Everyone froze—including the arrogant envoy and the Kagura sisters.
They all stared blankly at the young man rolling up his sleeves while walking toward them, wearing a "friendly" smile on his face.
"I think I just heard some dog barking?"
Cloud stopped in front of the envoy, tilted his head, and picked at his ear with his pinky.
"Something about some prince... having his eye on these two ladies?"
"And wanting them... to enter the palace as his playthings?"
"Who... who are you?!" The envoy, intimidated by Cloud's inexplicable presence, took a step back.
"Me?"
Cloud smiled.
He extended both arms and, with complete familiarity, wrapped them around the soft, supple waists of both Kagura sisters, pulling them dominantly into his embrace.
Then, facing the now completely dumbfounded envoy, he raised an eyebrow and spoke word by deliberate word, dripping with provocation and territorial declaration:
"I'm... their man."
"Got a problem with that?"
KA-BOOM!!!
These words struck like thunder from a clear sky, instantly blowing up the entire shrine!
Chizuru's face flushed crimson instantly, so embarrassed she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into!
But those phoenix eyes looking at Cloud sparkled with... an unprecedented, brilliant light!
Even the usually calm-as-still-water Maki showed, for the first time, an expression of "shock" and "flustered" on her gentle, elegant face!
The envoy, after a brief moment of stupefaction, flew into a rage!
"Bastard! You're asking for death!"
He roared, and his body erupted with considerable power! He was actually a fighter who had reached Absolute Domain 1%!
He threw a punch straight at Cloud's face!
"Bring it!"
A flash of contempt crossed Cloud's eyes!
He didn't even use his Chaos Divine Flame!
He simply suppressed his terrifying Absolute Domain 80%... down to 1%!
"Hummm—!"
An extremely faint force field of pale gold—radiating "divinity" and "destruction"—flickered briefly!
Moving second but arriving first, he caught the envoy's fist in one hand!
Then...
A gentle squeeze!
"CRACK—!"
The sound of bones shattering was crystal clear!
"AHHHHH—!!!"
The envoy let out an inhuman scream!
But Cloud didn't pause for a second!
He grabbed the envoy by the collar, dragging him like a dead dog, and delivered a rhythmic series of left-right slaps to that arrogant face!
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!
"This is for showing off!"
"This is for barking!"
"This is for going after MY women!"
After the beating, he tossed the now "pig-faced" envoy to the ground like garbage.
Then stepped on his face.
"Listen up, trash."
Cloud lowered his head, looking down at him with eyes so cold they held no emotion whatsoever.
"Go back and tell that worthless prince of yours."
"These two women... I, Cloud, have claimed."
"If he dares to have any more ideas about them..."
Cloud's foot pressed down slightly harder.
"I'll personally visit the palace... and show him what... true despair feels like."
With that, he slowly lifted his foot.
"Oh right, forgot to tell you my name."
"I'm Cloud."
"The Kusanagi clan's... Cloud."
Having done all this, he turned gracefully and returned to the two stunned beauties.
Looking at their complex expressions—filled with "shock," "gratitude," and a hint of something "different"—his face once again wore that devil-may-care, rakish smile.
"Don't worry, ladies."
"From now on, I've got your back. Not gonna lie—I'm pretty damn awesome."
Black lines appeared behind the Kagura sisters' heads.
[Ding! Target Chizuru Kagura's Affection change: +40 (Ahhhhh! He's... kind of stupid, and super weak! But he's so cute...)]
[Ding! Target Maki Kagura's Affection change: +10 (This man... talks complete nonsense and bullshits constantly, but he really did save my sister just now...)]
Seeing Maki's Affection finally move up by a hard-won 5 points, Cloud's lips curved into a victorious arc.
He knew today's "flying into a rage for a beauty" was worth it!
The first step in conquest: make her owe you a massive favor!
As Cloud's line—dripping with "domineering CEO" energy—"I've got your back" echoed through the quiet shrine courtyard like the sweetest love confession...
The "pig-faced" imperial envoy and his four equally battered "palace experts" scrambled away as if fleeing for their lives.
Before leaving, their gazes toward Cloud were filled with fear, resentment, and a deep wariness of the colossal entity that was... the Kusanagi clan.
The courtyard returned to tranquility.
But the atmosphere was now ten thousand times more delicate than before.
Chizuru Kagura—who moments ago had been like an angry little lioness as the "Wangan Queen"—now stood with her head bowed, face red as the evening sunset, nervously wringing her clothes, not daring to even look at Cloud.
And Maki Kagura—the usually serene, still-as-an-ancient-well "Divine Shrine Maiden"—for the first time, those deep eyes that seemed capable of seeing through everything in this world rippled with complex waves of shock and... something different.
...
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