“Arnold, we are heading back now. You coming with us?” Joshua asked.

“Nah, I need to cool off a bit…” Arnold shook his head, “You guys head home, I’ll be back in a bit.” ​​

“You sure?” Orla asked.

“Yeah. And I’m sorry, I ruined the celebration.” He gave an apologetic smile to the others.

“It’s not the last time we are celebrating, so relax young man!” Joshua patted Arnold’s back. “Don’t waste your youth worrying about such trivial things!”

“I’ll try not to.”

“Everything is settled here, let’s leave.” Nathan walked towards the others and ordered everyone, “You’re not coming with us?”

“I think it’ll be better if I go for a walk or something and cool off a bit.”

“Alright but don’t be late,” Nathan said, “and here take this, your communicator, I’ve also added some money to your account.”

“Thanks.”

Nathan nodded and and left with the others.

“Now let’s see where has the maggot crawled to?” Arnold smirked.

*****

CRACK

“Who’s there?” Chris instantly turned around and stared into the darkness, but he couldn’t see anything. But soon a cold atmosphere spread everywhere. Chris was surrounded by a weird thick mist, and but he managed to see a single of black shadow which flew out of the other side of the road. It was covered in black and flew across the road a few meters above the ground.

Chris quickly pulled out a short metal stick from his belt. He poured a bit of his energy into it, Its exterior cracked open and more parts extended from within, turning into a long, magical sword. The sides of the blade were emitting white light, this was an energy weapon. Its hilt was engraved with enchantment runes to enhance its attacking capabilities. He was ready to fight whoever was there.

“You really think that thing would be able to protect you from these?” A voice echoed through the mist.

BANG!

BANG!

Two bullets were shot at his head but his he managed to dodge them with help of his energy shield.

“You managed to save yourself, impressive. Not that I was actually trying to kill you either way.” The voice said.

“Who are you!?” Chris was perplexed.

“You don’t need to know that, or do you?” The voice replied.

BANG!

Sound of a gunshot pierced the silence. Chris tried to block it again with his energy shield, but this time the shield couldn’t stop the bullet and it got shattered.

BANG!

Another bullet was shot at him, without his shield, he was defenseless but still he tried to stop the bullet with the help of his sword but his reflexes weren’t fast enough and the bullet managed to hit his right knee.

“AAAHHHH!” Chris’ legs gave out and he slumped over to the side, holding his legs. “WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?”

At this moment a person walked out of the fog. He was wearing a black cloak which had a hoodie attached to it that covered most of his face but the man was also wearing a black mask as if he had just walked out of a masquerade party, his hands were behind his back, and his eyes were flickering with a deep light that looked like the aurora one could see from the north pole. A natural pressure emanated from his body that sent shivers down the Chris’ spine.

“I’m here to teach you a lesson.” The man behind the mask, whispered.

*****

FEW MOMENTS EARLIER…

“Where is he?” Arnold was running at full speed. Cerberus was running in front of him, chasing after one of the members of his pack.

Arnold didn’t knew why but there was a weird connection between the hounds which allowed them to easily locate each other if they were within a radius of 2 km from each other. This was the reason why Arnold had sent one of his hounds to follow Chris because he knew, as long as he was within a distance of 2 km, Arnold would inevitably find him.

After continuously running for five minutes or so, he could see Chris’ figure at the far end of the street. Once his objective was complete he recalled both Cerberus and the other lava hound and equipped the [CLOAK OF PHASING] and the [VINDICATOR]. He felt like he was like a god of death hiding in the dark. He then took out and wore a black mask that he had picked up earlier from the club. Arnold was trying to be as discreet and mysterious as possible because he didn’t want to cause any trouble to ‘the family’. Even if he was about to attack a jerk, the jerk was a member of a guild and that might cause some issues.

Arnold wasn’t afraid to use his guns though, because no one from the Flying swords had seen him using it. All they knew was that he was a gunslinger but gunslingers were pretty common so even if they doubt him, they won’t be able to blame him. All he had to do was to be careful and not use any abilities that the guild knew he had, as long as he’d be able to do that no one would have any proof against him. For the first time in his life, Arnold was really grateful for the number of abilities he had obtained. He activated his [ICY VEIL] skill, he was instantly surrounded by a thick white mist, with him at the centre of it. Although he was surrounded by the mist, he was still able to see everything clearly. He Slowly made his way towards Chris.

*****

BACK IN PRESENT…

“I’m here to teach you a lesson.” Arnold whispered.

“What are you talking about?” Chris gritted his teeth.

“Etiquette. That’s what I’m taking about.” Arnold shrugged his shoulders and walked closer to Chris.

“DON’T FORGET I’M A WARRIOR!” Chris used whatever little bit of strength he had left and slashed his sword at Arnold.

Arnold activated [RAPID FLASH] and easily dodged the attack.

“A warrior?” Arnold smirked, “Don’t make me laugh. You’re no warrior, you’re just a nuisance.”

Arnold grabbed one of his gun by its barrel and slammed its handle on Chris’ head rendering him unconscious.

“Tsk. I never thought I’d actually use the gun as a club.” Arnold shook his head.