The night was peaceful in the Star Luo City, the street was bustling with activity and clamor.
Boom!* Boom!* Boom!*
"Ah! Daddy, daddy! Look! Fireworks!" One little girl on a man's shoulders pointed excitedly toward the sky as bright, colorful explosions lit up the night.
The man's face softened as he looked up, smiling at his daughter's enthusiasm.
"Yes, sweetheart, those are fireworks. Aren't they beautiful?" he said, his voice full of warmth.
The streets of Star Luo City were alive with celebration, the atmosphere festive as people gathered to enjoy the night.
Yet, unbeknownst to the citizens and tourists, these fireworks weren't as beautiful as they seemed—they were but a ruse to what was happening in the shadows.
On the tall buildings of the city, numerous shadow figures moved swiftly and silently, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with practiced ease.
It was nine figures and eight of them were chasing after a lone figure that was just ahead of them.
The lone figure moved with remarkable agility, darting across the rooftops with an almost effortless grace. Despite being outnumbered, this person showed no signs of slowing down or giving in to the relentless pursuit.
The eight figures chasing after the lone figure were skilled and determined, their movements coordinated as they closed in, killing intent exuding from their eyes.
"Stop right there!"
"Give it up!"
"Sneaky bastard! Talk where the treasure is and we'll give you a quick death!" One of the people chasing after the lone figure shouted, his voice cold and menacing. He had eight soul rings around his body, lighting up his angered face.
He was a Soul Douluo! The others around him had similar or lower cultivation, the lowest being a Soul Sage.
The mysterious figure, garbed completely in black clothing and wearing a strange white mask with a swirl design, completely ignored them and continued on running.
"You're not gonna talk, huh? Very well," The one who threatened him signaled with his eyes to his companions and four of them nodded, speeding up and going around the mysterious figure, they were going in with a pincer attack.
The leader gripped the green colored halberd in his hand, his fifth soul ring light up and enveloped his spear in a heavy dark aura, marking the sign of a ten thousand year old ability. It was called Target-Lock and was designed to ensure that his attack would strike true, no matter how agile or elusive the target.
The dark aura around the halberd pulsed ominously as the leader prepared to unleash his strike.
'His left thigh,' Another thing about this soul skill of his, he could locked-on a specific part of his target's body—he was going for a lethal but painful wound to immobilize the target without killing them instantly. The dark aura grew more intense as the leader focused on the masked figure's left thigh, ensuring that his attack would cripple their movement.
Veins popping around his muscular arm, he then threw it towards the mysterious figure and his other companions leaped towards their target with extreme prejudice and just a dozen steps behind the spear's speed.
However, something unexpected happened!
Instead of a splatter of blood and lopped off leg, the mysterious figure exploded into a puff of white smoke. Although, there was a strange black object left in mid-air. With the loss of the original target, the green spear and the attackers hurtled toward the black object, unable to stop their momentum in time.
'Shit! That's a stationary soul canon shell!'
The leader's eyes widened in shock as he quickly recognized the object, but it was too late.
Boom!*
The stationary soul cannon shell detonated with a deafening explosion, engulfing the rooftop in a blinding flash of light and a powerful shockwave. The force of the blast sent the attackers flying in all directions, their bodies crashing into nearby buildings or plummeting to the streets below.
The leader of the group, despite his high cultivation, was thrown violently backward, his body slamming into a wall with bone-jarring force. The green halberd, which had been enveloped in dark aura, was sent spinning away into the night.
"Ugh...."
"M-My leg! I can't feel one of my legs!"
"....."
Smoke and debris filled the air as the rooftop crumbled beneath the impact, leaving the once-coordinated group of pursuers severely injured and scattered. Out of the eight pursuers, only three people survived.
"Cough*, cough*...."
The leader struggled to his feet, coughing as he tried to regain his bearings. His ears rang from the explosion, and his vision was blurred, but his anger burned brightly through the pain.
"Where is he?!" he growled, scanning the area for any sign of the masked figure, having quickly figured out that whatever they chased had either used a strange teleportation skill or was simply a clone.
He believed it to be the latter.
'Ugh, was that a class 7 or class 8 cannon shell? Dammit, we were too careless. Just the shrapnel and shockwave were enough to incapacitate all of us...' The leader clenched his fists, coughing out blood. 'Fuck! I....I have no choice, I have to call in the others for help. These Sun Moon Empire bastards are way craftier than we initially expected.'
With a click of his tongue, he took out a soul tool flare from his storage ring and fired it into the night sky. The flare shot up with a loud whistle, its bright red light cutting through the darkness like a beacon.
It exploded high above the city, right amongst the other fireworks, a signal unmistakable to anyone familiar with the code—reinforcements were needed immediately.
The leader watched the flare's light fade, his expression grim. He knew that calling for backup meant admitting failure, but the situation had spiraled out of control. They had underestimated their target, and now they were paying the price.
As the echo of the explosion faded, he turned to his remaining comrades. "Stay alert. The enemy might still be nearby. We can't afford...."
"Ahhhh!"
"N-No! Stay away—aaaaaahhhh!"
"....any more surprises...." The leader's face was quickly drained of all colors. Swarming around his downed teammates like a horde of ravenous predators were what seemed like—people! But something was wrong with them, they weren't like the rest of the healthy and lively group of people he'd seen on the streets having fun, they all radiated an extremely dense aura of death that clung to their bodies like a shadowy cloak.
They were unmistakable. These....were the undead!
"That man was a Evil Soul Master?!" The leader yelled as he quickly turned tail and ran away, leaving behind his comrades to the unsparing grip of the undead. The leader's heart pounded as he sprinted through the darkened streets of Star Luo City and quickly called for his green spear, all the while wondering...
Was this all a trap? Did the enemy expect them? No, that couldn't be it. There wasn't any noteworthy strategist in the team of Sun Moon Empire nor did they have the time to get one to help them.
Was their a mole amongst them? This was the only likely scenario that he could think of....
'Wait...' He stopped, a look of horrified realization appeared on his face.
'What about the other teams?!' Letting out a groan of pain, leaped up to a rooftop and carefully analyzed his surroundings.
Having used his emergency flare earlier, he had expected reinforcements to come for him a couple seconds and they would've subsided his worries. But no, it didn't subside, it grew.
Multiple flares started popping up in the night sky, their red lights piercing through the darkness like a bloody trail. Each flare signaled a call for help, a desperate plea from other teams that had been caught in the same trap.
"No...."
The leader's heart sank further as he realized the full extent of the crisis.
"No, no, no, no! This can't be!"
His mind raced with mounting dread. The multiple flares meant that the enemy's attack was widespread and highly coordinated. It wasn't just a single team that had been ambushed; it was a well-orchestrated assault against multiple targets across Star Luo City. The possibility of a mole or traitor became more plausible by the second.
As the leader watched the flares, his anger transformed into a cold, steely resolve.
"I have to warn the supervisors, they have to bring out the Lord Titled Douluos and help contained the situation—"
Boom!*
The sound of a gunshot was heard, and the man's head exploded like a watermelon. His body fell to the rooftop with a heavy thud, a pool of blood appeared underneath his cold corpse.
The once vibrant night of Star Luo City was now plunged into chaos and darkness, marked by the fiery flares and the acrid smoke rising from numerous bombs exploding around the city.
The dark clouds split apart, and a ray of moonlight shone upon the mysterious dark figure with a white mask, with a strange stationary soul tool(aka gun) in his hand.
"Rest in piece," Huo Yuhao muttered softly before reloading the Godly Shotgun and putting it to his side. His eyes gleaming with a deathly grey color, the pentagram in his eyes glowing ominously.
He lightly glance to the side and said, "Remember, do not attack the civilians. Only those soul masters like the ones here."
The undead, emerging from the shadows and moving with eerie, shuffling steps, groaned in absolute obedience. Their eyes, hollow and lifeless, focused intently on their master, awaiting further commands.
"Dismiss," Huo Yuhao ordered, his voice calm and commanding.
At his command, the undead dispersed into the darkness of the city, their movements slow and deliberate as they began to spread out. Their presence was both a tool and a weapon, meant to sow chaos.
All the while, Huo Yuhao silently retired back to his hotel room with no one the wiser. At least, that was what he thought...
...
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