Amidst the pouring rain, I walked through a fresh bundle of corpses, guards slaughtered by me just moments before. Mei Gui emerged from the shadows and joined me by my side, and the two of us continued through the Xuan family residency, which was now flooded with blood.

[Mei Gui, go search for Xuan Yang. Hopefully, he's still in the area somewhere...]

[Understood, Master. When I find him, I will send you a telepathic message.]

[Copy.]

As Mei Gui moved away, I sighed.

That bastard...still not showing himself?

"Xuan Yang! I have already massacred all of your subordinates. Show yourself!" I yelled, my voice echoing within the soundless night.

"Heheh...why so loud?" a voice suddenly said behind me.

My eyes widened at how this mysterious man was able to get behind me without me noticing, and immediately dashed away. I spun around to see who it was...

"Tch...so it's you, Midnight Syndicate member," I muttered.

"You may address me as Plague," the man said with an elegant bow.

"Nah...I think I'll just call you 'scum'," I replied.

"...What an insolent brat."

"Oh, finally drop the gentleman facade? Great," I said with a snap of my fingers, and got into battle stance with my katana. "The reason I am here today is because of the Xuan family...but I have some feuds with you too, Midnight Syndicate. So let's settle it here."

Plague then laughed boisterously, and took out several vials of liquids from his coat pockets, and held onto them between their fingers. "How amusing. But if that is what you want, very well!"

He then threw the vials onto the ground, their cases shattered and a toxic gas immediately filled the air. "Let the battle begin, Xuan Kai!"

And then...

...I ran. Yep, I ran.

[Master, I have located Xuan Yang. He is hiding within an underground chamber beneath the Xuan family Training Field. You will be able to enter it through a secret tunnel within the main manor. I have burned the carpet away already, so the entrance to the tunnel should be in plain sight.]

I fled from the battle, and headed towards the main manor as instructed by Mei Gui.

Idiot...I'm here for Xuan Yang, I couldn't care less about the Midnight Syndicate. Have fun playing hide and seek in that smoke with a non-existent opponent, scum.

*****

Within the main manor, the first thing I noticed was the smell of ash. Something had definitely been burned here, and without a doubt, the perpetrator was Mei Gui. As for the target...it was the carpet on the floor. Not much remained of it and the lights were off, but I could still make out that it was originally a carpet. I immediately spotted a trapdoor in plain sight just like Mei Gui said it would be. The entrance was flipped open, so I jumped down with ease.

I landed on solid concrete, and headed down the only direction possible - forward. The corridor was quite plain, and the only objects on the solid grey walls were the occasional torches here and there to provide light. I continued down the empty hallway, and soon arrived at a door. Calculating the distance I travelled since the main manor, and the direction I went in, I assumed this was the 'underground chamber beneath the Training Field' Mei Gui was talking about.

[Mei Gui, I'm here. Where are you?]

[Behind you, Master.]

I spun around to see the familiar beautiful scarlet hair of Mei Gui emerge from the shadows of a corner where the torches' light didn't reach, and patted her head once her entire body was out of the shadow realm. [Good work.]

[Mm...I am glad to be of assistance to Master.]

I then glanced at the door, and noticed that it wasn't completely shut tight. [I'm guessing you saw Xuan Yang through this crack?]

[Correct, Master. I found this corridor suspicious, so I headed down here to investigate. However, by chance, when I stumbled across this door, I just happened to get a glimpse of Xuan Yang walking past through this slight slit in the door.]

[I see...well then, are you ready?]

[Yes, Master. I am ready for anything, anytime.]

I smirked, and raised my hand towards the door.

Level One Fire Magic - Flame Lotus.

BOOM!

The doors were blasted open with ease, since they weren't closed properly in the first place.

"EEK?! WHO-" Xuan Yang began, but I silenced him with a glare filled with killing intent.

"Hello there, uncle. What a fine evening this is," I said quietly.

"X-Xuan Kai?! How...? D-Don't tell me, you defeated Plague..."

Hm...so they are colluding with each other after all. Well, why not scare him a bit then?

"Indeed I did. And now, you're next."

"I-Impossible...how did he lose to a mere 14 year old kid?!"

"Don't look down on others so much, bastard," I muttered angrily. "You're about to get killed by this '14-year-old kid'."

"H-Heheheh...me? Killed? Not in a million years, ahaha!" Xuan Yang yelled, close to insanity. "Xuan Kai, you murdered my son! I've been looking for a chance to kill you, but you came directly to me! The gods are truly on my side!"

"Oh yeah? Then I'll kill those so-called gods too."

"Hah! Don't make me laugh, trash! You, killing gods?! Even if I die, I wouldn't believe that!"

"Enough talk. If you want to die so badly, I will gladly help you out."

"H-Hmph...big words coming from a mere student," Xuan Yang scoffed.

"We'll see about that..."

[Mei Gui, don't interfere in this fight.]

[Understood, Master.]

I smirked, and vanished instantly.

Space - Eliminate.

Arriving directly in front of Xuan Yang, I let out a slash with my katana aiming directly for his neck. However, unfortunately, he wasn't harmed at all. I immediately leapt back to my original location, and glared at Xuan Yang in frustration.

"Hahaha! This ring here is a powerful Magic Artifact! It can defend me from any and all physical attacks without magic imbued!" he bragged haughtily.

I laughed darkly. "Tip - don't tell your opponents your weakness right when the fight begins."

"Huh?! How is that a weakness-"

Level One Enchantment Magic - Ignis.

I dashed towards Xuan Yang, enchanted weapon in hand.

He looked at me in contempt. "Heh...that won't be able to hurt m- GRAHHHHH!"

"Huh...I missed by a little," I murmured to myself quietly.

Xuan Yang, who's right arm had just been severed cleanly from its stump, collapsed to the floor in pain. "I-Impossible...how did you get past my Magic Artifact...?!"

I sighed. "Like I said, don't tell your opponents your weakness in a fight."

That's right...he said it himself - the artifact can block physical attacks without any magic imbued into them. In other words...any attacks that do have magic behind them are exempt from this protection. All I did there was enchant my katana with the essence of fire, using Enchantment Magic.

Enchantment Magic is a fairly unique element. The reason for this is that it only has one purpose - to improve objects. There are no directly offensive or defensive spells of the Enchantment Element, but there are enchantments that can be placed upon objects that help with offense or defense. Moreover, you can imbue an object with the essence of any other element you possess using Enchantment Magic as well (as long as you possessed the Enchantment Element). Since I have affinities for every single element, it naturally meant I could enchant objects with any element I wished.

It didn't matter which element I used here to enchant my katana with, but I chose fire - ignis -because it was the first thing that came to mind. And sure enough, my attack worked. I had also missed his neck on purpose, since that would be too easy of a death for him. No...I wanted him to suffer. Suffer the same pain I went through when my parents were murdered in front of my eyes.

I pointed my katana at Xuan Yang, who clutched at his disembodied arm in terror. "Xuan Yang...you murdered your own brother and his wife for your own personal gain. No punishment can help you atone for your sins...but perhaps a painful death can make you feel some guilt."

"N-No...I won't be killed today! Come, Battle Soul!"

My eyes widened, and immediately leapt back as a deep purple snake projection appeared above Xuan Yang.

"Tch...Battle Soul, huh?"

"Heheheheh! Who's laughing now, boy?! This is the difference between us, do you understand?!" Xuan Yang declared arrogantly. "I am a Golden Monarch, and I possess a Battle Soul! What about you, a mere Intermediate Mage, huh?!"

"Hmph...even if you have a Battle Soul, it isn't a very good one," I scoffed. "It is but a mere animal."

"You...HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY POWERFUL BATTLE SOUL!" Xuan Yang screamed in anger. "Go, Serpent! Tear that human to pieces!"

"HISSSSSSSSS!" the snake let out a bloodcurdling hiss, and dove straight towards me. I immediately dodged backwards, but the snake then shot out a poisonous breath from its mouth.

Forbidden Magic - Chaos Mirror.

I immediately cast Chaos Mirror to deflect the attack, but to my shock, the breath passed directly through the mirror and continued to flow towards me at rapid speeds. Unable to dodge away, I instinctively put up my right arm to block my face against the attack.

"Ngh-!"

As soon as the breath made contact, my skin began scorching, and my hand started to shake from the pain.

"Hah...hah..." I panted. "Mei Gui...I think I'm going to need your help with this one..."