The King of Sindaril entered the palace with a puzzled expression. He looked at the Emperor and asked,
"Why did you summon me, Your Majesty?"
The Emperor looked at him with a mocking gaze and replied,
"Do you truly not know why you were summoned?"
The King of Sindaril frowned slightly and said,
"No… how could I possibly know?"
At that moment, the Emperor ordered the guards to take him away for interrogation. As he was being escorted out, the King of Sindaril cast a cunning look toward the Emperor before leaving the hall.
The moment he was gone, the Emperor slammed his hand violently on the table. Anxiety filled his heart. He was almost certain that the King of Sindaril was involved in the crimes that had been happening recently.
Just then, one of the guards who had survived the attack on the Novera Palace entered the room, clearly exhausted and shaken. He knelt before the Emperor and delivered shocking news:
The entire Novera family had been killed.
The Emperor's eyes widened in shock. Without hesitation, he immediately ordered the alarm sirens to be activated across the entire empire and commanded that anyone from the Novera family—or anyone connected to them—be captured immediately.
But James was a cunning man.
He had long expected that such a day might come. Because of that, he had already ordered his family members to hide in a secret location known only to a very small number of people within the family.
Meanwhile, his followers had disguised themselves among the common people, blending into the markets and crowds so their identities would not be discovered.
As for James himself…
For a brief moment, he felt the weight of his years, as if he had suddenly grown old and was ready to die.
But then he shouted fiercely,
"I will not die… until I take many victims with me!"
Elsewhere, Silva was running quickly toward the castle while holding a newspaper.
The newspaper announced a massive reward for anyone who brought the head of a member of the Novera family.
Tinibras was already disturbed by everything that had happened recently, and this news only made his anger grow stronger.
He muttered coldly,
"How far do you plan to go with your cruelty… Grandfather?"
After a moment, Tinibras told Silva to lock him inside the underground training chamber.
Silva agreed that it was a good idea.
Tinibras went underground, bringing with him large amounts of food. Before closing the door, Silva said to him,
"If you run out of food, there's a storage room inside filled with energy pills. There are also powerful elixirs, medicines, and training books. So don't worry about anything."
Tinibras smiled calmly.
Silva then sealed the door tightly.
After that, Silva went upstairs and carefully hid everything that could reveal Tinibras's presence.
Meanwhile, James suddenly appeared before the public in the city of Valnor, right in the center of the city.
He stood there openly challenging the King of Valnor and all its noble families.
In front of him were several hostages tied up…
And without hesitation, he set them on fire.
Several high-level fighters rushed forward to save the hostages, but the King of Valnor suddenly shouted,
"Everyone, retreat!"
One of the guards looked confused and said,
"Your Majesty, why? He's only one man, and we are the strongest fighters in Valnor!"
Those warriors were a mixture of the Body of Ruin and Abyss Spirit levels.
But the king spoke with a heavy voice,
"We cannot deal with this monster… fall back."
The Emperor quickly received news that James had appeared in Valnor.
Without hesitation, he dispatched his strongest squad:
Five warriors at the Eye of Annihilation level.
They were the most powerful combat unit in the entire empire.
The Emperor had never used them before, as they were his ultimate trump card for the most dangerous situations.
Their bodies were perfectly trained, their movements faster than lightning.
They were capable of destroying an entire city within minutes.
When they arrived in the center of Valnor, they rushed to the location of the hostages.
But James was gone.
He had vanished completely.
All that remained were the burned bodies of the hostages, lying in a dark and horrifying scene filled with smoke and death.
The squad immediately began searching the entire kingdom.
Not long after, however, new information reached them.
James Novera had appeared in the Kingdom of Kastera.
And once again, he repeated the same act.
He tied up hostages and set them on fire, leaving them to burn slowly.
Across the world, military forces communicated with one another using magical devices similar to phones. They were crafted from special jewels connected to a magical network that stretched throughout the world.
The Emperor contacted the elite squad directly and ordered them to move immediately toward Kastera.
The King of Kastera had been waiting for James impatiently.
After all, James was the one who had killed the Crown Prince of Kastera.
The king shouted furiously,
"Do you think I would forgive you for killing my son?!"
He immediately ordered all of his forces to attack.
But what followed was terrifying.
The soldiers were thrown into the air like autumn leaves.
No one could stop him.
James continued fighting and crushing anyone who dared approach him…
Until the elite squad finally arrived.
Yet the moment they appeared—
James disappeared again before their eyes.
For the third time, he appeared suddenly in the imperial capital itself.
There, James destroyed the largest bank in Normadia with a single strike.
Enormous amounts of money burned as flames rose high into the sky.
And before the elite squad could reach him…
James disappeared once again.
Only then did the Emperor realize the truth.
James was using forbidden ancient artifacts, tools outlawed across the world that allowed him to teleport easily between kingdoms.