Deep underneath the town of Luxton, in a dim room graced meekly by the light, Sir Javon Greenwood was wearing a grim and desperate expression as he stood before the last person he wished to be seen with. The person was Raul, the leader of the local thugs and also the head of the local smuggling ring. Aside from the two, there were four fully armoured guards in the room with them, each one of them was a skilled and seasoned fighter. Javon himself was a very good fighter but not even he himself was confident that he could take one of the guards in this room. 

“Sir Javon Greenwood,” Raul scoffed with a sneer from where he was sitting with a desk in between them. “How nice of you to drop by without bringing your platoon.”

Javon tutted but said nothing in response.

Raul broke into a grin. “So, for what reason do I owe this pleasure, good sir?”

“Cease this pretence already, Raul. You know why I’m here.”

Raul tittered. “Never took you for a beast-loving man.”

Javon clenched his fists tightly but he kept his silence.

“I have seen this paramour of yours. She’s pretty, I’ll give her that, but I have seen prettier ones. Surely someone of your status and wages could afford a better beastfolk slave, no? And get yourself one that isn’t disfigured.”

“She is not disfigured,” Javon spelt out his words.

“Ah, I see. So that’s your kink. But who am I to judge? To each their own.”

“Enough with the jest. Will you help me?”

“If there’s good money to be made, of course, I will. But the question is, this is going to cost you a lot, can you afford it?”

“How much?”

“Twenty gold.”

“Twenty gold!?” Javon roared in great disbelief. “This is ridiculous! That’s too much! Are you trying to screw me over?!”

The guards were ready to strike but Raul gestured for them to stand down. “Calm yourself, Sir Javon. This is unbecoming of you. And no, I am not screwing you over. This is a very reasonable price. You see, I have already tried looking for her even the day she disappeared.”

“And why would you do that?”

Raul chuckled. “You’re here, are you not?” 

Javon clicked his tongue.

“As I was saying, I have already tried looking for her with my men but I came up with nothing. This means I have to outsource this job and that means twenty gold is already a generous fee. So, what’s your answer, Sir?”

With great reluctance, Javon tugged his coin pouch off his belt and tossed it onto the desk. “Here,” he said. “There’s ten gold coins inside. You’ll get the rest when you find her.”

“Of course.” Raul nodded and swiped the pouch off the desk.

Just then, a scream erupted from beyond the room, followed by a sound of flesh being torn apart.

Immediately, the guards in the room drew their weapons and pointed them at Javon. Gone was Raul’s amicable businessman smile and replaced by a scowl that was piercing into Javon. He took out a revolver from under his desk and pointed it at the knight.

Javon was panicking on the inside but on the outside, he kept a collected expression. “It’s not me,” he said calmly with his hands raised. He didn’t have his weapons on him as the thugs had taken them away as a safety measure for their boss.

More screams, clangours of steel, and disturbing noises were coming from outside the room.

“Now that I think about it, this is a clever scheme.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What are the chances that your friends out there will find your beast whore in one of the rooms here?” Raul thumbed the hammer of his revolver. “That will give you a cause that is more than probable to arrest me, no?”

“Damn it, Raul! Whoever’s attacking you, they are not mine!”

“Let me be the judge of that. Now, get on your knees and put your hands on your head.”

Javon sucked up his pride and did as he was told. 

Suddenly, someone came knocking harshly on the door.

“Let me in! Let me in!” screamed the person on the other side of the door. “It’s me, Linus! Let me in!”

Raul shook his head when the guards looked at him for permission.

“Damn it, Raul! Open the door!” The person kept pounding the door as he screamed to be let in. “Let me the fuck in, you fucking piece of shit! Open the fucking door! Let me in! Let me—!”

A sword pierced through the door and the person who was pleading desperately to be let in. The blade was dyed in the blood of Linus, who turned quiet after that. The sword was then retracted from the door. Though there was now a hole in the door, nothing on the other side could be seen as it was pitch black.

Raul wordlessly ordered one of his guards to go and appraise the circumstances. The guard with the red markings on his armour approached the door slowly and cautiously. When the red guard was still a few feet away from the door, it went flying off its hinges and spun towards the red guard. He quickly ducked under the flying door and brandished his sword at the shadow that appeared from the doorway.

Steel met steel and sparks were scattered from the clash of blades.

“What the fuck is that…?” Raul gasped when he saw the thing that had emerged from the darkness.

It wasn’t just Raul, everyone in the room had their gazes absolutely fastened on that presence, a figure in a full set of dark silver armour with a pair of glowing reddish-golden eyes. The figure was simply the epitome of intimidation and the armour the intruder was wearing seemed to be giving off a sense of life of its own. 

“Identify yourself, stranger!” Raul snarled in demand.

“The name’s Augrun,” answered the imposingly armoured individual.

The red guard shook himself out of his stupor and lunged at Augrun. His thrust was parried with ease but he thrust again. This time, Augrun caught the red guard’s sword and crushed the blade into pieces in his grip. The red guard immediately brandished the spare short sword behind his waist and swung at Augrun. However, Augrun caught the guard’s hand and threw him right through the wall on the right. The guard was still breathing after that but he wouldn’t be getting back up anytime soon as his spine was dislocated.

“What do you want, stranger!?” Raul asked, shifting his aim to Augrun. “Did the auction group send you?”

Augrun shook his head and pointed at Javon.

“M-me?” the knight stammered in confusion.

“So it really is you!” Raul growled as he pressed the barrel of the revolver on Javon’s temple.

“No! No! No! I don’t know who that is! There must be some sort of mistake here! I have never seen that person before in my life!”

“Javon Greenwood,” Augrun said.

Javon nodded. “What do you want of me?”

“Kara.”

“I-I don’t know where she is. I truly don’t. I did not take her! Some fucking noble prick did, him and his whore mages!”

Augrun drew his Runic Revolver, while wielding a sword in one hand, and shot Javon in the shoulder.

Javon jerked back from being hit by a magic gun.

Everything happened so fast. Raul couldn’t believe the assailant was wielding a gun of a make and model he did not recognise. He instantly knew Augrun had connections and not someone he could trifle with. By the time Javon was already writhing on the ground, only then did the guards start to move.

“Stand down!” Raul shouted to his guards and they complied, sheathing their weapons. He then looked at Augrun. “I understand now. It’s this prick you want. Just take him. Whatever quarrels you have with him, I want no part of him. You could have just told me it’s him you want. Could have saved all these troubles.”

“I doubt that,” Augrun said. His doubt wasn’t unfounded. If Augrun hadn’t killed nearly everyone in the hideout and easily defeated a personal guard of Raul, he would never have become this subservient.

“As you say… S-sir.” Raul and his guards moved to one side of the room, leaving Javon by himself, essentially serving the knight up to Augrun on a platter.

Of course, Augrun did not completely take his attention off of Raul and his guards as he approached the wriggling Javon. He flipped the knight to his back and pressed his foot on the knight’s wound.

Javon screamed.

“Call them a whore again, I will shoot your other shoulder. Don’t worry, you won’t die from your wounds. I won’t let you. I won’t kill you but you will wish that I have.”

“Why are you doing this…?” Javon asked amidst his painful moaning and groaning.

“Kara is mine.”

At those words, Javon came to a realisation with his eyes agape. “You…? You took my Kara… You took her!”

Augrun poured strength into his foot and pressed Javon’s wound harder, making him squeal. “She is not yours. She’s mine. If you won’t stop looking for her, I will have to resort to drastic measures.”

“You’re a fucking depraved lunatic! What have you done with her?”

“Plenty of things,” Augrun said with a smirk. Of course, that was a lie. He just wanted to gauge Javon’s reaction. “Here’s your choice, I’ll be merciful to you if you agree to stop looking for her. If you don’t, you will be in for a world of pain. Now, choose.”

“You’re a fucking fool if you think I will—”

Augrun silenced him by pointing the Runic Revolver at his head. “Any answer other than either of those two, I just put a bullet in between your eyes.” Not that the Runic Revolver used bullets anyways. Those words were just rolling off his tongue spontaneously.

“Damn it… damn it…” Javon muttered his breath.

“What’s your answer, Sir?”

“Do I even have any other choice?! Of course, my answer is the first one. I’ll stop looking for her.”

Augrun stared at Javon silently for a while before holstering his gun.

Javon breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re going to let me go now?”

Augrun laughed. “No,” he said and redrew his Runic Revolver, shooting Javon in between his eyes.

The knight's brain splattered across the floor, decorating the tiles with flesh and brain matter.

Augrun would have truly let Javon live if he had spoken truly. Javon’s determined eyes had betrayed him, telling all Augrun needed to know about him. Though Javon wasn’t a threat right now, that could change drastically in the future, as he had learned that lesson well in his past life. It was better to nip a problem in the bud.

Now that the matter with Javon was done with, Augrun turned his gaze and attention to Raul.

“Look here, sir.” Raul stepped forward, shoulders trembling. “Whoever you are, I do not wish to have any animosity between us. My name’s Raul. I run the underworld in this town. I’m a very useful friend. I know people too, powerful people.”

Augrun scoffed and walked towards him. 

“Is it money you’re after? Or slaves? Whatever is it you want, I can get them for you alright? I won’t tell anyone what happened here. The death of Javon, I’ll have my men cover it up. You don’t have to worry about anything.” 

“Your men are all dead.”

“I can just hire more. There will always be people out there looking to earn a few coins without questions asked. You don’t need to worry. So just… please don’t be hasty, alright? I’m sure we can work something out between us.” Raul was dashing past his words faster and faster the closer Augrun was getting to him.

Augrun holstered his revolver and dispelled the sword in his hand.

Raul was still vigilant of Augrun despite him having put away his weapons. 

“How do I know I can trust you?” Augrun asked.

“I may be just a businessman in the end but I value my life too. I don't know who you are, sir, but I know you’re not someone I want to offend. I know my boundaries and limits. I’m no fool.”

“You don’t see yourself as a fool but you certainly see others as one.”

“No such thing, good sir. You are mistaken.”

“But I am not mistaken. You are aware that I’m not from the auction. You are aware that I have their property. It isn’t hard to guess what a businessman like you would decide to do.”

“As I have said, good sir, you are—”

Augrun cut him off with a sigh and drew his revolver. The guards immediately moved in front of Raul as Augrun pulled the trigger. The guard at the forefront deployed a barrier that absorbed the projectile fired off by the Runic Revolver. 

“Well then..” Raul was collecting the breaths he lost from the panic just now due to Augrun’s quickdraw and firing. “So be it, sir. Guards, kill him!”

With the magic-absorbing barrier as their shield, the guards charged towards Augrun with their weapons drawn and raised.

Augrun produced a dagger using Soul Armament and threw it at the guards but the dagger was also absorbed by the barrier since it was made of magic. “Old school it is,” Augrun muttered and wound his shoulders, cracking his knuckles in the process.

The guards were wielding longswords and dressed in full armour. Despite so, they moved swiftly and agilely. Magic surged through their armour and swords and they moved even faster. Their movements were leaving behind streaks of blue.

Augrun dodged the first slash by sidestepping. He dodged the second attack by crouching. He then dodged the third one by flipping over the slash. The guards moved in and launched their attacks together. He deflected a blow with his forearm, leaving a shallow scrape on his armour. Another blow came at him from behind. He dodged low and spun around with a kick into the guard’s ribs but the force in his attack was absorbed by the armour and nullified.

Augrun tutted and stepped back, avoiding a downward cut that would not have hurt him. He was just dodging on instincts as he had yet to get fully accustomed to his true ability and strength. But that seemed to give the guards the wrong idea. Fueled by confidence, the guards pressed their assault heavily. Their magic surged even higher as they unleashed a flurry of attacks on Augrun.

The Demon Prince merely sighed and easily dodged and parried each of the guards’ blows. He even snapped the blade of one of the guards’ swords. The guards were astounded and stupefied. Their acceptance of the error of their judgement crept all too slow to them. Augrun rushed at them while they were still in their bewilderment. He shattered the swords of the other two guards and that got them out of their perplexity but by then, Augrun was already upon them. They tried to retaliate but without their swords, Augrun made quick work of them. He plunged his hand through the heart of a guard. He snapped the head of the other. As for the last one, he punched the guard in the abdomen with enough force to turn everything inside into a pulp. The guard spouted blood from his mouth and dropped dead in the next second.

Augrun now truly understood just how superfluous the Urux Armour was. Even without it, the outcome of this massacre wouldn’t have been any different. Still, he didn’t see any detriment in wearing the Urux Armour. It wasn’t troubling him or anything. So, he just kept it on.

While Augrun was swimming in his own fatuous thoughts, the sound of a gun firing was immediately followed by a bullet hitting him on the side of his helmet.

Oh, right, Auburn thought to himself. The man named Raul was still alive. Unhurt, Augrun turned to him. Augrun was impressed that Raul managed to hit his target despite his hand, the one wielding the gun, quivering uncontrollably. 

“Die!” Raul screamed and fired another round, hitting Augrun in the shoulder but it didn’t even stagger him by the slightest.

“Die!” Raul screamed again and pulled the trigger again.

Augrun was hit in the chest but the bullet only smirched the armour with a soot mark.

“Die!”

Augrun was hit in the shoulder.

“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!!!”

Raul had emptied the chamber of his gun but none of the bullets pierced through the armour and Augrun didn’t even feel any pain. The Urux Armour had even absorbed the shock of the bullets.

Turns out it’s useful after all, Augrun told himself leisurely.

“Die! Die! Why won’t you die!?” Raul was still squeezing the trigger despite having fired all of the bullets. “Just what the fuck is that armour!?”

Even though there was magic in this world, only a few defensive spells could completely block and negate the firepower of a gun. So to say, the power of a gun was still quite significant and feared even amongst magic. But of course, magic had its flexibility, reliability, and convenience to make up for that one single flaw.

“It’s called the Urux Armour,” Augrun said. “Not that you would know what that is.”

“An Urux Armour…? Preposterous… that’s just a myth, a stuff of legends…”

“A myth? I see.” Augrun nodded in understanding.

“How do you have such a thing…? Just who are you?”

Augrun revealed himself, unveiling only his head.

Raul’s eyes widened at the pair of horns on Augrun’s forehead. “A D-Demon… Oh god… a Demon…”

“You know what’s funny? A goddess had a hand in me becoming a Demon. How ironic is that? Well, maybe not that ironic in this world.”

Raul recollected himself and quickly began to reload his revolver.

Augrun saw what he was doing but he did not stop him. There was something he just had to try and he wouldn’t be able to sleep well if he didn’t get this off his chest.

Raul finished reloading his revolver and pointed it at the exposed head of the Demon in front of him. Raul squeezed the trigger before he could even steady his aim. His shot was way off the target. So was his second shot… and the third. It was at the fourth shot that he managed to shoot Augrun right in the head.

Augrun went stumbling backwards as the bullet plunged into his head with a force that he was quite accustomed to. He had been shot five times when he was still Damien the hitman and that five times were enough to last him a lifetime of experience and trauma. 

The gunshot hurt like it did in Augrun’s memories but there was a blatant difference this time. He was still alive. He straightened his posture and painfully dug the bullet out of his head. The wound instantly closed up by itself after the bullet was dug out. The bullet didn’t even go far into his head. The intrinsic abilities of his body had prevented the bullet from reaching his brain. He then flicked the bullet lightly back to Raul and taunted him to fire some more.

Raul lost all of his composure and wits and he fired the two remaining rounds in the revolver. One of the two bullets grazed Augrun’s cheek but the other was on target, or it would have hit Augrun if he hadn’t stopped the bullet by grabbing it mid-flight. 

Raul kept pulling the trigger even though the revolver was clicking emptily. He had begun laughing at some point, scared shitless of Augrun’s display of his strength and prowess.

“Thank you for satiating my curiosity,” Augrun said and fired his Runic Revolver at Raul in the head, killing him instantly. Augrun didn’t hate the guy. He didn’t have any beef with him as he did with Brandon and Javon. Raul was just someone Augrun deemed not trustworthy or important enough to be left alive.

With everything resolved, Augrun returned to the tower. It was barely dusk at this hour. It had taken him less time than he had expected. As for the mess he made, he just asked Alvon and Valena to handle it. They were more than happy to handle the mess for him. 

It was good to be a Prince, Augrun was reminded of that obvious fact.