Chapter 397: Chapter 397: Alexius’s Request

Luke was very efficient.

In less than half an hour, an electronic map marked with seven hidden locations was sent to Aiden’s communicator.

Aiden looked at the blood-red dots on the map. The golden fire in his eyes slowly faded, turning into a deep, icy coldness.

Just as he was about to set off and wipe out these bases completely, a burst of urgent noise suddenly came from downstairs in the Sovereign City Reclasser Association building.

"Let me go up! I have an urgent matter. I need to see Lord Aiden!"

The voice was filled with anxiety and exhaustion. It was even hoarse, as if the person was close to breaking down.

Aiden’s Spirit power moved slightly, and he instantly caught a familiar presence.

It was Alexius.

"Let him come up."

Aiden spoke calmly, and his voice, carried by magic, reached the guards downstairs with perfect clarity.

A moment later, the heavy office door was pushed open hard.

Alexius stumbled inside.

This top genius, who was usually so proud and confident, looked terrible right now.

His once-gorgeous armor was covered in burn marks and deep scratches.

His face was pale and worn. His eyes were sunken, bloodshot, and full of fear and despair.

"Aiden..."

Alexius’s voice trembled, as if he had found his last lifeline in endless darkness.

"Please... help me!"

Aiden raised his brow slightly and tapped his fingers lightly on the desk."What happened?"

"My brother... Cassian has gone missing!"

Alexius took a deep breath and forced down the panic in his heart. Even his teeth were shaking.

"The last time I heard from him was three days ago."

"He had found a hidden lead about the Evil Demons Guild. He said he was going to check out a secret base."

"After that, his communicator completely went offline. The soul stone he left with our family also became extremely dim. It even has cracks in it!"

Alexius gripped the edge of the desk so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"You know what the Evil Demons Guild is like..."

"Those madmen love torturing genius Reclassers and extracting their Force of Laws!"

"I suspect they’ve already captured him. He may even... he may even have met with an accident!"

Tears appeared in Alexius’s eyes, and his voice was filled with deep sorrow.

"Aiden, he is the only family I have left in this world!"

Aiden looked at him quietly, his deep eyes calm and unreadable.

"The Great Shaw Empire’s military and the Reclasser Association are both investigating the Evil Demons Guild. They have countless high-level Venerables."

"Why do you think I can find him?"

His calm question carried an invisible pressure, making the air in the room feel heavy.

Alexius did not hesitate at all.

Thud!

This proud top genius actually dropped to one knee in front of Aiden, right in front of Luke and Cheryl.

His knee struck the hard alloy floor with a dull sound.

"I know you are the only one with the power to do it!"

"Aiden, as long as you are willing to help me and save my brother..."

"From now on, my life belongs to you!"

"Consider this a debt I can never fully repay. With just one word from you, I will walk through fire and water. Even if I die ten thousand times, I will not refuse!"

The faint but terrifying pressure around Aiden suddenly disappeared.

He slowly stood up, and a gentle but unstoppable golden magic power flowed out from his body.

This magic power seemed almost solid as it lifted Alexius by the knees and forced him back to his feet.

"Forget the favor."

Aiden’s tone was still calm, but the killing intent in his eyes boiled again like a volcano.

"The Evil Demons Guild is already my enemy."

"They captured someone they should not have touched, and they set their sights on things they should never have thought about."

"Saving your brother is just something I’ll do along the way."

When Alexius heard this, his whole body trembled with emotion, and his eyes instantly turned red.

"Thank you... thank you!"

"From now on, no matter what you ask of me, I, Alexius, will never hesitate!"

Aiden waved his hand and coldly cut off his vow.

"Enough. Give me every clue about your brother before he went missing."

Alexius quickly took out a damaged parchment map from his storage ring.

He marked a blood-red cross on the map at once.

"Here!"

"300 kilometers outside the Sovereign City, there is an abandoned underground black-gold mine!"

"The last coordinates he sent came from the deepest part of that mine!"

Aiden lowered his head and looked at the map. His gaze froze at once.

The red cross Alexius had marked perfectly matched one of the Evil Demons Guild’s outer base coordinates Luke had just given him!

It was exactly the place Aiden had planned to wipe out first!

The same base that had threatened to tear out the refugee Andy’s tendons, skin him alive, and hang him up as a burning lantern!

...

Night had fallen. The bright neon lights of the Sovereign City flashed in the darkness, but they could not hide the bloody undercurrent moving through its dark alleys.

Inside Aiden’s private villa, two holographic maps glowing with blood-red light floated in the air.

One showed the seven bases Luke had found. The other showed the black-gold mine Alexius had marked.

"Buzz—"

Just as Aiden overlapped the two maps and prepared to plan tonight’s route of slaughter, the villa’s defensive formation suddenly shook violently.

"Bang!"

The heavy agarwood door was shoved open by a brutal force.

A stumbling figure fell into the hall like a kite with its string cut, crashing hard onto the cold marble floor.

Golden fire instantly rose in Aiden’s eyes. His Spirit power turned into a solid blade and locked onto the intruder.

But the moment he saw that face, he immediately pulled back his killing intent.

It was John.

This young master of the Hawthorne family’s merchant guild, who was usually dressed in a fine suit and always seemed to have everything under control, now looked as miserable as a ghost that had crawled out of a pile of corpses.

His priceless protective robe had been torn into strips, and his whole body was covered in dried, blackened blood.

"Aiden..."

John struggled to raise his head. His usually sharp eyes were now filled only with endless fear and despair.

Aiden’s brows sank, and he quickly stepped forward.

"What happened?"

Those two simple words carried a terrifying Spirit pressure that somehow calmed people down, forcefully stabilizing John’s soul, which was on the edge of collapse.

John grabbed Aiden’s wrist tightly, his nails almost digging into the flesh. His voice was hoarse, like a broken bellows.

"The Hawthorne family’s merchant guild... is finished!"

"Two hours ago, thirty-two of our main branches across the country were hit at the same time!"

"It was the Evil Demons Guild!"

"Those black-robed madmen tore through our defensive formations like ghosts!"

John’s whole body shook violently. Tears mixed with blood and dirt fell onto the floor.

"My father... stayed behind to cover the retreat of the merchant guild’s core members. He took a forbidden corrosion spell from an elder of the Evil Demons Guild head-on."

"He is badly wounded now. The Force of Laws is eating into his heart. He already has one foot inside The Underworld Gate!"

Aiden’s eyes turned completely cold.An icy wave of magic power spread wildly from his body.

The moisture in the air froze in an instant, covering the villa walls with frost.

John slammed his fists against the floor in pain and let out a beast-like cry.

"It’s gone! Everything is gone!"

"The stock our guild built up over a hundred years was looted clean. Hundreds of billions worth of high-level materials and Epic Rank items—nothing was left behind!"

"Those animals used the blood of my Hawthorne family members to write a message on the wall of our headquarters!"

John raised his bloodshot eyes and stared at Aiden.

"They said this is the price the Hawthorne family must pay for using all its wealth to support the hero of the Great Shaw Empire!"

"This is open revenge from the Evil Demons Guild!"

Aiden stood there quietly, his face showing no emotion.

But the space around him began to twist, and thin black cracks appeared because of the magic power being compressed too much.

He had just gained the supreme Miko’s treasure in the Abyss and won the global tournament. His fame was now at its peak.

The Evil Demons Guild did not dare to attack him directly, so they started cutting off his support and killing the people around him.

The White City had gone missing. Alexius’s brother had been attacked. And now, the Hawthorne family’s merchant guild had been wiped out in blood.

"So, you came to me."Aiden looked down at John. His voice was so calm it was frightening.

John suddenly rolled over and slammed both knees onto the floor.

"Aiden, the Hawthorne family is at the final moment between life and death!"

"Those stubborn old men in the family are terrified. Some of them even suggested we give in to the Evil Demons Guild and hand over all our remaining assets in exchange for our lives!"

"I had nowhere else to go. I could only come and beg you!"

Aiden lightly rubbed his knuckles with his fingers and said flatly, "What do you need me to do?"

John swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva. A trace of hope flashed in his eyes.

"I’m begging you to step in and stay at the Hawthorne family headquarters for a while!"

"You are a Legendary Rank professional. You are the top scholar of the empire, and the god of killing from the Abyss!"

"As long as you are willing to sit in the main hall of the Hawthorne family, even if those cowards had ten lives, they would not dare come half a step closer!"

"Just one month... no, half a month is enough! Let my father survive this crisis, and give me time to steady the merchant guild!"

After hearing this, Aiden slowly shook his head.

When John saw Aiden shake his head, the light in his eyes went out at once.It was as if he had fallen into an ice pit. His face turned deathly pale.

Of course.The Evil Demons Guild was powerful. Who would be willing to step into this mess for the sake of a merchant guild?

But in the next second, Aiden’s cold and commanding voice exploded beside his ears like thunder.

"I don’t have the time, and I have no interest in acting as your bodyguard."

John froze. Before he could fall into despair, Aiden had already turned around and walked toward the floating holographic map.

"Defense has never been my style."

Aiden suddenly clenched his right hand.

"Boom!"

A violent burst of golden magic power erupted from his body and crushed the pure gold tea table beside him into dust.

"Since they like assassinations and looting so much..."

"Then I’ll help you wipe out these rats—every last one of them, along with their nests."