Chapter 181: Your Savior Is Now My Puppet

Chapter 181: Chapter 181: Your Savior Is Now My Puppet

"That can’t be right! Why would he attack someone from our side?"

"Am I seeing things? Mr. X has been helping us fight those demons!"

"Ancestor! Why would you do something like this?!"

Confusion spread through the crowd.

There was no mistake about the identity of the attacker. The elderly man who had just arrived was their own Ancestor, the very person they had been waiting for with so much hope.

Yet he had launched a surprise attack against Mr. X!

No one could understand what was happening.

Everyone except Charles.

The moment he witnessed the attack, his expression changed dramatically. A horrifying possibility entered his mind, one so terrible that he almost refused to acknowledge it.

If his suspicion was correct, the Shelby Family was facing a nightmare far worse than anything he had imagined.

Unfortunately, reality offered him no chance to deny it.

A figure soon materialized before the crowd.

"Why are you all looking so confused?"

The familiar voice carried a hint of amusement.

"Well, I suppose I should apologize. This is my fault. I placed the Six-Pointed Star Demon Mark on your precious Ancestor a long time ago. Since then, he has been nothing more than my puppet."

The figure paused, clearly enjoying the stunned expressions around him.

"How does it feel? You were celebrating just moments ago, convinced that your savior had arrived. Now you’ve discovered that the person you placed all your hopes in belongs to me."

His laughter grew louder.

"I must say, watching you go from happiness to despair is quite entertaining. Please, don’t disappoint me. Keep those wonderful expressions coming!"

He suddenly remembered something and continued in an almost casual tone.

"Oh, and I know some of you are wondering about the Second Elder. There’s no need to wait for him. I personally delivered him into my Lord’s belly. By now, he’s probably been digested and turned into a pile of waste!"

The figure was none other than Desmond Hale.

Having arranged everything so carefully, he couldn’t resist revealing just how thoroughly he had outplayed the Shelby Family.

For a moment, the family members could only stare at him in disbelief.

Then their anger erupted.

"Desmond Hale! You despicable bastard! I’ll kill you!"

"You dared to turn our Ancestor into your puppet? I’ll tear you apart!"

"You wretched Hale! As long as I draw breath, I won’t let you get away with this!"

The Shelby Family experts immediately launched attacks at the figure while shouting curses.

Their Ancestor had always been their greatest source of strength. Even when the family faced serious threats, they believed that as long as he was alive, they could overcome anything.

Now, that final hope had been destroyed.

The Second Elder was dead, their Ancestor had become Desmond Hale’s puppet, and Mr. X had just been caught in a surprise attack. His condition was unknown, but after being buried beneath such a violent barrage of sword energy, his chances did not look good.

The Shelby Family had lost almost everything they could rely on.

How could they possibly remain calm?

Unfortunately, their furious attacks accomplished nothing.

The Desmond Hale standing before them was merely an illusion. No matter how many techniques they unleashed, their attacks passed straight through his figure without causing any damage.

Instead of being annoyed, Desmond Hale seemed even more delighted.

"That’s right! Keep going!"

He laughed heartily.

"Show me your anger! Let me see how helpless you are when there’s absolutely nothing you can do!"

His laughter echoed across the square.

But then, his expression suddenly changed.

He seemed to sense something unusual and turned his attention toward the enormous crater where Xavier had been buried.

An inexplicable feeling of unease rose within him.

The next instant, his instincts proved correct.

BOOM!

A brilliant sword light burst out of the crater.

However, this time, the attack came from below, shooting straight toward the Shelby Family’s Ancestor.

The old man reacted immediately and moved to evade it. Yet before he could fully escape, another sword strike appeared directly in front of him, arriving at an even greater speed.

A figure shot out of the crater.

It was Xavier.

His expression was cold, and there was not the slightest trace of amusement on his face. The anger radiating from him was unmistakable.

More importantly, he appeared completely unharmed.

"How... How is that possible?"

Desmond Hale stared at him in disbelief.

"The Ancestor is an eighth-star Divine Power Realm expert! His attack came without warning, and Mr. X was struck directly. How could he possibly walk away without a single injury?"

For the first time, Desmond Hale felt that something had gone wrong with his carefully arranged plan.

The Shelby Family’s Ancestor was one of his most important trump cards. He had personally arranged for the old man to attack Xavier, expecting that even if the first strike failed to kill him, it would at least leave him severely wounded.

But the reality before him made no sense.

Xavier had taken the attack head-on and had even been buried beneath a relentless storm of sword energy. Yet he was standing there as though nothing had happened.

"No. That’s impossible!"

Desmond Hale tried to reassure himself.

"He must have suffered serious internal injuries. He’s only pretending to be fine!"

But his confidence didn’t last long.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Sword energy suddenly filled the air.

Xavier unleashed a continuous barrage of attacks, completely surrounding the Shelby Family’s Ancestor. At the same time, several sword strikes broke away from the main assault and swept toward the newly emerging Demon Centurions.

His attacks were fast, powerful, and relentless.

There was no sign of hesitation, let alone the weakness of someone suffering from serious internal injuries.

Desmond Hale’s remaining confidence finally collapsed.

On the other side of the battlefield, Charles, Liam, and the other Shelby Family members witnessed everything.

The hope that had been crushed by their Ancestor’s betrayal suddenly returned.

Mr. X was still alive!

And not only had he survived the ambush, but he was fighting back with the same overwhelming strength as before!

"That’s Mr. X! He’s still alive!"

"Wonderful! As long as Mr. X is here, we still have a chance!"

"Desmond Hale, you despicable bastard! I bet you never imagined that Mr. X would be this powerful!"

"He’s truly worthy of being called a grandmaster. Even after being caught off guard by an attack from an eighth-star Divine Power Realm expert, he hasn’t suffered a single injury!"

"With Mr. X fighting on our side, the Shelby Family might actually survive this disaster!"

Charles and the others couldn’t hide their excitement.

The situation had changed so many times that they could hardly keep up.

At first, the Ancestor’s arrival had filled them with hope. Then they discovered that the man they had regarded as their greatest protector had already become Desmond Hale’s puppet.

Next, they had watched Mr. X get ambushed by the Ancestor and buried beneath a storm of sword energy. They were certain he would suffer serious injuries, only to see him emerge completely unharmed.

Even now, they struggled to understand how someone whose cultivation was supposedly at the Star Sea Realm could withstand a surprise attack from an eighth-star Divine Power Realm expert without being hurt.

It was almost unbelievable.

But nobody was complaining.

Whatever the explanation, Mr. X’s strength was a blessing for the entire Shelby Family. Without him, Desmond Hale’s carefully prepared scheme would have been nearly impossible to stop.

There was, however, one problem that nobody could ignore.

Mr. X was currently fighting their Ancestor.

Although the old man was under Desmond Hale’s control, he was still the person who had protected the Shelby Family for generations. None of them wanted to see him killed.

What were they supposed to do?

"Why are you all standing around?!"

Xavier’s irritated voice rang out from above.

"If you have time to watch me fight, then use it to deal with the demons coming out of those pillars!"

His words immediately snapped everyone out of their thoughts.

Xavier had already heard Desmond Hale’s arrogant remarks and understood the difficult position the Shelby Family was in. However, he couldn’t afford to hold back against the Ancestor.

That first ambush had been far more dangerous than it appeared.

The sword energy had travelled faster than sound. It was so sudden that Xavier’s chaotic aura hadn’t even had enough time to form a defensive barrier around him.

If not for the rune battle armor protecting his body, he might have suffered a devastating injury. The armor’s defensive capabilities were comparable to those of a Heavenly-level protective treasure. Without it, surviving that strike would have been a completely different matter.

Naturally, Xavier had no intention of giving the controlled Ancestor another chance to attack him.

Meanwhile, Charles, Liam, and the other Shelby Family experts quickly followed his instructions.

By now, most of the ordinary family members had been moved away from the central square. A few people remained behind to keep order, while the others rushed toward the crimson pillars and joined the fight against the emerging Abyss Demons.

Fortunately, the Nine Nether Abyss Formation seemed to be limiting how many creatures could cross over at once.

Although the demons that had appeared were all elite Demon Centurions, the Shelby Family’s remaining experts could still handle them without much difficulty.

They continued fighting while occasionally glancing toward the sky, where Xavier and the Ancestor were engaged in a fierce battle.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions shook the entire Shelby manor.

Sword strikes collided with sword strikes. Laws clashed with supernatural abilities, while powerful martial techniques tore through the air.

The resulting flashes illuminated the space beneath the Nine Nether Abyss Formation, making the night look as bright as day.

Yet despite the intensity of their attacks, neither fighter could gain a decisive advantage.

The battle between Xavier and the Ancestor had reached a stalemate.

The old man truly deserved his reputation as an eighth-star Divine Power Realm expert.

His sword technique was inferior to Xavier’s Phantom God-Slaying Sword Technique in terms of quality, but his mastery of it was considerably greater. On top of that, he had comprehended a highly destructive law that made every attack exceptionally dangerous.

Xavier found it difficult to get close enough to land a decisive blow.

The greatest obstacle, however, was the Ancestor’s speed.

His movements were astonishingly fast, even surpassing Xavier’s speed despite Xavier possessing a superhuman speed ability and having perfected the Ghost Shadow Flash technique.

There was another advantage that made the situation even more troublesome.

Because the Ancestor was being controlled by Desmond Hale, he was not affected by the spatial restrictions of the formation in the same way as the others. With a space-type runestone, he could repeatedly teleport away whenever Xavier approached.

Even after activating his rune battle armor, Xavier couldn’t get within a hundred feet of him.

That distance was extremely important.

His strongest technique, the Great Wilderness Imprisoning Heaven Finger, required him to catch his opponent within its effective range. But with the Ancestor constantly teleporting away, Xavier couldn’t find an opportunity to use it.

Down below, Desmond Hale watched the battle with a satisfied expression.

"Now you understand, don’t you? Once an opponent knows about your trump card, it loses much of its value!"

He laughed mockingly.

"Your earlier decision to reveal the Six Directions Heaven-Piercing Finger was a mistake. Did you really think you could change the outcome of this battle with that technique? Keep dreaming!"

He raised his voice as he watched the two figures exchange attacks.

"Go ahead and keep fighting! Once your spiritual energy and physical strength are exhausted, let’s see how you’ll survive!"

Desmond Hale was once again convinced that everything was proceeding according to his plan.

As far as he was concerned, Xavier was the only person in the entire Shelby manor who posed a serious threat to him.

Now that the Ancestor was keeping Xavier occupied, the advantage had returned to his side.