Born In Ashes: The Enigma

Azrael closed his eyes to clearly sense Harris's emotions and—

Hatred, anger, rage, violence, a desire to kill and destroy— various forms of negative emotions that seemed to be the very source of chaos flooded into his mind.

Azrael immediately stopped sensing Harris's emotions, as he could feel them trying to affect him as well.

"So you are the one, huh…" Azrael muttered with narrowed eyes, genuinely surprised.

Among all three Tower Masters, Harris had been the one he suspected the least.

The reason for this was that Harris was married and spent many hours each day with Rose. If something was wrong with Harris—if he were a vessel of corruption—even if Rose didn't know about it, she would have noticed that something was off and her emotions toward him would have shown some hesitation.

However, from what Azrael observed during the recruitment event when he saw them together, it seemed that in Rose's eyes, Harris was a good man and she didn't appear to have any issues with him.

"Well, whatever. Now that I know who my target is, it's time to complete my trial."

Harris was a Level 17 Class Warrior, and now that he had borrowed power from the so-called Enders and become a vessel of corruption, Azrael wasn't sure just how strong he truly was.

Even if Harris had not become a vessel and was simply a normal Level 17 Class Warrior, Azrael still wasn't one hundred percent confident that he could kill him.

"Since you sleep with that knight's lover, it's only logical that I give that guy the opportunity to take revenge on you," Azrael muttered under his breath, thinking about the fake recordings he had shown to both Alex and Harris.

In case Alex had turned out to be the vessel of corruption instead of Harris, Azrael would have allowed Harris to take revenge on Alex for allegedly sleeping with his wife—

Or at least, that's what they would believe.

As soon as Azrael thought of this, the recording being played on the screen changed, and a man wearing a clown mask appeared.

Harris looked at the masked man with bloodshot eyes, a faint inky black aura beginning to emit from his body.

"Who are you?" Harris asked in a hoarse voice.

However, it was just a pre-recorded message Azrael had prepared in case Harris turned out to be the vessel of corruption. The clown did not respond to his question. Instead, he told him where Alex was.

"If you go there, you will see that scumbag. He is actually waiting for your wife out there," The clown said after revealing the location Azrael had lured Alex to, and in the next second, the scouting ball exploded.

When Harris heard that Alex was planning to meet his wife, his already unstable emotions erupted completely, and the inky black aura around his body intensified.

"Alex!" He roared in fury and dashed toward the location the clown had mentioned.

Even Azrael had taken only a few minutes to get to the Old Moon Market from where he met Alex. Harris, however, was far faster—and reached there in less than a minute.

It had not even been five minutes since Azrael left, and Alex was still there, struggling to calm his turbulent emotions.

At that moment, he felt a violent aura rapidly approaching his location.

For some reason, just sensing that aura made a chill run down his spine, and he shuddered involuntarily.

"This…" Alex was stunned as it was the first time in his life he had felt something like this.

He was a Level 15 Knight, and his powers weren't low—but the approaching aura gave him a deeply dangerous feeling.

"Why does this aura feel somewhat familiar?" Alex frowned, trying to sense it carefully… and in the next second, the emotions he had just barely managed to control spiraled out of control again.

"Harris…" He muttered through gritted teeth, a look of hatred flashing in his eyes.

He no longer cared why Harris's aura felt so chaotic and disturbing. Instead, he charged toward it, sword in hand.

The overwhelming auras of the two Tower Masters shocked the people of New Moon City, and panic spread like wildfire.

In seconds, the entire area around the Old Moon Market descended into chaos as people fled in every direction.

Alex and Harris soon caught sight of each other, and the moment their eyes met—

BOOM!

They held nothing back, releasing their full power.

Just as Azrael awakened the power of Wind, Alex possessed the power of Aura—a force different from elemental power.

Aura could strengthen one's body and weapon, making the wielder's attacks extremely lethal.

Alex's class was Knight, and his true strength surfaced when mounted, as his class granted buffs while riding.

However, even without a mount, he was far from weak.

When he was just fifty meters away from Harris, Alex's body and sword began to glow with a bright golden aura. He swung his blade, and a sharp, golden-colored sword light tore through the air, slicing apart the ground as it shot toward Harris.

Azrael didn't know what Class Harris had, but from what he'd heard, it seemed to be something similar to a Warrior.

As the terrifying sword light neared him, Harris's eyes flashed with a brown glow, and a massive hammer made of earth element condensed in his hand.

The brown hammer was enveloped in an eerie inky black aura, and with a single swing, Harris smashed the sword light apart.

Even while attacking, neither Harris nor Alex slowed down and in seconds, they closed the distance between them.

The glowing golden sword clashed with the inky black-brown hammer and—

BOOOOOM!

A thunderous explosion—like dozens of grenades going off simultaneously resounded throughout the Old Moon Market, and a massive shockwave swept out in all directions.

The ground cracked, sank, and then was blown apart from the sheer force of their clash.

"How dare you lay your hands on my wife?!" Harris roared, trying to push Alex back.

Alex was stunned for a brief moment after hearing Harris's words, but then his own eyes flared with anger.

"You bastard, how dare you call her your wife? She is mine!"

Hearing Alex claim Rose as his wife, Harris was consumed with rage, and the inky black aura around him intensified.

"I'll kill you!" He roared, and his power suddenly surged.

Alex's expression changed as he felt the sudden spike in Harris's strength. But before he could even grasp what was happening, a terrifying power burst from the earth hammer in Harris's hand—and Alex was blown backward like a kite whose string had been severed.

He crashed nearly twenty meters away, rolled across the ground, and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

He didn't even have time to stand before Harris appeared before him again, bringing down the massive hammer with full force.

Alex felt the hair on his body stand on end and quickly raised his sword to block the incoming blow.

BANG!

Alex's knees sank into the ground, and his hands trembled under the pressure—but he successfully blocked the hammer.

At that moment, Azrael also arrived at the battlefield and upon seeing Alex at a clear disadvantage and unable to inflict any damage on Harris, his brow furrowed in concern.