In the city of Malthusia, under the sunset, Vaughn and Hiroki were speaking to each other right next to the Malthusian Ocean, which was the town's main water supply and probably the only tourist attraction in the entire city.
"It's a beautiful sunset, isn't it?" said Vaughn towards Hiroki.
"Yes, it really is."
"If only the world were as bright and beautiful, things would have been much easier."
Vaughn then takes a deep breath and proceeds to ask Hiroki.
"Now tell me, Hiroki, what do you think of me?"
"What do you mean?"
"For over 115 years, the title of headmaster of the thunder guild was held by the Satoi family for three generations until I came along and stole your rightful place as headmaster."
"You didn't steal anything from me, Vaughn. I failed to show up when the opportunity came. All you did was ensure that even if I was not available, the Thunder Guild would always have a headmaster."
Vaughn, who was originally feeling down, was lifted by the response of his friend Hiroki and thanked his friend for always being there for him, even if he did not deserve it.
Hiroki had always shown a tremendous amount of friendliness towards Vaughn, whether it was fighting for his guild or even risking his title as an Eastern lord when he broke into the Northern Moon Temple.
Misuki, at this point, arrives at the Multhasian Ocean to inform Vaughn that the scientists are done with their tests on the shadow stone.
**************
Ren was standing inside an unknown city, just a few metres away from the entrance, when he heard a gunshot.
On complete impulse, Ren was able to just about dodge when he heard multiple shots.
Ren, with little or no idea what to do, decided to just randomly move to a different location.
He is able to escape death or any fatal wound, but one of the bullets shot was able to just about scrape his thigh, tearing off a part of the cloth he was wearing.
Funny enough, these clothes weren't his; he had borrowed them from Earn, as all his attire had been lost and destroyed.
Ren remained standing at the same point, trying to see if he could locate exactly where he was being sniped, when, out of nowhere, a grenade was thrown directly at him.
"What! I can't dodge that," Ren said in so much speech. Moving was impossible for him.
But in just that moment, just before the grenade exploded, Ren was dragged away in a flash by someone moving at such immense speed that it was clear that he was amplifying his speed using Malice.
The person took Ren to a building, the only building Ren had seen that wasn't totally burned. The building, like most other buildings, was built mostly of wood.
In the building were men and women, both old and young, staying together in a desperate attempt to hide.
The person who brought Earn was revealed to be a tall, blonde, handsome guy named Valverde.
Valverde was the captain of this city's defence line and an expert in the use of malice, but he was rude, arrogant,arrogant and extremely proud of his abilities.
He wore gold plaited armor while the rest of the defense line wormer plain silver armor.
Valverde also carried a gold sword hooked at the back of his armor.
"Stay here with the other weaklings, kiddo,kiddo " said Valverde cockingly towards Ren.
Ren did not take this insult too well, but he decided to let it go as Valverde had just saved his life.
Valverde said everyone was required to stay here and keep safe while he and his team handled the dangerous stuff.
Ren had no problems with keeping himself safe here, as he knew he'd probably be killed out there when he realised he had no idea where Earn was, and so he decided he wanted to leave the building and search for Earn.
But when he asked Valverde, all he got was a swift and harsh reply.
"No! No weaklings shall step out of this building until it is safe."
Ren tried persuading Valverde, but it was no use. Valverde was not budging, but Ren wasn't giving up.
"Come on, please. Someone very important to me might be out there, and I just want to ensure he is safe." pleaded Ren
"No, stay put. If anyone is found, they will be brought to this building as soon as possible," replied Valverde, snarling.
Then an old man came towards Ren, saying
"Listen, young one. Valverde is very powerful, so just trust him."
"Yes, I am very powerful." Valverde says bragging and uses the opportunity to flex his muscles for some ladies in the building. "
Then the old man said,
"Yes, Valverde may be an impolite, immature, and illiterate brat, but he makes up for it with his abilities."
"Yes, I am impolite. Hold up. I'm not impolite, and I'm definitely not immature or illiterate." Says Valverde
After long speeches in which Valverde complimented himself, he left the premises to defend the town.
The old man then once again spoke to Ren, saying
"Rest assured, boy, Valverde was invited to take the Thunder Guild entrance exam. He is the best of the best. Now tell me what your name is."
"Ren"
"Well, mine is Rengoku."
"It's a pleasure meeting you, sir," says Ren before politely bowing to the man.
***********
Valverde was on the move with eleven other soldiers; each of them was well trained in the craft of assassination and gifted Malice users.
But Valverde specifically was on a whole other level, boasting a broad understanding of the killing technique known as the Inferno Veil.
"Alright guys, be careful, watch out for their snipers, track them down, and then ensure that you come out on top, for we, the soldiers of Valer, shall not rest until we take back our city," screamed Valverde as a means of rallying his men.
And it works perfectly; his men defeat anyone standing in their way. There was but one problem: the snipers.
The snipers kept on attacking when Valverde's men had their hands full.
The existence of these snipers caused the valerian soldiers to have to keep themselves ready to dodge a bullet attack at any moment.
Valverde's men were done with a decent number of the invaders who were present on the outskirts of the city.
The invaders wore white robes identical to the robes worn by the invaders of Aledia.
In fact, Valverde was currently taking on four men on his own and could have landed the finish blow on one of them if he had not been distracted by a sudden bullet from nowhere.
"Ugh, these snipers are such a pain; there
has to be some sort of way to stop their attacks," Valverde thought.
That's when Valverde saw one of the snipers hiding in a building taller than the rest.
And Valverde realised that the snipers would be on the taller buildings.
Using that logic, he was able to locate all the snipers in that region; there were five in total.
************
In Malthusia, within the Thunder Guild HQ, two scientists were explaining to Hiroki and Vaughn the results of their tests on the shadow stone.
"So, sir, after exposing a block of carbon to the emissions produced by the shadow stone and observing the rate at which the carbon block broke, we have come to the conclusion that the shadow stone has no malice within it at all," said the scientists.
"What!!" Screamed both Hiroki and Vaughn
"That's not possible." I sensed and can still sense huge emissions of malice from this rock," said Vaughn.
One of the two scientists then replied
"Yes, sir, the kind of rock the shadow stone consists of is unknown to us; we are not even sure the rock even exists in the present anymore, but me and my partner have come to a collision that the shadow stone has exposed to small amounts of malice over long periods of time, causing a slight mutation of the surface of the rock and causing the rock to emit malice, but as far as we can tell, there is only malice on its surface and not on the inside."
Hearing this, Headmaster Vaughn screamed in frustration.
He wanted so badly for the shadow stone to possess immense power because the thunder guild had been under immense threat of losing its place as the world's most powerful guild for a while now, and he thought the power the shadow stone possessed could have been of immense help.
Vaughn explained his plans to Hiroki, and Hiroki informed his longtime friend that the entrance exam was fast approaching, so preparing for that should be his main focus.
Vaughn agreed and hugged his friend, saying
"There is no better friend than you."
*************
The city of Valer was an independent city in the west, and just like Aledia, it had no connections to the western federation, which was one of the four nations of the world.
Valet, though not as developed as most cities, had quite the defence army for a city with an average economy.
11 of the army members were skilled enough to qualify as assassins, and one of its members had an extremely useful skill—one that could take down the snipers that were giving the soldiers so much trouble.
This soldier's name was Park Ember.
Park had mastered a killing technique known as the Eagle Eye that could allow him to see from long distances and also synce what he saw with his hands to aid him when he pulled the trigger.
And well, his technique sure did come in handy.
"Basic technique: Eagle Eye" screamed Park
And well, the white-robed snipers were outclassed by the sniping skills of Park.
And this left the foot warriors at the mercy of the soldiers of valer, and quite easily, the valerian soldiers came out on top, but their victory did not last long.
The valerian soldiers were interrupted by an eerie presence; they all felt it; it was like death itself had just come to join the fight.
And so came a man in rags, looking very badly kept but emitting malice at levels the valerians had never seen before.
The man asks
"Which one of you has the guts to fight me, or do I have to attack you all at once?"
But Valverde smiles and replies
"Nah, just me; you're mine."
While in the centre of Valer, Earl was barely standing as he was bleeding profusely and had torn most parts of his clothes so much that his entire chest area was visible.
He was clearly in a battle with someone.
And this person, the person in a battle with
Earn Hakira, was
The man from the nightmares of Ren
The man who slaughtered Ren's father
The ringleader of the Aledonian invasion
His name was BloodFist.
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