Revin"s stamina was limited. He seemed to be resting right now as the rate of fires being set had slowed down significantly.

As he observed the morning star in the night sky, Sila waited for the person who could help him solve the problem regarding Revin.

“So you came, Kraizer,” Sila said without removing his gaze from the sky.

The Master of Swords, Kraizer, slowly walked up to Sila. His giant katana was hanging from his waist. It seemed he preferred to have his weapon ready next to him instead of keeping it inside his system window.

“Hi, Sila. Tomorrow is an important day, isn"t it? Why are you still awake? Are you excited?” Kraizer asked as he returned the greeting.

Kraizer was among the first group of people who accepted Sila, so Sila felt especially intimate with him. He struggled to come to terms with using the man as bait.

“I have something I need your help with.”

“About Revin, right?” Kraizer could read Sila"s intentions.

Sila nodded. “That"s right. I want you to challenge Revin to a sword duel,. but I will be the one to specify the time of the match.”

“A sword duel with Revin is what he and I have to do regardless. We just postponed it because of some circ.u.mstances. Sila, what time were you thinking?”

“Tomorrow, midday.” Sila"s reply was short, but Kraizer could understand the reason behind it immediately.

“That"s the time of the Dragon Kingdom raid, isn"t it? Are you planning to ban me from partic.i.p.ating in this interesting event?”

“You have to self-sacrifice for the team"s common interest. Given his desire for the t.i.tle Master of Swords, Revin won"t run away from your challenge. Challenging him at that time will prevent Revin from going to the Dragon Kingdom with us and attempting to stop our event. Also, the other benefit is that he will have to save up his strength before the match, and that will help reduce the damage to the city.”

“You want me to abandon many dragons and end up with a lone dragon as my target? That"s a difficult choice to make.”

Sila showed a mild smile. “Fighting in a battle against many dragons alongside a lot of other players, or a one-on-one duel with the Flame Monarch himself. Which appeals more to you?”

“Hahaha! That"s quite persuasive.” Kraizer laughed heartily. “Don"t worry. As long as I get to kill a dragon, any is fine.”

Sila nodded, before talking about the part which worried him. “Fighting Revin can be more dangerous than fighting an army of dragons. I have told you about the Gems of Catastrophe and their terrifying abilities. Revin has at least one of them with him. No player can stand up to its power.”

Ever since Sila discovered that Revin had one of the Gems of Catastrophe in his possession, he had been making sure that everyone understood the fearsome powers of these items. Even though they doubted such fraudulent items existed, the fact that Revin could take down the Evil Eye King so quickly was sufficient proof.

Kraizer smiled. He tapped his katana hanging from his waist. “No one has ever stood up to my Heaven"s Sword of Punishment as well.”

Sila didn"t smile back. Instead, he showed a worried expression. “I"m really serious about it. If—”

Kraizer gestured Sila to stop. “It"s better if my opponent is strong. Otherwise, my t.i.tle Master of Swords will be just a joke. Rest easy. I know what you are trying to tell me. However, if you say one more word, I will take that as an insult.”

Sila swallowed his words into his throat and no longer gave Kraizer warnings. He knew Kraizer wasn"t arrogant. He was simply confident in himself.

“I will go along with your request. However, can you do something for me in return?” asked Kraizer.

“Please say it.”

“About my match against Revin. Never mind if I win. However, if Revin comes out as the winner, his safety must be guaranteed. Don"t order your monsters to harm him.”

Sila fell silent for a short period of time before giving his reply. “You have my word.”

“There is nothing more, then. Revin is a fearsome opponent. I will have to start preparing myself. About the duel, I will send him a letter of challenge soon.”

As their conversation had ended, Kraizer left after they finished talking, but Sila remained in the same spot and waited patiently. It was ten minutes later when he saw a difference in the city.

The flames throughout the city vanished. It seemed Revin really needed to preserve his strength for the upcoming match against Kraizer.

With this, the construction in the city could finally continue without problems. The monsters put their all into the restoration. The darkness of the night didn"t stop them from working.

Handling Revin was the easy part. Requesting Kraizer to help was just the first plan he was setting into motion. The next one was far more complicated because of who he was asking for help.

Sila took a certain Crystal of Connecting out. If G.o.ddess" Resonance was as terrifying as his teacher described, she would surely be able to hear him, given that Kimon was still within the city.

“Can we meet?” muttered Sila. One part of him wanted a certain person to hear his words yet the other part hoped they would go unheard. It was a complex feeling.

The crystal in Sila"s hand soon broke and disintegrated. A flash of light then appeared next to him, revealing the fragile body of someone who he hadn"t met for a long time. Her red hair was especially beautiful in the dark.

“What should I call you? Himeko? Or Nunthima?” Sila asked, his voice buzzing.

“I have no real name. Himeko is the codename my teacher gave me.”

Sila nodded. “Is that so?” He stopped and took a deep breath. “I want to negotiate with Kimon. Please call your friends here.”

Himeko seemed surprised. “Is that a good idea? Those two...”

Sila could see in her eyes that she still cared about him. Her actions also implied the same. Otherwise, she wouldn"t have secretly helped him by keeping his position a secret from her friends when he was weak. Whether her care was fake or real, he intended to exploit it in order to have her act as a bridge between him and Kimon.

“I trust you, Nunthima,” Sila said, though his heart didn"t feel that way. He deliberately used the name Nunthima to remind her of the past memories they had shared together.

Himeko fell silent, then nodded once. Her neck showed faint ripples as if she was voicing something yet her lips were sealed. Sila tried to use his qi to eavesdrop but couldn"t hear anything, making him feel in awe of Himeko"s dark art.

Soon, two more people descended, standing next to Himeko. They were obviously Asava and Vlad.

“I heard from Himeko that you want to negotiate with us, Sila? It"s great to meet you again,” greeted Asava.

“How is your injury, Asava? Hope I wasn"t too heavy-handed,” Sila replied. He tried to show his superiority.

Asava shook his head. A smile was hanging on his face. “No problem. No problem at all. Just think of it as a sparring match in which we both exchanged our moves. Exactly as you told me at that time. One wound for one wound.”

Asava instead showed a humble att.i.tude. His character was indiscernible, similar to Revin"s.

Sila put his guard up. Against someone like this, he couldn"t afford to be swayed by action or speech.

“It is as she said. However, I have two questions to ask before the negotiation can begin.”

“I will answer if I can. Say it,” said Asava. Meanwhile, Sila took a side glance at Vlad who had been showing no expression so far. He was completely motionless as if he was a corpse.

“The first question is: Why do you want to support me rather than Montra?” Sila cut straight to the heart of the matter.

Asava stared at Sila for a moment before giving his reply. “Actually, both of you are related to the h.e.l.l"s Gate Islands, which makes you two good candidates for us. To be honest, we chose Montra in the beginning, but we later realized that he had never planned to restore the h.e.l.l"s Gate Islands. Rather, he considered us the bad roots of the Wulin Masters a.s.sociation and planned to remove us once he gained enough power. Thus, we have to take action to protect ourselves by picking someone who is... more open-minded. If even this option fails, I guess we will have to separate ourselves from the a.s.sociation.”

Asava was being honest. Sila was their last resort if they wanted to rejoin the a.s.sociation. Still, his words implied that he was ready to screw everything up if the negotiation failed.

Sila had some doubts regarding Asava"s words. “You said that both Montra and I are related to the h.e.l.l"s Gate Islands. True, the Flaming Cloud Dojo used to be a part of Kimon and my teacher inherited the art from the Demon G.o.d. But what about Montra? I heard the Sky Dragon Dojo was built in Sanon"s generation, wasn"t it?”

“You heard correctly, Sila, but you misunderstood. I said both of you are related to the h.e.l.l"s Gate Islands, not your dojos. Only Montra is related.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is probably better to have Himeko explain this. Or not? What do you say, Himeko?” Asava turned to Himeko.

She stepped forward. “Montra is even more related to us than you, Sila. That"s why he was our first choice. His mother is my teacher... Heaven"s Heiress.”

“What did you say?!”

“This is top secret. Only Elder Sanon and a few other people know about this fact. Heaven"s Heiress"s main role is a spy. Not many people in the a.s.sociation know who or where she is.”

“Does Montra know about this?” asked Sila.

“I think he knows,” Himeko replied while nodding, “It"s possible that Elder Sanon told him.”

“Where is your teacher right now?” asked Sila. This was the first time he heard about Montra"s mother.

Himeko fell silent, while Asava explained in her place, “She went missing while on a mission. For a spy, this implies two scenarios. One is that she is in a place where she can"t communicate, and the second is that there were complications and she died. Her mission started six years ago, so I personally think that she died.”

“What was her mission?”

Asava shook his head. “There is no way I can know such cla.s.sified information. By the way, what are we here for, really? Negotiation or interrogation? Could you please state your second question already?”

Reminded by Asava, Sila realized that he had been distracted. “You"re right. My second question is: What exactly do you want from me?”

“That"s very simple. We want something Montra won"t give us, and that is the restoration of the h.e.l.l"s Gate Islands, for it to return to its glorious day. If you promise us that, we will agree to give you our full support,” Asava explained their terms. He stopped briefly before continuing as if he just thought of something more, “Oh, only from the shadows though. We don"t like showing ourselves publicly.”

This was another topic that Sila needed to understand. “I heard that Kimon is the a.s.sa.s.sin organization within the Wulin Masters a.s.sociation?”

“You"re right. We are a.s.sa.s.sins. We have been raised as a.s.sa.s.sins since birth. We have been trained to work when the a.s.sociation is in crisis, and to be forgotten when the a.s.sociation is flourishing.”

“If I agree to your conditions... can you promise me that you will only kill bad people?” Sila tried to comfort his sense of justice.

Asava simply smiled. “Let me be honest. My answer is I don"t know. We are a.s.sa.s.sins who work according to the orders given to us. Whether the target is a good or bad person is not for us to judge. The one who judges them is there.” He pointed his finger into the sky. “G.o.d. If they are good, they go to Heaven. If they are vile, they go to h.e.l.l. As simple as that.”

Sila pondered about it deeply and for a long time. With Kimon"s cooperation, he would gain a great a.s.set to oppose Montra. However, one part of him told him that this decision shouldn"t be done.

Seeing that Sila was taking his time to decide, Asava was calm. He silently waited for an answer without disturbing Sila. On the other hand, Himeko said, “At the very least, you have to listen to our part of the story, Sila. Us members of Kimon have made a living using our skills for a.s.sa.s.sination for many generations. We sacrificed a lot to support a member who was a candidate for the Wulin Lord position, yet the Demon G.o.d suddenly denounced us when he had obtained the authority. He shut down all of Kimon"s activities, and the damage of his actions dealt a heavy blow to us. If we don"t fix it soon, Kimon will disappear.”

Asava added, his voice tinged with anguish, “Killing arts are all we have learned since childhood. Then what? The Demon G.o.d suddenly forbade us to do our only job. He even used his connections to cut us off from our clients. What was he thinking? Did he seriously expect us to say "Fine. Let"s quit. We will become fishermen to earn a living from now on."? Aside from killing arts, we have nothing. They"re our lifeline. Thus, if we are really going to disappear, at least the last page of our history will have to be dyed with blood and death. Even when Kimon no longer exists, our names will always be recorded and remembered in the a.s.sociation"s history.”

Silence fell. The time for making a decision was short. The tasks of tomorrow were for the Sila of tomorrow. The important task right now was to win against Montra... with no regards as to what he might lose in the process.

“I promise. When I become the Wulin Lord, the restoration of Kimon will surely happen. You have my word.”

Sila extended his hand, which Asava firmly took. He said with a delighted voice, “So the negotiation is successful. From now on, we will be like siblings. No, in fact, you were already a part of our family, the Demon G.o.d"s heir.”

All four parts of the h.e.l.l"s Gate Islands had finally been reconnected. Asava wore a happy smile on his face like an innocent boy. Vlad maintained the same expression, while Himeko showed a faint smile.

“As we have joined forces, I have a request to ask of you for tomorrow.”

“Say it, Brother. Please don"t hold back with your request.”

“Kraizer and Revin will have a match tomorrow midday. I want you to wait nearby. When the battle ends, no matter who has come out a winner, I want you to take care of Revin.”

It seemed Himeko had heard Sila"s conversation with Kraizer. She raised her voice. “But Sila, you said to Kraizer that—”

Sila gestured her to stop. “I know what I said to him. Revin is like Montra"s right-handed man, so this matter is far more important. Anyway, Kraizer asked me not to order my monsters to harm him. I"m not doing anything that breaks the agreement.”

Asava agreed. He let out a cheerful laugh. “Hahaha! Indeed. You are quite sly.”

Still, this wasn"t the end of Sila"s request. “...I heard you have a method to track down the place that people use to log in.”

“Correct. If we kill someone, we will get their location.”

Sila took a deep breath. “It will be pointless if we don"t do it all the way. Once you kill Revin, I want you to log out and find him. He is not your match in real life. Capture him and wait for my future instructions.”

“You are more of a crouching tiger than I initially thought.” Asava"s smile didn"t seem to falter one bit. “We are a.s.sa.s.sins though. It will be quite troublesome to capture him alive...”

Sila firmly shook his head. “He will be useless to us if he dies. No matter what you do, you must capture him alive.”

“Rest a.s.sured. I have a method. I can do it using the Blossoming Part of Sage of the Six Disasters. I can even make him spill every kind of secret he knows, I guarantee you that.”

“Just remember to keep him alive,” Sila repeated.

“He may lose one or two of his limbs, but he won"t die.”

Sila wanted to argue. However, he was always an underdog, being overwhelmed by Montra. If he didn"t use this method, he wouldn"t be able to threaten Montra.

In the martial world, only the ruthless ones will survive. If he used Revin as a hostage, Montra would have no choice but to dance on the palm of his hand. Montra"s several plans would only end up in vain.

"Montra once used Teacher to threaten me. Using Revin to threaten him will make us equals."

Even Sila himself couldn"t bring himself to buy his reasoning. Who could ever believe that what he did was equivalent to what Montra had done?

“Lastly, I want to borrow Himeko"s help in tomorrow"s raid. I want someone to find the location of two specific dragons in the Dragon Kingdom. This is also very important.”

Asava waved his hand. “No problem. Just explain your plan to Himeko. For the time being, Vlad and I have to prepare.”

The two of them left to the north, leaving Sila and Himeko with each other.

“I heard Kimon don"t like showing themselves in public. Your role is a spy. I take it that you can disguise yourself?”

Himeko nodded. “I will just use the original name of this avatar, then.”

Then, she took out a green wig, contact lenses, and a mage staff. She donned them, along with changing her clothing to a magician"s long robe.

Seeing her new appearance, Sila was speechless. His forehead began to be covered in sweat.

“...Miss Vata?”

“That"s me, Little Brother Sila,” she replied. Even her voice was exactly like Vata"s.

Sila"s expression suddenly turned grim. A certain possibility flashed into his head.

“Where is the real Vata?” Sila asked loudly.

This time, even though her appearance was that of Vata, her voice belonged to Himeko. “The best disguise is replacing oneself with someone who really exists.”

Sila refused to let her explain it vaguely. “I asked, where is the real Vata right now?!”

Himeko replied in a sorrowful tone, “I"m sorry to say this, but… she is already dead.”