Chapter 485

“Heaven-Slayer, Earth-Breaker, Ghost and Ghouls?” Leander balanced the cup between his fingers, voice mild. “You’re talking about the Netherweb?”
He wasn’t unfamiliar with the name. Now that he stood on the world stage, and Jeff Enterprises had become the strongest conglomerate on Earth, the information funnelling to him had multiplied. Very little escaped his awareness anymore.
Through Frankie Wainwright’s channels, he already knew the Arbitration Office had issued a two-billion-dollar bounty for his head. And the Netherweb was the assassin guild that had taken the contract.
Among the fragments he’d gathered, Leander understood this much: the Netherweb counted within its ranks the top four assassins in the world. It was an ancient, enigmatic syndicate, reigning over the underworld for more than a century. It managed to stay unshaken, unsurpassed.
Even the Arbitration Office handled them with caution. Whenever the Office needed something done without leaving fingerprints, it would post the bounty on the underground boards and let the Netherweb do the dirty work.
Celia, arrestingly beautiful, spoke softly, “Those words do point to the Netherweb. But ninety-nine percent of the world has no idea what they really mean.
“They represent the Netherweb’s internal ranks. Heaven is the pinnacle. Ghoul is the lowest.”
Leander’s gaze stilled for a moment as the picture clicked together, just like the Umbral Court in Ravenridge he had crushed single-handedly.
The Umbral Court, hidden in Astria, used their own strict hierarchy: the Twelve Talons, the Six Wraiths.
But the Netherweb was stronger by orders of magnitude. Eight tiers, each more ruthless than the last.
Celia continued, “The four ranks symbolised by ‘Ghost and Ghouls’ are merely the outer circle.”
“From the rank of Breaker and upward, that’s where the true inner elites begin.”
Leander sipped again, expression unchanged. “That information alone won’t buy your life.”
Netherweb ranks were of little interest to him.
“Sovereign Ashcroft, don’t rush. I’m not finished.” She let a quiet, enigmatic smile form. “Tell me, what level do you think I hold on the global Assassin Leaderboard?” Leander’s eyes narrowed.
To him, Celia, also known internationally as The Ripper, ranked third on that mysterious list. In any reasonable measure, she should stand at the very top, Heaven-tier, at least.
But the way she spoke made it clear that the truth was far more severe. “You’ve guessed it,” she said softly. “Inside the Netherweb, I am only Slayer-tier. “The one who just tried to snipe you, ‘Deadshot’ Barrett, he’s Slayer -tier as well.” For the first time, Leander’s expression shifted.
She pressed on, voice low, eyes darkening with a fear that seemed deeply carved into her. “In the Netherweb, only two people have ever reached Heaven-tier.”
Leander spoke before she could continue. “The Blood Demon and the Hermit, right?”
There was no real need to speculate. Only the top two on the global assassin list could stand above the third-ranked Ripper and qualify as Heaven-tier.
Still, the revelation shocked him. The difference between third and second shouldn’t have been a chasm. Yet, if Celia was an entire rank beneath them, the gulf was monstrous.
Even while suppressing her presence, Leander could feel her cultivation, she was a peak Infernal Crown Transcendent, strong enough to rival Maddox, once first on the International Combat Units chart, and not inferior to the Chief Arbitrators of the Office.
If the Blood Demon and the Hermit surpassed her, then what realm had they stepped into?
Could they have already reached the King Phase?
Celia nodded, solemn. “The Netherweb is now effectively led by the Blood Demon. He is their living sigil.”
“As for the Hermit, he hasn’t appeared in decades. I don’t know if he still walks this world. As for the Blood Demon, I’ve encountered him once. And I promise you that he alone is enough to make even you take caution.
“Fifty years ago, the Blood Demon hunted and killed a true King Phase expert.”
Leander finally reacted, brows lifting. “Oh? He killed a King Phase?”
He had never seen a King Phase before. He didn’t know how overwhelming such a being truly was. But if the Blood Demon, could kill one then he was at the very least close to that level, perhaps already standing among them.
Celia lifted her slender hand and poured another glass. “I believe that should be enough to buy my life.
“The Blood Demon there are no words that do his terror justice. Killing is not his job, it’s his nature, something woven into his bones.
“And he never kills nobodies. His prey is always the strongest of the strong.”
Her voice chilled, eyes sinking into a deep, distant fear.
“Sovereign Ashcroft, you are Astria’s strongest. The all-time number one in the International Combat Units ranking. All nations watch you.
“The Arbitration Office issued this bounty openly. Given the Blood Demon’s instincts,
he will never pass on such a chance.
“He is likely already on his way to Astria.”
Even mentioning him made her tremble. For someone at her level, someone who stood at the peak of Infernal Crown Transcendent, to feel fear for the Blood Demon said. everything He truly was the most bloodthirsty man she’d ever met.
“He’s already here.”
She had just risen to leave when Leander spoke, arresting her mid-motion.
“What? Here?”
She went pale, senses flaring out in all directions, but she detected nothing.
Boom!
A violent blast ripped across the side of the building. A colossal palmprint of condensed innate vitality tore through a billboard, pulverising it in midair, and descended toward the balcony of the bar like a falling sky.
The air in the bar was strangled. Beside Leander, Rubyanne’s face twisted in terror,
a scream ripping out of her throat.
Leander’s lips curved coldly. “Hmph.” He raised one finger, light as a whisper, and flicked.
A razor-thin stream of force shot
out, striking the descending
palmprint dead centre. The massive imprint, dozens of feet wide, froze,
cracked, then shattered into scattering motes of light. A tempest roared through the street, sending pedestrians stumbling in chaos.
Wind howled through the bar. People shielded their eyes, staring upward. A man in
a blood-colored robe hovered in the night sky, hands clasped behind his back,
arrogance etched into every line of his face.
“The Blood Demon? Is that really him?”
Celia saw him, and her pupils constricted violently.