“You! Servant of the Sevilles Household! I demand that you surrender and bend your knee to me, Lady Lilain Onlegio, and swear to serve me for the rest of your life!”

A woman with long green hair addressed the man in front of her.

Right after shouting at the top of her lungs, announcing her intent at having the Sevilles Household surrender, she ended up encountering one of the employees of the mansion.

This man looked like in his mid-twenties; his short, greyish white hair accentuated his grey eyes.

He was wearing the uniform of a butler with an emblem of Sevilles Household. At his waist was a single sword.

Judging by his physique, it was obvious he was no weakling.

“I would have to refuse; Master Runfar still needs me to serve him.”

Meros Solros politely declined her offer. His clean shaved face was an obvious improvement to how he was just a few months ago, wandering from one place to next, unable to find a job.

But now, he had a purpose.

“You arrogant mutt! Don’t you know you are refusing the offer of a lifetime? Your master is dead, and this estate will soon be mine. Out of all of his workers, you, a swordsman, might be the only one who might be of use to me, others are disposable trash.”

“That is exactly why I would prefer to serve Master Runfar; after all, he was the only one who bothered to pick a trash like me up.”

Meros smiled as if to say ‘Sorry, but that’s not gonna happen.’

“Hmmm, how frustrating, even his servant is a fool who would prefer to be in denial of the truth. I will say this for the last time, don’t you dare to ignore me! Your master, Runfar Sevilles, is no longer among the living. Here, I have a proof!”

She produced a damaged half mask out of her bag.

Meros took a one look at the mask and just shrugged his shoulders.

“So?”

“What do you mean by so? You should be clearly able to see that your master is dead, so serving his estate no longer has any meaning!”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

“Will you still refuse me?”

“I graciously decline” Meros bowed with a fake smile on his face, as if to mock the woman in front of him.

“Fine. Be that way. However, you must realize that you are hopelessly outnumbered.”

She gestured at all the soldiers behind her.

Onlegio noble family’s personal troops, consisting of about hundred trained knights, granted, none of them were at the level of Holy Knight, but they could easily overwhelm an estate with so few workers by sheer numbers.

“Each one is a knight, many of them had even fought in battles against vile demons, a lone knight like you stands no chance, and neither does the estate you are trying so desperately to protect.”

“Hmm, there are many of you indeed.”

“Of course, I asked my father to lend me all the troops working for Onlegio household. It is a pity I will not have chance to exact revenge on Runfar for what he did to me, but the very least I can do is take away everything he owned!”

“I suppose a conflict between us couldn’t be avoided”

Meros’s right hand grabbed the hilt of his sword, now fully prepared to fight.

Meros’s sword was not a typical double edged sword, instead, it was a single edged blade which upon a closer inspection resembled a katana, but it was slightly different as it was longer and its handle had a hand guard.

The sword was designed for speed not for heavy blows, but luckily in this situation, speed was all he needed.

“You have sealed your fate. Kill him and seize this mansion!”

Ten knights attacked Meros, intent on killing him.

However, to Meros, a former Holy Knight, their movements seemed a little more than child’s play.

With a mighty swing, Meros unleashed a razor sharp wind that knocked away seven of the knights attacking him.

This technique is called the Air Slash; it was a prerequisite to learn this technique to reach the level of a Holy Knight.

Air Slash was a pure swordsmanship skill, not involving mana as many erroneously believe; it allowed the user to have a greater range of attack, not limited by the reach of the blade.

“That move…Are you a Holy Knight?” Lilain Onlegio asked, slightly surprised that seven of the ten knights she sent to attack him were now sprawling on the ground, each heavily injured with a single attack.

“Nope, just a simple swordsman doing his job”

“What are you fools afraid of? He may be strong, but he is just one man! We can take him!”

One of the knights rallied the others, more than ninety men behind him responded by brandishing their weapons and shouting in unison.

“Well, it seems like I am in quite a pickle”

Meros couldn’t help but think.

‘Seven down, so about ninety something against one, huh… well, let’s see how long I can last!’

As Meros rushed towards his enemies, who were in turn attacking him head on, he felt a force pulling him from behind, sending him flying backwards.

On the spot he was just standing on emerged a wall of earth blocking the knights, cutting them off from Meros for a moment.

“You! What are you doing here?” Meros couldn’t help but utter.

“Hmmph, you should be more grateful, Solros, when someone comes in to save your life”

A woman with aquamarine colored hair answered with slight disdain.

Considering her experience with humans, helping one made her a little sick to her stomach.

Her long hair covered up her ears, making it less obvious she was an elf. To the onlookers, she looked like an extremely attractive woman.

“As for why I am here, considering we serve the same master, it should be obvious.”

She was not standing on the ground, nay; instead she was floating in air using magic.

“I could have handled this on my own.”

“And there it is- the human pride. Maybe I should have just let them overwhelm and kill you, but regardless…”

The knights simply circled around the wall of earth, but now they were noticeably scattered, no longer in their powerful formations.

“…now is the time we must fight together.”

Using a single spell, Lukalis manifested a sphere from which multiple spears of lightning emerged, piercing into twelve of the knights.

Each knight that was struck by a lightning spear collapsed on the ground, being cooked from the inside out.

“Like insects, they just don’t know when to quit, do they?”

Lukalis snapped her fingers, and seemingly at command, the ground now shook, but unlike an earthquake, earth seemed to shake in a wave-like pattern, the wave now headed towards the attacking knights.

Many were thrown off balance, while the others even fell on the ground. However, they were not killed. It was obvious this spell was meant to keep the enemy at bay instead of outright killing them.

“Thanks Luka, now finding a new body for myself would not be impossible.”

“You’re welcome, child.” Lukalis smirked at the little boy at her side.

“I am not a child! It is just this body is very small, ok!”

“Whatever you say, little Morph”

“Hnnnnh, you will regret saying that, you hear me!” but the way Morphus was pouting made it impossible to take him seriously.

“Attack! Without their master they are nothing!”

Lilain was not giving up, she was shouting at her troops to march forward.

“Your resistance is pointless, Runfar Sevilles is dead; your struggle is futile…”

“I am dead? Now that is news to me.” Now the man himself appeared out of nowhere.

By the golden hair and the half mask, it was obvious that this was the genuine article.

“Sevilles? But how? You should be dead!”

“Well, let’s leave it at that…As for you guys…” Runfar turned to face his allies. “Please make sure to crush them.”

“I guess I can have some fun as well!” a tiger type demi-human emerged, wielding a war hammer. He was obviously overjoyed at finally having the opportunity to crush the human knights.

“Kreschen, don’t tell me… did you bring everyone here?” Meros could hardly believe his eyes, every member of Shadow Lords, including their master were seemingly here.

‘How did they arrive here so fast? Did she teleport them?’

“Not everyone, Camilla was still resting, so I made sure to bring everyone else. But apparently our master managed to make Camilla wake up and showed up here in the nick of time.”

“That was fast. How did you know…”

“You do realize they made so much noise outside that everyone inside the mansion could hear, right?”

“I suppose you are right.”

“Were you expecting us to just sit on our hinds while you do everything alone? Oh, the brave, ex-Holy Knight, so confident in his skill that he dares to challenge a hundred strong, with absolutely no worry that he might be digging himself into an early grave…” Lukalis was being rather brutal in her assessment.

“I got it, ok! No need to make a whale out of this matter.” Meros was getting exasperated by the second, talking to this elf who hated humans was a chore in on itself.

She addressed others politely, but when it came to Meros, she was a little rude, if not outright malicious.

Being the only human member of the Shadow Lords did not help the matters.

“Another time then”

Lukalis turned her head to face the scene of pure carnage.

Lake, of course, was not the only one fighting.

Lukalis also made sure to bring Kyra, Morphus, and Jun to aid Meros.

Using her demon eye, Kyra put many of the knights under a mass illusion.

Now, each one found himself surrounded by monsters.

Panicking, they proceeded to kill the monsters, not aware that they were fighting against their own troops.

Just like that, many knights fell by the blades of their allies.

Amongst all the confusion, Morphus managed to procure himself a new body.

“Well, you seem to be weak of will enough” a child grabbed a sleeve of one of the knights who was under an illusion.

“A kid?” the knight muttered, before seeing something huge emerge out of the child’s body, a spectral body that seemed to be made of light.

And now, the being of light swallowed him whole, taking over his body.

Inspecting his new body, Morphus cracked his head from side to side, before smiling.

“Thank you for the meal.”

He teleported his old body to the secluded room within the mansion, he would need it later.

Unlike Lake, Jun was not as strong, but she was definitely faster, her fighting style consisted of her running by her enemies and slashing through their throats with her long daggers.

An efficient way to fight, that’s for sure.

Combined with Meros’s swordsmanship and Lukalis’s overwhelming magical power, Onlegio family troops were being killed off, one after another.

The few that were left alive were running for their lives, only to be shot down by Lukalis’s arrows of light.

“Only six of them had destroyed all of my troops…Who are you?” Lilain Onlegio’s voice was visibly shaking. She was steadily losing her composure.

The troops her family was so proud of were annihilated right before her eyes.

Now, out of nowhere, a feline demi-human woman wearing a mask appeared right before her.

Her black hair, tail, and ears on top of her head complimented well with her dark colored clothing.

“We are the Shadow Lords”

The woman said before kicking Lilain in the stomach, causing her to fall on the ground, clutching her stomach.

Jun grabbed Lilain by her hair.

“Now then…” Jun produced a branding iron out of the enchanted ring used as storage space. “Luka, would you mind…”

“Of course not”

By Lukalis’s gesture, the branding iron now became red hot, steaming as it seemingly set ablaze the very air surrounding it.

Now the branding iron was pointed at Lilain Onlegio’s face.

“Wait! What do you think you are doing?!!” Lilain cried out in desperation to no avail.

“I am simply giving you, a human, a taste of your own medicine.” Jun replied. “You will feel just a little bit of my pain.”

As Lilain’s eyes opened wide in horror, the branding iron was thrust at her face.

What followed was a loud scream that ended with a sound of sobbing.

* * *

“How dare you do this to me? I am Lilain Onlegio, you bastards! I will have your heads for this!”

Lilain’s once perfect face was now adorned with a brand that spelled out a letter ‘S’ with burns that accompanied it.

“You made the mistake of threatening our master’s territory” Meros calmly replied.

Everyone was ignoring the angry screams of their tied up prisoner.

“So the Onlegio family tried to invade my territory, and they even sent all their troops just for sake of petty vengeance?”

Runfar couldn’t help but chuckle.

During the entire battle, he and Camilla did nothing but watch from the sidelines.

Each member of the Shadow Lords was strong, but together, they were able to beat an entire army. Even if it was a small army, it was still a remarkable achievement.

To say that Dark Lord was impressed would be an understatement.

“Master, can I please use her?” Jun was obviously referring to her personal needs.

“Feel free to, but make sure not to kill her”

“Of course, master” Jun had developed a rather horrifying sadistic streak for inflicting pain upon human beings.

It was partially due to Dark Lord’s teachings, but mainly due to her desire to inflict as much suffering as the humans have inflicted upon her.

“We will have a lot of fun, tonight~” Jun was heating up several metal tools, to be used for Lilain’s torture.

Now she brandished a hot poker.

Even more screams followed afterwards.

* * *

Head of the Onlegio family, Liwen Onlegio received dire news from the few surviving men who went with his daughter to take over Sevilles estate.

Not only was Runfar Sevilles alive, but their take over was a complete failure.

‘How did this happen? The assassin I sent told me Runfar was dead after a heavy struggle that killed the other two assassins, he even gave me the mask as proof…Was he working for Runfar to provide me with false information?’

But this was not the time to think about that.

While their troops were annihilated, due to invading another lord’s territory, the actions of Runfar’s troops would be viewed as righteous. So asking for aid was out of question.

Worse, his daughter, his only child was held hostage, and now he received a letter from Runfar stating that if and only if Liwen gives up his territory and all of his holdings can he have his daughter back.

If he does not agree within a day, Runfar’s troops will take over Onlegio family’s territory by force and will also kill Lilain.

Considering all of Onlegio family’s forces were depleted, Liwen had no choice but to surrender.

The very next day, Liwen surrendered the ownership of the contract that declared him as the owner and lord protector of Onlegio estate.

Now the territory Runfar held under his control was effectively doubled.

However, when he saw his daughter again, he was horrified to see a broken woman covered in branding marks, even her efforts to hide herself underneath the hood of her clothing couldn’t conceal the fact that she was tortured.

But it was too late to do anything. Onlegio noble family lost everything.

The only thing they had left in their hearts was profound hatred for Sevilles Household.

But their hatred never bore fruit, as their corpses were found days later by the knights, each beheaded after being burned till they were unrecognizable.

None knew everything was organized at the hands of the Shadow Lords.

Dark Lord ordered his subordinates to not leave any loose ends and that is exactly what they did.