...…

Cough! Cough!

Javed was coughing some blood as he sat on the ground while leaning his back against the wall. He was pressing both of his hands on the huge wound on the right below his navel where his dantian was located.

In front of him, Uno was currently sitting with his legs while looking at Javed with his cold eyes.

Javed suddenly started laughing bitterly before saying. "To think that I am going to lose to a kid with a much lower Martial-Art attainment than me? I really didn't see this coming."

"You should be grateful then. You are going to die in the hands of someone like me. After all, I am not an ordinary kid – I am Uno, I will always be second to none." said Uno with a smirking face.

Hearing the confidence from that tone, Javed released another bitter laugh once again before sneering. "Heh! Don't think that you already won, kid. Do you honestly believe that you can still get out of this place?"

"This place is not called a 'Prison Hell' for nothing. Only people who became loyal assassins are permitted to get out of this place. You may be able to get in without problem, but getting out is a completely different matter."

He paused for a moment before looking at Uno savagely while continuing. "And let me tell you. I am just a 'prison guard' in this place – and my only job is to guard this 'gate'. The real monsters of this place are still out there."

"I wonder how are you going to leave this place now?" he added while throwing a mocking look at Uno.

Bang!

And those words were the last thing that came out from his mouth because Uno immediately blasted his head with a powerful punch.

Some of the blood splattered at Uno's face and clothes, but it seemed that he didn't mind it at all. He stared at Javed's headless corpse for a moment before saying. "You are saying too much for someone who is going to die."

After that, he stood up while making a snap with his fingers. A moment later, a bunch of blame flames suddenly came out of nowhere and burned that corpse until it turned into dust.

When it was done, Uno took out the teleportation talisman from his pocket, planning to rip it apart. "Heh! I can't get out of this place you said? I wonder if I really can't do anything about that."

But before he could fully rip that talisman, a flashed of thought suddenly entered his mind. Due to that, his actions paused all of a sudden. And after some time of consideration, Uno immediately rejected the idea of leaving.

For now, he decided to delay leaving this place so that he could throw a little mess in here. "He confirmed that this place is a training ground, right? And there is a 'hunting test' going on?"

Reaching this point, he suddenly started grinning wildly while having an evil thought. "I wonder how much loss the organization will suffer if they lose all of their young agents in training."

Having that in mind, his grin curved further upwards before he started walking towards the exit of the room. "It has been a while since I hunted some prey. Let's see if I turned a little rusty."

...…

"Ma'am! Another anomaly happened at area 15."

"We just got a report, saying that all of the young agents at 25th area are found dead."

"We lost contact with our scouts monitoring the 5th area."

"Ma'am! Team 2 found all of the members of the 1st squad; they all died."

"Ma'am!..."

Catherine Sandford, she was a Martial-Artist and attained the 'middle phase' of the 'Void Manifestation Stage'. And she was the one who was currently overseeing this place called 'Prison Hell'.

This place was one of the biggest training grounds of the Roku Prefecture. And being the main 'agent supplier' of the Shadow Alliance, this place was very important for them.

Just earlier this day, they held their annual 'hunting exam'. And this certain exam was very important to them – especially that they were current at the time when they really need a lot of agents. After all, they were currently in the middle of a special operation.

But an unexpected problem suddenly occurred in their middle of their 'hunting test'. An unknown enemy infiltrated their so-called exam and was currently hunting all of their young agents in training.

At first, Catherine formed a bunch of groups composed of official agents. She sent them to hunt this unknown enemy. But instead of resolving their current problem, sending those groups became another problem for them; the agents that they had sent were added to the list of targets of their current enemy.

Catherine massaged her temples as she got an intense headache due to their current problems. And since things were getting out of their hand, the situation was calling for the cancelation of their 'hunting test'.

But she couldn't just do that. If she canceled the test right now, the higher-ups would surely question her abilities if they learned about that. And she might even lose her current position if things went for the worst.

But at the same time, the consequence was going to be even worse if they lost all these young agents in training for not cancelling the test.

Weighing all the consequences, Catherine fully understood that she would not survive no matter which choice she chose. And thing about that, all she could do was to release a helpless sigh while coming up with a decision.

As a head who was overseeing this island, she needed to choose which choice was going to give them the 'least' number of losses. So, with a helpless sigh, she decided. "Listen up! Contact all of the 'examinees' and tell them that we are going to end the 'hunting test' now. Ask them to go to the gathering point."

Everyone was shocked at her sudden orders; ending the 'hunting test' right now would make them unable to meet their 'quota' for the next 'summoning'. And when the higher-ups learned about that, all of them would surely suffer a dire consequence.

Seeing that her subordinates were hesitating, Catherine immediately added. "Don't think about it too much. I am going to be responsible for this incident. So, I will carry all of the consequences."

Hearing those words, one of her subordinates couldn't help but ask. "But what about the enemy who was hunting our agents?"

When Catherine heard about that, her eyes suddenly turned sharp while saying coldly. "Of course, we are not going to let that person get away with it. We are canceling the 'hunting test' so that we can focus hunting this person. So, whoever was it, we are going to make sure that they are going to suffer a fate worse than death for messing with us."

"Now-… MOVE!"

Receiving the orders, all of her subordinates started going back to their respective jobs. And when the young agents in training heard about the conclusion of the 'hunting test', they couldn't help but become confused at what was happening. After all, all of them were still unaware about the 'real hunter' who was hunting them one by one.

Regardless, all of them still started heading towards the gathering point.

The gathering point was a spacious warehouse which was located at the very center of the forest. There was a teleportation formation on this place, and this was also the starting point where the young agents started their test.

Given that, all of the young agents were not surprised when they saw that the whole place was currently in a mess. But what surprised them was the official agents roaming around the warehouse. From the looks of it, they were currently on guard against something.

And since all of them were already trained, they could easily tell that there was something going on. But they didn't put much thought on it since the official agents would surely be going to deal with it.

Not long after, a man walked at the center of the gathering point before saying. "Looks like everyone is already here. Start the teleportation already! We are sending all of them to our main base."

Right after he said those words, the entire place was suddenly lit with a blinding light.

But-…

It was not because of the activation of the teleportation formation. Instead, that blinding light was created by a raging flame which devoured everyone in that place.

In simpler terms-…

The whole place exploded.

BOOM!

That massive explosion even created a tall mushroom cloud which extended towards the sky. And given how strong it was, it was pretty much impossible for anyone to survive such a powerful explosion.

Standing at the peak of a mountain not far from the explosion, Uno was currently watching the sight with his cold eyes. And after a few more moments of staring, he suddenly clicked his tongue and muttered. "Tsk! Such a good fireworks' show."

"Should I say 'as expected of the materials available in a training ground'? Those things are really high class. To think that I can even create a bunch of powerful improvise bombs? Tch! Or is it because I am too amazing?"

After that, he twisted his waist left and right, doing some stretching. And a moment later, he suddenly started laughing. "I know that those guys are all stupid. But to think that they are going to use such an obvious place as their gathering point? All of them are really easy to read."

"Anyway, it is time to send this idiot back home. My time is already running out," he added while taking out the teleportation talisman from his pocket.

Then he took another look at the subduing mushroom cloud before shaking head bitterly. "To think that the organization who was planning to kill the younger generation of the 'Aristocratic Families', lose all of their young agents instead?"

"Tsk! Such a good irony," he said before ripping the talisman into two. And immediately after that, his entire body was enfolded with a pillar of light, teleporting him to its designated location.

...…