Cultivation Through Artifacts

"Got you!"

The very instant as the voice sounded, the masked man glanced to the side, only to see as his vision had been blocked by a small hand that appeared out of nowhere.

"!"

Right before the man, Liza was standing calmly with a darkened expression, while from the corner of her small mouth, trail of blood started to flow out slowly.

The man flinched slightly by the sight of this and wanted to fight back, but suddenly the maskless man appeared behind Liza.

"Haha! Brave, but you are still weak compared to me!" shouted the assassin with a slight chuckle as he saw his friend's sudden appearance, and without hesitation grabbed Liza's hand, holding her in one place.

The maskless man watching as his partner won't let Liza escape laughed wickedly and slashed toward her neck in an instant.

*Swish!*

*Clang!*

However, just before the assault could have reached her fair skin, from the side, Khal's knife appeared in a sudden flash, deflecting the attack with a swift move.

"What do you think you are doing?!" asked Khal calmly, but that calmness was the very vestige of an approaching storm.

Yet, when Khal noticed that the man was extremely close to him, he decided to seize the opportunity and without hesitancy, slashed toward the man's throat just in the same manner as he did to Liza.

"!"

Exactly at the same time as Khal moved, with her free palm Liza grabbed the man's hand tightly, holding him in one place firmly and raised her head.

"!?"

Watching Liza's ice-cold glare that felt like she pierced right into his soul, the man felt shivers run down his spine.

"You bit-."

However, without giving him the slightest amount of time to finish his curse, his body turned into an ice sculpture under a single second.

*Swish!*

"Argh... Bragh!!"

While Liza finished off the assassin with the mask, until then Khal's attack arrived before the other one, and with one smooth slash, he cut his throat up, making the man fell onto the ground with widened eyes.

"Brehg... Cough... Cough... Ahrgd!"

Watching as the assassin was holding tightly onto his throat with a horrified expression while coughing up a massive amount of blood, Khal crouched down next to the man.

Glancing at the knife in his hand which was covered with full of blood, Khal turned his glare at the man's sleeve and noticed something in it.

Just because of simple curiosity, Khal decided to snatch that thing out of the sleeve, only to see that it was a black ring hanging around a silvery necklace.

"What is this?" thought Khal and was about to check what was written on the ring, when suddenly the assassin next to him moved, and tried to stab his stomach with another knife.

"..."

However, Khal wasn't surprised at all. With his Heaven's Eyes, he was able to see all the movements and attacks around him, even if they came at him from the rear, let alone this.

*BAM!*

Without even looking at the man's attempt, Khal swung his knife, and with a powerful stab, pinned the man's palm hardly into the ground.

"Blergh!!"

Feeling the pain all over his hand, the man coughed up another amount of blood, causing his expression to slowly turn paler and paler.

Khal watching as the man was slowly taking his last breaths, turned to look at the ring in his hand and started to inspect it.

It was made out of black jade, while on its surface a symbol in a circular-shaped emblem was carved carefully.

It represented a dragon which mouth was wide open and was about to bite into its own tail, while its whole body was covered in blazing fire.

As Khal looked at the unfamiliar symbol, noticed as the man's body next to him started to loosen up and a few seconds later his other arms holding his throat dropped down to the ground heavily.

Not caring even the slightest about the fact that he just killed the man, Khal stood up and turned around only to see as Liza was kneeling before the man's frozen body, while her body trembled slightly.

Seeing her shaking body, Khal raised his hand and started to talk, "Liza wha-."

Or at least wanted to, but suddenly, a voice sounded in his head.

[Warning! Because the amount of 'Essence' in the body reached 0.]

['Exhaustion' now will occur...]

"Eh?"

Khal hearing the sudden voice in his head frowned slightly, but the next second his vision started to turn blurry and in the end, his whole body fell onto the ground heavily.

*Paff!*

"Huh? Khal?"

The last thing Khal was able to discern in his blurry vision was that Liza turned her crying face toward him and after that, everything turned pitch black.

***

Inside a spacious room, Khal was soundlessly lying on a bed, when suddenly his eyes shot wide open and sat up immediately.

"What the... Where... Where am I?", asked Khal with confusion, as he looked around the unknown surroundings around him.

Seeing as he was surrounded by several white beds with strange liquids, objects, and bandages put on the walls, Khal frowned slightly and mumbled, "A hospi-, argh!?"

However, just as he wanted to say that he was inside a hospital, suddenly powerful pain swept through his whole body, making himself to feel instantly weak and fragile.

Just only after a small while when the pain dissipated completely, was Khal able to lower his arm from his head and think slowly, "Yeah now I can remember it. I was assaulted and..."

Instantly, Miss Mary's corpse and Liza's crying face appeared inside his head, making Khal's expression to be darkened instantly.

However, the next second his eyes shot wide open, and thought, "Wait! Where is she? Where is Liza?"

Looking around to see if she was on one of the beds, Khal noticed she wasn't.

"I need to find her!", thought Khal and wanted to stand up, when suddenly the bracelet on his wrist slightly lit up and a voice appeared inside his head.

[Report! 'Body' has re-obtained sufficient 'Essence'.]

['Exhaustion' has vanished.]

"Eh?"

The moment Khal heard the sound frowned with confusion and looked at the bracelet on his wrist.

Just like always, it looked like a normal and ordinary bracelet, but with the only difference that this time it had a sky blue jade placed in its small gap.

As Khal was looking at the bracelet, suddenly the voice appeared once again inside his head, making him slightly surprised.

[Want to inspect your 'Status'?]

Hearing the voice, Khal's frown deepened a level more, not knowing what to say.

"What is this thing?", asked Khal with confusion, and instead of answering the question he grabbed the bracelet and started to take it off.

"ARGH!?"

Or at least he just wanted to, but couldn't. The moment he touched the bracelet and started to move it, an intense pain appeared inside his arm.

It was like something grabbed a saw and started to cut his wrist down. The pain was almost unbearable, but luckily except for that nothing else happened and it was only just a feeling.

"What the hell?", said Khal with shock and decided not to take the bracelet off.

Instead, he started to think for a while and said, "Sure. Show me my 'Status'."

Instantly as he said that the bracelet on his wrist lit up.

As this happened, Khal's confused expression turned to that of shock and his jaw fell wide open.

"What the... Hell?"