"Have a taste of your own weapon."
'Idiot! The metal ball is gonna crush you!'
Without actually looking back as he lunged in, decreasing the distance between him and Sion, Invictus swung in a crescent motion, snapping the chains off the metal ball.
"So that's what he was aiming for!"
"You might be far stronger than me but I doubt you are against your own weapon."
Invictus slipped past the ogre, getting behind him, then latch onto Sion, thus locking both of his arms and feet to restrain his actions even for a moment.
"What are you—?!"
"Open your eyes to your defeat, Sion."
In the face of a crushing heavy metal ball, no matter how trained and sturdy the ogre's body was, it was all futile.
"In the end, it was his own weapon that finished him. Well done, Meliora."
Perseus was astounded. No, everybody was! Not just Perseus but even the ogre's comrades could not help but compliment Invictus for his cunning way of defeating Sion.
"Hey, I can fight next, right?"
An overwhelming desire to go next after the defeat of their comrade was inevitable. All of them wanted to test out the extent of Invictus' capabilities but it has to stop when the man Invictus originally sought came out of his throne to greet the winner of the fight.
"O-Oi! Isn't that..."
The faction leader of the ranked number 1 group in Haven City left his throne, gloriously descending from above everyone else.
'What is with his clothes?! Does he think he is some kind of higher being ruling over this city?!' Jorp cursed the faction leader in his thought but was met with the fleeting gaze, which shook him down to his core. 'Wha— the hell?! Did he just hear what I've said?!'
"Milord," all of the ogre's comrades knelt down in front of the faction leader as though he was some kind of king.
"Impressive, uh, what do they call you? Meliora, yeah."
'Even for a brief moment, when he cut the chains, which resulted in Sion's defeat, our eyes met.'
And from above, he caught a glimpse of Invictus' fleeting smile as the metal ball unstoppably crashed into the ogre's chest, resulting in severe injuries.
"Have you healed Sion?"
"Yes, my liege!"
Sion recovered immediately after getting treated by one of his comrades. When he regained consciousness, the first thing he did was approach Invictus. Everybody thought that Sion was gonna cause more trouble but not in front of their leader.
"Not gonna lie, you got me there, masked man! Now, I like you even more! Join our faction! You're a strong man!"
His comrades and even his leader were surprised when he tried to recruit Invictus after the fight. Sion is one strict person when it comes to people trying to join their factions because for him strength is everything. Those that he deemed weak can't enter their group.
"Are you sure, Sion?"
"Sion approved of the masked man!"
"Hey, hey, mister! Join us, so we can fight anytime I want!"
"Stop bothering the guy, Astrid."
The rare appearance of Zarael, the ranked 1 faction leader, caused murmurs and uproar in the city. It is not so often that others see him, those outsides of Zarael's group.
"Shall I lead the way inside my castle?" Offered Zarael smilingly.
"If it's not too much work."
"Then please follow me."
The thick crowd gradually dispersed, going back to what they were originally done in the first place after the brief battle between Invictus and Sion.
"All of you, go back to the second floor this instance."
Jorp, from a distance, watched over Zarael and Invictus walking back to the church with just the two of them after Zarael's underlings were teleported back to the second floor.
"Isn't this place wonderful?" Zarael began with Invictus following behind him. "In this city, you are not bound by any rules. Even the unwritten rule will not put a restraint on your desire if you really wish for it."
"Not everyone wants to be bound by those towering walls."
"But the majority of people wish to spend their days here in Haven City. Only a small percentage of criminals dream of seeing the outside world again."
"You've narrowed your perspective and maybe talking based on your faction's percentage alone. But I can't argue with you about the fact that it's somehow desirable to live here. As someone who seeks blood, I won't deny my urge to spend some of my days here. However, I don't wish for my last moment to be spent here."
Invictus was back again to where he first entered, seeing the same furniture and decoration on the first floor of the church, which was mostly dedicated to Zarael.
"You've teamed up with Jorp?" Zarael suddenly asked as he was just explaining the backstories of his collections. "I saw him mixed in the crowd earlier. He seemed to be rooting for your win."
Not too long after that, they reached back to the second floor of the church where all of the deranged criminals Invictus saw earlier were waiting for their return.
'These people must have lost their minds, kneeling to an ordinary human.'
Remembering the time he swore loyalty to King Estaroth was one of the most nerve-wracking memories, one he regretted doing so.
"Not exactly," Invictus replied shortly. "It was more like a master and slave contract whereupon he still has little freedom."
And the same goes for Zarael and his underlings. He has them obey everything he tells them so. But Invictus can't see it as manipulation or hypnotism since everyone seems to still have their rationality and free will intact.
"Oh, so you're just like me, Meliora? You fancy the superiority that you feel upon looking down on people, don't you? Isn't that amazing, Meliora? Yeah? Tell me, am I wrong?"
"You're not wrong. You are stupid." Invictus scoffed at Zarael before he was met with the outrageous glaring daggers pointed at him.
~