“What did you say?!” a man’s voice exclaimed, loudly.

The owner of the voice was the opposing leader of the faction that did not believe in the peace. He was standing on his feet and glaring angrily at the lone figure kneeling before him with his head bowed.

It had been several days since the man had sent the Assassin Clan on a request to murder the family of the Phoenix Emperor belonging to the Phoenix Clan. The reason for this action was because the Phoenix Emperor was opposing him and because he was responsible for the death of his brother. Since then, several weeks had gone by without a word or news about what happened until that day.

The kneeling figure had arrived that morning, and the opposing leader sat down his chair to listen to the report. It took only a few moments for the man to hear the report before jumping to his feet and exclaiming at the kneeling figure with a shocked look on his face.

“You’re telling me your people failed to carry out the mission?!” the man exclaimed, glowering down at the figure with a murderous look on his face.

“I beg your pardon, but we were able to kill the Phoenix Emperor and his wife, but their offspring survived. Two of them.”

“Two…?” he man asked, blinking in surprise and looking briefly puzzled before remembering something and saying, “I do remember hearing as a passing that he had a child of eleven-years-of-age and that his wife was pregnant with another child. You’re saying they both survived your assault?”

“Yes. They survived and even after sending another assassination team, the result was the same.”

The figure ended his dialogue in an ominous tone that made the man raise both of his eyebrows.

“What… did you say…?” the man asked, looking disbelievingly at the man. “You’re telling me… that your team was wiped out, twice, and the two boys survived?”

“A few managed to escape and reported that it was the eleven-year-old-boy that had decimated the team.”

The man was at a loss for words before he exclaimed, “Ha?!” He shook his head in disbelief and asked, “You’re telling me a child defeated your men? Do you seriously expect me to believe that fairy tale?” As the figure remained silent, the man snorted and said, “Maybe, your men were lacking and made up stories, but they fail are making it sound real.”

“My apologies. Do you want us to send more to eliminate them?”

The man waved his hand and sat down wearily on the chair, saying, “No. It’s a waste of time and a big loss on numbers by sending them to foolishly end up losing again. The main objective is achieved when you killed the man and his wife. As for the brats, they’re still young and will never rekindle the spirit of the Phoenix Clan that rested on their father’s shoulders and died with his passing.” He turned towards the person standing beside him and asked, “Isn’t that right?”

The assistant nodded his head once and replied, “Yes, my lord. Our scouts have been reporting daily of the Union of Clans’ activity and it seems they have stopped. They seem to be simply sitting around at their base and camping while just keeping just enough force to provide a perimeter of protection.”

The leader smirked and said, “They’re making it too obvious. Their cautious of danger and aren’t willing to risk their lives to move forward now that a powerful figurehead is gone.”

“Mmm,” the assistant said, nodding in understanding before asking, “Then, what do you suggest we do against them, my lord?”

“Well attack! The enemy have lost their leader and will be very distracted. They’ll never see us coming until it’s too late and we will finally crush those annoying bastards!”

His secretary blinked in amazement at the ruthless plan his leader had sketched and watched him form a broad grin on his face. The leader was enjoying himself as he thought about battle plans on how to thoroughly enjoy the attack and savour the victory.

At that moment, a loud bang erupted from somewhere outside followed by the screams of many voices coming from somewhere outside. The leader straightened up on the chair and looked at the disturbance being caused outside his living quarters. He thought he could smell something burning and it was soon followed by the sounds of weapons clashing against one another.

“Check what’s going on,” he ordered his assistant, who had already moved towards the exit.

He momentarily left the quarters and there was utter silence within the room as the leader and the kneeling figure did not open their mouths. A few seconds later, the assistant rushed into the room with a disturbed look on his face.

“My lord! We are under attack!” he reported, a grave expression on his face.

“What?!” the leader exclaimed, instantly jumping to his feet and staring back at the man with widened eyes. “We’re under attack?! By who? I thought the Union of Clans had stopped.”

“It’s the Phoenix Clan,” the assistant replied shortly.

When his assistant nodded in reply, the leader decided to take matters into his own hands, and he marched out of there. As soon as he exited the buildings, an explosion erupted from somewhere followed by a fiery ball that fell down from the sky.

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“What the hell?!” he exclaimed, sharply.

The forests around their encampment was burning and so were several of the buildings, causing severe damage. His warriors were scattered in all directions and were engaged in a fierce combat with the warriors of the Phoenix Clan, who were recognisable due to the crest of the phoenix on the side of their left arm.

Just then, fierce balls of fire fell from the sky and injured several of his men, who were instantly cut down due to the distraction by the phoenix warriors. Looking up, he was amazed to see phoenix birds soaring in the sky that released fire attacks down on them.

“They brought their pets…” he snarled, an ugly expression formed on his face. He raised his voice and bellowed, “Men! Shoot those birds down! Hurry!”

Some managed to hurl their spears into the air and pierce several of the phoenix birds, enraging the Phoenix Clan further. The battle became fierce between both sides and loses soon presented themselves with the dead bodies lying everywhere.

The opposing clan leader whirled around and stared at the spokesman from the Assassin Clan.

“What’re you standing around for? Attack them, dammit!”

The man stared around in silence for a moment before replying, “Unfortunately, I’m not interested.”

The leader was startled, and he blinked in surprise before exclaiming, “What?!” He walked closer to the man until he was staring him right in the face before he snarled, “I’m paying you good money, so fight them back! Kill them!”

He was literally spitting in the man’s face, causing him to close his eyes while he spoke. When he was done, the man reopened his eyes and stared back at his employee with an emotionless voice before speaking.

“No. This has become a wild battle between two clans and as such, we’re not interested to join in. Besides, we suffered losses by working with you with several of our numbers decreasing. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going now.”

The leader was shocked at such words, and his eyes widened in disbelief before he became angry and shouted, “You… traitor!”

He instantly unsheathed his sword and attempted to cut the man in front of him, but he suddenly disappeared and made the sword cut through empty air.

“I’m no traitor. I only worked for you to achieve profit, but that is no longer possible. Goodbye.”

In a mocking tone, the man’s voice vanished as he left the place using his warp magic. The leader as fuming with rage as his shoulders rose up and down before whirling around to glare at the battle taking place before him.

“Damn them!” the leader shouted, and he aimed his sword into the air before yelling, “Men! Kill them all! Wipe them out!”

Spurred on by his commanding words, his clansmen roared in unison and charged at the Phoenix Clan warriors. The leader, and his assistant charged into battle and cut down several of the warriors that got in their way. As the battle raged on, it became a blood bath with both sides losing numbers fast.

“This is like a suicidal attack! What are they thinking?!” he thought, shocked at the numerous bodies littered on the ground with puddles of blood forming everywhere. “It’s almost like they don’t give a damn about their lives but why? What made them take this drastic decision? I was so sure their will to fight would’ve diminished with the death of their leader! So, why…? How did their fire rekindle?!”

While fighting, he suddenly noticed someone standing stock still in the midst of the battle. It was a young boy around eleven-years-of-age and was almost as tall as a grown man. He was standing there and staring fixedly at the leader with unwavering eyes while ignoring the battle occurring around him.

“Who’s that…?” the leader thought, narrowing his eyes suspiciously while staring at the boy. “Why’s there a boy in this battle, and why’s does he look like he’s oblivious to everyone around him?”

Just then, the boy slowly pulled his sword out of its sheathe in a zing and began to walk slowly towards him. People died around him and their blood spluttered on his face and covered his body, but he completely ignored it. He walked with a mission in mind as his eyes stared unblinkingly at the enemy leader.

“What’s that kid doing?” the leader thought, staring at him while cutting down several warriors that attacked him.

The boy continued to walk silently towards him at a slow pace with everyone not even noticing him there, however, soon picked up speed. The small job quickly became a run as he charged at the enemy leader while holding his sword firmly in his hand. As he reached his target set by his eyes, the boy leaped into the air and brought his sword forcefully down on the man.

Realising that his life was in imminent danger, the leader brought his sword up in defence, blocking the boy’s sword. With the leap time over, the boy landed on his feet and gave the leader a truly hateful look.

“What the hell?!” he thought, glaring angrily at the boy.

The leader pushed the sword away and attempted to cut the boy down, but the young man let his body fall backwards to evade the attack before jumping to his feet again. Straightening up, the boy glared fiercely at the leader with his sword held at the ready.

“I will not be humiliated by a child!” the leader yelled, glaring madly at the boy.

At that moment, the boy charged towards his enemy at high speed, and the leader brought his sword down to cut him down. Instead, the boy parried the sword strike and changed its course that made it strike the ground. While the man was taken by surprise, his widened in shock as the young man planted a powerful kick in the centre of his gut.

The blow was so strong, it pushed the leader away with his feet getting dragged on the ground. While sliding backwards, he suddenly lost his footing and tumbled over before coming to lie facing the sky. Blinking in surprise, the leader sat upright and stared at the boy slowly moving towards the boy that was slowly walking towards him with his sword sheathed.

At that moment, several of the opposing clansmen arrived to attempt at the boy’s life. The boy reacted by forming an energy ball into his right hand and releasing it at the one on the left. As the man got incinerated by the explosion, the boy aimed his other at the other man and fired an energy wave that destroyed the top portion of the man’s body. The remainder of the body keeled over and fell to the side with blood seeping out of the large gaping hole in the body.

The leader watched as his warriors were killed one by one with relative ease with the special powers the boy possessed. Several got destroyed, some were incinerated while others ended up getting a huge hole in their guts and chests. The boy got drenched in blood from all the killing and destruction, but he did not bat an eyelid and continued to stare unblinkingly at his target.

By the time the boy reached him, the leader had already risen to his feet and stared at him with a shocked disbelief on his face.

“You... You’re no ordinary kid… You’re different… Who the hell are you?!” the man demanded, his face becoming the picture of someone that had seen a ghost.

To that, the boy merely looked up and blinked once at him before replying in a low deadly voice.

“A dead man doesn’t need to know my name.”