Chapter 144: The Perfect Annihilation

Chapter 144: Chapter 144: The Perfect Annihilation

By the time the explosions finally subsided, the Lindsay family’s powerful leaders had been wiped out.

The earth shattering battle between Graham Cole and the Lindsay family had caused such a commotion that it was impossible to keep it hidden for long.

The deafening explosions had terrified ordinary residents throughout the surrounding area of Silver Lake City. Before long, the local police station was inundated with emergency calls from people reporting what sounded like a devastating battle.

Martial artists were equally alarmed. Those confident enough in their abilities rushed toward the Lindsay family compound to investigate, and among them were numerous experts representing Silver Lake City’s various influential organizations.

The Silver Lake City Extraordinary Division also received the reports. Minister Felix Harrow immediately assembled a seven member team and hurried to the scene. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, the battle was already over.

What greeted them left the entire group speechless. The surrounding landscape had been devastated. Massive craters and enormous stretches of destroyed earth extended for thousands of meters, bearing witness to a confrontation far beyond anything an ordinary martial artist could produce.

Felix and his subordinates exchanged stunned looks.

"Was this really a battle between Star Sea Realm experts?" one asked.

"Don’t be ridiculous," another said. "A fight at that level shouldn’t produce destruction on this scale. The person responsible must possess strength comparable to someone in the Divine Power Realm!"

"What was the Lindsay family thinking? Starting a battle of this magnitude in Silver Lake City is practically a direct challenge to our Extraordinary Division!" a third added.

Before the discussion could continue, one of the team members noticed several bodies lying among the ruins.

"Minister! There’s a corpse over here!"

Felix immediately approached to examine it. The moment he recognized the remains, his expression changed dramatically.

"Reginald Lindsay," he murmured.

Although the corpse had been mangled almost beyond recognition, he could still identify the family patriarch. Having dealt with the family on numerous occasions, Felix knew exactly who he was looking at.

But Reginald was not the only important figure lying dead at the scene. As Felix examined the surrounding bodies, he discovered numerous other high ranking Lindsay family members. The more corpses he identified, the more unsettled he became.

Then one of his subordinates made an even more shocking discovery.

"Minister, come and look at this one! Could this be... the Lindsay family’s Ancestor?" he called.

The entire team fell silent. They had all heard of Winston Lindsay, the legendary Grand Elder who had spent years cultivating in seclusion. Rumors suggested that he had reached the peak of the Star Sea Realm and was only one step away from the Divine Power Realm.

If the corpse before them truly belonged to him, then the implications were horrifying.

"My God! What happened here? How could the entire leadership of the Lindsay family have been wiped out? Did they provoke an expert from the Divine Power Realm?" someone exclaimed.

The members of the Extraordinary Division struggled to comprehend the scene.

Among all the forces in Silver Lake City, they understood better than most just how powerful the Lindsay family was. Its senior members included numerous Star Sea Realm experts, while Winston himself had long been regarded as one of the strongest figures in the region.

A force of that caliber could command respect throughout Valemont and beyond.

Yet its most powerful members had apparently been killed in a single battle.

The team had rushed over as soon as they received reports of the commotion, but the entire confrontation seemed to have ended in less than twenty minutes.

Even Victoria Quill, a peak Star Sea Realm expert, might have struggled to achieve such a result.

Whoever had done this possessed terrifying strength.

Felix’s expression grew increasingly solemn.

"Minister, the Lindsay family’s main compound is still largely intact," one of his team members reported.

"Several younger members of the family are gathered near the entrance. They must know what happened."

Felix nodded.

"Let’s hear what they have to say," he said, leading his team toward the compound.

By the time they arrived, the younger Lindsay family members had already descended into panic and grief.

Some were weeping, while others stood in stunned silence, unable to accept the sudden destruction of their family’s leadership.

After questioning them, Felix finally learned the identity of the person responsible.

"Graham Cole?" he repeated the name in disbelief.

He had certainly heard of Graham Cole before.

Some time earlier, Collins Lindsay, the youngest son of Reginald, had died under suspicious circumstances.

The Lindsay family had subsequently placed a bounty on Graham Cole, accusing him of being responsible and calling upon martial artists throughout the region to hunt him down.

Felix had never imagined that the man behind that incident could possess such overwhelming power.

Had Graham Cole truly reached the Divine Power Realm? If so, the Lindsay family had made a catastrophic mistake by publicly provoking someone of his caliber.

Felix looked once more at the devastated battlefield.

"The Lindsay family is finished," he muttered.

However, he quickly regained his composure.

"Regardless of what the Lindsay family did, someone cannot simply unleash this level of destruction in Silver Lake City without consequences," he said.

"We need to determine how to handle this situation carefully."

He took out his phone and called Samuel Bush, the senior official in charge of the Extraordinary Division in Valemont.

He had heard that Damon Veil, the former leader of the Bloodshadow Cult, had attacked Arcadia Academy a few days earlier, only for Graham Cole to intervene and bring the crisis to an end.

Perhaps Samuel knew something about this mysterious individual.

* * *

"What did you just say?" Samuel nearly dropped his phone. "All the Lindsay family’s senior leaders are dead, and Graham Cole killed them?"

"Felix, are you absolutely certain?" he asked. "This isn’t some kind of misunderstanding, is it?"

After listening to the explanation, he asked Felix to send photographs of the battlefield so he could examine the extent of the destruction himself. When the pictures arrived, his expression became even more complicated.

"So Graham Cole really possesses strength comparable to the Divine Power Realm," he murmured, slowly lowering his phone, still struggling to process the news.

He had been discussing the Lindsay family’s situation with Victoria Quill when the call came in. Since she was standing beside him, she had overheard enough to understand what had happened. For a moment, even the usually composed general was stunned.

"We were just discussing how to dismantle the Lindsay family’s influence," Samuel explained.

"The plan was to proceed gradually, gather sufficient evidence, and remove the family’s power piece by piece. Yet Graham Cole went straight to their compound and eliminated their entire leadership by himself." He gave a helpless laugh. "It’s almost unbelievable."

Victoria remained silent for several seconds. Ever since learning about the ledger that exposed the Lindsay family’s dealings, she had believed that its senior members deserved to face justice.

The authorities had already begun tightening the pressure, and the family’s eventual downfall had seemed inevitable.

But she had expected the process to take time. Instead, while they were carefully arranging their next steps, Graham Cole had accomplished in a single night what they had planned to achieve through a prolonged campaign.

And this was not the first time he had surprised her. Initially, when Victoria learned that Graham Cole had killed Collins Lindsay and Pat Marty, she had assumed he was probably an expert at the 8th or 9th-Level of the Spirit Platform Realm.

That estimate had not lasted long. News of Damon Veil’s death had soon reached her, forcing her to reconsider Graham Cole’s strength.

She had upgraded her assessment to the Star Sea Realm.

Now, barely two days later, she had received news that Graham Cole had killed Reginald Lindsay, the family patriarch, along with its other senior experts, including Winston, who had reportedly approached the threshold of the Divine Power Realm.

And he had done it in less than half an hour.

There was only one reasonable explanation for such a feat.

Graham Cole possessed strength at the Divine Power Realm.

Victoria stared at the photographs Felix had sent through Samuel.

How long had it been since she first heard of this man? Every new piece of information had forced her to revise her estimate of his abilities.

If this pattern continued, she would not be surprised if he eventually demonstrated strength comparable to a Venerable.

Just how powerful was Graham Cole really?

For the first time in a long while, Victoria found herself unable to make even a rough prediction.

After collecting her thoughts, she addressed the most important detail.

"According to the Lindsay family survivors, Winston used a black sphere that could erase everything it touched," she said. "That sounds like the power of the Law of Annihilation."Her expression became grave.

"Winston must have taken a step toward the Divine Power Realm. Even if he hadn’t completed his breakthrough, he was already extremely close to the first star of that realm."

Samuel nodded slowly. He was still processing the news when he remembered another matter from his conversation with Felix.

"There’s something else," he said.

"Felix asked me for information about Graham Cole. He wants to issue an arrest warrant because of what happened in Silver Lake City." He looked toward Victoria.

"Given the scale of the destruction and the fact that the battle took place within the city, he believes Graham Cole’s actions have set a dangerous precedent. General Victoria, what do you think? Should we support the request?"

Victoria considered the question before shaking her head.

"No," she said. "Tell Felix not to issue the warrant."

Samuel waited for her explanation.

"The Lindsay family’s crimes have already come to light," she said.

"Its leaders brought this situation upon themselves, and we must consider the consequences of how the public will perceive the case." She paused before continuing.

"The priority should be to investigate the Lindsay family thoroughly. Gather the evidence, verify the ledger’s contents, and make certain that the case against them is airtight. Once everything has been confirmed, expose their crimes publicly."

In other words, the authorities should focus on documenting the Lindsay family’s wrongdoing rather than turning Graham Cole into the center of the controversy.

"As for Graham Cole, there are two things Felix needs to understand," Victoria continued.

"First, his strength is comparable to that of a Divine Power Realm expert. Second, he is a friend of Mr. X."

The latter point was particularly important. Mr. X was a renowned alchemist who had joined the Extraordinary Division in Valemont.

His friendship with Graham Cole meant that any decision concerning Graham Cole could also affect their relationship with the alchemist.

"We need to take Mr. X’s position into account," Victoria concluded. "Issuing a warrant against Graham Cole could easily offend him. We would be creating another problem for ourselves when the Lindsay family’s downfall has already resolved one."

Samuel nodded in agreement.

"Understood," he said. "I’ll relay your decision to Felix."

He shared her view. The Lindsay family’s senior leadership had been implicated in serious wrongdoing, and their deaths had effectively removed a major threat from the region.

There was little reason to antagonize Graham Cole, especially when he was a friend of someone as valuable to their Division as Mr. X. If a warrant caused Mr. X to distance himself from the organization, the loss would be far greater than any benefit they might gain.

The matter was settled.

* * *

In the modern information age, news of the Lindsay family’s destruction could not remain a secret for long.

By the following day, reports had spread throughout the Valemont region.

Martial artists from one city to another discussed the same astonishing development: the Lindsay family’s most powerful leaders had been killed in a single night, and the person responsible was Graham Cole.

The consequences for the Lindsay family were immediate.

As Graham had anticipated, the younger generation lacked the strength and influence needed to maintain the family’s former position.

Without its patriarch, Grand Elder, and other senior experts, the organization had lost the foundation upon which its power rested. Its decline was now inevitable.

But while the Lindsay family struggled to come to terms with its destruction, Graham Cole’s reputation soared. His name spread across the martial arts world, accompanied by increasingly dramatic speculation about his strength.

Many believed he had reached the Divine Power Realm, while others wondered whether he might be even more powerful than the available evidence suggested.

The fact that the authorities had not immediately issued a warrant against him only deepened the mystery.

To the various martial arts organizations, Graham Cole had become someone they could neither ignore nor casually provoke.

Countless forces throughout the region began reassessing their plans. Some wanted to investigate his background, others hoped to establish connections with him, and many simply feared becoming his next target.

Yet one family was far more frightened than the rest.

The Sinclair family.