Mana Slap

Lawrence halted just a few steps away from Agatha. His cold eyes bore into her, and for a moment, she felt like a small, fragile creature caught in a predator's gaze. 

Despite the tense atmosphere, he didn't make any sudden moves.

'She's still traumatized, which is a given. Even I would be traumatized and scared if the roles were reversed.' Lawrence thought to himself. 

He knew this wasn't going to be easy, and he definitely did not want to reveal himself in such a manner. 

His display of power in hopes of quickly disabling Cedric had resulted in a fierce backfire on him.

Because Cedric was clearly filled with gutter in his brain, unable to comprehend the situation and atmosphere, Lawrence was left with no choice but to teach him a lesson.

A lesson that would imprint in his mind permanently. 

After all, he truly didn't care about having a sword pointed at him, but if that action was seen by someone else. Then the situation today would have escalated into an explosive matter. 

He was a noble, and Cedric was clearly a commoner despite having an average look on his face. 

A commoner dared to point their sword at a noble, it was as if they were trying to imply that they weren't done with the Rebellion War and wanted to continue it. 

Thus, Lawrence was extremely brutal in his actions. If it were some other nobles that Cedric had raised his sword on, then right now, he would be on his way to an execution ground for treason. 

While Lawrence was distracted in his thoughts, he heard Agatha pleading.

"P-Please don't…" Agatha's tears were dripping on the floor, and she was vividly afraid of him. Her hands unconsciously moved closer to her clothes, seemingly trying to tighten them up.

As Lawrence was seeing her sorrowful state, he was then rudely interrupted once again.

"Don't you dare hurt her, LAWRENCE!" Cedric, who had finally managed to gain a foothold, shouted furiously. 

"I'll make sure you will pay for your crimes!" 

Motherfucker!

Stay the fuck down when you're not even in the main show!

Holy hell, who the hell here cares about you at all, Cedric? 

"Open the door and wait for me inside," Lawrence said to Agatha with a somewhat scary tone. 

Since Agatha was clearly still afraid of him, it was best to keep his behavior temporarily and not try to soften it up, lest it might create a misconception that he was planning to do something worse to her. 

Sure enough, Agatha was just standing in place, unable to move at all until Lawrence turned around and had his back facing toward her.

And as much as she wanted to escape from Lawrence. Agatha slowly turned back and glanced at her sick mother in the bed, who held a worried look but seemed to be unable to talk as she merely opened her mouth repeatedly with no sound coming out. 

Biting her lips, Agatha clenched her hands as she slowly opened the door wide and walked inside. 

Trying to muster a smile on her face, she shook her head at her worried sick mother. 

"It's fine, mother." She said, wiping some of her tears with her hand. It was clear that she could not suppress her emotions, prompting her sick mother to want to get off the bed but was unable to. 

Her mouth kept opening and making some movement as if she wanted to say something, but once again, no sounds were coming out. It was one of the conditions of her sickness that prevented her from being able to speak.

As Agatha attempted to live in denial, trying to claim that everything was alright, outside the rundown house, Lawrence was pretty annoyed by Cedric.

"Punk, if you see someone thrashing you without lifting a finger, then do you know what's the smartest choice?" Lawrence asked coldly.

Before Cedric could even answer the question, Lawrence continued, "It's to continue to play dead and wait till the opponent leaves. Of course, if the opponent was adamant in ruining you, then the next choice is to run away, and not act tough." 

Cedric's expression remained still, almost as if he was unaffected by Lawrence's lecture. However, he knew inwardly that he was no match for Lawrence. 

Nevertheless, he wasn't going to give up and watch as the person he loved got harmed again.

"Hmph, even if I'm incapable of defeating you, I still refuse to give up without trying." Cedric used his left sleeve to wipe off the residue of blood near his mouth and shouted.

Wow!

Lawrence was somewhat amazed at how foolish yet courageous Cedric was.

You know— characters like him usually get a gigantic power boost after declaring such a statement. 

It was as if gods had heard their prayer and said, alright, here's a mega power boost that defies logic and lets you overcome the obstacle. 

But too bad for little Cedric here.

With a wave of his hand, Lawrence manipulated the magic particle and gave a big, heavy slap to Cedric.

SLAP!

A dense blue color palm mark appeared on Cedric's right cheek as he made a hideous expression from the sudden mana slap.

And the next moment, Cedric realized he was floating above the ground, but it wasn't anything fun. He was being sent flying away like a typical trio that always gets sent to the sky, proclaiming that they'll be back. 

"Pathetic," Lawrence spit some of his saliva to the ground and sneered coldly. Unlike the previous strike, he didn't hold back this time and was positive he had shattered some of his jaw bone. 

The first strike was a warning sign to let him know to back off. 

But if that can't wake him up, then this next strike would be enough to make him stay down and remain down.

"All that blabber nonsense and how I won't let you harm my loved ones. I want to vomit in disgust and cringe from those lines. Goddamn fool has no skills and wants to play the hero role? Does he really think he's the protagonist?" 

Lawrence rolled his eyes and clasped his hands as if he had just finished a trivial task.