Martial Arts Worlds

"Is something wrong, Kiernan? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Julian saw as he immediately noticed the change in Kiernan's expression.

The strange part was that he was just staring in front of him, as if there was something in the air in front of him that only he was able to see.

"I have to go."

Kiernan stood up and dropped the ice bag on the table.

He had forgotten about these random quests that might pop out randomly. The last time was during his early days after reincarnation.

Back then he had to defeat Irio High. It had been a long time since then, and now, this second quest came without any warning!

'Five dead students if I fail. They will most likely die because of this soul fragment, whatever that is.'

"Is everything alright?"

Julia asked worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I just have something to do."

Kiernan headed out quickly, and without going back to his dorm room to change into something warmer, he left the dormitory, hurrying towards the school buildings.

'That quest didn't specify which school building. There is Montclair High's school buildings, and then Karuza High's side. Which one is it?!'

He pulled out a phone from his pocket, opened the chat app, and went to the private chat room with Cold Shade.

'She might know what this soul fragment is.'

[Revenant: Do you know what a soul fragment is? I might've found one]

[…]

It didn't look like Cold Shade was online on the chat app yet.

While waiting for her answer, he ran to the school building. It was closed. He broke the window, opened the door, and ran inside.

The dark hallways seemed eerie with cold wind blowing through them. It was almost like he had entered a haunted house.

Ding! Ding!

A message came.

[Cold Shade: How did you find one… Soul fragments are part of the martial souls. Those can only appear if the martial soul got destroyed, which made a 'ghost' of that martial artist linger in the area where that happened]

[Revenant: Are they hostile?]

[Cold Shade: Depends on the person. Some are peaceful. Others are not.

[Revenant: I think this one is very hostile]

[Cold Shade: If you can kill it, you definitely should. Just in case, you should ask for help from your master]

'Yeah, there is not really a good way to explain this whole scenario to Sabbath. I'll see first if I can defeat it. One hour time limit is not much.'

[Cold Shade: Once a soul fragment is killed, it will drop a soul fragment. It is like a round pearl-looking thing. So far, no one has found any use for it, but don't get rid of it]

'Interesting.'

Kiernan pocketed his phone and started running around the school building. He went through every hallway, classroom, and even the gymnasium.

However, he couldn't find any ghostly beings.

It had already been thirty minutes since he received the quest.

'That ghost isn't in the Karuza High area, that's for sure!

He ran through the school grounds, broke into Montclair High's school building, and started his search there.

He just hoped that he wouldn't get caught by any school faculty. It would be very hard for him to explain why he broke in here in the first place.

However, while searching through the school building, he came across a hallway that wasn't all dark and eerie as the rest of the school.

Some light came under the door at the end of the hallway, and he felt drawn towards it.

He sneaked there, kept the sound of his footsteps at the minimum, and then peeked through a window.

To his surprise, he saw a group of five sitting around a table, looking like they were studying.

'Studying…?'

Kiernan looked on top of the door, and it read 'Library.'

'Why are they studying here and not back in the dormitory? Hmm, maybe it is too loud for them. These could be students that want to study, but since the rest of the school is a rowdy bunch, it is impossible to study in the dormitory.'

At that moment, he remembered the punishment aspect of the quest. It said that five students would die.

There were exactly five students in the library.

'That soul fragment will appear here and kill these five!'

Kiernan put his hand on the doorknob but immediately removed his hand from it and hid behind a corner.

'I now know where the ghost will appear. In that library. When it appears, I'll kill it. Unfortunately, I have to use these five as bait. It is the only way.'

The time passed by.

Kiernan made sure to have the stopwatch open on his phone. It had been fifty-five minutes since the start of the quest.

At that moment, the air turned freezing.

When he breathed out, cold, frosty air clouded in front of him.

'Why did it become so cold suddenly?'

Then, at the end of the hallway, a nearly transparent, blue-skinned ghost appeared. It floated above the ground, as if it was hanging from strings, swaying slightly back and forth.

Kiernan stopped breathing and hid behind the corner.

'Four minutes remaining till the end of the quest. I don't have time to properly fight that ghost. I'll have to kill it instantly, and I know a perfect way to do it!'

The soul fragment got touched by the light coming from the library. It looked over and saw the five studying people, all focused on the books.

Its eyes turned cold with rage, then it touched the doorknob and eerily opened the door.

The students looked over in shock. They thought it was a teacher at first and that they would get in trouble, but to their shock, it was some strange-looking ghost!

"Kyaa!"

"What the hell is that?!"

"A prank? This must be a prank, right? Mateo, very funny!"

However, the ghost looked at them with deadly intent and then grinned. Its skin started to rip, and its mouth turned wide open in a terrifying smile, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

The students dropped their books in shock and backed away, but then collided with one of the shelves, which fell down with a loud crash.

"Death Lance!"

SPURT!

A hand pierced through the ghost's chest. The ghost looked down at the hand that was piercing straight through it.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It let out an inhumane shriek and then exploded in a shower of blue flames.

CLICK!

A blue, round-shaped pearl landed on the ground. It was the soul fragment! Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire

Kiernan took the pearl from the ground, smiled, and pocketed it.

Ding! Ding!

[Quest Completed!]

[1,000 XP Acquired!]

[1,000 Gold Acquired!]

"W-who are you?"

The students exclaimed.

"W-wait, you're Kiernan Hunter. W-why are you here? You aren't supposed to be here!"

"Sigh…"

Kiernan entered the library, closed the door behind him, and scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry, but none of you will remember anything that happened here. I have to erase your memories."

"E-eh?"

"Twisted Amnesia!"

Swoosh!

Five bodies dropped to the ground, unconscious.