New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Coral wasn't dressed in her usual maid outfit, which only aroused the man even more, as he thought he had gotten the jackpot of maids.

Coral was still too much in shock to react when the man jumped onto her and started tearing her clothes off. Her mind was stuck with one perpetual question.

'Is this really happening?'

Not from the room, Astaroth woke up from a half-daze he had slipped into. All this focus had sent him into a trance-like state, and he had eventually lost track of his original goal.

What brought him back to his senses was the crashing of his door, as the male servant that had just been assaulted burst into his room. A servant would never dare do this, but the man was desperate to find some help for Coral, and since she was the royal maid, he thought maybe the monarchs would care.

The guards that usually stood by the door were already walking toward the commotion when they saw a servant run past, with blood on his face and bruises on his arms. They ignored him, verifying the screams before catching up with him.

So when the servant crashed through the royal room's doors, no one was there to stop him.

"Your Highness! I implore you! Help Coral!"

Astaroth was on his feet faster than ever. His senses came back to him in seconds as his trance-like state subsided.

And with this, he quickly felt the presence of someone else in the room he had assigned to the diplomat. The magic presence in the girl was faint, but he recognized it.

'Of all the servants to pick, it had to be her…' Astaroth cursed in his mind.

Even if he was willing to be lenient at first, he now knew that Commander Alena would never accept that. And he was much more inclined to keep his commanders happy than a diplomat from another kingdom.

Dashing past the servant, Astaroth ran to the room in question. He even passed his guards on the way there, bursting into the door.

And when he got there, the sight that greeted him made all the restraint he had planned to use fly out the window.

There, on the floor of the room, was a red-faced Coral, with tears streaking down her cheeks, as the older diplomat was roughly raping her.

Impulsively, Astaroth shot a Wind Blade at the diplomat, trying to get him off Coral.

Gerald felt the attack, being an experienced mage himself, and his head snapped in the direction it came from. Quickly, a barrier appeared before him, shattering the weak spell.

But a sound of broken glass soon followed as Astaroth pushed through the barrier with his body, breaking it apart like it was nothing. Unconsciously, he had melded with White and was already punching the old man in the face.

Gerald flew across the room, slamming into the far wall, and coughing a bit of blood.

Astaroth had stopped next to Coral, picking her up gently.

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you in any way?"

She didn't respond, as she turned her sobbing face away from him. Coral barely had any clothes left on herself, and she was trying to hide her naked body, shame engulfing her mind.

Astaroth could smell the blood and saw a trickle of it along her thigh.

The guards arrived at the room's entrance at that moment and caught the scene. They were horrified.

"By the gods…" one of them whispered.

Astaroth got to his feet, lifting Coral in his arms as well. He walked over to the Royal Guards and put the girl in one of them's arms.

"Find something to cover her, then bring her to the fifth floor. Her betrothed is Castien. He will take care of her. Tell him the king is dealing with the situation for now."

The Royal Guard nodded, his face becoming serious.

Whoever this man was, after what he had done, there was no pardon.

Astaroth heard some ruffling on the ground at the far end of the room and knew that Gerald wasn't out yet. He also knew his two guards would be coming here soon, the commotion loud enough for everyone to hear.

Looking at the other guard, he gave another order.

"Put the palace on lockdown. No one in, no one out. Even the Council members and Commanders. If a single one leaves and causes trouble, there will be hell to pay."

The guard nodded his head vigorously before dashing toward the third floor. From there, he could sound the alarm to the rest of the palace.

As he ran past the door to the next room, two men came out of it, running toward the diplomat's room. When they entered, they saw the wounded Gerald on the ground, and the transformed king and drew their weapons.

Astaroth raised a single clawed hand toward them.

"Your quarry broke the laws of my kingdom. Even if he has diplomatic protection, I will not let him go free for what he did. For now, he is going to jail. If you try to act on me, I will consider this an attempt to break him free, and your sentence will be death."

The two guards ignored him, as a burst of mana covered their weapons and bodies.

Scanning them, Astaroth was unimpressed.

*Mana Knight Ketric*

Level: 40

Grade: Elite

**

He didn't bother looking at their health or mana levels.

With their levels and grades, he knew they stood no chance at all.

"Luna, deal with them. They chose death," Astaroth said, turning his back to the dashing knights.

Luna materialized behind him, hands glowing, and two thin beams of pure white launched from her hands. The next second, two thuds were heard, with some screeching of skin on wood.

Both knights had burning holes in their heads. She had killed them in an instant.

Luna seemed unbothered by the order, as she turned to look at Astaroth's back. She had seen everything from inside his mind and was hoping Astaroth would sic her on the old man.

Luna had come to like the maid named Coral over the last few weeks. She often spent some time with her, when Astaroth was out of New Eden, and even helped her clean around the royal room.

Seeing her crying had made her extremely angry, as it did Astaroth.

But he needed to resolve this without killing him.

"Come quietly, Sir Stinson. I don't want to fight you inside the palace. Reparations would cost a fortune."

But the old man was already readying an attack of his own.

"You think you can just attack me and not face consequences?! Feel my wrath!" Gerald shouted, shooting two pillars of flame toward Astaroth.

*Sigh*

'Why must they always make things complicated?'