Inside the Town Mayor's Quarters at the City Hall.
Gilmesh could be seen standing before the Town Mayor, Demi.
His knitted eyebrows and the worry inside his eyes flared up as he said,
"Brother Demi, are you really sure that you're going towards that place? In the first place, is this informant of yours even trustworthy?"
Demi lifted his head, his arms crossed towards each other as he said,
"Don't even think that my informant is lying, he's someone that belongs to that prestigious academy, and there's also no motive for him to lie towards me, right?"
"But still..."
"Gilmesh..." Demi stared right into his brother's eyes and said, "You do know the reason why I've been following the trails of those bastards, right?" Gilmesh' figure shook, indeed, the reason why they were relentlessly chasing after the Night Ranger Association was because of the grudge that spanned for several decades.
Now that Demi had the chance of obtaining his revenge, Gilmesh understood that he wouldn't be able to stop his brother. Clenching his fists, Gilmesh said, "I understand, I won't stop you anymore, but at the least, I want you to bring this with you..." Gilmesh rotated his cultivation base and summoned a bubble of Spiritual Qi.
The fluctuations that surrounded the golden bubble made the former, freeze. "Are you serious?" Demi's eyes shone in a critical light. The golden bubble was the entirety of Gilmesh's cultivation base. Meaning right now, he was temporarily weakened.
Since Gilmesh also cultivated a Yang Affiliated Divine Art, their Spiritual Qi was compatible with each other.
"Yeah, I won't let you go if you don't take that with you..." Gilmesh gave a wry smile and Demi lightly chuckled. Standing up, he received the golden bubble and patted Gilmesh shoulders. This comrade of his that stood beside him for the past several decades. Demi knew that words weren't enough between them.
After sharing a fist bump. Demi walked out of the City Hall and flew towards the distant horizon. Leaving Gilmesh to manage everything in the City Hall.
The fight between the peak experts at the forest near the Merchant Town of Kalur made everyone around them scurry in fear. Demi's body looked bedraggled and riddled with injuries while the ghastly apparition's figure looked more transparent than before.
The erratic fluctuations of energy around them indicated their weakened state. However, the light burning within their eyes and the murderous desires inside their minds fueled their bodies as they sent fierce attacks, one after another.
A kilometer wide area flattened and turned into a crater. Above the crater were their two blurred figures in a battle of attrition. The first one who succumbs to the other would definitely be defeated in an instant.
This massive pressure made them go all-out from the start, not withholding anything, their attacks were as fierce at the dragon's roar and as encompassing as the ocean, leaving each other without any opening to even breathe.
Peng!
With a sound of metal clashing against metal, Demi and the ghastly apparition flew backward, rolling on the ground as dust flew towards the skies. Stabilizing their bodies, Demi revealed a small smile, "What's going on? Why do I feel like you're gradually losing out, Superior Leader of the Night Rangers?" His sarcastic expression made the latter scoff.
"Don't pretend that you're tough, you have the same condition as me..." The ghastly apparition replied, and the sword of darkness in his hands, doubled as he mumbled, "The third Stance of the Shadow Stalker Art: Dual-Wield!"
"So you're finally taking me seriously?" Demi commented, his expression turned solemn.
The ghastly apparition could at most use three stances of his Divine Art according to the information that he gathered. Which means, his enemy was now using his entire strength.
Shaking his head, he lifted his sword and whispered, "The third Stance of the Burning Sun Art: Gentle Sun"
An explosion of brilliant lights manifested in the air before him. The light transformed into a stream of energy which condensed onto his sword.
The cold blade of his sword shone in a golden light and it would only take a single look and one could deduce the concentrated power that it contained.
The ghastly apparition prepared his resolve, he knew that he didn't have any chance of contending against his enemy due to the fact that it was currently morning. If it was night, where the Yin was everywhere in the air. He was confident that he could defeat his enemy.
"Prepare yourself..." Demi whispered into the air before disappearing beside the ghastly apparition, sending a horizontal slice on its body.
The apparition replied by raising both of his swords in a defensive stance.
Clang!
A fierce sound reverberated, followed by a miserable shriek that came from his mouth. His figure flew backward before striking a boulder, crashing it into dust.
Standing up, his expression turned cold. His enemy's Divine Art infused the might of the sun in his weapon. Each of his strikes carried the Extreme Yang Essence of the Sun. Damaging his Yin Elemental Body.
"You know, I have been waiting too long for this moment..." Demi spoke in a somber, yer reveling tone. Approaching his enemy who still knelt on the ground, he stopped within thirty steps before the latter as he continued, "Do you still remember the atrocities, your organization committed three decades ago, at the Pure Jasmine Village?"
The ghastly apparition's figure shook and his eyes widened in astonishment and shock. He had committed too many crimes that he didn't bother about remembering everything. However, he clearly remembered that three decades ago, he ordered a massacre at that Pure Jasmine Village, but that was not the reason why the events on that day, deeply engraved in his mind.
It was because on that eventful day. He spared two young boys that endlessly cursed him for revenge.
And now that he looked at it, Demi's visage looked similar to that young boy as realization struck his mind.
"C-c-could it be that..."
"You're that young boy at that time?!"
The ghastly apparition lifted his head and stared right into Demi's cold and indifferent eyes. The latter merely lifted a smile before kicking the former backward.
"Yes, indeed, that was me..." He replied as the ghastly apparition struck a tree trunk as a pain filled groan came out of his mouth.
Strangely, Demi didn't pursue him and instead stared at his figure before saying, "Stand up, fight a good fight with me and do not disappoint me..." His eyes flashed in a critical light, "I waited too long for this moment..."
"How selfish, is that how someone from the righteous path should act? Since you already decimated most of my branch subordinates here, how about we let go of everything and let bygones be bygones?" the apparition stood up and dusted his jet-black robe.
Demi gave a weird chuckle before suddenly appearing beside him and said, "Nope, not happening."
A cold flash of light formed a trail in the air as the two figures started their clash once again. Sparks flew and each collision generated a shockwave which intensified the destruction of everything around them.
Slice, hack, dice, thrust, and even kicks could be seen as the two fighters utilized all sorts of techniques that they could to acquire the upper-hand and defeat their enemy.
Their battle of attrition could continue but it could be seen that Demi had the upper-hand. Because it was morning, his attacks were amplified and on the other hand, his enemy, someone who had a Yin Elemental Body found it hard to endure the scorching rays of the sun.
With a downward slice, a deep gash appeared on the apparition's left shoulder as the latter retreated backward. Clicking his tongue, a light of resolve flashed within his eyes as Demi closed in,
"The fourth stance of the Shadow Stalker Divine Art: Absolute Night Time!" He stretched his hands towards the skies as a ball of darkness exploded above his palms. Engulfing the two of them under the veil of the night.
The world around Demi, darkened and the effects of his Yang Affiliated Divine Art, diminished. But the ferocity on his face surged as his attacks became even more crazed than before.
The ghastly apparition sneered, Shadow Stalkers were the masters of the night. Under the effects of Absolute Night Time, not only were his attacks, amplified. He could also infinitely absorb his enemy's Spiritual Qi, weakening them in the process.
"It's too late for regrets, Demi, you're gonna hand over that Inheritance Key along with your life!" The apparition laid his desires bare as his dual swords dance.
Blood continuously dripped from the wounds that dotted Demi's body. No matter how much he kept on defending. The sheer speed of two swords along with the innate suppression that bored on his body made him unable to keep on as he kneeled on the ground.
Witnessing his enemy kneeling on the ground, the apparition frowned, "He told me earlier that he was waiting for this moment for several decades, he should definitely have some trump cards on him. Unfortunately, I also have my own..."
Remembering the Heaven Grade Defensive Artifact that he had on his fingers, the apparition's confidence returned. Raising his right hand towards the skies, he sliced at Demi's neck as the latter's figure suddenly surged in strength, a foreign ball of energy floated up in the air.
The terrifying fluctuations that wafted out from the ball of energy made the apparition stagger backward in fear.
Not only did the ball of energy contained the strength of the sun, it also had the Essence of Extreme Yang. Making it very harmful for the apparition.
"Absolute Night Time was it? The Fourth Stance of the Shadow Stalker Art?" Demi slowly stood up, his eyes flashed in a light of complicated emotions.
"That technique, Absolute Night Time encompasses the user and the target within a sphere of darkness. Though it is powerful, it also has its disadvantage. And that is," A vicious smile surfaced on his lips, "Only when the Absolute Night Time's duration ends could it be opened!"
The ghastly apparition's expression flickered, he had a premonition about what the Town Mayor was about to do as he hurriedly said, "No, don't be so hasty there my friend, not every problem can be solved using violence so please stay your hand!"
"Let's go out with a bang, this nemesis of mine..." Demi mumbled before injecting his the strength of his entire cultivation base into the ball of energy, causing it to violently fluctuate.
Overloaded with energy, the ball of light exploded under the horrified gaze of the apparition. His fourth stance, the Absolute Night Time was disintegrated as the remaining energy from the ball of light wreaked havoc in the entire forest.
A ten-kilometer wide area of trees was flattened and a three-kilometer crater was formed at the epicenter of the destruction. Everything looked horrendous.
The ground was scorched black and everything was silenced.
Not a speck of movement could be seen and nothing could be heard aside from the whistling of the wind.
At the center of the crater, aside from the almost indestructible Spatial Ring and the Inheritance Key along with the rusted sword on Demi's presence, the figure of the apparition could be seen slightly trembling in excitement and disdain.
The light of a defensive artifact flickered before eventually disappearing.
"Hahaha," the apparition viciously laughed before mocking. "What a shame, what a shame. what a shame..."
"In the end, all the efforts that you placed these past decades amount to nothing..." He calmed his nerves and moved towards his spoils of war. Picking the three items, his expression flickered as he wildly laughed when he noticed the small metal ring on his palm.
"Finally, I have finally completed my mission..." He whispered into the air, looking at the scene of destruction around him, he shrugged, " Since my mission is completed, there's no use in maintaining this branch anymore, let it be destroyed..."
He shook his head and prepared to fly towards the skies.
Bang!
A deafening roar reverberated along with a flash of light which formed a line in the air.
Puchi!
His figure froze and his eyes widened in shock when he felt the sharp burning pain in his throat along with his crimson blood that dripped like a fountain on his neck.
"W-w-who...?" He opened his mouth to speak.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three consecutive shots struck his heart, head, and his spleen, instantly killing him while he was in his weakened state.
Tumbling on the ground, life eventually left his body as the peak expert, the branch leader of the Night Ranger Association, lost his life under the attacks of a mysterious assailant.
At the distance, after making sure that the ghastly apparition was dead. Dan approached with a small smile on his face.
Casually picking up his spoils of war, the bastard immediately erased all traces of his presence and disappeared from the scene.