Martial Online.

"Huh?" Cerberus saw another figure walking from the fog, his back having a cross-shaped sword and a confident stride.

"No way..." Mizuchi whispered, recognizing the person.

At that moment, a hidden scar began aching on his shoulder.

It was a wound he received from Ember Online, but the whole experience had traumatized him enough for him to have phantom pain.

In Ember Online, he fought against Julian.

It was the last match for him in the tournament. If he had won, he would have qualified for the world championships, which he had trained for the entire year, every day.

However, in that battle, he lost badly; it could barely be called a battle.

No one mocked him for losing to Julian because everyone expected it, but it scarred him deeply and shattered his confidence.

"God damn it..." He grabbed his shoulder, grimacing in pain as the trauma resurfaced.

"..." Reinhardt perked up his ears, but then ignored the footsteps and continued to stand with his eyes closed.

'Who is this?' Ambrose wondered with a frown.

"Hah, we are in the presence of a celebrity!" Cerberus laughed, but inwardly, he was also quite cautious.

His Zahhak might had been a powerhouse in Ember Online, controlling many territories, but there were several players they didn't want to mess with.

Saint Julian was one of them.

"Cerberus." Julian kept his distance from Reinhardt as he walked past him and then stopped near Zahhak—the distance of five meters between them.

"Why the hell are you here?" Cerberus asked.

"Like everyone else." Julian glanced at Reinhardt and said, "I am here for the quest, but now I have crossed a quite interesting scene."

"Another worm does not matter." Reinhardt removed his scabbard from his belt and touched the hilt of his sword.

The pressure suddenly increased.

"I don't care, even if it is you, Julian. If you get in my way, I'll kill you!" Cerberus reached into his inventory and pulled out his secondary sword.

"Ambrose, I haven't shown everything I am capable of doing!" He grinned and darted forward. "Watch and learn, pup!"

With rapid movements, he raised his swords and neared Reinhardt with one long stride, almost like he was a long jumper preparing to leap over the sand pit.

With a fierce battle cry, he brought his swords down.

"Twin Dragons!"

Reinhardt, still with his eyes closed, moved his scabbard and, with one swipe, deflected both swords.

The sound of the clash was brief, but then Cerberus landed on the ground and let out a thunderous roar before swinging his swords at Reinhardt.

"Twin Dragons!"

Reinhardt moved his left foot back, then twisted his body from his waist to the head, and felt the cold wind brush past his hair as the two swords missed him by an inch.

"Twin Drago—" Cerberus shouted, but then Reinhardt grabbed him by the throat and chokeslammed him into the ground.

Crack—the ground shook violently as Cerberus crashed into it.

"Cough!" Cerberus coughed blue blood and felt his vision turn dark. 'A-am I about to pass out? Fuck that!'

With his last moments of being conscious, he punched himself in the face, which shook him awake enough for him to roll backwards and jump back to his feet.

His vision was still blurry, but at least he was able to stay conscious.

The Zahhak members watched with pale faces. They haven't seen Cerberus treated like this before, almost like he was a young kid fighting their father.

It was unreal just how vast the difference seemed to be.

"Fuck..." Cerberus looked at the closed-eyed Reinhardt and clicked his tongue.

Julian watched the fight without emotion and then glanced at Ambrose.

He put the side of his fist against his mouth, then cleared his throat and asked.

"Ambrose, right?"

"Ah, yes." Ambrose turned to the middle-aged man and nodded.

"Do you want to try next, or should I go?" Julian asked with a respectful tone, which surprised Zahhak members a lot.

They had seen many clips of Julian before and had even met him many times.

They knew that he never treated any of the players with respect!

It still didn't meant he treated others badly; he just rarely showed any emotion towards them.

"I'll give it a go." Ambrose said, then pulled out his second Black Sword from his inventory and then began approaching Reinhardt.

Hearing the footsteps, Cerberus turned around and shouted. "Fuck off, Ambrose!"

"It's my turn." Ambrose said with a smirk. "Haven't you humiliated yourself enough? Get out of my way."

"Hah, try to do better!" Cerberus laughed and walked back, and when he passed Ambrose, he whispered. "Cunt."

"Same to you." Ambrose whispered back and walked past him. 

As he neared Reinhardt, he could feel the weight of the pressure getting heavier and suffocating.

Julian crossed his arms and watched intensely.

Cerberus caught that gaze and frowned. "Yo, bastard, why do you look more interested than in my fight?"

"I knew you would lose." Julian said carefreely.

"And you think that fucker will win, hah!" Cerberus laughed mockingly, feeling anger rising from the depths of his soul.

"Not necessarily," Julian said. "I am just curious, that's all."

'Curious?' Cerberus scoffed.

The silence fell as everyone watched the fight that was beginning.

"Whoo..." Ambrose took a deep breath like a seasoned warrior and slowly approached Reinhardt.

"You are more careful than that hot-headed fool." Reinhardt said. "You are overly cautious."

"..." Ambrose frowned. 'What attack should I use? Cerberus used quick attacks, both from above and low, but he dodged them with ease.

'High Pain and Humanoid Imperfecta will never hit; they are slower attacks, anyway.

'Slash of the Six Worlds is my strongest attack, but it drains my stamina, and I am not sure if I can one-hit this guy. If it misses, he will be more careful with this attack, and it will spell my defeat.

'Mortal Style skills are my best bet. I need to use them strategically and efficiently.'

"Attack already, coward!" Cerberus shouted from the back.

"Shut up..." Ambrose sighed and darted forward, but at the same time, he started doing his dizzying footwork.

"Mortal Style, Nachbilder!"

With closed eyes, Reinhardt's finger twitched, and then he swung the scabbard across the air, slicing the afterimages in half with a single, swift motion.

The afterimages, as if they were hit by a truck, faded away like fleeting clouds.

At last, Ambrose's real body appeared, and he quickly moved his swords to block the scabbard, but when they clashed with it, his eyes widened, and he got thrown into the wall of a nearby building.

"You are not powerful enough to block his attacks, fool!" Cerberus shouted.

"He is testing different things." Julian then said and squinted his eyes. "I suppose Ambrose is the kind of guy who has to test different things in order to find what works best for him."

"Pretty sure me getting chokeslammed and almost knocked out revealed this guy's strength!"

"Of course, he knows that this guy is strong, but he had to find out how strong. Now, he knows."

"Ugh!" Ambrose climbed from the broken wall, blood spilling from his nose and a numbing feeling shooting throughout his body.

'I couldn't hold on for even a millisecond. The instant his attack landed on my blades, my feet separated from the ground, and I was thrown flying!'

"You do not impress me, worm." Reinhardt said, his voice filled with disdain. "Are any of you capable of making me open my eyes?"