Read Novel Full Chapter 869: Death
Chapter 869: Death
The realization made Michael’s gaze turn colder.
Perhaps the chill in Michael’s expression was too obvious, because the attendant’s fear deepened immediately.
"You... you shouldn’t try anything reckless," the attendant said hurriedly, his voice strained. "You know the law. Awakeners in Aurora are forbidden from harming themselves without just reason."
Michael stared at him for a second.
Then he scoffed.
"You really want to bring that up now?"
The attendant swallowed.
Michael’s grip tightened slightly around his throat, not enough to crush, but enough to remind him how little control he currently had.
"The law doesn’t speak against self defense," Michael said coldly. "And what exactly do you think this is?"
The attendant’s face stiffened.
Michael leaned closer, his voice dropping lower.
"You just admitted the empire plans to kill everyone here. That includes me." His eyes narrowed. "You are directly involved in that plan. So if I act against you, that is self defense."
The words landed heavily.
The attendant opened his mouth, but nothing came out at first.
Michael did not stop.
"You think I’m supposed to stand still and let your side summon someone to butcher me, then worry about whether I’m being too harsh to one of the people helping make it happen?"
His tone remained calm, but the pressure in it made the attendant’s face pale further.
"That’s not how this works."
The attendant’s breathing turned rough again. He wanted to argue, but even he knew the logic was hard to refute. He had already said too much. Under Jester’s influence, the truth had been dragged out, and now it hung between them like a blade.
Michael could see the struggle in his eyes.
Fear.
Calculation.
Regret.
Maybe even the desperate hope that he could still somehow talk his way out.
But Michael had already made up his mind on one thing.
The summoning had to be stopped.
And before that, this attendant had to be dealt with one way or another.
Michael’s expression settled into something colder than before.
"So," he said quietly, "don’t lecture me about law when your side came here planning murder."
The attendant saw the change in Michael’s eyes.
Real fear appeared on his face.
"Wait!"
His voice cracked as he tried to pull back, but Michael’s grip on his throat did not loosen.
"You don’t need to do this," the attendant said quickly, panic rising in his tone. "Listen to me. I won’t say anything. I swear. I won’t reveal that you’re an awakener if that’s what you’re worried about. No one needs to know. I can also tell the prince to spare you if that’s what you’re worried about."
Michael remained silent.
The attendant’s breathing became ragged.
His words spilled out faster now.
"I can also pretend we never met if that’s what you want. I’ll leave this place and never mention your name again."
Michael looked at him calmly.
There was no anger in his expression.
No visible hatred either.
Just a quiet certainty.
The attendant saw it, and his voice grew desperate.
"Please!"
The word had barely left his mouth when Michael moved.
It was quick.
Clean.
Michael’s hand tightened.
A sharp crack echoed in the ruined clearing.
The attendant’s body stiffened.
For a moment his eyes widened in shock.
Then the strength drained from them.
His body went limp.
Michael released him.
The man collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
Silence returned.
Michael looked down at the corpse for a few seconds.
This was not the first person he had killed. The brutal realities of the supernatural world had already pushed him across that line long ago.
But this was different.
This was the first time he had killed someone from Aurora.
Not only that.
The man had been an awakener just like him.
For a brief moment, a faint weight settled in Michael’s chest.
Then it faded.
The emotion was there, but it was small.
Because Michael knew something important.
An awakener dying in the Land of Origin was not true death.
The real body remained safe in Aurora.
The consequences were harsh, but not fatal.
Ten percent of all stats would be deducted permanently.
And the awakener would be barred from entering the Land of Origin for a long period of time.
Even when they were allowed to return, they would reappear in a completely different location, as if they had just entered the realm for the first time.
Everything built here would be lost.
Progress.
Position.
Connections.
All of it would reset.
It was a heavy punishment.
But it was not death.
Michael looked at the body one last time before turning his gaze toward the distant summoning circle.
"This was the cleanest solution," he murmured quietly.
Then his expression hardened.
Because the real problem was still ahead.
Prince Rui’s ritual was still active.
A distance away, Prince Rui stood before the massive summoning circle.
The formation glowed with an intense crimson light as dozens of complex runic lines pulsed like living veins across the ground. The surrounding attendants knelt around the formation, their hands pressed to the earth as they poured mana into the ritual.
The air itself trembled.
Rui’s eyes shone with excitement as the energy began to concentrate at the center of the circle.
"It’s working," he murmured.
Above the formation, space began to distort.
At first it was only a ripple. Then the distortion thickened, twisting inward as if something invisible was trying to tear the fabric of the world apart.
A thin line appeared.
It widened slowly.
Behind it, darkness deeper than night flickered.
A portal was forming.
Rui’s lips curved into a faint smile.
The hardest part of the ritual was already complete. Once the bridge stabilized, the imperial envoy would cross through, and the rest of the plan would unfold exactly as intended.
The empire would maintain control over the region without resistance for generations.
Rui felt a surge of satisfaction.
But before the portal could fully open, something changed.
A faint whistle cut through the air.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Rui’s eyes narrowed as he looked up.
The sky had turned dark.