Tremble! My System Manufactures Modern Weapons

CHAPTER 8

The heavy iron gates of the Grand Obsidian Estate creaked loudly as they swung wide open under the gray afternoon sky. Dustin Vance stood at the center of the broad paved entryway, his hands resting easily inside the clean pockets of his new dark coat. Behind him, the imperial guards finished delivering the official golden land deed into his hands before stepping back with deep, respectful bows.

Dustin looked up at the massive black stone mansion that had belonged to the powerful Razor-Sexton family just twenty-four hours ago. The high towers and wide courtyards were completely silent, completely still, and now completely under his own name. A cold winter breeze rolled across the gardens, but Dustin did not feel the freezing chill at all anymore.

A loud clanking sound of dragging iron chains suddenly broke the silence behind the transport carriage near the street. Two guards violently kicked the wooden steps of the cart, shoving two trembling, ragged figures straight down onto the hard gravel path. The loud thud of bone against stone echoed as the two prisoners collapsed in a tangled heap of dirt and shame.

"Stand up on your feet, you criminal dogs!" the lead imperial guard barked loudly, resting his hand against his sword hilt. "You are standing inside the private grounds of Baron Dustin Vance now. Show proper respect to your master, or I will peel the skin from your backs right here!"

Chloe Sterling pushed herself up weakly from the wet stones, her manicured fingers scraping against the sharp dirt. The fine silk dress she had proudly worn at the palace was completely gone, replaced by a rough, itchy burlap sack that scratched her soft skin with every single movement. Around her pale neck, a heavy, rusted iron slave collar dug painfully into her collarbone, locking her spiritual energy completely away.

Beside her, Young Master Brandon struggled to his knees, his entire face twisted into an ugly, twitching mask of pure, unbridled malice. His once-glorious long hair was completely gone, leaving his bare scalp charred black and blistered from the dragon egg's violent energy backlash yesterday. Every breath he took rattled deep in his broken chest, his internal meridians still fractured into painful splinters.

"Dustin..." Chloe whimpered softly, lifting her tear-stained face as she looked up at the tall, handsome young man standing above her. "Dustin, please, you cannot do this to me. Look at what these brutal guards have done to my beautiful skin and my delicate hands."

Dustin did not answer her; he simply looked down at her with calm, steady eyes that held zero warmth, zero pity, and zero human regret. He remembered this exact face crying on their wedding night three long years ago, swearing her mother was dying of core rot. He remembered every single lie she had spoken while he broke his bones in the freezing mountain mines.

"Dustin, speak to me!" Chloe cried out again, trying to crawl forward on her knees across the wet gravel. "I know you are only pretending to be angry because you were hurt by my words at the pavilion. But we were husband and wife for three years, Dustin, you cannot just throw away our beautiful memories!"

"Memories?" Dustin asked softly, his voice cutting through the damp air like a sharp razor blade. "Do you mean the memories of me starving myself so your mother could resell my medicine on the black market? Or do you mean the memories of you laughing on Brandon's lap while he planned to kill me?"

Chloe's mouth opened and closed rapidly, but she could not find a single word to deny the dark truth. Her cheeks flushed with a sudden, dirty heat, her eyes shifting nervously toward Brandon, who was glaring at Dustin from the mud. She grabbed her swollen stomach with both hands, using her final, desperate weapon.

"That was all a misunderstanding, Dustin, I swear it was!" Chloe sobbed loudly, forcing thick tears to run down her pale face. "Brandon tricked me and forced me into everything! You know my heart has always belonged to you, Dustin, you are the only man I ever truly loved!"

"Shut your lying mouth, Chloe!" Brandon roared fiercely from the mud, spitting a mouthful of bloody gravel onto the path. "Do you think this broke servant will forgive you just because you wag your tail like a dog? He is just a lucky peasant who found a dead man's scrap iron in the dirt!"

Brandon turned his bloodshot eyes toward Dustin, his teeth grinding together so hard that fresh blood leaked from his gums. "Enjoy your little victory while you still can, Dustin Vance. The moment my uncle, Marquis Victor Sexton, returns from the border, he will tear your noble title to pieces and hang your body from the palace walls!"

Dustin did not get angry; a faint, bone-chilling smile slowly appeared on his face as he watched the young master thrash around in the dirt. Behind Dustin's eyes, the glowing blue interface of the system suddenly began to flash with steady lines of bright white text.

[Ding! 8,000 Anger Points harvested from Young Master Brandon’s violent hatred!]

[Ding! 5,000 Anger Points harvested from Chloe Sterling’s mounting panic and fear!]

"Your uncle can come whenever he likes, Brandon," Dustin said smoothly, his voice completely calm as he took three steps forward. "But until he arrives, you two belong to me. And around here, nobody eats food without doing heavy work."

Dustin turned on his heel and began walking toward the western corner of the grand estate, his clean boots clicking firmly against the stone path. The imperial guards grabbed the heavy iron chains attached to the collars, violently dragging Brandon and Chloe along the ground behind him.

They bypassed the grand rose gardens, the marble fountains, and the luxurious guest pavilions of the massive estate. Dustin led them all the way to the far back edge of the property, stopping directly in front of the dilapidated outer stables and the massive, open sewer drainage ditches.

A thick, stomach-churning stench of rotting waste, animal manure, and dark stagnant mud instantly filled the freezing air. The drainage ditches were completely blocked with years of black, foul-smelling sludge that bubbled softly under the damp winter wind. It was the lowest, dirtiest, and most degrading place in the entire territory.

"Do you recognize this kind of place, Chloe?" Dustin asked quietly, turning his gaze toward the trembling woman in the burlap rags. "For three full years, I spent sixteen hours every single day knee-deep in freezing mud just like this, breaking iron ores with my bare hands."

"I starved in the dark so you could buy silk dresses," Dustin continued, his voice dropping into an icy register that made Chloe’s heart stop beating. "I swallowed the city's insults so your family could drink imported spiritual tea. You told me it was my duty as your husband to suffer for your happiness."

Chloe looked at the foul, bubbling black sludge in the ditch and gagged violently, her entire body shaking with pure, unadulterated horror. "No... no, Dustin, please! You cannot make me stay here! It smells like death! I am a high-born lady of the Sterling house!"

Dustin ignored her shrieks; he reached down to the wooden rack near the stable wall and picked up a heavy, cracked wooden shovel. He casually tossed the dirty tool right onto the ground between Brandon’s knees, where it landed with a loud, wet smack in the mud.

"The sewer lines of this estate have been neglected for five years," Dustin ordered coldly, pointing his finger toward the deep, foul cesspool. "Brandon, you will take that shovel, climb down into that pit, and clear every single bucket of sludge by hand before sundown."

Brandon stared at the cracked shovel in absolute disbelief, his eyes bulging as though he had just been slapped across the face with a hot iron. "What did you say to me, you worthless trash? You want me... Young Master Brandon of the Razor-Sexton house... to dig through shit with a broken shovel?!"

"Are you deaf, or did the dragon fire burn away your ears as well as your hair?" Dustin asked smoothly, crossing his arms over his chest. "You are not a young master anymore, Brandon. You are a convicted slave serving an imperial baron. Start digging, or I will help you down."

"I would rather die a thousand times than touch that filthy wood!" Brandon screamed at the top of his lungs, his face turning an ugly shade of dark purple. "I am a Seventh Meridian martial artist! My father is an elder! You are nothing but an illiterate miner who got lucky in front of the Emperor!"

Dustin did not raise his voice, and he did not draw any weapons from his system. He simply turned his gaze toward Chloe, who was backing away in terror. "And you, Chloe. You will take that stiff wire brush from the bucket, get down on your bare knees, and scrub every single stone of this stable courtyard until I can see my reflection."

"You want me to scrub the floor on my knees?!" Chloe shrieked in absolute indignity, her high-pitched voice cracking into a wild scream. "Dustin, have you completely lost your mind?! I am carrying Brandon's child! This baby has noble blood! It is a future genius cultivator who will lead the province!"

"How dare you treat an expectant mother like a street animal!" Chloe yelled, her tears turning into pure, venomous rage as she pointed her shaking finger at his nose. "My family gave you a home when you had nothing! We let you live in our manor for three years, and this is how you repay our great hospitality?!"

"Hospitality?" Dustin let out a low, mocking chuckle that sent a cold shiver down Chloe's spine. "You kept me in an unheated woodshed behind the kitchen. You fed me leftover dog porridge, and whenever your mother lost money gambling, your brother beat me with iron rods."

Dustin stepped forward, his cold shadow falling over her trembling body like a dark mountain. "You used my labor to fund your lover's cultivation. And when I brought you the medicine you asked for, you let him shatter my knee joints on your porch. Is that the hospitality you want me to repay, Chloe?"

Chloe choked on her own breath, her face turning pale as paper as she shrank back against the wooden fence. But Brandon could not take the humiliation anymore; his pride as an elite genius was completely shattered by the sight of Dustin standing tall and untouchable.

"Don't speak to her, you useless peasant dog!" Brandon roared fiercely, lunging forward from the dirt with his fists raised to strike Dustin's face. "I don't care about the imperial decree! I will rip your throat out with my bare teeth right now!"

Dustin did not even bother to dodge; he simply lifted his right hand, his thumb pressing firmly against the center of his own palm. A tiny, glowing crimson rune flashed brightly against Dustin’s skin, instantly connecting with the magical servitude contract locked inside the rusted iron collars.

A violent, crackling burst of dark red lightning exploded from the collar around Brandon's neck. Brandon let out a blood-curdling shriek of pure agony as the contract's spiritual pressure slammed downward like a ten-thousand-pound boulder, completely crushing his remaining strength into dust.

His legs gave out completely, and Brandon fell violently forward, his face slamming directly into the thick, bubbling black sludge of the open sewer ditch. A sickening squelch echoed through the quiet courtyard as the foul muck splashed up into Brandon's eyes, nose, and open, screaming mouth.

"Gah! Cough! Cough!" Brandon thrashed wildly in the deep ditch, choking and gagging on the rotten waste as he tried to push his head up. The thick black slime covered his bald, blistered scalp, his face, and his tattered burlap shirt, making him look like a sewer rat drowning in mud.

Chloe let out a horrified, piercing scream, clapping her hands over her mouth as she stumbled backward in absolute disgust. The brilliant, glorious young master she had betrayed her husband for was now literally choking on human waste at Dustin's feet.

Brandon finally managed to pull his head out of the black water, coughing up mouthfuls of disgusting muck as he looked up at Dustin through burning, mud-filled eyes. His entire soul was consumed by a manic, psychotic fury that surpassed anything he had ever felt in his entire life.

"I will kill you!" Brandon howled, his voice breaking into small, pathetic pieces as tears of pure rage washed clean lines through the dirt on his cheeks. "I will cut you into ten thousand pieces! I will feed your flesh to the wild mountain wolves! Dustin Vance, I swear I will slaughter you!"

Right at that exact second, the blue system screen exploded with massive, golden-lettered alerts directly in front of Dustin's eyes, the mechanical chimes ringing like beautiful music.

[Ding! 25,000 Anger Points harvested from Young Master Brandon’s extreme, soul-crushing humiliation!]

[Ding! 18,000 Anger Points harvested from Chloe Sterling’s complete collapse of pride!]

[Total balance: 185,000 Anger Points! Host is rapidly approaching Level 3 Armory unlock requirements!]

Dustin stood at the edge of the ditch, looking down at the coughing, sobbing young master with cold, unyielding mockery. "Save your energy for the shovel, Brandon. If that entire ditch isn't completely cleared by midnight, the collar will shock you every ten minutes until sunrise."

Dustin then turned his icy gaze toward Chloe, who was shaking so violently that her knees could barely hold her upright. "And if I find a single speck of dirt on these stable stones when I return, you won't receive a single drop of water for the next three days."

"Dustin, please..." Chloe sobbed, dropping to her bare knees on the wet stones, completely discarding every last shred of her noble arrogance. "I'm begging you... please have mercy on me... I'm cold, Dustin... I'm so cold..."

Dustin did not even spare her a second glance; he simply turned around and walked away, leaving the two former nobles alone in the foul stench of the stables under the watchful spears of the imperial guards.

As Dustin walked up the grand stone stairs leading to the upper residential terraces of the mansion, the heavy tension in the air slowly began to fade away. The evening mist was beginning to roll down from the nearby mountains, wrapping the high marble pillars of the terrace in a soft, silver haze.

Standing leaning against the carved marble balustrade was Lady Vivienne. Her long, luxurious silver robes fluttered gently in the cold breeze, shimmering like liquid starlight in the fading daylight. She held a delicate silver goblet of warm spiritual wine in her slender fingers, her beautiful eyes locked onto Dustin as he approached.

"You really are a terrifying man, Dustin Vance," Vivienne said softly, a subtle, captivating smile playing at the corners of her soft red lips. Her voice was smooth, warm, and rich with deep, undeniable amusement.

Dustin stopped two steps away from her, leaning his back against the opposite pillar as he looked out over the vast, sprawling rooftops of the capital city below. "Terrifying? I only gave them the exact same life they forced upon me for three years, My Lady."

Vivienne let out a quiet, melodic laugh that sounded like silver bells chiming in the quiet evening. She took a slow sip of her wine, her bright silver eyes tracing the sharp, handsome contours of his face and the broad width of his shoulders under his new coat.

"Most men who gain absolute power overnight would simply chop off their enemies' heads in the courtyard to prove their strength," Vivienne murmured, stepping away from the balustrade to walk slowly toward him. "A quick execution is clean. It is simple. It is merciful."

She stopped right in front of Dustin, the delicate, intoxicating scent of winter blossoms and rare medicinal herbs radiating from her warm skin. She tilted her head up slightly, looking directly into his dark, steady eyes with an intense, curious sparkle.

"Do you treat all the people who cross you with such poetic cruelty, Baron Dustin?" Vivienne teased softly, her voice dropping into a playful, intimate whisper that resonated through the quiet terrace.

Dustin did not step back, and he did not lower his eyes. Instead, he took a slow, deliberate half-step forward, closing the distance between them until their robes lightly brushed against each other in the cold breeze.

The sudden shift in his posture was so commanding, so full of raw, unyielding masculine confidence, that Vivienne’s playful smile froze slightly on her lips. Her breath caught in her throat as Dustin leaned down smoothly, his warm, steady breath gently grazing the sensitive, bare skin of her pale collarbone.

"A quick death is a gift for people like them, Vivienne," Dustin whispered directly into the hollow of her neck, his deep voice sending a sudden, electric shiver through her entire frame. "When proud people climb high on stolen blood, killing them only ends their pain."

Dustin tilted his head just an inch closer, his lips hovering a breath away from the delicate curve of her ear. "Real punishment is leaving their eyes wide open, stripping away their beautiful illusions piece by piece, and forcing them to live in the exact filth they created."

Vivienne’s silver eyes widened slightly, her fingers tightening around the cold stem of her wine goblet as a sudden, intense heat rose from her chest straight to her cheeks. A delicate, bright crimson blush spread across her smooth, pale skin, completely betraying her usual high-and-mighty royal composure.

She was the Arcane Archduchess—the most feared, powerful, and untouchable authority in the entire Western Realm. Emperors bowed to her, grandmasters feared her wrath, and powerful noble lords could not even dare to meet her gaze without trembling in terror.

Yet right now, standing in the cold mist of her own confiscated terrace, this young man whom she had bought for a mere ten silver coins was standing close enough to kiss her, making her heart race like a frightened deer with nothing more than a single, low whisper.

"You..." Vivienne breathed out softly, her voice lacking its usual icy authority as she tried to maintain her steady footing. "You speak with far too much boldness for someone who was my slave just yesterday morning."

"Was I ever truly your slave, My Lady?" Dustin asked softly, pulling back just enough to look directly into her flushed face, a dark, dangerous smirk playing on his lips. "Or was I simply waiting for the right moment to claim everything that belongs to me?"

Vivienne looked into his deep, unyielding eyes, seeing the terrifying, boundless power hidden beneath his calm exterior. Before she could answer his dangerous question, a sudden, frantic shout tore through the quiet evening air from the main gates below.

A bruised and bloody messenger wearing the royal uniform of the Alchemist Guild crashed through the iron entryway, waving an urgent crimson scroll in his shaking hand. "Baron Dustin! Lady Vivienne! Emergency at the royal palace! Princess Kaelen has collapsed, and the Sterling family has just poisoned the royal bloodline!"