“I heard there has been an attack?” An authoritative man entered the command room with dozens of magical screens. Seeing him, the lesser men stood with their backs straight at attention and gave a salute.

  “Affirmative, sir!”

  “If this big ass tower had windows, you'd only need to look outside,” said another to the man with a casual tone. “Hard to miss the flying demons and imps. Ah, and the fires. Hic.”

  “And in response to this, you have done nothing, Malm?” The man frowned.

  “Dealing with this is not in my job description,” Malm chuckled and raised his glass.

  The man stepped forward with his Victa on the rise. The rank and file in the room knew that the time for polite conversations was over and tried to move out of the way as subtly as possible.

  “Galenn, stop,” said the third person who had the same authority as Valev and Malm in the command room.

  “You have more to add, Bissa?”

  “Yulia is already containing them as we speak,” the woman called Bissa said. “The crazy demon worshipers will break like eggs against hard rocks.”

  “Hmph...” Galenn’s agitation went down significantly. “Has the Tower Master been informed?”

  “The caretaker dog has tried,” Malm chuckled as he sipped his alcohol and went on speaking with booze trickling down his lips. “Poor fella.”

  “Tower Master Baharir is in an important meeting with other Tower Masters in his office. He forbade any interruptions,” Bissa’s words were sharp and concise, like her appearance.

  Galenn imagined the old beastfolk would be struck resulting in a few broken bones for the interruption. However, if something of this degree was not reported, the Tower Master would blame the caretaker for dereliction of duty and hit him with something worse, just like before.

  Galenn didn't envy the beastfolk but cared too little to pity him.

  “Where’s the rest of the Executives? Shamir and Reseh?”

  “Reseh is at the lab with his favorite test subject. He said he’s close to a breakthrough. You know how important it is for him and the Tower Master. As for Shamir, who knows? That guy comes and goes as he pleases,” Bissa replied.

  “Find him, then we will meet the invaders together. Damage to the factory town means the production will go down. Yulia can prevent them from entering the tower, but she can't beat the cultist back on her own, not with these many foreign Level 4 signals.”

  “Not fair, why does Reseh get a pass?” Malm blerghed.

  “Because the doctor is doing something important, you useless drunkard!” Galenn’s patience became dangerously thin. “Now move it!”

  Suddenly, piercing alarms sounded in the command room.

  “What happened?” Galenn demanded to know.

  “Sir...” The operator looked shaken and horrified. “Executive Yulia’s life sign... has stopped.”

  Executive Galenn and Bissa couldn't believe what they were hearing. Even Executive Malm, who was usually nonchalant, spilled his drink from the shock.

  ***

  A few minutes ago.

  “...We are not breaking through.”

  Jessica, or rather Dolphin as the cultists knew her, was watching as the Level 3s and dozens of demons summoned from Hell in the same rank charged at the Tower’s entrance.

  Viers’ plan went up in smoke, quite literally in fact but the operation must go on. While Jessica carried apprehension toward these cultists, they were a necessity. After hearing Viers' reasoning for the assault, to save Elvina’s mother who became a test subject at the hands of the uncaring money-chasers of the Magisterium, Jessica couldn't refuse.

  Even though stealth was no longer an option, the cultists summoned demons and overwhelmed the town’s security personnel with superior force. She had to punch a few to prevent civilian casualties, not the most disciplined these demons were.

  But their path to the tower was blocked by a harmless-looking Level 4 woman. She merely stood there, seemingly helpless. But when the hellhounds and efreeti charged in, they were shivering in place, unable to even dirty her robe. Long-ranged attacks fared no better. The magical ones faded from existence once they got close enough, while physical ones like arrows or javelins were blocked by some invisible force.

  Jessica wasn't surprised. Rather, this was the obvious outcome.

  When Level 4 used their Imaginary domain, the weaker ones had no choice but to submit to the overwritten rules of reality.

  “The Peaceful Yulia... I suppose her fame is not some empty rumor.”

  “I can handle it.”

  “Wait, let me at her. My gun is itching for a gunning.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “...Dolphin hon, where’s your master?”

  Mist and Witch from the Blood Church, Crackshot and Claw from the Bone Ravens spoke in succession. Against Level 4’s Domain, another Domain was necessary. Which was the reason Jessica was here, to give a counterbalance to people like Yulia.

  Jessica was studying Yulia’s Domain when Lykin called. As a new Level 4, the opportunity to see another’s Domain in action was valuable. Normally, Imaginary Domain would create a black sphere at activation. From the outside, one couldn't see the inside of the Domain. Those in the inside would be subject to a visual treat of whatever the nature of said Domain.

  Yulia’s Domain was not like that. There was no clear boundary, simply the closer one got to her person, the stronger the effect. Jessica supposed the Domain was something that forbade conflict or attacking.

  According to the one called Witch, Yulia's remarkable ability earned her prestige far and wide. Her fame was backed by real deeds. Her most famous one was stopping a war between two forces by making a camp in the middle of the battlefield. After two weeks of standoff, both sides retreated. Later, people gave her the moniker ‘peaceful’. Against a figure such as that, Jessica couldn't help but feel inferior.

  “Ghost is-”

  Jessica’s words died at the throat, for Viers was steadily walking towards Yulia. He wore a black mask and black attire. While her dolphin mask covered the upper part of her face, Viers’ mask inversely covered the bottom half.

  “Invader, no more blood needs to be spilled. Take your demons and turn back.”

  ‘Peaceful’ Yulia warned Viers. The Magisterium’s employees who congregated behind her cheered and roared. To them, Yulia’s Imaginary Domain was like an absolute barrier that the enemy couldn't violate. They were safe behind the mighty bulwark.

  Then Viers came along, walking like he owned the place. He no longer wielded the massive sword that Jessica had seen him use earlier. Apparently, the reason he was late was because he was posing for a ‘photo op’. Jessica was warned by Paina, Farley, and Clarissa of Viers’ antics so she wasn't too surprised.

  Instead, he had a much thinner sword tucked into the side of his belt with a blue sheath and white grips. Slowly, he pulled the sword out, showing the cold shining gleam of the blade for the world to see. Jessica recognized that it was the sword that the new girl, Sakuya, gifted to Viers a few days earlier.

  Naturally, Viers’ actions drew the attention of the Level 4s on his side. Jessica was also curious. Since he became a Level 4, how strong Viers had become? She knew he had been hiding his abilities, but the question was, how much?

  “A Level 4 this time?” Yulia spoke softly. “You wouldn't be the first to pit their Domain against mine. I suggest you stop wasting your effort, good sir. I do not wish to humiliate you in front of your allies and enemies.”

  Yulia’s warning seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, for Viers made a stance.

  Then, the air changed.

  There was a thunderclap that shook the core of their being.

  Then the sky and earth seemed to have lost all color, becoming black and white.

  It became hard to breathe and legs seemed to turn to jelly. It was like there was a cavity in her chest where her heart was supposed to be.

  Jessica’s fellow raiders showed the same shock, but no one was more surprised than Yulia, the main target of Viers’ technique. The bunch of people behind were absolutely crushed by terror, lacking the mental fortitude or Level 4 cultivation base to resist.

  He moved like a ghost, as if he glided through the air. He arrived in front of Yulia in no time at all. His cut struck deep and true. The spray of Yulia’s blood was not red in Jessica’s eyes because of the monochrome filter that somehow had shrouded the world but there was no mistaking it.

  “Mon...ster...”

  Yulia, bisected in two diagonally through the torso, let out her last words as both halves of her body fell to the ground.

  “No, it’s Ghost.”

  Viers sheathed his sword, which wasn't stained by a single drop of blood, in one fluid motion. It was so expertly done that those who saw it recognized the mark of a master of the sword.

  When the click sound of the sword returned fully to its sheath, the black and white imagery returned to normal and the world seemed to be able to breathe again.

  Or was it she who stopped breathing? Jessica didn't know.

  One breath, two breaths, three breaths.

  The people behind Yulia, seeing the defeat and death of their protector, clamored like chickens with their tails on fire. They panicked and ran to the final bastion of safety, the Tower’s entrance behind them. Some of them, at least. There were people that had lost consciousness, too terrified to move, given up all hope to escape, or straight up died from the shock.

  At the same time, their own side was emboldened by the display of heroism from their raid leader. The lower members of cultists and demons poured into the Tower like water from a burst dam.

  Jessica and the others went to Viers’ side.

  “...Good sword,” Jessica heard Viers muttered. If she remembered correctly, the sword had a foreign name, Umikirimaru.

  “What was that, Ghost? Is that your Domain?” Witch asked.

  “No, that was no Domain,” Claw refuted her Blood Church counterpart. “It is an Arte, but I don't know what Path. Was it Death? Space seems more likely. It can't be Darkness, can it?”

  Jessica wondered about it too. She knew Viers had two affinities, one was Water, but the other was quite a mystery. She had seen him using Lightning while he was using the other identity but apparently, that was false according to Farley. She wouldn't say because it wasn't her secret to give. Jessica had her suspicion but she couldn't be sure.

  At any rate, Jessica agreed with Claw. It seemed like an Imaginary Domain but it wasn't. As a Domain holder herself, she wouldn't mistake the feeling of a Domain. It was some sort of skill. More terrifyingly, that meant Viers defeated a fully functioning Level 4’s Imaginary Domain without using his own Domain!

  What Jessica felt couldn't be described in words.

  “You all forget an important factor,” said Crackshot. “Ghost here is a Level 4 low, unless my senses are grossly mistaken. Yulia was at least a Level 4 mid. With only one strike, Ghost cut through her Domain, defenses, protection items and whatever else. One hit.”

  A second round of silence occurred. Jessica thought, could she do the same? If she caught a Level 4 low off guard with her most powerful attack, then yes, she could envision that. But Level 4 mid, through their Imaginary Domain?

  No, she couldn’t.

  Her fellow Level 4 looked at Viers like he was some kind of otherworldly being. Perhaps Yulia was right, Viers was more monstrous than the beast monsters out there. How serious was he? Was it even his most powerful attack?

  The more she thought about it, the more questions she had.

  “My fellow raiders, I know you all have many questions, but you can't expect me to reveal my secrets to you, can you?” Viers chuckled.

  “Eeeh, why not? Please...?” Claw gave him the puppy eyes.

  It had no effect whatsoever.

  “I’m in a good mood so I’ll tell you the name of the Arte just now. An Arte of my creation, Ghost Hazard.”

  “Ghost Hazard Arte...” Jessica voiced the name once again.

  “Now come. The gate is open and time is ticking. The other Executives await!”

  -

  -

  Chapter 443 - The Legend of the Ghost

  Reminder of codenames:

  Viers - Ghost

  Jessica - Dolphin

  Izabella - Witch

  Alan - Mist

  Lykin - Claw

  Bennec - Crackshot

  Should be pretty on the nose with the aliases but here they are. Oh, and their masks resemble the style of their codenames.

  PS: The Arte’s inspiration came from a samurai assassin game that is most definitely NOT Assassin's Creed Shadows.