Eternal Thief

Archie's eyes widened with disbelief as he uttered with a hint of fear, "Y-your Highness, please don't jest. I was told I have to join your alliance, and I naturally will work for you diligently but signing an exclusive contract that robs me of my free will was never divulged to me."

Ronan coldly stated without hiding his disdain, "Do you really think a peasant like you, who wasn't even a core grade student or a primary family member, could enter my alliance? Don't make this prince laugh!

"Now, choose either you refuse and be destroyed by me, or you can become my slave as you should be!"

Ace finally understood why this guy was a crimson fate point. He was planning to enslave Archie from the start, and for some reason, he hid it from Jefferson.

All Ace could guess was that Jefferson wasn't what he seemed and was someone who could intimidate an Imperial Prince like Ronan.

Furthermore, from Ronan's tone, he had absolute confidence that Archie would yield to his unreasonable demands because the difference in their status was just too vast.

However, Ace didn't understand why he didn't wait until Archie joined his alliance and then corner him like this.

Either Ronan was an arrogant, idiotic prince who was used to having his way, or there was something profound that Ace wasn't aware of.

Nevertheless, since there wasn't anyone else in the room beside them, Ace didn't have to worry as long as he was quick with his action.

He instantly sent his stern voice into the hall of Thief's House, "Freya and Winter, I'm going to let you out just right behind an imperial prince. Make him unconscious or lose his resistance for a second, don't kill him!"

"So, he's really going to abduct an imperial demon price, huh? And here I thought he was making it an option." Freya clicked her tongue in wonder.

But she quickly stood up and covered her head with a long black hood attached to her armor, and a thick pitch-black book appeared in her hand.

"Heh, he's just desperate, so he wanted our help." Winter scoffed as she wore the hood before her face started to change!

Noa only watched from the sideline with narrowed eyes since Ace didn't summon her.

But she was surprised when he said, "Noa, remain on standby in my personal space. If he resisted my suppression there, I might need your help to pulverize this guy."

Noa suddenly felt a familiar strong suction force, but she didn't resist and vanished while she was moving her hand toward her own long hood.

"Where did she go?" Winter was astounded when she saw Noa vanish before them.

Freya answered ambiguously, "It seemed Leader didn't give you a tour of his own space, huh?"

"What?!" Winter's voice turned cold.

While Ronan was calmly watching, Ace was still pretending to be in pensive shock. Not even twenty seconds passed.

When Ace saw everything was ready, he suddenly looked at Ronan, as Archie's face turned utterly emotionless, "Your Highness, I reckon this place is soundproof, and you might have activated a formation so no one could hear what you were saying, right?"

Ronan suddenly felt strange when he saw this change in Archie's demeanor, as if he had turned into another person!

Before he could react or understand, Archie spoke again with a devious grin, "So, tell me, Your Highness, if someone attacks you, will they protect you?"

"Presumptuous! Do you think you can att…"

But before Ronan could finish his refutation, his voice abruptly stopped as his heart palpitated when alarm bells rang in his mind because strange two presences appeared right behind him!

Alas, it was already too late. In that split second, his storage ring vanished, and two soul attacks shamble his mind; despite the soul-protective treasures he was wearing, these soul attacks were too strange.

The next moment after that, Ronan felt another soul attack, and then something gripped him before a suction force started to cover his body.

He wanted to resist, but those two soul attacks suddenly amplified, and at that moment, he felt like his body was suddenly wrapped by a ghastly force as all senses vanished.

But his senses quickly came back, and those soul oppressions also vanished.

However, when he regained his focus and was ready to counter, he felt like a strong force suppressing him and saw he wasn't in the bright room but in a dark place!

"W-what… what just h-happened?!" He was gobsmacked, and he felt like he was dreaming.

While Ronan was still in a stupor, Ace looked toward Winter's hooded figure. She looked just like a sneaky thief.

However, what shocked Ace and gave him goosebumps was when he tried to see under that hood and found… nothing!

Yes, her face wasn't present, and there was nothing but darkness as she was headless.

"Hehe, surprised, aren't we? This is my Faceless Thief Mask, and I'm completely merged with it. As long as I activate it, no one can see my appearance. And, I would appear headless." Winter's smug voice rang within the hood.

"So, that was why you told me I can't borrow it." Realization dawned upon him.

A few days ago, he contacted Winter not to seek her help but to borrow this faceless thief mask which was a grade-9 treasure.

But she refused to give it to him by saying he couldn't use it and she couldn't take it off. At that time, he didn't understand entirely and thought it was some restriction put by the system, so he asked for help instead.

Now that he actually saw it himself, he understood why she couldn't take it off, and even he couldn't detect this mask's presence when she was wearing it in plain sight and looked normal.

But he didn't have the time to inquire about how this mask worked since he needed to take care of an Imperial Demon Prince he had just abducted.

"Quickly turn into me. I mean this demon I'm currently impersonating." Ace quickly told Winter.

It was the next part of their plan.

"Hey, why can't I turn into that prince?" Winter sounded dissatisfied, but still, her body suddenly started to twist, which made Ace take a small step back in shock.

He was flabbergasted when Winter's hooded figure turned into Archie, and even their clothes were the same.

"How is it?" Winter spoke in Archie's voice smugly.

Ace's real eyes shone with envy when he saw just with a glance, she had turned into Archie and even speaking in his voice, and she didn't need to feed her mask or scan anything.

However, in reality, the Faceless Thief Mask does need scanning, but because it was a grade-9 treasure, all it needed was its master's senses like sight, hearing, and such to change the Faceless Thief into the same person!

As for the cultivation realm, it was an even more trifle because it could even emit a peak Law Awareness Realm's Aura as long as Winter wished for.

Ace would be even more envious if he knew that as well.

"Alright, alright, don't act arrogantly. You have to play Archie from now on since your disguise is flawless under this heaven, and no one will be able to suspect you. Just don't get caught on me." Ace stated with vexation.

Winter sneered before a cold light flashed past her demon eyes, "First, tell me, what is this space of yours? It seemed you gave everyone a visit except me!"

"I'll give you a visit next time. Now let me focus. We don't have much time before someone notice or come in." Ace sternly warned.

Winter was dissatisfied, but she obediently sat down, and when she saw all those dishes on the table, she started eating without caring about Ace, who was depressed by this Fox's antics.

Nevertheless, he still has to focus.

But he nearly screamed when he saw Noa and Freya were blocked by a tiny black chick.

Furthermore, they both were utterly suppressed and having difficulty moving under Cyrus's aura alone, which shocked Ace because even that black book hovering in front of Freya, a Grade-9 Dark Grimoire, seemed to be quashed!

"Intruders, you dare to infiltrate my master nest. I'll turn you all into ashes once master gives the command." Cyrus menacingly uttered in its sweet childish voice, but his language was different, which both Noa nor Freya didn't understand.

In their eyes, this tiny chick was chirping and jumping while wiggling its undeveloped wings.

But they were shocked nevertheless because they were completely caught off guard by this tiny black chick when it suddenly appeared in front of them and blocked their way.

Before they could react, or even if they could respond, they were entirely suppressed by its quirky, ghastly aura.

If they weren't in Ace's space, they would've started using their most decisive attacks to struggle, but since they were in Ace's space, they knew this chick belonged to Ace, and without his approval, it couldn't enter here.

"Master look here, Cyrus caught these pests sneaking here, and there's one more in that strange box!" Cyrus happily called its master to showcase his achievement.

Ace didn't know whether to laugh or cry!