Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"What makes you so sure that I won't hurt Maria and Lilim?" the leader asked curiously.

"It's simple, actually." Rudy shrugged his shoulders and said, "You wouldn't want to anger me. You wouldn't want to taste the wrath of the Lord. You know very well that I will bury the underworld if I get angry, and if I do that, what will be left for you to protect?"

"..."

"What's wrong? No comebacks now? You knew that you had lost the moment I entered the conversation. Still, you remained nonchalant. Are you so confident in your skills that you think you can threaten me and stay alive?" Rudy scoffed out loud.

"You are right…" the leader muttered, "You turned the tables when you made your presence known. I had the suspicion but had I been aware that you were the Lord, I wouldn't have abducted them in the first place. Or better yet, I had killed Rusher and the others in the estate or before your arrival.

However, you are wrong about one thing. I did all this for peace, but there was one more reason; a personal reason. And that was…" The leader pointed her finger at Rudy and said, "…to meet you."

"We have already met— although it's our first time meeting face to face," Rudy responded.

"Indeed."

"So, what's all this drama about? To lure me here and kill me or something?"

"Oh, of course not. No one can hurt you, physically at least. And I have no intention of giving you emotional pain. Just as the coin has two sides and it lands on either one, I also flipped a coin, and it was going to land on either side."

"Sometimes, the coin lands straight. And you get neither side," Rudy stated.

"My one side was to ensure peace by killing Rusher and the others— if you hadn't arrived here. And the other side was to bring you here for my personal selfish desire."

Rudy swiped his finger in the air and chopped the two subordinates of the leader. Now, the leader was with only one guard.

"Wearing masks and hiding your faces in my presence? How Rude," Rudy uttered as he swiped his finger slightly.

The mask of the leader's remaining guard cracked and fell down.

"Say, dealer Kim, shouldn't you be at the VIP tournament?" Rudy asked with a smirk on his face.

It was the dealer from the last tournament's semifinal and final match, who was also the same person at the gates of the amphitheater that had stopped Rudy for checking and had touched Rudy's snake to confirm the bulge under his pants.

Kim covered her face and said, "You should have killed me instead of revealing my face."

"Oh? So your identity matters more to you than your life?" Rudy scoffed softly with a sigh.

Rudy gazed at the leader and said, "Now, it's your turn."

"There is no need." The leader moved her hand to her mask and took it off as her voice slightly changed.

"...!" Rusher's eyes widened after learning the identity of the leader of the Under Blades.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Heim Lu Bela, chief of the Underworld Board council and the Leader of the Lu Bela Syndicate. And also the leader of the Under Blades."

"What?!" Rusher exclaimed.

"Well, I already knew who you were, so it wasn't that impactful to me," Rudy shrugged.

"Stay back, Kim." Lu Bela pulled a sword from her throne and walked down the pedestal. "Let's settle this, Rudy Ross."

"Hey, Hey. Weren't you the one who said, 'Why fight with a sword when you have a gun?' a while ago? So why are you using a sword now?" Rudy remarked jokingly.

"I know the guns won't work on you."

"And you think a sword will?" Rudy snickered and raised his hand in the air as he dashed at Lu Bela.

He snatched the sword from her using telekinesis and slashed her neck, beheading her in one strike. Her head flew in the air as her blood painted the floor. Her body stumbled aimlessly before falling to the ground into the pool of her blood.

Rudy threw the sword in the air and walked towards Kim while cracking his neck left and right.

"It's your turn now, Miss dealer. Don't worry, I will make it painless."

"Now, now, Rudy Ross. Why so fast?" Lu Bela's voice uttered.

Rudy stopped on his track and turned around with a confused look on his face.

He saw Lu Bela's headless body standing up from the floor and walking towards her head. She picked up her head and placed it on her neck as the skin and flesh began to connect and heal.

"Now that's what I call impactful," Rudy muttered.

'All this time, I thought they just had advanced technology. But I guess that was only for the show. No technology would allow someone to reattach a severed head.'

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Heim Lu Bela, but I am also known as Helm Lubel Ark."

"Uhh… I have no idea what that is. Sorry, not impactful," Rudy commented with a puzzled look on his face.

"Well…" Lu Bela pointed her gaze at Rusher and said, "It looks impactful enough to me."

Rudy turned to Rusher and saw him sweating buckets.

"Umm… no offense, but this guy gets shocked at almost everything," Rudy remarked.

"Aren't you a little too rude to someone who is soon going to be your father-in-law?"

"Am I? As long as this person doesn't have the guts to tell the truth to Maria, I don't actually acknowledge him as my father-in-law or consider him a man. Although, I do respect him for his decision to be ready to die for his family," Rudy stated in a calm voice.

"Fair enough. Then let me tell you who Helm Lubel Ark is." Lu Bela gazed into Rudy's eyes and uttered, "I… am the founder of the Underworld, and I am what you could call an artificial human."