*****

''Your Highness, everyone is ready to attack, but please take your time to find the best moment to strike.''

''Alright, thanks. I'll make sure to aim properly.''

Both of us fall into silence.

With the magazine already inserted in the gun, I pull the bolt back and push it forward, transferring a bullet into the barrel. I then take a look through the scope, what greets me is the sight of the Duke's bedroom through the window.

It is very fortunate that the window doesn't have any curtain, else we would have to use some illusion magic to make the curtain invisible, and that would be pretty risky. The man is a Swordmaster, it wouldn't be unfeasible if he somehow detect an illusion magic casted by an Advance mage.

Anyway, he has been sleeping for a while now, but just to be sure, I'm going to wait for 15 more minutes. Let him fall into the REM sleep, or whatever, first.

So there I was, teasing the trigger guard for 15 minutes, effectively gave it a foreplay, until finally I decided that it was the time.

''Put a sound barrier on for me.''

''Understood, Your Highness.''

I aim very carefully at the head of the peacefully sleeping Duke, because I'm looking at him from the side, I align the middle of the crosshair with his temple, and then, pull the trigger.

*BOOM*

Immediately after the bullet left the barrel, fire flashing out from the muzzle brake, I take a look inside the scope again-

Tch, he was able to sense it, goddamn monster.

It seems like the Duke reacted to the bullet when it pierced the window, but he was not able to avoid it completely, the bullet got through his left shoulder, effectively blew away that whole area, severing his left arm. Looks like the tip made it through the nightstand behind as well.

I instantly pull the bolt back for another shot, but the Duke seems to have realized where the bullet came from, running out of the room with incredible speed.

This is not very good, but at least I got a hit, I need to cover my team for their way out first.

I aim my scope around, stopping at the front yard of the estate, where everything has somehow spiraled into chaos.

*****

After the scream was heard, Sylvia's team swiftly moved into the estate from the back side, knocking out whoever still awake, and they went straight to the basement.

Meanwhile, William and two other commanders finally gave the order to attack, soldiers rushing in from the front gate.

Guards were startled by the scream earlier, they flocked outside of their posts, some of them encountered Christina's group and called for support.

In another corner, Duke Forbes was flabbergasted, dumbfounded and overwhelmed. He was very confident is dealing with whatever the infamous 'intruders' could do, but never before had he encountered this kind of attack. With a speed faster than even his fastest sword strike, power beyond a Spearmaster's thrust, he barely dodged that one with his instinct, losing an arm is still considered lucky.

Enduring the pain, he ran around the mansion, holding his sword, before finally taking a first-aid kit from the living room, frantically bandaging his shoulder with his remaining arm and his mouth.

But that wasn't enough, the attack erased most of his left shoulder, exposing bones and flesh, he could have swore he saw his heart beating through the hole looking down.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Abandoning the idea, Duke Forbes ran around the estate again to find a healer, but the problem was, he didn't have any. Because he politically sided with the crown prince, who is hated by the church, no priest ever served him.

He was slowly realizing his fate, that is doomed to die by excessive blood loss.

This thought enraged him, he didn't want to die yet, he still wanted to extend his influence, he still wanted to get stronger and put everything under his feet.

After a whole minute of agonizing pain and fury, he finally accepted it. There's nothing more to be done. But... Before his final moment, he wanted to grant his enemy the most painful death.

So he rushed to the front yard with his sword, where his guards were fighting paladins and Duke Spencer's force.

Now, he can clearly see Duke Spencer, Archbishop Henry, as well as the second prince, standing behind the paladins and other soldiers, giving commands.

''SO IT WAS YOU LOT!!!'' He shouts.

*****

Underground, where almost 100 slaves of all kinds are currently locked behind metal bars, there's around 5 guards standing near the entrance of the basement, some of them are yawning, due to being assigned at this hour in the midnight.

Suddenly, the door is kicked open, and before they can even react, dozens of bullets have already went through their bodies.

''Quickly, before the other guards notice, free as many of them as possible!'' Adam said, frowning at the horrible sight of barred slaves in front of his eyes.

So everyone got to their work, but strangely, even after releasing all the slaves, nobody came down to the basement. They were pretty sure that at least some of the guards would check this basement.

With all the fuss that were going on when Sylvia shot the Duke, they had to check for all possible intruders, but apparently... not?

''Let me go out and check first.'' Adam said. ''You two, come with me.'' He signals two of the squad members.

Carefully treading out of the entrance of the basement, which was hidden inside a storage room, they find the surrounding... Eerily quiet.

No, maybe not, they could hear faint sounds of battles in the direction of the front yard.

So they stealthily move to the hallway, looking out the window, and before their eyes are roughly 100 people, each one of them are very powerful, fighting each other. It was chaos.

In that chaos however, they could see behind the group that was pressing from the outside was William the second prince, Duke Spencer and Archbishop Henry.

They can even spot someone who matched the descriptions of Duke Forbes, just, with one less arm, going absolutely crazy down there, and princess Christina fighting in the bunch as well.

So the three hastily ran back to the basement and relayed the information, to which Emilia and Raeliana almost immediately affirmed that they're their ally.

The two had more or less made out Christina's intention when they confronted the Duke's son together at the academy yesterday, but the thing they didn't expect was their speed, to think that they would attack at the same time...

Regardless, being careful is almost never a bad thing. So here they should just focus on getting the slaves out first... But that would probably ruin whatever plan Christina's side has.

''They're probably here to get the slaves and use them as evidence to punish Duke Forbes.'' Isabella said.

''Yeah, so we can't just get all of them out...'' Liana ponders.

''Just get the elves out then. Leave the others for them.'' Emilia said.

''And then probably help them a bit after that? I mean, there's Duke Forbes out there.'' Liana said, raising an eyebrow.

After a bit of thinking, they all decided to go with Emilia's idea. Most of the slaves here are not in very good conditions to walk anyway, moving all of them would take a lot of time, especially without their professional transporter Sylvia here.

*****

In the front yard, the paladins and the soldiers of Duke Spencer are pushing the other side. Should have been, it's a stalemate for now.

And it's all because of one man, Duke Forbes.

Although somehow he has lost his left arm, Duke Forbes is still overwhelmingly stronger than they have anticipated. Most of the soldiers can't even handle a single swing from him, despite being in the Advance level. But they preserved, mainly because of the paladins and Anastasia, who can use divine magic to increase defense and heal allies.

And fortunately, they're not without help, from the start of the battle, a seemingly mysterious force was helping them. The deadly ray of blue they have seen before has now multiplied, shot towards numerous enemies with extreme precision, especially when the enemies were about to use their abilities.

The rays came in at a regular interval of 2.5 seconds, after a batch of 7 rays, they will stop for around 4 seconds before starting a new batch again.

The rays are extremely powerful, most of the time obliterate whatever is in their trajectories. Not even fully armored tanks with barriers can endure them.

Duke Forbes has been targeted several times, but he just barely dodged the rays every time and kept on rampaging.

But eventually, with the advantages stacking on their side, including overwhelming healing from the paladins and the cat girl, and the mysterious helper, Christina and her teammates were able to reduce the size of Duke Forbes's force.

Finally confronting Duke Forbes and his remaining few elite guards with her mostly intact force, Christina said, panting:

''...It's time to end this. Duke Forbes.''