Chapter 94: Long Live The King
Octavian walked slowly to the section of the colosseum reserved for nobles. His eyes roved around the place and all he could see were idiots, milling around and exchanging excited words.
He almost spat in disappointment. Fools who think themselves better just for being born to a lord. They couldn't see that they were no better than the commoners they refuse to rub shoulders with.
He paused as one of the idiotic nobles bumped into him, muttered an apology and kept walking and chattering with his friends.
Octavian looked down at the place he'd been touched before looking up in contempt. He was tempted to just burn the whole place down but no. He held himself back. He had to keep a low profile.
He was here to kill the king, not a bug that didn't know its place.
While he knew that the king was already aware that the Rank 5 artifact in one of his outer vaults had been stolen, that was no cause for concern. The king would want to keep the fact that he had been robbed quiet.
And there was also the fact that they hadn't announced the name of the specific Rank 5 artifact that would be used as a prize before he stole it. The One Shot could just be replaced with something else.
He found a seat with an unobstructed view of the royal box and sat down. The colosseum rapidly filled up, thousands upon thousands of citizens filling its seats.
While the commoner section looked like a mouth crammed with too much food, the nobles section looked like an average sitting room. Every person or friend group had at least 2 seats separating them from those close to them.
Octavian waited with the others until the king finally arrived in his box. He stood with everybody else, even as he sneered at the man.
The one thing he despised in this world was weakness. His own weakness. That of his sister, Lilith. And Albion's greatest weakness, the King.
The man looked like an oversized watermelon. He was so fat, Octavian was sure it had been decades since the man last saw his own toes.
He stared straight at the man as he gave a speech. Octavian didn't listen to whatever nonsense the king was spouting. He just watched the man, memorizing everything he needed to know. He needed a clear image to give One Shot or this would all be for naught.
He was still disappointed in how stupid the king was. Was he that eager to watch powerful knights bash themselves? Why offer a weapon like One Shot to the public? Was it because it was a single-use weapon?
Any Rank 5 Knight worth their salt would be able to destroy the arrow before it could kill them since they were of the same rank but he doubted the king would be one of those.
There was a cheer as the king finished his speech and they all sat down. His gaze moved to the arena, watching as the Rank 3 Knights battled each other.
In another world, he would've been one of them, but that chance had been stolen from him.
He gritted his teeth as his mind went to that fateful day. That was one of the reasons Lilith had to die. And now, her fiance, Terence Ross, would die along with her. He would show no mercy.
He sat there, watching as the crowd cheered and booed with each fight. A few hours later, the intermission was called and the king left his royal box.
He sat for a few minutes, making sure that a lot of nobles and commoners had left to get refreshments of their own before making his move.
He stood, walking confidently to the corridors of the colosseum. Walking like he owned the place, he wandered until there was no one near him.
When he was sure he was truly alone, he made his way to the dark corners of the corridors, where he found the outer wall.
Digging his hand into the wall, he began ripping it out. A few seconds later, there was a hole open to the air outside, big enough for him to squeeze through.
He slipped out, his fingers digging into the stone wall of the colosseum. The wind blew, ruffling his coat as he clung effortlessly to the wall.
While he'd emerged high in the air, it was nowhere close to halfway or the top of the structure. With a look upwards, he began climbing.
Most of the guards were inside the colosseum and there was nobody guarding against colosseum climbers anyways. No one in their right mind would even do that.
He kept climbing until minutes later, he got to the top. With a heave, he pulled himself over and stood, staring down at Steadfast as it sprawled below him.
This had to be the second best view of the city. The first was from the palace itself, which stood at the highest point of the city.
The wind howled up here, threatening to throw him off but he stood his ground. Turning, he walked to the other end and peered down at the crowd of people who were still milling around.
The royal box was empty, which meant the king was still in his private suite. As expected.
He reached out into the air beside him and pulled out One Shot. That was the One Shot's first ability. It could store itself in a fold of reality for its wielder.
Now, it was time to use its main ability.
He stared at the obsidian arrow, watching the muted red ripples. He called up every memory he had of the king. Of the man's weakness, his triple jaws, his hanging belly, and imposed it on the arrow.
The arrow hummed in his hand like a puppy eager to play fetch. He released the arrow and it stayed floating in the air, trembling with a low whine.
He stood there, watching it for a moment, waiting for something to go wrong, even as he knew it wouldn't.
A second later, he nodded to himself, then said the word that sealed the fate of the king.
"Go."
The arrow streaked through the air before the word could even be completed, disappearing in a flash of crimson.
"The king is dead. Long live the king."