1255 Mad Man
This was a restaurant in clouds, built of purple clouds. It looked straight out of a painting, reminiscent of the residence of gods.
When Varian followed behind Hazel, he attracted a lot of attention. While Hazel's identity was already known thanks to the 'announcements' made by the ruling family, Varian was a nobody.
He shouldn't even appear here in the first place.
People pointed fingers at him, chatting in hushed voices, forecasting his fate. Some even began to bet on his death, how he would die and so on.
Hazel was already immune to those gazes. She was just worried how Varian would react.
To her surprise and relief, he didn't even glance at the high-profile diners in the restaurant.
If anything, he had contempt for this whole place, as if he was doing it a great favor by stepping in.
The main room of the restaurant was booked by the crown prince—the son of the holy matriarch.
They climbed curved stairs before reaching a huge double door.
"The prince has only allowed you to come in." The two rank 5 security guards at the door glance at Varian with a hard gaze.
"Eh, this is my friend. He has some business with the crown prince. It won't take long, I promise." Hazel replied with a weak smile.
"No outsiders allowed." The guard reiterated and pointed his spear at her. "You are violating the code of conduct by bringing a suspicious person here."
"I-I just said he's my friend. Are you questioning the fiancee of the crown prince?" Hazel's wings spread out as she glared at them in fury.
Unfortunately, a rank 2's anger, no matter how high, couldn't deter a rank 5.
Still, her words caused the guard to take a step back and point his spear towards Varian instead. "We'll throw him out. You can go in and meet the prince."
Hazel looked at him with an apologetic gaze and Varian just smiled in understanding.
The huge doors opened and the princess in an elegant dress walked in.
"Alright, I apologize for breaking the code of conduct, gentlemen. I'll have a proper appointment next time." Varian was about to walk away when the guards flanked him.
"You need to be interrogated first." The guard holding the spear pointed at his throat while the one holding the sword pointed at his abdomen.
"Kneel down and speak the truth."
"…Alright, alright." Varian put his hands behind him and slowly started to bend down.
[Varian, no variables detected. The formation is active.]
A voice rang in his mind and Varian stopped in place.
"Didn't you hear? Kneel!" The guard raised his spear and was about to hit him with the blunt side.
Varian jumped onto his feet and his arms blurred.
Boom! Boom!
His elbows blew off the necks of the two guards, killing them instantly.
Even though they were strong rank 5s, they weren't able to put up the slightest resistance.
Varian went up to the huge double door—which was actually a protection formation for the VVIP inside. It allowed only a select few inside.
This formation was engraved in the basement of the restaurant and was powered by precious materials.
Even a rank 7 wouldn't be able to break through this door in a single punch.
Isadora's knowledge helped. Sarah's time power made the task easier and allowed Enigma to deactivate the formation.
The moment it did, Varian blasted through the door and stormed in.
"Eh, ehehehehe~" A sickly think man who looked like a sack of skin over a skeleton kept harassing the half-naked waitresses.
Hazel was sitting opposite to him, her face pale and eyes red. There were no marks on her. So, he must've told her something nasty that pushed her into tears.
Varian didn't think much about it and raised his hand.
The butlers, the maids, and the personal security guards in the giant hall-sized room were all alarmed at his presence.
The butlers and maids were truly powerless. Even though he didn't begin the attack, his aura waves already swept them away.
The three personal security guards with the crown prince, and the triplets, however, were all three peak rank 6s.
The three of them focused their attention on the mass of lightning gathering in his palm and were about to attack him.
A mistake.
An arrow of darkness blasted a triplet's head into pieces.
Enigma attacked every non-combatant, including Hazel with her mind power, pushing them all into a coma.
The two security guards backed away, realizing that they should rather protect their master than kill these two.
Logically, a bunch of rank 6s should already have appeared in the restaurant and attacked Varian.
But thanks to Isadora's 'natal treasure' as well as usage of Boo's 'stealth formation', a few seconds of a gap was created.
That was enough.
Varian roared and jumped onto the table. With a sweeping kick, a bodyguard's chest was sunken and with the next kick, his body exploded into pieces.
The other bodyguard grabbed the prince and rushed towards the exit. He threw some talismans that formed barriers that even they couldn't overcome instantly.
As the bodyguard was about to leave through the exit, a light barrier appeared in front, catching them off guard.
Sarah slashed her sword down and the prince as well as his bodyguard were both smashed into four slices.
Varian and Enigma quickly broke through the barriers and reached Sarah.
By that time, ten powerful auras erupted into the sky and locked onto the restaurant.
Varian grabbed the hands of the girls and the power of the slivers enveloped the hall.
All traces of their aura were erased in a blink and in the next second, the door to Hortus opened and they jumped in.
"Who?!"
"Who is that bastard?!"
"Who dares harm the crown prince?!"
By the time the powerhouses in the capital stormed into the restaurant, it was too late.
The Emperor of Zions arrived quickly after and wept in front of his son's corpse. Not because he loved him but because he was saddened at the loss his death would incur.
And near his son's corpse, he saw something.
It was a…?
-- -- --
A/N: End of Volume 2: Survivor
