Caught up in a storm 5~

Soon, he emerged from within the fog. “Here he is! He——” someone shouted. Bunny rushed toward the hall, cutting through the strangers at an inhuman speed and fighting in the most minimal and efficient way, throwing daggers in the air and causing more panic.

“Get behind me,” a person with long hair and a shield said while deflecting the daggers. He soon threw his shield at Bunny, who dodged it, followed by a punch which Bunny guarded against while getting thrown back but still on his feet.                                                                        Soon, the long-haired guy closed the distance again, throwing punches at full throttle at Bunny’s vitals. Bunny dodged at the last second and landed a powerful blow to his side, making him breathless, followed by a kick to the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious. Using the guy’s body for landing, Bunny jumped back into the air and rushed at the remaining attackers. While taking out his shard, he was ambushed by a blade from a blind spot and was thrown into the wall.

“Are you really human, you demon bastard?” said Tiger, disappointed that his ambush had failed.                                                                                                                                                            While coughing and standing up, Bunny said, “You better move; I am in a hurry,” wiping the blood from his mouth with a silent gaze.

As Tiger took a step ahead, Bunny was already in front of his eyes with both shards in hand, aiming for his eyes. Tiger quickly took out his blade and parried the attack, jumping back. But Bunny didn’t allow him to leave, quickly following up and swinging the left, then right shard in a unique and different rhythm than the previous one. Tiger released his weapon and held it by its chain. “You better give your all,” Tiger said, starting to swing the blade.

As Bunny took a step forward while closely observing Tiger, his balance was disturbed. “What happened? Was I attacked by a weapon? Maybe a trap? No, is it poison?” As his head suddenly started spinning, he did his best to maintain balance. “Looks like it finally started to take effect,” Bunny thought as he began moving toward the gate connected to the hall. “How was I poisoned? Was I scratched unknowingly?” Tiger fell to the ground while thinking and fainted.

 Not just Tiger, but everyone in the whole building and hall fainted, or so Bunny thought. Bunny released his second breath and took a third while covering his nose and entered the hall.                                                                                                                                                                   The hall was silent, partially covered in fog, with people fainted in their seats, looking like corpses. He headed toward the stage.                                                                                                     “Let me ask you a question,” Vel suddenly came from nowhere and asked with a dead stare, “Did you kill a person with a fuzzy head or a guy with pants?” Bunny, shocked to see someone standing in that poison mist, thought, “What a monster.” He replied, “Nope.” Vel disappeared again and was already back at her seat. 

“Told you those guys are a bunch of idiots but not stupid,” said Guta while still resting.

Bunny got on the floor, took out the shards, and destroys the whole stage in second, exposing the underground area where 23 people were looking at him. “So those are also fake ones,” Guta thought. 

Some were sleeping on beds with girls, others were eating snacks while playing.

“I finally found you… Are you the real kings?” Bunny asked without hesitation.                                  They were shocked to see someone unexpected and were at a loss for words.                            “Looks like His Majesty is more shrewd than I thought,” Bunny said as he entered the underground chamber. He slapped a fake king so hard his tooth fell off, and he soon stood up and knelt with the other kings as Bunny took out his dagger.

 “Thank you, kind world, for letting us enjoy in this hell,” all the fake kings said and bit their tongues.“Stop! I can’t afford to lose you guys,” someone said from the radio placed on the table.                                                                                                                                                            “You brat, stop......get on the stage and come back to the 173rd row. Let me tell you the harsh truth you want to listen…..., don't expect be able to live after hearing it.”

As Bunny passed one row after another, Vel said to Guta, “He is strong and clever; be wary of him,” as Bunny passed her.                                                                                                                      He glanced at Vel and put his hat back on. “Don’t take off those mini nostril masks, even if it irritates you,” Guta said to Vel, who was suffering from itchiness in her nose.

Earlier, at the frisking stage at the entrance, “Sir, do you have any illness?” one of the guards asked Guta, noticing the little nostril mask he had on.                                                                            “I am allergic to dust,” Guta replied with a straight face.                                                                        “Must be hard,” the guard empathized.

The sound of shoes climbing the stairs echoed throughout the hall and stopped as he saw a person who was smoking and standing near his seat. This person, with his timid and weak body, looked into Bunny’s eyes. “Name?” he asked.                                                                                But with no reply, he said, “My name is Christopher, the current king of this hell,” exhaling smoke.                                                                                                                                                          

“I won’t ask you abou you or anything about your history. The strategy and fighting skills you used are of a caliber greater than people with a royal medallion. What do you think? Do you want to enter the military or work for this sector?” he said, coughing a bit and staring deeply.

Bunny pointed the shard toward him ignoring his offer and stared.

 “You are really cruel, blaming that young daughter for the stupid suicide of those fake ones on the stage to hide yourself,” Bunny said to the person claiming to be the king of Sector 23, exhaling and breathing deeply for the fourth time.                                                                         “Just put that ugly thing down. It is about to get interesting... Do you want to hear the story passed among the kings? Come with me for a walk,” said the king with a face smirking.                “Long time ago, we had… heaven... angel...”                                                                                          “Should we follow them?” Vel asked Guta.                                                                                        “Don’t bother,” Guta said.                                                                                                                        Soon after, King Christopher came back and took his seat. “It might be the best way to punish him. Giving pain and execution might make things easy on him,” he mumbled and lit another cigarette.

“Stab!”                                                                                                                                                         “How come a sword is coming out of my stomach?” the old father of Jute said, laughing with tears. “It can’t be helped.”                                                                                                                          “25 years ago...”\

“You must be pretty nervous, right? It is the first time we are having the king at our home,” Jute’s mom said to her father, who looked calm and elegant.

“You are a lucky one,” said Jute’s father as he picked up small Jute in his hands and embraced her in his lap.                                                                                                                                              “What do you want from your papa for your birthday?” her father said while playing with her.

“Looks like His Majesty is here,” said Jute’s mother And soon, the birthday party started. Everyone was enjoying the meal that her mother had lovingly prepared and was serving herself. “You should hire some maids, ma'am,” someone suggested at the party. 

“Oh, I am more than enough,” she replied with a warm smile.                                                            As she was serving, her attention briefly wavered, and she accidentally spilled some water on the king's dress. The room fell silent, the atmosphere thick with tension. The king's face darkened with fury. Without a second thought, he unsheathed his sword. The blade gleamed menacingly in the flickering candlelight.

The mother stood frozen, her eyes wide with shock, as the sword cut through her neck, ending her life in an instant. Blood splattered across the floor, and the room was filled with screams and chaos.

“Lyla?” her husband said in shock, walking to his wife’s head with their sleeping child in hand.

“What a useless maid, can’t even do the job properly,” the king muttered in a foul mood as he left the party quickly.

With rage and tears filling Miller’s eyes, he still managed to take his daughter to her room and then came back. “It can’t be helped, there was a misunderstanding,” said one of the crying guests. While holding the neck of his beloved wife, Miller kept weeping and shouting the whole night.

The next day, all he ever received from the king was a letter of apology saying compensation would be provided and that it couldn’t be helped. This did not affect the fire of revenge burning in Jute’s father.

“What did you feel when you swung that sword without a second thought and extinguished someone’s life?” an old man in despair asked the king.

“I hope you ask for forgiveness from the people on the other side,” he completed his sentence.                                                                                                                                                                            “Hah,” the king said with a laugh.                                                                                                             “It is not my wish to kill but the sword’s will. And there is no such thing as the other side, you fool,” he said as his last bit of cigarette burned with his breath, and he died.