK.
Two bodies crashed onto the stone floor.
The Duke and the Chief Advisor lay motionless in widening pools of blood.
No one rushed to help them because they knew what difference it would make.
The entire courtroom stared at the corpses in stunned silence.
William had not asked for rcy or tried to negotiate with them.
Instead, he had demonstrated a simple fact.
He possessed the power to reach them whenever he wished.
The warning could not have been clearer.
Trifle with Count Delimore’s family, and blood would follow.
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