Journey Of A Legend

Following the path that led all the way back to the entrance, under a few seconds, the six arrived before the tunnel.

Filled with shining and colorful Dusk Stones, Russ and the others watched as the man from before was running toward the entrance, ready to reach the exit.

"Let's stop him!", shouted Joe and without hesitation, his and Greg's body flashed and appeared right before Shadow's running figure.

*BAM!*

"!"

When Shadow, who was running with great speed noticed as two figures exploded before him, obstructing his way, while the 4 others shut off his escape route, stopped running and took up a defending posture.

"Why do you need to go so far as this?", asked Joe with terrifying calmness as he watched his past protector.

Naturally, he knows that his father makes everyone obey his orders, but he still didn't understand how could all of this worth it?

Killing and fighting against those who were a part of your life so far... Were fame and glory had such worth?

In Joe's opinion, it didn't. 

"Everything that is happening is nothing but useless struggling."

However, Shadow didn't reply to that question of Joe. He just simply stayed silent and looked at his former Master and his friends.

Maybe Joe didn't know, but Shadow was trained and taught in a way where no matter what the order was, never let his emotions control him.

If he was told to kill those who were closest to him, he must obey that order no matter what.

Relatives, friends, or strangers... If he was told to kill them, his job was to annihilate everything or anything with his best knowledge.

And that is what he was ordered to do. Joe's father gave him one single task.

Find and kill everyone except Joe and Greg.

That is why he attacked and attempted to murder Mila, but because he failed he decided to first find the entrance.

If he would be able to find the exit and call in for help, capturing both Joe and Greg will be child's play.

However, now that they found out his objective, he had no choice but to fight. Even if he uses his power in the hope to escape, he would be detected for sure.

Especially by Greg. Since the moment he was punched in the face by him, Shadow knew that Greg had a power that was able to detect him even though he was one with the air.

If he tried to use his power, he will be attacked without hesitation that was for sure.

Becoming one with the air didn't mean he was invincible. Once one detected him and attacked him, he could die just as easily as normal.

To put it simply, Greg's detection ability was his nemesis. Once he detects his real body in the air and decides to attack, he can't do anything to prevent him from dying.

That is why he needed to decide what to do fast. So far as he could see, out of the 6 present, he can kill 2 without a problem. 

Glancing at the two girls who were standing next to Russ and Wayne, Shadow looked at the two men and started to think.

From his look, the two men looked extremely ordinary, with a presence on the God rank.

If he made things with great precision, he should be able to go through their defense and kill them too.

As he thought the possibilities, Shadow smiled slightly and vanished into thin air.

"!?"

Immediately as everyone saw this turned surprised, and looked around with sharp glares.

Except for Greg. His eyes squinted and his whole body flashed. Under a single second, he appeared behind Emma, and just as Shadow appeared he punched him in the stomach.

*BOOM!*

"Eh?"

However, the moment he punched the man with great strength, Greg watched as Shadow's body turned into a small piece, while another Shadow formed on Emma's side.

"A decoy!?", thought Greg with widened eyes and glanced behind him.

Turning his head only to see as Shadow was about to slash Emma's head off, he wanted to move, but it was too late to do so.

"I won't make it in time!", thought Greg as he watched the dagger's speed in Shadow's hand.

Even though Shadow was on the top of the Ascender rank, he moved with speed that was extremely rare to see on the God rank.

If he would have known that his opponent had such a trick in his sleeve, Greg would have been able to react faster, but unfortunately, he couldn't.

It happened way too unexpectedly.

"Die!", said Shadow with terrifying calmness and slashed at Emma's neck, but just before the weapon could have touched her skin, a hand appeared out of nowhere.

"!?"

"I don't think so.", said Russ calmly and waved his hand.

*BAM!*

*TREMBLE!!*

The punch was so great from Russ, that when Shadow's figure exploded onto the wall, the whole cave started to tremble like crazy.

"Woah...", was the only thing that Greg and the others were able to say after seeing this happening.

"I have forgotten just how powerful physical strength does Russ truly has.", thought Greg with awe as he glanced at Shadow in the huge hole on the wall.

"He won't wake up after this hit, I guarantee that.", said Russ calmly and walked closer to Shadow.

He knew that Shadow was not a simple figure as he looked like. Everyone that was able to sneak close to him outside his detection was nothing but weak.

However, unfortunate he was able to surprise him only once and do nothing more. Once he understood his opponent's nature, it was very hard for Russ to fall into the same trap twice.

Walking close to Shadow's lying body in the debris, Russ crouched down next to him and was about to use his power to tie him up.

However, just as he was about to do so, suddenly Shadow moved and slashed at Russ.

*Swish!*

"!"

Joe, Greg, and the others wanted to warn him, but before they could have, a surprising sight happened.

Just before Shadow's dagger could have reached Russ, the space around Russ shook, and with a swift motion, both the dagger and Shadow's hand vanished into thin air.

"..."

"Eh?"

Turning his gaze slowly to his cut off-hand which started to bleed insanely, Shadow's face paled and grabbed his hand.

"Arghh...."

Clenching his teeth in great pain, Shadow looked up at Russ, who was glaring back at him with nothing but an expressionless face.

"Know your place."

*BOOM!*

With that said, Russ's hand flashed, and like a cannonball, he punched Shadow powerfully on the face, knocking him out in an instant.

"Wayne, please.", said Russ calmly after he put his power on Shadow and stood up.

Knowing what he wanted him to do, Wayne walked next to Shadow's unconscious body and put his hand on the cut-off hand.

Instantly, the dense green mist started to come out of his hand and cover the slashed limb. Slowly, Shadow's arm started to stop bleeding, while the whole hand started to get petrified.

"This will do it. At least he won't die because of blood loss.", said Wayne and stood up too.

"Perfect.", said Russ with a nod, and after glancing back at the girls and Joe, he nodded and said, "Let's take him back."

"Sure."

***

While unknown what was happening inside, Joe's father was standing calmly below a tree, looking at Skyfall Mountain before him.

As he was looking at the huge Mountain in sheer silence, Henry appeared on his side and kneeled down.

"It seems something must have happened with Shadow. He has gone missing for way too long."

Listening to this, Joe's father turned his glare at Henry but didn't say anything.

Only after a small while later did he turned his head back and said, "Any idea what could have happened?"

"I think he must have found a way out and wanted to show it to us, but was caught or happened to get himself into trouble."

Knowing Shadow's power and carefulness, Joe's father knew that if his best assassin was taking such a long time to come back, something like that must have truly happened.

"What should we do, Sir?", asked Henry, looking for an answer from the man before him.

Thinking for a while, Joe's father looked at the bottom of the mountain and said, "We can't dig ourselves in because of the danger of getting killed nor can we find the entrance. In such a situation, the only thing we... I can do is..."

As Henry heard this, he raised his head, only to make his eyes widened with shock instantly.

"This... He will use..."

Before him, right behind Joe's father, a half-transparent figure was slowly emerging, making Henry know that he was about to witness the Dia Family's leader's God rank strength for the very first time.

"Let's find our way in, shall we?", said calmly Joe's father and waved his hand.

*Swish!*

*BOOM!*