The villain's way to tame the protagonist

"you……"

The moment he lowered his eyes and uttered this word softly, the index finger and middle finger of his other hand came together and instantly pierced Ansel's forehead.

At this moment when time seemed to freeze, a phantom emerged from his body, took out the two daggers from his waist and wielded them in one hand and the other hand, slashing at Anser's neck and stabbing at Anser's heart.

[Time-Splitting Blade], with unparalleled attainments in the element of time, is a terrifying skill that allows one to attack simultaneously from the past that has already happened and the frozen present. This is the unstoppable killer move created by Deathstroke when he achieved the fifth level in the Time Society and obtained the title of Grandmaster.

If one does not have a deep understanding of the time factor, one will never be able to detect the killing from the "past". The solidified present is a combination of local time freezing, one's own time acceleration, and the opponent's time lag. It is the operation of the time factor in three different ways in an instant.

Deathstroke hadn't used this trick for a long time. Apparently, Faust, who had seen through his secret, made him feel extremely dangerous.

And just as the present and past him were about to stab Anser with his finger blades and double daggers, the legendary adventurer, holding his face with one hand, as if he had been completely frozen in this time and space, moved his lips under the horrified gaze of the death knell.

"boring."

The indifferent voice reached Faust's ears before the death knell was about to pierce through his head and heart.

——No, it was earlier, before he opened his mouth!

When Deathstroke realized this, the shadow rising from his body suddenly had his hands twisted into a cloud of bloody mist.

Then, his hands suddenly and silently turned into a blood-red gas-solid mixture floating in the air.

When the stagnant time began to flow again, nothing... happened.

But Deathstroke no longer maintained that tough threatening posture. Instead, he leaned back on the sofa in silence, staring into Anther's eyes.

"You are... the real deal."

In the uncomfortable silence, the man slowly spoke these words in a low and hoarse voice.

Deathstroke had just reversed his injuries in the frozen time, so he seemed to have suffered no damage after the time stop was lifted.

But he was very clear that Faust just now...had chopped off his hands before he was broken apart, without him even noticing!

This absolutely... absolutely cannot be a fake.

He is the real Faust!

At the moment when Swordfish and Ming Fuluo were both stunned by this sentence, Anser, who did not even change his posture, said something that made the three people, including Deathstroke, even more confused:

"Who are you going to sell this information to?"

"..."

Deathstroke's fingers trembled slightly, and the look in his eyes as he stared at Anser gradually changed from fear and coldness to complexity and concession.

"What a dangerous guy."

The man said this, pulled out the dagger that was nailed to the ring, and repeated again: "You are the real Faust."

"I never said I was fake."

"But in fact, many people think you are fake, for many reasons."

The dark gold dagger turned into a stream of light, imprinted on Deathstroke's palm. He put away his initial aggressive and cold attitude. Although he still didn't look very good, he could barely be called gentle: "It's hard not to let people imagine a 'strong man' who suddenly appeared at this time and called himself Faust."

"So when you heard the news from your vice president, you thought it was an opportunity."

Anser said casually, "An opportunity to test my abilities, an opportunity to do business."

"Compared to the few things your subordinates are selling... the key intelligence that the Executioner Guild President personally obtained is obviously more valuable."

After hearing what Anser said, Swordfish looked at his boss in amazement.

No, boss, you promised to help us solve the problem.

It seems like you want to make some money too!

And Deathstroke responded with a complicated tone: "I did see... something more valuable."

He pushed the ring on the table in front of Ansel, this time truly showing his sincerity in giving in.

"But I guess you won't let me sell it so easily."

"No, you can."

The young Hydra raised his chin slightly and looked down at the other party: "You can do this business."

He finally changed his lazy look, crossed his legs, and interlaced his fingers on his knees, like an observer and a ruler.

"But what kind of person you are talking about, and who you are trading with, is decided by me."

"..."

The bell fell silent again.

He stroked the dagger for a long time, then slowly shook his head.

"Faust." The man said seriously, "In our business, reputation is related to business, and integrity determines business. I can't provide false information to my client because of you."

Anser did not respond directly to this sentence, but instead started a very strange topic.

"Okarian."

"……what?"

"Ocarian Penand. The fastest-growing assassin in the history of the Time Society. He reached the third-level throne and has now reached the threshold of the fifth-level crown in just about half a year."

Anser looked at the emotions in Deathstroke's eyes that were gradually getting out of control, and said calmly: "Do you know him?"

Of course, Deathstroke knew this person. He was already a fifth-level extraordinary person fifteen years ago. Because his ideas were inconsistent with the creed of the Time Society, he rebelled and came to the West Country to establish the Executioner.

During these fifteen years, many powerful people from the Guang Yin Society came to assassinate him, but none of them returned without success.

——A month ago, the idiot who claimed to be the most powerful genius in the history of the Time Society, Ocarian Penand, came to assassinate him with the strength of the fourth level without knowing the consequences, but escaped unscathed inexplicably.

Deathstroke took notice of this young man and found that his growth trajectory was also somewhat bizarre.

About half a year ago, Okarian could only be considered a normal genius. Although he was promoted quickly and had strong abilities, he was still within the normal range.

But after he returned from an ordinary mission in the North, his strength and talent began to grow wildly at an incredible speed.

In just half a year, he had advanced from the end of the third stage to the final stage of the fourth stage.

Faust...why do you suddenly ask this question?

"Death Bell, you abandoned the Time Society because you did not approve of their way of pursuing killing power. You thought that their path of increasing power through simple assassination was too narrow, so you came to the West to establish the Executioner."

Faust, looking down at the death knell, seemed to slowly change into another person, shedding some perfect disguise and revealing his true self.

The true face of the devil.

The pupils of Deathstroke, which reflected Faust's figure, began to tremble.

"You accept commissions and do everything you can to obtain all resources, using this more direct and efficient method to increase your strength. However, even if you are willing to fall into the abyss, you still cannot find the possibility of further progress."

The devil's voice echoed in his ears: "So this does not mean that you are a fallen person who has lost motivation. You still have an extremely strong obsession and desire for killing power and strength."

"So, you're not curious about what gave Ocarian that gift, and if that mysterious blessing could be bestowed upon you..."

The whisper that seemed to come from the void shook the soul of Death Knell.

"Is it possible that you could...see something entirely new?"

The Death Knell, who had just spoken about something about integrity, stood up shakily. He stared at Anser, at those eyes... that were filled with a pitch-black color.

It's like staring at a teacher who is preaching.

*

“…Unbelievable.”

After leaving the Executioner Guild, Ming Fuluo whispered, "So, you have already calculated everything? To this extent?"

This distorted the Grand Duke of Lapis Lazuli's perception of Faust, but it was not enough.

That cunning businessman would not easily make a complete judgment. He would definitely try other ways to test Faust's depth. And the powerful man who would think so is definitely not the only one, Grand Duke Qingjin.

Driven by fate, exactly when these temptations will appear and in what form they will appear is completely unknown. It is extremely difficult to control and is very likely to cause accidents.

Ansher used Deathstroke, a fifth-level extraordinary being at the top of the "client" industry in the West, as a medium to shape Faust's image in the eyes of other powerful people to the greatest extent possible.

You know, in the Western Kingdom, including the Grand Duke, there are only twelve fifth-level strongmen.

Among the twelve, Deathstroke is the only veteran warrior who specializes in killing power and has worked in the Western Country for more than ten years. He has solid strength and reputation.

Let’s not talk about whether this Faust is real or not. Even if he is the real thing, as they are both fifth-level transcendents, even if Deathstroke is not his opponent, who would think that this veteran strong man would willingly bow to Faust?

Are you kidding me? He is Faust, not an Orianthus!

Who do you think he is? The incarnation of the Dragon King walking on earth? The parasitic body of the Abyss Caller? What? Could it be that the young Hydra was bored and came to the West to experience life?

No one will doubt the authenticity of the Deathstroke information, and even fate will not push for this doubt, because doubting such a thing itself is unreasonable.

At most, they would only doubt the reliability of this information, rather than suspecting that Deathstroke had already knelt at Faust's feet and deliberately handed out false information.

From now on, the top Western supernatural beings' understanding of Faust will be completely controlled by Ansher, and this is just the beginning.

"You had already made a plan before you chose Castle Strife as your base, right?"

Ming Fuluo said in disbelief: "He used the selection competition to become famous, and then used the executioner who established a branch here to lure out the death knell, and further manipulate the image of Faust in the eyes of others?"

"That's not so exaggerated." Anser shook his head and smiled, "I've already told you, I'm not making any big plans all day."

He shrugged helplessly: "Look, I don't even have any commissions to do, right?"

"…You're not trying to tell me that this is all a coincidence."

Ming Fuluo looked at Ansher as if he was a fool, as if asking him to guess whether he believed it or not.

But after a few seconds, she seemed to realize something.

"I'm not like your puppy." The scholar lady sitting on Anser's shoulder gently touched his cheek, "I don't mind your conspiracy... Besides, since that Deathstroke accepts all commissions, he must not be a good person."

Ming Fuluo's concern made Ansel stunned for a moment, then he smiled and shook his head, gently rubbing Ming Fuluo's soft body.

"Why would I think of that? Do I look like someone who would feel guilty?"

"That's not the case, it's just..."

Ming Fuluo looked at Anser, hesitated for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and said softly: "Normally, you should be very happy after completing this calculation, but I think you seem to be a little..."

Ming Fuluo didn't know how to describe it, but when the dark abyss color rose in Anser's eyes, she could feel that Anser seemed... not very fond of using this power.

"Don't worry, I haven't thought about it that much. I did have a plan that was similar to what you described, but I didn't think of implementing it now. I certainly didn't think of using this method to trick Deathstroke... I have many ways, but I haven't considered this method much."

"Because, like you said, I think I really like doing commissions."

The young Hydra said softly, "So this is indeed just a coincidence... No, to be more precise, I just went with the flow."

"Go with the flow..."

"Yes."

Anser tilted his head slightly, and said with a sigh and pleasure: "You said that I planned all this, so think about it, Luo."

"——What was the original event that led to my meeting with Deathstroke?"

*

"It's broken, it's broken, it's broken! It's broken, Lina!"

Xitana rushed open the door anxiously and yelled to Marina in the office: "Commission...Commission!"

"…Calm down, Miss Fenrir."

Marina sighed and sorted out the documents, then looked up at Sitana who rushed to her desk:

"Tell me slowly, what's wrong?"

"Commission!"

Miss Wolf waved her arms excitedly and said incoherently: "That executioner, he won't accept commissions anymore! He won't accept commissions from civilians anymore!"

Marina tilted her head slightly: "So?"

"So?" The tall and slender girl widened her eyes. "No one is helping us! Last time I entrusted them to deal with the thugs in the lower city, it was so effective, and more and more people came to them for help. But suddenly they stopped accepting the request. What should I do?"

After Xitana finished her rant, Marina said patiently:

"So, without their help, the people in the Lower Town can't do anything on their own?"

"Uh... that's not the case."

Xitana was obviously stumped by this question. She scratched her head and thought for a long time, then answered unnaturally: "With the help of extraordinary people, wouldn't it be a lot less troublesome? Lina, your original suggestion was to find extraordinary people to deal with the thugs in the downtown area. Isn't that what you meant?"

"Ms. Fenrir." Marina sighed, "Do you think the focus of my proposal is 'let all the residents of the lower city unite' or 'the executioner issues a commission'?"