Chapter 3421 The Reply (Part 2)

"The evidence will clear any doubt a member of the Royal Court may have. Especially once verified on the other end." Lith said and Meron nodded for him to continue.

"As for the judging them..." He loved the euphemism. "Are you aware of my Call of the Void bloodline ability, Your Majesty?"

"You mean the one that eradicated the Undead Courts in Derios and almost eclipsed the Kingdom on the day your daughter was born? Of course. The King had also witnessed the Call of the Void in Verendi, but he preferred not to make any mention of that massacre or 'Tyris' warning.

"I'm going to use it again." Lith continued. "Anything else would take too long and would endanger the civilians."

"Are

you sure this is how you want to deal with the problem, Magus Verhen?" Meron asked.

"Meln's message is clear. Join me and reap the benefits. My reply must be just as simple. Just sniff around my family and I will find you and I will kill you. A few thousand corpses in a single night should prove I'm serious." Lith said.

"What if it has the opposite effect?" The King pondered. "What if it brings people under the banner of the Poopie King just to escape your wrath?"

"Unlikely." Lith shook his head. "Even Ashazi knows what happened to Meln's former associates. Anyone with a brain will choose neutrality since I can't be bought and Meln can't be trusted.

"Those stupid enough to join him won't be a threat. I don't plan on driving anyone into a corner or making them so desperate that even Poopie looks alluring. I just ask to be left alone. Ashazi would still be alive if he had minded his own business."

Ashazi was still alive and would have loved to point it out but fear froze him like a lamb in front of a slaughterhouse.

"I see." Meron nodded, not even bothering to acknowledge the crime lord's existence. "I need time to rally the troops and bring the Constables to Vinca. The best way to avoid a power vacuum is to fill the void the moment it forms.

"Achieving capillary control of the information and the noble households will take a while.""

"Excellent plan, Your Majesty. Lith replied. "I can wait until sunrise. After that, the Call of the void will be visible and cause more problems than it would solve. At night, people will think they have just blinked longer than usual."

"I'll contact you as soon as I'm done with the necessary preparations. As for those two, deal with them as you best see fit. Meron out."

Lith turned to Ashazi, his smile never breaking.

"Please, I never intended to threaten your family!" He begged. "There's no need to kill me. Without my organization, I'm just dirt on your shoes."

"Indeed you are. Ekidu. One magic word was enough to turn Ashazi Gelt into a puddle of rotting flesh.

He screamed in agony as his skin putrefied and his bones shattered. Then, his tongue swelled up and his throat sagged, turning his cries into a gurgle of blood and frothing saliva.

When death came, it was a blessing. Lith kept Ashazi alive until the last moment. Even as a formless slime with no eyes or ears, Ashazi felt everything until there was nothing left that could hurt anymore.

Alinor wanted to scream but he had no voice. He wanted to faint but he was afraid never to wake up.

"You promised." Alinor said amid sobs. "You promised to let me go."

"I remember." Lith grabbed Alinor by the throat and Warped several kilometers high in the sky. "As I promised, I'm letting you go."

Alinor screamed all the way down until the sidewalk stopped his fall and ended his life.

***

A couple of hours later, Constables, soldiers, and mages flooded Vinea from all the available Warp Gates. King Meron used the Royal Override code to access the private Gates and keep the people on Lith's list from escaping.

"In the name of the King, close your eyes now!" A young female Constable yelled while showing her badge to the clients of a tavern of ill-reputation.

The tavern was a front for the smuggling of drugs, gambling, and black-market artifacts.

"Or what, missy?" The barkeep was a huge man and an ex-soldier.

The tavern was filled with clients and the Constable was alone.

"I'm in position." She ignored the not-so-veiled threat.

"Acknowledged." Said a voice from the other end of her amulet.

The tavern's clients were getting up from their seats when the Constable crouched down on the floor, closing her eyes and covering her ears with her hands.

"What is she? Four?" A woman with a scar on her left eye said with a laugh.

Then, the tavern went black. The fireplace still crackled, the smell of burning torches was still there, but the light was gone.

"What's happening? What is that?" No one could see whose finger was pointing at what yet the eyes and fangs lighting the dark were perfectly visible.

Ancient words mixed with modern screams as the Constable raised a prayer to the gods. Despite her efforts, she could still hear the tearing of flesh, the splash of blood, and the

death throes.

Things in the dark sniffed at her, whispered in her ears, and caressed her exposed skin, but never hurt her.

"It's over!" The voice from the amulet said. "You can open your eyes."

The Constable obeyed, discovering she was one of the few people still alive. Those who had ignored her warning were drenched in blood, their hair white from fear. They were sitting in a yellow-brown pool of their own making, sobbing like children.

Some had their mouths open in a silent scream, their eyes glazed after losing consciousness.

As for the rest, they were dead. The corpses had been pieced together after the kill and orderly arranged on the floor, ready for the pickup.

"Did this really happen all over Vinca at the same time?" The female Constable scanned her surroundings with her amulet, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Yes." The voice on the other side replied as the sound of multiple mugs shattering could

be heard in the background.

***

The following day, the people all over the Kingdom received Lith's message but no one took it as seriously as the citizens of Vinca.

Thousands of people had disappeared overnight, hundreds of soldiers had taken over streets, buildings, and noble households, yet no one had noticed anything. The citizens of Vinea had gone to sleep in one city and woken up in another filled with Royal

Constables.

The families of the deceased received no apology or compensation, just an explanation and proof of the crimes when they were already available. The investigations were still ongoing and there was no telling what they might uncover.

As the count of the bodies progressed and the reason for the night raid was revealed, many eyes turned toward the Mermaid Reef. Fear and curiosity were the dominant feelings, making every member of the hotel staff subject to endless flattery and bribery. Everyone wanted to know what the Verhens looked like, how they behaved, what they ate, their political opinion about current events, and so on and so far.

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