"Let me go" Selina pretended to struggle with the men who were holding her captive.
"Stay quiet pretty bird" one of the men smiled lewdly as he licked his lips. The other was quiet but his eyes radiated excitement whenever he roamed them over Selina's beautiful body.
"What is this?" one of the guards inside the false throne room enquired. But even he was distracted by Selina.
"We found her trying to sneak inside just when we were coming over for our shift" one of the men holding Selina replied. The reporting guard didn't speak with much respect. And why would he, when he was much stronger than the one asking the question.
"What about the other two?" one of the guards in the false throne room asked.
"They weren't there. I'm sure they had just left when we arrived. You know how arrogant those two are" the other guard holding Selina replied. He didn't have a good impression of the two profound wielders whom Mane had killed. Because one of them had a brother who was a knight, they were very arrogant and paid little attention to the others. They often left before their shift was over. But they made sure they always left just a few minutes before the end of their shift to avoid the ire of the Master. Unfortunately their arrogance had led the others to believe that they had left before they could arrive and take over. They had no idea that they were actually dead.
"We were lucky" Frederick whispered to Mane. Mane nodded. They were indeed lucky. That was the only loophole in the plan. Selina had to wait for the replacements to come so that they would be the ones to find her and bring her in. But there was the question of what happened to those who were guarding the place before. Since she was only in the mortal realm there was no way they would believe that she was the one to have killed them. So they really got lucky there.
"True. If it wasn't because of his brother we would have reported him to the Master long ago" one of the three guards in charge of the false throne room assented to the words of his comrade. Even if they reported the duo, they wouldn't be safe. If the Master was to punish the two arrogant idiots, their backing in the Knights of the Eastern Sun would make their lives very difficult.
"But we did get something good from it. We get to enjoy such a price" the profound wielder tossed Selina to the ground and laughed loudly.
"Hahaha. That's true. We were so bored just standing here having nothing to do. Now we have something to do" another wielder laughed loudly as he appreciated Selina's curves.
The honeypot – that was the trap. It was a simple method that had been used since man started walking the earth and roaming the universe but it was still effective. Men are moved by three things: money, power and beautiful women. As long as any one of these things was involved, a man would be willing to do almost anything. So Selina offered herself as bait.
"What are you planning to do?" Selina asked, 'terrified' as she tried to put as much distance as she could between herself and the men.
"What do you think?" one of the guards scoffed. Another laughed and said, "We're planning to do you!" Another quickly rushed to the door and blocked any route of escape. Looking at Selina's terrified expression they got even more excited. The strict training the Master put them through had left them full of hormones with nothing to vent them on. They wanted to fight and wage war; and eat the fruits that followed after a conquest – forcefully take the property and women of others. Although they didn't get to fight, there was someone here that they could vent their frustrations on. And she was exceedingly pretty too.
Frederick tried his hardest to hold himself back. He grit his teeth and balled his fists as he watched the drama unfold. Their crude words and disgusting attitude disturbed him greatly. "Relax. I won't let them touch her" Mane held his shoulder to prevent him from doing anything stupid and assured his friend that Selina was safe. "We only need the others to come out" Mane continued and Frederick nodded. Mane could already feel the unstable auras that were hidden. The instability of their auras could only be attributed to the pretty flower they wanted to tarnish.
The only reason they allowed Selina to do this was so that the other wielders would reveal themselves. Mane was confident in his ability to kill them all. But the problem was speed. It was important that he killed all of them before any of them had the chance to escape or even sound the alarm. He didn't know enough about them to assume that they wouldn't have a way to call for backup. And he didn't know if Abe had already finished his mission or not. So he couldn't take any chances. Their plan was already full of loopholes. So the ones they actually had control of, they wanted to do right.
"What about you guys?" one of the wielders asked as he approached Selina. He was already unfastening his belt. The place was silent for a while before a few figures revealed themselves. Their breathing was hurried and their eyes were reddened with lust. Their gazes brought chills to Selina's body and she couldn't help but be truly afraid. They looked at her like she was some kind of meal.
"I guess that's a yes" the wielder who asked the question laughed loudly seeing that even the ones who were supposed to be hidden couldn't take it anymore. He smiled broadly, exposing his white teeth and pulled down his pants.
"Aren't you going to act now? They have already appeared!" an agitated Frederick bellowed. In his anxiousness he screamed without realizing it. Luckily for him, Mane's barrier was still in place. "Mane?" he turned to his side only to realize that his captain wasn't there any longer.
"Ahhh!" one of the wielders screamed in pain. It was the one who had pulled down his pants and was approaching Selina. His hands were no longer attached to his body. Before he could make any more noise his jaw and tongue were sent flying. Finally his limbs were severed to prevent any possibility of escape.
"Sound the-" one of the others tried to get to the alarm to signal that there was an intruder but his head came flying before he could finish. Unknowingly he had helped Mane out. Mane's eyes followed the finger of the headless corpse and finally saw what their alarm looked like. It was a small glass cup on a cupboard. It was inconspicuous and there was no way Mane would have guessed that was their alarm. So now he knew what to do.
"Ahhh"
"NO!"
"Get Him!"
All sorts of commands and pleas were made. Some begged for mercy whereas the braver ones tried to stop the assailant. They all had one ending – death. Mane kept an eye on the door and the glass cup. Anyone who got too close to either of them was robbed of their life. Before a minute had ended Mane had killed everyone in the room – with the exception of the one who had tried to rape Selina first.
"He's yours Frederick. Do with him what you will" Mane 'magnanimously' offered the man's life to Frederick. There was a reason why he chose Frederick. The boy obviously had strong feelings for Selina; he wasn't only attracted to her pretty face and curvaceous figure. Also Selina wasn't ready to kill yet. Mane observed the two on their way here.
Although both looked pale the first time they saw Mane kill someone, Frederick adjusted pretty quickly. Selina tried to act as though she wasn't affected anymore but Mane saw right through her. She wasn't ready to kill. Even if Mane allowed her to, she wouldn't be able to kill these men who wanted to take advantage of her. The fact that she was throwing up in the corner served to affirm his theory.
Frederick looked at the perverted man lying helplessly at his feet. Just a few seconds ago he was trying to ruin another person's life. But now he was lying on the ground limbless, crying in pain with no dignity left. The tears and snot on his face didn't garner any sympathy – at least not from Frederick. He couldn't speak because his lower jaw and tongue were no more. Coincidentally, they were lying a few feet to his left. But he whimpered constantly, almost as if he was begging for mercy.
"Captain's actions are inimitable. I can't believe he dealt with you people so easily" Frederick sighed. "If I leave you like this you would die from excessive blood loss" Frederick stated and walked away from the man who was whimpering on the ground. The man looked relieved when Frederick walked away.
'Idiot' he thought. 'I may have my limbs severed but I won't die as long as I take Master's pill. I will be a cripple but at least I would be alive. I would find a way to describe you fools to the Master so he rewards me, and then I'd get to live a wealthy life whilst you try to escape from the Master's strong grip. You're only a mortal realmer so you'd go first.'
When Mane had cut off his jaw he forced the wielder to unintentionally swallow the pill the Master had given him. It was a reward he gained for some meritorious service he rendered a while back. It was already working and halting his bleeding. However before he could gloat some more he saw Frederick returning.
"What?" Frederick asked in mock perplexity. "You didn't think I'd let you go did you?" He asked mockingly. He waved his right hand to let the man see what he was holding. It was the broken jaw. The removed tongue was resting on the jaw. The man's eyes went wide seeing this, wondering why Frederick was showing it to him.
"I just thought to myself that I am going to do this, then I'd like to do it right" once he finished his statement Frederick dropped the jaw onto the man's head and pierced through it with a discarded sword, effectively killing the man.
"Good. I almost thought you didn't have the willpower to go through with it" Mane smiled and said. "Hahaha. He wanted to touch Selina so there was no way I was going to let him be" Frederick was pale from his first murder but he still tried to laugh it off. "What is that?" he tried to change the subject quickly and pointed at the glass cup Mane was observing.
"It's an alarm" Mane replied. "That? How?" Frederick didn't see anything special about the glass.
"I didn't notice it at first but now when I concentrate my senses I can feel a small trace of energy in it. As long as it breaks, the energy would disperse and others would know something is wrong" Mane explained.
"Remarkable" Frederick praised. Mane threw the glass to him and said "Keep it. I'd need you to look into it later". The older boy nodded and placed the glass carefully into his pocket. Then he quickly went to Selina to help her process the mass killing that had just occurred.
Mane turned to the large door that led to the throne room. He had already entered it the first time to see what was behind the doors and found it completely devoid of life. That was the true throne room.
"We can finally get some answers" he balled his fists.