All the guests were dumbstruck by the sight in front of them. Three guards who were standing in front of Lucius had just been beheaded. The blood spurted from their necks and rained down on Bethany who was the closest.

But that was not the most shocking part. The most shocking part was the fact that it was done with a single swing of a sword by none other than Lucius. 

~shing~

Before the people could even have a chance to think more, Lucius swung the wind scar sword once more.

~Shua~

The wind blade created by the Artifact sword traveled through the air and stuck the bodies of the two guards that were mid way to approaching Lucius. Their steel armor was like butter against a hot knife and was cut through.

"ARGH!!" These guards were not killed in one hit thus they got the chance to scream in pain.

But this was merely the start of it.

~BOOM~

Donald stomped his leg, shaking the entire area at once. 

~thud~thud~thud~

The unsuspecting guests all fell at once, including Bethany. Some of the guards did too, but a few who were at the edge of the area of effect, managed to maintain their balance. Lucius and Kiana had no problem either as they were already expecting this.

Lucius had actually practiced along with Donald before too, during his daily swordsmanship lessons, and had withstood the effect of his gift quite a few times. He now knew how to maintain his balance when Donald used Tremor Stomp.

'It was a good decision choosing to bring Donald over John.' Lucius thought.

While John did have skills that were sluggishly better than Donald seeing as he had drafted Donald quite a few times in spars, Donald's gift was suited in a situation like this. Since it was a wide area of skill, it was perfect for narrow locations like this.

John could also have worked his gift in an area like this with his proficiency, but against weak enemies like this, it would have been overkill. Besides, that was not the only reason why Lucius had not brought John.

The second reason was the creation of the brewery. John had been involved in it a lot and this had come under scrutiny by quite a few nobles, some of whose children were currently present here as well.

Lucius did not want any unnecessary problems and rumors to be created with the presence of John. Thus, choosing to leave him in the city seemed to be the better choice for now. Besides, he had Kiana by his side… who herself was more than enough to decimate each and every person here.

~thiu~thiu~thiu~

The muffled sound of something moving very fast was head.

~thud~thud~thud~

Three guards who were about to use their gifts instantly collapsed to the ground. If one looked closer, they would see small holes in the center of their foreheads. 

"They… they… they're DEAD!!!!" a couple of guests who were near the collapsed guests shouted upon seeing them. 

That shout was the first call of pandemonium for the mansion. 

"RUN!!!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!" 

All of the guests started to shout as they ran out of the mansion. The funny thing was that it was not them that were being targeted. In fact, none of the guest's guards had been harmed by Lucius and his companions.

Lucius had specifically only targeted the guards who were wearing the armor with the badge of the Harrels family. He had a plan and wanted to make sure everything went according to it. So even if he was killing guards right now, he was not doing it indiscriminately.

Lucius had a cold expression on his face as he faced the guards that came at him. Though this only lasted for less than ten seconds, because after that there were no guards left to face him. Kiana had taken care of the ones that were far, while Donald had dealt with the ones that were coming from the back.

Lucius now approached Bethany, who was lying on the ground, too scared to do anything. All the rage and anger that she had felt earlier had been wiped out as if it was never there. And replacing it was nothing but utter terror.

~step~step~step~

Bethany who was looking at the ground, noticed a pair of boots in her field of vision. She raised her head and saw that it was none other than Lucius who was standing there looking at her with the same cold expression with which he had killed the guards.

Bethany wanted to scream at that moment, but the fear had paralyzed her. Looking at the man in front of him, she trembled as he raised the sword in his hand. Strangely enough, there was no blood on it. 

Seeing the sword rising, Bethany thought about the worst thing that could have happened. There were dead guards everywhere, which prompted her to think that the same was going to happen to her. A stream of tears was already coming out of her eyes as she silently sobbed.

Eventually, closing her eyes in fear, she felt cold. 

'Im going to die…' She thought.

But the pain that she had thought would be coming, never did. She couldn't help but open her eyes and saw Lucius standing there with the sword in his sheath. This time he was looking at her with a smile and extended his hand towards her.

"Come on now miss Bethany… you shall be my prisoner," Lucius said in a gentle smile, as if he was asking the girl for a dance.

Bethany subconsciously raised her hand and took Lucius's hand. She did not know why she did it or why she did not resist anymore. She simply went with the flow, as her brain could not think ahead anymore.

Lucius on the other hand, was pleased with the entire thing. 

'It went smoother than I expected. Seems like I overestimated the level of guards a Baron may have.' Lucius thought to himself.