The carriage rolled forward.

  Ryusei sat across from the noble buyer.

  The man’s hands trembled as he held the reins, knuckles white, breath shallow. Every time the carriage creaked, he flinched as if expecting death to fall on him.

  “Eyes forward,” Ryusei said calmly.

  The man obeyed instantly.

  The elf sat beside Ryusei, wrapped in a large cloth he had given her. She hadn’t spoken since they started riding the carriage—only watched, listening.

  —

  The estate came into view after an hour’s ride.

  A place of wealth, influence, and absolute secrecy.

  “This is it,” the noble buyer whispered. “My… my residence.”

  Ryusei stepped down first.

  The gates opened with a single gesture from the noble buyer—recognition runes reacting to his presence. Inside lay manicured gardens hiding in tall gates beneath beauty. Too quiet. Too controlled.

  The estate gates closed behind them.

  The sound echoed too long.

  Ryusei stood still for a moment, his eyes sweeping across the grounds. Servants moved in silence—maids with lowered heads, stiff movements, eyes trained to the floor.

  Ryusei felt it immediately.

  The way they flinched when the noble buyer passed.

  The way their shoulders tightened when his gaze lingered too long.

  Ownership.

  The noble buyer noticed Ryusei watching and forced a nervous smile. “They’re… well trained.”

  Ryusei said nothing.

  The halls were lavish—too lavish. Silk curtains. Gold inlays. Art depicting dominance disguised as taste. Every step deeper into the estate felt like walking through a lie built on suffering.

  A maid passed too close.

  The noble buyer’s eyes followed her.

  Ryusei saw it.

  That look.

  The same one bullies had worn back in his world when they realized no one would stop them.

  His jaw tightened.

  Filthy, he thought.

  They reached the hidden passage behind the tapestry.

  The noble buyer hesitated.

  Ryusei’s gaze sharpened.

  “Open it,” he said.

  The noble buyer obeyed.

  The stairs descended.

  And the air changed.

  It was damp. Cold. Heavy with a stench that wasn’t just blood or sweat—but despair. The kind that seeped into stone and never left.

  Ryusei stepped down.

  Then froze.

  Cells.

  Guards stood inside the chamber—not stationed, not alert.

  Laughing.

  One shoved a chained demi-human to the ground and kicked them when they didn’t rise fast enough.

  Another dragged someone by the arm, ignoring their muffled cries.

  Ryusei's face darkened.

  Further down, the body of a woman lay curled in a corner, unmoving, while a guard argued about whether they were “still useful.”

  Ryusei can't contain his anger anymore.

  The noble buyer’s voice trembled. “They’re… they’re being dealt with. You don’t understand—”

  Ryusei moved.

  The guards didn’t even notice him until the pressure hit.

  The air thickened.

  Their laughter died mid-breath.

  Knees slammed into stone as invisible weight crushed them down.

  [Authority — Suppression Field: Absolute]

  ?Status: Immobilized

  Ryusei walked forward, boots echoing.

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  He looked at each guard.

  And they understood.

  Some screamed. Some begged. One vomited.

  Ryusei didn’t care.

  He turned—slowly—to the noble buyer.

  The man was shaking so violently he couldn’t stand.

  “This,” Ryusei said quietly, voice shaking not with fear—but fury, “is what you do with your wealth!?”

  “I—I—!” the noble buyer trembling in fear.

  Ryusei grabbed him by the collar and forced his face toward the cells.

  “Look.”

  The noble buyer screamed as Ryusei forced awareness into him.

  Every bruise.

  Every broken stare.

  Every person was reduced to an object because the coin made it permissible.

  “You walked these halls,” Ryusei said. “You slept above this. You ate while this happened.”

  He released the noble buyer.

  The man collapsed, retching.

  Ryusei turned back to the cells.

  “Hey Lumielle, could I ask you a favor?”

  The elf nodded.

  “Could you free the slaves and tell others to help free other slaves too?, don't worry does guards won't hurt you or any other slaves, I've already dealt with them with my Authority”

  Ryusei put his hand on top of Lumielle's head and smiled to ease her fear from what she had seen.

  “Hm” Lumielle responded with a closed mouth hum to show she was agreeing.

  “You can easily remove those collars because the suppression runes have already died,” Ryusei said softly.

  Lumille ran to a nearby cell to start freeing the slaves.

  Ryusei turned to the buyer.

  The noble buyer was startled.

  “Do–do what you want, just don't kill me!” He begged.

  Ryusei looked back again at Lumielle, who was freeing the slaves. As the collars and chains clinked, some of these slaves were crying while others could not believe it.

  “It's over,” Ryusei said.

  As Ryusei moved toward the freed prisoners, the man’s shaking stopped.

  Slowly.

  His eyes—once filled with terror—hardened.

  “You think…” the man rasped, pushing himself up, “…you think this ends with words?”

  Ryusei froze.

  The noble buyer slammed his palm into the stone.

  A hidden sigil carved, glowed beneath the floor.

  Ryusei felt it.

  Mana.

  It wasn’t just dense—it was wrong. Twisted, layered, stitched together from too many sources. The air in the lower chamber vibrated, stone humming as if the estate itself was screaming.

  The noble buyer laughed.

  A high, cracking sound that bounced off the walls.

  “You really thought I have no plan, I'm just buying time for this moment” he hissed.

  Chains snapped as a towering figure rose—then kept rising. Its body was an amalgamation of muscle, armor plates grown directly from bone, and sigils burned so deep into its flesh they glowed from inside. Two extra arms unfolded from its back, each ending in different weapons—one a blade fused to bone, the other a mass of condensed mana barely contained.

  Behind it, the walls slid open.

  More figures stepped out.

  Controlled slaves—but altered. Their veins glowed, eyes empty, bodies reinforced by forced enchantments that pushed them far beyond natural limits.

  Ryusei’s breath hitched.

  “…How many lives did you ruin to make this”

  Ryusei stated firmly—anger simmering just beneath the surface.

  The noble buyer spat and grinned. “Enough.”

  The chimera roared.

  The sound alone shattered nearby cells, sending debris crashing down. Freed prisoners screamed and scattered.

  Ryusei moved instantly—placing himself between them and the monster.

  “Run all of you! Lumielle guide them into the exit of the underground.”

  “I guess Lumielle has freed all of them” Ryusei thought to himself.

  Lumielle stopped and looked back at Ryusei.

  “Run Lumille, guide them outside, Don't worry I'll be fine.

  "Lumielle hesitated for a moment, then mumbled quietly—”Ryusei, be careful. I'll wait for you outside.”After that, she quickly turned and ran off.

  The chimera charged.

  It crossed in a blink, all four arms striking at once.

  Ryusei barely raised his arms in time.

  The impact was catastrophic.

  The floor imploded beneath his feet, stone exploding upward as he was driven through three walls and slammed into the foundation of the estate.

  [Regeneration: Active]

  Ryusei coughed, blood splattering the stone.

  It actually hurt me.

  That realization sent a spike of fear through him—not of the enemy, but of what it would take to stop it.

  The chimera didn’t wait.

  It ripped free chunks of the ceiling and hurled them like siege weapons.

  Ryusei rolled, barely avoiding the first. The second clipped him, crushing his shoulder and sending him skidding across the ground.

  “…I can’t just overpower it,” Ryusei muttered, pushing himself up. “If I do— this entire estate could possibly collapse.”

  The controlled slaves attacked next.

  Three at once.

  Their movements were fast. No hesitation. No fear.

  Their attack strikes into Ryusei’s arms and sides—not deep, but enough to draw blood. He twisted, deflecting, redirecting, knocking them away without killing blows.

  One grabbed him from behind.

  The chimera seized the opportunity.

  Its arm came down like a hammer.

  Ryusei barely shoved the slave aside before the strike landed—on him.

  The shockwave tore the chamber open, collapsing half the underground structure.

  Ryusei was buried under rubble.

  Darkness swallowed him.

  For half a second—

  Then—

  The stone shattered outward as Ryusei rose.

  His breathing was heavy now.

  The chimera staggered back, reassessing.

  “You’re strong,” Ryusei admitted, wiping blood from his mouth. “Stronger than anything I’ve faced since coming here.”

  The noble buyer screamed from behind the barrier.

  “Kill him! Break him! I want to watch him beg!”

  Ryusei clenched his fists.

  If I unleash everything… there won’t be an estate left above us and those slaves and Lumielle I don't want them to be caught up in the impact.”

  The chimera lunged again—faster.

  Ryusei met it halfway.

  They collided.

  Fist against blade.

  Ryusei felt his arm nearly tear from its socket as the chimera overpowered him inch by inch.

  His boots carved trenches into the stone.

  “I’m losing the contest of force.”

  “Tch, it's such a hassle to hold back”

  He shifted.

  “Here, taste this”

  Instead of pushing back, he gave way—letting the chimera overextend.

  In that instant, Ryusei drove his knee into its core, right where the control sigils intersected.

  The sigils shattered.

  The chimera screamed.

  Its strength collapsed.

  Ryusei caught the falling mass, grunting under its weight, and lowered it to the ground.

  The remaining controlled slaves froze—then collapsed as their bindings failed.

  The noble buyer stared in disbelief.

  “You… you..,” he's trembling. “You!!”

  He walked toward the noble buyer.

  Each step felt heavier than the last.

  “DONT COME NEAR ME!” The noble buyer screamed.

  “You're really pissing me off,” Ryusei continued, voice trembling with restrained fury.

  Ryusei punched the barrier with enough force to break it.

  Then he grabbed the noble by the collar and slammed him into the wall—hard enough to break stone.

  The man coughed up blood and his eyes became white.

  He knocked the noble buyer unconscious with a single controlled strike.

  Ryusei staggered back.

  His regeneration finished knitting the last of his wounds.

  But the exhaustion stayed.

  He looked at his hands.

  Shaking.

  He feared what would happen if he did not hold back.

  Silence settled over the estate.

  Not peace.

  Aftermath.

  The underground chambers were barely standing—walls cracked, ceilings sagging, Dust drifted slowly through the air like falling ash.

  Ryusei stood among the fallen.

  The guards were alive—every one of them. Unconscious, broken, groaning because some of them got caught in a fight. The noble buyer lay slumped against the wall, his once-pristine robes torn and stained beyond recognition.

  Ryusei stared at them for a long moment.

  Then he moved.

  One by one, he gathered them.

  He dragged the guards outside, binding them with reinforced chains stripped from the estate’s own armory. Magic, steel, and authority seals layered together—enough to ensure they wouldn’t wake up violent, but would wake up alive.

  The noble buyer was last.

  Ryusei looked down at him, golden eyes unreadable.

  “You’ll face the world without power,” he said quietly.

  He bound him tighter than the rest.

  Then Ryusei turned away.

  The dawn was beginning to bleed into the sky.

  The estate looked peaceful from the outside.

  That made him sick.

  He moved through the halls again.

  Vaults opened at his touch.

  Gold spilled across marble floors. Jewels embedded in velvet trays. Contracts—names, prices, dates—documents that recorded lives like inventory.

  He gathered gold, gemstones, sealed letters of credit—items that could be sold, exchanged, or used to start over.

  Then he went back outside.

  The freed slaves , maids and servant were scattered outside—some sitting in silence, some holding each other, some staring blankly as if waiting for the world to correct itself and drag them back into chains.

  Ryusei approached them.

  “This is not compensation,” he said, voice steady but firm. “Nothing can repay what was taken from you.”

  He placed pouches of gold into trembling hands.

  “But this is freedom’s first step.”

  One by one, he gave them what he could.

  Enough to leave the city.

  Enough to eat.

  Enough to choose.

  Some cried.

  Some refused at first.

  Some stared at him in disbelief, as if expecting the catch.

  The elf stood beside him, watching.

  When the last pouch was given, he walked the halls one final time.

  The art.

  The silk.

  The polished lies.

  He fetched the sword from the underground and came back to the halls.

  “This place should never exist again,” he murmured.

  His grip on the sword tightened.

  “Impact Resonance.”

  He slashed.

  A single, brutal horizontal arc.

  A colossal wave of invisible force detonated from the blade, ripping forward. The air shattered first—compressed so violently it exploded into a deafening shockwave that flattened everything in its path.

  The estate didn’t collapse.

  It was obliterated.

  Walls were erased mid-existence, pulverized into dust before they could even fall. Towers vanished, torn apart layer by layer as the resonance tore through stone, steel, and flesh alike. The ground split open in a massive trench that carved straight through the estate’s foundation, swallowing buildings whole.

  The lower chambers—cells, cages, torture halls—were crushed instantly, compacted and buried under thousands of tons of collapsing earth.

  A thunderous roar rolled across the land as the shockwave continued outward, flattening forests beyond the estate walls, uprooting trees like blades of grass.

  Then—

  Silence.

  Where the estate once stood was nothing but a vast ruin.

  Ryusei stood alone at the edge of the devastation, sword lowered, its blade still humming faintly—as if disappointed it had only been used once.

  The slaves stared in horror and awe.

  One of them fell to their knees.

  “…A single slash,” someone whispered.

  “…He destroyed everything with one slash.”

  Ryusei threw away the sword.

  His arm trembled—not from exhaustion, but from the weight of what this body could do so easily.

  “This body is literally a walking disaster,” he thought.

  He turned away from the ruins.

  Ryusei glanced at Lumielle, then abruptly ran forward and hugged him.

  “Why?” Ryusei asked, giving a small smile.

  “I'm glad I met someone like you, you're not just powerful but you're a kind hearted person too” Lumielle looked up at Ryusei with teary eyes.

  “Wait, why are you crying?” he asked softly.

  She shook her head, “No, I'm just simply happy that you went through all this, just for me and the slaves.”

  One of the slaves yelled, “You two are perfect together!”

  Ryusei was startled.

  Lumielle's cheek flushed, “Eh!? Ah–”

  She spun around, hand instinctively rising to cover her blushed face.

  Ryusei gave an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head.

  The other slave laughed.

  Their laughter echoed through the ruined estate, as if nothing had ever happened.