Infiltration and Collapsing

Hearing the name Hannibal, Alfred was surprised. He wasn't expecting a confrontation with them this soon.

"How do you know that he has a connection with them, Helena?"

"Accept the job first, then we can talk about it."

Alfred thought for a while. Was he ready to face them off right now? Was he getting overconfident in his power? 'Fuck it' said Alfred and decided to accept the job.

"Sure Dealer, I accept the job. However, I don't need money right now. I want a nice, strong black dagger. Can you arrange one for me?"

"Of course. I want the job done as soon as possible. Can you get it done until tomorrow?"

"Who do you think you are talking to?" Said Alfred and grinned. He took the files with him and left the tavern. "Thanks for the beer," he said before leaving the tavern.

"Han Jarla has a deal with Hannibal. Jarla tells Hannibal the location of Hans, in exchange Hannibal doesn't kill him. So, do you have a plan for how to get into the Thieves Guild?"

"You may know so much stuff about battle and Souls, but street smarts are my thing. Now watch me as I waltz in their base."

Alfred was looking through alleyways with the hope to find someone from the Thieves Guild. This town, Banat, was incredibly similar to Zeglis. Corrupt rulers, people starving, and lots of crime.

After looking for a while, he found a thief-looking figure in one of the alleyways. He approached him and asked:

"Do you know what's up?" This was kind of a secret code between the criminals of Nork. If someone asks this, this means that they were one of the lawless people lurking in the shadows.

"I do. Do you know what's up?"

"I do. My name is Alfred, I want to meet with the nobles." Nobles was another secret code between criminals. It usually meant 'the group you belong to or criminals of this zone'

"I know who you are. Follow me." He followed him through the alleyways. There were beggars all over, it was very uncomfortable.

"How are Blacksmiths over there?" Said the guy, trying to start a conversation.

"Not very cautious." Answered Alfred very calmly and ended the conversation. The more he spoke, there was bigger chance his plan would blow up.

"Hey Alfred, what are you planning on doing? Are you going to barge in right there and try killing everyone?"

Alfred didn't answer that. He had to focus to not screw up. One mistake and his cover would blow. It had to be perfect.

"We arrived," said the other guy. They were standing above a trapdoor. "Whatever business you have, you may attend here. If they ask you how did you find this place, don't mention me."

"I don't even know who you are. Anyway, thanks." Alfred opened the trapdoor and saw a bunch of stairs. It wasn't very deep. He started to go down one by one. There were torches and some paintings on the walls.

When he arrived, he saw a massive room with some people. It seemed like they were in a discussion, although it wasn't that long before somebody recognized Alfred's presence.

"Oi, gears up. We have a visitor." Said one of the guys, and others immediately turned their attention to the stairs, where Alfred stood.

"It's okay, I know what's up. I came from Zeglis, I have some stuff to talk about with Mr. Banat."

After taking a good look at Alfred, some of the thieves recognized who he was; Commander-in-chief of Zeglis's Thieves Guild. They dropped their weapons, and 'Mr. Banat' came to greet him.

"Hello, Alfred. I am Mr. Banat, what is the point of your visit?" A man in a red hood entered the hall from downstairs. His clothes were very clean, unexpected for a thief.

"Hello, Mr.Banat. I want to talk to you," mid-sentence, Alfred looked at his surroundings. Everyone had their attention on him. "in private if I may."

Mr. Banat invited Alfred downstairs, where he came from previously. Alfred followed him while taking a look at the walls. There were some paintings on the wall, but a certain portrait drew Alfred's attention. It was a tall, slim figure with white, long hair. His fingers and fingernails were longer than usual and his skin was white. Not a regular white, it was lighter than usual white skin. He had blood on his chin, fingers, and neck.

"Who is this figure on the wall? He seems very majestic."

"Him? I don't know, It was already hung on the wall when I joined the guild, I have no idea."

After hearing that, Alfred stopped talking and they walked for a few more minutes. 'He is clearly lying, I should put my guard up' thought Alfred to himself.

They arrived at a small room with a few candles burning. There was a table, two chairs, and a bookshelf in the room.

"Take a seat. Want something to drink??"

Alfred took a seat in one of the chairs. "Thank you, but nothing is necessary. I would like to get on to the point."

"Sure. How is Mr. Zeglis?"

"That is what I wanted to talk about," said Alfred, taking a serious tone. "He is dead."

Mr. Banat got shocked a little, he wasn't expecting this kind of an answer. "What do you mean he is dead?"

"Mr. Zeglis came to Banat for a job this morning. He was supposed to return in a few hours, but he didn't. I came to Banat to investigate and found his dead body in an alleyway. His face was smashed so badly, I wouldn't recognize him if he didn't have his hood. Some people at the tavern said that they saw the killer; he had white hair and white skin. Some of them even pointed out that I looked like the culprit. I did some research and it seems there is a guy that looks like me in your guild; Han Jarla."

Mr. Banat thought for a little, but he didn't have anything to say to Alfred. "I don't know what to say, I don't think Jarla is the type to do something like this."

"Let me have a talk with him in private. I promise to not hurt him."

Mr. Banat took a closer look at Alfred to see if he was planning anything sinister, but in the end, he decided to agree to his terms. "Wait here, I will call him. Remember, if you harm him, you won't leave this place alive."

Mr. Banat went upstairs. Alfred was starting to sweat. 'Now or never' he said and blew the candles. The room was pitch black. He took a deep breath and tried to feel his body becoming one with the shadow. His body started to blend in with the darkness. Alfred used the skill Dark Cloak.

Jarla came to the room after a while. There was a rainbow-colored gem in his pocket that was shining. 'That must be the heirloom Dealer was talking about' thought Alfred.

"Alfred, where are you? Did you disappear to some-" Alfred jumped from the shadows and mounted Jarla. Jarla was very surprised by this.

"A-Alfred? What are you doing?"

"Han Jarla, I know what's up. I am Han Alfred. Mr Zeglis, or Craig, a member of the Hannibal messed up. I killed him. Now you will tell me everything you know about Hannibal, otherwise, I will kill you. Now talk."

Because of the darkness, Alfred was unable to see very clearly, but Jarla didn't look that scared.

"W-What are you talking about? Hannibal? Craig? I don't know-" While Jarla was talking, Alfred punched him in the mouth. Some of his teeth definitely fell off.

"Stop the bullshit. Now talk"

Jarla laughed. "I guess you do know what's up. Well, no can do then Mr Extend." When he was talking, Alfred threw another punch at his face. His face, especially his chin became covered with blood.

Jarla picked up the gem from this pocket, and chanted these words; 'Shadow Soul, Shadow Garden Invitation.' The space around them started to blackout. Jarla vanished into the darkness. Alfred didn't know what was going on, but he was in great shock.

After a while, the shadows started to go away. Alfred looked around and found himself in another place. This wasn't the Guild's hideout.

Alfred felt something coming from behind him. He wanted to run away, but a giant hand that was formed from blood hit Alfred. He got slammed into the wall. His vision became blurry, but he could see his front. The hand was still there, connected to the back of a person standing in front of Alfred. As the person started approaching Alfred, he started talking:

"I am the Leader of Hannibal, Cecilion. It is fancy that a Han located me and came to my house, but anyway. I have no reason to keep killing you Han people since Extend already awakened in Omina Nork. Now I have to kill him somehow. I have no use for you, nor any plans for you. Get out of here." He turned his back and started to walk away.

Alfred stood up somehow. The leader of Hannibal was here, but he was unable to do anything to him. This angered Alfred.

But still, he couldn't walk away from here as nothing happened. Alfred took a deep breath and formed a fist. He rushed into the Cecilion, but he dodged the punch effortlessly. It was almost like he was expecting this.

"Bad choice, Han. You just signed your death pact."

Alfred struck more at his target. Punches, kicks, elbows, but Cecilion was dodging them all without effort. Alfred looked at the feet of Cecilion, it was slightly moving, but, it was almost motionless. Alfred put his right foot on Cecilion's right foot and punched him in the face. He managed to land it this time, and there was some damage on his face.

"Nature style, Misty Step right? I saw it once, it won't work on me again." Said Alfred, with a mocking tone.

"Blood Soul, Crimson Limbs," Chanted Cecilion with a calm tone. Ten hands emerged from Cecilion's back. Alfred figured out this was the same skill Cecilion used last time, but it was shattered into small limbs instead of one big limb.

One of the limbs was coming towards Alfred. Alfred took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried to feel his feet moving while he was standing still. The blood hand missed him and hit the wall. After seeing Cecilion use this move only once, Alfred managed to learn it, the Misty Step.

"You said this is my grave, but I managed to learn Misty Step from you. I will learn your other skills as well, and I will kill you.

"Learned... from me? Oh, you also have Extend? Interesting..." Cecilion launched multiple attacks using all ten of his limbs. Alfred was dodging them all. After a few minutes, Cecilion stopped. There was dust everywhere, and the ground was almost destroyed, but Alfred was standing still. None of the hands hit him.

"Very good Han, very good. You will be a thorn in my back for a while if I don't kill you now. What is your name?"

"Alfred. Han Alfred. I don't know what grudge you have against me, but I decided to kill you the moment I killed Craig."

"Oh, yes, Craig. Did you kill him? That was unexpected. Well, you have the Extend or some power similar to it, so before I kill you, I will tell you, or to be exact, show you the three greatest flaws of the Extend. Let's begin." Cecilion used the limbs to tear some parts of the ceiling and threw them towards Alfred. Alfred tried to dodge them with Misty Step but failed to do so. Some of the ceiling parts hit Alfred.

While he was trying to dodge the ceiling parts, Alfred heard Cecilion's using another skill; "Blood Soul, Deathblood Sychte." Cecilion rushed into Alfred, and cut his belly with the Sychte. Alfred failed to dodge it because he was busy dodging the ceiling parts. He fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

"You can't dodge things such as rocks or furniture with Misty Step, because their radius is too big to dodge motionlessly. Flaw one, you can't copy the skill unless you pay attention to it." Cecilion picked Alfred from the ground and threw him to a wall. Alfred screamed even more.

"Flaw two, you can't copy Sub-Souls or Sub-styles, you have to learn them before you can copy them. You can't use my Crimson Limbs or Deathblood Sychte, because you don't know the Blood style. Well, I think you can copy skills from the four main styles because they are dormant in the Extend. Anyway, I wanted to show you the third flaw, but you are dying. So long, Alfred. It was a nice sparring."

Alfred was barely conscious at this point. He was weak. He got arrogant because of his newly found powers, but he was still weak in the world of Hosts. He didn't even have the power to stand up and make a run for it. The wound in his belly was fatal. 'Guess it's my time,' said Alfred. He already accepted his fate.

He heard a door opening noise, and then footsteps. He knew someone came, but he didn't have the energy to look at who it was. "You are in a pitiful state, Han Alfred. Luckily, I am here for your rescue." The voice seemed familiar.

"Oh? Another visitor, may I ask who you are?

"Hello, Cecilion. I am Omina Nork, the sixth heir to the Nork Empire. My older brother has a letter for you."

Alfred was very surprised. What was Omina doing here? How did he know Cecilion? Was he also a member of Hannibal? No, he couldn't be. Cecilion himself said that he wanted to kill Omina.

"Very well, what are your demands from me?"

"Give me the Allmighty Ivory and leave this place. Come back in an hour."

'Very well,' said Cecilion, and left the place. Alfred was starting to lose consciousness.

"Nature Soul, Mother Nature's Gift." Alfred felt a comforting aura around him. His wound started to heal, and his consciousness came back. After a few minutes, Alfred was completely healed.

"Why... Why did you save me Omina? Also, why are you here?"

"Well, I couldn't let a beauty like you die here." Said Omina with a mocky tone, but he got serious after a short laugh.

"I am here to kill you, and I mean it. Prepare for round two, Han Alfred. I will be the one to kill you."

Grimoire:

'Dark style, Soldier tier:

Dark Cloak

Void style, General Tier:

Eclipse Spear

Eclipse Spear, Short Version

Heaven Shattering Umbral Flash

Nature style, Soldier tier:

Misty Step'