URBAN VILLAIN SYSTEM

The clock struck midnight, and a historic martial emergency was officially declared across the entire territory of India.

The night sky over Mumbai was completely illuminated by the bright, rotating searchlights of tactical defense towers and military arrays. The entire city was placed on an absolute red alert, with major streets closed off, armored vehicles patrolling the borders, and powerful security barriers covering the airspace.

Across the continent, everyone could feel the heavy pressure of a massive, impending war. The Clark family had already finalized their absolute defensive preparations on all fronts. Thousands of dark-armored elite guards stood shoulder to shoulder along the estate’s massive stone walls, their weapons humming with intense spiritual energy.

Every allied sect, supporting family, and mercenary guild had mobilized their forces, turning the Clark family territory into an unbreakable fortress. They were ready for any enemy, whether it came from the Imperial Family, the deep-sea warships of the Demonic Sea Tribe, or the treacherous networks of the academy.

On the other side of the region, Academy Master Da Vinci was also completely prepared to launch a massive, catastrophic strike. He sat inside a hidden tactical command room, his face twisted with absolute greed and lingering fury from being blasted away by Tang Zi earlier.

Da Vinci had already coordinated with the Royal Vanguard Army and several supporting wizard academies. He didn’t care about the laws or the false news he had spread on the martial network anymore; his only absolute goal was to imprison Tony Clark and force him to hand over the World Tree seeds. He knew that this midnight raid was his final, ultimate chance to secure his path to a higher realm, and he was willing to burn the entire city of Mumbai to the ground just to capture one boy.

Despite the terrifying military mobilization happening right outside the borders, the inner courtyard of the Clark family estate was beautifully decorated with glowing lanterns and luxurious banquet tables. Tony’s public announcement about his sudden entrance into closed-door penance had thrown the world into an uproar, but the guests who received his high-grade spiritual invitation tokens began reaching the estate one after another.

They had to pass through multiple heavy security checkpoints and intense scanning arrays managed by the family elders, but because they held Tony’s personal tokens, they were allowed entry into the safe zone.

The atmosphere inside the banquet hall was incredibly surreal, filled with soft music and expensive wine, while the sounds of distant military sirens echoed from the city walls.

Lily Frost was the absolute first guest to arrive through the grand gates. She didn’t care about the luxurious food or the music; her proud, beautiful face was tense with anxiety, and her sharp eyes immediately scanned the area until she locked onto Tony’s lazy figure.

She walked past the servants with rapid, urgent steps, her long robes brushing against the marble floor as she approached the high-backed armchair where Tony was casually leaning back. Elsa was standing right behind his chair, maintaining a serene, perfectly devoted smile that looked entirely out of place to anyone who knew the dangerous Demonic Sea Princess.

"Tony! What in the world is the meaning of this ridiculous drama?!" Lily demanded, her voice dropping into a low, frantic whisper as she stopped right in front of him. Her hands were tightly clenched at her sides, and her breathing was slightly ragged from rushing into the estate.

"The entire city of Mumbai is under a red alert martial emergency! Da Vinci has branded you a global criminal on the martial network, the Imperial Family’s vanguard army is marching toward your gates, and your response is to throw a lavish farewell party and announce a ’closed-door penance’? Are you completely out of your mind? You need to tell me the absolute truth right now!"

Tony didn’t even flinch at her furious outburst. He let out a soft, lazy chuckle and casually swirled the wine glass in his right hand, looking completely unbothered by the fact that a multi-faction war was about to erupt outside his front door. He looked up at his former fiancée with a relaxed, mocking grin that instantly made her teeth grit in frustration.

"Calm down, Lily. There is absolutely no need to get your robes in a twist over a little bit of noisy traffic outside," Tony said smoothly, his tone full of shameless nonchalance. He didn’t offer a single word of explanation regarding Tang Zi, the upper realms, or his secret three-day deadline. He merely gestured toward an empty velvet chair beside him.

"Just take a seat, enjoy the expensive wine, and wait patiently until everyone else arrives. Once all my guests are safely inside this room, the final curtain will rise, and you will understand everything. For now, just relax and enjoy the party."

Lily stared at him for a long moment, her mind completely baffled by his absolute confidence. She wanted to scream at him, to force him to explain why he was acting so careless when his life was on the line, but seeing that unyielding, calculating gleam deep inside his dark eyes, she knew it was completely useless to argue.

With a frustrated sigh, she sat down tightly in the chair, her eyes suspiciously darting toward the brainwashed Elsa, who was silently standing there like a loyal maid.

While the main guests were gathering inside the grand banquet hall, the outer perimeter of the inner estate was experiencing a completely different kind of tension. Using a highly sophisticated, forged duplicate of Tony’s invitation token, a mysterious figure had successfully bypassed the first three security checkpoints near the valley.

The intruder was a highly skilled female assassin disguised in the standard uniform of a Clark family elite maid. She moved through the shadow-filled corridors with absolute, supernatural silence, her physical posture perfectly mimicking a regular servant carrying a silver tray of refreshments.

This hidden lady had spent months training in the dark arts of infiltration, and she had carefully used the chaotic martial emergency in Mumbai to slip past the family elders. Her true master was none other than Da Vinci, who had commanded her to execute a silent, lethal strike on Tony Clark if the main army faced too much resistance at the gates.

She didn’t want to capture him; her objective was to completely paralyze him and locate the spatial hiding coordinates of the World Tree seeds.

She navigated the labyrinth of the grand mansion with precision, using her advanced tracking arrays to avoid the patrolling guards until she finally reached the secluded hallway leading directly to Tony’s private room. She knew that Tony had briefly left the banquet hall to fetch a specific antique item from his quarters, leaving him entirely alone for a single, vulnerable moment.

The lady ducked into a dark recess near his doorway, her breathing completely suppressed as she pulled a tiny, translucent needle from the hidden compartment of her silver tray.

The needle was coated in an ancient, forbidden cosmic soul poison capable of instantly paralyzing an Early Overlord Warrior’s meridian flow within a fraction of a second.

Tony walked down the quiet hallway with slow, deliberate steps, his footsteps echoing softly off the polished wooden floor. He looked completely relaxed, his hands casually tucked into his pockets as he pushed open the heavy wooden door to his private chamber.

The moment he stepped inside the dimly lit room and the door began to swing shut behind him, the hidden lady moved like a striking viper. She slipped into the room right before the lock clicked, her movements so fast that she appeared like a mere blur in the darkness.

Without uttering a single sound, she executed her lethal poison attack, lunging forward with terrifying speed as she aimed the translucent needle directly at the vulnerable spiritual point on the back of Tony’s neck.

The poison tip gleamed with a faint, deadly purple light, cutting through the cold air with absolute killing intent. She was completely certain that this arrogant, lazy young master wouldn’t be able to react to a top-tier surprise ambush from a seasoned professional.

However, she had completely underestimated the terrifying power of Tony’s Truth Eye. Even though his back was turned to her, his active vision had already perceived the distorted energy flow, the hidden poison, and the exact trajectory of her weapon through the reflection of the room’s polished mirrors long before she even entered the doorway.

Just as the deadly needle was mere inches away from piercing his skin, Tony’s body suddenly became completely blurred.

He executed the second form of his Heavenly Mirage Steps: Phantom Illusion, instantly switching his real physical body with an exact, illusory afterimage. The lady’s poison needle stabbed deeply into the empty air of the illusion, causing her violet eyes to widen in sheer, unadulterated shock as she realized her absolute strike had hit absolutely nothing.

Before she could even attempt to withdraw her hand or flash backward into the shadows, a powerful, iron-like grip suddenly clamped down around her wrist from behind.

Tony had materialized out of thin air right next to her flank, his face twisted into a terrifying, ruthlessly cold grin that made her entire blood run cold. With a brutal twist of his wrist, he forced her hand upward, completely turning her own poison weapon back toward her throat.

"You really thought a cheap disguise and a tiny piece of toxic metal would be enough to end my game?" Tony whispered right into her ear, his voice dripping with pure, villainous amusement as he held her completely pinned against the wall.

"Tell your master Da Vinci that his little-toys are completely useless against a true villain."

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