I woke up the next morning to knocking. When I opened the door, the guards were standing there.
I lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in their faces.
"Why are you here?"
"Charges of premeditated murder. Destruction of private property."
I went with them. I wanted to humiliate the king.
They had me in custody — but then they went into the inn and grabbed the girl by the arm. She screamed and cried.
Something came off me and covered the bright sky.
Everyone froze and stared at me. I looked at them and said:
"If you touch a single hair on her head, I swear I will kill you and wipe out this kingdom. Get away from her."
Their armor was rattling against itself from fear. They let her go.
I went back to the siblings.
"Don't leave this room. If anything happens, pull this thread hard."
I went to face the king. On the way to the carriage, I heard a guard say: "He doesn't know the king plans to execute him in front of the nobles."
I knew his plan and started laughing. The guard looked at me, afraid.
"Why are you laughing? You're going to die soon."
"Seems like the king likes being humiliated," I said. "I'll make him a joke in front of every noble in that room."
I rode the carriage thinking about the best way to humiliate him — something he wouldn't expect.
When I arrived, the guard had been right. The king wanted to execute me.
I walked into a massive arena, head up. The king stepped forward.
"You're charged with killing innocent people and violating private property."
"Who are the innocents," I said, "and what property did I violate?"
"You killed people from my kingdom."
He didn't finish. I cut him off, angry.
"Don't look at me like that, or I'll teach you how to look at someone else. Don't get arrogant just because you're a king — you're garbage with a crown on your head. You've contaminated that crown by wearing it. Watch your limits. Having more guards, having three heroes beside you, your children watching — none of that means you can overstep with me. Don't push me into humiliating you in front of all of them."
The king got angry.
"Guards. Bring out the beast."
The ground shook. A massive boulder flew past me and broke through the gate.
I was still restrained. I broke the chain and got ready.
A massive bull walked out on two legs. Two more followed it — huge, green.
I cracked my knuckles, took two steps, tried to call my magic.
Nothing came.
I looked at the king. He was smiling. He'd done something.
The bull charged first, raised its club, swung. Dust covered everything.
The dust cleared with the club already coming down again. I ducked, punched its hand, and the club flew out of its grip and shattered against the wall.
It grabbed its hand in pain. I went for it — jumped for its horns, grabbed both, pulled with everything I had. I felt my veins about to tear. It shook its head trying to throw me off. When I ended up facing it directly, it inhaled and blasted wind out of its mouth.
My grip started slipping. I let go of the left horn and punched its eye instead.
It lost balance and dropped to its knees.
I jumped, gathered the wire on my fist, and came down on it like a falcon. It aimed its remaining horn at me. I punched it and broke it off.
Both horns gone. It fell face-first.
I stood, walked over to it. It was still trying to move.
"This is where the show ends."
I hit its head until the skull broke. Hit it again — my hand went straight through.
I pulled my hand out, stood on its head, and shouted at the remaining two:
"Come on. You're both dying by my hand."
They advanced, heavy steps.
I went for the bull's horns — but the king's guards got there first, damn them. No way out now. The two green ones had me surrounded.
I wound the wire around my hand again and waited for one of them to move.
When the first one moved, he raised his hand — close enough to kill me from where he stood. I dodged. His fist hit the ground instead.
I raised my leg, struck his hand, then went at him.
The other came in, raised his fist to hit me. I stepped back, kicked his fist sideways, and it hit his own friend instead.
His friend lost balance and fell. His foot ended up near my face. He was in pain — I used it, struck his foot, and he fell on his back.
I jumped toward his face. As I was about to speak, I felt his friend's punch coming from behind. I moved aside, and it hit his friend instead.
I heard his face break. Damn — I'd almost died there.
I looked for the bull's club. Couldn't find it.
I took off my coat, wrapped it around my hand, took off my boots, and jumped toward the king.
I landed on the outer wall. As I prepared to jump, I found guards waiting below.
I dropped down among them anyway. One held an axe. I smiled at him.
"Goodbye."
I moved and disappeared from their sight, grabbed his head, drove it into the ground. His weapon flew into the air. I caught it on the way down.
The shield didn't shock me this time.
I gripped it, took a deep breath, and pushed into the guards. I cut through them, jumped toward the arena, and heads flew behind me as I moved.
Now I can kill them.
I went for the nearest one. He threw a punch. I ducked, felt the wind off his fist tear across my chest.
I swung the axe. It connected — sparks flew. His skin was tough.
I went for his foot, cut through the back of it. Wrapped the wire around the axe and kept cutting until his leg gave.
He fell face-first. His blood sprayed across my face.
I jumped, landed on his neck, cut it through.
I kicked his head aside and turned to the last one.
He was unconscious — or so I thought. I raised the axe to finish him and he grabbed me without warning.
Damn. He'd been faking it.
He started crushing my arm. I heard my own bones screaming. The axe slipped from my hand.
He thought I was dead and got close. Our eyes met. I brought out the wire and cut off his arm.
I walked over his severed fingers, drove my hand into his eye, fed the wire into his skull, and cut through.
He hit the ground and didn't move.
I stood among their bodies, blood covering my clothes and face.
I looked at the king, smiling. He looked furious.
The guards closed in around me.
"Bring out the other beast," the king said.
I picked up the axe and threw it at him. It bounced off something and never reached him.
What just happened? That should have hit his head. Why didn't it?
A guard said: "You can't hit him. He's protected — there's a barrier."
So that's how it was.
I walked through the guards. None of them moved, frozen with fear.
One stepped forward anyway. His head ended up between the others' feet a second later.
I turned to the rest. "If anyone moves, they get the same thing."
Their bodies were shaking. Nobody moved.
I scanned the arena. Couldn't see anything. Was it some kind of glass?
Then I felt something — a concentration of power. I'd found the source the moment the guards charged.
One simple motion of my hands, and their bodies dropped, cut apart.
The last beast came out — an enormous wolf.
I looked at it, then at the king.
"Is that supposed to be a cat?"
The wolf charged. I released a small amount of my aura to defend myself. It stopped.
"Come on," I said, calm. "Why aren't you attacking? I'm right here."
Then I raised my voice, angry:
"The garbage I cleaned up weren't innocent — they were slave traders. And as for 'violating private property' — slaves have the right to live and choose their own lives in the first place."
The king got scared and drew his sword to kill me.
I felt something inside me. Focused on it. Located the barrier's core.
The wire moved and broke the sphere that was the barrier's source. The barrier disappeared.
The distance between us had been enormous — he'd been up above with his children beside him. He didn't even finish blinking before I was standing right in front of him.
The king panicked, tried to strike me with his sword. I broke it for him and humiliated him in front of everyone.
"What's wrong — not raising your sword?" I said. "True, it's broken now. You should apologize to me, since I wasted effort on nothing just to remind you of your actual place."
I looked into his eyes and said, calm:
"Listen to me carefully. I said it before — garbage doesn't understand anything until it's humiliated in front of everyone. Don't get in my way again, or you'll face death."
I forgot to mention — there were nobles standing behind the throne the whole time. Watching all of it. What a disappointment for them.
I raised my hand, brought out the wire, and wrapped the entire place with it. Then I lowered my hand and pulled the guards in, like they'd been swept into a sack.
I lifted them up, threw them, counted to three, then raised the wire and cut them into small pieces.
Their blood rained over the arena. I was laughing, eyes locked on the king.
I walked down to the wolf. We exchanged a look, then it went back to its place.
I left the palace, heading for the inn. I felt the thread pull.
I didn't think — I ran toward the inn.
When I got there, I opened the door slowly, walked into the living room, and called the siblings. They came out to me.
My heart settled. "Did anyone come and hurt you?"
They cried. "We were worried you'd die."
I came close, held them, and said:
"Thank you for caring."
The brother and sister looked at me. The sister said:
"S-sir… your face… and your clothes… they're covered in blood. Do you… want me to… wipe it off for you?"
I smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't hard. And call me Tai — I'm not your master. I'm your older brother."
"T-then… I'll call you brother. Can I?"
"Yes. You can call me brother."
The younger brother stepped forward, working through the words:
"B-b-brother… th-thank you."
I smiled, patted his head. "No need. I'm your brother — you don't thank a brother for doing what a brother does."
I looked at the sister. Her eyes were on my hand. She looked annoyed — and the annoyance was jealousy.
I looked at her and said: "Do you want me to pat your head too?"
She smiled. "Yes."
End of Chapter 41