"Just prepare for the worst. Moreover, it's not like I have completely given up my life to Aldrian the Great. I still have hope that I could survive this." Veron said with a smile as he looked at his butler.

His butler did not say anything, but he could not help feeling that his master seemed to be hiding something.

He knew his master's personality. Cunning and mysterious. Although his master looked as if he was preparing to die, he most likely had something under his sleeve to survive this.

But was there really something that could keep him safe from Aldrian the Great?

The Night Reaper, likely Aldrian the Great's people, had never failed to kill their targets, and this was only a small group. Even if his master could face them, what about the next group?

That was why he preferred his master to simply hide until the situation became safe, no matter how long it took. He could still handle his duties as patriarch from his hiding place anyway. In his opinion, that was far safer than whatever his master was about to do.

Still, if his master believed he could face this predicament, then he could not say anything.

--------------------------------

Night finally came to one side of the Iverus world, bringing darkness with it. This night would be different for the Iverus world, as many people remained on edge while anticipating the appearance of the Night Reaper.

The night in the capital city of the Luivan family's territory, which was usually filled with activity, had become quiet. The streets that were normally crowded with people walking back and forth were now nearly empty, with only a few figures occasionally passing by.

Even those few were stopped and checked by patrolling guards. Most of the movement in the city came from the guards themselves as they patrolled every corner. From small deserted alleys to the main streets, there was no part of the city left untouched by patrol.

The Luivan family manor grounds were on the highest alert, with security at its strongest. Every few meters, groups of guards stood vigil, carefully watching their surroundings. Patrolling guards also moved through the grounds, making sure there was nothing unusual in the manor's vicinity.

The guards protecting the manor were powerful as well, with many of them at Immortal Transition Realm.

With this level of security, not even a mosquito could enter without the guards sensing it. Every small movement and every change in the atmosphere would be noticed immediately.

Inside his room, Veron sat behind his desk. His eyes were closed as if he were sleeping, and one of his hands rested inside his pocket. His breathing was steady, as though he felt no anxiety about his fate tonight.

The room was dim, with only a small illumination crystal on the table serving as the source of light. It made the atmosphere appear gloomy.

At this moment, although his posture looked relaxed, he was actually on his highest alert. His senses were sharpened as he searched for any sign that the assassins had arrived.

Every shift of wind, every fluctuation in space, every subtle change in the surroundings was carefully observed. He did not miss even the smallest detail.

'Now when will you attack me?' he thought.

His hand inside the pocket was already grasping something, ready to be used the moment he sensed the slightest disturbance.

His fingers twitched whenever he believed he sensed something. Several times he reacted to false alarms because he was too focused. He could not tell which signal would be the real one that meant the assassins had arrived.

However, without him realizing it, right beside him, a figure had already been standing there for several seconds.

The figure's blue eyes looked at Veron's side profile, then at the hand hidden inside his pocket.

Aldrian's avatar had already infiltrated the manor successfully and now stood beside his target. He paused and observed the man who, according to his deductions, was the true mastermind. The man who wanted him dead.

From the memories he saw from the assassins and others he had killed, it seemed that Veron had not directly used the Underworld's Feeder. However, from his observations, Veron was the one manipulating others to carry out his plans.

When Aldrian humiliated him at the victory banquet in the Alfemin family's mansion, Veron managed to control himself.

But Aldrian knew that people like him were dangerous. They could endure humiliation and wait patiently before repaying it at the right moment, using methods that would not bring backlash upon themselves.

Using other hands that controlled even more hands to kill the target. That was Veron's method.

Earlier, he had already intended to kill Veron the moment he entered the room. However, something caught his attention. He looked at the hand hidden inside Veron's pocket and sensed something familiar.

After observing for a moment, the avatar decided to act.

He focused power into his hand and formed a blade of energy.

The moment he moved, Veron, who had been fully prepared, sensed it instantly. Without hesitation, he pulled something out of his pocket and tried to direct it toward the avatar.

However, the avatar had also prepared for that.

He instantly grabbed Veron's hand before it could point the object at him. At the same time, his other hand, which held the golden sword, pierced Veron's dantian.

Pierced!

"Uoghh!" Veron groaned as intense pain spread through his abdomen. The golden blade pierced through him, its tip emerging from his back.

He immediately fell from his chair to the side as blood flowed from his abdomen and his lips. The object in his hand also fell and rolled on the floor before the avatar picked it up.

It was a transparent sphere with a single eye sealed inside it.

The moment the avatar saw it, he remembered an artifact that Zhang Haoran, the apostle of Tarius, had used in the past when they fought.

An artifact capable of sending a powerful curse that bound the dantian and the soul. The curse also created terrifying illusions that could drive someone into madness or despair. If the victim was not strong enough to withstand it, they might even kill themselves.

The avatar could sense that this one was an inferior version of the artifact Zhang Haoran had used.

He then looked at Veron.

"To think that you worked with the devils. Well, I am not surprised. With how hostile you were toward the Alfemin family and the Blue Pearl world as a whole, you even allowed them to fall into the devils' hands."

Veron, who was still feeling intense pain, gritted his teeth as he looked at the avatar with bloodshot eyes.

"I only chose what gave the best chance of survival. The devils are too strong for us to handle," he said.

"Well, I understand that. But the fact that you chose to offend me seems to contradict what you just said, does it not?" the avatar replied, causing Veron's eyes to widen.

The avatar finally opened his mask and removed his disguise, revealing his true face.

The moment Veron saw that face, his eyes trembled slightly before he let out a sigh. He did not recognize Aldrian because the avatar had been speaking with a different voice.

"To think that Aldrian the Great himself became one of the assassins. No wonder the White Ring Star Cluster fell into chaos," he said.

Veron could not refute what the avatar had said. What he did to Aldrian had been driven mainly by humiliation. He wanted Aldrian to face the consequences of embarrassing him. He used his usual cunning methods, but this time they had only brought about his own downfall.

"Well, I will at least give you this. You were not a coward like some of the people I killed over the past months. You did not try to escape. Instead, you waited here. Did you rely on this thing in the hope that you could catch the assassins, so you decided not to run?" the avatar said in his normal voice as he shook the artifact in his hand.

The avatar then approached Veron after placing the artifact on the table.

Veron could only watch as the avatar walked toward him. He could not help but smile bitterly.

'Well, it looks like this is the end,' he thought.

He did not seem disturbed by the fact that he was about to die.

He simply thought that it was only natural that the strong devoured the weak, and at this moment he was the one on the weaker side. His cunning was useless in front of the absolute power known as Aldrian the Great.

The last thing he saw was the avatar's hand approaching his forehead before his sight became blurry.

He was already feeling pain in his abdomen because his dantian had been destroyed, but at this moment the pain from the memories being pried open by the avatar arrived as well, doubling the agony.

His body convulsed violently as his eyes rolled back. This continued for more than a minute before the avatar finished searching through his memories.

Veron's body still twitched slightly from the aftereffects of the memory search. The avatar no longer paid attention to him. Instead, he created another blade of energy.

Pierced!

The blade struck Veron's head at the temple. It pierced through his skull until the blade embedded itself into the floor.

Veron's body reacted for a brief moment before the movement stopped completely. His breathing ceased entirely. Only after that did the blades in his abdomen and temple disappear.

After killing Veron, the avatar destroyed the artifact from the devils with death energy. Only after making sure that everything was finished did he finally disappear, leaving behind a corpse that would cause another uproar.