360 The Haughty Crane

"I know that affects us both, but I was sadly met with an unfortunate accident…"

Displaying a frown coupled with a bitter smile, I came out of the shadow and shrugged towards the two in black robes.

This act may make it seem like I didn't really care, but that was just how Crane behaved when he interacted with other demon seeds and even demons themselves, that was of course excluding 'his lord'.

"Huh? An accident you say? Did we really have to come up all the way here to find out about this little accident of yours?"

Irritation was apparent on the voice of the black-robed guy on the back as he removed his hood as well, revealing a face full of annoyance.

"Didn't I tell you to watch out already? Shut up! We still haven't heard about this accident for you to complain."

The scar-faced one on the front shouted out at his partner as he looked at me with an impatient expression, he was obviously demanding an explanation.

"So, Care to explain why the captive we should receive is currently a corpse, Deputy Black Fire?"

Black Fire referred to the moniker of Crane and deputy commander was his rank within the circle of demons and demon seeds, and that was also the current identity that I had impersonated.

Relying on Long's 'Illusion' as well as his 'Elemental Manipulation', I was somewhat able to enact that current situation that would have similarly occurred if I was truly captured, though there were quite a bit of changes due to the lacking material that I currently had.

I was indeed familiar with Crane's personality thanks to the mind search we did, but my ability to duplicate it wasn't perfect. On the other hand, I also had to stand close to the corpse of the clone just to establish a 'Share' and make sure nothing gets screwed up.

With how imperfect everything was, I naturally had to show other subtle actions to make it foolproof, especially with how I was already catching a little hint of doubt from the scar face's words.

"Naturally, but firstly, you should know that this is really out of my hands, you know I would also be in trouble because of this so don't act like this only affects you…"

Acting haughty and asking for recompense was also part of Crane's nature, he was obviously one of the top dogs within the demon seeds so he really acted like it.

"I apologize for acting out of place, Deputy…"

Under the stare of the impatient Scarface, the other black-robed bowed lightly as he apologized.

"That's better. Now then, it's true that I have managed to capture this little pest that threatened the sacred order and was already prepared to hand him over to you as the commander has asked, but I didn't really expect him to commit suicide as soon as he understood the hopeless situation he was in…"

Saying that, I shook my head to show that it was simply out of my hand…

"According to your report to the commander himself, you should have already restrained him well enough for such actions to be futile, yet you are saying the exact opposite of that?"

Doubt was definitely growing within the scar face's eyes…

"That's only what I thought, this guy was definitely a 'Hunter', he even resisted the sacred blessing! That was why I used the Ancient Mark Predator's shackles to confine his mentality, yet he was still able to detonate it somehow! He screamed something like 'glory be to the hunters!' before blowing up his mind space to pieces…"

In reality, it only took me one aggressive rotation around the shackles using my 'Telekinetic Force', but what I was telling was the only plausible scenario I would have died if my abilities were according to what the demons already knew about me.

"I see, then should we take the body over to the commander?"

As the black-robed in the back stayed silent, the scar face's still looked a bit doubtful, it wasn't to the point that he would think I was someone else, but considering how Crane acted, he was probably thinking he might have killed 'me' and was making up some excuse.

'And I'm quite thankful for that!'

"Ah, I'm sorry but that can't happen, I will be sure to relay what happened to the lord himself at a later date, but for him…"

Without continuing my speech, I took two more steps to 'my dead body' as a globe of black flame rose out of my hand…

"Rotten meat like this is supposed to be dealt with accordingly."

The small ball of black fire consumed the corpse completely, taking only a few seconds before only ashes were left.

This was exactly as it seemed like, disposing of the evidence!

"Then… we will be taking our leave…"

The scarface gave me a quick glance as he nodded slightly before turning his back to me and walking out towards the stairs.

"But-"

The other black-robed wanted to protest but was dragged by his robe by the scarface who abruptly stopped directly in front of the stairs.

'hmmm?'

My plan was to simply use Crane's infamy to make the doubt directed towards him as well as prove my identity as Crane by using his signature move element that combined both Dark and Fire elements.

That small ball was in reality made out of white 'Freezing Fire' that combined both Ice and Fire elements using the 'Icy Fire Formula' which had quite the similar properties to 'Dark Fire' and extreme burning capability which was how it easily turned the corpse to ash, the visual and elemental effects were all duplicated by Long as well.

Doing that was to naturally eliminate any doubt of my current fake identity as well as to dispose of the corpse that would reveal its actual form once it left the room���

"I will be sure to report what happened exactly to the commander."

Leaving these words, the scarface and his partner quickly disappeared from my sight as they ascended the stairs…

'That was close…'