Otto's Fear!

Late at night, most of the lights in the Great Soul Arena of the Barak Royal Capital had gone out, leaving only the night-shift staff lazily yawning in the corridors.

Manager Otto sat in his office, his fingers tapping incessantly against the desk as his gaze remained fixed on the Soul Guidance Communicator before him.

It had been nearly two hours since he sent out the assassins. By all rights, six assassins at the Soul King and Soul Emperor level should have needed no more than the time it took to burn an incense stick to kill a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy and return to report.

Yet the communicator had not rung once.

Otto's fingers tapped faster and faster, while the unease in his heart grew wildly like weeds.

He rose and walked to the window, pushing it open to let in the night wind.

The autumn breeze poured into the room with a chill, but it could not dispel the inexplicable agitation in his heart.

After waiting another quarter of an hour, the communicator finally rang.

Otto snatched up the communicator, his tone urgent. "How did it go?"

There was a two-breath silence from the other end before a trembling voice came through. "Manager... something happened."

Otto's heart sank sharply.

"The six of them... are all dead."

Otto's fingers suddenly tightened around the communicator, his knuckles turning white.

He opened his mouth, but it felt as though a lump of cotton had lodged in his throat. It took him a long while to force out his voice. "What did you say? Say that again."

"They're all dead. We found them in that remote alley in the eastern part of the city. All six of them, not one left. There were no signs of a fight on their bodies. They