>>5193312Feeling like he had nowhere to escape to, Ratface finally lunged at Barnham to claw at his jugular, scratching and tearing with all of his might as he shoved his last dart into Barnham's forehead.
"Your nails are dirty and innefective. Take good care of your weapon, and it will take good care of you. Here, take a look at mine." With a single swipe and without even needing to unleash his true form, Barnham broke the humanoid in two, opening his insides and drinking his blood like one would tear at an orange to taste it's juices.
The gladiators celebrated after seeing the rats disappearing and the deadly poison slowly losing effect in the dying bodies of their comrades. Barnham thought his subordinates would be afraid of him after being outed as a cannibal in the fight against Vlad, but as long as his power was used in their side, they would come to respect him more than fear him.
Letting the others smash at the walls of the wine cellar, a hidden barrel came out of the reinforced compartment, and when counting the money, Barnham had a total amount of 140 golden coins on his hands.
"Surely even you must be moved by such a large amount of money, Barnham." Asked the kushan caster accompanying the gladiator.
"This money is as meaningless to me as a wealking such as yourself. Go back to Ilos, Kalki. Michelle will know what to do with this money."
"You're sending me away? What about my Pishachas? Won't you need them to enter the castle?"
"Someone with power needs to be running the coliseum, or else the visitors will think I am absent. Not like there's any guarantee that he won't be taken by Mozgus. Besides, the kushan are close, wouldn't want you to kill the ones you share blood with." Barnham reflected on what to do with his remaining soldiers as he heard the voice of a God Hand finger in his mind.
"Do as you wish with the king, but know that harming the future queen will be your final mistake." Femto made it clear that if Barnham attempted to rise before his master, causality would strike him without mercy.
Barnham was not a good leader that pleased the crowds, but even he could figure out that the king was incompetent in all parts of his jobs. Just as there were different forms of might, there were different levels of weaknesses, and the royal family had all of them.
They had no power in body, their minds were weak, and they were inactive with their authority. The fact that Griffith wanted to associate himself with a weak human such as the childish, socially isolated Charlotte who had a life of priviledge thanks to no virtue of her own, made him question the God Hand members in their overall competence.
"Until a greater being shows itself to me in person, their authority over me is questionable at best. You want Charlotte alive? Act on it." He confidently dared Femto at his power of controlling causality.
"...So be it."
<span class="mu-g">Onward: Epilogue End. </span>
