Chapter 97: 97

Staring at Ferdinand Ostrich, Anastasia Helens narrowed her eyes and frowned, seemingly in anger. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, you old fool,” she shrieked, annoyed. “Our friends aren’t someone a mere General like you could stand against.” She wanted to jump at Ferdinand, but Kieran Ashford held her back. It looked like he was worried that her outburst would anger Ferdinand.

But it was already too late. Ferdinand was enraged. He stepped forward, and before anyone could react, he landed a tight slap on Anastasia’s face, the force of the slap making her cock her head to the side. “Mere cultivation thrash like you thinks she can threaten me? And with the position of your friends? How laughable!” he spoke coldly. “Now, remember, trash,” he grabbed Anastasia by her jaw, his fingers digging into her cheeks where he slapped her, making her wince in pain. “No matter who your friends are, even if they are the Emperor and Prince Regents themselves, they don’t stand a chance against me or my henchmen. I can have them dead anytime I want.”

Anastasia stared at Ferdinand, with clear disgust in her eyes. “Tch-!” she scoffed before spitting into Ferdinand’s face. From the start, her goal was to completely enrage him, so Kieran could proceed with the plan. The plan was something she came up with, but Kieran didn’t like it. He disliked it because it was too dangerous, but because Anastasia insisted and it was the fastest way possible, he had no choice but to go along with it.

“You bitch!” Ferdinand slapped Anastasia again in his fit of rage. “How dare you?!” he shouted as he slapped her again. And again. And again. And again. When he stopped, he was still so enraged that he didn’t even notice that Kieran conjured a flaming dagger in his hand, keeping it hidden behind Anastasia’s back.

Realizing there was an additional light in the room, Ferdinand turned to look at Kieran, but it was already too late for him. Pulling Anastasia behind him, Kieran gripped the fire dagger tightly and slashed it at Ferdinand’s leg.

Being in a squat, Ferdinand knew that no matter what he did, he would sustain some damage, so he decided on the way with the least consequences. Jumping back, his face turned black with hatred as he gritted his teeth in pain, feeling the fire blade slice into his shin. “Are you still going to say that you can easily kill us?” Anastasia stood up and sneered. She didn’t really care about the bruises on her cheeks, as she was more concerned about getting rid of her enemy. A few bruises weren’t something she was afraid of.

“You two little bastards!” Ferdinand groaned in pain and started condensing spirit energy in front of him, ready to blow up both Kieran and Anastasia.

Instantly, the situation turned dangerous, making Ivona hold her breath from the sidelines, while Anastasia froze in shock. On the other hand, Kieran and Michelle were calm, expecting it.

When someone started condensing spirit energy to stop the explosions, it was needed to destroy the caster’s dantian, as he would lose the spirit energy in his body, which would thus lead to him losing control over the spirit energy in his hand, and it would scatter around.

Letting the black mist around her disappear, Michelle observed the situation so she could step in if Kieran failed to destroy the dantian.

Kieran nodded at Michelle before forming another fire dagger in his hand and lunging at Ferdinand. Ferdinand dodged to the side, but he didn’t notice that it was toward Anastasia, who was holding a knife. She got behind him and stabbed her knife into his back, next to his spine, right beneath his neck.

Feeling the blade in his back, Ferdinand instinctively let go of the spirit’s energy he had condensed and let it explode in front of him.

In an instant, Michelle formed an ice barrier in front of her and Ivona while Kieran created a counter-explosion in front of him to block Ferdinand’s explosion as much as he could. At the same time, Anastasia stood behind Ferdinand, using him as a meat shield, since the explosion couldn’t harm its caster, and standing behind him was the safest option for a non-cultivator like Anastasia.

Aware that Anastasia was behind him, Ferdinand wanted to turn around and attack, but she had a tight grip on the knife stabbed in his back. So when he turned, she went around him to remain behind his back. That made it even more dangerous for Ferdinand to turn around, as that would be opening his back to Kieran.

Also, through the corners of his eye, he saw some ice in the side of the room, which meant that Kieran and Anastasia were not the only ones he was up against, and that made him uneasy since the two were able to wound him twice even without the interference of the third person.

Deep inside his mind, Ferdinand was praying that the person behind the ice was on his side, or at least not on the side of Kieran and Anastasia, so he wouldn’t be even more troubled; but all his hopes shattered the moment the ice melted. “Michael Grayson…” he mumbled in shock.

He knew that the little Emperor’s teacher was a powerful figure, but from his investigation, he hadn’t appeared since the little Emperor was crowned. He had heard some rumors that Michael also had his fingers in the execution of the Sloan family, but that was thought to be a mere baseless rumor, and everyone thought that Michael disappeared after the little Emperor’s coronation, but at the moment, it seemed like he was the little Emperor’s guardian angel, always appearing when something that could harm the little Emperor’s reputation was happening.

When Michelle set up the ice barrier in front of her and Ivona, she put on the disguise mask and a purple cloak, covering her from head to toe, only leaving her silver hair and purple eyes to be seen, as that was her signature as Michael Grayson.

She was aware that having two identities that had the same hair and eye color, especially with her striking colors, with the only difference in the two identities being some features and the gender of the two, wasn’t hard to see through, but since she was in the Land of Exile, she didn’t really care, and once she went to the lower realm or higher, she could create more differences between the two identities.

For example, though she didn’t know yet if it was possible, she could change Michael Grayson’s height; high heels weren’t an option, that was visible. She needed to find a disguise mask, or another spirit artifact that could give the illusion that she was slightly taller.

Staring at Michelle in shock, Ferdinand knew he was screwed. There was no way Michele Grayson would stay on the sidelines. But to his surprise, Michelle didn’t move an inch, though her expression was cold and dark, with withheld bloodthirst in those striking purple eyes.

Thinking he has some hope. Ferdinand wanted to rush to Michelle, to beg for help, but before he could move, Kieran lunged at him and stabbed a flaming dagger into his lower abdomen, striking his dantian.

Agony showed on Ferdinand’s face as pain coursed through his body, signaling that his dantian was shattered and that his spirit veins were about to do the same.

A small smile tugged at Michelle’s lips, her purple eyes narrowing into beautiful crescents. She loved destroying her enemies just after giving them a bit of hope, because that would bring them even more despair when she destroyed them. It was like giving an old rope to a person hanging under a cliff, a good few meters above the ground. The person would gladly take the rope, thinking he would be saved, but when the rope tears, he would curse all gods before dying.

Ferdinand didn’t die. Shattering one’s dantian wasn’t the kind of wound that could kill someone. But the misery it brought was worse than death. For a proud person like Ferdinand, to suddenly lose his cultivation was like losing his lifeline. Even if he was an aristocrat with the legacy of quite the number of generations, he wanted people to respect him because of his own power, not because of his family. Also, if his family got to know that he lost his cultivation, they could replace him as the head of the household with someone else, and that would not only be disgraceful, but he would also lose the political power he had.

Wallowing in pain and misery, he didn’t even notice that Michelle was approaching him with a smile, but when she started humming, he lifted his head and saw her happy face. Then, he saw something that rendered him speechless. Michael Grayson put his hand over his face and pulled off a disguise mask, revealing a similar-looking face, but with feminine features. “Michelle Grace?!” Ferdinand was shocked.

“Hello…” Michelle smiled widely. “How do you feel? I hope Kieran didn’t cause you unnecessary pain.” She didn’t even feign concern and went straight to mockery. In her eyes, Ferdinand didn’t deserve pity.

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