It was Bright Saturday evening at the 7th district , a huge crowd gathered around the stage. Everyone was cheering for one person the new commander of the 2nd regiment, with every second the crowd only got bigger and bigger indicating the popularity of the post.
Host-"Now, we would like to welcome our new Commander of 2nd regiment for giving us his words of encouragement! ."
*clapping sounds of the crowd
A man stands up and walks towards the centre of the stage, grabbing everyone's attention with his bright crystaline armour and an obsidian sword.
"Good evening all of you, my name is Elias Morden "
"I would like thank the authorities and all of you to select me as the commander of the renowned 2nd regiment..."
BAHROOOOM!
A big-blast at a public bar near the ceremony stage.
*sound of people nearby screaming
"I will check for any left ones, go and help the rest to evacuate! "
"But commander!" , said the vice captain.
"Do what I said and move now!! ", said the commander.
Then the newly appointed commander of the 2nd regiment rushed to the bar and with his power of Marrow Alchemist , he forced his way in.
Many gathered around the bar, some where still in the shock and were making there way out of the crowd . The entire place was engulfed in a thick smoke screen in an minute making it almost impossible to see anything clearly or breath properly.
Commander easily made his way in by using his beast claws to evade any falling ceiling fragments and reached near the main counter as it was all smoke he could only see things within the distance of 5 metre.
He saw a shadow of a man sitting in a chair near the counter , unhinged by the fire around him almost like he was dead . Elias felt a chill in his spine, yet he asked " Sir! , please let me escort you outside this place, it will fall very soon!".
The man turned around and slowly walked towards the commander with his gaze on the ground. Seeing this the Elias "help me find my daughter and wife! I couldn't find them ".
"Please! help me find them! "
"Sir , but first we need to get out of here as soon as we can "
"Then I will come back to look for them, just tell me their names "
"they're names are..."
After listening the names the commander stepped back and at the same time he tried to attack with beast claws ,but before the attack can land a hit it stopped .(Why my hand won't move ?)- Elias thought , but as soon as the his hand detached and fell on the ground , he came to the realization that his hand has been severed .
Struck by the pain the commander yelled-"Aghhhh...".
"Please spare me! , please!"
*thmp...
Within a blink of an eye the commander's head hit the ground.
In his last bit of consciousness, the man whispered in his ears-"Should have brought your renowned obsidian sword" and the man left throwing a diary or perhaps an album into the fire.
[2nd district]
"Its almost time, I should head towards the 7th district and give a nice speech as the head of this town and a Noble of this kingdom"
"Sir! the cart is ready to go"-said the the butler .
"I am coming in minute,"
*bhaam...
"What is that! ,an explosion? and why is there smoke in that area? ".
"Isn't that the place where the stage for the ceremony is there . Check the area! , check if it is safe for me to enter 7th district or the my participation will be cancelled, take half of the troops with you ".
"Yes sir! said the captain of the private army and left ".
The private army is the personal army for the protection of the Noble and also to maintain order in the town. These mens are usually of adept class M&C (magic and combat user) or lower except the captain who is of master class M&C.
The noble's office was big place it contains tons of antiques and expensive items one of those was the desk , it was handcrafted with the woods of deeper regions of Forest of Alabasta with touches of pure gold in it .
On the desk was a table lamp , electricity was recently invented by the two time Elite price winner Brade Tesla, a renowned physicist of the century . Even within the upper class , electricity was very rare only people with loads of money or with a royal background can access electricity and the noble seems to have both .The lamp had enough power to see what's on the table.
On the desk there where some document for the town plannings , some stationaries and three checks of ʃ 50,000 Solvryn .
Fffffh... what an odd timing for this incident is this even a coincidence , we will know soon saying this he stared at the checks and smiled as if he did a successful bank robbery.
"All thanks!... to the ruins that had been discovered recently near the outskirts of the town, although in official documents it is mention that it is an Iron class ruin so, the capital wouldn't claim it as a government property and steal all its revenue."
"It took me all my family's long stored money from generations after generations just to bribe all government bastards for making it an iron class ruins, it was a big risk but now the pay back is huge."
"The train will also reach the border of the kingdom by tomorrow noon and rest of payment will come as soon as the train crosses the border, the stone tablet is also in the train it will be kept in the 2nd graded magical locker , so no need to worry about its safety , the kingdom of Ardenthal really have some deep roots within this kingdom. I have to deal with them cautiously!".
*sigh...
He rose from his chair and started moving towards the hidden locker behind rotatable cabinet with three checks.
*click...click...click
He kept the check and closed the locker and the cabinet as it was then turn his head up a little and found a letter their was a unidentifiedstamp in it , so took it in his hand.
???-"Long time no see, Isadora de Vexley", a voice came from behind.
Vexley was completely shocked and looked at the mirror which was pointed at his back, he threw the letter at the ground and sprinted towards the door at his full speed .
("How a intruder entered in this mansion! , it is protected by a grade 3 barrier!")
He grabbed the the door knob and pushed it with full force but, it didn't even budge a little!
"Anyone is there! open the door, an intruder is at my office!!"
???-"No one is there to answer you".
He turned back and saw the shadow of the man on the floor which reached his foot. He raised his head and saw a man sitting in the chair , it was all dark no face can be seen but later after a proper glance it was clear that he wore a mask, the only thing that can be seen in his face was his Radiant yellow Eyes , so intimidating , the bloodlust can directly felt through his eyes.
("He broke the 3rd grade barrier, he is definitely not an ordinary person , who is he and what is that he want from me . If he was after the money he would definitely interfere when the three checks where still out of the the safe ")
("If he is not after the money than he is here to 𝙆̷𝙄̴𝙇̶𝙇̷ me").
"Who are you!? and what do u want!?"
???-"No point in telling you who is about to leave this world soon...".
Vexley takes out a blue crystal from his jackets inner pocket and threw it in the ground causing it to shatter.
[Somewhere in the 7th district]
"Captain! we move the citizens away from affected area "
Fine, lets meet with the commander and ask the details about this fire .
*sound of a glass shattered
Captain put his hand in the pocket and found that the crystal in his pocket has broken in pieces.
"Everyone!, head back to the mansion immediately their is an emergency .
[In Vexley's office]
"I can offer you a lot of money, just don't kill me and you will be the richest in this town"
???-"I don't like the idea of making deal with dead people".
The ???man stood up and started moving slowly towards Vexley.
" I have no choice but, to use this "
" A 2nd graded artifact : the shadow soul "
He threw a small opened case and soon some black particles started piling up and formed a shadow. Then suddenly a purple circle with incantations appeared and as soon as it disappeared the mans shadow was sucked into the shadow of the sealed artifact .
The shadow then changed its shape into the mans shape with red eyes. The man charged forward so did the shadow, the man summoned a sword and tried to slice through the shadow but it copied the move and did the same as a result the attack was nullified.
The man switched tactics he started attacking with magic. ???-" Nullification : Point of Singularity " , a black orb at the man's hand appeared and it started to suck in everything in it, within a second it sucked the shadow fully and disappeared .
The shadow reappeared again and this time it was way more faster and was blowing attack with much more strength . ???-" Void of Eternity ", the shadow stopped and slowly the shadow started vaporising until it disappeared completely .
In the middle of the fight when Vexley was out of the attention of that man, he tried to open the door but, it was futile . ("What should I do?! , if that man doesn't kill me the impact of this fight surely will "). Then he looked around the room and saw the window, a idea pop into his head.
("If I able to find a rope thenI might climb down through it , and even if I fall half way down I still won't die from the impact")- saying this he started finding a rope ,carefully moving trying not to attract any attention .
After the second magical attack when the shadow disappeared and started reappearing again. Before the man even say a word the shadow tried to slice the man's mask but the man evaded but it left a crack in the mask, man smiled a little and said ???-"Partial opening of the Seal " , in that very moment the the shadow tried to attack again and his sword was 5 cm away from beheading that man , but before any of that can happen he grabbed the shadows hand and looked directly into the shadows eyes.
The shadow's consciousness was teleported into a throne room , were a massive throne was there and there sitting a giant black figure directly staring on the shadow with its giant Crimson red Eyes , it stood up and move it hands towards the shadow to grab it .The shadow tried to escape the reached of the giant figure but, was caught.
As soon as the shadow was caught, the shadow in reality disappeared and this time it was different the shadow didn't reappear and the small case was broken.
"NO! NO! NO! , its impossible this can't be happening "-Vexley shouted .
"Everyone enter the mansion and find sir Vexley"
*sound came from the window
Vexley threw the rope in his hand and sprinted towards the window and shouted-"Help me! the intruder is in my offi...scee...".
*thmp...thmp...THUD...
The head of Isadora de Vexley fell from the window followed by his body .
Everyone was shocked no one could utter even a single word ,they looked upwards towards the window including the captain by looking at the window they saw a man wearing a hat standing and a mask, directly looking down at the corpse of Vexley, all were immobilized, no one dared to look him in the eye. At that moment, to them he looked like death itself.
All were not only at shock but, they felt a strong fear for their lives just looking at the mans eyes , winds became strong everyone was frightened even to enter the mansion and some even could not move , the night sky became red and the captain felt a shiver in his skin like whispered frost.
The captain tried to speak but no words came out of his mouth, but after a strong wind the captain mustard all his courage and yelled-"Don't let that Bastard leave " and charged towards the mansion followed by some more screams and everyone followed their captain . Along the way they found maids and guards lying down all were unconscious , the butlers body was out the office lying unconscious and the key of the office door was broken on the ground . Captain kicked the door with full force and the door went flying inside , but it was already too late the culprit had already left the crime scene.
[In the middle of the 5th district]
Suddenly a man appeared on roof top of a building , it was him, the man slowly take off his hat and opened his mask and put in the hat.
*tap...
"Kaelis what's next ?"- the man from the 7th district.
Kaelis-" Nothing we will wait , the First Step is already completed and after all...
Fear is a shackle that holds more power than any other authority in the world ."
[The capital of the kingdom]
*knock...knock...
"Come in "
"King Charles a report have been received that a noble of eastern provinces was murdered by an unknown identity"
*Everyone starts muttering within each other.
A random noble-"we should charge with more soldiers and start public executions if needed ".
another noble-"We should make ties with neighbouring kingdom and ask for their help in this matter".
another noble-"We should send a word to him immediately".
King Charles -"Silence!".
King Charles -"setup a investigation committee immediately and also find him , let him know about the situation, we can't let the political condition be more worse than this.
[Place : Unknown ]
*An omnious melody playing in the background
?̷?͞?̴?̕?̡?͠-"Finally! the show has began, it will be quite interesting"