Hidden Expert

The moment the sound echoed beside his ears, Dan's instincts activated Flicker as a cold gleam passed right through where his head was supposed to be.

Inside the independent space, Dan stared with widened eyes towards Sophia whose figure looked different from how she looked like before. Currently, her jet-black hair turned purple and the pupils in her eyes turned into slits. Claws extended from her nails and an ominous abyssal energy enveloped her body.

[Name: Sophia Cloud; Age: 15; Status: Member of the Demon Race]

[Stats; Str: 4, Int: 9; Dex: 12, Agi: 13.2; Sta: 5]

[Note: Stats currently strengthened]

[For Reference, one stat point equals an average human's stat.]

[Cultivation: Early Stage of the Organ Tempering Realm]

[System Evaluation: Can eliminate the host]

Several system notifications manifested in the air, Dan stared at the Status with eyes widened. How could he not know about the Demon Race? After all, those bastards were the nemesis of the human race.

Just as Flicker's effects dissipated, Dan entered Stealth and found that he only had two minutes of Stealth time left until the skill goes on cooldown. Sophia merely stood there, scanning the area with her cold gaze.

Dan clenched his fists, holding a curved dagger in his right hand and a handgun on his left, he knew that he had no other chance than to fight Sophia. However, just how will he fight? His enemy had a cultivation that was almost a realm higher than him and his Qi Reserves were also running low.

'Fuck it, If I can't clash with her head-on, I'll just play with her for a while...' Dan pounced, emerging from Stealth, he sliced behind Sophia as sparks flew in the air, he swiftly retreated after attacking and found that he didn't even damage her reinforced skin.

"With your measly cultivation, you will never be able to cut, even a strand of my hair..." Sophia coldly said, turning around to stare into his eyes. Her expression full of disdain and mockery towards an inferior existence.

Dan clicked his tongue, glancing at the system notification at his peripheral vision, his expression turned solemn.

[HP: 100%]

[Qi: 33%]

"Are you not going to attack?" Sophia mumbled, Dan lifted his head and he saw her smiling at him with a sinister gaze.

"If you're not going to attack, then I will!" Cracks spread on the ground as Sophia's figure disappeared, reappearing beside Dan, she attacked with a kick as Dan who was taken aback, flew sideward, striking a pillar as a blood arrow spat from his mouth.

"H-h-How fast..." Dan mumbled, his HP dropped from a hundred to eighty percent.

Lifting his head, he stared in shock when he found that Sophia wasn't there. Instead, she reappeared beside him and swung a kick to his head.

But this time, Dan was prepared and reacted by entering Stealth, completely disappearing into an independent space. Inside this independent space, Dan swiftly bought Frag Grenades and Flash Grenades before he took his initiative to attack and pounced on her figure.

Sparks flew as cold lights flashed in the air; both parties engaged in a fierce fight with their daggers, looking for an opening between their exchange. Pulling the pin on a Flash Grenade, Dan hurled it towards her direction and averted his gaze.

Bang!

The sound disoriented her, but unfortunately, it didn't take her vision. Dan was dismayed, but he took advantage of the precious time that he gained as he rampaged, slicing deep on her skin as purple blood flew everywhere.

When the effects of the enchanted Flash Grenades dissipated, Sophia's figure looked wretched and bedraggled; her dress of nobility now looked like a rag in the slums.

"IM GONNA KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!!!" Sophia roared in an androgynous voice, as the ominous energy that enveloped her body, exploded, flying towards Dan's direction as the latter quickly leaped in an erratic pattern, barely evading the corrosive energy which melted the ground itself.

Despite her upheaval. Her attacks were still precise and ruthless, forcing Dan to dodge in each time she sent those black tendrils on his way. With her stats, Dan knew that it would only take five or six hits to kill him, and in each engagement, he had to be careful or else he would lose his life.

Dan clenched his teeth; the searing pain that wracked his body threatened to extinguish his consciousness. Fortunately, the effects of Adrenaline helped him tide through this extreme pain. Removing his robe that was blown apart, Dan saw that his chest looked completely mangled and that he could even see his ribs.

Before he could continue inspecting his body, Sophia once again pounced towards him. But this time, she brought with her those black tentacles, slapping onto him in all directions. Wielding his dagger and his handgun, Dan deflected the tentacles with his dagger and counter-attacked with his handgun.

The sheer speed of the bullets prevented Sophia from evading as her body became riddled with bullet wounds which sent a dull pain echoing through her body. Grinding her teeth, her eyes reddened in anger and irritation, 'This bastard is harder to kill than a cockroach!' She inwardly thought before intensifying the speed of her attacks.

Dan's gaze landed on his peripheral vision; absorbing the information that the System laid out.

[HP: 54%]

[Qi: 26%]

[Sophia's HP: 79%]

[Sophia's Qi: ???]

Clicking his tongue, he realized that Sophia's attacks intensified in speed, and in response, he deflected with even more vigor than before as his right hand gradually became numb due to overexertion. In each time he shot his handgun, his bullet would bore a hole through her body.

But Dan knew that he wouldn't last in a battle of endurance; especially when he realized that Sophia's maneuvers became more skillful as time passed by.

Sometimes, her tentacles would swerve in a weird angler and sometimes it would manifest in his blind spot, striking him and taking a chunk off his HP. Biting the tip of his tongue, Dan dissipated the feeling of dizziness as he crazily roared and deflected three tentacles at ones.

"Hahaha," Sophie chuckled in amusement, "It looks like you're at the end of your rope!" She used five tentacles in a row and struck Dan at his abdomen, shaking five of his vital organs as the latter flew backward, while painfully groaning.

"What's wrong?! What's wrong?! Is that the best that you can do?!" Sophia kicked Dan's bedraggled figure that splayed on the ground, sending him striking a pillar which crumbled to dust in response.

"Hmmph..." Dan coldly snorted, despite the pain that he felt he still wore a smile as he stared at his peripheral vision.

The health percentage that the System displayed turned crimson red and his Qi Reserves percentage also turned grey, indicating that his life was in critical danger. However, when he turned to Sophia's stats, he could only shake his head when he realized that she still has half of her Health Points and a quarter of her Qi.

The battle that Dan fought was a hopeless one. However, Sophia frowned when she realized that Dan didn't seem to be bothered at all. As if it was not him that was dying.

This strange attitude of him made her insecure as she hurriedly took a dagger from her Spatial Ring and aimed it directly at his head.

"Dan," She mumbled, "I didn't want to kill you at first, but since you stood in my way and knew my true identity, I don't have much choice..." She raised her dagger up and prepared to plunge it on the ground. But before she could do so, she found that Dan had closed his eyes as he threw a small canister on her direction.

"Wait..."

"That's the flashy th-"

Bang!

A deafening boom echoed as she became disoriented once again. But this time, since she was caught off guard, her vision was also temporarily taken as Dan quickly stood up and launched a skill that he never used before, Sudden Strike.

Lightning crackled on his arms as Dan clenched his right fist. Aiming towards her head, he stretched his fist upward and punched her, directly at the back of her neck.

BOOM!

A thunderclap manifested because her affinity was Yin and Dan's attack was Yang; the damage caused on her figure looked horrendous and her life bar, quickly fell down to twenty percent. Staring at the bloodied figure of Sophia, Dan snickered as his vision swam.

"Damn it...I'm feeling sleepy..." Biting the tip of his tongue, Dan was dismayed to find that his technique didn't work anymore due to the sheer amount of severe injuries that he sustained. Falling on the ground, he realized that Sophia was still able to stand as the latter dragged her injured body towards him. All while holding a dagger in her right hand.

"In the end..." She mumbled in a hoarse tone, "In the end...No matter how much you struggled, I still win in the end..." She painstakingly lifted her lips in a smile full of ridicule. Arriving before Dan, the latter smirked and whispered,

"I still haven't revealed my trump card..."

Her eyes widened when she heard his words as a brilliant light exploded from Dan's body. The golden light surged; bringing with it an Imperial might which didn't allow any resistance nor rebellion.

Sophia quickly fell on the ground, kneeling before the arrival of the Imperial Decree. Her expression, distorted into shock and despair when she realized the trump card that he meant.

The trump card that Dan meant was the second wish that he asked from the Imperial Decree when he forcefully imprisoned Joseph, and that wish was. To protect him from imminent danger and destroy the enemy that caused his injuries.

The silhouette of an indisputable Emperor manifested in the air, awe-inspiring everyone as they stopped what they were doing before kneeling down on the ground in submission. The two who fought in the Longinus Clan Estate also stopped, and along with the Fiery Blood Army, they kneeled on the ground.

Almost all citizens within the City of Cloud submitted themselves to the silhouette of the Emperor. Zaramias' expression widened in shock, that silhouette, that figure, that was...

That was...

That was the visage of the hidden expert that protected the Empire of Dawn!