Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 73 Powerless

Chapter 73 Powerless
Downtown area, underground street, Sunset Bar.

"You should have gone to see it the day before yesterday, it was absolutely packed with people... especially when the second prince appeared, the cheers were so loud, I couldn't help but join in a couple of times—Hey kid! Watch where you're going!"

A ten-year-old boy carrying a bag full of potatoes squeezed past the fat and fierce Edmund with a bitter face.

Edmund snorted and turned back to continue fiddling with the food on his plate: "Heh heh, you didn't know, did you? The new prince is called Thales, the exact same name as that black-haired little rascal who used to come and freeload... Kid, why are you turning around? What does His Highness have to do with you? Get back to work!"

"I heard that philandering Kessel is going to take his life to sue for peace with Exter—today the market is full of people talking about it, everyone is indignant, saying that the lords of the Stars are all cowards, unable to protect the country, and that the royal family has sacrificed too much for the Stars… Bah, that Stars royal family full of lunatics, you don't know, twelve years ago, I was in front of the palace gates…"

In front of Edmund, a young girl wearing tight pants and a sleeveless jacket was listlessly fiddling with her short brown hair, leaning against the food delivery window between the front desk and the kitchen, looking utterly dejected.

The sharp-looking, brown-haired girl, her face twitching, gritted her teeth and said:

"I said, before you shred it into pieces—are you going to give me that steak or not!"

Edmund looked up, his face contorted with rage.

He glared resentfully at the bartender at Sunset Bar, Alys Lydon, and shoved his steak at her.

Yara turned around and handed the steak to the timid little girl with a scar on her face outside the counter.

Edmund snorted from behind, "What kind of attitude is that! Your uncle just wanted to have a chat with you... to give you some advice so you can forget that blond, green-skinned, heartless bastard..."

Yara rolled her eyes, her delicate face stretching to the point of looking like a pencil tube, and turned her head, replying in a harsh tone:

"You fatso! If you bring this up again—I'll...!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" The chubby cook, Edmund, immediately changed his expression, raised his plump hand, and slapped it twice on the food delivery window:
"You're going to get angry over the slightest thing? I was just checking in on my adorable niece's dating progress. You know, the most important thing for two people is to have common ground. What if a gangster bartender and a police officer were dating..."

Unable to bear it any longer, Yara slammed her fist hard on the bar!

"Listen up, everyone!"

Yara spoke loudly and gruffly, drawing the attention of all the patrons:
"My uncle, who is still single at forty-one, the cook at Sunset Bar, Edmund Skorch, the woman he loved most in his life was..."

In that instant, Edmund gasped for breath like a cat with its fur standing on end!

Before Yara could reveal that name, the fat chef roared with all his might:
"stop--!"

Yara shut her mouth and looked at him with disdain.

She scoffed, "Single dog, coward, unrequited love."

Edmund glared sheepishly at his niece and said sheepishly:

"Um... we're out of potatoes, I'm going to get some..."

Cinty, who had just brought in a full bag of potatoes, looked at Edmund with a puzzled expression as he fled the kitchen as if running away.

The potatoes... are gone? Then what I'm carrying is...

Just then, a boy with a bandage wrapped around his right hand stumbled in, looking panicked!
"They—they—they're here!"

With a mournful face and bruises all over his head, Ryan suddenly lunged at the bar.

The poor child was caught in a hug by the surprised Sinti.

Yara's face darkened, and she put down the rag in her hand.

Kolia, who had just returned from delivering meals, looked up at the front door and began to tremble.

With a pale face, she looked at the dozen or so fierce-looking, burly figures in black, shoved aside the patrons blocking her way, and slowly walked into the bar.

The noisy bar suddenly quieted down.

"Go to the kitchen."

Yara reached her hand to her side and calmly addressed the three beggars.

But from among those dozen or so people, two thugs dressed in black stepped out, their faces hostile, and blocked the doorway from the bar to the kitchen.

The three beggars shrank back and hid behind Yara.

"What do you mean?"

Yara angrily asked, "This is 'Sunset Bar'! Not Black Street—even Morris wouldn't dare cause trouble here!"

But the thugs remained unmoved, calmly walking to various corners of the bar as if they were on guard duty.

A tough-looking, resolute thug brandished a single-edged axe from behind his back.

Under the resentful and fearful gazes of several drinkers, he coldly raised the axe blade with one hand.

He slashed at a wine table.

"Boom!"

The force was so great that it smashed the table in two, sending it flying horizontally!

Many patrons panicked and covered their heads to shield themselves from the flying debris.

The resolute axe-wielder turned coldly and shouted to the others in the bar:
"Brotherhood business, get lost."

The patrons in the bar recognized these people and whose subordinates they were.

'Thunder Axe' Ostru, one of the Brotherhood's thirteen generals.

They are the "tough guys" in charge of transnational arms smuggling.

A clattering sound rang out, and many people stood up without hesitation, fleeing the bar as if their lives depended on it.

Right now!

A streak of silver lightning flew rapidly toward Oschu!

It was a throwing knife with an oddly curved shape.

Sunset Bar is famous for its wolf leg knife!

Oschu's expression changed, and he deftly deflected the throwing knife with his axe blade.

"Ding!"

But Oschu was jolted!
He was shocked to discover that the throwing knife carried a strange power that vibrated and was transmitted to his hand.

This caused him to freeze involuntarily.

Oschu gritted his teeth as he resisted the shock: What on earth is this?
A faster, slender figure, already wielding another knife, flew towards him at lightning speed from behind the bar!

Sniper knife!

Straight for the throat!

Oschu, still frozen in shock, narrowed his eyes.

He couldn't avoid it.

But the expected carnage did not materialize.

Yara gritted her teeth, staring incredulously at the knife that should have been plunged into Oschu's throat, now gripped tightly in a hand wearing an iron glove.

The owner of the iron gauntlet was a middle-aged man with a face full of scars.

He stood to Yara's side and, at the critical moment, managed to grab the Saridon family's Instant Kill Blade!

“I remember you were just a useless mortal, a Sarridon who gave up his family’s profession,” the scarred middle-aged man said coldly. “If it weren’t for ‘Reverse Curve,’ you wouldn’t even have a chance to work as a bartender here—the Brotherhood doesn’t take trash.”

“But judging from the strange vibration in your blade—you’ve unknowingly become a super-level expert,” the middle-aged man released the blade from his hand and snorted lightly. “It seems the killings and battles in Red Street have taken you a step further—indeed, the people of the Sarridon family can only hone their skills in blood.”

Yara took a step back, her face contorted with rage, gritting her teeth as she stared at the formidable enemy before her.

Damn it.

She has made such great progress since Hongfang Street.

She reached the Super Rank and mastered "Strange Tremor"—but why was this guy able to withstand her Instant Kill Blade!

The remaining patrons whispered among themselves and slunk away. One of them looked puzzled and wanted to argue, but was immediately pulled away by a more knowledgeable patron.

They recognized the middle-aged man with a face full of scars.

He was the biggest arms smuggler among the Brotherhood's six leaders, second only to "The Uncrowned Fist" Ginza.

"Iron Heart" Sandara Roda.

Yara, Quaid Rhoda's father, gritted her teeth inwardly.

Without hesitation, all the drinkers fled immediately.

"Don't be surprised that I was able to grab your knife - there is never a certainty in battle, and the so-called classification of mortal and super-level is just a saying."

Rhoda, whose face was contorted with rage by the scars, scoffed and didn't even glance at Yara.

Oschu looked at Yara with resentment, tucked the axe blade back into his back, and pulled out a chair for Roda.

"Due to various factors, it is perfectly normal for battles between people of the same level to result in a one-sided crushing defeat, or for battles between people of different levels to be evenly matched."

Roda, his face covered in scars, casually sat down in a chair, crossed his arms, and looked at the female bartender who looked as if she were facing a formidable enemy.

"When I was young, I even saw a swordsman who was only at the super-level, in a battle where the strength difference was so great that he had almost no chance of winning..."

"...killed two experts at the pinnacle of their cultivation."

what?
Yara's pupils contracted.

Looking at Yara's astonished expression, Rhoda laughed and said, "That was the battle that made the person I admire most famous—facing such a dense encirclement and such an enemy, I thought I was going to die there..."

“Until he raised his sword.”

"Therefore, I will never believe in any absolute division of strength again—even experts at the pinnacle of power can be slaughtered like pigs..."

Rhoda leaned forward, a thoughtful and serious expression on his scarred face:
"Then what's so impossible about my good-for-nothing son being killed by a few beggars?"

Yara frowned, a look of surprise on her face, and looked at Rhoda.

he.

He really did come...

The three children behind her shrank even more.

Yara unconsciously took a step to the side, blocking the three children, and raised the knife in her hand.

"Now, are you sure you still want to draw your knife in front of me, little girl?"

Rhoda let out a breath and smiled contentedly.

The female bartender glanced at Oschu and the dozen or so burly men around her out of the corner of her eye.

She knew that this was an elite squad within the Brotherhood, specifically responsible for arms smuggling.

She was no match for him.

Yara gritted her teeth and stabbed the wolf leg knife in her right hand into the table beside her.

hateful.

How to do?
"So, this is the prototype of the 'reverse curved blade'?"

The scarred middle-aged man looked at the strange curve of the wolf leg knife, rubbed the four rings on his left hand with the iron glove in his right hand, and said slowly, "The Brotherhood's legendary assassin changed his weapon because of the idea of a little girl like you, and even changed his nickname in just a few years—that's rare indeed."

“I call it ‘Wolf Leg Knife’,” Yara said coldly, looking like she was about to kick him out. “What does it matter? No matter how famous a weapon’s name is, it doesn’t matter,” Rhoda chuckled. “The key is the person using it—this knife can only cut meat in your hands, but in the hands of ‘Reverse Curve Knife’, it can break through layers of defense and kill the previous Iris Duke of the Star Kingdom.”

Yara frowned as she looked at the middle-aged man with the scar in front of her.

“Let’s get down to business,” Yara said coldly. “The old man doesn’t like people interrupting his business.”

The formidable figure among the Brotherhood's six leaders, Sandara Rhoda, scoffed: "You think you can scare me with a 'reverse curved blade'?"

Yara did not answer.

But a chill ran through her.

The other party came prepared.

“You know, I don’t usually take care of my son—he’s a child born to a bastard, and I don’t even know if he’s mine.”

"Besides, he's a good-for-nothing." Rhoda snorted.

“So I don’t really care about his life or death,” Rhoda tilted his head back and stretched his neck. “But since he took my surname and is still working in the Brotherhood.”

“Then I cannot tolerate anyone using his life to challenge my authority.”

Rhoda's words revealed a sinister intent.

"It is also intolerable that someone who has committed the blood debt against the Rhoda family has not received the punishment he deserves."

Yara frowned.

She looked around again.

How to do?
When will Edmund return?

Where's the old man?

“It took me some time to trace this place,” Rhoda said casually.

"I ruined more than a dozen beggars before I found out that the four beggars who had been missing all along—the most suspicious murderers—may be hiding in Sunset Bar."

Rhoda's gaze pierced the three children.

Kolia was so frightened that tears streamed down her face.

Yara gritted her teeth, remembering Thales' words, and stepped forward, shouting loudly:

“Those three have absolutely nothing to do with your son’s death! There’s a missing boy; he’s the real killer of Quaid!”

Rhoda laughed heartily, the scar on her face twitching: "I know—that's what the one-handed brat said too, Thales, right? The same name as the new prince… So the question is, where did he go?"

Yara took a deep breath, forcing herself to forget that night on Red Street: "You shouldn't have come to ask me."

Rhoda narrowed his eyes: "Then why are you protecting these three runaway beggars so closely? Does Sunset Bar really need three beggars who can't even lift a plate to run?"

“That’s my business,” Yara said, pursing her lips.

Unexpectedly, Rhoda raised an eyebrow and nodded: "That's true."

As Yara watched in confusion, Sandara Roda casually leaned back and waved to his men:
"So, I guess you won't mind..."

"Hand over all these escapees to me?"

Before Yara could react, Roda's men stepped forward without hesitation.

Amid the cries and kicks of the three children, the thugs coldly separated them and roughly hoisted them onto their shoulders.

"Sister Yara—" Kolia cried, but a thug covered her mouth.

Sinti, with her arms bound behind her back, groaned in pain.

Ryan just trembled and let the thugs subdue him.

Yara's eyes widened in anger: "You—"

The agitated female bartender suddenly pulled out a knife from the table!

In the blink of an eye, the Swift Kill Blade, which had once forced Bald Spence to surrender and beg for mercy on Red Street, made its move.

Target: Rhoda!

But before she could even extend her knife a foot, Rhoda stood still and stretched out his long arm.

The iron gauntlet gripped her knife firmly once more!

Like a mamba snake caught in a trap, Yara's swift movements froze instantly!
Yara stared in shock at Roda's calm expression, feeling as if the knife in her hand was weighed down by a massive boulder, requiring her to grip it with all her might to keep it from slipping out of her grasp.

At this moment, the female bartender's face was extremely ugly.

impossible.

The swift and precise killing blade, renowned for its speed, finesse, and dexterity, was actually defeated by him...

“Don’t push me, little girl,” Rhoda said calmly. “We’re both Super-class, but when it comes to fighting, I have a hundred ways to take you down effortlessly.”

Yara stared in disbelief as Rhoda bent the wolf leg knife in her hand!

He loosened the iron gauntlet, releasing the deformed wolf leg knife.

But then an axe blade suddenly appeared, blocking Yara's throat.

“This time,” Oschu’s eyes gleamed with fighting spirit, “you have no chance.”

Yara bit her lip, looking at the enemies who seemed to be surrounding her, and said angrily:

"This is Sunset Bar!"

"You're challenging the old man's authority!"

Rhoda stood up coldly.

“Listen, young lady,” he said, his eyes flashing with anger and hatred, “I respect your surname, I respect the owner of this bar—that’s why I haven’t laid a finger on you. I have shown you the utmost friendship and goodwill, and I have shown you the utmost respect for ‘Reverse Scimitar’.”

Yara looked up unwillingly: "But you can't—"

But Rhoda interrupted her with a roar!
"Enough with the nonsense!"

Yara paused for a second.

Rhoda, his face contorted with rage, walked up to her, looking down at her menacingly: "Do you think I don't know you're involved in my son's death?"

"Hundreds of people saw him come to your bar and have one of his hands crippled by you."

Does he know?

Under immense pressure, Yara's breathing quickened.

“How he was framed—I don’t care at all. As for who killed him, whether it was Thales or Taylor, I don’t care either,” Rhoda exhaled and grinned maliciously. “I just intend to get rid of everyone involved in his death…to show people what Rhoda’s methods are, that’s enough.”

The three children continued to struggle and kick, but they were gradually losing strength.

Rhoda's scarred face twitched, and he said in a terrifying voice, "Therefore, I've been very lenient with you, little girl. You should go and see that Nar Rick!"

"Lancer said all sorts of nice things about him."

Yara was startled.

Rick?

“So, for the sake of an old friend,” Rhoda straightened his clothes, a sinister smile spreading across his face.
"I only gouged out one of his eyes and crippled one of his hands."

Rhoda's tone returned to its usual calm.

"Don't worry, I'm not a serial killer or a sadist."

"There are just some authorities that need to be upheld."

Yara lowered her head, her heart filled with bitterness.

How to do?
There's nothing I can do.

If you were here, you clever little devil.

what will you do?
"Continue doing business, and I will compensate for the losses here."

Rhoda turned around nonchalantly, stepped over the messy bar, and walked out the door.

"Please give my regards to Lord 'Reverse Curved Blade'."

Oschu looked at the mess of tables and chairs on the floor and casually tossed a money bag aside.

“You’re very capable,” Lei Fu said coldly, “but I will definitely be stronger than you.”

The group walked away into the distance.