The masked man frowned when he heard Ashton's words. After remaining silent for a moment, he said, "As I said before, just hand over the thunder sword and I'll let all of you live. That's the most I can do for you."
Count Wiley narrowed his eyes at the masked man from the side and thought, 'So, you forced him to use that item. You are really asking for death.'
When both Count Wiley and Ashton were young, during one outing, they had unknowingly ventured into a ruin of secret realm. Although the time had eroded everything there, they had found two rankless items.
One was the [witch's destruction talisman] he possessed, while the other one was a small bottle of black liquid, [Devil's blood].
It was because he knew Ashton possessed the [Devil's blood] that he didn't try to kill him during their battle last time, nor did he dare to harm his family, even though he was crippled.
Why?
It was because the [Devil's blood] had two terrifying characteristics.
Unlike other secret method of temporary power increase, it could be used by anyone regardless of the fact they were crippled or mana-less commoners.
The second special characteristic was that upon consumption, it could raise the consumer's power unlimitedly as long as the consumer had blood and life force left in his body.
What notion was the unlimited increase? This meant one could become a king ranked, emperor ranked or even Monarch ranked mage as long as they had enough life blood and blood in their body.
That was why, when he saw the masked man wasn't taking Ashton seriously at all, he felt disdainful toward him.
Although the masked man didn't know about the effects of the [Devil's blood], he still should never underestimate his enemy because many die because of their underestimation of the threat in front of them.
'Just because he is a five-star mage and is feared by many, he seems to think he is all powerful. It is only right for him to suffer. It would be best if Ashton could kill him, but I doubt he has that enough life energy to raise his strength to peak five-star or above level.'
Wiley mused while keeping his guard up, because he knew Ashton hated him more than anyone in this world and he might target him first.
"Hahahaha! Lord masked ghost is too generous. But I'm afraid I can't let you do me such a big favor." Ashton laughed sardonically.
"Is that so?"
Whoosh!
The masked man smirked and vanished.
Ashton readied himself to defend, but the attack never came. A moment later, his eyes widened in horror, but before he could do anything, the masked man reappeared. This time, there were eight people beside him, held in mana chains.
They were Ashton's three wives, butler George, Lacey and Layla, Chloe and Eva. Every member of the Garfield family, apart from his sons and daughters, was here.
The masked man grinned when he saw the expression on Ashton's face and sneered, "Did you think I wouldn't know about the feeling from underground while you waste my time here?"
"Tsk! Tsk! You are naïve if you thought so." He clicked his thought and then pointed his finger up at the formation disk, "Even if I don't use mana divine sense, I would still know everything that's happening here in your mansion, thanks to that."
"You see, that little thing is very useful in these kinds of situations. Not only can't you hide anything from me, you also can't send any message out and no one will be able to see or hear anything what's happening here."
Ashton closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the black gaseous energy swirling around him intensified.
Boom!
Early-stage, four-star…
Boom!
Mid-stage, four-star…
Boom!
High-stage, four-star…
Boom!
Peak four-star…
Within a few seconds, he had broken through from the peak three-star to the peak four-star realm and the black energy showed no signs of weakening.
Finally, the look in the masked man's eyes changed to become serious. As for Dean, his face had turned completely dark as he cursed in his mind, 'Damn it! I knew something was amiss.'
"Ashton, stop it or I'll kill them one by one." The masked man shouted as he grabbed Chloe, Noah's wife, by the neck.
Chloe's face turned deathly pale, and she looked at Ashton with a begging look.
Seeing this, Amelia, who always had a cheerful smile on her face and never become angry, shouted coldly, "Stop giving him that look, Chloe. Do you think he won't kill you and kill all of us if your father-in-law stopped? He won't. He'll still kill us. So, stop being so pitiful and make us feel even more guilty than we already feel."
"I-I… don't… want… to… die." Chloe croaked, struggling to breathe.
Ashton's body trembled when he heard this. Seeing this, Amelia cried out angrily at Chloe, however tears were streaming down her eyes, "SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Crack!
The masked man cracked Chloe's neck before throwing her away like a rag-doll, "It seems her life wasn't worth enough, right?"
He then waved his hand, and the mana chains restricting the remaining seven people wrapped around the necks and started squeezing.
"How about all of them? Are their lives worth enough for you to stop doing what you are doing and hand over the thunder sword? If not, how about we add the lives of your sons and daughter who are currently in different academies? You don't think they will be safe when my royal family wants their lives, do you?"
Ashton's eyes blazed with dark flames of anger but his heart couldn't help but shuddered in fear when he saw his wives, daughters-in-law and his loyal subordinate hanging just an inch away from death. And the mention of his sons and daughters made him almost stop.
However, just then, a cold voice sounded from above…
"You want my family's heirloom sword? Isn't your little royal family too full of themselves?"
