Arvin's offer to negotiate, thrown amidst the barrage of clashing weapons, did not diminish his enemies' killing intent in the slightest.
Pratesias, who still could not accept everything that had happened to his kingdom, ignored the mysterious assassin's words. His peaking emotions made the first prince refuse to halt his attack for even a single second.
"Do you think I will listen to a murderer like you?" Pratesias yelled loudly, right in front of Arvin's face. Along with that yell, his fist coated in stone armor swung brutally, aiming for the jaw. "Look at the consequences of your actions! All the royal soldiers are dead!"
Wiltan, who was right next to his older brother, also applied pressure. He swung his sword with full force horizontally, attempting to cleave Arvin's body from the side.
Facing two deadly attacks coming almost simultaneously, Arvin realized that talking things out would yield no results if his enemies continued to attack blindly. He had to create distance.
While parrying the swing of Wiltan's sword with his dagger, Arvin tilted his head to dodge Pratesias's stone fist, then utilized the momentum of his body's rotation.
Thud! Thud!
With swift footwork, Arvin kicked the two princes hard in rapid succession. A cushion of air rustled as the kicks struck Pratesias's chest and Wiltan's abdomen with highly precise force.
The bodies of the two princes were instantly dragged backward, pushed away for several meters.
"I am a murderer?" Arvin replied, taking advantage of the newly created distance.
"Hahaha." The masked man laughed. The extremely loud sound of his laughter swept through the silence of the night. "The two of you should be self-aware, you foolish princes!"
While keeping an eye on the movements of his two opponents who were trying to steady their breathing, he raised his voice.
"The rules established by this world dictate the execution of all rapists, don't they?" he continued, shattering the tension with a sharp fact. "But instead, you let the guards in that prison continuously rape and torture the prisoners there!"
The loud and booming voice echoed, breaking the silence of the night, and could be heard very clearly by everyone not far from their battlefield.
Several capital residents, along with dozens of adventurers standing frozen at the end of the street, instantly looked at each other with pale faces. They had only just learned about the dark and cruel secret kept tightly by the kingdom.
Unwilling to accept the palace's disgrace being exposed in the open, Wiltan immediately raised his sword, preparing to attack again to silence the mysterious assassin.
"Nonsense!" the second prince denied firmly, desperately trying to hide the actual truth. "Don't slander us like that! You have killed many of the best soldiers in our kingdom!"
"Just as you imprisoned someone simply because he refused to hand his fiancé over to you, Prince Wiltan!" Arvin interrupted with a much louder voice, pointing sharply at the second prince without the slightest hint of fear. "And tragically, that man was instead raped by the soldiers inside his cell. Isn't that incredibly cruel and barbaric?"
Instantly, the second prince froze in silence. His grip on the sword hilt loosened slightly as his greatest secret was spoken with such accuracy.
Beside him, Pratesias turned his head and glared sharply at his younger brother, as if demanding a further explanation for the filthy actions just accused.
In the split second where his enemies were distracted by internal suspicion, Arvin activated his detection magic, reaching deep into the forest, and focused his soul bond to find Kaydan's location.
There, he sensed that the presences of Alvein and Davin, who were previously deep within the forest, could no longer be detected by him. And the black thread no longer pointed to the northwest, the direction where the forest was located, but rather toward the southeast.
It seems they have all returned to the mansion. Arvin thought in relief, ensuring his emotions did not affect his outward posture. My mission here is finished. I must return to see them immediately.
"Don't slander me!" Wiltan yelled, breaking the awkwardness between him and his older brother, unwilling to accept the mysterious assassin's words. "Why would I want to marry a commoner like his fiancé?"
From behind his mask, Arvin's gaze instantly sharpened straight at the second prince.
"Why don't you take off that glove of yours?" he challenged in a cold tone. "Just prove it if you are truly innocent."
The prince was increasingly cornered. Those provocative words truly struck a heavy blow to his psyche, especially now that his older brother was staring at him intensely, demanding proof.
Wiltan endured pressure after pressure until finally, everything fell into chaotic disarray. His pride as the second prince of the Victoriaz Kingdom, his shame, and overwhelming panic had blinded his mind and heart.
Zap!
The Prince cast his blink magic, and in a flash, he shifted his position with his sword, preparing to slash the mysterious assassin to silence him.
"Stop all your nonsense, you stinking bastard!" he roared, full of anger.
"Wiltan, stop!" Pratesias shouted.
However, the shout came too late, and time could not be reversed. Wiltan, ignited by rage, was already in front of Arvin with his sword.
Tap!
Arvin leaped lightly backward just in time to evade the swing of the sword aimed at his neck.
The sword blade only cleaved empty air.
Zrash!
"Akhhh...."
Sharp dark-element magic emerged unnoticed from the surface of the capital streets. Pitch-black shadow spears shot out at lightning speed and pierced Wiltan's body from multiple directions.
Fresh blood spurted out, flooding the entire front and back of his body.
The second prince died instantly, his body still suspended in mid-air, held rigidly by the impalement of the dark magic with gaping wounds across all the vital points on his body.
Everyone around the area witnessed the murder of the second prince of the Victoriaz Kingdom firsthand. Pratesias, the adventurers, and even the capital residents were instantly in deep shock and froze upon seeing the brutal sight.
Seeing his younger brother killed in such a horrifying manner right before his eyes, Pratesias, whose entire body was still enveloped in stone, roared and lunged straight to attack the mysterious assassin.
Zap!
Arvin evaded the attack with great ease simply by using his blink magic, teleporting near the capital's entrance gate whose doors had been shattered.
At the same time, Arvin immediately activated his invisible magic until his presence completely vanished. Not wanting to waste time, he soundlessly sprinted away from the capital as fast as possible.
In the battle area, Pratesias, unable to locate his opponent anywhere, directly used his wind magic to track the mysterious assassin's whereabouts.
Through his ability, the prince sensed air turbulence from someone running swiftly toward the east, getting further away from the capital's borders.
"Damn it!" he grumbled in annoyance, his jaw clamped shut so tightly that the veins on his neck bulged. "He managed to escape!"
Pratesias wanted to chase his enemy, but he had to abandon his intention upon looking at his younger brother's blood-soaked corpse, as well as the surrounding area filled with numerous dead bodies of soldiers, elite royal assassins, and prisoners.
He had lost. There was a massive amount of damage inflicted upon the capital.
Clenching his fists, he stared straight at the eastern horizon.
"Those three, especially those two prisoners, must be made international fugitives!" the prince decided, feeling furious over the chaos that had occurred in the capital tonight. "I will make sure none of you will ever be able to live in peace!"