Caesar's fierce golden eyes gleamed with a chilling killing intent, his violent aura crashing around him like tidal waves.
In the air, a Kamaitachi danced, picking up every detail—enemy numbers, positions—transmitting them back with perfect clarity, sharpening his hearing to the extreme.
"One, two, three... seven, eight. Just this many people?" Caesar sneered. As he stepped forward, a tremendous force rippled through the air.
The muscles hidden beneath his trench coat swelled, writhing like a coiled serpent. An invisible pressure spread across the dock. "Frost and Pompeii… they really underestimate me, don't they?"
"Cut the crap! You're not worth more than this!"
Damon's eyelids twitched. He took a half step back into the crowd and waved his hand sharply. "Everyone, get him! Just leave him barely alive, no need to hold back!"
Bang!
The standoff shattered with a sniper shot.
A hidden gunman, concealed in the shadow of a docked ship, had been waiting for Damon's signal. The moment it came, he pulled the trigger. A custom-made Freyja bullet shot straight for Caesar's forehead.
But Caesar, as if foreseeing the attack, tilted his head slightly. The bullet whizzed past, missing its mark.
The assassins exchanged glances. "All together! Don't hold back!"
As the greatest heir of the Gattuso family, Caesar's reputation preceded him. They all knew how dangerous he was. Normally, he played the role of a commander, a noble, the untouchable successor of a great house.
But that didn't mean this noble prince didn't know how to kill.
On the contrary, a true leader isn't just exceptional in one aspect but in all.
Caesar Gattuso was no exception.
"You think just a handful of you can take me down?"
He took a step forward. The ground beneath his feet cracked as his figure blurred, leaving behind an afterimage.
A violent gust of wind exploded outward, howling like a razor-sharp Kamaitachi dancing around him—singing a deadly song.
His goal was clear—to break out of the encirclement. And the best target? That arrogant Damon!
"Stop him!"
Damon panicked instantly.
He kept saying he wasn't afraid, but his body betrayed him. Bloodline made all the difference!
But… too slow. The others couldn't keep up with Caesar at all.
In the blink of an eye, Caesar broke through the encirclement. His five fingers clamped down like iron, seizing Damon's throat. Then, with brutal force, he slammed him into the ground.
Bang!
The hard concrete shattered into pieces.
Damon's head hit the ground hard, the impact making his vision blur. He wanted to call for help, but with his throat crushed, he couldn't form the words.
"Damon, do you remember what I said?" Caesar held him down, golden eyes burning with rage. His cold voice was like a steel blade, scraping across Damon's skin bit by bit.
"I'm going to break every single bone in your body… one by one."
"N-No... help me!"
Damon's face turned red, then purple from lack of air. Survival instinct kicked in, and he struggled desperately, bloodshot eyes darting toward his companions for help.
"Caesar, let go of Damon!" One of them reacted quickly, pulling out a gun and aiming at Caesar.
But just as he was about to pull the trigger—
Whoosh!
A gust of wind swept past, carrying a bone-chilling cold.
In the next second, his pupils shrank. The gun in his hand… was cleanly severed in half.
The cut was so smooth, it looked like it had been sliced by a water jet.
"I suggest you don't move."
Caesar knelt on one knee, pressing down on the struggling Damon without even turning his head.
It was only then that everyone realized—at some point, dark blue dragon scales had appeared on Caesar's face. His golden eyes burned even brighter, like raging flames, radiating a terrifying aura of violence and cruelty.
"Everyone, don't move!"
Albert shouted urgently, cold sweat dripping from his forehead. "Whatever you do, don't move… It's the wind!"
The wind?
Some people didn't believe it. But the moment one of them took half a step forward, a sharp force slashed across their cheek.
It wasn't just their face—cuts instantly appeared on their clothes, arms, thighs, and body, covering them in countless tiny wounds. Blood quickly soaked their entire body.
It was as if they had stepped into an invisible trap filled with countless razor-sharp blades.
Each wound was small, but if one of them cut their throat, it would still be enough to kill. In fact, they might even be sliced into pieces!
Blood trickled down their face as they froze in terror, eyes wide with fear, not daring to move a muscle.
"Can Kamaitachi do something like this?" the person asked in horror.
Everyone knew that Caesar's Word Soul was Kamaitachi, which enhanced his hearing. But could Kamaitachi really do this?
"This isn't Kamaitachi," Albert, with his vast experience, quickly pieced things together. His breath hitched as he gasped. "It must be a strengthened Word Soul… Vampire Kamaitachi!"
But could the enhanced Vampire Kamaitachi really turn invisible wind into deadly blades and lay them out like an inescapable trap?
Damon, still pinned down, watched the reactions of the others. Fear slowly took over his mind.
His eyes widened in terror, pupils shrinking to needlepoints. His lips trembled as he tried to speak—he wanted to apologize, to beg for mercy, to plead for Caesar to let him go.
But Caesar's only response… was a cruel, cold smile.
Caesar had studied many things—vocal music, painting, sculpture, and other forms of art. He had also learned politics, leadership, and military tactics.
And, of course, in his free time, he had read a few books on interrogation techniques, which he found particularly interesting.
Caesar was always a man of his word. His left hand traced down Damon's skin, feeling for his ribs—then, with a sharp twist, he snapped one.
Crack!
"Ahhh!"
Damon let out a scream of agony.
"Don't be in such a rush. This is only the beginning."
Caesar continued, breaking the second rib, then the third, until every single one was shattered.
At first, Damon's screams were loud and piercing, but as time passed, they grew weaker—until only faint groans remained.
"Caesar, that's enough!"
Albert could no longer bear to watch. He turned his head away, unable to stomach the sight.
"Even if Damon was wrong, he's still a member of the Gattuso family. You shouldn't be torturing him like this!"
"Shut up."
Caesar's icy gaze cut Albert off, forcing him to swallow his words.
That look—it wasn't human. It was the gaze of a dragon.
It reminded Albert of his younger days, of the time he had encountered a second-generation dragon in a fit of rage—merciless, feral, terrifying. That memory alone drained the courage from his body.
"Kill me..."
Damon no longer wished to live. He only wanted Caesar to end his suffering.
"Shhh, don't make a sound."
Caesar stroked his face, his golden eyes cold and merciless.
"Aren't you proud of your bloodline? Then show me—what makes you any different from Bruno?"
What happened next was so gruesome that even the elites of the Gattuso family could hardly bear to witness it.
The wind howled like countless blades slicing through the air. Each gust cut across Damon's body with precise accuracy, stripping away flesh with every pass.
"I once read about an interesting punishment in the history books of an ancient Eastern kingdom."
Caesar's golden eyes burned with a chilling light, but his voice was low and eerie, like a whisper from the depths of the underworld.
"Lingchi—death by a thousand cuts. They say it takes exactly one thousand slices before the prisoner finally dies."
"But I'm really curious… Can someone actually survive a thousand cuts before dying?"
Caesar controlled the flying wind sickles, sending sharp gusts of wind slicing toward Damon with surgical precision, as if wielding a scalpel.
"Let me test that theory on you, Damon."
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
Damon screamed in agony.
He had thought about killing himself countless times. But with his limbs broken and his jaw dislocated, even death was beyond his reach.
And because he was a hybrid, he was naturally stronger than ordinary humans. Even under the torture of a thousand cuts, he still clung to a shred of consciousness.
But to Damon, that only made it all the more cruel.
Before everyone's eyes, the man who had once resembled a human was stripped of flesh piece by piece until only a bloody skeleton remained.
Soaked head to toe in blood, Caesar finally let out a long, cathartic roar, as if releasing all his rage.
But just as he completely let his guard down—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rang out, drowning the crashing waves at the dock.
A massive-caliber anti-materiel bullet, carrying terrifying kinetic force, tore across hundreds of meters in an instant. It moved at multiple times the speed of sound, like a shooting star streaking through the sky.
Caesar didn't even have time to react. The bullet struck his chest with pinpoint accuracy, its sheer force ripping through his dark green scales and blasting a hole the size of a bowl right through him.
Blood sprayed wildly.
Caesar's eyes widened in shock.
Disbelief filled his gaze as he looked toward the direction from which the bullet had come.
********
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