Martial Online.

"Dark Angel?" Ambrose frowned after hearing Reinhardt speak of the creature's identity.

"Haha, I didn't think I had a chance of fighting against Dark Angel in a place like this." Reinhardt laughed. 

"Niuuuuuuum!" The Dark Angel screeched, its voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard.

The Dark Angel then unfurled its wings and took flight, soaring through the dark sky with menacing grace.

Reinhardt slammed his red eyes open, lowered his stance, and tightened his grip on his sword. Then, his leg muscles coiled like springs, and he launched himself towards the sky.

Within an instant, he appeared high above the strange world, and from there, he saw the Dark Angel descending towards the earth with wings spread wide.

Reinhardt focused his senses, his red eyes locked in Dark Angel, then he gathered his strength in his katana.

Roar—as if a roar from a beast, he descended from the sky like a meteor.

Crack... crack—the air sounded like it was cracking and splitting apart.

The Dark Angel stopped its flight and turned to the sky with his ugly, dark eyes.

There, it saw a lone person falling down from the heavens, his body tumbling and spinning.

However, certain survival instincts immediately activated within the Dark Angel. Their race was known for their exceptional survival skills in the face of danger.

"Naaaaum!" The Dark Angel screeched and spread its wings wide.

It let out a piercing cry, and then, from the wing's tips, dark beams burst out with destructive force.

The dark beams shone like beacons in the night and then shot forward into the sky.

The dark beams were like miniature nukes, capable of obliterating anything in their path.

Reinhardt slammed his eyes wide open, his skin cracking around the corner of his eyes, as his attack finished the preparations.

As the dark beams neared him, he suddenly turned into a cloud of crimson light and then shot forward.

The dark beams flew through the crimson light and all the way to the wall of shadows, where they exploded against the wall.

The wall of shadows rattled but managed to absorb all of the damage.

The wall remained unscathed, standing strong and unyielding.

The Dark Angel's green eyes widened in shock, and then it felt its survival instincts warn it from an impending doom.

Swoosh—the crimson light engulfed the sky, and from there, Reinhardt re-emerged, with katana in hand and a crazy grin on his face.

"I...

"Am...

"The...

"Pinnacle!"

Reinhardt swung his katana through the sky with a ferocity unmatched by any other.

The dark clouds that were gathered in the sky got split wide open, revealing a burst of bright sunlight.

The ground far below split open, revealing a deep, fiery chasm.

It was as if, with that single slash, the whole world got split in half!

The Dark Angel's green eyes shrank, and then a gush of gentle breeze caressed its face.

Slowly, its fingers started to get cut, as if they were carrots being sliced by a knife, and once its fingers were cut into six different pieces, its wrist was then severed from its arm.

An outline of an illusionary slash appeared in seven different places in its arm, going all the way to its shoulder.

Then, its arm started getting cut as if it were done by a master chef.

Lastly, its shoulder also fell from its torso.

The Dark Angel was stunned, and then seconds later, its whole body was cut into thousands of small pieces.

There was no blood, no sound, just a pile of perfectly sliced meat.

The pieces of meat fell from the sky and fell into the fiery chasm, where they disappeared forever.

The legendary Dark Angel died just like that.

Reinhardt spun his katana around, then slowly slipped it back inside the sheath.

He softly landed back on the solid ground, and on his right, Ambrose was still lying motionless, but his eyes were wide open.

"Do you have more of those teleportation pearls?" He asked.

"No." Ambrose said and smirked. "Even if I did, I wouldn't use it to help you get out."

"Hah." Reinhardt laughed with slight anger. "You are just delaying the inevitable. I'll get out of here."

"Ugh!" Ambrose turned to his side, and with the help of his shoulder, he slowly pushed himself up.

His legs still shook and his body was numb all around, but still, he managed to stand on his own two feet.

"You'll die with a single touch. Stay down, you might still be of some use to get me out of here."

"I am already dead." Ambrose laughed and looked at his health bar.

[HP: 0/460]

Yet, strangely enough, he didn't get pixelated and sent out of the game.

"You are still standing; that makes you alive in my books." Reinhardt scoffed and then pointed towards the horizon, where the stairs to the heavens and the glowing platform were.

"I might've found a way out of here. We'll be going there."

Ambrose frowned and looked towards the horizon, but his eyesight was nowhere as good as his, so he could only see a glowing point of light.

But then Reinhardt suddenly grabbed him by the collar and smirked. "You'll go first. I'll follow."

Ambrose's eyes widened in shock, but then Reinhardt swung his arm around and sent him flying through the darkness towards the glowing point of light.

Reinhardt then coiled his legs like springs and launched himself into the air, following Ambrose, who was spinning and twisting through the air.

...

"Did you hear?" Allison sat down on the table in the corner of the cafe; seated across from her was Holly, dressed in a vibrant red dress that caught everyone's attention.

"Hear what?" Holly asked while sipping on the coffee and looking at the newspaper spread out in front of her.

The newspaper was reporting several incidents in which players were involved, some good, some bad, but there was also stuff that was happening outside the playerbase, among NPCs.

It included some lore that Holly was completely unaware of, and it included some interesting things happening in Dark Waters.

"By the way, did you know that there are pirates in Dark Waters?" Holly asked nonchalantly. "There are proper pirate towns and harbors."

"Who cares about that?" Allison waved her hand dismissively. "I heard about what happened last night, and apparently, there was a person named Ambrose also fighting there!"

"He is here?" Holly looked away from the newspaper in shock.

Allison sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I lack context, and most things people say are rather confusing to me, but apparently he disappeared during the fight; that's all I know."

"Disappeared..." Holly sighed and nodded. "I understand."

"On the other hand, the quest in Yatagarasu starts tomorrow. It was delayed by one day because of what happened last night."

"Did anyone get rewards like the news promised?" Holly asked.

"No, haha." Allison laughed. "Funny that the news came from our very own Nocklund Morning News. Now, they are under fire because they promised false rewards."

Holly nodded and then heard excited screams coming from outside.

She and Allison looked out of the window and saw a tall figure with a cross-shaped sword on his back walking down the street, but he was surrounded by screaming players.

"T-that's Saint Julian!" Allison exclaimed in excitement.

"Is he famous?" Holly asked while watching the screaming players, obviously excited to see Julian.

"He is as famous as some A-ranked celebrities." Allison replied and then blossomed into a smile. "I wonder if I can get his autograph!"

Holly rolled her eyes and focused her gaze back on the newspaper.

'Tomorrow, a new printed newspaper will start circulating around the world. I wonder if he is mentioned and what actually happened in the fight...'