Adler's Last Breath (2)

After Emily sat down, Adler sat in the chair opposite to her.

"So, how do you like it so far?"

"It's quiet, but in a calming way."

Adler nodded in response, "That's right. Even during the day, you'll never find a better place for a peaceful conversation over tea."

Adler then went on to tell her the story of how he found this tea shop, but Emily tuned him out until a waiter entered with a pot of boiling tea. Both of them seemed to have been anxiously awaiting the tea, so their eyes were quick to focus on it. After the waiter filled the teacups in front of them, rested the teapot on the table, and left the room, Adler picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"As good as always."

He had a serene expression, but as his eyes landed on Emily, there was a bit of impatience in them. He didn't urge her to drink the tea, but that was what his eyes conveyed. He wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it, but Emily unsuspectingly picked up the teacup in front of her and brought it to her lips. This scene played in slow motion before Adler, as he waited for those small lips to part. He devoted an unhealthy amount of attention to her, but that did not change the pace at which Emily moved. She raised the cup with grace, and first indulged in the scent of the beverage. This was proper etiquette, but Adler wished he could just force her mouth open and throw it in there.

Once she had her fill of the scent, Emily slowly brought the cup closer to her lips. Adler's mouth went dry as he watched her, and the sound of his heart filled his ears, but he did not take another sip of tea. Instead, he continued staring at her, eagerly awaiting the moment his plan succeeded, but right as the cup touched her lips, she showed him a devious smirk.

"You should wipe your nose, Sir Adler."

At first, he got upset because he thought she was fooling around, but then he realized that it wasn't a farce. When he looked down, he saw a drop of blood dive into his tea, briefly dispersing before fading away. His eyes opened wide in shock as he lowered the teacup and placed a finger under his nose. He could clearly feel it being stained by his own bodily fluid, but he couldn't make sense of the situation.

"Why is this happening...?"

He truly didn't understand what was causing this, but someone provided him with the answer.

"You know, I was a little hesitant. Even though I believed that you were the culprit, there wasn't much tangible proof; I was just moving based on what I heard from others. So I gave you a chance, I wanted to see if I was really right about you. And from start to finish, you didn't betray my expectation."

Once he figured out that he had fallen for Emily's trap, Adler glared at her with his unrestrained hatred. He immediately tried to suppress her using the power of his superior cultivation, but the attempt only aggravated the poison inside him.

With a fresh batch of blood spurting from his mouth, he asked, "What did you do?"

Emily didn't speak, but she pointed at the floor. When Adler looked under the table, he was once again surprised by what she had done. There were faint scorch marks which formed a simple tier 1 reversal array, which had switched the two sides of the table, giving Adler the teacup which should have been Emily's.

"When did you do this? My eyes didn't leave you for a second."

"We may both be tier 3 array masters, but I'm superior in everything besides experience. The reversal array I drew only needed to work for a moment, so I designed it to work with the absolute minimum amount of energy. And since you were so focused on me, I knew you wouldn't notice it."

Adler spat blood once more, still seething in anger, but he also scolded himself.

'I was careless!'

With his life coming to an end, he felt no remorse for the things he had done, he only regretted that he hadn't gotten rid of Emily along with her master. However, he hadn't given up yet. Even if he couldn't use his cultivation, he still had other trump cards.

By forcefully moving his hand via mental control, Adler reached into his robe to take out a bottle. It contained the same poison that was affecting him, so he was certain of its effectiveness. Furthermore, one major weakness of traditional protection arrays like the ones Emily learnt from her master, was that they couldn't block out subtle poisonous gases like what would be released if he shattered the bottle.

"Take this-!"

Adler was ready to throw the bottle at her and watch it shatter against the barrier of her protection array, then hopefully catch a glimpse as she fell into the same state as him, but Emily had decided to stop being passive.

The moment he reached into his robe, she stabbed Dull Harmony through his arm and chest. It missed his heart and his lungs, but the wound still severely worsened his condition, bringing his remaining lifespan down to a couple seconds. Even he could inspire sympathy with his pale face when he was on the edge of death, but Emily felt nothing as she slightly twisted the blade. She thought it would bring her more joy to see his face twist in agony, but the sensation was surprisingly lacking.

"N, no..."

His attempt was foiled once again, but this entire shop was a trap. After his death was revealed, Emily would be hunted by everyone in the building, so he still didn't despair as his eyelids grew heavy. He believed that Emily would be following him after a short delay. Fortunately for him, he expelled his last breath before he witnessed Shui entering the room through the door. Someone's fallen hand could be seen on the floor by the entrance to the room, but neither saw the need to bring it up.

"Did things go well?" Shui asked.

"Yes. It's almost funny how accurate your prediction was."

As Emily withdrew her sword, she recalled the plan that Shui came up with to kill Adler. It should have been troublesome to accomplish this objective since they needed to hide their involvement, but Adler made it easy for them by providing the perfect setting to commit the crime. As he also didn't want to be revealed as the culprit behind Emily's death, he had arranged a location that would temporarily be hidden from the city's detection array, and made sure that they left separately to diminish any suspicion. Furthermore, he had arranged for the shop to be filled with his people so that they could help kill Emily if the poison failed. However, Shui silently murdered them while Astar was waiting for Emily to drink the tea.

The stab wound Adler received could be counted as evidence, but Shui had an easy way of taking care of that.

With a snap of his fingers, he summoned an ember of his heart flame and placed it on Adler. He was engulfed by the flame and erased within an instant. Others would be frightened by this outrageously powerful spiritual flame, but Emily only thought it was pretty even though she wasn't enticed by it.

"Are you sure about this? If we publicize his wrongdoings, we can clear Master Nikolai's name."

"Yes, I'm sure. I have a feeling, that making him disappear and everyone forgetting about him, would be more painful. I'll clear Master's name another way."