"How could you..."
Pfft—
Before he could finish his words, the bloodstained tip of a dagger had already pierced through his chest from behind.
He looked down in disbelief as his vitality rapidly slipped away along with his blood. Finally, he fell heavily face down, devoid of any signs of life.
At the same time, Formless and Poisonweed, who had launched a surprise attack from above, also met their ends.
Having lost Shadow's help, they were instantly surrounded by the soldiers who had reacted.
A longspear ruthlessly pierced through Formless's chest, while another dagger, coming from an unknown origin, precisely stabbed into Poisonweed's back.
In the blink of an eye, three out of the four top-tier assassins were dead.
Seeing this, Cerydra turned around, her cold gaze landing on the sole survivor, Ghost.
"Now you're the only one left. So, what do you plan to do now?"
The eight soldiers gradually began to approach Ghost slowly, while the two Cleaners, each holding a bloodstained dagger, materialized behind him.
He couldn't run, and he couldn't fight. Facing this desperate situation, Ghost pursed his lips tightly. Subsequently, extreme cold air, visible to the naked eye, began emitting from his body, and his figure gradually started to become translucent.
He didn't answer Cerydra's question. Instead, transforming into a freezing cold current, he charged straight at her with astonishing speed and utter resolve!
Seeing this, the surrounding soldiers were about to step forward to intercept him, but Cerydra raised her hand to stop them.
"Trying to invade my spiritual space?" Feeling that intense mental fluctuation, she tilted her head slightly with great interest. "Interesting."
"Let me see just what kind of capabilities you possess."
Seeing that Cerydra actually took the initiative to have her soldiers give up on stopping his attack, Ghost was overjoyed. Following that, he instantly rushed into Cerydra's body and began to invade her spiritual space.
As soon as he entered Cerydra's spiritual space, Ghost stood frozen in place. Because, what he saw was an ocean—a vast, silent, and profoundly deep azure ocean.
There was no sky here, nor was there any land. There was only endless seawater exuding a vast spiritual pressure.
"What's going on? What is this ocean? Where is her spiritual entity?"
Seeing this, Ghost's spiritual entity hovered above the sea of consciousness, searching around in bewilderment and shock.
But just as he fell into a daze, the seawater suddenly began to fluctuate violently.
Boom—
Before Ghost could even figure out what had happened, a loud noise rang out, and the seawater was whipped up into towering waves.
A giant whale, composed entirely of deep blue seawater and massive enough to blot out the entire "sky," leaped out from the sea!
The giant whale opened its mouth. That gaping maw was like a massive hole leading to the abyss, carrying a terrifying pressure capable of devouring everything, as it engulfed Ghost from above.
Witnessing this scene, Ghost's eyes instantly filled with extreme terror.
He wanted to escape this place, but no matter how he flew or how fast he went, he couldn't escape the range of the whale's mouth.
"No—!!!"
Accompanied by the descent of the giant whale, Ghost's despairing roar was instantly swallowed up by the endless azure.
A blue-black figure emerged from the seawater. After taking a glance at the spot where Ghost was devoured, she sank back into the ocean.
From then on, the seawater returned to calmness.
...
"Now, all four little bugs have been cleaned up."
Sensing that Ghost's spirit had completely dissipated in the sea of consciousness, Cerydra slowly opened her icy blue eyes.
Her gaze pierced through the church doors and windows, casting towards a residential building not far outside:
"And you guys, haven't you seen enough?"
But the dead silence outside the church was the only response to her questioning, with only the faint sound of the night wind blowing through the crevices.
"Tsk." Seeing this, a trace of impatience brushed past Cerydra's eyebrows. She didn't even bother to take another look in that direction.
She turned around and set her sights on the two Cleaners, her tone indifferent:
"Go, bring those two hiding rats before me."
"As you command!" The two Cleaners bowed to accept the order, and then their figures instantly vanished into thin air.
But after merely a moment, fluctuations rippled through the air again.
Two masked figures silently emerged, and each of them was carrying a person whose limbs were limp and who had portable recording equipment hanging from their bodies.
These two had clearly suffered cruel treatment. The meridians in their arms and legs had all been precisely severed, leaving them only able to let out suppressed groans of pain.
The Cleaners tossed them onto the cold floor by Cerydra's feet like throwing away trash, kneeling on one knee to report:
"Lady Imperator, the lurking voyeurs have been captured, two in total."
Cerydra's gaze paused briefly on the equipment hanging on the captives before shifting away.
With a hint of weariness in her tone, she instructed the two Cleaners:
"Interrogate them thoroughly regarding their motives, backgrounds, and who instructed them."
At this point, Cerydra's voice paused.
"Also, make sure their tongues move faster than their screams, so they won't disturb the neighbors."
"As you command." Upon receiving the order, the two Cleaners didn't make any superfluous movements. They each grabbed a captive, dragged them away silently, and headed towards a hidden corner of the church.
After dealing with the voyeurs, Cerydra turned to the soldiers standing respectfully to the side and said:
"You three, gather up those few pieces of trash on the floor."
Saying that, she pointed to where Shadow, Formless, and Poisonweed had died.
"As you command."
The three soldiers immediately carried out the order, moving swiftly to drag the three still-warm corpses together into a pile.
Seeing this, Cerydra indifferently extended her right hand.
Subsequently, a cluster of eerie blue flames ignited silently above her palm. Then, with a gentle flick of her wrist, that cluster of flames drifted down precisely onto the three corpses.
Hiss—!
The instant it touched the corpses, the flames instantly flared up, emitting a bizarre low hum.
There was no burnt smell typically produced by ordinary fire burning things. The eerie blue light greedily enveloped the corpses, causing flesh, blood, and bones to rapidly carbonize, decompose, and volatilize under unimaginably high temperatures. In just a few breaths, only a patch of scorched marks and a few wisps of curling green smoke remained on the spot.
Thus, the final traces of the three assassins' existence were completely erased.
After clearing away the filth, with a slight shift in Cerydra's thoughts, the "Pawn" piece placed on the exquisite chessboard transformed into specks of faint light and vanished without a trace.
As the chess piece disappeared, the eight spear-wielding soldiers standing around her also vanished silently into the air.
Instantly, this place became much emptier again, leaving only the mess after the battle and the lingering smell of blood.
Having finished all this, Cerydra turned around and opened the door leading from the room to the corridor.
Outside the door, two cultists were already waiting in trepidation. Their heads were lowered, not daring to look directly at Cerydra.
"Lady Imperator." The two's voices were taut, carrying deep reverence.
"You guys did well." Cerydra's gaze swept over their pale and terrified faces, her voice flat. "At least you know how to assess the situation and didn't foolishly charge in to seek death as soon as you heard the commotion just now."
The throats of the two cultists bobbed, swallowing hard with difficulty as they bowed even lower.
"Prepare another quiet room for me." Seeing this, Cerydra stopped looking at them. "Keep this room for now, my subordinates need to use it to handle some matters."
"Yes, Lady Imperator! Please follow us."
Hearing these words, the cultists felt as if they had received a grand pardon. They hurriedly stepped aside to lead the way, their movements incomparably respectful.
Soon, Cerydra was led into another similarly luxuriously furnished room.
She waved her hand. Seeing this, the two cultists immediately excused themselves quietly and carefully closed the door.
When she was the only one left in the room, the majesty and coldness lingering around her vanished completely.
Cerydra walked towards the soft, large bed and rubbed her eyes sleepily. Following that, she lay down on the bed and continued to catch up on the sleep that had been interrupted halfway.