The Dread Knight's Rage

Were Jiaoying her usual self, perhaps she would have already flown off the handle.

But it helped in no small part that she had recently just lectured her young lover about controlling his own anger. That, in addition to the fact that Yari already warned her that he might pull something like this.

She was prepared even if she had been caught off guard.

"...Dean Raidis?" Jiaoying folded her arms. "This is a highly unexpected visit."

"...Are you being coy with me, Miss Xu? My, I never really took you for the type."

"Does it look as though I am attempting anything other than trying to figure out why you have invited yourself into my home without announcing yourself? Even if I am indebted to you, this still crosses a very particular line."

Raidis’ brow furrowed. This was a hurdle he had not anticipated.

A bit of resistance was always within his expectations. But with the way Jiaoyig was behaving, it was almost as if she didn’t know anything at all.

It was almost too convincing.

"...My, what an exemplary little actress you are. Your list of talents just seems to keep expanding... Even if your age is somehow regressing."

Jiaoying’s estranged son came to his mother’s side. The absolute last thing that she wanted to happen. The dean seemed intrigued by the measure.

"...Children do tend to become rather attached to their parents, don’t they? The same is true in reverse, so I’m sure you can understand why I’m so highly motivated to know where my daughter is."

Jiaoying frowned. "Yari is missin-"

"DON’T!" The dean’s voice came out as a large boom. "...Insult my intelligence. "

Every sword in the room was already removed from it’s sheath and pointed at the old man. With the slightest move, they would immediately move to liberate his head from his body.

Liora rubbed clammy hands against the arms of her wheelchair. Jiaoying could hear her heartbeat even from across the room.

"I would very seriously advise you... to consider exactly what you’re doing here before you make a mistake. The price for this sort of insult is heavy, even for you."

"The backing of your emperor means nothing to me."

"If that were true, we would already be having a much different conversation, wouldn’t we?"

The air around Raidis became frigid. His hand twitched.

Jiaoying drew her sword so fast and so precisely that she shaved an inch or two off his beard.

She barely noticed that her sword had changed, just like her body. It was an egregiously long katana. It’s blade sharper than a dragon’s tooth, and it’s beauty no less than that of it’s weilder.

"Let’s keep all toys and trinkets to ourselves, shall we?" Jiaoying jerked her head toward the door. "You can see yourself out now. I’ll be sure to look for Yari in my own time."

Raidis was frozen. His expression was nigh unreadable as the ends of pointed weapons were directed at his back.

But then he smiled. And Jiaoying realized that he wasn’t sweating at all.

"...I am a gentleman, above all else. I do so abhor violence... that said, I am always sure to keep some in my employ who are talented in the field."

Jiaoying suddenly heard the sound of footsteps from within the hallway. Footsteps that she would have recognized, even if she were rendered deaf and senile.

When Abel stepped into the room, Jiaoying’s chest tightened.

The depressed, bloodshot look in his eyes only worsened when he gazed upon Jiaoying’s expression of horror. The swordsman who had lived his life without fear of shame was suddenly drowning in it.

"...Hey, kid... You look... good."

Anger seized Jiaoying’s jaw.

"Master... What are you doing here?"

"...She stole something from him, kid. Ran off with four students too-"

"Don’t give me that. Since when are you the loyal dog of anyone with a little bit of money?"

"You know it’s not like that, child!" Abel snapped. "Things are... complicated." He lowered his gaze. "There is more at stake here than you know, if we don’t find that woman and what she stole!" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"I told you, I don’t know-"

Jiaoying noticed when the men were no longer looking at her. Instead, they went past her.

She shot a glance out of the corner of her eye, and her heart sank.

Standing still, hiding behind the doorframe was little Bansha. Her intelligent mind was on full display as she carefully observed everything taking place.

When she was sighted, she bolted from the room.

"Well... I wonder who she could be going to find." Raidis grinned happily. "Shall we go and find out?"

"CUT THEM DOWN!"

Jiaoying and all of her men moved at once, their blades in near-perfect sync.

They were as fast as split thunder. As precise as the steady hand of a healer.

And yet, none of them were able to stop Abel from defending the man in black.

Jiaoying doubted that anyone other than her had seen what he had done. The way her master had deflected every blade using only the sheath of his weapon was nothing but poetry in motion.

His hand outstretched, he held his blade with an unwavering straightness. The tip of his scabbard kept Jiaoying’s sword in place as the two points balanced against each other.

Abel’s gaze softened.

"Peanut... please. Don’t make me do this. It’s not too late for-"

"My name is Xu Jiaoying. Blade of the Golden Dark, and The First Flame of the Sunset Order. And I shall stand firm upon the choices I have made, or see my soul rot in oblivion with the damned and forsaken."

An infernal light seemed to spark within Jiaoying’s tattoos. Her rage had reached the point of no return.

Abel’s heart broke in his chest. The last bit of family he still had... would no longer even listen to him. Were her words just now a blade, they would have run him clean through.

"...I see."

The old man flicked away her sword before spinning his own sheath in his hand.

As swift and graceful as a bird of prey, he drew his sword from it’s scabbard, bringing it up in a rising arc.

Jiaoying blocked the attack, but the force behind it was greater than what she had planned for.

So great in fact, that she was flung off her feet and sent crashing through the ceiling.

"MOTHER!"

Enraged, Tavian and the knights were next to engage the old man and the dean.

It seemed Raidis had meant what he said about having no interest in violence. Every person who attacked him was merely sidestepped, while he himself did not bother to counterattack at all.

At the same time, Abel had much of his work cut out for him.

While not at her level, every swordsman under Jiaoying’s employ was trained by her own intense hand. Abel had successfully parried them before; that was true. But it did not mean that he would simply be allowed to do it a second time.

His goal was not to kill anyone. But that was a rather difficult task when everyone around him was fighting with a ferocity aimed at taking off his head.

There was no greater example of this than Tavian.

Unless you were looking at the two of them, you would almost never be able to tell that he and Jiaoying were not related by blood.

He fought just like her. His strikes, while swift and gallant, contained an overbearing maliciousness.

The boy seemed to care for his mother greatly. But that was not where the sum of his strength came from. This was something genetic.

However, among monsters of all shapes and sizes, there were those at the upper echelon who should have never been disturbed. Otherwise, the consequences could have been horrible for all involved.

But it was too late for anyone to put the monster back in the cage.

"Oh, what fun this is!!"