“Kill Forte… us?!”

Avena’s grip on Ciel’s hand tightened slightly.

Even though she couldn’t see Avena’s expression in the dark, from her slightly raised tone, it was clear how shocked she was at this moment.

In Avena’s mind, Ciel and she were still carefully building their foundations in Ansu City, step by step, waiting to slowly grow stronger, then tackle various issues one by one.

And now, Ciel, who had just woken up from a coma a few hours ago, suddenly told her they were going to kill Forte?

Avena’s left hand was holding Ciel’s right hand, while her right hand was reaching upward, sliding up after touching Ciel’s nose tip, and touching Ciel’s forehead.

She doesn’t have a fever, does she?

What about her mental power?

Avena’s pupils flickered with a faint dark purple halo, becoming the only light source in the dark room.

Just as Avena was preparing to delve into Ciel’s subconscious to investigate Ciel’s mental state, she noticed something was slightly off.

No… Ciel’s mental state… why does it feel almost completely recovered?

Just this afternoon, Ciel’s mental power was still on the verge of collapse, even having been in a coma since yesterday. If she hadn’t gone to her, Ciel didn’t know how much longer she would have been in a coma.

But after only a few hours… her mental power had recovered? Even the pollution that had been present all along…

For a moment, Avena felt as if she was peering into the mind and subconscious of a stranger.

The “Listener” path, especially the subsequent Tier 2 “Psychologist,” when observing people, largely relies on the spirit body and mind to identify a person.

Situations like this, where mental power undergoes a drastic change, from the perspective of a transcendent of this path, are indistinguishable from a complete change of person. The pollution sources and characteristics used for identification and differentiation have completely changed.

However…

In Avena’s investigation, she soon discovered something.

The pollution hadn’t disappeared… it had just shrunk into a ball in a corner of Ciel’s mind, and there were no signs of it spreading further… as if it was being suppressed by something.

Upon discovering the source of pollution, Avena’s heart gradually calmed down.

“Did you obtain a sealed artifact?”

Avena asked curiously.

In a situation like Ciel’s, there was one type of transcendent item that could achieve a similar effect—”Substitute Death Relic.”

However, “Substitute Death Relics” were unique transcendent items only possessed by the Roswell family. Ciel clearly had no other way to obtain them. Moreover, their function was to temporarily transfer the pollution source. After one burned out, the pollution source would return unchanged.

“Yes.”

In the darkness, Ciel slightly nodded, not explaining further how she had resolved the mental pollution issue.

Explaining this issue would involve the system, and the system had clearly warned her that it was best not to mention it in reality. Ciel wouldn’t court disaster.

“Okay… let me get this straight…”

Avena withdrew her right hand, rubbed her temples, and asked, “Did you just say, kill that person?”

Avena didn’t even want to directly say Forte’s name. After all, from Avena’s perspective now, Forte was like a large mountain pressing down on all the powerful figures in Ansu. Even the Roswell family couldn’t deal with him. Avena naturally couldn’t believe Ciel would succeed.

She knew Ciel was good at creating miracles, but this had already gone beyond the realm of miracles. The probability was perhaps even lower than the success rate of praying for Forte to suddenly drop dead.

“Yes, I need your help.”

Ciel nodded, repeating what she had just said.

Avena had been waiting for an opportunity to help Ciel, but this opportunity came too quickly, leaving Avena unsure of how to respond for a moment.

However, based on the belief that Ciel would not deceive her, Avena decided to first listen to Ciel’s plan.

“How do you plan to do it?”

Avena asked, “How can I help you?”

This matter was simply too big. Avena wasn’t sure if she could be of any help to Ciel.

Ciel didn’t directly tell Avena about things like creating Other Side nodes by hand and dragging Forte into an endless death loop, which were achievable but difficult to explain without mentioning the system. Instead, she began to reveal Forte’s other hidden information.

From Forte’s “Uniqueness,” his tacit approval of the Society of Merriment’s actions, his involvement in the Church of the God of Order’s mysticism research, his use of Windsor as a living notebook, to his relationship with Lafayette, she told Avena everything, down to the smallest detail.

Avena remained silent, digesting the massive amount of information Ciel had provided… Each of these things was a secret that could not have been discovered without months, even years, of investigation.

After Ciel finished speaking, she didn’t continue to provide Avena with any more information. Instead, she just quietly waited for Avena’s response in the darkness.

After a long time, Avena finally recovered from Ciel’s words. By this time, she had realized that her left hand, which was holding Ciel’s palm, was a little slippery… Avena’s palm was sweating.

“I’m sorry…”

Avena switched to holding Ciel’s right hand with her right hand. After pulling back her left hand, she wiped it on the handkerchief in her pocket, then reached out again and held Ciel’s left hand.

“That’s a lot of information… What exactly do I need to do?”

Avena asked.

She racked her brain but couldn’t figure out what she could possibly do in such a complex web of relationships—at least, the only thing she could think of at the moment was to use her banquet on the 21st to gather people, just as she and Ciel had discussed before.

“We need to completely control Lafayette. To do this, we must first control Mond, the Society of Merriment member hidden as her guard.”

Ciel explained, “First, gain control of them and make them completely our allies.”

“They are both Tier 3.”

In the darkness, Avena gently shook her head and said, “It might be a little difficult with just me, unless they are severely injured and mentally extremely weak, or on the verge of death.”