"Put your hand up!" A knight in shining golden armor said.
A platoon of knights in white and blue armor showed up and to the scene. Sensing their ranks, Sebastian noticed they all were high-ranking individuals. Especially the captain of the platoon as his rank was peak AA-Rank.
"We're with the werewolf empire! We were sent here by our commander to clear out the slave trading camps!" Alpha tried to explain to the captain of the platoon.
The captain looked past Alpha and Sebastian, and saw a destroyed encampment. If these were indeed the people from the werewolf empire, then he would dismiss this but that wasn't the problem.
"If you're with the werewolf empire, then care to explain why you needed to alert every slave trading hideout in a ten miles radius?" The captain asked, slightly angered.
"We, the hounds of the werewolf empire, figured it would be a good idea to send our newest of members into real combat training. Now, you may think its outright stupid of us to send rookies into a serious matter but we need to increase our numbers." Alpha replied.
Although the captain didn't trust the people in front of him, he decided to put a little trust into them. The evidence was in front of him and it was undeniable evidence.
'Wait a minute! Isn't the princess here?!' The captain immediately recognized the location of the slave trading encampment.
Looking past the Alpha and Sebastian, the captain was trying to the princess and then noticed a certain someone behind Alpha.
"Princess Chelsea!" The captain walked toward Alpha.
Stepping out of the way, Alpha watched as the captain inspected the princess for injuries. It was like a worried father trying to care for his daughter.
After inspecting the princess, the captain led her back to platoon and noticed something out of the glimpse of his eye. Looking at Sebastian, he noticed a specific symbol on his back.
"That symbol... That's the Demon Heir symbol!" The captain pointed out.
As soon as those words left his mouth, the other knights immediately pointed their weapons at Sebastian. It wasn't surprising that they did that, after all, being the Demon Heir meant you were part of the Dark Guild.
"Stand down!" A woman voice could be heard in the sky.
Bang!
Before anyone could react, a person slammed into the ground and a dust cloud was formed. The knights immediately went into action and stood in formation.
"Stop!" The captain commanded.
Once the dust settled, a woman with red hair in a dark suit of armor was there in the crater. The knight immediately knew who this person was as they were informed of her appearance.
"Seraph! Long time, no see!" The captain said.
"Indeed, Leon. But are you perhaps stopping my subordinates from completing their mission?" Seraph asked in a domineering tone.
"No." Leon replied.
As they were chatting, Seraph was slowly approaching Sebastian and before he knew it, her fist was in his stomach.
Bang!
"What the hell?!" Sebastian blurted out, falling to the ground.
"That's what you get for alerting every slave trader hideout. These missions were suppose to be quiet so other nation don't know about our relationship with the elven empire." Seraph berated Sebastian.
She continued to berate Sebastian while others watched. As they continued to watch, Leon was pulled out a scroll and started to write in it. It wasn't long until Seraph stopped berating Sebastian and looked at Leon.
"I've come up with a contract for your little apprentice to follow since he alerted every slave trading encampment." Leon said, handing the contract to Seraph.
Reading the conditions of the contract, a smile appeared on her face and sent shivers down Sebastian's back.
"Sign the contract." Seraph instructed with a creepy smile.
Not wanting to upset Seraph further, Sebastian grabbed the magical pen and wrote his name down on the contract. After it was done, the contract lit up and disappeared.
"You are to clear a hundred slave trading encampment to finish the contract." Leon smiled.
…
One Month later…
"Run! It's the Black Swordsman!"
Cleave!
Bang!
"Bring it on!"
Per the contract, Sebastian had been clearing slave camp after slave camp. He cleared fifteen slave camps and killed over hundreds of people.
News began to spread and quickly caught the attention of each slave camp. Each slave camp increased their security and improved their strength.
Sebastian earned the nickname 'Black Swordsman' as he always wore his black plated armor to combat. Like Alpha said, the black armor evolved and became stronger, and new features appeared on the armor.
When he first began his mission, he would always contact other hound members but after one month, he hasn't contacted any members at all. Each attempt a hound member made to contact Sebastian would result in a massive crater.
Sebastian's killing intent and bloodlust increased exponentially. Every now and then, he would lose control of his own body as he slaughtered his enemies and would wake up in a cave filled with bones.
He only struck camps that he knew would win the battles and rarely did he kill the bosses of each camp that were higher ranked than him. Even with all of his strength, Sebastian knew that his chances of killing higher ranks were low so he avoided camps that exceeded his capabilities.
Sebastian made a few mistakes when trying to take out higher ranked slave traders and paid the price. Each price he paid was a lost limb but he was lucky to have fast regeneration and high regeneration capabilities.
Bang!
A body went flying through the air as Sebastian punched a man. His strength exceeded his rank so many were surprised by it but they wouldn't expect less of the 'Black Swordsman' who slaughtered many before them.
"I heard many things about you, Black Swordsman. The man who slaughtered over hundred men by himself in one night. Let's hope you live up to your rumors!"
The man came charging in and struck Sebastian in the abdomen. This man was wearing a lion's skin as armor and wielded a massive hammer.
Tapping his ear, Sebastian equipped his massive great sword and began to infuse his aura into the blade. After awhile, the black greatsword was covered in a red aura and released an imaginary menacing wave of energy toward the the man.
"Do you think I'd let you charge your attack!"
The man jumped to the sky and prepared to slam his hammer down onto Sebastian. Before the attack could slam down, Sebastian coated his hand with his blue aura and held his arm up.
Bang!
"Ha! I knew the rumors were exaggerat-"
Crack!
The man's hammer soon shattered into pieces and standing there unharmed was Sebastian with his hand held to the sky. Sebastian used his raw strength and aura to shatter the man's hammer, which was thought to be an impossible feat.
"I-Impossible! That was a E-Ranked weapon!"
"Your time on this plane has expired. The god of Death has sent me to take you back." Sebastian said in a domineering tone.
The man then saw Sebastian's eyes flash red and began to hallucinate a skeleton holding a scythe behind him.
"P-Please! Spa-"
Slash!
The man's head flew across the battlefield as his allies watched in horror. They expected the man to eliminate Sebastian but didn't expect the opposite to happen.
"You all are so weak… You all weren't born with talent and potential so no wonder you all are this weak." Sebastian spoke with disdain.
"We surrender! Please spare us!" All the bandits surrendered their weapons and bowed down,
"Ha…Haha! Do you think I'm like those guards?"
Sebastian's laughter struck fear in the bandits as they realized their deaths were imminent. As they looked up, they saw Sebastian's body covered in a dark purple aura.
As Sebastian was about to release his attack, someone appeared from the forest and stopped his blade from swinging.
"That's enough Sebastian. We'll be taking these bandits into custody." A knight in shining armor appeared.
"Move, Leon."
"I can't do that."
"I said, Move!"
Sebastian's eyes flash and an invisible attack struck Leon across the chest. Within seconds, Sebastian let out an aura slash and cut all the bandits' heads off.
"Sebastian!" Leon rushed forward and slammed him into the ground.
"Get… off me!"
Sebastian's red aura blasted Leon off his back and he flash-stepped away. In his mind, he made sure to remember Leon's name well for he thought about killing him in the future.
"Get Seraph and tell her that Sebastian is in the area!" Leon shouted with urgency.
Unbeknownst to Sebastian, he was being searched by everyone including the hounds but no one was able to track since Sebastian had no mana.
Everyone was searching for Sebastian since he managed to attract the attention of one of the warlords of the slave trader community. Although they chose to ignore him at first, they soon began to realize their exotic products began to decrease and their sales began to drop.
…
Six hours later…
'It hurts… my chest hurts…'
Sebastian began to notice the changes to his body since starting his mission. His body was breaking down and repairing itself but at a slow rate.
Walking into a cave, this was Sebastian's base of operations. As he walked in, he noticed someone leaning against a wall and became defensive.
"We meet again, my apprentice…" The mysterious man said.
"Master? No, you're not my master… Who are you?" Sebastian asked aggressively.
The situation was starting to get out of hand as Sebastian equipped his suit of armor and pointed his greatsword at the stranger. He didn't like people who were always mysterious as they always proved to be the most annoy person ever.
"I'm your master's master. I've trained him to find you." The man said.
"To find me? What do you mean by that?"
After hearing his words, Sebastian was even more defensive toward the stranger. His master didn't say much about the Dark Guild and only told him bits and pieces. But one thing was for sure, he didn't say anything about having a master of his own.
"In time you will understand but I knew you'd be here."
Sniff!
"Wait, you're a Werewolf!" Sebastian said, surprised.
"Indeed I am. You and I aren't so different but you will be the one to break the cycle."
"Cycle?"
Bang!
Sebastian couldn't comprehend but the man's fist slammed into the cave wall by his head. The show of power was enough for Sebastian to become docile.
"Why don't you come with me for the time being and train under me? You'll get experience and you will get more powerful."
"Hmm? I don't know… I haven't finished my mission." Sebastian contemplated.
"Ha! Did you think you became an official hound member? You only made a few steps toward becoming one but if you train under me, then you'll become the official Demon Heir." The man said, swaying Sebastian's opinion.
"Are you saying you're the Demon of the Dark Guild?" Sebastian asked, genuine curious.
"Yes, I'm the one of the strongest members and the only one who can challenge Sun Knight Jack." The man flexed his muscles while smiling.
"Hmm… I guess I can go with you but where will we be going?"
"Huh? I'll knock you out and bring you to our base of operation."
"Knoc-"
Slap!
The man slapped the back of Sebastian's neck and knocked him unconscious. He then put down a scroll and a portal opened up. Looking back, he dropped a red ball of energy on the ground and stepped through the portal.
Once through, the man looked back through the portal and saw a bright flash before the portal closed. Around the man, his surroundings were filled with a busy crowd of people and many buildings in the surrounding area.
"You really are gonna play an important role in the future." The man said, walking toward a massive building.