The injured and worn-out rank 4s could no longer display their strengths at their peaks.
Yaras and Zed were seasoned fighters. Even though Centaurus had no wars and weakened over the years, these two were men who had traveled all over the Kingdom to hone their strength.
Despite being very weakened and injured, Varian still felt as if a heavy mountain was pressing on his shoulders when facing two of them at once.
The two swung their swords one after another, leaving Varian in a position where defending one sword would definitely leave him vulnerable to another.
Matching their timing, a sphere of green light shot into the air and flew above Varian's head, ready to strike him at a moment's notice.
The ball of poison, however, weakened, was still something that'd instantly kill a peak rank 3.
Varian exhaled slightly. This difficult situation could still be cracked with the right combination of powers.
He couldn't allow the swords to injure him deeply but he could still afford the poison to hit him as long as he controlled where it hit.
"I'm flattered that you all ganged up on me." Varian's lips curled up and instead of blocking the sword attacks that came from the front, his left foot stepped to the side and landed heavily on the ground.
Using the strength from his lower body, he turned while maintaining his torso static and swung his sword.
Varian's sword sliced right through the Duke's arm and cleaved it into two vertically.
""Stop!""
Yaras and Zed forcibly withdrew their attacks and rushed to the Duke's defense.
"Loyal subordinates, heh." Varian sneered and punched above.
The green orb that was crashing down struck his fist instead of hitting his head. But Varian's reckless action surprised everyone, most of all, Lord Jorand.
The thick gaseous poison from the orb drilled right into his fist, instantly melting away his skin, flesh, and bone.
It wanted to dissolve into his bloodstream. Once it did, it'd travel throughout his entire body, destroying everything and killing him without much difficulty.
Rank 4s could slow down the poison and eventually block it out. But while rank 3s could block most of the poison, the little bit that'd slip away would be the one taking their lives.
"Tsk."
Varian wasn't a rank 4 and he wasn't even a proper rank 3. But the poison met a completely unexpected obstacle in his body.
A white and black power glittered in his blood and enveloped the poison. With his strength, Varian was able to block off 50% of the poison.
The remaining 50%, he put through the slivers. Because of his own weak strength, the slivers which otherwise would've destroyed everyone with a thought, could only manage half of the poison at best.
But they did it beautifully.
The order and chaos of the poison changed. In the short term, the poison was slowly coming together instead of dispersing. In the long term, the poison itself was subject to internal chaos and falling apart.
Varian's hand regenerated in a matter of seconds and he swung his sword again.
The Duke had long retreated, heavily regretting his decision to ambush. Had he known that even if he covered up his aura, sound, and smell, he couldn't escape Varian's spatial sense, he wouldn't have tried.
But there were no what-ifs.
With the Duke completely out of the game, Varian faced off with the three rank 4s and went all out.
His first target was Lord Jorand. Instead of fighting these two swordsmen while that guy blasted him with poison, it's better to finish him first.
While Jorand was still strong enough to take down Yaras and Zed with him, it just so happened he had one fatal weakness Varian could exploit.
'Go!'
Varian used his sliver powers and channeled all his powers into the Famine path. It rose from rank 2 and reached the peak of rank 3 and just a bit beyond.
'Red color. Yeah, just like the ones there.' With some simple manipulation of energy and matter, Varian painted the orbs red.
Then, he retrieved a bunch of metallic spheres from his storage ring and teleported these red orbs into them using his space power.
With a painful expression on his face, he said. "You forced me."
Under everyone's confused gaze, the metallic spheres blurred and reached Lord Jorand before he could react.
Then they exploded, revealing the bright red spheres inside.
"No!" The Duke's face paled and he yelled. "Get away fro—"
The red orbs surrounded Lord Jorand, unfazed by his poison, and unleashed their suction of vitality.
Jorand was much stronger than Varian but he just lost too much vitality. If he pushed his body any further, he might collapse. That's why he didn't even fight in melee.
So, when the famine-powered orbs sucked his vitality, he couldn't even put up much of a resistance.
"Arghhh!"
Lord Jorand's vitality drained visible to the naked eye. The middle-aged man's already wrinkled skin now withered and sagged. Then, his eyes grew dull and loose, his muscles weak and slackened.
Like an engine running out of gas, he came to a screeching halt and collapsed powerlessly.
"I…"
He lay on the ground, the life strand inside him that needed a significant part of his power to control now flew out of its bounds and rose into the sky.
The red orbs sucked it away and landed it straight into Varian's palm who put it away nonchalantly.
Unlike Lord Jorand who had a hard time controlling it, he'd just throw it to the slivers and let them 'discipline' the life strand.
"So, you two are left, eh." Varian grinned and cracked his neck.
Yaras and Zed frowned.
"Look, we don't have to do it this way. You can have what you want and leave us to sort out this mess. If things get too messy here, the Kingdom wouldn't be happy either. It's better to make more friends than enemies, no?"
The Duke intervened before the battle could began and gave out a reasonable compromise.
With the life strand out of the way, the shackles on Duke were gone. But his current condition didn't get any better. It just stopped deteriorating. For him to return to even his previous condition would need months of recuperation.
"Your words make too much sense, old man." Varian took a deep look at Cassius who played politics even while laying down powerlessly.
He reminded Varian of those cunning politicians who had a way with their words. Even though he considered himself someone willing to do anything to achieve his goals, Varian found it hard to stomach an enmity.
But to the Duke, all friends and enemies were just tools to help his dream of Duchy's revival.
"I can marry off my daughter to you to show my sincerity. She'll be the ruler of Barix Province and as her husband, it's your dowry."
Lord Jorand who hadn't died yet opened his mouth in shock and stared at his uncle with disbelief.
…What the fuck was this old bastard on about?
Not to mention Lord of Barix himself, even Varian was dumbfounded by this proposal.
"A functioning Duchy and Province are far more valuable than dead and chaotic ones. My word still stands, I'll die sooner or later. Once you hone your ruling skills in the Province, you can inherit the Duchy upon my death. I don't know much about you…but you aren't old. I can rest assured to put the Duchy in your hand because just by being ruled under you, it'll revive."
If there was anyone else in his position, Varian believed they'd have already called Cassius "father-in-law".
"You have that life strand, right? You can also control my life and rest assured. I don't care about anything else, I just want Centaurus to bloom once again." The Duke spread his arms with difficulty and pointed to the starry sky.
"I want Centaurus to once again shine among the stars, to be on the forefront against those Jai devils and leave legends that still live after millennia."
As a neighbor to Centaurus and as someone who fought against perhaps the weakest minion of the Jai Empire which just screwed humanity for centuries, Varian was tempted by his words.
"You said it yourself, you don't care about the morals. What matters is the results." Cassius said.
"…" Varian opened his mouth to refute his words but decided not to. He felt another tremor from the treasury and pushed aside all his thoughts.
"I'll decide this later." Varian swung his sword and pointed it at the two rank 4s. "But after dueling with you two."
Yaras and Zed could no longer feel his killing intent and sighed in relief.
If they were defeated by him, they'd still be spared. If they defeated him, then…
