The Silent Owls had become a sensation. Everybody was talking about them.

It had started by a young noble who had been diagnosed unable to produce aura since birth and then shunned even by his own family. He grew up to become the hero that was acclaimed by all in his home city. He then assembled a team and cured the plague that was human aura trafficking.

As more and more aura wielders were released from captivity, strange rumors about nobles imprisoning aura wielders to acquire their aura started to circulate.

Nilus and his masked team found themselves in a dilemma. Their assignment had long been carried out.

Bran Cobb’s timely breakthrough to the Asura stage was a huge lesson for all of them. They had chanced upon a poison master saving them all in the nick of time. Nilus’s new talent was then put to good use in assassinating the remaining targets. No chance was taken and the assignment had taken them five months to complete.

The dilemma they were facing now was whether they continued their acts of heroism or whether they reported back to Hedgebourne city.

They had toured the whole country and dismantled the nobles’ aura harvesting facilities by using the Assassin guild’s intelligence network.

They knew that their efforts were futile as the same facilities would crop up as soon as they headed for another city.

Even Nilus had long stopped asking questions. It was too easy to link all these things to the King especially when he had heard that it was the same all over the continent from Black Rose.

Only the nobles were exempt from such treatment. Commoners were the main target.

It did not take long for the citizens of Greenwick to start showing distrust towards their governors. What safety was this? A young man took matters into his own hands to save them all instead of the king?

It was too hard to swallow for some people.

The façade that the king bought aura crystals and even allowed for the tax to be paid by aura crystals was instantly broken.

All the kings on the continent had adopted the same way of doing things.

Some thought that there was a conspiracy at play and others thought that the nobles were doing it on their own.

Still, they were all powerless against the nobles or the king. They were existences that were above them by a huge margin.

Only one entity was closer to them and could fight for them: the Assassin guild.

Anyone could become a member of the Assassin Guild. It was mainly run by commoners with a few nobles here and there. It was a way for some commoners to make some quick money and level up faster.

The fact that the Silent Owl who was part of the guild fought for the aura wielders held captive had earned him a fame that could rival that of the king.

For some reason, no one wanted to take the contract on his head even with how much the reward increased. He had earned too much respect from his fellow assassins and citizens.

As his portrait was later sold by the Assassin guild, his face became too known for his own good.

He had to hide away from his fans whenever he could find a place to breathe.

Jeffrey’s orders were strict. To never hide his face wherever he was. He had to let the people see him.

The team was now hiding outside of a city under the shade of a tree.

“I suppose there is no way around it.” Black Rose said.

“It feels good to be a hero. I wish I could take my mask off alongside you.” A disappointed Davis said.

Elena gave him a slap on the back of his head and said: “Can’t you see that we are in the same situation even with our masks on?”

“Still, we should go back to Hedgebourne city to collect our rewards.” Nilus suggested.

“I am sure that Jeffrey wants us to stay away for a while. His next plans are sure to become even more unbearable. What possessed him to sell your portrait?” Cale’s angrily said.

“Since everybody knows both his identities, why not make more profit out of it?” Black Rose said.

As they were talking, a young man approached them. The young man wore a black attire. From his soft boots to his simple shirt.

It was only when he was five meters away that he stopped and said: “Hi. May I join you?”

The team of five turned around like the devil had just spoken to them.

They reached out for their weapons immediately and took a fighting pose ready to pounce on the newcomer.

Black Rose was the first to send an arrow whistling to the young man. She was afraid. How could she not? She had her tracking ability on at all times to avoid these kinds of surprises. Yet, this young man could reach five meters away from her without being noticed. She did not hesitate to send an arrow and had already a second one being nocked, ready to be sent…

But, the next scene astonished them.

The young man just caught the first arrow between two of his fingers and the second arrow was caught in the same hand with the remaining free fingers of the young man’s left hand.

The young man that upon closer look seemed to have an olive complexion said: ”You should save them for another. You cannot kill me even if you wished for it.” He gently threw the arrows back to Black Rose side.

She was too shocked and afraid to pick her arrows up. Even an Asura of the 10th stage could not catch her arrows as easily as this young man did.

The rest of the team also understood the situation.

Nilus was the most surprised of all. He did not use his mind mapping ability as he assumed that they were safe but now that he used it to gauge the strength of this young man, he found that there was no soul to look at. If the young man wasn’t in front of him now, he’d never have seen him at all. As he closed his eyes and focussed on the young man again, all he saw was nothing but his teammates.

Nilus took it upon himself to engage in a conversation with the young man: “Are you a vampire?”

The young man showed an amused smile as he looked at Nilus: “Of course not. But if you ever meet a vampire, you should be able to recognize him with the aura circulating in their blood. They store the aura they eat in their blood. They have no soul to store it.”

The young man closed his eyes and soon opened them saying: “You can see me now. I am sure you’ve never seen a soul this strong.”

Soul?

All of them including Nilus showed weird faces.

Nilus hurriedly closed his eyes and looked again.

The soul of the young man was waving at him.

More importantly. Nilus remarked that the soul was infinite times stronger than the soul of Bran Cobb which was the strongest soul that he had ever seen previously.

“I think we are are up against a divine stage.” Nilus said as he saw the soul disappearing from his view.

Nilus ignored the pale faces of his teammates and asked the young man: “How do you know?” of course he was referring to the fact that the young man knew about his ability to see souls.

“A soul eater like you cannot go unnoticed even if you tell everybody that you are a poison master. You really did not show restraint when you fed but you did it in an exemplary way. It really is very pleasant to see that a random born creature of the dark can make such a decision. Others just forget that they were born human and go around killing until they reach the apex of their powers, but you chose to be a hero.” The young man clapped and said: “You’ve earned my respect.” He stopped for a moment and then smilingly said: “Where are my manners? Let me introduce myself: I am the leader and creator of the Assassin guild, Angel Fangs. I am afraid that no one alive knows my true name. You’ll have to call me by my nickname from now on.”

“I came here to warn you. That old Alek, will soon come after you and make you into his disciple. Do not fall for his schemes. He has probably found out about you being a soul eater just like I did and will use you to fulfill his dream and then kill you when it is over.”

Somehow Nilus felt that he could trust this Angel Fangs. He said: “You lost me at ‘old Alek’.”

“He is the first King of Greenwick. Alek Achard. He comes from the Darkcloud continent. He was born in the Ascending Fire clan. The entire clan gained a fire ability from their aura in the later stages before the divine stage. He was the last survivor when he arrived on this Shadowthorn continent. The Darkcloud continent is now under the rule of the creatures of the dark. He dreams of taking it back but it is impossible. The only thing he can do is prepare this continent for a future invasion from the Darkcloud continent. If he finds out that you are a soul eater he will use you to win the war with all the divine stage humans he’s amassed after all these years.” Angel Fangs explained.

“How can I help win a war of such a magnitude?” Nilus asked.

“You know exactly what kind of powers you possess.” Angel Fangs matter-of-factly said before he added: “You and Cale should just come with me for a while. I told Jeffrey to stop with his nonsense, so the rest of your team will be able to return. It is your choice. You come with and both reach the divine stage so you can at least fight back when the king comes after you or just stay here and let him use you and then kill you later.”

“How are you so sure that he will kill me?” Nilus asked.

“Because back in his time, soul eaters were dreaded by both humans and the creatures of the dark alike. Every newborn that was unable to manifest aura in a family of aura wielders was considered a soul eater. It is one of the rare random powers given to some humans. The good thing about it is that it cannot be passed down like vampirism.” Angel Fangs said.

Nilus was carefully thinking about the new problem that the King would bring in his life.

He was also trying to find anything suspicious about this self-proclaimed Assassin guild’s leader. What could prove to him that everything he said was true? The fact that they were still alive in front of a Divine stage? Or the fact that Angel Fangs knew too much about soul eaters when he himself knew nothing?

There were many unknowns about what was inside Angel Fangs’ mind. What was driving him to help him? Nilus asked: “What’s in it for you?”

“Me?...As you can see, I reached the Divine stage in both body and soul but none of my own weapons did. Since I chanced upon a soul eater, I was never going to let one slip through my fingers…. What you should ask is: what’s in it for you? The answer is that I know a way for you to beat a divine stage human like Alek. Even if you become a divine stage you can still be killed.” Angel Fangs said.

“What kind of way?” Nilus eyes gleamed.

Angel Fang’s smile finally faded away as he seriously said: “Well, you were born a creature of the dark, yet you are still human. All I say is, you can broaden your horizons by trying other paths of power.” he mysteriously smiled after finishing his words.

Cale almost screamed out: " You plan on having him turn into a creature of the dark?"

The albino smilingly said: "Exactly. They already see him as a creature of the dark. So where is the harm? And who said anything about turning him into just one dark creature."

End of part 1.