At a bit of a distance from him, his mother was held by the throat by Bronco, and he was ready to slaughter her with his sword.
"Wi-wife." Artwander gazed at his wife, who was about to be killed and spurted out a mouthful of blood.
Akai, not at all ready to stand and watch such a phenomenon happen, quickly laid his father on the ground, and before Bronco could finish off his mother, he appeared before him and knocked the sword out of his hand.
"Let her go!!" he yelled, and on seeing him, Bronco's face turned ashen, and with anger evident in his eyes, he flung his mother away, sending her flying and crashing into the wall.
"Kill her!" He ordered the royal soldier nearest to her, and he raised his spear, ready to slay her, but Akai dashed off, putting himself in between and causing the spear to strike him instead of his mother.
"Akai!" His mother's eyes dilated in horror and her trembling hands reached out to touch his face, but the most horrible thing that neither she nor Akai expected happened.
Bronco who had witnessed him save his mother walked up to them and pushed the soldier aside. Then, with a deadly expression on his face, he grabbed the spear that struck into Akai's back and stabbed it even deeper into his back, eventually injuring Akai's mother, who was in his arms.
A deep groan of pain escaped his mother's throat, and Akai's eyes widened in horror. "Mother!" he yelled and quickly stood up from the ground and turned around, his fist heavily punching Bronco in the face. "How dare you?!" he cried and pulled the spear out, throwing it to the ground next to him.
"Boy! What are you? Who exactly are you? I don't believe a lad like you can be this strong. Even after being speared, you're still alive!" Bronco who stood opposite him grinned broadly and shook his head in disbelief as he asked.
"You went too far!" Akai, whose eyes were burning in rage, allowed painful tears to slip from them as he used the corner of his eyes to watch his mother bleed to death.
"Too far! Maybe in your next life, make sure to tell your father to know where he stands and do not the things he isn't capable of." Bronco chuckled with no tinge of sympathy in his tone, and as though this heavily triggered something within Akai, he appeared before Bronco in a blink of an eye and gripped him by the throat, raising him aloft off the ground.
"I will make you pay for what you did!" He emphasized his words with gritted teeth, and his grip on Bronco's neck tightened, clearly showing he was going to snap his head into two. "Go to hell!" he screamed, and just as he was about to do so, several royal soldiers surrounded him, their swords pointed at his neck.
"Let him go!" A voice that belonged to none other than the emperor resounded, and he turned his head to see the emperor standing with his head held high and a rigorous expression on his face.
Akai's anger rose to its limit on recalling just how the emperor had ridiculed his father as a criminal, and with a scream like that of a beast exiting his mouth, he flung Bronco away, sending him flying a far distance away and crashing heavily onto the wall and plummeting to the ground.
He swiftly grabbed onto the sword of one of the soldiers and slit the soldier's throat with it, then began to kill them one by one, ignoring the fact that his chest was bleeding.
The emperor's eyes widened on seeing this, and he waved his hands, requesting his strongest warriors to march into the courtyard.
He does not understand how a nineteen-year-old is this strong, but one thing he knows is that he must eliminate him, or else...
The huge gate to the courtyard slammed open, and royal warriors marched in, then rushed towards Akai, per the emperor's order.
"Kill him! And decapitate his body!" The emperor yelled, and the royal warriors began to battle with Akai, who was swiftly dodging their swords.
He jumped up, grabbing one by the neck and cracking his head off.
He continued to kill them one by one and almost got his head slit off by a sword that flew towards him out of nowhere.
He bent down, narrowly escaping it, even though it still ended up cutting off a few parts of his very long hair that stopped at his back.
He used his leg and trapped the legs of one of the soldiers and turned, twisting the leg of the soldier and causing him to fall, pushing the others in the process.
Using this opportunity, he leaped to his feet, then snatched one of the swords of the soldiers and began to run in circles at an extraordinary speed.
When he halted, the heads of the surrounding soldiers rolled off their bodies to the ground, and blood pumped out of their necks before their bodies plummeted to the ground.
The emperor's eyes widened, and he quickly took a step back when he saw Akai turn his head and glared at him with his burning eyes.
As expected, Akai rushed off to finish him off, but he stopped when a sword penetrated through his stomach, causing him to spurt out a mouthful of blood.
He raised his eyes and they locked with those of a man he had never seen before.
"Leave now!" The unknown man whispered to him, and knowing he was in serious danger and could die if he stayed any longer, Akai pulled the sword off his stomach and disappeared from the courtyard in the blink of an eye.
Not wanting to be suspected by the emperor, the unknown man began to look around with confusion evident on his face. "Wh-where did he go?" he asked and turned to look at the extremely confused emperor.
"Where is he?! I thought you had him? " The emperor asked in an angry tone! "Where is he?!" he yelled, and the unknown man stood still with a confused expression on his face, not uttering a word.