"..."
Ethan was tense.
The cold sweat trickled down his back.
He kept looking around the dark room, and while he couldn’t see anyone, he could tell that something was off.
’I wouldn’t have survived this long if I hadn’t been relying on my instincts. There is someone here!’
Ethan pushed the blanket off him and slowly stood up.
As he walked towards the foot of the bed, he heard the bed creaking and turned to his wife, but she only turned over in her sleep.
"Stupid bitch..."
He growled.
"That’s not nice."
In that moment, a voice came from behind him, and before he could react, someone’s arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him into a chokehold.
"?!"
Ethan’s eyes widened, and the invisible arms turned visible, and he tried shrugging off the assailant, but he was strong!
’Martial Emperor?!’
"Remember me?"
Julian whispered into his ear and tightened the hold, trying to break Ethan’s neck, but his neck was too strong.
’...Him?’
Ethan caught a glimpse of his face, grew increasingly angry, and suddenly jumped backwards, driving Julian into the wall.
The two men collided into a wall, and it was loud.
"...Mhm?"
Ethan’s wife groggily woke up.
"He—"
Ethan was about to say something, but then Julian made both of them invisible and held him in place with every bit of strength he had.
His wife looked around the room and thought she heard a sound, but couldn’t see anyone, so she looked confused.
"Ethan?"
She looked at the other side of the bed—it was empty—and thus she walked over to the door, opened it, and called out, "Ethan?" before leaving.
She went out to look for him without realizing that he was actually still inside the room.
’That fucking idiot wife of mine!’
Ethan screamed inside his mind while struggling to stay awake.
"Rah!"
He suddenly roared in anger, flipped over, and smashed Julian down to the ground. The chokehold loosened.
He immediately sprang away, trying to run to the door, but Julian grabbed his ankle and pulled him back.
"Fuckin’ bastard!"
Ethan touched the floor, and flowers and trees started growing from the wooden floorboards. It was a beautiful sight all of a sudden.
The roots shot forward towards Julian.
"Metal Style, What Day Is It?"
In that moment, Julian dodged the roots and jabbed Ethan in the forehead. It stunned him completely.
What Day Is It—a technique that could make one forget their memories but also put them into a stunned state.
Julian grabbed Ethan, opened the window, and jumped out into the air. He kept kicking in the air and kept flying away from Navy Fort.
After a while, Ethan was no longer stunned.
However, he couldn’t use his Black Forest ability while in the air. He had to have contact with the ground or something to use it.
Julian knew it.
He had been studying Ethan for a long time now, and he’d been planning this assassination ever since he got his Martial Ability.
Julian was making both of them invisible, so nobody in Navy Fort noticed them flying through the air.
"Hands off me!"
Ethan yelled and tried punching Julian, but he just wasn’t letting go.
In that moment, Julian suddenly put Ethan under a bear hug. Tightest hug in the world. Ethan felt his body being crushed.
"Time to go for a swim!"
In that moment, both of them started falling from the sky and plummeted through the sea depths.
Neither of them could see anything beyond the darkness surrounding them.
"Glug~ Glug~ Glug~"
Ethan tried swimming away, but Julian suddenly put him in a chokehold and wrapped his legs around his waist, dragging him down even further.
’Am I going to die here? No, I am Fleet Admiral, the Great Ethan Blackforest. I am not dying to this piece of shit!’
His eyes were bloodshot, and he struggled to free himself and kept elbowing Julian hard in the chest.
Each elbow cracked one of Julian’s ribs and made him fall under immense pain, but he wasn’t letting go.
’If... I just let Ethan drown... It would take him days because of his Martial Emperor physique, which is why I must break his neck!’
Julian thought and squeezed hard, trying everything in his power to crack his neck, but Ethan was fighting back.
In that moment.
Ethan touched Julian’s leg and made a small branch grow out of his flesh. It pierced through his thigh.
"Argh..."
Julian let out a groan of pain, which simultaneously forced water into his throat, and he was pretty much drowning at this point.
However, he could also survive while drowning many days, even though it wasn’t comfortable.
’This is for my dad... for my mom... for my little sister... YOU ARE DYING NOW!’
The power flowed from his martial soul to his body to his heart and finally into his arms. At the same time, he activated Flow State.
The smoke that emanated from his body began to swirl around him.
"...Clug..."
Ethan’s face had turned purple, his cheeks looked swollen, and his eyes were almost popping out of his eye sockets.
’No... I am... Ethan...’
CRACK!
Julian finally heard the satisfying sound of "crack" and felt Ethan’s body turn limp. He stopped struggling all of a sudden.
He turned him around and saw Ethan’s lifeless gaze staring back at him.
’...That’s what you get, bastard.’
Julian grabbed Ethan from the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the water.
He kicked in the air, flew back to Navy Fort, and dropped off his corpse at the shore of the island.
He didn’t want to leave his corpse to the sea because everyone would wonder what happened to him, which wasn’t what he wanted.
Julian wanted everyone to know that he was dead.
"Huff... Huff..."
He suddenly dropped down to the ground—exhausted—and started tearing up slightly.
This was the moment that he had been waiting for every day since the Swording Port incident.
’...I hope there is at least an afterlife so that my family can see me from heaven... and I hope Ethan will suffer in hell.’