Westminster Bank

Chapter 15: Chapter 12: The Dragon Knight Returns

Mr. Constantine...

Julis nervously wrung her hands, her expression melancholic and somber as she watched Baron being pinned to the floor.

But Baron, pinned to the floor, seemed unfazed. His eyes, however, burned brightly as he looked at the young woman. "I thought I’d hidden myself well. To think I’d be found out by a flower girl like you."

Julis’s face was deathly pale. She didn’t know what to say.

From the floor, Baron continued his taunts. "I saw that newspaper. You never had good intentions from the start... You saw Frank’s bounty poster and left a trail of perfume to attract the Lion Knight... I was too naive. I underestimated you flower girls.

A fourteen-year-old girl... if she were truly pure, innocent, and clean, how could she ever survive in the Inner Side... SLAP!

"Shut your mouth!"

Ferdinand, the boy, summoned his courage and angrily stepped forward to slap Baron across the face. "Don’t you dare slander Sister Julis!"

Stunned for a moment by the light slap, Baron then chuckled. "Haha, a room full of future robbers, bandits, and bastards..."

He glared at Julis, his lips moving silently for a moment before he spat out coldly, "And whores... Take your bounty and hide. As long as I’m alive... sooner or later... PTHOO..."

Blood splattered on the floor. A sword had pierced Baron’s right shoulder blade, pinning him to the ground.

The sudden turn of events silenced everyone in the room, leaving only Baron’s pained howls.

"Baron Constantin, second son of the Constantine Family, the infamous Bloodless... You vanished six years ago after the second daughter of the Lancelot’s Family broke off her engagement to you. So you were hiding in the Outer Side."

Bill stomped his foot on Baron’s face, his expression vicious as he ground his heel. "Everyone thought you went to the Outer Side just to run away with your tail between your legs after the broken engagement. Who would have thought you were secretly plotting revenge..."

"Revenge? Heh, even if I wanted revenge, it should be against my noble and arrogant former fiancée..."

As Baron spoke, blood trickled from between his teeth. The pain twisted his features into a savage mask, like a furious lion.

Bill snarled, "Why did you attack me on the subway?"

’Because scum who cut in line deserve a horrible death.’

"Would you believe me if I said it was for love?"

Bill snorted coldly, pulled out his sword, and plunged it into Baron’s left shoulder blade. Baron let out another muffled groan as beads of sweat as large as peas rolled down his face.

From the look in Bill’s eyes, Baron understood completely. This Demon Hunter had wanted to torture and kill him from the very beginning! He never had any intention of turning him in!

Even getting kicked off the subway shouldn’t have warranted this much hatred.

Baron spat out a mouthful of blood and gave a wretched smile. "You’re in love with my former fiancée, aren’t you?"

At these words, Bill froze, staring at Baron on the floor with a look of dazed bewilderment.

Seeing this, the other Demon Hunters exchanged a tacit glance, let go of Baron’s hands, left a black briefcase they’d been holding, and exited the room, closing the wooden door behind them.

Young Master Bill was about to lose it.

"November 17th, 1987, 3:20 PM. The fugitive Baron Constantin resisted arrest and fought fiercely with the Demon Hunter team led by Bill Frank, ultimately dying from his grievous injuries."

Bill Frank murmured this softly as he opened the black briefcase. Amidst a splash of silver light, he pulled out two cross-shaped hooks.

Julis’s pretty face turned ashen. She recognized them. They were the torture instruments rumored to be used by Demon Hunters for executions!!!

Bill expressionlessly shoved a pill into Baron’s mouth.

"Poison...?" Baron sneered.

"Don’t misunderstand. It’s a styptic. I’m afraid you won’t last long enough otherwise."

Bill slowly bent down and stared into Baron’s eyes. There was no light, no ripple in those deep black pupils, as if they were the deepest darkness.

He was startled and instinctively looked away. For a moment, he had the strange feeling that if he kept staring, that darkness would sooner or later devour him.

He viciously kicked Baron in the stomach. As the young man arched his body in pain, Bill stomped on his face again, drew his sword, and said in a low voice:

"Don’t think I can’t see what you’re doing. You’re trying to absolve them of guilt."

Baron was stunned. Julis was stunned. Tears welled up in Ferdinand’s eyes.

Bill sneered. He took out a hammer and nailed Baron’s hands to the floor. Then he threaded the two cross-shaped hooks through the already-pierced shoulder blades, locked his body with chains, sliced his hamstrings and wrist tendons with a thin blade, and finally sealed his knees with two silver spikes.

The excruciating pain turned Baron’s roars into gasps.

After all this, he turned, drew the longsword from his waist, and carved a bloody cross into the right side of Baron’s face.

He then raised his sword towards Julis. "Miss Julis, I now suspect you of harboring and colluding with the criminal Baron Constantin. This is a violation of the Old Inheritance Bill established by the Prole Court.

Now, in the name of the Demon Hunter Association, I will conduct a glorious body search on you!"

The shameless laughter of the Demon Hunters from the next room elicited a muffled and desperate roar.

At this, the three children could bear it no longer. The two little girls burst into tears.

Tears streamed down Ferdinand’s face, but he wiped them away and gritted his teeth as he wiped his sisters’ tears.

"Martha, Annie, don’t cry! You can shed tears, but don’t cry!"

The pain from his wounds, the mental struggle, and his body’s precarious state caused Baron’s consciousness to gradually fade.

’Don’t cry!’

’It hurts... It hurts so much I want to cry... I don’t want to die... I want to live... Kill this bastard... Kill this bastard...’

’You can shed tears, but don’t cry!’

’Tears... I can’t shed any more... I’m about to bleed out... Inner Side... Judgement... kill them all... Mom, it’s really hard to stay alive...’

"Mom, take care of yourself. I found a good screenwriting job, the money will definitely be enough for your medical bills!"

"Mom, my script is doing great. The director gave me a bonus and said he’ll give me a raise at the end of the year."

"Mom, you can’t miss your dialysis twice a week. If you’re not here, there’s no point in me living."

"Mom, it’s fine, dark circles are normal when you work overtime. I gotta go, the director is rushing me for the script. I’ll get back to work."

"The number you have dialed is currently unavailable... Mom? Hello? Mom?"

"Since your call could not be connected, the user has left you a voice message. Click to play... Yi Ke, live a good life."

’Mom, I want to live a good life, too.’

「In the sky, on a moving Griffin Carriage, the clouds looked like boiling magma.」

Baron felt the fierce wind on his face and asked, "Besides opening your eyes, are there any other techniques to use Spiritual Sense?"

Lawrence answered without hesitation, "Anger. It’s said an Old Race once fought nine opponents at once in a fit of extreme rage. Only afterward did he realize that in that moment, he had signed a Professional Lawbook and awakened his Spiritual Sense to become a Contract Knight."

Baron was silent for a long time. "How do you get angry?"

"’How do you get angry?’"

Lawrence looked at Baron as if he had seen a ghost. He probably thought Baron was asking a metaphysical, philosophical question, so he pondered for a long time.

Finally, he said, "When you are in such pain that you feel an unprecedented desire to destroy everything—then, destroy."

’Pain and destruction... What a headache... Why am I so unlucky... Just staying alive is so damn hard...’

"To be, or not to be?"

The Witch’s whisper echoed in Baron’s ear again, like a eulogy from a distant, unseen void. And so, amid a storm of thunder and rain, a Mad Demon tore open the gates of Hell and roared.

’To be, or not to be?’

’Heh, what kind of question is that? Only children make choices. I want it all.’

’I will survive, and you will be destroyed!’

Under Bill’s shocked and uncertain gaze, the young man who had been nailed to the floor with torture instruments, the man who had been as furious as a lion, was slowly getting to his feet!

Bill sucked in a cold breath. He distinctly remembered slicing the man’s tendons, sealing his knees with a Silver Sword, and paralyzing his spine with a spike!

With injuries this severe, even the most self-assured Alchemist would likely need a considerable amount of time to heal. What was going on with this guy!?

"You... What in the world are you!?" Bill drew his sword.

The man didn’t reply. He just stood there, covered in wounds, one half of his body blood-red, the other deathly pale, like a burning flame. freёwebnoѵel.com

A real fire had ignited!

Scarlet, scorching flames erupted from the man’s body in vast waves, like mist rushing from an erupting volcano. The searing heat that washed over them alerted the Demon Hunters outside that something was wrong. freewebnovёl.ƈom

They burst through the door.

And then their eyes widened.

"This is... a Knight... Isn’t he a Bloodless...?" the Lion Knight said in terror.

Isn’t it common knowledge that a Bloodless can’t awaken their Spiritual Sense even if they sign a Professional Lawbook? But the scene before them was clearly the Promise that only a Contract Knight could possess!

Bill said nothing, consumed by boundless fear and rage.

The unknown terror of seeing the torture instruments melt on the man’s body, and the fury of being frightened by the scene!

"No matter what you are, Judgement has been passed! The only outcome is death!"

Bill’s pupils turned the color of Bronze. Fine scales appeared on his arms and legs as he suddenly drew his sword and slashed at Baron!!!

The surrounding Demon Hunters instantly bit off their leather gloves. Three strange runes on the backs of their hands lit up, and the Forbidden Magic of the Silver Mercury Mist shot out from their palms!

Baron tilted his head back slightly, feeling as if his own breath was echoing.

Blood, burning.

Fire, flowing.

His gaze was pitch-black, like a flash of lightning.

He raised his hand. The flames fluttered like a battle banner, and he was the Emperor of the flame.

Promise...

Dragon Flame.

The great fire devoured everything.

Illuminating everything as if it were day.

Except for a pair of gleaming, golden Dragon eyes.

...

「At the highest point of the London Tower, the London Tower Master, the White-robed Mage Isaac Newton, who was lecturing his apprentice, suddenly stroked his beard. He paused for a moment, then remarked to his apprentice:」

"The Dragon Knight... has returned at last."