The deafening sound of General Iron Skin's shattered arm echoed down the ruined avenue.
The giant, invincible Gold-tier brute was on his knees.
His supposedly unbreakable gray skin hung in jagged, broken pieces from his forearm. He stared at his ruined arm in absolute disbelief, his dark eyes wide with pure shock. He had never felt physical pain like this in his entire life.
Iron Skin looked up at Caspian.
The Sovereign was standing perfectly still, his right hand relaxed at his side.
The molten golden lines of the First Dragon Seal had already faded back beneath his skin, leaving him looking completely normal again.
"You... you are a monster," Iron Skin gasped. Blood dripped from his mouth.
Panic completely consumed the general. He knew he could not beat Caspian with brute force.
With his left, unbroken hand, Iron Skin desperately reached into his dark pants pocket.
He pulled out a glowing red Crimson Asura Pill. He needed the forbidden boost of speed and power just to survive.
He shoved his hand toward his mouth.
"No," Caspian said calmly.
Caspian moved with a casual, fluid grace. He did not let the general swallow the pill.
He stepped forward and drove his knee directly into Iron Skin's chest.
"Taking a forbidden pill forces massive energy through your meridians," Caspian explained, his voice entirely flat and educational.
"But I just shattered your arm and broke your energy flow. A broken foundation cannot hold a burning house."
"If you take that pill now, you will just explode."
Caspian lowered his foot and looked down at the gasping brute.
"Allow me to save you the trouble," Caspian added coldly.
Caspian pulled his leg back and delivered a single, devastating front kick directly to the dead center of Iron Skin's chest.
The impact sounded like a cannon firing.
The pure physical force of the strike shattered the general's ribs and pierced straight through into his Gold-tier core.
Iron Skin's eyes rolled back into his head.
The light completely left his body.
His massive, heavy frame fell backward onto the cracked asphalt, completely dead.
Caspian turned away from the body and looked at Thorne. "Clean up the street, Thorne."
"Yes, Commander," Thorne replied smoothly.
This was where the true terror of the Obsidian Assassination Arts shined.
Thorne did not glow with bright lights. He did not shout or make massive explosions.
He was a peak Gold-tier assassin.
He simply pulled his twin black blades and vanished into the shadows of the alleyway.
The hundreds of mortal-tier Blood Shadow killers suddenly started dropping.
One by one, throats were silently slashed. Knee caps were cut.
Men fell to the ground gasping, never even seeing the shadow that killed them.
Thorne moved through the terrified army like a gentle, deadly breeze, executing them with flawless, terrifying precision.
Two miles away, the courtyard of the Valerius Tower was completely engulfed in chaos.
A splinter group of two hundred Blood Shadow killers had broken away from the main avenue.
They used a heavy, stolen construction truck to smash straight through the beautiful iron gates of the tower.
Lyra did not run away and hide in her bedroom.
She was the lady of the house, and she was a proud Silver-tier cultivator.
Lyra stood in the center of the courtyard, holding a sleek, silver family sword. Her dark hair was tied back tightly.
As the first wave of killers rushed into the yard, Lyra stepped forward.
She moved with beautiful, flowing speed, slicing her sword through the chest of a masked killer.
She spun around, kicking a second man in the knee and striking him in the neck with the hilt of her blade.
She fought bravely alongside her family guards, her Silver-tier energy giving her the speed to dodge the clumsy, mortal-tier attacks of the street thugs.
But inside the tower, the fight was much more desperate.
Three Blood Shadow killers had broken through a side window.
They sprinted down the long, carpeted hallway, heading straight for the basement where the family's servants were hiding.
Standing at the end of the hallway, directly in front of the basement door, was Silas.
He was shaking so badly his teeth were rattling.
His hands gripped the heavy steel pipe Caspian had given him.
He was completely terrified. He wanted to throw the pipe down and run away.
"Plant your feet," Silas remembered Caspian's words.
"Do not let anyone pass."
Silas took a deep, shaking breath.
He pulled the air all the way down into his stomach, exactly as Caspian had instructed.
He focused his mind, pushing his newly opened, Mortal-tier energy outward into his skin.
He activated the Iron Turtle Breath.
The first killer laughed when he saw the bruised, shaking man.
The killer raised a heavy iron crowbar and swung it viciously, aiming right for Silas's ribs.
Silas squeezed his eyes shut.
He braced for the terrible sound of his bones breaking.
CLANG.
The iron crowbar hit Silas hard in the side.
The impact knocked all the air out of his lungs.
He stumbled to the side, his entire body stinging with pain.
But he did not fall down.
And his ribs did not break.
Silas opened his eyes.
The Iron Turtle Breath had actually worked.
His skin had hardened just enough to absorb the mortal blow.
It hurt like pure fire, but he was alive.
A sudden, wild burst of confidence flooded through Silas's veins.
He was a cultivator!
"My turn!" Silas screamed at the top of his lungs.
He gripped his steel pipe with both hands and swung it as hard as he could.
The heavy pipe smashed directly into the side of the killer's head.
The man's eyes rolled back, and he dropped unconscious to the floor.
Silas stood his ground, breathing heavily.
He wiped blood from his split lip and pointed his pipe at the other two killers.
"Who is next?"
Outside in the courtyard, the tide of the battle suddenly turned.
A new man stepped through the broken gates. He did not wear a red mask.
He wore a heavy, dark red armor plate over his chest.
He was a Blood Shadow Lieutenant, a Low Gold-tier master.
The Lieutenant saw Lyra cutting down his men.
He sneered, his hands glowing with a dark, nasty aura.
He rushed forward, completely ignoring the family guards.
Lyra saw him coming.
She raised her silver sword to block his attack.
But the gap between Silver-tier and Gold-tier was simply too wide.
The Lieutenant swung his heavy, aura-infused fist directly into the flat side of Lyra's blade.
The sheer physical force snapped the beautiful silver sword completely in half.
The shockwave of the blow hit Lyra in the shoulder, throwing her backward into the dirt.
She grabbed her arm in pain, unable to stand up.
The Lieutenant laughed and marched right past her, stepping into the main house.
He walked down the long hallway and saw Silas standing over an unconscious killer.
"Well, well," the Lieutenant mocked. His voice echoed down the hall.
"A little turtle trying to play hero. How cute."
Silas felt the heavy, suffocating pressure of the Low Gold-tier aura.
The Iron Turtle Breath was useless against this kind of power.
Silas knew, without a single doubt, that this man was going to kill him.
The Lieutenant raised a heavy battle axe. The blade glowed with a dark red energy.
He stepped forward to split Silas in half.
Silas closed his eyes.
He thought of his sister.
He had tried his best.
Suddenly, a deafening, supersonic CRACK ripped through the air.
The sound was so loud it shattered the remaining windows in the hallway.
Silas flinched, expecting to feel the cold steel of the axe.
But nothing happened.
Silas slowly opened his eyes.
The Gold-tier Lieutenant was standing completely still.
The heavy battle axe dropped from his hands, clattering loudly onto the floor.
Then, the Lieutenant's body simply collapsed backward.
Where his head used to be, there was nothing but a fine red mist and shattered bone.
A massive hole had been blown straight through the thick wooden wall behind him.
The remaining Blood Shadow killers in the yard froze in absolute terror.
They looked around wildly, trying to figure out where the devastating attack had come from.
Two miles away, lying flat on her stomach at the very edge of the tallest skyscraper in Oakhaven, Vixen exhaled a long, slow breath.
The wind whipped her dark hair around her cold, professional face.
She rested her cheek against the stock of a heavily modified, glowing black sniper rifle.
A thin wisp of smoke curled up from the hot barrel.
Vixen reached up with one steady hand and tapped the communication earpiece hidden in her ear.
"Vixen in position," her cool, emotionless voice rang out clearly over the encrypted radio channel.
"Target eliminated."
"Overwatch is officially live, Commander."
Standing on the ruined avenue amidst the bodies of the fallen vanguard, Caspian heard her voice through his own earpiece.
A small, genuine smile crossed his face.
The ghost trainee had not missed.
His family was safe.
"Good work, Vixen," Caspian replied quietly.
"Keep the skies clear."
Caspian looked down the street.
Thorne had just finished executing the very last mortal-tier killer.
The peak Gold-tier assassin wiped black blood from his obsidian blades and turned back toward his master.
"The vanguard is completely clear, Commander," Thorne reported, breathing slightly heavy.
But before Caspian could answer, the entire atmosphere of the street violently changed.
It did not happen slowly.
It hit them like a falling building.
The gravity on the entire city block seemed to instantly double.
Thorne, a proud peak Gold-tier master, gasped loudly.
He was physically forced down onto his knees, his hands pressing into the cracked asphalt to keep himself from being completely flattened.
The windows of the abandoned cars lining the street did not shatter outward; they imploded inward, crushed by the sudden environmental pressure.
The heavy metal streetlights groaned and began to bend toward the ground.
This was not the focused, sharp aura of a Gold-tier fighter.
This was the terrifying, world-bending environmental dominance of a true Grandmaster.
Through the thick, swirling gray dust at the end of the avenue, massive, heavy footsteps began to echo.
Master Goliath stepped into the light.
He was a walking nightmare.
Standing eight feet tall, his massive chest and arms were covered in hideous, raised scars.
He carried an enormous, blood-stained steel axe casually over his shoulder.
The gravity around him was so dense that the dust in the air was instantly forced down to the ground, creating a perfectly clear circle around his body.
Goliath looked at the dead body of General Iron Skin.
Then, he looked up at Caspian.
Caspian was the only thing on the street not bowing to the gravity.
He stood perfectly straight, his hands hanging loosely by his sides, completely unaffected by the crushing weight.
Goliath pulled the massive steel axe from his shoulder and slammed it down onto the asphalt.
The entire street shook violently.
"You killed my generals, Sovereign," Goliath growled. His deep voice vibrated in Caspian's chest.
"You broke my army."
"Now let me see if the grand legends of the Shadow Commander are actually true, or if you are just a ghost hiding behind cheap parlor tricks."
Caspian looked at the towering Grandmaster.
He reached up and slowly unbuttoned the top collar of his white shirt.
"I have been holding back all day, Goliath," Caspian said quietly, his dark eyes glowing with a faint, deadly golden light.
"Let me show you why they call me a legend."