Ex rank talent Awakening: 100% Dodge rate
Chapter 306 - CHAPTER 306: DIFFERENT DANIEL

"How do you know that?" Greg asked coldly, his voice tinged with suspicion. He hadn't told anyone about his Devour ability—how he could absorb the powers of those he consumed. Yet here Sabbah was, speaking of it like he knew all along.

Sabbah lay still, his breathing shallow and uneven. The faintest trace of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Daniel… Be wary of him," he said in a hoarse whisper. "He's not what he once was. He's made contact with beings that don't belong to our universe... Beings that once sought your end. I fear he's no longer on our side—if he ever was."

---

Flashback...

After the meeting with Greg, Sabbah returned to his family estate—a massive compound that spanned both the physical world and its mirror within the shadow realm. The halls were silent as he walked through them, each footstep echoing his growing burden.

Time was running short.

He entered the great hall where his daughter Jane awaited, seated solemnly on the throne reserved for the family head. She sat with a composed expression, but her clenched fists gave away her turmoil.

"I'm going to rescue Kate," Sabbah said plainly. "And I may not return."

Jane didn't flinch. She stood slowly and faced him.

"Then don't go," she said, voice firm. "Stay here, Father. Please."

"I can't."

"Why?" she pressed. "Why throw away your life for her? Is she that important to you?"

"She is important," he replied, "to someone I owe everything to. I made a vow—to protect her. Even if I die in the process."

Jane's composure faltered. Her voice trembled as she said, "Then let the vow go. You have nothing left to prove. Stay with us… stay with me."

"Even if I abandon Kate, do you really think the absolutes will spare us?" Sabbah challenged. "They've already marked us. One by one, they'll come for you. For your sisters. For everyone. I'd rather die fighting than watch helplessly while our legacy is destroyed."

Jane hesitated, then said the unthinkable.

"If that's what it takes to keep you alive… then let them come. Let them take us."

Her words were heavy, but she didn't waver. She stood there with pride, ready to sacrifice the entire clan to keep him alive.

"We were born to serve you," she said quietly. "Our lives belong to you. And if dying means you live, then so be it."

Sabbah was silent. He knew she meant it. Jane had always been that way—unyielding in her loyalty.

"While I'm gone," he said finally, "take everyone into the shadow realm. Stay there as long as you must. I've prepared supplies—food, water, shelter. It should last you decades if need be."

He turned away without waiting for her reply.

---

Jane stood motionless as he walked away. Only after the doors closed behind him did she allow herself to tremble.

"Damn her," she hissed under her breath. "If only she had stayed put… If only she didn't exist!"

Her hatred for Kate flared like a wildfire consuming her heart.

She remembered a time when her father was soft. When he laughed, when he played with her as a child. Before he became the patriarch. Before duty consumed him.

Those memories were precious to Jane—proof that he was once more than a cold leader.

But everything changed after Kate was born.

From the beginning, it had always been Kate.

Kate who received gentle reprimands instead of harsh scoldings. Kate who was excused when others would have been punished. Kate who got the kind of love Jane longed for but never received again.

And now… her father was marching toward certain death. For her.

Jealousy had always simmered in Jane's chest, but now it boiled over into hatred. Raw and cruel.

"Why didn't she just stay? Why did she leave the clan?!" she muttered, nails digging into her palms.

In her heart, Kate wasn't just her sister anymore. She was the thief who had stolen their father's heart… and now, perhaps, his life.

---

Villa of the Absolutes

Meanwhile, Sabbah traveled through the shadow realm. Cloaked in near-perfect stealth, he crossed great distances in mere moments.

Eventually, he arrived at a sprawling villa—home to several members of the hidden families. The place radiated power and danger. This was where Kate was likely being held.

Sabbah moved cautiously. Every movement was measured. Every breath controlled.

He didn't dare extend his senses—doing so might alert the other absolutes to his presence. Instead, he searched room by room, methodically and patiently.

Time-consuming. Risky. But necessary.

He passed dozens of chambers, each filled with wards, traps, and sensory devices. Eventually, he came upon a room unlike the others—heavily guarded and fortified with ancient magic.

"If she's here, it has to be this room."

Sabbah infiltrated it with a master's finesse, bypassing wards that would annihilate a lesser intruder.

But the room was empty.

No Kate.

Just endless relics, scrolls, and strange diagrams pinned to the walls. Sabbah turned to leave, disappointment gnawing at him—but froze when the door handle began to turn.

He vanished into the shadows just as Daniel stepped inside.

Sabbah could have slipped out. But something stopped him.

A thought—like a whisper. Gentle at first, then firm, and eventually, undeniable.

"Wait."

He had experienced this once before—on the day Kate was born. A strange instinct had overtaken him, whispering a duty into his very soul. "Protect her. At all costs."

He didn't understand it then. He didn't understand it now. But he obeyed.

Daniel slumped onto the couch, exhausted.

"Bunch of clowns…" he muttered, rubbing his temples. "Can't even form a decent strategy…"

The words shocked Sabbah.

Daniel—so calm and poised in public—now sounded like an impatient child venting after a long day.

Sabbah remained still, unseen, yet deeply disturbed.

Who was the real Daniel?

And more importantly… what else was he hiding?

Daniel continued his tirade, pacing back and forth across the spacious room. His voice echoed off the polished marble walls as he ranted about the incompetence of the other absolutes, the lack of unity among the founders, and the constant setbacks plaguing their plans.

Hidden in the shadows, Sabbah listened intently. His brows furrowed, not from Daniel's words, but from the growing disconnect between the man before him and the image the absolute had always held of him.

The records of Daniel described a composed, diplomatic leader—calculated, brilliant, and unshakable. A symbol of reason amidst chaos. But the man Sabbah saw now was unraveling at the seams—irritable, prideful, and reckless.

"Is this his real self?" Sabbah wondered silently. "Or is something... corrupting him?"

Daniel kicked aside a stack of scrolls in frustration, his chest rising and falling heavily with every breath. Then—just as suddenly as his outburst had begun—he froze. His posture straightened, his expression shifting from wild anger to cold calculation.

The change was so abrupt, Sabbah almost flinched.

Daniel turned toward the far end of the room. There, the wall shimmered faintly like a ripple in water before a projection appeared—a towering, veiled silhouette, distorted by distance and spatial magic. The presence exuded something ancient and vast, as if the very space around it grew heavier.

Sabbah's pupils narrowed.

"Who—?"

The being's voice was low and inhuman, distorted like a wind chime in a storm.

"How is the task you were assigned coming along?"

The tone couldn't be mistaken by Sabbah. It was as if a general was talking to his subordinate