Chapter 205: Face-off

’Who’s this joker supposed to be?’ Eren wondered, a brow hitching upward. ’Did a carnival mascot get lost on the way?’

Before Eren could even process the bizarre aesthetic, the golden-masked figure closed the distance to Suite 4.

The Baron’s two guards snapped to attention through the smoke. "Halt! Who the hell are you—"

Instead of offering a civilized reply like a functioning member of society, the masked interloper moved in a blur.

In the blink of an eye, a gleaming longsword materialized from within the flowing sleeve and thrust clean through the guard’s torso, and drove deep into his spine with sickening efficiency. That person hoisted the dying man off his feet and slammed him backward against the wall, pinning him like a decoration as the blood gushed down the floral wallpaper.

"W-What the fuck—!"

The second guard shrieked in hysterical horror, swinging his heavy blade at the attacker’s neck in panic.

The golden mask didn’t even try to evade. Instead, that person simply caught the steel with a bare hand and twisted it, shattering it like cheap clay.

Before the man could register the impossible feat, his face brutally drove his skull into the wall with a sickening thud.

As the dazed guard was about to collapse, the golden figure snatched a fistful of his hair, drew a serrated trench knife from the belt, and began sawing ruthlessly into the man’s throat like a butcher slaughtering livestock. Blood sprayed across the white robes and wall.

It was butchery.

The masked figure wiped the blade, turning toward the handle of Suite 4 to finish the job—only for the eye behind the mask to widen in sheer, belated shock.

Because Eren was already one step to the person, closing the gap like a coiled spring released from the shadows. Eren had his right fist pulled back before the killer could even raise a guard.

BOOM!

Eren threw a punch with lethal force square into the chest, turning the golden-masked killer into a human projectile, and sent him rocketing down the length of the narrow corridor, smashing violently against the far stone wall in a cloud of shattered plaster and broken furniture.

Then the earpiece vibrated.

"Eren! What was that sound?!" Aria’s panicked voice came through the channel. "Did you fire an offensive spell? Who screamed?!"

"Slight trouble, my lady," Eren answered, his voice steady as he shook his stinging knuckles. "We have an emergency. Some uninvited lunatic crashed the Baron’s party and started butchering. But don’t worry, I just granted them a vacation across the hallway."

"Leave them!" Seraphina’s authoritative voice cut in crisply. "If a third party is here for Kiliyan, our extraction window has shrunk to seconds! Secure the Baron and get him out the window now!"

"Loud and clear, Princess," Eren said smoothly.

He glanced to his left, looking at the first guard still pinned to the wall, blood pooling beneath his dangling boots.

"Damn. That is some serious interior decorating," Eren muttered under his breath.

***

The door crashed inward, splintering against the carpet.

Eren casually stepped over the wreckage, his hands shoved into his pockets as if strolling into a tea party.

The scenery waiting for him was absolute gold. Standing awkwardly beside a mahogany bureau, Baron Kiliyan was desperately hopping on one foot, furiously trying to yank his trousers up over his portly, sweating thighs while the courtesan had cocooned herself completely beneath the sheets on the bed, terrified of the chaos.

"W-Who the hell are you?!" Kiliyan shrieked in fury as he fumbled with his belt buckle. "Where are my retainers?! Guards! Guards!"

"Well, I’ve got good news and bad news for you, Baron," Eren said with an easy smirk. "The bad news is that your guards have been permanently reassigned to the afterlife. They’re butchered into wall art, and not by me, mind you. The good news? You’ve officially been upgraded to my personal protective custody. All-inclusive amenities, iron bars, zero room service fees."

Eren took two easy strides forward to disarm the blubbering fool.

Then, his smirk vanished.

Every instinct in his mind fired off like a siren. A suffocating presence surged, materializing directly behind him out of the empty air like a ghost tearing through space.

’Wait—’

***

Down in the alleyway beside the curtained extraction wagon, Aria’s fingers were frantically tapping the silver earpiece at her cartilage. Her golden eyes were wild with mounting dread.

"Eren? Eren, respond!" she hissed, her poise completely fraying. "Report your status this instant! Eren!"

Dead silence.

"What in the world is that idiot doing up there?" Seraphina muttered, looking at the balcony. "The fire is spreading to the rafters. He should have dropped the Baron into the cart thirty seconds ago—"

BOOM!

The brick and mortar of Suite 4 detonated outward.

A shower of jagged limestone, shattered glass, and splintered timber rained down into the narrow alleyway. And tearing straight through the center of the explosion was a human projectile.

Aria’s breath caught in her throat in absolute terror as she recognized the flying blur.

It was Eren.

He hurled with terrifying momentum across the street. His airborne body crashed violently into the second-story wall of the brick building directly opposite the brothel, tearing clean through the outer facade, and disappearing inside amidst a deafening roar of collapsing beams and plaster dust.

"EREN!" Aria screamed, trying to run towards the building in blind panic.

Then Norelia’s voice came through the communication link. "What was that noise?! Report! Did the building collapse?!"

"Eren was thrown out!" Seraphina shouted into the comms, wrestling Aria’s arm back to prevent her from leaping into the open street. "He was brutally blown through the opposite building! The wall completely caved in on him!"

"Then abandon his position and pursue the Baron on your own!" Norelia barked through the link without a second of hesitation.

"Are you insane?!" Aria yelled back, her voice cracking with fury. "How can you tell us to just leave him buried under rubble?!"

"Check the ring on your finger, Lady Aria!" Norelia retorted, her childish tone completely overridden by fierce authority. "It didn’t flare, did it?! That means it’s not even dangerous for him!"

Aria glanced down at the ring Eren had gifted to her.

"You are severely underestimating your fiancé," Norelia muttered through the comms with absolute faith in her voice. "Emma might be the strongest person I’ve ever seen, but when it comes to raw physical durability... Eren is a complete beast. He isn’t dead."

Across the street, Eren dragged himself upright from the crater in the floorboards. Plaster dust fell from his dark hair like snow.

"Ow," Eren grunted, spitting onto the floor. "My dry cleaning bill is going to be huge."

Brushing the dust from his shoulders, his easygoing, sarcastic demeanor faded, his eyes looking directly across the narrow street into the smoldering ruins of Suite 4.

There standing in the shattered room was the figure in the golden skull mask. The masked intruder stood motionless, holding the thoroughly unconscious, dangling body of Baron Kiliyan by the scruff of his collar.

"Alright, carnival clown," Eren murmured, his voice dropping into a dark, vibrating rasp. "Now I’m actually pissed off."