When Ronglin returned to the lord's residence, the battle there had already ended. Shiryu and Smoky had easily crushed the attack launched by CP0 and the Marines, capturing everyone involved in the battle—more than four hundred people in total.
The unrecognizable Bony-Sen was severely injured. Other than still having a breath left in him, he was basically no different from a dead man. As for Chaton, his injuries were all internal, compounded by excessive exertion. Though he looked utterly bedraggled on the outside, it was impossible to tell just how badly he was hurt.
Shiryu pressed a hand against the weapon at his waist and stared coldly at Bony-Sen, whose skin had been burned black and reeked of smoke. His expression was hostile. Not long ago, this bastard had ambushed him from behind, nearly leaving him unable to catch his breath before dying on the spot. Now that he saw the man lying at his feet, a surge of violent fury rose within Shiryu, and he had the urge to draw his blade and cut him down.
"Don't act rashly." Ronglin sat at the entrance to the ruined hall of the lord's residence. Looking at Shiryu's gloomy face, he said slowly, "You can't kill this man. Even if he has to die, I'll be the one to kill him."
At that moment, the entrance to the hall was filled with people bound and forced to kneel. The Marines had suffered almost no casualties; they had all been captured alive. CP0, however, had fought the hardest, causing many guards of the lord's residence to die. Naturally, CP0 had also suffered the greatest number of deaths and injuries.
Ronglin ordered that the fallen soldiers of the lord's residence be given proper burials and that their compensation be increased tenfold. By now, the