Chapter 88: Strike First, Report Later, Imperial Permission
Lori looked at the revolver in front of him, his face ashen.
He didn’t know where the gamble had gone wrong. His previously foolproof transactions with spiritual demons had failed, but the ironclad fact was laid out before him.
The first five shots were blanks, and now he faced the last one.
The entire Sleepless City was silent, and everyone watched as Lori’s expression flickered between uncertainty and grimness.
Finally, his expression stabilized, and a grotesque curve twisted his withered lips. “I think there was some mistake in this gamble. This is my dereliction of duty as the dealer.”
As soon as Lori spoke, everyone understood his intention.
Undoubtedly, he was going to play dirty, or rather, flip the table.
Everyone knew this was a shameless act, but it had to be admitted, it was indeed effective.
The “Spectators” merely witnessed the gamble itself. They would not interfere with how the stakes were settled after the bet was completed, and this had always been their stance.
And as the dealer, as the owner of this casino, if Viscount Lori was determined to renege, there was truly no one who could force him to do anything.
As the saying goes, the referee, the umpire, the linesman, the organizer, and the co-organizer are all my people. What can you do against me?
Such an action would undoubtedly cause the casino’s reputation and口碑 to plummet, and its business to decline significantly. However, when it came to reputation versus life, everyone knew how to choose.
For a moment, a clamor erupted from the gamblers below, all eyes fixed on Shaya on stage.
Some marveled at Shaya’s insane gamble, while others lamented that such an earth-shattering bet would end in such a dishonorable fashion.
However, on one side of the gambling table, Viscount Lori’s expression suddenly changed.
Because, at this very moment.
He distinctly felt his mental power and soul, for some unknown reason, were being devoured by something.
In an instant, his mental power dimmed, and soon it would completely dissipate into nothingness.
“Are you mad? I promised you the souls of five hundred people, and I will satisfy you.”
“Have you forgotten how we used to trade? The souls of five hundred people mean nothing to me. You should know that!”
His mental power roared vociferously, but the only reply Lori received was a deep, gloomy whisper.
“That was the past.”
“The current you has lost the ability to fulfill the contract.”
“The souls of the oath-breakers are also part of the transaction.”
The emotionless demonic whisper sounded, and the next moment, Lori felt another part of his soul being torn away.
The searing pain of his mind being devoured contorted his already unsightly, aged face further.
Losing the roulette game was not a dead end for Lori. As long as he was willing to disregard his reputation, no one could force him to fulfill any gambling agreement. At worst, the reputation of the Sleepless City would be completely shattered.
But what terrified Lori the most was that his greatest trump card, the spiritual demon, had also turned against him.
The slaves he currently held indeed did not amount to the six hundred souls he had promised the spiritual demon.
However, with his accumulated wealth and his clandestine connections, it would not be a difficult task to gather hundreds of souls as tribute from across the Western Continent at any cost.
Yet, judging from the other party’s words—
It seemed the spiritual demon believed he had already lost the qualification to fulfill the transaction.
*Tear—*
Another portion of Lori’s soul was ripped away. He had reached the Four Rings precisely because of that Spirit World demon and had never tempered his mental strength like ordinary Beast Tamers.
Facing the backlash now, Lori didn’t even have the slightest ability to resist or struggle.
“I understand…”
“I understand…”
Amidst the excruciating pain of his soul being devoured, Viscount Lori’s eyes were fixed on the mysterious person’s eyes, bloodshot and filled with an indescribable crimson hue.
He staggered, raised the revolver, and then aimed it at himself.
This mysterious person’s rank must be lower than his own. It was impossible for him to cheat in front of a Sixth Ring “Spectator.”
And the spiritual demon’s transaction must have been fulfilled. His luck had increased. This was a basic rule that every demon in the Abyss had to abide by when making a transaction.
Under such circumstances, even if the probability was incredibly small, there was only one remaining answer.
In the cylinder, the remaining live round—
Was a dud.
Although the Empire’s munitions factories now had quite sophisticated production lines, there was still a probability of three to seven in a thousand for a dud round to be produced.
That was why the mysterious person had fired four shots without incident.
Because from the very beginning, this bet was a draw—
There would be no winner, and no loser.
Viscount Lori trembled as he raised the silver-white revolver, his lips forming a pained smile towards Shaya.
“I admit… you have indeed won.”
“But I have not lost yet.”
His aged finger fiercely pulled the trigger, his bloodshot eyes fixed directly on Shaya.
“I will remember you.”
“What happened today is not over, from now on, I will…”
*Bang—*
Flames erupted from the muzzle of the gun.
The next moment, fragments of flesh and blood scattered, along with his headless, aged body, collapsing onto the gambling table.
…
A wave of tremendous noise ensued.
A moment ago, the gamblers thought the dealer was going to back out, and they were sighing regretfully for the mysterious guest.
But the next moment, they witnessed the king who had sat on the throne of the Sleepless City for decades have his head blown open before their very eyes, turning into a headless corpse.
Shaya looked at the headless corpse lying limply on the ground, his expression still calm.
Just now, he had sensed a faint consciousness peering at him from the Spirit World.
From that probing consciousness, Shaya detected a familiar corruptive aura, likely connected to the Abyss, perhaps the trump card Lori possessed.
So, on a whim, Shaya equipped the “Blasphemer” title, along with activating the skills “Crimson Filthy Blood” and “Dark Scion.”
The next moment, Shaya felt that the gaze probing him from the Spirit World rapidly withdrew like a startled fawn, filled with indescribable fear and a hint of respect.
Presumably, the corruptive aura that blasphemed against the gods had misled the Abyss creature into mistaking him for a nascent evil god born from the bottom of the Abyss, or perhaps a son of an evil god disguised as a human.
Immediately afterward, Viscount Lori’s expression changed drastically, and he fired the shot that killed himself, saving Shaya some trouble.
“He mastered some ability to temporarily increase his luck through transactions…”
“But, he still lost.”
Beside the gambling table, the spectator in a white robe, resembling a priest, “Ranger” Soros, looked at Shaya and spoke in a voice like a chant.
At his standing distance, he would undoubtedly have been splattered by Viscount Lori’s blood and gore, but Soros’s white robe remained clean.
The moment the flesh and blood were about to touch him, a soft white light silently rose, repelling all impurities.
Soros looked at Shaya, his gaze still calm.
“It’s not an illusion—”
“What you used just now was an ability, similar to his, that can directly interfere with fate.”
“And the extent to which you interfered with fate was far deeper and more direct than Lori’s simple increase in his own luck.”
Shaya got up indifferently and turned away from the gambling table. “Perhaps, who knows.”
In his mind, a line of azure characters slowly appeared.
[Your limited-time super-tier skill trial card: “Izanagi” has expired]
“Izanagi.”
This was the ability Shaya had used with the trial card to allow Silver to adapt in advance.
It could turn unfavorable events that occurred within a certain period into illusions, while only manifesting favorable factors into reality.
Although theoretically it still belonged to the realm of illusions or ocular techniques, in Shaya’s understanding, “Izanagi” actually touched upon the domain of time.
It was a skill that could change fate in the truest sense.
The moment he spun the revolver cylinder just now, Shaya had activated “Izanagi.”
He rewrote the vast majority of timelines where he was shot into nothingness.
And he only preserved the extremely rare possibility of Lori being shot and manifested it into reality.
Of course, such an outrageous, time-based or fate-based skill, which could be described as reloading or using save-scumming, naturally had significant limitations.
According to the original setting, the price for using it was permanent blindness in one eye. In other words, a normal person could only use “Izanagi” twice in a lifetime, as they only had two eyes.
After Shaya’s “demon modification” on Silver, with the improvement of proficiency, the cost of releasing the skill should not be as severe as permanent blindness, but the side effects would certainly not be small.
It was fortunate that it was a temporary trial card that directly removed the side effects; otherwise, Shaya would not have used such a trump card ability to deal with the likes of the small Viscount Lori.
Shaya brushed past Soros without stopping.
He was not surprised that the other party had roughly guessed his ability.
He was a Sixth Ring, after all, and had the title of “Spectator.” If he couldn’t figure out anything, he would be too much of a novice.
But let him look and guess. At most, he could guess a general scope of interfering with fate. As for the specific details, let him guess slowly.
“You are very interesting.”
“In my life as a ‘Spectator,’ you are one of the extremely few exceptions I have ever seen.”
The middle-aged priest’s peaceful voice rang out behind Shaya.
“Perhaps, we will meet again.”
“And, that day may not be too far away.”
“Alright, stop being cryptic. I already have enough riddle-makers around me, I don’t need another one.”
Shaya waved his hand dismissively and descended from the highest level of the Sleepless City, paying no heed to Soros’s words.
He had seen enough of these charlatans lately, spouting mysterious riddles without revealing anything, letting the listener fill in the blanks. When something they said later connected with reality, they could in turn prove how profound the riddle-maker was.
Therefore, Shaya consistently adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards such riddles.
You can be as cryptic as you want, I’ll act as if nothing happened. Shaya would absolutely not engage in meaningless speculation and mental depletion.
…
Shaya’s figure appeared in the casino on the lower level.
And with Shaya’s appearance, the once noisy, even chaotic casino, now fell into complete silence.
Everyone looked at the mysterious person with half a mask in front of them with silent, even reverent, gazes.
In a corner of the casino, the blonde maiden stood up at some point and silently followed behind Shaya.
“Now, do you know why His Highness chose him as the boss?”
Diris’s lips curled into a faint smile as she spoke to Nightingale and Dark Raven beside her, her light and quick footsteps following Shaya’s.
Nightingale nodded and followed with the ghost-like agility of an assassin.
However, before leaving, she glanced at her sister with some surprise.
She saw Dark Raven still sitting in her chair in the corner. After a long while, she hesitantly stood up.
Her slender legs were squeezed together, and her fair fingers kept pulling down the hem of her skirt, as if trying to hide something.
On Dark Raven’s originally plain white face, a faint blush had appeared at some point.
“Sister, what’s wrong?”
Nightingale looked at her sister, whose face was flushed, and her voice involuntarily carried a hint of bewilderment.
But then, her question was interrupted by Dark Raven’s forcedly serious voice.
“It’s nothing.”
“Right, I’m going to the restroom first. Tell the leader I’ll be there shortly.”
…
A group of people walked through the grand casino, and the onlookers tacitly made way.
A moment later, Shaya’s figure stopped at the edge of the casino, in front of a metal wall.
Shaya reached out and tapped on the seemingly seamless metal wall a few times.
The next moment, with the operation of the mechanism, the metal wall, which seemed to be perfectly sealed, silently opened, revealing a hidden door within.
Beyond the hidden door was a downward passage leading directly underground.
“Guest, although you have won the gamble, this area is a workspace and is forbidden to outsiders.”
The urgent voice sounded in Shaya’s ears.
It was a burly man in uniform, exuding a powerful aura.
He was the second-in-command of the Thorns of Sin, from the Borgia Family.
Although nominally Viscount Lori’s deputy, he was actually the Borgia Family’s overseer for Lori, a mere front man. His combat power was far greater than Lori’s, who was purely a gambler.
Therefore, although he was also surprised by Lori’s defeat and suicide, he rushed forward to stop Shaya seeing his actions.
What lay hidden in that secret passage were the most unsavory secrets of this Sleepless City.
If they were exposed without preparation, even the Borgia Family would experience considerable upheaval.
The burly man suddenly appeared beside Shaya, reaching out to block him. Although his words were polite, his actions were ruthless, even carrying a hint of killing intent.
The other party was directly heading for the hidden door, for the secrets beneath the Sleepless City, undoubtedly the enemy of the Borgia Family.
In the Sleepless City, killing someone was not a big deal; he had too many channels to deal with the aftermath of murder.
But, the next moment.
A stern aura, accompanied by a blazing silver light, suddenly flashed before the burly man.
*Boom—*
The dazzling silver spear sent the burly man flying dozens of meters away, crashing into a wall before stopping.
*Cough—*
He coughed up blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, and then his eyes widened as he looked at Shaya and his companions, who remained unmoving in the distance.
“Who are you people, daring to attack within a noble’s establishment?”
The burly man exclaimed in horror.
He had been handling other matters previously and was not very clear about the specific details of the gamble. He had only rushed to the scene after Lori’s death.
He had initially thought the other party was simply a reckless gambler, and Lori had made a mistake due to carelessness, but now it seemed this person was clearly not a gambler at all.
Instead, they had targeted this Sleepless City, and even the Borgia Family behind it, from the very beginning.
“Don’t spread rumors. This was indeed Viscount Lori’s property at one time.”
“But Viscount Lori is dead now. He died by his own hand, admitting defeat in the gamble, and left no gifts or transfer agreements.”
“Therefore, the Thorns of Sin Club is now ownerless.”
“And according to Imperial law, as an enforcement agency, we have the right to search ownerless property.”
“During this period, if anyone interferes with the enforcement process or endangers the personal safety of the enforcers, they will have unlimited self-defense rights.”
Shaya’s calm voice rang out.
He thought for a moment and pinned a heraldic shield to his chest.
Seeing the silver-white shield with the intertwined World Tree and silver sword emblem, the burly man’s pupils contracted sharply.
As a trusted subordinate sent by the Borgia Family to monitor Lori, he naturally knew what this shield represented.
It was a shadow that once loomed over every noble family harboring their own ulterior motives.
After that, any slightest disturbance from this organization would provoke thunderous retaliation from the high-ranking nobles. This was because the shadow they had left behind was too deep; even though the name had disappeared for centuries, they could not let go.
“Of course, the above are all meaningless platitudes. In reality…”
“The so-called Sword Holder—Strike First, Report Later, Imperial Permission.”
“If you disagree, go complain to His Royal Highness.”
The burly man opened his mouth, wanting to say something else.
But the next moment, the spear light that broke through the air annihilated his body and consciousness.
It’s a bit late.
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