Are you angry?

“Your wailing is truly tiresome. Tear out your own throat. That is an order.”

Crack!

With a swing of his dragon claw, a large chunk of the unprotected throat, devoid of scales, was gouged out. Scorching blood erupted like a geyser.

Yet, such a wound was insufficient to fell the dragon, whose life force remained potent. It merely condemned the creature to voiceless, excruciating agony.

“One of your claws is nearly severed, isn’t it? That must be quite uncomfortable. Why not just tear it off completely?”

“Gurgle… whimper… sob…”

“That is an order.”

Snap!

Another swing of the dragon claw, and the arm Jadette had nearly severed was ripped clean off.

“Bite off your wings. That is an order.”

Crunch!

“Break your legs. That is an order.”

Crack!

“Gouge out your eyes. That is an order.”

Squish!

“Bite off your tongue. That is an order.”

Gulp!

One command after another, each precisely calibrated to keep the dragon teetering on the brink of death. The volatile blood of the flame dragon even caused the frigid abyss to grow stiflingly hot.

The man, however, remained impassive, not even glancing directly at the flame dragon. His solemn killing intent, far from diminishing, only intensified.

“Corvus… I don’t recall you being the type to revel in torturing your opponents.” Jadette remarked, her voice tinged with surprise.

“Perhaps,” he mumbled.

He then proceeded to unwrap the shroud of darkness from around Jadette.

“…Could it be that you’re angry?”

“Not exactly…”

“…Are you angry on my behalf?”

“…………Who knows.”

He reached out, his fingers tracing the wounds on her body: abdominal gashes, a fractured arm, a sprained ankle, severe blood loss, and numerous burns and blade cuts across her entire form.

His brow furrowed deeper and deeper, a concern he himself seemed oblivious to.

“…It must hurt, doesn’t it?”

“It doesn’t hurt at all…”

“…………”

The intricate patterns of chains spread across her, mending her body with the most direct and rudimentary form of restoration.

Then, as if a sudden thought had struck him, he turned back to An Meng. “Enough,” he declared. “You may die now. That, too, is an order.”

An Meng’s long neck twisted a full three hundred and sixty degrees, snapping with a crisp crack.

“An Meng!!!!”

Justin let out a furious roar, but Corvus simply pointed at him. Instantly, the roar was stifled in his throat, reduced to muffled grunts.

Once he confirmed the dragon girl’s demise, his attention returned fully to healing Jadette.

“Can you tell me about the enemy’s situation?”

“Two demonkin, likely subordinates of the Third and Seventh Venerable Lords, respectively. The Seventh Venerable Lord’s subordinate was just slain by you.”

“And those two fellows?”

He flicked his gaze towards Parashana and Paris. The former appeared quite intrigued, while the latter looked ready to tear him limb from limb.

“The woman’s identity is unknown; she seems to be a mercenary wielding a unique weapon. The man… is Paris Pucci, the former second-in-command of Dawn’s Light. He seems to bear quite a grudge against you.”

“What about her?” He gestured towards Aimira, who lay on the ground with her eyes still tightly shut.

“She was kidnapped… They likely intended to use her to lure me here for a rescue.”

“You’re that eager to help?”

“Not at all… By the way, what is your relationship with her?”

“…We merely crossed paths. She just happened to see my face.”

“Really?”

“Truly. But more importantly…”

He gestured towards Paris, and the chains binding him instantly vanished.

“Hm…?”

Paris suspiciously checked his body, then looked at Corvus with confusion.

“…What is the meaning of this, Ninth Apostle?”

“You’re that scoundrel Julius’s brother, aren’t you?”

“That’s right! Ever since you killed him, our Dawn’s Light—”

“Let’s fight.”

“—has fallen apart—What did you say?!”

“I said, let’s fight.”

He snapped his fingers. The chains immediately swept Parashana and Justin aside, clearing a space and encircling the two men in the center.

“I’m giving you a chance for personal revenge, so let’s brawl. A man’s fight should be bare-knuckle, shouldn’t it?”

As he spoke, he cracked his knuckles, the thorny patterns reappearing on his hands, though this time concentrated solely on his fingertips.

“I’ll focus my abilities only on my fingertips. That seems fair, wouldn’t you agree?”

“…………”

“And of course, don’t bother with those little tricks involving oxygen deprivation or pure oxygen. They’re useless against me, like brandishing a mighty saber before Guan Yu himself.”

“…………Ha! Fine then!!!”

Paris clapped his hands together. Nitrogen, compressed to its absolute limit, enveloped his entire body.

Trace amounts of flammable gases like methane formed an outer layer, which was then encased by a final layer of pure oxygen. He swiftly threw several practice punches.

Each strike caused visible distortions in the abyssal currents, accompanied by small bursts of explosive light.

“I don’t care what schemes you’re concocting, Ninth Apostle! Your abilities might be formidable, but when it comes to hand-to-hand combat—”

“Begin.”

“…………Eek!?”

Before the words had even left his mouth, Paris’s breathing hitched.

All he saw was Corvus abruptly vanishing from his sight. Employing an utterly bizarre footwork, Corvus instantly materialized before him, delivering a kick at a speed far exceeding Paris’s reaction limit—a kick that landed squarely in his groin.

“Eek… eh… ah… ahhh…………”

Pain detonated in his nether regions, spreading like a wildfire across his entire body. He convulsed violently, emitting a sound like a chicken with its neck wrung, foam bubbling at the corners of his mouth, his face turning purple.

Even Jadette couldn’t help but avert her gaze.

“…You truly are quite angry, aren’t you, Corvus?”

“…………Yes, I am quite angry.”

Thud!

He seized Paris by the hair, forcing his head up, then backhanded him, sending him flying.

“No matter what—”

Thud!

Taking two steps forward, he delivered a kick to Paris’s jaw, sending teeth scattering across the ground.

“Though she has a fiery temper—”

Thud!

A knee slammed into his chest, the sound of cracking ribs oddly melodious.

“Though her personality is abysmal—”

Thud!

“Though she thinks highly of herself—”

Thud!

“Though her head is full of provocative ideas—”

Thud!

“And she’s two-faced, arrogant, conceited, with a princess complex—”

Thud!

“But—”

CRACK!!!!

Paris, his face swollen like a tomato, adopted a stance as if preparing to unleash a Kamehameha-style blast—an air cannon powerful enough to shatter the abyssal earth.

However, before he could launch it, Corvus clamped onto his hands, pulled him close—forehead to forehead—and smashed their heads together with brutal force!

“…To say I have absolutely no feelings for her, well, that would be, unequivocally, impossible.”

Paris, his head gushing blood, collapsed unconscious to the ground like a broken puppet.

After tossing the unconscious Paris onto the ground, my fury somewhat subsided.

‘Fury,’ huh… I’d long forgotten the last time I truly felt angry, but it didn’t matter now.

I needed to be mindful of my current identity. I was not an Apostle, nor an enforcer, possessing no authority. Eliminating a malicious demonkin invader was a human’s duty and would not be investigated.

However, if the target was also human, I had to be more cautious. Paris was merely a minor player. While I didn’t know the purpose of these individuals infiltrating the abyss, capturing them for interrogation would suffice. Ideally, I should take them alive.

“I say, Jadette… Jadette?”

When I looked at Jadette again, I found her lost in a daze.

‘Impossible to have no feelings… Impossible to have no feelings… For me… He has feelings…? He has feelings!’

She seemed to be muttering something under her breath, looking utterly foolish.

‘That’s right… He… he specifically came to save me… Waaah…’

In truth, I’d only remembered my PS8 was still in the apartment after reaching the station. I returned to retrieve it, sensed something amiss, and thus descended into the abyss to investigate.

Well, no matter. The situation was resolved now.

Paris was defeated, the dragon was dead, and the remaining two demonkin were bound by my chains. All that was left was to knock Jadette unconscious, tie up the others, bring them to the surface, and then make a swift escape—

“That would be far too boring!!!”

“!?”

The moment the girl’s sharp laughter rang out, I bent low and dodged, narrowly avoiding a swooping dagger.

I turned my head to see the incredibly alluring, scantily clad girl with wheat-colored skin. Wait, shouldn’t she be bound by the chains of domination!?

“What are you spacing out for?!”

In the instant my thoughts wandered, she moved out of my line of sight. Yet, my movements were swifter.

The dagger aimed at my nape was caught in my single hand, and a gentle twist in the opposite direction would disarm her—

Squish!!

However, a viscous, liquid sound emanated from her skin. Her arm coiled and twisted like a snake, showing no signs of fracture.

Her other hand, also gripping a dagger, thrust at me from an incredibly strange angle. I slapped the dagger away with the back of my hand, but her attacks clung to me like maggots to bone, relentlessly pressing in at extremely close range.

Each of her strikes was lightning-fast, and every time, she launched a sudden assault from the blind spots of my vision and other senses. Coupled with her boneless flexibility, she was exceedingly dangerous.

‘Remarkable physical technique, but…’

Merely an assassin skilled with daggers, she was hardly a formidable opponent.

“Stop this nonsense, little girl.”

I dodged another dagger, snapped my fingers, and the chains of domination bound her tightly.

…Or rather, they should have bound her tightly.

“Piece of cake!”

The dagger slashed.

It effortlessly severed the chains of domination.

****

“…………H-huh?”

I froze.

It was admittedly a bit embarrassing to say, but I genuinely stood dumbfounded.

Sever the chains, symbols of a forced contract and the power of domination?

The last time these chains broke, it was due to the Calamity of the Daughter of Disaster—a misfortune potent enough to destroy domination itself.

But this girl merely wielded two unremarkable daggers, and she was clearly no master!

“…Who are you?”

“Guess!”

She didn’t press her advantage, instead retreating to create distance. Her face was alight with a mocking smile that ignited irritation.

“Be careful! I told you her daggers are strange! They can easily cut through my Relic Circuit!”

“But who would’ve thought they could sever my chains?!”

I had misjudged her strength. It seemed a prolonged period of peace had indeed dulled my senses. This time, I cast aside all underestimation.

I directly dominated all abyssal energy within a two-kilometer radius, centered on myself, compressing this vast, tainted darkness into a sphere in just 0.01 seconds.

The girl attempted to dodge, but I naturally wouldn’t give her the chance. I launched the energy sphere directly towards her. This attack was no jest; though a mere ‘normal attack,’ it could effortlessly pierce through two layers of the abyss—

What happened next, however, was even more bizarre.

The energy sphere ‘passed through’ her.

It didn’t shatter her torso or pierce her body. Instead, like a magician performing a wall-passing trick, or a person walking through a curtain of water, it passed right through her without leaving a single trace.

“Grand magic… ‘Physical Penetration’?”

“Ahaha, as expected of an Apostle, you’ve got good taste!”