Martial Online.

With the lantern giving off light to the yellowish pages of the book, Casper continued reading even though it was nearing the crack of dawn.

While most of the people had quite messed up sleeping rhythms, Casper often went multiple days without sleeping at all.

Even when he was sleeping, he would only sleep for a few hours, and that was enough for him to function normally.

Casper lived in a small hut with a slanted roof and a fireplace that crackled softly.

It was a very humble abode, and it was tucked away in a safe corner of the town, right behind some of the taller buildings in the town square.

It was a hard place to find unless someone deliberately tried to find him.

Knock, knock.

In that moment, someone double-knocked on the door.

Casper was about to change pages, but as he heard the knocking, he froze for a moment and turned to the door with a suspicious look.

This was probably the first time anyone had ever sought him out.

He was already nearing his thirties, but as soon as he turned fifteen, he left his family to do his own thing.

Not even his family had visited him, as they had basically cut off ties.

That wasn’t such a strange thing among Black Hands.

A bond between family members didn’t really exist, except in some rare cases.

Casper closed his book and walked over to the door.

Before opening it, he checked the time on his pocket watch and then at the eye hole that was drilled through the wooden door.

Through the eye hole, he saw only a dimly lit alleyway with some overturned trash cans and a stray cat scurrying by.

As he was about to open the door, one of the windows suddenly shattered, causing him to jump back in surprise.

“The hell?!”

He cried out, and at that moment, a figure jumped through the broken window.

The figure was donning purple armor that was clearly made out of magic, as it sparkled brilliantly. It also had a purple cloak, which was seemingly made out of some kind of purple smoke.

‘A magic armor!’

Casper’s eyes shrunk, and he quickly chanted something under his breath.

At that moment, the broken glass pieces on the floor transformed into a crystal shield that floated towards Casper to defend him.

“State your name and business! Attacking a fellow member of Black Hand is a criminal offense!”

The figure’s face was obstructed by some kind of purple mask that was also made out of strange smoke. The mask seemed to shift and twist, never settling on one form.

“You may call me as…” The figure stopped for a moment before he smiled behind the mask and said, “Beowulf Madigan.”

Casper thought it was a fake name, but he planned to reveal the figure’s identity in another way—by removing the mask from his face.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell who it was based on the voice, as the voice was very deep and sounded almost staticky.

‘He is also using magic to speak. He is depleting his mana pool doing that, but I suppose he doesn’t want me to know who he is.

‘If this comes down to the fight, he can’t keep up the magic armor and that fake voice forever when his mana pool is running low!’

“And I do have some questions for you.” Beowulf said with a smirk-sounding voice. “You brought here someone—a person with purple eyes. What are you planning to do with him?”

Casper frowned, the corners of his mouth turning downward as he contemplated his response.

He didn’t know why this strange individual was interested in him.

‘Did this person also find out that Falco is a Deathwalker? Did Falco perhaps reveal him somewhere before going to the tavern, allowing some other forces to find out about him?’

“He is just a new recruit I found. I thought he had a decent talent for magic, and I took him under my wing.”

Casper trailed off, not wanting to reveal more than necessary.

“He is a Deathwalker, is he not?” Beowulf said with an obvious grin in his voice.

Casper’s expression turned very serious for a moment.

“How do you know about him?”

Beowulf stayed quiet, allowing Casper himself to realize it.

As Casper thought about it, his expression turned even more sour, and he said:

“Eli?”

“Bingo.” Beowulf replied with a small laugh. “You should know that rats like him should not be trusted.”

“Cursed…” Casper clenched his hand into a fist. ‘That bastard.’

“What’re you planning to do with him?” Beowulf asked one more time.

“That’s none of your business!” Casper roared and summoned a ball of black energy in his hand. “You’ve infiltrated the wrong place!”

“Sigh…”

Beowulf sighed, raised his hand towards the ceiling, and gently snapped his fingers.

A purple dome descended on the small hut, covering them entirely.

‘This is?’ Casper looked around with a serious look.

“With this, no sound will travel outside this dome.” Beowulf laughed. “I don’t want anyone to interrupt us.”

Casper quickly chanted something under his breath and pointed the black energy towards Beowulf.

At that moment, a black beam shot out of his hand and hit Beowulf in the armor, throwing him against the wall.

Crack!

The wall started to slowly crack under the impact of Beowulf’s body hitting it.

But then, Beowulf climbed back to his feet without a single dent in his powerful armor. It was as if he had never been hit.

‘Such powerful armor!’

Casper was in shock.

‘Only really powerful magicians can create armor like that. The question is, did he do that or someone he works for?’

“My turn.” Beowulf said coldly, and he manifested a purple sword out of strange smoke.

And then he swung it in front of him and sent a wave of sword energy towards Casper.

Casper’s eyes widened in a hurry, and he quickly blocked the flying wave of sword energy with his crystal shield.

However, in that very instant, large cracks appeared around the crystal shield, and before Casper had time to react, the shield shattered into pieces.

The sword energy slashed through his body and left behind a deep, bleeding wound that stretched from his hip all the way to the face.

“Argh!” Casper screamed in pain, and in panic, he again snapped his fingers, and all the light vanished from the hut.

The hut was now entirely shrouded in darkness.

“Lit up this place, my beautiful butterflies.” Beowulf opened his palm and summoned hundreds of purple-winged butterflies that glowed in the dark.

In that same instant, the darkness slowly started to vanish, allowing Beowulf to see everything.

However, shockingly, Casper had vanished from his position and was nowhere to be seen!

‘He escaped?’ Beowulf wondered quickly, but then he saw a trail of blood leading to one of the closed rooms.

A small smile crept up on his face behind the mask.

‘This is what assassins excel at—battling in the dark.’

Beowulf formed a powerful fist with his left hand, and purple mist started swirling around that fist.

The purple mist immediately started sucking everything in the room towards Beowulf as if he were a black hole.

At that moment, a figure crashed through the door and flew straight towards Beowulf, unable to fight back against the powerful sucking force.

“The hell!” Casper shouted in panic as he was about to bandage his wounds in his room, but then some strange pulling force took control of him and dragged him back to Beowulf.

Beowulf grabbed Casper by his throat and slammed him against the wall, which caused the entire southern wall to collapse like a badly built sand castle.

“Now, mind answering my questions, and I will let you live?” Beowulf asked nicely. “I have no interest in killing you.”

“Lies!” Casper screamed in pain. “You could’ve only become this strong by killing thousands, you monster! You won’t even blink when you kill me!”

“I am a man of principle.” Beowulf said with a chuckle. “Answer, and I will let you live. That is the only choice left for you.”

“I’ll… want to learn more about Deathwalkers; that’s it!” Casper screamed painfully.

“…” Beowulf frowned and said, “How did you convince him to be with you? I don’t think this person is foolish enough to follow a member of the infamous Black Hand.”

“Urgh…” Casper groaned. “He is very naive and believes everything. I said that I would cure the Deathwalking disease, allowing him to live!”

“That’s a lie, is it not?” Beowulf asked with a frown.

“Of course it is!” Casper screamed. “No one has been able to cure a single person with Deathwalking disease in the past thousand years. That’s why Falco is very naive, thinking we have a way to do so!

“Naive or very desperate!

“I think both!”

Beowulf tossed Casper down to the ground and scoffed. “You’re pathetic.”

With that, Beowulf turned into a swirling purple mist and vanished from the room.

After he disappeared, Casper patted the dust off his clothes and spat on the ground where Beowulf was standing only minutes prior.

“Fool, you think a member of Black Hand like me would spill out the truth to you? I only gave the half-truth, you fucker!”

…

At the top of a tall building, Beowulf emerged from the purple smoke, and then he removed his mask, revealing a handsome, fair-skinned face with bright purple eyes.

He was none other than Ambrose, who was masked this whole time as Beowulf Madigan!

‘Unfortunately, I still had to leave him alive, as he knows who killed me and where Zane is. However, when his usefulness is gone, so will he.’

Ambrose looked into the horizon and clenched his hand into a fist.

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