My Unrestrained Lives-Chapter 53: Monster (1)

Returning back to the Nore palace, what awaited Ellis this time was a coordinated and organized defense of the guards.

Nearly two dozen of them huddled together for warmth, fighting their fear while staring at a kid of five years of age... nothing could be more comical about the sight.

That is, if one were to ignore the presence Ellis commanded, and the cold gaze in his eyes.

Ellis silently looked at the guards, who now seemed ready to sacrifice themselves to subjugate the "monster" that was him.

He observed their ready-to-attack stance, and didn’t intend to say anything to them. Instead, he simply raised his hand, intending to finish them quickly.

But while Ellis had no plans to exchange words, the guards... no, Garret, were not the same.

Seeing that the one who had penetrated their defenses was a child... no, a monster, but in humanoid form, Garret, one of the guards, having gathered his courage, attempted to dissuade him, and said,

"You monster! Stop what you are doing immediately! Cease your struggle and surrender, at once!"

"You are on royal grounds! Do you really think your evil deeds will go unpunished?"

"Do you think you’ll be able to walk away safely, after killing this many people?"

Against his righteousness-filled tone, Ellis was filled with nothing but disdain at how ridiculous it sounded.

He didn’t intend to listen anymore, and was just about to be done with them, when suddenly, one of the guards in the middle uttered, "Your Highness?"

Fenrik, a regular guard, was the one who had spoken. He had once visited the abandoned palace where the eleventh prince resided, and he had been one of the few who caught a glimpse of the boy.

He still remembered those unique gray eyes he saw that day... and there was no way he could mistake them.

Right now, his eyes were filled with bewilderment as he looked at the supposed prince.

He had always felt there was something different about him.

His eyes simply didn’t seem like the kind a trash, talentless prince would have.

But to think he was this strong?

Fenrik’s two words made all the other guards turn toward him, each of them now gripped by stronger confusion, disbelief, and dread.

Whispers and gasps quickly spread among them like wildfire.

Their faces paled, and they stood frozen in shock.

"A prince? That child... is one of the royal family?"

"But why would a prince attack us?"

"What is going on...?"

While the rest of the guards murmured in panic, Garret was not the same.

He suddenly seemed to think of something.

His expression shifted, and then, his eyes sharpened.

He quickly began connecting the dots.

He was able to infer the identity of the prince standing before him, and that realization, in turn, gave him more courage.

So, without any shame, he stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, even if you have strength... you shouldn’t flaunt it so carelessly."

"No matter what happened, what you’re doing now will come back against you."

"And do you really think going into a frenzy at this moment will guarantee her safety?"

Garret didn’t speak her name, but Ellis understood immediately.

This moron was threatening him, using his mother.

But how could Ellis possibly submit to a threat like that?

He looked at him with the eyes of someone already staring at a dead man.

And then, in a colder, sharper tone, laced with sarcasm, he said,

"Hmm... then what should I do? Should I wait until you’ve killed my mother, then offer my neck too, so the queen can be satisfied?"

Without waiting for an answer, Ellis, growing tired of this farce and feeling his anger deepen at this guard who thought he could negotiate with him, finally raised his hand completely. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

And then, he conjured dozens of glowing blue mana bullets.

In the next instant, without the slightest hesitation, he launched them.

A fierce barrage of light tore through the air with a whistling hum, each bullet precise, sharp, and merciless.

He aimed directly at the heads of the guards.

There was no resistance. No cries.

One shot, one kill.

Each glowing sphere of mana pierced straight through their skulls, too fast for them to scream, too swift for fear to even take root in their eyes.

It was a massacre that ended before it could even begin.

Fenrik, just the same.

He barely saw the flash of blue light coming toward him.

Before his body gave out, and his corpse collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

The guards fell one after another, crumpling like hollow dolls.

None of them stood a chance.

It didn’t matter if they could use aura or not.

They all died the same... quickly, silently, helplessly.

But Garret... Garret was different.

Ellis didn’t use mana bullets on him.

Instead, after clearing the field, he lowered his hand, and slowly began walking toward him.

The weight of his steps echoed through the silence that followed the sudden slaughter.

In his hand now gleamed a sword, its edge cold and bright.

Garret stood alone amidst a pile of corpses.

His legs trembled violently, his mouth parted but no words came out.

His tongue felt tied, his mind unable to grasp what had just unfolded.

The guards, all of them, were dead. Just like that.

As Ellis approached, Garret’s body finally gave in.

His knees buckled, and he dropped, kneeling at Ellis’s feet.

His hands hung limply at his sides.

His face was filled with disbelief, as if trying to deny reality itself.

He couldn’t understand it, how all of them, trained guards, were slain so effortlessly.

How even those who knew aura were brought down just as easily.

None of it made sense to him anymore.

Ellis looked at him calmly, his expression unreadable.

Then, slowly, he gave a small smile, cold and sharp, and asked.

"Do you want to try begging?"

Garret flinched at the words.

They pierced him more cruelly than the mana bullets that had struck down his comrades.

His already twisted expression contorted further with humiliation.