Ross had gone green, eyes wide with terror.
"Who hit me? Who dared strike me?" Saint Lozheide's body hair stood on end as cold sweat poured down his face.
Silence. No answer.
Rakuya actually meant to speak, but the concealment shroud hid breath, step, and voice alike. Even if he talked, Lozheide would hear nothing.
So he didn't bother.
"Your Grace, are you all right?" Ross crept toward the fallen Dragon, hands out to help him up.
Rakuya stepped in and kicked the man.
Ross's feet flew out from under him with a thud. He toppled forward and crashed straight onto the already-miserable Saint Lozheide.
"Aaah!" The two screamed together, the sound echoing through the estate.
"Young master!"
"Your Grace!"
Servants and slaves dropped what they were doing and rushed over. None of them truly cared about Lozheide. They cared about avoiding a beating.
Fear of a Dragon's power wears the mask of concern.
"Get off me, you useless filth!" Lozheide snarled, and lashed out with a boot, sending Ross skidding away. The impact wrung a fresh wave of pain from him.
Ross tumbled, bleeding from nose and mouth. He scrambled up and knelt. "Your Grace, punish me. I deserve it. I didn't mean it. I deserve whatever you give."
"Young master!"
"Your Grace!"
More lackeys arrived. One quick-handed slave reached to lift Lozheide.
"Hands off. I don't need your touch," the Celestial Dragon spat. "You filthy slaves aren't worthy of my body."
They flinched and stepped aside as he forced himself upright.
He hissed, sucking air through his teeth. Pain needled him from head to toe.
Smack.
Rakuya, annoyed, cuffed him again. Stars burst behind the Dragon's eyes and he slumped, unconscious.
Within moments more World Nobles hurried into the broad courtyard. Members of the same family, every one of them.
"My son, what happened to you?" shouted one sharp-eyed Dragon as he saw Lozheide, bloodied and airborne, hit the stones. Panic flashed across his face.
This was Saint Rocamar, Lozheide's father.
"Little brother!" cried another slightly older Noble.
They sprinted toward the scene, only to be swatted from their feet by invisible blows. Rakuya's open hand did the work clean and simple.
They all went tumbling, badly hurt, breaths ragged.
"Master!"
"Your Graces!"
The slaves were losing their minds, shaking so hard their teeth chattered.
"Trash, the lot of you. Take them all," Rakuya said, smiling. He lifted a hand and every Celestial Dragon in sight dropped out of the world, swallowed by his Abyssal Hell.
"Wha...what? The Celestial Dragons. They're gone."
"All gone? The Dragons vanished?"
"Who? Who did this?"
"Please, have mercy. Please."
The servants collapsed to their knees, paralyzed by the terror they could not see. Rakuya had no desire to butcher them. He left them quaking and walked out with Momousagi.
Another estate.
"Your Grace, that slave really won you honor today. Beat the dog kept by Saint Charlos's household clean. You should've seen Charlos's face twist up," the butler simpered, slick with flattery.
"Hah. That mutt did me proud. My dog is a hundred times stronger than Lozheide's mutt. And I, Saint Charlos, am a thousand times greater than Lozheide," Charlos preened.
"Yes, yes, Your Grace is unmatched. The look on Lozheide's face why, even a worm like me enjoyed the sight."
"Hmph. That brat thinks he can compete with me? He's not even close," Charlos said, wallowing in his own arrogance.
"Shall we reward the slave, Your Grace?" the butler cooed, nauseating enough to make even Momousagi want to punch him.
"Reward? Of course. He won me face, didn't he? If I don't reward him, how will the others obey? Well?"
The kneeling slaves bowed deeper as his eyes slid over them.
Before them lay a near-dead pirate, his features erased beneath clotted blood, his body soaked red. He barely breathed.
Charlos glanced down. "Since he earned me honor, I will reward him by letting venomous snakes bite him to death. How about that? Good reward, isn't it?"
"Excellent. Your Grace is wise," the butler chirped.
"Then why are you still standing here? Leaving that garbage in front of me offends my eyes. Drag him out. I'm tired of the sight."
"Right away." The butler snapped at the slaves to haul the man away.
"Bastard," Momousagi hissed, shaking. "That slave fought for him and this is the reward? They're all beasts."
Her restraint snapped. "The World Government protects this trash? Blind fools."
She lunged, and before Rakuya could stop her, she drove a fist into Saint Charlos's chest. He flew backward and hit the floor with a crash.
Every face in the room went white.
Rakuya watched her, then smiled. At last. The scales had fallen from her eyes.
"Momousagi, leave him to me. I'll make him beg," he said calmly. Charlos vanished as Rakuya locked him into the Abyssal Hell.
They moved on to five or six more compounds. What the Celestial Dragons did in each one only further stoked Momousagi's fury. None of the Nobles they visited escaped. Rakuya took them all.
By the end, around twenty Celestial Dragons had disappeared.
A gift from Rakuya to the World Government.
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