Chapter 7: The Very Empty Palace
Shura unsheathed his sword in one quick movement. Vigorous wrathfire poured into the sword in an instant, dying it red like blood. He then slashed at the empty space in front of him.
The two Fiend Nobles were fast and appeared in front of him almost instantly. But Shura had acted first. A wide red line had formed in space. The two of them instantly moved through the line and were cut into two pieces.
The two Fiend Nobles died instantly. Their corpses were then burned by wrathfire, turning into nothing.
"I'm in a very good mood right now, so I gave you a clean death," Shura said lightly.
'Clean? You call this clean? There wasn't a body left to bury!' the people thought.
The people from the Slayer Organization and Wolf City were shocked. A lower-stage Fiend Noble had killed two middle-stage Fiend Nobles instantly and so easy. Not even a body was left behind. This strength subverted their understanding. How was it possible?
Claira looked at Shura's figure and smiled. He had become much, much stronger ever since he began practicing the Wrathfire Refinement technique. It was a really powerful and precious strengthening technique. No, it wasn't just him, they were both much stronger than before.
"Go. Go… go!" Kulin bellowed. He was enraged. This was a slap to the Slayers's face. A mere lower-stage Fiend Noble had killed two of his elites in a moment, and they had a higher level as well!
All of the Slayer Fiend Nobles made their move together. They all attacked Shura and Claira. The two sides instantly clashed in a melee.
"You from the Wolf City, you're bound to clash with the Slayers sooner or later. You might as well make your mind now and take them while they're down," Shura said, and pulled out his sword from an unlucky Fiend Noble.
Not even a minute had passed before there were only 3 Fiend Nobles left who were smarter than the others. They retreated when they knew they weren't the duo's match.
The people from Wolf City still hadn't made their move. Shura didn't know if it was because of timidity or shock. He didn't need them to dispatch these men though.
Shura entered an offensive stance and aimed his sword at Kulin. The sword was very red and made a shrieking sound as if there were demons inside waiting to feast on fresh blood. Shura's skin turned red and the temperature around him shot up rapidly.
Shura jumped toward Kulin. An explosive force propelled him and his sword toward their target. This move was truly as fast as lightning. It happened instantly.
A moment passed before everyone could see what happened. A red sword stained with blood had protruded out from Kulin's back. His heart had been pierced instantly without giving him a chance to dodge.
A look of amazement and fear was in Kulin's dull eyes behind the fearsome animal mask he wore.
Shura took out the sword and flexed it, dying the ground with Kulin's blood.
"Kill!" Shura shouted. This time it was his turn to say the word.
The red sword shot towards its preys like a living animal hungering for food. A Red light flashed once, twice, and thrice. The only one who was still alive from the Slayer was the other Fiend Lord, the vice-commander of the group.
"M-Monster!" the Fiend Lord shouted in fear and stepped back. He wanted to run away quickly, but his movement was sluggish. His shock and confusion had impaired his ability.
"Monster? No, I'm just a Fiend Noble with a Fiend Master," Shura said before another red light flashed as his sword returned to its sheath on his waist.
The vice-commander turned to ashes and scattered to the wind.
"We'll be going in now," Shura said to the Wolf City leader.
Before the Wolf City leader could reply two red lines flashed past him. The large palace gate was cut into four pieces and fell to the ground harmlessly.
The Wolf City leader gulped, sweat rolling down his forehead. "Okay, go ahead," he said.
It won't be long before the Slayer Organization found out what happened. He would then be blacklisted and be unable to enter any of the cities under their jurisdiction. He might even be hunted down by them.
Shura didn't care though. He had long planned on leaving the city. He had no intention of living in the city in the future either. He would become a traveler and explore the vast continent.
The Slayer Organization was large and their influence among the surviving humanity was massive. They had proprietary techniques and methods that gave them an edge over other human factions. They had also prepared for the Great Destruction for a long time. They were a potent force.
'But so what?' Shura thought. They were nothing in his eyes. There was no righteousness nor anything grand about them. At first, they had been hailed as humanity's saviors, but soon they had turned tyrannical. They were corrupted by their newfound powers.
Shura slowly walked through the gate to the palace. Inside was a large long and large hall. Two rows of thick pillars on the left and right held up the ceiling. Fog and light permeated the whole place.
He stopped walking when he got to the center of the hall. Had he been mistaken? There was nothing here.
Shura thought that such a strange occurrence must surely have some value, yet here he was standing in front of nothing.
The ruined city outside did not have any signs of being special. They looked like something from a hundred years, no, a thousand years ago. Age caused the buildings and streets to become decayed and worn away. Only the palace in the middle of the city showed sign of being special. A thin line of light connected the palace to the sky. This light also suffused the area around the palace giving it a mysterious feel.
But now that he was inside, there was nothing special at all. The palace was large, but it appeared to have nothing but space, quite empty of everything else. There were no furniture or decorations of any kinds at all.
Where was the treasure, the fortuitous encounter? There was nothing here at all. Nothing.
Shura found his mood being affected. He became angry. Why was he angry? There was no reason for him to be angry at all. Unless…
Shura grabbed the handle of his sword. He tightened his grip on it and poured in his wrathfire energy.
"Break!" he shouted.
He slashed the sword many times in quick succession. Countless blood red lines quickly appeared in mid-air, crisscrossing each other.
The wrathfire energy in the air soon dissipated into nothingness. Shura was not convinced that he was unable to break through this illusory formation.
He kept slashing with all of his might. The entire hall was filled with red scars like it was bleeding.
A loud breaking sound sounded in Shura's head. And the scenery around him instantly changed.
He looked around. He still couldn't find Claira, and the surrounding had changed into a completely different place.
He was out in the open. It was nighttime, the moon was covered by the clouds, so the ground was only lightly illuminated by the moonlight. But he could still see. The least a Fiend Noble could do was see in poor visibility.
But even if he couldn't see clearly, he would. Because he was surrounded by crimson orbs of light in the dark. No, he was surrounded by pairs of orbs of light. Many, many pairs.
Those eyes hungered for flesh. The fact that they glowed in the dark meant that these ghouls were… scary, and dangerous. They were high-level ghouls. And there were so many of them. While they weren't as intelligent as a human being, their physical ability was very high. A normal Fiend Noble would not be their match.
But Shura wasn't a normal Fiend Noble. And was all of this even real? He had been trapped into an illusion formation as soon as he stepped through the destroyed gate. All of this could be nothing more than an illusion.
But even if it was an illusion, he could be in trouble. High-level illusion formations could make the unreal real. If he was harmed here or died here, he really would suffer and die.
The crimson orbs of light moved. They came closer to Shura. Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters, twenty… ten.
The sight of so many powerful ghouls made him recall how people felt when the Great Destruction occurred. The powerful were no longer powerful. They were overwhelmed by countless monstrosities that could tear them to shreds instantly. It was normal to feel fear. Others did.
But Shura wouldn't feel fear. He wouldn't cower or despair. Others could do it, but he wouldn't. He would fight!
The wrathfire in his body became agitated and soon reached every part of his body. His heart was pumping the wrathfire, sending it to every nook and cranny of his body and filling him with power. He was ready to explode out with an explosive power to destroy everything.
"Fear?" he sneered.
"Die!" he yelled.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone