"...All of you are dead."
Rhys did not really hesitate anymore as he grabbed several scalpels from his trusty utility belt.
His trusty utility belt, probably the best investment he had ever bought with his money. Also proved to be the most durable, as while most of his clothes and even his bionic leg were torn away, his trusty utility belt found a way to latch onto him.
Of course, it wasn't really the time to be thinking about that as Rhys just glanced at all the members of the Herculean Rose, already thinking of the order by which to kill them.
Junpei needed to go first; he initially thought Junpei would have enhanced strength due to the name of their guild, but he materialized a whip instead. The second one he needed to take care of was Marie Ozawa, who was the highest-rated Explorer among them.
Rhys then glanced back at Malenia, only to see her eyes already glowing. After all, the very reason she revealed herself was that she saw the people surrounding Rhys starting to get agitated and aggressive — she was ready to turn all of them into stone as soon as she deemed them a threat to Rhys's safety.
"Wait, wait!"
Before anyone could turn into stone or die, however, Marie once again quickly moved between the two sides while covering her head as if to protect it just in case everyone started attacking each other.
"Marie, move or we'll attack you too!" The thorned whip that Junpei was holding seemed to have a mind of its own as it started swinging on the ground; its end, pointing at Marie.
"Wait," Marie raised both her palms as she looked at Junpei while taking several steps back toward Rhys, "How about we hear Mr. Wilder—"
Rhys watched as Marie did not even bother finishing her words as she suddenly turned around and violently swung her hand toward Rhys; her long sharp claws threatening to rip off his face.
Rhys, however, did not bother dodging at all as his senses also did not bother to warn him to move. He doesn't know how, but the abilities he got from Arachnea were allowing him to know exactly if someone was a threat to him — Agatha, Esme, Ayesha... his senses go on overdrive whenever they start doing anything.
Marie, however, did not even raise a single strand of his hair. And for good reason — her claws just shattered as soon as they touched Rhys's skin.
"Kh!!!" Marie quickly leaped back as she felt her fingers dislocated and fracturing, but as she did so, Rhys followed closely in front of her; his hand, now covering her face completely. And without even letting her let out a single whimper of struggle... he crushed her face.
He did not slam it, he did not break her neck... he literally just shaved off her face; casually crushing the side of her face like it was made of sand. And everyone watched as whatever remained of Marie's head just slid off of Rhys's hand; her corpse falling to the ground like a ragdoll.
No one could really utter a word, and the only breath that whispered in the rocky field was Rhys as he sighed while staring at Marie's corpse. But after letting out his disappointment, he once again focused on Junpei and the rest of the Herculean Rose.
And as everyone started to calm down and move away from Rhys, Malenia, who was just waiting for the right time to turn everyone into stone, took this chance to approach Rhys and stand by his side.
"Rhys, what's happening...? Is everything fine now? Why did they all suddenly calm down?"
"Get rea—"
"And it really is a misunderstanding!" Before Rhys could say what he wanted to say, Junpei suddenly once again focused on him, or more specifically, toward Malenia, "How... how can a monster even be this beautiful? He—"
"!!!"
And before Junpei could finish his words, Malenia watched as his blood just suddenly splurted out from his neck—no. Everyone watched as Junpei's head just very slowly tilted back completely before dropping to the ground as it separated from the rest of his body.
They all then turned their eyes toward Rhys as soon as the rest of Junpei's body followed to the ground, only to see Rhys with his hand stretched to the side and holding his scalpel.
"...Rhys?" Malenia's eyes could not help but widen as she saw Rhys just suddenly kill an unarmed opponent who seemed to have no intention of fighting anymore. She was about to say something else, but before she could do so...
...she found herself completely petrified by what she had witnessed next.
Rhys did as he promised — he killed all of them, even those who were trying to run away with their bikes.
Rhys was right, Marie had a drone recording everything — but as soon as they turned it off, he took that as a signal to just kill the rest of them.
"...It's just recording." Fortunately for Rhys, as he found Marie's drone, it was only recording and wasn't actually streaming to anywhere live. And so, he just crushed the drone and the camera with his bare hands; just letting it merge with the rocky ground like the corpses of the Herculean Rose.
"Rhys..." Malenia was still in the very same spot she was before. And as Rhys passed by her, the only thing she could really do was whisper, "...You killed them all."
"I needed to," Rhys nodded.
"But...
...they were crying and surrendering."