Chapter 305: Turned Into A Pincushion

Yelena really felt like slapping Ravis across the face right then and there, sending him tumbling back down to the ground where he belonged, but she restrained herself.

The only reason she didn’t was because Charlotte was right there, and the last thing she wanted was to make a violent scene in front of her daughter.

So instead, she drew in a deep breath through her nose, turned sharply away from the arrogant boy, and looked straight at the older man behind him—the one standing nervously with a hunched back and trembling hands.

"Chief Elgorn." She said evenly, her tone quiet but laced with command. "I believe we’ve spoken before, haven’t we?"

The man nearly jumped. Sweat poured down his forehead as he immediately bowed his head.

"Y-Yes, my lady! It was a few years back—at one of the interbranch meetings! It’s...it’s an honor to see you again!"

"An honour, is it?" Yelena smiled thinly, her words dripping with venomous politeness. "You call it an honour to come into my home? Onto my property? To barge into my house without permission, harass my daughter, and then claim it’s in the name of investigation?"

She narrowed her eyes, her voice dropping dangerously low.

"Tell me, Chief, what the hell is going on here?"

Elgorn looked like he wanted to sink into the ground. His voice quivered as he replied.

"My lady, please, I—this wasn’t my doing. This morning, I was informed that I’d been...removed from my position. Demoted to a lower office. Ravis, who’s father is a higher executive was placed in charge by the higher-ups. I...had no choice but to accompany him."

His tone shifted, pleading, desperate to make it clear he wasn’t part of the young man’s actions.

"I swear, I had no say in this at all."

Yelena groaned softly and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Unbelievable. I’m already tired from the loss and humiliation I experienced today, and now this."

She then glanced at him before saying with a tired sigh,

"Listen carefully, Chief Elgorn—just leave. Go home, get some rest. I don’t even care that you entered my house. Just take your people and go before something happens that you’ll all regret."

Then she turned toward Charlotte, her voice softening a fraction.

"What about you, Charlotte? Do you want to punish him for chasing you around? Or should we just tell him to go away?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh.

"I don’t care, Mama. He’s just another creep. I don’t want to waste my time giving him attention. I just want him gone. I don’t even want to see his face anymore."

Yelena nodded once, slowly, before turning back to the intruders. Her tone dropped into a final, icy command.

"You heard my daughter. If you leave right now, I’ll forget all of this ever happened. Nothing else will happen. That’s my mercy—take it while it’s still being offered."

Even Elgorn turned to Ravis, clearly hoping the boy would finally back down.

But Ravis, who believed himself untouchable thanks to his new position—just smiled arrogantly and shook his head.

"No." He said simply. "That’s not happening."

Yelena’s eyes flashed. "What did you just say?"

"I said no." Ravis repeated, stepping forward with his hands casually in his pockets. "This is an active investigation site. I can’t just leave because someone tells me to. I have a duty to fulfill, and that means I’ll be staying here for quite some time. You might as well get used to seeing me around."

He turned his eyes toward Charlotte, grinning.

"Who knows? Maybe we’ll get to know each other better during that time. I’d say there’s some chemistry between us already."

Charlotte’s face twisted in disgust, and Yelena’s aura flared, but Ravis wasn’t done yet. He turned his gaze back to Yelena, smiling lazily.

"And you, Lady Yelena—you’re truly stunning. I didn’t expect someone of your status to look this young and radiant. You might be a little older than I normally go for, but I wouldn’t mind talking sometime either...if you’re interested."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Chief Elgorn immediately groaned and turned his face away, muttering under his breath as the agents around them subtly stepped back, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near the explosion about to occur.

Yelena’s entire body trembled, her fingers twitching like she was restraining herself from cutting him in half. Her eyes burned with the fire of an angel barely holding onto control.

But before she could unleash her fury, Mika, who had been silently standing a few paces behind—suddenly stepped forward.

His calm expression contrasted the rising tension.

"I’ve seen you before." He said quietly.

Ravis turned, annoyed. "Excuse me?"

Mika tilted his head slightly, his tone casual.

"Yeah, I’ve seen your face before. Recently, actually. You were on the news, weren’t you? Something about a series of incidents involving women. Cases that never went to trial."

Ravis stiffened, the confident smile flickering for the first time.

"That’s nonsense." He snapped. "All of that was fabricated! Lies made up by jealous people trying to drag my name through the mud!"

Mika’s gaze didn’t waver. "So the girls and their families who came forward—they were all lying too?"

"Of course they were!" Ravis scowled, his arrogance returning as anger replaced fear. "I’ve done nothing wrong."

"And who the hell even are you?" He said while glaring at Mika. "Some servant? The gardener? The one who throws out their trash? Why are you even standing there, acting like you belong here?"

That was the final spark.

Charlotte’s aura flared instantly, pink light crackling around her as her eyes turned bright and burning.

"Take that back." She hissed.

Yelena’s aura followed, flames igniting around her.

"You’ve just made a very big mistake, boy."

The very air trembled from the combined power radiating off the two of them, and Chief Elgorn staggered backward from the sheer pressure.

But before either of them could move, Ravis laughed—short, sharp, and smug.

"Calm down, ladies." He said mockingly. "No need to get hasty."

And the suddenly, a sudden shimmer of blue light burst around him, forming a sphere of glowing energy that rippled in the air.

"You see this?" He said proudly. "It’s an S-class defensive artifact, the Titan’s Finger Nail. A shield that automatically activates when danger’s near."

"If anyone attacks me, not only will it teleport me to safety, but it’ll also trigger a blast big enough to level everything within five hundred meters."

The agents behind him blanched. They were outside the shield’s radius and if it went off, they’d be obliterated instantly.

Even Chief Elgorn stared at him in horror.

Ravis only smirked wider. "So unless you want to turn this lovely floating sky into a implosion zone, I suggest you calm down."

And now, basking in the furious glares of Yelena and Charlotte, Ravis didn’t flinch.

In fact, he was thrilled.

The sweat on Elgorn’s face, the anger pulsing in Charlotte’s aura, the tightly clenched jaw of Lady Yelena.

It was all going perfectly according to his plan.

This was what he wanted from the start.

From the moment he stepped into this house, his objective was clear: taunt the famed Battle Angel and her daughter.

Provoke them. Push them. Make them lose their temper.

Because the moment Yelena laid a finger on him, the shield would activate. He’d vanish into his pre-designated safe house, completely unharmed, while they would be left in the middle of a crater caused by the blast radius.

And the world would see the headlines: Young Investigator Battles Battle Angel and Daughter in First Field Assignment.

He’d be a star overnight.

Not just a rookie anymore. Not someone stuck under his father’s shadow. But a prodigy who dared to face a Battle Angel and lived to tell the tale.

His reputation would soar. His father would finally be proud. The higher-ups would start treating him like a real asset.

He just needed one of them to make a move.

Just one.

He stood confidently, waiting...waiting for the flicker of movement from Yelena or Charlotte.

But what happened next shattered his delusion.

To his surprise—it wasn’t Yelena or Charlotte who stepped forward.

It was the quiet boy.

Mika.

"You know..." Mika said, his voice terrifyingly flat. "After seeing your face on the news the other day, I was already thinking of dealing with you silently."

"But since you’ve come to me yourself on a silver platter, it seems I’ll deal with you right now and finish off a chore meant for the future."

And then before Ravis could even reply and his growing horror, Mika raised.a hand toward the shimmering blue shield.

Elgorn flinched violently.

"No! Don’t touch it!" He shouted. "The moment you do, it’ll explode!"

Ravis also scowlednot out of fear for the boy, but because he wanted a Battle Angel to trigger the reaction, not some random brat.

But as Mika’s fingers drew closer, Ravis’s scowl turned into a dark, greedy smile.

’Fine.’ He thought. ’Let the kid die. The explosion will still be blamed on them.’

’He already imagined himself back at his safe house, lounging by the pool with a cold drink while the news reported his ’harrowing survival’ against the Battle Angel’s household.

The agents behind Ravis turned pale. They all began to slowly step back, mumbling prayers and retreating in dread, knowing the consequences of the shield detonating.

Elgorn, trembling, reached into his pocket and triggered his personal artifact—his only hope of survival.

But Mika didn’t pause.

He calmly placed his fingers on the glowing shield.

Ravis braced himself, already imagining the explosive escape, picturing himself sipping a drink at his pool within moments, while news headlines spread his name across the Capital.

But then—

Nothing.

No explosion.

No blinding light.

No sound.

Instead, where Mika touched the barrier, a small hole formed. The energy shimmered, fractured...and widened.

And in a matter of seconds, the entire shield shattered into glowing fragments of light, falling apart like fragile glass in the wind.

Ravis was left standing in the open.

His eyes widened. "Wha—what the hell?!"

Elgorn stammered in disbelief. "That...that shouldn’t be possible."

One of the agents muttered. "M-Maybe it was defective...?"

But then, before anyone could finish their thoughts—

Swoosh!

Four streaks of silver light tore through the air.

Just like with Yelena before, four swords appeared—gleaming with pure, merciless intent.

But unlike with Yelena, they didn’t restrain.

They impaled.

One sword rammed straight through Ravis’s left hand, slicing through the bone and out the other side.

Slice!

The second speared through his right foot, the third through his right hand, the last—clean through the ankle of his left leg.

Slash!

Pierce!

Slice!

"A—AHHHHHHHH!"

Ravis howled.

"MY HAND—MY FUCKING HAND—MY FEET—OH GOD MY GODDAMN FEET—AAAAAGH—!! IT HURTS—FUCK—IT FUCKING HURTS—STOP—IT’S—"

His body then jolted violently upward as though staked into the very air, suspended like a pinned insect, tendons twisting, blood splashing down from the points of impact in ragged arcs.

"GODDAMMIT!!!! AHHHHHH!!! IT HURTS!!!!"

He was shaking, spasming against the swords that held him in place, trying to twist free and only making it worse, blood trailing down in rivulets as his nerves screamed and his eyes rolled back into his skull for a moment.

Chief Elgorn had staggered back, horrified. His mouth moved but nothing came out.

Flying swords. This was Yelena’s blessing.

He turned slowly toward her—but she looked just as shocked, eyes wide, hand half-raised in a gesture she hadn’t made.

So who—?

They all looked.

Down.

Mika floated now, just slightly off the ground, his shirt rippling unnaturally. His expression was unreadable, his gaze fixed solely on Ravis as if no one else existed.

"You—" Ravis rasped, shaking, face twitching between agony and disbelief. "You bastard—"

Then he screamed again.

Because Mika didn’t stop with just the four swords.

A dagger appeared in his right hand

And with precision like he’d done it a thousand times, he drove it into Ravis’s wrist.

"AAAGHHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream was a dry, broken thing. Ravis tried to writhe, but he couldn’t move. And before the scream even ended—

SHHK!

Another dagger, lower on the same arm.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH—OH FUCK—NO—"

Then another.

SHHK!

And another.

SHHK!

Down his arm. Up his forearm. Into the elbow. Just below the shoulder.

Mika didn’t flinch. He didn’t rush. Each movement was slow, exacting. He wasn’t lashing out. He was working.

Like an artist applying his strokes, or a surgeon digging in with scalpel.

Elgorn took an unconscious step back. "Stop. Please, stop—"

But Mika wasn’t listening.

He moved to the other arm.

Ravis was barely coherent now, voice cracked and raw.

"PLEASE—FUCKING PLEASE—GOD—AAAGHH—STOP—PLEASE—"

The daggers stabbed in, one by one.

PSCHK!

SHLK!

SHCK!

The second arm was worse. Fresh nerves, fresh screams.

Then came the legs.

By now, Ravis had nothing left to scream. His throat bled with the effort.

But Mika didn’t stop. He never even looked like he might stop.

The daggers slid into the thighs, the knees, the calves, one after another, sticking out like grotesque decorations on a mangled, twitching marionette.

Blood was everywhere. Dripping down the floating blades. Pooling beneath.

Finally, the last one went in—SCHK!—straight into the side of his foot and Ravis coughed, his body jerking weakly against the blades that pinned him in the air.

He forced his head up despite the pain screaming through every nerve, eyes trembling as they locked onto Mika’s face hovering in front of him, unchanged, calm, eerily ordinary.

’Cleaner.’

That’s what Ravis had thought at first.

A nobody.

A background extra who swept up messes after important people were done making them.

And yet, he’d overridden an artifact that should have annihilated him. He’d summoned swords that weren’t even his, hung Ravis like a specimen in midair, and was now methodically carving him apart with a composure that bordered on inhuman.

Ravis didn’t know who he was.

Didn’t know why he was doing this.

All he knew was that if this continued, if it went on even a little longer—he would die.

Panic surged through him, raw and choking, and he clawed desperately for something, anything, that could stop this. His chest hitched, blood bubbling up as he forced words through shattered pride and terror.

"M‑My father." Ravis rasped, spitting more blood as his voice cracked. "My father is a top executive at Federation! You—you better not do anything to me! You don’t have the guts! You don’t!"

"The repercussions—the Federation—you’ll be erased! You’ll be hunted. So you better let me go!"

The threat came out pathetic, slurred, drenched in desperation. But Ravis clung to it like a lifeline. His father’s name had always worked. Always.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then Mika tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing just a fraction, as if considering something faintly amusing.

"No guts, huh?" He said quietly. "Let’s test that."

He lifted one hand.

Everyone braced.

Artifacts hummed. Muscles tensed. Some instinct screamed that something catastrophic was about to happen.

But nothing did.

No explosion. No shockwave.

Confusion rippled through the space—until a distant sound reached them, low and rising, a tearing roar through the air like something breaking the sky open.

It grew louder by the second, sharper, closer, until it became unmistakable.

Something was approaching. Fast.

They turned just in time to see a streak of blinding light cut through the distance, tearing straight toward them.

As it closed in, its shape sharpened, resolving into a sword, screaming with power as it tore through the air.

And it wasn’t alone.

Something. No someone was being dragged behind it.

The sword slowed abruptly and stopped in midair before the scene, its light dimming just enough to reveal the figure dangling from it, suspended awkwardly by his collar, feet barely touching nothing at all.

Ravis’s eyes went wide.

"...Daddy?"