77 Shadow Guards (1/2)

On the roof of an Upper District building, a figure stood upright with his hands behind his back and peered into the distant night. A bunch of shadows dashed over and gathered before him.

”Leader, there is a big battle taking place at the Upper North District entrance! What are your orders?” A shadowy black figure reported.

”Who is fighting?” The leader questioned with knitted eyebrows. The Upper North District was the Lancaster's turf. Who would dare to cause a ruckus there? Not many people can withstand the Duke's fury. Did the Weld family really clash with the Lancaster family? That was a clear indication of rebellion!

The group of shadows dropped one of their knees with a fist-hand salute. ”Forgive our negligence, Leader! We didn't find out.”

”Investigate immediately!” The Leader barked with a frown. He had been receiving a string of information and he felt like he had forgotten something else.

”Yes, Leader!” The shadows swiftly dispersed towards the north. Their movements were quick, and footsteps were light.

”Who's there?!” Someone barked out the windows from the floor below.

The Leader almost staggered and lose his bearing. He quickly fled the scene, before the owner of the voice comes up to investigate. He had scanned the building earlier and didn't find the presence of anyone in it. Thus, he thought there wasn't a need to lower his voice. Who knew there was someone in the building, and they weren't detected by his scan?

The Leader's name was Kasif, the head of the shadow guards. He was another powerful 9th step awakener the public wasn't aware of and was one of the rare individuals to have awaken their bloodline ability.

Bloodline abilities were so rare and unique that people have forgotten and thought that bloodline abilities and elemental abilities were one and the same thing. They are not. Bloodline ability was a unique skill derived from their elemental ability and could be used without understanding process behind it upon awakening. The same bloodline ability would never appear in two different people unrelated by blood.

Kasif's bloodline ability was a perceptive ability that allows him to use the vibrations in the earth to see and hear things, what his own eyes and ears could not. Earth Pulse was the name he decided to give to this special type of perception.

Earth Pulse has allowed him to easily spy on others without being discovered throughout his career. In this instance, Kasif wasn't sure if it was because of the rain's interference or some other unknown reasons, but he was strangely not bothered by the blunder. He had yet to master the usage of Earth Pulse. Such blunder wasn't his first and it certainly wasn't going to be his last.

…

The previous shadows darted from building to buildings and arrived at the Upper North District's entrance. They hid themselves among the roofs of nearby buildings, where they can have a clear view of the ongoing battle below.

Swoosh* One of the shadows felt a soft gust of wind flew past him as he turned around to check.

”L-Leader? You followed us?” The shadow was surprised. He didn't think the leader would follow them to the scene of the battle.

He thought the leader would be waiting for them to report back. The leader was after all, a busy person.

The Shadow Guards was divided into many squads with each assigned a different area to perform their mission. Kasif was the person, the squad captains report to.

”Mm.” Kasif nodded as he peered down at the battle. He had remembered what he had forgotten earlier. There was someone with the Duke's group that he was interested in. The other squads have been notified of his whereabouts before he left.

Kasif was able to recognize both sides easily. However, he did not recognize the ghastly old man, the Duke was battling.

”That old man must be a 9th step expert right, Leader?” The shadow guard was astonished. Since when did the capital gain another 9th step awakener?

In the past, ascending to the 9th step was something worth celebrating across the kingdom as humanity gains another powerhouse to strengthen their race.

But now? It could only be a disaster. When powerhouses fight, their battle can cause great destruction.

”Leader?” Seeing that the shadow guard's comment did not elicit a reply from his leader, he turns his head to check.

Kasif's attention was drawn on the luxury car as his eyes narrowed in for a clearer look of the people inside. There was only one person inside that he was greatly interested in; Leon.

Ever since the night, Leon killed the boss of the Red Salamander gang and the Azure Wolf gang, Kasif had extended the Shadow Guard's surveillance to the lower district to investigate who Leon was.

The actions of Leon hunting down the Grey family servants did not escape their watchful eyes. Leon's sharp senses had surprisingly failed him in detecting their presence. The rain was to blame.