Eternal Thief

Behind her veil, Eva flashed an enigmatic smile, not a hint of fear toward the Corpse General, and emitted a terrifying killing intent and the spiritual pressure of an Abyssal Lord.

”All eyes are on us right now.” Eva communicated with Ace.

Ace also felt many powerful law senses locked in this place, and couldn’t help but smile wryly in secret, as he retorted sarcastically, ”You should rephrase your words, all eyes are on YOU, not me. After all, you are the disciple of the Dread Duchess, and all those Evernight Marquises and Evernight Earls are probably worried that something will happen to you and they will be held accountable by her. They don’t care about some nobody like me.”

”But they didn’t interfere, right? My master seemed to have more confidence in me, but the main reason for this is probably to test our dear ’follower’.” Eva snickered playfully through their secret communication.

The next moment, she directly looked at Kharon and ordered with a hint of mischievous shimmering in her eyes, ”Alright, Kharon, show me what you got! Take care of this disgusting corpse!”

’Just you wait, I’ll get at you!’

With impeccable control of his facial expressions, Ace stopped the twitching of his lips and, like an obedient subordinate, bowed in acknowledgment and moved forward to face the Corpse General.

These small but clear actions of Kharon not only startled the observers who were keeping an eye on Eva, but even the opponent, the Corpse General, seemed flabbergasted, as his powerful killing intent faltered for a moment.

The Dread Duchess’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, then a hint of approval shone in them, as if acknowledging Eva’s decisiveness.

At least she didn’t disappoint her by protecting Kharon; instead, she curtly ordered him to prove his worth in front of everyone, which was exactly what the Dread Duchess wanted.

At that moment, completely unbothered by all the attention on him, Ace hovered a few meters away from the Corpse General and slowly rested one hand on the hilt of the demonic sword, the Killing Slaughter.

The movement was so natural that it resembled a swordsman merely preparing himself rather than entering battle.

His indifferent eyes met the Corpse General’s as he impassively stated, ”Make your move!”

The simple words echoed across the battlefield.

The Corpse General’s expression darkened upon sensing Kharon’s dismissiveness, and he burst with even stronger killing intent, no longer caring to finish this meaningless fight quickly.

Moreover, the Corpse General wasn’t a fool, and he sensed many Evernight Earls’ law senses sweeping in here, not to mention that even the Evernight Marquis seemed to be paying attention.

So, the Corpse General instantly realized that these reckless fools who had intercepted him seemed to be of quite high status, especially the veiled devil, who might have an extraordinary identity.

However, for some reason, those Evernight Earls didn’t rush here to protect her; instead, she even ordered her ’guard’ to confront him, which was utterly ridiculous.

But the Corpse General still couldn’t swallow Kharon’s calm demeanor, and now the latter even gave him the first move as if the former were some nobody.

His undead flames flared violently.

”You actually dare command this General?”

Although enraged, he no longer underestimated Kharon. The brief exchange earlier had already made him realize that this insignificant-looking Abyssal Guardian possessed extraordinary confidence, which might be born of strength.

Without another word, the Corpse General gripped his massive corpse saber tightly, and Corpse Qi exploded from his enormous body. An Abyssal Lord’s pressure completely descended.

”I’ll grant your death wish!”

Yet, just as he was about to ridicule this foolish Abyssal Guardian, Ace moved, or rather, no one actually saw him move!

A faint black lightning suddenly flickered as it appeared, and then disappeared. There wasn’t even the slightest sound, nor was there a visible slash of a sword. Even the Killing Slaughter never seemed to leave its sheath.

Only an almost imperceptible metallic whisper echoed.

’Shing...’

The entire exchange lasted less than a heartbeat.

---

Far above, the Dread Duchess abruptly narrowed her eyes, and her previously relaxed posture disappeared.

For the first time since arriving on the battlefield, her expression became solemn.

”What...?”

Even she hadn’t clearly seen that strike, for she had only sensed an impossibly condensed Sword Intent erupting before instantly retracting as though nothing had happened.

There was no wasted Abyssal Qi; in fact, she couldn’t even sense any Abyssal Qi from Kharon in that fleeting moment, nor the sword’s overflowing aura. Everything seemed to have been concentrated into one perfect instant. Her gaze immediately locked onto the sword hanging at Kharon’s waist.

’That wasn’t the power of that demonic sword but...Sword Heart! But what was that Qi that even eluded me?’

---

The Corpse General remained frozen before his eyes widened slightly as he looked at Ace in complete confusion because nothing had happened, or so it seemed. Yet for the briefest instant, he had felt something.

A terrifying killing intent and a sensation of absolute death, as though countless swords had already pierced his soul, and then it vanished. The strange feeling disappeared so quickly that he almost believed he had imagined it.

More importantly, Kharon hadn’t moved as he was still standing exactly where he had been, and his sword had never even been drawn.

The Corpse General frowned deeply as he thought, ’Illusions tactic?’

Just as he was about to convince himself, he felt something was wrong when his grip on his corpse saber suddenly grew lighter.

”Hm?”

He instinctively glanced downward, and the next instant, his flaming eyes violently contracted because his right arm, the same arm holding the corpse saber, was gone, and in its place, a perfectly smooth cut ran across his shoulder.

At that moment, he finally found his arm, which was still clutching the massive saber, silently fell toward the ground.

It had been severed so cleanly that even his corpse vessel hadn’t realized it, and only after several breaths did unbearable agony erupt.

”AAAAARGH!”

The Corpse General’s miserable scream rang out to the entire battlefield because the pain did not originate from his corpse vessel; it came from his undead soul!