"You are quite strong, boy. To think that you would be able to block my punch barehanded with such a fragile-looking body." A large man that previously punched me said with a smile. He had a bald top of his head while spiky black hair on the sides of his head and a bushy beard with mustache. He was wearing armored plating on his forearms and also large iron pauldron over his left shoulder. His scleras were yellow and his pupils black.
"Heeh? Confident, aren't we?" I exclaimed while tilting my head to the side with a provoking smile.
"Mez, why did you get in my way! Just because your attack failed, my ambush also failed!" Another large man who was blown away together with Mez, complained to her. He had a similar build to the first man and was wearing only shorts. His purple long hair was braided into two long strands at the bottom, with long bangs framing each side of his face. His eyes were unique in its way, his scleras were black and his pupils were blue.
"Hah?! How is that my problem?!" Mez immediately shouted back at him with an irritated expression.
"Those two...Whatever, let's see if you are as strong as you look confident, boy!" The first man with yellow eyes looked at Mez and another man with a lost expression before directing his attention to me once again. He was getting ready to rush at me once again but...
"Stop, Sten!" Suzuka stopped him by gripping his clothes while looking at me with a small blush.
...She didn't change a bit.
"I was kinda upset that someone broke my nails but now that I know it was you, Akashi, I don't really mind." She said with a slightly crazy maybe even obsessed smile.
"? Wait...you know him? If I recall, even Mez called him by that name." A guy named Sten asked while looking at Suzuka with a serious expression.
"W-What are you doing?! He killed my guards and tried to attack me, aren't you supposed to protect me and not to talk?!" Bolic who was watching this couldn't keep quiet.
"That's right, I and Suzuka know him and you should too, just take a better look at his complexion, hair, and eyes. As for our mission to protect you, Bolic-san...We can't really decide this situation on our own." Mez stopped arguing with that second guy and said aloud to Sten before directing her eyes at Bolic who was already slightly panicking.
Sten immediately stared more attentively at me before he widened his eyes.
"Wait! Aren't you that rumored Red Devil? Although we haven't been to Capital for some time, we still get to hear some rumors." Sten suddenly bumped his fist into his palm with the face of realization.
"It seems like it. But feel free to attack me, I won't mind a little warm-up" I said with a slightly disappointed expression when Suzuka and Mez stopped this entire fight.
---
'He is freak as the rumors within the army spreading around say. It's being said that he is equal to the Empire's Strongest, General Esdeath.' Sten thought with a serious expression when he saw how at ease Akashi was despite facing Four Rakshasa Demons.
---
"What do you mean that you can't decide by yourself?! Isn't your job to protect me?!" Bolic shouted after he recovered from the shock of hearing Mez's words.
"They mean that Prime Minister Honest wouldn't make an enemy of my house just for a small fry like you. I am a member of one of the strongest and most prominent noble houses, do you think that Prime Minister wants to have another Civil War right inside the Capital?" I explained with a cold smile while slowly walking towards him.
"Wait, Akashi! Don't kill him." Mez suddenly shouted at me with pleading eyes.
"Tsk, why are you all acting like some cowards?" The purple-haired man said with a cold tone while blocking my path with an arrogant smirk across his face.
"Ibara, don't! We can't make an enemy of him or his house." Sten suddenly shouted at Ibara with narrowed eyes.
"I am not someone who likes to use the influence of my family. Ibara is your name, right? You are free to do whatever you want, even if it is opposing me, however-" I said with my head down while walking towards the guy named Ibara. My bangs were blocking my entire expression so they were unable to tell if I was angry or not but the cold and strong aura of authority was slowly gathering inside the room.
"I don't allow anyone acting against me to look down on me." I said with a cold tone and raised my head just to reveal glowing red irises with enlarged pupils.
[Contempt for the Weak]
[Overwhelm]
[Energy: 1485/1515]
---
'?! Why does my body feel heavier out of nowhere?' Ibara thought with slightly surprised expression when he looked straight into Akashi's glowing eyes.
I used my skill to strengthen my next attack and threw a primitive and relatively slow punch at Ibara.
"? Haha, this is it after such dramatic speech?" I laughed when he saw such a primitive punch and extended his arm to catch my fist with his twice as big hand as me.
"Heh" I only smirked when I saw this.
When he caught my fist...
*Break* *Whoosh* The sound of breaking bone resounded loudly inside the room and after that he was blown to the wall, breaking through it to the other room.
"?!" Both Sten and Mez widened their eyes when they saw him lose so miserably in the contest of raw power.
However, there was also another reaction.
"Aaah, I knew that I should have been the one blocking Akashi's path but I was too busy admiring him." Suzuka mumbled with flushed cheeks while wrapping her arms around herself when she saw how Ibara was blown away.
"Now with that problem aside...I can finally do what I wanted to do." I muttered while walking towards Bolic who was already crawling on the ground with a panicked expression.
"Akashi!" Mez called out my name with a complicated expression.
"Don't worry, I am sure that he has a great purpose since all of you are guarding him, I won't kill him." I glanced at her and replied with a small smile and Mez immediately sighed in relief.
Even Bolic himself regained his smile as he released a sigh.
"However...I doubt he will need this for that great purpose!" I said with a cold smile and slashed my sword in between his legs.
"GYAAAH!!" When I cut off his little pathetic third leg, he immediately started screaming like a pig while rolling on the ground in pain before he lost consciousness, I quickly used my flames to stop bleeding so he wouldn't die.
A fitting punishment for someone who is raping and drugging women. You are supposed to be a high-ranking member of the religious organization! Honest will even thank me for creating even better disguise for his shitty pawn.
Actually, killing him would be a mercy, I wonder how will he behaves now that I got rid of one of his biggest hobbies. Maybe he will even wish that he would be dead after some time.
---
'Aaaaah, how ruthless and sadistic!! Akashi is surely best! This is just a pure feeling of ecstasy!' Suzuka thought with a wide smile and completely flushed cheeks while looking at Akashi's back with hungry eyes.
But others didn't think the same as Suzuka...When Ibara who recovered from the blow and came back inside the room through the hole inside the wall saw this, he instantly put his hand to his treasure to protect it, Sten didn't have much different reaction from Ibara. While Mez only looked at the cut off thing lying on the ground with a disgusted expression.
'Ew, I first thought that it was his thumb by its size.' Mez thought while averting her eyes, not wanting to look at the mess.
---
"Alright, I am done here, you can tend to him, our new eunuch spy has been born~!" I said with a calm smile while looking at Mez and others.
---
'?! I thought that only Prime Minister knows about this spy but I guess it's not too hard to guess when we are the ones guarding him...' Mez thought with a forced smile while looking at Akashi.
---
"Thank you for not killing him, Akashi. You have saved everyone a lot of trouble." Mez thanked me while letting guys tend to Bolic's wound.
"No need to thank me, I know those types of people, he will start wishing for death with his biggest enjoyment in life being absent." I replied with a cold smile and after I said it, I noticed Suzuka looking at me with obsessed expression.
She is nuts. But from what I have heard, those types of women tend to be very...creative...in bed.
I thought while looking at Suzuka's hungry eyes with an indifferent expression.
"Anyway, Akashi, who is she?" Suzuka suddenly asked me while pointing at cloaked Taeko who hasn't moved a finger during the entire fight.
"She is my travel companion I have met on the road. Anyway, I will be leaving now since I have nothing to do here anymore." I said and started leaving, only then, Taeko moved and started following me.
---
"Ah, wai-t...He already left, haaa" Suzuka muttered when she was too slow to stop Akashi from leaving, resulting in disappointed expression appearing on her face.
"Are you alright, Ibara?" Sten asked while tending to Bolic wound.
"I greatly underestimated the strength of his punch but I am alright. My body is highly regenerative so he didn't leave any everlasting physical wound on my body." Ibara replied with a complicated expression.
"Any physical wound? And what about the mental wound?" Mez suddenly asked with a teasing tone when she noticed how he specified the type of wound.
"...I can still feel those red glowing eyes with vertical pupils staring down at me even now...It makes me feel uneasy." He admitted with narrowed eyes which shocked everyone since they knew Ibara's nature. He was always cocky and bloodthirsty, as seen when he tried to stop Akashi despite his higher status.
"The question is, why is he here? We should send a few spies to keep an eye on him, if he came here to collaborate with the Peace of Path, we need to inform the Prime Minister." Sten said with dead-serious expression.
"Alright! I volunteer to go as a spy!" Suzuka immediately raised her hand with a playful smile.
"No, we need to remain here and guard Bolic-san" Sten replied while glaring at Suzuka.
"But do you seriously expect that regular spies will be able to spy on someone like Red Devil without being discovered?" Suzuka asked with a sly smile.
"..." Without saying anything, Sten looked at Mez to hear her opinion on this.
"Grr, fine, go, and also find out who is that woman!" Mez shouted at Suzuka with a jealous expression while pointing at her in a childish manner.