Aiden’s office, the Goddess of Vengeance sat in the guest chair, her face resting on her hand, with an expression of slight irritation.

"Really can’t feel it at all anymore?" Aiden, seated opposite her, asked.

"How many times are you going to ask?" the Goddess of Vengeance replied irritably.

"The witch’s mansion meeting has been searched, and Mr. Blood-Clothed’s body wasn’t found, only some dead human followers, killed by demon contracts and then drained of their blood by vampires. Presumably, they were used as sacrifices for some sort of ritual, and then their corpses served their final purpose as food." Aiden replied, "The time of Mr. Blood-Clothed’s disappearance corresponds with the observed withdrawal of vampires from their stronghold."

"That maggot wouldn’t be so inept as to be eaten by a bunch of vampires," said the Goddess of Vengeance.

"Unlikely, since his followers should have been firmly controlled by power. And since he was recognized by Death itself, vampires who worship Death would be defying it by assassinating him on their own." Aiden considered, "Could he have used some method to block your senses? When we were in Sunset City, didn’t we make it so he couldn’t sense us?"

"That level of disguise doesn’t cause perceptions to disappear. He could still feel you were alive, just unable to find your location. If you got closer, he would be able to locate you. That’s different from my situation," the Goddess of Vengeance shook her head, "I can’t sense his existence at all. As I still want to tear that guy apart, it can only mean he really is dead."

"Indeed, perhaps, he is truly dead," Aiden realized a possibility.

"With Death’s power?" the Goddess of Vengeance also realized it.

"The ’Death’ authority’s ’undying’ power. Even if he transferred his divinity to his followers, he still retained the role of Death’s emissary, and there can be more than one emissary. Death itself can even bestow power upon him directly." Aiden said, "On the other hand, he could have had his underlings turn him into a new vampire through the first embrace, or, the necromancy of liches...There are countless ways in this world to become an undead."

"Kid, a death evaded by the ’Death’ authority can’t escape true hatred. Even if he became undead, vengeance would still be able to find him, only perhaps slightly weaker. Vengeance demands the target be utterly erased from this world," the Goddess of Vengeance spoke, then suddenly stopped, "Ah! I understand now. He really did disappear from this world, to another one, right?"

Aiden nodded, "Becoming undead is just a prerequisite to entering the underworld."

"The Underworld, eh? The power of spirit summoning." A smile appeared on the Goddess of Vengeance’s lips, "Hehe, why didn’t I think of that... I really have no experience with this. But in theory, it seems feasible."

The ’Death’ authority’s power of summoning allows its holder to create a part of the underworld only accessible to the dead. The entrance to the underworld can latch onto the user of the power or the dead controlled by the user, ready to open at any time. The size of the underworld depends on the distance between the user and the authority, with Death’s emissary able to accommodate just three dead, while Death itself, bound to the authority, can extend the underworld even beyond this world, sometimes summoning the dead from other realms.

This suggests the underworld truly belongs to another world, where one might be able to block the Goddess of Vengeance’s senses.

What Mr. Blood-Clothed likely did was to kill himself, transform into undead, then enter the underworld and exchange places with a High-Rank Bloodline’s deceased as the pivot for the underworld’s entrance. If the exchanged dead used the vampire’s ability to split and flee, he could also move along with them, undetected by the Goddess of Vengeance.

"Phoenix, the ’Sacrifice’ power can swap bodies right before death, so if one is already dead, it should also be possible to use this method to come back to life, right?" Aiden asked.

"The essence of ’Sacrifice’ is to warp reality with spirit. How much it can warp depends on the level of its power. The more you want to obtain, the greater the price to be paid. ’Hatred’ is tied to the Throne of Spirit, not the Throne of Life, and mere spirit cannot warp life and death without the ruler’s power," the Goddess of Vengeance responded meaningfully, "If his death has been set, he certainly could switch into the body of a follower, but the switched body would also become undead. Similarly, saint-level ’Sacrifice’ power cannot touch the vampire’s curse."

In other words, the current Mr. Blood-Clothed doesn’t have the power to reverse life and death. If he indeed killed himself to become undead, this process is currently irreversible.

This was a contingency Mr. Blood-Clothed must have prepared for long ago, but it wouldn’t have been easy to enact.

Yet he didn’t hesitate to do it—the moment he learned one of his strongholds was attacked.

Mr. Blood-Clothed knew he had offended the witch’s coven and that the coven was an ally of Aiden Galahad. Realizing that the one attacking his lower strongholds was the Great Witch Lamia, he likely also foresaw Qiqimora investigating this core stronghold of his.

So he escaped using this method and, in turn, made it difficult for Aiden to track him down again.

Aiden was silent for a while before exhaling deeply, "This guy is mad."

"I think the maggot has made a pretty decent move. This is the kind of strategy that makes sense," the Goddess of Vengeance evidently understood Mr. Blood-Clothed’s actions. As a fellow madman influenced by the "Hatred" authority, their tastes seemed to align in certain aspects.

"Don’t start empathizing with the enemy now. You can’t capture him anymore," Aiden reminded, "Your vengeance sense was once our best card to restrain the enemy, but now, that card of yours is half useless." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"What, are you planning to fire me because I’m no longer useful?" the Goddess of Vengeance said nonchalantly, "Sorry, kid, you’re on your own now."

Aiden pondered, "He probably won’t continue to stay in that city. Either he will go to another city to establish a new one, or he might..."

"Choose to come here, to officially wage war against you," the Goddess of Vengeance smirked, "If it were me, I would probably do that."

Aiden’s heart sank little by little as memories from six years ago, belonging to the former Aiden, resurfaced.

The Blood Moon Cult was once again relocating to Silvertown, as if the events of six years prior were replaying.

Aiden slowly raised his hand to his chest.

Once, Mr. Blood-Clothed had shot through the former Aiden’s chest with a bullet, and that memory, still tinged with a trace of pain, was etched deeply in his mind.

Now, the time for revenge was drawing ever closer.