Leon's carriage drove past District 44 under the moonlight, as a dozen soldiers wearing armor with the House Valentine crest circled around.

It was almost midnight.

Leon glanced out of the window and saw how unusually quiet everything was. The lanterns outside each home had run out of oil, making the atmosphere dangerously sharp.

It would still take Leon around seventy more minutes before reaching Eclipse Institute. It was enough time to proceed with an assassination attempt.

There were around seven routes to reach Eclipse from the cathedral, and according to High Priest Luthan, all seven routes had assassins planted by those noble houses he mentioned.

So there was no way of escaping it, unless Leon decided not to leave the Valentine House tonight.

Leon didn't know if Duke Orion was aware of this, but he was sure that Veronica knew about it. And that was not all, just after the ceremony, Leon received a letter from an unknown sender, warning him about the same thing, that he was a target of a group of assassins tonight.

The name on that letter was not mentioned, but Leon knew the sender was someone from the Twilight Order.

Being the most active and influential underground organization, there wasn't a chance that this piece of information had slipped past their ears.

'Knowing Eula, she must have deployed a few of her shadows to look after me…' Leon thought, sighing inwardly.

Although, it was useless as long as Myra was with him. He didn't need any other protection.

'I wonder who Eula sent for my protection?' he thought.

If it was her, then she must have chosen her most capable shadows. But it was also possible for her to send one of the Eight Heads after him.

'It could be Tsubaki…'

Codename Tsubaki was the combat division head.

She was the perfect candidate to overpower a bunch of assassins in a short time. Although Leon knew for sure that the Twilight Order wouldn't intervene unless absolutely necessary.

If word were to leak that the Twilight Order protected Leon, then it would unnecessarily draw attention to him from the authorities.

Leon turned his head away from the window and looked at Myra sitting in front of him, with her crimson eyes wide open she was staring at something distant.

A faint glow of red sparks was visible in her eyes.

She was using one of her Sanguine traits, as Leon didn't sense her mana getting drained.

She blinked her eyes after a few minutes, then informed Leon.

"I identified fifty-six crimson cores, twenty-eight bright red cores, and three orange cores."

Those were the assassins' mana cores sorted with respect to their core level.

For a Sanguine, it was one of their traits to sense the level of someone's mana core within a radius of two hundred meters.

And the insane thing was… they didn't spend a single drop of mana doing it.

If it were Leon, he would have to use his [Mana Sense] to come up with the exact same intel Myra just gave him.

"Eighty-seven assassins?" Leon muttered. "Just to kill me? What is this, a premium execution package?"

Leon was a one-star bright red core, surely this much resource just to end him tonight was an overkill.

"Someone sure hates me, huh." Leon sneered, even in this situation.

Myra responded softly.

"After what you did, this much is just basic." She narrowed her eyes a little.

Leon snorted lightly. "At least they are being generous."

Myra tilted her head. "Generous in killing you?"

"That too."

She sighed, a small hint of amusement breaking through her usual expression.

Leon's tone shifted as he looked at her with his golden eyes.

"How much time do you need to eliminate them?"

Myra answered without hesitation. "It will not take more than thirty minutes."

Leon waved his hand. "That is too much. I do not want to take that much time."

He was excited to go back to his dorm room soon. After all, his hands were itching to use the Elven Core on his spirit ring.

'The First Princess's spirit bond. Just wait a couple more hours.'

He wanted to do it alone where no one could see it happen.

Leon wanted to end this as soon as possible.

He was unconsciously making a terrible grinning face, which Myra caught.

"What are you planning, young master?"

"Myra," Leon said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Tell the carriage driver to halt right at the epicenter of all those eighty-seven assassins."

"Huh? What did you say?"

Leon repeated calmly. "Trust me on this. I will make it way easier for you guys."

"What? Young master, sorry, but I am not following."

It was going above her head from whatever he was saying.

"Just do as I say Myra." Leon repeated.

Myra knew that he had already thought of something, and she knew that it would most probably be something out of ordinary and most effective. But still, she hesitated before replying.

"A-alright."

With that, Myra told the carriage driver to stop right at the cross-section where most of the assassins were present.

She still didn't know what he was planning. She thought he might be planning to lure them all at once, or let Myra kill most of them, or even instruct the knights.

The carriage rolled a bit more and stopped right at the cross-section.

The knights exchanged glances, unsure why they received this instruction.

Leon looked outside the window. This place was dead silent. Not even a wild animal roamed around them.

"Young master…?" Myra blinked in a stunned gaze when she saw Leon opening the door.

"Huh?! What are you doing…?!"

Just as she asked, she saw Leon holding the door frame with both hands and twisting his body to jump on top of the carriage roof.

THUD!!

A loud thud echoed above Myra's head. She felt Leon landing on the carriage roof.

"Young master Leon, it is not safe!"

The knights saw him, and as soon as he landed, they surrounded him in a close formation. Some even tried to climb the carriage roof to cover Leon, but he stopped them.

"No one shall move."

His voice was calm. As calm as the dead silence this cross-section held.

The knights' mouths hung open. All of them stared at the figure standing on the roof of the carriage, frozen as if their minds refused to process what their eyes were showing.

"What…?"

"But… that is…"

A few knights stuttered, unable to comprehend what they saw. Their grips on their weapons loosened. And their expressions turned pale.

Myra, from the window, caught their reactions and found it insanely strange.

The moment Leon was supposed to step out into the open, countless assassins should have launched their attacks.

But nothing happened.

Myra's crimson eyes shifted sharply toward the darkness. She saw no movement from all those eighty-seven assassins. It was as if every one of them had just seen a ghost.

Even the knights outside lowered their weapons, still staring at the carriage roof as if the world itself had shifted in a matter of second.

"What is she doing here?" one of the knights muttered under his breath.

Myra heard it.

'Wait, what?'

She did not understand a single thing. Confusion crawled up her spine as she quickly stepped out of the carriage. Her boots touched the cold road, and the moonlight carved her shadow long and sharp.

She looked up at the carriage roof.

Her eyes widened instantly.

"Huh…?"

Her breath caught in absolute shock.

The one standing there was supposed to be Leon.

But it was not Leon.

It was Veronica.

Her one and only master.

"My Lady…?" Myra gasped.

Her voice trembled. She recognized that long flowing hair, that cold poise, those crimson eyes that held a silent authority sharper than any blade. That posture that could make even all the kings bow.

But then she noticed something else.

Veronica was wearing the clothes Leon had been wearing seconds ago inside the carriage.

'What… am I looking at…?'

She swallowed hard.

Leon, the moment he jumped, had used [Mirage Persona], the unique skill he had stolen from Luthan today. He used it to perfectly recreate Veronica's features and posture. The skill allowed him to shift his facial structure and even alter parts of his metabolism. With that, it was possible for him to refine his appearance into a complete replica of a woman.

It consumed a huge amount of mana, but the result was perfect.

Myra stared at the roof with disbelief. Veronica stood there. Her long hair swayed in the cold wind.

The assassins who saw her were frozen too. They felt fear crawled in their spine Because no one wanted to strike at Veronica Valentine, the Head of a Calamity Tower.

Leon raised his chin slightly. A regal, cold confidence wrapped around him like armor. His features glowed faintly under the moon.

He looked up into the night sky and spoke, his voice perfectly matching Veronica's tone, depth, and pitch, Leon mimicked everything perfectly.

"Move. All of you..."

He used his blessing, [Heir of the Crimson Moon].

Leon's tone carried no warmth.

It was a voice that made even trained knights straighten in fear.

A voice that could order the execution of an entire battalion without blinking.

Leon, disguised as Veronica, tilted his head slightly and added, sharp and cold.

"...and make it quick. I am not in the mood to repeat myself."

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