Chapter 208: You were saying?
When all the blood was completely drained, the woman slave was tossed away and another took her place, throat slit and blood drained as if they were butchering animals.
Corpses began to pile to one side and the ritual circle was turning hotter and hotter, making the air heavy with the smell of blood and power that settled around like cold heat.
In just a blink, half of the slaves were gone, their blood used to nourish the circle.
Just as the next slave was about to be used, the great door they were all standing before twitched. The clasped mouth softened as if it was preparing to open.
Lady Slave was excited. "Yes! Yes! I said it! I wasn’t wrong after all! This is the best way to open it! Come on, kill more, more! We need more!"
The poor slave who expected things to stop once the door moved a little began to beg even more loudly, but it was all for nothing. His screaming soon turned to wet gasping as he too was drained of blood.
And just like that, it was Vacuse’s turn.
"Well now, it’s your turn to go, red eyes slave. Really, I rather like you. There’s an energy around you that I can’t quite describe, but since your mind is so simple, there’s nothing that can be done."
Vacuse’s eyes widened. "... don’t tell me that I attract crazy people? But I’m not that crazy myself! How dare she imply that... oh, right. I should be thinking about my life..."
He didn’t say anything as the old Magus gestured and he was lowered, his head horizon to the circle.
The Magus raised his dagger.
And Vacuse, expending all the energy he could wring out of his blood, moved a little, his head snapping out and he ate it.
He... he ate one of the fingers!
There was a short pause of blank, stunned expressions. As if everyone, slave and freeman alike, were trying to decide if what they saw actually happened or if they imagined it.
Vacuse used that pause to eat the finger, and the hallway was suddenly filled with the sound of crunching. Swallowing, and then he let out a loud belch.
Lady Slave’s surprise was slowly translating to anger. She vibrated where she stood, her eyes turning bloodshot. "You...!!"
It was then that Vacuse raised his head and stared straight at her. Any former confusion that normally appeared in his eyes was gone. His gaze was straight and direct.
He smiled at her as he felt his blood stir like a dragon waking up, wings stretching to dominate the sky once again. Draconic energy poured through, much more than he had ever drawn out before.
Lady Slave’s eyes widened. "Kill him...!!"
But he was faster.
Purple energy that flickered around his body exploded out, causing a shockwave that forced everyone back.
Vacuse made use of those seconds of surprise that appeared when they saw that a sealed slave... a slave was actually using some kind of power.
His figure blurred so fast that he left afterimages of himself behind. Even then, he didn’t go far. He simply crouched, the dagger from the old Magus already in his hand, and he swung it.
He swung it like he would his umbrella.
The dagger came down so fast that the old Magus, while he saw it, couldn’t react in time.
Magus aren’t like Soulbearers that combine both physical and external types of magic or techniques. But most importantly, Vacuse had the first initiative.
So the old man’s head spun in the air, shock and indignation still plastered on his face. His body hit the floor as well, fueling the circle that looked as if it was missing one leg.
Vacuse stood up and shook his hand. "Really, Smiling Slave. You should have picked someone who at least knew how to defend themselves against slaves. Don’t tell me you Magus are the type that underestimate everyone and look down on them?"
Silence. Silence.
Vacuse cleared his throat. "Allow me to introduce myself... I am the red eyes slave!"
The Magus finally snapped out of their shock. The remaining three took a stand in front of Lady Slave with their hands pointed at Vacuse, but the easy and simple death of their superior must have shaken them, because some of them trembled.
The remaining workers, including Kim, drove the slaves back.
Lady Slave showed the most emotion. She looked at Vacuse as if he had personally betrayed her. "You... you are not stupid or simple!"
Vacuse smiled. "Surprisingly, right? Even I did not think that I would be able to do something like that. But then again, it wasn’t much trouble. I was surrounded by stupid people after all!"
She took a deep breath and her face flickered with complicated expressions. "I see. So I wasn’t the one that was doing the fooling all this time. You have fooled me."
Vacuse shrugged. "I realized I didn’t have to fool you. Don’t you already see everyone as slaves? Don’t you already see them as livestock, picking out the ones you need? How can you be thinking of being fooled when you never thought them capable in the first place?"
She gritted her teeth. "So I was right. There is something strange about you. What spy do you belong to? What faction do you work for? Are you here to stop me?"
Vacuse frowned. "No, I’m only interested in killing you. And you know why? You tried to kill me."
"What?"
He shrugged even more casually. "It was really that simple. And I’ll make your own death fast, Lady Slave. After all, you did provide my means of escape."
Her lips curled into a cruel smile. "You think you can escape with three Magus right here in front of you?"
Vacuse coughed and his eyes went to his dagger, and then to the headless corpse on the ground. "You were saying something?"
She grew desperate. "You only caught him off guard! Do you really think you can kill a man of his caliber so easily if not for that!"
Suddenly, Vacuse’s hand twitched and something blurred past with such speed that it sounded like a tornado.
And the next moment, the Magus at the right, closer to Lady Slave, suddenly lost his head as everyone saw the color of his brain.
Vacuse coughed again as the twitching body hit the ground and blood splattered. Lady Slave looked with a horrified expression.
"You were saying?"