Martial Online.

Bang, bang.

The Whispering Pages was under construction after the recent battle between the Red Inquisitor and Ambrose.

The windows were covered by heavy-looking drapes, and the door was locked.

The walking pedestrians could only hear the distant banging of a hammer striking against wood. It was clear to them that it was under construction.

At brief moments, they saw members of the former Reverse Tiger Blade walking out of the store with buckets of paint and wood planks.

Currently, inside the store, the bookshelves were moved out of the way as people wearing white GI outfits repaired the walls and windows without a single complaint.

Meanwhile, Bella gave everyone a water bottle and thanked them for the help with a bright smile. That alone made the male students of Immortal Dojo work even harder.

Bang, bang—near one of the broken walls, Ambrose smashed the hammer down on the nails while a few of his students held the wooden plank against the wall.

"Master." Tiger Erwin then returned from the abandoned alleyway behind Whispering Pages and cleaned his bloodied hands with a handkerchief. "The body has been disposed."

"All right." Ambrose nodded and grabbed a handful of nails from the bucket. "Good work."

"Yeah…" Tiger Erwin looked conflicted and then opened his mouth. "Master, this is a very dangerous business. You killed a Red Inquisitor!"

"I am aware." Ambrose replied with a casual look while banging his hammer against the wooden plank.

"If a word gets out, we'll all be arrested alongside you." Tiger Erwin sighed. "I have nowhere to go, so I'll still follow you, but most of the students are still young.

"Their lives will be ruined if they are thrown into jail."

Ambrose stopped moving the hammer and looked at him silently.

The other students held the wooden plank silently, but their eyes perked up at their conversation. They were also quite afraid now that their master had killed one of the Inquisitors.

"We knew you had a bounty—a big one at that." Tiger Erwin let out a deep sigh and said with slight fear. "However, we cannot become criminals with you."

"I understand." Ambrose nodded and stood up while patting some of the wood dust off his pants. "You do not have to worry. This was the first and last time that something like this happens."

"Are you sure, master?" Tiger Erwin asked hesitantly.

"You have my word." Ambrose patted his shoulder and said, "I have no intention of risking your lives.

"That's why you are still registered as the official master of Immortal Dojo." Ambrose then returned to fixing the wall and said, "If something happens to me, Immortal Dojo will stay out of that."

"I understand…" Tiger Erwin sighed and asked, "A few students had already shown their intention to leave. You need to show them your worth."

"No matter." Ambrose shook his head. "If they leave, let them. This is not a sprint, but a marathon. Soon enough,we will be recognized as one of the greatest dojos in the world.

"Patience is needed. If my students don't have one, they can leave."

"All right, master." Tiger Erwin nodded with a hesitant look. He wondered how the future would turn out to be.

He wanted to trust this young, powerful master in front of him, but he felt like he lacked experience in how the world worked.

Therefore, it was difficult for him to trust his word.

"Once you leave, what will I do for the people who want to join our dojo?" Tiger Erwin asked.

"Allow them to join for a trial period." Ambrose said and banged his hammer against the nail. "I'll test them once I return."

Tiger Erwin nodded and joined other students in painting the walls that had already been repaired.

"Mm…" Ambrose hummed a tone while smashing his hammer against the almost-repaired wall, plunging a black nail deep into the wooden plank.

He didn't sound like he was worried that his students would start to question his methods. It was as expected, and he knew that it would take time for them to fully trust him.

In this process, he would weed out the students who didn't trust him for their futures, so that only the truly loyal ones would remain in the end.

'I need loyal ones to watch my back.' Ambrose thought and lifted his hammer.

Bang!

The hammer struck a black nail, plunging it deep into the wall.

…

Rumble!

A silver lightning streaked across the dark, cloudy sky and then struck into a tall oak tree. It left the tree charred and black.

Clang, clang!

At the same moment, the sound of weapons clashing reverberated across the dark lands.

Near the charred tree, mountains of corpses were piled up, with a stench of rot filling the air. In that same moment, rain started to fall and immediately soaked the corpses.

Near the corpse mountain, a bloody battle ensued, with weapons clashing, blood shedding, and screams mixing with the sound of death.

The white-robed figures clashed against rough-looking individuals, while the ground under their boots was muddy and bloody.

A mighty fortress with tall walls stood near the battlefield, overseeing the mayhem with a watchful eye.

In the fortress' Watch Room, there was a wall with thousands of heart-shaped pearls nailed to it. Some were glowing white, some were brown, some were red, and the biggest heart-shaped pearls were black.

In that moment, one red pearl cracked and turned a shade darker. It signaled the death of the Red Inquisitor.

Those were Life Pearls—all the Inquisitors of the Light Continent had their Life Pearls nailed to the wall.

It was common to see dozens of white-colored pearls crack and turn dark gray. It was even common with brown pearls. However, a red one was a very rare instance!

After the red Life Pearl cracked, an alarm sounded across the fortress, and several high-ranking Inquisitors rushed inside the watch room.

The watch room's Inquisitors, whose main job was to keep an eye on the battlefield and make sure that not a single criminal from Warhaven tried to escape, stood on the sides respectfully.

They weren't high-ranking enough to examine the cracked red Life Pearl. It was beyond their pay grade, as this meant that one of Sanctorioum's strongest powerhouses was just eliminated!

A red-robed Inquisitor took the pearl from the wall and turned it around to the side, which wasn't cracked. There was a name written down.

"Coraline Bridger…" He whispered in shock.

It was a name known to everyone.

"She is dead?" The other high-ranking Inquisitors whispered in shock.

She was one of the best geniuses to be recruited. Unlike other Inquisitors, she wasn't raised in Sanctorioum nor in the academy.

She was found in a distant village, and her monstrous strength surprised everyone. They wanted to use her strength, and they thought that with proper training, she had the potential to do great things.

Now, the famous Coraline Bridger was dead!

"Do you have any idea where she went?" The Red Inquisitor asked with an angry look. "She was supposed to be visiting Jersey Town!"

"Could it be that she was ambushed?" Someone whispered.

"Unlikely, we have an eye on almost all red-ranked outlaws on the continent." Another whispered with a troubled look.

"No one worth mentioning should have been in Jersey Town…"

"God damn it!" The Red Inquisitor roared with such power that the weaker Inquisitors in the room fell to their knees.

"We have to find out what happened. We'll also have to inform Sir Black Inquisitor, like the rules instruct!"