Jinn BLADE-Chapter 184 | Master

"Venedix is here! The boys’s master...!"

"But why did she save the boy...?"

"Thankfully she arrived just in time! Else, that boy would’ve been decapitated by now!"

Murmurs rippled across the royal hallway like a sudden rhythmic gust, nobles whispering among themselves while eyes stretched wide in pure shock at the side of Venedix standing in front of them—her blade still humming faintly with left over crimson eidric sparks.

None of them had even seen her move. One moment she wasn’t there, and the next she had already stopped Jinn’s killing strike as if she had simply through the very air itself. Even the seasoned warriors among the nobles felt their knees weaken at the realization of just how terrifying her speed truly was, some envisioning how a combat with her would turn out within their heads.

Meanwhile, some of the members of House Vulkan nearly collapsed where they stood, trembling as reality settled in. Krane’s parents in particular still had fear carved into every line of their faces, their expressions caught between utter terror... and a very faint yet fragile sense of relief that their son was still alive.

The situation could’ve ended in a bloodbath, and everyone knew it.

Venedix didn’t spare them a single glance.

*snap!

She merely snapped her fingers once, a sharp and precise motion before turning her head slightly toward the rear of her right shoulder.

There, by the entrance of the royal palace, a figure stood at attention, waiting like an obedient for her command.

"Amaron," she spoke, her voice calm yet carrying the weight of authority that made the Amaron flinch in realization. "Bring the child to a nearby medical facility."

Her gleaming golden eyes scanned over Krane’s severed arms and the wound in his leg, still spilling with blood.

"He will not last long if left like that. Make haste."

"Yes! At oooooonce!" Amaron voiced out in recognition, his voice cracking into an awkward echo throughout the hallway as he moved.

His mechanical legs released a sharp hiss as he launched himself forward, each step slamming onto the marble floor with heavy metallic thuds.

*skrrrrrrrrrrk!

Sparks trailing from his joints as Amaron skidded to a halt beside Krane’s unconscious body, lowering himself in haste. With practiced precision, Amaron scooped Krane into his arms, the boy’s limp form jolting subtly from the sudden motion. Amaron’s joints released another burst of steam as he adjusted his grip, locking the injured young noble securely against his chest.

Without wasting another second, Amaron pivoted, sprinting straight toward the exit of the Royal Palace, his metal limbs clanking and hissing as he rushed to get Krane medical attention before the boy’s fading consciousness slipped away entirely.

As Amaron rushed Krane outside, his heavy mechanical steps echoing down, Venedix calmly slid her sword back into its sheath, the sound of metal meeting scabbard sharp and final.

She didn’t spare a single glance at the frightened nobles or the guards who froze the moment she moved. Instead, she turned her full focus toward Jinn, her posture straight, her presence so heavy that the air itself felt like it tightened around the both of them.

"Stand up," she ordered, her tone flat but carrying a weight that made it impossible to refuse. Jinn obeyed instantly, rising from his kneel with almost robotic discipline, his face blank and drained of all the anger that had taken him earlier. It was as if he had stuffed every raging emotion back inside himself the moment he saw who had stopped him.

Venedix’s gaze pierced through him like a blade—those bright gold eyes that always saw too much, that always knew too much. Even the nobles nearby shifted uncomfortably, some looking away as if afraid her stare might accidentally land on them.

But to Jinn, that pressure was familiar. Heavy, but familiar. It was the same gaze that trained him, shaped him... and broke him in some ways.

"Tell me, what was your reason?" she asked at last, her voice low, controlled, but holding the strict tone of a master demanding truth. Everyone could hear the real meaning behind her question—

Why did you lose control?

Why did you go that far?

Why were you about to kill a noble in cold blood?

Jinn swallowed, only once, his throat feeling tight as he held her gaze. A part of him trembled—not in fear of her, but in fear of what he had almost admitted to himself.

He didn’t want to say the real reason, the raw one—the spite boiling in his chest, the anger he thought he had buried, the grief he thought he had left on the day his friends left.

He didn’t want to say that Krane’s words tore open an old wound named Nevi, a wound Venedix herself had told him to move past if he wanted to grow stronger, to stop looking back like a chained boy instead of a warrior.

So he searched, desperately, for anything else that sounded like a reason.

.

.

.

Until he found one.

"This scum disrespected the name of a princess, a royalty," Jinn said at last, his voice steady but holding a faint tremor under it. "I was merely carrying out her order."

"He’s right," Akavi said as she stepped forward, her heels clicking against the polished floor now that the shattered barrier no longer blocked her path.

A spark of excitement—almost twisted, almost amused—glimmered in her eyes as she looked between Jinn and Venedix. She had clearly heard every word, and she wasn’t ashamed of how pleased she sounded.

"I would’ve liked him dead..." she admitted without hesitation, her lips curling slightly with annoyance at the thought of Krane being carried away alive. But then her expression hardened, shifting from spoiled royalty to a woman questioning a legend. "...but instead, you interfere. Why is that—blade of the empire?" she asked, her voice lowering into something serious, demanding, almost accusing. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Her words hung in the air like a blade drawn halfway out of its sheath, tense and waiting. No one dared to breathe. No one dared to move.

And all eyes slowly turned toward Venedix.

Venedix looked at Akavi for a brief moment, her sharp gaze drifting between the princess and Jinn as if she was trying to understand if something unspoken existed between the two of them—some tension, some hidden agreement, or maybe just a strange familiarity that she had not been made aware of.

Her eyes lingered on Jinn for half a heartbeat longer before she finally shifted her attention back to the princess, lowering her head with a controlled and respectful bow that carried both formality and sincerity.

"I apologise, your highness," Venedix said, her tone calm but carrying a weight that made several nobles nearby straighten unconsciously. "As you may know, I am this child’s mentor... and it is my sole responsibility to keep him in check. His blade, his mind, even the path he walks—all of that falls under my duty." There was no excuse hidden behind her words, only accountability, something that made the hall quiet down little by little.

"I understand. You are forgiven," Akavi replied almost immediately, her voice sharp yet strangely pleased, as if she enjoyed the spectacle but still needed to play her part as royalty. She then turned her gaze toward the nearby butlers and maids who were still frozen in shock at the carnage displayed on the royal hall’s polished floor.

"Now then, someone clean this mess before my father arrives," she said, her finger pointing at the puddles of blood, the shards of melted stone, and the two severed arms lying stiff on the cold surface.

"A–At once, my lady!" one of the butlers replied, bowing so fast his glasses nearly fell.

*snap!

He snapped his fingers, summoning the maids who rushed in with towels, water, and boxes to collect what remained of the limbs. The metallic scent of blood began to smear across the floor as they quickly wiped it away, their hands trembling yet moving with trained precision, desperate not to anger the princess any further.

*clap!

Akavi then clapped both her hands together, the noise echoing loud and sharp across the hallway, snapping the attention of every noble, guard, and servant back to her. "Now that the show’s over, the celebration continues!" she declared, a wide, obviously fake smile stretching across her face as she pretended nothing life-changing had happened just moments earlier.

Her expression however softened slightly as she shifted her eyes back to Jinn, who still stood quietly at Venedix’s side, stiff and unreadable like a soldier awaiting judgment.

"Hmm..." Akavi hummed under her breath, as if finally realizing that Jinn was no longer in the same reckless state he had been moments earlier. She understood instantly that he might be preoccupied now, shaken or at least anchored by the sudden arrival of Venedix, who held command over him in a way no noble or princess ever could.

And so, Akavi stepped away, letting the matter rest for now, though not without reaching toward a passing tray and grabbing a glass of champagne with a lazy flick of her wrist.

She lifted the glass slightly as if offering a silent toast to herself, to the chaos she enjoyed far too much, before strolling away into the depths of the royal celebration—heading toward who knows what, or who else she wished to toy with next.