The young guard flew through the air, landing just in time to hold Kyle's hand up.
"Please don't kill him!" He yelled.
Hearing the panic in his voice Zatu relaxes his grip, his sword almost out of its sheath slides its weight back in.
Kyle on the other hand gets enraged.
"Don't tell me what to do wastrel!" He screeched, before he freed his hand and slapped the guards face.
"I wasn't going to kill him here anyway stupid scum." He kicks the young guard's shin, before turning his green eyes to Zatu.
"My father is Calum Darkglade, the ruler of this city! And I'll make sure you'll regret this day, ignorant mongrel."
He yelled loud and proud, a news that most in the Inn already knew.
As one who didn't know Zatu's jaw opens in shock.
In the back of his mind the memory of his grandfather mentioning this man replays.
The old man called Kyle mentally disabled as a joke… A joke the council seemed to share.
At the time he thought it was just because of incompetence, plain and simple lack of skill, but seeing this guy for himself changed his perspective.
This fucker was clearly delusional, with an ego so high he might as well consider himself a king.
It had been minutes since Kyle walked in the restaurant, and yet Zatu could already tell who taught those goons to disrespect the council.
'This is the next in line to Viscount? Over my dead fucking body.'
His grip on his sword tightens back, a hesitant thought flashes in his head.
'Arbo will get real mad if I execute him here…'
Though the fucker deserved to aconpany his guards being the son of Viscount Darkglade made him above what Zatu could summarily judge.
To punish the pompous man only the council in full had the authority.
However, would Kyle suffer deserved punishment if Zatu reported this incident?
Zatu could not be sure, till early this morning he would confidently answer yes, but the guard's brazenness made him rethink this answer.
'Let's prod the fucker for answers and if indeed it seems the Tower would let it slide… I'll take this in my own hands.'
If earlier Zatu would kill him to maintain the council's order, with these thoughts things changed.
Now Zatu would kill him for what he represented, a corrupt leader and an uncontrolled disease growing in the place he called home.
Granted, such outcome would hopefully be averted if the fucker showed even a shred of worry towards the Tower's punishment.
Just like the guards would be alive had they respected Zatu's status and walked out instead of spewing out threats.
Seconds kept passing and the silence in the restaurant was palpable at this point.
Kyle, seeing the shock in Zatu's face, bathed in his supposed victory.
Illya hid in shadows, daggers in hand.
The young guard sweated at the side, praying to heavens and beyond that things would not escalate further.
Different from his young master he had seen how volatile Zatu could be and his sharp instincts shouted loudly this silence was not good news.
Zatu schools his face and buries his intention, in a moment he locks eyes with Kyle.
"You seem quite confident for someone whose actions violate city rules."
A victorious sneer blooms in Kyle's mouth.
"My actions?" He chuckles lightly. "It wasn't me that just killed a team of official guards."
"They were trying to kidnap an innocent girl."
"Who said she was innocent? I'm sure they had a capture order for her." Kyle throws him a knowing look back. "Matter of fact, where is the whore?"
Zatu's eyes grow cold, the fucker was both playing dumb and trying to continue his crime.
"Don't even try buddy, with the authority given me by the council I pardoned the girl." He pulls the token from his pocket and flashes it once more.
The whole motion was awkward since his dominant hand never left his blade's handle, his killing intentions growing with each phrase heard.
Kyle glanced at the token and scoffed.
"A council dog, huh." With a detached look the young Darkglade glances at the body of the Head Guard and shrugs.
"In that case, they were acting by themselves and I had nothing to do with it." He adds with a smirk.
Zatu's brows shift into a frown.
"You think you can get away just acting uninvolved? Everyone here heard your grunts waving your presence like a shield minutes ago."
Kyle glances around the room, his eyes filled with disgust, as if staring at a landfill.
"Barks and cries from animals will never weigh the same as the words from a prince." He spits annoyingly close to Zatu's shoes. "Mind your place dog."
Zatu nods his head slowly, his blue eyes dark as a storm.
"Illya, hold the young guard back for me." He says with a dead tone as his sword flows out its sheath.
In a second the young goes from sweating to shivering, despair cloying at his heart.
His mouth opens to scream a stop before Night Fang covers it and pulls him back.
Kyle tilts his arrogant mug, confusion clear as day.
The bastard sword flashes in an arc, even though no mana coats its body its edge cuts cleanly through bone and muscle.
A muffled scream echoes behind Night Fang's hand.
Citizen's eyes stare in shock from every direction.
A head thuds on the floor.
A sigh escapes Zatu's mouth.
"Grandpa will understand it… Hopefully."
****
On the 97th floor of Unbreon's Tower a heated meeting was underway.
Four people sat at a table in the middle of the room, the viscount and the three high councilors.
Behind each councilor sat two people, with three behind the viscount for a total of nine lower councilors.
In this talk though, only the four central figures dared to argue.
"That whore will never be my heir." The Viscount yells, banging his hand on the table.
A middle aged looking woman shouts back instantly.
"She is not her mother Calum and this meeting is not about her, it's about your retard of a son!"
She bangs her hand too, glaring daggers at him.
"He kidnapped dozens! In plain daylight and with our soldiers! He CANNOT hold your seat Calum and you know that!"
In this room Jenah was the one who knew Seraphina the best.
Being the one responsible for the cultivation of dark shrooms and with the daughter of the Viscount managing where they processed the plant, it was inevitable they would interact frequently.
That Seraphina's own father would disown and punish her because her mother put a pair of horns on his head made Jenah's blood boil.
That was half the reason she tried to convince Arbo to put his noble head on a pike.
Calum sneers at her.
"The reports were signed by Night Fang and she works for that disgrace! In my eyes it's clear Kyle is being framed by the slut."
An old man at the table sighs, Arbo is tired.
From the start he had known punishing Viscount's golden boy would be a headache, but never had he imagined the competent leader of Unbreon would be so capable of shoving his head on the sand.
"Common Calum, we talked about this before, you excised Seraphina to the outer city years ago there is no way her assassin would be able to fill execution orders in the tower."
"So what? That harlot must have found a way in… she even managed to seduce high councilor Jenah with her cunning lies." Calum argues back, through with a much more subdued tone. "Either way Kyle has nothing to do with this."
A scoff rang on the table, the fourth High Councilor had a muscular build and wore armor even here in the meeting room.
If Viscount was management, Jenah was production and Arbo was their retired commander/trumpcard.
Ragnar was the day to day commander and the one responsible for manning the walls.
He was a man born strong and molded stronger.
Having lived in combat and thrived in battle, the last few hours of word slinging had been torture.
Needless to say he abhorred politics and was only here at the behest of the one who taught him everything, his old teacher and friend.
Unsurprisingly he sides with Arbo even though he had not listened to most of what was said.
"Common Calum, it's been hours already." He releases his aura, making the breaths of the lower councilors freeze in their lungs. "Stop playing and punish your son properly, before the council does it without your input."
+++
Killing intent flashes through Viscount's heart, his face doesn't react.
"Don't overstep your bounds Ragnar."
Jena bangs her hands on the table again.
"You are the one everstepping! Shamelessly protecting that vile creature you call son!"
Viscount's gaze grows colder, his voice deadly.
"Councilor Jenah, I'm the noble leading Unbreon… and I won't hesitate to call forth the empire's forces for my son."
Lower councilors shift uncomfortably in their seats.
This threat should sound hollow so close to a beast wave year, but they knew Calum had contacts with the noble faction.
How far such contacts would go for him was up in the air.
Jenah feels her anger boil, to threaten their lives because he didn't want to punish the retard?
If she had Arbo's strength she'd kill this noble prick right here and now.
She bangs on the table a third time, but just as she was about to scream a retort a knock cuts her off.
All eyes turn to the door as a panicked guard walks in.
Before they even ask, words fly from his mouth one after the other, so fast a tier 1 awakened might not be able to understand.
"There is an emergency in the inner city, a dozen dead, guards, no executed guards… and… and…" His eyes move to the Viscount,his throat bobs up and down.
"Young master Kyle died too… Decapitation."