Martial Online.

Chapter 454 The Two Battles

?A hand appeared from the ground, reaching out towards the sky.

At that moment, a figure covered in light blue soil emerged from the ground with an exhausted expression on his face.

It took him many hours in the world of souls to dig out, and now he was completely exhausted mentally.

'I can't… keep this up…'

Ambrose stood up and started dragging his feet behind him as he slowly made his way towards the town.

As he neared it, he was thrown out of the world of souls, and the world turned to the same, ordinary speed.

The black smoke again sped up and swirled around the jungle as it headed straight to the town.

Ambrose limped down the street, and he didn't see Moriarty anywhere.

'I need to hide immediately; hopefully the black smoke doesn't completely destroy these buildings or there is no place to hide!'

He tackled down a door, slammed it shut, and headed to the second floor, in case the black smoke could penetrate through the walls.

Thump, thump!

Ambrose held the railing, limped slowly up the stairs to the second floor, and heavily breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the top.

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

Rapid footsteps sounded, and an agile figure tackled Ambrose down the stairs. He tumbled down the stairs like a tumbleweed and came to a stop at the bottom, bruised and disoriented.

"Oho, aren't I lucky?"

The voice sounded innocent and had a very childish vibe, but there was hidden mischievousness and a hint of darkness lurking behind the words.

Ambrose shook his head and stood up, brushing the dirt off his clothes. He then looked up the stairs and saw a cute-faced young man with white-as-snow hair and cat-like features.

"You…" Ambrose pointed the wooden, made-up sword at him. "I recognize you."

"My name is…" The person leaped off the stairs and drop-kicked Ambrose in the chest.

Ambrose stumbled backwards and collided with the door.

"AnarchyCat." The young man said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I am a member of Zahhak."

"Yeah, I remember seeing you."

Ambrose shook his head to get his thoughts together, and he took a step closer to AnarchyCat.

He didn't expect to face such a powerful foe this early on, but he didn't plan on backing down either.

AnarchyCat lifted his leg and unleashed a series of kicks, striking Ambrose's abdomen, and then followed up with a high kick towards the neck.

However, Ambrose put his well-toned arm in the way, blocking the kick before it reached his neck.

"Not even stinging."

"Heh." AnarchyCat grinned, and karate chopped Ambrose in the neck with a powerful blow.

Ambrose quickly tensed his muscles and tanked the strike without flinching, proving just how durable his Starborn physique really was, especially equipped with his powerful muscles.

"Your body is tough!"

"Yeah? My punches are even tougher." Ambrose grabbed AnarchyCat by his shirt and tried to slam him straight to the ground.

AnarchyCat quickly wrapped his nimble legs around his well-toned arm and put it in a tight lock. He then twisted his body, using his momentum to flip Ambrose over and onto the floor.

He trapped Ambrose in a submission hold and forced him to loosen his grip on the wooden sword.

The wooden sword fell to the ground, clattering loudly as it hit the floor.

Ambrose gritted his teeth, grabbed his arm, and ripped himself free from the submission hold.

"Ngh." AnarchyCat let out a surprised yelp.

"Putting me in a hold won't work." Ambrose elbowed him in the chest and threw him across the room with a powerful shove.

AnarchyCat spun around in the air, defied gravity itself as he performed a mid-air flip, and landed on his feet with remarkable agility.

"I can often choke someone out within seconds." AnarchyCat said with narrowed eyes. "Rarely someone can just remove the hold using brute strength."

"I thought I had shown enough to stop you guys from underestimating me."

Ambrose picked up the wooden sword and crossed the distance between them with a single leap.

"Go back to Cerberus and say that he is next!"

He brought the sword down with a force that shattered the ground beneath him.

AnarchyCat flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding the strike.

However, Ambrose took another ground-breaking step forward and smashed the sword at AnarchyCat's chest, which sent him flying through the air.

AnarchyCat spat out blood but quickly did a mid-air flip, landed feet-first on the wall, and then launched himself back towards Ambrose with a vengeance.

He then opened his palm, showing a hidden weapon that he had been concealing all along, and threw it directly at Ambrose, aiming for a fatal strike.

Ambrose quickly parried it with the blunt sword and watched as the sharp blade got stuck in the ceiling.

AnarchyCat slipped under the blunt sword, kicked Ambrose off his feet, and then put him in another submission hold.

"That… won't work!"

Ambrose screamed, stood up without caring about the young man clinging to his back, and banged him against the nearest wall.

AnarchyCat coughed, and then retaliated with a swift knee to Ambrose's back.

"Y'know, you also underestimate members of Zahhak." AnarchyCat revealed his sharp teeth. "We are quite crazy."

"?!"

At that moment, AnarchyCat plunged his sharp teeth into Ambrose's shoulder, drawing blood and causing him to flinch in surprise.

…

Moriarty hid behind a counter, the wooden spear in hand.

The room was eerily quiet, with long shadows stretching across the walls. It was dark, unusually dark, as if all the light was sucked out.

Moriarty took deep breaths, as if he were doing a breathing exercise, and then jumped out of the cover and threw the spear across the room with deadly accuracy.

The spear flew straight to an unsuspecting target who was slowly heading down the stairs.

At the last possible moment, the figure bent his back and dodged the spear. The spear narrowly missed his head and plunged deep into the wall.

However, since the made-up spear wasn't very durable, it broke upon impact.

"Hmm?"

The figure looked over to the counter, where Moriarty was still standing, in his throwing stance.

"Moriarty, I recognize you." The figure stepped into the light, revealing his stern-looking face, shoulder-length brown hair, and humorless attitude.

"I recognize you, as well." Moriarty narrowed his eyes and said, "Arsenal, the thousand weapons."

"I thought you were an honorable person, always having to fight head-on."

Arsenal stepped down the stairs with a cold smirk.

"It ticked off many people as they thought you did that for your image, but it also earned you a loyal fanbase. I guess it was a fake persona."

"…" Moriarty narrowed his eyes. 'The honor bullshit is Knight's fault.'

"Aren't you Ambrose's teammate?" Arsenal asked and scratched his stubble. "Where is he?"

"We don't need to talk. Let's stop wasting time and just fight; we know how this will go anyway."

"Very well." Arsenal rolled his eyes and pulled out a strange, twisted blade from his belt. "I am also interested in the fighting capabilities of Knight Moriarty."

"As am I." Moriarty pulled out a knife from his trousers, which he acquired from the players he killed.

"I heard about Arsenal's ability to wield a thousand different weapons; alas, that's where your nickname comes from. You are a person who, strangely, never decides to use one weapon consistently."

"I have been trying to search for a weapon that feels like it is part of me." Arsenal sighed and said, "But I haven't found one yet. That's why I am changing weapons every day."

"That's your biggest weakness." Moriarty said. "If you decided to train on one weapon, I am sure your fighting capabilities would rival the best in the world. Yet you handicap yourself."

"Hah, I feel like this is what I excel at." Arsenal said with a smirk.