[The White Vigil]

'What sort of joke is this?'

'Of course there would be a bunch of awakened vigilantes, there simply had to be when the world went to shit.'

Adam set his bag down on the aged bench in a park on the way home. School was cancelled for the rest of the week due to the monster attack. Adam thought it should have been longer but apparently monster attacks were considered too common nowadays. Adam didn't think that society had suffered such a huge hit from the increased ferocity of the wildlife. Adam could now understand why the government let the vigilantes have free reign, they didn't have a choice. Considering the amount of good this group was contributing to society, the amount of backlash the government would receive for illegalising this group couldn't possibly be tolerated by the government.

Adam could see it now, this world was going to slowly becoming a world ruled by the awakened. It had only been a week since the first awakened appeared and yet the factions already held this much influence and sway over society.

Now that Adam was thinking about how ineffective the government was at controlling the situation, he was quite surprised the police found him at all in the forest. The forest was quite large and easily covered a few thousand acres. It was also quite lucky that he wasn't attacked by any monsters while inside the forest. It was almost as if they were specifically looking for him, not just for the missing person report but for another reason.

'Wait, missing person report.'

How could he have missed it, it was right in front of him and he had been thinking about the subject for quite a long time, yet he couldn't see it all this time. His mother wouldn't have taken the time to file the missing person report. If not her, then who did?

Adam decidedly got up from the bench with a start and turned around, now headed towards the police station. He caught from the corner of his eye a man who was startled at his sudden movement. He was wearing a blue business attire with a red tie, now that he thought about it he saw this guy walking outside his house when he left for school. He probably lived nearby where he lived. Or maybe...

He was being followed.

Adam took in his face for the split second in which he was startled. He had a neat complexion, lightly tanned skin, a stubble forming on his chin, lightly combed-over black hair and wearing circular glasses with a blue rim. Overall he looked like a young office worker.

Adam took action within that split second, he casually put on his bag and headed towards the police station.

'Should he go to the police station, if he really was being followed, who could it be?'

Could it be the government, could they have discovered his recent murder, or could they have connected him to the murder of Sarah, like Officer Harvey told him in the car before leaving?

No, it couldn't be just because of this, the police force has many bigger matters to care of rather than looking into the singular murder of an individual. The amount of unrest caused by the recent monster attacks would have the police force distracted. They should pay much less attention to crimes caused by individuals or they may ignore them entirely.

Adam decided to take a detour to the police station and pass by the abandoned part of town, in order to hopefully confront whoever was following him. If he confronted them, he would alert whatever organisation was after him, however, it would be worth it to gleam some information on whoever was following him. Chances were that there wouldn't be any risk to his life since he was an awakened, even most small arms didn't have destructive power comparable to his shadow bolt.

Adam had reached a suburban district afflicted with urban decay. Surrounding him, were relatively tall abandoned factories whose walls were covered in graffiti. It was completely abandoned. The time was five o'clock, the sun was hanging over the horizon, casting the shadows of the facilities upon the concrete pavement. It felt strangely comfortable, yet there was an aura of suspense within the air.

This was the place, secluded and sufficiently away from society. If those following him were going to act against him anytime soon, they would do so here. Adam went inside one of the buildings, it was very dimly lit from the translucent wall panels near the ceiling of the building. Now that he was in here, his advantage would be maximised in combat, even if the enemy had a gun, they would not be able to get a shot off before he struck from the shadows.

Actually, the police knew where he lived, they could have confronted him at any time, then were they just monitoring his movements?

Adam was about to step out from behind a container and continue his way to the police station when he heard a single step. A single one. The sound of the step resounded throughout the silent factory. Then another step was taken. Followed by another. Adam took a peek at whoever was taking these steps from the shadows.

There was a man. He was middle-aged, however, his hair was already whitened. His complexion was relatively rough, not someone to be messed with. Squinting eyes, on the lookout for him. However what was most surprising to Adam wasn't this man's fearsome looks, but rather his clothing. Or more specifically, uniform. A uniform from [The White Vigil].

Same as the suit he had seen on Sera, a complete jumpsuit with metallic greaves and bracers coloured white. The only difference was that this one had an armband around his right arm depicting a white sword and a crescent upon a black background. At his waist was a cavalry sabre, yet again completely white.

This man let out an aura of righteousness and conviction which Adam found completely suffocating. There wasn't even a need to ask him. He knew. This man was out to get him. Somehow, they found out, and now they were out for blood.

The man stopped in the centre of the warehouse, a fair way away from Adam. Meanwhile Adam was slowly making his way out of the warehouse. He knew that he first came here in order to confront whomever was following him, however, this guy was just a tad too intimidating.

When he was about to take his next step however, the man spoke.

"[Detect Evil]"

A small wave of light pulsed off from the man and spread throughout the warehouse. For a while, nothing happened.

Then, some red lights started appearing on the floor, they were his footprints, and they were headed straight towards him.

The man turned to look at him, however surprise flashed across his eyes once he saw him.

"This is... unexpected." He slowly stated.

"At first, I thought you were a monster, simply going off by the amount of evil that pervades you."

"However, you are a man. A human, like me."

This... Man, was walking towards Adam. Is this how he found Adam, this '[Detect Evil]' spell? No evidence of a crime committed. No witnesses to testify against him. His solemn words against someone's speculations. And yet this spell simply spelled the word guilty. This was unfair. No, this must probably be karma.

'Karma's a bitch'

The man kept walking towards Adam, should he make a break for it, he was quite young whereas this man seemed middle-aged. He should be able to outrun him. Maybe I could gleam some information from him?

"Stop there." Adam warned the man in a surprisingly low voice.

The man stopped, although seemingly not from his warning but rather his own will.

"Now, what are you?" He asked me, in a completely flat tone.

'What?' I thought.

"What?" I responded.

Even as he was speaking he drew his sabre and swung it in an overhead blow towards me, all within a split second. I was distracted from his question and didn't have much time to think. In the end I used [Shadow Footwork I] to sidestep the attack towards the right.

The man continued talking as he kept swinging his sabre in my direction with considerable skill. The strength, precision and skill behind each blow was impressive to say the least, it would realistically cut straight through sheet metal with that strength.

"Your aura is so malevolent, I simply refuse to believe you were once a human like me. Even if you are a human, this sabre of mine will cease your evil existence."

Adam once again dodged using [Shadow Footwork I], his movements themselves weren't half bad, however he didn't have any combat experience or instincts whatsoever. He was barely hanging on whilst pulling off some acrobatic manoeuvres which Adam never thought would be possible for him to accomplish, in fact, were it not for him practicing [Shadow Footwork] all night he probably would have been cut down by now.

[Shadow Footwork I] has been upgraded to [Shadow Footwork II]

Immediately, Adam saw another level of smoothness to his movements that he couldn't achieve before. However, if things went on as they were, it would only be a matter of time before he was taken down. Adam saw that the man didn't seem to have a footwork skill, only a skill with which to strike. Therefore he decided to take a risk and change up the battlefield.

Within that split second, Adam came up with plan to kill this man before him, and a plan after that in case the first failed.

Adam pulled off a backflip and momentarily disengaged from combat, only to land atop a box, from whence he scrambled up a mountain of empty crates. The peak of the crates reached up to the steel scaffolding of the factory, which luckily didn't have any safety railing, therefore his plan B would have a higher chance of succeeding. Once Adam made his way atop the scaffolding, he slightly staggered when he looked down, almost falling off but catching himself on the floor of the scaffolding. The floor was so far away that his eyes formed tunnel vision from looking down, he estimated the height to be around twenty metres. If someone fell from this height, they would die, no matter the circumstances.

Adam gathered his nerves and steeled his resolve, he hid behind a part of the steel scaffolding and peered through a gap in-between to spy upon the vigilante. He was about three quarters of the way up the mountain of crates, his plan might work. A shadow bolt formed in his hands and Adam readied himself to take another life this day. He willed the bolt forwards, and it flew truly towards the vigilante. Could it be this easy, that man seemed like a hardened veteran. Were it not for his footwork, he would have been slain by now. Quickly, the shadow bolt struck the back of the vigilante, however, unlike the shower of blood he expected, a barrier of light seemed to form behind his back and blocked the bolt. The vigilante did stagger slightly forwards, another curious thing Adam noted was that a blue bar formed in the corner of his vision. It had about a sixth of it gone and detailed a twenty-seven over thirty-two, it was probably his mana bar.

The vigilante seemed shocked at the attack and strength from the shadow bolt, his eyes constricted as he put up his guard. Adam sighed at his failed attempt to outright murder him, that light barrier must be some sort of magical defence. However, Adam wasn't at the end of his rope yet. While the vigilante was climbing up, instead of continuing to probe him, Adam practiced [Shadow Strike] for the first time. Similar to Shadow Bolt, he gathered shadows on a part of his body, however, instead of willing the bolt to fly towards his opponent, he struck the metal scaffolding with his fist. A loud thump sounded, he would need to switch hiding spots after this but that wasn't a problem. Instead the fist shaped imprint in the steel spelled good new for him.

Adam hurried towards an ambush spot in the scaffolding with a good view of the vigilante climbing the mountain of crates. Adam also tried applying [Shadow Strike] to his feet and it worked quite well, now it would take a bit of luck to implement plan B. Afterwards, Adam turned his attention towards the vigilante. He was almost upon the top of the mountain of crates. Adam quietly armed two shadow bolts in both hands, the mental strain of losing almost half his mana was made apparent in the dulling of his sense. Adam started to feel real tired, however, he persevered. He aimed one of the bolts towards the handhold which the vigilante would most likely reach for, the other one aimed towards the box under him. With luck, the vigilante, deprived of his foot and handholds, would topple down the mountain of crates. With a twenty metre tumble, at least he would suffer a couple broken bones, at best he would break his spine and render him incapable of movement. Either way, it would only be beneficial for him.

Then, the promised moment finally came, the vigilante was finally atop the mountain of crates and reaching towards the scaffolding, however, instead of going to hold the handhold that Adam had aimed for, the vigilante leant towards the side, in an attempt to do some sort of somersault around the scaffolding. Panicked, Adam threw both shadow bolts. The first one hit the crate just as he planned before. However, the vigilante had already jumped off by the time it hit the crate. The second one was rapidly redirected by Adam towards the vigilante himself. Although it wouldn't cause any damage, the ballistic shock would be enough to nudge his body, possibly foiling his manoeuvre and sending him plummeting to his death.

Time seemed to slow as the shadow bolt flew towards the vigilante. It veered of course from his torso, however it aimed at somewhere even better. One of the arms latched towards the scaffolding. The vigilante seemed to notice the bolt approaching his arm, his eyes flashed with unwillingness to die in this place.

'If you hadn't come here seeking your death, I would have left you alone.'

The bolt struck true, the grip of the right arm was blown right off, even if it didn't cause any apparent damage, the loss of balance from the vigilante would have been fatal.

Once his arm was blown completely off, the vigilante's right arm was desperately latched towards the scaffolding, his face showing an unsightly expression, however, that soon disappeared and was replaced with an unyielding resolve. His right arm, which was desperately latched towards the scaffolding, suddenly burst forth with an amount of energy a man is only capable of exerting in the face of death. His right arm twisted unnaturally as it thrust his torso above the scaffolding and above it.

The vigilante landed heavily atop the scaffolding. His chest heaved up and down while wheezing sounds emerged from his throat.

Adam had to admit, he had to take of his hat in respect to this guy for pulling that off. Well, it also meant something else. Plan A failed.

Time to execute plan B.

Shadow Bolts from a distance wouldn't penetrate his magical armour, however they couldn't prevent the kinetic force from the attack from pushing him. This would prove his downfall.

Adam hid behind some of the scaffolding, undetectable within the shadows. The vigilante was walking along the treacherous scaffolding, his right hand hanging uselessly by his side while his left hand firmly held the sabre. He probably pulled some tendons on his right arm when pulling off that stunt, leaving his arm worthless for the rest of the fight.

If Adam knew how to fight in unarmed combat, he estimated he would be at an advantage in a head to head fight right now. However, Adam didn't know how to fight with his bare hands. He didn't know any martial disciplines with which to draw reference from either, all he knew was [Shadow Footwork], however that only contained knowledge on the stance and footwork of an individual.

This meant that Adam had to find an opportunity to ambush him, no matter how terribly positioned or postured his attack was, with the power of [Shadow Strike] and the element of surprise, he was sure to at least land a hit that would knock him off balance and send him down towards his death.

The vigilante was pacing around the scaffolding warily. The knuckles of his left hand were completely white in their grip of the sabre. His paces were slow and steady, exceedingly vigilant. The clack of his metal greaves upon the steel scaffolding made a constant and sharp sound. Rapidly becoming a rhythm that set the tempo of the combat. Adams heartbeat aligned itself to the timing of those footsteps, his pulse becoming sharp.

His senses were magnified to their extreme, beyond the limits of the usual [Awareness]. He extended his sixth sense to encompass the entirety of the vicinity. He could feel the age in the rusted metal mesh beneath his feet, the drops of sweat forming on the back of the vigilantes neck and the adrenalin rushing through his aged body.

He could feel himself standing shoulder to shoulder with someone, with himself, with 'Adam'. Their respective figures superimposed within his mind, 'Adam' was whispering to him, the secrets of combat. No, this wasn't combat. This was the secrets of the hunt. A terrifying hunt which revelled in the despair of the prey.

The vigilante was turning the corner, although he was vigilant he failed to notice Adam beside the rusted scaffolding. His back was completely exposed towards him. The poise that man held was extremely peculiar, his back was semi-coiled, as if ready to strike out at a moments notice. His breathing was becoming rushed and his eyes were frantically searching all around his surroundings, almost as if he knew that he was somewhere next to him.

'Adam' was whispering to him. It told him, the time was now. It guided his feet to swiftly stalk forwards, he was directly behind the vigilante by this point. 'Adam' was guiding the shadows around him towards his fist and his right foot, eventually reaching the maximum amount of shadow he could compress around his body. Adam felt this effect was too great for his level of [Shadow Strike I], this must have been [II Shadow Meditation] coming into play.

Then, it told him to strike, and he did.

His fist was heading towards the nape of the vigilante's neck. It was glistening wet in the dim light of the warehouse, the beads of sweat had merged to form a layer of sweat covering his skin by this point. His fist was sent smashing straight into it, then the light shield appeared to save the vigilante's life. With the light shield in place, his vertebrae managed to survive being outright broken, however, he still suffered great shock from being struck there and stumbled forwards. This was the moment that 'Adam' was waiting for, his right foot extended outwards and crushed towards the vigilante's right ankle, which was the one closest to Adam at that point.

With his ankle crushed, the vigilante lost all strength in his legs and fell down through the scaffolding, he was about to cleanly fall through when his right hand caught onto Adams ankle at the last possible moment.

Adams heart skipped a beat, however it was lucky for him that the vigilante used his right hand to hold onto his ankle. With the broken tendons in his right arm, the man couldn't exert enough force to firmly grip his ankle and the only result his willpower got him was a pitiful cry of pain.

As the vigilante's hand slipped off the railing, he plummeted the height of twenty metres. Perhaps luckily, or unluckily, the man happened to fall onto a broken off piece of rebar pointing upwards, effectively impaling. The shield of light wasn't much good at this point and the man was impaled through the heart, instantly killing him.

Adam took a moment to look upon his corpse. It was arched backwards from the point in the heart, through which the rebar penetrated straight through. The corpse slid down about halfway through the rebar before it eventually stopped at about three metres above the ground.

Adam had once again taken a life, not even twelve hours since taking his first.

'Perhaps, people around him simply had a knack for dying.' He mused to himself with a wry grin.

However, in all seriousness, this wasn't at all like the first time he killed. This felt significantly different. He felt more natural, as if it was the natural order of things. He didn't even revel in the joy of surviving a harsh fight, rather, he was already thinking of how to make his tracks disappear from the crime scene.

Adam was already facing himself with several choices, to disguise the scene as a monster attack or to hide the corpse so as to force the police and [The White Vigil] to treat this as a missing person case rather than a murder. Both sides had their advantages and disadvantages. For example were he to hide the corpse Adam would gain a chance to loot the body, whereas if he disguised it as a monster attack, he would have to leave the vigilante's weapons and whatever caused that white light to come out, however, in exchange he would be able to wipe clean the traces of his involvement in this incident.

Adam decided to see what the vigilante had on him before making any decisions. He took the vigilante's armband and wrapped it around his hands before touching anything which he might leave at the scene. Firstly he looked at the man's sabre. It resembled a sabre which one would find in a light cavalry division during the Napoleonic Wars, the hilt and scabbard were completely white with the guard being intricately fashioned in the style of a French rapier. Otherwise it seemed to be a completely normal sabre. Adam immediately decided to leave it behind since there wasn't anything special about it and he didn't have any safe connections to sell stolen goods to. Further search of the body proved useless apart from the presence of some sort of glass crystal in the shape of a sphere. It was very peculiar since no impurities could be seen within it.

Adam reached out to touch the mysterious crystal. The moment that his hand made contact with the surface of the crystal ball, a series of notifications and windows appeared within Adam's vision.

[The White Vigil]

Christopher Ford, Hunter

[DECEASED]

Shield Energy: 0/100

Location: 264719379017

Mission: Exterminate evil precence(s) within the local area.

Reward: 100 - 30,000 contribution points

'This... looked like some sort of ID of [The White Vigil] faction.'

Wait, there were more notifications in the corner of his screen.

*Level Up*

Shadow Monk lv II

*Level up delayed until end of combat*

'Until end of combat?' Adam thought over why it still said this if he had already killed the vigilante.

"Well, well, well. What have you got there, Adam." A lively voice called out from behind him, shocking Adam not only because he was found at the crime scene, but because they knew his name.

Turning around as quickly as he could, he saw a silhouetted figure against the entrance of the factory. From the outline could be made out the figure of a trench coat, as well as the gleam of a pair of glasses and a wickedly twisted smile.