On the roof of an Upper District building, a figure stood upright with his hands behind his back and peered into the distant night. A bunch of shadows dashed over and gathered before him.
"Leader, there is a big battle taking place at the Upper North District entrance! What are your orders?" A shadowy black figure reported.
"Who is fighting?" The leader questioned with knitted eyebrows. The Upper North District was the Lancaster's turf. Who would dare to cause a ruckus there? Not many people can withstand the Duke's fury. Did the Weld family really clash with the Lancaster family? That was a clear indication of rebellion!
The group of shadows dropped one of their knees with a fist-hand salute. "Forgive our negligence, Leader! We didn't find out."
"Investigate immediately!" The Leader barked with a frown. He had been receiving a string of information and he felt like he had forgotten something else.
"Yes, Leader!" The shadows swiftly dispersed towards the north. Their movements were quick, and footsteps were light.
"Who's there?!" Someone barked out the windows from the floor below.
The Leader almost staggered and lose his bearing. He quickly fled the scene, before the owner of the voice comes up to investigate. He had scanned the building earlier and didn't find the presence of anyone in it. Thus, he thought there wasn't a need to lower his voice. Who knew there was someone in the building, and they weren't detected by his scan?
The Leader's name was Kasif, the head of the shadow guards. He was another powerful 9th step awakener the public wasn't aware of and was one of the rare individuals to have awaken their bloodline ability.
Bloodline abilities were so rare and unique that people have forgotten and thought that bloodline abilities and elemental abilities were one and the same thing. They are not. Bloodline ability was a unique skill derived from their elemental ability and could be used without understanding process behind it upon awakening. The same bloodline ability would never appear in two different people unrelated by blood.
Kasif's bloodline ability was a perceptive ability that allows him to use the vibrations in the earth to see and hear things, what his own eyes and ears could not. Earth Pulse was the name he decided to give to this special type of perception.
Earth Pulse has allowed him to easily spy on others without being discovered throughout his career. In this instance, Kasif wasn't sure if it was because of the rain's interference or some other unknown reasons, but he was strangely not bothered by the blunder. He had yet to master the usage of Earth Pulse. Such blunder wasn't his first and it certainly wasn't going to be his last.
"Huh? Strange… I thought I heard someone's voice up here…" The person scrutinized his surrounding with some doubts. Yawn* Seeing no one on the roof, the person started mumbling to himself as he returns to room to resume his sleep. "I must be hearing things… Why would there be someone on my roof?"
…
The previous shadows darted from building to buildings and arrived at the Upper North District's entrance. They hid themselves among the roofs of nearby buildings, where they can have a clear view of the ongoing battle below.
Swoosh* One of the shadows felt a soft gust of wind flew past him as he turned around to check.
"L-Leader? You followed us?" The shadow was surprised. He didn't think the leader would follow them to the scene of the battle.
He thought the leader would be waiting for them to report back. The leader was after all, a busy person.
The Shadow Guards was divided into many squads with each assigned a different area to perform their mission. Kasif was the person, the squad captains report to.
"Mm." Kasif nodded as he peered down at the battle. He had remembered what he had forgotten earlier. There was someone with the Duke's group that he was interested in. The other squads have been notified of his whereabouts before he left.
Kasif was able to recognize both sides easily. However, he did not recognize the ghastly old man, the Duke was battling.
"That old man must be a 9th step expert right, Leader?" The shadow guard was astonished. Since when did the capital gain another 9th step awakener?
In the past, ascending to the 9th step was something worth celebrating across the kingdom as humanity gains another powerhouse to strengthen their race.
But now? It could only be a disaster. When powerhouses fight, their battle can cause great destruction.
"Leader?" Seeing that the shadow guard's comment did not elicit a reply from his leader, he turns his head to check.
Kasif's attention was drawn on the luxury car as his eyes narrowed in for a clearer look of the people inside. There was only one person inside that he was greatly interested in; Leon.
Ever since the night, Leon killed the boss of the Red Salamander gang and the Azure Wolf gang, Kasif had extended the Shadow Guard's surveillance to the lower district to investigate who Leon was.
The actions of Leon hunting down the Grey family servants did not escape their watchful eyes. Leon's sharp senses had surprisingly failed him in detecting their presence. The rain was to blame.
Kasif was greatly interested in Leon's abilities. He moves and fights like one of them, but he was not one of them. The boy was young and had great prospects.
Seeing that Leon was together with the Duke's group, Kasif's thoughts was like Marquis Gregory's previous speculation; that Leon was a young talent nurtured by the Duke's house.
However, Kasif didn't care if Leon was from House Lancaster, he was ready to poach him into their Shadow Guards. Kasif was unresigned to see the boy's talent wasted away as a servant. He was prepared to take him away and train him to be his next successor.
There was a moment of zero visibility due to the explosion of water vapors, but it did not linger for long as it was hammered down by the rain.
When his vision was restored, Kasif saw Leon exiting the safety of the car and panicked. What was the boy trying to do by standing in the open? The other side had lots of firearms. The boy's fire ability would not be able to block bullets under this weather. Kasif blamed the rain again.
It was unclear whether the rain had feelings, but it rained harder.
"It is clear, the Weld family have rebelled. Assist the Duke's family in eradicating the rebels!" Kasif quickly issued his command to the shadow guards. It was so hard for him to find a suitable successor to pass on his position. He wasn't going to risk losing such a good candidate.
The shadow guards only orders were to collect evidence of the crimes the corrupted nobles have committed. However, Kasif has acted beyond what was ordered of him. As the leader of the Shadow Guards, Kasif had the right to kill first and report later.
"Yes, Leader!" The shadows darted straight for the walls and fired their throwing knives at the unsuspecting servants with their backs towards them. The servants were accurately shot in the back of the heads and dropped off the wall, dead. The kills were swift and clean.
Each member in the Shadow Guards were the cream of the crop. The weakest was at the 5th step and the strongest was at the 8th step, while their numbers were in the several dozens. Such a force was even greater than what the Duke commanded.
The 4 great family dream of replacing the Royal family was nothing, but a pipe dream in the face of such a hidden force. The Crawford Royal family had ruled for 500 years. How could it be easy to replace them? It would take a lot more than
…
"It wasn't me!" Leon said.
By now, everyone had realized that a third party had arrived at the scene. Kasif was seen walking towards them openly, but his shadow guards have disappeared and hid themselves as quickly as they came and strike.
"Who are you!? Why did you kill my people?" Being the closest, Marquis Gregory barked to hide his nervousness. Things was quickly taking a turn for the worse. He lost all his servants in the blink of an eye. Why are the other 3 great families not here yet!?
"You don't need to know." Kasif stated.
Marquis Gregory's feet suddenly sunk into the ground like quicksand before hardening and trapped his feet like shackles.
"Careful!!" Lord Weld warned as he tried to save his son, but he reacted too late.
A dagger appeared in his hands as Kasif closed the distance and lopped off his Marquis Gregory's head in an instance. The head grew an arc and landed at Lord Weld's feet. Kasif's movements was so quick, only a 9th step expert could have pulled it off. Marquis Gregory did not even get the chance to retaliate before his life ended.
"Goddammit!!! This isn't over!" Lord Weld expression was uglier than a pig's liver as he turns around and quickly fled with all the speed he could muster. His servants were dead. His son was dead. It would be him next if he did not flee. Since when did the capital have so many hidden powerhouses!? The Royal faction had hidden their cards well!
Lord Weld's hatred for the Royal family grew, but he felt a greater hatred for the other 3 great families. What the hell were they doing? How could they take so long to arrive!? He had forgotten that it was he himself who had volunteered to guard the north side.
Kasif did not chase him. No one can stop a desperate powerhouse from fleeing with all their might.
"Thank you for your assistance. May I ask who you are, sir?" Duke Ignis took the initiative to approach him. The person's words and action suggested that they should be from the same side, but Ignis did not recognized such a figure. When did the Royal faction had such a hidden master? Why doesn't he know about it?
Kasif walked right past him and straight to Leon. Being completely ignored, Duke Ignis felt his anger rising.
"I've taken a liking to you, boy. Come with me."
Leon felt goosebumps rising all over his body, having been told as such. Why does it sound like a confession from a creepy old man?
"Hell no.." Leon immediately rejected without second thoughts.