"Ahh!"
"I told you to make the attack subtle. Now everyone knows that a place got blasted due to that light boom!" Manori's voice boomed as she landed two tight slaps on each of Madoru's cheeks.
The rest of the rebels, currently gathered in the Aldreach Laboratory, gulped nervously, seeing that their leader wasn't even being lenient towards her twin brother.
Although there were a few of them who knew that if it were a normal underling, she would've immediately turned them into a puddle of flesh and blood using her oathweight. In comparison, one could say that Madoru was getting princess treatment.
The male twin moaned and grunted, his jaw clenched as he rubbed his hand over his reddened cheek, his normally pale skin making the impact of her slaps far more visible.
"I-I just tried to show you how capable I was, Great Sister—" Another slap resounded through the chamber, landing square on Madoru's cheek once more.
"I gave strict instructions to make that attack subtle. Subtle, I said! That alone would have proved that you're capable." She scoffed at him, at how he sat on the floor, his legs huddled together, his eyes wide as his face was contorted with regret and sorrow.
She had planned to take out all the laboratories in the Velsaber District discreetly. Yet, Madoru forgot to use [Magic Concealment] when using his attack to destroy the other labs, and since the attack was incredibly faster than light, it left a light boom in its wake.
Even a sonic boom is more subtle than this. This useless piece of trash...
Manori understood the situation. When Madoru received some of Karsawa's Vyr thanks to the control mechanism that this laboratory had, it had increased his attack power and Vyr capacity so immensely that he found it difficult to control them.
Thus, when he focused most of his brain power on controlling the Vyr reserves inside him, he completely forgot that the attack was supposed to be subtle. When he launched the blast, the attack itself couldn't be seen by most, as it exceeded the speed of light. However, a light boom gave it away since his blast had actual mass.
"If your attack didn't have any mass behind it, the light boom might not have been detected. Stupid trash." She kicked his butt, causing him to be sent a few steps flying before landing hard on his butt.
Madoru looked miserable in every sense of the word. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth and nose were bleeding, and the redness of his cheeks from the slaps was highlighted on his pale face. His lips were quivering as he looked at her with pupils that had shrunk to the size of a pin.
There was nothing but absolute despair on his face.
His feminine features only made the sight more pitiful for the onlooking rebels who were on standby, watching how Manori punished her own twin brother. Not just that, but both looked nearly equally feminine, but the actual woman among them was clearly far more of a threat.
I could've done this shit myself even without Karsawa's Vyr reserves, but I wanted to keep my hands clean off this...
Manori spat on his face. She had some expectations of him, yet they shattered the moment he showed his lack of ability to multitask and his difficulty in controlling his energy.
Madoru gasped, sitting at his knees. "G-Great Sister! I'm sorry! I tried, I really tried! P-Please don't hate me! I'll do better next time. Please forgive me..."
He sobbed. He had always been delicate, his long pink hair now messy and unkempt. His bluish-red eyes were hazy.
"Zip it!" she snarled. "I've had enough of your blabbering."
She landed a kick to his chin, sending him to the ground, his body going prone as he gasped, tears escaping his eyes.
She then turned to the only scientist who had survived. His body was trembling as he could barely stand, leaning on a nearby counter for support.
"Oi! Noran, was it?" She stopped a few steps before him. "Didn't you manage the Vyr reserves entering his body well enough? I thought I told you to give him a low dosage of that shit."
Since Noran was a scientist familiar with how the laboratory worked, he was responsible for helping the rebels receive some of Karsawa's Vyr. Still, his Vyr reserves were heavily restrained using [Vyr Block], which blocked the Vyr reserves of the target, reducing them to a horrible degree.
Essentially, he couldn't resist them, even the slightest, so he had to remain compliant.
"I gave him the exact level of dosage you asked for, Miss Manori, but—"
"It's Manori the Greatest for you, foolish pet!" She landed a tight slap on his right cheek, jerking his head to the sight as he spat out blood due to the impact.
Either she used more force in this slap, or Noran was just too weak to endure it without bleeding. Even though Madoru was far more durable than this scientist, who was in his 50s, one couldn't tell whether Manori was using the same force on both or not.
"You should be grateful that I find you entertaining enough not to use the [Vow of Servitude] on you."
After a heavy silence that made the bystanding rebels sweat, Noran finally spoke, his voice far more reserved. "Miss Manori the Greatest, I gave him the exact dosage you asked for. However, the quality of Karsawa's Vyr is far richer and denser compared to that of the normal Vyr of Varkana. He wasn't used to this level of advanced Vyr, so it's no surprise that he felt difficulty in this matter."
His explanation was solid. It was common knowledge that Karsawa's Vyr was richer and denser than Varkana's, yet it seemed that Manori had underestimated how big a difference it was.
"You should've mentioned how much Karsawa's Vyr differed from normal Vyr. Had I known it, I wouldn't have let this gay ass attack, but would've done it myself." She cursed under her breath before landing a punch straight at his nose.
Noran grunted, stumbling as his nose cracked loudly under her punch. Blood seeped out of him, and pain rushed as a white-hot flash. It was truly pitiful that an old man who was weakened was now facing this treatment.
Of course, none of the rebels felt any sympathy towards Noran the way they felt towards Madoru. The former was being forced to serve them, while the latter was a Lieutenant, with Manori as an executive.
Executives were at the peak of influence in the rebel society. Some were executives due to their strength, others were due to their intelligence, and some were there for other reasons, like their charm and so on.
Manori was there for her strength and understanding of how Vyr worked. The grandmaster had often assigned her various difficult tasks, and running this laboratory was one of them.
She couldn't face the grandmaster with such a failure at her discreet attempt. She might even get killed for it, all because of her brother's incompetence and the scientist's forgetful nature.
"Remember, old man. We are your masters, now. Understood? You won't return to your precious king. Now, you serve the rebels. If you keep anything hidden like this ever again, I will cut you into pieces in such a manner that you will beg for death."
She grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling his head back, which exposed more of his throat. "You got that?"
Her hiss was vicious, making some of the rebels flinch. It was surprising to see that the scientist was still able to stand with how angry Manori was. Yet, he was just that useful. Only thanks to him did they understand how most of the laboratory worked, especially when it came to Karsawa's control mechanism.
Manori sighed, wiping the sweat off her forehead. Her black robes had red linings along with other colored fabrics braided to it. Her pale face looked ethereal with her divine features, yet her angered expression made it look terrifying.
Her black trousers were a bit smeared from Madoru's blood that came out as she was beating him up. She then turned and walked to her twin brother, who was still lying on the ground, injured.
"Get up, you piece of shit." She stomped her foot on his testicles, making him gasp as he sat up.
She then pulled him up to stand by gripping his hair. Her eyes were narrowed as they stared right into his frightened ones.
"Our next meeting with the grandmaster is within 2 weeks. Remember to tell her about your incompetence so that I don't have my head on a spike," she snarled before letting go of his hair, walking to the upper floor, and entering the balcony.
Meanwhile, Madoru stood alone yet surrounded by other rebels. His body was bloodied. His robes, which were similar to Manori's, were tattered and filled with blood stains. His eyes were hazy, and his hair was a mess.
He slowly walked to Noran, his stride wobbly. One of the rebels stepped forward, willing to help him walk, yet he stopped him by holding his hand out. The cloaked rebel gulped before stepping back into place.
Madoru stopped inches before Noran, his bluish-red eyes studying the scientist's pitiful body with an unreadable gaze. He brought forth his right hand, caressing the old man's cheek with surprising tenderness.
The rebels all frowned under their hoods, but they weren't surprised. Such actions were common from Madoru whenever he was confronting a male for more than five minutes.
Yet, they could feel that something was different here. Back then, Madoru would smile at the male whose cheek he was caressing like this. However, there was an unreadable expression on his face.
"You probably looked like a gorgeous man in your youth... aging is truly a shame." He sighed, closing his eyes momentarily.
When he opened them again, Noran stiffened, seeing a manic glint in those pupils.
He then felt this stiffening feeling of his justified as a punch landed right in the old scientist's stomach, making him choke slightly as his body arched forward.
"Ggh—!"
Slam! Another punch to the diaphragm made Noran cough blood, his body trembling as he turned his gaze up to meet Madoru's eyes that were filled with hatred.
"You... you didn't tell her about Karsawa's extremely dense nature on purpose," he accused, his voice slightly hoarse with anger.
"I-I—"
Bam! Another strike to his stomach, which made him cough up even more blood.
"You wanted everyone to notice my attack."
Bam!
"You wanted to make me lose control of my Vyr reserves."
Bam!
"You wanted to put Great Sister Manori in trouble."
Bam!
"You plan on helping the empire as much as you can."
Bam!
Noran's legs shook violently. The rebels, who had never seen Madoru lash out like this, at a man no less, were stiff with wide eyes hidden by the hood of their cloaks.
"I-I assure you. I-I-I didn't mean it. I—"
"Shut up!"
Smack! Madoru's punch landed straight on the scientist's cheek, making him stumble to the ground.
Before he could even move, Madoru walked to his prone figure and began kicking his stomach repeatedly. Noran's body curled up in pain at the androgynous man's constant assault.
"You pathetic piece of shit! My sister hates me because of you! She might die from my mistakes! Because of me! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! Die! Die! Die!" He screamed as he kicked with more force.
The other rebels weren't sure whether to stop him. They ultimately decided not to be stupid and let him carry out his outburst.
"My sister hit me! My sister hurt me! My sister made me bleed! It's all your fault! Your fault! Your fault!" A choked sob escaped his lips as he kicked his stomach furiously.
Tears began running down his gorgeous, feminine face. Yet, he didn't care as he continued hitting him furiously. His eyes were wide with rage and sorrow as he released all of his frustration at the poor scientist.
Meanwhile, Manori stood on the balcony, overseeing the horizon. Unlike before, a small smirk was etched onto her face, seemingly unaware of her brother's outburst.
"Hehehe~, so what if they know? The laboratories are still destroyed. The grandmaster will likely forgive me if I plead hard enough... and perhaps also use Madoru as a scapegoat."
As she muttered to herself, her bluish-red eyes narrowed, carrying a glint of calculation. She now had to be extra careful since the kingdom found out about this far earlier than she had planned.
Her grip on the balcony railing tightened as she gazed at the nation before her. In some areas, she could see citizens walking, talking, and doing business as usual. In other areas, she saw apprehension, fear, and anxiety due to the recent rise in the rebellion.
"I'll burn everything. Everything for the grandmaster. My parents were killed in this kingdom by its nobles. I shall burn everything to the ground. I, Manori the Greatest, will get her revenge and soar to the top of the new Republic we will create!"
She declared with a wide grin on her face. The game was starting, and she fully planned to stay relevant in it. Only relevance grants rewards in such games, after all.