The knife flew too fast for Aria to dodge.

But before the knife could pierce through Aria, Karl shot toward her and reached out his right hand.

Blood splattered on Aria’s face as the knife stabbed straight through Karl’s palm and stopped right in front of her eye. His palm was covered in blood while his muscles constricted tightly, barely enough to stop the knife from reaching Aria.

It was the first time Aria ever came so close to death.

Sure, she went out on monster-clearing missions with her father. But she always had many knights and mages surrounding her. Keeping her away from any real harm.

But this time, it was different.

The cold hand of death brushed against her cheeks as she subconsciously took a step back. Behind her was supposed to be the rails, but when she took a step back, her back hit an invisible wall that she instinctively knew she couldn’t break with force.

“Snap out of it, Aria,” Karl yelled as he pulled the knife out from his palm.

Black blood dripped down from both the knife and his opened wound, painting the stone road beneath them with blooming red flowers.

“We are trapped inside a formation,” Aria’s mind worked quickly and came to the only conclusion she could think of.

“Can you get us ou…” Karl’s words were interrupted as another knife flew toward them. But this time, Karl was ready. He used the previous knife to slash at the incoming one, knocking it down on the ground. Yet, the impact made Karl’s hand tremble from the sheer force of the throw.

“We need to run,” Karl said as he picked up Aria and put her on his shoulder like a potato sack.

Since the road back to NorthStar City was blocked, the only path for them was toward the snowy forest. Outside of the city’s array.

As Karl carried Aria on his shoulder and ran, he cut off a piece of clothing and tied it tightly below his right elbow. He wanted to prevent the poison from spreading any further. His mind was racing, formulating a path to survive.

“This is Lockdown Formation, a Rank 6 formation,” Aria said as her eyes glued to the platform they were on. “If we want to leave, we have to destroy four items used as the formation’s cores.”

“Can you locate the cores?”

“I might be able to… No… I’ll find them.” Aria said as she took out four bronze coins from her pocket.

She made hand signs and mumbled something as the coins in her hands started to float and emit low lights.

While Aria was trying to locate the formation’s cores, knives flew at them at great speed. Karl barely dodged them, slashed them down, or hid behind trees and let the trees block those knives. He entered a hyper-focus state and spread his Qi Sense as far as he could.

Yet, he could only sense the knives when they appeared out of nowhere within his Qi Sense’s range. He couldn’t even pick up the shadow of whoever was trying to kill them.

But he did have some information to work with.

First, they were trapped within a Rank 6 formation, which mean their opponent was at least at Blue Core, Rank 5.

Second, their opponent was most likely an assassin who hunted people weaker than he was. Evidenced by how he specialized in hiding himself while using long-range attacks to wear down the enemies.

Third, their opponent most likely wasn't that good in close-range combat since even when hunting people weaker than him, he still had to wear them down first before appearing when he was sure of his victory.

Four, there was only one of them since if there were more than one, they would’ve overpowered Karl and Aria with numbers since each individual was stronger than them.

“Found one,” Aria said, “Northeast, 300 feet from here.”

“Got it,” Karl made a mad dash toward the location Aria pointed out. The knives were still coming at them but the assassin seemed to be in a panic as the force was stronger but the accuracy was lower. Which was a good thing since it was easier to dodge that way.

When Karl arrived, snow started to fall, indicating they were truly out of NorthStar City’s array. Aria, now stood on her own, pointed at a withered tree on their left.

“There, it’s inside that tree.”

When she said that, a dot of light appeared at the tip of her finger and shot toward that tree. The result of her skill was a small hole, the side of a coin, piercing through the tree from one side to another.

Of the four coins floating in her hand, one shattered and fell to the ground.

One down, three to go.

With one of his formation’s cores destroyed, the assassin didn’t only use throwing knives anymore but he was shooting arrows made of wood at them as well. The tips of the wooden arrows were also covered in a purple liquid like that of the knives.

As Karl moved in front, Aria created a barrier of air around them while directing where they should go. Neither the throwing knives nor the arrows were able to reach them as they ran.

Soon the two found another formation’s core and destroyed it. Making the second floating coin in Aria's hand shatter.

Two down, two to go.

With their momentum, Karl thought they were going to make it.

“Where's the next one Aria?” He spoke while feeling like fire was burning his lungs.

“Tow-ard… the…” Aria couldn’t stop her labored breath.

That’s when Karl realized both he and Aria were somehow out of breath and Mana. Aria only had a breathing technique to help circulate her Mana so it was understandable. But Karl had a breathing technique that helped with both recovering his Mana and conserving his stamina.

Even if he had poison in his hand, he already used both the Mana in his Mana Paths and the Qi in his blood and bones to force the poison to stay in his right forearm.

It didn’t make sense for him to be out of breath so quickly.

“Aria, could a formation core retaliate by reducing the Mana or stamina or life force of anyone who destroys it?” Karl asked as he leaned back to stop Aria from moving forward. Just enough for another arrow to shoot past his face.

Aria's eyes went wide open as she replied with bitterness amidst her panting. “Yes…”

“That’s not good, we fell for the assassin’s trap.”

With just two cores destroyed, they were already in such bad shape. If they destroy even one more, they wouldn’t be able to fight back at all.

If they didn’t destroy the cores, they would be slowly withered down like this. If they did destroy the cores, they would be left with no Mana or stamina to fight back. No matter the choice, it still led to their death.

Come on Karl, think. You've been in situations like this many times before, think.

If he could find the assassin, he was confident that he could kill in close combat. But the assassin was still hiding.

Having his attention pulled in so many directions did not help either. He had to protect both himself and Aria from the throwing knives and arrows, stopping the poison in his arm, and thought of a path to survive.

Luckily, Aria, who recovered a bit from her fatigue, suggested.

“There should be some cabins along the mountain that mages use to stay when they want to test out new spells.”

If they had a shelter, at least they could hide from the onslaught of knives and arrows.

“Where?” Karl asked as he slashed down an arrow.

Aria looked around then she looked at the stars in the night sky.

“That way,” She pointed deeper into the forest.

Karl picked up Aria and carried her under his armpit like a potato sack, again, as he ran. This time, he did run for his life. Blocking, dodging, hiding, he repeated the same motion over and over again. Small wounds accumulated on his body, forcing Karl to use even more Qi and Mana to stop the poison from spreading. Luckily, he found one of the cabins Aria mentioned.

Karl thought it was their lucky break but he suddenly felt the looming presence of death behind him.

His instinct was telling him as long he was in the assassin’s sight, he wouldn’t be able to dodge this attack.

With no time to think, only time to act. Karl used [Heavenly Demon Art – Moonless] to propel himself forward as fast as possible. He smashed into the cabin’s door, knocking it wide open. As the door slammed into the cabin’s wall and bounced back Karl turned around and kicked the door, closing it again.

That’s when a pure green arrow shot through the door and through Karl’s left shoulder.

Following the momentum of the arrow, Karl should have been knocked over. But he only took a single step back, refusing to fall while still holding Aria in his arms.

“Karl!” Aria panicked when she saw the gaping wound that was gushing out blood like a waterfall on his shoulder

He didn’t reply. He just calmly put Aria down instead.

Karl cut a big piece of this shirt and wrapped it around the wound on his shoulder with Aria’s help. It was good that she only suffered from fatigue and nothing else.

From his loosened shirt, a short stick the length of a hand fell to the ground.

Looking at the stick, an idea flashed across Karl’s mind. “Aria, can you use [Gravity] and levitate the coat you’re wearing?”

“Yes, if it's just my cloak then I can do it.”

“Ok, listen to me. Here's the plan.”

Karl explained his plan and how to use the stick and figured Nanok and Eldrin developed for his idol agency. When he ended explaining the plan, Aria gritted her teeth.

“Are you insane? Why do you want to sacrifice yourself like that?”

“I’m not sacrificing myself. Listen to me, I’m used to this. And you are too tired to fight.”

“You wanted me to just sit back in this cabin and watch as you ran out there and fight to the dead?” She screamed at him.

Karl grabbed Aria's shoulders, “Aria, look at me.”

Her teary eyes shone like black pearls even during this moonless night. “I’m used to this. I can do this. And without your help, I can’t win. I need you. We are surviving this, together. Ok?”

Aria wiped the tears that were forming at the edge of her eyes. “Okay.”

Karl was about to say something when both of them snapped their head toward the cabin’s door. Karl skidded toward the window and saw a massive ball of concentrated [Darkness] and [Combustion] gathering above a figure in black cloak.

The assassin was raising his wand high, gathering a powerful spell. Most likely to destroy both the cabin and the two of them.

“Aria, your best protective formation and follow the plan. NOW”

Doing just that even before Karl could say anything, Aria had already prepared her formation while activating the stick and the figure.

Using Qi Scan to check up on his condition, Karl noticed he could only use one more spell and one more martial art move. It wasn’t ideal but it was what he had to work with.

Looking back at the assassin outside, Karl noticed he wasn’t gathering mana into the spell anymore.

“INCOMING.” He shouted and jumped back inside Aria’s formation.

A loud explosion occurred, and the cabin was completely annihilated. Dust, wood, and snow shot up from where the cabin used to be. But from the pillar of dust and snow, a figure wearing Aria’s coat shot out from within.

The assassin quickly reacted and created a wooden arrow in his left hand while throwing a knife from his right hand. Both the arrow and the knife flew toward the figure wearing Aria’s coat with deadly speed and precision.

But when the coat got pierced, what was underneath it was just a faceless hologram that looked like a training dummy.

Thinking he was tricked, the assassin stopped when he was standing right in front of the falling dust and snow pillar where the cabin used to be. He tried using his Mana Sense to locate his target within the snow.

When suddenly, he felt a deadly chilling sensation as if a thousand bony hands were reaching toward him from behind. The killing intent was so dense that he felt like a Rank 8 Corrupted Mage was standing behind him.

Turning around quickly, he activated the spell he had been saving for a one-hit kill and shot it toward the source of that killing intent.

But there was nothing behind him.

No, that wasn’t correct. There was only a crack as red as blood appeared from thin air. It was the size of a hand and the killing intent was oozing out from that crack like water overflowing from a cup.

“A Soul World?” The assassin was momentarily shocked. “Why is a Rank 7…”

Taking advantage of the moment the assassin was distracted, Karl shot out from within Aria’s formation inside the falling pillar of dust and snow.

His clothes were torn to shred, his body covered in dust. Karl had to reinforce his body with both Mana and Qi when the explosion hit. And since he took the brunt of the explosion, there wasn’t even a single spot on his body that wasn’t bleeding. His face and body were ripped here and there, exposing the muscles underneath. Yet, it was a long shot from stopping him.

The explosion also reduced his already close-to-empty Mana and Qi pool even further.

But it was enough for two more moves. [Heavenly Demon Art – Moonless.]

Karl slithered like a shadow toward the assassin while holding the knife in his right hand with a reverse grip. The knife was dipped in his poisoned blood. He saw the assassin’s eyes glance at him, the assassin had recovered from the shock of seeing a Soul World.

Crouching down in front of the assassin, Karl lunged forward as he aimed his knife toward the assassin's chest. Refusing to let this opportunity pass.

But the assassin was quicker as he turned around and swung his wand upward. The wand, covered in a dark light, acted like a blade and cut off Karl’s right hand.

The assassin smirked, and so did Karl. He felt great when his opponent made such a stupid mistake.

Karl extended his neck forward and clamped his mouth at his severed hand. The assassin looked at Karl with eyes as wide as saucers as Karl swiftly whipped his head and flung his severed hand that was still holding the knife at the assassin.

The knife stabbed into the assassin's chest, causing him to stagger backward.

It wasn’t enough as the assassin already stomping one of his feet on the ground and recovering his posture. Karl needed to disrupt that, now. [Vicious Words – Rank 1 - Psychic] (Common)

“Your mom swung that wand better than you last night.”

The assassin stopped for just a moment as his eyes filled with rage, but it was enough. Using this chance, Karl thrust his left hand toward the assassin’s belly and muttered.

“Heavenly Demon Art – Plundering Accumulation.”

A great suction force appeared on Karl’s left palm and stole everything from the assassin.

His Mana, his Qi, his life force, his memories, his everything.

During Karl's time on Sheng Long, Plundering Accumulation could only steal a target’s Qi and life force. But when he was reincarnated to Earth, he found out he could steal memories too. Now, on Eldoria, Karl could steal one more thing. Mana.

The assassin was in great pain. He screamed like a butchered pig. His body was quickly emptied and turned into a mummy. Seeing all of that, Karl couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear.

The assassin made one last attempt to free himself as he stabbed Karl's shoulder with his wand. Blood spurted out from the wounds as the assassin repeatedly stabbed Karl's shoulder.

The assassin stabbed Karl in a frenzy as his skin sunk, his flesh got devoured, and his blood evaporated. His hair under the mask started to fall off, his eyes withered and hollowed, his face shrunk until his skin touched his bones as the skin quickly lost its color.

Maybe it was because of the panic and the pain that clouded the assassin’s judgment, but.

“You should’ve gone for the head,” Karl said as the now empty husk of a man let go of the wand stabbed into Karl’s shoulder, and fell on the ground. The moment that husk hit the ground, it broke down into dust.

There was no blood, there was no flesh, there was only dust inside an empty set of clothes.

Looking up at the sky as the frozen tear of heaven floated down to the earth. Feeling the coldness from the blood dripping down from his severed hand. Smelling the pleasant scent of carnage he was all too familiar with.

Karl once again was reminded of the undeniable truth.

He was a demon. The Heavenly Demon.

 

Outro:

I can’t help but add a Thanos meme, ok. It was the perfect place to do so.

Stop judging me ToT