Hitman with a Badass System

"No," Michael outright rejected the old man's offer. His words startled everyone, including the old man. The immortal creased his brows. He wondered whether the young man heard him right or not.

"If I join the council, will you let me destroy Thusia?" Michael questioned the old man. His words were loud enough for everyone to hear.

As expected, the old man shook his head.

"As a Half Immortal, you cannot meddle in any mortal affairs. You have to let go of your hatred. You cannot achieve immortality with it,"

Michael snickered.

"My hatred toward Thusia knows no bounds. I don't want or need the council. I appreciate the offer, but I am not going to join," Michael said. He was nonchalant.

"Think about it once again. This will be the first and last time you will get an offer to join the council. If you reject it, you won't get it forever,"

"Okay," Michael rubbed his chin.

" Can you wait until after I settle my scores with Thusia?" asked Michael.

But as expected, the old man shook his head.

"No. You have to make your decision now,"

"Then my answer is no. I won't join the council,"

The old man just sighed inside his mind. He was not any run-of-the-mill cultivator to get offended by Michael's choice. Like almost all the Immortals, the old man trained his mind and body to keep his emotions in check. The only emotion he felt was pity. It was very unfortunate to see a talented young man like Ghost waste his potential due to hatred and vengeance. But he made his choice, and there was nothing he or the council could do.

Without the young man joining the council, no one could control his actions. Therefore, the old man knew if the young man decided to wreak havoc in the world, the responsibility of stopping him would fall on the Guardian guild's shoulders. He was a human, so among the eight great clans, the human-centric guardian guild had to control him.

"I hope your enmity is worth wasting your life," The old man said as he slowly ascended to the sky.

"We shall never meet again," The old man calmly said before turning himself into bright light and disappearing into the cloudy sky. Once the immortal disappeared from their sight, the people heaved a sigh of relief. Although Claire seemed to have an opinion of her own, she didn't speak her mind. Ghost was no longer a disciple or a typical cultivator of her standards. Rather, Ghost was a Half Immortal, and it was not her place to advise him anymore.

He smiled at Claire before looking at everyone hovering in the sky.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I wish I had met you under different circumstances. But as soon as I finish my little task, I will hold a grand gala celebrating my achievement. I hope everyone will attend with your loved ones. I am sure we have a lot to talk about making this world a better place," said Michael.

Many were pleasantly surprised by Michael's words. Unlike the thought, he was neither too arrogant nor prideful. Instead, his words were friendly and warm. He looked like a person they could be friends with him. Member of the council or not, all of them wanted to be Michael's friend. Having a Half Immortal by their side would give them a massive advantage over their rivals.

But those who had a friendly relationship with Thusia broke into a sweat. He chose not to join the council because of his hatred toward Thusia. No matter what it was, Thusia was in trouble. None of them thought Thusia could survive the wrath of a Half Immortal like Michael. Even if Thusia managed to defeat him somehow, the battle would leave the kingdom in ruins. At that time, Thusia's enemy kingdoms would pick the flesh off the bones like vultures. Either way, Thusia was screwed.

However only Michael knew destroying Thusia was not as simple as it sounds. With the Cosmic stream, Maxim Barnes could become a Half Immortal anytime. According to Michael's plan, by the time he and Maxim meet on a battlefield, Thusia would be nothing but a ruin.

Michael didn't linger around for long. He just exchanged a few pleasant words with his friends and allies before heading toward Thusia with Gaya and Nightmare. His destination was a kingdom that was currently at war with Thusia, Kingdom Zulon.

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

The continent of Awor contained five kingdoms; Kingdom Zulon, Kingdom Suven, Kingdom Idrisal, Kingdom Northguard, and Kingdom Itholan. But everything changed when Thusia claimed Kingdom Itholan belonged to Thusia. King Maxim Barnes waged an overseas war against Itholan, and to everyone's surprise, he conquered Itholan using his mighty army. At that time, no one guessed King Maxim would decide to move his entire kingdom from the Elon continent to the Ozer continent. He sold the land in Elon to Royal land and Dradel. His decision was unheard of. It took Maxim five months to transport the citizens from Elon to Ozer. He decimated the once proud kingdom of Itholan and transformed it into new Thusia. He didn't stop with Itholan. A month after settling into Ozer, he provoked the Northguard, forcing them to wage war against Thusia. The result of the war was the same. King Maxim Barnes decimated Northguard to become the largest kingdom and superpower in Ozer. All of it was possible because of the Thusian special force and General Booth.

King Maxim used every single tactic, whether it was dirty or not to win wars. One by one cities and villages fell to the might of the Thusian army. He burned down the villages that refused to surrender and tamed the cities that opened their gates to the Thusian army. In the span of one year, King Maxim Barnes conquered two kingdoms and built an army powerful enough to rival the superpowers in Awor itself.

The entire Ozer continent was thrown into war because of one man, King Maxim Barnes. Except for Idrisal that initiated a secret shady deal with Maxim, every other kingdom was at war. Michael's destination Zulon was on the verge of getting conquered by Thusia. Except for their capital, every city and village had fallen under the might of the Thusian army.

The city of Westborough was built amidst the ivory fields of snow and was truly a contemporary wonder. Its wonder was matched by the backdrop of a gentle mountain which has helped shape the city into what it is today. The resources these mountains brought were of great importance, but they were also influential when it came to architectural designs, as the vast majority of buildings have been built in the shape of those same mountains.

Even the war couldn't mask the beauty of Westborough, as it looked luxuriant. With its ash wood rooftops, oak wood walls, and foggy fields, the city had a seductive atmosphere. The main attraction was the towering five-story building in the middle of the city. It was built by orcs to educate the children in Zulon regardless of their race, social status and wealth. Under the orc king, Baladur, Zulon prospered for ages without war or any sort of struggle until Thusia waged war against them.

Science and development was flourishing in Zulon, and it had attracted a lot of attention. The orcs maintained a peaceful relationship with all the nearby kingdoms. One could think orcs were a ruthless, brutal race by their looks. On the contrary, orcs lived a peaceful life. They were gentle, kind and caring.

They didn't even bother to build a big enough army to defend themselves in case of invasion. It was a mistake and a vulnerability that Maxim Barnes took full advantage of. Without a strong army to fend off the invaders, every city and village in Zulon fell to the Thusian army like dominos.

No amount of science and education could save Zulon from the might of Thusia.

At the moment, Captain Yagnar sat inside his room, rummaging through the scrolls on his table. The candlelight illuminated his green skin and two broken tusks sticking out of his mouth. A few weeks ago, he was on duty to protect Prince Zorfu. The most dangerous battle he had ever gone through was a rabbit wolf they came across when they went hunting in the nearby forest.  But suddenly, everything changed. General Orkavei died in the hands of General Maddox 'The mad', one of the most ruthless generals serving under King Maxim.

As a result, Captain Yagnar became the new General. It was a promotion Yagnar had never wished for.

"General Yagnar," suddenly, a dwarf came into the room running. The dwarf's chest rose and fell in a certain rhythm.

"What is it?" asked Yagnar.

The dwarf opened and closed his mouth as no words escaped his mouth.

"Take a deep breath," said Yagnar.

The dwarf took not one but few deep breaths. Yagnar saw the glimmering fear in the dwarf's eyes.

"General Maddox…he and his men are on their way to here. They will reach the city by dusk, and they are not alone,"

Yagnar creased his thick brows.

"What do you mean they are not alone?"

"He's bringing hostages. They are all from lawson village,"

Yagnar clenched his fist. He slammed the table before rising from his chair.

"Lawson village?!" His thick voice was filled with uncontrollable rage and fury. Lawson village was his birth place. He grew up there. What made him more furious was that the village was located far away from the path leading to Westborough. This meant, Maddox went out of his way to assault the village and capture the villages.

Deep down, he knew why Maddox did that. He wanted to use the villagers as leverage to make Yagnar open the city gates.

"What do we do, General Yagnar?" asked the dwarf.

"Send the word to his majesty. We will do everything in our power to save both the city and the villagers," Yagnar said. But both the dwarf and Yagnar knew saving one was impossible let alone the two. At this time, they could only pray for a miracle.

"Yes, General Yagnar," The dwarf bowed quickly before running out of the room.

After the dwarf left the room, the fury and anger in Yagnar's eyes turned into fear.

"I just wanted everything to be over," He collapsed onto the chair. In a few hours, General Maddox would be at his doorsteps. Yagnar hoped his majesty has a way to save his villagers. However, it was highly unlikely anyone would sacrifice an entire city for a village of a hundred lives.

"What would you have done, General Orkavei?" Yagnar asked himself. General Orkavei was their hope to fend off the invaders. He was a master tactician and an honorable fighter. But even Orkavei fell to the blades of General Maddox. Maddox broke Zulon soldiers' spirit by burning Orkavei alive in front of their eyes.

Yagnar could only imagine what Maddox would do to the villagers if they refused to open the city gates.