Ascendance: The Rebirth Of The Unknown Gamer

The duke and his men were busy evacuating all the mansion's valuables.

The country was going to shit and there was apparently some humanoid monster going around slaughtering villages in the area.

Thus, the prudent option was to take anything of value and flee.

The duke was 'directing' his subordinates, and they were running around like ants, gathering the paintings and the pots that made the mansion's halls so splendorous.

As they were hustling and bustling everything around, a massive boom sounded above the house like a crackle of thunder.

Suddenly, the ceiling crashed inwards, bringing a cloud of dust with it.

As the dust began to clear, a figure could be seen brushing off its clothing while a beam of moonlight shown through the hole in the roof.

The figure was wearing what would be best described as a tuxedo, except every part, including a rose tucked into the b.r.e.a.s.t pocket, was pitch black.

Upon its face, it wore a shining silvery mask in the shape of a cat.

When the figure began to speak, its voice echoed throughout the hall, sounding like a chorus of hundreds of people speaking at once.

"I seek the kingdom core, tell me its location at once mortal, and you shall die a painless death."

The duke, as well as all of his servants, took this moment to evacuate the contents of both their bowels and bladders, and while not strictly appropriate for such an occasion, also evacuated the contents of their hands, which included many precious items, which disappeared before they even touched the ground.

"Speak fools!"

The figure once again urged the duke to tell it the location it sought.

"Beneath the cathedral near the largest plaza in the capital! Please spare me! You can have all the idiots here, just please let me live!"

The duke screamed, and not many of his subordinates blamed him.

'The man in full black with the silver cat mask' had already earned himself a reputation for ruthlessness and the corpses and slaughter he left in his wake.

Nobody knew who he was or what he wanted, he simply showed up and left nothing behind, regardless of who the opponent was, everything would be over once the cat-masked man showed up.

The Toffler Republic had already looked into whether this person existed or not and came to the conclusion that it was nothing more than hearsay, but the crimes were real.

Now here he was, a duke of a Republic that was collapsing from war and a poison that had somehow contaminated the entire country's groundwater, about to flee from the lands he ruled, only to find that rumored individual crashing through his roof and threatening him with a painful death.

Who wouldn't be terrified?

And that was the last thought that ran through his head before it was rudely separated from his body by a ray of light expelled by the figure in black's hands.

---

Aura hadn't needed to keep the man alive anyway, there were three dukes and each would know the location he sought, not to mention that it would ruin the splendid entrance he had made if he didn't follow through on the promise he had made.

A suave villain who made awesome entrances would keep his word, or at least that was what Aura thought they should do.

What fun was being evil if you didn't follow through with promises?

Then everyone would simply hunt you down as if you were a mindless monster.

Much better to show rationality and trustworthiness so that you could build up a reputation as a big bad rather than a small fry who spouts on and on about glory.

At least this way, if he ran into an enemy he truly couldn't beat, he would be able to properly surrender and escape death that way.

'But seriously, they housed the most important treasure of the country, its literal core, beneath a religious institution? What idiots, or did they seriously believe they could control the zealots religion inspired into righteousness.'