Reinhard lifted William by his neck till his feet were dangling in the air.

"William!" Laina cried out as she rushed at Reinhard, but he slapped her away, making her fall to the ground.

"You...bastard!" William coughed out a curse while his neck was being slowly squeezed. Reinhard scoffed and threw him against the wall.

"Ugh!" William's back hit against the wall and collapsed on the floor.

He slowly tried to get up, "Our daughter is...nothing special...why would you try so hard to get her? Just because of some people's false beliefs?" William asked since this was the question that had been bugging him.

Without any concrete proof, he knew the military wouldn't send out some of their best Ascended ones to capture someone like their daughter.

"Heh, you are right," Reinhard smirked and continued, "We are really here for the Crimson Devil, and your daughter is just a side mission."

"The Crimson Devil??" William's eyes widened, "Why...would he even be here?"

"Now, that is not something you have to know...do you?" Reinhard said as he raised his leg to stomp down on William's legs.

But suddenly, Marcus grabbed Reinhard from behind and tried to pierce Reinhard's eyes with just his fingers..

"Aargh!" Reinhard was taken by surprise but somehow managed to grab Marcus' hands and threw him across the hall.

Marcus crashed against a wall and fell on the floor with a groan.historical

He went for the eyes since he knew they wouldn't be as tough as his skin.

"Aarghh...motherfucker!" Reinhard bellowed as he frantically stumbled around while rubbing his eyes.

'Damn. I was too slow,' Marcus saw that he wasn't able to blind him properly and was only momentarily able to stop him.

Just as Marcus expected, Reinhard was able to open his eyes just after a few seconds, but they were completely reddened.

Laina was unconscious while William's head was clouded with despair.

Reinhard came forward and punched Marcus' face, making him spit out blood.

"Ugh!" Marcus felt like he got hit by an iron fist. But Reinhard wasn't satisfied with that. He lifted Marcus by grabbing his back and threw him against the wall.

"Marcus!" William was feeling bad and guilty seeing Marcus getting bloodied up because of his family. He didn't want anything bad happening to this good young man because of his family.

But Reinhard was like an unstoppable bull without any weakness they could take advantage of since they were too weak.

Reinhard rushed forward again and kicked Marcus in the stomach and kept on kicking him as Marcus continued to cough out blood.

"Stop, you fiend! We are the ones you need, not him. Just let him go!" William wished he could go and at least distract Reinhard to let Marcus escape. But his back was feeling so numb that he felt like he wouldn't be able to get up anytime soon.

"Hahaha, this is what you get for putting your nose around in other people's business!" Reinhard laughed like a maniac as he continued to beat down Marcus, who looked in bad shape.

"STOP IT! Leave him alone!"

Reinhard stopped kicking when he heard a girl shout from behind. But when he turned around, he saw a sharp stone spike shooting, striking his body.

He smirked as he stood on the same spot, as the spike bounced off his body, much to the shock of Nathasia, who had a crestfallen expression.

She decided to throw it from afar since she knew Reinhard would notice her getting close, and she would definitely get defeated easily before she could help Marcus.

Marcus looked up with a blurry gaze to see a girl standing near the door.

"Foolish girl.." He mumbled languidly and tried to find strength in his body to get up and somehow kill the bulletproof Reinhard.

Otherwise, he knew they were all going to die or end up worse.

"Natty, why the hell did you come back!" William couldn't help but shout out angrily. They were bitterly trying to buy time for her, shedding blood in the process.

But now that she came back wasn't everything they did for nothing?

"Because I don't want to live by standing on the bodies of my loved ones. I would rather die than live alone," Nathasia said in a resolute tone, making William feel tongue-tied, not knowing what to say back to her.

"Haha, look who it is. The little bunny decided to come back like a good girl. Good. This makes my job way too easy. Now all I have to do is find that Crimson Devil and a promotion would be on my way," Reinhard couldn't help but feel that this was his lucky day.

Nathasia was surprised but now felt that things made sense now and said, "Hmph, you coward. You use your strength to bully normal people like us but run away when someone powerful as the Crimson Devil comes along. Isn't that why you are here to capture me instead of trying to find him? I bet you know that you are nothing more than a weakling before the Crimson Devil. I wish he would kick you down like a dog and beat you to death after making you squeal like a pig."

Reinhard's eyes bulged since he didn't expect this girl to have such a foul mouth and to insult him by using the name Crimson Devil.

He was proud of his strength, but he knew that he had no guts at all to face the Crimson Devil, and that was why he even took up this side mission as an excuse to evade the main mission.

But Nathasia hit his sore spot, and he obviously wasn't feeling good about it as anger seethed inside him.

"Ha, you should look at how your ugly face looks now. It seems like I was right on!" Nathasia was suppressing her anxiety and worry as she continued to blabber away.

Seeing the state her parents were in and how Marcus was in a bloodied condition made her heart writhe since she knew they were like this because of her.

Seeing Marcus like that made her feel even worse since he was not her family but still went back for her sake. She couldn't help but feel immensely guilty about it and didn't want to live with such guilt.

She was also trying to distract Reinhard by blabbering away to subtly gesture at Marcus to leave while he can.

But Marcus showed no signs of escaping and instead was looking in her direction with a fixed gaze.

His scarf was bloodied as well because of the blood he coughed out from his mouth countless times.

He felt like he found it hard to even move his hand, and his muscles were all tightened up.

Reinhard finally calmed down, thinking that he shouldn't get worked up by a girl, and said, "Girl, count yourself lucky that I need you alive. But I shall teach you a good lesson before I bring you back," Reinhard licked his lips as he walked towards her.

However, right at that time, he heard the sound of two jeeps heading towards the house, surprising others as well.