Chapter 232 Fate, you fucking bitch  

Rio, who saw the hooded man moving backwards towards Leon's room, had a smirk on his face.

'Try harder, fate. I'm not going down so easily, this time.' He thought and raised his hand. Chains made of darkness materialized from the ground and started binding the elf.

"You see, I didn't talk all that bullshit to you just so you can leave afterwards. I talked all that nonsense, so you keep standing there like a fool doubting this and that, instead of running away, while I was dealing with your barrier. So don't even try to move a muscle now." Rio said as he waved his other hand, threads of mana formed around the hooded man's face, disrupting the spell he was about to cast.

"Let me go, Rio. We have no enmity. I can help you. I can tell you everything." The man begged as he saw Rio removing the hood over his head, revealing a face with dark skin and pointy ears.

'A dark elf eh. Fate, you fucking bitch.. ' Rio cursed in his heart as his mind tried to connect this scenario with the plotline of Saisha and the elven kingdom.

The elf seeing him silent started speaking again "Let me go, Rio. I can even help you get Virgil. I'll be your slave, your men inside Warzy, just don't kill me."

"Virgil huh, it's true that he's getting smarter. But I'm getting stronger." Rio smiled and said "I'll deal with him once he's done sending me enough experience packages. As for you, I have no need for fucking fools."

After finishing his words, Rio closed his fist and started muttering a spell in some ancient language. When he opened his fist again, an orb of pitch-black fire, flickering with malevolent energy, hovered over his open palms. The intense heat emanating from it was so scorching that it threatened to singe his own fingers, but he remained resolute, unfazed by the searing pain.

The flame following his order floated over and fell on the pleading elf's head, burning it entirely. And then spreading over to his whole body.

-ahhh aww wahh aaaa- In the process the screams of the elf echoed in the entire restaurant, breaking the silence which was forming with the end of fights everywhere. The elf kept screaming until his throat melted and he couldn't utter anything. His body kept shaking and rolling for some time until he died.

"Go in peace." Rio said, as he looked at the silent body collapsed on the ground.

He bent down and took away his hellfire, the view cleared and he saw the charred body of that elf with black and red layers of skin falling off. The smoke emitting from his body wafted in the air, hitting his nose with the smell similar to barbecue.

'Meat's just meat I guess.' Rio thought, waving his hand, creating a wave of chilly air that completely cooled down the dead body and removed the pungent smell from near him. He moved his hands so he can do a memory search on the elf's mind - to see if the man knew anything interesting or new that could be useful to him.

But before he could touch the head of the dead elf, a gust of air pushed his hand back, making a large cut on his palms which were burned by the hellfire earlier.

"Stop it. He's already dead." Saisha's voice came from behind him.

Rio was about to ignore her and treat her as air, when another voice came to his ears from the front.

"The fight's over, there's no need for extra cruelty."

Looking up, he saw Leon, who came out of his room, holding Seraphina in his arms. His clothes were torn and covered in blood, his sleeves entirely gone with burn marks on the edges. The sleeveless shirt and torn clothes, highlighting his toned muscles and handsome appearance, the blood marks here and there, making him look like a warrior who just fought and won a great victory.

Rio turned his eyes at Seraphina and saw her pale face and shivering hands. Leon was hugging her wrist and she rested her body in his arms.

[Puff pufhaha]

'Shut it, system.' Rio said muting this system who started laughing while emptying his popcorn. He really should keep them in a separate storage ring so this system can't eat them whenever it wants.

"Brother, you're fine." Amelia's voice came from behind him as Rebecca followed her. Ayla was standing there, looking all around the restaurant. The bodies of the guests and the attackers were still lying around. The few people who were still alive were still looking around vigilantly or were crying over any loss they suffered. Her face was pale and filled with shock and fear, this was the first time she had seen something like this, the blood and deaths and all this cruelty was foreign to her. And from Rio's guess she'd need a little time and a few more events to get used to everything.

Rubina was badly hurt during the fight. Alka's were known for fighting openly and straightforwardly, so something like this was new to her too. And since she didn't have any high grade defensive artifacts to protect herself, she got hurt a few times. Though her injuries were mostly healed after drinking a few healing potions, but the blood loss and effects of poison were still affecting her, so Esme was supporting her. Esme's eyes darted around the hall and she noticed the signs of battle that were marking everything.

The fight between golems and his reapers destroyed the surroundings entirely. After all, every attack done on reapers passed through them and hit some other corner of the walls or surroundings. Plus his moves with Scythes which left long stretches of cracks all over the area.

But since Rio cleaned up everything from the floors, there were no signs of anything except destruction.

Seeing everyone gathered a few people who also appeared around them, Rio brushed off the idea of doing his spell now. All these people would only distract him from focusing on anything and it would only be a loss.

But that didn't mean he was planning to hand over this corpse to someone else. If his guess was right and this elf turned out to be somehow related with the villain, responsible for the elven uprising, then it could cause some big plotlines to move forward. That would be detrimental for him, since he'll be stuck in the academy at that time, and things wouldn't be in his control.

"He's an enemy. The one who tried to kill me. And someone, I personally took care of. So don't butt in my affairs and tell me what to do. I don't like it." Rio said to Leon and ignored him.

Rio pressed his hand on the burned corpse's head and whispered an incantation in his heart, "May you find peace in your next life." He said and removed his hand.

Standing up he looked at Amelia and nodded his head. Affirming her that he was fine and there was no need to worry about anything.

He looked at Saisha who was still staring at the corpse. A frown formed on her pretty face, as she sensed some kind of magic energy when Rio was casting his spell. She tried to look for it or search for anything, but found nothing.

Rio moved his hand in front of her, obscuring her vision. And when she met his gaze, he started speaking. "I'll let this one slide." He said showing the cut on his hand which was still bleeding. "For what happened to your guard because of me."

"But next time you try anything that can hurt me, the empress might have to name a new heir."

Rio finished his words coldly and left them. Amelia stared coldly at Saisha and followed him. While Rebecca took a glance at Seraphina's condition and asked about it. With King Maximum's connections, she had visited the Circle of Renewals to learn if she can use her water magic for healing. So she knew and had met Seraphina a few times.

The barrier around the restaurant was still there, some cracks were visible on it now. And it was clear that it would break any time now.

The hunters and adventurers nearby were the ones attacking the barrier, while all the staff of Dorsia was probably somewhere in the church, praying to their Goddess or lying unconscious somewhere.

This is the problem when dealing with churches and gods, their believers and followers would follow all of their commands to praise their gods, no matter the price. Dorsia would suffer a major blow in reputation by not providing support in this incident, but what can they do against their God's wishes.

Hestia didn't want to interfere in any conflicts with other gods and thus chose not to interfere in the attack which was planned by Huitzilopochtli, the God of sun and sacrifice. And so her believers and followers would also not take part in it.

'Blind faith, what a terrifying tool.' Rio couldn't help but mutter to himself, as he realized just how much influence a single order from any God had on this world.magic