System vs Rebirth

"Aaaggghhh!" Old Jade's scream echoed under the basement of the Dark Lord's mansion.

His body was restrained by chains, but his eyes had turned black as the demon had corroded his mind.

Unlike the humans inside the tower, his human body was still intact.

"You don't have to reject that power, my friend." The Dark Lord smirked, looking at the pathetic state of Old Jade.

"You bastard. What are you planning to do?" Old Jade gritted his teeth. He was trying his best to resist the control, but to no avail. If this continued, he would really lose his mind."

"Plan? I don't have any plans. I just think it's a shame to let you die. It's better if you live even if it's not you anymore." The Dark Lord thought of something. "Now that I think about it, I think it'll be even better if you end up killing those people from the Ardagan family, right? It'll be hilarious to see them dying in your hands."

"You…" Old Jade wanted to crush him, but stopping the mind control was the only thing he could do. The moment he released his Ena, the corrosion rate might increase. He had to persist as long as possible.

At the same time, Old Jade could see what was actually going on. "It is such a shame that a human, who once conquered the whole world, needs to be at the mercy of mere demons.

"Lowly demons like you must be thinking that you have grasped everything, but you're wrong.

"The poison? It'll be gone sooner or later. You might be able to use it right now, but it won't be effective in the future. I know it." Old Jade smirked. He worded it in a way that his death would be the trigger for the extinction of Fagant Leaf. And that would be their plan crumbling.

"You don't know a single thing, my friend. You should have continued your retirement and not come here, or all this wouldn't have happened." The Dark Lord snorted.

"The Tower Association won't crumble even if you have a grand elder. What you're doing is simply hastening the collapse of the tower itself. When no one is able to trust you anymore, that's when the Tower Association will fall. And what's next? You are all going to be abandoned."

The Dark Lord smirked. "That's where you're wrong. Do you think our target is only the association?"

"!!!" The Old Jade came to a realization. They managed to use the Fagant Leaf to immobilize him and shoved the demon into his mouth. If this were true, they might also target the Demon Banner Army.

In other words, the demons would attack the Ardagan family from the border while the Tower Association, the Demon Banner Army, and the royal family would be attacking from behind.

If they were surrounded in such a way, he didn't think the Ardagan family could defeat all of them at once.

"You bastard!" Old Jade roared. His spiritual energy erupted like his anger, causing a powerful shock wave that shook the entire mansion.

"It's impossible for you to do anything. No one will help you, no one can help you. In the end, your fate has been sealed."

Old Jade smirked. "Not necessarily."

His consciousness had started fading due to that release.

"There is nothing you can do. No one will come for you. Even your jades have been taken by me."

Old Jade's smile became bigger. "Do you think so? Do you know why I'm so obsessed with jades?"

The Dark Lord frowned, still thinking that Old Jade was just saying nonsense.

"In the past, I was a brat who did a lot of bad things. I was simply curious, but in the end, my curiosity lost me the fingers of my feet. That incident was so dumb that I was too embarrassed to tell anyone about it, but this time, I'm glad that I haven't told anyone about it."

"!!!" The Dark Lord widened his eyes and hurriedly lowered his vision.

Because of that eruption of spiritual energy, the Dark Lord could actually see the faint spiritual energy that was building up until now.

"You—" The Dark Lord waved his hand, trying to cut Old Jade's feet.

Unfortunately for him, it was too late. The spiritual energy went berserk, amplifying the energy more than a hundred times.

"What items do you think I use to replace the seven toes?" Old Jade smirked. "Yep, jades!"

In that instant, the jades caused a massive explosion, blowing up the basement as well as the mansion on top of it.

…

Anna and Melissa used their fastest speed to reach the Dark Lord's mansion. As Anna said, they only had several hours.

She was sure that Gaston would be coming back to the surface. Even if he hadn't gone back, the guards would realize what happened.

Hence, they had to solve this problem before Gaston was done and said something to the Dark Lord.

More importantly, he was worried that something had happened to Old Jade.

Unlike the tower, the mansion was less spacious, so it wouldn't be hard for them to sneak in. The guards were patrolling outside the mansion, which made Anna feel a bit suspicious.

"My instinct is telling me there's not a single person in that mansion. Instead…" Anna lowered her vision.

"Underground?"

"Yeah." Anna thought for a moment. "I'll need you to secure the perimeter. If the Dark Lord somehow escapes from me, we'll stop him."

"Do you want to kill him?"

"Yes. We probably need to kill him. If not, he will realize what happens."

"But won't they realize we're involved in this even if he dies?"

"At least better than letting him give the information.

Melissa nodded in understanding before disappearing. "Alright."

Anna unsheathed her sword and started erasing her presence, ready to sneak into the mansion. She climbed the wall from an unexpected spot, but before she could actually approach the mansion, it exploded.

Boom!

The entire mansion exploded.