Under The Veil of Night

Hearing the nickname Master Rudy used, Pen’s gaze turned sharper. He controlled the pieces of wood as he started to attack Master Rudy again. The pieces turned smaller as they met with Master Rudy’s blade.

Swish!

Master Rudy appeared behind Pen, his blade ready to attack the young man.

Clang!

Pen gazed back at Master Rudy.

"Pen, why can’t you answer me? Did Ferdinand erase your memory too?"

The sword pushed Master Rudy back. Pen’s lips trembled slightly. "I don’t want to fight you too, Master. But I don’t have any choice. My life belongs to Ferdinand."

"Is that so?" Master Rudy flashed a sad smile.

"Master, I... I’m sorry," Pen’s lifeless eyes shook when he saw Master Rudy’s appearance. In his memory, Master Rudy was always laughing and beat people around with a wide grin on his face. He would challenge people with confidence.

Never, even once, he showed his sadness in front of others. It was something Master Rudy would never do.

Master Rudy shook his head. "Apologizing now, isn’t it too late? Besides, it was never your fault."

"Master, I..." Pen clenched his chest. He wanted to tell Master Rudy so badly about how the government managed to control them all. However, he knew that if he tried to, they would kill him instantly.

Master Rudy could see the conflict in Pen’s eyes. He didn’t want to see this too. Gathering his determination, Master Rudy gazed at the young man in front of him. "I guess, I don’t have any other choice but to kill you, Pen. I don’t want to see you suffer anymore."

"I can’t let you do that, Master," Pen’s voice cracked. He owed his life to Ferdinand, so he had to work for his entire life to repay that man. Even if he was told to go through the bottomless abyss, he would do it.

Even though he was unwilling, he had to do it.

"Why can’t I?" Master Rudy dashed and swung his sword.

Clang!

Pen’s eyes flashed as he blocked with his sword on his hand. His body was pushed back several meters as he was not used to close battle combat. "Master..."

"If you still consider me as your master, you should know what I want."

"I can’t..."

Master Rudy was his father’s master and at the same time, his. Back then, he was still very young and learned under Master Rudy’s tutelage for some time. Unfortunately, his talent brought him disaster. He had no other choices but to follow after Ferdinand.

"I’m really sorry, Pen, but this is going to be our last fight," Master Rudy smiled.

Pen became wary when he saw that smile. He knew that Master Rudy was determined to make this the last time they met with each other. One of them... had to die.

Even though Pen didn’t want this, he pushed the emotion back into his heart. His days in the government’s institution taught him that emotion was unnecessary. Having emotion would only expose him to weakness, and they would use the feelings he had.

He didn’t want to feel hurt anymore.

So he locked away his feelings.

Bam! Slash!

The trees crashed on the ground near Master Rudy as he sliced the other one. Master Rudy had started to feel that his body was not moving according to his wishes, which might be because he had forced the two of them to transport a long distance. However, he would not let his condition affect his fight.

"Is that all you have, Pen?"

"No, Master," Pen replied. His gaze had turned empty once more as he gathered his power once again, attempting to attack Master Rudy when he saw that Master Rudy didn’t even raise his blade.

At the last moment, he noticed that he switched places with Master Rudy with the heavy trees about to crash at him. He used his power to levitate them a bit but it was futile. He had consumed too much of his power today.

Swish! Crash! Stab!

Blood flowed out of Master Rudy’s lips. He stared at the sword that pierced through his heart. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Pen was buried deep under the two trees. At the last moment, Pen decided to use his power to control the sword, something he had never done before.

Master Rudy knew that Pen hated violence and most of all, he hated his power. Because of that, he never wanted to control things that might harm other people. Even if he was forced, he would not do that.

But at the very last moment, Pen controlled his sword to attack.

Even though he has large power, Pen didn’t have great physical abilities. The crash killed him immediately. Dying because of his own power... that was really sad.

Master Rudy sighed to himself as he pushed the thought into the back of his mind. Even though he used to be Pen’s master, it was already decades ago. Time had changed them and pushed the two of them to fight at the opposite side. There was no chance for them to return back to the past.

’I have to treat my body...ugh...’

Master Rudy cringed at the pain that appeared from deep within his body. He instantly understood. He had overtaxed his body when he used transportation several times. His old body couldn’t cope up with his increasing use of his power.

He dropped to the ground as a wry smile appeared on his lips.

His aged body had repeatedly told him that he was unable to exert his power as much as he did in the past. The battles he had with other people had decreased a lot over the recent years. Even though he still sparred occasionally with his disciples, they never tried to fight him seriously in fear that they might hurt him.

At the same time, they tried to close down the news about his condition deteriorating. Patrick stood at the forefront, becoming the shield that covered the truth.

’Ah, I’m too reckless this time.’

Master Rudy recalled his disciples. He truly wanted to stay much longer with them and have more spars with his disciples. But there was no more time left for him in this world.

’I guess, it’s time for the great Master Rudy to leave this world. I’m sorry, my disciples, I can’t teach you anything anymore.’

As he thought that, he breathed his last.

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