The battle erupted in a blaze of intensity from the very start.
The Three Assassins lived up to their fearsome reputation. Each strike was ruthless, every move aimed to kill.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Chris let out a muffled groan of pain.
Alice stood behind him, her blade slicing deep into his back. Blood poured from the wound, staining his shirt in a crimson tide.
A triumphant smirk spread across Alice’s lips. But her satisfaction was short-lived. Chris turned his head, revealing a chilling, almost otherworldly smile.
A foreboding dread crept into Alice’s heart.
Clang!
In a flash of steel, the Dragon Slayer sword was unsheathed.
Chris’s strike was as swift as lightning. Alice had no time to react.
Boom!
The blade connected. Alice’s head was severed cleanly from her body. Blood gushed from her neck in a gruesome fountain, soaking the ground beneath her.
Gurgle… gurgle…
As Alice’s lifeless body fell, Judge and Kameda Taro froze, their faces darkened with shock and disbelief.
They hadn’t expected this. The Three Assassins had ambushed Chris together, only for one of their own to be slain so quickly.
“Kill him!”
Kameda Taro roared, gripping his katana tightly. He charged at Chris, swinging with all his might.
Clang!
Chris countered, his Dragon Slayer meeting the katana in a deafening clash of steel.
But as Chris prepared to retaliate, Judge struck.
Whoosh!
Judge moved with blinding speed, appearing before Chris in a heartbeat. His weapon-a seemingly harmless writing brush-stabbed forward like a sharpened spear.
Boom!
The brush pierced Chris’s chest before he could react. The force of the blow sent him hurtling backward.
Behind Chris loomed a sheer cliff, plunging hundreds of feet into the abyss below.
As he fell, Chris’s mind replayed flashes of his life-memories of Esther, Hope, Candace, and his trusted allies like Tiger and Lynx.
“Goodbye… my love. My daughter. My brothers.”
Crash!
Chris’s body plummeted like a broken kite, vanishing into the depths of the ravine.
At the edge of the cliff, Judge and Kameda Taro stood motionless, gazing down at the emptiness below.
Kameda Taro gritted his teeth. “Unbelievable. Chris truly lived up to his title as Primus. It took all three of us to bring him down, and he still managed to kill one of us. If you hadn’t acted, Judge, we might not have succeeded at all.”
Judge’s voice was cold. “Don’t get careless. Until we find Chris’s corpse, we can’t be sure he’s dead.”
Kameda Taro chuckled dryly. “Judge, you’re as cautious as ever. This cliff is at least a hundred meters high. Even if Chris is a formidable fighter, there’s no way he could survive such a fall.”
Judge snorted. “Enough talk. We need to find his body. Only then can we confirm his death.”
Reluctantly, Kameda Taro nodded. Despite being one of the top assassins in the world, he knew he was no match for Judge.
Without further delay, the two descended the cliff to search for Chris’s remains.
At the bottom, they combed through the area, but no body was found.
Instead, they discovered a raging river cutting through the ravine, its waters surging relentlessly downstream.
Kameda Taro sneered. “Judge, his body must have fallen into the river. Even if the fall didn’t kill him, the river surely would’ve drowned him.”
Chris was gravely injured and had fallen from such a height. Survival seemed impossible.
But Judge’s gaze remained sharp, his voice filled with suspicion. “Chris is Amerosia’s Primus. He’s survived countless life-and-death battles. Until we have his body, we can’t let our guard down. Let’s follow the river. We must find him, dead or alive. Only then can we report back to the Prince.”
Kameda Taro sighed, reluctantly agreeing. He was convinced Chris was dead, but Judge’s insistence left him no choice but to continue the search.
Together, they followed the river downstream, determined to find Chris’s body.
—
Days passed.
News of the ambush spread like wildfire across Middleton.
Chris Shelby, the legendary Primus of Amerosia, had been attacked by the Three Assassins on an unnamed mountain.
The revelation shook Middleton to its core. It sent ripples of shock throughout Amerosia.
When Caspian received the news, his fury was unparalleled.
He immediately issued orders to the military, commanding Team Wolf to hunt down Judge and Kameda Taro at all costs.
Meanwhile, Tiger, who was en route from the East Coast, also heard of what had transpired.
Without rest, Tiger marched with three thousand Guards of Death to Middleton, driven by a singular mission: to find Chris.
Upon arriving, Tiger led his men to the mountain, scouring every inch of the area for days. But Chris was nowhere to be found.
As for Judge and Kameda Taro, they seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.
—
At the same time, in Middleton’s First Hospital, in a private ward, Esther sat by Candace’s bedside.
Candace remained unconscious, her breathing shallow and weak. Esther had been at the hospital for days, never leaving her side.
Several days earlier, Chris had called Esther, urging her to take refuge with the Vance family.
But since that call, there had been no word from him. His phone was now switched off, leaving Esther in a constant state of anxiety.
A heavy sense of unease gripped her heart.
Chris had always been there for her. He would never abandon her without reason.
Tears welled up in Esther’s eyes as she whispered to herself, “Where are you, my love? Why won’t you answer my calls? Please… come back to me…”
Her voice broke as she began to sob uncontrollably.
Tap, tap, tap…
The sound of footsteps echoed just beyond the door.
Moments later, Caspian entered the room. His face was somber, his expression grave.
Seeing him, Esther immediately stood up, panic written all over her face. “Mr. Vance, do you have news about my husband?”
Caspian hesitated, drawing in a deep breath. His heavy silence only deepened Esther’s dread.
Finally, he spoke, his tone low and measured. “Esther, I have bad news. A few days ago, Daniel Williams sent the Three Assassins after Chris in the mountains outside Middleton. Chris fought valiantly, but he was pushed off a cliff. He… he’s missing.”