"Where is the corpse?" Prince Randal growled.
"It is as I said," The Voidreaper firmly pacified. "Identity first. Rui Quarrier later."
"Why should we trust you'll keep your word?" Princess Ranea glared at him.
"Do you trust the sixteen Martial Masters behind you?" The Voidreaper tilted his head. "That's all you need. I cannot violate my agreement, not if I want to get out of here alive. But you can. You have all the leverage and I don't. That is why you will fulfill your end of the agreement first, as agreed. Then, Rui Quarrier will be delivered to you."
"We cannot let you leave without providing the body after you have seen our identity," Princess Rafia remarked. "There is no guarantee you'll return with the body."
The Voidreaper stared at her. "I am not leaving to fetch the body. The body is coming here."
His eyes flashed across them. "If you want the body, you'll have to divulge your identity. You'll never get the body from me otherwise. You can even threaten or torture me all you want. But you will never get the body."
His eyes were widened.
A glint of insanity sparkled across them.
"Reveal your identities. And I will give you the body. This is what we had originally agreed upon. I have no need for the body. It is useless to me. It only serves as insurance that you will follow through with your end of the agreement. After that, it is useless. I will readily fulfill my agreements. I have a reputation of credibility to maintain. Reputation is everything in the Underworld."
His voice was clear, firm, and even earnest. None of the Martial Masters could detect even a hint of deception.
"How long will it take to come here?"
"Not long,"
The four royals glanced at each other.
He had probably handed it over to a trusted subordinate outside of the town.
It was possible for them to deploy a Martial Master to scan the city, but…
It was better to just go through with the agreed plan.
No fuss, no hassle.
Torture, threats, blackmail. All these were extremely time-consuming affairs of extracting information. The probability of something going wrong by the time they extracted information from a veteran assassin increased the longer they took.
The quickest way of getting the body was agreeing to his demands.
He was right; after all, there was no way he could escape. It would take more than sixteen Martial Masters supporting him to ensure that he ddin't die while trying to escape.
On top of that, his death was certain.
Come what may, he was not leaving here alive today.
"Alright," Prince Randal narrowed his eyes. "However, if you deceive us...your death will be painful, excruciating, and long. No, we won't even let you die. We will stuff your body with healing and rejuvenation potions forever. You will suffer for eternity."
The Voidreaper nodded.
Prince Randal exchanged glances with each of his siblings before heaving a sigh.
He took off his mask, revealing his identity.
The Voidreaper simply stared for several seconds.
"I am willing to recognize you as one of the alleged clients who commissioned me," The Voidreaper nodded.
He turned to the remaining three, waiting.
They took off their masks one by one, bearing their identities to him.
The Voidreaper nodded. "Pleasure doing business with each of you."
"This will be the last time I ask. If I don't like your answer, you will not leave here alive," cold fury flashed on Prince Randal's face. "Where is Rui Quarrier?"
"Where is Rui Quarrier?" The Voidreaper echoed his question. "Funny you should ask because…"
His tone grew enormously perilous.
"He has been standing in this room the entire time."
Master Reina snapped her finger, releasing the many grade-
ten Master-level misdirection and stealth techniques she had been simultaneously applying this entire time.
Not to herself, of course.
She had reached a higher stage of mastery; she could freely apply them to anybody anywhere, anyhow, within her sensory range.
What followed next was bound to sear itself as the most horrifying moment in the entirety of Prince Randal's life.
Every night from that moment on, he was bound to get nightmares of the things he saw after those words were uttered.
What followed next was something that was bound to change each of the four royals forever.
Pure horror emerged on Prince Randal's face, crumpling with shock.
Princess Raemina shook in her seat, physically impacted by what followed the Voidreaper's words.
Princess Ranea understood the true meaning of fear that day as chilling terror gripped her heart.
Even the notoriously rational, logical, and unemotional Princess Rafia was not unmoved. For the first time in her life, her expression morphed into one of shock.
After all, an event that seemed to defy causality ensued.
"Man, the Martial Union is going to love this when I show it to them," Rui Quarrier remarked with an excited smirk as he held a premium hand-held omnidirectional recording device.
Not only was he alive.
He had appeared out of nowhere.
Behind the Voidreaper.
In that instant, the four royals, the sixteen Martial Masters, and Sierra had each gotten metaphorical heart attacks.
Sierra might have gotten a real one, though, considering she fell unconscious.
None of them could move.
They each stared at Rui with unadulterated, unfiltered, unhindered, unhampered, uninhibited, and unreal raw shock and horror.
Not only had they seen a dead man come back to life.
They had seen him appear out of thin air.
"Hehehe, nice, nice," Rui nodded, chuckling. "I'm going to take a frame of your shocked faces and hang it on my wall before I go to sleep.
His words broke them out of their reverie.
"KILL HIM!!!!!!!!!" Prince Randal bellowed, standing up. "KIIIIIIIIILLL HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMNMNMNHNMGHHHHEEEBAHSHEUUUH!!!!
1!!!!!!1!!!!!!!11!!!!1!!!"
It was an impulsive, emotional decision.
Yet the Martial Masters behind him obeyed. Time slowed down to a crawl in their vision.
An enormous amount of bloodlust converged on Rui.
They were to kill him.
He was to die.
Yet Master Reina was faster. She flashed, blurring even to the reflexes of the Martial Masters who were lashing out at Rui, much to their greatest shock.
SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!
The Martial Masters froze in horror as they turned back, glancing at their marks.
…DRIP DRIP DRIP DRIP
