Hitman with a Badass System

The meteor appeared, bringing down thunderclaps and several flashes of lightning. Those who witnessed the Dark Lord casually creating a meteor trembled. Even the Guardian captains halted their steps. Hunter lowered his arms without uttering a word, letting the meteor loose towards the Holy Church. Despite the church being protected by several arrays and countless runes, they were unable to stop the meteor. According to Michael's world sense, the spell Hunter cast belonged to the Legendary class. Even in Hunter's world, the meteor spell was a top-tier spell. Not every image had the mana to cast such a powerful spell.

"Your Holiness!" The Holy Guards quickly surrounded the old man, forming a human chain around him. They all promptly grabbed each other's arms as their armor began to radiate bright warm energy. In a few blinks of an eye, a light beam shot out from the sky to envelop the holy guards and the old man.

HRRRRMMMM!

Meanwhile, the meteor approached the holy church, creating ear-piercing thunderclaps and countless lightning cracks in the sky. The energy distortion in the atmosphere petrified everyone. Because of the spell's power, the space around them was distorted, preventing the teleportation from working. That was why the alpha guardians who tried to teleport to the holy church failed to do so. Fortunately, it worked in Michael's favor. Too many Alpha guardians and powerful people might result in more suspicion.

BOOOM!

The meteor crashed onto the holy church as Michael saw the golden dorm around the church flicker vigorously before finally fading away. Under the burning meteor, the church crumbled into pieces. Regardless of the pain in his arm, Michael smiled at the holy church's destruction. Everything within a kilometer radius was crumbled to nothing but ashes. Michael asked Hunter to put on a show but never expected Hunter to bring such destruction upon the Royal land.

Atleast, the guardians evacuated the nobles and the people on time. Still, the meteor took many lives. The shock wave even destroyed some of the walls around King Kramer's castle. Everyone coughed and closed their eyes due to the mushroom cloud produced by the crash. The rest were tossed into the air like kites without anchors except for Michael and a few others. Michael quickly rubbed his eyes, trying to locate Hunter.

Eventually, Michael was able to open his eyes to see Hunter hovering in the air. Unfortunately, due to the dust storm and the fire particles in the air, Michael could barely see Hunter.

Hunter grinned, admiring the destruction he caused. A while later, he slowly turned his gaze,

"Get your schedule free. I will meet you next week. It's going to be a helluva ride,"  Michael smirked before flying into the vortex above him.

"He took my armor," Michael growled but after thinking about how much Hunter helped him, he couldn't help smiling inside.

"It's time for a new armor anyways," Michael really felt light-hearted and relieved. Not because he destroyed the holy church, although it was part of a reason for his delight, but because everyone witnessed Ghost fighting the Dark Lord. It would be hard to connect him to the Dark Lord now. Even though Michael had no idea that Mutrad connected Ghost to the Dark Lord, his plan completely messed up Mutrad's theory. In the battle between wits, Michael scored one against Mutrad.

After several hours, the guardians erupted white tents in the wasteland, which was previously the holy church surrounded by an alluring maple forest. Michael sat on a chair inside of the tents, waiting for someone from the guardians to appear.  A couple of holy guards and guardians both were at the Soul Refining stage stood guard on each core of the square tent, protecting Michael. Everyone believed Ghost was the Dark Lord's target, and he destroyed the holy church because they allied themselves with Ghost. While waiting, Michael drummed the table with his fingers. Eventually, Michael saw a blue-haired young man with a tiny fish tattoo on the center of his forehead entering the tent.

Although the youngster looked human, something about the young man made him stand out. To Michael's surprise, the young man was at the Fusion stage, almost as strong as his Ghost persona. Nevertheless, the Dark Lord could still crush the youngster in a few moments unless the young man possessed some sick legendary spells.

"How're you feeling?" the young man asked Michael with neither a friendly nor hostile voice.

"Good, I guess," Michael sighed.

"Before we go further, let me introduce myself properly. I am Mutrad Halrid. I am here to investigate and catch the Dark Lord before he does more damage than he already has," Mutrad said gravely.

Michael was surprised by Mutrad. He thought he would meet someone from the Sea folk but never expected their meeting would happen this soon. Regardless, Michael didn't show his surprise on his face.

"I hope you succeed Lord Mutrad," Michael nodded as though he really gave his blessing to Mutrad. In reality, Michael was imagining crushing Mutrad to a bloody pulp. In a few seconds, Michael killed Mutrad in multiple ways.

"Now tell me what happened before you appeared in the royal land," Mutrad asked.

"Well, I was in Thera. I went there to attend the Aqua auction," Michael began to recount everything truthfully except the part where he went to catch Heinburg's killer and the part where he met Mugashuku.

"I don't know where he came from. One moment I was in my room, and the next, I was in the sky near the holy church,"

"Did he say anything about why he chose you as his next target?" Mutrad asked.

"He was saying some bullshit about me using my talents to profit instead of helping the needy," Michael said. He knew how Noah felt about him as the latter always disliked Michael selling his potions for high prices to the nobles instead of helping the poor. So Michael decided to connect Noah with the Dark Lord as much as possible.

"Where were you in Thera exactly?"

"Yaserius. There is a plague going on there, and guess who found the cure," Michael smirked,

"I was brewing the cures when that evil bastard teleported me here. Now I have to find another portal to get to Thera again," Michael sounded genuinely mad. In fact, he was mad at Hunter. By destroying the holy church, he destroyed the teleportation portal.  He could use the runic teleportation to get to Thera. First, however, Michael needed to go through a teleportation portal to avoid raising any suspicions.

"Did you hear the Dark Lord saying he has been summoned?" Michael questioned Mutrad for a second.

"Hmm," Mutrad nodded,

"Is there any chance there is another one above the Dark Lord?" Michael asked Mutrad, putting Mutrad in deep thought.

No matter how hard he thought about the facts, Mutrad couldn't connect Ghost to the Dark Lord anymore. The facts simply didn't sit right with his theory of Ghost being the Dark Lord anymore. So, as a member of an advanced civilization, Mutrad infused himself with the ability to see through someone's cultivation level in Elon and Ozer. Because of that, Mutrad was able to see Michael's Fusion Stage cultivation, and the Dark Lord was at the Celestial Stage.

After seeing the Celestial stage cultivation level, Mutrad's theories such as Ghost using puppets, slaves, and illusions to duplicate himself, went out the window. No way anyone could create a Celestial stage duplicate. Even among Sea Folks, only one Celestial being existed. Atleast, that's what Mutrad learned from his elders.

Mutrad couldn't explain or connect Ghost to the Dark Lord anymore. He was so sure about that, but now, his theory crumbled to pieces. Thus, the best thing Mutrad could do was get as much information about the Dark Lord from Ghost. If Ghost was really the Dark Lord's target, he needed their help as much as they needed his.

"Maybe or maybe not," Mutrad answered nonchalantly.

"Do you have any idea why he wanted to kill you in front of the Holy Church? You saw the spell he cast. If he wanted to kill you, you would have been dead,"

"Yeah, no shit," Michael rolled his eyes,

"Didn't you hear him screaming how he wanted to torture me instead of giving me a painless death? He must have really liked to put on a show. Man, I can't wait to get back to Mazeroth. That might be the only place I'll be safe,"

As far as Mutrad could tell, Ghost wasn't lying. There were no signs of him lying on his face. Even the micro reactions, his eye movement, and voice modulation were perfect, almost too perfect. Everything Mutrad saw led him to believe Ghost was not the Dark Lord. In fact, he might be the Dark Lord's target, and every fact he had previously might just be a coincidence.

Unknowing to Mutrad, the confusion and chaos in his mind were visible to Michael. He had to thank Hunter for coming to his word when he did. If it wasn't for him and the overpowered spell he cast, Michael couldn't have convinced and terrified everyone at the same time. He doubted anyone would voluntarily agree to chase the Dark Lord anymore.

But Michael's plan wasn't over yet. Instead, he had one last piece, a crucial piece. He entrusted his beloved Gaya to the last part of his plan. Suppose everything went according to his plan, even the Skyhall would think twice before messing with the Dark Lord.

"Can I go now Lord Mutrad? I am exhausted. If I am going to die, I want to enjoy the last moments of my life with my fiancee instead of sitting in this tent. No offense,"

"None taken," Mutrad said, heaving a sigh of relief.

Michael finally stood up,

"I really hope you catch that bastard Lord Mutrad. May the gods are with you on your hunt," Michael smiled at Mutrad before walking out of the tent. Now that Hunter had destroyed the portal, he had to visit Aragoth to use their portal. Fortunately, he knew Olivia. So using their portal wouldn't be a hassle.

From now on, Michael could entirely focus on building his business empire as Ghost and Order of Death in the shadows as the Dark Lord.