Child of Destiny



...

"It is such a pity. You have experienced such a rare moment, yet it is also what cost you your life."

Ezikiel, the young executioner of the Black Serpent Mafia, was currently standing behind Shin as he dug his sword into the back of the latter. He could see his sword pierced through the chest of the latter from behind which made him smile widely.

Unlike Steve, Chris, and Serra, who were young executioners that were in the middle of their final 'graduation' for their training, Ezikiel was a real executioner that had already finished all his training.

The trio were still in the middle of their final mission before they could even become a bona fide executioner of the Black Serpent Mafia. And after finishing it, they had to undergo another course of training, as well as a final test, before they could truly become a full-fledged executioner.

This was the reason why they still had to be in a group when taking missions.

Real executioners of an underworld organization had to be strong enough to work alone before they could call themselves real executioners. And their main tasks were the obvious assassination of specific targets, as well as tracking and taking down the traitors of their organizations.

They were the real killing tool of the underworld organizations.

And the specific executioners, who had graduated from their training courses at a young age and lower realm in the path of Martial Arts and Mentalism, were the most talented tools that the organizations possessed.

These young executioners were no weaker than the geniuses from big and aristocratic families, assassin families, military families, or even the martial art and mentalism families.

Ezikiel, who was in the early phase of the Ethereal Opening Stage, was such a talent. He was a young executioner who managed to graduate early from his training.

He was keeping a low profile within one of the prestigious academies in the Eastern Sea Region when the higher-ups contacted him for a special assignment. He was to take down the person who had inherited an ancient inheritance if the trio had failed their assignment.

He was also tasked to dispose of the three if ever they failed the mission. The organization did not have any use for such useless people after all.

But if those three were lucky enough to get the job done, then he was told to retreat and go back to his post.

He was leisurely following the trio when he noticed that there was something wrong. He then watched them survey the area when they arrived at their destination.

He immediately understood that this supposedly simple and easy mission took a sudden turn and became a little troublesome.

He knew that there was an expert hiding in the dark. Fortunately, that person was not out of his reach. Their strength was at most comparable to his if he did not use his trump cards.

Ezikiel continued to hide and watched the trio get toyed with by the expert. He was slightly surprised when he found out that the expert was as young as them. He thought it was an old veteran of the military or at least a special force soldier tasked to protect their target.

But from what he could see, it was someone who was neither of those.

Based on the movements and fighting style of that person, he could tell that they were neither from a military nor a prestigious dojo. They were at least a student from one of the academies within this region.

The first thing that come to his mind was the Magic Ace Academy. After all, that place was one of the best institutions within the continent alongside the Top Military School. And since the person was not showing any military arts or a signature move unique to the military soldiers, he suspected that this person was from the Magic Ace Academy.

But he became even more surprised when he thought about it.

As one of the young executioners of the Black Serpent Mafia, he had a list of talented people that came from different families and organizations. These talents were the ones that they had to keep their eyes on while doing their assignments, which was also a potential hitlist if the situation called for it.

But from what he could see, this person was none of those people. He was not on the list.

Thinking about that, Ezikiel had suspected that this person was most likely in disguise to hide their real identity from the others.

He tried to figure out the identity of this young expert mentalist, but he quickly threw it at the back of his head when he could not figure it out.

After all, his job was to take down this person before proceeding to assassinate his primary target, the possessor of the ancient inheritance.

After stalking the others and watching the battle for a while, he finally saw the perfect opportunity and struck without any hint of hesitation.

…

Ezikiel was smiling widely as he waited for Shin to have a final struggle. Or at least to turn his head to the side to try looking at his assailant.

He was about to say something more when he suddenly sensed a threat coming from behind.

Swoosh!

Without any hesitation, he quickly pulled out his sword from the back of Shin and quickly spun while swinging the sword.

Clang!

Sparks flew in the air as his sword clashed against a dagger.

Ezikiel quickly hopped away after he had fended off the attack. He then cautiously looked ahead to try and see who his mysterious attack was.

And when he saw who it was, his pupils suddenly shrunk and his face was immediately filled with disbelief.

The person standing a few distance away from him was the same person who was supposedly stabbed earlier.

"How is that possible?" he muttered before quickly glancing at the corpse of the person that he just stabbed earlier. He then realized that it was actually Steve, the guy Shin had defeated earlier.

He then looked at Shin cautiously while trying to recall what had happened. He was trying to think how Steve suddenly ended up where Shin was supposed to stand.

Ezikiel clearly remembered that Shin stopped on that spot after he finished off Chris and Serra consecutively earlier after he defeated Steve. Then Shin was supposed to have undergone enlightenment quickly after that.

…

"Tsk! You sure are quite fast to respond," Shin muttered as he looked at Ezikiel. He found it a pity that his sneak attack failed when he had the perfect opportunity to finish off the latter.

Earlier, when he dealt the final blow to Steve, he suddenly entered an epiphany about his ideal fighting style for Mentalism. He then rode on the momentum and proceeded on killing both Chris and Serra while engraving the feeling that he currently had.

He wanted to quickly enter the state of enlightenment at that time, but he knew that it would put him in danger if he proceeded with it. After all, there was still the real executioner hiding in the dark and waiting for the opportunity to strike.

So, right before he entered that state, he quickly cast an illusion technique and produce an image of himself continuing to move forward after finishing off Serra.

He might not have had high attainment when it came to illusion techniques, but it was more than enough to trick most of his opponents when he used them. After all, he could even trick David for an instant despite the guy having those special pair of eyes, the Enlightened Eyes.

It was all because of his perfect grasp of timing.

Shin had attached an invisible string attached to Steve's body earlier when he had dealt the final blow. He also sent the guy in the air purposely and let the corpse land in a specific location where the bushes were the densest.

After that, he cast another illusion technique on the corpse as he dragged it toward him while hiding his movements through the silencing technique and isolation barrier.

He had meticulously prepared everything and even hid everything when he dealt the finishing blow to Chris and Serra earlier. It was the flash of light that appeared within an instant, which also hid his tracks from Ezikiel, without the latter noticing it due to how fast everything was.

All Ezikiel saw was 'Shin' stopping on a particular spot before 'undergoing' a state of enlightenment.

It was only at that time that Ezikiel decided to make his move, which was completely within Shin's expectations.

But he was suppressing the urge to enter the state of enlightenment, Shin failed to deal with a proper sneak attack on Ezikiel when it was his time to make his move.

Regardless, Shin was still feeling confident in this. Even if he could tell that this new opponent was completely different and much stronger than the other three, he still felt that he could manage his own.

And due to his trying to suppress the urge to enter the state of enlightenment, a strange feeling suddenly washed over his body. It was as if he could do anything in his current state.

He was not sure what it was, but he felt that it was beneficial to him.

He then stared at Ezikiel while trying to control the excitement that he was feeling. He even hopped up and down while relaxing his muscles and loosening his joints at the same time.

Seeing that, Ezikiel could not help but wear a solemn look on his face. He was not sure how strong this person was, but he could at least tell that he would be in deep trouble if he underestimated this opponent.

He quickly took a stance and quickly summoned his Natural Force, enveloping his entire body with it.

Seeing that, Shin unknowingly curved his lips into an excited smile. His body was itching to battle since he knew that he would become even stronger once this was over.

He did not know how it would happen, but he was sure that he would definitely achieve it.

He would definitely get something he truly wanted after this battle!

...