Lord of The Red Planet

"You mean Betta was attacked by members of the Red Lotus?" Arthur stopped what he was doing. He set his quill pen down on the desk and looked seriously at Emma, who stood before him.

"That's right, My Lord. Octavia just reported to me that Betta was attacked by members of the Red Lotus. Here is the detailed report." Emma handed over the document she was holding and placed it on the desk.

Arthur took the document and began to read what had actually happened. "Who is this Rintarou?" he asked curiously.

"My Lord, according to information dug up by Belial, this Rintarou is the vice-chairman of the Red Lotus. For now, no information has been found that suggests he might be an Avalon player," Emma answered with a serious expression. "And as for how he was able to know our movements…."

Arthur immediately cut Emma off. "Because of technology?"

Emma nodded. "Correct. This was my mistake, My Lord, for underestimating this man-made technology. Please… punish me!" Emma immediately knelt, her eyes closed, awaiting her punishment.

Seeing this, Arthur massaged his temples, then said firmly, "Get up, Emma. This isn't just your mistake." He stood up from his desk, then walked over to the large world map spread across the wall. "But the mistake of all of us for underestimating the power of human technology."

That's right. Maybe it's because I thought magic was superior, so I forgot the effects that technology could achieve. Moreover, this is the Information Age, where anyone can access something from the other side of the world quickly.

This guy, Rintarou, must have used the CCTV in that penthouse. After finding out Yamada sold half his assets and handed the organization over to a stranger, he must have become suspicious and wanted to know why his boss had suddenly gone crazy. So, he used the CCTV to listen to our conversation and find out information about me. It's likely he didn't order his subordinates to kill Ayato, but chose me as the target because he knew I was the mastermind behind the scenes. I still remember, the room used when Yamada signed was the living room with that big TV, and there was a CCTV camera there.

Damn it. He clenched his fist. In that case… doesn't this mean my conversation with Betta, Octavia, and Jarvis was also overheard by this person?!

Thinking of that, he felt a little panicked. He quickly turned around and gave a serious look to Emma, who was still kneeling and looking at him with a pleading expression, begging to be punished. "Emma! Immediately order Belial to find out where this Rintarou is! Find and kill him! He likely overheard my conversation with Betta and the others in the penthouse yesterday!"

Hearing this, Emma's pleading expression immediately turned serious. She quickly stood up and saluted. "It will be done at once, My Lord. I will make this Rintarou regret being born into this world," she said with a cold expression.

Arthur nodded. Emma immediately teleported to the Sixth Floor to meet Belial.

Seeing Emma leave, Arthur felt no sense of relief. "Damn it!" He punched the wall, and a small crack appeared. "If he hands that conversation over to the Japanese government, they'll be able to connect the Shibuya incident to me, and Avanheim's covert plans could be ruined!"

That conversation contained how Betta controlled Yamada. As long as this Rintarou isn't an idiot, then what Betta and I said is no longer just empty talk, because there's direct proof that Yamada—his own boss—immediately obeyed the words of a stranger like me. And in that conversation, I also laid out my future plans for Betta.

"This person must be eliminated immediately, and the information about my conversation must also be destroyed!" Arthur clenched his fist. He touched his finger to his right ear and immediately used the Message spell.

"What is it, Lord Arthur?" Emma asked, her tone confused.

"I've changed my mind. I'll kill this human myself. So, you can have Belial meet me on Earth. I'm waiting at the penthouse." After saying that, he took out the Staff of Avanheim from his inventory.

He pointed the staff forward and said with a flat expression, "Gate."

Instantly, a bluish-black sphere appeared from thin air and expanded. Arthur stepped right in. The portal then shrank back and vanished.

…

Arthur set foot inside Yamada's penthouse. His gaze immediately fell on the CCTV camera in the corner of the room. He extended his hand, and the camera instantly shattered into pieces.

"Damn thing," he cursed.

After that, he pointed his staff at the floor. "Summon Magic: Shadow Demons."

A purplish-white magic circle appeared on the floor and began to glow. From the circle, one by one, shadow creatures emerged, until there were five of them. They were humanoid in appearance, but their entire forms were pitch black, like living shadows. Their faces were just two white dots for eyes and a horrifying, grinning white mouth, exactly like an emoticon on a keyboard.

"Master, what are your orders?" The five Shadow Demons immediately knelt as they emerged from the magic circle.

"Wait here for now," he said flatly.

Arthur glanced at them. Shadow Demons are one of the types of demons I can summon using the Staff of Avanheim. They are mid-tier demons, Level 40. For combat, they're not reliable. But for gathering information and tracking people, they are the best. Of course, if the opponent is a Level 100 player, demons like these would be spotted immediately.

"Lord Arthur."

Arthur immediately turned to the source of the voice and saw a handsome young man in a Victorian-era black suit walking toward him, then kneeling. Next to him, Emma, in her black armor, also knelt. Behind them stood Betta and Octavia, wearing their maid armors.

"In that case, let's not waste any more time. Where is this Rintarou located?" Arthur asked Belial.

"He is currently in his luxury home in the area called Shinjuku District," Belial replied respectfully.

Arthur nodded, satisfied. As expected of Avanheim's head of intelligence. He's very reliable.

"Then we'll head there immediately. And you, Shadow Demons, follow us and secure the area around the house so that no one can approach," he commanded.

"Understood, Lord Arthur." The Shadow Demons immediately saluted.

"Gate." Arthur once again used his teleportation magic. They all stepped into the bluish-black sphere.

…

"What do you mean they didn't come back?!" A man with short black hair and a thick mustache on his face looked angrily at a young man in a suit before him.

"I don't know the detailed situation, Boss. But that's the information I received. We can't contact them at all," the man in the black suit said with a fearful expression.

"You idiots! Causing such a commotion, but failing completely!" The mustached man immediately punched a seemingly expensive flower vase on his desk, shattering it to pieces. "If it's come to this, sooner or later the police will find out we were the culprits. Kariya, book me a flight to Singapore, now!" he ordered anxiously and hurriedly.

"But, Boss Rintarou… I also received information that the CCTV in the area where our members attacked that woman suddenly malfunctioned and recorded a different image," Kariya explained.

Hearing this, Rintarou's eyes lit up slightly. "You mean… like someone did it on purpose?"

"That's right, Boss," Kariya answered, his face tense. "But even so, from our insider information in the police force, the police obtained an amateur recording made by a resident, and in it… our men are visible."

Hearing that, Rintarou took a stack of documents from his desk, rolled it up, and hit Kariya hard on the head with it. "You fool! Then it ends up the same way! Get out of here! Buy me a plane ticket!" he snapped angrily, his face red.

"Yes, sir," Kariya said softly, rubbing his head where he had been hit.

"How did it come to this?! Damn it!" Rintarou yelled, slamming his fist on his desk. "That's right! This is all these bastards' fault! If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have chosen to do this! Who do they think they are?!" He kicked the chair in front of him hard.

"Suddenly taking the organization that Yamada and I painstakingly built from scratch to this size! And they suddenly want to take all the results of that hard work without breaking a sweat?! Bastards!" Thinking of that, Rintarou grew even angrier. This was all the result of his hard work for nearly twenty years, and this foreigner, with just some strange ability to control Yamada, wanted him to surrender everything? In your dreams!

"That's right! Why don't I just hand over that CCTV recording to the government? That way, even if I go to jail, the Red Lotus Organization will still be mine, and its assets will be all mine too! No matter how strong they are, if their opponent is the government, they won't be able to do a thing!" Thinking of that, a triumphant smile appeared on Rintarou's face.

He immediately took his phone from his pocket and typed the number of a police acquaintance. Just as he was about to press the call button, he felt a hand on his. Rintarou immediately turned his head.

His body tried to back away in shock, but it was held back by the tight grip on his hand. "You… you're that Arthur Leonhart, aren't you?! Why did you suddenly appear next to me?!" he said, his voice trembling.

"No, that's not important! It's good you're here! This is the end for you! Die here, you thief!" Rintarou shouted. He grabbed a pistol from his pocket with his left hand and aimed it at Arthur's head.

Before Rintarou could pull the trigger, his head was suddenly detached and flying in the air. His expression was one of complete confusion.

"Huh?" he said.

His head rolled onto the desk, then fell to the floor. His headless body instantly spurted blood all around, covering the beautiful wooden desk in a deep red.

Arthur glanced at a black sword stuck in the wall, then at Emma who was standing not far from him. "Good work, Emma," he praised, though his smile looked forced. I should have known bringing her here would end up like this. Emma is too protective when it comes to me.

Arthur directed his gaze to the head lying on the floor. Actually, I could use resurrection magic to bring him back to life. But… whatever. He's not that important anyway. What's important is the file he has on me.

He immediately shifted his gaze to the Shadow Demons. "Shadow Demons, immediately destroy all evidence of us in this house and on this computer!" he commanded quickly.

"Understood, Lord Arthur." The Shadow Demons hidden in his shadow emerged and immediately went about their task.

"Alright. As for the rest of you, kill everyone in this house, without making a sound," Arthur said with a cold look.

"Understood, My Lord." Betta, Emma, Octavia, and Belial paid their respects, then immediately left.

I think I went a bit overboard, ordering a Floor Guardian like Belial and a Level 100 Secretary-General to carry out a low-level assassination task like this,he thought, looking at the spot where they had disappeared.

He looked at Rintarou's corpse. "As for you… wouldn't it be a waste of resources if I didn't use this corpse?" he said with a cold smile.

He pointed the Staff of Avanheim at the corpse. "Create: Undead Angel," he said softly.