Chapter 036

Alvin silently waited on the spot, hoping to catch any signs of movement from his opponent. The door was shut by Evan shortly before the man vanished into the shadows, and the other doors and windows of the room were also closed. Hence, Alvin was quite sure that the man was still in the room.

"Shadows?" Alvin, as he remembered the man retreating before he faded. Alvin figured he could only hide in the shadows. Hence, he was thinking of how to brighten up the room considerably.

Alvin caught sight of the main pipeline which supplied gas to all the lamps in the house. While it was created thick and durable, a powerful nick on the pipeline with the Sword of Dominance would open a gap. If he set fire to the gas near the nick, it would create a short lived blaze that could illuminate the entire room.

There were safety measures put in place, especially in the bigger and more expensive houses, like this villa was. The gas meter of the house would shut off if more than a certain amount of gas was sucked through within a short period of time, as would be the case in the event of such a leakage. The pipe was constructed half embedded on the concrete structure, and no curtains, chandeliers and pictures were allowed near the main pipeline. Hence, unless specially planned or struck by misfortune, huge fires from a gas leakage were not possible.

Alvin lowly shuffled towards a place he could access the main pipeline without having to leave cover.

"I can hear you!" came a creepy sound from around the room.

Sensing danger, Alvin threw himself forwards behind better cover. He heard swishing sounds behind him, as if a projectile was slicing through the air. But he did not hear the sounds of impact, and when he turned around, everything was intact.

"Was that an extraordinary power?" thought Alvin. He then deftly kicked a lamp nearby, which fell down with a loud crash. Immediately, switching sounds could be heard. This time, Alex was able to see two shadowy daggers rushing towards the lamp from the shadows close to where the man had disappeared. The daggers did not impact the lamp, and instead dissolved into the lamp's shadow.

Suddenly, Alvin felt danger, and deciding that he could stay hidden for much longer, he rushed out from behind the cover and ran towards the gas pipeline.

He could barely see the distortion of the shadow, and a shadowy hand grabbing at the place he once was crouching. He also heard multiple swishing noises. Wanting to dodge as many daggers as possible, he ducked and moved in an erratic pattern. A few of the projectiles hit him, and while they didn't cause an impact, he felt stunning pain from the spots that were hit, as if his flash there was being ripped apart.

He came across a table with multiple folded sheets on it on the way, and he flung all the sheets haphazardly behind him, to interfere with his attacker's line of sight.

But immediately after, he felt another few daggers hit him.

"Haha! Blocking my line of sight won't work! I can hear you" said the man, as he sent more daggers towards Alvin.

By now, Alvin was close to the pipeline. So he ignored the daggers that weren't heading for any vital spots, and hacked at the pipeline with all his strength. A nick opened up with a hissing noise, and Alvin immediately fired at the gap after he got into a place he knew the blaze wouldn't reach.

With a loud bang, the gas caught fire, sending a stream of flames straight out of the nick in the tube. The incoming shadow daggers faded, and the blaze also illuminated the elite room in an orangey light.

In between two wardrobes a few meters away, Alvin caught sight of the man looking bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

Alvin unhesitantly aimed the revolver and fired.

Seeing the gun, the man immediately ducked out of the way. Due to his dodging, 3 of the 5 bullets that Alvin fired missed, and the remaining two did not hit his vitals. The man waved his hand, sending a shadow dagger towards Alvin, but the dagger faded before it got close, as the flames were still there, eliminating the shadows.

Knowing that the flame would not last much longer, Alvin rushed to reload the revolver.

And knowing he couldn't survive if Alvin reloaded the gun and fired, the man rushed towards Alvin, throwing lamps, cutlery, and anything he could get his hands on at Alvin.

Alvin dodged, trying his best to reload his revolver. The man opposite got very close, managing to interfere with the reloading action till them. Just as Alvin finished reloading, the man used knocked the revolver from Alvin's hands. Alvin swung the sword at his neck, which he dodged by ducking. He then conjured a dagger, which hit Alvin as he was too close for it to fade by illumination. Alvin endured the pain, and connected a kick into the midriff of his opponent. The man groaned, and then swung a chair at Alvin, which he easily dodged.

By now, the flames from the gas leak was found, and shadows were beginning to form in the corners of the room once again.

The man gave a creepy smile, and leapt at a small pocket of shadows, where Alvin's gun had fallen.

Just as he bent down to pick it up, Alex too smiled, as he pulled out his fully loaded spare revolver from his boot, and unloaded all the bullets into the back of the man.

The man froze, and then collapsed.

Alvin started reloading his gun, wanting to take a few more shots. But when he looked up, the flames had faded, and the injured man was nowhere in sight.

Alvin narrowed his eyes, as he strode over to his revolver and picked it up. He the pulled put a glass bottle, and collected some of the fallen blood of the man.