Yves smiled.
"I don't see your point here," he stated. "You're the one who made her trip, are you implying that I should punish you, since it's your fault?"
They were somehow taken aback by the tone of his voice and the fact that he knew what they did.
"Are you accusing us of something we didn't do?" the man in the middle, who seemed to be their leader, asks. Yves remained smiling.
"I'm stating a fact, I'm not accusing you," he stated. "If you have nothing better to say, please keep it down. I would hate to cause a commotion."
The lackeys were taken aback by how quickly the situation was resolved. They honestly thought this man would be as impatient and irritable as the Duke Grimestone.
Murmurs were then heard. All of them pointing that ganging up on a man like Yves would be foolish.
However, though, a glove was then caught by Yves.
"I challenge you to a sword duel," the man who's almost red in shame.
"Accept if you truly are a Grimestone!"
A series of gasps was then heard after that. Yves glanced back to the man again with a confused look.
'Why do I need to prove my identity to someone like him?'
Yves doesn't have the energy to fret over what people think of him. He's always too busy thinking of his own research.
And proving his identity to someone else... is just meaningless.
Why should a genius like him make a fool realize his stupidity? It's a waste of time, especially when he doesn't gain anything from it.
'Should I just make him disappear—no, no, no. Father warned me to never use teleportation in front of too many people,' Yves had a dark thought for a moment.
"In the middle of the Spring Ball? I apologize, but I must decline. This is not a proper place for a duel," Yves stated with proper manners, bowing his head in respect.
"Oh my, such great manners..."
"He makes the Grimestone name look respectful, unlike his father."
"They are definitely not related by blood."
Everyone was mumbling to themselves, praising the heir for his mature way handling such provocative statements.
On the other hand, the beast man became more redder in shame.
"Clinton... darling, let's leave..." the woman clinging to him was more worried about her lover. Little did she know, the man's sight was getting blurry... it was all red.
Sensing strange and violent aura gathering in one place, Yves looked up in shocked and activated a spell, almost immediately.
"EVERYONE, GET DOWN! NOW!"
A violent mana wave hit everyone right Yves' warning. His spell was quick enough to protect them from such a strong wave. However he was shocked that the barriers broke right after the wave passed them.
'It broke?!' Yves himself was shocked. He had to activate a spell in a hurry, but he didn't think it would be that weak enough to break from the wave!
Panicked screams began to erupt among the crowd.
"OH MY GOODNESS!"
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
"HIDE!"
"THERE'S A MONSTER!"
A loud and ear shattering roar was heard. Yves turned to see the source, and his widened in shock at the sight.
The beast man, namely Clinton, was barely recognizable now. His body was all buffed, bigger than his actual body. His clothes were torn aside from his pants which were barely holding on. His fangs were bare, sharp, and it looked as if they could tear a person apart. His eyes were also bleeding red, but it seems he can still see well.
And lastly, the veins on his bare chest were black.
"What the fuck…?" Yves was confused and in disbelief .
This appearance… those black veins were utterly familiar…
He can already feel his blood boiling.
'Those ungrateful fucks! They've done it again!' he thought to himself and immediately ran over to this mutated monster.
Making sure that no one is in the way, he kicked the monster by his stomach with half of his current strength. The monster flew to a thick pillar, shaking the entire place. It gladly did not break, but it did have visible cracks.
Yves turned to the knights. "Immediately evacuate all the attendees to the grounds! Make sure no one is left behind! Perform first aid if needed!"
"AYE!"
Just as the knights left to do their assigned duties, Yves turned back to the monster. Before he knew it, that thing was already close to his face.
Yves calmly punched him by head, down to the solid dance floor though. The head got buried on the floor. Yes, Syvestian has come to destroy properties again.
Yves then pulled the mutated beast up with his telekinesis, holding him up like a cute pup.
"Can you still speak?" he asked calmly, but the beast only answered with grunts. Yves sighs as he activated a spell. The left leg and the right arm were blown off in a second, making the beast roar in agony again.
Yves didn't care about how fucking noisy it was, he still smiled as his hunch was correct.
The blood was black.
'It's completely jet black… this must mean he's been taking "those" for a long time. What an addict,' he thought to himself. 'It must also be the reason why his mana wave was powerful enough to break my weak barrier.'
Yves sighs to himself again, but he immediately became alert as he felt a gaze. When he turned to that direction, it was gone. He was immediately suspicious of this, and activated a mana wave for detection.
Five hundred nobles, a hundred knights guarding them by the grounds, and… unknown powerful and suspicious people leaving the castle grounds with a familiar treasure.
'That plant…!'
He clicked his tongue as he realized too late.
'This bitch was a distraction!' he thought to himself in frustration and lets go of the mutated beast.
Those unknown people have gone out his range, there's no point of chasing them now. Instead, he began to contemplate about why they would go so far as to distract everyone just to get that rare plant. When he finally had an idea, his gaze darkened.
Someone's behind this, and they're connected to 'them'.