"Come out quickly and apologize to big sister. If you apologize sincerely, I might consider forgiving you for intruding into my home and peeking at me in secret." Azrael, Luo Bingqing, and Elyara crouched behind the rubble of a collapsed sand pillar, their faces tense and grim. "What should we do?" Elyara asked in a low, strained voice, her grip tightening around her bow. Luo Bingqing’s expression was equally grave, and his posture made it clear that he was ready to attack at any moment. Through a narrow gap in the broken stones, Azrael glanced at Vanessa and saw that she was smiling playfully in their direction. His mind worked rapidly as he tried to process everything that had just unfolded. First of all, he was certain that Xu Ting and the level 32 Epic warrior of the Transcendent Organization had exploded into toxic blood mist because of Vanessa. The ability resembled the creation of a living time bomb, once she cast her skill on a target, that person would detonate into blood mist the moment they died. Or, without even dying, the target could willingly trigger the effect and self-destruct. Xu Ting was the perfect example, when she realized the situation was hopeless, she detonated of her own volition. But what baffled Azrael was the situation with Tyler and Morrison. He had been carefully observing Vanessa from the moment she appeared, yet, even with his Infinite Comprehension trait, he couldn’t detect the slightest clue as to how she managed to harm them. His eyes shifted briefly toward Tyler, who was rolling on the ground with black veins crawling across his body, and then to Morrison, who had just coughed out a mouthful of blood. Azrael forced his Infinite Comprehension to its absolute limit, recalling every detail he had witnessed only moments ago. He even activated True Focus, accelerating his thought process further. Although he couldn’t be certain about Tyler, but considering the formidable aura Morrison carried, Azrael was sure that even if Vanessa was strong, Morrison should have reacted when she attacked him. But not only had Morrison failed to respond, but even after Vanessa injured him, forcing him to cough up blood, he still hadn’t retaliated and simply stood there, staring at her in shock as if he was terrified of her. This led Azrael to a chilling conclusion. ’It isn’t that Morrison doesn’t want to respond to her attack, it’s that, for some reason, he can’t.’ The realization made Azrael draw in a sharp, cold breath and his eyes narrowed. ’Is it somehow connected to that blood mist from earlier?’ He wondered as his thoughts spun rapidly until the answer about the blood mist clicked. He almost cursed aloud. Of all the powers he found most troublesome at his current stage, two stood above the rest, Curses and Poison. Although he possessed a class-level artifact, the Purification Ring, it could be used only once per day to dispel curses or poisons. ’What kind of poison is this?’ He thought grimly. ’Not only did it kill almost all the class-level warriors in an instant, but it also gave Vanessa the ability to control Epic-level warriors like Tyler and Morrison with such ease.’ Earlier, when he first saw Vanessa, Azrael had wondered why she hadn’t stepped in to save Xu Ting and the other members of the Transcendent Organization. Although he wasn’t sure when exactly she became aware of the security force’s ambush, he was certain that if she had wanted to, she could have prevented Xu Ting and the others from dying. But now, he finally realized. Vanessa hadn’t acted because she wanted the security forces to kill Xu Ting and the level 32 warrior and become trapped in the deadly, poisonous blood mist, making it effortless for her to deal with them. As Azrael pieced the puzzle together, he suddenly sensed something unusual and his expression hardened. "Stop inhaling..." He said urgently and immediately summoned powerful gusts of wind, sending the air rushing away from them. "Oh! You are quite sharp," Vanessa’s surprised voice floated toward them, her tone light and teasing. Azrael looked in her direction and his eyes flashed with coldness. Just now, he had sensed something unnatural mixed into the air flowing toward them. Before this moment, he hadn’t been entirely certain that Vanessa wielded the power of poison. The source of thɪs content is 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝙣𝙚𝙩 But after detecting that strange substance, and blowing it away with his wind, he was now certain. The invisible particles he had just dispersed were laced with some kind of poison she had sent to target them. "There is no point in hiding..." Azrael muttered under his breath, then stood up. Realizing they had been discovered, Luo Bingqing and Elyara also rose from their hiding place and followed him out from behind the collapsed sand pillar. As they moved, Azrael whispered a few barely audible words and the wind carried them directly to Luo Bingqing’s and Elyara’s ears, warning them of Vanessa’s poisonous abilities. Both of them stiffened when they heard his warning, immediately understanding why Azrael had used his wind powers so suddenly. Not far away, Morrison looked toward Azrael and the others with a flicker of hope in his eyes. Under normal circumstances, he would have already been thinking about how to capture them. But now, unable to channel his cosmic energy, he felt an unexpected sense of relief at their appearance, silently hoping they could deal with Vanessa. Azrael and his companions noticed Morrison’s gaze, but they ignored him entirely as their focus was locked on Vanessa, who smiled at them like a cat toying with her prey. "Aren’t you three naughty children?" She said sweetly. "Not only did you intrude into my home without permission, but you were also peeking at me while hiding." The cosmic energy within Luo Bingqing and Elyara surged rapidly and both were ready to attack at a moment’s notice. Azrael, too, stood prepared, though his mind continued working furiously, calculating the best way to handle their current predicament. After considering numerous possibilities, he finally arrived at a decision. ’Seems is the best option...’ He thought, before raising his head and speaking in a calm tone.