Diana took Victor to the greatest medical hospital in the entire world, which stood at the very center of the capital city of Fredonia. That city was unlike any other place across the Ethereum world because ordinary citizens were never allowed to enter its borders. Every individual who lived there possessed wealth that exceeded one billion units, and the city itself existed under the direct authority of the imperial royal family of Fredonia Empire.

Although the royal family ruled one of the strongest empires in existence, they still could not rival the true overlords of the world. The reason was simple. They did not possess a sage among their ranks. In truth, none of the ten imperial royal families throughout the Ethereum world had a living sage supporting them. The balance of power had always belonged to the ancient sage clans.

Only once in recorded history had a royal family produced a sage level existence. However, that individual had vanished countless years ago without leaving behind even the slightest trace. No battlefield remains were ever discovered. No witnesses survived to explain what had happened. Even now, the disappearance remained one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the entire world because a being powerful enough to reach the sage realm should have been nearly impossible to erase completely.

Diana did not care much about those matters at the moment. Her attention remained fixed entirely on Victor’s condition. The moment they arrived at the hospital, countless medical staff rushed forward to receive him. Victor was immediately transferred toward the highest level emergency treatment section while specialists examined the severe damage throughout his body.

Not long afterward, Victor was placed inside a massive healing pod filled with glowing green liquid. The liquid contained countless medicinal substances capable of accelerating regeneration and stabilizing damaged mana circuits. Tubes connected the pod to several advanced machines that continuously monitored every fluctuation inside Victor’s body.

Only after confirming that the doctors had begun treatment properly did Diana finally leave the hospital.

She returned directly to the headquarters of the Morningstar clan without wasting a single second. The moment she entered the clan estate, she ignored everyone around her and walked straight toward her private chamber. Her expression remained cold and emotionless during the entire journey, yet a terrifying pressure silently surrounded her body and forced everyone nearby to lower their heads instinctively.

After entering her chamber, Diana activated several hidden formations concealed within the walls. A section of the floor slowly moved aside and revealed a secret underground passage. Without hesitation, she stepped inside and descended deep beneath the clan headquarters until she reached a completely hidden bunker that almost nobody within the clan even knew existed.

The atmosphere inside the bunker was horrifying.

The walls were stained dark with old blood, while the air itself carried the heavy scent of death and torture. Numerous corpses were scattered across the room in grotesque conditions. Most of the bodies wore identical black clothing marked with obscure symbols. Every single one of them belonged to the same hidden organization that Diana had been hunting since the beginning of her second life.

Diana dragged the unconscious assassin she had captured earlier into the center of the room. She tied him down using specially crafted ropes designed to suppress mana and physical strength simultaneously. Once the restraints were secured properly, she slowly channeled dark mana into his body and forcefully awakened him.

The moment the assassin regained consciousness, his eyes landed upon Diana’s face.

His body trembled violently.

When his vision adjusted fully and he noticed the countless mutilated corpses surrounding him, his expression instantly turned pale. He nearly vomited from fear. Those dead people were not strangers to him. They were members of his own organization, individuals who had vanished over the years without explanation.

Diana had been capturing them secretly whenever opportunities appeared. In her previous life, her eventual death had been connected directly to this hidden organization. They were traitors to humanity who operated within the shadows while pretending to be ordinary humans. Their ideology was completely insane. They believed humanity itself was a plague upon the world, and they viewed themselves as the cure that would erase that plague forever.

Ever since her rebirth, Diana had been searching for their hidden headquarters. Unfortunately, obtaining information from them had never been easy. The organization possessed terrifying methods that prevented captured members from revealing secrets. Most captives either killed themselves or had their souls destroyed before interrogation could succeed.

However, this time was different.

This was the first epic rank member she had ever managed to capture alive.

Naturally, Diana felt extremely interested in what she might obtain from him.

Without saying a single word, she walked toward the assassin calmly and grabbed one of his hands. Then she slowly cut off three of his fingers one after another. Thick dark mana covered the wounds immediately afterward and amplified the pain to horrifying levels.

The assassin released a blood curdling scream.

It felt as though his entire nervous system had been thrown into endless flames. The pain was so overwhelming that even an epic rank awakener struggled to endure it. Sweat poured down his face while his entire body convulsed violently against the restraints.

Diana still did not ask him anything. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

She already knew that directly questioning him immediately would be foolish. Somewhere within that organization existed a terrifying existence with sage level strength who specialized in forbidden seals. Those seals could instantly annihilate a member’s soul the moment sensitive information was revealed willingly.

If she questioned him recklessly, the assassin would die before answering anything useful.

That was why Diana remained patient. She intended to destroy his mental resistance completely before beginning the true interrogation. She possessed several methods capable of extracting information without activating the forbidden seals, but those methods required the target’s spirit to collapse first.

"Bitch! Kill me if you dare!" the assassin shouted through mana transfusion as his tongue was already gone. "I will never tell you anything. Your lover will die horribly. Someone from our organization may already be inside that hospital right now. Perhaps he is already dead. Hahahahaha!"

His crazed laughter echoed throughout the bunker.

Diana ignored every single word.

She continued her work calmly and methodically. First she removed the rest of his fingers. Afterward she severed both of his hands completely. Eventually she even cut apart his legs while continuously pouring dark mana into the wounds to maximize the suffering.

Once she finished, she forced a healing potion down his throat to prevent him from dying.

Then she simply left the room.

Only after Diana disappeared did the assassin’s expression truly change. The arrogance on his face vanished entirely and was replaced by genuine terror. He finally understood clearly that Diana was not someone who could be provoked emotionally. She intended to torture him slowly until his spirit shattered completely.

Five hours later, while Victor remained submerged inside the healing pod, a sudden system notification echoed within his mind.

[Ding! The beast tide has been fully suppressed. Points are now being allocated. You may use the system shop to purchase items with your points.]

Victor’s eyes slowly opened afterward.

The green liquid surrounding his body shifted gently as consciousness returned to him. Instinctively, he attempted to activate his mana sense and inspect his condition. However, the very moment mana circulated through his body, unimaginable pain exploded from within his veins.

It felt as though countless blades were tearing apart his entire mana circuit.

Victor’s expression twisted instantly from agony.

Outside the pod, the nurse monitoring the treatment data panicked when alarms began appearing across the medical screen. She hurried closer to the glass and raised her voice urgently.

"Sir, please do not activate your mana," she said anxiously. "Your mana circuit has been completely crushed. If you forcefully circulate mana right now, your veins could burst apart completely."