Chapter 328: Defiant Struggle

"Let's play now, shall we?"

At the next moment, the masked figure, Aiden, released the entire might of his aura that he so far kept inside him. A whirlwind of invisible energy began to swirl around him, slowly stretching out, claiming more and more territory to itself and their master.

The captain's body was abruptly flung back as the energy was released, crashing into the duty road a couple of meters behind and tumbling a bit more before he eventually came to halt. His sword was far behind him, his grip loosened the moment he felt the strong tempestuous hit before, it was laying on the far side, the other end of the road.

The thundering invisible storm, the violent energy continued to claim more and more land for itself, soon stretching towards the battling city guards, throwing them towards all direction, putting an abrupt end to the ongoing battle.

Their bodies could be found ubiquitously, all over. A few crashed against the spectating crowd of lined-up people, another body could be found lying unconsciously at the back of the very same merchant's cart that they were looting in the name of 'inspection' just a couple of minutes ago.

Still, while some of them fainted on the spot, most of them were still conscious albeit in tremendous pain, just like their captain. He was flung at the center of the road. He was fuming inwardly, his mind was in great turmoil. 

Without as much as touching him, he was clearly, obviously beaten to the ground. He was shamed and humiliated, her proud, respected visage was crushed to smithereens by a single attack from this masked stranger. 

This was not something he was willing to accept. No, he was a proud guard captain, soon-to-be promoted to be in the ranks of the true officers, commanding over multiple groups like his. He could have been the commander of an entire platoon even!

Now, however, if word got out of his shameful display and failure to keep order, not just his dream of being promoted to a major or lieutenant were only wishful thinking, but even his current position as Captain of the Guards could come into question. He might even be demoted back to the ranks of these measly guards!

No, that can't happen, that WILL NOT happen! He will show this good-for-nothing masked figure just who Captain Gregory Horst really is! 

His mind in a turmoil of rage-induced madness, the captain clenched his hands into fists and used them to slowly but surely push himself up from the dusty ground amidst pain-filled groans. 

His eyes, bloodshot with the rage he was feeling, slowly traveled upwards to meet with the unreadable but mystical golden gaze of the masked one. His face contorted into a hideous frown, he forcefully pushed each word out of his closed lips seething with anger.

"You! You! You… will… pay…for this!" 

As he spoke, he slowly pushed himself up from the ground, trying his best to stand up, which proved to be much harder than he initially thought. His legs wobbled as his muscles were struggling to keep up with the strenuous pressure they were put under. 

In the end, he was successful, he managed to stand still, albeit only through his sheer will to exact his revenge and get back at the mysterious stranger in front of him. For the first time since his obstinate stand against this unimaginable opponent, he felt the lack of metal in his hands; he realized he no longer held his sword!

Shocked and surprised, he did his best to mask his emotions from showing in his face, his eyes swiftly darted from left to right and right to left, trying to scan his immediate surroundings without anybody noticing. 

Unfortunately for him, his opponent's senses were much keener than he could have expected. A smirk-filled voice came from under the protective, dark mask, the cloaked figure's right hand stretched out, pointing far behind Captain Gregory's figure.

"It's behind you, in case you still haven't noticed. Don't worry, you can go and grab it, I will wait for you."

His right arm wandered to his side, pointing at the slithering, long line behind them. 

"Not like I have anything better to do currently. The line is still long."

Meanwhile, as the other confrontations were put to an abrupt end by Aiden's unleased aura, the still cloaked and masked Galina as well as Drake walked back to take their previous positions in the line, acting as if nothing had happened.

His actions seen through, and called out in such a manner, only caused his rising madness to reach even further heights. The captain's entire body was trembling with the seething, boiling madness, as he slowly turned around and pushed himself towards his weapon.

From his trek, it was clear that he was in unimaginable pain, and was barely conscious at this point. It took him almost a full minute to get to his weapon, reach out to it and arm himself once more before turning around to face this hated sworn enemy of his.

Sworn, because from the moment he dared to resist him and humiliate him in such a manner, Gregory swore to himself that he will not rest until he had his 'just' revenge.

What was even worse in the situation is that he felt the varied, great mixture of emotions in the spectating crowd's eyes. Disdain, contempt was the most dominant that he saw and felt, but there were specks of pity and even some worry.

He was pitied! He, the great Captain Gregory Horst, the assigned leader of Higrove's Western Gate, the one who was basically the law and order in this region, was now looked down, and even pitied?! 

Fuelled by the blinding anger he slowly raised his weapon-holding right arm and pointed at the masked stranger.

"You! This is all your fault! How… How dare you fight back?! This place… This is MY TERRITORY!" He yelled, lost in his madness, he no longer cared to hold up any pretenses. "HERE… I AM THE LAW! IF I SAY THAT YOU SHOULD DIE, THEN HOW DARE YOU FIGHT BACK!!!" He continued spewing his disillusion, his saliva flying in the air as he let out all the emotions from her corrupted heart.

He took a wobbly step forward, towards the masked figure. Small droplets of his tear began their timely escape from the corner of his bloodshot eyes while he continued to madly yell.

"I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PROMOTED SOON! I HAD A GREAT LIFE, I COULD DO WHATEVER I WANTED TO!"

His newfound stamina that fuelled his booming exclamations startled many of the lining crowd. They looked at the captain's figure, not sure of what he would be still capable of. He seemed to be completely lost in his madness, not safe and unfit to be a guard. 

Many knew of how things worked in this region, they knew how they were subjected to this man's greedy looting in the name of 'inspection'. Apart from his small group of cronies, nobody ever respected him, they were fearful of him.

The illusion of respect and awe he built around his image was all just that: an illusion. Still, now, looking at his state, even though he got what he deserved for all the torment he put everyone through… they felt sorry for him. No matter how this confrontation ends, his arduous work, his job, his life was done for.

There's no way this event wouldn't reach the higher-up's ears, and when it does and a real investigation finally occurs, his misdeeds will finally be brought to light, ultimately causing his downfall.

No matter what this masked stranger does now, the end result will stay the same. Some snickered at this realization, some felt sorry for him. Even if he was a bad person, a corrupt person, he still lost everything in one moment.

Still, ultimately, who was to be blamed for his end? The cloaked trio? What did they do? Shouldn't they defend themselves when they were put under scrutiny? They did nothing, they were silent. That everyone knew of.

Regardless, in the raging stormy chaos that wreaked havoc inside the captain's mind and ate away his last bits of sanity, this sole, masked figure was the cause of his ruin and downfall. It was his fault that events got to this… this unfavorable result.

In his maddened eyes, the only thing that mattered now is that at the very least he would bring down this stoically standing annoying presence with him. Even if he were then brought to jail for his actions, even if every single thing he did would come to light, he wouldn't mind, as long as the root cause of all of that would be dealt with.

"YOU! I… I…" He continued to spew his madness with each step he took. His pace was slow, and whilst the distance between him and his opponent wasn't great, it felt like an endless, uncrossable chasm by the onlookers.

"I… WILL… KILL YOU!!!!"