Hitman with a Badass System

Michael halted his steps. Judging by the voice, Michael could tell it was the old man who valiantly faced twenty or so men at the same time.  As Michael expected, when he turned around, he saw the old man galloping towards Michael. The war between the two opposing armies completely stopped. The Flame Fair soldiers were on their knees, hoping Pen Town and Ice Fair Dukes would be merciful.

Everyone stood far away from the ashen circle around Michael. His Rings of flame torched everyone on its path, forming this circle. Except for the duke's body, everything was nothing but ash.

Looking at Xavier moving toward his son, Ethan quickly recalled everything that happened between Ghost and Peter. He leaped into the air and landed beside Xavier with Alicia.

"Who are you?" The old man asked Michael.

"I go by the name, Ghost," Michael calmly answered the old man.

To Michael's surprise, the old man's face twitched. A hint of shock and anger glimmered in his eyes. But the anger soon faded away from Xavier's eyes.

"Do you know who I am?" asked Xavier,

Michael noticed Alicia's cold gaze on him and Michael just chose to ignore her completely.

"No idea," Michael shrugged.

When the surrounding soldiers heard Michael, they frowned. How could Ghost say he doesn't know the demon and the sword master of Aragoth? It was preposterous. Everyone in the Elon continent knew Xavier Belefort. They immediately thought Ghost was being arrogant. However, the old man looked into Ghost's eyes, realizing the young man really have no idea about his identity.

"I am Xavier Belefort," The old man introduced himself.

"Belefort huh?"  The last name of Alicia. Michael quickly made the connections, realizing the old coot was the cold bitch's family member, probably her grandfather. Still, Michael couldn't care less about Xavier or his family.

"You put my grandson in the guardian guild's crosshair," said Xavier. Michael couldn't tell whether the old man was making a statement or being furious about what he had done to Peter, Alicia's brother.

"Your grandson is just facing the consequences of his actions. Just like Duke Avon here," Michael looked at the mangled body of Duke Avon at his feet.

"You humiliated him. He doesn't deserve that," Alicia growled.

"This is not a place for this conversation. We have so much to take care of," Ethan tried to diffuse the situation before it further escalated. He did not want his son Ghost to put on his Dark Lord robes and kill Xavier overnight.

Michael did not respond to Alicia. Instead, he looked at Ethan.

"Sorry for the delay in the shipment Lord Ethan. It won't happen again,"

When he was about to leave the place, Alicia stopped Michael again.

"My grandfather didn't give you permission to leave,"

Ghost's lips curved upwards, forming an arrogant smirk.

"I don't need your grandfather's permission to leave. I can leave whenever I want,"

"This is a battlefield. Here, the commanders of the armies hold the power. When you are here, you're bound to obey the commanders,"

Michael was surprised to hear the weird rules.

"Is that the rule?" Michael looked around calmly to see several soldiers nod including Lord Ethan. Since Gaya was not with him, Michael didn't know the rules about the battlefield. To be honest, he didn't expect someone to come up with a rule like this. It made Michael wonder who put this rule. Luckily for Michael, the situation brought him a chance to put Alicia in her place.

"This war is between Flamefair and Pentown allied with Ice Fair. Since you don't belong to either, what you did will be treated as a crime,"

"Lord Xavier, he was a vampire," Ethan's voice turned grave. If it wasn't for his son appearing at that time, both he and Alicia would have been either turned or drained of blood. Instead of thanking Ghost, Xavier tried to bound Ghost with a rule which was very unlikely of Xavier. Ethan had a feeling this old man has something else in his mind. Whether it was revenge for what Ghost did to his grandson or something else, Ethan did not know.

A glimmer of shock could be seen in the old man's eyes when Ethan revealed Duke's secret. Not only the duke but the surrounding soldiers had also begun to murmur. Many gasped in shock.

"Vampire or not, he was a duke and he's an outsider," Xavier looked at Michael.

"He killed a duke and it's a crime. You have to come with us peacefully to answer for your crime to His majesty, Porter Forbes,"

Hearing the old man, Michael felt annoyed. These dumb weaklings were actually trying to arrest him. Usually, Michael would antagonize influential people like Xavier. However, Xavier belonged to the Belefort family. The ship of Allying or being on friendly terms with them had long passed. Hence, Michael gave no shit about the old man. Besides, Michael was in a league of his own. Letting these puny families like Belefort bully him was the exact opposite of badassness.

Looking at the gentle smile on Ghost's face fade away, Ethan's heart skipped a beat.

"This is getting annoying. If you want to stop me from leaving, go ahead. But remember this, I warned you," said Michael. Ethan saw the glimmering killing intent in his eyes.

"He killed the Duke to save me and Alicia. If His Majesty wants to hold anyone accountable, I will talk to him," Ethan interjected. He tried to calm the situation but unfortunately, calming Ghost was not an option anymore.

"I don't give a damn about her," Michael's words stunned everyone around.

"Who are we kidding here? You want to get back at me for what I did to Peter," Michael turned his cold gaze from Ethan to Xavier.

"You can think whatever you want young man," replied Xavier. There was a calmness in his voice that even surprised Michael.

"And you are welcome to do whatever you want,"

Golden bolts of lightning crackled around Michael's hands. The sound of crackling lightning bolts amplified when the wind around Michael started to swirl. Every soldier in the vicinity took a step back in utter fear. Except for Alicia who stepped forward without a shred of fear in her eyes.

To everyone's astonishment, Xavier took a step back, letting Alicia take the lead. He put his hands behind his back and watched Alicia unsheath her silver sword to fight Ghost. But suddenly, the bolts of lighting disappeared from his hand. The swirling wind died down and everything went back to normal.

"You think you can stop me? Hahaha," Michael chuckled.

"You think of me as your enemy right? But to be honest, I don't," Michael slowly shook his head. Hearing these words, Ethan felt relieved. However, his relief was only short-lived.

"To be my friend, there are no standards. You can be a man, woman, rich, poor, or sick, I don't care. But to be my enemy, you need standards," Michael emphasized the word 'standard'. His voice became colder.

"You are not in my league to be my enemy. In fact, no one is. Do you know why? Because I am in a league of my own," as he said, Michael released his aura of a Fusion stage cultivator. Immediately, the others around Michael felt immense pressure on them. Some of them could hardly breathe. A veteran like Xavier and Ethan had only sensed such a powerful aura from a Fusion stage cultivator.

"Did he reach the Fusion stage?" Ethan questioned himself.

"Alicia stop!" Ethan was caught off guard as Alicia dashed at Ghost with her sword raised. She boosted her speed with a spell that left a trail of ice on her steps. The temperature around them dropped by several degrees. Her eyes glimmered like diamonds. Even at this moment, Xavier remained calm instead of stopping his granddaughter. Honestly, Xavier wanted Ghost to defeat Alicia. Only that way, Alicia could untie the knot in her head. Ever since Ghost humiliated Peter, Alicia had been dwelling and burning with rage. Her anger even affected her relationship with Noah. Xavier noticed everything. Since Alicia was not someone who would listen to him obediently, Xavier wanted Alicia to learn the hard way.

The old man lived long enough to see that sometimes they need to let go of their hatred to move forward. So Xavier hoped Alicia would accept her defeat in Ghost's hands and move forward with her life. He had seen many warriors moving forward with their lives once they got beaten by people who they deemed their lifelong enemies.

In a few blinks of an eye, Alicia closed the gap between her and Ghost. When she reached him, she swung the sword as fast as she could. Michael simply retracted his black shield when her sword was just a few inches away from him, successfully parrying her attack. Stunned by his parry, Alicia lost her balance for a moment.  Without giving any time for Alicia to react, Michael channeled every bit of Celestial energy to his fist.

Boom!

Michael punched her in the gut and at the same time his fist collided with her gut, he cast the wind blast. Coupled with the force of his punch, the wind blast sent Alicia flying like a rag doll. Even Xavier did not expect such a result. She was in the air for a minute, almost flying for hundred meters before hitting the ground again. A single punch, that was all it took for Michael to defeat Alicia.

The cultivation gap between them was huge. He was at Fusion Stage level 7 and Alicia was only at the Core Strengthening stage level 2.

If Michael wanted, he could have killed Alicia with a single bolt of lightning. The only reason he held back was Rowena and Noah. He did not want to draw Rowena's attention which was equal to drawing Skyhall's attention. As for Noah, Michael knew it wasn't the right time to be Noah's number one target. Simply put, killing Alicia had more drawbacks than benefits.

The soldiers looked completely stunned. Under their shocked gazes, Michael cracked his fist.

"If anyone wants to stop me, they are welcome to try," as he said, Michael shot to the sky like a rocket and disappeared from sight.