Crow nearly broke out in laughter and had to admit his big brother learned how to make an entrance. Even he was impressed with that grand entrance.

“Pray to your gods, fat fuck. Your life ends soon,” Mara said in a low, threatening tone.

“If I die, it’ll be between your legs, little lioness,” Crow said. The last part might give her a clue, but probably not in her drugged state. By the time she muddled through what he’d just said, he was sure today’s events would have already ended.

“How dare you kill your way in here!?” Jorl, the city lord, screeched. “Guards, take him down.”

Otto’s booming laughter echoed through the courtyard. “Otto toys. Break toys.”

The giant hand pointed behind him, and as the crowd’s eyes adjusted, they could see a pile of corpses. Before anyone else could say a word, an intense fire blasted open the eastern side of the courtyard. A small woman stepped out, and the inn was burning unnaturally fast behind her. Somehow, her small size was just as intimidating as the giant, maybe more so because they could hear the screams of people burning to death behind her.

“I oppose this union. That woman is already married, and you dare drug her and pretend she is yours?”

“Who are you?” Hank asked. He recognized the two but had seriously underestimated their strength.

“Oh! I’m Nin. Those two women up there are my sisters. We are all married to the same man, and if he was here… hehe. None of you would leave here alive. I’m more benevolent than him and will give some of you a chance to flee.”

The fuck you are! That is slander! Crow cried out silently.

“You think I wasn’t expecting you?” Hank chuckled. While things weren’t exactly as he anticipated, they were still within his control.

“I know you were, and I’d have been here earlier, but I sensed something unusual at your manor, so I made a stop first. You should cancel your banquet because your manor is a pile of ashes. I hope there wasn’t anything valuable in there because that’d make me sad.”

Hank stared at Nin with his jaw clenched. Although he planned on them rescuing their friends, he didn’t believe they’d be this audacious. These two weren’t afraid of death or mayhem, which made them unpredictable.

“No leave?” Otto roared when everyone remained seated. Suddenly, he grew several meters and sent his back fist into the wall behind him. The power behind the punch destroyed the support beams, and the front lobby collapsed, bringing down the two floors above. Otto appeared as surprised as everyone else, but they could clearly see he was amused.

There were only two exits left, the western courtyard door and the stage exit. Amidst the destruction, Nin spat fire at the most dangerous people present. Those that came close to her dragon fire were seriously injured or killed. Even Jorl went up in flames, and his terrified screams finally made everyone panic.

Crow stood there staring at the two troublemakers in shock. He knew the two loved creating mayhem and didn’t have the same empathy as humans, but holy hell, this was awesome.

“Archers, take them down!” Hank roared, looking toward the roof of the inn. A single archer stood on the western roof above the only intact door. However, he appeared to jump off the roof. As he fell to the floor below, his head snapped back, revealing that his head was nearly severed from a single slash. It was a ghastly sight that the guests would never forget as long as they lived. People that hadn’t realized the danger were now fully awake. It made something very clear to all of them, even Hank—there was a third person on the roof. Like the mad rush of a herd stampeding, the guests rushed toward the door.

An arrow came from the shadows of the roof, and Crow realized he was the target.

“That little fucking minx,” Crow growled and dodged out of the way, letting go of Mara. The moment he let go, Acco appeared out of nowhere, and a second later, both Song Lin and Mara were gone.

“Father! They stole my wife,” Harold/Crow whined like that bitch he was.

Crow disliked Harold’s high-pitched voice, but it was an excellent distraction. Hank turned to see Crow dodging another arrow.

Song Xue’s archery had improved tremendously, giving Crow a headache. During all his dodging, Hank took an arrow to his elbow. It was initially going toward his throat, and he knew he couldn’t dodge it, so he blocked it with his arm.

“Fuck, who the hell is shooting at us?” Hank Rudder growled. Every person who rushed to the stage to help was shot, burned, or crushed. Even Hank had to admire the coordination between them. “This farce ends now!”

Through the ruined lobby, a man charged in. His rush blasted aside the rubble, and he finished his charge by putting his shoulder into Otto’s gut. The giant crashed into the inn beside the western doors, ruining the only intact wall—other than the southern wall behind the stage. Otto disappeared inside, and the wall crumbled down around him. Crow wasn’t worried about him because it’d take more than that to hurt the giant.

Three arrows fell from the sky, and Crow knew Song Xue had locked him in place when he became distracted. Damn! Was that girl trying to kill me?

“Uncle Hal, save me!” Crow/Harold cried out, knowing he couldn’t dodge all the arrows. On top of that, Nin actually blasted fire his way. This close, there was no way Nin didn’t know who he was. He could feel the pain of her Yearning and their irrevocable bond.

These two women! Crow growled internally.

Thankfully, Hal arrived before him and deflected the fire and two arrows. Crow took the last one to the shoulder, unable to avoid it.

“Brother. Looks like you’ve created quite the mess this time.”

Hank sighed. “Harold has become quite uncontrollable of late.”

“You can’t blame that all on me!” Crow yelled. “You wanted the dark-haired girl because of her alchemy.”

Harold/Crow moved closer to Hal. The arrows and fire kept coming, but the man deflected everything.

“You can stop now. Neither of you can harm me.”

Nin stopped blasting her fire and gave Harold/Crow a long look. A second later, Acco arrived beside her and they both disappeared.

“You picked a fight with an Astrologer?”

“No. Well, maybe. He wasn’t with them originally, nor was that archer girl. That’s the first time I’ve seen either of them,” Hank said and looked around at the destruction. There were bodies everywhere, including the city lord. Those three people took their friends away, destroyed his manor, the Weeping Inn, and killed so many of his supporters. This was an epic catastrophe.

“That archer was the most dangerous of them all,” Hal told him. “Not even I could locate him.”

Him? Crow snorted silently but kept his breathing regular. Harmonious Nature required him to synchronize his breath with the wind, which could also disperse his consciousness through the air. Reaching the state of nonexistence felt surreal because it was like he wasn’t part of the world, but his consciousness and mind operated normally. Crow knew if his breathing was disrupted even slightly, he’d lose his current state. While Hank and Hal were talking, neither noticed Crow arriving behind them with his summoned arrow.

Hal felt a sting of pain and looked down and stared stupidly at the head of an arrow sticking through his gut. Blood flowered around the wound, but Hal wasn’t all that worried about it. The damage was minor for a cultivator like him, but the unexpectedness of the attack left him stunned.

“Father, look out!” Harold/Crow shouted as he fled backward. Arrows rained down toward him, but he deflected most of them. He’d have to have a talk with that girl later. The shout wasn’t for his father but for Hal. He wanted to distract the man, so he didn’t realize the threat the arrow posed, and everything went off perfectly. Once Crow was far enough away, he exploded the arrow, and Hal collapsed to the ground spitting out blood while pieces of his destroyed organs splattered across the stage. The two brothers were caught in a series of events they couldn’t fathom, so they didn’t see Crow bring out the corpse of Harold and hide the re-summoned arrow in the fat pig’s gut.

“Hey, father,” Crow laughed before tossing the body over.

“Who the fuck are you?” Hank asked and picked up his dead son, his face a mask of fury. “I’m pretty sure I never offended you.”

“Never offended me?” Crow asked as his body returned to normal. At that moment, the wall of the inn blasted open as Otto jumped out. Turning toward the stage, he saw Crow and gave him a big wolfish smile. Rushing toward his little brother, Otto jumped over the water and landed on the stage next to Crow.

“Little brother,” Otto growled and slapped Crow on the back, causing him to stumble.

“Y-you are with them?”

“I am. You dared kidnap my wives. Do you still think you didn’t offend me?”

Hank nodded, and his dying brother looked up helplessly. Both stared at Crow as if he was a demon, and the stories of Nin and the others probably didn’t help sell his innocence.

“H-how?” the uncle asked before spitting up more blood.

“Did I kill you?” Crow guessed and saw the man nod. “I’m a Druid.”

Otto chuckled because even he knew a cheap answer when he heard one. Crow looked at him and nodded. It was all that was needed before the big guy pulled out his massive shield.

Boom!

Harold exploded, and his bones became shrapnel, tearing apart all three of the Rudder bloodline. Hank might have survived since he was still relatively unharmed. Might have if he hadn’t focused most of his attention on the explosion to prevent his body from getting obliterated and forgetting about the assassin on the roof. Even before the splattered viscera, of what used to be Harold, fell to the ground, an arrow had already punctured his eye hole.

“The fall of a dynasty,” Song Xue sighed from the roof before disappearing into the shadows and escaping.

“Otto fun.” The big guy laughed, and the two brothers left through the exit behind the stage.

“Quite the reunion,” Crow grinned.

Otto laughed, but not for the same reason. He knew Crow was about to suffer a worse fate than the arrow in his shoulder. By the time the two arrived at the hidden cavern where they set up camp, Song Lin had already detoxed Mara.

Seeing them all waiting for him, Crow turned to flee but ran into Otto.

“Otto mountain,” the big guy laughed loudly.

“You bastard,” Crow grumbled, making Otto laugh harder.