Way of the Knights

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*Boom!*

A loud explosion could be heard echoing inside a large room.

This explosion came from Raven who slammed his hammer with a sheer force that could make one tremble. Just now, he was fighting against five people who reached Warrior Stage in cultivation. None of them expected that someone at the Soldier Stage could easily stomp their combined prowess. To them, Raven's strength was just unreasonable, each swing of his hammer was like a mountain descending, it was filled with overbearing impact that they had no way of defending and also incredibly heavy, so much so that it brought them to their knees.

It took him five mighty swings in order to kill all five of his supposed-to-be relatives. There is no ounce of mercy nor hesitation in Raven's eyes as he did so, he had no qualms of killing them as punishment for their sins. He didn't looked at their spatial rings at all since he had no use for more wealth nor treasure, he already had everything he could ask for.

Raven looked back when he felt several footsteps behind him. His gaze met Joanna's, he looked behind her and saw a group of slaves following her lead. A smile crept up to his face, from what he could tell, Joanna managed to sway the hearts of her companion, now they are fighting for the chance to have their freedom back.

"Benefactor!" Joanna greeted him as soon as she saw them, she performed a curt bow.

Raven nodded and received the greeting, he then told her: "The exit is right there. Go! Back to the surface you go. My comrades are waiting for you outside, they will lead to a safe place. Tarry no longer, go!"

With Raven's urging words, the hearts of the abused crowd trembled as they silently gazed at the direction he was pointing. Freedom was so close, only a few steps away, they could make it. Their hearts set ablaze, they immediately moved forward and walked towards the exit. Jemma was pulling Joanna, telling her that they should go since their benefactor asked them to do so, but Joanna didn't move an inch and stared at Raven. Finally, she gathered enough courage and said:

"Benefactor! May I please know your name?"

Raven stopped at his tracks, he looked back and smiled at Joanna, he then spoke: "Raven, Raven Valorheart."

"Raven Valorheart." Joanna repeated, this scene was imprinted at her memory. She swore to not forget this name no matter what. This is the name of her savior, their hero. If there will be any chances in the future that she could repay him for what he had done, then she would definitely do so.

Joanna saw Raven turned around and went deeper into the factory where the Burning Heaven Clan resided. She prayed for his safety and success while she was being dragged away by Jemma.

Raven's words were true. As soon as they stepped outside of the door, they saw many strewn bodies of nobles thanks to the work of Bradley. They could also see fellow slaves who were running towards the exit with tears and smiles on their faces. Unable to endure it anymore, they too teared up and ran together towards the exit to claim their freedom back. Some male slaves picked up weapons and became the look out for women and children as they escaped, their minds were unprecedentedly united, their hearts longed for their freedom back and they won't hesitate to take down anyone who will try to prevent them from claiming back what's theirs.

***

"And here I wondered who was the one that's making a scene, even freeing our captives. It turns out that it was the spawn of that filthy Hawk."

Raven just killed another set of people from the clan when he suddenly heard this voice. He abruptly turned around and saw yet another face that brought back another set of memories.

"And here I thought someone special came, It turns out that it just another pathetic person who sold his soul become a lap dog of someone."

His rebuke was as venomous as his intents. Towards these kind of people, he had no inkling or respect, specially this one right here.

"That mouth is still as sharp as I could remember." The man said with an ugly expression.

"I missed you too, Third Uncle." Like with Elias, Raven's tone when he said 'Third Uncle' was incredibly sarcastic.

This man's name is Ford Redfield, his Third Uncle back then when he was still a member of the Burning Heaven Clan. This is the same man whom he crossed words with when he revealed the scheme of the clan during Ellen's abduction. He was the one amongst the many, who were responsible for Ellen's disappearance and the one who convinced Bradley and Luis that she's dead. If it weren't for Raven showing them proof that Ellen was still alive, then the situation of the clan might be different from what it is currently.

Both of these people hated each other to the core. Raven really wanted to be the one to kill him unfortunately Ford reached Bronze Knight Stage in cultivation, he knew that he could only exchange a few moves before he was defeated. But he didn't fret, just because he couldn't do it doesn't mean there is no one who couldn't.

Raven placed a mocking expression, he lifted his hammer and placed on his shoulder as he said: "Look, I really wanted to catch up with you, but I know someone who 'really' wanted to have a talk with you."

As soon as he said that, a silver flash arrived by his side. A man stood tall in bloodied Silver Armor with two thin swords also drenched in blood. His presence was choking to the point that Ford visibly paled upon seeing him. The suppression was too much and it was locking him down so he couldn't move.

"Need some help?" Bradley asked as he appeared beside Raven.

"Well, not really. But I figured that you might want to have sometime alone with that guy over there." Raven pointed at Ford using his chin.

Bradley's gaze adjusted as he looked at where his nephew was pointing. Once he saw Ford's face, a dreadful killing intent unleashed from all pores of his body. His anger rose to the highest point that his aura manifested as a dreadful flame that burned all of the blood from his armor and swords.

"We finally met again, Ford!" Bradley uttered while gnashing his teeth.

He failed to recognize him earlier so he just used his cultivation to suppress whoever Raven was facing. Now that he examined the man's face, all sorts of memories resurfaced but none of those were pleasant ones, why else would he leak out this much killing aura anyway?

"Go Avi, handle the rest." Bradley assumed a commanding tone as he stepped forward, "I'll take my time with this guy."

"Sure thing. Vent out some for me and Ellen as well." Raven nodded as he turned around to go somewhere else, of course not until he left Ford with a mocking expression.

"No need to tell me twice." Bradley uttered as he soon disappeared in a silver flash.

The room where they were, was then filled with agonized cries of a pleading man. This happened for one long hour until it stopped. Whatever happened inside that room, no one will be thrilled to know. Only Bradley would since he came out of that room with a clear mind yet bloodied armor and swords once again.

After he left Bradley to deal with Ford, Raven went back into his usual style of dealing with the rest of the clan.

He moved in stealth for the most parts so that he could avoid being mobbed by enemies left and right. This allowed him to gauge what kind of cultivation his enemies had and how to proceed in order to take them down.

So long as their cultivation didn't surpass the Warrior Stage, Raven had an absolute certainty that he could handle them even in great numbers. As for those who reached Knight Stage and above, is where things get a little trickier. If it's one on one, he could defeat them but if there's someone else, even if they weren't a the same cultivation stage, he wouldn't be able to.

In this type of situations, he preferred to assassinate them or make them unconscious using his needles. He will take down those whom he couldn't handle and deal with the rest, after dealing with the weaker ones, he will use poison to deal with the unconscious ones to save as much energy as he could and move on.

This was how he shave through the ranks of people here. This drug factory is huge and it is easy to lose one's way, thankfully his spying network worked wonders for him and allowed to him avoid most traps and locate the people that he had to deal with.

And just like that, after two hours of non-stop massacre, the whole factory was drenched in blood and the Burning Heaven Clan was no more.. When word of this comes out, it would be hard for people to believe that all of this was done by two people alone.