Chapter 155: Punishment
Veilin let out a painful scream, clutching her neck tightly, like an ordinary girl.
For a moment, the noble youth could only watch Veilin, at a loss.
Akanis felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, overwhelming enough to almost make him lose his hair.
The shadow moved quickly, appearing behind the noble youth, its black blade aimed directly at him.
But it was too late, far too late.
Akanis still chose to hurry to Veilin’s side. His muscles tensed as he unleashed superhuman energy, delivering a blow to the ambushing female death mage before vanishing from his spot to swap places with the shadow.
With the Blade of Shadows in hand, he pierced the noble youth’s kidney.
The noble youth, noticing someone behind him, turned pale and said, “I’m sorry, I—”
The Blade of Shadows had already punctured his kidney. Akanis twisted with more force, aiming to render the noble youth’s combat effectiveness useless as quickly as possible.
The noble youth fell to the ground with a shriek, and Akanis kicked him several meters away, quickly crouching down to lift the curled-up Veilin off the ground, asking, “Are you still alive?”
The dagger fell from her shoulder, landing on the dry leaves, the enchanted dagger’s blade gleaming without a trace of blood.
At the same time, there was not a single drop of blood on the hand she had pressed against her neck.
In that moment, Akanis’s back bristled with sweat, like a cat, bending slightly at the waist.
Now holding Veilin felt like carrying a mass of chains. The noble youth, so foolish, did not realize what kind of monster he had awakened!
Veilin softly called his true name: “Akanis.”
Akanis even felt an invisible aura spreading in all directions, causing the surrounding undead to become lethargic.
His teeth rattled: “What’s wrong, dear?”
“It hurts so much.”
Veilin released her hand from her neck, the hand that had sewn and cooked for him, as pale as a dead person’s hand, blood staining her fingers and palm, strikingly vivid, with a few drops falling from the edge of her palm.
There was a wound on her neck, not too wide but slightly worse than a scratch.
Akanis’s heart, which had been racing violently, calmed down by half as he held Veilin’s shoulder tightly, as if granted amnesty, saying:
“Thankfully, it’s not deep.”
A ghoul charged at Akanis. He propped Veilin up with one hand and swung his other hand, dispatching it.
“There’s blood.” Veilin sniffed, leaning closer to Akanis’s forearm and said, “You’ve bled more than I have.”
Akanis dismissed it: “Just a scrape.”
“I’ll lick it.” Veilin grasped Akanis’s forearm, extending her bright red little tongue and said, “I heard saliva can heal wounds.”
This dispelled Akanis’s doubts as he watched Veilin lick the wound on his forearm. His forearm had only a leather guard, dirty and grimy, but Veilin still gingerly licked the cut inside and out.
The blood stopped flowing.
A smile appeared on Veilin’s face: “It really works.”
Akanis gazed at her delicate, doll-like face and casually dispatched a skeleton that had wandered too close.
At that moment, shouts for help echoed from not far away: “Help! Help! Save me!”
Akanis looked over; it was the noble youth.
The undead, unable to tear Akanis apart, rushed toward the injured noble youth, acting without hesitation. Seven or eight skeletons piled onto the noble youth, who, like a caterpillar tossed into an ant nest, struggled fiercely.
The more he twisted, the more excited the undead became. A ghoul bit down on his wrist, causing him to scream in pain.
Akanis tugged at Veilin and charged forward, slashing wildly. The skeletons turned into burning dead trees, and the ghoul’s head was cut off, its teeth deeply embedded in the noble youth’s arm, the head still attached to his arm.
The noble youth managed to stand, facing Akanis’s fierce visage, and said, “I’m terribly sorry; my family will reward you handsomely.”
At that moment, Akanis’s shadow lifted the collapsed female death mage, preventing this talented sorceress from causing further trouble. Akanis commanded the shadow, plunging the black blade directly into the female death mage’s shoulder joint and then twisting it viciously.
The female death mage screamed in pain, her shoulder incapacitated.
The shadow proceeded to do the same to her other arm.
From then on, even if by some miracle the female death mage survived, she would have to bid farewell to her hands forever.
Cruel, but effective.
The noble youth disregarded his current predicament, still bleeding profusely, one kidney gone. He shouted, “Stop! What are you going to do to her?”
“Do you know why none of my prisoners have ever escaped?” Akanis replied. “I usually chop off their ankles and hands, so they can never run away. Haha, I’ve never had an incident where a prisoner was rescued before a classic burning punishment.”
As Akanis spoke, his passion for talking grew, and he added:
“Do you know that last time someone really planned to rob my prison? Ultimately, after sneaking inside, they found the prisoners had two feet severed, and their tongue was gone, no combat ability left—only able to be carried out, and before long, they were caught.
“He had to abandon the prisoner and run away, it was honestly hilarious.”
The noble youth shouted:
“Demon, you are truly a devil!”
“I hate nobles like you the most, so accustomed to privileges, thinking you have special rights in situations like this?” Akanis instantly changed his face: “Do you know what you’re doing?”
“For love, I would throw away freedom and life!”
“Then your parents will only be left to bury their gray-haired selves with you.” Akanis said, “And then lie in the coffin together because I plan to send your whole family to the pyre.”
The noble youth was shocked: “You can’t do that.”
“I believe your family has influence locally, and going through legal processes would be impossible to kill.” Akanis blew on his curved dagger blade: “It’s a pity I won’t go that way. I’ll announce your family’s charges and then, at dead of night, break into your house, not sparing even the dog, then burn your home and leave.”
The noble youth became even more terrified, stammering, “You’re so… reckless, disregarding the law; someone will hunt you down; you’ll make all the nobles in the province anxious; you’ll end up in prison.”
“You’re not wrong, even as a witch hunter.” Akanis admitted: “But I want to do this; you people have grown accustomed to being above all others in a civilized world and class society. Completely forgetting that in front of a blade, your titles and privileges can’t protect your body.
“And people like us, living in the wilderness day in and day out, year after year, go around for your comfy lives, rooting out cult strongholds, burning this and that. To earn money, we still have to use the witch hunter’s name to extort and blackmail.”
“You’re just trying to scare me, you must be.” The noble youth said: “You’ve scared me; what condition do you want, I’ll agree to it immediately.”
“Now you understand why I’m so famous, with such accomplishments yet exiled from Adolf and the Rick territory to hunt witches in such a remote place.”
“I get it.” The noble youth covered his side: “You must have injured quite a few nobles, offended many people.”
“You think I’ll agree to your request?” Akanis laughed: “My reputation is so poor, hated by many, because I refuse to compromise; I just dislike you all, so I chop, it’s that simple.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you, soon I will torture you severely until I get confessions about your family colluding with the female death mage, and then I’ll burn you all.” Akanis spoke lightly, as if deciding what to have for dinner tonight.
“If you confess quickly, I’ll even give you the choice of which dead tree to burn under.”
“Demon! I’ll fight you—”
Before he could act, Akanis struck him hard on the forehead with the hilt of his knife, knocking him down and stepping on his face, saying, “I told you, those who have grown accustomed to being high above in a class society will eventually forget how fragile their bodies are.”
In the distance, a carriage rushed out from behind a small hill.
A coachman was frantically whipping the horses’ rears to escape.
Must be the servant the noble youth mentioned who was observing from afar, ready to inform.
But Akanis’s shadow had long since sneaked over.
A shadow appeared over the coachman’s shadow, slitting his throat, causing the coachman to fall to the ground.
“I really hate the lackeys of nobles, especially those in green.” Akanis said: “But I still gave him a quick end, get up!”
Now the noble youth was truly scared out of his wits, crying and shouting.
“Not bad.” Akanis tied the noble youth and the female death mage together, saying: “Crying only now is rare, I admire you for real. You’re really lucky, to have such a suitor.”
“Stop crying.” The female death mage said: “He’s a cold person.”
Akanis said: “I hope you can embrace each other and burn to death, adding a touch of romance to the flames.”
Veilin listened, her face slightly flushed as she approached Akanis from behind.
“This lady.” The noble youth pleaded: “It was unintentional; could you forgive me? You’re so beautiful; I’m sure you don’t wish to see me suffering such misfortune.”
Veilin said: “It’s very romantic to burn to death together.”
As she spoke, she handed a piece of leather to Akanis, on which various torture devices were hanging, like pliers and surgical knives.
Veilin also pointed to one of the fire tongs, saying: “This is nice and saves effort.”
“You even cleaned and oiled it, how thoughtful.” Akanis remarked: “But it’s still good to leave some bloodstains; it can scare people.”
Veilin revealed a happy smile: “Alright.”
“Do you want to see?”
“Wait, I have some things to do.”
Veilin turned around, and behind her, the noble youth let out a series of terrible cries.
Veilin quietly took out a piece of cloth and carefully wiped her fingernails clean, even removing a bit of flesh from under her fingernails. She had just scratched her neck with her nails.
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