Chapter 22: Always Be Wary of the Oriole

The change was too fast and brutal for Wenzel to respond in time. By the time his goons had opened their mouths, the telekinetic power had already trapped them, and before he could intervene, they were obliterated.

Now he was annoyed. Finding goons within the harem without drawing attention to himself was not an easy task. And all his efforts had been ruined by that eunuch!

Worse, seeing the way through which they stared at each other, he could bet there was an illicit relationship going on!

And the feeling of having his meat spoiled by a commoner soured his mouth.

In a flash, he appeared in front of the pair and cast a fierce gaze at Konrad.

"Was life so sweet that you had to throw it away to play the knight in shining armor? Fool!"

Although he was dressed as a low-ranked eunuch, it was clear that his cultivation had at least reached the Grand Knight Rank. That being the case, the situation was severe.

Just like head palace maids had court ladies above them, head eunuchs also had their superiors. Grand eunuchs, royal eunuchs, and imperial eunuchs. Who respectively were at the Grand, Arch, and Transcendent Ranks. The main difference, however, was that unlike court ladies who belonged to the Holy Empress and the Dowager's jurisdictions the grand eunuchs and above belonged to the Holy Emperor's!

This was the type of witness he absolutely could not afford to leave.

But Konrad's gaze still didn't move from Jasmine.

"Why is it that tonight, my ears are full of the barking of dogs?"

He inquired with a mischievous smile.

"Maybe because they are missing their kennel."

She laughed, a delightful laugh that could effortlessly lift the spirit.

"Bastards!"

Wenzel's bloodshot eyes would have fired daggers if they could.

But they could not so he opted for a more practical approach.

"Energy sword!"

Sky-blue energy condensed within his palm and morphed into the textbook longsword used by most knights of the Holy Flame Empire.

Meanwhile, his eyes glittered with silver rays, and like a meteor, he shot toward Konrad.

Konrad grabbed Jasmine by the waist and turned into dozens of afterimages to escape Wenzel's sword stroke.

As a paragon spirit prince, Wenzel was no pushover. Worse, his cultivation was higher by four steps. However, Konrad was unafraid.

He dropped Jasmine by his side, and his eyes finally fell upon his foe. But the smile with which he stared at him made Wenzel feel uncomfortable.

"I will break you."

Konrad calmly pledged and stretched out his hands.

Sky-blue light gathered within his palm and turned into a two meters long war hammer.

The fool wanted to be fancy with his sword? Let him be fancy.

He then stomped his feet, and at more than thrice the speed of sound appeared at Wenzel's front.

*BANG*

A leftward sweep of his hammer crashed into Wenzel's shoulder and sent him spiraling into the adjacent wall. Konrad gave him no respite and immediately pursued.

"Hateful!"

The energy signature was clearly of the fifth step Grand Knight so why was that eunuch so powerful?

"Energy armor!"

Wenzel adorned his sky-blue energy armor and drove his sword into a diagonal slash.

The silver rays within his eyes turned into a silver mist that spread within a thirty-meter radius and assaulted Konrad's mind with phantasmal blows.

"Insignificant parlor tricks!"

Violet light flashed within his eyes, and the illusions assailing him instantly collapsed.

He curved his back to let Wenzel's sword slash fly by his nose and sent his hammer right into his chest!

*BANG*

Wenzel flew into the air with blood spurting from his lips. Konrad stomped his feet and flew after him with a maniacal laugh.

"Why is my spiritual mist not affecting you?!"

"Ask my hammer."

*BANG* BANG* *BANG*

The flurry of hammer blows came crashing onto Wenzel at breakneck speed, oppressing him and sending an increasing number of cracks to spread through his energy armor.

Konrad vanished, appeared above him, and trampled his face with a series of violent kicks!

And in an earsplitting explosion of dust, Wenzel cratered.

"I heard paragon spirit princes were the most outstanding juniors of the empire. But I suppose that as it often is the case with the imperial families, your reputation is...overrated."

Wenzel's energy armor shattered alongside his dignity, and his bloodied teeth were clenched to near collapse.

If he could see the foot imprints on his face, he would have probably suffered a heart stroke.

"How d..."

*BANG*

In a golf swing that scattered broken stones across the field, the war hammer bashed Wenzel's unprotected chest. It caved in, causing his bones to snap and his blood to drench the cold ground as he once more flew into the air.

"I expected breaking you to be a tad bit harder. Oh well, last swing."

*BANG*

Positioning himself like a baseball player, Konrad waited for Wenzel's falling body to align itself with his hammer and batted him far into the distance with another swing.

"I think that's a...homerun! Maybe I should go up there and check the state of the "ball?""

Wenzel's body was perched on top of a high wall with all his bones shattered, his orifices dripping with blood, and his pupils dilated.

Meanwhile, Jasmine had observed the battle with astonished eyes.

What battle?

This was butchery!

"Actually, I forgot I could just pull it back. Return!"

He made a grasping motion and pulled by the telekinetic power, Wenzel's limp body flew back toward him.

"Daring to lay your filthy hands on my woman? Tss, tss, tss, say goodbye to your balls."

*BAM*

A brutal hammer blow battered Wenzel's groins, destroyed his family jewels, and caused his already unconscious self to awaken due to the horrendous pain.

"AAAAAARGH! Heeeelp! Meeeercy!"

His mournful howls spread within the night sky. But thanks to his own planning, they currently were in a deserted area with no one across several miles. The bloody mess he had become writhed on the ground, in loud wails, causing Jasmine to instinctively recoil and close her eyes.

But at that time, two arrows carrying a weigh of close to ten thousand kilos in succession flew toward Konrad.

He managed to avoid the first one with a backflip, but the second one lodged into his right leg, threw him off balance, and forced him to tumble onto the ground.

Two masked forms wielding bows and arrows then appeared on the scene. They had been observing everything from the very beginning. But Konrad included, no one could feel their presence.

"You have done well. Now you can die."

Said the man on the left while conjuring his sword and shooting toward Konrad with the tyrannical aura of a mid-level Arch-Knight exploding from his body!

Inwardly, Konrad cursed. How was it possible to have so many twists and turns in one day.

"The mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind. I never thought that in that idiom, I would one day be the mantis."

And seeing his injured leg, Jasmine subconsciously rushed toward him. She was, however, far too slow and by the time she took one step, Konrad had already pulled out that arrow and was exchanging blows with the Arch Knight.

With one damaged leg, the fluidity of his movements should have been greatly hampered. But his body regeneration abilities kicked in and treated the wound at fast speed.

That, however, couldn't prevent him from being suppressed by the Arch Knight.

His sword slashed Konrad's right leg, further harming his mobility while another kick sent him spiraling into the air.

"Forget about me and run! You're so strong, I'm sure you could escape them!"

Jasmine screamed as she reached his side.

"Run? I'm afraid it's...useless. The only thing I can do is try to buy you time to escape so...run...fast..."

A smile still hanged on his lips as he stood up and stared at the Arch Knight assassin with contempt.

The assassin didn't like that stare, and so drove his sword toward Konrad's heart, failing to see the contempt become a demented glint.

Konrad didn't move but contracted his demonic muscles to deflect the sword from its trajectory and cause it to miss his heart. His muscles then clenched around it and maintained it within his body while suppressing his blood flow.

"What?"

The assassin blurted out once he realized the situation. But by the time he wanted to abandon the weapon, Konrad's hammer had lopped off his sword arm.

"Aaargh!"

The assassin howled, and as blood gushed from his wound, Konrad spun with irresistible momentum and in a thunderous blow, smashed his hammer into the assailant's skull.

*Bang*

He flew into the adjacent wall with his mask shattered, revealing the bloodied, half broken effeminate face of a eunuch most likely cut in infancy. A face that still breathed.

"Fuck."

Konrad cursed while losing control of his muscles and letting the blood he suppressed gush from his wounds.

"Nooooo!"

Jasmine screamed as she rushed toward his collapsing body.

"Konrad...my name is...Konrad."

His vision blurred and he was close to passing out from the blood loss. But as his eyes were falling back onto each other, the blurry, yet still riveting silhouette of a woman appeared within his sight.

And then he passed out.