The audience was under the misconception that Armano was pushing Cecil back in the battle and this only made them pity the boy even more. Since the start, Cecil had been retreating and dodging away from all of Armano"s attacks.What they didn"t know was that the Prince and Cecil were constantly exchanging mockeries and insults. In their battle of words, Cecil was currently out on top. He was. .h.i.tting Armano where it hurts and this only caused the man to frenziedly attack Cecil.
Armano was growing more and more vexed as time pa.s.sed because he still hadn"t been able to land an attack on his opponent. Finally, he couldn"t take it anymore and roared, "f.u.c.k! Fight me like a man you f.u.c.king coward!"
"Oh? But, I don"t think I can do that because aren"t you only half a man?"
"F-f.u.c.k YOU! I TOLD YOU THAT IT"S BEEN HEALED!"
"It could just be an illusion though."
"I-It"s not you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
"I find that hard to believe."
"Just wait until I get my hands on you! Your wives will be begging for me to spare you while I violate them!"
This time Cecil was the one who snapped and in his anger, he wrapped an absurd amount of mana around his sword and sent an Ascending Blade at Armano. He hadn"t aimed correctly so the Ascending Blade flew past Armano and continued to fly towards the audience.
Coincidentally, it was heading straight for Albert"s seating area. The Kingdom"s court mage, Conrad, immediately stepped forward and conjured a barrier in front of his liege. When the Ascending Blade struck the barrier, it immediately started breaking apart.
Conrad widened his eyes in horror, the attack was too powerful. He immediately began to readjust the angle of the barrier in an effort to try and divert Cecil"s attack. Cecil only scoffed when he saw the barrier crumbling. He waved his hand and sent his skill in a different direction.
The attack destroyed the upper part of the coliseum that it had pa.s.sed through and a large explosion ensued in the next second. The people inside the coliseum didn"t pay attention to the explosion and only stared in astonishment while many released a relieved breath. They couldn"t believe that the youngster who was on the back foot throughout the entire fight had suddenly pulled out such a strong technique from under his sleeves.
"Y-You, you!!! You"ve been playing with me!!!"
"Did you figure that out just now?"
"Y-you"re going to regret that!!!"
"Am I?"
Cecil immediately flashed in front of Armano and swung his sword at him. Before the prince could even register what had just happened, he felt a stinging pain originate from his right arm. Armano looked down in horror when he saw the b.l.o.o.d.y stump where his right hand used to be.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
He raised an agonizing scream when he finally registered that his hand was chopped off.
"Does it hurt?" Cecil asked.
He was only met with a vicious glare and a few spells began flying at him. Cecil easily knocked away all of the spells before he sent a weakened Ascending Blade in response to Armano"s attacks.
The attack only grazed Armano, but a small chunk of his flesh was blown away. This once again caused the prince to shriek in pain. Now, no one in the audience was cheering or even saying anything.
They had all just regained their wits from the suspenseful attack that Cecil had unleashed earlier and now they were dumbstruck by the cruel attacks Cecil was delivering towards their prince. The tables had suddenly turned and Armano was now being tortured under his opponent"s attacks. Cecil continued sending a flurry of Ascending Blades at Armano and he carved away the prince"s flesh little by little.
He paid no mind to the horror and dread that was rising within the spectators. His father had been a little too lenient towards the Regulus Kingdom. They had only received a slap on the wrist in return for the first prince"s transgression so if they expected the matter of Armano"s offense against Serilla to be resolved by a simple duel where Cecil would beat Armano up, then they were wrong.
Cecil already knew that he was going to be hated by the Regulus King, but that was inconsequential. Right now, he was delivering a message to all the Regulus royalty. He thought nothing of their lives or the consequences that came with him slaying a member of their royal family.
Armano"s mother was already raising a ruckus on the stands and was pleading for the King to make Cecil stop. Kaiser could also see that the King was trembling in anger and was about to speak up but suddenly, an Ascending Blade struck the area close to the location where the Regulus Royal Family and the King were sitting.
"...if you don"t shut up, I"ll kill all of you next. Do you think that I"m as forgiving as my father? My father only slapped you on the wrist for waging war against our kingdom, but in my opinion, it would have been easier to just level your city and take everything you have for ourselves," Cecil said with a grim smile.
"..."
His words immediately silenced everyone. He turned his attention back to Armano who was collapsed on the ground and slowly walked towards him. Cecil stepped on Armano"s face and said, "A weak kingdom that was about to be conquered by Merkruz... without my sister"s a.s.sistance where would you all be right now? Slaves, right? Instead of thanking our kingdom for helping you guys, you instead let this little worm try and harm my wife. After that, you even dared to go and attack our kingdom...heh...hahahahaha..."
In his anger, Cecil resumed his attacks and slowly carved up Armano"s body. The b.l.o.o.d.y sight wasn"t at all appeasing nor amusing, both Serilla and Lucia were even growing a little scared. Even for their husband, what he was doing right now was a little too cruel. Instead of immediately ending Armano"s life, he continued to slowly toy with him.
Kaiser could no longer withstand this farce. He immediately stood up and roared at his son.
"Cecil!"
"..."
"Stop this right now! Can"t you see that you"re scaring your wives?!"
"..."
Cecil turned to look at Serilla and Lucia. He could see that they were a little scared and were pleading quietly with their eyes for him to quickly stop. He turned his attention back to the worm that was now struggling to crawl away from him before scoffing and tossing away his sword.
Cecil turned around and walked away. He decided to just leave things as is. His wives were no longer amused but had instead turned frightened which went against his purpose for even punishing Armano.
"Just you wait, you f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d, when I"m healed, I"ll return this humiliation 10 folds! Don"t think for a second that your wives are safe as long as I"m alive!" Armano cursed under his breath.
With his acute senses, Cecil heard Armano"s cursing and stopped. He turned around, raised his hand, and began acc.u.mulating Mana on his outstretched palm. He was going to blast this fool with a Flash Cannon and completely get rid of this worthless piece of trash. Kaiser saw this and once more called out to him.
"ENOUGH CECIL!"
Once he heard Kaiser"s roar, Cecil closed his eyes and stopped himself from firing a Flash Cannon at Armano. He slowly turned around and quietly exited from the arena. Nemus and his mistress were already tense on their seats, it was only after Cecil had truly exited from the arena that they released sighs of relief. They had clearly felt the immense killing intent Cecil was directing at their son just now.
If Kaiser hadn"t spoken up when he did, there was no doubt that Armano would have died today. Nemus released a relieved sigh and turned to look at Kaiser with a complicated expression. It was this man"s son who had tortured and nearly ended his own son"s life but in the end, it was because of this man that his son was spared.
"K-Kaiser..."
"Save it Nemus, I only did that because I didn"t want my son to stain his hands with the blood of a fool."
"..."
"Before you are a king, you are a father. You better learn how to rein in your children! Otherwise, if you offend another kingdom, they might not be as lenient as mine," Kaiser advised before standing up to leave.
"We"ll be returning now, no need to see us off."
Kaiser left behind those words and exited the coliseum with everyone else from Silvaria. Once they were out, Kaiser immediately had his men prepare for their departure. He, Lucia, Serilla, Fatima, and Rowan waited for Cecil to come out.
It didn"t take long before they spotted Cecil nonchalantly walking out of the coliseum. When he spotted them, Cecil immediately walked over.
"...did it feel good?" Kaiser questioned his son.
"Not at all, I"ve already felt this empty feeling 3 times. It"s nothing new."
"Hmph, was it fun going out and frightening your wives?"
"..." Cecil twitched a little when he heard this.
"Mocking him and playing around should have been the limit, but once you crossed the line and started torturing your opponent..." Kaiser shook his head and didn"t continue his words. He released an exasperated sigh before saying, "You may not care what the people in this kingdom think about you, but be mindful of your family. I"m confident that we don"t want you acting the way you were just now."
Cecil pondered for a moment before he nodded and apologized.
"...Yes, father. I"m sorry..."
"You should be saying that to Lucia and Serilla. Although they didn"t show it, they were indeed frightened. You"re lucky that your mother isn"t here, if not, you"d be in for a beating later."
"..."
"Now go talk to your wives."
"Mhm."
Kaiser turned to leave with Rowan and Fatima. His sister sent him a meaningful and reproachful look. Cecil scratched his head and turned towards the two silent girls behind him.
"Uhm...sorry about earlier..."
"Cel... didn"t you promise us that you wouldn"t be like that? Getting revenge is alright, but if you were going to end his life, you should have just done so without the meaningless torture..."
"S-sorry..."
"You should be apologizing to Seri. She"s feeling guilty because she thinks that she put you into that situation..." Lucia left behind those words before she quickly flashed away and caught up with Fatima"s group.
Being left behind, Cecil turned to look at the somewhat downtrodden Serilla and said, "It"s not your fault, Seri. I"m the one who showed you something unsightly so don"t feel so bad..."
"...Hmph, darling was being too much... if our children saw you like that, they"d be frightened..."
"Children, huh...well, I"ll make sure to protect you guys better next time. It was my fault for separating from you guys in the first place."
"That"s right! If darling didn"t insist on separating, we wouldn"t have been forced into this situation!"
"S-Sorry..."
"As long as you understand, all is good then. I"m not angry in the first place. I just felt that darling wasn"t being himself in that fight. It might have been for my sake, but the last part was indeed like father said, darling took it too far."
"I know... I was just a little angry," Cecil replied while looking a little remorseful.
Just as he was going to hug Serilla, Cecil noticed that people were beginning to exit from the coliseum so he instead grabbed Serilla"s hand and walked away from the place.
King Nemus spotted Cecil and Serilla walking away hand in hand. He couldn"t help but frown a little. Hate had already sprouted deep within his heart, but it wasn"t like he could do anything. If he continued to offend that monster and his family, Nemus would only be shooting himself in the foot.
He didn"t want to completely fall out with the Silvaria Kingdom over a trivial problem that his stupid son had instigated. The benefits of having Silvaria as an ally were too attractive and today, this ally had nearly turned into an enemy. Nemus was reminded of Kaiser"s words from earlier and scowled.
"Once you heal this fool, lock him up in his room, he is never to take a single step out of that place!" Nemus ordered as he looked at the pitiful state his second son was reduced too. "This b.a.s.t.a.r.d will be the death of me one day!"
"My King, h-how can you be so heartless! That b.a.s.t.a.r.d did this to my son! Our son! How could you just leave things like this and not punish the one who did this to Armano?!" Armano"s mother cried out as she pointed towards Cecil who was walking away in the distance.
"Punish? You want me to punish the crown prince of Silvaria?! Think with your brain woman! Who was it that raised our son to be such a philanderer?! Spoiling him rotten that even his brain and heart have turned rotten! You are lucky that his life is still intact! He, as well as you and I, could have died today!" Nemus bellowed.
"We will heal him, but I won"t pay a single gold if you want his body restored!"
"My King, please! Please be merciful! Don"t let him—"
"Take these two away! Have the Revertia Priest only heal Armano"s wounds! If he offers to regrow his limbs, decline immediately! I won"t have this b.a.s.t.a.r.d causing any more trouble for the kingdom—cough, cough," Nemus began coughing again after he finished relaying his orders.
"Also, send for Rowan. I"m immediately going to have him appointed as crown prince!"
Albert heard this and immediately spoke up, "F-Father—"
"Silence! Already agreed with Kaiser to appoint Rowan as Crown Prince! You have been too useless! Did you not hear what the Silvarian Prince had said earlier?! He would have leveled this city if Kaiser had not forgiven us!"
"Th-that"s impossible! There"s no way—"
"Silence! Can"t you see that our very own castle has nearly been cleaved in two by the boy"s offhanded attack?!" Nemus growled as he darkly pointed to the royal castle in the distance.
The full-powered Ascending Blade Cecil had fired off that Conrad was able to "deflect" had cleaved through the upper part of the coliseum and struck the kingdom"s castle. The west section"s outer walls were almost thoroughly destroyed. While the damage didn"t spread into the deeper reaches of the castle grounds, but just that offhanded attack from Cecil was enough to destroy a large portion of their castle.
What would happen if he was serious about destroying the place?
Nemus could only sigh in defeat when he thought up to there. They had offended the wrong person, but it was a good thing that they hadn"t thoroughly fallen out. Rowan was his final chance to redeem their relationship with the Silvaria Kingdom. He wasn"t going to let anyone screw things up this time.
It was too bad that Nemus had forgotten about his other child...