Martial Online.

Kalvin the Ghost smiled wickedly and created a whip of black smoke. Then it lashed at Moriarty with a force that sent him sprawling to the ground.

'Ugghh!' Moriarty shuddered in agony, clutching his wounded side. He felt like a bolt of lightning had struck him.

"Moriarty!" Ambrose shouted without using telepathic abilities of the soul, and rushed to Kalvin with the golden sword in hand.

He then pointed the golden sword's tip at Kalvin, and a beam of golden light flew out of the blade and struck Kalvin in the chest.

Kalvin let out a scream of pain as the golden light seared through its body. However, then the black smoke subdued the pain and recovered its ability to stand.

After Kalvin recovered, it let out a wicked-sounding scream and shot a blast of dark energy from its hands.

Ambrose created a shield made of golden light and smashed it into the dark energy to block it. The clash of forces created a powerful explosion that sent all nearby ghosts sprawling away.

As Kalvin let out a laugh, a figure jumped from the ground and elbowed it across the face. The figure was none other than Moriarty.

Moriarty kicked Kalvin in the stomach, causing it to double down in pain. Moriarty then proceeded to deliver a swift uppercut, sending Kalvin flying towards the grayish sky.

Ambrose slammed through the blast of the dark energy and made his shield made of golden light disappear. Then he created a spear made of golden light, resembling Moriarty's spear, and then tossed it over to him.

Moriarty accepted the spear with gratitude, and both of them then shot towards Kalvin, who was hovering in the air with a crazed look.

All the ghosts tried to stop them, but they effortlessly pushed past, their weapons reaping their lives and sending them all straight to the afterlife.

Kalvin created two dark swords and smashed them at Moriarty's golden spear.

Moriarty overwhelmingly pushed Kalvin's two swords away and then thrust his golden spear through Kalvin's shoulder.

Despite the pain surging through its body, Kalvin refused to give up and slashed its sword at Moriarty with all his strength.

Moriarty parried the sword away and used the same motion to bring his spear down towards Kalvin's head.

Kalvin desperately put its other dark sword in the path of the spear in a desperate attempt to defend itself.

However, it had forgotten that its fight was not only with Moriarty.

Ambrose appeared above Kalvin, created a golden shield on his left hand, and slammed it down at Kalvin's head. While it was dazed, he then used his golden sword to deliver a powerful strike to Kalvin's chest.

A blade-sized hole appeared, spewing forth a torrent of dark energy.

Kalvin screamed ragefully.

Moriarty thrust his spear forward like a bolt of golden lightning and impaled Kalvin through the ghostly heart.

He then reeled his spear back and repeatedly stabbed Kalvin's ghostly body hundreds of times, leaving it full of holes that oozed with dark energy.

Ambrose used his shield, slammed into Kalvin, and drove it back, sending him crashing into the ground with a resounding thud.

Moriarty descended down with a crazy descent and drove his golden spear through Kalvin's face.

At that moment, Kalvin's body dissipated, and remnants of dark energy seeped back to the ground.

Both Moriarty and Ambrose heard a ding in their heads as a signal for their level up.

They landed back on the ground, and their weapons dissipated into the golden light. They looked around the empty town, glanced at each other, nodded, and then decided to leave the world of souls.

However, before that, Moriarty closed the gate to his world of souls again.

After that, they woke up back in the abandoned town, and the world started moving at a rapid pace once more.

"Argh." Moriarty held his waist and said, "I got a little bit hurt."

"Did your soul get injured?" Ambrose asked urgently.

"Yeah, I guess…" Moriarty groaned. "I… know a guy who can help me with this."

"Uhm, I might be able to help with that." Ambrose said.

"Wait, you can?" Moriarty's eyebrow jumped in surprise. "Is there something you can't do?"

"Don't talk too soon; I haven't exactly done it successfully yet." Ambrose wryly smiled. "Well, it's a good time to try. I have thought about it quite a bit."

While in the Room of Damnation, he spent most of the time in the world of souls and created thousands of potions just based on his memory alone.

He wasn't sure whether he actually succeeded even once, but he knew everything that was needed to make the potion, in theory.

He also had all his ingredients with him, given by the Honorable Zhen.

"Urgh…" Moriarty sat down on the nearby porch and said with a wry smile. "W-well, if you can do it, it would be pretty nice. Otherwise, I have a painful ten-hour journey to that guy's place."

Ambrose quickly created a campfire and lit it up to provide a place to create the potion. Then, he put his cauldron on top of the campfire and took out all the required items.

With sweat trickling down his forehead, he started by pouring exactly 1 liter of water into the cauldron. Then he continued with four petals of the flower guardian flower.

As he put them gently on the water, they continued floating peacefully, creating a serene and tranquil atmosphere around the campfire.

The water turned dark blue, as it should be, signaling that the first phase of the potion-making process was successful.

After that, he took out a single tear from the crying soul. It was filled with a shimmering light, reflecting the pain and sorrow it held within.

The single tear dropped from the bottle and landed on the water, barely creating any ripples.

He then continued putting exactly 100 grams of crunched dead bone in it and then continued with the captured light of the crimson.

As he pointed the bottle containing the light towards the cauldron, Ambrose closed his eyes and whispered. "Listen to my voice, the Goddess of the Crimson. Grant me a fraction of your glorious power."

After his voice traveled across the darkening sky, a crimson light shot out of the bottle and touched the dark blue water causing it to ripple and glow with an otherworldly radiance.

The dark blue started changing colors, turning purple with otherworldly magnificence.

Ambrose opened his eyes and let out a short laugh after seeing that the potion was perfectly purple, vastly different from his first attempt, which let out a stench of dead rats.

This actually smelled pleasant.

"I-Is it done?" Moriarty asked in pain.

"There is one step left." Ambrose said, but then his body froze as he remembered one thing. "Uhh… the blessing of the holy man. Oh fuck, you wouldn't happen to be a priest?"

"A-are you kidding me?" Moriarty looked at him with a twitching eyebrow. "No, I am not a fucking priest!"

"Well then." Ambrose cleared his throat, put the cauldron back on the inventory, and said. "I suppose we need to ride back to Hightown, and quick, before the soul injury gets worse!"

"Ah, shit!" Moriarty groaned in pain and struggled to get back to his horseback.

However, Ambrose helped him and then mounted his own brown-maned horse.

"I could fly you back." Ambrose said as they rode out of the abandoned town.

"No thanks…" Moriarty said in pain. "I still have my pride as a man. I ain't letting anyone carry me."

"Fair enough." Ambrose chuckled. "Imagine that there aren't any priests left."

"D-don't you fucking say that." Moriarty laughed, even though it hurt his waist more. "If there aren't any, I'll kick your ass."

"Go on, faster." Ambrose hurried the horse to gallop faster.

The night was turning darker, and even if there were some priests left, the church might close before they arrived. Therefore, they had to hurry!