[Soul Reaping Slash]!
Raven used her strongest attack from the start. Her two daggers gleamed in an ominous light and criss-crossed towards Christian's back.
Christian paled. Even as a ninth-layer practitioner, he knew he would die if he receives such an attack. He had the feeling that even a scratch was enough to claim his life.
But just when the daggers were about to take his life, a ring on his finger flashed.
Miraculous, Christian vanished only to reappear three meters away.
A teleportation ring!
A trace of disappointment appeared on Raven's eyes, but it faded in the next second. She did not dwell on her failed assassination and instead tried to make the best of the current situation.
Shadows surged from her feet, extending to each corner of the second underground floor. Before the others could react to her actions, her figure faded into the shadows, reappearing in the back of another vice-leader.
"Careful!" Christian, the only one that managed to follow her movements, bellowed. But the vice-leader was unable to understand the meaning of his shout. In an instant, a dagger had sliced his throat and another had pierced his chest.
"Arggggghhhhhh!!!" Christian cried in rage. He filled his sword with mana and sprinted towards Raven.
But Raven figure seemed to fuse with the shadows. The greatsword only managed to hit an afterimage and Raven was already behind another seventh-layer vice-leader.
One stab, one slash, and another vice-leader was dead.
Only now, the other three vice-leaders reacted.
"Impossible!" Norma shouted, her face pale with fear. In just an instant, they went from being the hunters to being the hunted.
Christian's expression turned ugly. The short exchange between Raven and him was enough for him to determine that he was the weaker one of them. Furthermore, Raven was an assassin. She only needed a distraction from his part to take his life.
Instantly, he decided on his next course of action.
"Retreat!" He shouted to the remaining vice-leaders and charged towards an exit without thinking twice.
But the next second, he was forced to stop his movements.
A dagger had appeared in front of him.
*Clank!*
Christian used his greatsword to deflect the blow. He then saw a petite girl using the recoil of the attack to appear between him and the exit.
"... You will stay." She said with an indifferent expression.
Christian's expression darkened.
He could hear the sound of footsteps coming from the first floor. In at most a few seconds, Marana and Cline would arrive here.
By then, escaping would be a pipe dream.
Looking around, he realized that his other vice-leaders had also been stopped. Norma had been stopped by Akilah, and the other two were stopped by Akilah's men at the cost of their lives.
At the current rate, Blood Night was going to be wiped out tonight.
Christian's eyes turned bloodshot.
"You think you can stop me, little slut!"
A wave of mana exploded from his body. The immense pressure coming from him forced many of the men around to stop their fights and retreat in fear of being implicated.
Christian's aura surged out, clashing against the shadows in the surroundings. The mana in his greatsword lit up the surroundings, burning the shadows into cinders.
Christian then kicked the ground.
And his body reappeared in front of Raven with his sword raised high.
Ultimate Sword, [God-Killing Slash]!
Christian's strongest attack.
*BOOOMMMM!!!*
"Raven!" Akilah panicked.
The floor trembled. Debris fell from the roof, and a curtain of dust clouded Christian and Raven's situation. All the people on the floor stopped to see the result of their clash.
But when the dust cleared, their mouths widened in shock.
Raven's back was touching the wall, with her daggers crossed to stop the greatsword, and her eyes fixed in the burly man across of her.
But besides her slightly messy hair and heavy breathing, she was completely unscathed.
Christian's expression changed. He hurriedly pulled back his greatsword and tried to make another attack.
But suddenly-
*Clank!*
A sword clashed against his greatsword.
"Christian! We finally met!" Marana walked out from the shadows.
Christian's expression fell. He hurriedly used his sword to repel the belt-like sword and jumped back.
"Marana!" He said with gritted teeth.
"At your service!" Marana replied with a grin. "It looks like you were bullying my sister, huh."
"... As I thought, you stepped into the ninth-layer." Christian chuckled bitterly.
Marana smiled. "I was lucky."
"Luck, huh. If you are lucky, my Blood Night Gang is out of luck. To think I would see the day when Blood Night falls."
"Nothing is eternal, Christian." Marana said indifferently. "The old must disappear so the new can replace it."
"I see." Christian looked up and took a deep breath. He could see that around him, most of his men were dead. Akilah had cornered Norma, and Cline had brought a group the men to kill the two remaining vice-leaders. He knew it was just a matter of time before they were defeated.
Shaking his head, Christian held his sword firmly and took an offensive stance.
"... Come on, then. I want to see the strength of Red Skull's bloodthirsty witch!"
Marana nodded. "As you wish." She then took a step forward and shook her belt-like sword. At the same time, she signaled to Raven to not interfere. She was going to give Christian a fair fight as his burial gift.
But all of sudden–
"It looks like I did not come late."
A voice sounded.
And an old man appeared in front of Marana.
Instantly, everything changed.
The Red Skull Gang's men were frozen. They felt their minds turning blank in the presence of the old man.
The oppressive atmosphere was so overwhelming that nobody could even breather. Even Marana, Raven, and Christian, three ninth-layer practitioners, could not move any muscle.
The old man looked at Christian and sighed. "You are Christian, huh. How disappointing. To think you were beaten to this state. You are an embarrassment to the Ferret family."
Christian tried to open his lips, but the pressure of the old man impeded it. The old man then looked at Marana and Raven and smiled coldly.
"But no matter how disappointing you are, not even a dog of the Ferret family can be scolded by some nobodies. Girls, you touched someone you could not touch."
He then extended his hand a shook his head. "Such a shame, with your talent, you would have become someone famous in a few years. In your next life, make sure to not offend someone you can't offend."
Then, he clenched his hand.
... And nothing happened.
"Huh?" The old man clenched his hand again, but the mana in the surroundings seemed frozen, rejecting him. Instantly, the old man turned wary.
"Who are you!? Where are you hiding!?"
I chuckled.
"Behind you."
...