One of the silver guards, Officer Kuo, tried to calm the hysterical crowd, “No it’s …,” but the noise and screams from the chaotic mass of people drowned his voice. Even if the people were to hear his words, they would have landed on deaf ears.

Officer Kaguzi stopped Kuo from speaking as he knew it was just a waste of time, “At this point it is useless to say anything. Just wait.”

Now that the crime scene was almost cleared out, a giant black bird with a wingspan that was over 20 meters wide swooped over. With a powerful flap of its wings, the bird slowly came to a stop over the compound. The bird’s wings were so mighty that they pushed away not just the dust but even the rocks in the vicinity.

It was only when the bird landed that people noticed a man dressed all in black sitting on its back. On seeing this man, Mwana could only admire his otherworldly aura that seemed seeped in the deepest darkness.

Unlike Service Zia who had even jumped off a moving horse, the new arrival calmly alighted once the bird had landed and settled. After the man came down from the bird’s back, something even stranger happened. It was almost like a magic trick to everyone witnessing the scene.

The huge bird suddenly shrank in size transforming into a small cute bird. After a few chirps and a flap of its wings, the little bird perched itself on the head of the man in black. The scene made him look comical as if he was wearing a hat. In a way, this reduced the pressure that the bird and man had brought with their arrival.

The scene went from an extremely scary and intimidating moment to a comical sight easing most of the crowd’s anxiety.

When Mwana and the rest of the remaining people saw Service Zia greet the new arrival with great respect, they realized that this was someone from the Silver Eagle Corps’ headquarters. Specifically, it had to be someone in a high position.

The silver guards called this man, Mr. Black.

The aura around Mr. Black made it seem as if he came from a different world altogether. Presence, sharpness, resoluteness, among other shades of character; in a sense it could be said that his qualities were written on his person.

Mr. Black did not waste any time and before even going inside the house, he inspected the corpse on the ground.

This inspired a few “ah’s” from the few people who had been courageous to remain or slow to retreat. The sight of the victim’s corpse was exposed once the white cloth covering his head and body were removed.

Mr. Black did not even care to dismiss the remaining crowd and after inspecting the headless corpse for a few seconds, he already came to a conclusion.

“There is a huge problem.”

“Why? What is it?”

“Did you not inspect this body?” When Mr. Black asked Service Zia this question, the latter felt a bit guilty. He had rushed straight into the house when he heard that a woman and especially a young child had been the victims.

As a father, Service Zia had let his emotions get to him. In the end, he had not directly inspected Mokene’s body. He only listened to the reports of the local authorities on the body outside. Further, Mokene was not part of the ritualistic killing they were investigating as the blood mural case. Instead, he was just collateral damage so his corpse had not been given priority.

“I’m sorry. When I heard, I just…” Sigh “I have been negligent.”

“It is okay. I understand. It is a parent’s instinct.” After reassuring Zia, the man in black continued explaining the problem, “The main issue is that this man is a practitioner of External Martial Arts.”

The external martial arts that Mr. Black mentioned were body strengthening martial arts that had no Energy Training System. In this case, an energy training system relied on techniques like the Jua village’s [Sun and Moon Arts] to absorb natural energy. Spiritual arts and Magic also fell under the energy category as they involved absorbing or controlling unique types of energy.

As for external martial arts, the training was dependent on breaking through one's physical limits through extreme and sometimes fatal training. The training could go from ordinary exercises such as weighted training, waterfall training, and boulder training to extreme exercises such as gravity training, element-shaving training such as walking through live flames, etcetera. Other external means were also utilized to supplement the physical training including skin hardening potions, pain cancelling amulets, vital strength totems, and power storing tattoos.

This was a complete martial system for the less talented in Toro. After-all, not everyone would be talented in absorbing natural energy, awakening bloodlines and soul power, or mastering magic. Most of the world’s population was simply ordinary.

“While Milele Town is encircled by a Normalization Magic Formation, the external physical strength of warriors still remains.”

The Normalization Magic Formation that Mr. Black brought up was a giant magic circle that restricted warriors from using their powers. This was one of the ways to allow warriors, no matter how powerful, to integrate into society. Such magic formations were usually found in major towns and cities in the Zika world. They helped maintain order in urban centers by reducing conflicts, property destruction, and collateral damage.

Particularly, the flowing energy within a warrior’s body was restricted. Even if a warrior could carve out valleys with their energy attacks, they would still be reduced to slightly superhuman levels when restricted in the formation. While their physical strength was still high, at least they were not strong enough to do things like fly or rip other equally strong warriors' heads off.

“This man is already a high rank warrior going by the external martial arts system yet he had his head ripped off!” Officer Kuo could not hold back his words when he heard that the corpse was that of a high rank external warrior.

While inspecting the cuts and tearing on the corpse’s neck, Mr. Black continued sharing his observations, “This is the first case in a major town. Before this incident, we only found these ritual killings in isolated villages and smaller settlements. Such places would not have any magic formations. Therefore, we could not tell what kind of person or creature committed the acts but now it is clear it is something with incredible natural strength.”

“A creature this strong even without utilizing any form of special energy?!” Service Zia could not help but exclaim.

When Officer Kaguzi saw the cut on the man’s neck, his words were simply what everyone else was thinking, “Cutting open a stomach is doable with many objects, a knife, farming tools or even sharp and hard claws. However, we are talking about ripping a man’s head off with bare hands, and not just an ordinary man, but a high rank external warrior! Whatever did this is no joke!”

At this point, most of the investigators and local officials were gathered around Mokene’s corpse. They finally realized that they had been wrong to neglect his body leading to them missing some key details. However, none of them could be blamed as the scene inside the house had been too brutal that it blinded everyone with emotion.

“True. Not even an Apex Body Forging warrior or even Transformation Stage warrior could kill a high rank external warrior by ripping their head off within the town’s formation.” This is the conclusion Mr. Black and the other silver guards at the scene came to.

Words and Terms

Mokene – (You) keep quiet

Normalization Magic Formation – A magic formation that covers an entire settlement in order to make everyone ‘normal’

Transformation Stage Warrior – A warrior who has surpassed the Apex of Body Forging but has yet to fully become an Earth Stage Warrior as not everyone is lucky enough to undergo Solid Body Casting. Warriors who reach the Apex of body forging when they are past the age of 16 cannot undergo Solid Body Casting as their bones are already starting to be ‘set’ in place. Instead, they will have to go through the longer but more natural Transformation Stage which can take anywhere from 3 to 10 years.