The Martial Unity

"Damn it!" A curse echoed through the room.

Had Feron Lowminer known the Hier girl was as slippery as she was, he would have been much more careful than he already was. But he didn't, and here he was.

He had a bad feeling in his gut when he heard that Bella Hier was not at her personal home, and that she had hastily departed once she had learnt of her father's death. It was odd behaviour, what kind of daughter hastily ran away from home without announcing her destination after learning of her father's death?

Why wasn't there a period of mourning? Rather than grief, her behavior indicated fear.

All this strongly suggested that she had already figured out her predicament, and had taken pre-emptive measures to protect herself.

And she had surpassed his expectations, she managed to escape immediate capture and had remained hidden well enough and long enough to hire a Martial Apprentice from the Martial Union, remarkably raising the difficulty of her capture.

Martial Apprentices could not be defeated by ordinary men, not without a huge numeric advantage, and even then, it would require truly remarkable and advantageous circumstances to succeed.

"Only Martial Artists can defeat Martial Artists..." Feron grunted, before glancing at a dark figure at the corner of the room. "Isn't that right, Azazel?"

The shadowy figure nodded mildly, not saying a word.

"Remain on standby, if and when the girl slips up, I expect you to finish the job." Feron coldly stated. "Kill her and the pesky Martial Apprentice."

* * *

slipping and out. Protecting his identity had become an even greater deal now that he knew he was dealing with powerful third parties with whom he had a strong conflict of interest. He was not going to take any chances,

ears pricked as he heard some noises

he was

as he heard

to do, he wasn't close to her, he didn't know her whatsoever, he was here to complete a job and would leave once his time

on anything, especially a teenager. Let alone on something

a big fuss as he was about to open the door, making a lot of noise with something or the other, giving her enough of a forewarning that he was about to come out, allowing

asked, pretending as if he knew nothing. She nodded with a steeled expression; an expression

like she's pulled herself together,

emotional state was too unreliable, he might decide to

have to change our clothes once again, just to be safe." She

nodded. "The next district is district fourteen,

of traders, merchants, suppliers, transporters and consumers. The two

connection to the director

twenty-three, a district in the outermost

trust him?" Rui asked

father and him went way back having known each

if she thought he was trustworthy, then he could only follow