Chapter 153: The Poison In The Sinclair’s Courtyard

Chapter 153: Chapter 153: The Poison In The Sinclair’s Courtyard

In fact, the more Nightfall considered it, the more convincing the possibility became.

Perhaps the two men were one and the same.

Their appearances might be different, but the Shadow Ring possessed countless techniques for disguising one’s identity and altering one’s appearance.

Such a disguise would not be particularly difficult for someone with the right skills.

If his suspicion was correct, however, the situation had just become considerably more dangerous.

Graham Cole was a mysterious powerhouse suspected of having reached the Divine Power Realm.

Nightfall, by comparison, was only a 1st-Star Star Sea Realm martial artist.

Could someone of his level really assassinate Mira while such a terrifying expert was standing beside her?

For a brief moment, uncertainty crept into his mind. But it did not last long.

"This opportunity is too good to waste. I have to try!" he murmured.

Nightfall was not planning to challenge Graham Cole to a direct confrontation.

His objective was Mira, and assassination was his specialty. With his exceptional concealment and killing techniques, he believed he still had a reasonable chance of succeeding.

Even if the attempt failed, he could retreat. At the very least, he would have gathered valuable information for the organization’s next operation.

Once he had made up his mind, he did not hesitate any longer. His figure disappeared from the rooftop.

At the same time, the poison explosives he had secretly planted inside the Sinclair family compound were activated.

* * *

The Sinclair family’s patriarch had just been killed in front of everyone.

The man who once commanded respect throughout the household had ended up beneath someone else’s foot before Mira severed his head.

The remaining family members were completely overwhelmed by what had happened. When Xavier and Mira turned to leave, not a single person dared to stop them.

But just as the two were approaching the compound’s entrance, a sudden series of explosions shattered the silence.

Several muffled blasts erupted almost simultaneously.

Thick black smoke burst from different parts of the compound, spreading rapidly until it swallowed the entire residence.

"What is that?" someone coughed violently.

"Wait! This isn’t ordinary smoke. It’s poisonous!"

"Urgh..."

One after another, members of the Sinclair family collapsed as the toxic cloud spread through the compound.

Although Xavier and Mira had no intention of harming the other family members, they had been caught in the attack just like everyone else.

Xavier’s expression turned cold.

"So my instincts weren’t wrong," he said. "Someone really was watching us from the shadows."

The moment the explosions occurred, his chaotic aura had already begun circulating around his body.

The poison was potent, but it could not penetrate his defenses or affect him.

Mira was protected as well. Xavier had reacted almost immediately, extending his chaotic aura around her in a complete protective layer.

It covered her from head to toe, leaving no opening through which the poisonous smoke could enter.

Mira looked down at the strange energy surrounding her body, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Is this... chaotic energy?" she asked.

She recognized it immediately.

She had seen her husband use that peculiar energy on several occasions, particularly when feeding Lydia and Snow. The distinctive aura was unmistakable.

However, her surprise quickly gave way to another thought.

Mr. X was closely connected to her husband, and he clearly possessed some understanding of chaotic energy.

Perhaps her husband had once studied under him or received some form of inheritance from him.

After all, chaotic energy was not necessarily exclusive to one individual. The possibility seemed perfectly reasonable to her.

What Mira never considered was that her husband and Mr. X might actually be the same person.

Although Xavier had always been somewhat mysterious, she remembered him as an ordinary man before their marriage.

How could he possibly have transformed into someone with such overwhelming abilities in such a short time?

Before she could dwell on the matter any further, a sudden sense of danger sent a chill down her spine.

Something was coming!

From the corner of her eye, Mira caught sight of a crossbow bolt cutting through the dense black smoke. It was aimed directly at her head, moving with astonishing speed.

Her pupils contracted. There was no time to dodge.

A sword flashed into view and knocked the projectile off course just before it struck her.

Xavier had intervened. But the first bolt was only the beginning.

In the next instant, dozens more came flying out of the darkness.

They descended upon the pair like a deadly storm, attacking from multiple directions and leaving almost no room to escape.

"Hmph. You’re trying to impress me with tricks like these?" Xavier gave a cold snort.

His chaotic aura surged outward, spreading into a rounded barrier around him and Mira.

The protective layer resembled an enormous shell, enclosing them completely.

The crossbow bolts struck the barrier in rapid succession, producing a continuous series of metallic impacts. Not one managed to break through.

Once he was certain Mira was safe, Xavier pushed her toward a more secure position away from the main attack. He then rose into the air.

The black smoke was far more troublesome than ordinary poison.

Its strange composition interfered with his perception, severely limiting his ability to sense anything beyond a hundred foot radius, even with the assistance of his perception rune fragment.

Searching blindly from the ground would be inefficient. So Xavier activated his Wind Rider Rune Stone and flew straight upward.

Within moments, he had climbed several hundred meters above the compound.

From that height, he surveyed the ground below. Ever since his Chaos Body had advanced to the Mature Stage, his physical abilities had undergone a comprehensive transformation.

His eyesight and other senses were now far superior to those of ordinary Star Sea Realm martial artists.

Even through the poisonous haze, he managed to distinguish a shadow whose movements did not quite match the surrounding darkness.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Found you," he said.

He did not need to identify the attacker before deciding what to do.

Anyone who had launched an assassination attempt against them was an enemy.

And Xavier had never been merciful toward his enemies.

He immediately unleashed a sword strike.

The sword energy produced by his 9th-Grade Phantom God-Slaying Sword Technique tore through the air with terrifying speed.

It seemed to slice through the very fabric of space before crashing down upon the concealed figure.

The earth erupted. A massive fissure tore through the ground, stretching hundreds of meters across and swallowing everything in its path.

A dark figure burst out of the destruction. It was Nightfall. His metallic body glinted beneath the light as he emerged from the enormous chasm.

His expression was twisted with alarm, and for the first time since arriving in Valemont, he felt genuine terror.

He had never imagined that his target’s companion could fly! How was anyone supposed to carry out an assassination against someone who could simply take to the sky?

But that was not even the worst part. The man had located him almost immediately and launched a counterattack powerful enough to tear apart the surrounding terrain.

Nightfall was no ordinary assassin. He had mastered a 6th-Grade movement technique to Minor Completion, making him considerably faster than martial artists at the same cultivation level.

Yet he had not even managed to react before the sword energy struck. If not for his awakened metal type supernatural ability, which granted him extraordinary physical defense, that single attack might have sliced him cleanly in half.

Even so, the damage was severe. His internal organs had sustained serious injuries, and blood surged through his chest.

The sheer force behind the sword strike had nearly destroyed him.

Surviving the attack brought him no relief. He had just realized the terrifying gap between himself and his opponent. This was not someone he could defeat.

"Run!" That was the only thought left in his mind.

But before Nightfall could make his escape, another wave of sword energy descended.

In an instant, countless attacks spread across the surrounding area, enclosing him from every direction.

The sky and ground alike were filled with deadly sword energy. There was nowhere left to hide.

The confrontation had erupted without warning, but it was over almost as quickly as it began.

Less than ten seconds had passed from the moment Nightfall launched his attack to the instant his life was extinguished.

As the poisonous black mist slowly thinned, Xavier descended from the sky and touched down on the ruined ground.

The sight before him was devastating. Deep ravines carved by sword energy stretched in every direction, intersecting across the landscape.

What had once been the Sinclair family’s magnificent compound had been reduced to a pile of rubble.

Mira stared at the destruction, unable to hide her astonishment.

She had known Mr. X was exceptionally powerful.

After all, Victoria Quill would not have felt comfortable entering seclusion to pursue a breakthrough if she did not trust him to protect Mira.

But witnessing his strength firsthand was an entirely different experience.

The young man appeared to be barely in his twenties, yet he could unleash dozens of terrifying sword attacks with seemingly effortless movements.

The destructive power was comparable to the sword intent Lydia had once released through her host body, an attack that had cut across the entire training ground of Arcadia Academy.

Just how powerful was this man?