Chapter 130: 130. Damian Cross – The Human without Humanity – 2

“Commander!! “You are mistaken…”

*slap*

Before Celera could even gather her thoughts or form another sentence to defend herself, Damian moved without warning.

His hand came down brutally, slapping a rune token directly onto the crown of her head.

The contact was sharp, and the moment the token settled against her skin, waves of light-elemental aura burst outward like a contained explosion, finally breaking free.

A purification spell activated instantly.

“ARGHHHHH!!!”

A hellish scream tore from Celera’s mouth, so raw it reverberated violently across the vast auditorium.

Her posture collapsed in an instant, as if the strength had been ripped out of her bones.

She slumped to the ground, clutching her head with both hands while screaming uncontrollably, her body convulsing as the light elemental energy tore through her from the inside.

The surrounding officers stared at the sight in stunned silence. Some watched with rigid faces hardened by years of slaughter, while the newer officers felt an unfamiliar layer of fear crawl into their expressions.

This was not the battlefield. This was their commander, and that made the scene far more terrifying.

Damian did not wait for the spell to finish naturally. With sharp moments, he removed the rune token from Celera’s head.

The moment it left her skin, her screams cut off abruptly, as if a switch had been flipped.

Her body twitched violently for a few seconds before slowly stabilizing. Soon, the only sound she made was the ragged rhythm of her rapid breathing as she lay gasping on the cold floor while puking blood.

*Boom*

At the opposite end of the hall, chaos erupted without warning. An officer suddenly launched a spell toward the surrounding soldiers, the attack clearly meant to distract them.

In the same breath, he tried to flee, propelling himself upward toward the ceiling with desperate force.

His plan was obviously to break through the structure’s ceiling and escape before the situation could turn any worse.

For a brief moment, it looked like he might succeed.

He was almost at the ceiling when his expression shifted from hope to confusion.

His body suddenly felt heavy, unbearably so, and a strange warmth spread through his chest. Instinctively, he looked down.

What greeted his eyes was the blue metallic cane he had seen moments ago in Damian’s hands, now pinned cleanly through his chest.

The tip of the cane protruded from his back, slick with fresh blood.

Before the man could even process what had happened, the cane moved in the opposite direction from his, towards the ground.

It yanked him downward with brutal force, dragging his body through the air before slamming him onto the floor directly in front of Damian. The impact echoed across the hall like thunder.

The officers who had been standing near the crash point had already stepped aside.

Grim expressions spread across their faces as the reality of the situation settled in; they had never expected to have traitors among their ranks.

The man was dead.

The cane slid back into Damian’s grasp as if answering its master’s call, and with it came something far worse. Lodged against the cane’s tip was the man’s heart, still fresh and dripping.

Damian’s black-gloved hand wrapped around the organ without a moment’s pause, pulling the cane from the heart the way one would slide a skewer out of meat.

He turned his gaze toward Celera, who was still gasping weakly on the floor, her body trembling as she struggled to breathe.

Damian reached down and grabbed her by the hair, lifting her effortlessly.

“NOO!! Argh…!!”

Her scream broke into a strangled cry as he raised her to eye level.

Without giving her even a second to comprehend what was happening, Damian shoved the bloody heart into her open mouth.

Her eyes widened in horror as she gagged violently, her body thrashing as she struggled for air.

The heart was too large for her mouth. It would not fit properly.

Damian’s grip tightened around her neck, and he slammed her head down into the floor. The white stone cracked under the impact, blood and tears splattering outward.

He lifted his foot slowly, deliberately, his gaze sweeping across the officers standing rigidly nearby.

Some of them wished desperately that they could shield themselves from what was about to happen, but not a single one dared to move. No one would move unless Commander Damian allowed it.

His foot slammed down mercilessly.

The impact obliterated Celera’s face.

Her jaw shattered, the heart stuffed in her mouth burst apart, and her tear-filled eyes exploded in a grotesque spray.

Flesh, blood, bone fragments, and brain matter erupted outward, splattering across the naked bodies of the surrounding officers. The hall was painted red in an instant.

Some officers standing too close were struck by sharp bone splinters that pierced their skin. None of them flinched.

None dared to cry out. Their pain tolerance was refined enough that they would never dare show weakness in front of the crazy man standing before them.

Damian stood at the center of the carnage, his fur-lined coat and uniform were completely drenched in blood. He had made no effort to shield himself using mana to avoid the blood, his expression twisted with raw fury.

“EMBRACE THE BLOOD OF TRAITORS, LET IT REMAIN AS A WARNING IN YOUR HEARTS. BETRAY DAMIAN CROSS, AND YOU DIE WITHOUT A HEART TO KEEP.”

He roared furiously.

The officers stood silently, blood dripping down their bodies, their faces hardened as stone.

“IN ONE DAY, WE WILL MOVE TO HUNT,” Damian continued, his eyes blazing with anticipation. “GET YOUR ARMS READY FOR A FEAST!”

The echo of his roar lingered long after his voice fell silent.

“Commander…”

A trembling staff worker from headquarters approached cautiously, each step carefully measured as if he were walking through a minefield.

The horrific sight before him made his stomach churn, but he had forced himself forward and had patiently waited for the commander’s temper to return to normal.

Unfortunately, only members of the Abyssal Extermination Division truly understood that Damian Cross was never “normal.”

Damian turned sharply, his blood-soaked gaze snapping toward the newcomer. For a brief moment, it looked like he might strike him down as well.

Then his eyes shifted to the scroll clutched tightly in the man’s hands.

Damian took the scroll without a word.

He wiped the blood from his eyes with the back of his hand before opening it and reading its contents. His expression shifted slightly.

He had been summoned by General Marcus.

“Tsk,” Damian muttered. “Did he change the plans again?”

The staff officer swallowed hard before answering. “T-The timing of departure has been shortened,” he said, bracing himself for Damian’s reaction.

Instead of anger, Damian laughed.

“Hahahaha!”

His laughter rang with manic excitement as he turned and strode toward the end of the hall.

The cane he had dropped earlier levitated out of the blood-soaked floor and shot into his hand mid-stride. Without another word, Damian exited the auditorium.

***

Meanwhile, in a completely different corner of the continent, William stood at the edge of a cliff, gazing down at the land below.

The screeches of flying beasts echoed faintly through the sky as the sun dipped toward the horizon, casting long shadows across the forest beneath him.

Clouds floated low, close enough that they seemed almost within reach, brushing just above his head. His hair fluttered gently in the wind.

Below the cliff stretched what appeared to be nothing more than an endless forest, but William knew better.

Behind him, the dragon he had enslaved earlier knelt silently. At its side, Benson the elf knelt as well, his posture respectful and controlled.

“They have recently started demanding more humans, my lord,” the dragon reported. “Fulfilling that request would have taken time, but then you appeared.”

William nodded slowly without turning around, his eyes still fixed on the fading sunlight.

“Can you do what I said without appearing suspicious?” he asked calmly.

“Yes, master,” the dragon replied without hesitation.

“Fine,” William muttered as he passed on an Array to the dragon.

[Don’t worry, host. Slaves don’t betray.]

William’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smile as the sun finally slipped below the horizon

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