Chapter 1 A Land of Dust

On a street of ruins, the high-temperature ashes had completely cooled, leaving only a layer of dust.

Suren held the "Ashen Knight" Terrence E. Allen by the neck with one hand, his expression unchanging from beginning to end.

It didn't take much effort to subdue this seventh-tier legendary hunter. Even his formal attire had few wrinkles.

This guy's methods were strong, but he relied too much on his ash talent. Once Suren saw through the flaws in his abilities, he easily restrained his throat.

It wasn't just the difference in major tiers, but also the crushing force in understanding the laws. It was only natural that this guy lost.

And on the side, the onlookers were stunned.

Even top-tier professionals might not understand Suren's methods, let alone those of lower tiers.

They only saw Suren subdue Terrence with a single grab, and naturally their faces were full of disbelief.

As they watched the situation being completely controlled, they couldn't help but whisper to each other.

"Just... how strong is Prince Fike?"

"Incredible. That's one of the 'Ten Legendary Bounty Hunters'. He actually subdued him alone?"

"I didn't understand it... Even when facing an eighth-tier professional, shouldn't Terrence, a dignified legendary hunter, be able to use some means to save his life before losing?"

"Yeah. Terrence had a record of fighting an eighth-tier and retreating unscathed. Just now, he didn't use any of his abilities and lost. This Prince Fike is really outrageously strong."

"Hey, do you think this might be some kind of plan by His Majesty? Prince Fike is a member of the Dawn Organization, and the previous joint fleet had Dawn's participation..."

"Shhh... don't say it, but it's really possible."

More and more onlookers gathered, and many of them were important figures.

Those who attended the Roberts family event today were all rich and powerful. Seeing this situation, how could they not see that there was a problem?

Someone was openly ambushed in the central district of Lingdun, and the one who did it was one of the ten legendary hunters. The water behind it must be very deep.

And just as the battle ended, the uniformed military police arrived late.

Looking at the destroyed street, the walrus-mustached police chief's eyes showed a hint of solemnity, but he could only grit his teeth and shout, "Take everyone involved in disturbing the peace back to the police station!"

Hearing this, Suren glanced at the guy.

Anyone who could become a police chief would have some discernment, and should at least recognize various princes and ministers. But this guy pretended not to recognize "Prince Fike" and insisted on arresting Terrence, who still had a breath left, and taking him back to the police station.

Of course, there was also Aberk, a Grade A wanted criminal.

As the walrus-mustache spoke, he completely ignored Suren and shouted directly, "Aberk Boyle, you have a wanted file in the Southern Luying Stormgard territory. Come with us to the police station to assist in the investigation. This is Lingdun, and I advise you not to resist meaninglessly."

"..."

Aberk's face also became strained as he listened, and he glanced at his teacher.

In the current city of Lingdun, resisting arrest was a huge deal.

Suren's eyes flashed with amusement.

He knew that the person behind the scenes had great power. To dare to ambush in the center of Lingdun, there must be other backup plans.

Among these people, there were probably some who harbored ulterior motives.

If he really handed over these living targets to the cavalry police, they would probably be dead before they even reached the police station.

Looking at the group of cavalry police coming to arrest people, Suren took off his hat, revealed his face, and said lightly, "Someone openly assassinated my disciple. I suspect there are still assassins here who want to silence him. I will personally take the people to the general police station, so you don't have to worry."

The walrus-mustached police chief still wanted to play dumb. Even though someone reminded him that the person in front of him was a prince, he insisted, "Forgive my poor eyesight, Your Excellency may be some important figure. But His Majesty has decreed that all security affairs in Lingdun are under the jurisdiction of the police station. No one has the right to obstruct our law enforcement and interfere with justice. I'm sorry, but our police station must take this person away..."

Hearing this, the ignorant onlookers cheered.

Ordinary residents had been oppressed by nobles for too long, and now the laws promulgated by the empire treated everyone equally.

The more powerful the elite class, the more everyone wanted to see equal treatment.

Suren frowned slightly as he listened. He could see through this guy's intentions. He was an old fox in the officialdom.

Knowing that he couldn't suppress him with his identity, and that he couldn't beat him, he could only resort to the law, and by the way, incite the onlookers to boo.

This was their only way to take the person away.

"Heh."

Suren chuckled, completely ignoring the person. He wasn't in the mood to play power games with anyone.

No one could take away the person he wanted to keep.

Suren wasn't in a hurry either. He wanted to see how many more rats could be drawn out from behind the scenes, so he turned to Aberk and asked, "Aberk, what's going on? Why is someone chasing you?"

Aberk replied truthfully, "Teacher, when I was traveling in the southern Stormgard territory, I happened to discover that the 'Tianmu Sect' was secretly spreading the faith of outer gods, instigating believers to betray and defect to the enemy. So I followed the clues and destroyed that branch of the sect. I captured their archbishop alive. After preliminary interrogation, I found that there were high-ranking imperial officials secretly supporting this sect behind the scenes. So I wanted to escort him back to Lingdun... I didn't expect the news to leak out, and I was ambushed all the way."

Suren raised his eyebrows as he listened, and said lightly, "Oh... I see."

An archbishop. A top-tier figure in the Tianmu Sect with real power. There wouldn't be few big fish involved behind this.

He suddenly thought of something and asked, "Where is the person?"

With his teacher present, the fear of being ambushed that he had felt all along finally dissipated. Aberk no longer had any worries and said, "I sealed him."

As he spoke, he took out a sealing scroll and performed a summoning technique, shouting softly, "Release!"

With a "bang", the scroll exploded, revealing a middle-aged man in a red robe who was tightly sealed by puppets.

Suren glanced at him casually. He couldn't help but notice that the atmosphere on the scene instantly became very subtle as soon as the archbishop appeared. But he didn't care at all and asked directly, "Did you find out anything?"

Aberk said, "After mental torture, I found that the person behind him is..."

But obviously, someone didn't want him to say that name.

Before the words could be finished, a sudden change occurred!

A beam of black light shot out from a tall building thousands of meters away with lightning speed, piercing straight at the unconscious archbishop.

It was clearly intended to kill and silence him.

The speed was so fast that no one could stop it.

Unfortunately, Suren was here.

He had already guessed that someone would take action to silence him, so he deliberately had Aberk take the person out.

Others couldn't clearly see the trajectory of the black light, but in Suren's all-knowing eyes, there were no secrets.

"Hmph! You still want to kill and silence someone in front of me?"

He snorted coldly in his heart.

He raised his hand and easily grabbed the black arrow in the air, which was less than a meter away from the prisoner.

Suren completely ignored the curse power like black smoke on the black arrow, and marveled in his heart, "[Hodur's Dark Striker], a dark-type sealed item. Hehe, those guys have a lot of good things in their hands..."

Those old aristocratic families had indeed accumulated a lot of good things over thousands of years.

This [Hodur's Dark Striker] was simply an excellent treasure for assassination. It was a pity.

The thing was good, but the tier of the person using it was too low.

For ordinary sealed items, if the user didn't have a high understanding of the laws, even if they used their life to withstand the backlash, the power wouldn't be too outrageous.

Just like Suren's own [Hypnos's Night Black Scythe], in the hands of ordinary people, even if they endured the limit of curse backlash, it could only unleash spatial rifts around the sixth or seventh tier.

But in Suren's hands, his current understanding of the law of death was enough for him to casually slash out the power of the seventh or eighth tier with a normal attack.

That's why this black arrow was so easily caught just now.

But if it was a top-tier professional, Suren wouldn't have simply caught the treasure. Instead, he would have already gone to their door.

A second later, Aberk finally saw the rune black arrow in his teacher's hand, and his pupils shrank suddenly.

He looked at the calm and composed Suren again, and the excitement in his heart was hard to conceal: Teacher is so strong!

Suren felt good about casually obtaining a treasure of the sealed item level.

He casually put away the rune black arrow, and asked again as if chatting, "Who is behind this archbishop?"

Aberk said seriously, "It's... Marquis Haynes!"

......

Aberk's words were answered in front of everyone. Hundreds of people on the entire street heard clearly.

As soon as these words came out, the air seemed to freeze, as if he had spoken some kind of "taboo". Thousands of onlookers were collectively stunned.

Because of attending the wedding, there were many powerful people in the empire among the onlookers.

Originally, those old guys in high positions avoided the battle, but when they heard that Prince Fike had taken action and caused a big commotion, they came over.

They didn't expect to see a great show when they came.

Marquis Haynes, an old aristocratic family that had continued for thousands of years, the current member of parliament, and the Minister of Defense holding an important position.

It could be said that he was one of the top powerful figures in the empire. How could this be possible?!

But after just one sentence, these big figures reacted.

If someone else said this, they might have concerns, because falsely accusing an important minister was a serious crime.

But the one who caused the trouble in front of him was "Prince Fike".

Everyone even speculated on their own that this was secretly authorized by the female Emperor.

How could they not know how to stand in line?

One by one, the military and political giants immediately took action.

"Quick, report the situation here to His Majesty!"

"Notify the Military Intelligence Agency, immediately mobilize manpower to surround Marquis Haynes, and detain him first."

"Thoroughly investigate all military affairs related to Marquis Haynes..."

"Closely monitor the movements of the troops related to the Haynes family to prevent rebellion!"

"..."

Although one sentence couldn't conclude whether an important minister of the empire was a traitor.

But now a living archbishop of the Tianmu Sect had been captured here in Lingdun, and the truth would be revealed as long as he was interrogated. It was only a matter of time.

And those ministers weren't stupid. Daring to intercept and kill in the central district of Lingdun and making such a big commotion in front of so many people, the power of the person behind it was definitely not a small role.

Marquis Haynes happened to meet all the conditions.

They thought the enemy was an external force. Even if a few traitors had infiltrated, it wouldn't be a big problem.

Now they knew that the enemy was in the command headquarters!

But as long as they defected to the enemy, no matter what Marquis they were, they would definitely die.

Even those who were implicated would definitely not have a good end.

Everyone knew that many people would probably die this time.

......

A confusing assassination. After Aberk said the name "Marquis Haynes", all the mysteries seemed to be suddenly clear.

Suren also deliberately made things big.

Now those guys in the Celestial God Plane had fewer and fewer big cards they could use.

This time, another heavyweight was caught, which also forced them to take risks.

If it were someone else, even if they had the important information that "Marquis Haynes is an internal ghost", they probably wouldn't have lived to reveal it.

Like Aberk, who had experienced nine deaths and one life all the way.

But it just so happened that he met Suren now.

Whether it was assassination, framing, or spreading rumors, it was useless to him.

His identity as "Prince Fike" meant that the other party couldn't suppress him with any political means;

As for strength, without a ninth tier, they really couldn't do anything to him.

Suren's current situation was that even if the enemy hated him to the bone, they couldn't do anything to him, and could only watch him make things bigger and bigger.

Just like what he said to the Gregory family in Old Lingdun before, he would thoroughly investigate this matter.

......

The walrus-mustached police chief, who had a face of upholding justice just now, was also stunned on the spot.

Just now, he wanted to take people away, which could be said to be upright and unyielding.

But now that the truth was revealed, everyone looked at him strangely.

No matter how you looked at it, he seemed to be covering up for the people behind the scenes.

Seeing this, Suren sneered, "Who told you to do this?"

In front of him, not everyone could play these little tricks.

These words seemed to have magic power. As soon as they were spoken, the walrus-mustached police chief's eyes were instantly blank, and he unconsciously replied, "Marquis Haynes contacted me just now and told me that I must take the people away."

As soon as these words came out, the matter was immediately clear. There was an uproar all around.

Now that the matter had become so big, it was no longer a simple security incident. Senior generals from the Military Intelligence Agency also came to take over the scene.

After all, the Military Intelligence Agency was Yekaterina's direct line, and they were much easier to talk to.

Suren handed over the "Ashen Knight" Terrence and the archbishop to the Military Intelligence Agency, and showed his face, then took Aberk away smoothly.

......

Suren led Aberk to Kama.

Aberk took out an exquisite gift box, handed it to Kama, and showed a bright smile to bless, "Sister, this is a gift for you and brother-in-law. Happy wedding."

His sister's wedding was naturally a major event that couldn't be missed. He rushed back regardless of the wind and rain.

Finally, he made it.

Kama looked at her brother, her crystal eyes already filled with tears.

The wedding wasn't over yet, and the two planned to return to the church, because there were still many guests there.

As they walked along the way, the onlookers cast amazing glances at them.

Everyone had witnessed Aberk's combat power just now, and now everyone had a new understanding of the Boyle Mechanical Alchemist.

With a domineering and unparalleled teacher, he was unparalleled for a time.

Getting into the car and closing the door, the motorcycle drove slowly.

Aberk finally couldn't help but ask curiously, "Teacher, how strong are you now?"

The shocking scenes just now lingered in his mind, and only he knew how terrifying his teacher was.

Kama on the side was also very excited and cast expectant glances.

Her teacher and brother had come, and she felt that today was the happiest day of her life.

Suren smiled, chatted a few words casually, and praised Aberk's performance.

At this time, he took out a rune core and said, "Aberk, I have repaired this core. Now I give it to you."

This was the [Boyle Mechanical Puppet Heart], the control core of the [Ganshou Mechanical War Puppet].

It also contained the most complete inheritance of puppet skills of the Boyle lineage.

This core was made of eighth-tier green dragon dragon crystal, and it had been damaged for hundreds of years due to energy loss. Suren had repaired it after hunting dragons in the Dragon Kingdom sea area before.

Looking at the treasure of his family, Aberk was overjoyed. He had thousands of words to say, but in the end he only said one sentence: "Thank you, teacher."

Suren smiled.

He predicted that his disciple would definitely go far on the road of puppeteer in the future.

The motorcycle drove all the way towards the Alchemist Church. While chatting, Suren suddenly received a message and showed a thoughtful expression.

Aberk looked at Suren's strange expression and asked, "Teacher, what's wrong?"

Suren said lightly: "Just the latest news, Marquis Haynes committed suicide for fear of crime."

He wasn't surprised at all that Haynes would die.

But "committing suicide for fear of crime" meant that there were still big fish behind the scenes.

......

The wedding ended smoothly.

The death of Marquis Haynes also caused no small turmoil in the high-level of the United Empire.

But Suren didn't have any interest in those.

It was rare to meet his disciple, and these few days he patiently taught Aberk and Kama.

His current understanding of alchemy was already vastly different from what it had been in the beginning. With his teacher leading the way, the siblings would take too many detours.

On the third day, there was another twist in the matter.

Mr. Mirror sent a message that the fish had taken the bait.

Before, the Mirror Organization had a reward on the black market for treasures to heal Holy Light injuries. The enemy knew Mr. Mirror's injuries and would probably take the bait.

Someone sent a message that in the southern Stormgard territory, there was a healing holy item of sealed item level in an ancient Earl's mansion.

Mr. Mirror planned to go there in person.

If it was real, she would buy it by the way.

If it was a trap, it would also give the enemy a chance to ambush.

With her personally appearing, the enemy had to seize this "good opportunity".

These people of her level were almost doing it in the open. Both sides knew that there would be problems.

But even if the enemy knew that this might be a fishing scheme, they had to take the bait.

Because the longer they delayed, the fewer chips they had in their hands.

There was no better opportunity to eliminate the leader of the Dawn Group than now. The enemy probably also felt that an injured ninth tier would not let go of any opportunity to heal his injuries.

There would inevitably be a big commotion this time.

Suren was also very curious about what kind of people the enemy would send to ambush the ninth-tier Mr. Mirror in Luying.