The bullet spiraled through the air, shrieking as it cut through the atmosphere.
It split the wind, stirred the currents, shattered the sound barrier.
Yet Xia Ya had not used a summoned beast’s skill.
Because high-tier Beastmasters possessed an acute spiritual intuition—the fleeting mont of killing intent before an attack was launched would never escape their senses.
Likewise, Xia Ya had not relied on elental or magical abilities.
Because every such power would cause elental fluctuations, revealing its approach before impact.
Instead, he chose the simplest weapon.
A gun.
A firearm built with nothing but chanical precision.
Compared to the Magitech cannons inscribed with enhancent runes—those capable of exponentially boosting a bullet’s destructive force—
This gun, lacking any such reinforcent, was far weaker.
But precisely because of that—
It was pure.
No killing intent.
No elental fluctuations.
No magical inscriptions activating before the shot.
Silent. Unseen. Lethal.
A Shot Piercing the Clouds.
Bang!
The bullet outran its own sound, cutting through dozens of ters in an instant—
Aid directly at Norton’s temple.
It was a long, slender bullet.
The tip shone a deep crimson, resembling a finely polished ruby, pulsing with an eerie blood-red glow.
Scarlet threads, like seaweed drifting in dark tides, extended from the bullet’s core, intertwining across the entire projectile like a spiderweb.
This was an alchemical bullet, forged from the Blood of the Sage.
Xia Ya had purchased twenty grams of Sage’s Blood from the Shadow Council—
Only to refine less than two grams into this single bullet.
By value alone—
This one shot cost over 30,000 Rhine Gold Coins.
A fraction of a heartbeat later—
Pa-tak—
Just as the crimson bullet was about to pierce Norton’s temple,
It stopped.
A silver film—rcurial, fluid-like—spread in midair, inches from Norton’s skin.
It absorbed the bullet’s kinetic force—completely nullifying its montum.
Beastmasters are not summoned beasts.
Though their physical bodies benefited from Soul Pact enhancents, and they could channel so of their beasts’ power—
At their core, humans were creatures of intellect, not raw strength.
Even a Fifth-Ring Beastmaster could never match the natural resilience of monstrous races.
Decapitating the enemy Beastmaster was always the optimal strategy.
Because in real battles—
Anyone who naïvely believed their opponent would follow the "honorable rules" of academy duels…
Was already buried six feet under.
And their tombstone had long been overgrown with weeds.
Norton—
A man who single-handedly executed over ten Fourth-Ring Master-Tier Beastmasters.
A man who orchestrated the downfall of an entire capital city.
He would never make the amateur mistake of neglecting his own defense.
He, too, was a Branstat Elder.
And he had contracted a Silver Spirit.
Though not his main battle beast, it was trained solely for three abilities:
tal Enhancent.
Liquefaction.
Superhardening.
And the only command he had given it was—
“Autonomous Defense.”
An engraved directive on the Silver Spirit’s body—triggered instantly, without any need for thought.
Day or night. 24/7 protection.
Any attack aid at Norton’s body—automatically intercepted.
Now, the crimson bullet spun in midair, trapped against the rcurial barrier, unable to advance a milliter further.
Of course.
If any random gunman could kill a Fifth-Ring Beastmaster with a simple, unenchanted bullet—
Why would nations waste ti cultivating high-tier warriors?
Why would they pour fortunes into Magitech advancents?
Every soldier would just be issued a sniper rifle.
But—
That’s exactly what Xia Ya had planned for.
He never expected Norton to drop dead from one shot.
If he did—
His pistol, Sea-Blue Judgnt, would have been loaded with Imperial Military-Grade Anti-Magic Piercing Rounds—
Not an Alchemical Bullet forged from Sage’s Blood.
The next mont.
The ruby-like alchemical bullet… lted.
The scarlet crystalline core liquefied, dissolving upon contact with the rcurial barrier.
Like blood.
Like ink.
Splitting into a thousand intricate filants—
That crawled along the Silver Spirit’s form.
A horrific screech pierced the air.
The Silver Spirit shuddered, its entire being corroded.
But the chain reaction hadn’t stopped.
On Norton’s aged face—
The ecstasy of his impending divine ascension froze.
Sothing was happening to his body.
Sothing beyond his comprehension.
His mind was still drowning in euphoria.
But his organs were already screaming in agony.
His nerves convulsed, his muscles spasd—
The skin on his face twisted, distorting into sothing grotesque.
The Twilight energy, once flowing harmoniously into him, had suddenly turned violent—
Ripping through his body.
And that was only the surface.
Deep within—
His very soul foundation was disintegrating.
Blood poured from Norton’s eyes and mouth—
Before he could even scream.
That—
Was the true value of Sage’s Blood.
A re physical wound could never make a true Sage bleed.
To wound a Sage—
You had to shatter the very essence of their soul.
The curse embedded within the alchemical bullet—
Condensed. Engineered. Sealed into a single shot.
Its physical damage was irrelevant.
What mattered was the command written into it—
The mont it pierced its target, the directive would activate—
And transmit ‘madness’ directly into their soul.
Now—
That madness had traveled through the Silver Spirit, through its Soul Pact—
And directly into Norton’s core.
His entire ntal state collapsed.
Under normal circumstances, a temporary loss of ntal control wasn’t lethal.
A few days of ditation could restore equilibrium.
But now—
With Twilight’s power already tearing through him…
With his soul already slipping beyond human limits…
The descent into madness—
Was irreversible.
Xia Ya’s shot had been perfectly tid.
Not before Norton began his ascension ritual, when he was still wary.
Not after, when he would have fully claid Twilight’s authority.
But at the precise mont before he could seize divinity—
At the final step before his transformation was complete.
Sage’s Blood was one of the greatest alchemical achievents of Xia Ya’s era.
In the Cangting Principality’s tiline, even the prototype of Sage’s Blood had yet to be invented.
So Norton had no way of knowing it existed—
And therefore, no way to prepare against it.
The ritual of godhood, monts away from its grand climax,
Was cut off.
And a failed ascension bore the harshest consequences.
The closer one reached the divine throne,
The greater the fall when they failed.
Everything had happened in less than a second.
From the mont Xia Ya pulled the trigger—
To the instant the bullet struck the silver barrier—
To Norton’s soul circuit breaking apart and the ritual collapsing into disaster—
Less than half a second had passed.
By the ti Sylvia realized what had happened,
Norton’s furious screams and the deafening roar of his rampaging power had already filled the chamber.
SHNK—
From the dark abyss behind Xia Ya,
A blade of pure shadow lashed out, aiming straight for his neck.
Norton’s main battle beast.
The Shadow Demon.
A creature born from the abyss, lurking within darkness—an assassin by nature.
It was the silent executioner responsible for the mysterious deaths of the Branstat elders.
It had been tracking Xia Ya since the mont he returned to the estate.
Though Norton needed a loyal follower to gather faith for him after his ascension,
He never truly trusted anyone.
Not even Xia Ya—
Even though he had played the perfect role, never once slipping up.
That was why Norton had stationed the Shadow Demon in the darkness,
Ready to kill Xia Ya at the first sign of betrayal.
But Norton had made a critical mistake.
At the very mont before ascension,
His rapturous joy was transmitted to all his contracted beasts through the Soul Pact.
For just one second—
Every one of his beasts had let their guard down.
And in that one-second opening,
Xia Ya struck.
The scythe of shadows sliced down—
Aid directly at Xia Ya’s throat.
From the side, Sylvia’s eyes widened in horror.
She didn’t fully understand what was happening—
But Norton’s enraged screams made it clear that sothing wasn’t right.
Just as the shadow blade was about to make contact—
Xia Ya’s body shattered like a dream.
Blink.
The scythe cleaved through empty air.
The Shadow Demon’s snarl echoed through the chamber—
But its target had vanished.
"You bastard! You bastard!"
"Do you even understand what you’ve done?!"
"You ruined my masterpiece!"
"You destroyed the greatest feat in human history—ascending to godhood!"
Norton’s furious roars thundered through the plaza.
His aged face twisted in rage, his features grotesquely distorted.
Blood seeped from his eyes and mouth, while Twilight’s power raged violently around him—
Yet he still held it back.
Even after suffering a fatal blow—
Norton’s willpower kept his mind from fully collapsing.
He forced down the chaos—his rampaging soul, his raging divine power—
And locked his gaze onto Xia Ya, who had reappeared on the opposite side of the plaza.
"I don’t care what your reasons are!"
"But you are finished!"
"Since you rejected my offer to beco the Vice Sovereign of Heaven—God’s Right Hand—"
"Then the only path left for you is death."
Norton reached into his robes,
And pulled out a crystal.
Then—he crushed it.
A trigger agent.
A delayed poison activator.
The dicine Xia Ya had consud earlier—
Would now activate, turning into the deadliest poison.
Within seconds, his flesh would rot, his bones would liquefy—
His entire body reduced to a puddle of filth.
But—
Five seconds passed.
Then ten.
Nothing happened.
"Lord Norton."
Xia Ya sighed.
His tone was calm.
"It seems Sage’s Blood really did burn your brain to mush."
"Do you take for an idiot?"
"Did you really think I’d let you have that kind of control over , knowing I planned to betray you?"
Norton’s rampaging mind slowed slightly.
His shattered sanity regained a brief mont of clarity.
His aged eyes flashed with realization.
He had been so consud by the rage of losing his godhood—
He had overlooked sothing obvious.
Norton was a man of deception and conspiracy.
Sches and secrets were his weapons.
Even though he had suffered a crushing failure,
He was far from truly defeated.
"I see now…"
Norton muttered.
His voice was hoarse—filled with exhaustion, yet sharpened with renewed calculation.
"You must have hidden the poison’s effects… with a spatial ability, correct?"
"That ans you didn’t betray for a better opportunity…"
"You were never loyal to to begin with."
"You infiltrated the Branstat Family—
"With an agenda from the very start."
A flicker of heaviness passed through Norton’s gaze.
For the first ti, he no longer looked at Xia Ya as a re subordinate.
Now, he saw him as an equal.
"To forge a false orphan identity…
"To place you seamlessly into my family…
"To let you operate under my nose for over a decade without raising suspicion…"
His gaze darkened.
"Tell ."
"Which faction sent you?"
"The Abyss? The Lost Beast Kings? The Twilight Cults?"
"The Shadow Council? The Black Tower? The Empire? The Noble Alliance?"
Norton nad one powerful force after another—
Each a legendary faction that could shake the continent.
"A force capable of planting an operative in the Branstat Family for over a decade…
"Can only be a monster of equal standing to ."
"Of course…"
His lips curled into a smirk, eyes burning with cold curiosity.
"You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to."
Norton’s voice was smooth, persuasive—dripping with the art of temptation.
"I know there are factions who claim to uphold order, who refuse to taint their hands with the consequences of studying the Evil Gods."
"But since you were able to infiltrate my family so deeply, I already recognize your faction as worthy of cooperation."
His confidence returned, his sharp cunning rekindled.
"A sealed Ancient God’s half-body. Completely defenseless."
"Even if we don’t claim it entirely for ourselves, there are many ways to exploit it."
"We could open a controlled breach in the seal, slowly siphoning Twilight’s power for our use."
"We could mass-produce Corrupted Objects—use them to secretly spread faith across the continent, turning divine belief into our own resource."
Spreading his arms, Norton paced through the underground plaza, his words laced with temptation.
"Of course, this incident has drawn far too much attention. The Church of Dawn will undoubtedly investigate."
"But that is also an opportunity."
"We can fra the fallen elders as victims of the invading cultists. Once the family head is killed in battle—"
"I will take control of the Branstat Family. The Cangting Principality will be mine."
"And with that power in hand, unrestricted research becos far more convenient."
Despite his enticing offers, his eyes never left Xia Ya.
He was waiting. Waiting for the mont Xia Ya let down his guard.
Norton had spent over a decade planning his ascension.
How could he possibly be satisfied with rely sharing power?
Now that he understood what had happened—
He realized Xia Ya’s attack had relied on a rare alchemical material, a thod that could not be easily replicated.
Though he was severely weakened, with only half his original strength,
Xia Ya was only Third-Ring, far from even reaching the Master-Tier of Fourth-Ring Beastmasters.
He still held the advantage.
The only concern—
—Was whether Xia Ya had another unknown trump card, like the "Sage’s Blood" bullet.
Norton’s gaze locked onto Xia Ya’s hands.
Any spatial ability used to retrieve an item had a slight delay.
If he was prepared, he could intercept it.
He still had a path to victory.
The key was still here.
If he killed Xia Ya, he could resu the interrupted ascension ritual.
Then—
Xia Ya began clapping.
Pa. Pa. Pa.
"Norton Elder, you really are sothing else." Xia Ya’s voice was filled with genuine admiration.
"I haven’t even said a word, and you’re already writing my entire backstory for ."
"Honestly, I think you'd be better off writing novels than scheming like this."
He shook his head, sighing.
"And I had no idea a sealed Ancient God had so many uses. Mass-producing Corrupted Objects? Fascinating."
Then—his tone turned icy.
"But, unfortunately—"
"I don’t have so grand faction backing ."
"I’m just an ordinary person."
"An interest-driven hero."
"…An interest-driven hero?"
Norton repeated the words slowly, as if trying to process their aning.
The sheer absurdity of it felt laughable.
In his mind, Xia Ya had remained in the underground plaza because he, too, desired Twilight’s power.
If not, why would he have stayed?
He could have left after taking the shot.
But—
As if reading his thoughts, Xia Ya’s voice rang out once more.
"Why am I still here?"
A smile curled at his lips.
"Obviously—"
"I was waiting for cooldown."
Then, Xia Ya shifted slightly.
Norton’s body tensed imdiately, expecting Xia Ya to draw another weapon.
That gunshot—
The wound it inflicted on his soul still hadn’t healed.
But Xia Ya didn’t attack.
He simply walked over to Sylvia, who lay weakly on the ground.
His hands—strong, familiar—gently lifted her into his arms.
Warm.
Just like that winter night, when he had pulled her from the icy depths of the Grandet Sea.
"Hold on tight."
His voice was steady.
Sylvia, exhausted, raised her head slightly—
And saw those clear black eyes.
No words were needed.
Just by looking into them—she understood.
She had never been betrayed.
Even if her life had been orchestrated, a re pawn in soone else’s script—
The mories she cherished, the light that once illuminated her darkness—
—Had never been false.
She nodded silently, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Xia Ya turned to face Norton.
His eyes calm, yet unreadable.
Then, he raised a single finger to his lips—
"Boom."
The next instant—
Xia Ya and Sylvia’s figures shattered.
Vanished.
Norton blinked, montarily dazed.
His mind struggled to comprehend the gesture Xia Ya made before leaving.
And then—
His pupils contracted violently.
A thousand bursts of white light ignited at once.
If converted into Xia Ya’s past life asurents—
This was the equivalent of 500 tons of TNT.
All detonated in an instant.
The entire underground plaza had been quietly replaced—
The surrounding earth had been swapped with a specialized explosive compound—Detonating Clay.
And alongside the explosion—
200 grams of Holy Water, consecrated by a high priest of the Church of Dawn—
Had also been ignited.
Superheated to vapor—
The sacred mist spread through the chamber.
A radiance like daylight consud the underground cavern.
And Norton Branstat—
Was swallowed whole.
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