Chapter 179
The spiked iron spheres spun fiercely as they flew at Zeke.
CRASH!
Just as Zeke raised his sword to deploy his water force field, the ground beneath his feet shook.
RUMBLE!
As the ground split, Zeke lost his balance and staggered.
The iron spheres Zion threw flew rapidly toward Zeke.
BOOM!
The spheres collided and exploded around Zeke.
BANG!
Sharp debris from the shattered spheres flew everywhere, embedding in surrounding building walls. The solid stone walls were riddled with holes.
Zion panted as he watched the rising dust cloud.
“Huff. Arrogant bastard. How dare you challenge Lord Zion?.”
Having used too much power at once, Zion showed clear signs of exhaustion.
Catching his breath, Zion slowly approached the carriage.
He raised his palm and lifted the carriage into the air.
A sinister smile appeared on his face.
“I can’t let the traitor die easily.”
He shook the carriage back and forth in the air.
THUD! BANG!
Loud noises came from inside as the carriage shook.
Zion clutched his stomach laughing in amusement.
“Hahaha! Dario you bastard! Always acting so high and mighty despite being a pervert. It’s so satisfying!”
After laughing his fill, he slowly clenched his palm.
The specially made transport carriage began to crumple.
Zion frowned at the unexpectedly sturdy carriage.
“A damn carriage dares to resist me?”
As he applied more force, the carriage crumpled faster.
While Zion focused on the carriage.
Suddenly something flew at him.
SWOOSH!
An arrow flew toward Zion.
THUNK!
With all his attention on the carriage, Zion couldn’t dodge in time and took the arrow to his shoulder.
“UGH!”
As the arrow hit Zion and broke his concentration, the floating carriage stopped crumpling and crashed to the ground.
Pulling the arrow from his shoulder, Zion screamed with bloodshot eyes.
“Damn it! How dare you wound my body?!”
More arrows flew at Zion from inside the building.
Zion stretched his hand toward the incoming arrows.
CRASH!
At his gesture, the flying arrows stopped mid-air.
Then chains burst from the ground beneath Zion’s feet.
CLANK!
The chains wrapped around Zion’s ankles.
“EEK!”
Zion tried to break the chains and retreat, but it was useless.
The ground shook and Zeke emerged.
Zeke used another lightning skill on Zion.
CRACKLE!
Powerful lightning traveled through the chains and struck Zion’s body.
“ARGHHHH!”
Taking the lightning head-on, Zion foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
Standing firmly on the ground, Zeke pulled the chains to check Zion’s condition.
‘Not dead yet.’
Realizing a direct fight with Zion would be difficult, Zeke had hidden underground to avoid the sphere explosion, then summoned a Dragon warrior to distract Zion and create an opening.
Zeke injected Hydra poison to paralyze Zion, who was bound by soul-binding chains.
He planned to capture and interrogate him slowly.
After fully subduing Zion, Zeke walked slowly toward the carriage.
He grabbed the crumpled carriage and used gold force to tear off the door.
Inside was a safety cage installed to protect Dario.
As Zeke opened the cage to get Dario out, he noticed something strange.
‘The cage is open?’
CRACK!
Suddenly the ground split again and the entire carriage sank underground.
Zeke quickly kicked off the carriage wall and escaped outside.
WHOOSH!
Using wind force to float, Zeke climbed up the split ground to the surface.
The specially made carriage had fallen underground and was completely crushed.
Back on the surface, Zeke saw someone standing behind the chained Zion.
A figure wearing a skull mask and black clothes with unusually long arms.
Likely the one who’d been controlling the ground this whole time.
CRACK!
The skull mask was trying to break the chains binding Zion’s body.
But the soul-sealing chains couldn’t be broken until Zeke recalled them.
When the chains wouldn’t break, Skull Mask raised his long arms to strike Zion’s head.
Zeke quickly drew a dagger and threw it at Skull Mask.
The dagger imbued with explosive will hit Skull Mask.
BOOM!
The dagger’s explosion stopped Skull Mask’s movement.
In that gap, Zeke pulled the chains to drag Zion toward himself.
Then, red light glowed in Skull Mask’s eyes through the explosion.
Skull Mask’s body turned to sand and melted into the ground.
Zeke swung his sword where Skull Mask disappeared, but only dug into the earth with no trace of him.
Finally giving up the search for Skull Mask, Zeke checked on the unconscious, chained Zion.
Fortunately he was still breathing.
But just as Zeke felt relieved, something rolled toward him.
Zeke looked at the object that stopped at his feet.
It was Dario’s severed head.
******
Many people had gathered at the courtroom of the Draker Court located in Four Seasons Castle.
The influential figures running the Draker family were all present, including Kali Draker, the Silver Knight, Duke Draker, a former Black Knight, the Scarred Knight who was the leader of the Black Wolf Group, and Gareth Draker.
They had gathered to hear testimony from a Nostra Family executive and pass judgment on their crimes.
And the person who requested this trial was none other than Kali Draker.
She had requested Duke Draker and Gareth Draker as guarantors, adding more weight to the judgment.
But a problem arose.
The Nostra Family executive who was supposed to testify did not appear even after the scheduled time.
As people in the courtroom began to murmur as time passed, the judge spoke.
“This is a sacred court. Please remain quiet.”
The judge turned to look at Kali Draker.
Kali Draker’s expression hardened as she shook her head.
William Jiemens, who was attending the trial as an observer, smiled with satisfaction as he watched the expressions of Kali Draker and the judge.
This was because he had just received news from the Nostra Family that Dario had been dealt with.
‘This is good. Unexpectedly, we can land a blow against Kali’s side.’
If Dario had attended as a witness and testified about the Nostra Family’s crimes, Kali who requested the trial would have earned merit, but if she failed to succeed properly, she could face backlash instead.
Currently, Kali and Abel were in an invisible competition for the next head of family succession rights.
Even a small mistake could turn into a big problem.
In particular, Kali’s maternal family and supporting house, the Prana family, unlike the Jiemens who supported Abel, did not have much influence.
In other words, Kali could lose all the merit she had built up with just a small mistake.
As he confirmed Kali’s expression becoming increasingly rigid, William Jiemens slowly rose from his seat.
It was clear that both Kali and Zeke would fail their mission and take a hit from this incident.
At that moment, the judge, perhaps unable to wait any longer, spoke.
“As the witness has not participated in the trial, I declare this court adjourned.”
Just as he was about to lift his gavel to end the trial here.
BANG!
The door opened and someone entered the courtroom.
William Jiemens, who was about to leave the courtroom, was startled.
‘That is…?’
Surprisingly, it was Zeke Draker wearing Draker’s formal uniform, bringing someone with their face covered into the courtroom.
Zeke stood before the judge and greeted with a respectful attitude.
“Honorable Judge. I apologize for being late. I have brought the witness.”
He seated the man he brought in the witness stand.
Then he removed the cloth bag covering his face.
The man sitting in the witness stand was gaunt, but it was clearly Dario Totolino.
William Jiemens was shocked to see Dario’s face.
“This can’t be!”
At William’s shout, people in the courtroom looked at him.
Zeke also turned his head to look at William and said.
“Lord William. Is there a problem?”
William quickly composed himself and sat down with a calm expression.
Then he spoke in a steady voice.
“It’s nothing.”
Zeke turned his head back and said to the judge.
“I request Dario Totolino from the Empire as a witness to the Nostra Family’s organized crimes.”
When the judge looked at Kali Draker, she nodded.
The judge accepted Zeke’s request.
“Dario Totolino. Testify.”
Dario stood at the witness stand and slowly opened his mouth.
“My name is known as Dario Totolino, but that is not true. My real name is Dario Nostra. I am one of the bosses of the Nostra Family.”
As soon as Dario’s testimony began, people started murmuring.
Dario Totolino, the Steel Knight of the Empire, was currently known to have been kidnapped from Helie by unidentified assailants.
But suddenly, he who had been missing appeared and revealed himself as a member of the mafia Nostra Family and stepped forward to testify about the organization’s crimes.
“Dario Totolino is from the Nostra Family?”
“Huh, I can’t believe it.”
Among the murmuring observers, William raised his hand and stood up.
He spoke towards Dario.
“Can you prove that you are the real Dario Totolino. Currently, Dario Totolino is in a state of being kidnapped by a strange group. I don’t quite understand how you suddenly appear at the Draker courthouse to testify.”
Other observers also nodded at William’s words.
Then Kali Draker stood up and spoke to the judge.
“Honorable Judge. Please allow the witness Dario Totolino to prove that he is indeed himself.”
The judge nodded.
Kali approached Dario holding something.
She asked Dario.
“Dario Totolino. Are you really Dario Totolino?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Can you swear that there is not a single lie in those words?”
“I swear.”
Then Kali nodded and showed the crystal she was holding to the jury.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, what I’m holding is an iris information storage device. As you know, when outsiders enter the Four Seasons Castle, everyone must prove their identity with this iris recognition device. When I looked up the records, I found that Dario Totolino had previously been invited to Four Seasons Castle and had entry records. This is Dario Totolino’s record.”
William stood up and asked in response to Kali’s words.
“How can you be certain that the witness is Dario Totolino just with an iris recognition device?”
Then Kali Draker looked at William with a surprised expression and said.
“This is interesting. I believe it’s none other than the Jiemens family that installs and manages these iris recognition devices in Four Seasons Castle. Lord William, are you saying you don’t trust the recognition devices managed by Jiemens?”
At Kali’s words, William’s face showed the realization of his mistake.
If he pushed any further, it could damage his family’s credibility.
He forced himself to maintain composure and spoke.
“I was merely suggesting that we should proceed with absolute certainty.”
As William sat down, she spoke again to the people in the courtroom.
“We will compare this iris data with the witness’s iris through our family’s mages.”
Then the waiting mages entered the courtroom with iris recognition devices.
They held the recognition device up to Dario Totolino’s eyes.
“Recognition complete.”
The mages projected a holographic screen comparing the recognized iris data with the past iris data.
Everyone in the courtroom focused on the holographic screen.
Then the comparison results came out.
<Match>
It was clear evidence that the witness was indeed Dario Totolino.
Seeing the results, William Jiemens widened his eyes.
‘How is this possible?’
The Nostra Family wouldn’t have lied to him.
He glared at Zeke who was sitting quietly in front.
Zeke must have done something during the transport process.
Once it was revealed that he was indeed Dario Totolino, Kali Draker opened her mouth towards him.
“Dario Totolino, no. Dario Nostra. Before you confess your crimes, I have one question to ask first.”
She asked him in a clear voice.
“Which blood-allied house of Draker is colluding with the Nostra Family?”
