Then he snatched the phone from Ayela’s hand and pressed it to his ear, his expression dark enough to make even Ayela flinch next to him. She immediately got scared.
"Say what you were saying just now... I dare you to." His voice rumbled through the speaker as he began floating upward, the mangled body of Supreme Man was dropping now and Lucius grabbed to him by the leg or rather the bone that remained.
The person on the other end stuttered so hard the sound cracked. "Si... Si... It isn’t my or—"
Lucius didn’t even let him finish.
He crushed what remained of Supreme Man’s leg right next to the phone, the sharp crack echoing into the speaker so loudly that the man on the other side let out a small, pathetic yelp.
The entire group watching from above froze at how casually Lucius was escalating the threat level.
"What did you say your name was," Lucius continued as he switched hands on the corpse, "and why did you think you could shout at me?"
He floated higher, rising above the mountain’s cliff edge until the wind blew violently around him.
"I was... trying to get your attention, sir! It won’t happen again, but the President has told you to—"
"Shut the fuck up." Lucius’s tone sharpened so suddenly that even Vanessa’s expression trembled. "I’m a citizen, not your dog. And since I don’t work for you, you better tell me who the hell you are before I decide to treat you worse than him."
There was a moment of silence so thick it felt physical.
Then the man cleared his throat in the smallest, most humbled sound Lucius had ever heard. "I-I’m a member of the High Council... the Runenforscher Clan Head."
’Eh?’ Lucius blinked and some of his fury thinned out.
The Protagonist’s father was actually on this call? And he sounded like a mouse? It was disappointing more than anything. ’These guys are really terrified of me... hilarious.’
He rose to the top of the mountain and dropped what remained of Supreme Man on the ground... a sizzling, half-charred, barely living figure that twitched only because of his extremely durable body.
Lucius didn’t even look at him as he spoke again.
"Runen whatever, I don’t care about the full name. This man attacked me on stream and tried to take advantage of my women." His voice grew colder to the point the air itself seemed to tighten. "If something like that happened to someone you considered yours, would you sit there and take it like a good little boy?"
Silence again.
Lucius narrowed his eyes. "Answer me."
"I... I wouldn’t..." The Clan Head’s trembling voice was barely audible.
"Great. Then we’re on the same page." Lucius looked down at Supreme Man without emotion. "Your order for me to spare him is invalid now..."
He paused deliberately and the councilman audibly gulped.
"Unless..."
Lucius tapped Supreme Man’s ruined head with the toe of his shoe.
He was thinking, not about morality or justice, but about profit.
’He already looks like someone chewed him and spat him out. Killing him would be too quick... and getting something from the Council is far more interesting.’
He wasn’t trying to kill the bastard in the first place. Extreme violence was simply the most convenient negotiating tool and Lucius was always looking for a chance to get something extra out of them.
The Clan Head leaned closer to his microphone. "Unless...?"
"I want one hundred billion royals transferred to me," Lucius said without hesitation. "Immediately."
There was the sound of someone choking on nothing.
"And second," Lucius continued without giving him time to breathe, "anything I promised the Council or any task you expected me to do for the sake of the ’country’ is now invalid. I’m not about to help a nation that can’t even keep their own S-ranks under control."
He stared off the cliff, letting the wind push his hair back as he spoke. "Third... I want unrestricted travel. I should be able to visit any country I damn well please. You’re not locking me in the country forever."
’Mostly I want the money and the vacations,’ Lucius thought. Back on Earth, he never got to travel thanks to his heart condition. Now he had infinite mobility. It was only right to abuse it.
On the other end of the phone, the Clan Head tried to gather himself. "I don’t thi—"
"You don’t get to think." Lucius cut him off sharply. "Relay my demands to the entire Council. You have thirty minutes. If you fail, I will resume the stream and kill him. Cleanly. On camera."
He smiled slightly. It wasn’t pleasant. "And if you try to restrain me... remember every country in the world is begging me to join them. I can teleport wherever I want. Avalon would welcome me with open arms."
The Clan Head made a strangled noise that Lucius interpreted as fear.
"Ple—"
Lucius ended the call without giving him the luxury of finishing the sentence.
He tossed the phone down toward Ayela, who scrambled to catch it, then turned to the group watching him with wide eyes.
"What are you guys waiting for?" Lucius asked, as if he hadn’t just threatened a world government.
He pointed casually toward the open field. "Make camp and prepare a stake where I can hang this guy off."
Everyone immediately got to work.
...
Lucius soon wore a new set of clothes and adjusted the collar of his black shirt while checking himself in a reflection on a smooth piece of metal.
His suit looked sharp, clean, and completely out of place considering the brutal torture stake standing only a few meters away.
’I can��t believe I forgot I had several pairs of clothes in my inventory,’ he thought as he tugged at his sleeves and glanced toward the blood-forged sword Vanessa made for him a few minutes earlier.
It rested beside him on a slab and glowed like a living thing.
The girls had gone far beyond what he asked.
They hadn’t just tied Supreme Man’s mangled body to a pole... they tied him to a wooden cross, reinforced with mana and nailed into the ground.
The Saintess had healed him, but no one touched his destroyed crotch. Even she refused.
Lucius checked his phone again.
There was still no deposit, not a single change in the numbers.
’The council must think I’m bluffing,’ he thought with irritation building. He wasn’t bluffing. If they didn’t pay, he’d resume stream and kill Supreme Man publicly. And if the council tried to retaliate? He could teleport to another country instantly.
Avalon would welcome him with open arms for example.
"Luna," he called out. She sat at a stone table with Erika and Vanessa, finishing a late lunch. "The glasses. Start stream."
She tossed him the holo-glasses and tapped her wristband.
The P40 drone hummed to life and ascended, swinging across the campsite until it locked onto Supreme Man’s limp body hanging on the cross.
[Stream Starting...]
[@Moonb3rry: Wait I thought Lucius spared him??]
[@DripSword: Nah kill him already bro 💀]
[@RoxanneReal: He deserves execution tbh]
[@JuniperShade: Didn’t he try to assault Saintess?? Finish the job!]
[@OniViper: Supreme Man is DONE 😂]
Lucius walked into frame, straightened his black suit, and looked calmly at the drone.
"Well, you see," he said, "during our last stream, I got a call from a Council member. And not just a call... he shouted at me. Imagine shouting at me, telling me to stop attacking Supreme Man." Lucius raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, was I the one who attacked first, or am I the victim here?"
[@SkyFang: YOU WERE THE VICTIM 😭]
[@PurityKnight: Supreme Man attacked first, facts.]
[@BBQPrincess: VICTIM LMAO don’t let them gaslight you!!]
[@SpartanJay: Lucius literally got ripped in half wtf]
[@HealerLuv: Supreme Man = jail immediately]
[@Vannyluv: KILL HIM FOR LUNA]
[@WindGirlies: The council is USELESS 😭😭]
[@HotTakeMage: compensation IS NEEDED]
Lucius nodded as if the comments were simply confirming his internal logic.
"Exactly. I was the victim. And I told the Council man that he needs to compensate us. Because imagine the number of people who could have been hurt. Supreme Man tried to traumatize Luna and the rest."
[@LunaNationOfficial: PROTECT LUNA AT ALL COSTS 😤]
[@SaintessSupremacy: Council dumb as hell for this]
[@VRoom: Lucius should sue the entire country omg]
[@FlameBoi23: BRO GIVE HIM HIS MONEY 💀]
[@DewdropPink: Pay him or perish tbh]
[@PlasmaDancer: Compensation minimum 100 bil tbh 🙏]
[@LunaSideEye: Council L TAKE 😭]
"That’s right," Lucius continued smoothly.
"Everyone deserves compensation. But the council decided not to send the little money I asked for everyone. So..." He shrugged. "I’ll continue what I was doing."
Wood spikes burst from the ground, forming seven Lucius clones. Each clone held a blood-weapon vibrating with thin threads of space.
They surrounded Supreme Man like executioners.
’I can hit anywhere that isn’t instantly fatal,’ Lucius thought coldly. ’Stall a few minutes and then finish him.’
The clones lifted their weapons.
"Burst."
The seven blades stabbed into Supreme Man at once. His healed torso ruptured, flesh tearing open in several directions as he screamed and lurched forward against the restraints.
Steam rose from his wounds where space-vibrations shredded his muscle fibers.
[@IronValkyrie: AYYYYY 😭😭 THE BRUTALITY]
[@YoBiscuit: HE DESERVES IT IDC]
[@HaileyShade: He really stabbed him 7 TIMES 💀]
[@ScytheLvr: Bro is getting PACKED LIVE ON STREAM]
[@NeonTide: THIS IS CINEMA 🍿]
[@ZeroPulse: more more MORE]
[@PinkJellie: The clones omg I’m screaming]
[@MageDad: Supreme Man about to die fr]
[@StarlightKnight: THIS MAN SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN S-RANK]
[@BroccoliCult: PLEASE DO IT AGAIN 😭🔥]