Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 558: Test

Asher remained outside of the building, although he was done surveying every single part of the structure, he needed a plan of action, he needed a way to fight, and still save the villagers within the building without causing unnecessary casualties or alerting the enemy prematurely.

His thoughts spun sharply, his brain running through various possible plans of action with calculated precision. Normally, he might have acted directly and just wiped out everyone with pure force and overwhelming strength, after all, if he fought these deranged people openly, the least of their worries would be the villagers, as survival would immediately become their foremost and only concern.

But the presence of a Wavestar Life Ranker made that impossible, he had to be cautious and smart about this, as even the slightest mistake could result in the loss of extra points... ahem, sorry, innocent lives and compromise his entire mission beyond recovery.

He landed on the roof of the building with a silent and controlled step as he stared at the guards who were scattered around the building, positioned strategically to observe any unusual movements, Asher was sure that if he had been using Astra energy up until this point, he would have been caught by the Wavestar Life Ranker already, after all, their senses were nothing to scoff at and were known to surpass conventional perception.

After a moment of careful thought, Asher formed a plan, the first step was simple; take out the guards who were protecting the building from the outside, eliminating them discreetly. So that when things went south inside, backup wouldn’t come from outside and interfere with his objective or create further complications.

With that thought firmly established, he vanished from where he stood, he appeared behind a guard with flawless precision, placing a hand on the guard’s shoulder, they both vanished as though they had never existed there at all.

The guard whom Asher had teleported was stunned as his environment had shifted instantly from that of dense trees and quiet greenery to that of vast white clouds and the endless blue sky stretching infinitely in every direction.

Asher had teleported himself and the guard to the sky, this was the most private and isolated place he could use at the moment without fear of interruption or observation. Although they were guards, they all wore the same robe and mask, and tattoos could be seen drawn on their faces, showing their absolute loyalty and devotion to whatever organization they belonged to.

The man’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief as his dark eyes fell on Asher, but before he could even speak or react properly, Asher’s hand clamped down firmly on his throat, cutting off all sounds and suffocating any attempt to call for help. The man could only stare helplessly, his mind racing in confusion, wondering how Asher had bypassed their security and reached him without triggering any alarms.

Before the man could do anything else, Asher took out a dagger from his system inventory and stabbed the man directly in the heart with his other hand in one clean and decisive motion. The man’s eyes widened behind his mask as life slowly started fading from his eyes, his body growing weaker with every passing moment.

Asher froze the corpse midair through precise spatial manipulation as he remained floating calmly, as though waiting for something to happen, and indeed he was. Asher was carrying out a test, or rather two tests to be exact, both equally important to his overall strategy.

The first test was their ability to stay alive after sustaining fatal injuries. The experiment that went on inside the building showed that the kidnapped victims couldn’t die, even when their organs were harvested, and could only truly die when their brains ceased functioning completely. Asher was only checking if the same rule applied to members of the organization as well.

He had stabbed the man in the heart, if the same applied to them, then the man should very much still be alive despite the fatal wound, but the man didn’t react at all and remained completely motionless, as though he had truly died without resistance.

’He could be faking it though,’ Asher thought to himself cautiously, the man could simply be playing dead and would act the moment Asher dropped his guard or showed any form of carelessness.

Without hesitation, Asher pulled out the dagger from the man’s heart, then slashed across his eyes with swift and merciless precision, blood splattered outward violently, but before it could rain down from the sky, it froze midair, as Asher froze it as well using his spatial control.

’It seems like he is dead,’ Asher thought to himself calmly, even if the man could play dead, he wasn’t immune to pain to begin with, and that was why Asher had cut his two eyes, to elicit any form of reaction whatsoever, but there had been none.

As for the second test, it was simple in concept, yet equally crucial in execution, he wanted to know if the death of a member would elicit any form of reaction from anybody inside the building or trigger any form of hidden detection system.

It wasn’t news that hidden organizations always had a way to know if their members were alive or dead, whether through life signatures, linked artifacts, or some unknown supernatural means. Just like how Valentine had known Blue had died the moment Asher killed him without delay or uncertainty. Asher simply wanted to confirm that reality here, it was far better to confirm it when he was outside the building, than to do so when he was already within and potentially surrounded by enemies.

But after a few seconds passed, nothing happened at all, there was no alarm, no sudden surge of energy, no reaction whatsoever. Asher simply nodded his head slightly as everything was working perfectly for the moment and proceeding according to his expectations.

Without hesitation, he took the man’s space ring, sending his Astra energy into it to inspect its contents thoroughly, Asher only found coins, clothes, weapons, and some other miscellaneous items that were completely useless to him and held no meaningful value beyond currency.

He took the man’s robe and the mask as they might come in handy later, if he ended up not using them, there was also nothing wrong with keeping them as a precautionary measure. Although he could easily use his photon illusion to recreate the mask and robe perfectly, Asher needed to be careful and cautious, as authenticity could mean the difference between success and exposure.

’Where should I dispose of the body?’ Asher thought to himself seriously as he couldn’t exactly just throw the corpse in a random direction and risk it being discovered, the next moment, an idea surfaced clearly in his mind; the space ring or his system inventory could serve as the perfect concealment.

He put the man’s space ring on his finger, then transferred the man’s platinum coins into his system inventory, just because he was rich didn’t mean he would reject free money... he wasn’t that rich yet, and resources were always valuable regardless of status.

With that done, he transferred the man’s corpse into the space ring, ensuring it was completely hidden, then also transferred the suspended blood into the space ring to eliminate any possible trace of the encounter.

Asher’s gaze shifted downward toward the building below, although the number of the guards was slightly excessive, it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle with careful execution. So, first, wipe out every guard that was outside without raising suspicion, then begin with the inside systematically. With that thought firmly established in his mind, he vanished from the sky once more, his figure disappearing without a trace.