"Yo, you hear the news?"
"City Hall went up in flames last night."
"Last night? I thought it was this morning?"
"Nah, technically it was right before dawn."
"No way, for real?"
"Go check it out yourself, man. It's already nothing but ruins."
"I saw it! Seriously, it's just a pile of rubble now."
"But… don't you think that's kinda nuts?"
"Yeah, what kind of fire could burn the whole City Hall down like that?"
"We're talkin' City Hall here. With all those Oasis Knights, a bunch of magicians, and even the City Lord around—how'd they let a fire take the whole place out?"
"Heard it was the magic division's screw-up."
"Magic division? Don't tell me those idiots were messin' with some sketchy experiment again and ended up torchin' the whole damn City Hall?"
"Wouldn't shock me, honestly. Remember when they blew up their own lab playing around with magic shells?"
"Yeah, but this time it's the entire freakin' City Hall..."
"Still feels unreal..."
"Yeah..."
In the early morning of Sinielle, conversations like these spread rapidly through every street.
News that the City Hall had been reduced to ruins, swallowed by flames, could not possibly be hidden, so it spread swiftly into the ears of every resident of Sinielle.
Some residents refused to believe it, while others were doubtful, and still others rushed straight to the City Hall. Only when they saw the charred ruins with their own eyes did they finally accept the truth.
For a time, rumors of all kinds erupted one after another, causing Sinielle to be thrown into unrest.
However, some people keenly sensed a deeper problem.
"City Hall really got burned down?"
"No way. With him around, no matter what went down, he should've handled it—there's no chance City Hall would end up trashed like that."
"Yeah, but it did. City Hall's just sitting there in ruins, still not cleaned up."
"Something must've gone down that we don't know about."
"We gotta send someone to check it out."
Just like that, all kinds of people began to emerge.
Some of them were lawless individuals whose movements had been hindered by the restrictions of the City Hall, while others were high-ranking figures of the great powers, who felt shocked and incredulous that the residence of the City Lord had fallen into such a state.
Soon after, they all dispatched their people to investigate, intending to uncover everything that had happened behind it.
No one believed the City Hall could have been destroyed by a mere accidental fire, since with the City Lord present, no accident could have caused such devastation.
Regardless, the fact that it had happened meant something major must have occurred—something even the City Lord could not contain, leaving the City Hall to be consumed by flames.
In the end, those who realized this naturally could not suppress their doubts and curiosity.
One after another, they sent people to investigate, desperate to uncover what had really happened the previous night.
Yet when they acted, they discovered the events at the City Hall had already been silenced.
Everyone who had remained inside before dawn—knights, magicians, combatants, technical staff alike—had been given a unified order not to reveal a single detail.
In other words, the incident had been sealed away.
What's more, it was sealed as a top-level secret.
Anyone who defied the order and revealed what had occurred would be treated as though they had leaked a state secret and punished as severely as a traitor.
As a result, those sent to gather information all returned empty-handed, but their failure only deepened everyone else's suspicions.
"What really happened?"
Such a question was weighing on the hearts of all who paid attention to the City Hall.
Unfortunately, they clearly would not unravel this mystery, nor would they get the answers they sought.
Today in Sinielle passed amid disturbances, some surfacing openly while others surged in secret.
Regardless, one thing was sure—the entire city of Sinielle grew rife with undercurrents, gradually sinking into chaos.
===
Sinielle, Knight Division's Branch Building.
Located in the eastern part of Sinielle, closest to the City Hall, this branch usually served as the station for knights assigned by the City Hall and was responsible for maintaining order in the eastern district, acting as a substation of the City Hall's armed forces.
However, today, the building had been requisitioned as the City Lord's temporary residence.
*PENG!*
In a lavish room, a vase was violently smashed to pieces.
Sigmund, whose injuries had clearly been treated and no longer posed a serious problem, stood in the center of the room with a ferocious expression.
"RIEZEL BRYNHART!"
Clutching his amber blade, Sigmund roared as he swung it down.
*BOOM!*
Sigmund's blade of light cleaved across the floor, splintered furniture, and smashed through the wall at its end, shattering it into rubble.
Such a violent commotion naturally could not go unnoticed, yet those in the branch only trembled where they stood, none daring to rush forward and court the wrath of the City Lord.
"DAMN!"
"BASTARD!"
"DAMN!"
"BASTARD!"
Sigmund vented his rage, destroying everything in the room, even tearing apart the room itself, making the once-elegant space quickly collapse into ruins.
"Huff… Huff…"
At last, after an unknown amount of time, Sigmund stopped, gasping heavily, but the flames of fury in his chest had not abated, and his bloodshot eyes still carried the dangerous glint of a beast ready to devour prey.
"Since becoming a Sword Saint, since becoming the City Lord of Sinielle, this was the first time I've suffered such humiliation, driven into such a miserable state..."
"Riezel Brynhart…"
"You... Very good! Very good!"
"I will never rest until this grudge is repaid!"
Now, Sigmund's fury had already turned into blazing hatred, burning fiercer and fiercer.
Just as Sigmund, still unsatisfied, prepared to once again swing his blade, a voice sounded behind him.
"I think you'd better calm down."
It was a cold voice—so cold it could no longer be called indifferent or ruthless, but almost devoid of emotion entirely.
Upon hearing it, Sigmund froze, slowly turning to look behind him.
In a shadowed corner of the ruined room stood a figure, unnoticed until now.
It was a woman cloaked in shadow, her presence faint yet chilling, leaning against the wall with arms crossed, a weapon hanging at her waist.
At first glance, she seemed unremarkable, yet she emanated an ever-present air of fatal allure and danger. From her voice and build, it was clear she was young—her age matching her youthful appearance, still in her prime.
And yet, this young woman met the bloodthirsty gaze of a veteran Sword Saint without the slightest hint of fear or hesitation.
"What? Do you want to try striking me, too?"
At the young woman's flat words, Sigmund did not answer—he only glared at her coldly.
"Why are you here? To laugh at me?"
Sigmund asked the young woman, his tone was darker than usual, filled with malice.
"I don't have that kind of interest."
At Sigmund's accusation, the young woman replied calmly.
"I came to talk about our last matter, and instead..."
Instead, she had learned of the City Hall's incident, slipped in here, and pieced together what had happened to Sigmund.
"Honestly, I'm surprised... Riezel Brynhart, the man who broke my record to become the youngest Sword Saint on the Akasha Continent, actually managed to defeat even you. Not even the Heavenly Hunt could have foreseen that, huh?"
Upon hearing the young woman's words, veins bulged on Sigmund's forehead, and his fists clenched tightly.
"There won't be a next time..." Sigmund growled like a beast. "Something like that... will never happen again... Next time, I will kill him! Kill him!"
Sigmund's low growls only drew a look of pity from the young woman.
"I heard he beat you while his magic was sealed, didn't he? If he had been at full power, do you really think you could have killed him?"
"I CAN!"
At the young woman's merciless words, Sigmund whipped around, his voice hysterical, which made her gaze on him shift from pity to scorn.
"Unable to accept reality, huh... this is the City Lord of Sinielle? I'm starting to doubt whether working with someone like you was ever the right choice."
"Are you here to provoke me?" Sigmund's murderous aura flared as he glared at the young woman. "Don't think I really won't attack you."
"Whether you dare or not doesn't matter to me. If you want to fight, I'll be here."
At Sigmund's threat, the young woman showed no fear at all, speaking with chilling detachment while her hand rested on the weapon at her waist.
Sigmund instinctively cast a wary glance at the weapon before taking several deep breaths to force himself to calm down.
"I'll accept your proposal to cooperate."
At this, the young woman raised an eyebrow, her lips curving in a cold sneer.
"Hmph, you finally agree? Didn't you always reject it before, calling it taboo?"
"It doesn't matter anymore..." Sigmund muttered with his fists tightened. "Right now, I only want to kill him... But to do that, I need the thing inside the ruins."
Hearing this, the young woman's eyes narrowed slightly before she turned away, preparing to leave.
"Once you've recovered, we're going then."
Leaving these words behind, the young woman vanished as if she had never existed.
Sigmund stared at her disappearing figure, his eyes blood-red.
"Just wait..."
"We'll meet again very soon..."
"Riezel Brynhart..."
In the ruined room, Sigmund's voice echoed like the whisper of a malicious ghost, chilling the air itself.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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