Baron's Demise

Atlas POV

The Baron was laughing maniacally.

"YES! YES! YOU'RE MINE FOREVER!"

The Baron just ignored me and walked over to the wall. When he put his hand up to it, the wall suddenly disappeared. He continued forward while still giggling and rubbing his hands together. I followed behind since he wasn't paying me any attention.

Behind the walls were 10 different mana sources, half of them were men while the other half were women. There was at least one child here. The Baron walks to the very back jailcell. In that jailcell was a woman in her late 40s and a little girl. If I had to guess. She wasn't even 5 years old. The lady began shaking and tearing up when she saw the Baron. It seems like she was to focused on him to even look my way.

"Baron… Get away from me… Please!! I already spent last night with you… Please…"

The lady was sobbing now. Hiding her daughter behind her as she tried to protect her. The baron just laughed again.

"What do you mean Olivia? You're mine now, right? I can do whatever I want! Don't worry about your little girl. She can join us when she gets older! HAAHAHA!"

"You shut the hell up! I know Abe will come here to save us!"

"Abe? How many times do I have to tell you? Abe was executed after you were sold off to me!"

I grabbed onto the baron and knock him out. At this moment, the lady Oliva finally realized baron wasn't the only person present.

"Who… what are you doing…"

"Excuse me, my name is Atlas. If you know Abe, then it's safe to assume that must be his wife. The little girl there must be his daughter correct?"

"Atlas? The boy that Abe use to talk about… what are you doing here? You're not with them, are you?!"

As annoying as that is, I knew she has been through a lot so I try my best to explain to her what was going on.

"I am not. Your husband asked me to look for you and General Noah told me that you were last spotted here in the Nova Kingdom, I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you sooner."

I couldn't help but kneel down on one knee in front of her. I felt like I failed to fulfill my promise to Abe. Not only did it take me nearly three years to complete it, his wife was now mentally scared for life.

"Abe sent you here? He did say that you were talented… how is Abe? Is he okay?"

"He's dead ma'am. The baron was correct. Three years ago, Abe was executed by the prince on the grounds of treason. Abe had asked me before he died that I would look for you two."

Olivia had a face of disbelief. She has heard the baron repeat this over and over but she never believed it, she didn't want to believe it. But the boy who suddenly appeared and told her the same thing made her believe. For some odd reason, she just couldn't say that he was wrong. She was silently crying while holding onto her daughter. Her daughter was crying as well, not really understanding why her mother was crying.

I could only let them cry their hearts out as a wait there silently in front of their cell. The others that were jailed also stopped talking. They all sat there quietly, wishing for the mother daughter duo to live on the best they could.

After what felt like an hour, I had to interrupt Olivia.

"Sorry, but could you tell me anything about this Eternal Slave that the baron kept mentioning?"

Olivia was still sniffling and wiped her tears away.

"The Eternal Slave is a spell that makes the victim the slave to the caster for life. The slave can't escape their master. The slave can't go against their master's word. The slave will never live their life the way they want to ever again. Even the children born to the slave will be branded with the eternal slave mark."

She pulled down her shirt a bit and showed me three black claw marks. It was only about an inch in length.

"Does your daughter have one as well? Does everyone here have one?"

Olivia sadly nods. Everyone else remained silent. I could only hear sad cries but that was enough for me to understand.

"Is there a way to get rid of it?"

"There is no way! The only way to escape the eternal mark is to die… we can try to kill the baron but he can just command us to stay still and we wouldn't be able to move. NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE FIGHT IT, WE COULD NEVER WIN!"

She began crying again. I could also hear some cries from other cells. It looks like this piece of shit did awful things to everyone.

"What would happen if someone else would kill him?"

Olivia stopped again and answered me.

"Whoever killed him would become the new master of his slaves. That's at least what that tall man said to him."

The tall man? Is it the same man from the East that did something to the prince as well? Well, there isn't anything I can do to him now. But I do know how to save these people. I stand up and drag the still unconscious baron out of the room.

"Please do not worry. I will fix all of this."

When I left, the wall didn't close so I created a golem to hold the door open in case it closed on its own. I throw the baron into the middle of the room. I then create a pillory out of earth to lock him in place. With these, his head and hands were locked in place with no way to defend his body from incoming danger.

(Google pillory if you don't know what it is. Everyone should have seen it before.)

I smack the baron until he wakes up.

"Ugh, what do you think-."

I thicken the mana around my hand and punch him once more.

"AH! What are-."

I thicken the mana around my other hand and begin to assault the defenseless man. Hitting his face until he spat out his teeth. I even thicken the mana around my legs and made sure to break both of his ankles by stomping down. The entire time the baron was pleading for me to stop.

"Stop!!!! Please!! I can't take anymore!!"

I go ahead and grab onto one of his fingers and break them.

"Stop!! If you want the slaves, I can give them to you!"

I break another finger.

"Ah!!! What do you want? Speak you shit!! Just stop!!"

I finally get him to cry.

"How will you give the slaves to me? I heard that they were eternal slaves."

"That's right!... All I need to do is grant you permission and you can take whoever you want!!!"

"Is that so? But while you were sleeping, they told me that they heard what the tall man said. The only way to change masters is if I kill the original owner."

The baron's face stiffens and began to sweat. I could see his beady little eyes. Trying to figure out how he will save himself from this. Since he didn't say anything, I continued on.

"Listen here baron. Not only did you force yourself onto those girls, you continue to mock them every day."

"I would never sir!!!"

I can't believe he would lie. Does he think I'm dumb.

*sigh*

I walk behind the baron once more. I create a mana sword and aim it at his left Achilles tendon. The baron's body twitched as he felt as if I just kicked his calf.

"Hey! Why did you just kick my calf?"

"I didn't, I cut your Achilles tendon. You already have broken ankles. Soon you will have to drag yourself everywhere. Now tell me why did you just lie to me again about the eternal slaves?"

Baron Keiran was terrified. He didn't understand how a boy could do all this to him. He only knew he didn't want to die so that's why he didn't tell him. What will he say now?

"I'm done playing games with you honestly. Let's just end this. I already know that I just need to kill you now."

I was going to torture him further but it was getting late. I'm sure those in the cells would rather leave. I went ahead and summoned even more shadow dogs. I gave them the order to bite into him and have a slow painful death. The dogs began to slowly approached the defenseless man.

"How can you do this to me! Don't you know that I'm a noble?! Attacking a defenseless man! What is wrong with you?!"

I unleashed all 40% of my [Death's Aura] onto him.

"Shut the fuck up! You forced yourself onto these defenseless women. You attacked the men and used them as your punching bag. The fact that you didn't die the moment I saw those poor souls should be considered a blessing to you."

The dogs then attacked Baron Keiran. They began tearing away at his legs. He tried kicking them away but all that did was slow down the inevitable. The dogs moved onto his soft stomach. Ripping him apart and pulling his guts over to where he could see it. The baron only had tears in his eyes. When I had enough of his suffering face, I brought my mana sword down onto his neck.

The next moment, I felt a strong mana attack me. It knocks me off my feet. The feeling finally disappears.

'This must be the eternal slave thing.'

I get up and head back to where everyone was. I picked up keys off the dead baron and began releasing the slaves. Most of them screamed when they saw me. I don't know why they were but it didn't bother me. To test and see if I had gained the ownership, I told one of the slaves to stay still in front of the prison cell. The man stands there, unnaturally frozen. It would seem that everything was given to me. I release him and apologize for doing that to him.

The last person I released was Olivia and her daughter.

"Atlas… uhm is that your blood?"

'Huh?'

I touch my face and look at my hand. I see that there seems to be a lot blood. I look at my clothes and see that it is stained with blood as well.

"Oh no. It's the baron's blood."

Olivia seemed relieved knowing that it wasn't my blood.

"Anyways, lets leave. We have a long journey ahead of us."

Olivia and I return to where the rest of the group was.

"Listen folks! There are many of you so we must move carefully. Please follow my instructions and stay together. We will be moving to the main part of the city."

"What about the baron? What about the other people?"

Someone from the group called out to me. I should let them know what happened outside.

"Don't worry about those people, they were all taken care of already. The only people alive is this group, another prison group on the surface and me."

The group accepts my answers and begins to listen to me. I tell them all to gather in front of the baron's house as I go and get the other group. While they were leaving, I could hear some of them curse at the dead baron's body. I went on ahead and gather the girls I rescued earlier. We meet up with the group that was outside the baron's house already and we begin our journey back.

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It took about two hours to get back. By then it was pass 10. Most places were closed. I couldn't just bring 16 battered people back to May's home either. We walked on the streets as I try to figure out what to do from here. Then, just like when it was just Noel and I, the boy from earlier in the day showed up.

"Sir! Are you okay! Why are you all battered up?"

I look at the boy. It's not like I hated him. It was his worker that had something against Noel. It's probably okay to trust him, right?

"Do you have space to put 16 people in their own rooms?"

"Of course! Come on! We aren't to far away from our inn."

I follow the boy behind; the group also follows behind. Within a few minutes, I see the inn from earlier in the day.

"Here, take this and use it to feed them all. I will be back tomorrow to talk with them all."

"But sir!! This is too much money!"

"Just take it… I will see you tomorrow."

I handed the boy a Heavenly Coin. That should be more than enough to cover the rooms and any other expenses. I face the group to address them this time.

"Please rest here for tonight. I have already paid for your rooms and food. Please fill yourselves up and get a good rest tonight."

The group was excited. I expect that they haven't had any good rest or a filled belly in a long time. They all ran inside but I stopped two people before they went in.

"Olivia, could I talk to you for a moment?"

Olivia agrees and comes with me to the side.

"Olivia, your husband Abe asked me to save you two. But I want to know how you feel? This eternal slave thing. Do you want me to figure out how to break it? I can promise you that I won't give up until I do."

"But you fulfilled your promise to him already? We're both safe now. We don't ever have to worry about anyone bothering us again as long as you are our master."

"But you aren't slaves! Are you truly okay with that? What if I betrayed you guys someday and force to do the same thing that the baron made you guys do?"

Olivia took a step back while holding her daughter.

"I'm sorry. It's just that you never know, one day I may get killed and someone will take over as your master. If he learns about this eternal slave mark then you will be endangered. I wouldn't have done shit that Abe asked me to do!"

Olivia seemed to understand what I wanted to convey.

"Think about it. I will be back tomorrow and I will keep coming back if you guys continue to stay at this inn. You can give me an answer whenever you're ready.

Olivia nods and goes to the inn.

I search for my mana that was suppose to be behind May's home. Once I locate it, I teleport myself there.