The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Isaac breezed through the empty streets like a gust of wind. He moved via back alleys and quickly reached the address Jón had given him earlier. It was a small garden with a pine tree and 8 graves. Each grave had a wooden plaque with various words from family or friends, but Isaac couldn't be bothered to read them. Instead, he stood on top of a grave.

Suddenly, he created a sword and thrust it downwards.

The sword pierced through the soil effortlessly, but then Isaac felt it meet some resistance. The blade kept going, but it had slowed down. It only stopped when half the sword was buried in the earth.

'Resistance. That means there's probably a body buried here.'

Isaac let go of the sword and it dissipated into thin air. Then he swiftly left the graveyard.

His bare hands were hardly an ideal tool for digging, so he searched for a tool shed he'd seen earlier. After sifting through his memories, Isaac remembered where the tool shed was and quickly found it. He created a sword and cut the lock, then stepped inside.

It was extremely dark, and Isaac could only make out the outlines of tools. Luckily, shovels had quite a distinctive silhouette. There were 2 propped up near the doorway, and Isaac grabbed one. Then he brought it back to the graveyard with him.

In the dead of night, in a small graveyard in Kukkula Village, there was strange, spooky figure. It stood there like a hunchbacked ghost watching over the graves. Sometimes the figure would utter a grunt or a sigh as the item in its hands was swung back and forth. If a villager came to visit now, they might think the place was haunted.

After a short while, the grunts ceased and Isaac's shovel stopped moving. The body was not buried very deep, so digging it up was an easy task. He threw the shovel to the side, got down on his knees beside the hole, and pulled the body out. Then he took a miniature lantern and packet of matches from his pocket. The latter was used to light the former, and light spilled out across a corner of the graveyard.

Isaac could now see the body clearly. It was dry and pale, as you would expect from a corpse. There was a severe sword wound in its chest, but that was caused by Isaac poking with his sword – no blood was flowing from the wound; the body's blood had coagulated long ago.

Other than his own sword wound, Isaac couldn't see any injuries on the body. He checked the hands, arms, chest, neck and head, but there weren't any bruises, scratches or signs of a struggle, let alone an obvious killer blow. Despite this, the corpse wore an expression of absolute agony: he must've been in great pain before he died.

Isaac understood why Anna thought this could be poisoning, but she'd missed one crucial detail: the victim's eyes were unusual. The corpse's pupils had contracted until they were only the size of pinpricks – extreme pupil contraction and an agonising death were both signs of a person's will being destroyed. Isaac believed this was how the man died.

However, not just anybody could destroy a will. In fact, it was almost certainly done by a cultivator with Anima which could attack the will.

Isaac also learnt something else from the body – whichever cultivator did this wasn't strong enough to instant-kill a commoner. Commoners typically had weak wills, but this man had been in pain for a few moments before he died – his expression showed that. That either meant the culprit was a Rank 1 cultivator who couldn't destroy a will instantly, or it was a sadistic cultivator who deliberately killed their victims in a slow, painful way.

Isaac had gleaned all he could from the body, so he reburied it. Then, he proceeded to dig up the other 7 people to see if they had any different characteristics. However, they all had the same signs, telling Isaac all 8 were probably killed by 1 person. He buried them all again, then put out his oil lamp and left.

He ditched the shovel in an alleyway on the way back and arrived at the house at an unknown time. He entered quietly.

There was a flickering candle which illuminated the shape of Eva sitting at the table,

"You're late."

She whispered as he walked by.

"I'm sorry, but I had quite an important task. I'll tell you about it tomorrow, so get some sleep for now."

"Fine. As long as you don't do this again."

Isaac nodded and Eva got up from the table. He took her place and she went to bed.

Isaac's watch passed uneventfully and he woke Johan a few hours later. Then Isaac went to get some sleep while Johan took watch. At about 6:30 am, Johan woke everybody.

"Come and eat breakfast at the table. I've got something to tell all of you."

Isaac gathered everyone to make the big reveal. He explained how he'd gone digging for bodies and described all the features of the corpses. He, and the others, concluded that last month's incident was caused by a single cultivator. This mysterious cultivator was now the prime suspect for the attacks on Kirk Village.

Isaac and the others continued to discuss. They knew a bit more about the culprit now, but they still didn't have a location, name or identity. Hell, they didn't even know the culprit's motive.

A motive... Isaac recalled the pale skeletons around the Sarcevic Wolf's den, then a moment of inspiration struck him like lightning.

"Wait... what if they wanted..."

Isaac explained his theory, leaving the rest of the group shocked. They all doubted whether what he said could be true, or if anybody was crazy enough to actually do it. However, they did agree that it was possible. They also thought that Isaac's plan for catching them was worth a try.

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At 9:30 in the morning, Isaac's group left Kukkula Village. They were heading back towards the Sarcevic Wolf's den for one final time.

Everyone was on high alert as they trekked through the snow, though they did their best to look relaxed. What Isaac had said weighed on their minds, and even the slightest noise or disturbance put them on edge.

The chirp of a bird in the trees, the rustling of branches in the wind, the crunch of snow underfoot – each sound felt more foreboding than the last. The group imagined the mysterious cultivator hiding somewhere in the woods, watching them. A hooded figure could be creeping up on them right now...

But of course, they turned around and saw nobody; there was no hooded figure or mysterious cultivator, just a small trail through the woods.

Soon, the group departed from that trail. They had to go off the beaten track and venture deeper into the woods to reach the den, so that was what they did. They pushed past trees, bushes and brambles to make their own path to the Sarcevic Wolf's den. Eventually, they reached their destination.

Skeletons were still strewn around the den's entrance, and Isaac inspected them again. However, he didn't notice anything new. He put the bones back, then spoke quietly to the team,

"If I am right – if there has been a cultivator hunting us, then we need to take the utmost care. After all, none of us want to become fuel for a demonic ritual like this. I'll act as the bait, while you guys stay in the den like you're investigating. If you hear me whistle, come as quickly as possible, since that means I've been attacked."

The others nodded solemnly and seriously. They all walked down into the Sarcevic Wolf's den, while Isaac stood outside with his hands in his pockets. He surveyed the surroundings briefly, and his silver hair was ruffled by the gentle breeze. Then, he steeled himself for a fight and set off into the forest.

The plan was simple: Isaac thought they were going to be attacked by the mystery cultivator, so he wandered off on his own to act as bait. When he got attacked, he would give the signal – a piercing whistle – and the rest of the team would come rushing out of the den to ambush the cultivator from behind.

*************************

Back in the den, Eva, Johan and Abbie were having a look around. However, Johan quickly noticed something strange. The Sarcevic Wolf had lost all its flesh – it was now a bare skeleton, just like all the other ones outside.

Johan explained to the others,

"It wasn't like this when we last came here. No, it still had all its flesh and blood – but now it's been reduced to a mere skeleton. I doubt animals could pick it clean within two days." his frown intensified, "Perhaps Isaac's right. Maybe this mysterious cultivator came back after we killed it, then used its flesh for another demonic ritual."

Eva and Abbie were also worried. They didn't know how long Isaac would be able to hold off another cultivator, and what if he was caught unawares? He could be ambushed and killed in one shot, then the 3 of them would be trapped here without a leader or a plan.

They could only sigh and hope Isaac would be alright.

They continued to look around the den, and Johan showed the others the deposits of ash on the earth. While Abbie was examining one, she caught movement in the corner of her eye.

"Hey... did that skeleton just move?"