Elijah Langston looked down at the discarded steel resting near his shoes. He didn’t flinch, or even scramble for the weapon. He simply raised his head, a faint, mocking smile playing on his lips as he looked Marco dead in the eyes.“You rehearsed that in front of a mirror, didn’t you?” Elijah asked, his tone dripping with patronizing amusement. “Be honest. We won’t let a word of this outside of here, right, guys?”He casually gestured toward the wall of heavily armed hostiles standing in front of him, treating them like an audience at a bad comedy show.Marco’s eyes turned a violent, bloodshot red, completely abandoning whatever composure he had left. His grip tightened around the hilt of his broadsword until his knuckles popped, the razor-sharp tip pointing directly at Elijah’s chest. “You!? Do you think your sharp tongue can save you tonight? Do you think I’ll turn my back and allow you to sneak-attack me? Hmph! That’s not happening.”The tactical mercenaries were losing their pati

The result of the violent sword technique was blinding: Elijah Langston was completely enveloped in a barrage of glowing crescent lights.Explosive noise ripped up into the air, filling the entire room with a deafening noise of shattering marble and splintering wood, and leaving everyone in the Great Hall stunned by the destructive result.The disciples of the Iron Crescent Sword Sect couldn’t help but gloat upon seeing what had just happened.“He didn’t even stand a chance. All it took was a single technique attack from Branch Leader Marco!”“Hmph! Can any outsider stand a chance against our sect’s special Golden Crescent Annihilation technique? He’ll be lucky if there’s anything left of his body to scrape off the floor tonight.”“So, this is the guy who’s giving people trouble under the name Insolent Expert? Even I would be able to handle him. He doesn’t even come close to Leader Marco. True strength doesn’t lie in sneak attacks and running the mouth!”They all said this while looki

Iron Skull was moving confidently toward the Great Hall when the deafening, heavy, sporadic noise of concentrated gunfire suddenly and unnaturally ceased.It didn’t taper off as if they were reloading; it was abruptly cut short, plunging the massive mansion into silence. A deep, ugly frown formed on the Iron Skull’s face. He quickened his heavy footsteps, cursing in a loud, impatient voice.“Have you killed him already?!”He shoved his way through the double doors and entered the Great Hall, but his massive frame immediately pitched forward. He almost stumbled over something soft and heavy on the ground, only regaining his balance thanks to his physical conditioning.His fierce expression hardened into a scowl when he looked down, realizing the obstacle was the dead body of one of the elite Ainsworth mercenaries. The man still had his heavy-caliber assault rifle held firmly in his rigid grip, his finger frozen on the trigger, but thick blood foamed from the corners of his mouth.It wa

Elijah lifted himself to his feet once again, a genuinely awkward expression crossing his face as he looked down at his own palms. They were covered in a thick, drying layer of blood from the massacre he had just orchestrated.“Truly, I haven’t really thought about dying,” Elijah mused, his voice carrying the casual tone of someone discussing their weekend plans rather than a fight to the death. “But I am certainly not planning to die until I clear the name of my Langston family and extract the exact justice that they deserve. I don’t believe in karma waiting to strike. I believe in the works of one’s own hands.”He slowly closed his blood-soaked fingers into a loose fist. “That’s why I need to stay alive and see this through to the absolute end. Interfering in that… will not end well for you.”“Hmph!” Iron Skull scoffed, letting out a arrogant growl from deep within his massive chest. “Justice? What pathetic garbage is that? There is no justice in this world, boy! If you are weak, yo

Iron Skull gritted his bloodied teeth as he forced his massive, bruised frame back to his feet. He raised his heavy head, his vision swimming with rage, only to see Elijah looking straight at him with that same, infuriatingly calm expression. He could feel his bones aching from the devastating kick, but it was absolutely nothing compared to the pain he had faced in the underground rings of Sorevia.“I said shut it!” Iron Skull roared, the sound tearing from his throat. He stomped his heavy boot down, significantly harder than before. The terrifying physical force of his rage traveled directly into the ruined foundation. Multiple deep fissures instantly spread outward from where he stood, multiplying so rapidly that the entire floor of the Great Hall was now filled with a confusing web of cracks. This time, his indestructible bald head began to turn a blinding, hot red. It burned with such an intense, unnatural heat that the air around his scalp began to visibly distort. One might