Eternal Thief



Today a small sailboat enshrouded in an ethereal purple haze entered the sea boundary line of the All Devil Continent. 

A pale middle-aged man with handsome features and slim stature was sitting cross-legged on the small sailboat as his long white hair swayed in cold winds, and his cold eyes filled with vicissitudes of life were staring at the outline of dark lands. 

"Who could've thought it would be so easy to approach the All Devil Continent." A melancholic old raspy voice rang in his head, filled with spectacle.

"We should thank the little swindler for this, I guess." Another raspy voice sounded with a hint of hate. 

The tranquil expression of the middle-aged man crumbled, and he pursed his lips as he lamented hoarsely, "Sigh… if only you two hadn't lost the soul wisps, this retrieval would be even easier. Although the devils have sent their large forces to the Azure Wind Continent, don't forget they were always unfathomable, and they didn't have a deep grudge against the little thief as the demons so I'm pretty sure it won't be as easier as our trip to the demon continent."

"Sigh, I never thought a little pup would trick us like this one day. But I'm not the one to blame, but number 1 is! If not for him giving him that wisp first and soul contract, I would never have believed him and even given him the Psyche Invasion!" The first voice grumbled with frustration. 

"Hmph! It's not my fault that the little swindler is so cunning and even able to break the soul contract after tricking the Psyche Invasion out of you. Now he has our strongest art, and who knows where he is, and the only lead we have is that hunter girl!" The second voice sounded equally frustrated. 

The middle-aged man sneered darkly, "We will be able to find that thief once I have another soul piece and soul wisp merged with me. That's why this retrieval is far more important than some dumb luck. The last soul piece and wisp had to be in the hands of our traitorous disciple, and we can't face him without retrieving all the four soul pieces and wisps first." 

His eyes shone with killing intent, "So after this endeavor, we are going after that little thief with everything we had, or we can forget about taking our revenge and all the things that traitorous bastard had stolen from us!"

The purple haze around the sailboat suddenly intensified and appeared like purple flames as the speed of the sailboat accelerated tremendously as it headed in the All Devil Continent direction!

---

On the opposing side of the All Devil Continent, another large ship was making its way toward the dark shores of the continent. 

A tall hooded figure stood on the mast pole, and two pitch-black eyes shimmering darkly were staring at the quickly approaching All Devil Continent with a hint of anticipation and conviction. 

"The strongest race of the world, I let them know fear…" A melodious voice filled with wanton pride and longing sounded, "Only then will I be his strongest sword and…."

---

On another large ship, another hooded figure was staring at the approaching beautiful landscape with astute yet mischievous eyes. 

"Hmph, so much for giving me a choice. In the end, he had his own agenda, how typical of him. Still, I'll show him what I can build up from scratch, and then…."

--- 

Inside an empty room, there was nothing besides nine symbols engraved on nine different points of this room, and nothing looked out of the ordinary. 

However, right at this moment, a transparent figure sitting cross-legged started to materialize before it started to turn corporeal as a faint golden hue shimmering around it.

Within a few moments, the figure fully materialized, and a dark hooded figure with an imposing owl engraved on his back appeared. 

It was naturally Ace, who was sitting cross-legged, but a moment ago, it appeared there was nothing, and even now, despite his appearance, no one would be able to sense his presence at all, like he was a ghost. 

Suddenly, he starts emitting powerful undulation, and golden winds circulate around his figure. Furthermore, now his figure seemed to be outlined with pitch-black paint.

Thereby, Ace's figure again turned ethereal before vanishing, and sometime later, he reappeared again like before and then again vanished. This strange process continued for a few hours before he received a house call!

Reappearing in the empty room again, everything around turned to normal, and then he received the call. 

"We have appeared on the marked island NO… of endless sea route NO… of human secret endless sea channels just like you ordered me. Now what?" Winter's grumpy voice sounded in exasperation. 

Behind his mask, Ace's lips curled up in a smile filled with ecstasy, "Now, you should wait. I will be there in three days." 

"Wait? How can that be?" Winter's voice sounded in surprise, "Wasn't that secret realm even further away than the demon continent? How can you be here in just 12 months? Tell me, honesty, did you have a Grade-9 ship or something?" 

In reply to Winter's disbelieving questions, Ace chuckled mysteriously, "Heh, if I had such treasure, I would be there even earlier. It took you eight months just to leave the Azure Wind Continent, and if I didn't find a way to increase my speed, I'm afraid we'll all be in very massive trouble.

"I'll explain it once I meet you, just stay on that island and don't tell my sis, I want to give her a surprise, and I hope she's doing just as great as you told me she was, or we will both have a serious issue." 

"Hmph, can you just act grateful and not threaten me the next moment?" Winter grumbled furiously, "Whatever, since you're here early, this means I can go back to my house space and finally can rest! I've had enough of being her babysitter!" 

Ace chuckled before he ended the call, and his eyes shone with ecstatic anticipation before worry appeared. 

"Now that I'm this close to being united with her, why do I feel this nervousness? Is it because now I had to find the union's whereabouts in due time?"

Ace couldn't help but sigh as he never expected to feel such disquietude when he was so close to finally meeting with Alina!