Sealed: Breaking Destiny

Assassination Masterclass

With the three guards following Luke, it was time to play a bit of a game with them. The first rule of an assassin was to prefer lone targets over those who were in groups.

Therefore, the first step in getting rid of these flies that were bothering him was to get them to split up. This was not at all complicated, he just had to force them to seek him out separately.

'I don't have much World Energy available, I have to do this perfectly. I can't afford to mess around with these guys for too long.'

With this in mind, Luke sped off in the direction of a large alleyway and disappeared into the shadows. Escaping from them was certainly not very difficult, but doing so involved using his shadow element spells. Although the chance of them being able to recognize the spell was almost non-existent given the rarity of the dark element, if they reported the events to a more experienced cultivator there might be a chance they would recognize it.

While The Circle had stopped the active search for Shadow, the rewards in exchange for reliable information about his whereabouts were too tempting. Dark element cultivators were very rare even in the four major kingdoms, so it was best not to leave any loose ends.

And if this was so, why was he using his real name? Simple, no one knew him. The reason Luke killed Xavier and started a deadly war with The Circle was because he had found out his true identity. The only people who suspected that Luke Steward was really Shadow belonged to his family in the Volkan Kingdom, but he preferred not to think about that.

His identity had been safe until now mainly because of his family's refusal to reveal this suspicion. After all, this secret would destroy the Steward Family the moment it came to light.

'Why am I thinking about the past? I better concentrate on the issue at hand.'

Concentrating on the present, Luke watched from the alleyway as the three guards searched for him with their eyes.

About 150 meters away, the three guards were desperately searching for the person who had suddenly disappeared. This was a mission the boss had assigned them, so they were certainly nervous.

"Damn, where did that guy go? He couldn't have just vanished into thin air, it doesn't make sense." One of the guards didn't understand what was going on.

"Alfred, stay calm. He couldn't have gotten very far, the boss told us the guy was injured and that his World Energy was very unstable. Lando, can you detect his position with your wind spells?" The one who spoke was Adrian, the strongest of the three and who was a fire element cultivator.

"I have no idea where he went. He most likely used some treasure to hide his presence, why don't one of us go to the boss and ask him for help? The fire spell he used a while ago seemed very powerful, I don't know if we can defeat him." Lando didn't feel confident about defeating Luke. Fire Rain had left a very deep impression on him.

"Stop being a child. That spell was indeed very powerful, but I could sense that it was very unstable, he's surely hurt. If you don't believe me, believe the boss, when has he ever let us down? Besides, we won't be able to keep the best stuff if we ask for his help, haha." As he said this, Adrian's eyes shone with greed.

Although the other two guards were not entirely convinced, they decided to go through with the mission after thinking about the profits they could make. Just the treasure their target had used to conceal his presence must be worth a lot of money.

Thus, after waiting for a couple of minutes, Adrian lost his patience.

"Let's not keep wasting time, at this rate we'll never find him. Alfred you go left and I'll go right, let Lando keep his distance from us and assist us if we find him. I know you're afraid, but I'll let those who defeat him choose what they want to keep, is that okay with you?"

They both nodded hurriedly. Their fighting spirits flared thinking about how they could change their lives thanks to this mission.

Thus, the group finally split up, heading for a dangerous destination. Death.

When Luke saw this, a smile appeared on his face. Money and women were a man's greatest weaknesses. They were willing to risk everything just to get it.

'Time to get into action. This is going to be fun.' This was the first time in three years that Luke had decided to murder someone. In some twisted way, he missed seeing the lifeless eyes of his victims.

He had decided that his first victim would be Alfred, the weakest of the group. He wasn't sure he could cleanly assassinate Adrian with his current level, and Lando had decided to blend into the crowd to avoid a surprise attack. Therefore, he decided it would be best to kill two birds with one stone.

The moment Alfred was close to reaching his location, Luke used two spells, Fire Blast and Living Shadow.

With Living Shadow he put a mark on the ground that would be useful later, while he attacked with Fire Blast to lure him into the alley.

Boom!

Alfred quickly blocked the weak attack and used a movement spell to enter the alley. "You finally show yourself! I must say thanks in advance for making me rich. Don't worry, I'll build a tomb for you in gratitude."

However, when he entered the alley, Luke was nowhere to be found. Sensing something was going terribly wrong, he turned quickly to look in the opposite direction, but the last thing he saw was the blade of a dagger heading for his throat.

Slash!

Living Shadow was a technique that allowed cultivators to move to a previously created mark without being detected. Luke had used Fire Blast to trick the guard and bring him towards a remote location, to then appear from behind his back with Living Shadow and decapitate him. It had been an assassination masterclass.

'One down, still two to go. I have to be smart with the wind element guard, he seems to be smarter than the others.' With that, he picked up Alfred's body and moved it towards the back of the alley....

"What was that? Looks like Alfred found the guy, I'd better help him." Lando quickly made his way to the place where his partner had just been killed, but not before sending a signal to Alfred to join the battle.

When he got there, he didn't see anyone but noticed that there were large pools of blood on the ground. Although he wasn't too sure, he advanced towards the back of the alley. There, he found the body of his companion and Luke's body covered in blood, neither had managed to emerge victorious from the fight.

"Haha, my luck is really good today. Not only is there one less person to share treasures with, but I also get to choose what I want first."

With those words, he approached Luke's body to see what treasures he had with him. A cultivator who had used such a powerful spell would surely have valuable things.

"Wait, this guy isn't dea--"

Before he could react to what was happening, a dagger stabbed straight into his heart, making it explode. It was still possible to see the shock in his eyes. Luke had pretended to be dead in order to attack him by surprise.

"Why are people so stupid? If only he had waited for his partner, he could have enjoyed a few more seconds of life. The greed for wealth really blinds people." Every time Luke killed a person, he lost even more hope in mankind. Sometimes they were just too stupid. It was no wonder they were crushed by the Magical Beasts and Dark Ones.

"What have you done to my companions?! I'm going to make you regret being born!"

The third guard had arrived sooner than he had expected, and he failed to hide. He would have to face him head on.

'Damn, how could he get here so fast? I'm almost out of World Energy. I'll have to improvise something'

The signal the other guard had sent to Adrian was not within his calculations, he had relaxed too much.

He quickly used Fire Blast to stop his advance. Fighting a First Rank cultivator at the intermediate stage was not an option. He would lose in a matter of seconds with his current level.

He had managed to assassinate the other two without any problems thanks to the element of surprise, but that wouldn't work now.

"Goddammit, stop running and fight like a man. I must admit, you turned out to be pretty smart, but now it's time for you to pay. Take this, Fire Arrow!"

With the attack about to reach him, Luke had to take desperate measures. He was forced to use Living Shadow to dodge and position himself optimally, leaving him with virtually no World Energy at all.

'I'll regret this later, but I have no choice. I have to kill him with one hit'

Knowing he would only have this chance, Luke used Shadow Extinguish. An Advanced Grade spell that formed a dark element spike prison.

Before he could understand what was happening, Adrian felt his organs being pierced, and suffered a quick but painful death.

Following that, Luke vomited a huge mouthful of blood. Using Shadow Extinguish had caused him internal damage due to the overexertion of his Core. Wasting no time, Luke decided it was time to go home, so he quickly took the bags the guards brought with them and set their bodies on fire, reducing them to just bones. This way, other cultivators wouldn't be able to discover what spells he used to kill them.

A good assasin not only took the lives of his victims, but also erased all clues as to how he did it.