Chapter 56- A Hidden Side

Most of the soldiers were already down—some groaning, others unconscious, their weapons scattered like broken promises across the dirt.

Only one man stood tall now.

The one with the black gauntlets.

He cracked his neck, flexing his fists as if they carried the weight of judgment itself.

And Vex?

He was already moving.

CRACK!

The sound echoed as Vex’s fist collided with the man’s gauntlet—a direct, no-frills punch that flared with green light. The shockwave rippled out, making the nearby foliage sway and dust leap into the air.

The man staggered back, his eyes wide.

But not from pain.

From shock.

"H-How are you able to use my ability?!"

His voice was a growl of disbelief, spit flying from clenched teeth as his boots skidded back across the gravel.

Vex stood tall, grinning.

He could feel it—the pull of mimicry, the echo of power not his but now made so through contact. The artifact was the key, and this bastard had been foolish enough to bring it into striking range.

Green light began to rise from Vex’s skin, his veins lighting up like emerald fire tracing beneath his flesh.

And then—

[Purchase of the Black Gauntlet successful. Cost: 8000 gold coins.]

With a hum that felt like reality acknowledging its new ruler, a black gauntlet blinked into existence, wrapping around Vex’s hand like a predator coiling around its chosen host.

It clicked into place with metallic satisfaction.

The opposing man’s face turned pale.

"Even... gauntlet—"

THOOM!!

Vex’s punch landed before the word even finished, a direct shot to the jaw, twisting the man’s head with a brutal crack.

Time slowed for a heartbeat.

The man’s eyes rolled back, his mouth slack with stunned silence, and his body flew backward like a puppet with its strings cut—slamming into a tree, bark splintering behind him.

Silence followed.

Birds scattered.

The soldiers, those still barely conscious, stared in horror.

Vex exhaled.

He flexed his fingers once inside the gauntlet, then rotated his wrist.

"Not bad," he murmured.

The black cat still on his shoulder blinked lazily, then meowed—clearly unimpressed.

Vex looked at it.

"Are you some beast disguised as a cat to not even flinch?"

:: Shut up, you human! Let me go now! My heart, damn it! ::

Velmira’s heart was pounding so hard that even though lying on his head in her cat body, her soul felt so much emotional turmoil due to fear of being killed. With her cat body not even flinching as if preferring to stay steady until getting this man’s head cut off made all of her composure break and again lose the chance to return to her original form.

"Whatever, let’s leave then."

Vex let out a sharp breath, his chest rising with the weight of restrained rage, his jaw clenched, veins glowing green beneath sweat-slicked skin.

His gaze flicked to the broken body embedded in the tree trunk—lifeless, crumpled like discarded cloth.

But that wasn’t the end.

Because the moment he turned to walk away—

"I never expected someone like you to be here..."

The voice came ragged, wet with blood and defiance.

"...but it doesn’t matter. For those women... even my soldiers will be enough. Soon enough, each one of them will be arrested... and then executed."

The words slithered like venom.

Vex stopped.

His entire frame tensed, like a coiled spring.

A stillness fell. Even the air seemed to hold its breath.

The black cat atop his shoulder—Velmira’s cursed feline form—suddenly arched, fur spiking in alarm as her tiny body leapt back with a startled meow!, eyes wide, soul trembling in instinctual terror.

Vex didn’t speak.

He just turned.

His glare—cold, bottomless, inhuman.

One footstep.

Two.

And then he was there—standing over the coughing man, who began trembling despite himself. Blood pooled beneath his broken ribs, his hand weakly grasping at the dirt.

’Why... why does it hurt just to look at him?’

The man didn’t understand it.

But his soul did.

"What did you just say?" Vex asked, his voice calm.

Too calm.

The man swallowed, steeling what little pride he had left. He spat blood again, and with a hollow chuckle, croaked, "I said... we’ll kill those—"

SPLAT!

There was no warning.

Vex’s leg shimmered with emerald light, aura swirling in vicious rings around it. In one swift, cruel motion, he brought it down.

A sickening crunch echoed as the man’s skull caved in beneath his heel—flattened against the earth, bone splintering like shattered glass.

The comedy of earlier?

Gone.

This was wrath.

Raw. Righteous. Ruinous.

The earth beneath Vex cracked from the impact, dust rising in silent testimony to the end of that man’s arrogance.

Vex’s eyes snapped to the east, ’Enhance the Buff to max.’

SWOOSH.

Given his body was far stronger than a normal human, he instantly enforced himself with the buff ability of Aspiria, which he had purchased, increasing its intensity so much that it crossed the limit of just being a buff. It had now turned into an ability, and his body was enhanced again and again, eyes and senses reaching their maximum value as coins started to burn like fuel.

But what was even more burning was the rage within him, sensing the distant clash, the echoes of battle.

He sprinted.

No, more like his figure blurred, devouring distance in seconds.

----

—BOOM—

The world bent around him.

Vex didn’t run.

He ripped through space.

Leaves spiraled in his wake like a storm was chasing them. Trees blurred. The sound of crushed grass and displaced air trailed behind like a thunderclap hunting lightning.

And then—

THUD!

He arrived.

The wind burst outward as if the air itself recoiled from his presence.

Before him stood a small, wooden house—walls trembling from the residual quake of his arrival. Smoke curled from the broken chimney. A single door hung slightly ajar, swaying with eerie stillness.

And at the front—

She stood.

Asperia.

Golden hair matted with sweat and blood, her breath ragged, shoulders trembling. A kitchen knife clutched in her trembling fingers, glowing faintly in green—the same light that shimmered faintly across her skin. Her defensive stance was a mix of desperation and defiance.

Behind her, two women knelt on the porch.

One lay slumped in the other’s arms, blood soaking through the fabric at her abdomen. Her eyes fluttered, barely conscious. The one holding her—a girl with emerald hair and matching eyes—sobbed silently, her voice choked out by fear and helplessness.

The green light of their eyes couldn’t drown the blood staining the floorboards.

Vex didn’t blink.

His gaze locked on Asperia.

Her knees buckled, her chest heaving. She turned her face toward him, her lips parting, eyes glistening with tears—an expression torn between relief and heartbreak.

"I-I protected everyone, Vex..."

Her voice cracked.

And then—

She collapsed.

Her body gave out. The kitchen knife clattered to the ground, the glow fading from her skin.

Vex caught her just before she hit the ground.

His arms wrapped around her trembling form, the scent of iron and smoke thick around her.

Her face nestled against his chest, her fingers twitching faintly.

"Asperia...?" he whispered, his voice low, barely audible beneath the pounding of his own heart.

Blood. So much blood.

And still she tried to stand between danger and the people behind her.

He gently laid her down, eyes darting behind her to the other two, before finally turning toward the sky. Having double personality disorder, his mind seemed to snap a bit.

The Incubus bloodline gave him libido, then the Dragon bloodline gave him an obsession for his partner.

And the result was pretty evident. Due to the rage pouring out from his very soul.

"Haah, you shouldn’t have done all this..."