Duke Carlson

Duke Carlson was annoyed and irritated at the boldness of the approaching young man.

He had stepped on more people than he could count's toes and walked away without looking back! What was this young man talking about then? If he had been stepped on then so what?

"Guards!?" He shouted for his guards, angry that they had this peasant enter and disturb his lunch.

Unfortunately, no voice came from outside. He got up on his sit and pointed at Rune.

"Get out of here boy before I do worse than I had already done!" Carlson seethed at being disturbed.

Rune:You talk too much for a man

Rune swiftly moved forward and punched the Duke in the stomach sending him flying back across the room.

His tiger growled and jumped at Rune a split second before its master crashed in the far wall.

He let the tiger bite his shoulder but to the surprise of Bronson, the tiger's teeth cracked and some even sank in the tiger's jawline.

Rune wasn't in the least surprised. He had not even felt the renowned crashing strength of the tiger's bite.

He flipped his right hand and launched the poor tiger into the air.

Carlson was bewildered! This wasn't possible! He must have been hallucinating !Who was this young man!?

Bronson had vacated his sit at the table and stood by the wall with his familiar growling. He wasn't going to join a fight that wasn't his.

" Who are you!?" Duke Carlson looked on with dismay as he saw the young man approaching.

"If you must know, I'm the owner of the Paramount Weaponry Shop. But I'm not here for the shop, I'm here for my mother, Mrs Amaroc and my sister, Sandra. Does anything ring a bell?"

Duke Carlson: Amaroc , Amaroc, who is Ama...Mrs Amaroc?

Memories came down crashing into his mind. He fully remembered that beautiful woman!

He remembered how he had approached her to be his concubine along with her daughter. After she had refused, he had decreed tax on her shop and goods just to pressure her.

To his disappointed, the woman had endured, months turned into a year. When he realised his strategy didn't work, he planned to move on her jewelry shop but to his frustration, the shop closed before he could implement his plan.

Two years passed away when he conducted an elder of the Cario Sect to make a move on Miss Amaroc for him. The compensation was huge but it was worth it if the plan fruited.

The next month the girl had returned home with others but refused to go back for fear of the elder and Duke Carlson. Plus the trouble her mom was in, she stayed to help.

If the Duke was to take her mother and her, he would do it while they were together! But he would pay the price.

By staying home, she had thwarted the power of the Cario's elder.

Her cultivation had been cut off before she had even began. The devil!

Duke Carlson's eyes bulged out as memories bombarded his mind. What he had never learned was that the woman had a son!

" So you remember? I'm her only son, and Sandra is my only sister."

Boom! Bang!

The doors to the room crashed to the walls as the guards and soldiers rushed into the room and surrounded Rune, swords drawn.

Archers took high ground on the back of the swordsmen. Arrows were notched and bows drawn all the way back and unwaveringly pointing at the young man who stood still in the middle.

"Kill the bastard!" Duke Carlson had somehow recovered some of his nerve.

At the same time, Bronson shook his head at the cowardly way of the Duke. A warrior fought his own wars!

The first arrow was loosed and Rune disappeared. He didn't wrap himself with the void, no, but rather, he moved with the speed that even shocked Bronson!

Wherever he moved, he left a mark of his passage on the necks of the guards.

The archers were not spared either, their arrows stood still just a few centimeters from the bows as Rune did his work.

The first arrow cracked against the far wall having passed through where Rune's head had been.

Duke Carlson's smirk turned into a scowl then fear as guards and archers dropped down dripping blood from the same spot on their necks.

Their familiars were not spared either, they dropped dead where they stood.

Rune was standing beside the bewildered Duke. All the guards and soldiers that had rushed into the room lay dead on the marble floor.

He let him drink in everything and understand that everything that had happened here was because of his greedy, the wanting of more that weren't his.

Rune felt nothing. No more anger. No more hatred. He had realized that life was like what it was. If things happened, they happened. All you could do was deal with the aftermath.

Duke Carlson's eyes twitched. He had never thought his reign would one day come across such a catastrophe. If he had known what danger that woman was, he would have stayed as far away as he could

Unfortunately, things were far gone to retrace.

His legs lost their strength and gave in under the weight of his belly body. He fell to the ground with tears running down his cheeks.

He knew his end was coming. There was no escaping this. His only concern was his family, his children, his wife. Would they too die at the hands of this Dark Angel?

"Please.... spare my children and wife" he croaked out of his dry and soar throat.

Rune was looking straight at Bronson who was also looking at him without fear. Surprise? Maybe. But definitely not fear.

The man nodded his head up and down once in a smooth motion and turned and left through a servant's passageway.

"Who in Cario Sect" Rune's voice was detached.

...

A few seconds later, a sword of one of Duke Carlson's dead guards pierced his heart.