Phantom in the rain

"Father, are you alright!?" Edric tried to support his father up with great concern.

Albert continued to cough up blood as he replayed the scene in his mind with lingering fear.

Although he had suffer heavy injuries, he was fortunate to have kept his life. Leon's fist had broken his understanding of the physical limits of humans.

Earth-users like him bolstered great confidence in their defences as even the physical strength of a peak 9th step awakener would not be able to break the defence of his earth armour so easily.

However, Leon had teared through it easily or so Albert thought. Leon had thrown three punches in an instant to generate such incredible force.

Albert was under the impression that Leon's physical strength had already exceeded the peak 9th step, but he did not think that Leon was a transcendent.

Albert knew that Leon is a fire-user. If he was a transcendent, he did not had to act weak as he could just burn them all to death with his transcendental fire-ability. A transcendent was a revered and mighty existence and should never be disrespected.

In the Crawford Kingdom, where transcendent-level awakeners were non-existent, they would be able to summon the winds and rains to dictate the fate of the kingdom. The throne is theirs for the taking if it was their wish to usurp the current reigning sovereignty.

Albert believed that Leon's abnormal strength is related to his secrets. His eyes burned with greed as he arrived at this conclusion.

"Okay? Do I look okay?" Albert asked rhetorically as he coughed up another mouthful of blood. "Let's go."

"Go? Go where?"

"Where else? Back home! Or did you want to stay here instead?" Albert felt frustrated at his son's stupid question. Did he not see how his father was shot flying? He was a 7th step earth-user but he was no longer in a condition to do battle due to his heavy injuries. He had to go back and seek stronger help. He wasn't going to give up so easily when there's a chance for his family to ascend to greater heights.

He had sent all his servants after Leon in his fit of rage, but he did not think that they would actually be able to kill Leon now that his mind had calmed down.

At most, they could only buy time for him to return home and get help from his father. Whether they survived or not did not bother him. He could just train a new batch of servants.

He was still reluctant to ask the other families for help. They may be in alliance, but they were still rivals in the end. He naturally wouldn't want to see them grow stronger than they already are.

...

"Come back here!"

The servants of the Grey family chased after Leon. The pulled their revolvers and aimed at him in the distance. His figure drew further away very quickly.

The servants had not had many chances to practice shooting with firearms as the private production of bullets weren't cheap and easy to make. They couldn't be extravagant with their bullets.

Their aims were unsteady as they were chasing at high speed.

Shots were fired but the trajectory were completely off target.

They were no match for Leon's speed as he continue to draw further away before turning a corner and disappearing out of their sight.

"Where did he go!?"

"Left? Right? Or did he climb up the building?"

"Should we split up and search?"

"Do you want to die?"

Leon's powerful punch was still fresh in their minds. They wouldn't be able to take him on individually. They had to stick together to stand a chance.

On the rooftop of one of the buildings, Leon had switched out into his nightwear. The black clothing blends in the night and grants him a higher level of stealth, making it harder for them to detect him.

"Shit, then do you want to head back and tell our lord that we lost our target?"

"This... let's split up into 5 teams and search."

"We can only do that."

They don't want to be punished by their lord. Their lord did not take lightly to failures. They were unaware that they were just cannon fodders in the eyes of their lord.

The five newly formed teams scattered into different directions, with one team climbing a building to search from above.

On the rooftop of a different building, Leon listened in on their dialogue with a hyper focus.

Their actions worked towards his advantage but there would still be 5 servants per team. It was impossible for Leon to take them head on.

He doesn't know how good they were at close combat compared to their steward, but he had learnt from his mistake. He would not take the risk, but neither was there a need to.

He had no choice back then because he had to protect Mia. The steward did not give them the opportunity to escape.

However, things were different now. He was alone and no longer restricted. He was free to act as he pleases.

Leon checked his acupuncture needles. There was still 27 of the original 36 needle set in perfect condition. The number seems to coincide with the number of people that came tonight.

As long as Leon does not expose his position, he should be able to kill them off one by one with his silent needles.

A blade in the open was easy to dodge, but a dagger in the dark was not. If he shoots his needles from their blindspots, his chances of one shot kill increases significantly.

The dull skies suddenly crackled with a flash of lightning as rain began to drop heavily. The sudden downpour came without warning and didn't seem to have any intention of stopping in the short-run.

'Looks like even the world wants to help me eradicate these villains.'

The heavy rain created poor visibility and interferes with their hearing. They wouldn't be able to hear the sound of his needles that's already subtle enough due to its thinness.

The moment the first team of servants jumped on top of the two-storey building complex opposite of him, they exposed their backs wide open for him. He took the opportunity and fired two needles at the back of their heads before leaping to a different building out of their sight.

The two unfortunate servants dropped dead on the roof of the building.

"Shit! He got Timmy and Garry!"

"Everyone, he is on the top of the buildings!!" Another servant tried to alert the other teams, before they got too far away in their search. Unfortunately,his voice was drowned in the rain. The others could only faintly hear his voice faintly.

"Darn it! Where did this accursed rain come from!?"

Leon circled around the buildings and fired another two needles at the back of another two.

"Paul! Coby! Dammit! Fuck this shit, I'm outta run!" The remaining servant lost his will to fight by himself and jump back down from the building. He was just sitting target waiting to be slaughtered up there.

Four of his brothers died in the blink of an eye. This wasn't an opponent he could take on alone.

Leon did not pursue the runaway servant and let him went to call for help. The rain had changed the course of the game in his favour.

He went to the bodies of the dead servants and collected their weapons and firearms into his world space. It should prove to be useful in strengthening his gang.

After he was done, he followed in the direction the servant headed. The servant was also at the 5th step, the strongest in his team. But he was a coward as he did not understand the extent of Leon's abilities and neither did Leon understood his. They were wary of each other.

Leon thought it was best to kill off the weak ones before aiming for the strong.

Their fight slowly drifted towards the south, while he continue to pick them off one by one after he found the rest of them.

"Goddammit! Where is he attacking us from!?"

In just half an hour, their numbers had dwindled down to a measly 5. However the survivors were all 5th step awakeners.

Leon did not forget to collect his spoils from the bodies of the fallen brothers, the surviving servants abandoned.

These last 5 weren't easy to finish off as they actually survived a number of his needles. They were able to avoid being hit in their fatal areas in the nick of time due to their keener sense of danger each time he fired his needles.

The 5 gathered back to back as they cover each directions and extracted the needles from their bodies.

"Fucking hell man, are these acupuncture needles?"

"Just who exactly did we make an enemy out of? A doctor? An assassin? What the hell..."

"I thought he was just a kid..."

"He's no kid. He is a monster!"

No normal teenager would be able to replicate what he did and slaughter 20 of their brothers.

The five cautiously surveyed their surroundings.

Leon had recollected his needles from the heads of the dead servants, but he still end up running out of needles. The other parties were impaled with the rest of them in various areas.

'It seems I still have to resort to close combat.' Leon thought.

However, he now possess a level of confidence in fighting them. They have been weakened by his needles and they weren't as skilled as their steward. He was also equipped with a proper weapon. There was no disadvantages.

He was no longer helpless as before. Leon gripped the iron sword in his hand as he was prepared to engage his enemies.