Theron left the scene in a flash as though he had done nothing at all. Tonight, this was just one of his targets.
Thanks to Ruu, he had learned quite a lot about the disciples of the Obsidian Eclipse Sect, and he also knew exactly which ones he could and should target.
He had been meaning to build up his River and Rain personas more, but he hadn’t had the chance to do so because he was forced into one mission after another. But now, that chance had come to present itself to him.
The purpose of such a thing didn’t seem obvious at all. Why potentially expose himself as River in the first place?
Maybe only Theron would know the answer to that.
By the time his enemies realized what he was doing, it would be far too late for them.
Theron had long updated the rate of success of his plan. Moving forward, he had no intention of slipping up at the last moments. And in the future, when it truly became time for his revenge, these plans that he laid out now just might come to play an important role.
**
Obsidian Eclipse Sect.
An old woman sat wreathed in black and silver. Her eyes rotated like black holes, and there seemed to be a wide berth all around her, not from people as she was almost alone, but instead from what seemed like Mana itself.
It was as though she had become such a sunken hole that there was no Mana left around her to absorb in the first place.
This woman was the Matriarch of the Obsidian Eclipse Sect, an old monster no less powerful than Dean Pennel.
She, however, wasn’t of the Pennel Clan. Instead, she had married into the Nowlan Duke Clan.
Receiving a report about Alden’s death, though, she didn’t care very much. The Nowlan Clan might be her husband’s Clan, but Alden was neither her student nor her son or grandson. If anything, the Nowlan name just made her raise her eyebrow just a little bit more…
Until, that is, more reports started coming in.
The main issue, though, wasn’t the deaths; it was the exact targets.
They weren’t all disciples of Clans as powerful as Duke Clans, but they seemed strategically chosen to stir up the most trouble possible.
Alden, for example… he was a top 10 outer disciple. And, he actually still had more room to grow. There was a chance he could push himself into the top six or seven before he ran into the end of his potential and broke into Fourth Silver Resonance.
Not only was he powerful, though, but he had a contentious relationship with the youth of the Bordeaux Clan. Rowlan might have only been ranked in the 90s or so, but he was the leading figure of a Marquis Clan in the outer disciple.
Whether the Nowlans would be able to prove that the Bordeaux were involved or not—or even in the case that the Bordeaux were clearly proven innocent, it wouldn’t matter.
That sort of relationship wouldn’t be easily capitalized on again. There would be an estrangement between the families that only time could fix.
At first, Matriarch Louvana thought that it was a coincidence. After all, Theron had left the mark of “Rain” on his target. It didn’t seem like he cared to use this to his advantage at all.
But then the pattern started appearing again and again. Not in the same way, and often cleverly hidden, but it was most definitely there.
In the second case of death that night, it was actually an Inner Disciple of a Knight Clan. In fact, it was the very same Knight Clan that Moreno had descended from.
This was why it was clear that Theron wasn’t just targeting geniuses. The Knight Clan in question had already lost the one genius they had, but they did have an Inner Disciple that managed to make it to Eighth Resonance.
Only for him to die unceremoniously as well.
This Knight Clan had already been facing suppression because of what Moreno had done to a member of a Duke Clan. Now, their strongest pillar in the Sect had suddenly been crushed. How would the others of the family even survive?
And then there was the third case. Somehow, it seemed even more inconsequential than the others.
All things considered, Alden was a minor figure. Who cared if he was a top ten outer disciple? There were no geniuses beneath Gold Mancy, and certainly none at Lower Silver Resonance.
Then there was the Eighth Silver Resonance inner disciple? The Matriarch cared even less about this disciple, they had maybe a 5% chance of reaching Gold Mancy in some distant future—if and only if they stumbled onto some opportunity.
But this one was even more ridiculous.
A maid servant.
At first, the Matriarch didn’t even understand why this landed on her desk in the first place until her lip twitched.
‘… Not good…’
This wasn’t just any maid servant. She might have been the weakest of them all, having barely entered First Silver Resonance, but she was the maid servant of that kid.
No, maybe only Matriarch Louvana would dare to call him a kid.
He was the first to reach Quasi Gold of this generation of disciples, front in line to become their first Chosen. Just because the Luminescent Moon Sect had jumped the gun and picked out their Chosen ahead of time, didn’t mean that the Obsidian Eclipse Sect would do the same.
In fact, Louvana was quite sure that the main reason this young man hadn’t broken through yet was because he was waiting for Beifong’s successful return so that he might have a chance at using the Tribulation Bloomstone.
Mason. Mason Zhen of the Zhen Grand Duke Clan. The second-ranked Quasi Gold Mancer of their family.
Just maybe… he would have been first if he didn’t waste his time being so lascivious and sex-obsessed.
The fact that this maid servant had died… it was bad news.