Reincarnated as a betrayed prince

Chapter 106: A clockwork destiny.

While Takuto and his mercenaries were getting ready for a fight, Aniette and her creatures were going around capturing and turning every single guard of the mine into monsters. The slaves couldn't believe what was happening:

That bloodbath looked like a dance in their eyes, with Aniette calmly walking to the guards who shot at her in fear while either parrying the shots with her dagger or dodging them with her feline reflexes, while Aniette simply slashed the throats of every single guard.

With a squad of 25 behemoths, and 45 partisans, she walked towards the slaves and broke all their collars. They couldn't believe what she had done, and simply couldn't understand why or how did she free them, and they all revered her as a herald of a god or a goddess that got fed up with their suffering. The collars were made to kill the slaves in case of unauthorized disposal of the collars, but that didn't happen to the slaves who were freed by Aniette and no one could truly understand how she did. Or they didn't, until the young girl that stole food for her mother went to ask Aniette.

-Girl: I thought I wouldn't be able to be free with that collar, lady! Thanks! But how did you free us?

Aniette smiled at the girl and patted her head calmly, while still holding Oculus in her other hand. The monsters went around, doing the usual patrolling that the slavers did in the mines until Aniette arrived, making sure that there was not a single intruder inside the mine that could disrupt Aniette's operation.

-Aniette: That's because I am a technomancer, alongside a soulmancer and a necromancer. Tech of that level is a joke for me, and I can hack it with my eyes closed. About the reason to do so... Well, I am someone who has a clear distaste for slavery, and that distaste runs deep in my family. So why not saving some innocents from it? Won't do much, but at least it'll do something.

The girl simply smiled widely and thanked Aniette many times, before running to her mother and hugging her. Seeing that sight, Aniette felt relieved but knew that something went wrong. Legadonia was dead, and Aniette knew that she couldn't feel her warmth nor see her warm smile ever again, and that was something that hurt her and made her feel sad. Yet this wasn't a time for her to get depressed, and she focused her thoughts on what she knew, which was that Evan was alive and that the one who had a real connection with her death was a king.

While all that was happening, the mercenaries outside the mine were about to start a siege on the mine to force Aniette to surrender. Takuto and the others knew that Aniette wouldn't leave the slaves in order to escape, she was too proud and stubborn for that, and got ready to face an enraged Aniette who would attack until either she died or they somehow managed to capture her.
And so the mercenaries were about to send several barrels filled with flammable oil inside the mine, and do the best to smoke the slaves and Aniette out of the mine if possible, but then the sound of a carriage arriving to the mine made them stop and get ready to fight the newcomer.

Evan had arrived to the mine he knew that was under the Hagre household control, even if it wasn't official, with the couchette he had used to go to fetch Regalia being carried by the same skeletons that carried it last time. After all, Evan was an ecologist and hated any kind of wasting, so he planned on reusing that couchette until it wasn't possible anymore.

When Evan came out of the couchette, the first sight he saw was Takuto Tokugawa, which made him scowl since he recognized the armor that Takuto was using. But that alone did not stop Evan, what would stop him would be the sight of the battalion of the Sakura Clan. Seeing many new faces with Takuto surprised him, but also recognized many of the older faces and made him look angrily at Takuto.

Takuto, just like his company, shivered and prepared to fight Evan. They knew that if Evan had that look, which meant that he wasn't entirely expecting this, they had a sliver of a chance to defeat him. One sliver that Takuto nor the others would let go so happily, because they were sure that if it happened once... It would not happen twice, even if hell were to freeze over, because that's how Evan proceeded. If he found a weakness that could be exploited on himself, he would make sure that no one could ever exploit it, and would use massive amounts of resources to ensure that wouldn't change without him noticing.

-Evan: So all of you are here together, for what reason? I didn't order a godslayer reunion, and I am sure that no one else should have enough authority to do so, so there's quite the change here. Not that I don't mind the joyous chance, but usually when I am not invited when there are so many godslayers in the area... It's because you will do something extremely stupid. Even if you lot are little ungrateful bastards that without me, Wukong, Darya, or Elizabeth... Would get totally wiped out, I do have to keep some sort of logistic control now and then. But by the time I am gone, everything is burning like a bonfire! One would expect you lot to learn from mistakes, and that things would be different!

No one dared to speak, everyone in the area was probably stronger than Evan right now... Yet they remembered every single time they thought that, and Evan made sure they learned their lesson. They didn't want to face that ever again, so everyone was scared... But Takuto took a deep breath, looked at Evan's eyes, and answered with a rude tone.

-Takuto: We are here to defend this mine. Your daughter is freeing the slaves, and she's attacking innocent guards, which is endangering the efficiency of this mine. And not even you will stop us, we will kill Aniette and move on.

Evan chuckled for a moment, not believing what he had heard, but then looked again at the eyes of Takuto and his face twisted into a sadistic smile that made every single mercenary cower in fear. His golden eye ignited, engulfing itself in a purple fire while Evan got angrier and angrier, and Takuto got ready to fight. That is, until one of the younger mercenaries legs just got pierced by an arrow that came from above. After that, even Takuto was too scared to attack Evan, but Evan wouldn't leave that one go around so happily. So he used levitation and his mana field to pressure the armors and basically start choking Takuto and the mercenaries.

-Evan: Are you sure you wish to choose death, Takuto? Because I can assure you that for such gall, death wouldn't be enough. Remember what happened to those who thought that they could get so cocky in front of me, Tak. Do remember that.

Before Takuto could answer, he felt like he needed to breathe but couldn't, like something was holding his throat strongly. But then he noticed something, a small red mosquito was flying James had started cowering, not understanding how or why Evan was choking the mercenaries, and started trying to get as far away as he could.

-Evan: Oh, I am sorry! Did you get afflicted by something, and break your concentration!? I didn't mean for that to happen, and you know that I have my anger issues. Specially when an old arsehole that has lost the plot thinks he can kill one of my children, and go with his wanker friends to get paid and become a group of tossers!

Takuto tried to breathe, while Evan took a deep breath as if he was trying to calm himself, and the mercenaries started trying to get ready to fight while shaking like if they were leaves in a tornado.

-Evan: Please continue, or were you done being a gormless git? Well, either way, allow me to retort. Do I look like a slag you can handle!? What am I saying, you can't even handle some grape juice, old man! So do what you do best, shut up and follow regulations!

Takuto hissed at Evan while trying to breathe, only to be countered by a sound slap from Evan. This made Takuto cough violently, making him remember the many times that he had tried to surpass Evan only to get defeated so soundly that it made everyone laugh at him for a couple of weeks. Being recorded in history like that, even if it was another world, was a disgrace for Takuto. Specially when Evan was recognized as the fiend he was.

-Evan: Shut up! You sound like manky cow, maggot! No wonder Wukong is in that situation if every other godslayer that is around is either airy-fairy ankle-biters that can't do crap or daft arsemongers!

The last words angered many of the young mercenaries that prepared to attack, and were ready to handle the arrows that came from above, but what happened right after would surprise them more than anything else. After a few seconds, another small red mosquito flew near one of the older mercs and used its proboscis on his neck which made the merc start disorienting, scream due to a sudden pain, sweat, feel unable to breathe even once, and quickly fell to the ground.
Evan calmly looked at the young merc and injected in him, using a syringe, an antidote to deal with the poison of the mosquito, while also injecting it with another syringe to Takuto.

-Evan: See, young mercenary. Real power doesn't only come from the talented, but also from those open to do awful experiments to obtain it. We all have our inner monster. And due to morality, we have to keep it down or else we become monsters too dangerous to be allowed to live. Do you know how even with all the groups that were born from the godslayers, like the pavillions, did even manage to get where they are now? They followed my orders back in the day, because the only way to defeat an enemy that surpasses you in resources and power... It's to stop at almost nothing to become exactly what they fear. Fear is a weapon that can end wars even before they start, and you should learn to fear those who master its use.

While Takuto and the merc were recovering, he looked at James Hagre and smiled ruefully at him. For Evan, this was a big jackpot and one he would not let run away, and so he was ready to exploit this godsend chance to finish his duty cleanly while also covering up the situation. Of course, that meant that he had to clean up all the traces of Aniette being around and probably have the slaves get away with her, but that was not what Evan feared at all.

That said, what Evan feared right now was the possibility of reinforcements. It wasn't a bad risk, but he didn't get a chance to prepare fully for that risk, and that bothered him more than he would ever admit. If reinforcements came, then the cleanup would get messy, and that wasn't something he liked, which made him walk near James and got ready to talk with him.

-Evan: So, yeah. Finally, I see your ugly mug, James Hagre. And seriously, you are so bloody ugly. See... Fendier sends his regards, and unluckily for you those are bad. I am just getting paid, but at the same time there are a lot of reasons behind me for going after you, so you will die today unless you somehow pay all your debts right away. And by that, I mean even the blood ones, which aren't easy to pay at all. So how about we parlay a bit before seeing how you will pay the debt?

James looked at Evan, smiled ruefully and spat in his face, which didn't entertain Evan at all. But Evan had a thing for ironic things, and seeing how Nocturna got to James was one of those ironic things for him, so he clapped his hands. After ten seconds, Nocturna got out of the couchette and walked near James with an angry face which made James look pale as if he had seen a ghost.

-Evan: Oh, not so cocky now? You thought your mommy handled her, but surprise, I am good at saving people from sure death. I did what I promised you, Nocturna, but before killing him... I need him to squeal a couple of things, and this tosser got a bit cocky with me. Hey, gotta admire the guts of this twat for doing that. Not literally, obviously. So don't show me your results of going crazy on his sorry ass, dearie. After all, he did not wish to parlay and as I said in the age of the slayer: Parlay or die like a sea dog.

The mercenaries were trying to find a way to attack Evan without him having a plan to counter it, mostly because they saw how efficient his counter had been with Takuto which did remind them of their fear of Evan. Yet, Evan walked near Takuto, and chuckled at him.

-Evan: Some dogs won't obey until you show them the stick, right? And others won't obey even if you show them the stick. Even if Dawn World was a game for us, you could have at least have the decency of not attacking my children. But well, here we are.

Evan decided to teach the mercenaries a lesson, and acted like if he had dropped his guard carelessly. The older mercenaries, who were godslayers, didn't fall for it, yet the rest rushed towards Evan with katanas and all kinds of close range weapons ready to attack him in groups of ten people each wave.
Evan smiled like a demon, made his mana flow to his left hand and concentrated it on his palm while calmly putting it in the ground. He simply had to wait calmly waiting for everyone to be in position to get them suppressed now.

-Evan: Earth, heed my decree. Earth binding.

After ten seconds, the rock and dirt of the area started breaking and changing shape into a numerous group of massive stone hands that stretched and moved towards the mercenaries that attacked Evan, quickly grabbing them by the torso and positioning 4 meters above the ground floor. In less than a minute, a small stone forest was made in the area with the hands that grabbed the young mercenaries that had tried to kill Evan.
The mercenaries themselves couldn't believe what had happened, for them this was the first time that either Evan had used earth magic, in case of the older ones, or the first time they had seen a mage use so easily a master level spell, in case of the younger ones, which made Evan chuckle and sit down on the ground while feeling a massive headache.

For a child body, which wasn't fully matured and developed like the adult body, using a master spell was already a reckless thing to do mainly due to the fact that the adult body has enough musculature and the brain is fully developed to handle the effects of using spells which were small disorientation for a few seconds, dizziness, headache, and pain in the limb that used the spell if the user didn't use a catalyst.
If the spell was a master level, most children would just drop on the ground and end up unconscious. But in the case of Evan, who was fully acclimated to pain and headaches, he would only feel a slight headache for using a master level spell like Earth Binding. Yet since he used a certain technique to speed up the casting process, which he had already done in the past several times but never for a spell like this one, his headache had gotten ten-fold worse.

The technique that Evan used was a technique that godslayer mages used all the time, Memorization. It was not a skill, so it didn't appear in the skill list, but a technique of mana manipulation. If spells are like programs that a computer runs... Could it be possible for a mage to prepare a spell, leave it ready for use in the background of their brain for when it was required? Yes, but the more time passed... The more pain the user would suffer. So to avoid massive recoils, a mage had to avoid using Memorization for a long period of time. Just before Evan started talking, he had already started preparing to use Earth Binding quickly and even then he required to use part of the chant after all the time that had passed, mostly because using a master level spell with the lack of chantless took a lot longer than what Evan could ever imagine.

-Evan: Where did you get these guys, Takuto? To not even know how Memorization runs, that is clearly something I could expect from Legias not from your guys. That said, I didn't expect to not have it fully prepared by the time they were attacking. But even then, the Memorization backlash hurts like if you were hit with a bat with this body. I am certainly weakened, and even then you can't try to kill me! Nah, just messing with you, Tak. The younger ones would be defeated, but the older ones would have my head. Can't trick you with that one, right?