Sitting at a roundtable in a dim lit room, multiple important people were talking about a specific person and the recent events that had happened with the person.
"The black knight has appeared twice for the assassinations of our nobles and they succeeded twice in their assassinations. Both of the nobles were working on important projects that would have helped during our war." A man spoke.
"Reports from your disciples tell me that the black knight is capable of using aura. Although I don't want to make assumption, it might be your long lost disciple." One of the men said.
"Impossible. I saw Sebastian's body with my own eyes. He was found near the warlord's main base." Jack refuted.
"Like I said, I don't want to make assumption but perhaps that corpse was a fake."
Bang!
The entire roundtable shattered and an intense presence descended upon them. Some of them puked under the intense presence while others remained normal and glared at Jack for his transgression.
"Let me tell you again… Sebastian is dead! The body that was discovered didn't have an traces of mana! If you refuse to accept that then I'll just have to kill this black knight myself!" Jack shouted in anger.
Thump!
Without warning, Jack expanded his mana to those around him and nearly everyone collapsed on the ground. After angering Jack, everyone knew there wasn't any way of calming him unless you took back what you said.
"Fine! Fine! I take back what I said! But who exactly is this black knight that is capable of using auras?!" The main shouted, being crushed under the immense mana pressure.
…
"Your mission was a success, I hear. But you've got another mission to undertake and it's an investigation mission. One of our intel gathering agents is missing and we need to know why, and quickly." Bastian spoke.
"I can't be making anymore appearances in the cities anymore. Besides, I'm pretty sure they upgraded their security to the max now." Sebastian replied.
"Who said it the mission was gonna be in the werewolf territory?"
Following Bastian, they arrived in the main hall of the Dark Guild HQ. Again, Ragnar was standing near a board and on the board was information about the Elven Empire.
Walking past Ragnar, Bastian pointed at multiple locations on the board. At each location on the map, they all had a red marker that said: 'Intel agent dead.' It greatly surprised Sebastian due the amount of dead intel agents there was.
"You'll be heading to this city." Bastian pointed. "You see, this intel agent was a high-ranking one and he could've taken on multiple B-Ranks by himself yet he somehow managed to die." He revealed.
"And you want me to go there? A place where one a high-ranking agent died? You've got to be out of your mind!" Sebastian refuted.
"Which is why we're gonna be giving you fifteen million gold coins!"
Displeased, Sebastian did want to leave but he didn't. Why? Because he couldn't just pass up on fifteen million gold coins. The Dark Guild itself sold items that weren't normally available to the public especially weapons that would kept to oneself other than being sold on the auction.
"Fine! I'll accept it... BUT! I want you to increase it by five million." Sebastian said.
"Five million extra gold coins? Listen, I know we've been spoiling you with money since normal members only get hundred per quest but you can't just be increasing it by leaps and bounds." Bastian explained.
"Take! Or Leave it!"
"Alright! Have it your way!"
Smiling, Sebastian left the headquarter to prepare for the investigation. He learned that his weapons and armor alone wouldn't get him far so he needed tools that could help assist in his missions.
Having walked for a few minutes, he arrived at a shop called "Smithing & Enchanting". This shop was recommended by Bastian as the owner and workers were one of a kind.
Stepping inside, he walked over to the counter and noticed nobody was nearby. Looking around, he thought about how bad the service was here until he noticed a bell on counter.
Ring!
Immediately, a person in a large suit came walking from out back and placed their hammer on the counter. The top part of the suit opened and revealed a female blacksmith.
"What can I do for you today?" The female blacksmith said.
"I'd like to buy a hundred enchanted throwing knives." Sebastian said.
"Alright, a h... did you say a hundred enchanted throwing knives?" The female blacksmith rubbed her ear and leaned forward.
"Indeed."
"Percy! Start the forge! We're gonna be busy for quite a while!" She shouted to the back of the shop. "Can I get your name? Assuming you don't have the money on you, I can put it on your tab.
"Hmm... You can just call the Black Knight."
"Alright, come back in an hour."
Exiting the shop, Sebastian decided to find the alchemy shop. He learned that he couldn't solely rely on his own healing capabilities especially since it used a lot of energy. Before long, he arrived the alchemy shop he was looking for.
"Excuse me. I'd like to buy a hundred healing potions." Sebastian said.
"That would be five million gold coins." The old man behind the counter said.
"Put it under my tab: Black Knight."
"Very well." The man wrote down the name and price before hanging it up on the wall.
Walking away from the shop, Sebastian was wondering what to do now. He bought all the things needed for the long-term investigation. As walked through the streets, he glanced at a outfit shop and recognized a unique piece.
He then walked into the shop and decided to take a closer look at piece. The outfit he looked at was a hooded black outfit with a built-in mask and vest. Normally he wouldn't have been interested in a outfit but this outfit felt like it spoke to him.
"I see that our newly received product has caught your eye. Would you like to try it on?" A man in a red suit asked, approaching him.
"Sure." Sebastian replied
"You've got an eye for finding unique. As you seen, this outfits comes with a built-in mask and vest. The vest itself has high-grade enchantments that nullify about fifteen percent of damage while the mask can nullify your presence.
The fabric was embedded with a Ghost Panther's hide. Granting the outfit with the capable to increased stealth in the shadows." The man explained.
"This outfit was created by our top enchanters and blacksmith so it will cost you around fifteen million gold coins but since you're the only one who took interest, I'll decrease the price to seven million." He additional said.
"Seven million gold coins for one outfit?... I suppose it's a steal since it original price was fifteen million. Add it to my table: Black Knight." Sebastian finally was able to reply.
"Black Knight? Oh wait! Somebody came by my shop and said to give this weapon to somebody who said those exact words you said."
The shopkeeper then went behind his counter and pulled out a long case. Opening the case, a wave of energy was sent throughout the shop and shattered the windows.
"This weapon isn't from this continent so it may look weird but it's called a 'Katana'. The person said this weapon is called the Umbral Blade. I don't know if it's powerful as I didn't test it myself but you do like the outfit, I'll gladly have more made."
Inspecting the weapon, Sebastian could tell that the blade was made from a powerful beast and the runes that ran along the blade were unique. Simply grabbing the blade, he felt a strange connection to it.
________
Two Hours Later...
Having waited two hours, Sebastian went back to the alchemy shop to retrieve his high-grade potions.
"When will I be expecting my payment?" The alchemist asked.
"I'll pay half of it off now and I'll pay you the rest after two weeks, got it?"
"That'll do."
Pointing his ring toward the cart, all of the potions started be sucked into the ring. He then walked back toward the 'Smithing & Enchanting' shop.
"Welcome back! We've got the knives prepared for you in the back." The shopkeeper said, gesturing for him to follow.
Following the shopkeeper, he realized that the enchanter was an elf while the shopkeeper herself was a dwarf. When following, he was surprised to see how far back he needed to go.
"Normally, we would have asked what kind of enchantments you want on the knives but we figured that you wanted the 'Retrieval' and 'Soundless' enchantments." She said.
"Retrieval enchantment?"
"Just as the name says, when you throw it, it will return but not at a fast speed."
"That's convenient… Say, is there an enchantment for invisibility for knives? It would be very helpful in case I miss a throw."
"Unfortunately, that would require a specific beast crystal for invisibility and we don't have that crystal anymore."
"Very well, but I must go now. Bye!" Sebastian waved.
Walking outside the store, Sebastian saw a portal open up and staring through it, he noticed it was high up in the sky like last time.
'Whoever is opening these portals, I hate them.'
Walking through the portal, Sebastian had his arms folded and spun upside down. Upon getting closer to the ground, Sebastian donned his armor and slammed onto the ground.
Bang!
The noise from his landing attracted the attention of many beasts in the surrounding area and all of them began to move toward the noise.
'About time! I can finally feast on true food!'
Every beast that was staring at Sebastian, felt a sudden chill run down their spines. Without a second thought, they turned away and tried to run away.
"Where do you think you're going!? Capture!" Sebastian spoke.
Using his white aura and boosting it with his golden aura, Sebastian formed a small golden orb, which began to suck everything in the surroundings toward it. Every beast tried to resist the pull but unfortunately, luck wasn't on their side.
___________
Fifteen Minutes Later…
"I suppose I can go on my mission now."
Walking along a road, Sebastian decided to hitch a ride or find a city randomly. Unlike other race territories, elves kept everyone in cities near the biggest tree the continent has seen, a fragment of the World Tree.
Although the fragment of the World Tree was big, it was only a fragment of the true thing. Everyone has been wanting to get their hands on the World Tree's liquid as it would boost their power and allow them become closer to magic.
'Hmm… This is gonna be a problem. They didn't tell me how to get inside.' Sebastian thought as he stared at the barrier surrounding the city.
Walking away, Sebastian was determined to find another way inside the elven city, even if it meant killing a few guards.
_______
Midnight…
'I guess it's time to go.' Sebastian thought
While he waited for it to be midnight, he went back to the forest and hunted every beast until he was full. Only after midnight, did Sebastian leave to infiltrate the elven city.
Walking up to the barrier, he pulled out the magic nullifying dagger and cut through the barrier, and walked through it. Before he could walk any further, he heard a low frequency noise and immediately knew what it was.
'Sh*t! Why didn't I think about a silent alarm?'
Within seconds, guards showed up to anomaly and thoroughly inspected the area. A single presence sent a shiver down Sebastian's spine and immediately felt something bad would happen.
"Commander!" A guard saluted.
"Did you figure out why the silent alarm went off?" The commander said.
"Unfortunately, no. We can't sense any magic interference with the barrier so we haven't been able to find the culprit."
"Fine. I'll use the mirror."
As soon as the commander pulled out a mirror, a strong presence descended on the ground and only Sebastian could feel it.
'You might wanna leave. That mirror is able to see the past to a certain extent.' A deep voice spoke.
'Huh? Since when did you give me warning? We haven't spoken in two years.'
'I just want to prioritize your survival so I can descend into this world once more. Besides, the goddess of this city hates my guts.'
'What? What di-'
'Leave!'
Shing!
A strange energy entered Sebastian and took control of his body and scaled up the castle walls. As he jumped off of the wall into the city, a small light descended from the sky and a strange feeling entered Sebastian's body.
'Dumbass! When I tell you something, you do! Now the energy I've been saving up is gone.'