?


    "What does the book say?"


    Uranus had a serious look on his face. "It doesn''t say much about his power but without a doubt, this warrior is versatile and has a lot of abilities".


    "It says he has magic spells to change his face and appearance".


    "His spells are mostly shadow spells and his most powerful spell is also a shadow spell, it''s called the Binding Shadow and it''s pretty notorious".


    "Witnesses from mercenaries who have seen it in action says that you feel your whole body petrify like the devil is staring into your soul".


    "This makes you vulnerable, giving the Shadow Mage all the initiative".


    "Another thing is, he is not human, it says here that he is a reptile…"


    de looked at Uranus then back at his paper.


    "That is just one of his many forms".


    Inside the bounty paper that was on de''s hand depicted a handsome young man with ck hair on ck attire. He had a cold look on his face like nothing in this world mattered to him, he looked dangerous even from a picture.


    "That is the facial form that he was seen the most recently and that is 3 weeks ago, he may have changed forms again". Uranus showed de the detailed book that the tiger headdy also handed to them.


    "See, these are 4 other forms in which he had been seen".


    de looked through the book. In one of them, the Shadow Mage had blonde hair, in another he had green hair, while in thest 2, he had purple and gray hair respectively, he was like a chameleon".


    Uranus furrowed his brows. "I don''t know how we''re supposed to capture him when he can change his form at will, that just makes this mission unnecessarily unfair".


    de kept quiet, deep in thought. "We wait".


    "Huh?"


    He looked at Uranus. "There''s no way we''re catching him if we just decide to go after him, that''s why he''s still elusive till now despite so many bounty hunters going after him due to the price on his head".


    "He almost has the price of a Grade B+ bounty when being just a normal Grade B bounty, it says a lot about his elusive skills".


    "Another thing is, from his previous appearance records, he always showed himself due to a tangible reason, a treasure or a target that he wants to kill".


    "I believe that he has a simr reason this time too".


    "Instead of looking out for him, let''s look out for any noteworthy event that will be happening soon in this. There''s a great chance that he will be in one of them, so that''s where we can get him".


    "As for now, wey low".


    …


    Somewhere in Azure Curtain, inside a dimly lit room…


    This room was extremely small and totally empty, only 2 things were inside, a candle that barely illuminated the room and a ck-robed existence that clung to the roof of this room like a bat.


    A knock suddenly sounded on the door before a human came in.


    Bowing once, he dropped a paper close to the candle before leaving.


    Once he left, the creature clinging to the roof moved. Landing as silently as a cat, he walked closer and looked at the picture.


    "Hiss!" He snarled.


    "More mercenaries!"


    "It does not matter how many you send; they can''t stop me!"


    "I''ll even kill some of them this time to send a message". A forked tongue like a snake elongated out of his mouth the next moment, he licked his face with it before picking his nose with it.


    "Hiss!" Hissing, he climbed the roof again.


    …


    Staying in gctic society was expensive.


    de and Uranus needed money toe to Azure Curtain, they also needed money to stay here and all of it was provided by Champion Onana.


    For days, they were patient, waiting while doing their research.


    On the 4th day, they found it. "This is it!"


    "The Nak Mayor of this will being back from his vacation in 2 days. News came that during his vacation, he was fortunate enough to meet a legendary alchemist and he bought a very expensive potion".


    Uranus'' eyes widened as he got his uncle''s point. "Among the Shadow Mage''s known talents, he is also an alchemist".


    de nodded. "We shall be there on the day of the mayor''s return".


    Time moved fast and in no time, it was already 2 days.


    Like usual, the gctic port was busy as Spaceships descended and ascended but today was unusually busy, this was because of the mayor''s return.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A lot of the dignitaries of the were gathered to wee him back.


    Wherever lots of dignitaries were gathered, warriors were also guaranteed to be gathered. Amidst the rowdiness of the asion, 2 pair of eyes watched from the darkness, paying close attention to any sudden change in the port.


    They waited for minutes yet nothing happened, the mayor entered his special shuttle which lifted off soon after, yet, nothing still happened.


    ''Was I wrong? Was this not his target?''


    "Uncle, what should we do?"


    de hesitated.


    After some time, he made his decision. "Let''s secretly follow…"


    He barely spoke when a loud sound reverberated from the distance.


    Boom!


    A bolt of ck lightning charged into the skies with power.


    The magic formation of the special shuttle activated but it was not sturdy enough to fully withstand the power of the ck lightning, the shuttle crashed from the sky even as amotion was started instantly.


    Screams reverberated across the streets as frightened civilians ran.


    de''s eyes became sharp. "He came".


    He red at Uranus. "Stay behind me, follow my instructions, don''t act alone and don''t do anything stupid".


    Uranus pouted. "You sound so much like Dad".


    de ignored him as he unsheathed his Lightsaber.


    He did not hesitate; one stomp of his foot and he exploded forward with immense speed towards the direction of the attack.


    Instantly after he arrived on the scene, he saw him.


    He looked the same as what was drawn in the bounty paper. His charcoal ck hair was prominent in the crowd to de''s sharp eyes, he was sneaking his way closer amid the chaos towards the location of the crashed shuttle.


    As soon as de looked at him, he turned to look at de.


    Both their eyes shed and electricity seemed to crackle in the air.


    "Velocita dell''ombra!''


    This mage chanted some words the next moment as he turned into a ball of shadow energy that rapidly elerated towards the mayor''s shuttle.


    The mayor''s bodyguards were rmed, he also had a Grade B bodyguard.


    "Protect the mayor!"


    He had no way of killing the mayor but the mayor was never his target all along. Rapidly chanting another spell, a devilish ck hand engulfed in shadows appeared out of his back as it ignored all the obstacles and entered the shuttle.


    This devilish hand grabbed the box where the potion was kept before rapidly retreating.


    "Thief! Stop him!"


    BOOM!


    The loud sound of an automatic Rifle reverberated the next moment.


    The Shadow Mage could not react quickly enough, the shot sted almost half his face into a bloody mess as a shrill hissing sound reverberated.


    de looked to the left and he saw another mercenary, a ck man with gray metal arms who held the sniper rifle. Without a doubt, this guy was a mechanic and he was also here for the Shadow Mage.


    The shot didn''t kill the Shadow Mage and he already got what he wanted.


    His face regenerated rapidly on the spot as he chanted another incantation.


    "Nebbia d''ombra!"


    Bzzz!


    The mechanic unleashed another shot but the mage was gone, he disappeared into shadows. He disappeared but he didn''t escape.


    As soon as he disappeared, a certain Pugilist exploded forward with speed.


    "de Specialty: Poseidon''s Tsunami sh!"


    A tsunami seemed to apany the de of his sword.


    It made contact with the ground with force.


    BOOM!