Chapter 5: Blood-Colored Judgment

"Victor! You maniac! Go to hell!"

Mason's face twisted with rage as his thumb pressed down on the red detonation button.

Without any hesitation!

He could already see in his mind the two tons of high-explosive C4 turning the entire castle into ashes.

Even though he hadn't completed the Caldea family's mission, taking this lunatic Victor to hell with him made it all worthwhile.

But.

Not only did Victor not back away, looking at the crazed Mason, he seemed to be watching a circus clown putting on a ridiculous performance...

"You think you're funny? You know what? This show is just getting started."

Mason didn't want to hear this nonsense!

Once.

Twice.

Three times...

He frantically pressed the detonator several times in a row.

But that damn button only made hollow spring sounds with no response whatsoever—completely dead!

"This... this is impossible! I planted the explosives myself, the signal is on an independent frequency!"

Mason stared at the detonator and cursed, his face full of disbelief.

He slowly raised his head to look at Victor before him and couldn't help but stagger back several steps.

That face was impossibly cold, with a playful smile at the corner of his mouth.

Like the Grim Reaper holding a scythe...

"Your so-called mutual destruction is nothing but a child's game to me."

Mason snapped back to reality.

"No, I still have a chance, I still have the secret guard!"

"Stop yelling. They've already gone to report to God."

"Damn it!"

Mason gritted his teeth and decided to throw away the detonator and reach for the pistol at his waist.

Two dark figures swept out from the shadows behind him like ghosts.

They were Victor's men who had already infiltrated.

A crisp snap.

Mason's right hand reaching for the gun was broken.

Immediately after, another operative delivered a heavy kick to the back of his knee.

Mason knelt before Victor, his forehead hitting the floor.

He didn't even get a chance to draw his gun!

"Boss, target captured alive."

Victor nodded slightly.

Another operative walked over and started pulling up images on the large screen.

Victor looked down at Mason lying on the ground like a dead dog, then drew a short blade from his waist.

"Victor, what... what are you doing? I... I'm with the Caldea family. If you do anything rash, the Caldea family won't let you go!"

Mason's voice trembled, his face turning ashen.

Victor used the blade tip to lift Mason's chin, forcing him to look at the large screen.

On the screen was footage from earlier in the operating room.

Lily strapped to the table with leather restraints, the lead surgeon holding a long, thin puncture needle.

Elena dragging her shattered legs across the floor, leaving a long trail of blood...

"Take a good look. Is this what you called a vessel?"

As Victor finished speaking, the blade tip drew a line of blood across the duke's skin.

Mason trembled even more, and a foul smell of urine came from his crotch.

"Victor... spare me... I can give you all my wealth..."

"I have three townhouses in London!"

"And a warehouse by the Thames with gold smuggled from South Africa!"

"I'll give you everything! It's all yours!"

Victor looked at Mason's desperate face, unmoved.

"Gold?"

"Yes!"

Mason nodded eagerly, thinking there was hope.

Victor's lips moved slightly, and the blade tip drew another line across Mason's face.

"Last Christmas, the Rothschild family just sent me a large shipment."

"I thought it took up too much space, so I threw it away."

Mason's eyes widened.

"As for the townhouses?"

"All of London is my battlefield. Your houses are just dots on my map."

"If I want your stuff, I'll take it myself."

"Your life is the last thing I'll take when I want it."

Hearing this, Mason completely collapsed on the ground, his lips trembling.

"No! Devil... you're a devil!"

Victor sneered and asked without looking back.

"What about the lead surgeon's body?"

Chase emerged from the shadows, holding a tablet.

"Boss, handled according to your instructions."

Victor nodded, but that wasn't enough...

"Listen, in this castle, everyone who participated in the live puncture program, every single one."

"Since they liked watching live punctures, let them experience it firsthand."

"Understood."

Chase accepted the order and then issued instructions through the communication channel.

"All prisoners, regardless of status, perform reverse puncture immediately. Leave no survivors."

The judgment wasn't over yet.

"How are my wife and daughter?"

"Boss, Elena's emotions are relatively stable. Lily won't let anyone near her. The doctor says her physical injuries are severe, but... the psychological trauma might affect her for life. Earlier on the plane, she curled up in a corner, hugging her knees and shaking, wouldn't let anyone touch her, kept calling for daddy..."

Chase's voice grew quieter.

Hearing this, Victor's eyes grew even colder.

A terrifying killing intent emanated from him, turning the entire second basement level into an icebox.

"Chase, relay my order."

"From this second on, all members of London's Caldea family, regardless of age or gender, regardless of location, are all added to The Umbral Covenant's kill list. I want them all gone."

"Yes! Boss!"

Chase's whole body shook.

An extermination order of this level.

The last time it was activated was three years ago to quell the North African rebellion.

Mason's mind went completely blank.

He had thought that if he surrendered, he could at least preserve his family's bloodline, but he never expected Victor would actually exterminate the Caldea family.

"Boss, what about the Ross family..."

Chase asked quietly, since Victor had let Brown go.

The Ross family wouldn't let this go.

"The Ross family, I'll judge them personally. But the Caldea family doesn't need to exist anymore."

He issued that black directive to shadow operatives distributed around the globe—one that would shake the international community.

Victor turned and strode out.

"Notify everyone. Global hunt."

"I want the whole world to know that the price for touching my daughter is the complete erasure of an entire family."

Chase bowed his head in acknowledgment, then opened the encrypted satellite channel.

"Yes! Until all are dead, show no mercy!"