Chapter 184 You Are the Only One Left
Lars Graham, wearing an intricate silk robe, slowly stroked his bone-carved cane.
It was a bone staff that he carved and processed from the spine of one of his students.
The cane was engraved with twelve adoring love letters she had written to Lars, along with the sonnets he had written in return.
It is filled up from top to bottom, not a word more or less.
The old woman did not think this was some kind of cruelty—it was art, without a doubt. Her soul still loved her, and that was the proof.
"Elody, what do you think?"
The old man asked.
Behind him stood a girl of only seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a white priest robe.
She wore a white priest robe, and her body was translucent, with only her spine showing a brighter pure white, looking like a white jellyfish.
She lowered her head slightly, her lips moving slightly, as if she was saying something.
She made no sound—those who returned from the realm of the dead were voiceless.
But Lars nodded slightly as if he heard something.
"That's what you said."
Old Lars muttered to himself, "That means there are four possibilities...
"The first possibility is that Aleister is Chloe. Her uncontrollable inclination towards love ultimately led her to defect..."
Avalon is not Iris, after all.
The Avalonians knew little about the power of shadows.
The most common shadow power comes from the path of love, such as the children of the moon, witches, and those who are cursed by the witch's "lycanthropy" and turned into werewolves.
Whether it is the shadow demon that transcends the Tao or the bionic one that adapts to the Tao, they are actually relatively rare types.
The Supervisory Bureau's belief that a shadow demon had invaded was likely due to preconceived notions. If they only found traces of shadow power, it was entirely possible that it was Chloe, who also possessed shadow power.
She never liked being an assassin, and now she's in Hawkeye simply because she has no choice.
She had once studied sculpture with Lars, but even after six months of study under a fifth-level teacher, she still couldn't get started... Lars could only conclude that she had no talent for it.
Chloe, however, was proud. She couldn't tolerate the fact that she was useless, so she taught herself to adapt to the Dao—after all, her father and grandfather were both excellent assassins. As expected, it only took her a few years to reach the fourth level, and now she's almost at the fifth level.
But Lars also warned her - because although she had a talent for adaptability, her personality was not suitable for being an assassin.
However, Chloe was stubborn and ignored Lars's warning, so Lars didn't bother to pay attention to her.
According to his experience and judgment, the path that Chloe truly fits into is the path of love.
Sensibility, barbarity, impulse, love, narcissism, instinct... these are all keywords on the path of love.
However, they couldn't let Chloe turn to the Path of Love - the reason was simple, because the Hawkeye Organization was mainly fighting against the Moon Children of the Path of Love. And the extraordinary people of the Path of Love would be transformed into new Moon Children after their death.
This is just like the Grand Guardian or Grand Justice of Avalon cannot allow their descendants to become demonologists.
Lars felt that Chloe was probably doing something unnecessary.
It was indeed his mission to have Chloe assassinate Aiwass Moriarty. But he believed his judgment was correct. Aiwass would be extremely tired after receiving his medal that day, so Chloe only needed to apply the poison to his lips and he could leave.
But Chloe's personality made her put the lipstick on her own lips, trying to send him off with a kiss.
She is indeed that kind of person.
As a transcendent being who has adapted to the Tao, she will not be killed by the poison she concocts.
Since she has this characteristic, she must use it - even if the process is completely unnecessary.
Perhaps it was at that time that the two of them got to know each other after Chloe's assassination attempt failed.
Then, under Aiwass's persuasion, she left Hawkeye and unilaterally cut off contact with him... This is entirely possible. That willful young lady is indeed capable of such a thing.
This is also the greatest possibility.
After all, judging from the reputation he had investigated, Aiwass was indeed such a playboy.
Chloe, who is proud and narcissistic, adaptable to the path of love, but has never been in real love, may be easy to handle.
"But there's another possibility... that her assassination attempt failed and she was killed. But Aiwass was probably unable to resist at the time, so she was killed before the assassination attempt—perhaps by a demonologist who controlled the shadow demon and took away her appearance. Then the other person chose to help Aiwass, and he mistook her for his identity."
Old Lars murmured softly, "But this possibility is not very high..."
As a member of the Hawkeye organization, they have studied the Shadow Fiend. The Shadow Fiend can indeed acquire the appearance of an animal or a human by devouring them, but this is limited to the Shadow Fiend that moves freely.
It is said that Aleister is a demon possessed by a shadow demon...but the shadow demon in the demon's body does not have this ability, because the shadow demon cannot leave the body at all.
But there are only a few people who can contract Shadow Demons, and Old Lars knows them all.
And Avalon would not allow them to enter at will - unless someone went through untold hardships to sneak in successfully, and risked being discovered by the Eye of Avalon to devour Chloe.
"There's another possibility... that is, Aiwass is the real Aleister. Or, in other words, he is the demon possessed by the shadow demon."
Because when it comes down to it, there are only two witnesses in this matter - Aiwass and his little maid Lily.
If both of them chose to perjure themselves, then the truth would be lost. If he had a shadow demon in him, then it would explain why Chloe was discovered.
"Shadow Stealth" is an ability that is theoretically almost impossible for humans to obtain, and it is even a secret of the Hawkeye organization.
Because simply requiring a third-level Shadow Affinity is incredibly difficult. And even if you achieve it, you're only just reaching the threshold. The Hawkeye Organization was able to acquire this skill thanks to generations of dedicated research, replicating the Shadow Fiend's stealth abilities through simulation. Mastering it requires diligent study.
Even in Iris, shadow stealth is the trump card of the Hawkeye Organization. In the entire Hawkeye Organization, there are less than five people who have mastered the ability of shadow stealth.
Even if she approached other fourth-level strongmen, they would definitely think that she was hiding in the air at the first moment - unless she had come into contact with this ability, how could she immediately associate her with hiding in the shadows?
Even if they guessed this possibility, they would still need to use light or shadow damage to knock her out. Ordinary spells had no effect on Chloe in the shadows, and they couldn't even lock onto her.
Old Lars had thought it was just a coincidence.
After all, if someone guessed there was something in the shadows, they could be shot out. Avalon's priests possessed light and fire mana, while the lawmage's mana pool was light and wind—thus, sneaking safely here was more difficult than in Iris.
However, since Aiwass could accurately report Chloe's appearance and identity... then if Chloe hadn't betrayed him, it meant Aiwass had seen her from the very beginning. And then he was just using Chloe's name to make her take the blame.
If there was a shadow demon inside Aiwass, everything would make sense.
Hawkeye's Shadow Assassin was ultimately just imitating Shadow Fiend's innate abilities. To the real Shadow Fiend, it was as foolish and ridiculous as a dog trying to learn how to walk upright.
"Of course, there's another possibility... that the demon isn't Aiwass. It's his maid, Lily."
Among the four possibilities, three are that Chloe is dead and one is that she defected.
But these four possibilities have one thing in common.
——The person who controls the power of shadows must live with Aiwass. Otherwise, "she" would not be able to detect and stop Noble Red's assassination plan against Aiwass.
Is she really Chloe?
Does Aiwass have a shadow demon in his body?
"Then let me try it myself..."
The bone carving murmured softly.
He didn't have much emotion about Chloe's death. As an assassin, it was normal to sacrifice in the mission; especially since Chloe was unwilling to obey orders and opinions, she was the danger to the Hawkeye organization itself.
Even if Chloe didn't die, he would report it to the higher authorities after returning home and ask them to put Chloe under house arrest and not allow her to go out on missions again.
But on the other hand, Chloe is, after all, a strong person carefully trained by the organization. She is an elite assassin capable of assassinating fourth-level extraordinary people.
Her death will bring considerable losses to the organization.
——But if that demon is Aiwass or Lily, then the loss can be compensated many times over.
The Hawkeye Organization has been studying Shadow Fiend for a long time, but they have never been able to obtain a real Shadow Fiend. If they can capture a Shadow Fiend alive, the organization's strength will definitely be greatly improved.
And if those old guys from Xingti really came here in person, they wouldn't be able to kill me.
Even though he was suffering from bone cancer, he was still a veteran transcendent after all.
If I were to cause trouble, the other party would be unable to hide any longer... If that happened, it might trigger a war between Avalon and Xingti. At the very least, it would make them enemies again.
Moreover, if Chloe truly betrayed the organization, he would have to capture his former student and bring him back for execution.
He had to go anyway.
And no matter what the situation is, at least I can survive safely.
...To put it another way, it wouldn't matter if he died since his body was repeatedly tortured by the terminal illness.
"Let's wait under Aiwass's dormitory first. He will come back eventually."
The old man muttered, supporting himself with his cane and standing up unsteadily.
He was hunched over, his shoulders hunched, his head lowered, and his legs bent. His legs were even thinner than the girl's arms, and he looked like a skeleton in a robe. His body was covered in protruding, hard lumps.
The figure of the girl ghost "Elody" disappeared like an illusion, and old Lars slowly moved to the corner of his workshop at the slow pace of a turtle.
It was a small statue, only half a person's height, depicting a high-spirited blond young man who looked to be in his thirties.
That's Prince Andrew.
He is Princess Isabelle's brother and the first in line to the throne currently designated by the Queen.
If he died, the only adults left who could inherit the throne would be Isabelle and her father, Prince Albert.
"Just in case, out of caution..."
The old man whispered, "If I can't come back this time... at least complete the last mission first."
After all, they've been preparing for this for so long. From poisoning to curses, then poisoning to curses again... Two countries, three organizations, over a decade of planning, today is finally coming to an end.
He reached out and caressed the statue, whispering the secret code given by the leader. Scarlet cracks slowly appeared on the statue, and blood slowly seeped out.
"Die, child."
The old man sighed, "You are the only one left. If you are free, I will be free too."
Upon hearing this, two lines of blood and tears slowly flowed from the statue's emerald green eyes.
This chapter has a lot of words, 3,500 words... The second chapter has not been finished yet, and will be updated before 2 o'clock!
(End of this chapter)
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