Bain dreamed of the revival of Eclipse.

He tried to regain the old reputation of Eclipse, whose name terrorized and controlled the world.

His first endeavor was to stab the back of the former Lantier, who couldn’t give up on his foolish disciples. His second endeavor was to learn Lantier’s skills with insufficient talent. His third endeavor was to sneak into the palace and gain the emperor’s trust.

Bain’s actions were a series of hardships.

Every moment was a crisis. It felt like walking on a steel wire with a huge rock on his back. He couldn’t remember how many times he almost fell off the wire.

However, Bain held on and moved forward little by little.

Then he took a chance.

It was the moment when Chensler was struck by the sword of the traitor, Edan, and when the rampage caused by Saharan’s sword swept over both Juander and Chensler.

For the first time in the decades since he infiltrated the palace, Bain used Lantier’s technique and permeated the shadows.

His hardship was at an end.

He would absorb Juander’s red energy and complete Lantier’s techniques.

He would reign as the king of darkness and rule the world!

The precarious wire was reborn as a solid stone bridge. Bain was overcome with excitement and joy, and he was convinced that he had reached the peak of his life.

He relied on the chaos caused by Edan and succeeded in securing Juander. Then he immediately rushed to Eclipse’s base. He detained Juander in the facility he had prepared for over 20 years and exploited the red energy.

Slowly by steadily, he absorbed the enormous red energy into his body.

Then a ghost of the former Lantier appeared.

Unlike Bain, who had many flaws because he taught himself Lantier’s techniques, this person’s techniques were systematic and had few gaps. This person couldn’t use the advanced techniques, but the combination of destructive physical skills and gorgeous techniques were reminiscent of the former Lantier.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I am Kasim’s disciple.”

“......!”

It was unbelievable. At the last moment, Bain was caught by karma.

It was at a rather difficult moment.

It would’ve been less unfair if he met this person when he wanted to give up everything!

“He...! I should’ve found that guy and killed him!”

The former Lantier’s disciples had clear goals and were tenacious even if their talent wasn’t enough.

It reminded Bain of the former Lantier’s argument that they would reach the peak in their respective fields.

He recalled the words of the former Lantier, who said that if both disciples were elected as Lantier and cooperated, they would be more powerful than the 25th Lantier.

No, he shouldn’t be deceived by that guy’s words.

Bain had already denied him and betrayed him.

Bain got rid of old memories with a roar and slipped into the shadows.

His intention was to stab Faker’s back, but Faker didn’t allow it.

He controlled the shadow and turned it into a thorny path, so that Bain had no choice but to leap out and discard the shadows.

He immediately hid in another shadow and was prepared to attack when dozens of shadow daggers struck his body. It was the aftermath of the shadow he was hiding in turning into dozens of blades.

‘This...!’

The other person’s dominance over shadows far outweighed Bain’s.

The shadows he already controlled were taken away and a fight couldn’t take place.

Additionally, the other person’s speed at controlling the shadows was nearly twice as fast as Bain’s.

The physical abilities were also twice as high...

“

Keuk!

”

The level of the body technique was different.

It was different to cope when the opponent gently dodged and then counterattacked with a kick that was twice as fast and twice as strong.

Through Faker, Bain was able to glimpse the huge wall he felt when he ambushed the former Lantier, but was unable to take away his life.

This was a wall he wouldn’t have felt if Bain hadn’t been obsessed with Lantier’s techniques.

If he hadn’t used Lantier’s techniques and instead used his own inherent techniques to decide victory or defeat, he wouldn’t have lost a lot of physical strength from using the red energy and would’ve had the advantage in the battle.

However, Bain made the wrong judgment.

He believed he would be stronger if he used the incomplete Lantier’s techniques rather than his own skills. While it was true, the problem was that the other person was well-versed in Lantier’s techniques.

“Do you think I will give up at this point?!”

A red aura rose from Bain’s body.

He pulled out Juander’s red energy that was not yet fully his own.

The shadows around him were stained with red and Bain’s shadow control speed was nearly twice as fast as before. His dominance also rose and his shadows could no longer be taken away by Faker.

A battle where the flow couldn’t be read began.

In the thousands of large and small shadows created by the complex topography of the deep cave, Faker and Bain appeared and disappeared repeatedly, causing sparks to fly.

“......”

“......”

The expressions of Eclipse’s assassins, who was kidnapped by Bain and brainwashed before they were mature, started to distort.

They were calm even in the face of death. Now they were confused for the first time in ages.

They had been brainwashed into believing Lantier was their master and there were now two masters in front of them.

That’s right—the assassins of Eclipse couldn’t distinguish between Bain and Faker.

They recognized Bain as their master based on Lantier’s techniques so their thinking was confused.

Due to this, Bain wasn’t helped by anyone.

“

Cough!”

“Keuk!”

Dozens of times?

No, perhaps it was hundreds of times already.

Bain and Faker crossed countless times in the shadows and black blood gushed from their mouths.

It was because they were both poisoned by Lantier’s Poison, which had an irresistible curse.

After hundreds of attacks and defenses, both were covered with small and large wounds and their skin had darkened.

From now on, it was a battle of speed.

They had to quickly defeat the enemy in front of them to gain time for detoxification.

“Shadow Soldiers.”

Faker struck first.

He controlled thousands of shadows at the same time and turned them into soldiers with spears.

The soldiers acted as a barrier for Faker and pointed their spears at Bain.

It was a place Bain hadn’t reached yet.

No, it was an unreachable place for him.

This technique that controlled a large number of soldiers at once and caused them to become soldiers was Kasim’s unique technique that he made by reinterpreting Lantier’s techniques.

However, Bain had red energy.

Red energy had the power to dominate and control matter.

More than half of Faker’s shadow soldiers quickly turned red.

“Shadow Soldiers!

Cough!”

Red energy was originally the power belonging to someone else.

Bain hadn’t fully gained control of the red energy and was injured. Black blood poured from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He staggered like he was about to fall.

However, unlike his physical condition, the situation on the battlefield was favorable to him.

The red shadow soldiers started to ambush Faker’s shadow soldiers.

The shadow soldiers aimed spears at each other.

The black shadow soldiers were first attacked by the red shadow soldiers that appeared in their formation and quickly collapsed.

Bain and Faker disappeared from the messy battlefield.

They crossed the shadow soldiers calmly and reappeared while colliding in the air.

“

Ohhhhhh!

” Bain’s cry echoed loudly.

His physical technique that gathered the shadows around his fist and threw it out had reached a level that even the former Lantier hadn’t reached.

He had already pushed the limits many times.

Bain was certain after he felt the sensation from his arm that stretched out neatly in a straight line.

“I won!”

The moment he defeated this person, he would surpass the previous Lantier.

It was a huge feat that transcended his status.

Bain smiled faintly.

“Greed.”

Just then, the shadows gathered at one point were swallowed up.

It was Kasim’s ultimate skill that he created by combining Daluka’s Methods and Lantier’s Methods.

It was theoretically the strongest physical force that swallowed all the things around him.

“

Ku... kuaaaaaack!

”

Bain’s entire body was swallowed up from head to toe.

The irresistible pressure caused his body to crumple like a piece of paper and it ate greedily.

“

Keok! Keeeeeeeok!

”

Terrible, bizarre noises, and screams resonated in the cave.

The red shadow soldiers dominating the battlefield stopped instantly and disappeared like they were a lie.

“Gasp...

Gasp...”

Faker’s Greed was at a very low level compared to Kasim’s one.

It only worked on targets with less than 15% health.

If Lantier’s poison was a damage over time (dot) skill that dealt fixed damage instead of a dot skill that dealt percentage damage, Faker wouldn’t have a chance to use Greed against Bain.

However, Faker eventually won.

He believed in Lantier’s poison and predicted his victory in the fight against Bain.

In the end, it was a victory due to thorough calculations.

[You have changed classes to the legendary assassin Lantier.]

[Your level has been reset to level 1.]

The notification windows that he should have originally been happy about popped up.

It was just that the timing was too bad.

“......”

“......”

Hundreds of assassins were surrounding the helpless Faker.

The assassins of Eclipse. They were the puppets Bain had raised for decades.

They gazed at Faker with apathetic eyes and took a few steps closer to Faker while pulling out their daggers.

Then they cut their own hands and dripped blood onto Faker’s shadow.

“We pledge allegiance to the new Lantier.”

***

“......”

Faker woke up from his recollections of his encounter with Bain.

He saw Grid spending time with his family before leaving for the East Continent and commanded the assassins in the darkness.

“As of today, Eclipse is under the umbrella of the Overgeared Shadows.”

“Attention!”

An assassination group that existed for thousands of years—the strongest organization in history was completely absorbed by the Overgeared Kingdom. The sinister name of Eclipse was discarded, and they were reborn with the glorious name of Overgeared Shadows.

“Why...? Assassins...”

Lauel cried sadly, but Faker didn’t care.

The name ‘Overgeared’ was now his pride.