Leo looked on in horror as Steel crumpled to the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut. The large man seemed to gasp and twitch for a moment, his fingers straining as they tried to reach for the handle of his greatsword, before the light in his eyes went dull and he stopped moving entirely. There wasn’t so much as a speck of blood, or even any sort of entrance or exit wound for that matter. As far as Leo could tell, the stranger’s hand had somehow phased through Steel’s chest just as easily as the man had phased through the giant tree, catching them all completely by surprise.

  “Shame about him really,” the man sighed, holding up his splayed hand as if checking it for any signs of blood beneath his fingernails. While there was a gentle, almost ethereal glow surrounding his form, there wasn’t so much as a smudge of dirt on him. “Destruction of the soul really is a terrible way to go. It’s why I so often try to only snuff lives out while they are already sleeping. Far more peaceful for everyone involved.”

  With a shout, Leo thrust forward with one of his gauntlets, driving the giant tooth straight through the man’s heart. Yet rather than feel his weapon punch through flesh and bone, it was like he’d hit nothing but air. When the stranger merely raised an eyebrow and looked at him impassively, Leo’s heart skipped a beat as he yanked his weapon back and jumped backward instinctively to put some space between him and their attacker.

  Whatever skill this man possessed, it was dangerous.

  “What did you do to him?!” Ember shouted, jumping in front of Willow and summoning a floating ball of fire to his hand, his eyes wide as they bounced between Steel’s fallen form and the stranger. It was obvious both he and Willow wanted to launch attacks at the man, but seeing Leo’s direct strike be completely ineffective stayed their hands. “Who are you?!”

  “Weren’t you listening? I snuffed out his soul,” the man scoffed, as if repeating himself was something he didn’t bother doing all that frequently. “As to who I am… I gave up my name quite a long time ago. These days, when it is necessary, I tend to simply go by Ghost. A humorous moniker your father bestowed upon me some years back, Leo, that ended up sticking. He always was a clever one. You’ve certainly taken after him in that regard.”

  “You knew my dad?” Leo asked, staring at Ghost with a mixture of confusion and disbelief. A sudden thought struck him, and Leo’s fists clenched as he began shaking slightly. He vaguely sensed Taylor step up beside him, but he was far too distracted to think about her or anyone else at the moment. “Were you part of the team that killed him?”

  “No, I had no part in any of that unpleasant business,” Ghost said, wrinkling his nose as if the mere thought of doing such a thing disturbed him. “I don’t take work in the lower-tier planes, and even if I did, I’d never go after a friend. The Planar Lords don’t take that kind of risk, either. They would have ensured that the team they sent after your father had never interacted with him before. Can’t have anyone having second thoughts at the last second whilst on a mission, after all.”

  “So you’re just some killer for hire?!” Ember asked, laughing as though the world had gone mad. “Leo was right? The Planar Lords are going to collapse this plane and kill everyone in it?!”

  “Sadly, that is in fact the plan,” Ghost confirmed, his eyes filled with something that almost looked like pity. “From the risky speed of which you were running, it was clear to me that your team was not planning on making camp for the night before fleeing the plane to warn the others, which forced my hand. Explaining myself is simply a courtesy I am offering out of respect for Leo’s late father.”

  “Why do this?” Willow whispered, her hands shaking as they held the drawn arrow back by her head. Ghost seemed entirely unconcerned about having an arrow trained on him, which was probably why she hadn’t fired just yet. “You don’t sound like some deranged killer! Why would you go through with something like this?!”

  “It is the will of the Planar Lords,” Ghost sighed, shaking his head. “You are all far too young to understand. Sacrificing a few thousand lives to keep the peace and stability of the current planarverse is a small price to pay. Now, I must apologize yet again. I truly hate seeing looks of anguish on the faces of those I kill, but sadly, I do not have a choice in this matter.”

  With that, Ghost almost flowed forward, looking like he wasn’t so much running as gliding across the forest floor. Willow fired her arrow and Ember hurled his ball of fire, both of which passed harmlessly through Ghost’s face as he moved. Leo and Taylor both tried to leap at him and intercept him, but some powerful, invisible force radiated off of Ghost, shoving them back a few feet and forcing them to watch on in horror.

  “Leo! Take Willow, get-!” Ember’s voice cut out as Ghost’s hand swept through his chest and he dropped like a sack of rocks, twitching and gasping for a moment before going completely still. Seeing that, Willow opened her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her Banshee’s Wail blasted out across the forest, powerful enough to knock Leo and Taylor back another step despite them clearly being designated as allies, and the skill even made the bark of the nearby trees shake and crack as power washed over it.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Though it wasn’t enough.

  Seeming entirely unfazed by the powerful skill, Ghost glided closer and swiped a hand through her chest with an impassive look on his face, as though he were doing nothing more than snuffing out an annoying candle. Willow’s tearful gaze as she looked past Ghost at the two of them was the last thing they saw before she collapsed to join the rest of her team on the ground. By now, Steel’s gems had finally manifested atop his chest, revealing without a shadow of a doubt that the man truly was dead.

  “Nasty skill, that,” Ghost said, rubbing at his ear as he turned to look at the final two people on his hit list. “With my soul dampened as it is, countering something like that requires impeccable soul control. Unfortunately for you, I am one of the best. In another life, I may have even been the one to teach you the art of soul manipulation down the line. Your father certainly made mention of roping me into such services on more than one occasion. He even tried one last time when informing me about his and the Frozen Killer’s discovery about the Nexus.”

  “You bastard!” Leo shouted, his mind an utter whirlwind of chaos as he stared at the uncaring face of his friends’ killer. Leo knew he should be trying to come up with some sort of plan for how to deal with Ghost, or at the very least some method of trying to run away, but he could barely even string two coherent thoughts together right now. The combination of seeing the trio lying dead on the ground with such terrified expressions on their faces, and Ghost’s continued remarks about having known his father from years past, was simply too much for him. “If you know what’s going to happen to the Nexus, why not help us?! Millions of people are going to die!”

  “I do not like to repeat myself, but out of respect for your late father, I will do you the courtesy one more time,” Ghost said, a slight frown slipping onto his face. “You are too young to understand what it means to defy the will of the Planar Lords. Your parents were foolish enough to think they stood a chance at going against what the Planar Lords wanted, and as was expected, your father paid the ultimate price. You might think the difference between the Planar Lords, with their soul ranks of 50, and your parents, with ranks in the low 40s, isn’t too great. But you’d be wrong. Very, very wrong. The power that each of the Planar Lords wields… It is impossible to even attempt to describe. Your father came to me essentially asking me to die. To throw my life away for absolutely no reason. As is only natural, I rejected such a foolish request.”

  “So you’re just a coward,” Taylor finally spoke, snarling at Ghost as she flexed her claws, presumably already imagining using them to tear out the man’s throat. “Someone willing to let millions of people die just because they’re afraid of a fight.”

  “Is it cowardice for an ant to flee before a man who threatens to step on it?” Ghost replied, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Taylor with irritation. “Unlike young Leo here, I owe you nothing, girl. The sole reason you have not already been killed is entirely by chance. Had you been running beside Leo at the start, it would be you currently lying on the ground over there rather than your large companion.”

  “If you truly feel as though you owe my father, then let us go,” Leo tried, throwing out a hand and stopping Taylor before she could launch herself at Ghost. It pained him to no end to run away from the man responsible for Steel, Ember, and Willow’s deaths, but the mental image of Taylor lying on the ground beside the others, the hungry light in her eyes snuffed out along with her life, was enough to bring him back to his senses.

  Ghost hadn’t just killed the trio, he’d done it near effortlessly, as though he were merely taking out the trash. He could phase through solid material and fire, could counter powerful skills, and even harness his own soul, whatever that meant. If he truly was friends with Leo’s father, that meant the man presumably also had a soul rank in the 40s. Even dampened, he was an impossibly powerful opponent for them to go up against as they were now.

  “As much as I do wish I could ensure a piece of Fire Maw’s legacy lived on, unfortunately, I can’t do that,” Ghost said, sounding like he genuinely meant that as he looked at Leo with something close to sadness. “Knowing your father’s plan, I knew there was a good chance you would come here in search of a colossal plane. And if I knew that was the case, that means the Planar Lords do as well. I will not do anything that may potentially put myself at risk of their ire.”

  “The Planar Lords think I’m dead!” Leo argued, preparing himself for a fight he knew he had no chance at winning. Ghost had already proved Leo’s attacks did absolutely nothing to him and whatever weird skill he was using, but he wasn’t about to go down without a fight. He’d try throwing a bundle of pepper flakes in the man’s face and see if that did anything before he simply gave up and died.

  “Your trick did not fool me, and I am sure it did not fool all of the Planar Lords,” Ghost said, shaking his head one final time. “Now, I do believe I have more than paid my debts to your father. I will apologize one last time. If you see Fire Maw in the afterlife, please tell him I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do anything to save him.”

  With that, Ghost began gliding toward them, not willing to put off the inevitable any longer. As the man approached, Leo jumped back, ripping off his pack and desperately fishing for his spice pouch. Roaring, Taylor lunged forward to strike at the man, who didn’t bother stopping her this time with whatever strange invisible force trick he’d used before. Letting her razor-sharp claws pass pointlessly through his throat, he continued forward.

  Before his eyes widened and he came to a sudden stop.

  Leo froze as well, his hand still deep within his pack as he stared in shock and confusion at what had just occurred.

  With slow, almost clinical calmness, Ghost raised a shaking hand up to the shredded remains of his jugular. In an instant, his pale fingers were stained red by his very life blood pumping out of his throat with each beat of his heart. Lifting his bloodied fingers before his face, Ghost simply stared at them, as if unable to understand what he was looking at.

  “Wha…” was all Ghost managed before that eerie, ethereal glow surrounding his body winked out and he crumpled to the ground just like the trio he’d killed mere moments before. Leo couldn’t believe what had just happened. Somehow… Some way…

  Taylor had killed the seemingly untouchable man in a single blow.

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