Free Web NovelChapter 20: The Sovereign in Chains
The expectation of a violent, cataclysmic explosion of killing intent did not manifest.
Vince stood in the dead center of the lethal triangle, his posture relaxed, his dark hair matted with blood, and his lips curled into a dangerous, terminal smile. He had expected the three remaining Dread Commanders to unleash their most devastating, fatal arts to avenge their fallen comrade. He had fully intended to ride the edge of absolute destruction, trusting his [Sovereign’s Kinetic Dispersion] or an emergency system override to catch the baseline of their combined execution strikes and turn the courtyard into a mutual grave.
But the three commanders were not mindless beasts driven by emotion. They were the elite head of the Iron Vipers—a legendary, professional mercenary guild that had survived decades of imperial warfare by prioritizing tactical utility over petty pride. freewёbnoνel.com
Instead of a razor-sharp thrust meant to pierce his heart, Vesper’s dual daggers didn’t extend. With a fluid, ghostly flick of his wrists, the Ashen Shadow flipped the blades backward, using the flat, heavily enchanted pommels of his weapons to strike three precise meridian points along Vince’s neck and shoulders.
Simultaneously, Balthazar did not slam his massive Crimson Shield forward to crush Vince’s chest cavity. Instead, the seven-foot juggernaut twisted his wrist, dropping the edge of the shield into the stone to act as a physical barricade while his free, iron-clad hand shot forward like a mechanical vice, gripping Vince’s right arm with the terrifying weight of a peak A-rank physical attribute.
Directly in front of him, Rin, the Plague Weaver, did not flood Vince’s lungs with flesh-rotting miasma. The emerald glow of his necro-crystal staff softened, shifting into a dull, hypnotic violet hue. A dense, cold mist poured from the stone, enveloping Vince’s face. It wasn’t a lethal toxin; it was a highly concentrated, localized gaseous paralytic designed specifically to suppress internal muscle contractions and dull nervous system transmission without causing permanent cellular decay.
`[System Warning: Environmental Anomaly Detected.]`
`[Host is experiencing status condition: [High-Tier Motor Paralysis].]`
`[Detection: No immediate lethal intent or terminal damage signatures identified. Emergency Defensive Override remains inactive.]`
Ah, Vince thought, his vision instantly blurring as the heavy paralytic gas filled his lungs and the meridian strikes cut off his internal circulation. They don’t want me dead. They want a trophy.
Because the commanders explicitly suppressed their killing intent, filtering their actions entirely through the parameters of non-lethal subdual, the System’s automated safety protocols remained dormant. It was a flawless tactical circumvention of his capabilities.
Vince’s knees buckled. His limbs became entirely unresponsive, heavy and useless like a suit of wet iron. As his consciousness began to rapidly drift into pitch-black darkness, he didn’t scream, nor did he curse. He simply let his head fall back, a low, muffled, and entirely unbothered chuckle escaping his throat before his eyes fully rolled back into his head.
"Secure him," Rin’s raspy, dry voice echoed through the silent courtyard, completely devoid of triumph. "The Duke requires the boy fully intact if we are to extract the activation sequence of the artifact."
Balthazar didn’t offer a word of reply. With his left hand, he effortlessly hoisted Vince’s limp, unconscious form over his massive shoulder like a sack of grain. With his right arm, he walked over to the pile of smoking rubble near the library, carefully lifting the broken, unconscious body of Moira.
Vesper stepped backward, his form instantly liquefying into the ambient shadows of the academy grounds, keeping watch for any foolish intervention from the remaining students or the trembling professor on the high wall.
Rin raised his cracked necro-staff, rotating the crystal counter-clockwise. The space directly beneath their feet rippled violently, tearing open a massive, swirling emerald-and-black gateway that bypassed the traditional physical boundaries of the academy’s outer wards. Without looking back at the speechless, terrified crowd of Oakhaven students, the three commanders stepped into the vortex, vanishing from the campus grounds as quickly as they had arrived.
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Darkness. Cold, unyielding, and silent.
When Vince finally dragged his consciousness back to the surface, the first thing he felt wasn’t pain, but an immense, heavy restriction dragging at his limbs. He opened his heavy eyelids, his violet eyes adjusting rapidly to the dim, oppressive atmosphere of his surroundings.
He wasn’t at the academy anymore.
He was suspended in the center of a heavily fortified, subterranean chamber constructed entirely from reinforced, mana-absorbent basalt blocks. His arms were pulled taut to his sides, his wrists encased in thick, heavy bands of black-iron chains that connected directly to the reinforced stone pillars behind him. The chains hummed with a faint, dampening azure light—high-tier mana-suppression shackles designed specifically to neutralize the internal energy circulation of high-ranking mages and warriors alike.
Vince took a slow, deliberate breath, testing the structural integrity of his muscles. The paralytic gas had fully cleared from his system, but the physical restrictions of the black-iron were absolute. He was completely immobilized.
Yet, a wide, predatory grin slowly split his face in the darkness. He was alone in the quiet chamber. The guards were stationed outside the heavy, iron-reinforced doors. This was exactly what he needed.
Display,Vince commanded silently, his mind sharp and focused. Open rewards. Show me the harvest.
A soft, familiar chime rang inside his mind, and the brilliant purple translucent interface flickered into existence before his eyes, entirely unbothered by the mana-suppressing chains binding his flesh.
`[System Notification: Combat Sequence Concluded.]`
`[Host has successfully suppressed and neutralized an Elite Master-Tier Combatant: Commander Moira (The Iron Maiden).]`
`[Calculating Token Reward based on combat difficulty and attribute disparity...]`
`[Ding! +5,000 System Tokens have been credited to your ledger.]`
`[Current Total Balance: 6,000 System Tokens.]`
Vince stared at the numerical balance, a soft, dry laugh vibrating in his throat. Five thousand plus tokens for falling ng the Iron Maiden. The risk he had taken in the courtyard, allowing her fatal strike to connect just enough to maximize his kinetic dispersion, had paid off astronomically. Six thousand tokens was an immense fortune—more than enough to fund his next major evolutionary leap or purchase a high-tier conceptual counter-measure from the system shop.
He began to quietly browse through the mid-tier class evolution pathing and localized spatial escape arrays, his eyes scanning the glowing text as he prepared to formulate his next move. He needed something that could shatter black-iron from the inside out.
Thud.
Thud.
The distant, heavy rhythm of approaching footsteps echoed through the thick stone corridor outside. Vince instantly closed the system interface, his expression smoothing into one of calm, passive indifference as he let his head hang slightly forward, mimicking a state of lingering exhaustion.
The heavy iron-reinforced doors groan loudly, the massive locking mechanisms shifting with a series of metallic clicks.
The door swung open, and a flood of warm, golden torchlight spilled into the dim basalt chamber. A squad of six elite Ducal guards, clad in pristine, silver-and-black plate armor, marched in first, their halberds drawn and eyes locked onto the bound prisoner.
Following closely behind them, stepping into the room with an aura of absolute, unshakeable authority, was Duke Owen himself. frёewebηovel.cѳm
The Duke looked immaculate. His long, silver-streaked hair was perfectly combed, and his dark blue, fur-lined mantle draped elegantly over his broad shoulders. His sharp, calculating grey eyes scanned the damp chamber, eventually landing directly on the battered, chained no-talent suspended in the center of the room.
Duke Owen stopped five paces away, his hands clasped loosely behind his back as he observed Vince with the detached curiosity of a nobleman inspecting a strange, disruptive insect.
The silence in the room became absolute, thick with tension.
Vince slowly tilted his head up, his dark strands of hair parting to reveal his glowing purple eyes. He didn’t look like a prisoner facing execution. He just stared at the ruler of the territory, his lips curving into a quiet, deeply mocking smile.
