Martial Arts Worlds

Kiwi Island, the castle.

The fire raged across the yard. The walls crumbled as the flames grew higher. The castle's inhabitants fled in terror.

The townsfolk watched from their homes as the old castle was burning to the ground. The clouds of the black smoke billowed high into the sky, casting a dark shadow over the once beautiful island.

At the yard of the castle, dozens of navy soldiers were down on the ground with their necks snapped and their weapons scattered around them.

The rest of the navy soldiers were wiping the warm sweat off their foreheads while holding their swords and pointing them at the tall, crimson-robed man.

Count Sander stood in the middle of the flaming chaos, his hands dripping with blood as he looked maliciously around the fallen navy soldiers.

"Count Sander Von Haven, surrender!" The navy officer shouted. "You have nowhere to go, think about your sons!"

The navy soldiers had Count Sander's sons captured already. They had woken up from their unconscious state and were trying to free themselves from the cuffs, but to no avail.

"Father, please save us!" Luke shouted.

"We can help you to kill these dirty rats!" Mitch shouted.

"…" Count Sander looked like he didn't care and said, "Do whatever you want with them; I don't care."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"F-father?" Luke and Mitch whispered in shock.

"Count Sander Von Haven is dead," he said. "All I have to do is start all over again somewhere else. I can always have a new wife and make new sons!"

"Father, you don't mean that!" Luke screamed.

"I stopped caring about you two when your mother died," Count Sander said coldly. "I wanted tough, independent children who could rule after me. You failed me."

Luke and Mitch stared at him in shock, unable to believe his heartless words.

"I got to admit…" Count Sander smirked. "While I hate those two thieving bastards, I would've preferred if they were my sons instead of you two. They were what I was looking for in a pair of heirs."

The navy soldiers aimed their rifles at Count Sander.

"Last chance. Surrender or die!"

"Haha!" Count Sander jumped through the flames with his robe catching on fire, a wicked grin on his face.

"Fire!"

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

The bullets flew out of the rifles. The barrels of the rifles smoked.

Count Sander punched through the bullets and then through the smoke, reaching out his hand to grab the navy officer by the throat.

Crack!

The navy officer's neck snapped, and he fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Eek!" The navy soldiers turned their rifles at the tall, flaming man.

With a chopping hand, Count Sander slashed through them all and left them headless with a single swift motion.

All the navy soldiers were dead.

"F-father…" Luke and Mitch whispered and asked. "C-can you please free us? W-we will leave, so please."

"…" Count Sander raised his hand. "You two don't deserve to have my blood."

As he brought his hand down, the two heads rolled off their shoulders and onto the ground.

"…" Count Sander turned around and headed in a different direction from the town.

He wasn't heading to the town's docking area but instead entered the forest behind the burning castle.

When he crossed the forest, he found a ship that was nicely tucked away among the trees. It was on a river that led into the open sea.

This was always his escape plan if there was need for it.

Count Sander leaped into the air and landed on the ship's deck.

However, before he could unfurl the sails, his body tensed, and he turned towards the ship's lookout point.

There was someone sitting there, a white-blue cap hiding his face with a navy officer's outfit. He had a white coat, but he wore it like a cape without his arms inside the sleeves.

It was clear that this man was a higher-ranked navy officer than the rest in the Kiwi Island.

"…" Count Sander narrowed his eyes as he recognized the man.

"You sure have made a mess, Sander." Callum said, and showed his youngish face beneath the cap. "Or should I call you, pirate captain, Galahad?"

"You've found out my true identity." Count Sander said carefreely. "Which one of my men told you?"

"We've captured a few of your old crewmates, who were also on this island." Callum said. "One of them started singing a shanty and spilled the beans about your past."

"I see…" Count Sander said.

"I didn't expect you to be Galahad, the pirate captain with a bounty of 22,100 gold coins. You look very different. It looks like whoever modified your appearance did a very good job."

"I was hoping I could avoid fighting you, Rear Admiral Callum Silverbrook," Count Sander said. "I would hate to kill a talent as impressive as yours."

"Heh…" Callum hopped off the lookout mast and landed on the deck. "We're both High Stage Martial Grandmasters. The fight will be very close. My talent versus your experience."

Count Sander stood silently.

Callum was the commander of the nearby navy branch. He was also the one who made the not-so-legal deal with Count Sander.

While he was very talented, he also had great greed when it came to the money, something Count Sander exploited.

However, Callum knew that if he left Count Sander walk free or leave alone, he would spill the beans to the navy, and he would get fired.

It would be a huge loss for him, as with his talent, he could reach Vice Admiral status in a couple of years.

It would also be a great loss to the navy if they found out he was corrupt. However, they couldn't possibly let him stay in the navy if he was caught accepting bribes.

The cold wind of the night passed the ship and flapped the flag on the mast.

At the same time, Callum and Count Sander jumped at each other. Their fists met with a loud thud. The river shook violently as the impact of their punches rocked the ship.

The nearby birds all flew away.