Instantly stopping in his track, Mike turned his head around towards the direction of the voice. To his despair, he recognised the person standing at the entrance of the courtyard, with a mass of soldiers behind him.

With his hands folded on his chest, Damash just stood on the spot with a calm smile on his face. When his eyes met Mike's sight, the officer signalled to the soldiers behind him with his hand.

"Capture them."

At that moment, what was a desperate situation, turned into a hopeless one. Ten people against forty? With enough disparity in terms of personal skill and experience, they could still somehow manage to overcome the odds. With the addition of a few hundred of enemies, even if they were to be on a similar level as their previous opponents, they wouldn't endure the prolonged fight.

Just by looking at the dead bodies of the fellow mercenaries on the ground, one could understand how treacherous the battlefield was. No matter how powerful one became, it took only a single stray hit to down him.

"Break and disperse!"

There was no other choice. In a full-on fight, they had no hope of winning. Only by splitting the battlefield into multiple simultaneous duels would the situation turn into the contest of endurance. Not waiting for others to react, he pulled Xyenna hand and ran towards their original enemy.

In just a few steps, his sword slashed the throat of the closest soldier. With a mass of angry enemies just a few meters behind, his moves were limited. One thrust and he would have to leave the weapon behind in enemy innards. Wasting even a split of a second to pull it out, could prove lethal in the long term.

Thrust. Despite how stupid it might seem, Mike didn't have any choice. While theorizing the battle could give some insights, the real situation often proved different from one's ideas. That was the case right now. When choosing between losing the weapon and his hand, Mike didn't hesitate for a second.

As the blade entered the stomach of yet another nameless soldier, the young man dropped its handle and turned his body to the right, allowing the sword aimed at his torso to pass by his side. Slashing another opponent with his dagger to the right, opened him a way out of the quagmire.

There was no time to look back and check on the others. Feeling Xyenna's presence behind him, Mike rushed forward, toward the buildings. Be it alleys or buildings, every place was better to face the enemy than open space of the courtyard!

Twenty meters. Ten meters. Five meters.

Mike managed to stop in the last second, evading the tip of a pike. Thanks to the curtain still covering his mind, he was able to spot another group of the enemies before they made a move on him. Sadly, Xyenna wasn't as lucky. Startled by the sudden stop, despite Mike's extended hand, she plunged right at another blade. Seeing the metal coming out from her back, the young man eyes flared red.

Losing his grip over the reins of his consciousness, he jumped forward into the mass of the enemies. Slashing his knives to left and right, he harvested the lives with every move he made. Entering this berserk state of mind made him immune to the pain from the accumulating cuts. The single thing that existed in his mind right now, was the vital points of his enemies that he was supposed to cut.

Suddenly, everything came to an end. Exhausting the last bit of his strength, Mike felt to the ground. While he sapped himself dry, the enemies blocking the path got cleared out. With this window, at least Xyenna would be able to escape this predicament!

Contrary to his hopes, the girl refused to leave him, brandishing her sword against the incoming charge from the fresh reinforcements. That was the last thing Mike managed to see before his consciousness faded away.

When he regained his senses, the first thing that the young man could feel, was the cold embrace of steel cuffs around his wrists. It took him a good few seconds to even realise that he was kneeling on the ground. Putting all the energy that he managed to recover into his eyes, he preyed them open.

The sight that welcomed him proved his worst calculations right. He placed into the row of survivors, with the remaining five of the strange group to his left, and Xyenna to his right. All of them were kneeling with their heads lowered in resignation.

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Out of the initial group, only seven of them were left. From the looks of it, most of them were heavily injured, some even to the extent of missing a hand or leg! Apparently, using up all of his energy and knocking himself out allowed Mike to avoid anything more serious than bruises.

When he lifted his head to check the surroundings, the young man could see some figures arguing with Damash over something in the distance. With his hearing still recovering, Mike had no way to fathom what they were saying. With the mess they made here, their fate was easy to predict, but there was always a glimmer of hope that their execution would be put on hold.

No matter how much they would increase security, they would always be an opening. With Mike skills, there was no way he wouldn't be able to bank on it to escape and free his friend!

The talks of the officers ended at the same moment that Mike started to recover his hearing. With that done, the energy in his body got restored to a level when he should be able to move again. Tilting his head up and down as in a daze, he took a quick glance at his friend to his side.

What he saw, made his blood boil in rage. He remembers how tender and delicate her body was. He remembered how hard it was for him to patch her up. And now, it was a miracle that she was still alive!

With profoundly bleeding wounds all over the torso, missing fingers in her right hand, two large cuts over her formerly pretty face and more than a three stabbing wounds near her heart, she was the picture of a future corpse. Despite all those wounds, they still left her kneeling in the row as if waiting for the poor girl to die!

With his mind blanking behind the reappearing curtain, he saw Damash stopping just a few steps away from him. Just as he was about to jump and bite his throat off, a woman from the strange group on his left spoke.

"We are Xantia delegates! Don't you dare to lay a hand on us!"

When those words reached his ears, Mike lost all his strength. 'Like that would change anything after killing a shitload of their soldiers!' Bitting hard on his tongue to stop himself from lashing at the stupid girl, Mike lowered his head to hide his expression. Those words might not only kill them in the coming seconds but can also bring unnecessary trouble for the Xantia!

"And why should we believe that? You attacked our encampment, tried to free our prisoners and killed our soldiers. That's not how a powerfull faction works! Kill them all."

Talking the girl off in just a few words, Damash didn't hesitate to order their execution in his next phrase. Nearby soldiers didn't hesitate at all. They drew their weapon as soon as the command was given.

"Stop it!"

This time, it was one of the officers who argued with Damash before. Going so far as to shield Mike and his unlucky companions with his own body, he pointed at the burly man.

"What if they tell the truth? Can you handle their retribution? Do I need to remind you what happened the last time that we displeased them?"

Mike barely held his laughter when he heard those words. Just like he thought. Ritzy presence in Uveno wasn't coincidental. There ought to be some shady businesses going on underneath the blanket! The only thing that made him wonder was if the Nobles had some deals with Latavia, why did this young prick support the City hall?

"If they are all dead, they won't be able to prove it was us. What's your problem?"

Unsettled by the insubordination of his right-hand-man, Damash raised his hand. Just when he was about to smack him, he looked to the side. Seeing the state of the prisoners, he smiled deviously and waved his hand downward.

"Execute them!"

It was over.

In a mere moment after the order, the soldier cut the first head from the leftmost man of the crowd. As soon as the blood burst out of the neck, the crowd of soldiers all around begun cheering. When the executioner stood over the second prisoner, some young guy ran towards the Damash and whispered a few words towards his ear.

Another head looped off followed by another cheer from the warriors. Seeing those powerful mercenaries dying one by one, powerless to stop their fate, made them almost jump in joy. It was hard to believe that only a few moments ago, they were like sheeps ready to be slaughtered.

Just when the third head was supposed to be cut, Damash raised his hand to stop the execution process. From the grim look on his face, one could read that the messenger brought some bad news. Noticing that the soldier stopped his sword in its track, the head officer turned around and lowered his head. A single moment later, a familiar person came into Mike's view.

"What is going on here?"

This person was unmistakably the Uveno's count. With his head raised high and wide steps, he marched through the masses of soldiers as this place belonged to him. After some thought, it probably did.

"I was executing rebellious prisoners. Those people come to our prey rescue and attempted to help in their escape. Since they proclaimed to have some ties with Xantia, I judged that it would be safer to get rid of all of them altogether."

With his head still lovered, Damash replied without a hint of hesitation. While his voice twitched for a bit, betraying his anxiousness, he still properly reported the situation.

"Ties with Xantia? Why would they try to free a common…"

After hearing the news from his officer, count tried to ask something before stopping in his track and sending a strange look to Mike. After staying still for a while, his face suddenly lightened up.

"Is that possible? Aren't you the renowned "Bloodthirsty" Mike then?"