“…hey…. up…. up…...wake up!”

The sudden scream shook him out of his blissful sleep, he opened his eyes and looked around in the now dark forest, in front of him he spotted a women leaning down as she looked at him with fierce eyes

“Finely done with your happy nap? Get up NOW!”

Identifying the women to be the one he had seen in the bath before Shun avoided eye contact for a second, he got up and stretched his body

“Hooh, don’t mind me will you, just continue doing things at your leisure”

“I plan to”

Shun replied with a clam tone, he didn’t know who she was and was not going to let her trample on him even if she was his “superior”. After all he was supposed to be a “Hero” and although he liked to keep a low profile that didn’t mean any passerby could trample over him, give them an inch they take a mile, if he listened to her orders now who knew how far she would push it later on?

“Don’t get smart with me kid, if you think you’re all that just because you’re a hero then think again, I’m not like the guards under me, I know you only hold a useless epic skill, so don’t get all cocky”

Shun didn’t dine to argue with her, he just started walking ahead

Suddenly an arm gripped his shoulder tight, he found that he couldn’t move anymore, looking back he saw the women glare at him menacingly but as if she realized something she suddenly smiled, then

Crack!

The sick sound of bones cracking could be heard from his griped shoulder, he muffled a shout while he channeled the blood element to his shoulder, but he still couldn’t move

“Hmm you can take a beating can you? Well that’s even better, now follow me if you don’t want to get more of that, I have a job for you”

Saying that she patted his shoulders and proceeded to the front, leading the way to the castle

“Hmm? Why aren’t you following”

When she didn’t hear his footsteps she barked out, and looked behind, but to her surprise Shun was nowhere to be seen

A puzzled look floated to her face before she laughed brazenly

“Hahaha, you think you can sneak attack me kid? I thought you were brave but turns out your just stupid”

As she laughed she started looking around, looking for any detail to give away Shun’s location

But unknown to her Shun wasn’t even going near her, in fact he was distancing himself from her

‘This should far enough’

Once he made a distance of less than ten meters he leaned on a tree and entered Lucid Search

‘It’s about time I try out that move’

In his Lucid form he started hovering about as he looked for any observers, when he saw no one in the vicinity he headed toward the woman

‘Useless? Let’s see about that’

He focused his mind on the women, gathered his power to its maximum, and struck with his most powerful ability!

‘SOUL REND!’

A silent sonic wave headed toward the woman who knew nothing of the coming danger, the wave hit her square in the chest and expanded outward, ravaging her soul as it attempted to split it to pieces

“Ah! Uck! Geh gurgle…”

She sounded like she was choking while she fell and convulsed on the ground, a few seconds later she wasn’t moving anymore

Moments later Shun could be seen stepping toward her with his physical body, he bended down and check her pulse

“Knocked out but not dead, well I already knew that or I wouldn’t have hit her with my strongest power, just as the books said when one’s soul is weaker than the other it is almost impossible to kill without a sneak attack, though that could be half a sneak attack”

He wasn’t planning on ending it here though, he didn’t just hit a squad leader for petty revenge

“I was looking for a puppet, thanks for delivering yourself to me”

He dragged her body away deep into the forest, once he thought he was pretty far in he let her lay on the grass, stripped her combat gear away and let her only keep her normal cloths on then he dropped some water from her satchel onto her face

“Gah, cough cough!”

She started looking around groggily trying to see where she was, only after a few seconds did she finely adjust to the surroundings, when she saw Shun she looked shocked but her shock turned into anger and she was about to lash out

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you”

Shun’s voice rang in her ears, it sounded much more intimidating, her words got stuck in her throat and she looked at his face, when she saw his glowing yellow eyes that seemed to resemble that of a beast fear crept into her heart, she tried to talk but it was unknown what she was trying to say, maybe due to fear, or maybe because her soul was still in cracked and in disorder

“I’ll do the talking so keep your mouth shut and listen well, I won’t be repeating myself twice”

The women shut her mouth and looked at his face silently

“Who I am and why I am here is none of your concern, what you need to know is that I am here on a mission, and should you not cooperate with me fully then you shall face a fate far worse than death, where even your very soul won’t be left intact, you will be begging for death by the time I’m finished with you”

Then he adopted a sneer on his face as he looked at her

“Thinking about asking for help? Well you might get a few “rewards” and pats on the back for doing a dog’s job but you will end up the same, if not at my hands then at the hands of another, we both know those good for nothing Avihals aren’t gonna give you another second of their time once they got what they wanted from you, just like what they will do to those young “heroes” “

The women’s face contorted deeper into fear, she seemed genuinely out of her wits end now, another push would certainly drive her into insanity

At this point Shun’s sneer turned into an enchanting smile

“But if you serve me well, hmm well I do need a good dog like you in my mansion, who knows maybe I will even reward you for saving me the trouble of having to crack that nut head Vince’s soul”

The women’s face alternated many expression, pale, expectations, fear, so Shun gave her another push down the line, one final reminder of realities cruelty

He bended down and lifted her chin, with his long, beast like, nails, then he sent a small subtle Soul Rend toward her, well subtle to him but it practically started cracking her soul into half as her current mentality couldn’t afford her any defense

Once she felt a jolt of pain she instantly nodded her head vigorously, he was afraid it might fall of from her speed of doing so

“Good girl, now wear your armor back properly, and go back after you’ve calmed down, I will call you when I see fit”

Saying so he patted her head and turned around, as he did he sent another even smaller Soul Rend toward her, the momentary lapse it caused her gave him enough time to enter stealth, practically vanishing from her sight

‘That was a great outro if I have to say so myself’

Shun smirked to himself as he went back into the wall, he had already canceled all the skills he was using to scare her, still he couldn’t help but marvel at how effective of a villain those abilities made him out to be

‘Unnerving aura to start the fire of fear into their heart, the eagle eye combined with the Night vision actually make my eyes glow in the dark, long nails to supplement the beast like appearance, I was villainously enchanting if I can say so myself hehe’

When he entered the corridor in which his room was located he saw Vince leaning against the door, Vince seemed to be contemplating something when his eyes showed surprise at his arrival

“Sorry I fell asleep in the forest”

“I know but ya were supposed to be with that vicious women Catherin”

“Hmm what does she look like?”

“Red hair, sharp chin, brown eyes, slim but with a bit of abs, ya know the beautiful captain of the guards in this walls”

“Ahh so that’s her, the one we saw yesterday morning right? We must have missed each other”

“Well I guess, well saves me the trouble to haul ya back from the arena anyway, let’s start training before she gets here”

“Arena?”

“Yah, ya were supposed to be in the arena fighting some chick by the name of Fiola, well more like getting beat up by her rather than fighting”

“And why would I do that?”

“Ahh too many question boy, let’s just get right into it, follow me”

Vince motioned for Shun to follow as he hastily walked away

‘Hmm’

Shun followed without saying another word and soon the two of them found themselves in one of the training facilities of the guards

“Right here will do, now pick yer weapon of choice among those rackets over there and let’s start”

“? But I thought I’m supposed to train in sneaking in to deliver a solid blow and then escape, wouldn’t this hinder my time to master Stealth?”

Shun knew they were trying to make him a disposable tool so training him in something like weapons didn’t seem quite efficient from someone with his skill set, after all they didn’t need him to survive after delivering the hit

“That was the plan, and it still is, this is something I’m doing on my own, boy let me tell ya somthin’, ya got potential, I have seen many people with Stealth in my life, I’ve seen them train, become famous assassins, leaders, and thieves even, I had even seen someone with Ghost skill before, but just having the skill doesn’t make ya any different from the rest of us, after all Stealth is something one can train, and there are geniuses in this world that can top some of the strongest Stealth users in the world, having a skill means ya have both a head start and an easier time in the comprehension of it, but there are geniuses who can match our speed in learning yer own skill even when they don’t have it. Boy ya have both the skill and the talent to become one of the strongest Stealth users in the world, and your Soul Rend skill has great synergy with Stealth, so as a proud Stealth user myself I have to make sure I teach you everything I can before I let you go into the battlefield”

Shun had never heard Vince talk so much in a single breath that it left him speechless, but seeing the serious look on Vince’s face he also got serious himself, grabbing his weapon of choice from the racket he took a stance in preparation for Vince’s attack

“…..”

“…..”

“What is that?”

“A spear”

“No I know what a spear is, im asking why ya took a spear”

“Because that was the only Polearm here”

“NO! I’m asking why the hell did ya pick something so big and obvious when you’re a STEALTH user!

“Oh, well I’m good with mid-range weapons like this one, so I chose this”

“And how would you know if yer good with them?”

“I trained in martial arts and weapons in my world when I was a kid, I was pretty good with spears and halberds, glaives even, though I might need some time to catch up on them”

“What about other weapons? How good are you with daggers and swords?”

“Trash”

“….”

“….”

Vince sighed and took a stance himself, then he rushed towards Shun and…. beat him up with his bear fists…

Two hours later Shun returned to his room with a face all swollen like a pig’s head, he closed the door and dived head in into the bed and screamed his injustice out

“Training he said, it will make your reaction speed better he said! He was obviously just taking out his frustration on me! What am I to do when he talked all that nonsense about being the strongest stealth user, lie and say I’m good at daggers when I have Polearm-Mastery? Bah!”

After screaming into the pillow for a while he sat on the bed and leaned on the wall, he touched his face to check on his injuries and sighed, as he had exhausted his blood pool several times today he couldn’t heal his face unless he waited for the blood element to replenish after some good rest

‘Hmm I’m not sleepy, but I’m too tired to move, what should I do? gosh if only I had a mobile to play something and waste time’

Suddenly he remembered the captain he scared today, Vince had mentioned her a few times while he was beating… while they were sparring, it was about how unexpected of her to not have come as she practically forced Vince’s hand out of the matter when she decided on the match

‘I wonder what she is doing, hmm I should check up on her’

He entered Lucid Search and went into her room, well bathroom, seeing no one there he went through the door and checked the room connected to the bathroom, sure enough he saw the captain pacing threw the room in anxiousness

‘Catherin was it? Hmm she looks like she contemplating something, maybe I should keep an eye on her, who knows what stupid idea she might come up with’

With nothing better to do he just watch her pace about the room, sometimes she seemed to make up her mind and bring out a parchment of some sort before standing up again without writing anything, some other times she put her hands on the door knob before backing away slowly

A few hours passed like that and Shun was about to go back to his body to sleepy, but before his sleepiness took over him he suddenly saw Catherin take out a the parchment she kept putting back and start writing on it

‘Hmm? Finely something new, what could she be doing’

He peeked over her shoulder to take a look, to which she seemed to shiver unknowingly, but he ignored it and stared at the words

‘This isn’t one of earths languages, wait have I not been talking in a new language all this time? I’m surprised that I only just noticed now, hmm it must be Levia’s doing, she must have made it as familiar as our own language, that’s why we didn’t notice up till now’

Taking a look at the writing he noticed he could read it with a bit of focus, after reading a bit he could pretty much tell what she was trying to do

‘It seems I must take drastic measures with her’

He smiled to himself evilly as he thought about his new act