A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that everyone has a great holiday. Here is a new chapter. I'm planning on releasing two chapters tomorrow for Christmas. Once again I would ask you all to leave comments and reviews with your opinion on the story. Also, on another note as my PR is with his family for the holidays I had to PR this so please excuse the errors >.>

*****

When the words left Shin Yong’s mouth, the clan leader’s face paled. The soldiers were from the Speared Cavalry Division, one of the strongest forces on the whole continent, after all. His own troops couldn’t be compared at all against these battle hardened elite troops. Beside him, his three guests expressions also darkened. They hadn’t thought that the situation would become like this. The clan leader had said that all they needed to do was be present to intimidate the young alliance leader. Still, they were confident enough in being able to escape with their skills.

“Moon Geun, watch over Jong Shin.”

As the Speared Cavalry Division rushed forth, Shin Yong gave Moon Geun a command before he rushed forth to engage in combat with the Ryu Won. At the same time, Tae Yang and Sung Woo also ran to engage with the Devil Twins. Moon Geun suddenly appeared and placed Jong Shin behind him. Even though he should always be beside Shin Yong to protect him, he knew that it would better for him to protect Jong Shin so that the lord could fight with no worries.

While he rushed forth, Shin Yong pulled Behemoth out from his shirt. Ryu Won, seeing the scene, sneered as he also ran forward and let loose a punch. The punch was so strong and sharp that wherever the fist passed, the wind split. Still, Shin Yong remained unfazed and effortlessly dodged to the left and evaded the fist. While he slipped past, Shin Yong slashed with Behemoth and left a small cut on Ryu Won’s bicep. Even though he was aiming to cut through the muscle, he found, to his surprise, that the muscle was a lot more sturdy than he expected it to be and was only able to leave a small cut.

When the two stopped moving forward, Ryu Won looked down at his biceps in surprise. His muscles were several times more sturdy than regular people, enough to almost be considered an armor. Even though he hadn’t used Ki to strengthen his muscles, most people still wouldn’t be able to leave a scratch, let alone a cut, on his skin. As he turned around to face Shin Yong, his expression became more grim. He now understood that even though his opponent was young, he couldn’t dare underestimate him or it would cost him his life.

Shin Yong, on the other hand, had a carefree expression as he waited for Ryu Won to turn around. In his hand, Behemoth began to release a red aura on it’s surface.

“Hoo… That’s quite the dagger you have there.”

“Behemoth would be perfect if it wasn’t for it’s personality.”

In this world, there were a few exceptionally made weapons that would have a conscious. Even though it wasn’t to the point of being intelligent and speaking, they had emotions and the user could sense it whenever they poured their Ki into the weapon. At the moment, Behemoth was expressing it’s excitement and bloodlust after tasting Ryu Won’s blood.

After a few moments of silence between the two, Shin Yong once again spoke.

“I have heard quite a lot of stories of your exploits, Close Quarter King. Finally meeting you though, I have to say that I’m disappointed. I thought you would be a lot stronger. I was looking forward to a good fight too.”

“What’d you say, brat?!”

When he heard what Shin Yong, Ryu Won was angered. He was a very famous figure among martial artists and had pride, after all. Still, here was a young man who didn’t even look like he was in his mid twenties, saying that he was disappointed in him as if he wasn’t even a worthy opponent from him. How could he not become angered?

“Anyways, aren’t you embarrassed of yourself? Even though you’re rumored to be the king of the mercenaries, taking such petty money and doing such a despicable job, if I was you I wouldn’t be able to show my face to anyone.”

“You’re seeking death, brat!”

Not being able to take it anymore, Ryu Won rushed forward while he released his ki. Shin Yong had touched upon his weak spot. Usually, he would have never taken on a job like this as it was indeed shameless and despicable, but this time he didn’t have any choice. His daughter had caught a rare disease and the clan leader was one of the few people that had the herbs needed to cure it. In exchange of the herbs, he swore that he would become his bodyguard. Even though it went against his morals and it would ruin his reputation, he still gritted his teeth and agreed for his daughter’s sake. It really was astounding what a parent could do for their child.

A smile appeared on Shin Yong’s face when he saw Ryu Won rush forward. He had been trying to anger him on purpose. Even though it was a little underhanded, Shin Yong was the type of person who would use any method possible to gain an upper hand in battle regardless of how despicable they were. As Ryu Won got within five feet of him, he also rushed in to meet him.

Whenever Shin Yong swung Behemoth, blood flowed. Arms, legs, and the upper body, no part of the body was safe from his attacks. Whenever there was the slightest opening, Shin Yong took advantage and ruthlessly attacked it. At first, Ryu Won thought that once they began to use ki, he would have the upper advantage as his skin would be a lot more hardened, but to his shock he found that his wounds were a lot deeper now. It felt as though his muscles were just like piece of paper and Behemoth would easily slash through them.

Also, he found that Shin Yong was a lot quicker than him. No matter how he tried, he wasn’t able to land a blow on him. Fists, shoulder, elbows, knees, and feet, no matter which body part he used to attack, none of them hit. While he was growing uneasy, he released a roundhouse kick with all his strength.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Seeing an opening, Shin Yong ducked under the kick and slashed through Ryu Won’s left Achilles’ heel. Losing strength in his left leg, Ryu Won crumpled down onto his knee. Without the slightest hesitation, Shin Yong slashed forward and cut through his throat.

While Ryu Won stared at him with wide eyes of shock and surprise, Shin Yong turned around and walked away. A moment later, the light in his eyes disappeared and his body fell forward, never to stand again. Just like that, the famed Close Quarter King fell to the hand of the leader of the Gray Shadow Sect.

As he walking away, Shin Yong surveyed the surrounding area. The battle between the soldiers was coming to an end as the Speared Cavalry Division was massacring the clan leader’s soldiers; they simply could not compare to the famed Speared Cavalry Division. Tae Yang and Sung Woo were still in an intense battle between the Devil Twins. Satisfied with the situation, he started to walk back to where Jong Shin and Moon Geun was.

While Shin Yong was walking back, he suddenly stopped and flinched. In front of him was the scene where Jong Shin had a large smile on his face. Also, his eyes were shining brightly as though he was looking at a legendary figure. Cautiously, he began to walk forward once again. Not noticing at all his behavior, once he got close, Jong Shin began to talk with excitement.

“As expected from you, my lord! Not even the Close Quarter King was a match for you! Anyways, why’d you come over here, my lord? Aren’t you going to go help Tae Yang and Sung Woo out?”

“If they weren’t able to handle weaklings like the Devil Twins, they wouldn’t be qualified to be my men.”

Even though the words seemed harsh initially, Jong Shin was able to tell that Shin Yong was just that confident in them. As if those words signified the end, the battle started to come to a conclusion.

Shortly after those words were spoken, Sung Woo finally found an opening and stabbed his halberd forward through his enemy’s chest. As he pulled his halberd out, blood spurted out and the opponent collapsed to the ground. Seeing his twin fall, the other became startled and rushed toward him.

“Hyung nim!” (A/N: Hyung nim is formal korean for older brother)

As his enemy turned his back to him, Tae Yang didn’t let the opportunity go and stabbed his heart from behind. As the sword was drawn back, the opponent fell onto the floor. Just like how they came into the world together, the Devil Twins both passed onto the netherworld together.

Shortly after, the battle between the soldiers also came to an end. All of the clan leader’s had been killed while the Speared Cavalry Division suffered three casualties. Seeing the carnage in front of him, the clan leader began to hastily rise up and stuttered.

“My.. my lord…”

While he was getting up, Shin Yong slashed forward with Behemoth and slit the clan leader’s throat. As the clan leader began to fall, he looked at Shin Yong’s cold figure with eyes of disbelief. Just as he hit the floor, his eyes lost their brightness and he passed on.

“Moon Geun, make it seem as though they all died through an internal conflict.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Bowing at Shin Yong to acknowledge the command, Moon Geun began moving around the corpses and cut them in various places with his sword while also removing other marks. After he saw Moon Geun get into action, Shin Yong turned to Jong Shin and issued another command.

“Jong Shin, I want you to find someone we can control to take over as the new clan leader.”

“I have received your command, my lord.”

With a bow, Jong Shin replied to Shin Yong’s command. Satisfied, Shin Yong walked toward the exit. Following after him were Tae Yang, Sung Woo, and the Speared Cavalry Division. Swiftly, the audience hall was emptied and left behind with no living beings.

*****

While he was sitting cross legged on the bed, Shin Yong slowly opened his eyes. For the past hour, he had been circulating his ki around his body, slowly strengthening his muscles, veins, and bones. Not wasting even a moment, he was training even though he was staying at an inn. Standing up, he stretched his body before he walked over to the window and sat in a chair. While he stared at the starry sky, he went over everything that happened earlier at the merchant clan leader’s estate.

Now that the clan leader was been disposed of, Jong Shin had selected the new clan leader and fed him a Death God pill. The Death God pill was a poison that wasn’t able to be detected and stayed dormant in the body for one month. Once one month passed, the poison would rush through the body and cause a painful death. Thus, once a month the clan leader would have to come see them to receive an antidote that only they had the formula, for the rest of his life. Using this method, the clan leader would never dare betray them or have any other thoughts as they can just not give him the antidote and he would die a painful death.

Satisfied with the result of today, Shin Yong once again to think about what they needed to do from now on so they could take a step forward toward his dream. He knew all too well that the road ahead of them would be a long and arduous road filled with blood and corpses. Still, he didn’t mind at all and thought because of that it was worthwhile to walk down it.

As his mind was complicated with those thoughts, he saw a shadow move swiftly on the roofs of the building in front of him. Behind that shadow were ten other shadows that swiftly followed it. Even though he hadn’t been paying much attention, he had very sharp eyesight and had been able to see the face of the shadow that was being chased.

“Eh? Isn’t that….”

He was surprised to see that face once again. After contemplating for a slight moment, the edges of his slips started rise slightly as he opened the window and swiftly followed after the fleeting shadows.