Chapter 58: Absolute Kill

The troops within the city began to scatter. Under the command of the former regimental commander, one faction headed to the rear to intercept reinforcements, while the other moved to the front lines to join forces with Grand Duke Benito’s army in a pincer attack against Marquis Cyd's forces.

Simultaneously, the agents planted by Grand Duke Benito within the city also joined the offensive against Marquis Cyd.

Worse still, the Security Bureau was surrounded by countless mutated guards, rendering it completely dysfunctional.

This sequence of maneuvers possessed an overwhelming, thunderous momentum; Marquis Cyd had been doomed from the very beginning.

Grand Duke Benito's influence within Vulsini did not appear out of thin air; there had been numerous signs of it beforehand.

The defection of several newspaper offices and the massive street protests were all orchestrated by an unseen, powerful hand.

To incite protests of such scale, just how many sleeper agents must Grand Duke Benito have planted in the city?

Yesterday, the city’s soldiers had been vigorously hunting down spies, and all patrol vehicles were deployed to deal with them.

Later on, those same resources were redirected to suppress the rioters.

Just as Marquis Cyd intended to investigate deeper, Grand Duke Benito seized the moment to launch his troops, forcing the Marquis to concentrate all his energy on the front lines, leaving him no bandwidth to address the crisis in the rear.

The manpower left behind for Marquis Cyd's second son was simply insufficient to handle every front simultaneously.

To put it bluntly, even if the Marquis's second son had discovered the massive number of Grand Duke Benito's hidden operatives in the city, there was nothing he could have done!

After all, the exposure of the Grand Duke's men occurred far too close to the timing of his military offensive.

The Grand Duke's combination of strategic blows leveraged the ultimate momentum and an open conspiracy, ensuring that Marquis Cyd could not defend both his front and rear at once.

…………

To rewind time slightly.

The front lines, inside the underground bunker.

Upon hearing the news of Vincent's death in battle, Marquis Cyd was utterly stunned.

"Dead?"

The Marquis muttered to himself, "This fellow, just like that... dead?"

The chief of staff stood behind the Marquis, not daring to speak or offer any comfort at such a moment.

"Did you just fucking say he's dead?" Marquis Cyd drew the pistol from his waist and pointed it straight at the communications soldier.

Right now, the Marquis resembled an enraged lion, ready to tear someone apart at any second.

"Yes..."

Cold sweat poured down the communications soldier's face like rain.

Bang!

Marquis Cyd pulled the trigger, and the communications soldier dropped dead on the spot.

Everyone present felt their hearts skip a beat. They buried their heads back into their work, not even daring to breathe loudly.

"I don't fucking believe it. I'll see for myself!"

Marquis Cyd strode over, kicked an observation officer aside, tossed his pistol onto a nearby ledge, and peered through the optics.

The observation officer, knocked flat onto the ground, didn't dare make the slightest movement, terrified the Marquis might shoot him next.

The underground bunker offered a view of the surface utilizing a periscope similar to those found on vintage submarines.

Marquis Cyd pressed his face against the eyepiece, cranking the gears furiously. Accompanied by a series of mechanical clicks, the periscope extended upward.

Through the lens, the Marquis clearly saw Robin holding a gun as countless men pushed forward.

The periscope's lenses were transcendent artifacts, equipped with long-range magnification capabilities.

Marquis Cyd could clearly see his son sprawled on the ground like a stray dog, his head completely blown open.

Tap, tap, tap...

Overcome with disbelief, Marquis Cyd staggered backward two steps, his sturdy military boots making heavy, dull thuds against the floor.

"Didn't... didn't he say he had absolute certainty?"

"Didn't he claim he would win?"

Though Marquis Cyd had never thought much of this son and showed him little paternal affection,

he was his son nonetheless!

"Speak!"

Marquis Cyd whipped around, lunged forward two steps, grabbed the chief of staff by the collar, hoisted him up, and roared furiously, "Didn't he say he was certain of victory?"

"Robin is just an ordinary person! How the hell did he kill Vincent?!"

"Those explosive rounds, freezing rounds, and incendiary rounds he used—how did he fire them?"

"Without magic, how did he trigger those things?"

Until just moments ago, Marquis Cyd had only been listening to verbal combat reports.

Upon hearing that Robin was capable of using explosive ammunition, he had been utterly astounded.

He never imagined that Robin had somehow become an Awakened transcendental!

Following that came a rapid succession of disasters.

Although Vincent and Robin's clash seemed prolonged, from the moment they engaged to the very end, very little time had actually passed—most of it consumed simply by Vincent traveling to the location.

"Even if Robin suddenly became an Awakened one, how much mana could he possibly possess? How fast could his speed be? How great could his strength be? Speak! Tell me!" Marquis Cyd pressed forward until he shoved the chief of staff against the heavy concrete wall.

Thud!

A dull echo reverberated from the wall.

"Marquis, something is wrong! There's a traitor!" The chief of staff knew the Marquis too well; fearing he would become the target of misplaced rage, he quickly sought a scapegoat. "Robin clashed with our men when he escaped. Whoever filed the report must have deliberately concealed the truth about Robin!"

"Right, right! A traitor! There's a traitor!" As if finding an outlet for his fury, Marquis Cyd released the chief of staff and barked the order, "Go! Bring me everyone who fought against Robin earlier, from privates all the way to the regimental commanders!"

Boom!

Right at that moment, a massive explosion shook the vicinity.

Marquis Cyd froze in place.

For the shockwave to be audible down here, just how close was that explosion?

That's impossible!

I saw it clearly just a moment ago—the enemy forces were still far away. For their artillery to reach this far, how much ground would they have to conquer, and at what cost?

Could it be... an airstrike?

An airstrike in a civil war? Has Grand Duke Benito lost his mind?

"Where did that explosion come from?"

A deep sense of foreboding gripped Marquis Cyd.

"Report!"

A communications soldier operating a console stammered out his words while listening to updates from the surface: "A riot has broken out in the city! Enemy troops have appeared on the streets of Vulsini!"

"What?" Marquis Cyd was profoundly shocked. "In our rear?"

"Damn it, what is Kevin doing?"

Kevin Ravenell was Marquis Cyd's second son.

"Report!"

Another communications soldier spoke up, swallowing hard without even daring to look back at the Marquis: "The city command post has fallen, and Battalion Commander Marshall has mutinied."

"Marshall—he was the one in charge of internal city security! When Robin escaped, it was his men who engaged Robin's group," the chief of staff quickly reminded him.

"A traitor... a traitor! That bastard actually mutinied? He betrayed me? He betrayed the kingdom?" In utter disbelief, Marquis Cyd staggered backward until he collapsed heavily into his chair.

The loss of the city interior meant that whereas they had previously been holding a fortified city with endless streams of reinforcements to counter the Grand Duke, they were now caught in a two-front pincer attack.

All the artillery positions I deployed are facing the front lines. Is there even enough time to swing the guns around now?

Marquis Cyd didn't even stop to consider whether shifting the artillery fire would result in countless civilian casualties.

The chief of staff remained silent.

Anyone with even a shred of military common sense knew what being caught in a pincer movement implied.

"Report!"

"What is it this time?!" Marquis Cyd snatched up the pistol he had cast aside moments earlier and aimed it straight at the communications soldier.

"N—nothing..."

"I'm telling you to speak! Do you believe I'll shoot you right now?"

"Th—the Security Bureau has fallen. Young Master Kevin issued a warning, and then... communications went dead..."