The Martial Unity

Senior Sam Sevian had been on a roll lately. From commissions to assassinating important individuals in Senior-level nations in the Derschek Region to eliminating one of the powerhouses of a kingdom.

He had been getting a lot of good money, which he funneled into the Crina Foundation and Area Crina.

His goal was to gain the tutelage of the SIlent Shadow and become a Martial Master himself. He didn't know what the conditions of the Master Realm were, but he hoped to learn that in addition to gaining the wisdom of a powerful Martial Master.

The search for the Silent Shadow had been making steady but slow progress. The fact that even the Crina Foundation was having such a difficult time tracking her down in such a small place showed just how capable the Silent Shadow.

From what he had heard, even the legendary Beggar's Sect had failed in tracking down the vaunted Martial Master, which was a testament to the assassin's remarkable capabilities.

He left his residence, before taking a moment to glance at the recent eyesore.

A traveling musician had come all the way to the Shadow Isles to play music for donations. 

Why a poor musician would want to come all the way to an assassin's den to play music, he didn't know. The man may as well have been trying to earn the ire of the assassins given how chaotic his music was. It was as though he was trying to hit every note there was all within a single piece.

Sam heaved a sigh before shaking his head and sky-walking to the Crina Foundation. He quickly checked his inbox, looking for any personal commissions towards him in particular. 

[Assassination target: King Verkens]

Sam widened his eyes in surprise at that name. King Verkens was one of the most powerful and influential figures in the Derchek Region. Assassinating him would be a worthy challenge.

He quickly accepted the commission, before immediately accessing the intelligence of the Crina Foundation on his target's security measures, locations, and other relevant information.

Such an assassination could not be completely planned in a single day, it would take days, if not weeks of planning for him to cleanly nail the assassination in order to avoid being caught by the Martial Seniors of the kingdom.

He spent several days looking deeper into and memorizing the basic information as he created a plan to try and take King Verkens out.

He was a poison specialist, thus all he had to do was slip into the Royal Kitchen and poison the man's food. It was a lot simpler and less risky than trying to kill the king directly.

He quickly made plans based on the information he had access to, he even went on scouting operations to get a better understanding of the layout and the various challenges that he would face.

Not too long later, it was finally time to put the assassination into play. He left the Shadow Isles, before heading to the kingdom. It wasn't long before he had arrived at his little makeshift base, putting on his worker disguise while preparing his fake permit into the Royal Palace.

Yet before he could even leave his base.

THWOOM

He never even felt an impact. The world simply went dark as his corpse hit the ground. The brain damage had been instantaneous, and instantaneously brutal. There was nothing anybody there could have done to save him, even if they did find him immediately.

And they did find him and even identified him correctly as the notorious Toxinist. They also found the falsified Royal permit and the disguise that he intended to wear. 

Immediately, a minor uproar arose in the Derschek Region. An uproar arose only because it was the king himself who was clearly the target, and it was minor because assassinations were too commonplace in the Derschek Region.

What truly shocked everyone was not the fact that the Martial Senior was targeting the king. 

No.

Being a powerful figure in the Derschek Region meant that attempts on your life were part of the daily routine. The king hadn't even so much twitched or displayed a hint of tension when he was informed of the once-imminent assassination attempt.

However, what did evoke great surprise was when he was informed that the Martial Senior passed away before he could execute the plan.

Something or someone had gotten to him first, killing him before the man could kill the king. 

"Is it possible that he could have died of a natural disease?" The king murmured. "Perhaps a heart attack?"

"We are not seeing any obvious signs of any particular cause of death, Your Majesty." The Royal healer explained. "We can rule out some possibilities, of course. He certainly was not killed in a fight, the condition of his body is far too pristine for that. We can also rule out the possibility that he succumbed to poison. We have not detected the presence of any substances that his body wasn't clearly resistant to. There are no overt signs of any health conditions whatsoever that would clue. We see no signs of struggle whatsoever. It's as though his body just died on the spot."

It was inexplicable.

A Martial Senior just collapsed over, dying instantly seemingly out of nowhere, to nothing.

It was a shocking event because Martial Seniors had an air of invincibility to them. They were walking calamities capable of leaving immense destruction in their wake. They were merely one step away from ascending to a higher state of life.

They were not beings who simply died, falling over. The ripples of this event spread beyond just the kingdom, as the entire Derschek Region came to hear of the surprising incident. 

Yet the place where the news made the most waves was in the Shadow Isles. The Martial Artist assassins could not believe what they were hearing.

Literally, they did not believe it. They initially thought it was fake news. However, eventually, reality proved them to be wrong. 

Yet none of them imagined that this was merely a prelude of what was to come.