While Marcus was conversing with Esteban, Zeke sneaked off to the fourth floor. When he checked the four rooms on his left and right, he was puzzled as he didn't see a single soul inside. Zeke felt relieved knowing that there's only one last room left. However, Zeke noticed that this room was slightly closer than the stairs from the bottom floors, indicating that it's a big room. Zeke didn't know how many are inside it but he hoped he wouldn't fight 2 or more at a time.
Zeke quietly closed in and slightly opened the door. There, he could see to his horror several children on the left and right side of the room, imprisoned and some had blood all over their body. In the middle part of the room, he saw two guys sitting in front of each other. Zeke didn't need to ask the system that those two are a lot stronger than the guys earlier. His senses heightened and pushed to the limits as well as his mind spinning fast and thinking of ways on dealing with the two.
The other one that had his back facing Zeke was Bram. He was now back to his true appearance and was currently discussing with Val about what Gaia said. Bram didn't know that the one who he impersonated was only a disguise, so he was slightly afraid about the identities of the children he abducted.
"You said one of the girls mentioned your 'disguise'?"
"Yes. By disguise, she meant my disguised appearance is apparently also a disguise. It looks to me that what I impersonated was not a real person, but only a disguise of their guardian. But why would the guardian feel the need to hide himself?" This question bugged Bram the most.
As an experienced 'worker', Bram didn't do anything carelessly. He always gathered information first before striking the target when they least expect it. However, this was the first case where greed took over him. He couldn't get inside the Palace to scout for information, but since the victims are four high-quality goods, he couldn't just pass it off. He eventually decided to risk it and go in looking like Holmes' disguise. The guards thought it was Holmes, giving him easy access to the palace while also strengthening his belief that it's just an upstart noble clan. He believed that it's just some newly migrated Nobility but when he heard the girl's words earlier, suspicion planted itself in his heart. If it's just a new Noble, why would he hide?
"Maybe he's being hunted, or something like that. Who knows, who cares actually? It's not like they're the Royal Families, hmm? I mean, why would they decide to hide in such a big city that's close to the Imperial City? Wouldn't that defeat their purpose of hiding? Sheesh, the goods are already here, what more do you fear? the boys checked their belongings, right? There were no accessories whatsoever that could track them. It's basically a big gain for your small risk, you know. Don't worry, after the auction I'm sure they'll all be sold and as promised, you'll get half the cut. Now just go get some sleep and I have more contacts to talk to. This next auction's going to be big!" Val casually spoke while smoking some sort of cigarette.
Bram just nodded, suspicion still budding inside him. However, he realized that it was useless as they already secured the goods, there's no point crying over spilled milk. He lowered his head deep in thought while walking towards the exit of the big room.
Zeke saw this as an opportunity. The man leaving looked like he was deep in thought, and Zeke thought of the only thing he knew the man wouldn't expect.
As soon as Bram was in front of the door, something suddenly pierced through the door right through his stomach before he could hold the doorknob. He couldn't even react as he didn't expect someone to actually try to kill him there. He looked down on his stomach and saw the shaft of the weapon that pierced him. He looked through the cracks of the slightly opened door and saw a young boy sneering at him as if mocking him for his carelessness. Bram fell down, shock, anger, and unwillingness present in his facial expression.
Val also didn't expect someone to murder one of his prized 'workers'. He immediately opened one of the drawers and pulled out a pair of daggers.
"I didn't expect someone as young as you could be this brutal in killing!" Val seemed to be relaxed as he casually praised Zeke's brutality.
"Just did what needed to be done." Zeke smiled and went inside the room, shutting the door behind him. He then retrieved the spear and held it in front. Val held the urge to laugh as the young boy in front of him held a weapon even taller than himself. What surprised Val was that Zeke looked like he wasn't that uncomfortable or burdened while holding it. He only saw slight wobbly movements that Val just brushed off as the weapon being too heavy for the boy.
"I admire your courage, boy. Instead of escaping directly, you even had the gall to go up here and kill my 'workers', huh. I assume you killed all of them down there?" Val sighed.
"No matter. I can get a lot of those trash later on. What I find irreplaceable though is you. I like you, kid. Choose, either join me and be my 'worker', or die by my hand. If I were you, I wouldn't choose the latter. Even I don't want to die a useless death, you know?" Val said. He had certain confidence in killing the young boy in front of him. He deduced that the boy chose to attack at this time of day because he couldn't take all of them on in a frontal battle, thus resorting to silent assassination while they're asleep.
What Val said was only considered half-right as he didn't hear the sounds of battle outside with his soundproof room. If he did though, he'd be wary of the tricks the boy in front of him had.
"I don't have plans on serving an old motherfucker." Zeke sneered and readied the spear.
Hearing the word 'old', Val's expression contorted. Zeke concluded that Val didn't like to be called 'old'. He then proceeded to provoke him more.
"Oh, why the sad face, OLD man? Do you need your cane, OLD man? Have you had your meds yet, OLD man? Here, let me shove this on your mouth since you can't eat yourself, OLD man!" Zeke repeatedly emphasized the word 'old', further enraging Val.
"Shut up!" Val quickly charged at Zeke. Even though his prowess decreased when he got older, he was still faster than Zeke by a notch. As Val's dagger came down on Zeke, he parried it using a swing of his spear. Since it was heavy, Val thought Zeke would suffer from the momentum of the spear's swing. He grabbed the opportunity to slash Zeke's neck.
Zeke knew what Val was thinking and he immediately released his grip from the spear as a sword appeared in his right hand, swiping the dagger but only changing its trajectory. The dagger, who was originally aimed at Zeke's neck, swerved downwards and slashed Zeke's chest horizontally. Zeke screamed in pain but it wasn't that deep so he continued to slash his sword on Val. Val quickly jumped back but his left hand was grazed by the tip of Zeke's sword.
Val was in pain as he dropped the dagger originally held by his left hand. Both now had injuries, but Zeke had it rougher. His chest was bleeding profusely but he still had a gritted smile plastered on his face.
"You want to play a war of attrition? HA! I'd take you up on your offer, little brother!" Val noticed Zeke's smile and was puzzled. He felt like something didn't add up but he couldn't point his fingers at what exactly was wrong. Is it because the boy is still smiling even though he's bleeding a lot in his chest? Probably.
Val charged at Zeke again, slashing at him using a dagger on his right. Zeke parried it and got some distance but to Val's surprise, Zeke quickly lunged and took the offensive, swinging his sword vertically. Val prepared to block it but the sword in front of him suddenly vanished to thin air. Puzzled, he looked at the face of the young boy and found a dagger held by Zeke's other hand. Zeke then slashed at Val's leg while Val chopped Zeke. Before the sword landed on Zeke, a water barrier suddenly erupted in the middle and absorbed the brunt of the hit. Still, it couldn't completely deflect Val's full-powered sword chop as it grazed Zeke's back. Val was relieved after hitting Zeke in both front and back. He was surprised and bewildered earlier when the sword vanished suddenly but he realized that this boy in front of him only had party tricks. In terms of direct confrontation, the boy was leagues below him.
He dashed and slashed at Zeke again only to be blocked by a wall of flame in between them. He could hardly grip his dagger as the flames' heat started to bother him. He jumped back only to be greeted by a spear coming straight at him. He was forced to block using his dagger but unfortunately for him, it couldn't fully stop the spear's charge. It stabbed him but didn't bury deep because of the range but it still hurt Val. He didn't know how the spear suddenly emerged in Zeke's hands again as he still clearly remembered that he discarded it earlier. He looked at Zeke's back only to realize that there were no signs of a spear there. He didn't know how the boy managed to retrieve his spear and even had the time to stab at him at such a short window of time.
At this point, unbeknownst to both of them, someone actually slightly opened the door. It was Esteban, and he was then again shocked by his Young Master's fighting style.
Earlier, when Marcus led them to the place, he ordered the other black-cloaked fellows to enter through the windows as the front might be guarded. To their surprise though, when they sneaked in from the 2nd floor's windows, they all gulped at what they saw. On the three rooms, the black-cloaked men reported sightings of two men that had their throats slit, blood filling the floors. On the last room, there was a man that had his stomach burnt, his shoulders cut, and his neck slit. Even the men who went in got chills as to who did all this.
Marcus, who Esteban carried, pointed to the direction of the stairs leading down and told them the children and Zeke's room were on the basement. When they went to the first floor, they also saw corpses that had their throats slit. It was a bloodbath as the rooms were filled with blood, with a small quantity even leaking through the doors and into the hallway. When they arrived at the basement, they opened all the doors and eventually found the three girls along with some other children. There were also others that were imprisoned on the other rooms as the black-clothed men also freed them. Esteban's brows furrowed when he noticed that out of all the children, Zeke was nowhere to be found.
"Marcus, where's that Zeke who ordered you? Why isn't he here?!" Esteban let out his agitation on the last word.
"I-I don't know! When he escorted me out he just went in and I don't know where he went after that." Marcus nervously said. He too didn't like that Zeke, his benefactor, wasn't here.
"Could it be...." Esteban trailed off and gave a long sigh.
"Escort all the children out and transfer them to the Palace's exterior, for now. It seems Young Master went on a killing spree again." Esteban wanted to laugh but he realized his Young master might still be in a dangerous situation up there.
"a-again? you mean he did one already before? and he's doing it now?" Marcus stuttered at the thought of the boy who was younger than him killing people already.
"Nothing you need to know. Men, take them out now! And don't forget to hide the sight above. Let's not traumatize them more, huh?"
The black-clothed men all nodded. Even they were slightly disturbed by what they saw, let alone all these children. What's more disturbing for them is that it was actually their Young Master's doing! Just how absurd was it that a 3-year-old kid slaughtered all these adults? Not to mention they also sighted a battle on the second floor, which only served to prove that Zeke didn't or couldn't assassinate them all, thus resorting to fighting them alone. Just how impressive of a feat is that?
While the black-clothed men escorted the children, Esteban rushed off to the upper floors. When he saw the third floor, he was slightly flabbergasted by the sight. Corpses were seen everywhere and there were even signs or battle there. It seemed like Zeke took multiple of them down alone. Esteban shivered at the thought of Zeke still fighting up there so he rushed, and right now, he was very impressed and shocked by what he was seeing. His young master clearly was weaker than the old man he's fighting, but in terms of the injuries, his Young Master only had a gash in his back and front. Esteban wanted to rush to the Young Master right then and there but he suddenly saw a hand sign from the fighting Zeke. Esteban immediately understood. He was even more impressed by the fact that his Young Master could even save a portion of his attention towards his surroundings.
It was one of the hand signs that Zeke and Esteban developed when they were sparring or when Zeke was sparring against Charles. It signified that Zeke could still fight and Esteban just needs to go in when he's in mortal danger. This made it so Esteban wouldn't forcefully stop Zeke and Charles' sparring even when Zeke could still fight.
Zeke continued to fight Val even while receiving cuts and gashes on his entire body. Even though Val hadn't seriously injured him in any organ whatsoever, he was filled with pain as his body received a lot of cuts from Val's attacks. Val was also not faring better than Zeke as he alsohad cuts and some stabs in his upper body while one of his legs is slightly injured. In terms of damage, Esteban could judge that Zeke dealt more.
Deep inside Zeke, the system was constantly nodding in appreciation to Zeke's fighting style. Even the system hadn't thought that Zeke could even reach here. If he relied purely on his skill in frontal combat, the system judged that Zeke could only clear the second floor and try the third floor at most. However, the system didn't count Zeke's self-made combat techniques and tricks that even the system hadn't thought Zeke would do. The system was also quite pleased as Zeke was improving rapidly while fighting the guy in front of him. Zeke didn't know it himself, but the system knew that Zeke's currently forcing his mind and body to the limits right now, and it fully unearthed Zeke's full potential while also improving his mind and body at a rapid pace.
However, for Zeke, it was only thanks to the skills and tactics he got from playing games in his old world. Back then, Zeke would think of certain scenarios that would never happen in real life. He imagined himself doing all sorts of things in different situations and judging if it was really the right move. He especially applied it to the shield guy back on the second floor where he feigned his attack and instead used his hands to attack underneath the man's shield. He also applied his previously made techniques on the guy going down the stairs as well as on Bram. It was all on Zeke's mind back on Earth, and now he himself was executing it no less. It could be considered Zeke's 'dream' come true.
Almost 5 minutes have passed, and even though Zeke was enjoying it, he felt his fatigue increasing as his adrenaline rush was slowly fading. He needed to finish the fight before his body gave out or his mind became exhausted. He gestured Esteban to strike when the time is right.
He then feigned weakness which lured Val. Val suddenly stabbed Zeke on the shoulders. Zeke suddenly fell down butt first while panting heavily. Val thought Zeke was done for so he relaxed for a bit. He slowly walked towards him while playing with his dagger, gazing at Zeke with contempt.
"Hah, it was a good one, boy. Now that you exhausted your body, I guess this is it for you." Val smiled. The conscious children who originally looked at Zeke with hope suddenly started tearing up. They prayed inwardly that Zeke could escape and live.
"This is it for me? Are you sure about that?" Zeke smiled.
Realizing something is wrong and someone's rushing at him from behind, Val turned around and blocked Esteban's punch with his dagger.
"Is this it?" Val sneered. Before he could even turn and gloat at Zeke, he suddenly felt chest pain. Looking down, he could see the tip of a spear piercing through him. He mustered a bit of strength and looked back on Zeke, only to see his gloating smile. Fear gripped him as he was slowly losing consciousness.
"Yes, that really is it. Hahahaha!" Before Val's last speck of vitality left his body, he could faintly hear the muffled noise of Zeke's maniacal laughter.