Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editor: kara

Some of an assassin's most popular skills were: Stealth, Backstab, Throat Slice, and Shadow Jump.

Shadow Jump was the official name, but it was more commonly referred to as 'Shadow Attack', where the user would appear in the shadows behind the target after a 0.5 second delay.

It was the only instant cast skill that allowed assassins to directly appear behind the enemy, so it was often used at the most critical point for assassins in order to chase or dodge.

Cardinal seldom used this skill, because he was an assassin who was good at lurking and backstabbing. Shadow Jump wasn't one of his strong points, but that didn't mean he couldn't do it.

Now, he used it to dodge and counterattack!

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As the shadows formed behind Tyron, a pair of sharp daggers stretched out and crossed over his throat.

However, a mere Shadow Jump wouldn't be enough to threaten the master assassin. At least, Cardinal's Shadow Jump hadn't reached that level yet!

He hadn't grasped the true meaning of the shadows!

At this moment, everyone had an illusion that they'd just heard a very light knock against metal.

Tyron's dagger, Deep Silence, was already placed gently against his own throat, easily resisting Cardinal's crossed double blades.

At this moment, Tyron raised his head slightly, the tip of Deep Silence pressed against his chin. His dark golden eyes seemed to be squinting slightly due to his posture, making him appear full of arrogance.

--Nobody could grasp his throat from behind.

His short sword had already left its sheath and stabbed towards Cardinal, who was now very close--

One strike! Two strikes!

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Cardinal's reaction was very quick, his daggers making two sharp cutting sounds against Tyron's Deep Silence as they just happened to… cut the clasp of Tyron's hood!

When Cardinal leapt back to escape, Tyron flipped around and launched a fierce pursuit.

The speed of Tyron's actions were so fast that the strong wind they created directly lifted his hood to reveal the uncovered upper half of his face. His eyes suddenly appeared bright due to the light streaming in from the sky, turning them a brilliant platinum gold.

The two commentators lost their train of thought.

The male commentator: "Wind-windmill combo! … It's a three, five-hit combo!"

Cardinal was also stunned for a moment, raising his daggers to block the first attack in a daze, then failing to block the successive strikes.

Tyron also paused his actions. He sent him flying with a kick and asked, "Spacing out?"

The master assassin had been playing according to the unspoken rules of this era and had deliberately set Cardinal up to not lose so miserably, but unexpectedly, he had fallen into a daze at the last moment!

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Cardinal came back to his senses, and at this time, he only had a tiny bit of blood left, and the game time had already reached 20 seconds.

Tyron was amused watching this and sent out a dart to nail him to the wall by the collar, then flashed&#k2013;&#k2013;

A surprise attack right in front of him!

Cardinal subconsciously raised his dagger to block.

After the flash, Tyron immediately used a short Shadow Dance in order to add more impact to his dagger, sending Cardinal’s daggers flying with a clang!

Then, the sharp point of Deep Silence was at Cardinal's artery.

Tyron pressed him against the wall and spoke coolly, "Courageous."

Cardinal: "……"

Cardinal felt like he couldn't breathe at all in front of Tyron. After a while, his pupils widened uncontrollably.

Tyron realized that he had no intention of resisting and shifted slightly.

Deep Silence instantly slid across his throat, taking away the last of his health and turning him into a streak of white light!

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The second match was over.

The female commentator spoke awkwardly, "This, this… heart-touching beauty. There's nothing that can be done."

The male commentator quickly made up for the last part of the match that he hadn't been able to explain in time, "Cough. What contestant Odin did at the end in order: He first flashed, then followed up with Shadow Dance in order to close the distance quickly and launch a rapid attack. It's the first time he's done this in a match. There was no room for contestant Cardinal to dodge as his back was to the wall…"

However, he couldn't explain why Cardinal had been stunned for half a second. Odin hadn't taken advantage of that half a second either, and had instead gracefully given him a chance to react.

Because there had been no way for the commentator to explain why Cardinal had paused for that small moment, he hadn't immediately continued on.

Even so, the audience fully understood:

Amazing, it had been exactly like that!

Everyone's minds were a mess. They were all lost in their thoughts and couldn't extricate themselves, phrases like 'heartbeat thundering out of control', and 'it's been three months since we've tasted meat'--these were all signs of the basic respect for beauty in this world!

Public screen: "My godddddd… his reputation is well-deserved!"

"He can obviously rely on his looks to reach top ten in the national rankings, but he still insists on using his strength!"

"Begging for Cardinal's perspective! I want to be kabedon-ed by Lord Four! … Begging for the stone wall's perspective! The hood's perspective! Or, the dagger's perspective! Please please please!"

"My mom asked me why my clothing is covered in saliva…"

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When they returned to the stage to announce his victory, Tyron suddenly felt that the audience's eyes were burning hot as though they wanted to drill countless holes into his body.

If those gazes could generate electricity, then the entire planet probably wouldn't need to worry about energy that day.

Master assassin: "……"

At first, he hadn't cared about things like showing his face. After all, he had often used it to confuse or even hypnotize his target in the past. In a dark society, the beauty of the weak could only be used as a commodity while the beauty of the strong could become a deadly weapon.

Tyron had never been afraid to make use of any of his innate advantages.

However, he felt that this had completely changed in this interstellar era??

Look at those gazes. They were damp and sticky, as though they wanted to come up and lick him directly!

The old antique master assassin felt suppressed!

He'd just exposed his face, but people were reacting so much. He couldn't go on just acting as though nothing was going on; he, who had originally not been so much of an iceberg, had no choice but to become even more solemn and serious, turning as cold as ice and frost!

Tyron took a deep breath, pushed away the host's microphone and coldly walked away.

--Go away, you face con interstellar people! Next time, he would remember to replace the hood buckle with one made of pure steel.

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Off-stage, Tyron had to make use of the power of a master assassin in order to dodge all the fans trying to catch him alive and leave the venue with Victor via a special passage.

As they walked, Victor said, "Every time I see a series of 'lick lick lick' in the comments, I feel like something that belongs to me has been taken advantage of by others!"

Tyron: "How scary. Don't lick at random."

Victor had never heard him say the word 'scary' before. It was the first time he'd learned that there was something the War God would avoid, and he couldn't help but laugh and say, "Isn't licking you my privilege?"

Tyron was silent for a moment, "… Where do you want to lick?"

Victor blushed, but muttered at the same time, "Well, it's all mine anyway."

Tyron: "…. Will you take responsibility if 'something' happens?"

Victor: "Taking responsibility is a given, but can we pay in installments? It's a bit hard to bear all at once. For example, I can take 30% of the responsibility today, and the remaining 70% the day after…"

Tyron: Is this what you interstellar people call 'mathematical thinking'? Tsk.

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When the two of them reached the end of the passage, they encountered Cardinal and his younger cousin again.

Cardinal had a confused expression on his face, "Did you have a traffic accident? What are you taking responsibility for?"

Tyron glanced over him coldly, "Eavesdropping?"

Cardinal had already been killed by him four times. He suddenly shuddered and said, "No, no. I just heard the last two sentences and was curious…"

In retaliation for his stupidity during that last moment in the previous match, Tyron spoke without changing his expression, "Nothing serious. We're discussing how to deal with the body after killing off a little assassin friend. Bury 30% today, and 70% the day after tomorrow."

When he spoke of this, the little cousin thought that he was talking about him and burst into tears with a wail.

Cardinal thought that he was talking about him and immediately shuddered again.

Victor suppressed his smile, reached out to rub the little cousin's head kindly, neutralizing Tyron's murderous aura, and said softly, "Were you standing here waiting for us?"

The little cousin had tears in his eyes and didn't dare to look up at Tyron. He lowered his head and said, "I wanted to take a photo with you and get your autograph…"

Victor: "Are you convinced now?"

"No! My big cousin will defeat you after going back to train for another year!" The little cousin faced Tyron with the whirl on top of his head and continued, "But, you're very big! So, I want a photo!"

Victor: "……"

Tyron: "……"

Cardinal: "So-so-so-sorry!"

Tyron stretched out two fingers and placed them on the little cousin's head, pushing him a small distance away. "We'll talk about it after you win against me."

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After Tyron and Victor left, one big and one little cousin stood there hand-in-hand.

A cool breeze blew over, and the little cousin said, "I didn't get a photo…"

Big cousin: "Who told you to be so straightforward? I also wanted a photo and his autograph, but I felt awkward asking after you spoke up."

Little cousin: "You got kabedon-ed by him! Kabedon! You were soooo close…"

Big cousin: "To tell you the truth, your big brother's legs went soft."

The little cousin put on a show of self-importance and said, "Look at how useless you are!"

Then, seconds later, the big cousin suddenly seemed to realize, "Ah? Boyfriend? They haven't gone public yet, right? Did I just stumble across an exclusive story?"

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In fact, they weren't very far from going public.

The tabloids had already caught sight of Tyron wearing a "I am Little Vic's" t-shirt when doing his morning exercises outside. If it hadn't been that he'd put on a mask after realizing that he was being chased by the paparazzi, a single photo of the War God doing mere morning exercises would have blown up the Star Net on the spot…

However, the little journalists had also obtained a deep level of understanding about the War God's acuity.

They'd discovered that the War God would immediately notice that they were watching him no matter what method they used, and would often give them a warning--unless he was in a very good mood.

This ability was very amazing. There was a rumor in the press circles that Odin was one of the nation's top-level secret agents, and that rumor sounded particularly reasonable.

Once, Tyron and Victor had gone out for dinner and sat down in a couple's seat by the window.

At the time, two groups of journalists had just happened to come across them and had taken the opportunity to obtain a series of photos.

As a result, Tyron had casually moved the green potted plants that decorated the front of the glass window, then acted as though nothing had happened. The two potted plants were moved right between Victor and the reporters, making it so that neither of the two groups of reporters could capture Victor's face. Finally, the reporters were left with no way to release the news.

One reporter also shuddered, expressing: The War God would use a small piece of glass to reflect the light and create a small light beam as a warning, ensuring that every paparazzi's eyes would be blinded once. Even those who were disguised as passers-by on the street couldn't escape. This was the peak level of awareness that top agents would have…