Chapter 198: New Rules (3)

Yuri grabbed the man by the collar of his tunic.

“I won’t kill him, I won’t kill him.”

“W-What I said was only for His Highness’s sake…”

Before the noble could finish speaking, Yuri threw him from the top of the wall.

The man’s piercing scream faded as he fell.

“Let’s see…”

Yuri leaned over to look down.

Just as he’d said, the noble didn’t die. From the start, Yuri had aimed at a small tree growing beside the wall.

However, the tree couldn’t fully absorb the impact of the body.

“If he only broke his legs, that’s fine.”

The noble whimpered on the ground with both legs completely bent.

“Don’t you think so too?”

Yuri shrugged and turned to look at the soldiers.

They backed away, unable even to lift their weapons, and stared at him with a mix of fear and awe.

As he headed for the wall’s staircase, Yuri kept talking.

“No matter how much of a scumbag someone is, there’s a limit. Since when did insulting the royal family become acceptable? Don’t you think so?”

Yuri patted the shoulder of a soldier who had backed up completely.

“Hey, you. If someone insulted your family, would you just stand there and take it?”

“T-That…”

“No, right?”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Exactly. That’s how a person should be. Even if you have an assigned role, there are things you shouldn’t tolerate. Even if your master…”

Yuri looked up at the castle.

As soon as his gaze landed there, someone near the window quickly moved away.

“Even if they’re watching you to see if you’re doing your job.”

Yuri let out a soft chuckle and scanned the castle with his eyes.

The imposing walled structure clearly showed how much wealth Genard had amassed. Once he was dead, no doubt much blood would be spilled over the succession.

Yuri descended the wall stairs. A considerable number of troops waited behind the castle’s main gate.

Many eyes were fixed on him, but Yuri didn’t care at all. He walked toward the soldier in charge of the gate’s mechanism.

“Open the gate.”

“U-Uh…”

“Should I open it myself?”

“W-Wait a second. It’s just that…”

At that moment, the clanking of armor came from behind. A unit of knights was arriving in a rush.

The captain at the front shouted.

“Your Highness! This is an abuse of power! Even if you’re a prince, you can’t act so despotically! You must respect the Zaetheri family!”

Yuri completely ignored him.

“Move. I’m opening the gate.”

“T-That…”

“Do you want to die?”

When Yuri released his killing intent, the soldier instinctively stepped back. Yuri skillfully operated the mechanism. The gate began to open.

One of the knights ran toward him.

“Y-Your Highness!”

He grabbed Yuri’s shoulder.

In that instant, Yuri grabbed the knight’s arm and slammed him to the ground. Then, he lifted the visor of the man’s helmet and thrust his gloved hand inside.

A scream of pain echoed through the area.

When Yuri pulled his hand back, the glove was soaked in blood. The knight clutched his helmet and writhed on the ground.

The visor closed again, hiding the state of his face. Only the blood flowing from the edges could be seen.

Yuri clicked his tongue.

“Why touch, then?”

Meanwhile, the gate continued opening. The knights watching unsheathed their swords in unison.

“From now on, this is self-defense. Your Highness, we won’t talk any longer.”

Yuri responded as well.

Beside him appeared his sword “Guilty,” already infamous for its fearsome reputation.

Yuri unleashed his energy. The aura of the Cut of the soul and the heart, forged in countless battles, swirled through the air around him.

The lower-level knights began to gasp, unable to breathe properly.

“This is where my warning ends.”

The knights froze. The energy Yuri emitted was so sharp they couldn’t even think of resisting.

No matter how famous Yuri was, the fact that even veteran knights who had trained with the sword all their lives were outclassed like this made no sense.

But they understood.

The third prince of Briol, Yuri Briol.

The praise that he was a genius who would succeed Fiore was mistaken.

In reality, he had already surpassed Fiore at the same age. Perhaps he was even already one of the Ten Greats.

“It can’t be…”

The captain of the knights’ mind was racing. He could no longer see him as just a young prince.

He began calculating the situation, imagining other members of the Ten Greats.

What if the Black Knight arrived with thirty men at Yuzes? Or if Donchich appeared with several ogres? There would be no way to stop them.

Maybe they’d have to gather all of Yuzes’s forces to face them.

“Captain…”

The more perceptive knights whispered from behind:

“W-What do we do?”

“His energy is insane.”

“He’s going to kill us.”

Some began complaining they couldn’t breathe.

“I can’t breathe…”

The dense energy crushed their lungs. The captain turned his head. He knew that somewhere in the castle, Genard was watching everything… but he didn’t know from where.

Finally, the gate finished opening.

The knights accompanying the third prince entered with determined steps, as if they were already an occupying army.

“I don’t intend to drag this out. Move or die.”

Yuri said that as he advanced. His group followed.

The captain of the knights hesitated as he saw Yuri approach. Hundreds of possibilities swirled in his mind.

If they tried to stop him like this, they wouldn’t win. He was an enemy they couldn’t face. But if he just stepped aside, Genard would punish him later.

Should he fake a fight or just move aside? Which option best ensured his survival?

But at that moment of crisis, his judgment failed him. The instinct inherited from his ancestors screamed at him to turn his back and run.

In the end, without reaching any conclusion, he stepped aside. Following his lead, the knights of Yuzes also moved to either side.

Yuri let out a small laugh and passed through them. Even though he was walking into the middle of enemy lines, he didn’t show a hint of tension.

Thus, Yuri and his knights overcame all obstacles and broke into the interior of the castle.

Seeing the armed knights, the servants inside fled in fear. Yuri scanned the place with his eyes. Everywhere there were expensive and luxurious objects.

“You really hoarded a lot.”

Saying this, Yuri headed toward where Genard was. But suddenly, he stopped.

The enemy had appeared.

As he and his men climbed the stairs, someone was blocking the path from above. Not only that, another group had appeared without them noticing and had cut off their escape route.

They were trapped from above and below the staircase.

It seemed like a strategy designed to confront an opponent as powerful as Yuri.

He was the biggest threat, so if they trapped him in a narrow space, they could limit his movements.

But that was an illusion. Yuri smiled and moved forward.

The enemies reacted immediately. The energy of the densely aligned knights’ swords surged toward Yuri.

He opened his energy without hesitation. He activated the Cut of the soul and the heart, and layered it with chaotic energy, making unpredictable possibilities swirl around his sword.

He unleashed an overwhelming technique—Whirlwind Sword.

A spiral pattern appeared on the blade of Guilty.

The sword’s whirlwind energy swept the front in an instant. At first, the knights blocking him seemed to endure, but as the whirlwind’s power grew, they were pushed back.

In a flash, they collapsed, falling one after another like dominoes.

The reddish energy filled the entire field of vision. Screams echoed throughout the interior of the castle.

Howls rose up the stairs—and down them. Yuri pushed through the gap he had created himself.

Many knights who had been lined up were slain. But overall, the damage was less than when the imperial troops were caught by the Whirlwind Sword.

That spoke to the high level of the knights. Yuri curled his lip.

Even with this strength, Genard chose to hole up in Yuzes.

The presence of a powerful knight significantly reduces casualties on the battlefield. If they had gone to Bezos, less blood would have been shed.

“What a shame.”

Yuri rested Guilty on his shoulder and looked at the enemies. The knights, stunned by the sudden massacre, didn’t know what to do.

“If you had fought in Bezos, you’d understand.”

The Whirlwind Sword Yuri used had a bad reputation not only among the Imperials but also within Briol. Every time he used it, everything around him was bathed in blood.

It was a technique optimized to devastate tight spaces. But they didn’t know that. That’s why they thought they could trap him in a narrow stairway.

Yuri swung his sword without hesitation.

The enemies, their formations already broken, couldn’t respond properly. Then the knights following him shouted and charged up the stairs.

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

Their cries thundered in the enemies’ ears.

The knights of Yuzes blocking the retreat didn’t know what to do and froze, watching as their comrades were slaughtered.

Once the battle entered close combat, Yuri’s sword didn’t stop. Guilty sliced through armor without pause, instantly tearing into the soft flesh inside.

Blood splattered endlessly on Yuri’s face.

“Haa… haa…”

The battle didn’t take long to end.

Yuri massacred like a tiger in a flock of sheep, and his knights finished off those who had lost the will to fight.

A single overwhelming warrior, Yuri, had created this entire situation. The greatest mistake was evaluating his strength by outdated standards.

Apparently, even though Genard was collaborating with the Empire, his relationship didn’t seem close enough to grant him high-level intel.

“Let’s go.”

The enemies were all dead or in critical condition, scattered across the floor.

Yuri walked among them without a care. His knights showed no remorse or pity either. Their hearts had been tempered enough in war.

To them, this was a routine scene. After eliminating that group of knights, nothing remained to stop them.

The path to Genard was open—mocking the prestige of the Zaetheri family.

They already had an idea of where he’d be.

“Should we split up?”

“No. We go together.”

Yuri headed to Genard’s quarters.

When a person is full of fear, they tend to curl up in the place where they feel safest.

Thanks to a map made by Asana, Yuri already knew the layout of the castle well.

They quickly found another group of knights.

“If you drop your weapons, you won’t die.”

The knights were guarding a large door.

Seeing Yuri and his group completely soaked in blood, they lost the will to fight. Yuri subdued them without needing to draw his sword.

Then he opened the door.

“Oh…”

An unexpected scene unfolded.

Genard, dressed in steel armor custom-made for his massive body, held an iron helmet under his arm while sitting on the edge of the bed.

Upon seeing Yuri appear, he looked up with a calm expression.

“What are you doing now?”

At Yuri’s question, with a faint smile, Genard replied briefly:

“Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

“I’m truly sorry.”

It was a sudden development.

“I made the wrong decision. As a noble of Briol and lord of Yuzes, I thought that if all the troops went to Bezos, Briol would be left vulnerable.”

His solemn tone left Yuri momentarily speechless.

“That’s why, with a heavy heart, I left troops in the rear purely out of loyalty to Briol.”

“Ah, I see…”

“We couldn’t leave Briol and the royal palace empty. What if someone had other intentions during our absence? We could lose everything from within while defending the frontlines. That’s what worried me. It was my fault. My excessive loyalty to Briol was the problem.”

His brazenness left not only Yuri and his men dumbfounded, but even the knights of Yuzes guarding the room.

“Hahaha, Your Highness!”

Genard suddenly stood and knelt forcefully.

“Prince, please cut off my head with your sword!”