Chapter 254: Let Me Show You My Heart Veronica glanced at Aiden in surprise. The suspicious woman in black had clearly been neutralized by Aiden, yet her superior still maintained a posture as if facing a formidable enemy. "The enemy is hiding here! Back to the prison! Quickly!" Aiden repeated the command. "But Warden, you—" Veronica realized Aiden's order to retreat didn't include himself. It sounded like... he intended to stay behind and "cover the rear." "I'm going to trade a few blows with him. See if I can smash this guy's dog head right here," Aiden replied, his expression hard. "Then I'll—" She instinctively started to voice her desire to stay and help, but Aiden stopped her with a gesture. "This opponent is a bad match-up for you. Having you here will just distract me," Aiden urged. "Leave this place, that's an order! Trusting superiors is a subordinate's virtue." A pitch-black spatial rift appeared out of thin air directly above the fallen woman in black, bringing an icy wind. The surrounding temperature seemed to plummet instantly. Veronica gasped. Having little knowledge of black magic, she had naturally never witnessed such a bizarre phenomenon. With just one glance, she realized her superior wasn't exaggerating; this level of opponent was beyond her capabilities. The black rift expanded like a beast opening its blood-filled maw. The gate to the underworld created by the God of Death's Agent yawned open. Aiden pulled back to a suitable distance, aiming his gun at the gate to the underworld. A figure wreathed in grey mist emerged from the rift. Aiden fired without hesitation—he had already decided that whatever emerged from this underworld, he would shoot it first. The shot passed through the figure—before Aiden pulled the trigger, the Agent had turned the targeted part of his body into mist. Physically harming a blood-kin of Duke level or higher was exceedingly difficult. Then, the next second, Aiden felt his vision blur, rapidly turning into a vast expanse of white. Fog... had suddenly rolled in around him. Aiden's heart jumped; he instantly realized what was happening, as he could use this black magic himself. Enveloping the surrounding area in fog to obscure the enemy's vision, while the caster and allies retained some degree of sight. This "Fog" black magic was also popular among blood-kin. This minor trick could temporarily shield them from sunlight damage when necessary, and vampires didn't rely solely on sight. As undead who fed on the living, they could sense the life force of living beings. High-ranking blood-kin, after transforming into bats, could even locate targets by hearing, just like real bats! Therefore, Aiden hadn't chosen to use this tactic against the Agent; doing so would only backfire. A blurry black shadow stirred the thick fog. Almost immediately, he heard the flapping wings of a large swarm of bats—the God of Death's Agent had split his body into a massive swarm within the dense fog. Each of these bats, being part of the Agent's body, theoretically counted as direct contact with the Agent upon touch, capable of easily killing someone. In this fog where surroundings were invisible, facing a vast number of bats, Aiden had nowhere to hide. Combining the "Reaping" power granted by the God of Death with the special abilities of a high-ranking blood-kin could turn into such a terrifying killing move. Aiden didn't hesitate for a second, immediately beginning to recite the "Return" utterance. The "Death" authority was far too dangerous; even a moment's hesitation could lead to defeat. Real combat wasn't turn-based, offering no chance to charge up ultimate moves. Facing such an enemy, he had few options; if necessary, he wouldn't mind revealing his trump card immediately. Time seemed to freeze for an instant, then rapidly reversed. The dense fog dispersed at a visible rate, as if a gale effective only against this mist had blown through. The gate to the underworld had closed. In that moment, Aiden saw the bats surrounding him, arranged in several formations, preparing to attack him from all directions. Under the influence of the divine utterance's power, these bats began to fly backward, as if time itself was rewinding. The bat formations visibly shrank, converging back to their point of origin, where they flowed into a dark red cloak, coalescing into a pale-skinned man. The instant he saw the attire, Aiden felt a strange, inexplicable pang in his chest. The memory of the previous Aiden being shot through the chest surfaced. Aiden recognized the dark red robe. In its center was emblazoned a totem of a bleeding crescent moon with an eye depicted within it. This was exactly the same attire worn by the Blood Moon Cult controlled solely by Mr. Bloodcloth five years ago—in fact, Mr. Bloodcloth had been wearing this very robe when he killed the previous Aiden. The Blood Moon Cult that worshipped Mephilia and the Blood Moon Cult that worshipped the God of Death weren't just similar in name. It seemed his deduction yesterday, based on the Countess's testimony—that Mr. Bloodcloth had usurped and split off a part of the original Blood Moon Cult for his own use—was likely correct. The God of Death's Agent, forcibly reverted to his original form by the power of the divine utterance, showed a surprised expression towards Aiden. When monitoring the scene yesterday, he had been spotted by Veronica and quickly left the tower; he hadn't witnessed Aiden using the utterance to save the Countess. Before the opponent could react, Aiden fired a shot at the location of his heart. Blood-kin of Duke level or higher possessed the transformative ability to turn their bodies into fine mist; even decapitation could be recovered from, and lost limbs could regrow with sufficient blood replenishment. For them, the only truly vital part, or rather the core of their being, was the heart. An anti-magic bullet specialized for harming the undead, hitting the heart before mist transformation could occur—this shot would be fatal even to a Prince-level blood-kin, though likely still insufficient to kill the Agent possessing the "Undying" power. Read complete version only at novel·fiɾe·net Aiden knew this well. His true purpose in shooting through the heart was to use the anti-magic bullet to seal the opponent's transformation ability. The effects of the "Return" utterance had range limitations and only lasted for a relatively short time. Once the duration passed, the opponent could use black magic and blood-kin abilities again. However, the anti-magic bullet would remain effective as long as it stayed within the opponent's body. His second shot hit the opponent's knee—this was to prevent him from running out of the utterance's effective range. The Agent screamed loudly. Even if he couldn't die, he still felt pain, and the agony from the bullet specifically designed to harm undead was very real. But then, he did something that left Aiden utterly stunned—he violently plunged his hand into his own chest, tore open his ribcage with terrifying strength, and ripped out his own heart.