Chapter 125: Assassination theater II
"This bitch cut off my arms!"
Alerted by the screams, everyone had their eyes turned to Maria, nobles and guards alike.
Though Maria didn’t seem to care one bit about the gazes. Even before she thought to move, she could already feel the change in the atmosphere.
The air felt heavier, the sounds muffled and altered.
’Seraphina must have already created the noise-canceling spell.’
"Good. I don’t have to worry about drawing attention from the ones inside." She slowly began to take one step after the other, closing the distance between herself and the unfortunate guards standing close to her.
Despite the fact she was far away, the guards could still feel the intense golden mana leaking from her body.
Other guards who were watching as well were frozen in shock just from the pressure of Maria’s mana.
Anyone could tell she had to be a Grand Master or higher.
The nobles, who had been alerted as well, all began to hide behind the guards closest to them as they yelled at random.
"Who the hell do you think you are, causing violence in this sanctuary? Guards, arrest her already!"
"What are you waiting for? Move it!"
A noble was so desperate to save his skin that he pushed a guard forward with force.
This unfortunate guard stumbled forward so much that he soon found himself right in front of Maria.
Slash!
Maria slashed her sword in the air, sending a wave of energy that divided the guard’s body in two, leaving behind his blood and guts on the ground.
"Fuck no!"
"AHH!"
The nobles began to run away, some already planning to leave through the exit.
Maria had thought to stop them before they could move, but the other guards had already surrounded her in a last, desperate act to put up a fight.
They charged at her simultaneously, their weapons glinting in the dim light of the hall.
Maria simply smirked, a chilling sight that promised swift and brutal retribution. Her golden mana flared, creating a blinding aura around her.
The first guard to reach her found his spear shattered against an invisible barrier, and then a precise, swift strike from Maria’s sword decapitated him before he could even register what had happened.
The remaining guards faltered, a ripple of fear spreading through their ranks. This wasn’t a fight; it was a massacre.
Maria moved with a terrifying grace, each movement a deadly dance.
Her golden blade became a blur, cutting through flesh and bone with effortless ease.
Screams echoed through the hall, quickly silenced as the guards fell one by one, their bodies crumpling to the opulent floor.
Blood splattered against the tapestries and gilded pillars, painting a gruesome scene.
Maria, however, remained untouched, her expression cold and unyielding.
The nobles who had managed to flee were now scrambling out of the main hall, their terrified cries fading into the distance.
She spared them no thought, her focus entirely on the task at hand.
With the last guard dispatched, the hall was eerily silent, save for the dripping of blood and Maria’s own steady breathing.
However, that silence would quickly be broken as new screams echoed from where the nobles had intended to run.
As one of the nobles opened the door with his key, planning to exit the building, an arrow pierced his head from outside.
When the rest tried to figure out where the arrow had come from, an individual dressed in all black rolled into the room and punched a clean hole into the head of another noble.
More individuals in black followed, a silent, deadly wave of assassins. They moved with frightening efficiency, their weapons glinting ominously.
The remaining nobles, trapped between Maria and this new threat, shrieked in terror, their pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears.
Maria watched, a faint, almost imperceptible smile touching her lips. These were her elite, the ’Shadows,’ the Third Division army under the Aurelian barony, and their arrival meant the clean-up was about to begin.
The screams intensified, then abruptly ceased, replaced by the gruesome sounds of a swift and merciless extermination.
In a matter of minutes, the entire group of nobles present in the room at the time had been slain. Lying dead on the floor, their blood soaked the red rug.
With the mission done, the soldiers all stood before Maria. A single one stood in front of them all; he was the leader, intending to speak to his commander.
"Forgive our late entrance, Commander. I could not tell if you needed our help or not. But when I saw the others trying to escape, I figured you left them alone because you knew we would handle it."
Maria smiled at the man.
"You did good."
She then slashed her blade to the side to remove all the blood stuck to it, before walking to where she dropped her sheath and picking it up to sheathe her blade once more.
Facing the entrance to the other room, where Dorian was, she uttered her next orders.
"I am sure you understand our mission, but I’ll repeat it once more." Maria turned to look at them. "We are to kill all the nobles in there, without drawing a scene. Also, Lord Telia should be spared. Lord Dorian needs him alive."
"Understood." The leader then pointed at the elves still shaking in fear at the side. "What should we do about them?"
Maria looked at the elves as well.
...
Meanwhile, back inside the room.
Whip!
The sound of the elves crying as they were being beaten echoed throughout the entire room.
Some had their fingers chopped off; others hung upside down while nobles threw darts and small knives at them. It was truly a tragedy.
At the same time, Dorian watched with keen eyes as the veiled woman on the stage slowly began to panic, calling some of the guards and telling them to check whatever was happening at the entrance of the room.
’Looks like she can already sense a spell has been put up here. Too bad it’s too late already.’
Dorian, using his super-vision skill, could see as the Third Division soldiers had poured into the room like ants, scattering themselves towards different positions until the entire place was surrounded.
’My soldiers have made their way in.’