Raiden started at the notification in front of his face, as he let out a chuckle.

After killing three people, he could be labelled as cold-hearted after all. But he didn’t feel any sort of remorse for what he had done, none at all.

The only thing he felt right now was pure anger.

He wiped his hands off the dead man’s shirt before walking back to Ruby, who had been waiting watching him quietly.

"Thank you, Aunt Ruby. I don’t know what would have happened without you." Raiden thanked her sincerely.

"Hmm?? What did you sayy??" Ruby glanced at him with a cold look in her eyes, putting pressure on Raiden’s soul directly.

Raiden realised his mistake a second later. Thank her for what? You don’t do this formal stuff with family.

"How many people were there??" He asked, choosing not to thank her again

Ruby gave him another glance filled with coldness, before answering.

"Theree were fifteen peoplee. Twelve Silver, Three Goldd Battle Masterss. These three were the gold oness." Ruby answered the question, as she glanced at him with some approval.

"You did good Rai RaI~ Beingg kind to yourr enemyy is same as being cruel to yourself."

"I know. I won’t show mercy to my enemies. Don’t worry about that. But how do we clean them up? Should I bury their bodies or burn it or..." Raiden let his words unfinished.

"Leavee that to mee." Ruby answered.

Then, like magic, in front of Raiden’s eyes, a drop of blood started floating in the middle of the room harmlessly.

Under her control, the drop of blood started expanding rapidly, until it became a dome of blood that covered the entire room within it.

The next second, the drop of blood receded and became small as the tip of a pen once again, leaving behind a spotlessly clean room.

All the blood, limbs, and bodies vanished in a second, leaving no proof that anything bad had ever occurred here, except for a faint metallic smell in the air.

After nodding her head at the work well done, she slithered out of the room, leaving behind a dumbfounded Raiden, who was gawking at the scene.

He had no idea how strong his Aunt really was, even now. But from the small demonstration he had seen, he couldn’t even compare to her at all.

"Hurryy upp." Ruby’s voice called out from a distance, snapping Raiden from his trance as he started jogging towards her.

"What will you do nextt, will you takee your revengee now or laterr?" She asked.

"Let me find out some information about them first. I am not sure if I can take care of them right now. And I don’t want to be too dependent on you." Raiden spoke his true thoughts.

"Alrightt. I will be watchingg over youu. Don’t worryy." She nodded her head in acceptance.

Truthfully, she had already taken a peek at their memories and knew what kind of enemies they were dealing with and can finish them all but with a single thought.

But she thought they would work as a good whetstone to train Raiden in the future.

Now that he had taken a step towards the dark side, he needed to embrace it fully and learn to deal with the stuff all by himself.

She knew that with her injuries, she wouldn’t be able to last more than three more years. She wanted to prepare him for the world before she died.

"...Ruby, Aunt Ruby!"

"Huh? Did you sayy something??"

"Yes, I was asking if you have problems with the plan. I think I already know who the enemy is, and it might take me a while to get strong enough to fight against them. I can call for help and ask them to take care of it for me right now. But I might owe them a massive favour after this." Raiden spoke his own thoughts.

"It’s finee. We can affordd to waitt. Just focuss on getting strongerr for noww. I’ll protectt you from everyonee." Ruby answered him in a calm manner.

"Alright. We’ll do as you say. Don’t worry. It won’t take long at all. Before this year ends, I will solve all these problems." Raiden’s eyes shone with confidence as he spoke.

Soon, they went back inside the house, only to find an impatient trio waiting for him.

"Big brother, where did you go?? I was getting so hungry!! Hurry up and make breakfast."

"Shaaa!!"

"Woolie!!"

The other two agreed with her as Sylvia spoke. Neva had integrated into the family surprisingly fast, already acting really familiar with Sylvia and Woolie, her eyes curled up in delight.

Looking at the peaceful scene in front of him after doing such a horrifying thing, Raiden wasn’t able to react for a second.

A second later, he came back to his senses.

"Hahaha, sorry for that. Tell me, what do you feel like eating today??" Raiden asked with a smile on his face.

This is what he wanted to protect. He swore to work even harder for them.

"Ooh!! I want Pancakes!! And a Strawberry Cheese Cake!!" Sylvia requested, with a droll falling down her face as she started imagining it already.

"I can do the Pancakes, but no cheesecake!! Who eats cheesecake for breakfast?? You’ll get cavities." Raiden refused firmly.

"Mouuuu, please big brother, you are the best big bowtha in the world. Pleaseeeeeeeee." Sylvia grabbed his hand and started coddling it, swaying from side to side.

A look of disgust appeared on Raiden’s face as he looked at this. It was cute when she was eight years old, but this just looked cringe right now.

"No means no." Raiden refused firmly, making Sylvia pout.

"I see. Then you leave me with no other choice, big brother. I must bring out my special weapon. Take this!! Sylvia Bomb!!!" She spoke with a serious expression on her face before jumping on top of Raiden, taking him down with her.

"Hey!! What are you doing!! Get..off!!"

"Oh no!! I can’t defeat this Demon King alone!! Woolie, Neva!! Help me!!"

"Woolie!!" Woolie wasted no time as he joined Sylvia in pinning him down on the ground.

"Shaa? Shaa Shaa!!" (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)

Neva had no idea what was going on, but jumped in directly, thinking it was fun.

Just like that, the whole Ashford family spent their morning on the ground in laughter, all of them poisoned badly.