Martial Online.

Thump, thump—Bella flinched and looked to the door, where she saw shadows moving underneath it.

She hesitated, but in the end, she approached the door and opened it.

She saw players leaving their rooms, clumsily putting their coats on as if they were in a great hurry.

"What is happening?" Bella asked with a somewhat timid tone.

A curly-haired young man glanced at her briefly and widened his eyes in shock before calming himself down. With a somewhat bashful smile, he asked.

"Are you a player?"

"Yes," Bella replied with a nod.

"Then you are in for some luck." The curly-haired player laughed. "There is some kind of event happening. There is some guy desiring to destroy this place, and if we defeat him, apparently we will get a great reward.

"You can join my party if you want to."

"Uhm, thanks, but I think I'll stay here." Bella replied, to the disappointment of the curly-haired player, and then closed the door.

As she leaned on the door, her heart raced.

'Someone is trying to destroy this town?' She looked at the empty room with a lingering sense of safety, but she then thought about a certain person. 

'I wonder if he went there to fight him... I am sure that everything will be fine with him there, but what is this sinking feeling I have?'

She then opened her inventory, took her long-sleeved jacket, and put it on. She then opened the door and entered the hallway.

As the residents of the town watched from the doorway as the players departed the inn, Bella followed behind them and soon left the inn, entering the misty streets.

The players were all heading in the same direction, and she followed right behind.

It didn't take them long for weapons clashing to reverberate across the mysterious fog.

After a while, the players came across a scene of chaos and destruction.

A katana-wielding man effortlessly parried the attacks coming from two players, who tried every attack in their arsenal to even scratch him, but to no avail.

"Oh my God, it's Zahhak!" The players noticed a group of players who were also attacking the katana-wielding man and remembered them vividly.

As they exclaimed with shock, more and more players continued to swarm into the street.

"W-wait, isn't that Saint Julian?!"

The crowd got even louder with excitement.

Almost instantly afterwards, floating cameras began appearing in the air as the streamers arrived at the scene.

PinkDragon and her friends watched in awe as the chaos unfolded before their eyes.

Then, Olympos arrived with his two friends, and as soon as he saw who was fighting the katana-wielding man, his heart sank.

'Ambrose!'

"Hah." 89John chuckled, and a desire lit up in his eyes. 'What a lucky day.'

"Miss!" From the mist, members of Silver Heart rushed towards their leader, Serenity, whose thoughts were occupied by the upcoming mission to somehow acquire a hair strand.

As soon as they arrived at the side of their leader, Leprechaun exclaimed.

"I-it's that bastard!"

"Huh?" Teddy and Layla turned their focus in front and saw a very familiar figure who had been haunting their thoughts for a while.

Now that they finally saw Ambrose, they didn't know how to act.

Leprechaun, Caveman, and other members of Silver Heart had dreamed of this moment, but now that it was finally here, they were unsure what to do.

"L-leader!" Leprechaun drew his longsword, his white pearly teeth clenched in determination. "What should we do?"

"Don't attack him." Serenity said. "Focus on killing this monster in front of us instead."

"What?!" Leprechaun didn't like that. "He is finally here! We have to take him down before he escapes again!"

"That was an order!" Serenity shouted, her usual gentleness nowhere to be seen.

The past few weeks, she had been rather absent, but now she had a very commanding presence that made Leprechaun swallow everything he was about to say.

In the crowd, Bella glanced at the fight nervously.

'Jesse... why is he fighting so desperately?' Her heart continued to sink deeper, and she then glanced at the katana-wielding man and felt like her heart was being squeezed.

'P-perhaps, he cannot beat him? Perhaps no one can?'

In the fight, Cerberus saw the players gathered and chuckled. 'This is good. With this many people, I don't think we can lose.'

However, Ambrose was completely oblivious as he continued swinging his sword, and as soon as his black blade missed Reinhardt once again, he reached out to inventory, pulled out his second Black Sword and swung it towards Reinhardt.

Reinhardt shot his hand forward, grabbed Ambrose by his wrist, and threw him to the ground with a thunderous force.

Crack—a small crater appeared around Ambrose once he hit the ground.

"Dai Sutoraiku!" Julian screamed and swung his sword in a wide arc, but Reinhardt blocked it with ease and then countered with a low kick, sending Julian sprawling across the ground.

As soon as he was about to deliver a finishing blow, a green-eyed man shot forward and swung his sword.

As the blade was nearing Reinhardt's face, he tilted his head to the side, effortlessly dodging the attack, and then sent a powerful kick that smashed into Cerberus' gut, sending him flying back several meters.

"Ugh!" As Cerberus slid down the ground, he thought with a painful face. 'Now it's your chance!'

Swoosh—behind Reinhardt, four figures leaped simultaneously, sending their powerful attacks simultaneously.

However, they didn't target Reinhardt, but instead his clothing, hoping to shred it to pieces.

Andromeda spun her daggers around and then threw them with pinpoint accuracy towards Reinhardt's vulnerable spots.

Arsenal's muscles bulged as he sent a javelin soaring through the air, aiming directly for the fluttering sleeve of Reinhardt's coat.

Bluecore shot forward and extended his right arm, his fingers looking like claws of steel as he aimed at the piece of Reinhardt's clothing.

SweetieHell spun her spear around and launched it towards Reinhardt, aiming for the cuff of his trousers.

Swoosh—almost at the same time, arrows flew through the air towards Reinhardt's exposed back.

The players in the crowd had gotten restless and began sending their own attacks.

They expected Reinhardt to be soon defeated since he was already surrounded by many powerful players!

"Hmph." Reinhardt scoffed and grabbed his katana with both hands. "Does a giant flinch when attacked by ants? No, it only crushes them underfoot."

As the attacks approached him, he whispered chilly words.

"Omnidirectional Separation of the Flesh!"

Swoosh—with a single slash, he cleaved through the air, unleashing a powerful blast that obliterated the ground in an instant.

Swing—the nearby buildings got slashed in half, the ground split in half, leaving behind a deep ravine, and everyone around him was shredded in half.

"?!" SweetieHell lowered her gaze and noticed that she was falling down, plummeting towards the gaping hole in the ground.

However, her other half, which consisted of her legs, continued standing tall and unaffected by the sudden dissection.

"What a monster..." She whispered while falling into an abyss, soon disappearing from view.

"Ah..." Andromeda fell backwards, crashing to the ground.

She couldn't feel her lower half, and soon, darkness began filling her vision.

"B-brother..."

"June!" Cerberus screamed, shocked to see his friends getting split in half.

However, the most shocking sight was among the crowd, which consisted of players.

The hundreds of players that were standing there had almost all vanished!

The rare few that survived looked at the scene in fright.

"W-w-what the hell..."

"Ah..." Bella fell down on her knees and looked at her right arm, which was now missing!

It was obliterated by the attack, and only a bleeding stump remained.

"Ahh!"

Hearing the scream, Ambrose swung his head towards the near-dead crowd and widened his eyes in shock.

"Bella..."

"Lalala~" Reinhardt hummed, smiling and enjoying himself. "I am sorry; I couldn't keep my promise that I would kill you first. Oh well, next one will be you, I promise..."

Ambrose stumbled backwards, anger coursing through his veins.

"Raaaah!" With a loud scream, he put both his swords into a reverse grip, lowered his stance, and then screamed. "Mortal Style, Dual Löwenklaue!"

The ground cracked below his strong acceleration, and within an instant, a shockwave of power erupted, sending debris flying in all directions.

With a bloodied gaze, Ambrose cleaved both his swords down upon his opponent.

Spurt—before Ambrose's swords could hit his opponent, Reinhardt stabbed the katana deep into his gut.

The katana pierced through the flesh and organs, causing an explosion of numbing pain and a spray of blood.

At last, the katana exited through the back, but it had already caused a catastrophic amount of damage.

"..." Ambrose lowered his swords as he noticed that his health had plummeted.

"You have entertained me. But now it's time for you to die." Reinhardt said with a smile, his eyes still closed.

"Cursed!" Cerberus didn't want Ambrose to die just yet, but there was nothing he could do, making him grit his teeth in frustration.

Everyone froze in their spots, realizing the deep difference in power.

One thought flashed across every player's mind—they needed to escape the town before they died.

Julian barely could stand, but he still forced himself to stand up.

'I am sorry...' He thought as he looked at Ambrose. 'I don't think I can save you...'

"Activate..." But then Ambrose whispered, and something started glowing in his pocket.

"?" Reinhardt looked down at Ambrose's trousers' pockets, wondering what could possibly be glowing inside.

"This glow..." Cerberus' eyes shot wide open. "You bastard!"

Ambrose smiled through bloodied teeth. "Somewhere far, far away!"

In his pocket, the teleportation pearl finished activating.

Ambrose immediately wrapped his arms around Reinhardt, putting him into a bear hug!

"This does not help. I can still slash you." Reinhardt said, and with his hand still on the katana's hilt, he tapped the blade, and a deep cut appeared on Ambrose's chest.

Ambrose winced, but his grip on Reinhardt only tightened as he gasped for air.

The teleportation pearl's glowing light enveloped them both.

"What is this?" Reinhardt frowned, and as soon as the glowing light reached him, his eyes shot open, finally revealing his blood-red eyes.

The whole town froze.

The sight of Reinhardt's blood-red eyes terrified everyone, and they were unable to move an inch. 

He tried to break loose but realized it was too late.

"You... basta—"

As soon as the glowing light disappeared, the two figures disappeared from the street.

Cerberus collapsed down to his knees, finally able to move, and as he turned to look at the place where the two were standing only moments prior, he noticed that the mist was fading away!

As soon as the mist faded away, the sun shone brightly, illuminating the destroyed street.

The painful and long night was finally over.

Yet everyone had one question.

Where did the two disappear?