Chapter 134: Chapter 133 - New Boss Marak’s body lay half-submerged in the mud.
Mist drifted through the ruined shrine, thin enough for the dead bandits scattered beyond the broken walls to appear and disappear whenever the wind shifted. Teclos stood over the corpse until the last thread of stolen mana entered his hand.
It was not much.
None of them had been.
He turned.
Axel waited at the edge of the ruins with the dark chain hanging from his neck. Mud covered his boots and the hem of his torn clothes. Weeks had passed since Teclos last punished him properly. There had always been another camp to clear, another road to open, another payment waiting at Veyron’s fortress.
Axel had mistaken distraction for mercy.
"Now it’s your turn, old man," Teclos said. "I’ve had enough fun torturing you."
Axel’s shoulders sagged.
"So it’s time."
Teclos wound the chain around his fist and pulled.
Axel stumbled forward, but a root burst from the mud and wrapped around his ankle. More vines followed, twisting around nearby stones as he tried to anchor himself.
Teclos gave the chain another sharp tug.
The vines tore apart.
Axel was dragged across the shrine floor and thrown at Teclos’s feet.
"You could still walk away from this," Axel said.
"I could."
"But you won’t."
Teclos crouched and gripped the old man by the jaw.
"You knew what Aweq was doing. You knew people disappeared beneath his castle, yet you remained beside him."
"I knew enough to be ashamed."
"Shame is cheap."
"So is revenge."
Teclos’s thumb pressed into the flesh beneath Axel’s eye.
Axel did not look away.
"You have killed everyone else," he continued. "The count. His wife. His daughter. Soldiers, beasts, and bandits. Has any of it brought Saldia back?"
The name stripped away what little patience Teclos had left.
He slammed Axel’s head against the stone.
Once.
Twice.
On the third impact, blood spread beneath the old man’s skull.
Teclos released him, only to drive his boot down upon Axel’s hand. Bones broke beneath his heel.
Axel groaned and tried to pull away.
Darkness pinned his arm to the ground.
Teclos crushed the other hand next.
"You do not get to say her name."
Axel breathed through clenched teeth.
"She would hate what you have become."
A dark tendril drove into his shoulder and lifted him from the floor.
Teclos flung him through the remains of the shrine wall.
Stone collapsed around Axel. He tried to rise, but one leg bent beneath him before he could place any weight on it.
Teclos walked through the dust.
Axel raised both damaged hands. Vines erupted between the stones, thickening into a tangled barrier.
A blade of darkness passed through them.
The vines fell apart.
Teclos seized Axel by the throat and drove him against the wall hard enough to crack it.
"You watched me suffer."
"I tried to help you."
"You served the man who handed people to Luther."
"I served myself," Axel rasped. "That is the truth you want, isn’t it? I was comfortable. I told myself I could limit the damage while enjoying everything Aweq gave me."