Chapter 904 - Shifting The Blame

"Okay, thanks." After dealing with Theo, Bernard continued to the other party. "Take me to Mark."

Emma followed his instruction and walked toward Mark. Theo moved toward Mark.

As the Death Avatar waved its hand, the soul gradually returned to Mark's head, removing all pain as though it wasn't real to begin with.

Little did he know, Theo simply stopped using his Illusion Manipulation, resulting in the pain disappearing.

However, what Mark knew was that his soul had returned.

Since the soul had come back to his body, Theo expected Mark to get angry, but surprisingly, Mark didn't say a single thing. He only looked at him for a moment before turning to Bernard.

"Mark. Why did you challenge him? You should know your action almost killed you. But before you tell me anything, I need to remind you again.

"Because of what you did earlier, I need to put you under surveillance. If you have any thought about getting revenge, it will be me who will face you."

Mark closed his eyes, accepted his punishment, and nodded his head. "I understand, Sir Bernard."

"Also, you have bet something, no? Give it to him."

"That's a bit inconvenient." Mark scratched the back of his head.

"Are you treating my words as a joke now?"

"No, no. What I bet is a piece of information. If I tell him right now, everyone can hear it." Mark glanced at Theo and continued, "I believe he can agree with this."

Bernard fell silent for a moment before adding a condition. "Okay, but if you try anything funny, there won't be a second chance. It also means I can't really trust you."

Mark nodded a few times. If he tricked Theo this time, it also meant Mark wasn't someone that could be trusted. There was no way the company wanted someone like that.

"I promise that I will compile and send the information an hour after I return."

"Fine." Bernard checked Theo's expression first and ultimately agreed with his plan. "Is there anything you like to add?"

Mark shook his head with a long face.

"You're not supposed to be someone like this. Who on earth forced you to challenge him? If it were the normal you, you would just stay silent and continue working hard." Bernard narrowed his eyes.

Mark looked down, reluctant to disclose it.

"Mark!" Bernard raised his voice, realizing someone was behind it.

Mark sighed and said, "It's Arianna."

"Arianna?" Bernard recalled that name a bit and asked for confirmation. "Anderson's daughter? If I'm not wrong, she's pretty close to you. This is why I have been telling you to stop caring about women for the time being and practice. In the future, you can get whoever you desire."

"I know, but it's not that I want to get close to her." Mark shook his head with a sad expression.

"What do you mean? Bernard narrowed his eyes with a slightly annoyed face.

"The truth is Arianna has been trying to control me. If I didn't follow her words, I would be suppressed by her father."

"You've been evaluated as an S Rank Talent. You can just report it to the company."

"I tried." Mark gritted his teeth. "But the moment I tried, her father received that complaint, and everything turned south after that. There was another instance where I tried to meet you in person but got intercepted again. Then, I wanted to get help from someone from here, but it turned out he was someone close to them."

Bernard frowned and muttered, "Anderson is a board director and his little brother controls the Skylink Network in the company… I see."

Bernard's eyes became cold. Emma and Kain could also see the anger on his face.

"To think that a mere board director dares to control my company," Bernard said with a cold tone. "Because of him, I almost lost two extremely talented Supreme Rank Experts."

He suddenly realized why Theo acted like a bastard earlier.

It turned out Theo had noticed all this. From the way Mark talked and chatted with him, it was pretty clear that Mark was a calm and collected person.

Yet, such a person actually recklessly challenged him and fulfilled all his demands, which only meant one thing. Mark was forced by someone else.

Although Theo admitted he did it to garner some reputation, he also didn't want to create too much chaos in this company since he would be under their care for the next few years.

He was unaware of Mark's plan, but he also wanted to make this duel to punish the force behind Mark that turned out to be Mark's enemy.

By creating this kind of conflict, he could force Bernard to act and get a favor at the same time. The artifact information was indeed helpful, but his true aim was Bernard's favor.

That was also why Bernard became frustrated when talking to him. Someone with that level of authority couldn't owe someone easily lest they would be taken advantage of later.

This made Bernard angry.

"Go back to your home. You're not allowed to come out of your mansion for the next three months." Bernard gave him the punishment.

"Yes." Mark nodded with a serious expression.

"Emma and Kain will go to the company tomorrow."

"Understood, Sir." Both of them nodded in unison, knowing Bernard planned to use them to testify for him.

"As for you…" Bernard looked at Theo for a moment. He didn't know why he wanted to smack this guy's head. There was one thought coming into his mind. 'Now I know why people don't like to be his enemies. If he's not someone from my company, I would have killed him before he could grow, no matter the consequences.

'Unfortunately, there's no record about today's battle because of the rule. And as for his true intention in accepting this duel…' As soon as Bernard got the answer, his expression became grim, and he said, "This battle is enough. Don't make any more mess. I don't have time to clean up the mess every time."

"I know, I know." Theo shrugged.

"For injuring your own comrade, you're to complete a local or international mission. You can choose the mission in your Skylink."

"Fine." Theo smirked behind his mask. The reason why Bernard gave him this punishment was to show he was impartial as well as keep Theo away from what was about to come. The moment he made a move against Anderson, Theo would become the main target as he was the reason why Bernard aimed at him.

Sending him away on a mission would save his life while giving him the opportunity to get stronger.. That was the only thing he could do as the CEO of the Star Group.