A dark-purple spatial rift opened before a marble white tower standing in the middle of the Celestial Garden. Exiting it, Kilian landed before the tower.
Besides its magnificent gardens, translucent lakes and licentious marble sculptures mirroring an erotic form of ancient greek art, the Celestial Garden housed one wonder that kept all its customers in awe: the Tower of Divine Decadence.
High of 720 meters, this tower was not a project Olaf's initial reserves could endure; and only near the end of the first month following the garden's inauguration did they complete it. A second circle illusion spell cast by Olaf kept the ongoing work hidden from visitors until it reached completion, and dazzled them all in one go. Now, all girls resided in the tower whose 142 floors and 780 residences provided them with ample space.
Although they each purchased new residences in Ostria, the coalition of dukes and marquises now resided in a meeting room of the 119th floor, entertained by a saintess.
"Gather seven venandi each, and use teleportation circles to depart for Verden, Wilburg, Singen, Buhel, and Zursteig. Infiltrate the castles, knock out and secure all close-kin of the five dukes without shedding blood, and await further instructions,"
Using his nanobots, Kilian ordered five of his boyars who immediately got to work. While the boyars all were deathly loyal to him, to facilitate traceless communication, Kilian had them implanted with nano-spiders.
Ostria initially didn't have teleportation circles. In fact, throughout Orloth, the knowledge of making them existed only in Kars. But having obtained it from the Compendium of Technology, Kilian had several teleportation circles constructed to transport his forces to distant locations. Although without similar devices awaiting there, they couldn't instantly return, he didn't need them to.
Lifting his eyes toward the darkening sky, Kilian calculated the remaining time between dusk and night, then silently walked into the tower. Taking an elevator, he directly rose to the 119th floor and stepped toward the meeting room where his guests currently enjoyed the soothing company of the saintess.
The lady was about to pour the Duke of Verden another glass of wine when Kilian appeared. And seeing him walk in, she stopped her move, lowered the bottle, and stepped back.
Intrigued, the 17 noblemen turned toward the source of the disturbance and were startled to see a barefooted man dressed in an open black jacket showcasing his bare, muscular chest, and pants of the same color. Worse, though endowed with striking hazel eyes and peerless handsomeness, the back-length dreadlocks fluttering at his back clearly indicated a commoner background!
Instantly, scorn filled the 17 noblemen's eyes.
"I didn't expect that an establishment of this standing would hire servants of your caliber." The Duke of Wilburg, a man that appeared to be in his mid-forties, spat in outrage and rose to expel the perceived nuisance. But before he could make his move, Ralph, the Duke of Verden glanced at the saintess, who since Kilian's entrance kept her head lowered in deference.
Before them, although she displayed courtesy, no such deference existed. That attitude added to Kilian's appearance, allowed the old duke to figure out the truth of Kilian's background.
"You're Olaf's twilight child? The new zu Verden?" He directly asked, not even bothering to call Kilian's name. In Arcadia, although they took the name of their adoptive parent's house, because they weren't born into it—twilight children used the particle "zu" instead of the typical noble "von."
The "zu" signified that though ennobled, they merely were residents of the house and not direct descendants.
Ignoring the old duke, Kilian motioned toward the saintess, and she rushed to bring him an extra chair which she placed at the other side of the massive mahogany table—directly facing Ralph.
Without a word, Kilian sat and crossed his legs on top of the table.
"Impudence!" The 17 nobles rose in outrage, faces twisted by rage and indignation! In their decades-long lives, never had they seen or heard of a commoner, twilight child or not, displaying such insolence before high nobility! So startling was the scene that for a second, they failed to process it, only reacting after Kilian crossed his legs on the table.
"I didn't allow you to stand up," Kilian stated in a mild tone, but as soon as his words echoed, the 17 men all felt their bodies' weight increase a hundredfold, and as if losing control of their motions, they quietly sat back in their seats. Instantly, their eyes widened in a stupor!
Although they failed to anticipate the sudden move and didn't have any defenses prepared, they all were High Emissaries!
The 12 marquis were low-level High Emissaries, while Ralph aside, the remaining four dukes all were mid-level High Emissaries. With such strength, how could anyone just have them sit? Unless they faced an Archon or a top-level Fehl Daemon, this was entirely ludicrous!
Confusion overwhelmed their minds, with some wondering if they didn't have too much wine. But as they saw the same stupor in one another's gaze, they realized that this was no hallucination!
"You come into my house, enjoy my wine, the comfort of my establishment and the company of my girls, yet have the nerve to disturb my rest and plot against me? How rude. In this world, that woman aside, there is nothing I tolerate less than rude creatures. So tell me, how can I spare you?" Kilian leisurely asked. But though his tone remained level, every single one of his words seemed to carry razor-sharp daggers aiming at the nobles' throats.
Faced with such naked threats, many could no longer restrain themselves, and let their dra erupt to challenge Kilian's suppression. Ralph was no exception. Alas, it was as if a mountain of dra kept them all pinned on their seats, making all their attempts futile. So absolute was Kilian's control over them that they could neither cast spells nor sweat!
Even quivering in fright seemed forbidden!
In an instant, Ralph realized how horrible of a mistake they committed, and no longer took Kilian as a youth, but an old Archon hiding his true age beneath a magical facade! And who could blame him? Compared to five months ago, Kilian's strength rose by a large margin. Unlike the average magus, his might rose alongside his dra reserves. With 15,200 dra, and his current level of dra control that approached Archon tier, even 10 top-level High Emissaries could only surrender their lives before him.
However, regardless of how strong he was, Ralph didn't believe Kilian dared harm their lives!
"Sir, I don't know who you are and why you find it necessary to hide in my house. However, Archon or not, you can't bear the consequences of slaying five dukes and 12 marquis within Orloth!
You may not fear King Erik, but what about the Grand Master of the Blood Rose?! Klaus von Karsten will never let you off!" Ralph spat and, with every word, regained his composure. After seizing King Erik's judiciary power, Klaus made tremendous changes to Orloth's law enforcement system. Initially, all nobles loathed the changes. But now, Ralph thanked all that was sacred for Klaus' rise!
"First, your entire enterprise in Ostria will collapse; second, even your life will be in jeopardy! His excellency is the number one Archon of Arcadia, the head of one of the empire's strongest military orders, and the lord justiciar of Orloth!
In this country, the law of Klaus is inviolable. Restrain your arrog-" Ralph had not finished his impassioned speech that Kilian pulled out a transmission mirror, and projected five images of the dukes' estates.
All were startled to see their wives, siblings, and children bundled within their court halls, and guarded by eight cloaked men. Moreover, though outwardly unharmed, all appeared unconscious.
"Impossible, this is fake! Fake! Fake!" Ralph roared in succession, as if to convince himself of the words. But the longer he looked, the more convinced he was of the reality!
"Verifying the truth is not difficult. I can just have five from each castle beheaded at random, and the heads carried here for you to see. My men won't need more than three hours to return from your fiefs. Should we proceed in this manner?" Kilian asked while letting his cool exterior make way for a slasher smile.
Instantly, the 17 nobles felt their hearts teeming with fright!
"You...you are too arrogant!" The Duke of Wilburg stammered, full of a mixture of bitterness and resentment! If he'd known the situation would turn out this way, he'd never taken part in this plot!
"Incorrect, you're just not humble enough," Kilian countered and stretched his right hand toward the wine bottle. Alongside the nobles' 17 glasses, it flew toward him, hovering above the table.
Lilac-colored fumes surged from Kilian's right index, coiling like tendrils as they dived into the bottle and stained the liquid in an eldritch curse. Kilian then poured each noble a glass and sent their wine to them.
The glasses nimbly dropped before their destined drinker.
"I will now make the situation clear. You have two choices:
A) Surrender.
B) Surrender.
Seeking a third option results in lineage extermination for every single one of you gentlemen. Once you've processed reality, drink. But for every three seconds you waste, I will execute one of your kin. Oh, and this a duke deal only, you Orloth marquises rank too low in Arcadia's hierarchy for me to deign to give you the leisure. You only have one second," Kilian explained.
Throughout Arcadia, there were only two things that the high nobility cherished more than themselves: the continuity of their lineage, and the preservation of their ancestral lands. To safeguard those two things, the average high-ranking noble wouldn't mind losing their lives.
Moreover, not everyone was Olaf.
Believing that they offended an existence of Grand Master level, the marquises didn't dare hesitate and immediately gulped down their wine. The begrudging dukes followed soon afterward.
Seeing this, Kilian nodded in approval. The wine contained a unique hex he learned from Jezebel: the Coveted Thralldom Hex.
This hex worked through mediums the victim had to consume of their own volition, but once they did, their lives and souls would forever belong to the caster—to Kilian.