Martial Arts Worlds

A navy battleship docked in Letzer Island's harbor. It had five tall masts with navy insignia adorning the sails, and a battle-hardened crew stepped off the ship, and they were greeted by a shocked-looking townspeople.

They had never seen a battleship of this size before. It was metallic and imposing with hundreds of cannons lining its sides.

If the captain of this wanted to, he could've easily blasted Letzer Island off the face of the earth with that firepower.

At the front of the soldiers, a man with a navy cap on walked down the town's main street with his arms behind his back and the navy coat billowing behind him like a cape.

"…"

Viktor, the Vice Admiral of the Navy, raised his gaze from below the cap and looked ahead at the town square.

A strange sight opened up in front of him.

The town square had a tree. It looked like it was cut. However, it looked like the townspeople tried to fix it and bolted some kind of metal belt to the spot of the cut.

Thus, the tree trunk was crudely put together with metal rods and screws, giving it a bizarre appearance.

"What in the world is this?" Viktor frowned and stopped in front of the tree.

His navy soldiers, who were brandishing their rifles, stopped behind him and stood at attention while keeping their eyes locked on their Vice Admiral.

The townspeople peeked from inside their homes. They didn't dare to step outside.

"Sir!"

A navy officer ran from the hill, panting as he put his right hand against his forehead, saluting the Vice Admiral.

"Rear Admiral Marshall is waiting for you in the medical bay!"

The navy officer then turned around, ready to lead the Vice Admiral to their fortress, but he then noticed that he wasn't moving but instead looking at the strange tree.

"What is this?" Viktor asked as he pointed at the tree.

"Ah, that…" the navy officer scratched the back of his head. "The culprit, who is the reason why you're here, must've done this. For some reason, he cut this beloved tree of ours.

"It had been here since the creation of this town!"

"Hah…" Viktor laughed in amusement. "You fools, why are you putting this tree together?"

"Eh?" The navy officer looked confused. "The townspeople insisted on doing it. It is important to them. Some of them have gotten married under this tree."

"Fools, like I said," Viktor chuckled and then walked past the navy officer. "I can find Marshall by myself. I need you to get rid of this tree at this very instant. Burn it too, please."

"May I ask why, sir?" the navy officer asked in surprise.

"You guys had a cursed tree right here, and none of you knew about it?" Viktor laughed.

"C-cursed tree?!"

The navy officer paled and turned to the tree with a look of shock. He even took a few steps back, clearly spooked by the revelation.

Viktor smirked and just shook his head, leaving behind the shocked navy officer.

"E-ehm…" The navy officer looked around until he found a few soldiers of his and waved his hand.

"Hey, you guys, come help me carry this tree away. We must burn it right away!"

…

Viktor pushed open the medical bay's doors, and frightened a couple of doctors there.

"You're here." Marshall stood up from his seat and offered a handshake. "My name is Rear Admiral Marshall; it is a pleasure."

Viktor ignored his hand and walked to the window, where he could see the navy soldier bedridden.

"Ahem…" Marshall cleared his throat. "That's the soldier why you're here. I believe a powerful Mindbreaker erased his memory."

"I know, I've already received the report."

Viktor said and turned to look at him.

"First of all, I want to know why there was a cursed tree planted in the middle of this town?"

"What?" Marshall's eyes bulged open. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"That tree in the town square. I saw it, you know. A cursed tree as plain as day."

"W-what?" Marshall exclaimed.

Viktor narrowed his eyes and looked at Marshall's dark gray eyes. The eyes showed surprise, but there was something else lurking behind them.

"I know some people have intentionally planted cursed trees to improve the living conditions of their dying towns. I hope you wouldn't be foolish enough to do that."

"O-of course not!" Marshall exclaimed.

"Then how come you didn't notice the cursed tree's effects? It must've done something, so why don't you tell me?"

"I—um…" Marshall struggled to speak. "This city and its people had been very happy. It was the cursed tree's effects."

"So, you knew about the cursed tree?" Viktor asked.

"Yes…" Marshall sighed deeply. "It was just making people here happy, so I didn't find anything wrong with it."

"This town was extremely lucky that the tree got destroyed," Viktor said. "There's no telling what other effects it could have had in the future, but one thing is for sure: that happiness is as fake as it gets, and for that, the curse would've been very deadly."

"…" Marshall nodded in embarrassment.

"Anyway, I am here for this brat, right?" Viktor turned to the window. "I don't want to be disturbed."

"Of course, sir."

Marshall then waved to the doctors, and they all left Viktor alone in the room.

Viktor entered the navy soldier's room and saw that his eyes were open. No one allowed him to leave because they didn't want anything to happen to him before the Vice Admiral arrived.

"Sir!" The navy soldier saluted and sat as straight as he could.

He was feeling somewhat uncomfortable because Vice Admiral came from the headquarters just for him.

Viktor walked to his bed and said. "I need you to stay silent and awake. I will be going into your mind now."

"Y-yes!"

Viktor placed two of his fingers against the navy soldier's forehead and then closed his eyes.

The navy soldier's eyes widened in shock, and his black eyes turned blank white as if they were blinded.

Viktor's brows furrowed, and he then exclaimed and opened his eyes wide.

"Gone? How?"