Book 8, Chapter 98
Stardragon’s Death
Richard nodded at the report, turning to Senma, “Send a team of rune knights to coordinate, and another 300 shadowspears on standby as well. Any signs of treason must be stomped out at the root.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Senma bowed.
This support left the King both elated and worried. He knew how strong the rune knights and shadowspears were— Wallace wouldn’t stand a chance— but this greatly weighed down on him as well. If he failed even with this help, his rulership would be in doubt.
“I’m going to the Godnest tomorrow,” Richard said as he stood up, “No need to arrange things. I’ll be leaving right afterwards.”
The King bowed, personally leading Richard towards the rear halls of the palace. This section was a specially-designed residence made for him and him alone, even more lofty and luxurious than anything the King occupied. Richard hadn’t visited the place once since it was made, even proposing that it be repurposed, but his followers opposed this. This residence was a symbol of Archeron power, so it had to be maintained for that sake alone.
He didn’t talk much, sending the King off after a brief report. Some ‘secret business’ had Senma lead most of the rune knights out of the city, leaving only a few dozen to patrol as guards. With her not choosing to divulge what the business was, even the King himself didn’t dare to ask. After all, the Blood Paladin was the true ruler of this plane when Richard wasn’t around.
……
A pair of eyes slowly opened in a dark corner of the palace, their sparkle invisible to the human eye. They watched in silence as the rune knights patrolled the entire palace building, a bizarrely soft wheezing sound being followed by a faint voice, “Do you think all these knights will save you?”
As another patrol of rune knights walked across, a black figure floated into the air. It seemed to be almost a hallucination, melding into the shadows of the night and silently floating towards Richard’s chambers. Even at full alert, the knights were completely unaware of a threat entering the palace.
The room was still lit, with Richard going through some documents within. The pile quickly wore away as he only glanced through most of them, but owing to the long time he hadn’t come here there was still a good amount of work to do. A knock suddenly interrupted him, causing him to frown slightly, “Didn’t I say I wasn’t to be disturbed if there’s nothing important?”
A gentle voice rang out from the other side, “This is very important, Your Majesty.”
“Alright, come in.” he relaxed and turned around, staring at the handsome youth that had just stepped in, “You’ve gotten gutsy.”
Stardragon closed the door with a smile, “Gutsy? It depends on who I’m dealing with. Your rune knights won’t make it here to save you in time.”
Richard tossed the letter in his hands, leaning back into his chair, “So you have men in the palace that are tracking my whereabouts.”
“Heh. I have many men, and not just in the palace. I was the god of this plane before you came here!”
“A junior legend wants to be called a deity? Well, have at it I guess; gods aren’t impressive anyway.”
Stardragon’s expression warped, but he quickly adopted a perverse smile, “A junior legend is enough to kill you! You know, I won’t be killing you slowly; torture is an art! And I’m a great artist!”
Seeing that Richard wasn’t flustered at all, not even using a hint of his magic, Stardragon grew more and more infuriated. The last of his words were said through clenched teeth, the corners of the warrior’s mouth twitching.
Richard finally changed his posture and leaned forward, gently knocking on the desk, “You know, even as weak as you are, you’re still a legend. I’ll give you a chance; serve me, or you die.”
“Bullshit!” Stardragon screamed, his voice even breaking a little, “What makes you so arrogant? I can tear you into hundreds of pieces in a second, even your little paladin won’t be able to stop me. You actually want a legendary being to serve you? Why don’t you just look for a few gods and act the same way? ‘Come, serve me or you’ll die!’ Bah!”
The man’s neck seemed to be bloated, bloodshot eyes actually leaking hints of crimson. For a moment, Richard was actually interested in this complete mental collapse and prodded, “I do have a few gods serving me. But looking at your sorry state, it must have been rough on you. How long have you been shivering in your hole, afraid I’ll find you?”
“GO TO HELL!” A cold gleam shone on Stardragon’s fists as he stabbed two sawtooth daggers towards Richard’s head. However, Richard remained seated, only raising Moonlight to block both blows. The warrior felt like he had stabbed into a mountain, the all-out strike unable to move even an inch. He immediately tried to swallow the blood he was about to cough up and pull back, but Richard grabbed his blades and kept him in place.
*CREAK!* The two daggers were twisted into scrap metal and thrown away, Stardragon losing his control as the hilts left his hands. Feeling another mouthful of blood catching in his throat, Stardragon suddenly looked down to see one of the broken hilts being tapped on his chest. The bone was immediately crushed, forming a terrifying hole that exploded into a mist of blood. Half a wall was stained scarlet.
With another knock, Richard almost crushed Stardragon’s upper body to pieces. The warrior’s face was full of fear as he staggered backwards, back hitting the wall, “NO! DON’T! I PROMISE TO SERVER YOU, I’LL BE LOYAL! YOU NEEDED LEGENDS WORKING FOR YOU, RIGHT?”
Richard sighed and raised his left hand, “Too bad, I lied to you.”
Numerous ribbons of light flew out from the hand, circling Stardragon and entering his body without obstruction. A translucent orb was yanked out of his body, screaming out in pain as it was compressed to the size of a fist. The body itself crumpled, breaths gradually coming to a halt.
Richard looked at the ball of light floating in his hand, watching the occasional glimpses of Stardragon’s face. The soul was in extreme suffering; this was the first time he had ever used his soul hunter abilities on a live soul. He quickly tutted, placing the soul in a specially-designed case before calling a few rune knights in, “Hang this on the gate, and tidy the place up. Inform the mages that I need a lab within half an hour.”
The rune knights bowed and got to their tasks, not caring about the room’s state or worrying about Richard himself. Having followed him for a long time, they knew better than anyone just how strong he was; this was the most powerful person in the entire Archeron Family; assassination attempts on him were just suicide runs.