It happened one night .

In the guildhouse of the PK guild Liberacion, a boy and a girl were surrounded by guild members .

The boy had a horn sprouting from his forehead and scales on his skin, while the girl had peculiar patterns on her body; judging from such visual traits, the boy was a Dragnil and the girl a Pixie .

While venturing outside looking for ingredients, they were suddenly surrounded by players and caught with no room to escape .

Now, in the area built within the guildhouse, the boy -called Masakado- was forced to fight against monsters . His opponent was a level 398 bug-type monster, a Stag Mantis, which was a cross between a stag beetle and a mantis, boasting four scythes and a pair of pincers .

Masakados level was over 200, but he had already resurrected a few times, so his stats were, on average, just a bit higher than 300 . These were numbers rather worrying if facing against a Stag Mantis .

Even more worrying was the fact that the key to draw out his power as a Magic Swordsman, his sword Rune Blade had been snatched by the PKs . His sub job was Fist Fighter, but the most he could do now was avoid the monsters attacks .

Come on, come on! Run faster or youre gonna die!

Serves ya right for acting all cool trying to protect the girl!

Looks like well have a winner pretty soon!

The PKs watching the fight from outside the arena yelled and jeered .

As long as the girl who was with him, Hilamee, was taken hostage, Masakado could not try anything . The only way out available to him now, was defeating the Stag Mantis .

Shit!!

Masakado swore and leapt away . Less than one second later, a scythe about the same size as he was, pierced the ground where he had been standing .

Bug-type monsters excelled at physical attacks and defense . Masakado, as he was now, would surely be killed if he received even just a few blows .

!? !!

Hilamee was trying to say something, but the gag on her mouth prevented her from formulating actual words .

Why did this

The long game of tag against the superior monster had started shaving off Masakados powers of concentration . When would it end? Even if he really defeated the Stag Mantis, would they be saved?

He was supposed to be thinking of a way to rescue Hilamee and escape, but his overworked mind ended up thinking of things completely unrelated .

He was almost at his limit . Masakado started thinking of a last resort attack on the Stag Beetle .

-eh?

In front of Masakados eyes, Hilamee floated in midair . Precisely speaking, the PK that had captured her thrown the bound girl in the ring .

Hilamees body struck the ground, rolled a few times and stopped . The Stag Mantis was right next to her .

You bastards!!

Cmon boy, go save her or shell be in danger!

Damn you!!

Masakado jumped at the Stag Mantis . The monsters attention was focused on Hilamee, so Masakados jumping kick hit its head cleanly, causing the monster to stagger .

However, Its HP barely decreased and the monster soon regained its balance .

Gah!?

The back of the monsters scythes, which it had swung wide to get rid of the annoyance that had hit it, landed squarely on Masakados abdomen . Due to the differences in physique and stats, Masakado was blown away . He crashed against the ground, his body grating against the floor of the arena .

The HP gauge displayed at the edge of Masakados line of sight had decreased by around 30% . In addition, the status display indicated he had been poisoned .

! !!

Hilamee tried to shout again . Uncaring, the Stag Mantis raised its four scythes in her direction .

The female pixie was a Mage with low defense . If she was struck by all four scythes, her HP gauge would surely be annihilated .

Damn youlook at meeeeeeee!!!

Masakado used a taunt skill to force the monster to turn towards him . However, the Stag Mantis had already started its attack motions, and did not even look at him .

A few more seconds and Hilamee would die . He wouldnt last much longer either . Just as a feeling of hopeless surrender was about to envelop Masakados heart

that wasnt a bad choice .

The voice of a man, a voice he had heard before, suddenly resounded . At the same time, the guildhouse shook violently .

Woooohhh!?!

What!? What the hells going on!?

The vibration, strong enough to lift the ground up, caused confusion among the PKs .

A pale blue ball suddenly appeared in the center of the arena; the next instant, thunder and lightning ran across the ring .

The booming thunderclap caused Masakados sight to go black . It was the rare visual status effect caused by strong flashing of light or thunder, Blind .

No matter how much he squinted, Masakado could not tell what was happening around him . The PKs screams, however, echoed clearly in his ears .

Shadow, please take those two .

Got it . Hey, stay quiet .

Eh?

The confused Masakado was forcefully grabbed by someone . There were two people next to him apparently . Judging from their conversation, a man called Shadow had just lifted Masakado on his shoulders .

Masakado instinctively fought back when he was grabbed, but stopped moving after Shadow dashed away . The speed at which he moved, far higher than Masakados, would have caused him to fall if he struggled .

Shadow moved one step forward, paused for a second, then dashed away again .

Several seconds later, he leapt high in the air .

Wha!?

!?!

He heard a lament right next to him . He could swear it was Hilamees voice .

Stay still .

After they landed, Shadow urged them to stop struggling and jumped even higher . As with the first jump, they landed somewhere high and then jumped to a farther high place .

Im going to heal you . Quiet .

Masakado nodded quietly . He was saved from certain death at the hands of the Stag Mantis . He did not know what Shadow and his companion had in mind, but he had no reason to oppose them .

The status effect Blind disappeared and Masakado could finally see again; he immediately looked around for Hilamee .

Youre safeIm glad .

Hilamee had just been freed from her mouth gag . The man that was now untying the ropes binding her hands was probably Shadow .

He was a young man clad in ninja-like equipment . Masakados Analyze V barely revealed any information about him, but judging from his earlier movements, he was surely an advanced player .

Use this and go back to town .

Shadow threw a crystal to the two . Masakado frantically caught it and realized it was imbued with teleportation magic .

I-is it really alright? This looks really expensive

For Masakado and Hilamee, who had been robbed of their possessions, it was a very welcome gift .

Teleportation magic had ranks too; the low rank allowed teleportation from outside fields and town buildings, the middle rank able from dungeons too, and the high rank also allowed from unique locations . The ranks were signaled by colors: low rank was brown, middle rank silver, and high rank golden .

There were some areas where teleport crystals could not be used, but the place where they were now was just a field . Using a golden crystal would be nothing but wasteful .

To teleport from a field to the town, a brown crystal was more than enough . Crystals imbued with high-rank teleport magic were rare, so for Masakado it must have looked terribly valuable .

Youll be in our way if you stay . Shut up and go . We cant save you again if they come after you .

Shadow then quickly dashed back to the PK guildhouse .

Hey, thats

Hilamee, finally free, pointed at the guildhouse . The structure was still being rocked by explosions, bursts of light blazing all around it, illuminating the night sky to the point that it was as bright as noon .

Human silhouettes could be seen jumping out every once in awhile . They were holding brown or golden crystals, suggesting that they were trying to teleport away .

Not one of them, however, managed to successfully make their escape .

One was burnt to a crisp by a blue flame that blazed through the guildhouse walls, another was skewered by a black spike arising from the ground, others suddenly turned into ice statues and shattered .

Masakado, or maybe Hilamee, held their breath . They had been told to return to their town, but the scenery of the guildhouse being destroyed and the PKs vanishing before their eyes froze them where they stood .

If the guildhouse looked like that from outside, things had to be even more chaotic inside .

Ah .

Suddenly, darkness enveloped the two . They took a few seconds to notice that there were no more explosions or bursts of light from the guildhouse .

!?

Finally, light descended again .

A pillar of light, large enough to cover the whole guildhouse, and powerful enough to blow away the surrounding trees and rocks .

Is thata skill?

Masakado had difficulty believing that there existed a skill that could produce such immense power . He could barely make out the shadow of the guildhouse, but that too disappeared soon .

As the light pillar vanished, literally nothing stood in its wake .

Buildings vanished when their durability ran out . Everyone knew that much, but seeing something disappear without a trace like that filled them with something akin to horror . Needless to think how the PKs inside must have felt .

Heysomeones coming .

Hilamee pointed at two human silhouettes coming their way . One was the man that had saved them, the other was a player that Masakado and Hilamee both knew .

ThatsMr . Shinright?

Yeah, I mean, he should be

Few did not know Shins name, his face, and reason behind his fame .

Masakado and Hilamee had been saved by Shin already in the past too . They knew that he wasnt the kind of person to unleash utter destruction like that .

Looking at the place where the guildhouse once was, only a scorched patch remained . The scene they had just witnessed clearly showed what had happened there .

Shin had exterminated the PKs, all the players inside the guild . That was something the Shin that Masakado knew would have never done .

Masakado and Hilamee didnt know what had happened to Shin . As such, they didnt understand .

They neither knew the reason why he was there, nor why his equipment was different .

Or why his expression seemed void of all emotion, an expression they had never seen before .

Ah, er, Mr . Shin?

Shin must have noticed their presence, but did not react to them in the least . Masakado gathered his courage and spoke to him, but there was no answer . Not even a glance in his direction .

Shadow, walking next to him, did not say anything either .

.

Shin and Shadow kept walking away; Masakado could not say anything more .

What in the world happened to him . ?

Masakados confused words were lost in the night, not reaching Shins or anyones ears .

That night, 24 players disappeared from THE NEW GATEs world .

It was the start of an unprecedented cleansing that raged on with storm-like fury .

Its nice to see you again . Your achievements are getting more and more talked about, you know .

Calmia chuckled while looking at Shin .

Almost one month had passed since Shin started his PK hunt . Even if he had kept his identity and figure hidden, the news that Shin was going around killing PKs spread quickly .

The pace was too fast, the massacre too one-sided . Too subtle for a major guild, while for a smaller guild not suffering any casualties would have been impossible . On the other hand, some players whispered that a certain person had not shown themselves in the dungeon clearing frontlines recently .

As Shins disappearance and the start of the PK hunt happened roughly at the same time, the rumors eventually became that Shin had started performing a PK cleansing .

The rumors became more and more believable as witnesses, rescued by him, started reporting what they saw .

Theyre more on their guard now . Its a pain .

Is that something the man who crushed dozens of PK guilds would say? Thanks to your rampage, its been a mess here these days, everyone crying and laughing

Normally, avenged players would not show their emotions openly, out of respect for others whose aggressors were still unpunished . But now, the numbers were too great, as were the expectations for the future, so Avidyas guildhouse looked more or less like a banquet hall .

They praised and hailed Shin as a hero for destroying PK guilds with his powerful skills .

Others, like Shadow, did their part too, but the scale of destruction caused and people killed were too different for them to be mentioned .

There are some players who disapprove of your ways though . I dont think the major guilds will actually move, but they might attempt something, so be careful .

Calmia looked worried . Shin nodded without any particular change in his expression .

Yes, even if he was killing PKs, murderers, his actions were judged in many ways .

Many said that revenge was meaningless, that he would just become the same as them, they lost their respect for Shin . Some of them started calling him God of Death .

No problem . The only large guild remaining is Ouroboros anyway . I wont let the smaller ones go though, I have no intention of stopping now that Ive come so far .

Is that so? I can give you this information then .

At last?

Yes, at last we have found Ouroboros hideout . Gargalla has been seen too . Vlad doesnt seem to be around though . Based on the information we have, he hasnt returned to the guild and is acting on his own .

Shin remembered Vlads gloating expression . It was still etched clearly in his memories .

Maybe he was observing Shin from afar . Thats how deep the obsession he felt emanating from Vlad .

I dont know if Vlad will be there, but it seems that they will have a large gathering three days from now . Youve been destroying PK guilds one after the other, so they might be meeting to develop countermeasures . The most skilled PKs still alive will likely be there, do be careful .

Got it . But having targets gather like that is pretty helpful for me . Being ambushed by high-class PKs would be pretty nasty .

Dont push yourself too hard, okay? Some people try suicide attacks against PKs, but if everyone did that no one would be left

Im not as admirable as that . Thats the last large-scale PK guild; Im going to make it leave the stage with a bang .

Shin spoke what he truly felt .

He had no intention of losing his life while killing the PKs; he loathed the idea of dying alongside them even more than being killed by them .

He would use all means available . Only the PKs needed to disappear . That was the method Shin adopted .

Maybe I should keep this for myselfbut in a way, I feel like I have to tell him, hmm

After obtaining more details, Shin left Avidyas guildhouse and went to the meeting point with Shadow .

Unlike Shin, Shadow was hell-bent on killing Gargalla, even at the cost of his own life . Shin thus was thinking of carrying out the next mission alone .

no, that wont work .

No matter how much he thought, the conclusion he reached was always to tell Shadow .

If Shin hadnt lost Marino, he might have tried everything he could to stop Shadow .

Shins position, though, was the same as Shadows . To exact vengeance with your own hands . No one could stop that feeling .

Even if death would follow vengeance, they would not stop . The opinions of others meant nothing . It was only about what the person themselves thought, that was the only question .

Its snowing .

Shin looked up at the sky and saw pure white snow starting to fall .

When Shadow heard about Gargallas whereabouts, a twisted smile appeared on his lips .