The man looked at the back of his head before responding, "Arion Sykes." Jason finished putting his breastplate on before he paused, his last name tickling his senses. 'This just got a lot more disastrous.'
Forcing a person of a normal bloodline was one thing; Knowably forcing someone belonging to the Sykes family was a whole different matter.
"Sigh, well. That's something. Are you prepared?"
Arion nodded, "Sure am."
"Then we leave. Agnus will take care of the bodies when we get back."
Arion eyed Jason as he walked past, and Jason caught his gaze, "Hm?"
"You talk as if we'll make it out of there so easily." His voice was firm, and Jason knew what he meant. He gave him an unknowing smile, "We will."
—
Three men satin the middle of a large warehouse, cobwebs living in the corners as the inside was completely emptied out, instead replaced with nearly twenty men who idly stood by. "You think they'll make it back alive?" One man said, his golden hair tied back in a ponytail that reached his back. "Oh, please, Charon. Most likely. Even if they don't, Zackary and whoever else is watching them will come here after torturing one of them, and we will just kill him and Agnus here. Simple!"
The man speaking was short and stocky, his brown beard braided into two separate parts, as if he were a dwarf. Words filled with such truth eased the men around them, unaware that the real truth was about to be shown to them firsthand.
BANG!
A body came crashing through the warehouse doors, exploding the wall and crashing into a dozen men as they helplessly fell to the ground.
A shadow slipped in, silent as a cat but deadly as a lion. Arion danced around the dimly lit walls, his blade slashing the heads of the Ascendant-tier soldiers who focused their attention too much on the diversion. "THERE'S ONE INSIDE!" A man yelled a mere moment before his head was split in half from side to side, a disgusting mix of brain and flesh falling to the floor.
Jason appeared.
His aura burst in front of him, enveloping the men with a primal sense of fear that caused their muscles to stiffen.
Red eyes gleamed from the hazy smoke that floated in the air, his stature slowly coming to life as he stepped out of the smoke.
One second, he was there.
Next, a crimson line formed in the world.
SWWWWSH!
SPLAT!
In the following second, a dozen men fell to the ground, their torsos slashed apart at where their hearts once had been.
The man with golden hair watched as countless lives were reaped in a mere second, and his head slowly turned to the side.
Jason stood there with his arm still extended from his attack, a pool of blood birthing underneath as blood flowed off of his sword.
'Fuck me.' The words were said in his mind, but stuck in his throat.
SWISH!
Jason's form blurred again as he appeared at the man's side, his sense of hearing dissolving from the world as his ear fell to the ground. "You stay here." The Emperor ordered.
It was a threatening sentence, but it commanded the authority of a God as his body didn't move a single inch, his trembling hands covering where his ear had once been. Jason unlocked his true power, but it wasn't even needed as Arion silently killed a small portion of the members, and Jason casually strutted through like a walking calamity.
A man rashly swung out, his freight compelling him into a worse fate than if he just stood there awaiting his demise.
Jason swept his sword across his body as an array of metal shards exploded outward, crackling to the ground. He didn't merely just kill the man; He disregarded his attack wholly, his blade cutting through him like a wet piece of paper.
The dwarf watched as the body collapsed, and the man responsible was going towards him next. He opened his mouth to intervene, maybe say an offer that would be too great to pass up, but the words died in his throat as Jason's menacing gaze bore into his body. There was no point in fighting, even he knew that. He watched as the assumed professor slaughtered his man with remarkable ease, and he couldn't even see an attack.
Jason brushed by, his sword hanging leisurely at his side as four men dashed at him.
"S-Stop!"
A voice rang out, but it was in vain, as Jason butchered them like cattle.
Two of them had their heads severed in the slame slash, the other two suffering a brutal stab that carved a clean slit in their chest.
And then there were three.
The pony-tail, the dwarf, and the last man with a shaved head and a scar maiming his lip. Jason's armor clanked as he stepped forward, but each sound was the incarnation of a battlemaster, and every step instilled more fear that clutched their hearts.
Agnus stepped in from the exploded door, careless as a child, as he simply walked to the side of Jason.
"You're a dead man." Jason casually stated, his words not mere threats; Simply the truth.
There was no denying it. Hearts beat with adrenaline, sweat pouring down their bodies in torrents as their fate would soon be decided.
Jason decided their destinies as soon as they saw the child in the far corner of the room, being held with raw love as Arion cradled him in his arms. No injuries were visible, which only eased his rage by the slightest amount. Jason towered over him, his stature reaching 2 meters (6'6) with a physique far more robust.
"Who do you work for?" He asked calmly.
The man stared back and gulped as the words struggled to leave his mouth, let alone formulate in his head. "I-I can give you something wor-"
HUEK!
His feet suddenly lifted from the ground and swung as Jason seized him by the throat, raising him in the air with his fingers pressing his airways, "You are in no position to speak at your own discretion." He held him in the air, suspended pitifully as his fate lay in his hands... And his throat.
Jason eased his grasp as the man fell to his knees, pained wheezes scratching his throat as his breath came back to him. "Whoever speaks has a chance to live."
The words rang in their ears as an escape formed, and camaraderie was thrown out the window as each man rustled to speak their words first.
Each blabber that escaped their mouths was barely helpful, and Jason scrunched his nose as seething anger oozed out of his body in the form of mana, surging down on the men who were anything but helpful.
"Name. Rank. Tier. Authority."
"CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER! HIS NAME IS ASWALD NORON, AND HE'S THE CSO AT THE ACADEMY!" The dwarf yelled with absolute confidence, and Jason merely smirked as the words hit his ears.
"Nice."
The two other men flicked their gaze over him, their faces strucken with disbelief and rage as their desire to kill the man hastily fluctuated as their mana flared.
If there was a predator, there was always another lurking around the corner.
Their mana was flushed out as Jason's filled the entire room, lacing it with a malevolent red hue as he stepped forward.
"I HAVE MON!"
SHHHHIK!
Dead.
No words or mercy.
Jason executed them both with a singular slash, their heads rolling along the ground before coming to a stop before his feet. "Hm." Jason sounded to himself, his mind replaying his memories as the name Aswald pricked his brain. To no avail, the man remained a mystery, but he knew he crossed paths with him somewhere.
"W-what else do you want?"
Jason turned his head slightly, just enough to peek at the man from the corner of his eye as if that was all he was worth.
"Kill yourself."
Suddenly, the man's hand slowly shook as it descended, brushing against his hip as his fingers curled around a concealed dagger hiding in his waistband.
"Stop it. STOP IT!" He yelled out, but his will was broken.
Jason controlled him with his natural superiority in strength, his aura thickening as it blanketed the man.
His aura wasn't for mere show; The effect was literal. The dwarf was ready to perish mere moments ago, his mind accepting the fate with open hands. And now, Jason was simply taking advantage of it.
The dagger kissed his neck, and with all the power he could muster, he retaliated, every ounce of mind poured into stopping his own hand, slashing his neck open.
"I said. Kill. Your. Self."
Tears streamed slowly in the same manner as his hand drifted across his neck, a gruel crimson line left in its wake. Blood streamed out, painting the floor below him red as he fell forward on his own pool of blood that continued to enlarge.