More importantly, there was something strange about the darkness surrounding the attacker.
Connor's expression changed.
Shadow?
Had Shadow come here?
But why?
Ryan glanced at one of the bodies lying nearby, grabbed it, and hurled it upward.
Connor saw movement.
Without hesitation, he swung.
BOOM!
The greatsword crashed into the body.
For the briefest moment, Connor's vision and weapon were occupied.
That was all Ryan needed.
He moved.
The distance between them disappeared.
Connor's eyes widened.
The masked attacker was already inside the effective range of his greatsword.
The Dance of Death.
Ryan's paired sabers moved. One blade forced Connor to defend high while the second came from below.
Connor twisted desperately.
Clang!
He blocked one.
The other saber slipped past his defense.
Connor grunted and stumbled backward.
"What?!"
Ryan didn't stop.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
Connor's greatsword was tremendously powerful, but inside the narrow upper corridor, that strength became a liability. There was barely enough room to swing it properly, while Ryan's sabers had no such restriction.
Shorter.
Faster.
Deadly at close range.
Connor tried to create distance.
Ryan refused to give him any.
Another exchange followed, and Connor's expression became increasingly ugly. The masked man's speed surpassed his. His reactions surpassed his. Even the raw force behind his attacks was greater than Connor had expected.
And Connor was far from his best condition.
He had spent the night drinking.
His opponent had obviously come fully prepared.
Their circumstances couldn't have been more different.
Connor swung his greatsword horizontally.
Ryan ducked beneath it.
The heavy blade struck the wall.
Ryan attacked.
Connor cried out as one strike caught his side and another struck his arm.
His grip finally failed.
The greatsword fell from his hands and crashed onto the floor.
Connor staggered backward.
Ryan stopped several steps away.
Connor stared at the masked man approaching him.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared on his face.
"Wait!"
Ryan stepped forward.
"Don't kill me!"
Connor clutched his wounds. "I'll give you money! Everything I have!"
Ryan stared at him for a moment before saying, "Before you decide to kill someone accept the possibility of being killed."
Connor froze.
In that instant, realization dawned on his face.
Ryan.
The person beneath that mask was Ryan.
Shadow had never completed the commission because Ryan had somehow survived him.
No—
Judging from the strength this masked man had used, Shadow himself was probably already dead.
Connor's pupils contracted.
"You—"
Ryan's saber moved decapitating Connor.
Silence returned to the upper corridor.
For several seconds, Ryan remained standing there. His heartbeat was fast, and the fight had filled him with adrenaline. His senses felt sharper than ever, and there was something strangely exhilarating about the danger.
But Ryan quickly caught himself.
He would not allow himself to become lost in the pleasure of killing.
Killing was a means, not the goal.
Connor had already sent a distress signal, so Ryan could not remain here.
before leaving, he started fires in separate parts of the villa. The flames caught quickly, and smoke soon began spreading through the building.
"Fire!"
"Fire!"
Panic immediately erupted.
The remaining young men and women who had hidden during the fighting no longer cared about the intruder. They rushed toward the exits before the spreading flames trapped them inside.
Ryan entered the darkness before his figure disappeared.
...
Not long after Ryan left, members of the Blake family arrived in force.
Connor's distress signal had reached them, but by the time they arrived, flames were already consuming most of the villa.
Survivors stood outside in shock, while Blake family warriors immediately began searching for Connor.
It did not take long for the result to arrive.
"Connor!"
A middle-aged woman rushed forward the moment her son's body was brought out.
The instant she saw him, her face turned deathly pale.
"My son!"
Her strength gave out beneath her, and the people beside her hurriedly caught her before she collapsed completely.
Connor's father roared furiously
"Who killed my son?!"
A violent aura erupted from his body, forcing several of the nearby younger warriors to retreat instinctively.
Connor's father was trembling with rage.
Connor had been his greatest hope.
His talent surpassed that of most young people in the Blake family, and with enough resources and time, his future achievements could easily surpass his.
But now he was dead, killed in the middle of the night in a private villa split into 2 part and burned to charcoal.
"I want the person who did this to my son, find him no matter what!"
Connor's father's eyes were red.
"Calm down!"
An older member of the Blake family hurriedly spoke.
Connor's father's eyes were red with anger and grief.
"you want me to calm down?"
"I only have one son!"
"Do you know how many resources I spent raising him? Connor's talent surpassed mine. I may have reached my current level, but I've almost reached the end of my potential."
"But Connor was different!"
"He had the chance to go much further than me. He was my hope, and one of the hopes of the Blake family!"
His fists trembled.
"But now he's dead!"
"How do you expect me to calm down?!"
At that moment, a powerful presence approached from not far away.
The surrounding Blake family members immediately quieted.
Even Connor's father forcibly suppressed some of his rage.
The strongest member of the Blake family had arrived.
"Ancestor!"
Connor's father stepped forward, his voice trembling.
"Connor is dead!"
"I know."
The old man's expression was equally unpleasant.
Connor was one of the most promising members of the younger generation. His death was naturally a loss to the entire Blake family.
But the matter had already happened.
What remained was finding the murderer.
The Blake Ancestor walked toward the recovered bodies and examined them one after another.
Several of the victims had been killed before they were even properly able to resist.
Others had clearly died in direct combat after the attacker was exposed.
Marcus was among the dead.
Finally, the old man's gaze settled on Connor.
After examining the scene for some time, he slowly spoke.
"The attacker entered the villa without alerting anyone and quietly killed several Blood Warrior Apprentices before being discovered."
"After his presence was exposed, he fought his way through the villa and killed several students from First Martial Academy before reaching the upper floor."
"As for Connor..."
The old man's eyes narrowed.
"He was killed in direct combat."
"The attacker used two sabers and possessed strength at least comparable to a Rank 1 Blood Warrior. More importantly, he was extremely proficient in concealment."
He looked toward the burning villa.
"Otherwise, there is no explanation for how he entered this place without anyone noticing him."
"This was definitely not an ordinary concealment technique."
Connor's father's expression suddenly changed.
"Shadow!"
Extremely strong killing intent appeared in his eyes.
The Blake Ancestor slowly nodded.
"It should be Shadow."
"Only someone possessing a special ability like his could enter unnoticed, eliminate several Blood Warrior Apprentices before anyone realized what was happening, and then disappear again after killing Connor."
He glanced toward Marcus's body.
"Marcus was also the person who introduced Connor to Shadow."
"Shadow is an assassin. Under normal circumstances, someone like him would not casually assassinate the talented descendant of a powerful family."
"Unless..."
The old man's eyes became cold.
"...someone offered him a reward he couldn't refuse."
The expressions of the Blake family's higher-ranking members immediately changed.
Several names appeared in their minds.
Families hostile to the Blake family.
Connor's talent was no secret.
Among the younger generation, he was already one of the strongest Blood Warrior Apprentices. Given enough resources and time, his chances of becoming a powerful martial artist were extremely high.
Once Connor grew stronger, the strength of the Blake family would naturally rise with him.
There were certainly families that would not want to see that happen.
Hiring Shadow to eliminate Connor before he could mature was entirely possible.
Connor's father clenched his fists.
"Investigate!"
"We must find out which family did this!"
His eyes were filled with killing intent.
"And place a reward on Shadow at any cost."
"I want whoever ordered this dead."
"And I want Shadow to regret ever laying a hand on my son!"