The stronger fist wins (2)

As blood and gore filled the mansion, Shui said one more thing to the inhabitants before withdrawing his spiritual sense.

"You can go now."

Most didn't know what to do after this sudden event, but once one left the rest were quick to follow her through the door. The ones in the basement were likely too weak to escape but Shui figured it was best to leave them here for now.

'Now then,'

Although he had killed all of the men, Shui didn't think his task was finished yet. He quickly made his way over to a woman who he had marked while carrying out the executions. She didn't seem much different from the other women who ran out in worn-out clothes or bed covers wrapped around their bodies, but she couldn't fool his eyes. Before she entered the hall that led to the entrance, Shui grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Did you really think I missed you?"

"Eep!"

The woman with a cute face and curvy figure seemed frightened as she looked at the grey blank-faced mask that Shui wore, but he felt no guilt in that.

"Drop the act unless you want me to take care of you too."

The woman really was scared but for her own sake she quickly hid that fear behind a nervous smile.

"Ho- how may I help you?"

"Don't worry, though I can't say I'm okay with you touching those girls because you're one too, I won't kill you if you're obedient."

"O,kay."

"I need you to deliver a message."

"What is it?"

"Tell the rest of your sect that I'll be coming to clean the trash out of my city."

"That's a bit..."

"Do you think you have a choice here?"

"I'll get straight to it!" the girl answered enthusiastically.

While Shui's message gave her a bad feeling, her faith in her elders suppressed it. This masked man was certainly stronger than her, but surely he wouldn't be a match for her supreme elders. She could already see him kneeling before them.

After Shui sent the messenger off, he looked up and took a deep breath. When he looked down again the eyes behind his mask were frighteningly cold for he knew that much blood would be spilt on this day.

Meanwhile, the former elders of the Lava Stream Sect including the three late Sky Realm experts who dealt with the mayor, were having an intense discussion regarding the destruction of the barrier.

"It must be an attack."

"But which force would attack us at this time?"

"And why aren't they showing themselves?"

"Is it just a threat?"

"If it's a threat then it's one we can't ignore."

"Why haven't we found anything out yet?"

Considering the severity of the issue the elders wanted to have a constructive conversation but the lack of information made that very difficult. In the end, all they could do was entrust the decision to the three supreme elders that led them.

The oldest of three, with a long white beard, who normally handled the delicate matters said this, "The jamming barrier can block any communication artifact sending a message outside the town and has the ability the hamper the spiritual senses of experts on our level, but it's not that strong. That's why we had elders on the lookout for anyone trying to attack it."

At this moment the elders who were in charge of watching the barrier lowered their heads, but most of the elders kept their eyes on the eldest supreme elder.

"However, if this is just a threat then there's no reason for us to be worried. If all they can manage to do is break the jamming barrier then they can't amount to much. Still, keep your guards up and quickly repair it."

The elders nodded with smiles at his simple explanation and began standing up, but then a core disciple in early Earth Realm burst through the door.

"S-s-s," the disciple struggled to speak due to loss of breath.

"Hmm? How rude!"

"What do you think you're doing?!"

His sudden entrance ruined their good mood so the elders immediately began disparaging him, but that stopped when he finally got to say what he wanted.

"Someone's attacking!"

Outside of the martial academy which the former Lava Stream Sect had taken over, Shui walked straight towards the academy leaving screams behind him. The mask he wore only stopped people from recognising him so they could still see him, but even the ones who were innocent wished they couldn't.

As he made his way to the core of their forces, Shui decided to clean up the garbage on the road while he was at it. Because he understood that not all invaders were irredeemable trash, he had a different way for dealing with them based on what situation he found them in.

If he saw someone in black and red simply walking, he knocked them out. If he saw them strutting around arrogantly while enjoying the fear they attracted, he broke their legs and knocked them out. And if he saw them using their status to commit a crime, he killed them. Though these measures weren't perfect, Shui felt it was good enough for now.

As he left more bodies behind, Shui's figure became reminiscent of a devil, so good and evil people alike wouldn't dare look up when they noticed him. This was the start of the legend of the Devil of Cyrus, a masked ghost who punished any and every one who dared disturb his peace.

In a period that felt like eternity to the ones watching him walk by, Shui reached the entrance of the martial academy. The outer section originally for ordinary students now held both the ordinary and core students who stood to face the incoming threat. The number of ordinary students dropped drastically since Rizer became headmaster, but that didn't mean those left were particularly loyal. They were just the ones whose families couldn't let go of the benefits and opportunities here.

However, whether they were an ordinary student or a core student their knees still buckled with every step Shui took. He stopped exactly at the gate and willed it to open for him, but he didn't enter the academy grounds yet. Instead, he swept his gaze across the students who nervously held up their fists or artifacts to stop him.

"If you're from Cyrus, I can allow you to leave."

Once Shui spoke this one statement, several of them lowered their hands with hope and joy in their eyes, but then someone else warned.

"If you dare surrender, I'll make sure to tell the great ones where your families live and-"

Since he was obviously on the side of the enemy, Shui glanced at him and crushed his neck from afar before he could dissuade those willing to leave.

"Ahh!"

Of course they screamed, but Shui's voice reminded them of the situation.

"Will you lay down your weapon, or die like him?"

A significant portion of the students were just children so naturally they weren't steeled for death. The weaker ones among them quickly lowered their hands and dropped to the ground crying while others hastily got out of the way. As their number, which used to completely block his path dispersed, only a few were left standing, two of which wore red and black.

"What?! Why are you giving up? You idiots! You'll regret this, defi-"

Shui then took his first step, and at the same time no one was left blocking his path. In this space, only his footsteps could be heard until an angry roar disturbed the eerie silence.

"Not a step further!"

Suddenly, five fireballs hurtled at Shui with great speed, but all he needed to do was blow at them and they extinguished. The one behind these fireballs with an ugly expression was a man that was unfortunately familiar to Shui.

'You too, huh? My trial certainly did a good job at predicting my enemies.'

Stopping him this time was Rizer.