Way of the Knights

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"The Burning Heaven Clan is no more."

Bradley muttered under his breath, along with this was a feeling of relief and peace. The debt has been paid by blood and none of those people shall impose any danger to his daughter or his family anymore. Anything that they do here onwards is just an additional bonus.

He briefly scanned the area around him, he found himself surrounded with corpses of the fallen clan. His body was reeking with blood while his twin swords were dripping with blood as well. He scanned his body and found out that his energy seemed to be moving with more ease and more fluidity, he could feel the barrier that's preventing him from breaking through the Golden Knight Stage loosening up.

He figured that this might be because of settling the bad karma with the Burning Heaven Clan. A smile found its way to his lips, after this whole debacle he will amass resources and close up to attack the Golden Knight Stage, this time he should be successful in his breakthrough.

Bradley then moved in a flash and located Raven who was exiting the premises of the drug factory. He silently appeared beside him knowing that his nephew knew of his arrival.

To think that the two of them dealt this much damage to the properties of the Mort Family was still something that stuns him. Raven made this easier for them since all of the enemies he couldn't take on was rendered unconscious, leaving Bradley to them finish off with ease. As for the weaker ones, they had no chances against Raven's might.

Bradley never knew that Raven was hiding this much ferocity under his petite frame, he also didn't know that he learned how to wield a hammer properly as well. He had briefly seen how Raven swung this hunk of metal and he got to say, if he was at the same cultivation stage as Raven does, he had no confidence in taking a single blow from him. He didn't know where his nephew got this much raw strength but what he knew was that the hammer was the perfect tool for him to unleash those unreasonable power in the most ferocious manner.

As they walked down the bloodied streets of the Red Light District, they saw bodies of the nobles they took down before plus more. They figured that this must be the work of the escaping slaves earlier, they must have been ambushed by some nobles but fought back and took them down on their way out.

As they walk, Bradley suddenly felt Raven's mood change. He looked at his and saw that he has a solemn expression on his face while looked at the tallest building in the Red Light District.

"What happened?" Bradley asked with worry.

"I don't know, Uncle." Raven shook his head and explained, "But I suddenly had a bad feeling. Like something big is about to happen, but I can't a finger on it which is bothering me a lot."

When Bradley heard this, a solemn expression also found its way on his face. He then said: "I worked with your father multiple times and whenever he says that it always comes true. You might've inherited that trait from him, we better do something."

"Let's do it this way, Uncle." Raven faced him and started explaining, "Check on Ellen and the rest, see if they escorted the slaves out safely and guard them, I'm afraid that that someone had already informed Yael about the situation here. Meanwhile, I'll try to scout the situation here to confirm if what my instincts are telling me. I'll go inform Dad as well."

"Are you sure that you're going to be fine?" Bradley asked, clearly worried about him.

"I'll be fine. As long as I'm careful, no one here should sense my exact location. If worse comes to worst then I'll just flee, I have even more confidence on doing that."

Hearing his declaration, Bradley nodded and clasped his shoulders. "Be careful, don't push it if you could. You're life is more important than this mission."

After he said this, Bradley turned into a flash of silver light which shot up back to the surface to check his daughter's safety.

As soon as he disappeared, Raven took something out from his spatial ring. It's a feather quill and a special ink that he personally concocted. He dipped the feather quill on the special ink and drew a bunch of intersecting lines at the back of his left hand. Once he's done, he bit his thumb and smeared blood in the symbol he drew.

Instantly, the symbol flash with a faint light and his body turned a little incorporeal, almost blending in with the darkness that's surrounding him. His eyes turned dull but alert, he stood up and started running noiselessly.

The symbol he drew is called Minor Ghost Symbol, it minimizes his presence and hides his cultivation base making him appear like a ghost. While the symbol is active, he could be breathing down on someone's neck and none would notice him.

He decided to be a little more careful in this operation this time around since he sent Bradley away. He couldn't ignore that foreboding feeling that he had earlier, it was so bizarre and uncalled for to the point that it was scaring him.

Raven felt that sensation when he gazed at the tallest building in this area, that was a major sign that he should go ahead and check that place out. He wanted to free some more slaves but he really couldn't ignore what he felt earlier so he decided to come back for them once he found out what's going on.

Raven dashed through the streets like a phantom, strangely enough he didn't see any guards roaming the place and checking if there's invaders or not. The victims of their slaughter earlier was near the entrance so in theory there should be more people here now that he arrived at the central part of the Red Light District.

The foreboding sensation became more adamant in his heart. His face was turning more and more solemn, he picked up his speed and dashed towards the tallest building and when he arrived there what he saw stunned him on the spot.

And here he was wondering where the guards went, it turns out that all of them were stationed here, maintaining a solid barricade around the building. All of them are alert and glaring at every angle, from their actions it was pretty obvious that they aren't welcoming any visitors this night. Thankfully, Raven made preparations or else he would've been spotted.

However, this scene caused the foreboding feeling inside him to become even stronger. This was a clear sign that something was up, this made his desire to infiltrate this building even more. He looked around to check his surroundings in order to see where's the best path to traverse.

His gaze landed on the tents nearby, these were the reinforcements camp that was stationed should any problems arise. There is a couple of tents like this scattered around and for the most part, he could see some soldiers resting or chatting around these camps. An idea flashed into his mind, he confirmed the plan in his head and decided to act on it.

Keeping his body close to the ground, he dashed behind a soldier and walked behind him. He took advantage of the dimness of this place as well as the guard's stocky body to hide his own silhouette. He followed him around until he came back to one of the camps then he changed target and followed another soldier making sure that there is no one behind him at all cost.

This scene happened multiple times until Raven managed to squeeze himself out of the camps and jump directly at the gates of the tallest building. No one managed to sense him at all which was a good news but now he was faced with another problem. The entrance was closed, the doors are made out of heavy iron so he knew that if he opened it by himself, it would certainly alert the soldiers nearby and he would be mobbed by their numbers.

Raven hid amongst the shadow while thinking of a way on how to open the doors without alerting anyone. Suddenly, he heard a loud creaking sound which caught his attention. The sound came from the doors so his eyes immediately shone, he kept his body low and followed the shadows leading through the front door.

He patiently waited on the side as the door kept opening, he restrained his breath to erase his presence completely and watched as several armed people walked out of the building. When they passed by his location, Raven suddenly moved and dashed his way inside the building but he didn't go all the way, he hid behind the doors and peeked through the gaps to see what those people are up to.

"Soldiers! We received words that there are invaders in the estate! Currently, our dear lord had reminded us to remain alert and absolutely not allow anyone in! Brace yourselves and keep watch, no matter who those invader are and no matter what they want, so long as they don't interrupt the ritual inside then everything else is fine. Do not, under any circumstances, let them in! Understood!?"