Rise of the Crusader

176 Finale

Willock was the first to turn around, and as he came in contact with Raphael’s cold and ruthless gaze, he had cold feet immediately.

Bang!

As the sound echoed through the room, what came after was Willock slamming into the wall of the room.

Thud!

He stumbled to the ground afterward with a hole that kept increasing in size on his chest.

“Y-”

Sonia was quick to move from where she was, however, she had only taken a couple of steps when Raphael appeared in her front.

With a grim-looking owl on his shoulder, there was a strange aura excluding out of his body.

Sonia gulped, she had several questions on her mind, such as how he was able to survive her power, but because of the overbearing demeanor he had around him, she found herself incapable of speaking.

.....

Meanwhile, Raphael was aware of the state Sonia was in, but that still didn’t put a smile on his face, instead, he was even grimmer around her.

“You must be wondering how I was able to survive the death kiss,” Raphael spoke in a soft tone.

And despite the volume of his voice, it still got to the ears of the four people in the form. It, however, left a question mark on all of their faces as they glanced at one another.

Before the mission, the academy had provided them with the information they needed to know about Sonia, one of which includes her power, and those who were close to her.

They were well-informed about Sonia, and when it came to the kiss of death, they all swore to avoid it.

“It’s not that difficult,” Raphael said with a sneer on his face.

Sonia’s body then shook as right after Raphael spoke, he placed his hand on her shoulder and moved his face closer to her.

“I’m immune to all forms of poison, so your power is completely useless against me.”

It would be a lie to say that Sonia hadn’t weighed the possibility of this among all the theories she thought, but it was just that she didn’t think Raphael was capable of finding an antidote for the power she possessed.

As mighty as the Artyom empire was, it took them years and samples of her saliva before they could formulate a way to stop her from ever turning against them.

“Ah~!”

A long gasp escaped Sonia, as a few seconds after Raphael spoke, he grabbed her by the neck.

And applying a bit of force, Raphael lifted Sonia from the ground. Knowing fully well of his powers, what made Sonia frightened was she knew that at any moment from now, he could kill her.

Meanwhile, Xavier soon moved his gaze away from Sonia and turned toward the microphone that was on the desk.

He grabbed the microphone, “It’s over! Your mistress has been captured.”

Xavier’s loud voice sounded through the whole room.

And while the tropes refused to believe the word they had just heard once Raphael had Sonia speak, they all surrendered.

“This was much easier than I thought,” Xavier blurted.

A nod came from Martha after she spoke, “Yes, but I believe it should have been more easier than this.”

“We have destroyed almost all the forces that she possesses, and without her family backing again, even the norms division would be able to handle this easily,” Martha said.

Xavier wanted to retort, but he had to admit Martha was saying the truth.

The norms were the weakest among the seven divisions, and even they would be able to handle this mission easily.

Bang!

The room door was slammed open once again, but this time around it was Elisa who barged into the room.

She scanned the whole room, and as she saw Raphael, her face lit up. However, as her eyes then came in contact with the woman in front of him, a not-so-friendly smile appeared on her face.

A snapping sound rang out a second after as Raphael yanked Sonia’s head from her body.

No one had expected Raphael to make a move like that, but after a brief moment, they all moved their gaze from Sonia who was on the ground, to the humanoid robot.

“What do we do about this?” Xavier asked.

He walked towards the robot, “I say you all search the house fully, take whatever treasure is there, while I take the robot.”

The expression on Devon, Sylvia, and Martha’s faces changed as Xavier spoke.

Even though none of them knew the exact capability of the robots, they were absolutely certain that they couldn’t be any other item in the house better than it.

Or what other reason could explain why Sonia rushed Into the room when the tables turned?

Meanwhile, Raphael had his eyes on Elisa, but after Xavier spoke, he moved them to the robot they were all glaring at.

And slowly, he walked towards it.

“Hmm” Raphael soon placed his hand on his chin and began to circle around the robot.

The looks on the four people in the room however changed, as even though there wasn’t a change in his expression or words coming out of his mouth, there was a certain change in him.

“Raphael, no, there’s no way, you can have the robot.” Said Xavier.

Raphael abruptly paused after Xavier spoke, he turned the others in the room and then heaved a deep breath.

“Alright,” Raphael replied.

Those who had eyes on the robot were quickly relieved after Raphael spoke.

The truth was if Raphael wanted the robot, none of them could stop him. They could try, but failure was very much inevitable.

Seeing the look on their faces, Raphael shook his head, “I don’t want the human puppet, but I want to see everything that’s inside its body.” Raphael said in a firm tone.

“Human puppet,” Xavier muttered and then moved several steps backward.

They were several entities in which the government hid from the world, the existence of meta beasts was one of them, and another entities hidden were... Human puppet.

By removing the internal organs of a certain person and preserving their corpse to prevent decomposition, as well as making several other modifications to it, a human puppet could be made.

The puppet in the room was different from the normal ones, as apart from having its internal organs removed, the modification which was present in its body was made using high materials.

Xavier, Devon, Sylvia, and Martha wouldn’t have realized it if Raphael hadn’t mentioned it, and as the four of them stared at the robot, there was joy on their faces.

“It’s mine!!!”

Xavier stood in front of the robot and assumed a battle stance.

As Sylvia saw Xavier’s stance, she brought out her sword from her sheath quickly.

Once the figure was revealed to not be a robot but a human puppet, its value had skyrocketed immediately.

“What the hell are you people still doing?!”

Bane’s voice rang out, and it wasn’t even up to a second after he spoke, and Bane as well as three other students from the academy walked into the room.

As they saw the state which the room was in, a dumbfounded expression soon appeared on their faces.

“W-What is going on?” Bane couldn’t help but ask.

There was, however, no response to his question, and Bane was about to speak when a dark spiraling portal appeared in the room.

“They are people coming to the house, let’s go.”

As Aiden’s head emerged out of the portal, he spoke.

“We will deal with this later,” Xavier said, and under everyone’s watchful gaze he carried the human puppet to the spiraling portal.

Devon, Martha, and Sylvia soon walked into the portal.

And as for Raphael, he scanned through the room, then slowly, he walked towards the corner of the room.

Getting to that area, Raphael raised an eyebrow, “I think that’s enough, let’s go.”

In front of Raphael was a big-bellied Gus, standing on top of a headless body.

Gus had blood around its mouth, and after Raphael spoke, a noisily sound came from its stomach.

Raphael shook him, and as Gus belched, he turned towards Willock’s body which was now in a disoriented state, with his thought rather than the unknown.

“Now!!!!”

Gus was about to feast on Willock’s body like it had been doing for the past few minutes when Raphael’s cold voice rang out.

And without wasting any time, it flew towards Raphael.

There was a satisfied look on its face, and as Raphael wiped the blood that was on the corner of its mouth, Gus flashed him a smile.

A snort that then brought a smile to Raphael’s face came from Gus.

“Really?”

Gus nodded his head in response to Raphael’s question.

.....

If Aliyah had been here, seeing the look on Raphael’s face after Gus told him that it got stronger from eating a meta-human body, she would have been stupefied.

Raphael gently rubbed Gus’s head, and with a demonic smile on both of their faces, he walked to the portal.