"Ahh!"
Inside the lavishly extravagant mansion, the gut-wrenching screams of Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou, the Fourth Prince of Kakin, echoed as his body was contorted into a grotesque shape. His limbs and torso were twisted unnaturally, and blood began to seep from his bulging eyes.
At this moment, the prince's body was entirely mangled. His limbs and torso resembled a braided rope, grotesquely distorted. Daniel showed no mercy toward this prince. In fact, he had even used a sensitivity-enhancing drug on him, one that intensified the sensation of pain. This was a rare occasion where Daniel resorted to such an extreme measure, but for someone like Tserriednich, it felt justified.
Tserriednich's grotesque collection of human remains—eyes, body parts, and skinned bodies—pushed Daniel to unleash the full extent of his wrath. His deeds surpassed those of even the worst criminals Daniel had encountered in all the worlds he had visited. Tserriednich wasn't just evil; he reveled in it.
"You've lost your voice, huh? Don't worry, I'll fix that for you," Daniel said coldly as he healed the prince's throat with his powers, only to continue torturing him. After two rounds of alternating between healing and inflicting pain, Daniel grew bored. His patience wore thin, and he knew it was time to finish things.
"You like these, right?" Daniel dragged the bloodied prince to his collection room using silver chains. He destroyed some of the prince's vile trophies—limbs preserved in formaldehyde jars—and finally dismantled Tserriednich's own body, disposing of it in those very jars.
"I bet someone will pay a hefty price for these one day," Daniel mused sarcastically as he decapitated the prince using his Ope Ope no Mi powers, then dunked the head into a jar of formaldehyde. The head jerked and convulsed as it struggled futilely, before gradually going still, lifeless.
"Binding of Souls," Daniel muttered after the prince had died. He conjured a spell to seize Tserriednich's soul, not to torture it, but to turn it into a Philosopher's Stone. Like the earlier victims, Tserriednich's soul was mostly an empty shell, devoid of awareness, making prolonged torment impossible.
"Good thing this bastard never learned Nen. With how twisted he was, his Nen abilities would've been a nightmare," Daniel said with a sigh after converting the soul. He knew that if Tserriednich had possessed Nen, his abilities would've likely been amplified by the malevolent force of his twisted obsession, making him nearly unstoppable. Death would have only made him stronger—just like other users of "post-mortem Nen." Compared to Tserriednich, even Hisoka would seem less dangerous.
Though Daniel didn't know the future events, he instinctively recognized that someone like Tserriednich could have been an incredibly dangerous Nen user. In the original timeline, the prince eventually gained the power of a rare and terrifying special Nen ability—an ability tied directly to his innate evil.
"Seems like someone's finally noticed. He wasn't as valued as I thought," Daniel observed as he sensed through his Kenbunshoku Haki that four Nen-powered guards were heading his way. They hadn't heard the prince's screams, as the mansion was well-insulated for sound. Ironically, Tserriednich had personally ensured the room's soundproofing, to keep his victims' screams from reaching outside.
The guards were here because they had discovered the body of Marco, Tserriednich's bodyguard, in the nightclub parking garage. Despite knowing that the prince had entered the hotel, the guards decided to check on him due to the strange circumstances—especially given the influx of powerful outsiders arriving in Kakin for the Dark Continent expedition.
"Perfect timing," Daniel muttered as the doorbell rang. With a flick of his hand, he remotely opened the door. At the same time, three grenades rolled across the floor toward the unsuspecting guards.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The grenades exploded in quick succession, tearing the guards apart. Despite their Nen abilities, they stood no chance in the narrow hallway. The sudden explosion triggered the hotel's emergency systems, but Daniel didn't mind.
"Let's make this interesting," Daniel said, noting that the royal family was likely well aware of the prince's depravity. They simply chose to turn a blind eye. If that were the case, why not give them a bit of trouble?
"Maybe I should look for a Nen user who can materialize grenades," Daniel mused as he continued his assault. He fired Nen-infused bullets from a materialized submachine gun, spraying the hotel with gunfire and tossing more grenades for good measure. Chaos erupted as he fought his way to the ground floor.
"Request backup now!" The head of hotel security, now desperate, reported the situation to the royal palace.
"More transportation-type Nen users?" Daniel noted as he spotted two jeeps and a motorcycle speeding toward him. When they arrived, the vehicles transformed into humanoid figures—Nen users capable of turning into machines.
In the mercenary world, such abilities were rare but not unheard of. Soon, the Nen users merged into a towering mecha. But before they could open fire, Daniel threw down a few smoke bombs and vanished, deciding that there was no point in prolonging the fight. If he continued, he risked confronting the entire Kakin Empire's forces, and possibly Beyond Netero himself. That was unnecessary—for now, at least.
The information he had extracted from Tserriednich was enough. The royal succession war would provide ample opportunities for more mischief later.
"Damn it, who moved first?" After Daniel left, the commander of Kakin's secret forces arrived at Tserriednich's suite. He inspected the dismembered body floating in formaldehyde without a hint of emotion.
The timing of the prince's death was too coincidental. With the succession war looming, it was natural for the commander to suspect that another prince had moved preemptively against Tserriednich. After all, who would be bold enough to kill a prince unless they had something to gain? The commander barely cared about the Fourth Prince's fate—he was merely concerned with the potential political implications.
With a quick nod to his team, he ordered the prince's remains to be retrieved and stitched together for transport back to the palace. There were far more important matters to deal with than a prince who had met a well-deserved fate.
---
"Why were you gone so long?" Ada asked with a raised eyebrow as Daniel returned to their luxury suite at a five-star hotel in Kakin's capital. She and Robin, both dressed in casual dresses, were lounging on the couch, reading.
"That bastard made me furious, so I spent a little extra time," Daniel explained briefly, recounting his encounter with the prince.
"What a piece of trash. He deserved worse," Ada remarked coldly. She would have gladly burned Tserriednich to ashes if given the chance, but Daniel's punishment seemed fitting.
"It's over now, so let's not dwell on it," Robin added, her expression calm. Both she and Ada had seen their fair share of depravity in the underworld, and while Tserriednich's actions were horrifying, they weren't entirely surprising to them. Their experiences made them far more desensitized than Daniel, who had led a more ordinary life before gaining his powers.
"We've been waiting for you. We haven't eaten yet," Ada said, getting up to link her arm with Daniel's. She led him toward the dining area, while Robin joined them.
Dressed in her vibrant red dress, Ada looked stunning as ever. Robin, in her elegant blue-violet dress, was just as alluring. Any thoughts of the prince faded from Daniel's mind as he sat between the two beauties.
---
"By the way, I got something for you two: space rings," Daniel said after dinner, presenting the enchanted rings he had brought back from The Outcast world.
"These require Qi to activate, so you'll need to learn a bit of Qi cultivation," Daniel explained as he handed the rings to Ada and Robin. With his guidance, both women quickly grasped the basics of Qi manipulation, enough to activate the rings and control the stored items inside. Although their primary strength lay in their Devil Fruits, the space rings would still be useful.
Aside from the rings, Daniel had also brought a variety of other magical artifacts, but many of them were met with disinterest. Robin and Ada found most of them impractical for their fighting styles. They already had advanced nanotech suits for protection, making most of the defensive artifacts redundant.
"Guess all that effort was for nothing," Daniel muttered, realizing that many of the treasures he had acquired were essentially worthless to him. Most of his power came from his core abilities—his Devil Fruit, his martial arts, and his magic—not the magical trinkets he had collected along the way.
Nevertheless, some benefits couldn't be ignored. Breathing techniques from the Demon Slayer world had greatly enhanced his stamina, and cultivating Qi strengthened his internal energy and physical resilience. The time spent learning those techniques wasn't entirely wasted.
With those thoughts pushed aside, Daniel focused on helping the women practice their new abilities, enjoying the peaceful moment after the chaos in the Kakin Empire.
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