At the border of the capital city, which was surrounded by big walls designed to stop the infiltration of refugees and unwanted elements, guards stood on the walls with cultivation levels of the second and first layers, providing adequate security. The capital city was divided into several semicircular parts, yet currently, at the second interval stood two figures, unnoticed by the guards around them.
"What is your command, My Lady?" knelt a figure wearing black clothes with green straps and a green eye patch. The muscular man spoke with his head lowered in front of a woman dressed in a white assassin’s outfit, her amethyst eyes gazing outside the capital city, particularly in the direction of the Arcutus family estate located a hundred miles away.
"Kill Kyle Arcutus," Olea firmly uttered, her mind recalling the information she had received regarding the presence of a death circle within the basement, specifically its location within the Arcutus territory.
"As you command, my lady. Any further instructions?" Without hesitation, the man accepted the order, inquiring if there were additional details he needed to consider while on this naturally dangerous mission, given the strength of the princess and the fact that he was clearly targeting her husband. Yet, knowing her affiliation with the guild master, he did not hesitate.
"Don’t kill him stealthily; meet him once, as he might have some last wish," Olea said, tightening her hand around the hilt of her sword, clearly uncaring about what happened in the capital city.
Presently, her focus was directed toward infiltrating the Arcutus family’s estate, under the nose of the head of the family, who was strong enough to sense her presence and fast enough to tackle her.
Yet she was confident in her strength to somehow uncover the secrets regarding her parents’ death.
She knew they were betrayed, but she never found their bodies or discovered how they were killed.
’!?’
"My lady, but it’s dangerous," the man stated as he heard that he needed to reveal himself in front of his target. Given that as an assassin, he was naturally weak in an open battle against someone possessing strength like Kyle’s, there was no guarantee that it was not a trap set to lure him.
Though he would undoubtedly follow through, he wanted to point this out to the guild master, who might ignore this fact due to being clearly preoccupied with something else at this moment.
"....What?" Olea, who was naturally occupied with thoughts of getting to the end of these matters, felt her mind halt as she realized the magnitude of the mistake she was about to make. Even during her journey to the capital city from the northern territories, she had witnessed how, without lifting a finger, he had killed so many assassins and individuals.
’Haah...Did I just get fooled here?’ Placing her hand over her forehead, Olea realized that she may have fallen for his words and was about to send the wise skill master to his death. Though she was confident in his ability, she could not ignore the fact that Kyle was dangerous, enough so that she couldn’t detect his speed of movement.
Though it was late, it was not too late for her to realize that she had overlooked a clear trap—he wanted to hear the last wish only to gain the time to execute the same attack he had used on the assassins against her. This realization made her reconsider everything.
Based on the address she received as a bargain, she had promised him to relay a message to the Vice sect leader to have a conversation with him, which she definitely did not want to backtrack on. Additionally, she knew it was a trap, where the chances of the assassin sent after him dying were high. This led her to narrow her focus before seeing how time was running short, and she was getting delayed.
"No, let’s do this. Send the Third Elder for this assassination mission along with the words I told you," Olea finally decided. She thought of a person as strong as she was, old enough to have been around during her parents’ time, yet within the ghost sect, he was clearly trying to consolidate power among the members to replace her position.
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By sending the elder, she would ensure that she honored the princess’s word to send someone strong.
Even though the elder was as strong as she was, he had much more experience in the field of killing.
Although the chances of him accepting this mission were low, given his collusion with the second queen, who despised the princess, it was possible he would take on this mission to eliminate Kyle or try to recruit him on his side. In either case, it would profit her.
If the elder survived, she would understand that Kyle had joined the second queen’s faction. If he died, then the mission would be completed, and once he allied with the second queen, she could kill him anytime. If the elder somehow died, it would only solidify her grip over the Ghost Sect since there would be no faction remaining, causing everything to dilute and revert to her.
"I understand," the man acknowledged, nodding before his body flickered and suddenly vanished into thin air, using the same technique that Olea did. His body was now heading directly towards the capital city. Given the outermost layer, it would take him time to reach the ghost sect first to inform the elder about everything.
’Kyle Arcutus...’ Olea remained standing, looking towards the capital city before turning in the opposite direction. As the flicker in her amethyst eyes shone momentarily, her body began to disappear. However, while doing so, she sensed that this was most likely a trap designed to keep her away from the capital city. Everything was orchestrated in a way that she could not return, cornered into leaving.
All because of that man.
Swish
With a fast blur, her whole body vanished, sorting in the opposite direction of the capital city towards the Arcutus Estate.
.
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Within the first layer of the borders where the Information Guild and other branches of the sects existed, a figure made his way directly towards the territory belonging to the Ghost Sect. As his figure entered the main hall without touching or activating the warning alarms, the hall consisted of several wooden architectures of eight to nine mansions belonging to the sect leader—who was also the guild leader—as well as the elders and other officials within the sect.
Arriving outside a mansion, the figure swiftly entered down the basement towards the elder’s quarters. Upon reaching a huge stone wall, it slid open, revealing a man whose age was evident from his beard and the white wrinkled face at the center. The figure knelt before him, who was seated in the lotus position.
Within the cave-like room fortified by strong, thick stone walls, the figure knelt, as he came here to provide the details told to him by the sect leader. He greeted, "I brought a message from the Sect Leader, Elder."
"That brat has the guts to disturb my seclusion," the old man uttered, his eyes slowly opening. A tsunami of energy burst out, causing the kneeling figure to cross his hands forward and seal his body with internal energy, as the burst was intense enough to push him back some distance before he removed his hands to look towards the elder.
’6th Layer?!’ The Vice Sect Leader was visibly taken aback, sensing the power levels of the elder emanating clearly as similar to a sixth-layered cultivator, something which even the Sect Leader had yet to achieve.
The elder stood, his hands folded tightly behind his back, with a narrowed gaze and a smirk as he observed how shocked the wise sect leader was, knowing that soon enough there would be changes in the Ghost Sect due to his newfound strength. In a good mood after breaking through to the next layer, he inquired, "It’s a good thing that my mood today is good due to breaking through the next layer. Speak, what does that brat want from me? As an elder, I could fulfill it, hahaha."
’!?’
’I need to tell Lady about this as soon as possible.’ The Vice Leader could clearly sense that Elder’s increased strength was a threat to the equilibrium maintained in the cursed sect, as his faction would soon begin to show its fangs openly now that this man had become stronger than the sect leader.