《Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!》 -1 Prologue @@ [16 September 1995] "I... There''s... There''s no other way. Y... You must..." She coughed uncontrollably, flecks of blood and flesh mixed with phlegm leaving her mouth. A middle-aged man stood beside the golden-haired beauty, the both of them weary, dirty and covered in blood from injuries. But the difference was that the woman was lying on the ground, her life-blood flowing out of her from a deathly injury; one that no magic could restore. He gazed up above their heads and saw the planet Jupiter hurtling through the cosmos and unto the Earth like a planetary missile, its impact imminent within the next minutes. "I''m s-sorry..." The tear stricken girl wept before him, growing weaker by the second. He felt unwillingness well up inside him, even as the heat from the celestial body above approached, evaporating all the sweat and tears he shed before they could fall from his eyes. He felt cheated. With all his strength. With all his striving. Despite all his power, he... He could not save both her and this wretched world. "AHHHHHHH!!!!" A desperate cry, against the injustice of this world. Against the fate that he had struggled so strongly against. Against his loneliness and heartbreak that he could not shake off, though decades had passed. He raised up his hands, eyes turned red from madness, fury and blinding sorrow, then pointed his hands at the descending gas giant. "This is for you..." "...My love." "Transcendent Spell..." "Ultima!!!!"@@ 1 Dashed Dreams Note before beginning: Firstly, the first 25 chapters have a wide focus that also includes other key character''s perspectives (characters who may not be with the MC at that time). These sections help to set the background of why and how the characters around the MC act, and also shape his decisions since he lacks the information that you, the reader, know! These include 2 important flashbacks in the first 5 chapters that set the stage for what (I believe firmly) will be an epic journey for the MC as he rises to create his own Legend and Myth as the strongest! The MC will always be the MC, but the early developments of other side characters is important to set the stage for an epic journey! All these stories will impact our MC''s life, sometimes positively while at others times, these events will harm him! Secondly, one of the driving factors in the story is MC''s personality growth - from being someone who can''t assertively take control of his fate (i.e. a loser), to a man who dominates even fate itself! However, his journey includes losing out in life and being fearful/ hesitant for the first 25 chapters! Hope you can bear with me on this and make it through the starting! --- Chapters 1-15: Darker theme, defeat and Regaining Powers Chapters 16-30: Medium theme, reawaken, disoriented Chapters 31 onwards: Light-hearted, growth and more comedy --- [Many years earlier] [16 September 1945 Morning 7:53 AM] [In a forest on the outskirts of London after the end of the War between Worlds] *Plimp plimp plimp plamp plettere*! The sound of the rock skipping across the water concluded with the stone sinking. Mikael remained frozen in the throwing pose, distracted. Or rather wishing to be distracted from the pain in his heart. ''Love... The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.'' The tall, handsome and athletic 23-year old revealed his nerdy side - a love for quoting literature and to wax poetic at times. It helped, sometimes. Especially when it came to expressing the longing in his heart for home, and for the one he loved who was not his lover. A loved one who now belonged forever to another. ''Unless he dies... Unless I... I kill him...'' "Hah!" He closed his eyes as he laughed at his sad, pathetic self. The youngest legendary mage in all of history; one of the 7 renowned Heroes of the War between Worlds. One of the front-liners and greatest champions of mankind against their human invaders from across the planar portals... Yet he wouldn''t even hurt a fly, much less hurt an innocent man! ''Despicable and repugnant though he may be...'' He felt like spitting when he thought about the man and the mother of his beloved who had forced her into the unwilling marriage. A sudden wave of emotion overcame him, forcing him to scrunch his eyes tightly closed, staving off the tears and heart-wrenching pain that threatened to overcome him whenever he remembered what had happened last week - and the first and only love of his life. Sara, his beloved. He brooded as he thought about his past. A painful past, one that had transformed from a memory of constant joy to... Shame. He remembered. Remembered that morning 2 years ago when a younger, more naive version of himself had walked along the streets of the town and waved good-morning to the neighbours who had smiled warmly and waved back to him. He had gulped, sweat pouring down his brown - though not from the heat, but from anxiety. He was headed to make a monumental decision today; a turning point in his life. He was going to meet the future in-laws and propose to Sara. Intelligent, strong-willed, full of resourcefulness, independent. Her alcoholic father had lost his job at the tin mines ten years ago when the planar war started. Her mother, a victim of the times and societal expectations, was not allowed to work and struggled to manage the household duties due to her bad health. As such, her eldest daughter had to work to provide for her family AND raise the kids - a family of 9 younger siblings. From the tender age of 13, Sara had been forced to shoulder her family''s burdens even as she struggled to complete her studies - collecting wooden sticks in the afternoon, rolling tobacco cigarettes for the soldiers in the evening,cooking for the family at night. Then at night, ushering the rowdy siblings to sleep while her father drank away what meager savings her family still possessed, before finally studying by candlelight and sleeping for 4 hours. The next morning she would have to wake up at 5 AM to cook breakfast for the family and nasi lemak to sell before school. Then going to school from 7:45 AM. For ten full years, she had struggled through adversity. But she made it through - supported by the love of her childhood sweetheart and classmate, Mikael. Today, at the age of twenty one, he gathered his courage, faced her parents and requested Sara''s hand in marriage. "She''s too young... Give her three more years..." Her elderly mother - who he called Auntie - had said. He nodded - whether three years or thirty, their love would never fade. That night, Mikael and Sara had sat under a tree and promised - they would forever belong to one another, until the day the sun no longer rose in the east. They carved their names into the wood with a heart engraved around it - a sign of their promise. Then he had left, conscripted into the war. Those 2 long years of fighting were horrific, long and gruelling. But the young man rose up quickly in the ranks while holding on to the hope; to the promise of his loved one. He would write letters; letters that received no response. He checked the address time and time again before sending them, but every time the mailman returned to camp there was nothing for Mikael. He thought back to what had happened just a week ago. On the fateful day after the war ended; one week after receiving the title of "Legendary Mage", Mikael found out the reason why his letters went missing with no response. * * * * * One week earlier, Mikae returned after the end of the war. It had been 2 long years away from his hometown, the small town of Ipoh. Sara''s home. He saw her, radiantly beautiful, smiling with motherly love. Cradling a 3-month-old baby - her child. Beside her, a man holding her from behind. Smiling. He fled the scene, unable to bear the sight of his childhood love and dreams smashed to smithereens. He ran and ran and ran; running who knows where. Only to open his eyes and find himself once again in front of the tree - where they had made the promise. Unable to resist looking; he found the sign they had carved together - Mikael LOVES Sara; a heart drawn around it. And under the heart, the words: "I''M SORRY". He stood there for minutes, hours, maybe a day; not knowing how much time passed. He only knew that when he had arrived, it had been morning. But now, the sun was rising again. He did not know what to think; what to do. What happened to "3 more years"...? It had only been 2 years, less if considering the age of the child, and still... And still... Mikael had clenched his fists so tight he no could no longer feel his hands - but he could feel the wetness of his tears as they fell onto his knuckles, along with the blood where his nails pierced his palms. Tiny rivulets of blood mingled with his tears as they dripped to the ground below. He fell to his knees, sobbing and crumpled up on the floor. ''Why... Why???'' He didn''t know how much time passed, until he heard a voice. One he had heard a thousand, ten-thousand times. One he had dreamed of every night for the whole 2 years. "Mikael..." Sara''s voice rang through the quiet of the night. * * * * * [16 September 1945 Evening, 5:42 PM - London, Hyde Park Barracks] [6 hours and 18 minutes before the departure of the 1st Planar Expedition] Mikael sighed quietly as he packed up his things. The other seven platoon members were also busy packing up. They had just gotten out from a briefing with the General and the other high-ranked military officers in the Permanent Committee for the Planar Expedition, or the PCPE for short. The outcome of the session was simple: they would depart tonight at the stroke of midnight. He looked over to his bunkmate Robin and smiled as they packed; this would probably be one of their last few moments of calm and safety before setting off to unknown lands. Robin, the squads ''dai lou/ big brother[1],'' despite just turning 27 this year, was a tall and large man with an equally large heart. His real name was Luo Bin and he was of pure Asian descent, unlike the mixed-blood Mikael. "You can call me Robin. Easier for you gwai lou[2] to pronounce ma." The Asian man had introduced himself to the 20-man squad with his distinctive sing-song accent; grinning as he spoke. Mikael smiled fondly and wistfully at the memory; their big bro was always the life of their parties and a very attentive and caring man. He was also Mikael''s saviour during the fateful final battle - the battle that closed the curtains on the stage of the War between Worlds. He blinked, remembering Operation Dukedom, a strike at the invader''s final bastion of defences just off the coast of Malacca. Without Robin, there would be no "Hero of the War" or "Youngest Legendary Mage" awards to speak of. He wouldn''t even be alive if not for big bro Robin! "What you looking at? Pack lah!" Absent-mindedly, Mikael laid out all his meagre possessions onto the bed; one he had already removed the white sheets from. He sorted them into piles of things he would bring along with him: mainly essentials, clothes, some toiletries and small items such as the dog tag for their 108th platoon. Hints of melancholy crossed his face momentarily as he donned the dog tag around his wrist. The dog tags were supposed to come in pairs and were meant to be worn around the necks. But he and all the remaining members of the platoon had left behind one tag each at the graves of their fallen comrades, wearing it around their wrists in memory of their departed Malaysian Lieutenant; the leader of the platoon. He looked around at his teammates joking around and playing. As usual, a an awkward observer who sometimes struggled to slip a word in sideways among the jovial team of survivors. Jessica Magallanes, their strategist. Calm, cool and collected, always analysing. But when she lost her temper, it became obvious that hell truly did have no fury like a woman scorned! Adrian Edwards, the heavy weapons specialist. Strong and bold, full of bluster and bravado. At first, no one had liked the braggadocious bragging braggart! But he had quickly proved to be someone willing to lay his life on the line for his brothers and sisters, taking spells and bullets in the stead of his comrades, protecting them with his own body even as he spat out one over the top macho line or another. Mia Yushkov, a jack of all trades and the youngest of them all, fiery and vivacious and fast as hell with her short blades. She''d even fibbed about her age to join, just so she could get payback for the invaders who burned down her village. Their sniper Samuel Liew, shy, inexpressive and always putting on a serious face - but with a really poor sense of humour. Once, he''d told a joke so bad that a 10-year-old kid asked him, "Uncle, is that funny...?" The entire team were left in stitches after that - not at the joke, but at poor ol'' Sam... Jayshree Purba, their tech, traps and gadgets girl. She almost never spoke, but they loved her anyway. And her gadgets had often been the difference between life and death for the squad. And Kizuma Hajiro. A true introvert, awkward and shy. Yet when he got onto the battlefield, there was no one braver than he, who would charge in at the front lines, guns blazing and sword a-swinging. Sometimes, he''d lose his head and have to dragged back by Robin AND Adrian together, so crazy he needed two people to keep him down! Mikael shook his head, chuckling at the warm memories. He met gazes with each of his teammates and they shared a warm smile together, before hurrying up to wrap up their own individual preparations. Yet, under each and every one of their brave exteriors, who among them was not afraid of death...? Maybe it was only him... ...Or maybe death was just a way to escape the pain of living daily with unfulfilled hope. And unrequited love. He sighed. ''I wonder if we''ll make it back alive this time...'' * * * [1] Dai Lou: Cantonese; literally "big guy" but used as "big bro". [2] Gwai Lou: Cantonese; literally "ghost people" - referring to fair skinned races such as Caucasians. 2 A Band of Brothers "If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting Robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain." -Emily Dickinson * * * * * [Some months earlier, the final deciding battle of the War between Worlds] [16 May 1945 Night, 1.15 AM - 34 nautical miles/ 63km off the coast of Malacca] [In the final hours of Operation Dukedom] A tall Asian man was drenched; barely staying afloat as he swam backward, struggling to keep afloat along with his companion; a badly injured man. The shorter man being pulled along was gasping, shivering and hyperventilating from shock; the one carrying him desperate to reach land. "Mikael! Mikael! Stay with me; don''t fall asleep now! You can''t fall asleep; LIVE!!" If he had a hand free, he would have slapped his buddy to keep him from drifting off and possibly never waking up again. He hadn''t managed to take a look at Mikael''s wounds, but they couldn''t be light; he had been in close proximity to the detonation point of the mana bombs and the last Planar Portal. Too close. It was a miracle that he was alive and still in one piece. When it seemed that Operation Dukedom was doomed; that even the combined forces of all Earth were insufficient to pierce through the invader''s defences to the Planar Portal; Mikael had created a miracle for them all. It started when the warship carrying all their mana bombs was bombarded without warning; blowing it and almost all the surrounding ships into smithereens. The main forces of the United Earth Army (UEA) were engaging with the invaders nearer to the coastline of Malaysia as a distraction while 4 heavily cloaked warships approached from the north-western direction. Nonetheless, despite their utmost attempts at concealment, the invaders managed to detect them, and nearly wipe out their forces. This was not alarming to the UEA; they had prepared five such squadrons to ensure that they did not keep all their eggs in one basket. However, as the saying went disaster came in threes, and in this case disaster came not in threes, but as five. The 4 other backup bombing fleets had been sunk as well, leaving Earth''s defenders without the means to shut down the final portal before more invaders could pour through. Thanks to this the invader''s forces were being bolstered more and more by the minute. Unbeknownst to the leadership of the UEA; a brave squad had survived the bombardment; securing a lifeboat - invisible to the invader''s scouts. Mikael and Robin''s platoon of 20 men and women. Risking their lives, the team brought the last salvaged set of mana bombs all the way through enemy lines; using their skills, experiences, and synergy honed through 2 years of life and death battles. They took advantage of the two key facts: First, that the frontline battles were intense and stormy, with nary any troops to be spared to defend the vicinity of the portal. Second, the 5 bombing fleets were assumed already eliminated. When their boat was capsized 3 nautical miles from the closest detonation point, they continued by swimming the last of the distance. However, they were ultimately unable to close the gap, ending their journey at 1 nautical mile too far; finally stopped by the impassable hordes of enemies from across the portal. It was only thanks to the Legendary Mage Mikael''s exquisite skills and powerful magic that they had managed to bring down the portal. Mikael had burnt his soul and magic power to trigger a Legendary spell; one powerful enough that it shook the fabrics of reality and nearly upended the seas in the area it was cast. A spell so powerful that, in conjunction with the mana bombs, it brought down the last bastion of the invader''s defences; closing the entry point to their world once and for all. But all this had not come without cost. They had lost almost half their squad with some others missing; and Mikael... He was barely breathing; bleeding profusely and with no strength left to swim. ''Mikael... I... I''ll get you back alive no matter what!'' Robin fought against the rough, choppy waves, striving to swim in the frigid night-time waters of the Straits of Malacca. ''...I don''t have anyone in this world left to go back to... I don''t belong to anyone.'' Thoughts ran through his mind as he spluttered, swallowing some seawater. ''Not like you. You have someone... Someone who is waiting for you. Someone to love. You must live!'' The feverish youth, his body burning despite the nearly freezing temperature of the water, nodded once before passing out once more. * * * * * When they somehow got out of the fallout of Operation Dukedom alive and were lying half-dead in the victorious UEA''s infirmary, big bro Robin still had the heart in him to joke. "You know that Emily Dickinson poem...? The one about the robin...?" "...Cough, cough..." Mikael sputtered and coughed, then answered weakly. "...No." He was too cold; teeth chattering despite the lack of energy. However, he had to talk or do something; something to keep himself from the danger of losing consciousness in his critical state. "Yeah? Well, it''s about saving a fainting robin and bringing it back to its nest." It was quiet for a while as they lay there, waiting for the doctors and nurses to begin urgent treatments on their torn bodies. Seeing that the Asian man was waiting for him to say something, Mikael humoured him. "And then...?" As if he had been waiting for it, the cheery man inclined his head to him to answer. "Well... If you get home alive to Sara... Then I''ll be the one who can say I didn''t live in vain..." He smiled and looked Mikael in the eye. The younger man blinked back his tears that came unbidden. ''Sara... Are you well...? We''re so close by here in Malacca, so close to Ipoh... Please... Please be well. I''ll come back...!'' Then the Asian joker spoiled the moment by adding: "But once that happens; your name should be Robin! Because you''re the robin I helped back to his nest! Hahahahahaha!!!" "..." Mikael was dumbstruck. Then he smiled, laying his head back and gazing up at the tent ceiling, listening to the sounds of the winds and heavy rains outside as Robin continued to guffaw heartily, still acting as though he himself wasn''t among the most wounded of them all. ''He''s a good man...'' * * * * * [16 September 1945 Night, 11:53 PM - London, in the Parade Grounds of Hyde Park Barracks] [Just before the departure of the 1st Planar Expedition] ''Strange... Why am I remembering that...? I need to pay attention; it''s no time to be day-dreaming.'' Or night dreaming, as he was lined up at midnight among seven others; the first batch of soldiers and pioneers for the scouting mission. The mission to the other side of the planar portal. Contrary to his self-admonition to pay attention, his thoughts began to wander. He thought fondly of his big bro who was queued up right beside him. Their dai lou had been promoted one rank from Lance Corporal, the second lowest rank, to that of Corporal. Whereas Mikael; due to his exceptional contributions, was promoted three whole ranks from Private to Sergeant; the commanding officer of their 108th platoon. Or as most called them, the Heroes of the World War. His thoughts returned to the present; shaking his head as the address by the Queen began. Yet despite himself, his mind drifted once more. At the beginning of the war; Earth had been left at the mercy of the invading people - the self-proclaimed All-Heaven Divine Empire who looked just like humans but with the mythical powers of cultivators. Portals would appear out of thin air whether in the middle of the Himalayas, in the midst of a crowded market square, or in the White House; resulting in the complete collapse of the American government. But after nine years of research, mankind had turned the war around - the secret of the portals was cracked, and a global defence shell erected against planar incursions. That marked the beginning of the end of World War 2; a war literally between two worlds. Without the ability to open any further portals, the invaders no longer held the power of surprise. And despite their best efforts to defend their existing portals; they were pushed back day after day - until the final portal collapsed; captured and sealed by mankind. And now, it was time for retaliation. Mikael perked his ears up for the closing portions of the Queen of the Commonwealth Nations blessing. The regal, grey-haired monarch spoke with gusto; understanding yet exhorting the men and women of the importance of their roles. "This mission will be the landmark of humanity; a mark in history greater than any other. Greater than the first steps on the moon in 1927; perhaps the greatest achievement since the discovery of magic!" She cleared her throat, growing solemn as she reached the last lines. "It will be dangerous. Some of you; many of you; may never return to our lands; our shores. But though you may lose your lives; remember this - you, the bravest and most valiant of all humankind, are laying down your lives as a foundation for our people; for our planet''s future!" "Now go! Godspeed! And may we meet again!" The Queen bowed to the roaring applause from the thousands gathered; shocking the crowd who gasped at the unexpected act of humility - a member of the royal family who bowed to no one; and yet she had bowed to them - the greatest sign of respect they could imagine! Mikael sighed once more. ''A man with a broken heart has no fear of a suicide mission...'' He maintained a stoic, passive face; the perfect image of a decorated military hero. ''No... It''s not "no fear"...'' He mused as he prepared to enter the portal together with his squad members; brothers and sister with whom he had gone through the horrors of war and the victories of the battlefield for the past 2 years. ''Perhaps I look forward to ending it all...'' "Mages; on standby!" "Aye!" "Opening the portal in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." "Portal open!" "Go go go go go!" The genius mage, the peak of all humankind''s warriors, leaped into the luminous red rift in space with his team of 7 others. And was swallowed up by endless darkness. 3 Disaster, Betrayal "Ahhh!!!" "N-no!" "Hel--" The moment he opened his eyes; he was engulfed by scorching flames and a blinding white light. Then as his hearing recovered; his ears were flood by a cacophony of screams and yells of terror from his teammates. ''I thought...! It should be a secret portal! Unless--'' Mikael, the leader of the group, had no time to consider any further - they were surrounded by thousands of enemies - countless cultivators led by a mighty powerhouse barely a step or two weaker than Mikael; a so called Spirit-Severing expert. The portal was in the middle of a battle-formation; 100 metres in diameter - with no way to hide from their surrounding ambushers. An ambush - the moment they set foot out of the portal. Mikael desperately shielded himself with magic spells - Greater Protection From Magic, Spell Immunity, Greater Protection From Weapons - but he could feel that it would not be long before he fell under the onslaught. "Men! Fire at will!" A valiant; refined-looking man with long black hair stood at the forefront of the cultivator troops; commanding them to slay the intruders. Arrows blotted out the sky; along with energy-reinforced javelins and flaming ballista bolts. The lead cultivators in the formation channeled their Qi; summoning white pillars of fire to plummet down onto the group of 30 soldiers coming through the portal. One after another, Mikael''s companions emerged from the portal; only for them to cry out in horror; then they were pierced, burnt and turned to ashes under the siege of the cultivator''s concentrated fire arts - right before their leader''s eyes. ''My brothers... My sisters...! My comrades!!'' Mikael gnashed his teeth in fury as he continuously incanted new layers of magical defences. But it was an exercise in futility - he was running out of mana; while the cultivators still had Qi in reserve, rotating their attacking formations to maintain their relentless barrage upon Mikaels squad. He cried tears of blood and anger as he was forced to watch his cherished allies fall - teammates who had gone through thick and thin; life and death together. ''I''m sorry... I''m sorry...! I''m so so sorry...!! I should never have brought you here...!!!'' He clenched his teeth and fists so hard that the veins in his neck bulged out; his palms bleeding from the nails pressed in. Nevertheless; willpower could not turn around the absolute difference in might - he slowly fell to the ground as his shields and knees gave way. Finally; the last of his seven brothers and sisters had crossed over... And perished. Except for Robin. Robin; the big brother of their troops. Robin; who had counseled, raised and protected each and every one of them through the thick of war. Robin; who had personally carried Mikael on his back through dozens of kilometres of hostile territory; through mud, rivers and jungles... Robin. Big brother Robin - the one that everyone in the squad proclaimed as "the most reliable man on the face of the earth". Big brother Robin popped out of the portal; then immediately began running - towards the enemy commander - untouched and untargeted by either spell or arrows as he charged through the hail of attacks. His face visibly changed from trepidation to fear as he scurried away from Mikael; away to the folds of their enemies. "Robin... ROBIN!! YOU TRAITOR!!" Mikael was no fool - there was no way that the cultivators would leave a citizen of Earth unharmed - except... If he were the traitor who had ratted them out. Something snapped inside the heart and soul of the captain of the expeditionary forces. He abandoned his defences; and insta-chanted his last spell - at the cost of his life. Legendary Spell: Wail of the Banshee. A spell that did not discriminate between friend or foe; slaying every living thing that could not resist the lethal cry of the death-bringing Underworld spirit. Being the nearest to the Legendary Mage; Robin was the first to wither away; his life snuffed out and eyes rolling up. With a panicked, timid and maddened scream, he frothed at the mouth, then collapsed; silent as the grave. As the waves of soul-reaping sounds from the spell rippled out; hundreds of the weaker and tired men collapsed and died instantly, slain by the banshees wail. But it was already too late for Mikael. "Hahahahahahaha!! Brothers! Sisters! Fear not; I have avenged you!! Now; let us die together!" Eyes reddening with equal parts wrath and sorrow; Mikael fell to his knees; coughing blood. "And in the next life-- I''ll find the dark hand scheming behind the curtains!!!" Then he was disintegrated as the flames finally broke through his defenses, thus ending the story of Earth''s only legendary mage. * * * * * The red portal flickered once, twice, then dissipated - as if though it had never been there. A cultivator in military garb quickly gathered reports from the various leaders of the squads of 50 men each; then ran over to their leader; the valiant and handsome black-haired man. "Lord, it is over. The portal is sealed and we have confirmed the deaths of all twenty nin - I mean all thirty intruders." "Continue, captain - what are our casualties?" Zhang Yu, their leader, and a Spirit-Severing powerhouse, nodded and spoke gently yet firmly. Despite their success, he looked sorrowful instead of jubilant. "Sir..." The stern looking captain looked distraught as he provided his report. "Our brothers... More than 400 of our beloved brothers have fallen..." The tall and heavily muscled soldier''s eyes turned red; as he fought to hold back his own tears. The handsome man sighed heavily, turning to survey the battlefield once more. He formed a few hand-signs; paying his last respects to the departed. "May you rise to the All-Father''s embrace..." He closed his eyes and bowed his head. Then, turning back to the captain before him; he gave his instructions. "Let the men rest; give the survivors double wages and a one week holiday. For those who have passed on... Give their widows and families five times the normal amount." The captain was shocked at his command - it was an excessively generous reward during such troubled times - one that would suck dry the resources of their entire branch! "Lord, Lord! I - We - Our southern Jin branch won''t have the money to pay for this and still meet the monthly tribute for next month; how will we, how will we--" He spoke falteringly; with sincere worry - concerned for his master. Zhang Yu held up a hand; silencing the captain and remaining calm despite the outburst. "Captain Liu; we will pay what is due to our men who laid down their life in defence against the cruel invaders. As for the payments next month..." He turned face the east with lines of worry creasing his brow. "I will personally go to the east and seek the Prefecture Lord''s forgiveness." Captain Liu hesitated; before bowing deeply. "Yes Lord; this servant shall obey." As the Captain hurried off to organise their troops, the troubled young lord sighed once more; raising a hand to stroke his chin, thinking. ''Why would these invaders suddenly appear here...? It was fortunate that Luo Bin¡­ No that Robin warned us in time...'' He mourned the loss of his long-time friend; who he had lost touch with for more than twenty years. He pondered who would hatch such a plot against the Zhang clan - and wondered... ''If I traced back the path Luo Bin had taken... Perhaps the family he serves had something to do with this nefarious scheme...?'' But he also wondered... Could his tiny branch family take on the powers who were great enough to hatch such a plot involving other worlds...? ''Who knows where the next invader''s portal will open...'' He sighed; then instructed his stewards to pack up their temporary base and depart. 4 A Certain Calamitous Circumstance/ Reborn as a Demons Contractor! It was quiet. Then he heard the sound of a rushing wind; and the pounding of heavy rain. His consciousness flashed back instantly; returning. He saw his ethereal soul ascend from the scene of their battle; ahead of him were hundreds of other specks of light - the others who had fallen. Including the lights that represented his brothers and sisters in arms. ''W-what... I...'' He tried to look around, to turn his head and crane his neck to make sense of where he was now. But though he could "see", and sense what was around him, he had no body or head to turn. ''...I''m, I''m dead??'' ''Is this... What comes after death...? I feel like I''m going... *Somewhere*...'' He felt a force begin to pull him, sucking him towards an indeterminate destination. ''No, my... My treasured companions, no...! It can''t end like this, end so easily for those who set us up...! Whether for protecting our Earth and homes or... For revenge...!'' If he still had eyes, there would be a murderous glint shining in them. Emotions riled up despite having no form or body, as well as an unwillingness to depart like this on towards whatever was in the afterlife. ''I... I...'' ''I WON''T LET IT GO EASILY! GOD!!! IF THERE IS A GOD OUT THERE!!! HOW CAN THEY GO SCOT FREE WHILE WE, THE ONES WHO ARE MERELY DEFENDING OUR HOMES, STILL LIVE IN FEAR WITH NONE KNOWING OF OUR FATES!??'' ''...Why...? Why is there so much injustice...? Why... Must we who peoples of the Earth who minded our own business, be treated like animals to be slaughtered... By beings who look and speak just like we do...?!?'' ''...Why... Robin... WHY??!'' ''...Why did you betray us...?'' His mind reeled from the anger and intense reluctance in his soul which writhed and squirmed in its form as a ball of light. Then faster than the mind could capture; Mikael felt an intense suction propelling him out of the planet''s atmosphere and into space. Just before he left the atmosphere; he caught sight of the area his platoon had landed at. There was a large city about twice the size of London. However, he soon gasped internally as he noticed the size of the lands and the surroundings. There were dozens more cities of such size scattered around the lands; interspersed around a hulking, massive city in the centre; ten, no, a hundred times larger than London! ''They... What military might is this? How can they be so strong? Could it be... The forces we faced are but the tip of the iceberg...?'' Mikael''s heart was gripped with worry; and unwillingness. Faced with such a colossal enemy... At this rate... The earth was doomed. ''Sara...'' No matter how hurt he was; no matter how he wished he could change things - still he wished her safety, wished her well. Even if she were not his... He still wished her happiness. He steeled himself; making a solemn oath to whatever entity, being or creature may be out there - whether a beast, devil, demon or God... ''I... I must live on... It can''t, can''t end just like this... No, NO! I will, I must warn my people, my homeland, my Earth!!! No matter what the cost! To bring an end to this vile and malignant Empire of murderers... Just for one more chance...'' ''...I would even give up my soul!!!'' There was silence. There was no answer; no one to hear his wordless, soundless declarations. All that greeted him was silence. Just silence, the soundless movement without any wind for friction and without the whistling sounds that would normally accompany a body moving through the air. Just an incorporeal ball of light drifting through the empty atmosphere in complete and total silence. All of a sudden, he felt himself pulled upwards, out of the atmosphere and into space. As he moved, he caught a glimpse of eleven, maybe twelve planets? Orbiting a gargantuan, red sun at varying distances, however, all the planets seemed to be too close to each other. Odder still was that the orbits were circular rather than elliptical, violating Kepler''s laws of planetary motion. The motes of faint golden light quickly sped out of the cultivator''s solar-system into an incredibly long and wide cylindrical tunnel - one perhaps as wide as half a planet and several times longer. Glancing around, the walls of the tunnel were a solid, shining material - yet regularly pulsing with energy and myriad lights. Then the motes of light exited the tunnel, and the suction force became gentle. He "looked" around, and saw massive, great white pillars at the boundary of his vision; both "above" and "below". Without a reference point for direction, he referred to their relative positions as above and below. In fact, the great pillars were so large that from where he was, he could barely make out the ends... It looked like there were about fifteen or sixteen of the pillars both above and below. Mikael drifted in the void - along with countless other motes and specks of light interspersed all around; hanging in the void just like him. They were heading towards an intersection ahead - every now and then, it looked like the converging motes of light would go around a bend and could no longer be seen. ''Perhaps...'' If he had a heart, it would have pumped furiously at the thought that he could maybe find a way out of this. He wondered if he could move in any direction; or reach out and touch the others. ''No... Didn''t work...'' He *could* move; just... It would probably take years to cross the vast chasm between the nearest mote; so great were the distances in the void.'' With nothing to do but wait for the journey to end; Mikael could not escape thoughts of life, meaning, existence... And sorrow. (Sara... I don''t blame you...) He thought about his childhood sweetheart; and how she had been forced by her family to marry a local tin miner just to feed her young siblings, ailing mother... And her alcoholic father. Forced to marry the man that she detested, hated. So that she would not marry Mikael and be taken away from the family. As much as he hated her circumstances - Mikael hated himself. ''If only... I had the courage to stay... To face her parents once more; despite knowing that they never liked me, never approved of me...'' His thoughts and heart laid bare; he could now admit that he left not because of the war. He left because he had felt unworthy; as a mixed-race orphan bastard left behind during the earlier Portuguese, Dutch, English colonists... From who knows which occupation of Malaysia. ''Funny... Only now that it''s too late... Do I feel like saying sorry to her... Sorry - for running away, for abandoning her, for leaving to become a "hero"...'' ''...For leaving her alone to face her mocking, scheming, selfish and self-seeking family... He laughed mockingly at himself - at least, he would have, if a mote of light could laugh. "Bleep-bloop." Oh! He *could* make sounds. The melancholic boy drifted along; accompanied by gentle ripples of warmth from the leaf-shaped necklace around his neck. ''Wait, what...? How... It followed me here...?'' He was shocked as he noticed the necklace given by Sara at their parting - it was still with him? Then he saw something nearby; approaching from behind - from the opening between the tunnel they had come from and the great white pillars above and below. Penguins. Thousands of them. With fluffy white bird wings. Flapping and coming over. * * * * * "...Bleep-bloop...?" ''Hello, I guess...?'' The penguin coughed, clearing its throat. "Rejoice, infidel! I, Great Demon God Razku''rak, shall rescue you from a certain calamity!" The penguin closed its eyes and raised its beak, smug and arrogant. Then the penguin dug its cute little claws on its cute little feet into his ball of light body; and began dragging him out of wherever he was. ''Wait! What are you--'' "Bleep-bleep-bloop--" "You fool! It''s not "a certain" like in "A Certain Magical Index"! Idiot!" The agitated penguin hopped up and down on the spot as he pulled Mikael, turning around as he showed his frustration. "...Bleep." "Don''t you dare talk back to me, you blooping ball of light! Who do you think you are!?? You''re just another common departed soul!" The penguin''s feathers were nearly standing on end, so incensed was he. But he continued zipping away towards the "entrance". "..." Mikael was pretty smart, that is, at least he was when he was alive. And so he listened on. "What I mean is - the chances of the calamity are certain! Do! You! Un! Der! Stand!!?" the penguin dragged this last word out, emphasizing every syllable as he continued to drag the ball of light towards the "entrance". "Bloop." "Good that you are sorry! Now, I, the Grand Swallowing King Kizorik, shall rescue you!" The penguin paused in his speech to rummage around in his cute white shoulder-slung satchel. Mikael sighed internally. Despite being young; he had matured greatly during the war. He found it grating to deal with such a strange character. Especially one that talked about unintelligible things and had Multiple Personality Disorder... Or at least one that somehow forgot the name it had used only a moment earlier in its act. But his thoughts were quickly silenced - as he heard a rush of wings and saw an endless flock of "birds" swarming out of the apparent "intersection" at the depths of the area they were in. ''This... This doesn''t make sense! Wings are useless in space - there''s no air for propulsion!'' Nonetheless, he kept silent - for the "birds" were revealed to be far more horrifying. They looked skeletal with leathery skin stretched across bones. The closest things he could think of that they resembled were "gargoyles" or "demons". "Hold on tight! Those are the All-Father''s digestive system! I''m gonna speed up!" Razku''rak/ Kizorik sped up as he spoke; frowning in concentration and frantically flapping his tiny wings. Mikael watched; and realised that his penguin was the fastest and strongest among them. But he did not rejoice - his heart only clenched in shock and anguish. One by one, behind him, the other motes of light were being torn apart by the gargoyles; along with penguins pulling them along. ''NO! NO NO NO NO NO!!!'' As he didn''t know if any of those were his brothers or sisters in light form as he was, he cried out desperately. He could not bear the chance they fall here, while he be the only one dragged away. "Bleep-bleep-bloop!" ''...Damn it damn it damn it!!!'' "Bleep-bleep-bloop?!?" The penguin shook its head in dejection at his agitated question; sighing. "Once they fall here..." The self-proclaimed Demon God paused, focusing as they finally left the countless penguins, motes of light and gargoyles behind. They passed the tunnel that Mikael had entered from, and exited the area of the great white pillars. Then the penguin beckoned for him to look back to see something. "Bleep-bleep!!!" "I''ll answer your question alright! Imbecile! Fool! We needed to get out first, alright!!? Don''t you know where you were???" "Bleep?" The penguin sighed again, shaking his head in disappointment. "Don''t you see the sixteen pillars up there?" "Bloop." "And how about down there, what do you see...?" "Bleep-bleep?" "Yes! Good! Now, does that remind you of something...?" "....B-b-bleep bleep...?" "Yes! Yes yes yes yes! Now, do you understand?!?" The penguin smiled as he danced around in delight; his stupid potential contractor finally understanding. "You''re in the All-Father''s mouth! About to be his meal! Like all the other fallen souls in the Endless Worlds!" Then the penguin turned even more grim as they soared along towards his hidden base. And the pair travelled in silence, each with their own thoughts and worries to ponder. * * * * * [An indeterminate amount of time later] They reached an igloo-like structure floating in space; that looked like it were made of ice. Razku''rak/ Kizorik landed at high speed, tumbled, rolled and hurtled into a mattress propped against the wall - clearly meant for situations like this. He then got up, taking the crash landing in stride, and retrieved a piece of paper which read "KONTWAK" (Contract) and spoke in an embarrassed, low voice. "Just sign here. Need it for immigration and customs checks." "...Bleep-bleep-bleep-bleep-bloop-bleep-bloop?!? "You imbecile! You fool! You-you-you...!!!" The penguin began his little hopping dance again, jumping up and down on the spot until he could get over his anger. "Don''t you know there''s no such thing as reincarnation in this part of the Endless Worlds?!?" The penguin stormed off to a corner of the igloo 5 feet away and folded his arms in anger; raising his chin to show his irritation. "Without me! You will never have a chance to avenge your friends!" The ball of light - Mikael - was silent. Stunned. ''...A chance...? For revenge...?? He had spoken wildly of whether there was a possibility, but this...'' The penguin turned his head over his shoulder; raising an eyebrow; smiling smugly. "Those were your friends, right...?" Then the penguin turned around and stomped towards Mikael; before continuing. "Don''t think I didn''t notice; the anguish in your soul; nearly turning your core as dark as the black of Lilith''s tears..." The bird had a sneer on his face; confident in his deduction. "So. What will it be? Oblivion...? Or..." The penguin held up the "KONTWAK" to Mikael''s ball-of-light body. "...Or will you become my demonic contractor and show those a**holes some payback...?" The penguin smiled an evil grin. * * * * * Razku''rak Kizorik - the penguin - was a nice guy. Turned out that was actually his full name. "I''ll take care of you from now! Except that I''m powerless to help you until you make contact with me again! Hahaha!" It turned out that the contract was just a short-term temporary employment contract for 120 years. ''Not that long... I guess...?'' Mikael felt that something was wrong, but he was finding it quite hard to have coherent thoughts as he was. They were now heading to the nearest reincarnation point - The Stream of Myriad Planes. This "stream" of reincarnation was a feeder to numerous other smaller systems, planes and worlds - the penguin admitted he didn''t know where the boy would end up being reborn. In fact, Mikael had asked numerous questions an hour earlier, before signing. What is the All-Father? Why did the All-Heaven Divine Empire invade Earth? If the All-Father devours all dead souls, where do new babies souls come from? Where were they? The penguin had stared him dead in the eye and shrugged. ''Perhaps this is how the mafia and triads scam so many people...'' Sighing as he thought about how he had signed the KONTWAK, Mikael felt like a gullible gambling addict dealing with a loan shark. He re-analysed things, and thought back to his thought process in making the decision. 1: His only other choice was to stay here and wait - assuming the demonic penguin didn''t just kick him out in the first place. 2: He had no time. Assuming he reincarnated now; it might be years, or even decades before he makes it back to Earth. In that period of time... Who knew what would happen? He was sure they would hold out; there were countless powerhouses greater than him - but he still couldn''t help but worry when he thought about the plots, schemes, ambush and the fact that Robin; born and bred on Earth, could be a traitor... 3: The necklace... Sara''s necklace... It was giving off a gentle stream of warmth; one that said... ''Fear not...'' And so he signed despite being unable to read the script written on the paper... ...Although that was mostly due to the atrocious; incomprehensive spelling and grammar used. The penguin then explained the details of how things would work: 1: Razku''rak Kizorik is obligated to ensure Mikael is delivered to be reincarnated. 2: Mikael will establish 2-way communication with Razku''rak Kizorik in the new world. 3: Mikael and Razku''rak Kizorik will engage in a mutually beneficial partnership - via sacrifices by Mikael in exchange for power, blessings, and items from Razku''rak Kizorik - sharing on a basis of 80% Mikael; 20% Razku''rak Kizorik. 4: This contract cannot be terminated before the end of the contract term. 5: The penalty for going against the contract is the loss of consciousness and extreme pain. When he had heard what he had just signed; Mikael let out a breath of relief - he was glad he hadn''t just sold his soul to the devil... Then he narrowed his eyes; firming his gaze. Even if it had been a devil''s contract... He would have signed it. "Here we are..." The penguin spoke in awe as they drew near enough to see their destination; far off in the distance, just a speck from where they were - but already magnificent in its scale and dominating presence. The Stream of Myriad Planes. * * * * * [8 hours later] Razku''rak Kizorik apologised once more that he could not choose which world Mikael returned to - neither Earth''s solar system nor the heavily-guarded Celestial Empire''s system. Then he dropped Mikael off onto the mind-bogglingly large natural phenomenon - a "river" suspended in the void; a thousand times the size of the largest solar system known to the demon bird. The waters seemed to be shored up by invisible borders; none of it ever spilling out. And it followed a similarly unseen winding path; travelling through many, many planes and realms. In fact, no one knew where it started; nor where it ended - everyone who had set off to seek its origin and terminus had never returned to tell the tale - perhaps they were still on their journey, or returning? Mikael gulped; then "nodded" his preparation to the penguin. "It''s time." The cute, chubby black and white bird affectionately rubbed the ball of light''s "head", then released him; pushing him to give him the momentum to reach the Stream. (Ahhh!!!) Mikael cried out; imitating the scenes he had seen on television. But he soon stopped; because the descent was going slow - slow enough to take at least an hour more. Left with some time to consider his plans; Mikael began to strategize, constructing his path to regain power; to protect his homeland... To avenge his fallen brothers and sisters. And to reunite with Sara; and his beloved hometown... Whether as a lover... Or as just a friend. * * * * * [An hour later] He prepped himself, committing his plan to memory just before he plunged into the waters. ''Alright; Mikael. Don''t forget to-- ARGHHHGHHGH!!!!!!'' The moment he touched the waters; mind-blowing pain struck his soul; erasing every thought he had. He felt a ripping sensation; a tearing feeling; a twisting and pulling of his soul - as his memories; thoughts and concepts start to slip away - including his soul-imprint. (No, no no no no!!!!) He roared mentally as he felt his accumulated powers; concepts of law, elements and universal will being snatched away - the same powers that made him a level 24 legend. In the midst of his agony and despair; his necklace released a bubble of warmth; wrapping around his memories, soul, and powers. The leaf-shaped locket flashed brightly; releasing a brilliance great enough to drown out even the waters around him - then the great white light swallowed up his consciousness. He slept. 5 Reborn: Young Assassin - Knight Larsson [127th year of the Age of Kings - Summer] [Planet Eunos of the Endless Worlds - in the Arena of Valour] A certain young boy was soon to awaken with the memories of his past life; of his memories as a legendary mage. But that is a story for a later day; for today he was still just a boy. But by no means was he just *any* boy... * * * * * Mikael - Miller Knight Larsson (Lars) panted; cold sweat pouring down his scalp and covering his entire body. He cursed at the slippery sweat; an uncontrollable reaction from the blood loss and pain lancing through the right side of his body. But the sweat was not the worst of it - the worst was his bloodied right arm hanging limply by his side; crippled and useless until he was healed of the tendon-severing cut. He held a long dagger in his remaining good hand; equally skilful as his right - but his chances were grim. He faced his erstwhile best friend Gardner. An opponent who was also injured, but had no critical wounds; and who held the absolute advantage with his two long daggers identical to his own. Lars'' own second dagger was lying far away behind Gardner; lying where he had dropped it - where he had fallen victim to the bigger boy''s deception. ''How... How can I...'' He racked his mind; trying to find a way to live without unveiling his trump cards - trump cards reserved to take down the "raid boss" of the Death Arena - the dark-skinned berserker beast-man; Linges. To take him down, and pave the way for Moira to be crowned as champion in the inhumane death battles. ''I... I won''t make it by defending anymore... I-I have to take him down; best friend or not! For Moira! I... I cannot let myself lose!'' Lowering his stance, Lars prepared to take the offensive once more; prepared to take a life-and-death gamble with his best-friend - now his partner in this dance to the death. * * * * * [3 minutes earlier] "Number 14 - Larsson! Number 6 - Gardner!" The scar-faced arena invigilator called out harshly; striking fear into the normally fearless trainees. All the trainees released a collective sigh of relief; glad that their names were not called; that they would live to see another day. Except for Lars and Gardner. Lars swallowed all his emotions; forcing his nervous face to look composed; killing his heart as he had been taught to since being sold to the Sea of Sands. He exchanged a quick glance with his best friend and opponent, Samuel Gardner; then stilled his jitters; desperately keeping the tremors and butterflies in his stomach from rising up. He could afford no signs of weakness; or the invigilator might just execute him for being a "lily-livered coward". He drew upon what he had learned and calmed his heart - and his hands. Things he had learned to do for many years in the Arena of Valour. Despite the glamorous name; the Arena of Valour had nothing to do with valour - it was a place of death, darkness and cruelty. It was a place where child slaves were brought to be trained into fighters; trained in every form of weapon, killing art and facet of combat from their childhood. If you discounted that they were not taught any arcane arts; there was no form of murder that the child trainees were not masters of. They were turned from sweet-natured; innocent and pure children into monsters - emotionless killing machines. Except; not all of them were devoid of emotions. Lars was one of those who still retained a heart - buried somewhere deep inside; only unveiled to those closest to him; others who still kept their humanity beneath their cold, ruthless exteriors. And another one of them being Gardner, his best friend who had protected him, mentored him and shown him the ropes to survive in this hellhole. It was now some days or months after Lars'' 14th birthday, the actual date unknown. He only knew that he had been here for more than 9 years now - since the tender age of 5. And the big-hearted, red-headed Gardner was also ranked number 6 in the weekly rankings. Lars himself was only number 14. Lars stood up when his name was called; the thin, wiry and slightly malnourished boy silently shuffled over to the entrance of the combat ring. He was handsome; with a smooth; squarish face, clear eyes that would drown the beholder and soft and short golden hair. All features that made him the perfect target for bullying in the Arenas. In fact, if not for him being slightly too thin (a facade he used to hide his inhuman strength), he could be mistaken as a fallen prince or enslaved noble scion! He stepped into the ring, standing in a designated circle - the waiting area for "contestants". He had stood in this same spot thousands of times before; facing off against each and every one of the trainees dozens of times - both for training and to settle arguments with violence - most often, Lars came out on top. By now, he was familiar with all of his fellow trainee''s habits, strengths, and weaknesses - and used them to his advantage. But the most familiar opponent of all was the one he was about to face - Samuel Gardner - his training partner day in, day out. His best friend of these tortuous 7 years. Today, there would no concept of friendship in the ring. It was no longer training, no longer sparring for learning or growth. All that mattered was survival. The invigilator clapped his hands. At this signal, the stewards dropped the metal barriers, sealing off the only entrance to the combat area. Lars and Gardner looked each other in the eyes, then bowed slightly to one another. Then they took their combat poses; ready for the fight to begin. *Clap clap!* It was the signal to start. Before the second clap could even fade; the smaller, shorter and faster Lars had already crossed half the 10m distance separating the two boys. He kept his stance low; twin daggers held tightly in reverse grip. Gardner remained in his original pose; defaulting to his style of defence and counter-attacks - an effective strategy against a faster opponent; to wear him out with small, solid parries and dodges. He stood with his left foot in front; slightly angled to reduce the surface area his opponent could strike. The brown-haired Lars darted forward; entering attacking range. Gardner lowered his left dagger to guard against attacks from below; while keeping his right dagger above his head; pointed forward and guarding the middle and higher zones. Their daggers clashed more than 10 times in 2 seconds; going through the usual pattern of feeling each other out - just like they had countless times in their spars. Then, utilising his greater agility and speed; the thin, brown-haired boy twisted his wrists; changing the angle of his daggers and skipping away from the larger boy''s defence. He managed to land two long gashes on Gardner''s shoulders, shocking the boy; before jumping backward; using his superior speed for a hit-and-run tactic. ''You want a battle of attrition? I''ll show you my new strategy - created just for cracking open your vaunted guard stance!'' He sprung backwards to safety; away from the redhead''s attacking range and prepared to dart in again to slow whittle away at his opponent''s defences. Or so he thought. Gardner''s face changed from one of feigned shock to a confident, chilling smile. Then his right leg bent, and he kicked off the ground with uncanny speed - speed far exceeding Lars''. Speed great enough that he far exceeded even rank number 4''s Kaido; the so-called fastest trainee. Speed great enough to land a near-lethal strike on Lars'' shoulder; cutting into his bone and severing tendons and muscles. "Urgh!" He would have screamed louder if not for his toughness built up from years of being cut and beaten bloody. Instead, he just let out a grunt; incongruent with how serious his injury was. And incongruent with his situation - one in which only one outcome awaited him if he could not turn things around. The cold embrace of the grave. * * * * * [In the present] ''Gardner looks winded from the move earlier... looks like he''s trying to hide it... Or is he feinting fatigue to lure me in? Can he use that super-speed freely? Or are there limitations...? I... I don''t know...'' Lars analysed his opponent again and again; an adversary that he thought he knew well. But seconds ago, he realised that he probably knew nothing of the true Gardner; and his true skills. Perhaps his 6th rank position had just been him hiding his strength all along. Regardless of whether Lars could suss out his foe''s strategy and trump cards or not; he had only 1 choice - kill or be killed. 6 Scheming is Strength 1 ''I... I cannot let myself lose! Gardner... I-I''m sorry Gardner!This... This is for you, Moira!!!'' Lowering his stance, Lars prepared to take the offensive once more; prepared to take a life-and-death gamble with his best-friend - now his partner in this dance to the death. He began by repeating the same moves as before; darting forward, keeping a low stance. Only this time, he approached with only one dagger in his left hand. "You fool! You know me well enough; no trick ever works twice! Just give up, Lars! Only one of us can live - why not let it be me...?" Hearing those words from Gardner''s mouth, Lars felt more and more like the red-head was a stranger to him. What had happened to the warm, big-hearted and kind boy? One who, despite his great size and strength, always made sure not to hurt him too much in sparring? One who was willing to fight 4-on-1 to protect him when he was bullied...? One that he had trusted his heart, soul and feelings to. Even his feelings for Moira. ''Moira...? Moira!'' So that was it... He should have seen it sooner... But he had been too blind; blinded by his belief in friendship - no, by his desire to believe in a friend he could trust. A desire born of foolishness. Wordlessly, Lars responded with his dagger; rising from a low position to snake towards Gardner''s neck. He saw the bigger boy smile; obviously, he was confident in his superior speed and reach. Then his face changed when Lars'' dagger glowed - then flashed; releasing a blinding white light and searing Gardner''s eyes. "Ahh!!!" Gardner cried out in pain as a smokescreen. The trainees were all accustomed to fighting blind. *Clang!* Gardner smiled when he felt the impact of Lars'' blade on his dagger; even blinded, his defences were impeccable. Then he gasped - the dagger had no weight to it... Almost like it had been thrown. ''Hmmph!'' Within a split-second, he adjusted his position and spun around; striking out 6 times with each dagger as he spun - leaving no gaps for an unarmed assailant to get close. ''Useless! Futile! There''s nothing you can do; no rocks or stones or debris you have left to use...!'' He bought himself 2 seconds with his superb killing-move used for defence - enough for his vision to return. Then he screamed in pain once more as he felt 3 bolts of burning pain pierce through his abdomen - then collapsed with charred holes through his stomach and chest; bleeding profusely. A blind man had no chance against silent magic fired from a distance. * * * * * He heard the spectators gasp - trainees, instructors, guards and the three invigilators. Then through his blurry consciousness; dizzy from blood-loss pain; he heard murmurs of surprise and accusation. "He uses magic..." "How did he learn it...?" "Did Vizier Murad teach him in secret...?" "No, it can''t be; he must be the thief who stole Murad''s missing scrolls..." "Could it be his innate talent...?" Countless voices and numerous theories could be heard in a jumble of sounds - then the crowd fell silent as they watched what should be the foregone outcome of the battle. Lars'' stood, blood-soaked and panting, struggling to draw in the next breath. He suppressed the urge to vomit as he faced Gardner who lay prone on the ground; gasping for air. His open left palm was pointed at the fallen boy; so tense that his muscles began to lock up and cramp. He felt sickened to his stomach. Sickened by the thought of what he had done to his best friend. Sickened by the smell of blood, as always. Sickened by the thought of what he had to do next. To kill his best friend with his own bare hands. He stumbled forward; one step at a time; each step feeling heavier than the last. It seemed to take him forever to reach his former mentor and companion; whose breaths came shorter and shorter, more and more shallow. He heard the sounds of gurgling as Gardner tried to draw in air - likely blood had entered his punctured lungs. He looked up at the invigilator; the scar-faced bald mountain of a man remained impassive; retaining his expression of disdain and cruelty. Then he took 3 more steps; the last 3 steps until he stood within striking distance of his only friend in this dark, lonely place. "L-Lars...?" Gardner sputtered as he spoke; coughing - specks of blood mixed with phlegm and saliva flowing from his mouth. He was laid on his side; one arm crumpled under his body at an unnatural angle - unable to move. He looked to be in great pain, and multiple convulsions shook him at irregular intervals. "H... H... H-help me; help me... Lie down... For old times; *cough* -- for ol'' time''s sake...? Let me... Die with dignity..." He pleaded with misty eyes; his face twisted in agony with blood, snot, and phlegm mixed together running down his face. He held up one feeble arm; beseeching Lars to show him this final mercy. Lars took the last step forward and reached out his good left hand - and Gardner immediately sprung up to his knees and swung his hidden dagger at the unsuspecting Lars'' throat - a dagger that the tall and robust boy had gripped tightly; pressed against the ground - concealed under his torso. Lars froze; then sighed in sorrow; heart-broken, shocked and betrayed. A gurgling sound was heard, and a voice of reluctance blurted out; "Y-You... Tricked me...! You--" With his throat slit by the thin, nearly invisible wire floating in the air in front of him; whatever last words Gardner had would be taken with him to the grave. "Goodbye... And may you find your peace... Brother..." Lars released his Invisible Rope spell; dissipating the mana used to summon the translucent and thin but steel-like wire; then turned his back on his former best friend; saluting to bid him a last, sorrowful goodbye. He looked forlorn and lost as he stepped out of the ring; nothing like a victor; looking instead like one who had been defeated; one who had lost something dear and precious to him. * * * * * Lars dragged his feet as he exited the combat grounds; then limped and struggled across the crowded waiting area. He clutched his still-bleeding right shoulder; trying to staunch the bleeding with a ripped off portion of cloth - from his own tight black tunic. He was met with a scene that struck great fear into his heart. Invigilator Sarin was blocking his way; and was *smiling*...! Something he did only when someone was about to be beaten to the brink of death, or outright executed. The brilliantly intelligent scar-faced man struck an imposing sight; heavily muscled and a full head taller than the half-dead boy. He was also a master of psychology; a master of instilling fear into his trainees. He delighted in showing that he could read them like a book; and enjoyed showing the teenagers that they were dancing in the palm of his hand. "Would you like to guess which it will be...?" The brutal-looking bald man spoke as he always did - in a deathly still and refined tone of voice - yet one that would at any moment erupt in bouts of crippling violence. The moment Lars dreaded had come - the draconian taskmaster obviously knew his own reputation - that his smile meant either death; or torture. The thin boy teetering on the brink of collapse faced a turning point in his life - would the insidious overlord believe his claim that magic was his innate talent...? What excuse should he make; what story to tell...? As his train of thought raced down the path of no return; invigilator Sarin''s smiled widened further, until it looked like his wide mouth split his face in half. He felt his scalp grow numb and shivered - he felt as if the bald, scarred man could already hear his every thought... Gulping and gather his resolve; Lars opened his mouth to answer. "I--" 7 Scheming is Strength 2 *Clap clap clap clap* The sharp sudden sound of the invigilator''s applause broke his last vestige of concentration; throwing the boy into confusion. Before he knew it, he found himself slumped on the ground - mentally drained from his heart-rending skirmish; and further exhausted by the ingrained fear of the bald man. And exhausted as he was; he began to cry - and laugh in relief. "Ha, ha ha... Hahaha...! Hahahahaha!!!" He could not control it; neither his tears and sobbing; nor his laughter to mask his weeping. At the sudden development outside of his careful analysis; the smiling man''s face turned sour; a sight that made every occupied trainee duck their heads or hide in an attempt to make themselves conspicuous - while the unoccupied trainees vanished to who-knows-where. He spoke quietly, as was his penchant. "Number 6, Lars... Would you care to explain what you find so funny...?" The sense of danger in the air rose palpably. "Invigilator... I...." The savage hulk of a man stood quietly; waiting to hear the boy''s excuse. "...I want to live... I want to live!!!" He exclaimed through the tears and his congested throat; not understanding why he said it. But since he faced the decision of falling at his best friend''s devices; or taking his sworn brother''s life with his own hands... He realised that no matter, he just wanted to live. To breathe. To learn. To experience life. To continue to see Moira every day. The invigilator paused; tolerating the boy''s outburst. THe youth *was* one of the top 10 best seeds now, and this round of selection might be different from the usual where only the number 1 was taken... Clearing his throat softly, the powerful man spoke once more. "Give me a reason; and... Perhaps you will live." By now, none of the trainees would mistake his gentleness for weakness. "Invigilator; I--" Then the boy burst into coughs; his horrifying shoulder wound still slowly leaking blood. The gargantuan man reached into his coat and pulled out... A white handkerchief. With lace and frills around the edges. Not a single soul dared to laugh - nor even let out a squeak. He handed the handkerchief to the coughing boy; allowing him to calm down. Then he waited; tension filling the air. "Invigilator. I know the rumours; that I stole the Vizier''s books on magic; or that I have been practising in secret, against the unwritten rules of the Arena." His listener grunted softly; almost daintily. "And I know that; whatever my reasons, the penalty is death; but I also know this!" He quickly continued without lapse, lest his argument be nipped in the bud. "I know that the true backer of the Arena is the royal family; for the purpose of raising the best, smartest and most ruthless killers... And bodyguards. For who better to sniff out every assassin, murderer, ambush, trap, scheme or plot than a schemer, plotter and cold-blooded murderer himself...?" "But just last week, there has been a tragedy in the palace. The beloved Princess of the Sun; the successor of our most Holy Priestess, was murdered by a magical explosion - a trap most likely set by either the Mage country or the cultivators. Both her personal bodyguards, each a master and long-time graduates of the Arena, failed to detect it; ending with their deaths by execution." At the sight of the invigilator''s face turning sour; and yet also curious at how he knew this news while being trapped here in the Arena; Lars did not skip a beat; explaining his information channels. "This event hasn''t been announced; nor has it been mentioned in our syllabus. But I managed to pick up this news from the servants just yesterday. Just like we''ve been taught, to keep our eyes and ears open, and to establish channels of information - whether in high places or among the lowest servants. Sir, your greatness; invigilator Sarin--" He did not continue buttering up his counterpart; as he saw the bald man raising his eyebrows in irritation. "Invigilator; in view of the changing times; in view of the dangers of his bodyguards *not* knowing magic..." He cleared his throat as he reached the peak of his argument. "...The King should change his selection method. With the most recent occurrence of a magical ambush; the royal family needs the best, most loyal servants... Those who are also masters of magic." "Invigilator, you are a man of great wisdom and have always seized every opportunity to contribute; both to serve our beloved King and also to gain greater merits for our Arena!" The boy knelt, bowing his head - despite nearly fainting from the effort of speaking eloquently while critically injured. "I know that you would not want to miss such a great opportunity and execute me, right...? Not when there is going to be a great demand for a magic-wielding trainee like me...!" Lars ended on a high note, looked up at the ruler of the Arena and smiled - or at least he tried to; but he found even his knees and thighs turning to jelly. His attempted smile turned into a grimace of fear. He was trembling; putting on a brave front before the man who could decide his life and death with a snap of his fingers. The hulking man was quiet; his chin and gaze lowered. The seconds ticked by. Lars began to sway; weakened from low blood pressure and fatigue - and also the pressure he was placed under by the overseer of the Arena training grounds. Then the invigilator spoke. "Get some rest." And as he walked past Lars, he added a few more lines. "Well done - you impress me. But..." The smiling scarred man had a gentle look on his face as he sadistically clasped Lars bleeding shoulder. Lars swallowed his pain as his consciousness nearly left him; blackness swam across his eyes, covering his vision. Then the devil in human skin whispered into his hear; the warm lips nearly caressing his earlobe. "Assume you know what I want once more; and..." Then the man let go and walked off at a leisurely pace; wiping the blood off his hand. "That day will be your death anniversary." As the words of the unveiled threat continued to ring in his ears; he was completely zoned out. And he was grateful that this was how his day ended; with no further bloodshed, torture nor fatality - at least not for today. But from that day on; he would receive the nickname; Lunatic Deathwish - for only a madman seeking death would dare face the cold-blooded killer invigilator in the face - and laugh. 8 What is Love?/ Scheming is Strength 3 The wobbly boy limped past the place he had faced invigilator Sarin and made haste to leave the area of the battle ring. He did not dare look at Gardner''s corpse that was being carried away; likely to be used for their upcoming meals - the protein not to be wasted. He feared that if he looked even once more; he would never be able to erase Gardner''s gaping; accusing eyes from his memories. He feared that he would still see his blood-brother''s face every time he closed his eyes... Just like he did right now... He turned the bend to his dorm area; only to see Moira; the second best trainee in their entire batch after the dark-skinned berserker Linges. Lars almost missed a step; uncharacteristic for the cool, calm and collected assassin trainees. ''My only warmth, my hope in this dark, dark place...'' Beautiful Moira. Smiling Moira. Always clean, always smelling good, always warm to the touch... Warm and soft and affectionate when they held each other secretly in the laundry area; away from prying eyes and snooping ears. Every month, the top trainees would be allocated extra food, half the labour and an hour of time in the sun-lit courtyard - normally off-limits to the slaves. But the thin, wiry but cunning and fast boy had never desired for all those. He did not need those. All he needed was her. ''Moira...'' He paused in his steps; then cast his gaze away from the girl who had not seen him yet; who would not cross paths with him as long as he did not call out to her. ''Moira; *You* are my light...'' She too had just left the scene of her battle; only, for her, it was far less of an ordeal. She had faced a trainee almost 50 ranks beneath her and eliminated him with ease. Nevertheless, she was still a 14-year-old girl - one scared and unsettled by her first kill. Which was why she was absent-minded; not paying attention to her surroundings unlike what they had always learned to do in this place where death was expected, and ambushes came from the least probable places. But she quickly came to her senses as she saw the boy scurrying away from her. "Hey, Lars; Lars!! Don''t -- wait!" Her face changed to surprise when she saw him; then joy, then surprise and then finally disappointment and hurt as he ignored her and turned around a corner. She tried to chase after him; but was obstructed by the other battered, bruised and grimy trainees who had also finished their matches. And as such, when Lars quickened his pace; bursting into a run, she lost him. By the time she turned the corner; he was long gone - lost in the crowds of servants, trainees and other slaves in the main corridor of the Arena tunnel network. Her face fell; a heart-breaking sight that caused many of the men and boys around her to stumble; nearly colliding with one another and breaking, dropping or losing whatever they carried. ''Lars... Why...? Why don''t you acknowledge me anymore...? I thought we belonged to one another...?'' * * * * * Round the corner; hidden in a servant''s empty room. Miller Knight Larsson panted heavily; wincing as his wound that was long overdue for treatment began to stiffen - a bad sign. He was tough; but the human body was just not meant for such abuse. As a result; he was shivering. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead; wetting his hair and blood-encrusted clothes. And yet even his sorry state could not detract from his handsome; dreamy looks. ''Moira...'' He... He couldn''t bear to see her. He... Loved her. As much as she loved him; maybe, maybe more. But he could not, would not... *Cannot* see her again. For only one person could leave the Rings of Death alive. He waited for a moment; counting to 15 before popping out the room and headed to the main infirmary. He hoped she would not follow him there; hoped that he would not have to come to terms with how he felt about her... And what he would do if he faced her in the ring. * * * * * [3 months later] [Not long until the young assassin''s awakening to his sealed memories and powers] It was now just after the third round of matches; and Lars had been forced to kill for the third time - this time, without using magic. Since their last encounter 3 months ago, invigilator Sarin and the other members of management had not brought up his case; his use of magic. Perhaps they had accepted his argument, or perhaps they were just deferring his punishment until later... His ranking had quickly risen further; from the rank 6 he received when he defeated his red-headed brother-in-arms; to rank 5. Raised because the former rank number 3 had died; smashed to pieces at the hands of the aberrant; freakishly power Linges; thus moving everyone below number 3 up a rank - and leaving everyone fearing for their lives, hoping not to cross paths with the monster in human skin. It was quiet around in the residential area where Lars was seated cross-legged, Lars sharpening his daggers. Taking the opportunity during break-time from self-training; he went over his meager few spells - self-created and polished over the years. He felt as if there were so much more magic energy within him, but no matter how he struggled to tap into the power; it was as if there were some sort of pipes or wires broken somewhere inside him... He absentmindedly scratched at the leaf-shaped imprint on his chest, somewhere halfway between his collarbone and solar plexus. The mark had been there for as long as he could remember; since he was a child. Interestingly, the birthmark seemed to be growing darker as the years went by; and also seemed to be growing "twigs" radiating out - there were 14 fully grown while one more looked to be almost done forming; completing a circle around the birthmark like numbers on a clock. Shaking his head and focusing on the present; his mind returned to his spells. Magic Missile - he could invoke up to 3 egg-sized balls of arcane energy and launch them at high-speed. The damage done was about as severe as using a smouldering blade to pierce a person''s flesh - one as thick as an egg was wide. Invisible Rope - though it was better to call it a string; so thin it was... Nevertheless, it was strong - strong enough that, just by hanging it in the air in front of him; it had slit the throat of his scheming best friend when he launched his sudden attack. Temporary Breac-- His thoughts were interrupted by one of the two people he did not wish to see. "Lars." A gentle voice, but with an underlying steel and determination within it. One that he would never forget. Moira. 9 What Is Love 2 / Scheming is Strength 4 Misty green eyes. Long, flowing golden hair; not light yellow but golden, tinged with brown. Teardrop shaped face. Pert lips; ones that you wish you could kiss. But she was crying. Moira Fenella was the perfect girl in every trainee''s eyes; including even the girls - who made up 1/3 of the trainees. She had captured every heart over the 1 year she had been here - because despite being the perennial 2nd best in the entire Arena; she had something almost no other trainee still had. A heart. She was kind, warm, cheery, caring... Everything that everyone thought would no longer exist in this prison they called home. And to the affection-starved assassins-in-training; there was nothing more desirable, nothing they craved more and yearned for more than that. Love. And against all odds, this angel-like girl - this messenger who surely could not belong to this tarnished, depraved world... This girl loved Lars. "Moira..." For the first time in 3 months; he stood before her. For the first time in 3 months; he dared to say her name. For the first time in 3 months; he could run away no longer. "Lars...!" One, two, three steps - then they collided. He held her; gingerly at first; then tightly - he couldn''t resist. Then he felt the wetness on his chest; and patted her on the head. "Why..." "Lars, why... What have I done wrong...?" She lifted her head to look at his face; tilting her chin upwards to make up for the height difference. "Why... Why are you doing this...?" ''Why am I... Why am I doing this?'' ''No! What am I doing!!?'' Aghast, the teenage Lars held her shoulders tight; and heavily pushed her away - shoved her away despite her sobbing and tears; despite her heart-broken face. Lars gritted his teeth; stilling his trembling hands. He had to do. He just had to; he must. For her. He bolted away, ran helter-skelter from the one he truly loved; but he knew should not love him. "Lars!!! Why???" A girl fell to her knees; falling heavily with a thud as she hit the ground. The floor beneath her face turned darker; with the tears she shed. "What have I done wrong...?" She whispered to herself. * * * * * Crestfallen and desolate; the picturesque, angelic girl slowly raised herself up off the floor where she was kneeling and smoothed out her clothes - a functional but simple black tunic; made of some material between leather and rough cotton; tight fitting but flexible. Moira dusted herself off, then walked over to the nearby basins in the washing area of the residential sector. She washed her face lightly; clearing away the marks of her crying. She smiled a little - the water in the Arena was mostly greyed or muddy in the first place; she wondered what good it would make to wash her face with it...? She shrugged to herself; for once letting her hair - and guard - down to comfort her aching heart. "Rosa, why does a pig need to wash her face...? When she''s about to be drowned anyway...?" She heard a malicious voice from behind her; and frantically spun around to face them and defend herself. But in her weak state of mind; she was unprepared. Just when she had let relaxed the least bit; trouble came knocking. A bag was thrown over her head; and even with all her might and skills, she could not manage to slip away from the many hands, fists and legs beating on her. Before she knew it, her arms were grabbed from either side by several pairs of hands; with a couple more holding her legs and lifting her up. To her horror, she was swiftly transported to the basin; the one she had just washed her face in - the one full of water. "Let go!!! Let go NOW!!! I''ll kill you, I swear I''ll kill you!!! If the management finds out--" She made every threat she could in the 3 seconds she had before she was forced to silence her shouts and screams; for they dunked her head into the water of the large and deep basin. She tried not to panic; looking for some sort of weakness in her assailant''s grips; any opportunity to break free - even the smallest one would do. But the seconds passed and she could gain no ground - her captors were nearly as good as her in their application of force, and they outnumbered her at least 5 to 1... The seconds turned to nearly a minute, and she could not hold on much longer. Her limit was normally 3 and a half minutes - a great feat and among the best among the 400 odd trainees. But she had been accosted and roughed up without any chance to catch her breath; then pressed into the waters. She had stopped screaming - she had to hold her breath and last as long as she could; until help came. ''Please... Someone... Anyone... Help!!!'' In her despair, she began to swallow water, choking; which caused her to swallow even more water. Tears flowed out of her eyes; only to mix with the waters that were far from clean. * * * * * Seline Brunhild. Ranked 6th (formerly 7th - until the death of rank number 3); she was also one of the two members of the top 10 who actively pursued the concept of strength in numbers. Full lips, luscious red hair, angular and sculpted features. Sexy, sensuous and curvaceous despite her young age; Seline used all of her charms, wits and schemes to gather her posse of followers; boys and girls who were at her beck and call like obedient puppies. And those she could not pull to her side, she brutally and ruthlessly crushed - like right now. Seline hated the slutty, bitchy girl more than anyone; more than anything else. The face that stole her Lars away from her. The red-headed queen bee spoke gruffly to Rosa; her second in command. "Finish up and clear out! You know what to do." As she quickly left the scene to keep her cool and maintain an alibi of innocence, she heard the sound of splashing water; a girl''s head dunked below the surface once more. She smiled in victory. 10 Peril Approaching/ Scheming is Strength 5 "Pull her up." She sternly commanded her second in command, Rosa; a taller, brown-haired girl - one considered timid among the trainees; but when it came to her mistress'' commands, she was the fiercest and most loyal of wolves. "Do it - just the head" Rosa kept her guard up as she gestured to the 6 people struggling to keep the detestable rank number 2 girl down. She customised her mistress'' orders - something that Seline valued and liked enough to give the weak girl ranked in the 200s the position of "captain" of her personal "army". There were 2 more boys on standby holding cudgels; ready to strike at Moira just in case she broke free. In addition, she had placed 2 look-outs; just in case any unwanted visitors came - or members of the management happened to pass by. The boys and girls carefully raised the girl''s head out of the waters; causing her to gasp and desperately draw in quick breaths of air. Then the dominating girl slapped her; hard - causing her to sputter and choke. "Well well well... Fat pig; do you admit now who the superior one is...?" She held Moira''s chin in her hands; roughly pulling her face up - forcing the blond girl to look her in the eye. The drenched girl only continued to breathe deeply, not replying. Irritated that she had not gotten the reaction she wanted, The voluptuous girl gripped her chin harder, but Moira remained silent, unyielding. Frustrated, the gang-leader girl decided to dangle the carrot. "We-ell~... Y''know, it doesn''t have to happen this way..." She pulled the restricted girl''s face closer; her subordinates obliging and lifting the girl up slightly. "All you need to do is to swear fealty to me... And swear to never, ever speak to Lars again." ''That''s it... Let me see you beg... Plead... Cry and grovel before me...!'' The bitch queen of the Arena continued smiling, but her thoughts were dark and morbid. ''And then... When you''ve broken down and can take it no longer...'' She smiled gently, like a goddess of mercy granting her grace to a suffering petitioner. ''...I''ll kill you anyway, like the fat pig you are!'' Seeing that the girl was silent, she pushed her a little more, to give her some light at the end of the tunnel. "Well...? Hmm...? What''s it going to be...?" Then the blonde captured girl bit down on Seline''s hand - as hard as she could. "Ahhhhh!!! Damn you, damn you damn you damn you!!!!! I''ll kill you!!!!" She struck the biting girl again and again and again, trying to force her to release her hand. Finally, Moira could not hold on any longer, opening her mouth that was now filled with blood and some fragments of flesh. Then she added the insult to injury. "Tastes... Like..." "A slutty pig... Hehe..." Seline''s face turned. Despite her mannerisms, she still kept her purity; believing that only Lars and Lars alone deserved to taste her womanhood. The words of her rival struck a nerve in her. Her complexion changed colour like a chameleon - from her current rosy pink, to red, to white, then red again and finally a deep, dark blackening - so enraged was she. But she didn''t lash out. She nursed her injured hand, the bite marks likely to leave scars on her fair skin. No, she just spoke quietly, serenely - words that struck a chill in her listener''s hearts. "No more chances. So here''s the deal. You touched my man. Today, you die." The sadistic girl smiled in satisfaction with a dangerous glint in her eyes - smug and exultant at her all but assured victory. Then she drew her face nearer the captive girl''s and said; "No one will help you - even if they come, can they defeat all of us...?" The cruel leader of the mob of boys and girls laughed in the subdued girl''s face; then stopped when she heard the reply. "Lars will... Lars will come. He will save--" "Ahhhh!!!! Shut up shut up shut up shut up!!!!!" Seline screamed, covering her ears with her hands - even ignoring the injuries to bloody, punctured hand. She was livid; seething and unable to keep her calm facade anymore. Moira retained the exact same face; one of mocking, confidence - and defiance. The unstable villainous leader of the pack hated the blonde girl who she considered a slut and bitch; hated her face more than anyone; more than anything else. The face that stole her Lars away from her. Stepping away, Seline pulled out a handkerchief to dry her hands; then spoke gruffly to Rosa. "Finish up and clear out! You know what to do." As she quickly left the scene to keep her cool and maintain an alibi of innocence, she heard the sound of splashing water; a girl''s head dunked below the surface once more. She smiled in victory. * * * * * Rosa was agitated and fidgeting as she watched the rag-tag team under her hold Moira''s head under the water. That was one of her worst traits; one that weakened her combat capabilities and left flaws in her stealth ¨C she could never master her body''s reactions. Whether fear and anger¡­ Or lust and love for her red-headed queen; Seline. Despite it being her queen''s direct commands; Rosa was antsy about this whole setup. She herself would have preferred to slit the slut''s throat and be done with it, but her mistress seemed to have other plans. ''Let her bloated corpse be a warning to every other bitch there is around ¨C a perpetual sign that says, "Hands off!"'' Rosa recalled the temptress girl''s words with bitterness and resentment. Why did she only have eyes for him, a wretched *boy*?! Why couldn''t she just see that she, Rosa, could give her more fulfilment and pleasure than any disgusting male ever could! She blushed, moaning softly as she thought about her curvaceous dominatrix''s soft, supple skin and long sensual fingers. Fingers she''d love to taste, and then she''d show the natural red-head what else a girl could do with those fingers that no boy would ever know¡­ *Clink!* "What was that!?" She snapped out of her fantasies; face still flushed, cheeks red. She felt as if a hand gripped her heart. The air she tried to draw into her lungs felt murky; heavy. Without realising it; her shortsword was already in her hand, gripped so tightly that her fingers were white. The blade of her shortsword vibrated slightly ¨C evidence of her state of mind. *Clink!* The sound she ¨C no, all trainees dreaded was approaching. *Clink!* *Clink!* A wavering shadow was cast on the walls where they stood; the torches lining the passageways serving as a backlight to the living horror who stalked the halls. A shadow that terrified and would petrify all that saw it by the fear it brought ¨C if not for the fact that all who saw the shadow would immediately turn tail and flee. *CLINK!* *CLINK!* *CLINK!* She gritted her teeth and tore her eyes off the coming shadows, gaze falling on her team; an action that took incredible willpower. She shouted pre-emptively to stave off her team being routed merely by a shadow or a hint of the monstrous trainee¡­ Or at least she hoped her words would have enough of a galvanising effect to inspire her team''s courage to complete their task. "DON''T RUN!! Don''t be afraid! Don''t you know the law of numbers?!? Just finish the job! Look; she''s almost out of strength to struggle, once we''re done, we can easily take him¡ª" There were no cowards in the Arena, but everyone who was still alive had something in common. Survival Instinct. The law of numbers did not apply to Linges. She was left mid-sentence; mouth open with a look of sincerity and pleading on her face. They could not take the pressure anymore. The first to run was the look-outs; they disappeared without a trace. Not to be outdone, as if in silent agreement, all five of the boys and girls holding Moira fled the scene; scattering down the myriad pathways. The two on standby were no longer to be seen. No one would risk their lives when the tell-tale sound of Linges'' chains was heard ¨C even if it was just a ploy. Why risk it just to call the bluff when the only chips on the table were your life? Rosa ground her teeth in frustration; fear, anger, lust and loyalty mixing together in her brain ¨C until she made her decision. She sighed, closing her eyes. She could only be true to herself. She ran. Only a fool would stick around when Linges was in town. Only a fool like the Lunatic Deathwish, Lars. 11 Sacrifice/ Scheming is Strength 6 Coughing, sputtering and retching could be heard as the girl on the brink of drowning struggled to regain control of her body. Her hair was plastered against her face and head; looking pathetic. But she couldn''t care less. Her life was at stake. Despite all her self-control; her muscles, control and skills honed through arduous training were not enough to overcome the physiological consequences of near-death. Oxygen-starved, swallowing water and lungs beginning to fill with far too much moisture. Blood cut off from her limbs from the vice-like grip the gang had subjected her to. Struggling with all her might for minutes to survive. She was still on all fours, vertigo washing over her; unable to get to her feet. Slowly, she heard the clinking and clanking of Linges'' chains draw nearer. The "thud" of each weighty footstep that fell; the raspy heavy breaths he took¡­ And the silhouette of the giant 8-foot tall "boy", shadow cast into the washing area by the flickering torchlight. She closed her eyes; lowering her head. She only had one opportunity; one way out of sure-death ¨C the moment when the monster''s spawn came close enough. That would be her only chance of survival. * * * * * [Less than 2 minutes ago] [Lars'' Point of View] The boy who was hurtling through the Arena halls in search of a solution knew that taking on 6 trainees and 2 lookouts were impossible; no matter how big the gap in rank. He needed backup¡­ A concept unheard of except for the few gangs of skulking hyenas that had banded together for mutual survival and gain. Groups that would sooner tie him down and kill him rather than help him save a top-ranked competitor. He scowled at the thought of these groups ¨C what was the point of forming such a partnership with "allies" who would instantly pounce on you the moment you showed any weakness¡­? "Friends" that would not hesitate in the slightest to strike you down in the ring. But for once, he needed such a "friend" and "ally"; one strong enough to make a difference. There were no weaklings in the Arena. This was an established fact; one solidified through countless years since the founding of this assassins'' death-camp. By the end of even the first year, every weakling would have perished; weeded out and culled by the system of inhumane training, psychological torture and the suffocating atmosphere of fear. None of the remaining trainees could remember how many there were when they started. They roughly guessed there were more than a thousand at the start; with many more new entrants of the same age trickling in slowly over the years. Then every time the group shrunk to below a 100 or so trainees, several large batches of already trained children would arrive from who knows where; swelling the number back to above 500. The ones that remained ¨C above 400; all seasoned fighters. The difference between the top 10 and the bottom 50 was small enough that even the rank number 2 would fall to a group of 3 trainees ¨C assuming the group fought well together. Teamwork and synergy were not something taught in the Arena, only scheming, betrayal, plotting and the best place in another trainee''s spine to insert your knife in for a backstab. Nonetheless, a group of 3 trainees, even the lowest of the lowest, was more than even Lars and Moira could take on together. "2-on-1 is possible; 3-on-1 you flee; 4-on-1 is more meat for tomorrows lunch." This saying had come to be called the law of numbers. It was another established fact; with not a single trainee able to guard themselves or escape with their lives once they were ganged up on ¨C the only solution was not to find yourself in such a situation in the first place; to constantly be on guard ¨C to never trust anybody. For the moment one was surrounded by more than 3 opponents; it was over. This was an indisputable truth; one that held true even for the top-ranked fighters. Which was why the thin, wiry boy rushing down the tunnels could only hope to beg, grovel, pay or do whatever it took to find help¡­ Even help in the most unexpected places. And save the lover who he could no longer possess - even if it cost him his life. He could only pray that he was not too late. * * * * * [Moira''s Point of View] She kept her forehead against the ground, pretending to be unconscious as she listened intently. The chains went silent; a slinking, splashing then plopping sound heard as if they were dropped into a deep pool of water. Then the footsteps came closer; sounding light-footed despite the beastman boy''s immense size. ''5 steps more... 4... 3...'' Moira counted down the seconds and steps until the giant entered her range; until it was time for her to launch her last-ditch effort. She carefully held a knife under her prone body; cautious not to show signs of movement even as she prepared for her ambush. ''2 steps... 1 step...! Almost; almost!'' Then the footsteps stopped. Fear gripped her heart. ''Did... Did he notice...?'' What should she do? Strike now; despite him not being in range? Wait and see what happened? But what if he attacked her from the current distance? Wouldn''t she then die for nothing? She had to decide. She set her jaw in place; her muscles tightening and her body tensing up in the split seconds before pouncing and-- "Moira...?" She heard his voice afar off - like a dream come true, but real. ''How... Why...?!'' That voice...!'' Unbidden, tear flooded her eyes; shock then relief washing over her like the waters had enveloped her head just moments ago. The voice of the one she loved; and thought she belonged to - but had cruelly rejected her; with his reasons unspoken. Lars. But the dream soon turned into a nightmare - fear and dismay ran through her body like electric shocks; jolting her awake from her mulling. No, no no no! Not now; not in this situation! Not when he would... He would surely fight Linges to the death to save her. ''No... No! I can''t let that happen! Lars! You must live; let me the only one to die today!'' "YAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Roaring a battle cry to stoke up her own spirits; the cold-blooded, disciplined killer could not fight the tuggings of her still-pure heart; her love for her man. She leapt up to her feet in one smooth motion and slashed at the massive trainee who had been staring down at her; long knife aimed straight at his throat. ''Please! Just let this one strike connect! That''s all I ask of you!!'' She silently prayed to whichever god would hear her. Then she felt extreme pain as a colossal hand almost as large as her upper body smashed into her, and everything turned black. 12 David vs. Goliath 1 ''No... No! I can''t let that happen! Lars! You must live; let me the only one to die today!'' She was too slow; too weak; helpless before the monster of a man before her. "Moira!!!" She heard a shout; calling out her name - warming her heart. ''Why didn''t you call me out earlier...? Why...? Why couldn''t we have embraced each other one more time; just for a moment longer...? Why did you come only now...? Why...'' It needed to be said that she was by no means weak - it was just that she was already on the brink of collapse; at less than 20% of her peak while Linges was too strong; powerful enough to half-kill one of the instructors whose arrogance and indignance at losing to a trainee had almost cost him his life. Even as she lost consciousness; she held on to one thought; trying to cry out with her last gasp. ''Lars... R-run...'' Then her vision went black. * * * * * "Lingeeeeeeessssss!!!" Seeing the apple of his eye swept away by a brutal palm strike set ablaze a great, rampaging fire, inundating every ounce of Lars'' being with rage. There was no trash-talking, no challenges, no theatrics and no flashy moves; murder the sole thought on his mind. The one thing that stopped him from going completely berserk and losing his cool-headed assassin''s mindset was the fact that she was still alive and breathing, but in a critically injured state. But when he saw Linges turn and the white, tooth *smile* plastered on the brown giant''s face, Lars nearly lost even the last vestiges of his rationality. He charged forward despite the suffocating pressure pouring down onto his shoulders. He felt like he was face to face with a great beast; a ruler of the wild - and he was just another meal for this predator at the pinnacle of all creation. "YOU MUST DIE!!!" He cried out to break out of the instinctive fear he felt; and struck out with his twin daggers at his stationary opponent''s abdomen. The tall boy with a small build looked like a twig in front of a soaring mountain as he slashed full-power at his foe''s abdomen; leaving trails of dagger-light in a shimmering X-shape. *Clank! Clank!* A sound of metal on metal was heard; one that was not supposed to occur when steel met a human''s "soft" flesh - because Linges'' skin was like steel in rigidity and hardness; resulting in the agile yet strong boy''s heavy dagger blows only leaving shallow and thin lines of blood. Then Lars'' jaw dropped and he gasped as felt as if a mountain were crashing down onto him; a descending hammer blow from the towering freak who stood almost a metre taller and weighed likely 100kg more than him. ''Dodge!!!'' His muscles screamed in disobedience; freezing up from the primal fear ingrained in his cells towards an organism above him in the food chain. Barely, just barely he slipped aside, the melon-sized fists zooming past him and crashing into the ground. ''That was too clo--'' He was silenced mid-thought as countless fragments of stone exploded into his body; the shrapnel akin to that of an explosive fire-bomb. BOOM!!!! The stone ground erupted like plaster or soft wood under the hulking trainee''s blow; leaving a small uneven crater 1m in diameter. Crying out in pain and rolling backwards at top-speed, Lars'' heart was pumping crazily. ''If I were 0.1 seconds slow... Or 1cm nearer...'' He gulped; trying to still his panicking nerves. ''All that would be left of me would be a still corpse...'' Readying his daggers and spells; Lars'' mind raced as he formulated a strategy to take down the seething giant. So far the management had proven that they would not come - the normally upheld rule of "no trainees killing outside the ring" was time and again violated by the champion Linges, and yet the invigilators merely continued to heap praise and benefits on the trainee. A reflection of their stance - whatever was to their gain would be tolerated; whatever to their detriment eliminated. First; he needed to test out his assumptions. It would not come for free though; he fully expected to pay for every probe with his flesh and blood. He only hoped that he could ascertain things before he was too injured to execute. Ignoring the multitudinous wounds from the aftermath of Linges'' single "missed" blow; he prayed that his plan would work. Else this would be the end of the line - both for him and for the only love of his life. * * * * * "AHHH!!!!" He loosed a battle cry and ran forward again with all his might; to ensure that the beast-like man before him would not shift his aggro onto the unconscious Moira. Linges bared his teeth and roared in return; thunderous and overbearing; establishing his dominance as the king of the hill. Then he raised his eyebrows and grinned viciously when he saw the boy repeating almost exactly the same move; aimed at the same place. The exact same replayed itself - a slim but athletic boy striking out in an X-shape with his left and right dagger slashes on the exact same spot; resulting in a slight deepening of the gashes from 0.5cm to 0.8cm in depth; this time leaving some blood trickling from the flesh wound. Again a roar; and an earth-shaking, ground-pounding hammer-fist blow fell upon the boy. He dodged backwards - and opened a nearly 5m distance between himself and Linges in a split second; successfully escaping unscathed from the following explosion of stone and rocks from the hulk''s two-fisted smash. Invisible Rope, this time several thick loops of it, attached to the basin fixtures behind him. When retracted at high speed, it provided him with a burst of acceleration to avoid Linges'' counter-attack. Nevertheless, despite using 10 rounds of the relatively thicker wire-thin ropes; he still felt pain where the wires cut his skin from the sharpness when he jerked his body backwards roughly. Linges smiled; a baring of teeth which painted a frightening sight to whomever''s misfortune it was to be the focus of his attention. He glanced at the blood on his abdomen; then flexed his steel wire-like muscles to close up the wounds; staunching the bleeding with just a tightening of his abs. The berserker bared his fangs and charged; consumed by battle-frenzy and bloodlust. Stampeding forward, he swung a palm at Lars as if he were a fly to be swatted, to go *splat* when hit. He was fast, much faster than his size let on and his movements sharp and efficient; completely unlike his bumbling, lumbering appearance. Lars maintained his cool when faced with the rampaging assault, performing a nimble sideways cartwheel, then hopping away into a roll to get out of the path of Linges'' charge. Then he struck from behind, landing 5 quick slashes before his 6th was interrupted by a spinning back fist swing from his solidly built opponent; one that he avoided but still clipped his clothes; throwing him off balance. ''Shit!!! Dodge!!!!!'' Lars threw himself backwards; falling onto the ground and scrambling back up - just in time to get away from his adversary''s grasping hands. If he were caught... He gulped. One wrong move and it was over. But he smiled. The fight had just begun. And it was time for the real counter-attack to start. 13 Bearing of a King; Eyes of a Hawk The bald, scar-faced man was always well-mannered. He took pride in his polite mannerisms; a remnant of the days in office as a court official - before he made that one mistake; and fell from favour and into this cesspool of filth and depravity. He touched the many scars on his face; fingers tracing the line of one particularly long diagonal scar from the right side of his temples down the side of his face - barely sparing his eye from permanent blindness. ''A keepsake I will always remember...'' He smiled derisively; both at himself and in remembrance of the man whose neck he would someday snap - personally, with his own bare hands. The hidden mastermind behind the plots that led to his downfall. He stood in a lavishly decorated slightly circular room; one that was scattered with signs of opulence - luxurious fur rugs, fluffy pillows, a double-king sized bed and various ornaments made of porcelain, china or other precious materials. He pursed his lips. The decor was tacky; excessive and not to his taste. It also didn''t suit the severe concrete walls used in the construction of the building - resulting in Vizier Murad repainting the walls white. A glaring, bright, cream-white that was an affront to Sarin''s aesthetic senses. ''Granted, I''m more for the minimalist style...'' Vizier Murad, the invigilator and one more guest - a tall cloaked man - were the only three souls present in the dark-skinned Murad''s room for the highest ranked court officials. The vizier was manipulating a pool of water in the middle of the room; misty wisps of mana with the slightest hint of blue effused from his hands to form clear images on the surface of the waters. An image of the already-concluded one-sided thrashing of Moira by the victor, Linges... And the coming confrontation between her lover-boy and the beastly predator at the apex of the Arena. Invigilator Sarin stood, tense and keeping his thoughts to himself; cautious. He was unable to see what they were watching due to his position and angle. He was merely standing at the entrance, literally playing the role of a servant and doorman - guarding against any spying eyes. He was not cautious because of Vizier Murad, despite the old, wrinkled and grey-haired man being one of the 9 Everlasting Pillars of the Kingdom of the Sands that spanned thousands of kilometres in every direction. A Kingdom built exactly on these 9 Pillars as well as the million-strong armies of the King of the Sands. No, the typically nonchalant, externally genteel yet callous and cruel Sarin was spooked - because of how he had seen the Vizier act towards their guest. The Sage of the Enlightened Skies. The Scholar of the Sands of Time. The Wise One of the Dunes. These were but three of the many titles accorded to the man respected and idolised by the hundreds of millions of citizens of the Kingdom - a Grand Mage newly ascended to the World Class tier; who some said would be the first in untold generations to step into the Legendary Realm[1]. Murad was standing, serving with the utmost courtesy and a grateful expression while the handsome guest with flaxen-hair and a smooth, ageless face was seated in the Vizier''s personal armchair. Despite his flawless skin which bore not a single wrinkle; the valiant and dashing guest seemed to bear the weight of great experience and many years. He carried himself with an air of refinement mixed with nobility; but also exuded an aura of the self-confidence only the truly powerful bore. He was handsome; and from his demeanour, presumably middle-aged. His eyes were sharp and dominant; showing that he was accustomed to being accorded great honour and carrying corresponding authority. He also wore a slight smile that, when coupled with his piercing, smouldering green eyes and chivalrous visage, had surely made many a lady swoon; and dozens more wet with desire for his gaze to linger upon them. Probably in the hopes that he would decide to do more than just lay his gaze on them. ''A woman-killer...'' Then Sarin smirked. If the overly handsome man really killed the women; then he himself wouldn''t mind to volunteer to dispose of the bodies... Then he could satisfy his unique tastes and... "Sample" them after they were already dead... ''Sickening...?'' He smirked. Who cared...? Here in the Arena; he was almost equal to a king! His thoughts returned to the guests status and identity. Worst of all; the invigilator could not sense an ounce of power or strength from the imposing middle-aged man. Which meant that either the man''s status was so high that power did not matter... Or he had transcendent strength so great that even a World-Class expert like Vizier Murad, one of the pillars of the kingdom, could only bow and grovel before him. The vizier humbly spoke with a gentle voice to his clearly esteemed guest. "Your Excellency, what do you think of the half-beastman Linges...? Despite his opponent being already weakened, it is no mean feat to eliminate the rank number 2 in just one move... That, and considering the fact that the girl would also be head and shoulders above all the previous year''s top rankers; even without considering her status..." "Mmm..." The young man smiled and nodded non-committally; continuing to watch relaxedly. He slowly turned his gaze onto the Vizier; this time a murderous, livid gaze, cold as the glaciers and tundras; enough to freeze over one''s heart and soul with just a glimpse. "And... How do you know of the girl''s status...? If you know; does that not mean that the girl herself has found out by now...?" He spoke with a harsh, grating tone; this despite his voice being charming and deep; the ideal image of a paramountly masculine voice to every woman and man. The vizier''s mouth opened and closed wordlessly; trembling; reeling from dismay at his wrongly chosen words. Despite all his wisdom; he was not able to discern every situation, nor every thought of his guest. Who could have known that what known as common knowledge among the upper echelons of society would incur the wrath of this imperious envoy of the Kingdom...? "Y-y-your excell--excellency... I, I... She has no idea of it, I assure you. Even the rest of the management; even they have no idea--" Vizier Murad stumbled over his words, completely contrary to his usual eloquence matching his position of one near the top of the pyramid as a servant of the Kingdom. "Hmm...?" The domineering man smiled; looking like one who was sitting enthroned before his lowly subjects; yet the smile did not reach his eyes. He maintained the disposition of a beast of prey; as if he were the overlord of all the Kingdom who would devour whom he desired. Then he looked at Sarin. "What about... Him...?" Softly; melodiously; he spoke ruinous words that spelt doom to the bald, muscular man. Shocked; Sarin''s mind lurched in despondency. Just then, as if in a dream, his mind was swallowed up by a pair of green, hawk-like eyes; capturing his soul and sucking into their gaze - eyes that seemed like they had locked onto a tender baby mouse; one that it would soon devour. ''C-can''t... Breathe...'' He struggled; fighting with every fibre of his being to just draw in the next breath, to just live for one heartbeat longer. But it was useless; he could feel the killing intent laid on him; pressing him down; crushing him like a snake that had already coiled itself around him and was about to *squeeze* and reduce him to a mass of pulverised flesh and bones... And then the pressure was gone. The bald man was left gasping for breath; when he regained his spirit, he was on his hands and knees, prostrated in the direction of the young cloaked man. Then the man looked at the vizier with lazy, drooping eyelids; smiling and saying, "Murad, you should be careful; who knows when a prying servant might just become a... Snack..." Invigilator Sarin could not help but suck in a deep breath as beads of cold sweat dripped down his bald pate; as he tried to mask the fact that he had wet his pant in terror; the pungent smell of urea pervading the room. As he saw the young man wrinkle his nose and furrow his brows at the smell; the invigilator wished he could just disappear, run away forever. He was scared. Immediately he grovelled, begged, pleaded with snot mixed with tears inundating his ugly face. He had no pride. He was a survivor. What was pride? Could you eat it? He would snivel, prostrate himself to the lowest of the low; as long as he could survive. To his relief, the middle-aged man paid no more attention to him. His gaze returned to the pool of water; watching lazily. Then his half-closed eyes widened for the first time; showing surprise. "Oh...?" He sat up slightly as he caught sight of something that piqued his interest. "A little white knight charging in to slay the dragon and save the princess is it...?" He smiled. * * * [1] Recap of the ranks, from high to low: Divine Semi-divine Mythical Legendary (Mikael is here) World Class (Vizier Murad is here) Master (Invigilator Sarin is here) Expert Outstanding Excellent Normal 14 David vs. Goliath 2 Now it was time for the real counter-attack to start. "GRARR!!!!" Faced with the bellowing giant before him, Lars readied himself with a flexible light-footed stance. His eyes widened as Linges swung punches at him - the same orbit, the same paths and the same moves - only much faster this time. ''!!! He was still hiding so much strength...? What are his limits!?'' He cursed and leaned back; then pivoted to his left and hopped back; barely avoiding the maiming blows. He saw numerous openings to strike back; but when he was about to retaliate, he suddenly felt a chill up his spine. So instead of committing for the counter-strike, he feinted to the right; pretending to go in for a slash to Linges'' neck. Only for the "slow" beastman to instantaneously slam his palms together - right where Lars'' head was supposed to be if he had fallen for the behemoth''s trap! ''!!!!!!!'' His clothes were by now drenched with sweat. ''If I hadn''t sussed out his ploy...'' He shivered at the thought but did not back down. Strike after strike, blow for blow they danced back and forth; twice Lars was almost caught wrong-footed - twice he had to pay for his mistakes with his blood, pulling himself back frantically by his Invisible Ropes. He only had one more set of ropes ready. This would be his last chance to go for broke. *Ba-dump* *Ba-dump* *Ba-dump* His heart pumped hard; he forced his shallow breaths into longer, calmer deep breaths. Then he sped forward; pressing into the brown-skinned champion''s chest; avoiding the incoming punches by entering *into* his range instead of away! The larger boy smiled; then showed unexpected agility, recovering from his swinging punches - and in a flash, he squeezed his arms together in a crushing low bear-hug aimed at Lars'' waist; even faster than his earlier speed! But this time it was Linges'' turn for his eyes to widen. ''What the--" Before he knew it, his target performed a graceful back-flip; bringing him up and out of harm''s way. Then as he flipped over in the air, his daggers glinted and traced beautiful and dangerous dagger-lights through the air - straight at the berserker''s vulnerable throat and eyes. Surprisingly, despite the beastman''s vitals being wide-open, he showed no sign of consternation. He merely tucked his chin and focused all his mana and blood energy to fortify his defences on his face and head. ''Hmmph! He''ll never pierce my reinforcem--'' "ARGHH!!!!!!" A gush of blood spurted out of the two parallel slash marks trailing Linges'' face - leaving twin valleys of red on the left side of his face. And blinding one of his eyes; possibly irreparably. Lars flipped back and scrambled away excitedly; heaving and puffing heavily. His initial probes had revealed that his enemy''s defences were more than 80% based on mana reinforcement, and only roughly 20% by actual flesh-and-blood hardening through cultivating blood energy. Which meant that he could use his hidden skill Temporary Breach - which momentarily disabled a target''s mana reinforcement in the area of contact - to strike a crippling blow on his enemy. All he needed was a chance; an opportunity born from countless feints, analysis and allowing the "invincible" giant to underestimate him. The culmination of all his plans put together had allowed him to pierce the impregnable fortress of Linges'' defences - the first ever in the Arena to ever do so. There was yet hope to take down the undefeated minotaur of the labyrinth - maybe, just maybe, there was still a path to life! Little did he know that he had just stirred up the hornet''s nest - and awakened a raging demon no one should have provoked. * * * * * [1 minute ago] "AHHH!!!!" Lars loosed a battle cry and ran towards Linges; who bared his teeth and roared in return; thunderous and overbearing; establishing his dominance as the king of the hill. Then he raised his eyebrows and grinned viciously when he saw the boy repeating almost exactly the same move; aimed at the same place. Despite his external appearances, Linges was no fool; it was impossible for a fool to survive here. Conversely, it was impossible for one to ascend to the peak of the Arena without incredible insight and wisdom. Only; who could ever force him to resort to tactics, strategies or wisdom when he could smash them and their defences apart with his direct advances? The lumbering boy also possessed extraordinary footwork and techniques, but the only time he ever had to use it was when training with the instructors - and against the invigilator, he had crippled. ''...'' The barbarous boy had never revealed it, but he had reasons of his own to exact vengeance on that man - reasons he would never disclose. He maintained either a savage scowl or a brutish appearance to keep his intelligence hidden from the world for almost 10 years now - ever since that fateful day that brought his whole life crashing down around him. And so he allowed the exact same order of moves to replay themselves; concentrating mana reinforcement on his chest as the thin boy landed an X-shaped pair of slashes on the exact same spot; deepening the gashes on his chest. ''Slightly interesting... But I hope that''s not all you have hidden up your sleeves... Else this will just be a yawn-fest.'' Contrary to his cultured inner speech; the "berserker" bared his fangs and charged as if he were consumed by battle-frenzy as he kept a cool mind; enjoying the mild challenge this soft boy was giving him. But he had not expected for the boy''s trump card to be so incisive; so quick and ruthless - so deadly as to remove one of his eyes forever. This time; he was well and truly enraged; seething, maddened - a sight that had only been seen once before; when, in his fury, he had ripped off the arms and legs of that paedophile instructor. He would have finished the job; if not for the fact that he had been forcefully restrained by a good dozen and a half stewards and trainers. Even then, he had wounded and sent half of the interlocutors into the infirmary - or retired them permanently from service. The memory of that repugnant man riled him even more, souring his mood further. Almost as much as he despised Lars. This injury... To his face of all places... He was already intimidating enough as he was; how much more terrifying would he be to his little sister and her friends with one scarred blinded eye? At that moment; a horror exceeding all before it was unleashed on the Arena; on the tragic Lunatic Deathwish. A calm, scheming and strategising Linges, using all his battle techniques available to crush his foe. 15 David vs. Goliath 3 / Visitors The battle had taken a turn for the worse within the blink of an eye. Where earlier, Linges would charge forward with countless openings and weaknesses revealed; now he moved silently and lightly, closing the gap between the two opponents no matter how Lars tried to distance himself. And if he drew too far away, the "berserker" would smile ever so slightly, and slightly turn his glance to the comatose girl behind him - an unveiled threat and invitation for a head-on clash. Left without a choice; Lars formulated a new course of attack and leaped forward. Only to be outclassed not in strength, but in skill. It didn''t matter that his gargantuan opponent was already half-blind; unable to see movements and attacks coming from his left side. He more than made up for his handicap with expert skills and a frightening instinct for battle bordering on clairvoyance. Wherever Lars moved, whatever he did - he felt like he were just a puppet dancing on strings in Linges'' hands. He jumped backwards; only for the collosal fighter to dart forward with masterful footwork. He slashed out 6 times; 4 feints and finally 2 full-power blows at Linges'' neck - only for his opponent to skillfully dodge every strike, even launching a counter-jab which floored Lars in just one blow. Dizzy and struggling to stay up; Lars was no match for the brutish beastman who had played possum all along. ''I had no chance in the first place... Hah... Hahahah...'' "Hahahahahaha!!!!" He laughed uproariously, living up to his nickname as the Lunatic Deathwish; drawing a reciprocal smile and chuckle from the half-blind Linges. If there were no more path of life; no more options to live... What harm was there in letting loose all his pent-up stress and despair? His despondent emotions; his desolate heart...? Flee? What point was there in living anymore, if Moira were not there by his side, to share every moment...? What point in breathing, if he could not inhale the soft floral scent of her hair; to relive again their starting moments of crazy love at first sight. There was nothing for him without Moira. And so he had stood his ground for a last stand-- Only to be immediately floored by a dazzling flurry of punches and kicked backed up by intense mana reinforcement; enough to deflect Lars'' daggers, disarm him and pummel him into submission. It was useless. He was defeated. He never had a chance at all in the first place. It was over. * * * * * Lars felt heat on his chest; a burning. If he still had the strength left, he would have clutched the scar on his chest tightly, as it felt as if a fire had burst forth from the leaf-shaped birthmark. At the same time, his wavering consciousness felt as if a dam were about to rupture; and mysterious, mighty flood waters gush forth to swallow up his mind and soul. Only; it was "about to"; and not "already" - he could feel something deep inside of his soul and memories on the cusp of breaking out; awakening... But not quite there yet. ''Moira...'' He lay on the ground; broken and out of commission, just like the girl he so loved. Both lying flat on their backs, defenceless and at the mercy of the human-shaped, one-eyed demon who remained standing strong, inviolable and beyond the reach of his weak hands. He had lost. He lay on the floor, thinking... Thinking, unwilling to fall just like this. Thinking... ''If only... If only...!'' His heart thrashed within him, his spirit blazing and soul seething. ''If only I had more strength...'' But it was useless; it was over. He lay there, barely able to twist his head to look at his lover, sprawled on the cold concrete floor. ''At least...'' He thought as he closed his eyes and accepted his fate. ''At least we''ll die together...'' His consciousness plummeted into the darkness. * * * * * [Vizier Murad''s room on the highest floor of the residential area''s tower] Invigilator Sarin remained in the same begging, groveling position. He had not moved from the time he had been brought to his knees by the soul-rending pressure that went beyond his wildest dreams, until now when the battle depicted in the pool of water came to a close. Then he heard a sound. Something he never thought he would hear. Explosions in the Arena - coming from outside. Sounds of battle; sounds of chaos. Sounds of intruders attacking their supposedly secret death-camp. Despite the sensitive nature of the operations in the Arena, there were not many guards. It was assumed that the 3 invigilators and the Vizier were sufficient, for no factions or parties within the kingdom would touch the property of the crown; while it was exceedingly difficult to reach for rival countries. Unless... Unless they could scale the sheer mountains on the north bordering the Arena... Which would leave only one suspect behind this move. The beastmen. The middle-aged man stood up, still smiling but with a serious glint in his eyes, while Vizier Murad allowed the Far Sight spell to falter; ending the projection on the surface of the pool. The old man looked perturbed, while the middle-aged man standing beside him looked... Intrigued. "Interesting, interesting..." He turned his head slightly to look at the vizier. "Well, Murad... Shall we go welcome our... Guests...?" Murad nodded in agreement. Then the figures of both the men transformed into blurs as they shot out of the window of the 9th floor room and into the night sky to welcome their "guests". * * * * * [Linges'' Point of View] [In the Arena training grounds; residential area, washing sub-area] He heard heavy footsteps approaching and cursed, then looked dismissively at his two fellow trainees who lay prone on the ground. A pity that the thin boy was not quite good enough for him to need any of his secret skills or battle arts... He walked over to their side before company could arrive and interrupt whatever he was about to do next. He reached down to Moira''s still-breathing body with his enormous hands; hands big enough to cover her entire upper torso with room to spare. He slipped his hands under her waist and picked her up gently, similarly picking Lars'' up as well. Then he quickly walked over to the drainage grilles; lifting up the metal grating and carefully deposited their injured bodies into the drainage pipes; the shallow dirty running waters wetting just a few centimetres of the duos bodies. ''You won''t die from a little dirt... Will you...?'' Meticulously replacing the metal grating, he turned towards the passageway which would lead to the side entrances; near the servants'' areas. He smiled; baring his teeth; cutting a hideous figure with his bloody wounds on his face and body and hulking figure. He was ready to greet the uninvited guests. 16 Awakening 1 The owners of the heavy footsteps arrived, and it was not anyone he knew from the Arena. Yet at the same time, that did not mean he didn''t know them; it just meant that they were not from the Arena. 4 beastmen of varying sizes emerged from the passageway followed by their leader; a grey-haired or perhaps grey-furred werewolf - one that exuded an aura of strength. "What do you want...?" He began the conversation; skin and senses tingling. His desire to test his mettle against highly qualified opponents rose as he could see their skilled movements and well-trained bodies. The 4 beastmen, whether guards or soldiers, kept quiet and quickly surrounded him in the four cardinal directions while the werewolf stepped closer. He approached until he was within arms reach of Linges. Then he smiled; a drawing back of the lips that bared the long canines and fangs of his wolfen head. "I have long wished to meet the notorious demon of the Arenas, the stalker of the Halls of Death..." The beastman boy smiled slightly as he sensed the hints of bloodlust and desire to battle emanating from the grey-haired wolfman who was breathing deeply. "The beastman of the Dark Cloaked humans... Linges." "No; I should call you..." The beastman captain lowered his head slightly - then kneeled on the stone floor, dropping his guard to the trainee. "Sandulf de Luca Lingeswaran; Prince of the Beastman tribes." It was silent for awhile barring the dripping sound of leaky faucets. Then the beastman prince repeated his question. "And...? What do you want...?" The Wolfman showed an expression of surprise, obviously not expecting this reaction from the boy who was not that far off in terms of size and girth; if not height. Then the direct and forthright captain of the beastman infiltrating squad frowned, puzzled at his question. "Don''t you want to know who we are first...?" He paused awhile; then when he realised that the boy truly did not give a damn as to their identities; his eyes grew cold and firey at the same time. "Prince Linges! I am Osborne of the House of the Full Moon; captain and leader of the rescue squad. These--" He gestured around him at the beastmen encompassing Linges. "--Are my men." "It should be clear that we are here to save you from servitude and enslavement to those lesser animals! Those traitorous, filthy, stinking and dirty livestock!" He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he spoke; clearly, he was not comfortable with the smells of the Arena and human body waste. The smells that Linges felt made him feel like he was at home. The boy smiled; not answering. Despite the difference in age, size, strength and power; he did not seem to fear offending Osborne. The quiet atmosphere very quickly got to the werewolf''s nerves, and he spoke with irritation in his voice. "Prince! Your father, Lordking Ganon of the Scattered Tribes, has sent us to retrieve you and bring you back to be crowned as his heir! It is a great honour; one that every beastman or beastwoman would willingly die to have!" He was growing annoyed as he could not for the life of him understand why Sandulf De Luca Lingeswaran was being so difficult! He was being offered a chance of a lifetime and salvation from slavery, yet he was scorning their rescue team...? Preposterous! An insult to the Honour of the House of the Full Moon and all the tribes across the entire planet! The more he thought about it, the more furious he got. He grew so angry that he nearly stood up to teach the little half-breed pup just what it meant to respect his elders. Only to be chilled by the boy''s next words. "Then... Why are the 4 of you--" He looked around him to the beastmen guards. "--Not facing the entrances you are "guarding", but seem to be watching me...?" A sharp aura lit his eyes as he calmly narrated the next few words. "As if you''re ready to take me down if I refuse to go..." He lifted up his hands slowly and cracked his knuckles. "So why don''t we have a go at it...?" He returned the "smile" he had received; drawing back his lips to bare his teeth in aggression. A smouldering, provocative "smile" before finishing his sentence. "Old man..." He went quiet. A massive wolf''s paw was right beside his head, quivering, claws fully out. It was close enough for him to feel the heat, to smell it... To feel the rough, coarse hairs tickling his face. But he wasn''t looking at the claw. The moment he finished the sentence, the werewolf had moved; eyes turned bloody red in fury. The much taller wolfman trembled; wrestling against his instincts to tear apart the disrespectful young whipper snapper in front of him and feast on his flesh. To rip out his throat and let the boy feel his own warm, thick blood flow from his veins in front of his eyes. But he didn''t. It was not that he couldn''t; he wouldn''t. For the first time in his life, no, the second time apart from Lordking Ganon, that he felt fear. The boy was looking Osborne straight in the eye, unblinking, unperturbed. As if daring him to strike. His smile had not slipped one millimetre. "C... Crazy! Completely CRAZY!!" Osborne roared out to the ceiling, echoing loudly through the hallways. Then he laughed. Beginning as a deep, throaty growl. Then a full cackle, then uncontrollable laughter. "Heh... Hehehe... HAHAHAHAHA! YOU''RE BOTH JUST CRAZY, CRAZY MONSTERS!!" He stopped laughing and caught his breath. Then he moved suddenly, turning into a blur, placing his claws at Linges'' throat before delivering his final ultimatum. "Boy...! Lordking Ganon has decreed that you come, and his word is law for every beastman under the heavens, and even those above! His love for every creature under the heavens overflows; you as his offspring should be grateful for your life that he has bestowed upon you!" The captain eyes shone with fanaticism, almost worshipping the beastman king he spoke of. ''I won''t ask again! Either come with us willingly..." He stared the boy in the eyes. "...Or come knocked out cold, dragged as the useless captured prey you are... Just like your filthy mother." He smirked tauntingly. "...But I won''t guarantee you''ll be in one piece." Linges smirked and gave his own final ultimatum. "If that pathetic old man wants me to come..." He stepped forward until he was face-to-snout with Osborne, eliciting a narrowing of eyes from the great beastman captain. "...Tell the dying old cur to come get me himself--" Then Linges tensed up his body; channelling his full strength. "--So that I can rip him apart with my bare hands!" He slammed a fist into the werewolf''s left jaw; triggering a dance of a frantic struggle; the beginning of the duel for superiority between the two battle-crazed, bloodthirsty freaks. * * * * * [On the rooftop of the Colosseum where the greatest guests were seated while duels were held] Sarin raced along the rooftops, pursuing the vizier and the middle-aged man. Despite the speed, he was not out of breath in the slightest. It was just that he could not keep up with their incredible pace; a speed far above his. Yet he knew he could not fall behind by too much, lest he be executed due to displeasing the regal man who seemed like he had no qualms killing at a whim. He arrived just in time to see the middle-aged man seated at a wooden table placed in the centre of the Colosseum wall parapets. A table with 2 chairs; one that was completely out of place here on the battlements. Sitting across from the middle-aged man was a slim white-haired man. The first thing Sarin noticed about him were his bright, colourful robes that looked to be well-cut; they would not hinder the man''s movements. The first thing Sarin noticed about him were his eyes - they were bestial, yellow-eyes. A predator''s eyes. "Come, Duke Yousef. Drink tea; let us have a chat! There''s no need for barbarous behaviour now, is there...?" The white-haired man spoke in a welcoming voice, but he had no smile on his lips; only the slightest upturning of his lips in open disgust. He gestured to a slim, dainty looking maid at his side who swiftly poured tea into the two cups already laid out on the table. Duke Silvanus, the man with the disposition of a king who had brought Sarin to his knees, took a sip of the tea, savouring it - before spitting it out at the other man who was just about to bring the cup to his own lips. ''???'' Invigilator Sarin felt like it was his imagination, for the bestial man did not move, but it seemed as if the water passed right through him. He was not in the least bit wet. "Ahh, Enforcer Garam. It is good to see you here. The tea was good!" The Duke laid down the cup onto the table, then continued. "Only..." "Everything turns disgusting when in the presence of malodorous, stinking beastmen..." He withdrew a sword which seemed to appear from thin air and beckoned to the seated beastman Grand Enforcer who was still sipping his tea, then said. "Let me see if you sick dogs are as weak as they say..." In one smooth movement, he stood up and jumped over the edge of the wall to descend to the Colosseum arena; quickly followed by the white-haired beastman. The Vizier then smiled to the beastman''s maid and asked, "Well; shall we...?" The maid bowed; a dangerous glint in her eyes as she spoke politely. "After you..." They too leapt down from the parapets for a better battleground to pit their skills against one another, leaving the invigilator alone on the battlements, stunned and too fearful to follow. He didn''t want to be anywhere close to those monsters. 17 Awakening 2 ''Shit... Where are those bloody management people when you need them???'' Linges was a multi-talented boy, sometimes fancying himself a polymath. Sciences, Arts, Stratagems, Military Formations, Culture, Mathematics, Engineering; whatever it was that he set his mind on, he had mastered. That, despite maintaining a facade to many others of his apparent brutishness and slow-wittedness; a brain that was 90% filled with thoughts of battle and the remaining 10% made up of muscle. Yet he had to thank one other talent for that successful submersion of his intellect: his acting skills. When the werewolf had unleashed a flesh-rending claw-strike just moments ago, he had nearly pulled back in fear. If he had; the werewolf would likely not have stopped his killing-blow! So even as he spouted tons of bluster and braggadocio, inside he was trembling, frowning in frustration at the slowness of the Arena''s guardians. ''How much more time do I need to buy?!? Do I really have to take on this monster??? What a pain... Just for those two bloody trainees lives...'' It had to be known that, in all his 5 years in the Arena, Linges had only ever killed 3 people outside the rings; and all 3 by accident. They were just too weak, that''s all; so weak that they exploded into a mist of blood from merely one blow! ''It''s not my fault... It''s their fault for being too useless!'' Anyway, they were fated to die sooner or later; what difference did it make whether they departed painlessly under his hands or struggled for another few years, only to fall at the last hurdle of the elimination rounds...? He tried to comfort himself to keep himself brave and convince himself why he was doing this; facing down an opponent 30% bigger than him and more than 20 years his senior in skills and strength! ''Tch!!! Bloody Creed of the Sun God! If not for that stupid vow to never intentionally cause my fellow humans'' deaths; I''d just leave them to die and flee! Then the grey-haired cur just had to say something he should never have. "Boy...! Lordking Ganon has decreed that you come, and his word is law for every beastman under the heavens, and even those above! His love for every creature under the heavens overflows; you as his offspring should be grateful for your life that he has bestowed upon you!" The captain eyes shone with fanaticism, almost worshipping the beastman king he spoke of. ''I won''t ask again! Either come with us willingly..." He stared the boy in the eyes. "...Or come knocked out cold, dragged as the useless captured prey you are... Just like your filthy mother." He smirked tauntingly. "...But I won''t guarantee you''ll be in one piece." Linges sighed on the inside while maintaining a cocky appearance. ''How troublesome...'' He had been feeling pretty irritated earlier, especially since he had to look for a way out of this situation without fighting AND preserve the lives of the two he had hidden away. He was no fool - the beastmen had a sharp sense of smell; even the sewage and drainage waters wouldn''t mask Lars and Moira''s presence. ''But you just had to talk about my mother, didn''t you...?'' Not knowing where his incredible courage and boldness came from to face a foe incomparably greater than he, Linges smirked and gave his own final ultimatum, before roaring and smashing his full-powered fist into the older werewolf''s face. * * * * * Have you seen bigger kids bullying small children before...? A scene where later, the big brother of the kid comes and says, "Pick on someone your own size!"...? Well, it had never happened to Linges since he was 12 - because he was bigger than even the adults he met; bigger even than the invigilators. And so it was always he who was doing the bullying, easily pushing around the scrawny twig-like trainees. Though they *were* very toned, with powerful bodies; only, in front of him, they were like sticks to be snapped with just one careless blow. This time it was his turn to be pushed around, treated like a juicy morsel of meat to be slowly pounded on and softened up until he was ready to be ripped apart and devoured. Somewhere in the middle of the one-sided drubbing dished out by the older beastman, Linges had stopped trying to fight back and was just defending; trying to last as long as he could in front of the 4 watching squad members. And the older werewolf was obviously reaching the end of his patience, having garnered enough satisfaction from the thrashing he had delivered. "What''s the matter...?! Oh, maybe your mother wasn''t even human; maybe she was just a sick cat - a pussy! Ahahahahaha!" The captain and his squad laughed raucously at the crude joke. But despite Linges'' seething anger, he restrained himself. There was nothing much he could do with his abilities that he finally recognised as inadequate, meagre and lacking. Resigning himself to his sealed fate of being captured and separated from the last remaining family member he acknowledged, Linges could feel his legs weaken, his knees nearly buckling at the last mauling swat of the werewolf''s claws. ''If you guys in the management don''t come fast... Don''t blame me for getting captured... I just hope you guys spare her, and keep her safe...'' He struggled with the last bit of his strength, hoping to convince his prison-wardens who would come later that he had not sold them out or broken his oath. And that he had not forsaken his little sister, Meenakshi, taken hostage as leverage to ensure his loyalty. Osborne seemed to notice something, or hear something as his expression flickered momentarily. Then he growled and spoke. "Hmmph! Enough playing around. It''s time to go." The grey-haired captain''s body seemed to disappear as he stopped limiting his speed and strength to end the game he had been playing. Linges groaned in shock as a punch more than ten times stronger sank into his abdomen, bringing him to his knees. ''No... No! I need to hold on... Just a bit longer! Else Lars and Moira and Meena; they''ll peris--'' Then he was knocked out cold from a knee to his forehead. Osborne casually and easily picked up the boy who must weigh over 200 kilograms, then tossed him up and on to his shoulder to carry. He turned to depart, leaving instructions for his team. "Clean up those two stinking rats - and every other diseased vermin in this place!" Then he froze in place; shocked. Every hair on his body stood on end, the back of his scalp grew numb with pins and needles ceaselessly assaulting his senses. He could not breath; and it was far, far worse for his squad members whose willpower had not been honed through a thousand battles, unlike his. He felt a strong killing intent descend onto them; locking them in place. But the killing intent was not what chilled him and left him unable to move lest he be slain where he stands. He felt a power so great it nearly eclipsed even that of his Lordking. He howled in despair and began to run; with no care for honour or bravery, just self-preservation. And was cut down like a dead dog. * * * * * [1 minute before Linges was knocked unconscious, during the conversation with the Beastman Captain, Grand Werewolf Osborne] Not so far away, under the sewer gratings, a boy began to move. At first only his fingers twitched, but as the intense heat on his cheat rose higher and higher in temperature, he began to writhe about, on the edge of waking up. And deep inside his soul and memories, someone else was waking up too. Along with the long-sealed powers of a Legendary Mage. * * * GAME: Someone''s Mum has 4 sons, North, West and South. What is the name of the fourth son. **Post your answers in the comments! Correct answer revealed in the next chapter!** 18 Wake up the Hero! What would you do if you woke up one day, And found you were no longer you? If memories, thoughts and things that you say, Were no longer true? - Would it be you, him, me and us? In every move you make. Lost lovers, past hurts, old desires, Which life as real would you take? - Would you embrace them freely? And accept not deny. Would you let them take flight? Like a bird to the sky? - What would you do if you woke up one day, And found you were no longer you? * * * * * [1 minute before Linges was knocked unconscious, during the conversation with the Beastman Captain, Grand Werewolf Osborne] In the midst of the burning heat and the pain, Lars'' consciousness reeled, writhing in agony. Thoughts, memories, experiences, emotions, sensations and so much more - everything of a person''s 23years of life flooded into his mind and soul. Gasping, panting and shaking, Lars could barely hold on to his sense of identity. The immense explosion of information and feelings threatened to reduce his psyche to fragments; shards that could no longer be reformed. In the midst of it, he could only hold on to his reason for living; that spurred on and fanned the flames of his will of survival. ''Moira... You must live!!!'' He focused his entire being into remembering the girl he loved and who loved him back - then to his horror, even his memories of Moira began to grow blurry, beginning to be superimposed with the image of another more mature figure. A name floated into his mind unbidden, along with a whispering voice. ''Sara...'' ''NO! I shall not relinquish my identity! I am me! Miller! Knight! Larsson! And I love only MOIRA!!!'' Yet no matter how he resisted it, the images of the two women began to be overlaid one on the other. Trying with all his might to reject it, he was stunned when he suddenly felt something entirely different. A depth of emotion so great, he was overwhelmed and lost himself for no short amount of time. Sadness. Sorrow so deep it was like drowning in the oceans of despair; in a trench so dark he could not even see his own hands. Heart-break; to love one for 10 years - only to find that the one you loved, who promised to wait for you, belonged forever to another. Despite himself, he began to cry. He began to weep at his heartbreak, his tragedy of life. ''My tragedy... No! His tragedy!'' He began to see himself (''It''s not me!'') kneeling in the middle of the woods he knew so well (''No! I''ve never ever seen it!'') yearning and pining for the one he loved who was not his lover. Then it was silent. The smooth, glasses wearing and soft-faced young man kneeling in front of him looked up at him, eyes puffy from crying for two nights and a day. "Who are you?"/ "Who are you?" They spoke at exactly the same time. "I''m Lars."/ "I''m Mikael." "You--"/ "You--" "No, you go firs--"/ "You go first--" They stopped speaking. This wasn''t working. Then the condensed consciousness persona of Mikael reached out to touch Lars, prompting him to lurch backwards in fear of losing himself to this flood of foreign thoughts and feelings. And most of all, fearing that he would lose his sense of self... And forget his love for Moira. The intensity of the sorrow... Lars'' did not know if he could bear that, and still stay "Lars"... But Mikael smiled, assuring him. "Lars... No... Myself." Lars raised his eyebrows, instinctively rejecting his other self''s assertion that they were one and the same. "I--" Lars began to speak, to refute his statement. But Mikael bull-dozed through, drawing on his years of life and experience dealing with people, and leading a platoon to mould the conversation. "Lars, do you want to save Moira...?" Lars paused, but the fire in his eyes and soul were more than enough of an answer for his older self. After all, Mikael shared a soul and body with the boy, and hence felt and experienced all the same fluctuations of emotions and passions. But he waited; waited until Lars made the decision for himself. Slowly, decisively, Lars nodded, then spoke. "...Will I..." "Lose yourself...?" Mikael completed his sentence. They were quiet for a while, lost in shared thoughts as the world of memories around them was frozen in place; waiting for its owners'' decision. From the start, they both knew. They shared even the same thoughts; it was only a matter of time, an inevitability of their personas to gravitate to one another and unite. But there was fear, not just in Lars'' heart, but also in Mikael''s. And yet, the two who were one shared more than just one thing in common. Decisiveness and strength of will. Lars nodded to Mikael despite not receiving the answer to his question. He knew, anyway - his other, older self did not know. And his former life''s self was equally fearful; yet even more certain that there was no other way. Lars reached out his hand to Mikael./ Mikael reached out his hand to Lars. And as their hands touched, their images began to blur together, growing closer and merging together into a brilliant radiance. A flash of light beamed out, white-washing Lars''/ Mikael''s consciousness as their two distinct memories, thoughts, emotions, lives, feelings, EVERYTHING began to blend, meld and unite. The journey and process took long to describe, but that which occurs in the depths of consciousness merely took an instant of time. The integration completed; the boy with two lives opened his eyes. As he grew accustomed to the sensations of a new soul, one that was finally whole and complete, he realised many things. He realised that more than either of them had cared to admit, they shared many things in common. Too many. Both orphans. Both had never fit in. Both had capabilities and strengths that struck fear into their neighbours'' hearts. Both had to kill their hearts for the sake of the life they lived. Both had broken hearts - though for different reasons. Both had no luck in love. Would that change...? Now that the two parts had come together to make a haplo - a whole unit...? He did not know. Who was his true love...? The one loved for 10 years, from the greater years of memories and experiences of life? Or the one loved for 3 years, but far more intensely, constantly on the knife''s edge of life and death, living the fullest in every moment and day in the darkness...? He did not know how to answer himself - his heart was not split in two. But he also *could not* split his heart and life in two anymore. His eyes regained their focus as he heard the sounds of the fierce battle above. based on their situation of being hidden in the sewer grating, one where he knew his fellow trainee was fighting for *their* lives - including a certain girl trainee''s life. He owed the barbarous yet honourable trainee his life. He looked at Moira, lying peacefully beside him; in truth, she had no serious injuries. They both owed their lives to the beastman boy. He tapped into his long-dormant mana core, suppressing the great shockwave of power from rippling out; lest the emanating waves shock everyone within a kilometre away. Then he carefully examined his body, putting to use his older self''s knowledge of modern biology and younger mind''s killer''s understanding of human anatomy. Quickly and efficiently, he used the most appropriate amount of mana to heal himself with his grand repertoire of spells. Finally, his eyes grew sharp with an ominous look surfacing in their depths. "Who am I...?/ "Who am I...?" He spoke to himself. Then he closed his eyes for a moment, before snapping them open and sitting up sharply, his head just beneath the metal grating of the sewer hole. "The Legendary Mage..." "...And someday Legendary Assassin..." "Miller Knight Larsson... M. K. L." "Mikael." "I am me." It was time to rescue his benefactor. * * * GAME and the ANSWER! Someone''s Mum has 4 sons, [line 1] North, West and South. What is the name of the fourth son. [line 2] ANSWER: The name of the fourth son is "What". Line 2 is NOT a question... For those who lost, please post this following passage on your Instagram and share the link here! "Someone''s Mum has 4 sons, North, West and South. What is the name of the fourth son. I lost to Ierrech." And share the link in the comments LOL! ....And prank others too ehhehe... 19 A Heroic Awakening It was time to rescue his benefactor; and maybe by-the-way flex the long sleeping legendary mana core within, along with his Legend-level soul-imprint. Not that he needed it against these weaklings. "Clean up those two stinking rats - and every other diseased vermin in this place!" He heard the voice of the wolfman captain, Osborne, then began his prismatic invocation of spells, a vast repertoire of magic that would spark worship and rivalry in the eyes of almost any other mage in the country... That is if they ever had the chance to behold the grand demonstration of mastery. Level 5: Scrying. He scouted the positions of his enemies, their equipment and their layout. As expected, the Osborne detected his scrying spell - but was spooked, and, sensing the killing intent exuding from Lars'' body, picked up Linges and began to run. Lars smiled. The dog had pretty good senses; even blinded and deafened, his primal instincts were enough to recognise an existence higher up in the food chain with just a whiff of his power. But before he cleaned up the little animals that were so brave as to step foot into the den of humanity, there was only one little problem he had to settle first - the "visitors" had not been kind enough to implement any anti-scrying or anti-listening measures. Perhaps they were supremely confident of the strength of their distraction to stop the Vizier and invigilators from interfering with their kidnapping? Lars'' shrugged. All the above took a while to describe, but happened in a twinkling of the eye - bolstered by Lars'' accelerated mental acuity from his soul-imprint - Insight, that caused his mind, senses, nerves... Everything of his perception to function 10 times greater than even other legendary beings. As well as his emotions "performing" at 10 times the intensity of another. Regardless, it was time to ensure any potential prying eyes were blinded, and all and any eaves-dropping spies were deafened. Blinded and deafened regardless if they were friends or enemies. Level 5: Private Sanctum[1]. Level 2: Blindness. Level 2: Deafness. "What the--" "Hey, no, what???" "I can''t see!! Careful!" "On your guard! Anyone? Hey! Guys??" He heard 4 voices cry out as he flung away the grating of the drain, being careful not to hurt Moira who lay unconscious by his side. Then when he popped out of the drainage area, he acted without hesitation; to catch the retreating old wolf. The beastman captain howled in despair and began to run. And as the grey-wolf abandoned his pride and dropped to all fours to flee, the Legendary Mage ignored the other inconsequential beastmen squad members and waved his hand perfunctorily - yet wielded a power great enough to rival that of a small nation. He pointed a finger at the routed werewolf. Level 8: Finger of Death. A feeble looking ray of negative energy shot forward. The young boy had not put much effort into the spell, merely infusing the bare minimum mana needed. And yet it was still overkill. The ray closed the gap in half the time it took to blink an eye, shot through the captain''s chest and emerged from the other side, then dissipated uselessly on the stone walls - as it would only affect living tissues and organisms. Yet despite being ineffectual on the granite walls, it was horrifically efficacious on the greying wolf. There was no drama, no epic struggle or great wailing with thrashing and howling. One moment Osborne was vigorously racing towards the passageways and away to safety; the next, he was a quiet corpse laid out on the ground, lifeless. Satisfied that the barbarian boy was safe and secure, Lars turned to face his 4 attackers - he had to give them credit where it was due. Despite the fact that he could smell the pungent odour of urine from them (likely from wetting themselves in abject terror at his transcendent power) and taste their fear in the air, they demonstrated nerves of steel. Knowing they were fated to perish whether they fought or fled, they chose to put their lives on the line in the hopes of buying time for their leader, and in the hopes of making their opponents pay the price. They followed the scent of their enemy and made a beeline straight for him, brandishing their claws, teeth and blades as the squad showed precise and deadly teamwork. Only, their captain was already dead. They were soon to follow. ...And it was just one opponent who would be wiping out their beastman strike squad. This time, instead of displaying a high-level spell, Lars used a much more direct and brutal approach. He evoked countless Level 1: Magic Missile spells, laying waste on the beastmen with a veritable flood of searing arcane bolts soaring through the air. The howling beastmen; 2 werewolves, one lumbering bear tribe member and a smaller sized, agile snake-man were instantly reduced to heaps of quivering, charred flesh; pierced through in so many spots that their bodies were no longer intact in a single piece. Lars briskly walked over to each of the 4 intruder''s sides and incinerated the bodies, leaving only ashes remaining. Then he went to check on the half-beastman trainee, pausing long to stare at his body, curious himself as to why he had saved the boy... He shrugged. He had his own honour... And anyway, the boy was no threat to him whether now or however many years later; whether in the hallways or in the Arena. He was merely a wolf pup, no longer fit to stand on the same stage as Lars. ''If he bares his fangs against me... Or against Moira...'' He showed an expression of disdain; the look of a supreme ruler looking down at the dogs and cats barking and hissing at him, animals he could put down at any moment. ''I''ll just have to pull his fangs out...'' As for their grey-haired leader, he left the body as a sign of the intruder''s unimpeded incursion into the depths of the Arena. He was confident that it would be beyond the Vizier''s capabilities to uncover signs of his meticulously crafted high-level death magic; magic that he realised was far beyond the discoveries available in this backwater world. He smirked as he returned to the cubby hole where he and Moira had been placed to feign unconsciousness. ''Not like they would trace the leads to me, anyway...'' Then he dispelled his array of sense hindering spells and rested. That was a good warm-up. * * * Author''s Note: Mikael/ Lars'' decision is to stick with the name Lars for now, and only reintroduce himself as either name based on the circumstances. It will be explained MUCH later under what circumstances it will be :) [1] This spell ensures privacy. Anyone looking into the area from outside sees only a dark, foggy mass. Darkvision cannot penetrate it. No sounds, no matter how loud, can escape the area, so nobody can eavesdrop from outside. Those inside can see out normally. 20 Have you ever loved and lost...? [8 hours later - in the infirmary] Lars lay on his back in a hard white pallet, in the middle of a prison cell converted into a room. He was judged to be relatively unhurt, but Doctor Philip had decided for him to stay under observation for a further 2-3 days - there were no more compulsory classes or training in this period of elimination battles anyway. Earlier when he had healed himself, the astute boy had intentionally left quite some minor injuries along with 2-3 major ones to avoid any questions that would arise if he were to be found unscathed. It turned out to be a wise move for the 3 invigilators and even Vizier Murad himself had come to scrutinise every inch of the three trainees bodies. They had even brought along a refined looking middle-aged man who seemed eager to investigate what had happened after the werewolf had knocked Linges out. A dangerous man who raised alarm bells in Lars'' mind. They questioned the wiry golden-haired boy at length, but he kept firmly with his prepared story - an exact retelling of everything that had happened up to when he was knocked out. He even set up a smokescreen withholding the point of his use of innate magic, Breach, to pierce the half-beastman boy''s defences. This drew a harsh glare from invigilator Sarin once he cross-checked the facts with the number 1 ranked Linges, along with a promise of severe "tender loving care" once the investigations were over. Lars'' shivered at the thought of having to go through the beatings and torture but reasoned that it was worth laying this rabbit trail and be punished rather than appear "too clean" and trigger further suspicions. As for the other two trainees... Moira was released very quickly; she had practically no injuries except for a mild concussion from the heavy slapping blow that rendered her unconscious. Her body''s critical state earlier had only been due to her brain being dangerously low on oxygen and the cold from being submerged in the frigid waters for minutes on end. She had looked at him longingly as she walked out of her separate cell and past his, but could not stay as she was shooed off by bald invigilator who was in a hurry to bring her somewhere. ''Strange...'' It couldn''t be for questioning - that was already done and settled under the Vizier''s truth-telling spells. Of course, the spells used were merely low-level first tiered spells[1] Linges'' case was even more peculiar. The perceptive youth had heard the nurses and attending physicians discuss his injuries, and the subsequent treatment the tanned barbarian had received. Despite fighting tooth and claw with a full-fledged werewolf, one from a pure white-wolf bloodline, his only wounds from those aforementioned teeth or claws were flesh wounds. It was clear that the opponent had pulled his punches - or pulled any strike that could potentially damage Linges'' muscles or affect his fighting potential. Almost as if the senior werewolf was trying to knock him out but afraid to hurt him too badly... Which led to only one of two conclusions: either a case of infighting? Or a kidnapping...? Of course, the chattering Arena staff were oblivious to the boy who knew that the answer was the latter of the two. But it was helpful for Lars to find out what had happened to the injured boy right after. The beastman trainee had only spent 2 hours laid out in the infirmary, sleeping soundly with his black-and-blue bruises and inflamed wounds tended to. After which, a group of elite soldiers led by the middle-aged man had come to wheel him away to someplace else. If the nurses were to be believed, he was being taken away, excluded and exempted from any further elimination matches. And if their wild conjectures were to be trusted further, the only one with the authority to overrule the laws of the Arena was the King himself and his six Dukes...[3] ''Even stranger...'' Lars wiggled his nose subconsciously as he sunk deep into thought. Based on all the information so far, he needed to clearly define his own objectives and map out plans of action... Along with the myriad options and paths to reach those goals. As to why he didn''t seem very worried or caught-up about Moira... He too wondered himself...? If you were caught with one foot on two boats, placed side by side and the boats slowly drifted apart; what would you do...?[4] Where one is filled with a promise of good days to come, full of hope and brightness - while in the other, only tears, longing, loneliness and perhaps only sorrow at the end? One man would brashly say, "I would, of course, choose the more practical one! The one that is full of promise and hope!" And then make other decisions in his life contrary to whatever he said. Another, "I would definitely not give up; fighting to the end no matter the odds! For it is not the victory that matters, but the battle!" But for how long...? Only time would tell, not some blustering words spouted out in the heat of the moment! Lars sighed. Or in this case, perhaps it would be better to think of himself as Mikael...? For he knew, knew and knew and knew that he should be letting go of the past. Only... It was too much on his heart and mind, the memories and experiences of 10 years multiplied countless times, lived and relived endlessly due to his blessing/ curse of the soul-imprint - Insight[5]. It felt closer to 100 years...! A 100 years living in a figment of his imagination, a century living in what he thought was a utopia; only to turn out to be a living lie. His face contorted as he fought the tears that came once again. He had cried enough! It was over! She was not his! He forced himself to calm down, overwhelmed by emotion and melancholic thoughts. Perhaps if Gardner were still around, he could confide in him... Lars sighed, shaking his head to bring his thoughts away from the past into the present and what he needed to do. How unlucky a life he lived! To lose his "best friend" both in the past life and now! Not noticing that he was once again drifting off into the realm of his darkened thoughts, he brooded over the same topic revisited again - Sara. It was time, right...? Time to get over her. ''Yeah... I should. I know it...'' He decided on his path, fortifying his resolve and emboldening his heart despite the salty taste of tears as they flowed down to his lips and the sound of his own pathetic sobbing, frightening the nearby nurses. His gaze firm, he clenched his fists and then clasped them together in front of his chest, then opened his palms in the action of "letting go". ''From today on, I, Mikael Tumijo, Miller Knight Larsson; I am OVER Sara! Moira is the one for me! She loves me back just how I love her! I won''t be a pining p*ssy still whining over the past anymore! YES!'' He nearly sat up and fist pumped, so excited was he, hot blood rising to his head and letting off proverbial steam. He calmed down from his exultant mood. ''Probably...'' ''Should be...'' He looked down again. ''Maybe...'' He slumped onto his pallet again; thinking. ''That boat thing... Wasn''t a good analogy at all...'' He sighed, listening to the sounds of dripping water; the ever irritating leaky faucet that was probably done on purpose by the nurses who resented having to pull double all-nighters for a clearly uninjured patient. ''Who am I even trying to explain things to anyway...''[6] * * * Author''s Notes: After many chapters of action, I think it''s time for things to calm down a little! Hope you can enjoy things even when it is light-hearted, deep, action-based, passionate or relaxing! [1] Tiers of Magic: Tier 1: Level 0 (cantrips which cost only atmospheric mana and mental energy to control) - Level 2 Tier 2: Level 3-4 The dividing line for an apprentice vs. a seasoned mage Tier 3: Level 5-6 A mighty practitioner Tier 4: Level 7-8 World-class mages, with one foot into the Legendary realm Tier 5: Level 9 A legend among spellcasters, wizards and sorceresses Tier 6: Legendary spells and beyond[2] [2] Legendary spells are called as such as only Mages at the Legendary level and above can trigger them; though even for those at the Legendary realm, it does not come without a cost. [3] The Six Dukes of the Kingdom of the Sands: There are 2 men and 4 women, however for the flow of the sentence, I am using "Six Dukes". When referring to the people themselves, I will be mindful to use "Dukes and Duchesses". Please point it out to me if I miss it! [4] In Chinese, the idea of "two-timing" or having more than one love interest is expressed as literally "one foot stepping on two boats". [5] Recap: Insight works very simply. It boosts Mikael/ Lars'' perception of time by 10 times. Which means every experience and sensation also "happens" to him for 10 times the length of time or 10 times the intensity... If you had the choice, would you choose this super-power...? [6] Don''t break the fourth wall! *Psst* you know who... 21 Kidding? "Wh-What is going on? What are you doing?!" She said in shock as the middle-aged man dropped to one knee before her. This was a man that even the vizier and invigilator were supercilious to! She was doubly shocked and almost lashed out in response when he took her hand in his big, strong palm and kissed it! She nearly swooned in trepidation anticipating a blow or to be molested, only for it to turn into a scene only heard of in fairytales! A dashing, gallant knight in shining armour greeting the princess? ''No, Moira! Get your head out of the clouds! Remember Lars! Don''t be deceived! You''re no long-lost princess, don''t get carried away!'' "Princess Moira Fenelle Vishnu, congratulations! You are the long-lost princess, the true descendant of His glorious Majesty King Vishnu! I am truly blessed to meet you in person, seeing you is like seeing the rays of the sun rising gloriously over the rolling sand dunes and irrigated plains, the promise of a great harvest and bounteous, prosperous years to come!" The smooth-faced Duke Silvan had already sent the invigilator and vizier out of the room; stunning the girl that he could kick the old man out from his own private place! Confused, the teenaged girl who had never been treated well or spoken to so sweetly blushed and nodded, then shook her head, then nodded again in confusion. ''What did he just say...'' ''Maybe I was just imagining too loud...? Princess...'' ''PRINCESS???'' "P-p, Princess??!" She blurted out despite being trained as a battle-hardened assassin, so perturbed was she by the sudden change in the situation. Nevertheless, she was still a child before the experienced man. Here she was expecting the worst, dreading the torture and punishment she had been contemplated with horror. And then she was being seated like a queen on the vizier''s favourite chair in an opulent, palatial room and being served hot chocolate and Turkish delights[1]! "Princess Moira, you were carried away as a babe and secreted away, then covertly enrolled in the Arena of Valour for training! As the only surviving member of King Vishnu''s line, you are now the heir to the Kingdom of the Sands, and from now you will be the one and only priestess-in-training of the land of the Sun! Long live Princess Moira!" He bowed deeply, not letting go of her hand, which caused her to squirm half in discomfort and half in pleasure at the warm, gentle but firm grasp. Shaken but not losing herself, her brain worked overtime, spinning faster than it ever had before as she struggled to come to grasps with the situation before her. Then gritting her teeth, the savvy girl who was always smarter than any other trainees decided that she would just go with the flow. After all, she had nothing to lose even if this was a trap or cruel joke, right...? She pulled her hand away, putting on an air of regalia and nobility and looking away. She stood up and held herself up high then delivered her best impression of a princess. "I, Princess Moira, am most pleased at you, Sir, Knight, Mr... Erm...?" She stumbled over her words as soon as she started, turning a furious red and embarrassing herself greatly but hiding it as well as she could. Or at she thought she did. The middle-aged man chuckled as if he found her cute, making her pulse quicken. Then he looked up at her and showed her a suave smile, making her heart skip a beat despite herself! ''Dammit girl, don''t get distracted just by a handsome face and some sweet words! Even if he is much manlier and tall and, and valiant and... Dammit! Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars... Concentrate!'' She repeated her mind-focusing mantra inside her head and tried to flash a confident smile at the overly attractive and masculine gentleman in front of her. "It is Duke Silvan, pleased to be at your service." "D-duke...?" She panicked at her behaviour towards him, torn between getting down on her knees and grovelling and keeping her high-and-mighty act. Seeing her consternation and panic, Silvan laughed in genuine, hearty delight! "Princess, your highness!" He chuckled, face lighting up as he showed a jolly smile. "You''re... Too cute... Hahahaha!" He laughed out loud, unable to hold it in! His niece was just too cute! Soon he had tears in his eyes which he wiped away, while the young assassin girl knew not whether to laugh or to cry. What should she do when the second most powerful man in the kingdom was laughing happily in front of her? Should she laugh with him? What if he decided that she was contemptuous and sentenced her to death? She knew from her compulsory lessons on history, politics and the Kingdom of the Sands that she was standing before a Grand Aristocrat of the nation! He was a great powerhouse in the Legendary realm, renowned throughout the kingdom! A being that could crush her with just his little finger! Or casually command for her to be quartered by five Sar''peh[2] at the fall of a hat! Trembling, she realised that she had begun riding the tiger; there was no getting off anymore! "Ahem! Duke Silvan... Then, erm, as a Princess of the Kingdom, I have but one request. Is that... Alright... Erm, ahem! I mean, a command...?" She blushed furiously while saying this, embarrassing herself as she tripped and stuttered over her words before the piercing gaze of the aristocratic man. ''C''mon girl! That wasn''t supposed to be a question! Just do it! Or you''ll regret it forever, like, probably...?'' She braved onwards, filling herself with boldness to just spit it out. "Release Miller Knight Larsson permanently from the Arena, and harm him not! Give him plenty of money, the best steed and everything he needs to survive well! And, and... And I promise I''ll never see him again!" ''Moira! Why... What did you just say??! Why did you add that last part...!!!'' She chided herself firmly but realised that she had been afraid that he, they, whoever was in charge would oppose her seeming to care about an Arena rat, her being a supposed princess, right...? If... If it were her in their place... Wouldn''t she command for the weakness in their princess'' heart to be eliminated? Just to be safe? Or was it just her that was this cruel and cunning...? She fought back the tears. No, she had to do this. If Lars were to face Linges in the finals... No! It was better for Lars... Her eyelids drooped. ''Better for him to be safe and alive without me... Than to die just because...'' She closed her eyes. Sighing, forgetting that she was still supposed to be putting on a play as the Princess of the Land! ''Than to die just because I don''t ever want to let him go....'' He closed his eyes and stood up abruptly, making her jump in fright and lose her footing, her legs long turned to jelly from her fright and overstimulation in this outrageous circumstance she was in. Tumbling down, she fell - straight into his strong and sturdy arms and chest. ''OH MY GOSH!!! OMIGOSH OMIGOSH OMIGOSH I''M SO DEAD!'' She almost went hysterical, frantic in humiliation and fear. She was leaning on the chest of a Duke!! A duke!! One of the six foundations on which the nation was built! The highest Duke in the country, Duke Silvan! ''And he''s so handsome, his chest so big and warm, and his smile... Oh, his smile... No! Snap out of it girl!!! Not now! Lars Larsssss! Nooooo! Lars isn''t mine anymore.... Boo hoo...'' She was stuck between exhilaration, heartbreak, sorrow, excitement... Confused! "Are you alright...?" He asked earnestly with his deep voice. She looked up at him, then instantly regretted her decision. His face - it was too close! So close she could feel his breath on her face, smell his manly fragrance! It was too much, too much for her feeble heart to take! "You look out of breath, is your heart alright...? Can you breathe...? He held her face tenderly, checking to see if she had a temperature - an unfair move that almost knocked her off her feet. Then he delivered the killing blow. He sincerely placed the back of his hand on her chest without any guile or perverted motives. His warm, big hand, just above her heart. On her [omitted]. Moira fainted in his arms. He was puzzled at the unconscious girl who was leaning against him. Then grinned mischievously and spoke out loud to himself. "I thought they were all cold-blooded killers able to slay ten thousand men...?" He shrugged as he laid her down on the vizier''s priceless, expensive bed and sat down on his personal favourite chair - and waited, smiling. "My niece is just too cute..." The younger brother of the king hummed cheerfully to himself, conveniently forgetting that the vizier and invigilator were still standing at attention outside, waiting raptly at his any command or request, at his beck and call. What did it matter...? They were just servants of the nation anyway. A wickedly impish and childlike look flashed past his eyes - he looked forward to "playing" with the adorable and pretty little girl some more once she woke up, after he brought her home to her rightful place - at His Majesty''s side, reigning. The powerful man hmmph''d in disgust at the thought of the filth and rats she had been living with. She definitely did not belong to anything or anyone from this wretched place... Though he guessed that he *could* send the boy away since he did risk his life to protect her. He chuckled. Though she had not been in danger in the first place... The beastman boy was well-aware of her identity, and in the first place, one of the reasons he had been placed there was to keep her safe... He decided. He would not allow any Arena trainees to be assigned to her. He smiled in self-satisfaction. Surely his big bro would be delighted to know that he, Duke Silvan, would protect her himself, right...? He didn''t know how big of a misunderstanding he had just caused and would continue causing with his whimsical actions. One that would spark a great conflict with her little lover boy just several months later, shaking the very building blocks of the nation. But that''s a story for another time. * * * [1] Ahem, interplanetary trade *IS* a lucrative line of business, and so are other-worldly confectionery arts! [2] A type of 6-legged desert steed with the body of a horse but the head of a camel. 22 Just Desserts 1 Lars closed his eyes as he focused on planning his next options. First, he laid out his objectives: --- 1. Get back to Earth as soon as possible to warn his homeland of the scale of their enemies and the betrayal that had happened. Though they might not believe him; especially not that their enemies'' spies could be sleeper agents from since before the war even began! But he had no choice - it would spell disaster if they were blindsided by enemies from within, and even worse was the potential for internal conflict stoked by intentional meddling hands from up above... --- 2. Figure out the plans of the All-Heaven Divine Empire. Based on what he had seen, not everyone was aligned with the invasion; what was the intention? Who were the parties the Earth was faced up against? What was behind the ominous and gargantuan All-Father''s presence outside the 12-planet system...? Especially the fact that their enemies'' reserves and scale of power were far, far greater than what they had seen so far. If such large cities like the one he had seen near the portal were but one of a hundred thousand more like them, just how many forces could the invaders amass at a moments notice...? And how many of those Spirit-Severing powerhouses equivalent to World-Class mages would they be facing...? --- 3. Rescue Moira and free her from the darkness and constant threat of death inherent in the Arena of Valour. He spat (mentally, for he was a clean-freak) when he thought about the misnomer of a name. The so-called Arena of Valour scoured the lands and seas, recruiting children for their training program. These hundreds and thousands of children were sorted by age then sent to various facilities all across the continent. Year after year, they would be trained, drilled, educated and instructed in every aspect of killing and warfare; until they were master tacticians, strategists, assassins, protectors, warriors and spies. And beaten to death if they would not submit or if they could not keep up. They also learned the culture, etiquette and languages of dozens of civilisations; every major tongue that mattered across the different planets, worlds and planes of existence. The bottom 10% every year would be culled until they turned 14. At that point, they would be pitted against one another in a battle to the death. The only survivor would then "graduate" to be the newest soldier/ assassin/ warrior to enter the Colosseum proper to face monsters, creatures, demons, devils and warriors of the true hellish training grounds - all for the entertainment and pleasure of the perverted, depraved rich and powerful. And above all, as protectors of the royal family. And finally, to be sold to the highest bidder; for their killing capabilities as well as... Other forms of unmentionable use. Which was why even the morbid and perverted invigilator Sarin had not touched any of the living trainees until today. Living trainees. The necrophiliac had no qualms about carrying out his passions against those who no longer held any value to the Arena or the crown. As such, until and unless he broke Moira free from the clutches of the Dark Cloaked ones, as those of the Arena were called externally, she would never be truly free; even if she prevailed as the final champion of the deathmatches. She would just be graduating from one form of slavery where she pitted her life daily for her master''s pleasure, to another form of slavery. To live at the whim and fancy of the Royals, whether as a bodyguard without her own will or as just another plaything. He postulated some potential plans, ruminating over the stratagems that passed through his mind, then finally settled on two; one as the main and the other as a backup and failsafe in the event of contingencies. Thinking it over once more, then twice and thrice more, he nodded with his eyes closed. It was settled. He would move tonight. Based on what he had detected, even the middle-aged man was at most at the World-Class realm, though Lars realised that in this world, he would already be considered legendary. Nevertheless, the scheming young man had the full confidence of bamboozling the man along with the vizier and all the management of the Arena. And if that failed, he could still prevail, one against all of them. ''Though I''ll not come out unscathed...'' Keeping his eyes closed, he thought about the defensive spells he had laid all around him. Spells to detect any enemy or presence that could potentially be a threat. He furrowed his brows, endlessly revising the possible permutations of offence and defence. Then he felt a cold edge on his neck. ''???'' What, what was this? No trainees would dare intrude here on penalty of instant death. And every trainee, no matter how loyal to others, valued their life above all else! He languidly opened his eyelids, expecting to see a nurse who posed no threat to him; as she would be unable to pierce his defence layers. As he opened his eyes, he saw a nurse alright. Nurse Seline, red-headed and ravishing, wearing a tight body-hugging nurse uniform that bulged at the bosom and rear, threatening to burst at any moment. In his surprise, his eyes subconsciously traced the curves of her body from her stunning, captivating face with luscious, kissable red lips. Then down to her slim but stately neck, shapely shoulders and down to the curvature revealed by the missing button of her white outfit... "Like what you see...? Hmm...?" Seline spoke sultrily, leaning in closer to give him an eyeful. Shocked, Lars jammed his eyes shut, embarrassed at his own "reaction" both mentally and physically, both in his head above and... Elsewhere below. Not missing out on his physiological reaction, the seductress used one hand to lean on his prone body - her small hand landing somewhere compromising. She let out a small gasp, as if surprised, but also delighted at the size of what she held through his soft cotton patient''s uniform. Lars gulped. This was not what he was expecting when he laid out the defence matrix that detected "presences that could threaten him." He was feeling very, very threatened right now as the girl began to slowly and seductively climb up onto his pallet to straddle him; knife still pressed to his jugular. "Let me give you an offer..." The red-headed queen of the Arena brought a long and sensual finger to her lips and sucked on it, before extricating her finger and placing it on his lips. Then she completed her sentence, her mouth beside his ear as she breathed out a hot breath onto the nape of his neck. "...One you surely can''t refuse." And she looked at him with soft, wet eyes, lids half-open; and a pitiable look that made even his heart melt. * * * * * The bald man stood still as a statue, not daring to move a millimetre from his post by the vizier''s door. The vizier himself stood by his side, similarly frozen there. The display of power from the Duke had blown their minds away, leaving no thoughts of anything but complete submission in their minds. And as the muscular Sarin stood thinking how to get on the good side of the Duke, the opportunity came. "Hey, Spot. Come here, boy!" He heard a voice calling through the door and gingerly walked over. Duke Silvan continued speaking through the door; delivering his request to the invigilator. "Bring me the red-haired girl. Now. She has some... Uses to me." Blinking in surprise, the scarred man nodded vigorously as soon as he processed the command, then scurried off to search for the girl, planning to shake everyone he passed by to locate her as soon as possible. And as he ran off, he heard the refined but detestable voice add one more phrase that made him furious. "Good boy..." 23 Just Desserts 2 Lars was trapped. Not by the weight of the buxom girl, nor by the blade that could not pierce his magical shields. He was trapped like a rabbit that stood frozen in the headlights of the oncoming car; knowing that trouble was headed straight for him, and yet unable to move a muscle to make haste and flee. He felt as if a cloud or fog had settled on his consciousness, hazing his rationality while at the same time an irrepressible heat and fire blazed through his veins! Her fragrance was irresistible, the musky and sweet smell daring him to stick out his tongue to taste the pearly white skin on her neck... Just a little taste would do... 10 to 20 seconds would be enough... He breathed heavily, eagerly waiting to see what would happen even as he heard a still small voice calling out: ''No, Lars, no! Remember who you are! Remember who you belong to!'' Alas, the young teenager, though a veteran of many a war, was no match for the seasoned temptress'' wiles and skills honed through bringing many a boy or girl to fall into depravity for her! This was a consummate succubus, one who, like a puppeteer, had nearly a dozen boys and girls wrapped around her finger. This was a manipulator extraordinaire, a master at her craft. As Seline delivered her skilful ministrations to his inert body that only moved in a certain place, she squealed in delight every time he involuntarily twitched in reaction. Finally, after roughly 30 seconds of teasing, she moved on to the next stage - to provide the final bait after the carrot had been dangled in front of him. A pity then for her that the boy had not just one, but two sets of souls and consciousness merged into one. Gradually, even as she continued speaking, a sense of coolness began to pervade the youth''s inner being, driving away the unnatural (and natural) reaction he had moments ago. But despite regaining his sense of self, the 14-year old boy listened intently, waiting to see the outcome of her "offer". "Mmm... We both know that here in this Arena, our bodies are just as much a weapon - and an asset - as outside. But I promise you, as long as you ditch that b*tch--" The female cat in heat scowled, pouting and sticking out her lower lip petulantly as she released a hot breath of moist air onto his face. "--And promise me to forget about her..." She drew the fingernails of her right hand over his chest and abdomen, then stopped agonisingly close to his lower body. "...You''ll find I have many, many other... Skills and charms to make you deliriously happy!" Seline smiled, this time sweetly and like a girl in love. ''Is this woman... Really that crazy about me...?'' Lars felt his heart moved once more, nearly shaking his resolve. But it was a ludicrous proposition brought to the table, one easily denied. "Seline..." "Mmm...?" Her gaze brightened considerably, her eyes almost sparkling as she optimistically leaned forward to hear the answer she had been waiting for. Only, it was not she had in mind. "...Are you crazy?" The now cool-headed boy spoke quietly; with little inflexion. But the words alone were sufficient even without any caustic tone. He felt a chill down his spine and the slightest of trembles on the blade at his neck, but pressed on with his diatribe as the redhead''s face turned black and her smile faded. "First of all, I don''t know about the "activities" you enjoy with your pets, but I don''t want to be any part of it." He spoke quickly, leaving no room for interruptions despite being held at knifes-edge. "Second, are you crazy?!? Don''t you know that, just a few months or maybe even just a few weeks later, we''ll all be dead - except for just one of us...? Do you have the confidence to take on that monstrosity Linges? Really?" Lars threw that in despite knowing that the berserker would inevitably face defeat when faced against himself in the ring. He continued on, exasperating further the already speechless vixen whose mouth hung wide open. "Then what''s your plan? Enjoy a few moments of bliss, then die? Worthless, pointless sensations? A chasing after the wind, meaningless, meaningless, thrice meaningless?!? Or do you have a plan, huh? To take down the entire Arena of Valour and their backer, the great and eternal Kingdom of the Sands! Hah!" He barked out a laugh, ignoring the frigid killing intent bearing down on him, released by the incensed young woman still on top of him. Without a pause, his tirade persisted, rising in conviction and tension. "Third! Moira! Is! The! One! I! Love!" "And lastly! Don''t you know what kind of girls men like...? With all those acts of debauchery, you''ve already sullied yourself in... After having lost your dignity as a pure girl, as a woman, in what way do you consider yourself attractive to me?!" He conveniently glossed over the fact that he had been pretty much completely enthralled not so long ago. The girl who did not know whether to bite him, stab him or cry was incredulous, and blurted out in rebuttal, "B-But! You, that bitch, and Moira, you, the laundry area--" She stumbled and stuttered, confusing herself with her words. But Lars refuted her completely: "I''ll have you know that until this day, the most me and Moira have done is embrace!!" "AHHHHHHH!!! SHUT UP SHUT UP!" The she-dragon snapped, roaring in fury and clutching her head with her free right hand. She nearly pulled her hair out before realising what a preposterous thing she was about to do and then thought better of it, eyes flashing with madness. The murderess-to-be then clambered off him as the bed released creaking sounds in protest at the weight and rough movements, then landed nimbly on the cool granite floor, all the while keeping the sharp edge of her blade against her unrequited beloved''s neck. Her provocateur lay dumbly on the bed, indifferent to the rage he had just stoked. The Legendary Mage had no fear whichever way; even if she struck out now at point-blank range, he would not even receive a scratch. There was no way for even the bane of the Arena Linges to leave a dent in his fortifications, much less this top 10 ranker! And if the schemer dared approach the blonde Moira... Lars'' eyes narrowed. He would put her down where she stood. Where Seline stood right now was above him, panting, heaving, drawing in breath after breath. The seductress delivered her ultimatum. "Choose! Miller! Knight! Larsson! Choose you this day who you will love... Choose wisely..." She frowned, eyes reddened with anger. "Or die!" The voluptuous trainee was borderline hysterical but wisely chose to keep her voice down - not that it mattered, as the nurses and physicians were aware of her presence from the start. It was just that they hoped the b*tch would help them off the boy who had given them a sleepless night last night - as a borrowed knife! And then the criminal would be executed as well anyway, lessening their workload by 2 trainees... The young man in a teenager''s body lay still, then delivered his answer, a smack to her face. "There was never any choice to be made. There was always only one." Various emotions flitted through the almost pitiable conspirator''s eyes, first disappointment, then the inklings of hope, then a deeper despair that blackened her deep violet, almost red eyes. "I choose Moira." Unexpectedly, it was silent. Once more the only sounds were that of dripping water, a leaky faucet, as well as two trainees heavy breathing. Lars could sense that the girl''s muscles were tensed up, ready to make a move. He smiled internally, a spectator interested to see her next action. Then the silence was broken. *Drip* *Drip* *Drip* The sounds of the single dripping water source were joined by two more harmonious partners, accompanying it in a steady stream. The former Hero of the War was dumb-founded and unable to react. "I... Okay... Alright... I..." The queen-bee, dominator of countless others and resident ruler among the masses was crying. Her faced scrunched up and turned red from the hurt and pale from the sense of defeat. She sobbed, dropping her knife which fell to the floor with a jarring *clang!* sound. Seline did not, could not finish her sentence as she staggered off, dejected, lost and lifeless. The beautiful lady walked slowly - and yet before the astonished and mentally shaken boy noticed it, she was already gone. As Lars lay there staring at the ceiling, confused about the girl who he was certain would try to take his life, the muddled boy couldn''t help but feel... Guilty...? Slightly remorseful...? Towards the crying girl. The romantically unlucky young legendary mage shook his head, reminding himself to stay focused. But he did wonder. What if...? Perhaps it was the fate of the heart-broken mage to break the hearts of others as well. * * * * * [Outside the infirmary area] Tear-streaked face, congested nose, heaving chest. Seline was in a poor condition right now. Especially when she heard the telltale sound of limping footsteps falling on the granite floor of the hallways. The depraved Invigilator Sarin was on his way. And blocking off the only path to and from the infirmary. She tensed up, ready to run. Then she relaxed. Why would she run? She didn''t care anymore, anyway. The lithe girl slumped against the wall, limp and without strength. Knowing him, he was just toying with her - giving her the sense of hope that she could escape, only to crush it sadistically. That was okay. She had no reason to live anymore, anyway. And not long later, she would probably just let herself be killed in the deathmatches... Maybe the darkness of the afterlife would bring her peace. The now apathetic Seline leaned against the wall, awaiting her sealed fate. 24 Just Desserts 3 Why was she doing this? Why didn''t she just plunge that dagger down into his soft throat - and then take her own life afterwards...? ''Am I really...?'' Was she? Really...? ''In love with him...?'' She huffed a short laugh self-mockingly, puffing out a gust of air as she lay against the cool stones. The dampness of the walls, caused by the lack of aeration or ventilation in the humid tunnels, seeped into her clothes. ''Looks like I''ll be down with a cold and flu at this rate...'' Her thoughts began to drift. She''d rather think about any nonsense than contemplate the vexing thoughts of the beautiful, pure, soulful eyes of the boy... The pure and angelic boy... Droplets of tears once more welled up in her eyes. She shook her head, not willing to be sucked in to such thoughts. It was annoying. Too annoying. Too aggravating! ''Maybe I should go kill that little thieving cat... That bitch, that harlot, that tramp...!'' She half-stood, then found her energy deflating once more. It wouldn''t bring Lars back to her. Crying, she sniffled and sobbed every now and then, ignoring the footsteps that had already arrived; not even paying any attention to the invigilator who she had previously feared acutely. She didn''t even bother looking up at him. The large man stood before her, smirking, waiting silently. The only sounds that could be heard were the bulky man''s heavy breathing, sounding disturbingly excited, and the subdued sobs from the dismal damsel in obvious distress. Waiting a moment longer, the sadistic scarred-man spoke. "Get up. Someone wants to see you." ''Some... One?'' Her mind raced as her heart skipped a beat. ''Someone is requesting for me...? One who is able to send the ruler of the Arena on errands at his behest...?'' The cold and lethargy gradually left her body as blood began to flow faster through her body, bringing a flush of warmth. Was this her chance at survival...? Only... At what cost...? What would they want her for...? What could she possibly offer, that Linges, Moira or Lars could not do better, faster or sharper...? What would they want her for, if not *that*...? She blushed at the same time as feeling a chill of revulsion. Despite her outwardly lewd appearance and far from chaste behaviour, she... Was actually rather pure. That was why his words had hurt so much, when he called her sullied, dirty and unattractive because of her soiled body... Nevertheless, despite the flashes of painful thoughts, she maintained a poker face and stood up. She would grasp this opportunity to live, even if she had to sacrifice her dignity. Knowing better than to mince words and be struck, beaten or tortured by the freak before her, Seline stood up straight and nodded in acquiescence. She casually wiped away the tears from her eyes, face and chin, then adjusted her hair and clothes. The red-headed stunner turned to the exit and prepared to follow him to see the eminent one who could lord over the lord of the Arena! It was just that, the man was still standing there, leering at her depravedly. Her heart sank. The bravado she had put on earlier and the act of calmness nearly shattered; she had to steel herself to keep her teeth from chattering in fear. The degenerate bald man did appreciate the beauty and the passions of the flesh. Yet there was an ironclad rule - no trainee would ever be defiled by any man or woman''s touch. As such, there should be no problem no matter how much any Tom, Dick or Sally lusted after them. They should be completely safeguarded by the threat of mandatory death for any perpetrators. However, there was just one problem. It was the invigilator who was openly exhibiting lust for her. A very serious problem. The necrophiliac only felt desire for dead bodies. "Your skin is so... Soft. Supple." It was unknown when, but the man had moved behind her, standing close - too close. Even worse was that he was now tracing her hair, down to her neck and shoulders with the backs of his fingers, leaving the slightest marks of red where his fingernails passed. Her whole body froze as she could hear, *feel* his surprisingly clean and fresh-smelling breath on her neck. Goosebumps crawled all over. She felt the shadow of death hanging over her as if the reaper''s scythe in its hand were about to descend on her - and leave her a headless corpse to be devoured by the predator behind her. She would have screamed - if she could. Her chest was tight, locked down by trepidation at the man''s chilling reputation for depraved acts against corpses. She couldn''t help but imagine her own corpse, lying dead beneath him, being defiled! No! But her voice could not leave her throat. It was stuck there as the man continued his revolting act of trespass on her body. "I''ll be sure to make good... "Use" of you..." He hissed out into her ear, making her flinch in discomfort. "Once he''s done with you..." His devilish hands slowly danced sideways along both her shoulders, carefully cupping her arms at either side. Pulling at and pinching the backs of her arms, checking the elasticity of her teenaged flesh. Across her shoulder blades. Down the small of her back. Cupping her rear, caressing one side leisurely. Then the other. Then her heart beat furiously as the monster walked slowly, slowly, slowly to her front. And just before she could gather the strength and courage to break through his intimidating aura that had kept her unable to move, he surprised her by turning around and walking off at a brisk pace. "Well...?" His disturbingly high-pitched and lilting voice carried through the halls, gentle and refined, at odds with his brutish earlier actions. "You shouldn''t, wouldn''t want to keep our esteemed guest waiting now, would you...? Or..." He began to turn around, ever so slightly before he closed off his sentence, jarring her into action. "Or... Do you...?" A demonic smile began to part his lips, a visage of hellish images. Shocked, she fell down as she tried to follow after, tumbling to the floor as her legs were still wobbly and refused to obey her commands. Then the muddle-headed, panicky girl ran after her torturer. For if she did not follow, she would be fair game not just after her death, but before, while alive as well - a long, enduring torture of the mind and soul that not even the most wicked trainee would wish upon their enemies. * * * * * [In front of Vizier Murad''s room] "Go ahead. Knock, open the door, introduce yourself and enter." The earlier domineering Sarin now seemed reticent, reluctant. Meek in fact. He showed great unwillingness to even step near the door. Behaviour which struck, even more, fear and terror into Seline, making her hands and legs tremble involuntarily. She gulped and tried to swallow but found that there was no saliva in her mouth to ease her chapped lips and sand-dry throat. It was still cool in the hours before dawn, but sweat poured down her brow, yet her mouth and throat were so dry she wondered how she would even speak. Each step towards the door felt like it took an eternity. Her footsteps falling sounded deafening, like the booming strikes of a battering ram against mighty and high stone walls, one side unyielding in its advance, the other invincible in its defence. *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* She wasn''t sure anymore whether the booming sounds were her heart beating or the fall of her footsteps. She felt light-headed as she walked up to willingly deliver herself, a lamb into the proverbial lion''s den. Finally, she felt the weight of a world upon her shoulders as she lifted up her right hand to knock on the door. She drew her arm back, then struggling with the reluctance of one walking to her own noose, willed herself to knock the door. ''Oh no!'' She swung too hard in her tense state, cringing as she made contact with the door - which swung wide open just as she was about to touch it, bringing her tumbling in from the momentum of her nervous swinging motion. Shell-shocked at her incredibly, preposterously, outstandingly extreme faux-pas, she turned red, then white, then red again in embarrassment, her face burning. She was so embarrassed in fact, that she forgot to stand up from where she lay crumpled on the ground! Looking up in fear, she saw a lavishly decorated room, warmly lit and with a comfortable atmosphere. Within the large room was only one person, seated with his back turned to her. There were no signs of anyone else. "Ahh! My dear girl. Please, please, make yourself comfortable. Oh, and ask Spot to come in as well." The tall and stately looking man with large shoulders who she could only see from behind gave her a lifeline, saving her from life-ending shame by not even turning to look at her when the door opened by itself. He was even faced away! Yes!! Though she wondered who Spot was. Relief washed over her like the cool of rain in summer, and she unglamorously scrambled to her feet, adjusting her nearly malfunctioning black-leather skirt and top from revealing too much. ''He... Seems like a gentleman.'' She gulped, then shook her head furiously. ''No! Don''t be lulled into a false sense of security! The gentle ones are always the most depraved, just like...'' Her eyes darted over to the big, scar-faced man who, to her shock, was walking towards her. "Come, come! Take a seat! Let''s see what you can, ahem, do for me..." A dangerous smile adorned the incredibly handsome man''s face, his eyes glinting as he spoke. Though he asked her to sit, he was blocking her advance, staring deep into her eyes and mesmerising her with his stately aura of a paramount royal. Then, hand cupping her chin, he raised her face up to look at him; then raised his brows momentarily at the defiance hidden deep in her eyes. "My my..." He smiled wider. "Feisty one, aren''t you, my lovely...?" Without noticing it, he let slip just the littlest bit of his crushing aura, a whiff of his surging powers. She panicked. 5 seconds passed, then 10 seconds as the handsome man stood in front of her, just scrutinising her face. But that was the last thing on her mind. Because she couldn''t breathe. ''Help... Me...'' 25 Just Desserts 4 ''Help... Me...'' Unspoken words. A despairing cry for help, silenced by the motionless lungs, still vocal cords. Despite it being a mere 10 seconds without oxygen, her bodily functions began to shut down. She collapsed in front of him. Belatedly noticing his slip-up, the man was taken aback at her fall, face turning in irritation. He withdrew his aura, released in his moment''s excitement. ''Interesting girl... Able to rile me up like that. It''s been a long while, a very long while since I felt...'' A fire was ignited in his eyes and loins to possess her. She would be his. He helped her up, scaring the wits out the now-frail and limp femme fatale. She tried to reject his assistance but found that it was like an egg pushing against a mountain, immovable, futile. It was already a miracle that she had not cracked like that egg if it were really pushed against the stone walls! The elegant gentleman sat her down on a chair, not losing a single bit of his poise or the calm smile on his face. Yet she could feel a hunger, an appetite within the mild-mannered man that made her frightened. ''Is this it...? To be "devoured" like just another piece of meat delivered up on a plate for the ruling class...?'' Her eyes reddened as she lowered her head; unable to maintain her mask of civility anymore. Easily noticing her very obvious mood change, the middle-aged man''s eyes narrowed. His smile faded. Then he backed off, sitting down on his chair, gesturing to the invigilator who was still standing at attention near the door to bring something. Fetching the item he had requested, the Duke cleared his throat - a sign that he was about to get to business. She felt him come closer, then his smooth, clean but strong hand land on her shoulder. It felt like the mighty paw of an indomitable lion was laying on her. He spoke. The moment she dreaded had come. "How would you like to work for me..." He spoke slowly, deliberately, careful to ensure she heard and acknowledged every word. Work for him? Hah! To sacrifice her purity, her self, her mind and soul. And what in return? "...As the head of my personal intelligence team...? I know it will be difficult, and the team is non-existent right now. But with you as the head, I believe that it will be but a matter of time until it grows." She would have to give up everything - her identity. Her individuality. Her body. Her life. ''Lars...'' She began to cry. ''I...'' "Huh?" She looked up, bewildered, gawking at the shocked noble before her who was equally bewildered. The Duke was confused, shocked! He had never seen a girl so touched by his job offer that she would be moved to tears! Then her blank, befuddled facial expression and her "Huh?" perplexed Duke Silvan, leading him to wonder if espionage wasn''t her cup of tea! "Y-you, you don''t like the offer...? Erm, then... How about as one of my diplomatic leads? The head position is already filled but..." The experienced negotiator was more than just a little confused, resulting in his uncharacteristic stammering. Had this ever happened before? A trainee slave with nothing to lose and everything to gain, second-guessing his proposition! "No, I, I... I just..." What! She was still daring enough to negotiate?!? His brows furrowed, the expression on his face changing drastically. His face heated up as he frowned deeply. What an amazingly gutsy girl! His face was turning red from excitement as he smiled brightly at his lucky find! Here he was just snooping around for fun before bringing the little princess home when he discovered such a gem! At a young age, able to twist numerous hard-hearted competitors around her fingers... All with just the hint of offering her attention and favour, without actually delivering? Convincing them to act like her lackeys when they were at least her equals in combat and intellect, with some exceeding her in one area or the other? Manipulating, scheming, cheating, eliminating her rivals with plots behind plots hidden within even more plots? All this was accomplished in a situation with her only resources being her face, body and mind... And not among plebeians or foolish nobles, but among sharp-minded, world-weary, battle-hardened trainees who had already learned every trick in the book! She had still managed to dominate a dozen assassin trainees! Brilliant! Astounding! Superb! A talent! A real, true blue talent! His heart pumped in euphoria, his desire to possess her in his team surging high, the deep longing rising from his loins, the desire to prove that he could form the best squad! One better than his pompous big brother! There was NO WAY, no way at all that he would let anyone snatch such a young star from him, never! He sat down again. He didn''t realise that in his excitement, he had stood up and raised a fist to the air. Wisely, the little vixen and the bald man chose to keep quiet, averting their eyes, putting on a face that said, "Nothing happened!". ''Smart kids...'' He smiled in satisfaction. * * * * * [Seline''s Point of View] ''???'' ''I''ve... Met another crazy man...??'' Her eyes darted once more to the invigilator nearby, then she gulped and quickly looked away when she realised the pervert was looking at her too! The worst part was... He had rolled his eyes, and his gaze was saying, "What a madman!" You are the madman, Sarin! You are the perverted, crazy madman! ...Was what she wished to scream out. The tension in her body had been swept away with the sudden change in the situation. Without the adrenaline keeping her alert and strong, she had to struggle on in the conversation with sheer willpower and mental strength. Long story short, he had seen her ability to understand people''s hearts and weaknesses and manipulate them, and he appreciated her natural disposition. He wanted her, and wanted to use her - but not sexually. Use her as a trusted member of his staff force. Her, a discarded, unwanted orphan! Her, a woman spurned by her one true love! Her... An assassin trainee consigned to death the moment she fell in the deathmatches - an inevitable end with Linges in the picture... She sighed in relief, quietly, then nodded firmly. "Yes, your grace. I accept your offer." She stood to bow, cursing as her foot caught slightly on the soft carpeted surface of the floor. Her body had not yet recovered from the three very recent rounds of emotional upheaval - with Lars, with Sarin, and just now with the Duke. "Very well." He had regained every ounce of his regal composure, oozing confidence and the blood of aristocracy. "I know this sounds fast, but we leave in an hour. I believe you have nothing much to pack, correct...?" She nodded, keeping a firm, limpid gaze as her lustrous red-hair bobbed along with her nod. "I''m ready. Only the clothes on my back. Nothing else." "Alright then." He gestured gracefully, a sign that she should leave. Then as she was rising from the cushioned chair, as if something had just occurred to him, he motioned for her to stop then spoke again. "Ah, yes. Do you have any requests...? You *do* work for a Duke now, I realise you need the proper support and a team... Perhaps it would be good if you chose some people from your home turn here in the Arena...? I leave it to you. Just say the word, and it shall be as if I myself have spoken." With that, he beckoned to the muscular invigilator to come over. "Feel free to make use of Spot here. Whatever you need, just instruct him. I''m sure he''ll make himself useful." The handsome man closed his eyes and smiled as he tried to pat the bald man''s head. But as he was sitting, it was too far to reach - so the Duke opened his eyes and frowned at the sweating Sarin. The scarred man obediently went to his knees, letting his lord pat his head. Who then grimaced and tried to flick the disgusting sweat off his hand. Then his gaze returned to Seline. "Any questions, my dear...?" He smiled. "No, your grace. I''m sure he--" She looked at Sarin, staring daggers at him with a look that said, ''Just you wait... Hehehehe...!!!'' "I''ll be sure to make good... "Use" of him..." She smiled evilly at the frantic, scared bald man who was literally squirming in distress. "Yes... I''ll make *VERY* good "use" of him..." 26 Years [6:45 AM] Moira ran. She ran breathlessly down the corridors, taking a left then a quick right, nearly knocking over servants here and there as the golden-haired girl hurried. ''I don''t have much time...'' The slim and beautiful girl counted backwards as she recalled how her earlier conversation with Duke Silvan had ended. Turned out that he was her uncle... Her embarrassment, butterflies in her stomach and, ahem, the hots she had for the handsome man were all just a prank of his... "Tch..." Moira felt ashamed to be played the fool by him, but also did not yet know how to digest her emotions in her world that was still spinning around. Event after event, turn after turn, the normally level-headed girl was starting to be confused about what to think... "You want to say goodbye...? Sure! Just, you need to be at the south-west gate by... 8:00 AM. Don''t be late." He had spoken gently but firmly, with no room for negotiation. Despite her change in status, apparently, the power structure was still the same - him firmly at the top of the food chain. "Oh, and remember. Handsome isn''t he...?" The dignified man smiled gently while tapping his finger on the arm of the chair he sat on. Moira nodded, unsure of his intentions. "I originally wanted to... Dispose of him. But since you said you''ll leave him yourself and not see him again, well, I guess I''ll let him go. Okay! Hurry on now!" He spoke as if he were discussing what to eat for dinner or exhorting a young child to be careful in school, not snuffing out a human life! She had left with a numbness and a chill on the back of her neck. Lars. She had to warn him, protect him from coming after her. With permission granted, she had run as fast as possible, stopping only at her quarters to dig out something special for the boy on this day of their forced parting. A keepsake of sorts, so that... He wouldn''t forget her. And so that he had something to hold on to, to remember his promise to not see her for 20 years. Moira knew that she would not forget him. The unsure youth stopped in front of the infirmary doors, hesitant, head lowered in anxiety and thought. As mature and tough as she was, Moira could not help but hem and haw before the final step. It was just that, how would she speak to Lars... How should their conversation begin...? "Hi Lars! I''m actually a Princess and I''m leaving now! Don''t come looking for me, but I''ll look for you once I''m the one in charge! Okay? Bye!!" The inwardly innocent girl acted out the scene, smiling cheerfully and clasping her hands behind her back as she bowed forward slightly. Her roleplaying drew questioning gazes from the various stewards and caretakers passing by, and the trainee blushed furiously, coughing to hide her awkwardness at being seen. ''No... That''s too bubbly... As if I''m happy that I''m leaving...'' ''But... I''m happy, right...? For him, for myself, for us... For a better life...?'' She tried to make a buoyant expression, but it came out as a sorrowful smile. She tried. But couldn''t. Her face fell as her eyes once again stared at the floor, wishing to curl up in a corner, hug her knees to her chest and cry. Something that no assassin in training could ever do, but, Moira wished she could. ''Who am I kidding...'' The brave yet pure-hearted girl spoke to herself in self-pity. ''...I wish...'' She looked up, eyes gleaming. ''...Wish we could just be together and forget all these things...'' And saw the doors open. Lars was standing before her. She turned even redder than before, frozen in surprise. "Moira...?" * * * * * "Moira...? You... You came... To see me...?" He shook his head. No beating around the bush, he had to get straight to the point. Lars reached out to grab his lover''s wrist firmly but gently, causing her to gasp as if she were startled by his move. Confused and slightly taken aback at her reaction to his touch, the dark-haired boy felt a pang of unease wondering what that was about. But he quickly pushed it aside. "Moira. Follow me. Let''s leave the Arena. I have a plan and the power to carry it out, I--" He began to speak but was cut off. In what seemed like just an instant, the girl before him transformed from a meek, melancholic and shy trainee to one full of confidence and decisiveness. She had to. She had to make Lars let go, for his good and to protect him. "Lars." Her terse words sliced into his train of thought and derailed the words he had rehearsed. "...Moira...?" Slightly perturbed and blinking repeatedly, he felt nervous. What had come over her today...? Was she threatened or... Hurt...? Even as his emotions began to be roiled up and his anger rose, she dropped the bombshell. "Lars. I''m leaving. I... I''m a Princess of the Kingdom of the Sands. The *only* Princess, and the only one left who can become the Priestess." Mouth open and blinking quickly in consternation, the shaken boy stammered as he tried to make sense of things. "W-w-why, what do you--" "I mean, I''m leaving. I..." She looked down, feeling bad for some reason. And she didn''t understand why she was acting like this, not like herself at all. Casting her gaze away from his, she finished her story. "I''ve negotiated with the Duke, the--my uncle. In exchange for me coming with him and... And forgetting about you... He''ll spare your life, let you free from the Arena and the King''s service, and, and give you everything you need. Lars!" Moira yelled his name at the last word as she could read him like the back of her hand. He was about to explode and do something rash again, just like last time when he confronted Linges, heart-warming though his heroic desire to save her was... Snapped out of the mist of rage, the boy stood dumb-founded. She couldn''t bear to look him in the face anymore, couldn''t bear the hurt her next words would cause him, and how much it would hurt her to be separated. "Lars..." Her teardrops fell. How could a young girl like her make such a hard choice...? But she had to. "Don''t come after me. D-don''t, don''t look for me for these, these 20 years... I''ll, I''ll look for you once I''m the one in charge and can make my own decisions... A-Al-Alright...?" Pain filled the tearful girl''s eyes, as well as remorse, guilt and the unwillingness to part ways with the man of her life. She darted over to his side, kissed the stunned boy on his lips and pressed a ring into his hands, saying her last words to him for a long time to come. "Goodbye, the only love of my life. Now, and forever, you will be my only one. And if I, Moira Fenelle Vishnu, should break this solemn oath, may my soul be rent asunder and never ascend to Valhalla''s halls!" Moira opened her closed eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Don''t forget me. I... Won''t forget you." His mind a blur from the sudden upheaval in his life, he clutched the ring tightly, not even sparing it a glance. The ring... It was one so valuable and priceless in its resplendent beauty that it should not even be here in the Arena! A radiant red ruby, not too large but just the right size to be inlaid as a stone on a ring. Blood red, crimson red, redder than the rays of the sun at dusk - and more glorious. The ring itself was a perfect yellow band of light-gold but feeling far more solid to the touch than any gold or alloy of it could ever be. And when it landed in his palm, he heard a ghostly sigh, like a demonic murmur calling out in desire for it. He shook his head to disperse the spell of confusion he felt in that moment when the ring landed in his palm, then touched his lips. And he watched the girl run off, crying, speechless and heartbroken. And fell to his knees, not understanding, his young and naive heart unable to find the words to speak until after she had left. "I will never forget you, never give up on you... Moira...!" He whispered to himself. Was he fated to always be separated...? From the ones he loved...? The still-young boy, young man, legendary mage though he might be, remained quiet, coming to terms with his world that had once more come crashing down around him. Quiet, his emotions desolate and bleak. 27 Resolution Did he wonder why he didn''t chase after her? Grab hold of her, teleport away and escape to somewhere no one could find them...? Yes. Yes, he did. He wondered why he didn''t just man up and lay waste to the entire Arena and all its inhabitants - the Duke included. He wondered whether he should have just cast aside the sense of responsibility to his Home, to Earth and the urgency of warning his people. Whether he should have just forgotten about the entire past life and past world like a dream dissipating in the morning when the sleeper awoke. Maybe... He could have just left it all behind... And lived a carefree life with Moira... Maybe... But he didn''t. And he didn''t know whether to hate himself or to pat himself on the back for his "self-less" sacrifice. Did he blame her...? Never...! She didn''t even know about his strength, his powers. If only he had said something, she would have... Laughed it off as the bravado of a hot-headed teenager? And if he had demonstrated his powers in a magnificent display of wonder...? And wiped out every witness, kidnapping the girl to be his and his alone...? ...And deprive her of the promise and opportunity and status that belonged to her from birth...? Could he do that...? To rob her of a shining and dazzling future as a Princess and Priestess, whatever the Priestess role was about...? ''No... I couldn''t do it... To rob her of her happiness for my own...'' ''...And go to war with a nation that just wishes to retrieve their Princess. And derail all hopes of saving my homeland... And lose my chance of vengeance against the dark hand behind the curtains...?'' He shook his head slightly, his heart as cold and hard as the stone floor he stood on. No, he would not lose sight of his mission that could mean life or death for billions! He sighed and considered one last perspective, fists tightly clenched subconsciously, evidence of the stress and anxiety he was under but did not realise he was experiencing. ''What if that person, whoever it was who called himself a Duke - her so-called uncle - were lying...?'' He sniggered to himself. Was there any need for their "gods" of the Arena to lie to the girl...? The little kings and rulers of this place, "gods" who believed themselves the possessors of every trainee''s life, body, soul and even descendants! ''Heh... They wouldn''t need to go that far. They just needed to snatch whatever they wanted, whether it was a trainee''s mind or body or even their life...'' He sighed as he walked listlessly down the passageway. 6:49 AM. 11 minutes until the morning assembly. He headed back to his room to sort through his things. And sort through his thoughts, plans and the path he should take after this. And after the assembly, it would be time to leave and find a way home. He paused in his steps. Lars wondered if he could manage somehow to sort through the most important thing in this equation. His feelings. Which was his home...? Earth...? London...? Malaysia...? Or here...? Where Moira was. He shook his head and got ready to pack and leave. ''...Maybe I should drop by the assembly. One last time...'' His melancholic, pensive mood guided his footsteps to bid a silent goodbye to this place and the people here. He shrugged at his own decision. It was not like this would be the last time seeing the Arena. He would soon return anyway, to break these innocent teenagers free from their death sentence. * * * * * Rosa was abandoned. That''s how she felt. The tall, brown-haired and tomboyish girl scoffed at herself, at her own foolishness at choosing to believe the red-head beauty. Who owned -- No! Who *had* owned her heart and body. Even now, Rosa felt tingles run through her, just as when her whole body quivered and shook in ecstasy at Seline''s intoxicating touch when the voluptuous beauty deigned to let Rosa kiss her sensual fingers... She shivered, and firmed her will to forget the traitorous b*tch - who had used her and then refused to even see or meet her since the fracas with Moira and Linges! Yes, she knew she had failed! But... But was a "useful pawn" all that she was to her sweetly sadistic queen...??? She couldn''t help but clutch her heart. It hurt. Hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt. And her other hand snaked down lower, about to hold herself somewhere else that ached and longed for the red-haired goddess that she worshipped but could never, ever possess. Chest throbbing, her head pounded as she stood up, wobbly. Hands trembling, she faced her bed and picked up a dagger, angling it at her heart. Eyes widening in madness, she smiled maniacally, a morbid look painted across her visage. Perhaps it would stop hurting if she removed the source of her pain. She was discarded, abandoned, unwanted anyway. Time to end it all. As she braced herself for the pain that would end her pain, she heard footsteps and hastened to finish it. But she could not. "Rosa." Her queen. Her deity. Her idol and everything. Goddess Seline... Had not forgotten her??! She turned around and saw the apple of her eyes before her, perfect in every way with every curl and bang of her lustrous hair falling impeccably beautifully. Her hand holding the dagger grew limp, and it fell to the floor with a *Clang!* sound as Seline crossed the distance from the entrance of Rosa''s room to stand before her - and held her chin with her long fingers. "I--I... I..." Rosa stuttered, unable to get the words out her mouth as she felt fiery heat burst forth from deep within her, deep and deep and deep within her - in contrast to the cool touch of her mistress and lord. "Shh. I need you." "You... You need me...??" She nearly collapsed on the spot from euphoria and pleasure. In less than a breath''s time, her eyes filled with tears as she was moved beyond words. She leaned forward and caught a whiff of the scent of her idol, and sighed deeply, smiling. Seline nodded."Follow me." "Yes..." The words came automatically as if she were a child obeying her mother unconditionally. Then she stopped as she realised she needed to pack and pick up the fallen dagger. "No need, Sharon will settle it and, ahem, make herself *very* useful... You just come with me. We''re leaving." "Sharon" stepped forward, causing Rosa to gasp in astonishment. The tall hawkish girl had only eyes for the object of her lust and adoration and had not noticed the loyal maid waiting at the entrance. As the first recruit of the Duke''s new intelligence team glanced over the maid, her first thoughts were - racy, sexy and provocative. Black cloth shoes covering half of the feet. Long, toned legs in sheer white stockings, muscled at just the right places and with just the right amount. The dark skirt of the black and white uniform ended just below mid-thigh, slightly revealing but not overly so. A slim waist with not an ounce of fat, figure hugged by the body-hugging, skin-tight outfit. Square shoulders, looking like someone who took great care of the body''s health and condition. And a scarred face on a bald head. Invigilator "Sharon". The maid smiled sweetly, curtseying before "she" daintily picked up the fallen dagger and began to sort through the things in the room to be packed up. As Rosa gulped, amazed, Seline waved for them to leave the helper to "her" work. She did leave a reminder, though. "If you forget anything important, I''ll punish you..." She smiled wickedly. "...By reducing your skirt length by another inch." Sharon sweated profusely upon hearing this, but maintained a sweet smile and spoke in falsetto. "Yes, my beloved mistress~! Sharon will make sure to do everything alllllll perfect!" "...." "....." The speechless girls left hastily, perturbed by the scene of a heavily muscled man dressed in a maid uniform, tip-toeing in an attempt to look feminine. And the voice... Nauseous, the two girls hurried off, feeling like they would puke and regretting the decision to make the man into a maid as punishment. *They* were the ones being punished here! Yes. Sarin was a survivor, one willing to do anything to live. Anything. 28 Resolution 2 [6:57 AM - Before the morning Assembly] Surprisingly, the morning assembly looked like it would start late this morning. Usually, it would begin on the dot at 7:00 AM, before the students began their day with a morning meal, then 14 hours of gruelling training - except for during the past few months of deathmatches; during this period the trainees had their time to themselves whether to train or to spar. But today, the members of the management had not yet arrived,meaning that it would surely be delayed by 5 to 10 minutes at the minimum. The gathering trainees were nearly silent, the quiet only broken by occasional coughs or low murmurs when something happened. They were a disciplined bunch - discipline learned after troublemakers and interlocutors during the early days of the assembly were beaten to death on the spot. Beaten to death by bare fists - slowly. As a result of the morbid and lethal nature of the assembly (as well as nearly every other session conducted by trainers, instructors or even one of the 3 invigilators themselves), the remaining trainees were those who were disciplined enough - *and* smart enough - to survive. The stillness in the large hall with a capacity of 2,000 was interrupted every now and then when key figures or big names entered. Such as when Linges, the barbarous half-beastman came. "I heard he killed another 7 trainees..." "Nonsense! ...It''s 9. 9 more trainees died at his hands..." "Linges..." "Linges..." "He''s here..." Myriad voices sounded simultaneously upon his entry. "Shh..." "He''ll kill you just for..." "I heard he last..." "My best brother was slain by him just for sneezing when he passed by..." "Aren''t the management going to do something about that blood murderer...? Before we''re all dead..." "Shh! Do you think the management care about our lives...?!" "Yeah! We''re less than cattle to them! At least cattle have the right to breed!" The last line drew muffled sniggers and chuckles which quickly fell silent again - no one knew when the assembly would be called to attention, for example, a surprise early start to catch them unawares. Or when the stalking death of the halls would choose to go on a frenzy and rip them all apart... And everywhere the hulking berserker passed by, there would be an island of absolute silence as if someone had laid a high-level silencing spell upon that area. As well as a parting of the Red Sea - if you were within reach of Linges, he might just choose to use you as a human toothpick - before he bit down on your neck and decapitated you... He soon took his place and the uneasy trainees resumed their wait. The arrival of the other members of the top 10 trainees similarly drew hushed chatter, though much more reserved than for Linges. "Look... The "Princess of the Sands" they say..." "How I''d like to f*** her..." "Haha! They say if you can do it with a Princess, you''ll become a wizard!" "A wizard...? What''s that? Why?" "Because they''ll cut off your rod and you can use it as a wizard''s staff!" "Hahaha!!" "Good one!" Raucous and uncouth words were heard, slightly less hushed and more than whispers. Perhaps the gossiping ones wished for Moira to know their lewd thoughts about her. The same could not be said for Seline, however. When she arrived, the response *did* have words of admiration. But none dared to make any bawdy jokes about her, lest Rosa and the posse visit them in the night and leave them bloody and bruised... "Shh... She''s here..." "Man I wish I could..." "No! Don''t say it! If you do, that bit--" "Shh!!! *You* watch your words! Or you''ll be killed by that whor--" Countless veiled insults flew out - but each from a speaker who their identity would not be sussed out. Similarly, waves of muted noise arose each time members of the top 10 entered. "There''s Speed Demon Kaido... I heard he lost to Moira in a spar recently and has been training like mad in isolation since..." "Ice Claw Saul - he gives me the chills... I''d rather face Linges than that pervert! Brrr!" "That''s nothing! The one I detest the most is Harem King Matsuo... Even without doing XXX, he still does all sorts of obscene stuff with his all-female entourage! I-it''s not fair... I wonder what it is about him that makes those girls go crazy..." But the greatest clamour arose when Lars entered. Though, at first it started by abject silence. Countless stares fell on him. Some admiring. Some in awe. Some derisive. Some pitiful. But all dumbstruck that he was still alive. "The Lunatic..." "Lunatic..." "Deathwish..." "The madman who wished to die... But could not..." "I heard even the reaper refused him..." "I heard he descended to the 18th Underworld, the worst place for the worst monsters... But Death was afraid of him and sent him back..." "Oh my gosh... What a terrifying person..." "Yeah... And he ate the dead bodies of all the fallen trainees in the morgue and infirmary to recover from his wounds..." "What are you talking about...? I thought he beat Linges with his undying body...?" "No, I heard he transformed into a demon at the last second and killed everyone..." "Idiot! Then why would he spare Linges!" "You are the idiot! Of course as a good rival for the future!" "..." Lars did not know whether to laugh or to cry as he heard the rumours about him growing more preposterous with every telling. Soon they would say he was a God fallen as a Demon who wielded the powers of life and death! He decided to play it cool and just tossed back his hair with his hand and casually walked over to his place near the front - just 3 places behind Linges. They were ordered according to rank. Which drew astonished gasps from the crowd. "Lunatic Deathwish... He still dares to go up to stand near Linges???" "A madman, I tell you! A bonafide madman!!!" The rumble of low murmurs increased slowly in amplitude, but the legendary mage ignored these words and looks. His eyes were on Moira, two places in front of him. The number 3 placed Kaido wisely edged away and did not hinder the thin but dangerous-looking Lars from his view of the pure beauty in the 2nd position. He was not willing to stand between the pair who were known to be lovers - as he feared whatever secret or trump card the golden-haired boy had used to face the king of trainees and come out in one piece. Lars nodded in appreciation to Kaido, who looked away with a soft "Hmmph" sound, then daringly reached out to touch Moira. It was impossible that she didn''t know he was here, right...? Why... Why was she ignoring him...? His hand landed on her shoulder, and she jumped, startled. No one had ever dared to touch other trainees or even so much as move a hair''s breadth during assembly before! "L-Lars...? Lars! It, it''s you..." Her voice trailed off, making Lars wonder whether it was due to conflicted emotions or what his troubled mind told him - disappointment at seeing him again? He really was a worrywart... Casting aside his anxious thoughts, he braced himself and spoke the words he had not said to her earlier. "Moira. Moira Fenelle, or Moira Fenelle Vishnu or... Whatever you are called!" The Princess was stunned. Who was this person speaking to her...? Lars was always hesitant, weak-willed and very very gentle! What had come over him...? She smiled as she lowered her eyes and blushed. But she liked him better this way... "I... Don''t have something so precious as that which you gave me. But, I want you to know." He raised his voice which made him sound deafening in the quiet, echoing hall. "Even if the clouds and moon were to vanish like the mist. Even if the sun were to no longer rise in the east... Even if the world were to shatter and split apart!" He grasped her hand and placed it against his chest, then kneeled. The height difference meant that his chest was still high enough that she could continue standing straight and still reach him. "I, Miller Knight Larsson, shall never forget, never give up, and shall always belong to you as your knight, your servant... Whatever you wish me to become." He lowered his head and kissed her hand. Moira''s heart pumped furiously. Her face was beet-red from embarrassment - but also from happiness. Touched, her eyes began to grow wet, though she fought against the tears. She did not wish to cry in public, that would be *too* embarrassing! The suave and formerly shy but now forthright boy stood up and placed his personal daggers in her hands, still in their sheaths. This grew astounded gasps from the trainees, a raised eyebrow from Linges, a venomous frown from Seline and various other expressions of amazement from the others. To give away one''s chosen weapons was tantamount to surrendering your life wholly and fully to the other - a gift and promise that said "My life is yours, and yours only. I forfeit it entirely - I am yours!" Shocked and moved beyond her tolerance, the tears rolled out of her eyes and down her cheeks, the fat beads fell to the ground with a distinct *plop!* sound. She felt... Joyous. Empowered. Loved. Liberated from her worries, fears and guilt and shame! And most of all, she felt relieved of the burden of wondering whether how the boy would react, and how he would feel... And whether he would forgive her, and wait for her too... The answer...? Yes. Yes! YES! He would! She smiled as she nodded and accepted the light daggers. But in her hands, she felt like she was carrying the weight of the entire world. The weight of her hopes and dreams. "I... Give you my life. I swear. Remember me by these cheap--" He smiled in self-deprecation at these words. "--Brittle daggers, though they are surely not fit for a Princess and Priestess as you..." "But I hope you''ll keep them as a memory of me..." "And our promise." She smiled up at him shyly and nodded, then jumped into his chest to hug him and be hugged by him tightly. "Yes..." The picture of the meek and submissive girl was completely contradictory to her normal domineering and powerful behaviour! If this were a scene happening in a town square, a park or beside a fountain, there would surely be thunderous applause and jubilant cheers from the onlookers who shared in their joy. But here, there was only silence and more murmurs. "Who does he think he is..." "Even he will just die to Linges soon..." "No, wait... He''s the death god right...? He''ll defeat Linges and live...!" "But then how can a Princess be together with him...? Whether he is a beggar or a demon...?" Nevertheless, to the couple, whatever was being said or thought around them at that moment no longer mattered. The two held each other for this moment in time where the only thing that mattered was one another, treasuring and enshrining this moment in time forever. They hoped that their dreams would really come true... And last for all time. 29 Parting Ways Reluctant though they were, he and Moira let go of one another and returned to their positions in line. Perhaps the girl who had newly become a Princess might be immune to any punishments in her last morning assembly here, but the thin boy was not. She did hope that he would fill out a little more as he grew up though, like Duke Silvan and his muscular frame... Mmm... Startled that her thoughts and heart would drift so easily, she chided herself and looked straight ahead. It looked like the morning assembly was beginning. There were no seats in the large hall, but there was a wide rectangular stage where the members of the management would stand to address the students. All voices ceased and every trainee made sure to stay stock still and keep a low profile as the large double doors at the east end of the hall that led to the management offices swung open. Vizier Murad stepped through, alone. This drew curious looks from the trainees. Usually, it was one of the invigilators who would conduct the briefing - unless there was something of such great importance that even the heads of the Arena could not make the announcement...? The reserved and scholarly walked to the centre of the stage. He walked with a straight posture and a strong bearing despite his advanced age. When he reached the middle, he stopped and raised his gaze, sweeping his eyes across all those gathered in the hall - before stopping on the members of the top 10. "First." A sense of anticipation was palpable in the air, some trainees began to fidget despite themselves. Was this going to be big news...? "The following trainees, please step out of the ranking order where you are positioned now and form a line in front of the stage. Linges. Moira. Seline. Rosa." "What...?" "What''s happening...?" "Are they going to be punished...?" Some eager trainees'' eyes lit up, rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of being rid of the top and most dangerous duo of Linges and Moira. "Why these four...?" "Linges and Moira are the best two, but there''s a real gap between them and Seline..." "What about Rosa...? What is she even doing with those top rankers...?" Despite the clamour, the noise levels were not high. No one dared to incur the wrath of any member of the management - they were many, many levels above any trainee including even the top-ranked monster. In front of the seniors of the Arena, even their "monster" was just a little puppy... The four named trainees filed out of the body of people and formed a line in front of the stage, facing front. Then the Vizier continued. "These four have been directly recruited by one of the true powerhouses of our Kingdom of the Sands, Duke Silvan himself!" No theatrics were added, no exclamations, no great passages spoken to honour or embellish them. Yet the uproar from these words was stupendous. No trainee could believe their ears! "What in the world!!?" "How could that be possible???" "T-That''s, that''s unfair! How come they..." "Why... Why not me!??" "This is unfair! I demand a--" The last speaker stopped halfway, for his head was separated from his body with but a sharp glance of the Vizier''s eyes. The brazen trainee slumped over, decapitated and deceased. Without a word, the stewards walked over to dispose of the body while the teenagers around the short and stout dead boy made a large berth for them. As if nothing had happened, Murad resumed his announcements. "Do you utmost, perform to your best and perhaps you too might be selected, just like them. However..." He continued on before any further havoc could break out at the prospect of being chosen as well. "However, there is also a great opportunity for all of you gathered here today." He cleared his throat and folded his fingers together, joining his hands in front of his waist as he delivered an even more world-shocking announcement. "Due to the threats of war at the northern borders and east coast with the beastmen tribes and Maritime Empire respectively, the King has announced..." He raised his head to look the trainees in the eyes, one by one. His eyes passed over the company of young men and women before him, holding their gaze for half a second before moving on. Then he finished his sentence. "...That the deathmatches are over. You shall all be recruited into his newly formed Shadow Hawks regiment - and are absolutely barred from harming or killing one another in any way whatsoever!" Silence. Stunned silence. Ludicrous. Incredulous. Preposterous. Shock-inducing. Silence. Then a burst of noise so great that it was as if the children had all lost their minds. Cheers. Jubilant, wild, rambunctious cheers. They went crazy with delight, and this time, Vizier Murad allowed it, smiling beatifically and serenely, as if he were a sitting Buddha blessing the clamouring masses with his words of philosophy and teachings of life. And in the midst of the din, one thin blonde-haired boy''s mind was blown, along with his careful plans to overthrow the Arena management, exact revenge for Gardner''s death and free the trainees. If they were released and employed, and all of them free, then who should be take vengeance on...? Who should he free? What was there to overthrow...? Jarred by the unexpected twist in his journey, the boy became listless and antsy. At this rate, if he were to strike down any of the management or invigilators... Or Vizier Murad himself... Wouldn''t that derail his fellow detainees'' hopes of gainful employment under the Kingdom...? Wouldn''t that be him stealing their futures for the sake of his personal satisfaction for vengeance...? He felt lost and disrupted. Who, w-what should he do now about his unsated fires of revenge for his best friend? If not for the Arenas and the despicable deathmatches, wouldn''t he still be here, alive and well, joking with him and sharing paths with him...? ...And accompanying Lars so he wouldn''t feel so alone...? ...Was his only target of revenge now the backer behind the Arena itself...? King Vishnu...? He sighed, despondent. Useless. Completely useless. He was useless. It was better to give up on his personal vendetta... The brouhaha slowly began to calm down, hastened when the Vizier raised his arms in a request for silence as he continued. "Third. And after this, you may all be dismissed. Trainee Miller." Perking up and surprised to hear his name called, Lars looked up and gave his full attention to the wizened old man. "As for you..." He tapped his chin, contemplating what to say, then nodded slightly as if he made up his mind about something. "Follow me to the management area. Don''t worry - it''s good news for you." Setting aside the surprised young man for the moment, he looked down at the 4 special trainees before him and added, "As for you four, you''ll need to head off now. I''ve just received news from the Duke, there''s no time for any further packing or anything. All your things are with invigilator Sar-- I mean, maid Sharon. Now go." He nodded at Lars before turning to walk off the stage and headed towards the double doors again. The slim teenager followed after him, confused but unafraid, confident in his powers regardless of whatever might occur. But not before meeting her gaze, one last time. Probably the last time they would see one another for many years to come. He nodded. She smiled. He looked sad, but returned the smile. She winked at him. And he smiled. She was too cute. He left to follow Vizier Murad. * * * * * As he followed in the vizier''s strong but slow and deliberate footsteps, he heard the murmuring undertones of dozens of whispered voices again, this time saying ''Kill him... I want him... Eat him... Murder him... Blood... Flesh... Power...'' Shivering at the illusory sounds pervading his senses, the mage boy shook his head a few times to get it out of his head. Now was definitely not a good time to perform a demon summoning ritual! He needed to find someplace secluded, perhaps once he escaped the Arena. Then at that time, he would get in contact with Razku''rak Kizorik and plan the next moves. The vizier brought Lars out of the stony compound of the Arena and its underground network of tunnels. He took the boy through a short passageway with a few turns and quickly arrived at the management offices of the Arena and Colosseum. through the busy and crowded administrative area, where there were a number of clerks and accountants seated. They pored over countless many sheets of parchment and paper, reading this one, writing on that document, now tabulating, now striking off a line or two. It was only a little past 7:00 AM and they were already so hard at work...? From the looks of their tired eyes and deep, dark panda eyes, it even looked like they had been up for not a short while - or even pulled an all-nighter! Lars shivered. He definitely did not want to work a desk job like that, ever! Finally, the vizier stopped. They had reached a simple room separated from the clerks working area by a see-through glass "window" of sorts. Though, there was also a window looking out of the building to the not-so-arid not-so-sandy Kingdom of the Sands. The floor was slightly higher, perhaps due to flooring installed to so that it wouldn''t just be cold stone ground underneath one''s feet...? In truth, the area that the Arena was built in was lush and verdant, green and cool. The Kingdom had long since implemented highly effective mechanisms, spells and other methods for irrigation and aeration of the land, reducing the area of arid lands greatly. In just one glance, the room they were stopped in front of looked like the room of someone who loved books. Or at least, loved reading, for countless tomes were haphazardly piled in a corner, some opened while others were balanced precariously on each other. "Please, don''t mind my mess. I love books and reading!" The vizier showed a gentle and amicable side to him, smiling as he gazed upon his books with fondness. The boy was conflicted. On one hand, the sight of so many books sparked his bibliophilia! On the other... This place was a horrifying mess! How could someone claim to love reading or books and... Mistreat their faithful companions so terribly so?!? He could not understand! And the vizier walked straight in, stepping carefully and nimbly over the books scattered over the floor - as if though it were a completely natural and normal state of affairs for him! He was light on his feet, making sure not to step on any books, landing only in the gaps of the floor between the piled up, messed up tomes. Speechless, the book-loving boy could not bear to perform the same acrobatic feat. Because he realised that those were no "gaps of the floor between the piled up tomes." There was literally a "flooring" made up of a whole layer of books already covering every single inch of the floor!!! He nearly fainted, and only managed to hold on out of the need to find out what he and the vizier were here for. Raising his eyebrows at the boy, at first frowning then smiling, the balding old man who still had some wisps of white hair spoke. "Ahhh I see! You must like books too! But yes, I understand the space here is a little cramped, so you don''t want to come in right? No matter, no matter!" It seemed that when it came to books, he turned into a completely different person. The Arena support staff outside markedly refused to even look in the direction of the room. Looked like they had already decided to just pretend the flooring made out of books, books and more books should be treated as if it did not exist... About to swoon, Lars held on tightly to the wooden doorframe nearby to balance himself and hear what the insane old man had to say. "Miller, my boy, you are a very lucky man." The vizier rummaged around on his desk and picked up a scrap of paper, apparently his notes. "Alright, the reason you are here is because..." 30 Parting Ways 2 "Alright, the reason you are here is because your pretty little ex-girlfriend requested for you to be released from serving the Kingdom and treated well with everything you need to start a new life of peace!" He sighed in appreciation. "And because of that, she used her once per lifetime right as a Kingdom Royal to bequeath unto you an item of the Artefact grade... To which the Duke agreed and instructed what he wants you to have..." A wistful smile crossed his face for but a moment as he whispered the next few words nearly inaudibly. "What a good girl she is..." Not pausing to let his words sink into Lars'' doubly shocked brain, the old man with still sharp and lively eyes continued on. "Let''s see... Here''s what I need to give you. Most of it was prepared by Sari--Sharon based on Duke Silvan''s instructions... Let''s see, let''s see" The noble spoke with a completely straight face, not mocking or making fun of the previously male ex-invigilator at all. According to those in the know, apparently an operation was done to "facilitate" things - a 10-minute chopping board surgery performed without anaesthesia... The blood-curdling screams had started out hoarse and then turned... Different. Appalling and disturbing. He held up the crumpled piece of paper before his eyes, squinting as he did not have his reading monocle with him, left in the room which he dared not go near until the Duke departed. Which would happen in roughly 10 minutes if his calculations were correct. He waved to the youth to follow after him, not giving him room to digest the frequent changes in pace or situation. And as he stepped out of the room, his aura returned once more to that of an unyielding taskmaster, though one far more gentle than the other members of the management. They weaved past piles of documents, ledgers, journals, files and folders with frantic staff hard at work to clear the "IN" tray and move them to the "OUT" tray. Lars shivered once more - he was glad that he was not one of them. Despite his love for reading and books, at the thought of having to write thousands of words daily, every day, for months on end or even years... He felt amazed at these people''s dedication to their jobs! But he didn''t envy them. They left the workspace and administrative area and went out to a long and musty corridor, then down a staircase into a damp cellar. Despite the humid air, it was well lit and very, very clean. Perhaps cleaned just before the Duke''s visit...? Lars then yawned involuntarily as he followed his guide through a guarded door, tired from his overactive mind and lack of sleep the night prior. Behind the door was another well-lit and neat office. There was a long and sturdy wooden counter partitioning the centre of the room. It smelled peculiar, like a mix of paper, dust and oil. The room was dry and not humid at all, which was strange - the hallway just outside made one sticky and sweaty just from a brisk walk through it! Behind the counter sat another old man with medium length white hair doing some calculations on an abacus, causing constant and slightly annoying clicking and clacking sound. He didn''t even look up when they entered, so engrossed was he in his counting. All the way until Murad and the boy were standing right in front of the counter, nearly under his nose with their bodies casting flickering shadows across his device. And yet he still didn''t notice them! "Noone." Murad called out sharply, trying to draw his attention. ''Noon...? It''s still morning...? Is that a code?'' Lars thought, brows raised as he stood at attention behind the older man. "Yes, Murad. I noticed you enter with that--" His drooping eyelids flickered wider to take a gander at the assassin boy, "--kid." His dextrous fingers did not stop moving as he continued with his calculations. "What..." He murmured to himself and his hands paused, hesitating as if pondering some tough problem. "Aha!" His face was filled with glee and his fingers returned to manipulating the abacus, the clicking and clacking sound redoubled in their volume and frequency. He had clearly solved some difficult computation and was obviously pleased with himself! The balding Murad waited for a while, expecting the resident treasurer and head book-keeper to resume his question where he left off. They ended up waiting for a full minute and a half with no signs of the calculations stopping. "Ahem! Noone! The Duke has instructions, we need the items on this list urgently!" Hearing the balding man speak sharply and with irritation, Lars was surprised on three counts! Firstly, there had never been a single case ever before, not even once in the known history of the Arena where the Vizier had raised his voice! Not a single time! Didn''t that mean that the man in front of him was someone who he had a long history of irritation or bad-blood with...? Secondly, the Vizier, as a powerful man who stood nearly at the pinnacle of the authority of the nation, had not taken any action whatsoever or any threatening moves despite being abjectly ignored by the gnomish accountant. That was shocking, especially when compared to the earlier scene at the assembly where a head went flying just for a word out of place! Didn''t that mean that the man in front of him was nearly as powerful, if not the equal of, the Vizier...? Here in a musty store room managing the inventory and accounts of the Arena...? Thirdly, it seemed the squinting white-haired man''s name really was Noon... Or Noone... The said man looked up, hands still moving fast and furious on the abacus. Then with one final emphatic flick of his hand, he moved the beads heavily with a resounding *CLACK!* and stopped. "I--" he grabbed the paper rudely, took a glance that was too quick to have seen anything then crumped the paper up and threw it away dismissively. He then marched speedily towards the room behind him while speaking in an out-of-breath voice. "I was calculating just how we will tide it through the coming month''s with all the damages, repairs, food, water, supplies, equipment..." He began to list out a long catalogue of items as he rummaged through drawers, lockers, safes and cabinets and picked out items seemingly at random. But from the look on Murad''s face, this was normal. Also, from his approving nod, those were the same items on the list. How had he read and memorised it so fast...? The man neared the end of his irritated tirade, "...extra guards, extra food for the extra guards. AND paying for Sarin''s salary WHILE we still need to hire another in his place!" He slammed a heavy bag of jingling coins onto the counter in front of the duo, which startled Lars but did not perturb Murad in the least. Looked like he was already used to these kinds of exchanges. The treasurer had already laid out the various items on the list. For food and various other supplies, he had written a delivery order on a sheet of yellow paper for him to collect the items at the warehouse area himself. Apart from that, there were 4 items, 1 fewer than what was written on the list. At that time, Noone sighed, then snapped his fingers, causing one of the stone walls to rumble as it magically changed into a gigantic vault door. The man then hurried over to the vault door and tapped on it, at which point the door swung open. He walked in and out of sight in front of the waiting eyes of the duo. When he emerged, he had with him a dusty and rusted sword. He held it carefully, as if he were afraid it would break. The sword was slightly longer than a standard longsword and had a hilt longer than that of a bastard sword. When observed closely, the sheathed blade looked like it had the slightest bit of curvature to it, mostly towards the tip. The most distinct features were the round guard that looked ornate despite its age, and the scabbard that was a mouldy looking blackish green-brown. It looked... Cheap. But it couldn''t be a normal item - it was stored in likely the safest place in the entire Arena, by a hidden no-name whose power and status was probably in the top 10 or 20 of the entire nation! As Lars looked on in fascination and the vizier tapped his foot impatiently, Noone listed out the items set out one by one. "Border pass for the Kingdom of the Sands and allied nations." A red rectangular booklet. "20 platinum and 100 gold coins, enough to provide for a family of three for 20 years." The jingling bag. "A requisition order for food and a letter of instruction to join the supply wagons that are leaving to the nearest town in... 2 hours time." Two sheets of yellowed paper. "And... On the personal instruction of the Duke..." He slowly and reverentially picked up the blade, then breathed in deep, before holding the air in his lungs and surrounding himself with thick and strong battle aura, as if bracing himself for a monumental action. He unsheathed the katana. When the first inch of metal was unveiled, it gave off a blinding explosion of radiance, forcing Lars to squint and cover his eyes. Still, he strained to see the unsheathing of the resplendent blade, forcing his eyes open and supplementing his eyesight with mana. As more and more of the sword was revealed, the intensity of the light lessened and faded to a tolerable level - the brilliance was now like a smouldering flame surrounding the blade. Having confirmed that this was the real deal he had retrieved from the Arena vault, the World-Class level monk returned it to its scabbard, ending the spectacular display of might and power. Once the blade was sheathed, the three stood for a moment, silent, basking in what they had just witnessed. For Lars, and even based on Mikael''s memories, this was the first time seeing anything like this. Earth had many myths about such artefacts and treasures, but none of them had been found. Not Excalibur, not Masume, not Gungnir - not any of them had appeared ever in modern history. It was unsure if any of these were ever really truly existent on Earth or were just like their names - mere myths! Whereas for Noone and the Vizier, they had a different thought to ponder: Why would the Duke specifically instruct them to hand over a National-level treasure to a wet-nosed boy...? Instead of just a normal Artefact grade treasure? Reluctantly, the keeper of the vault of treasures handed the sword over to the as yet unworthy boy - at least, unfit and undeserving in the World-Class combatant''s eyes. Nary did he realise that the "boy" in front of him had already far exceeded him by a whole realm, and was well on the way to the next tier entirely! But regardless of their disdain and envy towards the youth, the next moment would be a scene engraved in their memories forever, going down in their family''s and to the third and fourth generation of their descendants as the beginning of a Legend Reborn. The moment the sword was placed in Lars hand and he gripped it... 31 Memory of the Universe The moment the sword was placed in Lars'' hand and he gripped it, a great and other-worldly phenomenon occurred, suffusing and nearly wiping away the consciousness of the three men in the room. At first, it began with an orange, amber light - but it differed from the earlier light in that this one shone *through* the scabbard. The light gave off a warmth like one was enveloped in the flames of the sun, yet felt no pain nor discomfort and without the smell of the burning gases melded together in the supernova of burning hell. Accompanying the heat and warmth was a sense of being surrounded, submerged in comfort, as if one were floating without any effort down a gentle stream, buoyed by the displaced water mass alone. However, despite such an awe-inspiring scene unfolding before them, there was but silence. If it were any other explosion, there would be booms and crashes as if thunder had struck beside one''s ear. Then followed by the whooshing of wind as the explosion left a vacuum void of any air, and finally by crumbling sounds, whether of the walls and buildings all around the observer - or of their bodies that could not bear the force and fallout of the blast. If it were the blazing rays of the incandescent orb dominating the heavens with its light and glory, even then it would not be such a deafening silence. It was merely that the of there being no air to carry the ignition of hydrogen and helium crashing together and fusing to catalyse the great celestial body''s all-consuming flames. As it stood, there was silence. The kind of silence that caused a ringing of the ears - tinnitus to block out every other sound including one''s own thoughts. It was that kind of scene that defied one''s imagination and concepts of what is real, or what is not real. Though the trio were several dozen metres under the surface of the planet Eunos, an astral vision filled their senses of sight, touch and hearing. It was if though they were soaring through the unknown depths of the ether, between the great distances separating the myriad planets and stars! And with this star-gazing scene as the backdrop to the ever-expanding, ever-intensifying light, the aforementioned brilliance morphing and transforming through ever-multiplying changes. Though, the vision surprised them as it kept their consciousness captive and began from a shocking scene. It began with darkness, formlessness, the core and very nature of the void. There was nothing. It was indescribable, for who has ever seen "nothing" before? Whether it is "nothing" in a box - but what we see are the walls, base and body of the box with "nothing" inside it, yet there is something to be seen in that "nothing". Or whether when gazing up into the night sky, even suspended in space from an interplanetary spacecraft. When we look out into the darkness - there are still stars, there are still motes of light and the ever revolving, ever shining signs of existence. There is still something to be seen in that "nothing". Regardless, they saw... Nothingness. Oblivion, whether above or below or to the sides or without. Nothing. Then in the midst of the nothingness, there was a voice, and then light. Whether the light began shining from some source, or if it began to materialise out of the nothingness, the watchers knew not. What they knew was that this great and majestic scene made one doubt the validity of one''s own existence! The light grew in intensity, spreading out from every direction and to every direction within the twinkling of the eye, before beginning to subside and stabilise as countless fiery cores scattered across the cosmos. And yet the light still pervaded, formless yet of myriad forms; shapeless yet taking many shapes. The light began as the most basic thing: Water. A calm stretching out, a vision warping before their eyes of a great expanse of water submerging all creation and everything in it that was yet to be created. Then a voice spoke once more from all around them - from within them, shaking their concept of the vision and projection. The light formed all sorts of life: plants, then fishes, then birds and insects and every creeping creature of the ground.Then it went on the various mammals of every make and kind, spreading across the vast array of the known and unknown animal kingdoms of Earth, Eunos and endless other worlds. Crowning the organisms that emerged were the many recognised auspicious signs - Phoenixes, True Flood Dragons, Unicorns, Ancient Shamblers and Prismatic Wyrms. The lights transmuted once more, before settling into another set of glorious manifestations that rose from the darkness and thin air - Asura Dragons, Twin-headed Solar Phoenixes, a pantheon of Astral Beasts. They felt their emotions surging with awe, tears streaming down their cheeks at the sovereignty of the power and voice behind all these. Then they felt the flowing of time, passing rapidly, flying by. The scene changed to that of the starry sky, seen from the depths of the void and space. Though there were innumerable stars twinkling in the distance all around and burning suns nearer, there were flickering and flitting specks of light at the centre of the scene, looking just like how a star would when spied at from a distance. And at the centre of the "stars" shooting about, a dark silhouette could barely be made out. Plump, short and oval-shaped, a black-and-white figure resembling a bird with wings at its side point downwards. One exuding an all-conquering might. Yet despite the enchanting nature, there was a sense of malevolence in this scene, a feeling that all was not it appeared to be. A dire sensation that caused one''s heart to tighten and to feel an instinctive fear of a great predator before them, with its mouth open to devour them in one fell swoop. A split second later, those same countless stars streaked across the heavens, before returning to soar into the larger shadowy silhouette at the centre, enveloping and slamming against it again and again. Despite its greater size, the silhouette was dwarfed by the many stars, waving its wings to deter its attackers - but to no avail. Slowly, the silhouette reduced in size as it was assaulted. Then, in a turning point of the clash of heavenly bodies, it cried out in desperation. The dark silhouette began to spiral, whirling around like a mass of wind and darkness. Then it turned into an explosion of inkiness, causing the lights around it to scatter to the seven winds. Then the dark whirlwind itself converged into a small core - before exploding into countless fragments outwards, each a tiny black-and-white bird. The vision ended there. They were still in the room just below the ground. The book-keeper was still standing behind the counter, in the pose of handing over the sword to Lars. Lars still held the sheathed blade in his two hands, unmoving from the scene, as if though not a minute had passed while they were absorbed in the vision. And the bald vizier was still there, arms crossed in impatience. And they continued to stay like that for a minute, two minutes; three minutes. Each of them was sure, certain and clear - what they had experienced would change their lives and view of the world forever... If only they could understand what it was that they had just seen. What they knew was that the sight they were beholding transcended their mortal lives, transcended even the history of their nation, of their world. This was the memory of the universe. 32 Separate Ways The three tried to overcome the shock and trepidation from the scene just displayed before their eyes. And for the two older men, they had to overcome their uneasiness, doubts and fear towards the enigmatic commoner boy to whom the sword had chosen to reveal such a cryptic mystery of the universe. Who was this unassuming, unimpressive, NORMAL boy...? When asked that question, the golden-haired, clear-eyed youth just replied: "I don''t know." And neither of the two old hands of politics, lying, scheming and sussing out plots felt that he was lying. He truly did not know. And Lars himself realised that he did not know. Whether his past life or his current life... Who was he? Was there something different about him, that the sword would react to him like this...? Was there something special about him, like how big sis Jessica[1] used to say...? ''A genius beyond geniuses who must be born from geniuses... But with rotten luck''...? And then Adrian would comfort him and pat him on the back, saying, "Yeah kid, you''re pretty good! It''s like seeing a young version of myself, work hard and maybe you''ll be as good as me someday!" Then he''d get stuff thrown at him for his overweening bragging, as always. Lars chuckled, breaking the silence of his lonely footsteps, as he had left the two older men to muse and ruminate in the underground vault. He himself was headed to the departure point for the supply wagons to report in early so that they could make arrangements for him to tag along. A clearly shaken Vault-keeper Noone had given him a cursory explanation of the sword: a katana, unknown origins, handed down in the Kingdom of the Sands but left here because no one could use it, as when wielded, it was unbreakable but had no other special powers except the bright light. It was called Brightstar because of the light released when it was unsheathed by the original scabbard. Then the two older men, looking even more aged after the spectacle they had observed, shooed him off, ignoring the fact that he was just a trainee and not allowed to wander the hallways alone. ''Jessica, Adrian. And Jayshree, Mia, Samuel, Hajiro...'' He missed them, missed his brothers and sisters. What would they say if they saw him today...? Would things still be the same...? Would Samuel tell another of his bad jokes...? About how the sea is blue because the fish go, "Bloo Bloo Bloo"...? Would Kizuma, or Hajiro - whichever his name was - go on and on about his favourite guns and weapons, actually really talkative once they got through his layers of shyness...? Maybe Jayshree would still be the same. Just sitting in a corner, tinkering with their equipment, but always with a perfect eye for the details, knowing exactly what they preferred just from observing her teammates. Little firey Mia... She liked to think of herself and talk as if she were the most mature and grown up, to the point she''d ruffle Mikael''s[2] hair and treat him like a kid, tut-ing at him like an old woman! It didn''t help that she was so short she had to stand on the bed to reach his head... She was too cute. And Robin... Robin... His heart clenched tight for a moment, then he released a long sigh, footsteps slowing as he neared the end of the dimly-lit hallways and reached the stables and wagons area. And even as he reached the proverbial light at the end of the analogical tunnel, he felt a catharsis in his heart. ''Robin... I''ll find out why. Maybe... You had your reasons too...'' But his eyes hardened, sharpening. ''...But I''m still a man of Earth. I will defend my homeland! And I won''t forgive your actions!...'' He stepped out into the light, feeling a hot wind on his face, filled with the dust of the sandy ground kicked up by trotting horses, wagon wheels and dozens of men at work loading and unloading things. He smiled. ''...But I forgive *you*, dai lou Robin.'' He wondered if they''d have liked Moira if he had the chance to introduce her to them. Yeah. Yeah, they would''ve like her. But now they''ve gone their separate ways, perhaps, never to meet again? Perhaps they would - if there were another life after this for him, maybe... For them...? Shrugging wistfully, the gloomy boy shook his head to shake off the glum emotions and put a smile on his face. He then walked over to a man who looked to be in charge, holding a clipboard on which several sheets of paper were affixed, calling out to him and showing the letter given to him by the Vault-keeper. "Excuse me, sir! Excuse me! Here, I have this letter from Sir Noone? I''m supposed to join your supply wagons to Mashedahk town..." * * * * * Duke Silvan paused as he instilled mana into the teleportation portal. Without this device, teleportation more than 5km in distance was risky and consumed too much mana - not to mention the complex calculations involved in a line-of-sight jump - or the even greater risk of a blind jump! He had easily acquiesced to the girl''s request for a treasure to be given to the boy. And so he had instructed the vizier to take care of it by specifically giving him one of the available top-tier treasures stored in the Arena Vault - Brightstar. He had three reasons for this. First, it was her right after all. And he, as a man of honour, ensured to keep his word to let the boy leave the Arena and equip him with a true treasure. Second, despite the sword being graded as a National-level treasure, despite its abstruse nature and the exceedingly great level of mana contained, it was only useful as a torch in the dark, an unbreakable hammer or to alert everyone of your location. It was nearly useless. Third. If the weak little kitten walked around with such a treasure, wouldn''t that make him a prime target for robbery and murder...? Which, of course, he himself would not need to have any part in - he just needed to hand over the bait to the child and wait. He gloated inwardly. Then he could just buy back the treasure - or wipe out the bandits and claim the merit for recovering it. As the portal began to stablise, Duke Silvan asked a polite question to the girl. "Are you ready, my dear?" But clearly, it was more of a directive than a question. Moira paused for a split second, then nodded. They were standing at a good distance of perhaps 1.3 kilometres from the Colosseum compound at the teleportation site. The five of them - the Duke, the Princess, Seline, Linges and last but not least, Sharon - stood within an arcane and abstruse formation inscribed on the yellow-stone floor of the teleportation portal. The circular formation spanned roughly 10m in radius while the teleportation portal itself stood about 8 metres high and 6 metres wide, enough to allow even a large load of goods or visitors through at the same time. She looked back at the sprawling complex of buildings and the towering Arena behind her, then smiled and pursed her lips in determination. "I''m ready." "Good." He took her hand in his left, then waved the teleportation key that he held in his right hand - a short, dull-black wand that would go unnoticed normally. As she stepped forward to follow the middle-aged man through the glowing blue portal, Moira felt waves of emotions crash over her soul. It was real... Not a dream... Her a Princess... He, far away, liberated and free to live a common man''s unfettered life. Her, blessed with great privilege, yet bound to the duties that came with such. He, who she hoped would not be too sad without her, away from her... Remembering their memories together and holding fast their promise. He was always such a weak-willed and passive boy despite his talent and killer instincts in the ring... She hoped he wouldn''t cry, wouldn''t be sad. She knew she was already sad. They were going their separate ways, mayhaps to cross paths sooner than 20 years...? Hopefully, to meet again sooner rather than later. She held back the sudden urge to cry, the sorrowful sobs that came unbidden, and maintained an impassive, straight face as best as she could. "Let us depart to the capitol of the Sands, Danedaar, Princess Moira." The refined man stepped through with the melancholic blonde-haired beauty in tow, and they were followed by the hulking giant of a boy, an indifferent red-haired vixen and a stern tomboyish brunette. * * * [1] Jessica Magallanes, mentioned in chapter 1. [2] Here it is Mikael, because it occurred in his past life as Mikael ^_^ 33 Demons Summoning ''Why... Why is this happening...'' Lars lay in a pool of his own blood, unable to take in air anymore due to the gaping hole where his throat used to be. His oxygen-starved brain struggled to function, his vision beginning to blur as he made a last-ditch attempt to thwart the destruction of the Earth at the hands of the 3rd Prince of All-Heaven Divine Empire. "It is futile, puny Earthling. Submit now and... Oh, sorry. I forgot. You''ll die soon anyway! Hah hah hah hah!" A cruel grin was on the imperial scion''s face as he mocked the dying Lars who lay beside countless of his fallen comrades including Kizorik, Linges, Moira, Duke Silvan and General Lighthouse, highest commander of the PCPE[1]. ''Must... Live... Survive... Protect... Revenge...'' But it was useless. The mana heeded not his call, nor did his hands and legs follow any of his instructions. He was impotent, powerless and defeated. He could only watch as Prince Luo Bin triggered the Deathstar formation erected on the Moon to fire a 100km wide beam that would detonate the entire Earth. As his consciousness faded away, all he saw was a Divine ray of light rupturing the entire the world, then a great explosion of magma. Then nothing. It was over. * * * * * "NO!!!" Lars woke up with a start, panting and covered in cold sweat. "Haahh... Haahh... Haahh..." He gripped his throat and chest frantically, breathing heavily and savouring the sweet freshness of oxygen once more. A dream. A lousy, horrid dream. Robin was dead anyway! "Are you alright, honey...?" He looked up and realised he was seated at the cafeteria of the Arena. Across from him were Moira and the overly-handsome Duke that made Lars'' heart itch in an uncomfortable way. He was sitting too close to her... Then his eyes bulged. He wasn''t just sitting too close to her - he had his hand round her waist! But before he could stand up and fight to the death with the older man, his ears pricked up at the sound of some unbelievable words, forcing him to blink in confusion and ask, "Sorry...? What, what did you just say...?" Moira sighed crossly, obviously irritated at his distractedness. First he fell asleep while she was talking, and then he drifted off when she tried to repeat herself? How many times did this kiddo want her to go over this? "Look, I said, it''s been a good few years together, but it''s time to move on. I''m a Princess now, and we''re breaking up! I can''t be with a street rat!" She paused then her eyelids drooped. "...And I''m in love with Seline..." To prove her point, she shared a hot, passionate kiss with the curvaceous red-head beside her. ''Seline??? Wasn''t it the Duke beside -- Since when was she--'' His train of thought was cut off again, this time by a humongous hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked up to see a blushing, embarrassed Sarin dressed in his racy maid uniform. Gaping in horror, he forgot to move. The brawny scar-faced "maid" leaned over to smack Lars on the lips. He froze, his mind and world shattering like shards of glass, never to be repaired ever again. While he was in a stunned state, he felt another hand caress his hair from behind. With a sense of dread, he turned around, only to hear the following words: "It''s ok... You have me too anyway..." And he saw the dark-skinned gargantuan Linges'' lips close in on his. * * * * * ''NOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' Lars woke up with a start, panting and covered in cold sweat, clawing at his mouth to burn off and destroy the parts of his body that were forever soiled by the monstrosity who violated his lips! Lars panicked even more than when the world had crumbled before his eyes, he huffed and puffed, trying desperately to gain his bearings. Moira... Lesbian? Himself... Gay...? And with both the invigilator and Linges...?!? No no no no no no!!! Then he heard the ringing in his head of his alarm spell, a mental sound: ''Wake up! The time is 3 in the morning! Wake up! The time is 3 in the morning! Wake up! The time is 3 in the morning! Wake...'' ''F***!!! So annoying!!!'' He dismissed the infuriating spell with rage, face twisted into a grimace of disgust, anger and relief that it was all a dream. "Haahh... Haahh... Haahh..." He breathed heavily, looking around, finally realising that the nightmares and falsehoods were over. "F***!!! What kind of nasty f***ing dreams are these!!!" He cursed out loud and exclaimed quietly, as he did not want to startle Khalid or any of the other passengers with the supply wagons. The mild-mannered transformed into a foul-mouthed old man in an instant due to the emotional scars he still bore from the cursed spell. Nightmare Wakey-wakey - the only alarm spell taught in the military. As for why the alarm clock spell was like that, firstly, it was truly effective. Who could sleep through such traumatic visions??? Secondly, the creator was a sadist... ''I''ll never, ever use it again...'' Shaking his head and even hitting it repeatedly to dispel and try to forget the dreams, Lars was tempted to try out the taboo spell - Forbidden-level: Amnesia... But he decided not to. It was too risky. What if the spell failed and those dreams became all he remembered...? Would he change his orientation and forget Moira overnight...? He shivered at the hypothetical thoughts and dismissed them, deciding to settle the work at hand - the reason he had set his alarm for 3:00 AM. To summon a demon. * * * * * He cast a lesser silence spell on his surroundings then turned himself invisible. He didn''t worry that he would be noticed - the strongest member in the supply train was only around Linges'' level. They wouldn''t notice him. He trotted quickly down the dirt road that winded through the forested area. As he had learned in his studies that focused on domestic knowledge, the Kingdom of the Sands had once been a desert land with the only inhabitable areas being nearby oases or rivers. However, the lay of the land had been slowly terraformed by magic combined with science to irrigate and rejuvenate the dry lands. As a result, more than 1/4 of the central regions of the nation were now covered in greenery, a great change from the earlier trademark yellow sands of the dusty country. He finally neared an area of higher ground, cresting the small hill and finding a relatively clear area behind a copse. He kneeled down and began inscribing the not-overly complex demonic circle burned into his memories by the little bird before his sojourn into the Stream of Myriad Planes, the inlet of reincarnation of this side of the universe. He traced his fingers through the slightly damp soil, the aftermath of a slight drizzle earlier in the evening. The nutrient-rich loam felt firm under his fingers despite the flaky particles with some of the reddish brown particles caught under his short fingernails. He took a deep breath even as he spared no time to complete the summoning circle, finishing it in less than 4 minutes. After the damp, musty and heavy air of the Arena and the blood, rust, gunpowder and grim of the battlefield, the fresh atmosphere of nature was a panacea to his soul and lungs! He determined to enjoy it as much as he could, every day and every moment he remembered to. Stepping out of the circle, he began to infuse mana into the formation, causing it to light up with a mild golden glow along the lines of the patterns drawn. He checked, double checked and triple checked that the formation was drawn correctly and no prying eyes were watching. Then he took out a throwing knife secreted in his belt and pricked his finger with it, adding the final component of the summoning circle: the blood of the demon''s contractor. Finally, he would get in touch with the only companion in this foreign world with whom he could be open to about his past and his homeworld. He knelt down once again and continued to infuse mana into the magic circle. Within a couple of seconds, a vortex the size of two fists emerged in the centre of the 2 metre-radius circle, spinning round and round while suspended in place roughly 1.5 metres above the ground. At that moment, he spoke out the simple summoning incantation: "I, Miller Knight Larsson, beseech the contracted demon Razku''rak Kizorik - heed my call!" Immediately a change could be seen. The vortex turned murky and dark while the glow grew in intensity but also turned darker, changing into an ominous red light; foreboding and threatening. Then unexpectedly, the vortex froze, and the light, magic and mana surged into the now-still blood-red vortex. *CRACK!* Then a fissure line split the vortex in half with a loud cracking sound like an egg being broken into pieces. The next scene shocked Lars greatly. Suddenly, a squirrel-sized black-and-white bird jumped out of the egg, tumbling as it landed on the ground. Then it hurriedly picked itself up and scampered away out of the magical circle. Although, it has to be mentioned that this entire string of events actually happened quite slowly. The little bird with red pupils had stubby short flipper legs. "Ahhahaha!!! Freedom... Hahahaha!!! Free at last! Free!!! Free!!! Free at last!!!" The little bird tried to run away, cutting a comical figure as it moved only 2 metres in 5 seconds - a distance that a regular adult could cross in less than a breath''s time! Lars couldn''t help but smile. Such adorable sights were hard to come by in the Arena. It had been too long since he saw such a cute thing! The penguin suddenly froze on the spot and turned around balefully. "You just laughed at the Great I, didn''t you...?" Its eyes looked like it would shoot out hellfire and ashes from the depths of the Abyss! Embarrassed at his thoughts being seen through, the boy spoke apologetically, "Kizorik, or Razku''rak, I mean, I didn''t--" "That''s Sir Kizorik to you, boy!!!" The diminutive penguin jumped towards him, its fierce demeanour startling the mage despite its tiny size. "Sir Kizorik, I didn''t laugh at you. I just smiled. It''s just, in that form..." He smiled sheepishly as he said, "You''re really cute!" Then he covered his mouth. He realised that he should have used his brain and Insight soul-imprint to think through what to say before he spoke. He had just called the self-christened Demon God cute. Bracing himself for an outburst of rage from the charming but angry bird, who, before Mikael/ Lars'' reincarnation, had already frequently flared-up at the most minor perceived slight. The little bird drew himself up proudly, puffing out its chest and said, "Hmmph! It''s good that you finally noticed how cute the Great I am!" Then it peered at him from the corner of its eyes, looking seedy and with a pose like a gangster. "By the way..." It looked him once over, then twice over, up and down, left and right, then asked. "Who are you...?" * * * [1] PCPE = Permanent Committee for the Planar Expedition - mentioned in chapter 1. 34 Ritual of Sacrifice Lars was stunned. ''What in the world??'' How could he be forgotten so fast? It kind of hurt... First forgotten by his parents as an unwanted orphan, then forgotten by Sara and now forgotten by the one he thought just might be his friend in this bleak and lonely journey...??! At least Moira didn''t forget him... He touched the gold ring with the ruby inlaid that was hanging around his neck from a mana-reinforced hemp string necklace - concealed in a cloth pouch and out of sight. Safer that way. "Oi, oi!! Okay okay! Don''t look so down! I''m just teasing, kidding I tell you!" Kizorik - the little penguin - waved its arms in consternation and began to sweat when it saw how the boy took the joke so very seriously. It even did a little dance while trying to comfort the overly emotional contractor. After a while, the two of them calmed down smoothed their proverbial ruffled feathers. Then it was down to business. "Alright. Now that you''ve summoned me, I can finally get to work recovering and growing my strength." The penguin sat on Lars'' lap and nibbled on dry biscuits while explaining how the contractor arrangement worked. "No matter where you''re headed or going, you''ll definitely need more strength. You did realise, right...?" The bird smirked arrogantly as it spoke. "Despite you being stronger in your mana and your soul-imprint being more solid, the people of this planet also wield artefacts to supplement their powers. Eunos was it...? This place is quite famous for high-quality items! You really should get your hands on some of them, both to use and to, erm... Sacrifice to me. Heh." Lars nodded. He had erred towards caution while interacting with the people of this world ever since his awakening. It was true that the werewolf captain had been taken down easily, but that was because the beastman was 3 whole realms below him, merely a Master-level berserker. Perhaps the wolfman did have a special item or life-saving trump card - alas, instant death would still have been the immediate outcome due to the immense gap in their levels. However the young mage had been hesitant to reveal his powers; unless truly necessary or his bottom-line was crossed, he was reluctant to attract too much attention or cause a country-level conflict. He didn''t have enough information about how they would react or how capable the true powerhouses of the Kingdom of the Sands and other nations really were! He shook his head. Having reincarnated once, he had no desire to gamble on the chances of a second reincarnation. The necklace was already gone, anyway, the only remnants of it being the leaf-shaped birthmark on his chest. Kizorik then gazed at him derisively and rubbed it in. "You may think that artefacts are all... But this planet is pretty close to the Rune-forge Civilisation. As the name implies, their relied mainly on that one speciality and still had sufficient might to establish a haughty empire. With that, it''s a safe assumption that most of the higher-ups on this planet will have at least a rune, if not 2 or more!" "Runes...?" "They''re something like... Hmm, how should I put this... I haven''t had to explain things to any idiots for the past, let''s see... 15 years? Oh, yes! Yes. I mean since we last met. That''s right." Lars fumed, tempted to swat the penguin on its tiny buttocks but decided against it. Time was always of the essence - he wanted the penguin to continue on. Which it did - it stuck out its little pink tongue through its razor sharp teeth and resumed its exposition. "Alright. Enough with the jokes. A rune is simply a magic formation adapted so they can be affixed on a human''s body. Don''t look down on the process! It''s not so simple as just shrinking a magic circle and thinking it will work! It won''t! The mana flows for a formation drawn on skin and flesh are completely different, just like how you can''t use paper notes for toilet paper..." The little bird''s eyes flitted to the corner, looking away and seeming reticent to speak about it. But the curious boy wasn''t about to let it slide so easily. "You tried it before...? How was it...?" He smiled innocently as he asked. "I-it was bloody painful! Bloody AND painful! D-don''t try it..." Then it caught itself. "You little!!! You tricked me!!!" They tussled awhile and Lars was surprised as the harmless little creature had pretty sharp teeth, leaving a painful set of tiny teeth marks on his index finger with just a little bit of blood drawn. The holes were so puny, people might think it was just pinpricks! Waving his sore hand, he sat down to listen and offered the dissatisfied Demon God a belly rub with his other hand to appease its wrath. "Alright. Runes are complicated and have to be custom fit to whoever will be using it to bring out 100% of its effects. That customisations requires an expert to affix it and costs a bomb! With the base rune itself already costing a lot, that means that only the rich and powerful can afford them. BUT they are worth the money. A standard rune can offer a 10-15% improvement in say mana pool. So two runes means almost a 30% improvement! And that''s only a weak level 1 rune! A level 7 rune can give a boost of 80% or even higher! But they''re frickin'' expensive." The mini penguin sighed in contentment, then added, "...From the smell of that dastardly handsome guy, he''s really rich. And if he''s in the legendary realm, most likely he can fit 3-4 level 6 runes." Lars'' eyes widened. He counted. That would be... "Yes. Even if he started out 50% weaker than you, just the amplification from say, 3 runes alone would make him your equal! And don''t forget that he''s filthy rich! He probably has really high-grade Artefacts too!" He gave one last reminder to the now flabbergasted boy who was glad he had not tried to take on the Duke along with Vizier Murad, Vault-Keeper Noone as well as the entire Arena! "...Kid, you need more power. And that''s where I come in." The black-and-white bird practically bristled with pride as it raised its head loftily and proudly. Then when the boy remained silent, watching and waiting, the penguin frowned crossly and snapped its teeth at him, saying, "Come on! Come on! Where''s the praise? Where''s the awe? Where''s the excitement!" "Okay okay! Erm... Oh yes, great demon god Kizorik, please share with this lowly mortal your wisdom...?" Ignoring the apparent question mark at the end of the boy''s sentence, Kizorik decided to be satisfied with it and resumed its speech. "Alright, listen kid, here''s low down. The benefits of being a demon''s contractor has to do with the Ritual of Sacrifice, which allows you to gain unprecedented power by offering up items, things or corpses of worth to the Abyss. Unlike the conventional paths to growing in power which require slow, careful advancement and comprehension, the growth in power from the Abyss is immediate, direct and effective." "All you need to do is provide the right offerings..." The penguin smiled evilly. "Alright, here''s how the Ritual and exchange of sacrifices for power works..." 35 Ritual of Sacrifice 2 Following his usual penchant of giving one-sided monologues, Kizorik stretched like a cat and yawned, then paused, looking at the stunned boy expectantly. "Well...? Why''d you stop rubbing? Come on, come on!" The little guy sighed in contentment and walked Lars through how the contract arrangement worked. --- The Ritual of Sacrifice 1. As the demon (henceforth the contracted) has no battle capabilities, the contractor will need to secure rare natural materials such as herbs, ores, metals or gemstones. Alternatively, sources of concentrated mana, blood energy or life force are also acceptable, such as powerful living creatures, dead or alive. --- 2. As the rightful owner of said items or materials, the contractor will need to verbally or mentally authorise the contracted to devour the item or alternatively, absorb the energy from the item. This process is called the Ritual of Sacrifice and the item or the energy will then be transmitted to the Abyss. Three-quarters of the energy will be provided to the contracted as payment for the sacrifice to the Abyss. If an item was offered, half of the items worth in energy will be given to the contracted instead. --- 3. Based on the agreed sharing ratio, the contracted will transmute and accumulate the absorbed energy. The contracted''s portion will be used for the growth of the contracted. --- 4. Once a month on the night of the new moon, the contractor may utilise the accumulated energy to "trade" with items or blessings from the Abyss. These include but are not limited to: -Various Abyssal Blessings such as Flaming Touch or Mastery of Shadows, -Increases in attributes and aptitude of the contractor, -Bloodlines both Abyssal and Natural, -Items, runes or knowledge stored in the Abyssal Treasury. The availability of items depends on what has been offered up to the Abyss through the Ritual of Sacrifice. --- 5. Units of value. The most basic unit is a freshly deceased common human''s body. The value of such a sacrifice would be considered as 1 unit. --- "Wait, what? Human lives...??!" He was appalled when he heard this line from Kizorik, drawing a condescending glare from the penguin. "What do you think I am, a penguin? I''m a demon for crying out loud! Of course I eat animals like humans! And no, I don''t do souls. Souls are for the All-Father or the God of Light and Darkness, yuck!" Then, realising that it was speaking to a human right now, Kizorik explained further. "N-now, don''t get me wrong, it''s not that humans are preferred - it''s just that human bodies are the baseline of what will be accepted by the Abyss. Anything smaller doesn''t count." The puny demon lifted up its wings to shrug its shoulders. "Phew... Now that that is done, it''s just your luck - since its a new moon tonight, you can take a first peek at what''s available to be exchanged." Somehow Lars felt that the penguin''s grin was a little sinister, like a swindler who was about to hook a big fish with his elaborate scheme, or a loan shark at the gates of a casino encouraging an already-broke customer to "just try your luck one more time! I''ll lend you money!". But he nodded. What harm could come from just looking, anyway? Turned out, a lot. The list seemed eerily like it were tailor-made for him, to suit exactly what he needed. One look was enough to turn a miser into a greed-filled spendthrift, jacked from the rush of newfound riches and addicted to SHOPPING. ABYSS TREASURY MOON #213,058,951 AP = Abyssal Points --- 1. Coordinates to Planet: Earth (185,000 AP): Coordinates for a safe teleportation and the starmap for the journey from current location to the destination. --- 2. Perfect Love Potion (350,000 AP): The imbiber will be 1,000% in love and helplessly infatuated with the first person seen for ~800 years. --- 3. Millenia Planetary Shield (8,500,000 AP): When activated on a planet, conceals and protects from all forms of intrusions except as explicitly configured by the user. Warranty period of 900 years. --- 4. Decree of War (34,112,575 AP): When the name and location of a person, organisation or entity is written on it, a Greater Portal to the Abyss will be opened at the designated location unleashing millions of demons against the named enemy. Warning: Recommended to be used when within 1,000 kilometres of the designated location. Good luck escaping. --- 5. Hell Bomb - Level 6 (134,700,000 AP): When detonated, unleashes hellfire in a radius of 180 Astronomical Units (AU) or 27 billion kilometres. In comparison, the solar system of the contractor is merely 122 AU in radius. . . . 17. Teleportation Device to Planet: Earth (1,725,000 AP)... . . . 36. Lance of Longinus - Ascendant (2,700,524 AP)... . . . 99. Demon King''s Bloodline - Complete (860,000,000 AP): Complete bloodline of a Demon King will be infused into the user''s body. The minimum level of strength for a Demon King is at the lower Star realm. --- END OF TREASURY LIST #213,058,951 "....." a boy was left with mouth agape, speechless and aghast at the items available and the prices. The shell-shocked young legendary mage then turned to the penguin and said. "I need money (Abyss Points)." He blinked. "LOTS of it." And then: "...Is there like, a bargain bin list...? For, you know... Newbies..." The penguin sighed, then said, "Kid. Don''t worry about it. The treasury list for every first timer is always ludicrously expensive and shows the deepest, darkest desires of one''s heart... I know, it''s been the same for my past 9 contractors too..." Then the devious penguin''s eyes narrowed then lit up with a sinister glow as it lowered its voice to a half-whisper, "...And you *do* have some pretty valuable treasures on you right now..." Lars'' smallish eyes widened further, looking like round silver coins as his mouth widened slowly. "You mean..." Kizorik rubbed its hands in glee, sniggering as it knew it had the boy hooked! The avian demon cleared its throat as it tried to show an honest and down-to-earth front to the young man and shared its mind, "Ahem ahem, yup, that''s right you do! Like that magnificent necklace-turned-birthmark on your flesh - though it''ll hurt a little bit when removing the spiritual form from your body..." Sensing the ominous tone in his partner''s voice, Lars felt a chill up his spine as he asked, "...H-how painful w-will it be...?" The creature smiled warmly and reassured his contractor. "Oh, nothing much, nothing much. Just a little painful, really! Just a little!" "Erm... What... Does just a little mean...? Like, specifically?" "You know, a little! Not a lot? Do you understand? Same as not much?!" The penguin seemed reluctant to share further, ornery and putting on a show of stubborn irritation. But the even more stubborn boy pressed on despite his characteristic shyness and awkwardness, insisting to ask again: "Kizorik! I mean, S-Sir Kizorik!" He corrected himself when the bird opened its mouth and revealed its sharp teeth threateningly, then closed its mouth again in pleasure at his addition of the "Sir". Continuing, Lars reiterated his question, "Sir Kizorik! Tell me, please! What level of pain will it be...?" He was curious - would he be able to extract the necklace someday when he returned to Earth...? He... Didn''t want to continue to owe Sara anything. The little infernal shrugged its shoulders and spoke comfortingly, "Not much. Just like getting run over by a train with triangular wheels? While lying on a bed of glass shards..." Lars gulped at hearing the insanely painful sounding explanation, visibly shaken and disturbed at the thought of... No! He didn''t even want to think about it, much less imagine that horrendous scene! Then he was shocked even further. The slightly embarrassed penguin hadn''t finished its analogy. "...While being eaten inside out by rats...?" The mage waved his hands frantically before him, nearly shouting in the middle of the night as he exclaimed, "Forget I asked! Forget it, forget it!" He was speaking as much to himself as to his partner. Then he trembled with fear and shook his head when Kizorik asked if he wanted to offer it as a sacrifice - would anyone in their right mind ever subject themselves to such pain? Anyway, it wasn''t his to sacrifice. But it looked like he would need to find another way to return the necklace to her... "Okay okay, then how about that ring...? It''s not as world-shakingly precious as that necklace but it *is* worth a lot too... Speaking of that necklace, you really need to bring me to Earth with you to find out where that girl or her family got it from... There''s bound to be some *incredible* secret there~!" The adorable downy feathered creature bristled with excitement and eagerness as it spoke, infecting even Lars with its attitude. He thought about it for but an instant before he made his decision: "No, no... This ring... It''s more important to me than anything right now... Sorry Kizorik -- I mean, Sir Kizorik!" He added after he saw the birds angry stare. "Hmmph! But won''t you change your mind when you hear about how many Abyssal Points the ring is worth...?" A cunning and sleazy smile was painted across its face as it spoke, then waited for him to take the bait - which he did. "...Erm... H-how many points *is* it worth...?" He asked in anticipation, curious despite his decision not to exchange it. The black-and-white critter folded its arms like a little boss and spoke, "400,000 AP." Then it threw the line in, along with the hook to reel the sorely tempted boy in. "So... Are you *sure* you don''t want to offer up the ring...? Maybe... Just part of it...?" Its voice lowered to a raspy tone as it seduced him further. "You''ll get the path to go home, save the Earth with enough leftover to power up..." Murmuring softly into the boys ear and shaking his conscience and confidence, the demon continued, "Or... You could exchange for that love potion that you humans like so much... And snare that little princess to be yours forever and ever... Don''t you want to have her as yours? Wholly? 100%? With not the slightest amount of doubt...?" It showed a malicious toothy grin as it gave one last push. "And you could even gain enough power to exact your *revenge* on those bastards of the All-Heaven Divine Empire who killed all your comrades and ravaged your home world, before enticing over your big bro Robin to betray you, betray your brothers and sisters..." "Lars my boy..." "Don''t you want to go home...?" "Don''t you want more power...?" "Don''t you want to possess and dominate that succulent, delicious girl forever as yours and yours alone...?" "All these could be yours..." The now no longer so cute penguin turned into a snake-charmer, only, it was mesmerising the boy instead of a snake as it closed off its proposition. "...All you need to do is just say the word and it''ll be yours... All yours..." Lars scalp grew numb, prickling feelings shooting across his entire body. His mind raced as he weighed his options, overwhelmed by the enormity of the wealth and the weight of the decision before him. To exchange? Or not to exchange? Was the keepsake more important? ...Or to return to Earth immediately...? Or the power to go in with his mighty magics to lay waste to every hindrance between him and Moira - immediately...? ...Or the potion to - he gulped at the thought - possess the girl? Body, mind and soul... Lars gulped. He tossed the various incredibly bewitching ideas back and forth in his mind, again and again and again in the short few seconds that he stood before his contracted demon, making use of his 10 times increased thinking and processing speed despite the fatigue it caused him. Then he fixed his mind on his objective. He knew exactly what he wanted, and he spoke with full determination and affirmation. "I choose to..." 36 Crossroads - To Return or not to Return? First, it had to be said that Lars was in a lousy mood right now. Or rather, he had been frustrated since the moment his sealed memories and powers awakened. No, even before that. Since his first memories whether before the Arena as an orphan street-rat or in the Arena, he had no pleasant memories except Moira. And even then, living on the edge of life-and-death, unable to savour his relationship with his lover... It soured his emotions further. He had simmering over for a long, long time. And now, faced with the prospect of having his desires fulfilled in an instant, it was definitely enticing; truly truly tempting. But he couldn''t. And that made him even more upset, though as usual, he barely showed his emotions. "...I choose to keep the ring." "WHAT!!! DON''T BE STUPID! Ok ok, I know you accidentally said the wrong right. One more time, what do--" "No, Sir Kizorik, I''m certain about my answer." The pure-eyed boy looked earnestly at his contracted demon as he spoke, "I... Can''t make that choice, even if those offers, those powers are so sorely tempting..." His face dropped slightly and his eyelids drooped as he explained further. "Even with the coordinates for Earth, I still need the means of return, right...? Then that can wait until I''ve understood the travel methods available and the cost involved. I imagine... It''s not going to be cheap... So it doesn''t matter for not whether I exchange for that or not..." "As for power... For what? To grab Moira from her happiness, reunited with family, her people, her future path of radiant growth in her country...?" He shook his head helplessly. "I love her! That doesn''t mean I want to rob her of her own path of advancement... And... She''s still so young..." A sentimental look crossed his eyes as he dusted off the sand and dirt from a nearby tree trunk and sat down on the mossy surface. Then he winced as he sat - it wasn''t very comfortable. "And I believe in her love for me, and my love for her. What Love Potion... That''s not love. That''s slavery!" He turned to look the penguin square in the eyes, the smouldering determination in them causing the hellion to look away in embarrassment. "...And if I truly love her, I''ll have to learn to trust her. Whether now..." He looked up wistfully at the stars in the sky and blinked twice, slowly. "...Or one day once we''re married." "Finally, about revenge on the All-Heaven Divine Empire, about rushing home... To Earth..." He breathed in deep, the cool night air refreshing him and soothing his lousy mood. "I..." "...What if..." He asked Kizorik a simple question with an absolutely straight face and limpid, clear eyes carrying no hint of falsehood, but also filled with hesitation, doubts and double-mindedness. "...What if I don''t want to go back to Earth anymore...?" The penguin fell off the boy''s and bumped its head on the group, sputtering, "W-what! No! You, you can''t! You..." Then realising that it had lost its composure, it stood up and gathered itself, arranging its feathers while rubbing its sore head. But as it spoke, it grew in consternation, nearly hopping up and down on the soft ground as it fired off reasons quickly back and forth with the contractor it relied on fully for growth. "What about your family! Surely they need you right...?" "I... I''m an orphan..." "Brothers and sisters...?" "...None?" "Relatives? Anyone at all???" "None...?" "...Not even one at all??" "Not even one at all..." Looking dumbstruck for a moment, the demon quickly gathered its wits once more and continued. "L-look, you... You must have people you care about righ-- Oh! Yeah! How about friends? Comrades? Teammates? They need you to warn them right...?" "...All dead..." His heart felt even more depressed at the thought, but this did achieve the penguin''s objective slightly; he felt resentful and wronged by his brothers and sisters'' deaths at the hands of the invaders; remembered the unwillingness in his heart that had caused him to cry out from the depths of his soul for a second chance at life - not for him to have a warm and romantic lovey-dovey life, but to exact his revenge and defend his homeland...! "What!!! But, but you know..." The penguin looked to be at a loss of what to say, then its eyes brightened as it thought of a new approach. "You know that you''re a loyal, what, Malaysian-born person right...? Definitely you have a duty born out of being bred and brought up in that land! So you need to..." His thoughts drifted off even as the penguin spoke at length, too caught up in his reminiscing to hear what Kizorik said any longer. ''Jayshree... Hajiro... Samuel... You left your families behind to join the frontlines of conflict... Though you were always quiet, I would see how you always quietly looked into the distance, as if remembering your dear and loved ones...'' ''Mia... You no longer have family left after they pillaged your home village and left a scorched land... But I know you love your country and nation more than any one of us...'' ''Jessica... You thought no one knew... But I noticed... Your ring you kept in the secret compartment of your bag... And the picture of your man, fiancee or boyfriend that you would take out and kiss longingly... He... He surely needs to know what happened to you...'' ''Adrian... You''re just an idiot... But you left behind a loving wife and a young daughter... I... I''ll protect them for you...'' ''And Robin...'' He clenched his fists tightly as waves of emotion and pangs of loss pulsed across his heart, causing his chest to grow tight, so tight he could barely draw in his next breaths. ''I''ll find out why. Who, or what was it that made you abandon all your ties to us...? Blood-forged bonds formed in the thick of battle, where race, nationality, gender, everything ceased to matter and faded away in the light of brotherhood, in the light of surviving to live and see another day...'' ''I''ll find out your story... You''re... Not the kind of person who would betray your brothers and sisters... I''ll... Find out the reason behind it all! And...'' His eyes lit up with a fire, one that would not go out until it had consumed everything; its enemies, the hindrances between it and everything else that dared to stand against the legendary mage''s desires! ''...And wipe out whoever schemed against us, those dark hands behind the curtains, and make sure their souls won''t even have the chance to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation!!'' His mind returned to reality just in time to hear the conclusion of its tirade. "Boy! Long story short, no more discussion, final decision, foregone conclusion!!! YOU. MUST. GO. BACK!!!" The cute penguin was practically shouting in his face by now. It scrambled up his chest with its little claws and flippers and up to his face to confront him. Then it hopped off, folded its arms haughtily and faced away from him as it delivered its final line of argument, "Don''t forget you need to go back for your countrymen and Earth! By now with 15 years passed, who knows how much trouble they''re in from those traitors on the inside!..." It looked over its shoulder at him, looking caring and worried - which gave Lars a chill. This was too out of character for the penguin... "You need to hurry back..." All this confused Lars. Since when was the penguin so caring and concerned for him or his Earth...? But his mind worked quickly, piecing parts of the puzzle before him together. ''...!'' ''Maybe... There''s something the demon is looking for on Earth...?'' His mind drifted to the mysterious and inscrutable yet mighty necklace Sara had given him. The demon did mention that it found him only because of the necklace... But it looked like his selfish desire to dump his responsibilities and abandon the lives of his homeland wouldn''t be carried out. Turned out that his new partner had a shared goal - to seek something out on Earth... "O-okay, I mean, I''m just telling you my honest feelings... There''s no one else I can talk to about these kinds of things from my past life..." He felt pretty down; looked pretty down, crestfallen and heavy burdened by his own conscience that bound him from just pursuing whatever it was his selfish and passionate heart desired to do. The journey home would be long, arduous and likely fraught with danger. And that was just the travel there! Afterwhich he would unavoidably be sucked into the War between Worlds once more, as a powerhouse of his homeland... "For now, just focus on figuring out how to get back to your Earth, and to your London PCBE, whatever its called! And along the way, I''ll guide you on what things to exchange for." Worried that the fresh contractor was discouraged from the insanely high bar set on him, the crazy prizes and unconvinced about the need to return to his planet, the demon tried to comfort him. "Look, I''m serious, don''t worry about it. Rome wasn''t built in a day right? Heh, that comes from your world, heh heh..." While Kizorik was still speaking, an idea occurred to the golden-haired Lars. The mage gripped the sword Brightstar in his right hand, then with his left, he undid the knots that kept the scabbard bound to his belt. He presented it to his contracted demon and asked, "How about this...? How many AP is this worth...?" "That..." The penguin''s eyes shone like diamonds as it laid eyes on a tasty morsel, its first meal in countless years... "That is worth..." 37 First Exchange; First Encounter "That is worth... 80,000 AP." Lars raised his eyebrows at that price, surprised. "Why is it worth so much...? I thought it has no abilities...?" The penguin coughed then confirmed his understanding, "Yes, that''s right, apart from being nearly unbreakable, that Memory Capsule in the form of a sword really doesn''t have any abilities... But! The materials used to make it, the hidden magic formations engraved and the long-lost history within are worth a fortune!" "Okay! Then, I''ll exchange it, but only if I can get a replica that looks exactly like it." Kizorik nodded, assuring him, "No problemo! Easy-peasy! If it''s just the shape, look and hardness, that''ll barely cost you 400 AP if it''s already available or 1,000 AP for a custom job!" Lars returned the nod, pursing his lips as he felt excited about the imminent power up available before him. "Alright... Then... What can 80,000 AP exchange for...? Can I see the list...?" He instantly regretted his decision. His eyes swam and began to grow blurry as the penguin showed him a projection of the full list of items - through a laundry list of thousands upon thousands of items, some sound nonsensical, some useless, some ominously powerful but too cheap to be really that great and some promising, seeming to be useful. Dizzy from the flashing screen that moved so fast even his Insight-endowed eyesight and brain could not keep up, he changed his approach. "S-Sir, Sir!" He cried out as he closed his eyes to save himself from nausea. "Mmm?" The penguin was engrossed in looking through the list longingly as if it had very much missed its window shopping. "Can you just recommend me what to exchange for...? Some things that will be useful for my journey and growth, and also helpful in this planet to find a way home...?" At his words, the penguin stopped swiping the touch-screen projection, letting the Treasury list slowly scroll to a stop. It put a flipper to its chin and scratched, thinking. Then its eyes lit up in glee. "I have just the right things for you..." It frenetically scrolled through the list dozens of times, causing Lars to wonder if it would be good for the Abyss Treasury to implement some sort of search or jump-to function in their list. Finally, the penguin stopped and beckoned for him to take a look. I don''t recommend you to purchase anything you can already buy with money somewhere in this world, no matter how expensive it may seem, because money you can just rob, kill and steal to get. While Abyss Points are slightly more precious... Okay, you''ll also probably have to rob, kill and steal to get AP, forget whatever I said..." "No, no, I agree with what you said." Kizorik frowned in surprise. "You do...?" "Yeah. What can be bought with money like runes or artefacts, I''ll use money to buy. Since money is something I can just get more of while sacrifices may be hard to come by." He drew close to the demon to take a look. "So what are the things you want me to exchange for that can''t be purchased normally...?" The little penguin nodded slowly, surprised itself that what it said had made sense, then pointed out three items in succession: [Minotaur''s Bone Marrow (Stem Cells)], [Lesser Mana Spirit''s Core] and 2 units of [Phial of Forgery Liquid]. The mage did not hesitate; since he had decided to ask his contracted demon for advice, he wouldn''t second-guess its choices. He held the sword in two hands with the tip pointing towards the summoning circle then spoke the words, "I sacrifice Brightstar to the Abyss". Then he watched as there were no theatrics or spectacular displays of abyssal powers - the sword just gradually turned to mist from the blade down to the hilt and disappeared. Then at his demon''s encouragement, he spoke to exchange for the items they had chosen: "Exchange for [Minotaur''s Bone Marrow (Stem Cells)], [Lesser Mana Spirit''s Core] and 2 units of [Phial of Forgery Liquid]." The summoning circle slowly exuded a dark purple-red miasma which swirled silently, so quietly that the sound of the one insomniac cricket still chirping in the middle of the night more than a 100 metres away could still be heard. A bloody-red dome formed around the border of the summoning circle, and the area within the circle turned into a murky black-grey void - one that made Lars feel like as he peered into it, a gargantuan eye in the void peered back into him too. He looked away in discomfort. It didn''t take long for the miasma to settle and solidify into 3 items, while the red dome faded away, along with the murky vision of the void. Then of the 3 items, two of them turned into bloody-red light and shot straight into his forehead; the shocked boy fell onto his bum as he felt two nuclei of intense warmth swim through his veins and lymph nodes to travel from his forehead; one to his heart where his existing mana core was while the other could be felt diffusing throughout his body to nourish and strengthen his bones and flesh. The critter waddled over to pick up the remaining item - a small brown cloth pouch which *clinked* as the penguin picked it up, clearly containing the two glass phials of Forgery Liquid. It was a comical sight as the cute bird came over to him to hand it over, the pouch was nearly a third as big as the tiny demon! Kizorik explained that non-preservable items like blessings, the Bone Marrow or the Spirit''s Core would immediately be consumed by the contractor, while other discrete preservable items could be shared and given to others. Then the little house-pet explained the uses of what had been exchanged. "Right now despite your grade 7 strength - I mean, in your terms, Legendary realm strength - you''re just too weak! Most powerhouses at your grade in the universe could easily crush you to bits! And not because they''re more powerful in their main area of abilities, no..." "W-what?" He was incensed! He had worked tirelessly day and night and been accorded as a genius for breaking every known concept of "time needed to grow" by reaching the Legendary realm in just 2 years! And he was being called *WEAK*? "Kizorik! I''m already considered a genius, right? Unless you''re talking about physical strength, which though I admit I''m weaker in, I''m absolutely certain that no one in the universe is going to be perfectly balanced in all areas!" Scoffing at Lars'' indignant but also astonished face, Kizorik clarified, "I agreed, you''re definitely right! Almost no being manages to have a perfect balance of physical capabilities and magical or divine capabilities, that is true... But it is even truer that no one would respect a Legendary Realm individual with such a weak physique! There are no powerhouses who are not also extremely strong and balanced in both physical and non-physical areas! At the very least, they''ll be 2 grades behind in their secondary capability, whether it be physical or magical!" The embarrassed mage blushed a deep red while the penguin sighed Sighing in disappointment at his so-called uselessness. "In conclusion, you''ll need to develop your body from the basics. Right now you trainees at the arena are at most upper grade 2 - Adept-level practitioners! The Minotaur''s Bone Marrow, once implanted into your own bone marrow, will nourish you slowly. The only reason it''s so cheap is that this process takes years to bring you up to the adult Minotaur''s full strength of grade 6 strength - the World-Class realm!" Not bothering to ask if the mage with his mouth agape had any questions, the demonic bird continued on quickly, "The Lesser Mana Spirit''s Core is also cheap as it works similarly - it is practically useless to you right now, but as you feed it mana and nourish it with you soul-imprint, it will grow to be a second mana core for you! Imagine what it would be like to have two times the mana pool, control and amplification! The only limit then would be your slow brain in your thick and dull skull!" Satisfied that it had impressed the boy deeply and also added in a direct insult with no rebuttal, the penguin finished off its explanation to the sputtering and miffed boy, "Finally you should use those phials of Forgery Liquid on your ring and necklace-cum-birthmark. That way, the people who are mighty enough to pierce through your masking spells and aura would also notice the scent of Forgery Liquid on your items and think they are fakes!" Letting out a deep breath after this long info-dump, the penguin wanted to continue but suddenly perked up, eyes darting back towards the camp not so far away. "Trouble. Someone''s coming; clear up and head back!" Then without waiting for a response, the cuddly razor-clawed and sharp-toothed penguin shrunk and turned into a plushie soft-toy the size of a keychain and attached itself to the boy''s necklace. A voice rang out in his mind, ''Remember! Don''t reveal your powers too easily! You don''t know yet how the apex beings of this world would react or whether they would detect me and your treasures! Be cautious!'' Lars hurriedly erased the summoning circle, dispelled his concealment spells and hurried back to the camp before his absence would be noticed. He cautiously cast his senses out and caught sight of the incoming visitors. Bandits. More than a hundred of them. 38 Gratefulness and Satisfaction In the dead of night, a large group of bandits pulled up to surround the camp of the supply wagons. The riders showed exceptional discipline, perhaps born of fear of their leader as they kicked up clouds of dirt and dust as their steeds trampled the short grass. They looked well equipped, all hundred of them mounted and fitted with nearly standardised heavy scimitars - weapons appropriate for attacks from atop a Sar''peh (a 6-legged camel-like steed without humps well-suited for long distance travelling and lugging goods). With more than double the number of men compared to the Arena supply group, the bandits easily enclosed them with blades unsheathed. The defenders had their own weapons out, but the leader of the group, Khalid, stood at the front and held up his hand to prevent his men from starting the conflict. Lars watched as a large, muscular and moustached rider pulled out from the formation and approached Khalid who was holding a piece of paper up. He listened intently to their conversation to catch a hint of what was going on. "You''re new around these parts, aren''t you...? I''ve never seen you before in Desert Scorpion''s gang." Before the fierce-looking man could close the distance, the short and stout Khalid called out to him. But the rider kept quiet, only maintaining a stern expression as he cantered closer then finally stopped about 10 metres away from the stocky caravan leader. Khalid felt uneasy as he watched the powerful-looking man rein in his steed and come to a halt before him, then quickly dismount and approach. The caravan leader subconsciously backed away a little as he drew nearer and was relieved when the bandit leader stopped at a 3-metre distance - very near, near enough to strike in an instant. The moustached man had heavy hooded eyes with protruding eyebrows and looked taciturn. He stood there quietly as he emanated a pressure that made Khalid and the Arena guards sweat in nervousness. The silence was deafening, pressing down on their hearts and psyche and leaving them on edge. Even more disquieting was the fact that the riders surrounding the perimeter had not dismounted - they were still in formation to charge and begin a slaughter at the drop of a hat. The stand-off continued for a while, the only interruptions being the whistling of the wind across the grassy lands and whipping through the branches and leaves of the trees in the once-desert area. Then the stillness was broken quiet. "You aren''t new to this business. You know the drill. Hand over everything; we''ll leave you with enough to survive your journey back." His low and booming voice carried powerfully through the calm of the night. As if on cue, a strong breeze whooshed through their surroundings, kicking up the dust that had already settled and rustling through the gather people''s hair. Khalid was indignant and frowned deeply before saying his piece. "Look here! We are from the Arena of Valour! We''ve already paid this month''s dues just a week ago and I was the one who personally handed over the tribute to the Roaming Sword King Tasha! Here, I have the confirmation letter prepared, take a look at it yourself if you''re not satisfied!" He spoke bluntly and brazenly as he was convinced of having the moral high ground to defend his troupe of wagons. He held up the piece of parchment-paper he had gripped tightly in his hand. In his worry, he had not noticed how he had gripped far too tight and crumpled the document badly. This, along with the already ragged edges, made it look like an old treasure map that had seen better days. The quiet and strong bandit leader just levelled a steady but piercing gaze on the shorter man, showing his superiority in terms of both power and numbers - something that was more powerful than any negotiating chip or document. He gave no response, neither moving to take the preferred letter nor rebutting the caravan leader''s statement. He just slowly sneered, then began a deep, rumbling chuckle that sounded almost like a cough or grunt. It slowly developed into a full-blown barking laugh, followed by his men who joined in to laugh raucously with their captain. The stout but well-built wagon leader began to turn red in embarrassment, then his face changed to an even deeper red as the blood vessels in his body swelled from anger. "What!?? What are you laughing at??! I--I demand to see a higher up! Not you lowly workers! Bring me the Sword King or the Spear King! I won''t negotiate with you lackeys anymore!" At these words, the bandits laughs upped a notch, growing even more hysterical and amused in their cackling. Some of them slapped their thighs, while others held their bellies or fell onto their Sar''peh''s backs in their acts of mockery. Then the bandit leader held his hand up high, and the men quickly fell silent. He took a step closer, then stopped - his towering frame appearing like a mountain ready to crush their group of travellers. And he spoke, sending an icy chill up all of the Arena dwellers hearts like a punch in the gut. "Sword King is already dead." As soon as he finished those words, he reached into his robe to pull out an ear. One with 4 different coloured rings pierced through it. In each of those rings was inlaid a precious stone - an arrangement unique to Sword King Tasha, proof that he really was dead or at the least, defeated and routed in battle. "The new Sword King of the Northern Point Desert stands before you." The hulking man spoke matter-of-factly with no exaggeration, placidly and slowly enunciating the words - showing his full confidence in the claims. Though in fact the Northern Point was already developed into a lush land, it was still referred to by its old name. "From today onwards, the Desert Scorpions are merely a memory of the past, one that will soon be forgotten in the sands of time... From now on, we, the Sand Crabs under Lord Byrus will rule and control the rights to passage in this territory!" Khalid frowned even deeper. He clenched and unclenched his fists slowly, a sign of the stress he was placed under at this moment. Then he started laughing. "What kind of name is that? Hahahaha! Sand Crabs??! Sounds tasty! Right, men?" He and the wagon workers gave the bandits a taste of their own medicine, roaring in amusement at the ridiculously weak sounding name the group had given themselves. The moustached man''s face turned black as he smoothly withdrew his heavy extra-large scimitar from where it hung by his waist. And yet despite his clearly aggravated mood, he spoke quietly with a dangerous tone in his voice. "Do you want to die...? If that is your desire, I am sure we can accommodate you, Mr Big Mouth and your band of comedians..." Khalid snapped at that moment, face turning into an aggressive scowl as he shouted in return. "Listen up you newbies to the area! Do you think we''re just a bunch of pansy pushovers!?" Then he turned to his men behind him and shouted out a question, "Are we a bunch of pushovers, boys?" "NAY!!!!" "NO!!!" "NEVER!!!" He received a resounding roar in return, though one that was not uniform. "Look, we belong to the Kingdom of the Sands! I wouldn''t have shown this if you hadn''t forced us, but now that you know it, if you dare touch us, you''re dead!" Then Khalid pulled out a round medallion with a shield engraved on it. On the shield was an insignia, a coat of arms with an eagle''s head but with the eyes of a snake - Duke Silvan''s crest. The bandit leader''s face darkened even further, blackening to the extent that he looked like he would explode at any moment. The veins in his forehead began to pop out due to his excessive anger, but he still restrained himself from lashing out. A conflict with the crown was not something Lord Byrus would forgive! So he spoke quietly once more and kept his voice low in order to manage his anger. "...Let''s cut the talk. You know what to do - hand over your things, your money and we''ll let you go. We will come to the Arena in 2 weeks for tribute; you may negotiate with Lord Byrus'' representative at that time for the payments." Then without another word, he turned and returned to his steed, then rode back to the ring of bandits with his cloak fluttering in the air behind him as he rode. Angry and unwilling but without an option, Khalid coughed, then grunted loudly as he shook his head. Then despite his reluctance, he waved to his men to comply with the demands. * * * * * The bandits showed rich experience in their line of work - they came prepared with multiple sacks as they did not want to bring the wagons or any vehicles along with them. Whatever they could not easily lug, they left behind. They also searched through the supplies and foodstuffs to ensure nothing was hidden - they even checked the feed bags for the wagon''s Sar''peh, underneath the carriages, in between the wheels and axels to make sure. They also accosted all of the wagon workers and guards one by one and patted them down to ensure nothing was missed. Fortunately for Lars, they ignored his ring hanging around his neck as he laid a simple illusion spell on it to look like a piece of stone; while his replacement replica Brightstar was already in pretty bad shape from the start, thus it was ignored with just a look of derision from the bandits searching him. The whole process was completed in less than 15 minutes, after which the bandits packed up and prepared to leave before the sun rose in the coming hour. The bandit leader looked glum and still in a bad mood over the slight he had received earlier, and left some parting words. "I won''t say it''s been a pleasure to do business... But I hope we meet again. It was very profitable." He ended with a sarcastic sneer of false pleasure. Khalid shrugged, ignoring the barbed jab and turned to return to his tent. Though he likely would not get any further sleep, he still intended to close his eyes and give his weary heart and mind a well-needed rest. But he was stopped before he even took 5 steps back towards his group of men. "Wait." The bandit leader who had earlier not been involved in the search dismounted swiftly and walked briskly past Khalid. He went towards the camp area, causing the jittery Arena folk to back off as quickly as they could. He weaved his way past the fireplace and the various utensils stacked up from the last night''s dinner, then stopped in front of a slim and tall cloaked figure, the face of whom was hidden. But he could tell that the person was different from the rest of the rough and tough men in the group. "Excuse me." He spoke gruffly, at odds with his polite words as he looked at the skin of the persons smooth, graceful and fair hands. "I would like to request for you to remove your hood and show me your face." The hooded person turned to face the large man, then stopped for awhile, hesitant. Then the person pulled back the hood to reveal golden hair, an angular, soft-skinned face devoid of blemishes and beautiful brown eyes, though they were slightly on the small side. The moustached man was stunned as he saw the vision of androgynous beauty before him, and his face turned flush as he was excited. He then spoke to everyone around him with a loud voice. "Everyone else may leave, but I''m taking this boy with me." Then he looked at Lars and his mouth parted in a disturbing smile as he said, "You... Are just my type..." He reached out his hand to touch the boy''s face, only to suddenly find that he had stopped. He couldn''t move. ''????'' There was no force surrounding him, nor were there any bonds. No hands, no weapons placed against him. But he found that no matter how hard he tried, he could not will his body to move. ''What... What''s going on...??'' He thought. Then when he looked into the boy''s eyes, he realised what it was. He, self-proclaimed Sword King Raghu of the Northern Point Desert, was frozen in fear from the unobtrusive, composed and restrained but overwhelmingly madness-inducing killing intent radiating from the boy''s eyes. He was afraid. "...Thank you..." ''???? He... Why is he thanking me!??'' But he couldn''t give voice to any words or questions to ask further. "I... Was going to keep quiet and let you go, initially... And... Even when you poked your nose into my business, I was still able to forgive you, yes, even now! But..." Lars kept his face neutral in a serene smile, but one that struck great terror in the bandit leader Raghu''s soul, nearly causing his spirit to flee his body on the spot. "I... I was in a very bad mood, so... I''m grateful..." The boy stood up and pulled out his dagger oh-so-very slowly, taking his time as if he were a viper that held its prey enthralled in its sights, casually playing with its food. Then he spoke languidly, taking his time as he stepped around the panic-stricken but frozen man. "I''m sure you''re wondering why I''m thanking you, why I''m grateful." He smiled affably, looking completely like a noble young master enjoying an art display or relishing a display of flowers blooming. "I''m grateful... Because you''ve helped me, given me an opportunity..." Then his eyes turned murderous, with bloody killing intent oozing out. "And I can finally let off some steam by killing you - all hundred of you." Lars raised his hand with the dagger in it and incanted a spell, bursting right throught the formerly-arrogant bandit leader''s chest. The man died without his name even being known. 39 A Slayers Path The first to flee were those closest, who had laughed in ridicule when they saw the slim and tender pretty boy chosen by their boss as the newest plaything. They also shuddered when they thought about what would happen to the boy, and felt grateful it was not them. Then they saw the boy stand up and confront the man. They shook their heads in pity; he was another fiery spirited one. The boss enjoyed those types the most, and would savour the process of breaking in the boy slowly, then turn him into a soul-less puppet used to satisfy the muscular man''s carnal desires. And when they saw the boy pull out his dagger, they began to laugh all the more in earnest, expecting their leader to give him a sense of hope before striking him - in the body, of course, to avoid spoiling his silky-smooth face. Finally they could only look on in disbelief as the hulking Master-class combatant collapsed to the floor in a pool of his own blood and gore, a hole blown so clean through his chest that one could see right through it to the bloodied dirt ground below. They turned tail to flee with just a moment''s hesitation. They had learned to take decisive action and to never stand around just to observe what would happen next. The "what next" might very well be their demise! One by one or many of them together, they pulled sharply on the reins of their steeds and the raiders frantically turned to take flight from the scene of horror that had just played out before their unblinking eyes. All they wanted at this moment was to be anywhere but here, filled with regret at their decision to join the chief in this round of robbery. And as they began to make haste to escape, their companions, though confused, caught on and similarly started to disperse as fast as they could. But the fastest had barely made it 50, 60 metres away before he cried out in a blood-curdling scream which turned into a choking gurgle an instant later. The murderous Lars chose not to use magic for the slaughter, at least not directly. He intentionally stepped on the corpse of the so-called Sword King then teleported onto the galloping steed of his target to impale the man with his sword through the chest. A long curved one-edged katana blade protruded through the man''s chest, slicing accurately through one lung and his heart, ending his life in mere seconds. Yet before the man who was gasping for his life could collapse from the wound or the Sar''peh beneath him rear up and throw him off, the blade and the wielder disappeared from behind him, only to emerge standing on the neck of another steed. A crescent slash glinted through the air and sent a decapitated head flying. The Adept-level swordsman did not even have the chance to cry out before he was slain, much less a chance to defend himself from the masterful Blink-Strike manoeuvre demonstrated by Lars. And immediately after completing the second kill, before the head could even begin its descent, the reaper''s blade fell another 3 times, harvesting 3 more lives mercilessly. "Help me" "Goddess Sierra please rescue us!" "I-I don''t want to die...!" Some of the routed bandits fled in silence accompanied by the thudding of their mount''s 3 pairs of hooves striking the ground, while others yelled out in desperation, crying out pleas for mercy from which god they worshipped - or in some cases, whichever god''s name they remembered. Though the mana consumption and effort required to do this was exceedingly high, somehow he felt that only this would soothe the scratchy feeling in his heart that had been there ever since he arrived in this world, ever since he awakened his memories - no, ever since his first memory in this deceitful, disgusting world! His pupils gradually turned dark, appearing to reflect the colour and sight of blood - or maybe his eyes had genuinely turned a deep, crimson red that struck terror into every beholder''s soul. By this time, not a single of the bandit''s remained still - each and every one had already scattered to the nine winds, retreating as fast as they possibly could. unable to use the slow way of killing anymore, he held up his hand and began to float into the air, 10 metres then 30 and then 50 metres up, to a vantage point he can oversee everything his hand glows yellow as he multi cast dozens of Level 4: Hold Person spells. the bandits mostly at Adept with just a few at Elite tier, unable to resist in the least Paralysed for 6-7 minutes. he calculated. enough to kill them all if he took 5 seconds for each one. "Martha... I... Might not make it back... Take care of little Lisa..." "No!!!" Wailing and crying were heard from the helpless men, each and every one rendered defenceless and impotent by the simple wave of the legendary mage''s hand. The perpetrator and executor of the vagrants then walked leisurely from one bandit to the other, horrifically slitting their throat, beheading them or thrusting the blade through their chest, abdomen or groin. He trotted with a steady gait, almost as if he were strolling through a garden appreciating the flowers blooming - only in this case, the only things that were sprouting were spouts of blood from the throats and bodies of those massacred. If the distance between the raiders was too far to cover in 2-3 seconds, he would teleport to cross the distance and quickly reap another couple of lives remorselessly, his face cold and stoic as he carried out the genocide. Finally after less than 7 minutes, it was over. A blood-drenched man in his dark brown cloak - now turned a sickening reddish-brown from the half-dried half-dripping blood soaking his clothes - walked back slowly towards the trembling leader of the supply wagons. Khalid dared not move an inch. He stood stunned, equally paralysed as every one of the other men - though not from any arcane incantation, but simply from the terror induced by the boy who now appeared like the incarnation of a demon in human skin. Little did he know that his impression was not far from the truth - for the boy appeared devilish with his crimson red pupils. He nearly forgot to breathe as the infernal slaughterer walked up to him, without the courage to make the slightest move and draw attention to himself. But to his dismay, he was locked in the boy''s gaze, the bloody crimson-eyed gaze that still hungered and thirsted for more slaughter. Then Lars smiled, one which did not reach his eyes, one which looked like the crazed smile of one who had thoroughly enjoyed the carnage just before. "That was enjoyable. You should try it sometime." He spoke with a straight face, smiling serenely as if he hadn''t just uttered abominable words. Blood dripping from his chin. * * * * * [More than 600 kilometres away] A grand figure was seated in the middle of a tall, sprawling tent, looking like a lord as he surveyed his humble subjects and vassals. He held himself high with great haughtiness as if he were an emperor ruling in immortal hegemony. He was in midst of enjoying the ministrations of four lithe girls'' hands massaging the back of his neck, shoulders and thighs - a prelude to something else racier, an appetiser of things to come. He was smiling deifically, ruling confidently as he absent-mindedly took note of the reports coming in from his 3 most loyal retainers - Snake Spear King Lust, Dagger of Destruction Viyash and Mountain-Smasher Adron. The only one of his blood-brothers missing was Sword King Raghu who he had sent on the mission to make their presence known to the surrounding factions and settlements. "...As such, I recommend that we quickly dispatch four squads of riders to teach the village of Sanku a lesson and ensure our future tributes are collected smoothly." The kingly man waved his hand in acknowledgement and assent to the Snake Spear King''s recommendation, drawing a deep bow from the already kneeling woman. Then as he felt the desire rising in his loins and was just about to grab one of his slave-girls to satisfy his passions, he heard a resounding crack, one that struck his heart with despair and sorrow. Rising up abruptly and throwing off the seductive hands, he shocked the girls by lashing out violently, smashing all four of them to fly away, crashing into the walls of the tent, their bodies landing on the grown as a tangled mess of flesh from his over-bearing strength. He heaved and panted in fury, eyes turning bloodshot and mad with rage. The soul vessel of his 4th but most beloved and zealous brother had shattered. Sword King Raghu was dead. The Grandmaster-realm expert roared in sorrow and wrath, his cries resounding through the entirety of the camp of more than a thousand bandit raiders. Sand Crab Byrus would not rest until the corpse of his brother''s killer lay lifeless on the ground before him. * * * * * [Lars'' Point of View] ''Congratulations, kid! I didn''t expect you to be so barbaric! Hahaha!'' ''For slaying a hundred men with your own hands, you have unlocked the Abyssal achievement and title of Beginner Slayer!'' ''And the reward is...'' 40 Unexpected Image The blood-soaked boy walked back to his tent where a large, muscular moustached man''s corpse still lay, untouched. He casually stepped over to the side of the body then slowly wiped his hands on the fallen bandit leader''s clothes to clear the blood. Then he carefully removed his clothing until he was down to just his inner pants, revealing six-pack abs, a developed chest and an overall well-muscled form full of vibrancy and strength. There was not an extra ounce of fat to be found anywhere. He began to wash off the bloodstains from his skin with some water from his canteens then retrieved a towel from his travel bags to wipe himself off. As he cleaned up and donned a new set of clothing - he had only brought 2 sets of attire - he looked around in thought as he realised that he no longer had a clean cloak to use. But that was solved in a jiffy as someone nearby rushed over to offer their own to him. For some reason, the kind and generous wagon worker looked very, very scared despite him being their saviour. Was there something wrong...? He touched his chest and felt heat rising up as if there were another heart beating inside him as well as a small vortex swirling around that grew an infinitesimally small amount every minute as it greedily absorbed mana from the rest of his body. He wondered if maybe his earlier hot-headedness was a result of the minotaur''s marrow he had taken in; as it would make sense since the creature''s marrow would produce stronger blood with far greater vitality. And also with far stronger instincts for blood-shed, as the creature was renowned for fighting with blood-boiling battle frenzy... And as he finished dressing up to leave, all this time, not a single person dared to even look at him, much less stand anywhere in his path or speak to him. Khalid snapped out of his daze and tried to gather his senses and directed the workers and guards to pack up and ready themselves to leave. All this while, the camp was shrouded with a deafening silence. * * * * * [10:49 AM the same day] The journey continued in monotony, the travellers unusually quiet for such a large group of men. Those who rode were silent except for the sounds of their steeds hooves striking the ground, while those seated in carriages spoke in hushed whispers to one another. The slayer mage himself too rode without a word, having retrieved a docile Sar''peh from one of the fallen raiders. ''Congratulations, kid! I didn''t expect you to be so barbaric!'' He heard the male voice yawn as it spoke from inside his head; it sounded like the speaker had just woke up. ''Kizorik?'' Ignoring the lack of honorifics, ''Heh... It''s just been a few hours since we last spoke but you''ve already made big waves for yourself! For slaying a hundred men with your own hands, you''ve unlocked the achievement and title of Beginner Slayer!'' The demon penguin explained that unlocked achievements from the Abyss did not need summoning circles or the contractor to access the Abyssal Treasury - the rewards could be claimed directly thru the contracted demon. Additionally, AP were awarded for each kill by his hands - netting him about 800 AP for 1 Master, 6 Elites, 16 Adepts and 80-odd Normal level people slain. Then the little bird mentally linked him to the Abyss to receive his reward. He heard what sounded like tens of voices speaking together as they whispered in his mind from every direction: [Achievement Completed: Beginner Slayer - kill 100 individuals of contractor''s own species.] [Reward: Lucky draw! Determining reward...] Lars heard a sound he hasn''t expected to hear - the sound of rolling slots machine. Then he was further startled by a mental shout in his mental ear. ''F***ing sh*t!!!'' ''??? Kizorik! Is something wrong...?'' ''...Sigh. Nothing.'' He saw the mental image of a penguin letting out a heavy-hearted breath of air with a look of disgust on its face. ''I just get really triggered and riled up every time I hear the sound of that bloody lucky draw... Every time you get your hopes high, you get a pile of dung. And every time you gave up and just spun it anyway, you still get a pile of bloody f***ing dung!!! OMG!!!'' Shocked at his partner''s words that sounded like the rant of a seasoned compulsive gambler, Lars began to feel worried - he was unsure of whether to raise his hopes or to give up on it. [...Congratulations!] ''Oh no... Here it comes... All my AP spent on those useless lucky draws... Damn my rotten luck... Just one more spin and I wouldn''t be in this powerless state...'' Tears started to flow down the ruthless cold-blooded penguin''s eyes as it choked up. Meanwhile the mage shivered as he started to realise just how bad his buddy''s gambling addiction really was... [Lucky! The reward is "Memory fragments of Draken Blacksword"!] ''....!!!!!!'' Kizorik''s jaw dropped, little beak hanging agape in stunned silence. The spirit projection of the floating demon penguin trembled then began to shake convulsively as it started to laugh - not joyfully but piteously. ''Ha... Hahaha... Hahaha hahaha!'' The laughter sounded hysterical, and soon devolved into sobbing as the bird spoke to itself, ''1,762 draws and I got nothing... More than 500,000 AP thrown down the drain... This whipper-snapper got something Legendary in his first draw... Oh my poor heart... My poor poor broken heart...'' The penguin wiped away it''s illusory tears and stopped moping, shaking its beak to fend off the sorrow, then spat out spiteful words that made Lars wish the contract didn''t prevent him from strangling the bird. ''I guess a person with such lousy luck in love has gotta have *some* area he''s lucky in after all...'' ''So that''s what demons do with their portion of their AP...'' He couldn''t help but feel that the designer of the Abyss exchanges was truly an evil, evil genius, successfully enslaving countless demons to do its bidding through the inhumane lucky draws. And though he was miffed to be poked at his sore spot, he chose to be the bigger man (which he was) and asked the penguin, ''What''s next? What does that reward do and what do I do?'' Sighing once more in resignation at its lousy fortunes, Kizorik explained with a dour tone. ''Draken Blacksword was a figure of legends. He was famous for being elusive and secretive about his strength - no-one knows what realm he was in, for he never exhibited cultivation or power levels as we know them. However, he was also famous - even more so - for another thing. With just his one large black sword, he wreaked havoc across the multiverse, undefeated and all-conquering in his entire lifetime.'' Then the penguin shrugged as it continued, ''But every silver lining has its cloud; eventually, even his big black sword could not conquer everything. He finally encountered a hole too deep for him to fill, and his large black weapon was sucked in, along with him, never to be seen again.'' The little bird shook its head in pity as it scratched its chin, ''Who knew that the Abyss would have remnants of his memories! If any of his skills with his big black sword could be found inside...'' Kizorik''s voice trailed off, but Lars could get the idea by now. It was extremely valuable, a heaven-sent opportunity that perfectly complemented his weakness in physical and close combat abilities. Only, the boy couldn''t help but think of other images at the little black and white birds mention of a big and black instrument entering a hole... He shuddered and tried to dismiss the image from his mind and focus on absorbing the reward. As the Memory Fragments began to diffuse into his consciousness, Lars'' mind was filled with the image of shooting stars flitting by. The vision continued with bursts of light streaking past him, a great dark wave spreading across the starry sky, followed by the sight of every star it touched collapsing and imploding in on themselves. Darkness all around, punctuated by inkwells spiralling in an even blacker than black darkness. Interspersed in this darkness endlessly in every direction were specks and motes of white, yellow, orange and red light - countless stars, suns and planets stretching out in every way the eye could see and even those that could not be seen. It was only then that he realised what he was seeing. One man with one black sword. Suspended in the void of space. He had his eyes closed and was faced up against millions of enemies who launched billions of shooting stars at him that appeared to be converging on him from trillions of kilometres around him. As the heavenly bodies soared towards him threateningly like bullets, he stood his ground in position and remained tranquil as if he were meditating peacefully even in such a critical situation. And then all of a sudden, the muscular but well-proportioned man released a casual swing of his black blade. All hell broke loose with just that one motion. The stars were blotted out, the myriads suns and moons all around disappearing as if covered up by a godlike hand that spanned the heavens; a sight that would reduce any watcher to a trembling mess of fear. And as he completed the relaxed sword move that was devoid of any killing intent, the space where his sword passed fractured and twisted crazily, before an impossibly fast wave of black nothingness swept across the entirety of his surroundings. The dark ripples crossed the void in the twinkling of an eye to the ends of the horizons and emanated forth endlessly around him as if it would never reach an end. Then there was darkness once more - only this time much deeper than before. There were no longer any stars, suns, enemies or planets around him. Only one man with one black sword. As the vision ended, Lars swayed and wobbled on his Sar''peh, barely steadying himself before he fell off. He was glad that no one saw him at the back of the travelling group. The young mage now was unsure of his own path, for when he beheld the spectacle of the majestic swordsman sweeping clean the cosmos of every adversary, his blood boiled and rushed to his head. The desire, as well as the budding recollections of the sword move, sprang forth both deep within his body''s muscles and cells, as well as in his thoughts and imagination. It was almost as if he could just reach out now and wave his hand and send forth the space-splitting sword strike that would eclipse the heavens and the earth alike! He sighed, raptured in the epiphanous experience. Yet there was one thing he was even more glad about. That was that the name and description of Draken Blacksword were accurate and truly memory fragments about an omnipotent swordsman ruling over the heavens with his - ahem - big, black sword. 41 Country Roads The rest of the 7-day journey proceeded quietly. Despite the oppressive mood, it was relatively uneventful, with just one encounter with wolf pack at night. The guards easily warded them off with torches, arrows and crossbows to deter any of the predators. During the journey, Lars continued to meditate on and digest the movements and sword slash he had seen from a first person''s point of view, from the viewpoint of the Blacksword All-might himself. At night he would draw his sword and trace out the moves slowly, recreating the scene again and again to slowly catch the esoteric feeling he had experienced at that brief moment that seemed to encompass centuries and millennia, erasing the boundaries of time and space. And despite the gap being larger than that of a deity and a bacterium, Lars could sense that his swordsmanship and understanding of the way of the blade were improving just by practising that one move alone. When he extended his practice to the other sword stances and moves drilled into him by the multi-weapon Arena training, he realised that the sword intent cultivated through his endless practice of the space-shearing sword strike had bled over to every single move he made - granted, that is, that he had a sword in hand. He could feel himself improving literally with every heft and swing of the sword! Simultaneously, he sensed his inner vitality and blood energy growing more robust, a product of the Minotaur''s Bone Marrow merging with his own blood-producing cells and strengthening his body from within. Finally, the second mana core from the lesser spirit was developing at a rapid pace; by now it already showed growth up to the lower-Adept level. Nevertheless, despite the speed of advancement, the later realms and stages would only take longer and longer to breach into. With all these improvements, he still knew too that he had a long way to go. And so the journey slowly came to a close as the scenery accompanying them slowly turned from sparse forests to rolling grasslands, and from grasslands to some remnant sandy desert areas, rocky and devoid of life except scavengers and some poisonous insects and reptiles. Very soon though, their surroundings changed back to rolling hills once more, covered in greenery and with sounds of the chirps of birds and gurgling of small brooks. On the 5th day, some small villages and settlements came into sight - their leader decided to stop by for only one night to eat, rest and recuperate, for as desperate as they were to be rid of their travelling companion, they were also road weary from the crisis on the first night followed by a tense journey afterwards. To the surprise and somewhat to the disappointment of the villagers, this group was unlike the usual travellers of rowdy men. They were very quiet, perhaps even afraid as they barely ordered any drinks, thus depriving the village folk of some much-needed income. However, on the plus side, the group also did not cause any trouble, instead, they seemed eager to head to bed and finish the journey. Finally on the 7th day, right on track, they reached the desert city of Gorun - another city with a great heritage, formed and built during the days of desert life and with the characteristics of a city built in an arid location - flat and solid roofs to guard against strong winds and each house built up against the next. However, this design was only true for the old city sectors; the newer housing and buildings in the surrounding that were erected after the desert greening shared the common characteristics of any seaside port or city in a lush grassland. The city was very, very big, and made up of various small settlements that had mushroomed up around the riverside over the centuries. Finally, the rag-tag band of settlers had united under what would come to be known as the Northern Point Dukedom, forming a metropolis made up of many small towns and townships into a city with a population of 400,000 or more. Gorun was the 2nd largest centre of trade in the entirety of the Kingdom of the Sands, preceded only by Danedaar which was located thousands of kilometres away in the central region. And due to its position as the hub of the north, Gorun was also called home by many a mighty powerhouse, leading to this also being the centre of government, military and power in the upper third of the nation. Lars and the entire of the supply group slowly queued up then entered the gates easily due to their Kingdom-issued travel passes. They simply needed to present their travelling and import-export licenses, and once it was confirmed by the Customs inspection that all documents were in order, they were let through into the city proper. Despite his own confidence in his power and capabilities of disguise, without travelling together, Lars knew that the highly developed city''s security would be difficult to get through. Sneaking in past countless powerhouses with numerous defence and detection magic formations... That would have been an impossible feat. And even if he had tried to enter with his own Kingdom-issued documents? He would have brought heaps of suspicion on himself as a lone traveller who managed to cross nearly a thousand kilometres alone without many supplies. And attention of that sort was the last thing he wanted. Nevertheless, in anticipation of entering the city and in order to avoid unwanted scrutiny, he had applied a triple-layered seal on himself. The first was a conventional and simple magic seal placed on his mana core to redirect the flows of mana to nourish his secondary mana core. This would, to a casual observer, make him appear to only have the strength of an Adept-level mage - albeit one with nigh infinite mana. The second layer of disguise was a far more intricate and submerged seal crafted onto his "forgery" ring around his neck. This shell of duplicity would make even an observer who pierced his first seal see him as only an Elite-level mage. The last, a demonic seal crafted from infernal magic formations to suppress himself down from the Legendary realm to the Grandmaster realm. This would be his final line of deception like a tree hidden in a forest, to ensure that no one expected him to have layered so many levels of camouflage. All in all, he would appear as merely a dual-discipline practitioner Magic Swordsman at the mid-upper Adept level of skill, which was still an impressive level of strength for a merely 15-year-old youth! Once they were through the gates, the skittish Khalid and other wagon workers and men hurriedly bid Lars a subdued, tense goodbye before rushing off. nerve-wracked from the 7 days of journeying together. Lars merely nodded numbly, he had planned to part ways with the men anyway. For him, it was time to advance his mission - to find out how to return to Earth; and if that was not possible, to head to the All-Heaven Divine Empire for a friendly visit. * * * * * After parting ways, the newly minted Magic Swordsman asked around at the Customs area for a good place to stay, showing his appreciation before begining the conversation through cold hard cash. This opened up the doors of the officer''s hearts and mouths, and they helpfully gave him the name of a mid-range place to stay that was comparatively safe for new travellers. He followed the directions given and arrived in front of a slightly old inn and winehouse, one that had seen better days but was still in good shape for its age. He pushed open the doors to the sound of a ringing bell and entered the abode that was still empty in the late morning. He directly checked in at the reception and bar counter for 1 night and brought his stuff up to his room. He took a look around; despite being small, without a window and with a rickety, tiny bed which probably had countless bugs, mites and perhaps various other unmentionable forms of filth, it was a pleasant sight. He breathed in the slightly sour and musty air and let out a sigh of relief. This was his first true day as a free man for umpteen years! And no matter how bad the room was, it couldn''t be worse than his forced stay in the prison-like Arena for the past 9 years! Nevertheless, he only allowed himself scant minutes to enjoy his first sensation of being free and unfettered. He still had the responsibility to save his world - after which, he would make sure to look for Moira and reunite with her in Danedaar. But before that, he needed power. Far more power. And for that, he needed money to close the gap of wealth and gear between himself and the powerhouses of this planet! So Lars quickly and conversantly pulled out a make-up and disguise box from his bags. He extracted some pigments, brushed and fake brows, lashes and other supplementary items. He used his various tools in the disguise kit and he darkened his skin to look tan like the indigenous peoples then applied some extra eye-liner to make his eyebrows bushier and fuller. By the end of his deft artwork, the soft-faced handsome pretty boy teenager had transformed himself into a savage and rugged scar-faced man. As for his height, he changed the impression he would give others by wearing a second layer of clothes over his first to make himself look stouter and stockier, then hunched slightly, limping as he walked. He did not forget to also paint over his scabbard and sword to look slightly newer - regardless, it still looked old and well-worn. To an observer, it would look nothing like the unbreakable artefact it was modelled after. He also supplemented all these with the use of very light cosmetic spells to change the lighting and shadows on his face; the kind of spells people would assume as being used merely for aesthetic purposes. Lars conjured a mirror from ice to check himself out. As he gazed into the mirror, a seedy-looking middle-aged ruffian with many scars and wrinkled skin gazed back at him. He grunted roughly in satisfaction, already into character. He was ready. Before leaving, he laid some simple defence, alarm, tracking and concealment spells on his things. Then he took just his money pouch and Brightstar with him as he left the room. The young man then headed straight to the visitor''s information centre in between the Western marketplace district and the administrative district. It was time for the lost boy to find his way home. 42 Money Isnst Everything Lars walked through the streets neither quickly nor slowly, keeping his eyes and ears open and his purse close to his body, away from the pilfering hands of the "innocent" children running in the streets at play. He himself had been trained to be a pick-pocket at the tender age of 6, and had been the best of those the same age and even comparable to the 7 year olds and some 8 year olds in his daily takings! As such, though a number of young street urchins tried to accidentally bump into him, he merely slipped past them with ease, using his own hands to keep their prying hands off his body and away from his wallet. Though, there was one little girl he took pity on; enough so that when she made a fumbling attempt to snatch his coins, he instead planted a silver coin in her pouch! The girl sped past him clumsily, almost knocking into an elderly couple as she ran, drawing a fierce scolding from the two. Then she did something no thief should do - she checked her takings out in public before making sure she had gotten away. He sighed as he quickly shuffled past the girl, ignoring the silly little child. ''She looks too much like Sara did when she was young...'' He shook his head in pity; it was impossible for him to help all of the kids, right...? But at least he could give a bit of charity to others who came from the same background as he. Regardless of the fact that he had decided to move on and get over the married woman, he still held a bit of sentimentality towards his long-time friend and companion. He shrugged to himself. Well, it was okay to be willful and impulsive sometimes, wasn''t it...? He was finally free to make his own decisions for once; could it be that he could not use that free will to do something he felt like doing once in a while...? Anyway, it was just a silver, not much more than what a resourceful child could make in a day; a few coppers here, another couple of coppers there... And they''d have 10-odd coppers! He continued his journey, keeping a steady, limping pace as he strolled onwards through the streets that smelled of fresh produce and not-so-fresh meat. Just round the corner from where he had bumped into the girl, the scenery changed as he moved from the warehouse and workmens'' area of town towards the market and administrative district. Then just before he could walk past the fountain which seemed to serve as the discrete border between the sectors, he felt a tugging on his cloak. ''...?'' He hadn''t sensed any trouble or threats approaching...? He turned around with a sharp look in his eyes and a scowl on his face, only to see the same little girl he had helped. She was startled by his fierce look, but then she furrowed her brows in determination and stuttered out the words she had came to say, "T-Thank you... M-Mr...!" She held out a small hand, a sole silver coin lay within the centre of her frail palm. Despite the dirt and grime, she had beautiful skin and a teardrop shaped face. Her watery blue eyes were shaped like perfect ovals with long lashes. And her raven-black hair only added to the diminutive child''s beauty. She couldn''t be more than 8-years old, but Lars wondered how she could have survived the streets with such beauty and such idiocy. Who came back to thank their mark after stealing from them?!? Only an absolute fool and idiot who didn''t want to survive more than a week in the streets!!! Exasperated at her silliness, Lars just shook his head. But he couldn''t help the compassion mixed with pity in his heart from showing on his face as he asked her, "Kid... You... How can you... Don''t you know..." He sputtered out the scathing scolding words, but everytime he was about to speak, he saw the adorable girl cower back in fear and couldn''t bear to do it. Then he sighed, crestfallen and face-palming at how senseless this was. He didn''t even know her! And no matter how much he tried to help, with her clumsiness, weakness and trusting attitude, she was as good as a goner in the hard street life! So he didn''t understand himself at all as he swallowed his irritation and asked in a gentle voice: "Kid... What''s your name...?" The waif-like girl was quiet for awhile, trembling with trepidation at the scary scarred man before her. Yet despite her fears, she worked up the courage to timidly answer, "I-Ilya... Mr..." He knelt down before the girl, then couldn''t help but to pat her on the head affectionately. "Look... You... You can''t be so trusting and silly, okay? You''ve gotta be tough, like me. You''ve gotta be fast, sharp, strong, never giving up, never giving in! And sometimes, you''ve gotta use your smarts and looks to get your way. Even when... You don''t understand anything I say, do you...?" She stared back at him with a confused, blank face, eyes starting to tear up again at his firm tone. He sighed. This wasn''t going to work. Without someone to take care of her in the streets... Just in time, his thoughts were interrupted by a sharp cry and running footsteps. "Get away from Ilya, you paedophile! Get him, guys!" At that moment, he was pelted by countless rocks, sticks, dead rats, insects and even some dung. He let the former items hit him but avoided the filthy corpses and excrement deftly, then quickly turned to take flight from the group of young boys, perhaps around 10-12 years old. ''P-paedophile?!? Blasted kids!'' Yet despite his inner voice, he caught himself smiling. The group was led by a short but valiant and passionate boy with golden hair. Lars couldn''t help but feel warmth in his heart. It looked like that was how the naive girl had survived in the streets. She had a family of brothers and sisters who loved her and took care of her. "Get lost you pervert!" "Yeah! No one is allowed to bully our Ilya but us!" "Shhh! The last part isn''t needed, Roy!" "Yeah! No one is allowed to bully Ilya!" He was relieved and felt a wave of nostalgia. ''Brothers... Sisters... Both from my past and present lives... I wonder how you are doing now...? Beloved squad members, are you also returned to the world of the living like me...? Trusted brotherhood of the streets, are you living well since we were separated...?'' Despite his melancholic thoughts, he merely let out a heavy breath of air and returned to the streets to his destination. * * * * * Finally after about 25 minutes walk of brisk walking hindered by the floods of people, he arrived at the tourists'' information centre. Lars maintained a friendly and cordial attitude as he asked around about Earth, the solar system and the Milky Way. However, the workers there one after another apologised as they had not heart of the first and third before. And in the case of the second, they asked for clarification that he could not give - the name of the star, as practically every planetary system around orbiting a sun was called a solar system! The last worker he spoke to was very helpful and generous with information, explaining how perhaps he could also go to the library to inquire for more information. For example, old and obscure star maps or cosmos charts. Apart from that, there was a chance that the travel centre would have greater knowledge of the goings-on in the world. Grateful for the information, Lars flipped a gold coin over to the thin and moustached man as a tip. The man was stunned, but recovered quickly to bow and thank him profusely for his generosity. The now-middle aged scarred man shrugged and thanked the counter worker instead for the advice. In fact, Lars had plenty of money from the bandits'' bodies, increasing his total wealth to 13 platinum and 147 gold coins. The increase came from money scavenged by the supply wagon men from the bandits and given to him. He had, of course, accepted whole-heartedly. Having more money would surely come in useful, like right now for example. The grateful office worker then suggested Lars to look for his friend Mushana who worked at the travel centre. He said that though Mushana was a relatively high-ranked officer, they were best cousins who grew up together - all the boy had to do was to say Jazir sent him. With that, Lars bid the man goodbye and left, winding through the streets following the directions given to him; per the man, it was a shortcut that should save him from going through the mid-day crowds. However, he also warned his generous customer to be careful on the way - the quieter back alleys and lanes were also more dangerous for a lone traveler. But to Lars, what danger could there be? He was more than familiar with the ins and outs of the street children''s life, being a former child of the back-alleys, an ex-Backstreet Boy. In fact, he looked forward to meeting some of the members of this city''s organised crime. Forming a connection and underground information channel would prove useful in time to come. Anyway, he felt no sense of threat. The ones who crossed paths with *him* were the ones who should be worried; *they* were the ones in danger if they should come up against him! True enough, as he moved through one of the more seedy and deserted-looking alleys behind some dilapidated buildings, he heard some older teen voices yelling antagonistically while one teary, choked-up voice cried out in wordless pain and sorrow. His heart skipped a beat. It was Ilya''s voice. He ran towards the source of the noise. 43 Money Isnst Everything 2 [Early afternoon] "Let her go!" Anselm yelled as he was pinned down by two young ruffians who looked to be in their early 20''s. He was lying on the floor of an abandoned building made of bricks and mortar, with wooden scaffolding and broken boxes lying against the walls haphazardly. The youth was covered with many wounds and bruises and held down by the men. Right now, the rest of his group of street-rats were nowhere to be seen, presumably they had separated to their own ways and devices after encountering Lars and "saving" Ilya from him. At the same time, another thug held Ilya''s arms behind her back as their leader, a middle-aged man dressed leather armour, looked on, smiling lasciviously. "If it''s money you want, we''ll earn more! All she has is 1 silver and a few coppers, we have barely anything!" He struggled and tried to squirm out of his captors'' grip but to no avail. The middle-aged man sneered as he heard this, but did not take his perverted gaze off the crying small girl before him. "Money...? Alright! If you can give me 10 silvers by tomorrow, I''ll return your little sister to you!" Then he sent an evil gaze at the boy and added, "But until then, your sister will have to pay interest with her body! Hahahah!" "NO! You can''t--" Anselm yelled at the top of his lungs, before one of the ruffians kicked him in the mouth, leaving the metallic taste of blood and silencing the spirited boy. Nevertheless, he did not stop trying to resist, prompting the young men to curse in annoyance and gag him with a dirty, soiled cloth before they tied him up. "Mhhmphph!!!" He tried to shout through the gag, but only caused himself to nearly choke on the rags in his mouth. He could only watch on in horror as the monsters began to reach their hands out to assault his beloved little sister, not related by blood but who he had taken as his little sister who he would protect. Blood and tears mixed together on his face as he gnashed his teeth as hard as he could then thrashed about, in the hopes of getting free before it was too late. His struggles only triggered the ire of his captors who began kicking him with their tips of their boots in his stomach, chest, sides and ribs. Regardless of how much they hurt him, he had only one thing in his mind - to save Ilya from being defiled and destroyed. But no matter how much he fought and squirmed and desperately fought against his bonds and assailants, he was powerless to resist and change their fate. He hated himself, hated the evil demons before him, hated this depraved world that stole his and Ilya''s happiness all for the sake of lining some corrupt politicians pockets. If only... If only he had the power to change everything, he would kill them all! So that no more victims would ever appear again! Alas, his thoughts were futile; for in the jungle of the world, might makes right and the weak are merely trampled on as playthings, cattle or insects, not even treated as humans. In his despair, he did something he swore he would never do again, not since all his parents'' friends had turned their back to his sorrowful pleas of help, not since they had colluded to steal his family, home and inheritance. He called out for help. ''Someone... Please... Anyone... Help...!!!'' His vision became clouded by red, his own blood dripped down his forehead and kept him from seeing clearly, but he still tried hard as he could to keep his eyes on the scene before him, unwillingness flooding his soul. But soon, even his wish to not take his eyes away was denied as the kicks and punches knocked him dizzy, sending his vision swimming with stars. ''No...!!!!!!!!!'' Then suddenly the kicks and blows stopped. He heard quick footsteps before 2 thuds beside him, followed by another two sounds of something smaller but heavy hitting the ground. Then in barely an instant after that, he heard a few steps then the sound of a jump; then something sharp slicing through the air, followed by two men''s cries of alarm and one girl''s cry of shock. Then two more thuds one after the other, before silence - apart from the sobbing cries of a young girl. ''No... What... What''s going on...? He fought to maintain his consciousness, but could not - he blacked out. * * * * * [Lars'' Point of View] Lars sighed. What was he doing...? At first he had felt guilty for giving the girl a silver coin, but soon he realised that the four men had accosted the two children not for the money, but for their carnal, depraved desires. Even as he was filled with relief that he was not the one who brought the calamity down on the brother-sister pair''s heads, he felt the churning of rage fill his belly, before he chided himself. ''No no no no... Lars, you will NOT get involved in every single thing that happens! Remember your mission! Remember your homeland! Remember Moira...'' He blinked when he thought of Moira. ...What would Moira want him to do...? He hesitated but for an instant, before dashing forward to launch two swift strikes at the men who were soon going to beat the boy to death. *Shing! Shing!!* As the beautiful metallic sword light slashed through the wind, two heads were separated from the bodies they had belonged to, sailing into the air before landing on the ground with a *plop* sound. Without any pause in his movements, he pivoted and leapt forward to rescue the girl before she was scarred for life. He swung the replica Brightstar in a beautiful arc, one sword and one slash shearing through the sky to judge the two sinners with their sentence: Death. Even as the bodies of the leader and his right-hand man began to topple and fall, Lars landed and wrapped Ilya up in his cloak to keep her from the blood and the sight of the dead bodies. He held the sobbing girl tight to his side, trying to comfort her. Then he half-carried half-dragged the still delirious and fearful girl over to the unconscious Anselm''s side to use healing spells on the boy, while looking around watchfully in case he had been discovered. He sighed while healing the boy with one hand and trying to calm the girl down with his other. What was he going to do with these two kids...? * * * * * [Late afternoon] In the end, he had been forced to track down Khalid and the supply wagon troupe. They had been extremely hesitant to take the children with them to the Arena as junior servants, but they had been even more fearful of the demonic slayer than they were reluctant. Finally, they agreed - though in fact, they had not dared to say a word of protest since the start. As a token of gratitude, Lars pressed 2 platinum coins into Khalid''s hands - the equivalent of 200 gold coins, or nearly a full year''s wages for a 100 wagon workers! Split among the 20 odd men... That was more than 5 years wages per person! Khalid and the other men''s eyes instantly looked like they had turned into gold coins at the sight of the great wealth before them. They were not afraid of being robbed in the city due to their esteemed status as Duke Silvan''s people, and they could easily hire far more guards with that money. And so the decision was made. The two children would follow Khalid back to the Arena for a life that was at least better than living - or more likely dying - on the streets. Lars bid goodbye to the two stunned and overwhelmed children who could not accept or process the situation before them. They had thanked him repeatedly, profusely, non-stop, to the point it became an annoyance. In fact, it had got on his nerves so much that he nearly raised his voice to ask them to shut up and stop thanking him - but he changed his mind and spoke gently when he saw the looks of fear surfacing on the two children''s faces. It was clear that the traumatic experience wouldn''t be so easily erased. Despite his saving them physically, he knew that it would take many years for them to be redeemed mentally, psychologically and emotionally. Khalid thought quickly and made some preparations; in the end it was decided that the whole troupe would not stay the night - they would make haste to leave before sundown. At this, the girl began crying to ask to say goodbye to all her precious brothers and sisters, Anselm scolded her gently, saying that they should not implicate or endanger anyone else in their escape. The quicker they went, the fewer people knew, the better. Lars was surprised at the fiery boy''s unexpected maturity and calmness in this harrowing situation, he seemed to have a good head on him as well as a caring heart for his little sister. He nodded, then turned away to leave despite the heavy feeling in his heart to see them go. He shook his head at his own silliness. Why the sentimental feelings...? He didn''t know even know them for more than a few hours, anyway! He bid farewell once more to Khalid and the kids before beginning to leave - before a small and frail frame crashed into him from behind in an embrace. He looked back and saw the beautiful and adorable blonde girl Ilya hugging his back, crying. This time it was in a far greater gratitude. In the end, she couldn''t even form the words ''Thank you'' properly due to the emotions of relief and thankfulness welling up in her heart, but he didn''t mind. He patted her on the head and gently pried her arms off, giving her a quick hug. Then he looked at Anselm, nodding to him. "Young, strong and brave man!" "Y-yes, Mr...?" The teenage boy gave him a grin, his teeth somewhat healed by Lars'' healing magics. "Take good of your sister, okay...?" "I will! And, thank you, again and again,thank you, Mr...! I''ll... We... We WILL pay you back someday! Somehow, somehow we will!" Lars smiled and quickly departed, stopping when he had turned the first corner. He shook his head as was his habit, mocking himself for his impulsiveness and tut tut-ing himself for being so soft, then smiled tenderly. He was happy. Despite his derailing of his own mission and sidetracking his objectives, he was happy. He could follow his heart, he could be true to himself - and save others where no one had come to his rescue, all those years ago. And as he carried on reminiscing and enjoying the feelings of satisfaction at helping others, he closed his eyes and let the tears of joy stream down his cheeks. He was glad that he had made it away from his acquaintances in time. He didn''t want to cry in front of others. 44 Money Isnst Everything 3 The late afternoon streets were still chock-a-block full of people, even worse than the crowd at noon-time, forcing Lars to manoeuvre around the oncoming traffic repeatedly. Many of those who began their work and tasks in the early mornings were returning at this time to do some shopping at the markets or to get a mid-afternoon drink before heading home. At one point, a group of 6 knights in light plate armour galloped past and held back the crowd to clear the way for a regal carriage to proceed smoothly. As the procession hastened by, he heard some inane but amusing chatter from a pair of men walking behind him, one tall and thin, the other short and stout. He listened in and tried not to laugh at the comical pair''s conversation. "Yo... You heard da news bout the demon goat?" "No, wazappen?" "Goat with two heads I tell ya! And it walked like a human! Creepy..." "Ya sure iz not bcuz you f***ed it? Ehhehe... Ya know yaself and how much ya love dem goats, huh!" "F*** ya in da face, Mitch! Ptui!" The shorter spat in indignance, then muttered, "I dint gone an'' f***ed *that* she-goat, no I dint..." Then after a short pause, the stout man continued on, "Did ya heard da news about da new special investigator from Danedaar...? Heard she''s a tasty, feisty one..." "Shh! Shut yer trap! Ya''ll gon get us in trouble!" There was a short pause before the taller and thinner man in the odd duo continued, "But yeh... I''d love to get me a dip into *her* honeypot... Gyihihi!" "Yeh.. I heard she only brought 1 team member... Think we could take him... And *take* her...? Ehhehehe!" ''Someone new in town...?'' He made a mental note of the change in kingdom personnel. Perhaps it would come in useful. As he continued on his roughly 1.2 km journey from his lodging to the tourist information centre, he began eaves drop in earnest, paying attention to what was on people''s minds these days. And he began to hear news. Worrying, troubling news. "The Sino 12-planets Alliance reports successful capture of a new subsidiary planet, Raituo in the Andromeda galaxy..." "Senthil claims that the wormhole discovered will provide low cost resources! Dammit! If only I''d listened to him! Stock prices will soar!" "All-Heaven Divine Empire''s Chen family invades Sakuto cluster! The Nain Industries and Chamber of Commerce''s imports from Sakuto likely face heavy disruption!" "Phew...! Glad I sold all my shares a month ago!" "What''s that? All-Heaven whatchamacallit? Never heard of them before... They must be some weak single-planet kingdom trying to strut their stuff with the name as an "Empire"! Hahaha!" "Western Nalar planets declare war on the central Nalar coalition - rumours say for newly discovered etherium mana node at planetoid WN772!" ''...What in the world...?!'' They spoke of war so casually? And this was not just war between countries, but war between worlds and planets! Was it such a common thing that no one seemed surprise, no one seemed to care beyond whether they profited from the events or not...? How could they be carrying out such matter-of-fact discussion when it involved the livelihood and survival of entire races and civilisations of people??! And... If war and planar invasions were just common-place events... Then was the invasion of Earth just another everyday occurrence...? The intruders'' foray that destroyed so many lives and scorched the earth for thousands of kilometres in every direction - was all just a simple matter of economics and expansion of territory for the perpetrators...? The immensity of this revelation found in simple gossip and rumours was too momentuous for the young man to bear. No hidden secret, no great plot, no hidden hands... No sense at all behind the invasion of Earth...?!? Just a simple game of chess on a cosmic scaled game board... He began to shiver uncontrollably in disbelief, having to will himself and force his trembling to stop. He rubbed his hands together vigorously, trying to keep himself calm and collected, to not lose his mind in such a public place and be investigated. His heart beat furiously in trepidation, with a sinking feeling at the scale of the game of war and struggle for predominance which Earth was sucked into. ...And also beating furiously with excitement. Somehow, the thought of the vast planar wars... Thrilled him...? He shook his head energetically and even used his palm to knock the sides of his cranium. What was wrong with him? He felt confused, as if though a haze or fog of slight red hue had settled around his consciousness and mind since a week ago when he had met Kizorik... But as he tried to think about it, a mind-numbing migraine hit him with great force, so painful that he stumbled and had to hold on to the nearby walls to keep himself from falling. What was going on?? Did he hit his head too hard or something? Distracted and reeling from the pain and frustrated from the annoying thoughts, he cast all the complicated thoughts aside and focused on the job at hand - to find out how to return home. * * * * He hurried over to the travel centre as quickly as he could without disrupting the traffic, as he wasn''t sure what the operating hours were. When he arrived, he saw an awe-inspiring scene. The travel centre occupied and enormous compound, spanning an incredibly large and wide area despite there being barely anyone around. He surmised that teleportation was very expensive, not too much different from the cost and complication of spell-based teleportation without the assistance of portals or formations. Looking at the width and breadth of the walkways, passages, doors and building, the design was probably to cater for large contingents such as a royal procession? Or perhaps for extra large and bulky shipments of goods? If the teleportation portal at the Arena could be taken as a standard, then the portal here in Gorun''s travel centre was large than the usual 10m tall and 8m wide, maybe 20-30% larger. That must mean that there was sufficient traffic coming through to warrant the size - further solidifying the city''s position as a very highly frequented and bustling centre of trade, the commercial hub of the entire north. He walked with brisk and lengthy steps to the entrance and politely asked the guards at front for directions if he were to speak to Mushana. The guards frowned at him as if he had said something wrong, then shrugged before they pointed him out to the far side, nearly 80m away. He bowed slightly and thanked them, then headed off. As he drew nearer, he could see a glasses-wearing woman behind a wide counter labelled "Commercial Travel Enquiries". To his dismay, she could be seen packing up already. Perhaps the portals did not function at night...? But that didn''t make sense - what if it was day-time on the other side of the world but night-time here...? Dismissing his pointless question, he quickened his pace to a jog to catch her before she left, in the hopes that the lady would be willing to address his enquiries today. He went up to the counter and coughed politely, catching the counter girl''s attention. She looked up distractedly from behind the counter where she sat and sorted through a mess of files, papers, documents and bills. Seeing his opportunity to speak, Lars quickly asked the twin pig-tailed girl if he could see Mushana, on introduction of Jazir, his friend. The girl''s eyes widened in surprise and then quickly stood up and bowed deeply with no small amount of respect. Unfortunately for her, her sudden arising upended some of her files, sending the papers scattering onto the floor. Despite her obvious expression of chagrin at the extra filing work before her, she did not show even a hint of impoliteness or annoyance as she maintained her bow and asked her to wait for a short while. Then she turned around and entered a door behind the counter, presumably to fetch Mushana. Lars, still in disguise and looking like a ruffian, waited at the counter patiently, It was only after about 5 minutes that a wiry thin man in voluminous robes came out to meet him. He had on his chest a nametag that read, "Senior Manager Mushana" - clearly he was one of the higher-ups in charge here! Jazir''s introduction really was valuable! 45 Money Isnst Everything 4 [At the hilly and sparsely wooded area where the bandits were massacred] A group of nearly 200 riders were gathered at the site of the battle. Around 95% of them were dismounted and readying to setup camp at a distance away from where the carnage and decomposing bodies still lay rotting. Despite the dreadful stench, the men merely held their breath slightly when too near a corpse. Each and every one of the cloaked and hooded bandits were veteran warriors who had seen many appalling sights in their lives. However, they were still shaken by the spectacle before them. It would not be so disturbing if there were some signs of struggle such as drawn and bloodied weapons, crumpled clothes or remnants of their enemies'' blood. No marks on blades, no nicks, no torn clothes left behind from a scuffle. It also would not be so disturbing if any of the men were in a fighting stance, whether offensive or defensive. None such was seen; each and every one appeared to have been fleeing for their lives. And it would be less disturbing if not for every single man - except Raghu - dying from a single smooth pierce of a sword. From the wounds, it looked to be the exact same sword taking the life of all the deceased. Snake Spear Lust, their most proficient tracker, held her head in her hands, desperately trying to envision how the battle had played out. But she could not. The only thing she could glean from the evidence would be that the bandits faced either a Grandmaster Assassin or a similarly powerful Mage. Their leader, Sand Crab Byrus knelt down beside Raghu''s cold and decaying body. He ignored the pungent smell of death and the accompanying sour decaying taste that filled his mouth from the close proximity, then he touched the already dried blood and rotting corpse. As a sign of his devotion to his fallen brother, he then raised the last vestiges of human body fluids to his mouth, decisively licking at the dried blood and swallowing. "Brother..." He stood up, a fire raging in his heart and his eyes flashing with vengeance. "I shall avenge you!" He turned and laid his cold-yet-smouldering gaze on Lust, his intent and question clear without words. The Snake Spear King gaze a terse and succinct report, "From the directions of the wagon tracks and the hoof marks of the Sar''peh, the group came from the Arena of Valour. From the marks of the wheels on the road, they should have already covered the distance and arrived at Gorun city this morning." "We ride through the evening. I''ll give you 5 minutes to prepare. We will reach Gorun in 3 days..." Then he swept his gaze over his men, causing whoever his vision passed over to shiver and tremble involuntarily at the overflowing killing intent found within. The roughly 1.9 metre tall Lord Sand Crab then walked lightly over, belying the hulking weight of the thick wyvern-plate armour that gave him his names'' sake, then mounted his Sar''peh in one smooth movement. He trotted off to wait in the south-eastern edge of the clearing, clearly impatient and more than willing to let his hands taste the blood of any stragglers to soothe his simmering fury. As the men scrambled to pack and repack whatever they had taken out and frantically readied themselves to set off once more, Byrus gazed into the distant horizon in the exact direction of his prey''s destination. ''Gorun city huh... I''ll have to call on my master for a favour to sniff out the rat who dared kill my men... And my brother...'' The Grandmaster realm powerhouse sat as straight as a sword on his Sar''peh, raring and ready to go to exact his vengeance. The most curious thing was that he looked exactly like the disguised form of Lars. * * * * * "Earth...? I''m sorry, I really have not heard of this name before. But the All-Heaven Divine Empire I have heard of! Please excuse me while I... Yes..." Lars was standing before a considerably older man, though one whose hair was still mostly black. He stood before a service counter as he asked the man about hi home planet, Earth. The mild-mannered man then dug through some files under the counter, searching around in the drawers and taking out one folder after another. He would then pore through the contents of the folder, squinting every now and then before shaking his head in disappointment, then rustling through the cabinets and drawers once again. Despite feeling an itch in his throat at the dust and nearly coughing, Lars felt a pleasant and homely sensation. The musty smell of old paper felt nostalgic and quite... Pleasant, reminding him of his days in the Ipoh central library, one of his only places to hide away from the realities and cruelties of life. Then after nearly 20 minutes of determined searching, on the 28th file, Mushana exclaimed softly in happiness. "Yes! Finally, finally, yes! I''ve found it! I knew I had laid eyes on this in my files before, I was pretty sure I''d heard the name once, long ago." He blew the dust off the file in his hands and turned it over to give Lars a look. The young mage was very impressed with how helpful the Senior Manager had been; it was obvious that Jazir must be a close friend to elicit such a great and helpful response from such a highly placed manager! He nodded as he read the title of the file: "Rocco Clan trade partners revision VII". He looked up at the older man who nodded enthusiastically and explained, "Indeed there is a teleportation channel available to the All-Heaven Divine Empire''s Planet South Heaven; it is controlled by the Rocco clan." "Unfortunately, the Rocco clan are located on other side of the hemisphere, across two oceans and an entire continent! Fortunately for you, it *is* possible to teleport from Gorun directly to Raccoon city! Just... It''s going to cost a hefty sum to go so far..." He then pulled out a nearly 50 cm tall and 2 cm thick brochure labelled "Travel Cost & Schedule", flipping through it speedily then stopping somewhere near the end of the catalogue. Continuing on without needing to hear Lars'' response, the experienced manager explained the upcoming schedule and cost of traveling. "18,000 platinum coins for a one way special journey, or else the next scheduled trip with the cost shared will be in... 9 months. There''s a large group of traders that have a time-critical shipment then. If you join them, you''ll probably only have to cover about 800 to 900 platinum!" Seeing Lars stunned expression and gaping, wide-open mouth, the kindly older man furrowed his brows in thought, stroking the wispy beard on his chin. "Well... There *is* another way if you can''t afford to pay or to wait..." A hopeful look flashed across the young mage''s face at those words, "Really...? Is there another way to use the portal...?" "Yes; yes!" Mushana smiled kindly and explained, "You just need to get permission from the de Caldis family! They''re the ones in charge here in Gorun; all you need is the order to come from the Northpoint Duke Leanne de Caldis and you''ll get to use the portal for absolutely no charge at all! Of course, that''s usually even harder than gathering those coins; you''d need great merit *and* be a high noble to get such a favour!" "As hard as that sounds, there''s no need to despair my friend! You *could* distinguish yourself if you''re lucky. Lucky and skillful enough! In four day''s time, there''ll be recruitment competition for the Duke''s private guards. Mayhaps you could stand out at that time and find employ with the esteemed Northpoint Duke!" ''A duke, huh...? Same as Duke Silvan...?'' He nodded, contemplating his choices, then thanked the very kind and very helpful government official. "Well, my friend, if Jazir sent you, surely you''ve done him a big favour. If you see him anytime soon, tell him he owes me a drink! Haha!" With that, the eccentric but incredibly helpful gentleman returned to his own work, disappearing into the door he had emerged from. For the umpteenth time today, Lars sighed. Looking at the money he had, even if he had not given anyway, he would still be impossibly far away from collecting 18,000 platinum coins. He left and headed back to his lodgings; to change and then look for a way to earn money and plan for the next day before the sunset. Looked like despite the old adage saying it wasn''t true, money was still everything... 46 Newbie [Early evening - after returning and removing his disguise] From what he understood, the guild offices were open through the night, catering for some mercenaries, adventurers or hunters who brought in their bounties even at odd hours - or those who only operated in the night taking on shady jobs! ''Hmm... Which of the three should I choose...? I guess adventurer or hunter? Since their offices are shared and the missions are posted in the same place...'' He thought about it for a while, then decided that between being an adventurer, mercenary or hunter, the best choice would be to become a solo hunter. ''It''s better if I move alone so that no one will discover any of my secrets... And that will also let me keep the lion''s share of the rewards too.'' In comparison, an adventurer or mercenary would most likely take on jobs as a group, sometimes even being engaged for large-scale monster subjugations or dungeon exploration expeditions. Despite the higher average pay, it also entailed a longer time spent on doing jobs as he would be slowed down by the much weaker members. As such, he decided to head for the hunters'' guild. Anyway, if the hunter jobs available weren''t suitable, the adventurers'' jobs would be posted inside since they shared the same building, just on another board. And if that too didn''t work out, he could always just pop in to the mercenaries'' guild right next door! He walked through the broad streets and the many people heading home for dinner or a rest, and could see a large clearing in front - a city square where the largest blacksmiths, sundry stores and equipment retailers could be found, as well as the four major guilds of the city - the questers'' guilds, comprised of hunters, adventurers and mercenaries; the alchemists'' guild, the magicians'' guild and the craftsmens'' guild. He was not surprised at the large number of people still crowding around the adventures'' and hunters'' shared premises and also at the mercenaries'' guild''s entrance; even at this evening hour near dinner-time, there was a whole throng of them bustling in and out of the wide and tall double doors of the building. Most of the questers looked to be locals with tan skin, bushy moustaches or beards and wearing the traditional local garb passed down for generations, a desert rider''s yellow-brown clothing with a white or grey head-wrap to block out dust and the sun. From his observation, the composition of questers at this time was about 60% men and 40% women. Apart from the human locals, there was a smattering of peoples of other races such as beastmen, half-beastmen, elves, dwarves, tieflings and various other species. Despite the obvious dislike the questers of each race had for the others, they generally minded their own business and stayed civil. Probably because of the numerous city and guild guards scattered along the streets around the large city square. He patiently jostled in past the other people and soon made it through the door and saw a cavernous large main hall with 9 help counters, though of these 8, only 5 were still open. He shuffled up in the queue to a greeter''s counter where a 2.5 metre tall and heavily muscled beastman stood, handing out queue numbers. Just this titanic greeter alone would be a great deterrent against trouble, apart from the various guild-workers who looked like they could take care of themselves and a few city guards standing or seated at strategic locations! It finally came to his turn. "Purpose of visiting?" The beastman spoke with clear diction, seeming to have a classy urban accent, obviously born and bred in a big city like Gorun. Despite being cordial and polite, the beastman seemed to be rather ornery as his neutral expression already seemed like he would devour whoever he was looking at. "First time registration as a quester." Lars smiled up at the towering greeter as he spoke; he had to crane his neck to look at the beastman''s face! The greeter nodded perfunctorily and handed him a queue number - #0364. To have the need for 4 digits on their queue numbers... That was impressive level of traffic to have here! "Thank you, sir." Lars nodded back and smiled, drawing a slight tightening of the beastman''s lips in response, before he waved Lars on and said, "Next!". Lars looked around and saw a few simple crystal magic displays hanging from the pillars showing the queue number currently being served and which counter to go to. It currently showed #0359. With 5 counters open... It should be his turn soon. He glanced around and saw that there weren''t actually many people waiting for their turns at the counter; most of them were sitting around at the guild cafe Starbolts or just standing around chatting. Another portion were peering at the bulletin board or job postings which were segregated by the many ranks of questers. There was 1 bulletin board and 5 job posting boards, each one roughly 2 metres wide and 3 metres tall hanging from nearly the ceiling down to about waist height for an average man. The job posting boards were nearly full for the lower ranks but gradually grew sparser as the ranks moved up. The ranking system for questers was uniform across all 3 of the major bodies, in order from highest to lowest: Divine 15,000,000 QP (Quest Points to reach this level) Semi-divine 6,250,000 QP Mythical 2,000,000 QP Adamantine 750,000 QP Mythril 325,000 QP Orihalcum 125,000 QP Gold 50,000 QP Silver 20,000 QP Bronze 8,000 QP Wood (Starting point for all questers) He tried to look at the jobs available and saw that each quest in their separate section of the board had 5 areas of information: The name of quest, the quest awarder, the description, the reward and the danger level assigned by the guild. The danger level was broken down by grades, going from a G-grade meaning "easy within the level" to B meaning "only for the most skillful of questers in this rank". The maximum danger level of A-grade gave the implication that even the best of the best in that category of quester might not even come back with their lives. However, there were a few lines of text printed at the top of each of the job posting boards that made Lars frown: -A quester may only take jobs of a particular danger level if they have already completed at least 3 jobs of the previous grade e.g. to take jobs of E-grade danger level, a quester would have to complete 3 jobs of F-grade. -A quester may only advance to the next rank if they have completed at least 3 C-grade quests of the previous rank e.g. to advance to the Bronze rank, a quester needs to complete 3 C-grade Wood quests. ''That rule... Won''t it slow me down greatly? If I start at the bottom and work my way up to reach Adamantine, equivalent to my Legendary-level, I''ll need to complete...'' He began to calculate with his abnormally quick mind, finishing in less than a second, ''...90 quests...? Even at 1 quest a day, that would take 3 whole months??? Phew...'' Nevertheless, Lars decided to register anyway and see if there was a way around the restrictions. Otherwise, he would just have to breeze through the low-rank and low-grade jobs as quickly as he could... If he had to, he would just have to demonstrate a slight glimpse of his city-conquering powers. Just enough to avoid the irritating low-level jobs. And once he understood the capabilities of the powerhouses in this city, he could just establish himself as the new kid on the block with his Legendary-realm abilities. * * * * * "#364 - Counter 6. #364 - Counter 6. #364..." He heard an annoying announcement calling his number and went up to counter 6. "Good evening~! How may I help you, handsome...?" The person manning the counter was a cute and beautiful pony-tailed brunette; smiling pleasantly at him. The horse-woman was not too tall, only about 1.9 metres tall while sitting. This helped Lars not to have to crane his neck and end up having neck-ache while talking to the glasses-wearing girl - he assumed it was a girl and not a woman from the way she spoke, but was not too confident when it came to the beast-race. "First time registration as a quester, please." "Alright sir~! Please fill in your details here, then we''ll do a simple test of capabilities to make sure you can take care of yourself out there. We wouldn''t you to get... Hurt, you know... Ehheheh!" The cute girl (he assumed she would be cute according to horse-people''s standards) giggle and punched him on the arm lightly, turning his arm numb from her immense strength. Lars gulped, trying to ignore the fact that the counter-girl was obviously hitting on him (and hitting him), then quickly filled up the form while she did some admin work. He filled in his name, age, a fake birth location and address and when it came to abilities, he wrote "beginner Elite-level". He was confident that even with his sealed Adept-level capabilities, his skills in combat and swordsmanship should let him easily fight at the level of a common Elite combatant. He handed the form back to the counter lady who winked at him suggestively, then waited as she placed the registration card into a scanner. "Please look into the magic painter lens and smile, sir!" He looked at the device that looked very much like a camera and did as he was told. As the magic painter lens flashed and clicked just like a camera would, the scanner glowed blue with the light of mana and then the screen before the horse-girl lit up, showing the details he had entered along with the picture he had just taken. The only part that was not complete was where he had entered his cultivation realm - it said "Elite-level - unverified". "Sir, you''ll need to verify your levels? Please take this card to the room on the far right and knock on the door labelled "abilities test". Once you''re done there, you can complete your registration here at the front desk. Make sure you come back to me, ''kay...?" She winked at him again and blew a kiss at him, which he avoided by leaning aside. Her face stiffened a little when she saw that but she kept a hopeful smile plastered on her face as she handed him the form and "accidentally" brushed his hand while passing it over, causing uncomfortable goosebumps to rise on Lars'' skin. He thanked her and hurriedly walked away while pulling up the hood of his cloak, stepping towards the direction she had indicated. "Hey! New boy! Yeah, you!" He heard a commotion in the resting area and saw a man wearing an eye-patch and 2 burly men surround a newbie who looked barely 15 years old. Despite being probably the same age as Lars, he was nowhere nearly as mature and did not have the air of confidence that the trained assassin had, an aura that made him seem like a seasoned veteran. On top of that, the kid''s naive and innocent face made him stand out as an easy target, tender and tasty. Of the three thugs, one was tall, one short one and the last average height one wore a black eye-patch. He sighed as he turned away to ignore the cliched newbie bullying that he knew was coming. "Don''t you know the rules around here...? We here, your seniors, will show you the ropes and teach you about questing! A green-horn like you might not know, but we''re pretty big around here, eh boys?" "Yea!" "You tell him, boss!" The tall and short one agreed enthusiastically, then the shorter one stepped up in front and said, "The boss is already a B-grade Wood rank quester, B-grade okay! He''s a downright veteran of questing, eh?" Lars paused, not sure whether that was meant to be a question or a statement and kept quiet, bemused. Then after a moment, he decided to continue on with his ability test. Then their tanned, half-blind leader pushed his lackey aside and half-shouted, half-spat in the wimpy kid''s face; "All you need to do is pay us, say... 5 gold coins each and we''ll help you out in your quests! Oh, but if you don''t have enough cash, don''t worry! We''ll just take your first dozen mission earnings, right boys?" With that, the other two bullies laughed uproariously as if what their boss had said was very funny. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! P-please... I c-can''t afford, can''t survive... My sick father..." As they stepped up around him to close off his paths of retreat, the boy bowed his head and kept on apologising. The boss lowered his head down to take a peek at the newbie''s face, then his face turned from a scowl to one of amazement; then one of lascivious lust. "Pretty boy, aren''t you... Well... I''ll forgive you this one time; we''ll teach you for free! Starting from tonight, in the big boss'' room... I''m sure he''ll enjoy this gift very much, right guys? Hahahah!" He raised his eyebrows suggestively as a perverted smile crossed his face, laughing together with his men. "No... No! Please, please no! Someone, p-please help!" The blonde boy tried to resist and escape but was grabbed from either side and picked up forcibly and dragged away screaming. Lars frowned at the debacle before him then looked around, curious as to why none of the guards or other questers stepped in to intervene. They stood or sat silently, looking fearful of taking action; perhaps fearful of the big boss the hooligans spoke of. He sighed and frowned. Regardless of how big their backers were, he wouldn''t just stand on the sidelines and let a kid his age be destroyed! Then he smiled. He guessed he could teach these "kids" a lesson on behalf of the many more newbies to come... And find out what was wrong with this city and nation - there were far too many perverts! He would have to get to the bottom of this... No pun intended. 47 Confused, Conflicted "Ahem. Excuse me, gentlemen." Lars coughed and spoke with a voice that was neither loud nor soft. Suddenly the entire room went quiet. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, or even the sound of a paper fluttering through the air to fall to the ground. It was so quiet that you would wonder if everyone had just stopped breathing out of shock and fear. Not because of the power of the three bullies, no. They were only lackeys. No, it was because of the clout and status of their backers. And so the entire guild common hall went silent with a hushed, repressed atmosphere. The astonished crowds looked on and waited to see if there would be a good show to watch. Even the newbie who was in the midst of being dragged away forgot to struggle, so shocked was he that someone had actually responded to his cries for help! He looked up, desperately trying to peer over the shoulders of his captors to see which grand hero or noble young master it was who had stood up for him. His face shone with the radiance of a damsel in distress rescued by a knight in shining armour, blushing and shy, panting slightly in excitement. Then his face fell, filled with disappointment even lower than his previous state of anguish. It was an unranked, ungraded newbie, just like him. His body visibly slumped into the arms of the two henchmen as the eye-patch wearing boss marched up to Lars to check out who had dared to challenge their reign of terror! He stood before the boy who was about his height, examining his face and noticing that he had no badge of rank. But as he looked him over, despite the youth''s look of maturity, the boy was probably only 15-16 years old - no different from their captive! Then he began to grow nervous. What if this boy was also some high ranking scion from one of the four great families? Otherwise, how would this young pup dare to butt in on the Trenel family''s business?! He grunted and asked gingerly, "You... Sir, you... I''m representing the great House of Trenel here. You''re interrupting our official business as requested by Leocadius Trenel, 3rd son of the great Earl Trenel!" But when he saw Lars just continue to look at him with a nonchalant smile, he began to lose confidence. Was he facing a high ranked descendant of those noble houses...? ''I-I''d better check just to be sure...'' He asked Lars, "...Sir, erm... Are you from the Estreya family...?" Lars shook his head, "No, I am not from the Estreya family." The ruffian frowned and raised his right eyebrow, racking his brain for just who this young man could be working for to be so brave to butt his nose in to the Master''s business. He leaned in to take a closer look, then spoke, "I don''t suppose you''re from the House of Sarouneh, are you...?" Lars shook his head once more, "No, I''m not." His curiosity piqued even more, he questioned, "Are you a lesser known scion of the Jamal family, then...?" Lars shrugged, then said, "Haven''t heard of them," which drew many shocked gasps from the onlookers; how was it possible for anyone not to know the Jamal family who were among the four great houses of Gorun!?? But his answer terrified the eye-patch wearing man. The buff but average-height man stumbled backwards and reeled in shock as if though someone had punched him in the stomach. His face turned pale and he grasped the edges of his tunic tightly in his fingers, trembling ever so slightly, crumpling the rough fabric in his hands. He could taste the salty cold sweat that dripped down his forehead in a deluge, and felt like the walls were shrinking and closing in on him. He shakily fell to his knees and bowed his head to the ground, his forehead hitting the floor with a *thud* sound. "S-sir... My lord-- No, your grace... I, we meant no disrespect." He quickly crawled nearer, face still to the ground as he spoke, then began to hold the young mage''s boots as he begged for mercy. "!?!????" Lars was shocked and stumped - what was going on? He was here to pick a fight but before he could do anything, the bad guys started begging for mercy? He hasn''t even had the chance to make a threat! "We didn''t know the boy belongs to your grace''s esteemed family of aristocrats; we dare not, dare not to incur your wrath..." Then his head tilted up to look at a bemused Lars who did not know what the hell was happening. "Lord, y-your grace, Sir de Caldis... Could you p-p-please forgive these ignorant ants of our rudeness...?" The eye-patch man was nearly crying as he pleaded at Lars feet, making him unsure where to laugh or to cry. As he was completely focused on his begging for mercy, he didn''t notice the crowds bemused murmurs: "Doesn''t the Duke only have one daughter?" "Yeah, that''s the whole reason for the tournament right...?" And so the crowds could only unanimously conclude one thing: What an idiot the eyepatch man in front of them was... ''Ahhh! So that''s it!'' Lars clapped his hands together as he realised what misunderstanding and confusion had just occurred. They must have thought he too is a young master! And since he wasn''t from any of the four families, then the man had assumed he must be from the Duke''s household! And so he didn''t bother to correct the slobbering buffoon, and merely kicked him in the mouth, sending his two front teeth flying perfectly at the two stunned henchmen, drawing a cry of pain from both as they finally came to their senses and hurriedly let go of the newbie. "Get lost! Don''t let me soon you ever again!" Lars sternly warned them with a voice as gruff and haughty as he could make; hopefully he sounded at least something like a rich young lord of the city! The man whose two front teeth had just been knocked out clutched his bleeding mouth but did not show any resentment, instead he had a joyous look of relief and gratefulness, thanking Lars profusely, once more making him wonder whether to laugh or to cry. "S-s-s-sir!! Your grace!! Thank you for your kindness, your mercy, your generosity! I, Masra the brave, will never forget your graciousness for the rest of my life!" In an instant, the man had once again crawled over on his hands and knees and clutched Lars'' boots and legs tightly, weeping in gratitude and staining his black leather pants with blood, snot and tears! Grimacing in disgust, Lars pushed his head roughly and sent the man rolling away, then shouted, "Didn''t I already say to get lost! Don''t let me see you again or I''ll ask my father the Duke to execute an entire 9 generations of your family!" "W-w-we don''t dare; don''t dare! W-w-w-we''re leaving now! Leaving!! Thank you, your grace!!!" Their voices trailed off as they literally vanished before his eyes, the man dragging away his two lackeys who were still half-confused and rubbing their faces in pain where the teeth had hit them. In an instant, they were gone, leaving a confused but thankful newbie and a silent crowd. Then Lars ignored them and turned around to get his ability test done. He had wasted too much time already. But before he could go, he heard the thump of quick footsteps rushing up to him, and turned around, ready to draw his sword to strike down his ambusher. But to his surprise, it *was* an ambush, just not of the kind he had expected. The moment he turned, he came face to face with the golden-haired, red-faced newbie with glittering, limpid eyes and a soft complexion, slim and delicate though tall. The newbie lunged at him in an all-out hug, embracing him tightly in an extremely inappropriate way, causing Lars to freeze in shock greater than any he had ever experienced before. As the newbie pressed against his chest in embrace, the tied up hair came undone, revealing long, flowing and luxurious golden tresses of hair. Stunned, he could only watch in horror as the newbie blushed an even deeper red as his/ her chest was uncharacteristically pillowy despite looking flat like a boy''s. Along with that, the youth''s hair smelled fresh and sweet, like the scent of spring flowers blooming by the river-side, as his/ her arms were leaning against Lars'' chest. The tender young teenager looked up at him with half-closed eyes and shyly said, "Thank you... My hero... I''m yours now... I don''t have any money but I''ll -- I''ll..." Then the killer blow came, the blushing youth looked away, turned completely red and blushed furiously, then with closed eyes shouted loudly enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear, "I''ll repay you with my body!" Stunned, Lars barely managed to stutter out a few words subconsciously, asking, "Y-you''re... You''re a girl dressed up as a boy, right...?" Then the newbie looked up at him once more and said, "I can be whatever you want me to be..." Lars felt explosions being set off in his mind and a great sense of crisis, his instincts for danger firing panic alarms - but it was too late. The trap flung his/ her arms around Lars'' neck and kissed him with soft, warm lips, sticking a small tongue into the mage''s mouth, then pulled back and said gingerly... "...No homo..." Lars felt like someone had shot him in the head or kicked him in the gut; he heard the sound of glass shattering in his ears, as well as the hysterical laughter of a certain demon penguin in his mind somewhere. Absurdly, even as his heart ruptured and exploded in horror, Lars tasted watermelon... "AAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Lars broke the trap''s grip around his neck then flung him away as he erupted with aversion, nausea and was about to throw up from the soiling of his lips and the twisting of his sexual orientation. He roared in terror as he pushed the trap away in fury and ran, crying and yelling, "What the f***?!? Who taught you such revolting things to say?!? Boo hoo, my first kiss saved for Moira is gone...!!! Gone!!!" He ran into the ability test room and slammed the door behind him, scarred forever, leaving a clueless teenage boy and a crowd of questers with mixed reactions; some looking like they would retch while others raised their eyebrows in approval. And as a weeping Lars fell to his hands and knees in anguish at his desecrated mouth and purity, he hit his heart and head repeatedly, trying to drive away the conflicted feelings he was having towards the trap. Then his eyes began to turn red with rage and fury. There was definitely something wrong with this city. And he promised, vowed and swore; he would burn this whole city down if it tried to corrupt him too! 48 Arrogant Young Masters Need To Be Taught A Lesson Lars'' made sure that the door behind him was jammed, pushing some drawers and cabinets against the door so the trap could not sneakily follow behind him. Then he breathed in deeply several times in an attempt to compose himself before steadying his gaze and heading down the corridor. He kept his eyes open for the right room and went past a couple of doors before he saw one a passage with a staircase heading down with the correct label above it: "Ability Testing Area". He made his way carefully down the moderately-lit zig-zag staircase, feeling like he descended about 30 metres below the ground. He raised his eyebrows in appreciation; the guild had to be really big and rich to have such an immense compound both in terms of height, width, breadth and even underground depth! It did make sense, though - oftentimes high-levelled applicants or experienced questers would need a large enough area for taking tests or even just practising their skills. It would make sense for the guild to provide either a free training area as a benefit to members, or else to charge a fee for the use of their facilities. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, he saw a large pair of double doors which were slightly ajar. Inside, he could see a well-lit and immense training area complete with training dummies, a respectably large 30 metre in radius sparring ring and various other equipment. Lars felt curious; despite the apparently poor diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of the Sands and the Beastman Tribes to the North, the guild staff so far were entirely made up of beastmen! Perhaps it was due to the preference of the local guild head here... When he pushed open the double doors, he saw some other people were already training; punching or kicking the training dummies and using the equipment under the watchful eye of a few stern-looking beastmen, presumably questers or quester-applicants being tested by guild personnel. "Yes...? Are you here for as an applicant or to upgrade your ranking? I''m Natiro, by the way." A scholarly looking middle-aged elf sat behind a counter by the entrance, the first non-beastman that Lars saw working here. Based on his appearance and the voluminous shelves behind the elf, he looked to be the officer in charge of registration and administrative duties at the testing area. Lars passed the forms over to the elf for him to read through. After glancing through the contents in less than 10 seconds, Natiro said, "Wait a moment; I''ll get a staff member to test you. Please stay put; non-members are not allowed to use any equipment except under the supervision of a staff member." Then the elf stood up and walked away to one of the watching instructors and spoke to him briefly. The instructor looked to be a quarter; that is, the child of a half beastman and a full human. From his outward appearances and large stature, he was most likely a quarter bearman. The elf walked back with the accompanying instructor who introduced himself as Beryl. His fierce gaze warned Lars not to laugh or make fun of his name that was "bear"-y fitting for a bearman. At the same time, the bearman fixed a derisive and derogatory look on Lars out of the corners of his eyes, as if saying, "Who do you think you are to try for Silver-rank??". "Follow me, I''ll be doing your test personally." The quarter beastman walked in front and headed to one of the unoccupied sparring rings. At the sound of those words, the many sounds of the trainees all around grew hushed; some of them stopped whatever they were doing and began to gather round, whispering to one another. "Psst... Beryl''s at it again..." "What?? When are they going to stop him? He''s been thrashing all the new applicants for years now!" "Yeah, ever since his wife left him he--" "Shhh, he''ll hear us!" One trainee hushed his friend - just in time, for Beryl sent a murderous gaze over, shooting daggers with his eyes as he looked for who had just touched on his sore point. "Who is that kid? Some rich young master?" "Dunno, never seen him before... But he must be some foreign rich young master to be so arrogant..." "Beryl doesn''t care anyway! Haha!" "Did you hear? The little wimp asked for Silver-grade directly!" "What?? Who does he think he is? A legendary hero in disguise?" These words drew loud guffaws from the crowds and all those standing nearby. "Hahahah! Come on! Show us a miracle - if you can!" Hysterical laughter followed each line of words that came shooting out quickly one after another. But the legendary mage just shrugged. Sticks and stones could break his bones, but words would never hurt him! Later, the speaker would regret his foolish words - he had no idea just how right he was, and how big of a miracle they were about to see. Very quickly, the young mage Lars and the quarter bearman were both standing in a 30 metre-radius sparring circle. By now, more than three-quarters of the people present were standing outside the circle, eager to see another wannabe-hero get some senses knocked into him. The aggressive bearman instructor then cracked his knuckles and beckoned for Lars to start. The young mage who was now disguised as an Adept-level Magic Swordsman blinked twice, then asked, "With or without my sword?" The beastman smiled mockingly and answered, "It won''t make a difference. Come, I''ll suppress my strength down to the peak of Bronze-rank, or equivalent to the Adept-level. And if you can beat me, you''ll get your Silver-rank badge, haha!" The laugh demonstrated the quarter bearman''s thoughts about the teenager''s chances - it was impossible! And those words triggered a fresh round of harsh laughter and insults. "Ehehhehe! Try your best not to piss in your pants, hero boy! If you do, don''t worry! I''ll buy them from you - here, I have a skirt you can wear instead!" "Ooh ooh, save me hero boy, I''m stuck in a tree...!" "My hero! My hero! I''m a damsel in distress needing your kiss!" The disgusting mockers made smooching sounds as they made fun of him. Lars once more ignored the words of the fools around him; then his eyes widened at the cocky words from the Master-level instructor. They did make sense though, the beastman did have the right to be confident against a mere Adept-level applicant who was trying out for a Silver-rank. His derisive expression and speech were also suited, as it was over-reaching oneself for an Adept-level to try for a rank above his own capabilities... And he *was* nearly 2.8 metres tall, hulking more than triple the testee''s mass... At least it would have made sense if the applicant were not Lars. Shrugging, the young man unhooked his weapon from his belt, then hefted his sword without removing it from its scabbard. This time it was the guild staff''s turn to raise his brows - but he just huffed in disappointment. Then he shot forward at a blinding speed, drawing roars of admiration and cheers from the crowd. Beryl smiled; he guessed he would just need to knock some sense into the arrogant boy''s head. Or so he thought he would. As he dashed forward, he expected the kid who looked fresh out of training before him to panic and fail to respond to his sudden movement. Instead, Lars stretched out his sword directly in front of him, creating a natural barrier that the taller and larger beastman had to cross. Inexplicably, despite using strength far above the boy''s mid-Adept-level abilities, Beryl felt slightly threatened! ''Hmmph! Rubbish! What could a piece of overly proud trash do against me?! Just another arrogant young master who doesn''t know how big the world is and how fragile he is! It doesn''t matter how rich or talented you think you are, in front of hard work and discipline, you are nothing! So what if you''re some big family''s descendant? I''ll show you not to look down on us working class people, the true ones who make this nation great!'' "I''m sorry kid!" As he drew close, he shouted wildly at Lars. "You can only blame yourself for being too weak, a worthless little pansy flower in the soft nobles'' sheltered gardens!" Scoffing at himself for feeling danger from the frail boy before him, he dismissed the sense of threat as just over-active imagination. Then Beryl pivoted and stepped around the boy''s guard, launching a savage left hook to knock him out and flying in a single blow! He watched carefully, waiting to see how the boy would react - but was disappointed. The testee did not even bat an eyelid or budge an inch, much less dodge or counter-attack! Sighing, he thought to himself in that split-second, ''Hah! I thought too highly of you! You can''t even see my move, much less react!'' But in the next moment, quicker than Beryl could even see, Lars sheathed blade painted a magnificent arc through the air and brushed the bearman in the chin. And before he knew it, he was lying flat on the ground, staring up at the ceiling from where he was floored in a single unfathomable move. Silence blanketed the training grounds. The only remaining noises were the creaking sounds of the training dummies as they bobbed and swayed; obviously, the joints needed some oil. Then there was an "Oof!" sound and a thump as one of the trainees was hit in the face by the still-moving equipment in front of him, ending up knocked to the ground unconscious. Every single person present was dumbstruck, absolutely clueless as to what had just happened. How could a fresh and green unranked, unbadged testee knock down the hell-bear Beryl? That was impossible, everyone knew that fact! It was even more impossible for a middling Adept-level applicant to take down the veteran instructor known for his penchant of making the tests impossibly hard! And from his movements earlier, he hadn''t even been holding back in terms of skills, movements or abilities; merely suppressing his strength and speed down to the peak of Adept-level! But the fact stared them in the face and showed them that there was always a mountain above the mountains, a sky above the skies. The young boy stood, casually victorious in a relaxed position, sword back at his belt; while the Master-level instructor was lying flat on the floor, defeated. And the quarter bearman was the most confused of them all. ''W-what... What???'' Beryl tried to get up groggily and managed to stand up after stumbling and falling several times. Finally, he steadied himself with his hands on his knees, shooting out killing intent as he tried to analyse the move that had knocked him down instantly. Cold sweat broke out all over his body, trembling slightly as he released the seals on his power, quickly rising up to the peak of the Master-level. "B-Beryl, what are you--" But the instructor just ignored the voice of the elf administrator calling out to him and raised his beast aura, enveloping himself in blood energy and mana to harden his skin and strengthen his muscles, growing a full size as his body bulged with power. The ground around them began to tremor slightly as a light brown glow suffused their surroundings, originating from the Master-level practitioner''s earth elemental mana. As he was raising his capabilities to the max to face this inscrutable opponent, he was just about to blast forward with the incredible mass and hardness of his earth-type attacks when he heard a piercing voice strike through his ears, shaking his consciousness and disrupting his mana circulation. "BERYL!!! STOP THIS INSTANT! You''ve already lost! What are you doing? Don''t you know the rules?!" Natiro shouted out powerfully, dispelling the bearman''s collected battle aura completely. Like a cold bucket of water splashed over his head, Beryl lost his focus, dazzled and in a daze, then lost all his fighting intent as he slumped to the floor on his knees, defeated. He had lost to a kid less than half his age even while using power greater than his middle Adept level cultivation. He didn''t even know where to hide his shameful face, covering his head with his large lightly-furred hands. "Erm... Mr Beryl...? Can I have my badge now? I''ve passed the test right...? Since I, like, already beat you..." Beryl''s face turned pallid, shaking and furiously embarrassed. He began to turn a variety of colours, white and red mixed, then even slightly green with rage. But left without a choice before his Grandmaster-level superior, and needing to preserve his dignity as an employee of the guild, he angrily got up and trudged over to complete the boy''s application forms. But when he saw the stunned audience still staring at him, he roared in anger, "AND WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME? WANNA HAVE A GO IN THE RING, HUH???" His aggressive roar scattered the now frantic crowd who were all suddenly incredibly busy with something or the other. All of their faces burned in shame; none of them dared to even look at the boy who had just smacked all their faces with a resounding slap! they felt like they had swallowed a fly or fallen into the outhouse hole after using it, so embarrassed were they! They quickly hid their faces, turning away or fleeing the area - they would even rather eat shit than let him recognise them as the mockers who were forced to swallow their haughty claims and make fools of themselves. But among them, there were yet others who seethed with indignance at the humiliation and swore to get revenge on the overweeningly proud boy; preparing plots and schemes to destroy him! Beryl was one of them. ''Damn you, arrogant little p*ssy! F***ing big-headed young master! I''ll get you yet, just you wait!'' The bearman cursed as he was forced out of his reverie, forced to eat humble pie and shame himself further as he unwillingly and grudging awarded Lars his well-deserved Silver-rank badge. And as the boy left, satisfied that he had gotten his badge and also satisfied that he had truly gleaned some amazing sword skills from the inheritance of Draken Blacksword, the quarter beastman plotted evil in his unrepentant, black, black heart. He swore to himself to make the boy''s life a living hell as he planned all sorts of schemes that would definitely destroy the boys'' life and bring him grovelling back begging for mercy. Then imagined how he would enjoy it when he would then arrogantly stomp on the arrogant little prick''s head and smash him into the ground, never to rise again. Beryl smiled in satisfaction. Yes, he would enjoy that very much. Or so he thought he would. 49 First Ques Lars left the ability test area and training grounds, he infused his mana into the silver badge he had been given to take a look at what functions it had. It turned out all it did was display basic information such as his name and approved danger-level, as well as verified completed jobs and current Quest Points. Shrugging, he walked back to the common hall area as he contemplated the earlier spar and his gains. First, the sword skills he had seen definitely, definitely, definitely transcended all system and levels of power he had ever seen or ever heard of! Just one fragment of that martial combatant''s memories and a single demonstration of the sublime sword strike was enough to fill him with a sense of nirvanic awe! And right now, with less than 0.001% comprehension of that slash, just a brush of his sheathed sword across the Master-level bearman''s chin was almost enough to knock him out! He shivered with excitement as he wondered just how powerful it would be if he used his full-power for that strike! Despite his physical abilities still being somewhere in the Adept-level, he was convinced that he had already exceeded the peak of Elite-level and was approaching Master-level in pure hand-to-hand combat alone! It was all thanks to the "lucky draw". Speaking of which, he wondered what Kizorik had gotten from spending its 20% share of the Abyss Points. Surely he hadn''t blown it all on the gacha system, right... ''D-don''t you dare ask! I forbid you from ever mentioning or noseying into what I spend it on! It is forbidden, forbidden, I tell you!'' In his mind''s eye, he could see the little penguin waddling about, wearing an oversized pirate hat with a matching stump leg boot. The bird also wore a skull-and-crossbones eyepatch, obviously part of the set. ''Oh, what effect does that artefact set have?'' The demon froze in place, then began to turn pink. Then red. Then crimson. Then explode in fury. ''I TOLD YOU NOT TO ASK!!! WHY MUST YOU RUB IT IN THAT I ONLY GET WORTHLESS COSMETICS THAT HAVE BARELY 0.1% BOOSTS TO STATS??? YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU WHO''S BOSS, HUH???? HUH????!?! DON''T YOU UNDERSTAND EVEN BASIC COMMON TONGUE!?! I''M EVEN SPEAKING YOU EARTHLING''S ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!! @#&^&%^*@*!!!'' Various colourful expletives flew out of the cute little critter''s mouth, matching its already colourful state. Zoning the foul-mouthed demon out, Lars reached the door to the ability test area and saw that it had already been unblocked from this side - perhaps the drawers he used to obstruct the door were removed by the crowds of trainees and training questers who left before him. He sucked in a breath and prepared himself just in case the trap from earlier ambushed him, then pushed open the door. Despite the late hour - it was already past 8 PM - the guild common area was still bustling. If anything, there were even more people hanging out at Starbolts, mostly sipping on Mana-Lattes, something Lars felt was a major waste of coin. Each cup, even the shortest cup which absurdly was called the "Tall" size, cost 2.90 silvers! And how should one split a silver to pay 0.90 silvers? Easy, just give 3 silvers and the 0.1 silver can be a tip to cover service charge! Though he had no idea what services the baristas actually provided... Most people came here to socialise as it was a recent trend to be seen with a cup of Starbolts in your hand, looking "cool", whatever that meant. Lars sighed like an old man, he couldn''t understand what was considered as "hip" nowadays... At least it was better than the bar where brawls were common and sobriety absent! He went over to the jobs posting board and looked over what was available. Quickly he shortlisted a couple of suitable jobs, but paid special attention to one just posted not long ago that seemed to pay very well in gold *and* in QP, and yet seemed too easy compared to other Silver-rank jobs: --- Danger-level: G-grade. Description: Find missing baby goat. Reward: 50 gold. For more information, look for Astrid Estreya, XXX YYY ZZZ Address. Urgent." --- He looked around, wondering why no one had taken this job that looked like free money, then shrugged as he held his badge up to scan the Quest Receive Code (QR Code) and accept the job. He heard a *Beep* and checked his badge mentally to confirm the job. He nodded; he saw it in the list of jobs. ''Oh wait...'' He suddenly realised why the name of the job awarder sounded so familiar. Wasn''t the Estreya family one of the big four houses of Gorun? ''Hmm... I''m still curious why no one else took it, but this could be an opportunity to get close to one of the noble houses and perhaps find out whether I can risk just revealing my full powers... Then I could just quickly earn the money in a flash!'' He made some plans in his head and decided to scout out the situation quickly. If things looked promising, perhaps he could even get on with his journey home within a week or two at most! Then he scanned over the available Silver-rank postings once more, then settled on two other simple sounding which paid well, choosing only those that did not require travel or lengthy time periods to perform. Then he was startled by the crash of upended tables and a group of men arguing fiercely. "Take that back or I''ll slug ya to the moon and back!" The groups were at each other''s throats. Lars shrugged. Fights over money or pride were common wherever one went. So he walked on by and nodded to the huge front-desk greeter before leaving. He did manage to catch a hint of what the fight was about before leaving, though. "Ptui! Over my dead body! And yeah! How can you say that the Freeze-a-cino is better than a Latte! That''s, that''s blasphemy! Lattes are love, lattes are life!" A skinny but plucky man raised up his fists in a boxing stance as he took a sip of his Mana-Latte. Lars could only face-palm as he walked off. Too much nonsense for one day. It was time to head back and call it a night. He had a long day ahead tomorrow, anyway. First he needed to do some shopping for some basic equipment. He scanned over his body and coughed in embarrassment - he looked too much like a simple newbie quester right now. His current attire and gear wouldn''t give any potential customers a sense of confidence... After that, he planned to quickly check out the prices and effects of various artefacts and, if possible, find out more information on runes. Once he was properly equipped in runes and artefacts, he would have the confidence to go in, guns blazing and make a place for himself even in the Kingdom of the Sands. Then after that he would go drop by the Gorun Stadium to check out the upcoming selection tournament for the Duke de Caldis'' family guards. It would be good for him to register today, just in case there was a closing date for submitting one''s candidacy, or perhaps too big of a crowd on the day itself. It would also be a chance to find out more about the eligibility criteria, testing methods and scout the competition. He did wonder just where he stood against other youths his age, whether his Adept-level strength but peak-Elite skills would be enough to stand victorious. He smiled. If he had to, he would just need to reveal the slightest bit of his magical abilities - just enough to win without drawing too much attention. But all this could wait for tomorrow. For now, he decided to call it a night. He needed to get his beauty sleep and take good care of his complexion. 50 The Hunters [Early morning of the next day] [In a deserted alleyway between the tourists'' information centre and the travel centre] Two men were standing in front of a scene of carnage. One of the men stood by, arms folded and showing no signs of consternation despite the scene before him. He had shoulder-length greyish-white hair and was dressed fully in black. He had his lush hair tied back in a pony tail, giving him a cool-guy image despite his slightly older age. His face looked relatively well-kept apart from the beginnings of evening shadow, greyish-white stubble beginning to sprout out on his chin and cheeks. Nonetheless, the hints of a beard and moustache only made him look even more gauche and dashing. He had on a set of supple-looking armour that seemed simple but gave one the feeling that it was far more expensive than it looked due to the detailed textures and the feeling of quality. In truth, the man was wearing wyvern-hide armour which cost enough for one to buy a few small villages! His bearing gave him a look of one used to authority, and the eastern-styled sword strapped to the left side of his waist was ornately decorated. The straight eastern Jian/ longsword was all-black except for gold inlays at the guard and pommel. The other man was kneeling beside the dead bodies of their men, checking the corpses one by one for clues as to who killed them and why. The confident and suave-looking clean-shaven man was probably in his early 20s. He was tall and well-built without being bulky and dressed in thick but flexible dark-dyed leather armour. All he needed was a black hood or cloak to look exactly the part of a trained killer or a skilled assassin. They were here because the bruisers unit responsible for this sector of town lay dead, all four of them cleanly bisected or decapitated. From the positions they were standing in, there didn''t appear to be any signs of a fight, though it was clear they had met a group as they were split up two by two. The man examining the bodies for signs or leads then stood up, eyes deep in thought, contemplating just what could have happened. He gave the entire area a a last once-over, then walked back to stand beside his companion. Though, from the way he deferred to the older man, it was obvious that they were not of equal status. "Karel. Are there any leads?" The older man spoke with a grand and booming voice, though one that was also very reserved and refined, quiet but powerful. "Hmm." Karel paused for awhile as if to collect his thoughts and form the words. He knew that the man before him, Susano, also known as Blacksword of the Four Lords of the Underworld, had no patience and would not hesitate to cut down anyone who was not useful. Such as a tracker who could not locate his prey. And he was also very, very nervous - he couldn''t figure out why such a minor event happening in his sector would bring the big boss himself to investigate! So he spoke carefully and with measured words as he explained his findings. "There should have been an encounter with 2, maybe 3 people. But based on the signs and the surroundings, the conflict was very, very short. Of those 3 people our men met, only one actually fought. you can see from the signs on the ground here--" He walked over to where the boy Anselm had been pressed against the floor, "--And here..." This time he indicated where the leader of the bruisers and his assistant had held Ilya captive, then continued with his discourse. "...That there should be two people held hostage. The one on the ground should be a youth, maybe a young teenager..." Susano kept silent, as if waiting for something more concrete, a clue he could work on to order his men to begin the search. "Now on to the actual killer. From how smooth the cuts were, he or she must have been at least one full realm above them, at least at the mid-Adept level. He also didn''t touch any of their possessions - so it shouldn''t be done by any of the rival gangs or robbers..." Karel answered, though he seemed slightly hesitant with the last line of his deductions. Susano''s face began to grow cold, a sign that he was losing his already limited patience. "T-then, here''s what I can infer about the killer. One, he''s young. This is because of two reasons, firstly he was helping at least one youth who had been captured, secondly, because that should be the only reason our men didn''t react or keep their guards up - if he looked to be weak and young." He paused to see what his employer would say. This time the second-ranked lord of the Underworld raised his brows in interest, clearly intrigued. "Go on." "R-right. The second thing we know is that he uses a sharp but curved-bladed sword. It has to be heavy enough to cleanly cleave through a human''s body, and also long, based on the spot where he landed and struck from. As such, he probably uses a katana, a rare weapon for these parts." Finally the older man showed a hint of approval, smiling slightly. "And how do you suggest we find him...?" "Yes! I''m, I''m just about to reach that part. No-one around these parts would have dared to touch our men, they know the consequences and it''s an open secret that we are backed by two of the four big families. As such, he must also not be from around these parts. Which could only mean one thing: he or she is here for the Duke''s guards selection tournament!" Then he drew in a deep breath, before hurriedly completing his analysis. "In conclusion, we just need to keep an eye out for someone young, skillful, wielding a katana and who is attending the selection tournament in 3 day''s time!" He finished with a rush, breathless and afraid that the man before him would have a sudden change of mood and be displeased. He was relieved as he saw Lord Blacksword smile, then suddenly frown and sigh before he spoke to himself, "How unlucky to happen just when there''s a new boss up top, even above the King of the Underworld, ruling even above the Laughing Man..." Then the powerful man gave his instructions to Karel. "Men!" He half-shouted to his dark surroundings, where dozens of grey and black-cloaked and powerful looking figures were suddenly revealed to be hidden in the shadows. "Go! Tell the young talents to join the tournament. We need to suss out just who it was brave enough to challenge us at such a bad time..." "And remind Gorun what happens to our enemies...!" "Yes sir!" A resounding cry of the many voices answered him. Then he turned to look at the fearful sector leader beside him, Karel who was trembling in panic at the thought that he might just be eliminated right here to keep him silent forever. "Karel, you will follow me to the tournament." He smiled a sinister and deadly smile, his eyes looking like those of an Angel of Death as he spoke, "I trust you''ll be able to identify who the killer is... Or you''ll be the one whose funeral anniversary we celebrate next year." "Y-y-yes my lord..." Karel cursed his luck. But it was not just him who was cursing him luck. Susano too cursed his luck; he would have to settle all this quickly before the new highest boss, the Mistress and her maid found out about this, or he would have hell to pay. The duo gave him the chills. ''Especially that demonic maid...'' * * * * * [Inside Big Mama''s Nest, the city''s second largest inn, bar and brothel complex] An eye-patch wearing man stood shaking before a respectable looking middle-aged man. They were in a fairly large private room decked out in paintings, tapestries, carpets and other luxurious decorations. However, all of the items in the room seemed to depict some obscene scene or lewd image, a reflection of the abode they were in. At this time, they were alone in the room, with all attendants sent out to ensure privacy. The man looked to be from military background from how he carried himself, straight as a reed and with a disciplined look in his eyes. But at this point of time, he was spouting expletives as he gave the foolish Masra a well-deserved scolding. "Idiot! Imbecile! Retard! Are you born stupid? Or are you just plain stupid from being kicked in the head too often as a child?? I told you to never, ever, ever come looking for me unless it was an absolute emergency!?!" With a roar, he punched the poor, silly Masra in the face, sending 3 more of his teeth flying, this time 2 canines and 1 incisor. The man fell to the floor in a heap, but hurriedly got up to look for his missing teeth, in the hopes to return them to their places. "Get up! And be quick, why aren''t you quickly telling me why you''re here? Do I look like I have all day?" The military man, Captain Eniev yelled harshly at Masra. ''But... You''re the one who hit me and didn''t want to hear what happened... And now you blame me for being slow???'' The leader of the 3 stooges of henchmen cried out at the injustice in his heart, not daring to speak out in his defence. Then he fell to his knees and quickly recounted what happened early at the quester''s guild. "....." Eniev fell silent, but his anger was mounting steadily, turning completely livid and about to explode! In fact, he was so angry that he couldn''t even find the words to say. In the end, he could only pant and gasp in fury at his unofficial follower''s stupidity. Finally, once he had calmed down slightly, he took a handkerchief and dipped it lightly in water before laying it against his face in order to cool himself off. Then he slapped the pathetic thug before him once again, sending another 2 teeth flying! ''My... My teeth... Sobs... My poor poor teeth...'' He ignored his injuries and pain to search for his teeth frantically, but unfortunately they had already dropped into the gaps between the floorboards into the gunk and dirt accumulated over 20 years. Nonetheless, Masra still reached his fingers in between the filthy, revolting gaps in an attempt to retrieve his precious teeth, causing Captain Eniev to turn green from disgust! Coughing repeatedly and looking away, the captain sighed and realised the retard before him was not worth his time. He was so stupid that he had probably been dropped on his head as a baby, or maybe kicked in the skull by a Sar''peh! Then he explained as slowly as he could bear to. "Never, ever come to see me again. Our arrangement isn''t supposed to be public; or are you trying to let the whole city know that our Baron Leocadius Trenel is buying kidnapped youths?!?" "Now, let me tell you fools. The boy who meddled, you said he claimed Duke de Caldis is his father...?" Masra nodded enthusiastically. "FOOL!!!! DON''T YOU KNOW THAT THE DUKE IS A WOMAN????? HOW CAN SHE BE HIS FATHER IF SHE''S A WOMAN!!!?" The eye-patch wearing man was shocked when he heard those words. So shocked that he dropped the 5 teeth he had managed to fish out of the floor - straight into the nearby chamber pot used for managing bodily motions in the comfort of one''s room. His jaw dropped in anguish, but he swallowed his disgust and began to reach out a trembling hand to retrieve his teeth from the pot full of pungent piss. At the sight of that, the captain nearly threw up, and nearly lost control to slap the man again. Instead, he coughed loudly, hoping that the man would stop whatever horrifying act he was doing. But the cough fell on deaf ears, and Eniev had to look away and cover his ears as he finished his instructions. "Go and report to Private Lyam! Tell him I sent you. Bring some Adept-level men in plain clothes to deal with the two newbies and bring them both back!" He sighed and gagged as he tried to hold down his vomit. "I hope you don''t disappoint the young master this time. Make sure you don''t, or it''ll be your head in that chamber pot, not just your teeth." Then the captain ran away to find a washroom to let out the vomit he had been holding back as he saw Masra try to re-attach the salvaged teeth into his mouth - without washing them. * * * * * [Just outside Gorun city] Sand Crab Byrus stood overlooking the city, affixing the city with a venomous and murderous gaze, even as the first rays of the dawn sun began to break the horizon. ''Soon... Soon I''ll have my revenge...'' "Men, stay here while I go see my Master." He instructed the hundreds of riders camped around him, then looked to his three remaining lieutenants. "Lust, Viyash, Adron. Follow me. We''ll see just where that little insect can hide. And if he doesn''t come out, we''ll overturn every single rock and stone and finally, crush that maggot''s bones into powder - all while keeping him still alive to relish every moment of pain! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Maniacal laughter echoed into the early morning sky as the mighty leader of the Sand Crab raiders galloped through the distance with his men; headed towards Gorun city. * * * * * Lars'' sneezed. He was queuing up to enter an equipment store. He rubbed his nose as he wondered what triggered his sneeze; his body was hardy and hale, why would he sneeze all of a sudden? Maybe someone was talking about him behind his back...? ''It better not be another of those perverts thinking about me...'' He shivered with a chill up his spine at the thought. ''I hope the backers of those guys come looking for me soon... I left all those clues, I hope they can at least manage to follow my trail...'' He smiled enigmatically. 51 Money Isnst Everything Revisited "..." Lars stood inside an equipment shop that seemed simple and homely. This was the first shop he went inside as he planned to window show and scout out the prices first before buying. He figured he should have some time since it was just 7:30 AM. He planned to drop by the quest awarder Astrid Estreya''s place sometime before noon. Well, soon he found out that the shop only "seemed" simple and homely, because the prices were anything but simple. In fact, they were enough to bankrupt him! And it was filled to brim with masses of people, some looking local while more than one out of four looked to be from out of town based on their clothing. Was the tournament really such a big event...? Phew! "2 platinum coins for just a pair of gloves...? 5 platinum for a suit of top-grade leather armour...? 7 coins for a high-quality bastard sword? W-what kinds of prices are these??! This is daylight robbery!" He exclaimed at the sleazy looking shop assistant attending to him. The man scowled openly at Lars then whispered loud enough for him to hear, "If you don''t have the money, then stop wasting my time, kiddo...!" Then he put on broad smile and clasped his hands together in welcome once more, saying, "Apologies, my good sir. Due to the coming 5-day long selection tournament and the premium auction held on the 4th day, demand for goods has been very high." But Lars knew what the assistant really meant was, "If you can''t afford it, then get lost!" Grumbling, Lars decided to just stick with his replica Brightstar katana and get some medium-grade flexible leather armour, complete with a set of matching boots and light bracers. He would have chosen to get some half-gloves that left his fingers uncovered or helmet, but he couldn''t afford it... And he had already visited 9 other shops in these 2 hours - only to discover that prices truly were sky-high in every single store! In fact, every other stores goods were even more expensive than that first store! Sighing and without a choice, he returned to the first store, the same one he had been to earlier. "That''ll be 6 platinum and 39 gold coins please!" The same shop assistant smiled smarmily at him, as if daring him to prove that he could afford the price. As irritated as Lars was, he still needed the equipment, so he could only grudgingly hand over the coins, nearly cursing under his breath as he did so. The young mage who now looked like a dashing and valiant young hunter walked out onto the streets a poorer man, the jingle in his purse now turned into the pathetic clacking of less than half what he started with. He grasped his money pouch in sorrow, wishing that he knew the mythical spell for creating gold as told of in legends. If he did, he wouldn''t have to be beggared just from one foray into a store... ''At this rate, how am I going to ever afford a rune or artefact...? I can''t even afford to equip myself properly...! And the gap with the rich like that despicable Duke Silvan is only going to grow bigger and bigger with time...! It''s truly a difference of heaven and earth between the rich and the poor...'' Lars decided that one day when he came into power and ruled over his own lands, he would make sure to do something about the income gap and the difference in living standards! How could anyone survive with such prices? At least back home there were no such things as runes to make the rich triumph over the talented and hardworking by virtue of money alone! Then he reconsidered. ''Hmm... There *were* battleships and nukes and bombs though... That''s true...'' Then Lars had a moment of truth. He realised that there was an unbridgeable gap between the rich and the poor. His mouth opened in wonder as the understanding dawned upon him, a revelation that changed his worldview greatly and wiped away the last dregs of his childish innocence about the world. Money isn''t everything... But without money, you have nothing![1] For the past 2 days, Lars had been, for the first time, exposed to the cruel reality of the world. Money. Money made the world go round. Again and again he had been slapped in the face by this fact, this concept that he tried hard to deny, but finally could deny no longer. The young man felt his heart and will tremble in confusion and then a newfound certainty. ''Yes... Yes!! If the problem is not having enough money then...'' His eyes turned slightly maniacal - No, in an instant his pupils had disappeared, replaced by dollar signs! He had fallen completely into the depravity that is the love for money! Without money, you could be strong - but still be a no one against the rich and powerful. He felt like the truth of the universe was searing itself into the depths of his soul. The boy''s eyes began to burn with a passionate fire, one that threatened to consume even his very identity and soul - so passionate, so intense were the emotions overflowing Lars'' being that even Kizorik, as demonic as it was, felt fearful! ''Lars...! Lars my boy...!'' Kizorik shivered in fear as it felt the waves of life-changing concepts impact the boy. ''...His eyes... They''ve changed... How could this happen so fast? One minute he was shopping happily, then the next... He looks like... A monster even worse than me...'' ''He looks like...'' Kizorik gulped. ''Those darker than sin, more evil than the devils... Gacha game makers!!!'' The penguin''s grudge against semi-gambling gaming providers was revealed, a grudge that assigned them the lowest place among the low - even lower than the demons'' sworn enemies, the devils! As Kizorik held these thoughts, the waves of the concept of "Greed" began to settle down in Lars'' soul-imprint, melding well with his current laws and ability of Insight. He felt himself on the brink of advancing beyond his current realm, the Legendary realm, and into the next higher domain - the Mythical-level! And then the sense of revelation left him, gradually dissipating like the snow as the heat of the sun arose at the end of winter. It was gone, leaving him dissatisfied and still on the cusp of the breakthrough he desired! He sighed. Looked like there was still a long way to go... Until he could possess all the money in Gorun and buy all the power he needed to fulfill his desires! * * * * * The above scenes took awhile to describe, but in truth, it all happened in barely 3 breaths'' of time. As such, he only ended up standing stock still in the streets for a short 3 breaths - far too long on a busy, crowded roadside! "Hey idiot! Get out of the way!" A richly dressed man carrying a priceless porcelain vase hollered at him. "Buffoon! Day-dreaming in the middle of the street?! Ptui! Don''t block us noble knights in our noble journey of nobility! Scram!" The words came from a mounted, regal looking knight in shining armour with a golden and white sword at his hip. "Go home and dream your fantasies on your bed, don''t bother us with real lives you stinking noble brat!" Various peddlers, merchants or customers yelled at him angrily. He dodged aside to avoid the oncoming traffic and the rush of the pushing crowd. They were eager to make the most of the customers and opportunities on this mad festive period, unwilling to miss out earning even a single coin extra and hurrying to their business! Countless more insults were hurled at Lars, but he just narrowed his eyes and ignored them with a look of nonchalance. He was more interested in the new ability that emerged from his soul-imprint as the concept of Greed merged with his existing concept of Insight. And when he laid his eyes on the people who had just haughtily insulted him, he scoffed. Those people... Were too poor! "All That Glitters Is Gold..." As he spoke the name of the new concept of Greed he had gained, he looked up and was filled with a sense of wonder - and disdain. The first ability - Eyes of Valuation. When he looked at anything in his sight, every item of clothing, every accessory, every piece of equipment in his field of vision was assigned a description and a set of statistics. Such as the expensive looking vase carried by the well-dressed porcelain supplier: Name: Fake porcelain vase. Description: Actually a clay pot coated in magic paint. Value: 1 silver. Statistics: Brittle; no other significant information." Or the sword and armour worn by the stuck-up, gallant looking knight leader. Name: Excalibur (Counterfeit). Description: It''s just a lump of lead. Value: 5 silver - that''s a lot of lead! Statistics: Weight - 8 kg; useful as a club. Grade A appearance, Grade G usefulness as a weapon. Name: Aluminium plate armour. Description: Aluminium plate armour. Value: 15 gold - useful for science experiments and tech components. Statistics: A good substitute for tin foil when roasting potatoes or meat over the fire. Not bad! His eyes shone in crazy fervour - with this ability, who could stop him from making money?!? More and more and more money!!! And with this power, no-one could surprise him with high-powered runes or artefacts anymore! He would become the Invincible... Merchant!!! Then Lars blinked. Then blinked, again and again and again. ''Wait... What''s my objective again...?'' He rubbed his chin and thought about it for awhile, before slapping his palm and balled up fist together. ''Ah yeah! I almost forgot... I need money to get home, buy powerful items and get back together with Moira... I need money... I need money...'' And as he spoke the endless mudra of his new-found philosophy, his eyes looked like they had turned into two platinum coins... Kizorik sighed. ''It''s too late for that boy... Next he''ll be crazy about Abyss Points...'' Then Kizorik looked downcast and sad as he thought, ''...And become a gambling addict like me...'' But that''s a story for another time. * * * * * Lars strutted through the streets with new-found confidence, holding his head and chest up high as he walked. With his newfound powers of Eyes of Valuation, and the other ability of "All That Glitters Is Gold"... He whistled as he walked onwards to the auction house to check out the goods that would be placed on sale. But when he arrived, he fell to his knees in despair as he read the list of items on sale and the starting prices. "Level 1 Rune: Strength - 42,000 platinum coins." "Level 3 Rune: Blink - 179,000 platinum coins." "Blade of Wonders (Bastard Sword) - 463,000 platinum coins." "..." "...This world is truly unfair. There is no justice in this world..." He began to weep on his knees, drawing incredulous but understanding looks from the many passersby who shared his sentiments, especially the guards of the auction house whose lifetime pay could not buy even the cheapest item in the place they guarded. "WHY ARE THE TOYS OF THE RICH SO BLOODY EXPENSIVE!!!!?" * * * [1] Kids, this is just Lars'' perspective alright? Money truly isn''t everything! I mean, look at me! I''m earning nothing from this book but churning out 75k words in 20 days for... Nothing... Sob sob... For you to read for free... Sob.... Psst... If you vote for this book up to the top 50, I''ll be happier to slave away just to write more... D 52 Tournament Registration [10.15 AM - 2 days to go until the selection tournament for the Duke''s family] Lars walked down the street at a brisk pace. He had his hood up and covered his face slightly to keep his fair skin from too much sunlight. He had to take good care of his complexion... He had decided to head to the Gorun Stadium to register first as it was still early. He didn''t know much about the tournament, only smatterings of conversations from here and there. He wanted to check out the tournament details and make sure he was prepared before he met the quest awarder. However, as he headed over quickly towards the stadium, he began to grow apprehensive. Just why were there SO MANY crowded around the area? It almost felt like the selection competition had already started! As he walked towards his destination, he began to congregate with more and more people seemingly headed in the same direction. He listened in a little to their conversations and found out that it was true - they really were bound for the stadium! ''But why...?'' He pondered over it as he continued onwards. As he grew even closer, the crowd became ever larger. This piqued his curiosity even further - was there something going on at the stadium this early on? Weren''t there 2 more days before it started? He noticed that the majority of the people were around his age; especially many! So so many! Without needing to observe closely, it mattered not whether the young people were foreigners or locals, the majority looked to be around his age...! If he just made a count based on an eyeballing of the youths he saw dressed in battle-ready garb, there should be more than a thousand young men and women going towards the stadium! Well, mostly teenage boys... He had his suspicions but decided to find out and verify his hypothesis. Nonetheless, he did feel slightly concerned - had he missed out something by coming only today? Could it be that... His heart beat faster, feeling like a cold claw were gripping his chest. Could it be that the registration was actually much earlier? Could it be that the applications were already closed...? Could it be that... He had already missed the selection tournament...!?? He consciously quickened his pace, trying to squeeze past and overtake the already fast-moving crowds. His jostling and pushing caused many to shoot daggers at him along with angry frowns and various colourful "praises". But he turned a deaf ear and blind eye to those; he had a bad feeling about things... By this time, he could see the magnificent, monumental Gorun Stadium looming over the horizon and every other building in its vicinity. Even from far away, it was a towering building maybe 20, 30 stories high, gargantuan even for such a large city! In fact, it didn''t look like that much like a stadium; it looked more like a cross between an incredibly large palace and an office complex! The stadium was so high and wide that it felt like it extended endlessly in every direction including aerially, rising up to blot out the sky and casting long shadows in the morning sunlight. The orange sheen coating the outside of the complex looked to be from the baked clay bricks used in its construction; and he could hear some cheers every now and then from the stadium compound. Based on the outward appearance, the maximum capacity was like upwards of 20 to 30 thousand spectators... Lars felt a shiver of excitement and passion run through his veins. He didn''t know why, but he felt energised and a sense of ardour when he thought of the upcoming competition where he would be pit against other young experts in a battle for supremacy! He could already visualise the scenes of hot-blooded battle, head-to-head conflict, the moments of truth and courage, and the crazily intense rush of emotions as he imagined stepping into the ring to vie for the title of champion! The sounds of a crowd roaring and cheering his name resounded in his ears, to an envisioned chant of, "LARS! LARS! LARS! LARS!!!!!" followed by jubilant cries and thunderous applause! A smile crept onto his face as he approached the 15 metre wide and 10 metre high entrance to the sprawling monument that signified the valour of the city of champions, a dwelling that was built upon blood-shed and bravery fighting against both the forces of nature and enemies on the north and east borders. When he reached the entrance, he saw that it was well guarded with more than a dozen well-armed, well-built warriors standing at attention, surveying the crowds and denying entry to anyone who looked suspicious. He saw also many people standing around idly, some trying to peer in to the compound, watching and waiting expectantly for some anticipated arrival and good news - or bad. He saw some older couples who looked just like concerned parents, as well as those with several young children in town - perhaps the younger siblings of contestants. There were also many youths and some older young adults as well as middle-aged persons heading in and out of the arching entrance. Some looked delighted while others appeared dejected, even despondent at whatever result they had received. But through all of these observations, the important question was this - didn''t the tournament only start in 2 days? ...What was going on with the stunning crowd already gathered here and the uproarious noises emanating from the compound of the stadium? "Doesn''t the tournament only start in 2 days?" Lars was surprised as he heard an older voice echoing exactly his thoughts. He looked to his side to see an equally astonished man stroking his medium-length greying beard. Despite Lars'' axiom of not judging a book by its cover, this was one case where he felt outright off-put by the man standing beside him. Long flowing white hair, thin and wispy despite no bald spots. Sharp, sword-like eyebrows. Cruel and callous eyes shaped like savage cuts across the man''s already gaunt and haggard face. Sunken cheeks with high cheekbones. A hawking nose. Fine, thin and almost white lips, barely the lightest shade of pink. A thin, pointed chin. Tall, lanky frame, but with long and gaunt fingernails along with sharp nails. ''A dark arts practitioner?!?'' The man gave off a sinister feel, and it seemed like there was more to him than meets the eye. This was even despite the man bearing a neutral expression and looking well-groomed in a set of clean white robes. ''...Kid. Be careful. I have a bad feeling about this guy, he smells... Off...'' Kizorik, usually silent, chimed in to support Lars'' own impression. ''Kizorik... Do you know what''s wrong about this guy?'' Lars attempted to flash a smile to the man who merely tilted his head slightly towards him and nodded, before turning forward to face the stadium again. They both kept a steady pace and a constant distance of 3 arm''s lengths between them as they proceeded in step to the gateway. ''No... It''s just... I don''t think he''s more powerful than you, it''s just... Bah! I can''t put my finger on it, just... Just don''t get on his bad side, okay!'' Kizorik blurted the words out exasperatedly and then withdrew back into wherever it was he liked to hide in Lars'' mind. He headed towards the entrance and queued up behind some others in a line to a counter that said, "Registration", right behind the gaunt man with a dangerous appearance. He noticed also something odd - there was no one else behind him in line! As he moved further and further in the line, he heard something that made his heart beat faster in anxiety. *Ding! Ding!* He heard the ringing of a bell to draw everyone''s attention before an announcement was made. "Registration closes at 11.00 AM! Registration closes at 11.00 AM!" He quickly glanced over the people lined up in front of him and made a mental estimate - good, from the rate the line was moving, it looked like he would be just in time to register! Nevertheless, a sense of nervousness came on him as he tried to peer over everyone''s shoulders to catch a glimpse of the registration counters. He couldn''t really see clearly, but it looked like the people in front all pulled out a form which the stadium workers would examine then affix a stamp of approval on before ushering the registrants in. He was worried. It looked like there was some sort of pre-registration needed? He looked around quickly - true enough, every single one of the applicants in front of him, without fail, had an application form already! ''Shit... I won''t have time to get the form and come back... And it seems whatever details are in it are already filled in... Shit!'' "Damn..." He heard the man in front of him cursing, apparently he had noticed the same thing. And as they were worrying over what to do, their turn in line grew ever closer. The legendary mage began to sweat, wondering how he would solve this; as this tournament was his only avenue to bypass the insane cost of teleportation! "Erm... Sorry to intrude but..." Just then, he was snapped out of his reverie by a polite and kind sounding voice from before them. In front of the white-dressed man in queue was a rather decent-looking blue-eyed teen, whistling cheerily what sounded like a bar song. Odd for his age - he shouldn''t even be old enough to drink yet! He had brown hair and clear skin, and appeared to be dressed in simple brown shirt and pants with black boots - standard quester''s garb. The badge pinned on his chest confirmed Lars'' observation - he was a Bronze-ranked quester, not bad for a youth appearing to be 16 or 17 years old at most! The blue-eyed boy stepped closer a half-step and bowed slightly before he spoke, "But do you two need some help...? I noticed that you guys haven''t brought your verified registration forms..." His eyes darted back and forth between Lars and the threatening-looking man dressed in white as he spoke, slightly nervous about speaking to these two strangers for the first time. Both Lars and the gaunt man raised their eyebrows in shock at his words, then spoke nearly simultaneously, as if they had coordinated their speech, "Registration forms? Verified? How should we--" Then they looked at each other in shock, realising that their speech was too synchronous, seeming like a married couple. Lars'' face turned slightly flush in embarrassment while the older-man scowled, then stepped towards the helpful boy and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Tell me! How can I get this registration form and get it verified! Hurry! It is *very important* that I join this farce of a tournament!" He spoke raspily and with an acidic tone. Taken aback but still managing to maintain his bright and positive demeanour, the boy nodded enthusiastically, saying, "Certainly, certainly Mister...?" "Hmmph. You may address me as Wesley. Now hurry up! Tell me what we need to do!" The grey-haired man demanded impatiently. Lars stepped back but kept his ears perked up, listening intently. "Alright! My name is Charley! Well... You just need to get a form, which I happen to have some extras of right here..." He dug around in his cloak pockets, prompting Wesley to let go of his shoulder, then Charley took out two ragged looking pieces of paper - forms that were folded haphazardly, but still looked usable. "And? How about the verification? Be quick! I don''t have all day you know!" The brunette flashed a sunny grin at the rude man, then said, "Simple. Just get a registered member of a guild to vouch for you and get to sign in the little box--" He pointed at the bottom right corner of the form where a signature line was located, "--Right there, and you''re done! Oh, but you can''t sign for yourself. So... 2 silver coins...?" He grinned cheekily, then held out an expectant hand to receive payment. But he was only met with a questioning raised eyebrow from Wesley, which made the cheerful boy begin to grow awkward. ''T-two silver!?? Ridiculous!!'' Lars began to shake, heart-aching as he couldn''t bear to part with any of his hard-earned coins! Money was precious, precious and difficult to earn, you know! Money was his love, money was his life! Oh, not forgetting Moira; she was a close number 2 after money... Just then, Lars got an ominous feeling, one of darkness and as if though a volcano was about to erupt. He looked at the man dressed in white - it seemed that he was about to lose his temper and probably cause a great commotion right here and now! Lars froze, then launched into a coughing fit. If the man made trouble here, wouldn''t he be implicated too?? What would happen to the tournament??? So he sighed then decided that he had no choice. If he wanted to win the tournament and earn more money with the fame, he needed to act decisively. And at the same time, he could perhaps get closer to and find out more about the mysterious Wesley. He chose this moment to interject and tossed two silver coins into the boy''s waiting hand. "Will 2 coins be enough...? For the both of us, I mean!" He quickly added, before the enterprising young boy could claim that it would cost 2 silver coins EACH! The boy frowned for a moment, before his grin grew even wider, smiling slightly shyly as he secreted the coins away somewhere on his person as he said, "Sure, Mister...?" "Lars." Then the boy flashed a cheeky grin again and looked slightly embarrassed as he asked, "I don''t suppose the both of you want to rent a pen too, do you...?" Lars and Wesley were stunned. They had just paid a whopping 2 silver (or at least Lars had paid) and they still wouldn''t be able to get their forms settled? What was this, daylight robbery? But without a choice, a disgruntled Lars once more held up his coin pouch and asked, "How much for the pens...?" Charley put on a sad look, then said, "Well... I just happen to only have the last 2 pens here with me sooooo... It''ll just cost you, oh, I don''t know... 2 silver coins...?" He flashed another conman''s smile, which for some reason made Lars very, very angry. Lars sweated at those words, but could only sigh and pull out two more coins with a trembling hand... "Okay, thank you my dear customers! Here, as an added service, I''ll even help you fill in those forms..." * * * * * When they reached the counter, Lars almost fainted and wept from heartache, even as he heard the merry boy whistling happily behind him. There was a pile of registration forms, an abundance of pens... And a ready-and-waiting guild staff on duty to perform verification of their registration. Even the white-robed Wesley nearly popped a blood vessel from anger at that sight, gripping his pen so tightly that his fists and knuckles turned as white as his robe! He slowly, ever so slowly turned around to place a glowering glare at Charley, as if he were ready to eat him. Despite his usual bubbly personality, this time the brunette boy backed away nervously, hands waving frantically as he said, "M-M-Mr W-W-W-Wesley!!! No violence, no violence allowed here okay! You can''t-- wait! No!!!" As the grey-haired man vented his anger on the little trickster, the swindlers words of protest turned into unintelligible cries of pain, including shouts of, "AHHH!!! THAT DOESN''T BEND THAT WAY!!! NO!!! THAT, THAT DOESN''T FIT IN THERE, NO, IT CAN''T GO IN THERE!!!" Meanwhile Lars swayed in horror, almost fainting from the shock and pain of the swindled money! "My money... My precious money!!!!" Lars wept, swearing never to be tricked again. 53 Like a Swan Eating Toads Mea [10.57 AM] After a stressful morning spent in queue, it was finally Lars, Charley and Wesley''s turn to register. As Lars was last in line, he paced back and forth anxiously, unable to keep in his impatience to register before the deadline. He watched as the limping blue-eyed youth Charley and the slightly satisfied grey-haired man Wesley shuffled forward to the counter when it was their turn to register, then watched in anguish as the pleasant, cheerful white-haired old lady held a pleasant, cheerful and AGONISINGLY SLOW conversation with Charley. "Hello my dear!" The happy-go-lucky swindler smiled warmly even as he clutched his sore shoulder that had been nearly dislocated and bent out of shape. Then he replied, "Hello ma''am!" He handed his pre-filled registration form to the woman with one hand, his other hand was rubbing his sore red nose where a pen had been thrown at his face - thrown really, really hard. She took the form from him and read through it, humming pleasantly and taking her own sweet time. ''Come on lady!!! It''s already 10:58 AM!!! Can''t you hurry up a little bit!!!'' But in the face of such a sweet and kind old lady, he couldn''t bear to voice his complaints. And so the seconds ticked by, causing Lars to drip with sweat and tense up from impatience as he waited for his turn that seemed like it would never come! As his two acquaintances finally completed their registration, Lars ran forward, almost bowling Amiel over in his hurried rush to start the registration process. Wesley and Amiel, despite not being close to him, decided to wait for him at one side. Not wanting to give the woman a chance to dilly-dally and risk missing out on his registration, he blurted out, "Ma''am I''m Lars! Here''s my registration form!" The woman looked up and him e-ver-so-slow-ly, moving like a sloth in a certain government department of motor vehicles, then blinked and looked dazed as she said, "Yes my dear, I can see that you''re last. There''s no one behind you! Ho ho ho!" She genuinely laughed, though her peculiar laughter sounded slightly odd. But Lars turned red in embarrassment that his name was made fun of and felt the rising urgency as the large timepiece hanging above the registration counter showed "10:59:30 AM". There were only 30 seconds left to register! So he forced a smile through and laughed along with her, going, "Hah... Hah... Hah... Hah..." He sounded like a panting dog! She giggled again at his laughter, looking like a gentle old mother laying eyes on her favourite grandchild, melting his heart and erasing his anger - but not allaying his fears of being too late! Then she asked, "Well, my dear, what''s your name...?" Stunned, he answered dumbly, "Ma''am, my name is Lars. L-A-R-S Lars." Her eyes widened in surprise, saying, "Oh! Oh dearie me! I didn''t realise that you weren''t talking about being LAST. L-A-S-T Last. How peculiar! What a pleasant name. Why, I think I must name one of my grandchildren Lars, that''s such a cute name! Perhaps I''ll name my last grandchild Lars, that would be a good pun! Ho ho ho ho!" By this point, Lars couldn''t take it anymore. Was she truly ignorant of the time??? Was she actually doing this on purpose!?! How could she be so friendly, kind and yet so infernally aggravating at the same time???? So he took his form and pressed it into the lady''s hands, saying, "Please ma''am! It''s almost 11.00 AM! Please, help me process it quickly so I can register! Pleas--" *BAM!* A heavy upside-down "V"-shaped plaque was slammed down before him, separating him from the kind old lady, startling the both of them greatly. The plaque was held by a big-sized and sweaty pig-like man dressed in opulent robes but smelling like a pig sty! Even the lady, polite and kind as she was, couldn''t help but wrinkle her noise in displeasure - both at his actions and at the abominal smell! Lars backed away two steps instinctively, as a clean-freak and germophobe, he was truly truly afraid of going anywhere near the stinky man! The fat, balding man was sneering with a mocking expression on his face, one that said, "Get lost you beggar!". Then Lars saw the words written on the plaque he had just slammed down. "CLOSED". "What! Wait! It wasn''t yet 11.00 AM! I still had 10 seconds to--" The smiling villain didn''t miss a beat as he slowly raised his hand with 1 finger extended and pointed up at the clock. It read, "11.00.01 AM". In the time since he had interrupted Lars registration process, the last 10 seconds had already passed; it was too late to register any more! Crest-fallen, Lars'' face turned black as he scowled in rage - how dare this bumbling animal get in the way of his earning money! How dare he! He, he wouldn''t tolerate this! Lars'' anger rose like a blazing bonfire, rising even to the skies. The previously sunny heavens began to rumble with thunder, drawing shouts of alarm from the people all around. What happened to the hot weather just a moment ago? They didn''t know that the cause of this change in weather was one boy''s anger at being denied his chance to earn money. No, it wasn''t just a chance to earn money... It was a chance to earn LOTS OF MONEY! As the sky darkened just around the vicinity of the Gorun Stadium, the fat man - his nametag said his name was Fei Fei[1] - glanced up at the bad weather, then shrugged before ignoring the indignant boy before him and starting to turn away. Even the counter lady was shocked at his action! She finally regained her senses and looked back and forth between Lars and Fei Fei, at a total loss as to what she should do! She still held his completed registration form in her hands, she was even just about to stamp it as "registered"! "Adminstrator Fei...!" Lars spoke resoundingly and with great confidence, a clear change from his personality just a week or more ago, changed since he realised the importance of taking charge of his life and the even greater lesson that money makes the world go round. "Administrator! I believe that you are acting unfairly! At the time when you *interrupted* things--" He stressed the words strongly to point out the fat administrator''s wrongful actions, "--It was not! Yet! 11! A! M!" He spat the words out with vitriol, nearly shouting at this point, drawing horrified glances from those around him - what gave this no-name boy the guys to challenge the prestige of the mighty Gorun Stadium??! But Lars continued in his daring statement of intent, "Now, I HUMBLY implore you to reconsider your decision of closing the registration! Administrator Fei!" He heavily emphasised his words, speaking deliberately with the hint of a threat if his words were not taken seriously! Even as he said this, the passersby held on to their hats and tightened their cloaks around their bodies due to the sudden cold winds from the dark sky. The drafts of wind were growing stronger and stronger, as signs of lightning flashed across the dark clouds! The pig-like man snorted like the animal he resembled, it sounded very much like an "Oink!". The fat man slapped his chest, causing the multitudinous layers of gross fat on his body to ripple and wobble like jelly! Then he roared out his reply, "Shut up you ignorant peasant! I, the great administrator Fei of the mighty Gorun Stadium, have no reason to listen to the babblings of a commoner! Oink!" This time it didn''t just sound like it, the man really *did* oink like a pig! Even Lars in his anger couldn''t help but sweat - this was the first time he''d met a pig in human form! Then the snobbish balding official snorted again and added, "Hah! You farmer''s bastards are all the same, all wanting to be the swan that eats the toads meat! Hah! Dream on! Oink!" ''He did it again...'' Lars sweated profusely, forgetting to channel mana to the Level 8: Lightning Storm he had been casting, causing the winds to dip and weaken slightly. "Sir...?" A sweet and gentle voice butted in, drawing a hostile gaze from the high-ranked official of the Stadium as he glared at the registration clerk. "...Don''t you mean, the toad that eats the swan''s meat...?" The fat man''s mouth formed a big "O" as he gaped in shock and embarrassment. Then his face turned pale, before turned black with rage! He ignored her and pointed a threatening finger at Lars, saying, "Boy! Don''t you dream of joining the tournament anymore! I can''t block all those other street rats from joining! But you? You... Heh heh heh... Oink... You''re too late! Serves you right for insulting the noble Trenel family!" Lars'' gaze lowered as he spoke softly - yet with a deadly, murderous tone. "So it was the Trenel family behind this, huh...?" "Hahahahaha! Oink! Yes! There''s no need to hide it, who can stand against us of the Trenel family! We are mighty, we are noble, we are honourable! And most of all..." The fat man locked his gaze onto the boy in front of him to deliver the final blow. "WE ARE RICH!" Against his will, Lars stumbled back two steps at those last 3 words. He frowned in anger - why was it this again! Why did the world keep rubbing in the fact that he lacked money! ''Well, no matter...'' His eyes flashed with a glint of red, a red that brought with it only one image. Slaughter. ''I guess it''s okay to show off my powers, just a little bit...'' He began to raise up his hand to call down the wrath of the heavens on those who dared scheme against him, who dared to challenge his dignity, who dared rub in the fact that they were richer than he! Who dared block his path to money! Just as he was about to release the fullness of the Lightning Storm to level the entire Gorun Stadium, he heard a voice call out. "STOP! Administrator Fei! How dare you abuse your authority! I''ll have you censured and sacked, or my name is not Natiro!" A slim and tall robed person hurried over. It was the guild staff who had presided over Lars'' registration. The previously gloating was stunned. "B-b-but head administrator Natiro! This boy--" "Administrator! Do I need to remind you of what your job is?!! How dare you abuse your powers and deny a promising young talent entry!" Natiro arrived beside the registration area, drawing gasps and keen gazes attracted by the big commotion. The newly arrived Natiro was dressed in plain grey robes, a far cry from the expensive, excessively luxurious purple and gold robes Fei wore - a clear sign that the latter was on the payroll of the Trenels! Administrator Fei''s face twisted in rage at being reprimanded. He lowered his voice to a growl and warned Natiro, "Old man... Heh... You dare go against the Trenel family...? Hah! Just you wait... Even if today you think you have won, you''ll soon come begging to me for mercy! Just one word to the Trenel''s and all your years of hard work will be--" "SHUT UP!" The World-class level elf warrior released a sky-breaking slap, smashing the pig''s face so hard it changed shape to become like a pancake and sending him flying, spinning a beautiful 1080 degrees and slamming into the wall! "Urk... Cough... Cough... Blargh..." The fat man collapsed onto the ground in a heap, his own vomit covering his face! Lars was dumbfounded at the change of circumstances. Then he broke out into a smile as he heard the cheers of the crowds around him - it was about time the pompous, corrupt and vile tyrant got his just desserts! "Hooray!!" "Yeah! Serves him right!" "Yahoo!" Sounds of applause filled the air, coming from the many people who couldn''t stand the over-bearing crook but without the power to do anything about it. Lars joined them to clap, then he showed a big enthusiastic double thumbs-up to the elf who grinned back at him roguishly. "Nice!" That was so satisfying! Super satisfying face-smacking! 54 The Preliminary Rounds Started? Immediately after settling Lars'' registration for him, Head Administrator Natiro apologised profusely to Lars before heading off to oversee other preparations for the coming big day. "Do not worry about the situation with Administrator Fei, I''ll make sure to settle things internally with him. It''s not the first time he''s been harassing potential talents or anyone that has dared to speak up against the Trenel family. As you can tell, they''re sort of like the local overlords since they are second only to the Duke''s family itself... Oh! You''d better hurry on, you''ll want to submit your scores and names for the preliminary rounds, right...? Hurry on! I''ll see you later!" The young-looking elf spoke like an old man, befitting his actual advanced age of 136 years old. He finished his one-sided monologue like a bullet train, completely unlike his usual cool and collected way of speech, as he needed to rush off to handle other matters in the stadium. He left quickly with a nod and wave to Lars, Charley and Wesley, urging the boys to get on with their preliminary scorings. Lars quickly joined his two unlikely companions and they headed onwards into the depths of the stadium. "Charley, do you know what the rules and arrangements are like for this tournament?" "Yup!" He nodded, cheerful as always. "I can tell you all about it!" "..." They continued walking in silence for a few seconds until Lars couldn''t stand it anymore. "Well...? Aren''t you going to explain it to us?" He spoke with his usual raspy hiss, aggravated that the boy started the story but didn''t continue. The boy turned around - his eyes reflected silver coins. Lars groaned on the inside, before taking out a coin and passing it to Charley. The chipper boy then laughed merrily and explained things to them. "The selection actually is split into 2 sections, one for those under 17 years and 9 months old and another section for those older. Don''t ask me the reason! It''s not been disclosed! Okay, so after registration, there''s actually a preliminary round starting today at 11:15 AM - which is why that Administrator Fei had been so hurried to close off the registrations!" He shook his head in appreciation as he looked at Lars, "You, sir, are a truly lucky man! To garner favour from Head Administrator Natiro... Tut tut tut... Amazing!" He clicked his tongue in admiration as he spoke. Their footsteps fell rapidly as they kept a quick pace through the passageway towards the end where intense noise could be heard, a growling rumble of thousands of voices, while the bright light of day could be seen. The lightning storm clouds had since dispersed with the elf guild staff''s intervention. It was a good thing he had chosen that time to settle things too, he literally saved the parade from rain, as well as thunder and lightning! Along the passageway, they saw many people leaving dejectedly along with guards interspersed here and there every few metres. Before they reached their destination, Lars quickly asked how the preliminaries would be run. "Oh... As I understand, they first conduct a general fitness exam. I believe they test strength, running speed, agility, reaction speed and combat skill. The first two should be tested on the track-and-field area, while the last three are done by illusion arrays to simulate assessment situations. At least, that''s what the last big tournament did 2 years ago." "One last thing... Before we exit... Do you know how many people in total registered?" "Hmm..." He rubbed his head with his right hand as he thought about it, before he answered, "For the senior section, not that many. Perhaps two to three hundred participants? While for the junior section..." He counted off on his fingers, then stopped when he ran out fingers to count on. "I ran out of fingers to count on...? More than a thousand? ''I could see that already okay? That''s not helpful at all!'' Lars wanted to shout at him, but held his temper in check and merely grunted in irritation. No matter what, that meant that there were at least a thousand candidates to compete with...! He smiled in anticipation, thrilled at the prospect of a good challenge for his sealed self. * * * * * When they emerged from the heavily-guarded passageway exit, they saw an immense circular open area crowded with roughly two thousand or maybe two thousand five hundred people, a mixture of contestants for the selection and the tournament organisers. Numerous types of equipment were arranged neatly in the field, starting with a moving strike-strength meter for the strength tests, then further testing tools laid out in order of the subsequent tests, i.e. a 100 metre track for running speed, then illusion arrays set up for agility, reaction speed and combat skill. At his two sides were staircases running up either side of the humongous arena. The staircases led up to two separate viewing areas. One staircase led to the public area which circled around the entire interior of the stadium. The other led to an even more heavily-guarded private enclosure that could house perhaps a thousand people. Right now, however, there were only 3 groups of people in the private area. Lars couldn''t make out who or which families were up there as they were hidden behind curtains on either side to keep the heat and dust out while not obstructing their view. What he did know was that there were a number of Grandmaster powerhouses up there, but no World-class or Legendary realm combatants except for the earlier Head Administrator... Then based on what he had seen so far in this nation, his estimate was that the strongest practitioners were at most on par with Duke Silvan; at the Legendary stage and weaker than himself! Nonetheless, until he could get a first grasp of the power of their runes and artefacts, he would need to bide his time first before revealing all of his own trump cards! He started to walk forward towards what looked to be the gathering area where a dozen or so event staff held clipboards and were taking down the contestants'' details. Then he glanced up at the clock - 11:13 AM. 2 minutes to go until the start. He looked around as they walked toward an area where they could wait for the event to start. ''Looks like I''ll not be there on time before noon for the quest... Whatever, it''s just some measly gold coins! His mouth hung slightly open and the littlest hint of wetness could be seen on his lips as he thought about just how big of a grand prize the contest would be offering; he could just imagine the amount of money, swimming in gold coins and bathing in platinum by the bucket! Then he heard the rude and sharp voice of a teenage girl shout in his direction. "Well well well! Look what we have here!" The speaker sounded like she was coming closer as she raised her voice in disdain. He turned his head and saw what looked like a beautiful, rich and popular girl surrounded by more than a dozen muscular and handsome boys, each vying for her attention and favour. There were also two similarly well-dressed and attractive girls on either side of her, clearly her wing-women. "Charley Charlemagne! I thought I warned you not to EVER appear before my eyes again! Or I''ll tear off your manhood and make you wear it like a necklace around your neck! Hahahaha!" She was joined in laughter by her jeering and mocking posse of followers. ''Sigh... Trouble seems to look for me wherever I go, doesn''t it?'' But he was smiling as he watched the scene before him unfold. Time to smash some more arrogant pricks faces into the dirt again. 55 Posturing "Psst... Who''s she...?" Lars whispered to the trembling Charley. The boy was so scared that he didn''t notice that Lars was trying to keep his voice low; he spoke out loudly, "Huh? Boss, you don''t know who she is? That''s Natalie Sarouneh, the second most beautiful, second toughest, second most talented... The perennial second-placer of Gorun!" "CHARLEY CHARLEMAGNE!!! I''M GOING TO EMASCULATE YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!!! I! AM! THE! MOST! BEAUTIFUL! THE NUMBER 1 IN EVERYTHING!!!" The enraged red-headed Natalie shrieked in indignation, prompting the boys around her to charge forward. Raising his eyebrows in displeasure, old-man Wesley stepped forward and said to Charley, "The next 100 services and info are free, right...?" Charley turned pale. He almost couldn''t decide whether selling away his life and soul in service to the white-haired man was worth more than his manhood - but as the ill-intentioned group of boys approached, he frantically nodded and said, "Yes yes yes yes! Eeep!!!" Wesley then stood his ground, blocking the group''s path to Charley who quickly hid behind his back. The boys looked at the obviously much stronger senior before them and hesitated, glancing back at their mistress Natalie behind them in uncertainty. "Hmmph!!! Do you think you''re the only one who can bring their seniors out!??" She harumphed in Charley''s direction, giving him a killing glare that sent shivers up his spine even while he hid behind Wesley. Lars merely stood at the side and smiled. Then she fixed her gaze on the old man before her and sneered with a gesugao[1] look, making her look like a villainess. "Listen here, you smelly old man!" With a strong gesture, she rudely pointed her index finger at Wesley and shouted. Her words clearly touched on some sensitive points, making the man in white robes sniff himself and wonder if he was really that smelly. She was even standing so far away, did he stink that bad? He turned back to Lars who shook his head as if assuring him that he didn''t stink. So Wesley just shrugged and listened to the girl continue her rant. "Looks like you don''t have much money if you are willing to work for even that poor guy! Don''t be a frog in the well! Be smart, do the right thing! Why don''t you leave that useless kid''s side and work for the proud Sarouneh family instead? Working for such a weakling who can''t even pay you well will only cause you harm!" She waited expectantly for the scene that she was sure would come - the white-robed old man who was clearly an expert would bow down to her obviously greater wisdom, beauty and wealth then join her side obediently! She smiled madly; then at that time, she would let the old man rip off the boy''s private parts with his own bare hands and *FEED* it to the big mouthed bastard! ''Hahahahahahaha!'' She began laughing in her mind, enjoying her imagined future endlessly. Finally she would get revenge on the sharp-tongued boy that she could never win an argument against! Then she came back to reality and realised that the old man was not moving. He still stood there, still as a tree that the winds could not sway. Only, he had a sneer on his face, as if telling her, "Have you talked enough crap yet?" Her mood turned sour and her face changed to a grimace of rage. "Well??? I won''t give you another chance! Either you come over to join us of House Sarouneh now, or I''ll make sure that you''ll never ever have a chance again!" Her words ended with a resounding shout, eliciting gasps from the surrounding tournament contestants. She flashed a wicked smile at Charley, mocking him that he would soon lose his protector. Then Wesley did not say a word, but held up his right hand and beckoned her, as if saying, "Well? Come on and do your worst!" Natalie''s eyes widened until they looked like saucers. She was speechless for a moment - this was the first time ever that anyone outside of the four great families or the Duke''s house dared to challenge her authority! How dare they impugn her, the heiress of House Sarouneh''s dignity! She stomped her foot in indignance and called out loud to her personal protector who was always within range of her voice but could never be seen by anyone, so great were his skills in concealment and protection! "Elder Light Breeze! Elder Light Breeze! I''m in need of your help! Come and teach this crazy old man a lesson! Hahaha!" She laughed and gloated as she yelled and waited expectantly. "You, my dear foolish psycho, are now DEAD MEAT!! Hahahaha!!" She drew her thumb sharply across her neck like the action of slitting a throat, then laughed out loud together with her group of hangers-on. The crowd around them began to murmur in shock and fear, with some looking forward to a good fight. "My gosh! I can''t believe we''ll get to see him! It''s the elder of the Great Tree sect...!" "I heard he''s in the top 20 strongest of the entire city..." "No, he''s the top 20 strongest in the whole Northern Region!" "Hah! That''s old news! Didn''t you hear? He''s been listed as one of the strongest in the country! He placed just behind the 9 pillars in this year''s Book of Rankings!" Various snippets of words could be heard, speaking in awe of the mighty and glorious person known only by his title as Light Breeze, coming from the phrase most often used to describe him, "The Light breeze that can barely move a leaf, yet even a mountain is invisibly whittled away over a thousand years." They waited expectantly, casting their gazes all around, whether to all corners of the sky or every side of the arena field. But after awhile, their murmurs fell quiet, as well as Natalie and her group''s laughter. Where was elder Light Breeze...? After seeing such a hyped up speech followed by a hugely disappointing let-down, Wesley flicked his sleeves proudly and asked, "Well...? Is he coming or not? Or is he just another fart released in the breeze?" Then the evil faced and stern old man turned around to the audience and said, "Get it...? Light Breeze, a fart released in the breeze...? Hahahaha... Hah... Haha..." He began to grow embarrassed as the people did not seem to appreciate his cold joke, then coughed in embarrassment before putting on a serious and cruel expression again. Lars and Charley inched away, sweating as they suddenly did not want to be seen associated with the man with such an incredibly bad sense of humour. Agitated and worried that her dignity was trodden upon, she shouted even louder, "Elder Light Breeze! This man does not respect either heaven or earth, and has insulted even yourself and the mighty Great Tree Sect with his slanderous, vile comments! Elder! Quickly! Exact justice on behalf of your great sect! Do not let this befuddled old geezer smear the honour of your esteemed self and great sect!" She cried out desperately, putting her plea to the invisible air - invisible just like the elder who was nowhere to be seen. Then she heard a whisper in her ear, transmitted from far away. "Shhh!!! Don''t drag me into this!!! I''m, I''m sick today! Can''t you hear me cough?? Coffee coffee, coffee coffee... It''s definitely not because I''m afraid of the weakling, no! It''s just, today''s a bad day! Ah choo! Ah choo! Listen, I''ll make it up to you next day, bye!" Her head almost exploded as she heard the irresponsible words, then teetered and tottered, almost collapsing from the unbearable shock. She completely disregarded his nonsensical and unbelievably bad acting, and realised that he dared not take on the old man! Her heart began to tighten in fear. If even elder Light Breeze of the almighty Great Tree Sect dared not face him... She shivered in fear as she wondered just what kind of hornet''s nest she had just stirred up. "Well? I''m waiting! Come on! I''ve not stretched for too many centuries! Come on! Where''s the fight, where''s the fight!?" The stoic and quiet old man suddenly became very passionate and enthusiastic as he looked around wildly at the group of Natalie''s followers around him, daring them to come and get a piece of him. But wherever his gaze passed by, the boys would avert their eyes and shrink away in fear! They weren''t going to be the borrowed knife that was sacrificed for the bitch''s little games of face-saving! Anyway, it wasn''t like the man would dare to lay a hand on the number 3 princess of the city, right? So they quickly coughed and, while she was not paying attention, one by one they scrammed, scattering to the nine winds! In a flash, Natalie was left all alone, with only her two lady attendants left by her side! Her skin turned pallid in discouragement as she felt like she had nowhere to hide her head from the complete trampling of dignity. Then her face turned deep red in burning shame. ''What... What... What just happened??? Aren''t I supposed to the favoured daughter of the heavens, THE Natalie Sarouneh of one of the great four houses??? How can this be happening...'' She almost fell to her knees as she swayed and her legs grew weak, but her two best friends held her firmly so she would not humiliate herself further. At their touch, her eyes flashed as she regained her spirit and yelled a challenge. "Charley!!! You cheated! YOU CHEATED!!! This was supposed to be a fair fight between you and me! I won''t stand for this, won''t stand for this you hear?!?" She had already completely lost it, growing hysterical. But she didn''t stop there as she strived to salvage her lost face. "So I challenge you to a fair fight between us juniors! Whoever ranks higher in the selection tournament is the victor and must listen to any request of the loser!! Even..." She bolstered up her confidence, sneering even as her lips shook from the earlier mental blow, "Even if it means to annul our marriage!! Don''t you dare escape from my challenge, you hear me! Don''t you dare run away like a lily-livered coward! Why are you running away? Don''t you dare take my challenge?!" But even while she was speaking, she was backpedalling, beginning to withdraw as a face-saving move! Charley was shocked by the whole big turn of events, and though he was always sharp-tongued and quick-witted, he was unsure of how to respond. If he crossed the line in antagonising her, she really might send killers in his sleep to make sure he never woke up! And Wesley couldn''t always be by his side... Then in a flash, he thought of an idea. He bravely marched forward, pushing aside Wesley who gave him a black face but did not object. Then he shouted, "NATALIE SAROUNEH, MY FIANCEE!" "DON''T CALL ME THAT!!! I''LL NEVER ADMIT TO THAT BLOODY FAKE FORCED MARRIAGE YOUR FATHER SCAMMED HIS WAY INTO!!! I''D RATHER DIE!!!" She shrieked and shook her head from side to side as she pressed her fingers into her ears. She tried to shut out the words and pretend this entire debacle was not happening in front of thousands of people! "I will prove to you that I will beat you! I am 100%, no, 1,000% confident that I will not possibly lose...! Because..." "I am sending him as my representative!" He pointed a finger straight at a stunned Lars whose jaw dropped and could not believe his ears. A great gasp and many ooh''s and aah''s shot through the crowd as everyone was asking the same question. "Who was that guy...?" Then someone yelled out loudly, "I know who he is!" And suddenly all eyes and ears turned to the source of the voice, a soft-eyed, beautiful but androgynous newbie quester who raised his/ her hand. As the beautiful boy/ girl faced the expectant crowd, he/ she said, "His name is Lars, and he faced off against the Trenel family to save me from their evil slavery!" The crowd exploded in noise as they began to gossip and discuss the juicy news that had just been announced! What a big scoop! Then they suddenly quietened down again as the pretty boy/ girl raised his/ her hand to offer a new piece of information. He/ She brushed back her flowing long blonde hair, causing many in the crowd to nearly swoon at the beauty, albeit with conflicted feelings about their sexual orientation. "Lars..." He/ she had on a serious face, one that drew every listener in to hear the next words with all their being. "...Stole my first kiss..." The pretty trap blushed furiously, closing his/ her eyes and covered his/ her reddened face at those embarrassing words. Lars collapsed onto his butt even as the crowd began to gasp in horror. "What an outrage!" "So he was gay after all..." "Not just that Lars kid! That Charley must be too!" "Is he two-timing with that trap...? Or all three of them..." "Maybe that''s how the Charlemagne kid managed to rope him in..." "Do you think he''s the one giving it, or receiving it...?" "Haha! Hard to tell, but maybe he likes to do both!" "Yeah!!! That must be it!! That''s why he''s two-timing with separate boys!" Then one person said something that almost made all of them puke at the image. "Wait, how about the old man...?" The people around him gagged, then began to punch and kick him into oblivion for triggering such a disgusting thought. The worst thing was, the white-robed old man actually blushed and averted his gaze shyly! Oh my god! Lars wept. Streams of tears flowed down his cheeks. His name was tarnished forever; finished! What if Moira heard about this...? "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed uncontrollably, facing the sky and yelling. Thunderclouds began to gather above him, reflecting his chaotic and despairing mood that tempted him to just end his life... Along with the lives of everyone around him! Charley rushed over to comfort him, even as Natalie''s face turned white, then green, then purple and blue, and finally intense red, letting off a cloud of heat and steam from her face. Then she collapsed with a gushing nosebleed, fainting from the stimulating mental image of Charley, the handsome Lars and the pretty androgynous trap *doing it*. Obviously she was a fan of a certain genre of "art"... "Lars, don''t worry..." Charley reached out his hand to touch Lars shoulder, which Lars dodged with all his might. He dodged so quickly that it seemed like the ground between the two boys expanded, making it appear that Lars teleported away suddenly! Charley''s face fell, then he frowned and pressed his lips together tightly in determination. Then he blew a kiss at Lars, and said, "Don''t worry... I won''t tell anyone." And he winked. Lars fainted from anger. * * * [1] Gesugao - "The face a villain makes before they are defeated so that the reader will not empathise for them so much." Just discovered there''s such a thing... Hmm... Interesting... Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuBETyA_yxc 56 It Begins In the private seating area, there were two entourages gathered nearby one another. One group was centered around a young brash-looking woman dressed in fine but functional clothes - a loose-fitting pants along with a flowing blouse that would not hinder her movements in battle. Her facial features were refined, looking like a westerner in appearance instead of the locals. However, her skin was a beautiful tanned brown and her hair was raven black, glistening in health even in the shade where she was seated. She looked to be of mixed blood. She was holding a hand to her mouth to keep herself from laughing too loud at he comical scene happening down below. She held her stomach with the other hand as her chest expanded and contracted together with her explosive laughter! The other gathering of people were congregated around a boy with a sword-like aura. He gave off the feeling that if one were to cross him, they would be immediately struck down by the hand-and-a-half bastard sword hanging from his belt. He stood straight as a reed with the dignity of a ruler, even as his hawk-like eyes peered down with disdain upon everyone and everything he laid his eyes on. Despite his serious expression, there were still hints of innocence and naivete in his face, not quite erased due to his young age of 17 years old. He on the other hand was not amused at all at the scene that had played out; a scene that besmirched the honour of his great house which ranked behind only the de Caldis Dukedom! Vignis Jamal of the Jamal family and Leocadius Trenel of House Trenel. The domineering girl bore a fiery gaze as she looked down at the debacle occurring in the field. She stood aloof from the preliminaries as she had already been a finalist in the last selection 2 years ago. Similarly, the member of the noble House of Trenel standing nearby also had no need to prove himself in battle against the other weak juniors. Only Natalie Sarouneh who had just turned 15 had to go through the pre-selection rounds to establish her status as a top talent of the city. As she was the youngest of their batch of 2nd or 3rd children of each of the noble houses, she had not been eligible to take part in the previous selection with the rest of her slightly older peers. Vignis had a rakish grin on her face as she leered at Leocadius - Leo for short - out of the corner of her eye. "Since when have your operations been so weak...? A mere boy can disrupt your highly lucrative slave business...?" She had a slight hint of acid in her tone as she spoke, clearly showing her distaste for the flesh-trade that was rampant in this city. Each of the four noble families was aware of what the other were doing, whether they agreed with the activities or not. However, there was also an unspoken understanding - they were not to intrude on the others'' areas whether for better or for worse. Leo was silent as his eyes continued to glare at the young and confident boy she was speaking about. Then he smiled slightly and turned around to return to his comfortable and soft recliner. Despite the chair being so luxuriously lush, he did not lean back but maintained his sword-like posture, sitting up straight as he spoke. "I care not. In a field there are many ants. The gardener need not kill them one by one." A dangerous glint flashed in the teenager''s eyes as he smiled. Vignis shrugged, then returned to her seat. She was about to take a sip of her drink when it suddenly occurred to her. ''I haven''t seen Astrid yet... Where could she be? I hope she''s not pranking anyone again...'' But contrary to her words, Vignis had an expression of mirth and delight as she looked forward to seeing the next big antics that the only daughter of the Estreya family had in store. * * * * * "Ahem. Ladies and gentlemen, I assume you are all here in the right place for the junior''s preliminary tests. If you are above 17 years and 9 months old AS OF TODAY, please be informed - YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED!" The refined gentleman making the announcement spoke politely but firmly. "This is your last chance - please make sure you are in the right testing area according to your age." The rather pleasant-looking administrator looked around for awhile then resumed his speech. "Alright. I take it that everyone remaining is qualified for the tests. Let us begin!" He waved to the stadium crew who were all dressed in uniform brown robes. On the front of the robes there was an emblem of a single fist in a gauntlet clutching a rose - the sign of House Trenel. The men and women quickly scrambled to pull back multiple black cloths laid covering about 35 pieces of equipment. The equipment consisted of a stable 4-legged metal frame forming the base for a long drum-like measurement apparatus. "The first test, as announced, shall be the strength test! The rules are simple! Each registrant will be called out one by one according to your registration number! From the moment you are called, you will be given 1 minute to strike the Strength Measurement Machine (SMM)! Then we will call out the next set of 35 numbers; at that time, the first batch of testees must leave the testing area and return to the waiting area. The highest scores for each testee will be recorded and the top 1,024 candidates will continue on to the next round; while for each subsequent round, the number of candidates proceeding will be half again - that is, 512, 256, 128 and finally 64 contestants to enter the finals in 2 day''s time!" He paused to allow the registrants a moment for the information to sink in. He was met with multitudinous soft murmurs that, when put together, became like a loud rumble! The various contestants gather looked around, nervous and wondering whether they would be among those who could continue on to the end of these preliminaries. As each test was on a different area of ability, it would be exceedingly difficult even if one were an expert - the requirement was for the testee to be a master in 5 different areas! Namely, strength, running speed, agility, reaction speed and a combat assessment - all testing completely different things! The dignified administrator held up his hand, demanding silence. The sounds of the voices quickly faded as everyone paid rapt attention to his explanation. "I understand that there will be those who are not local to Gorun. You may not know of the Gorun Stadium''s impeccable reputation for integrity! Don''t worry about any party cheating! On top of a senior representative from each family to check the results, we even have a special guest from the de Caldis family as our honorary judge! Rest assured! Everything will be run in a completely transparent and above-board manner! This is guaranteed on the honour of the Kingdom of the Sands!" At this statement, the crowds burst into cheers; there were truly those who worried that foul play would occur to whittle down the number of participants and favour those who had "friendships" or "given gifts" to the right parties! Without waiting for the noise to settle down, he spoke loudly to great tumult - "May the best contestant prevail! Let the tests begin!" With that, the stadium crew began calling out numbers for candidates to step forward. As he watched the first batch of candidates hurriedly approach the testing machines, Lars was calculating mentally. ''Based on 1 minute per round and 35 people per batch... It should take about an hour to finish the first test. If each of the tests takes about the same amount of time...'' He frowned. ''Then that means I''ll be here for almost 5 hours?'' He furrowed his brows further. He was going to be so late for the appointment with the Estreya quest awarder! * * * * * Lars watched as the candidates went up to record their strength levels. Batch by batch they went, and he took note of the average scores. There was also a humongous 4-sided magical screen suspended above them, held up by a immense suspension cables attached to the lattice of the Gorun Stadium''s ceiling. The lattice that made up the roof was constructed of criss-crossed metal beams etched with many defensive and utility formations; the most important being one that allowed the lattice to convert into a roof against the rain. On the screen, the top 1,000 scores were shown: 1. #882 - 2,747 points 2. #979 - 2,619 points 3. #557 - 2,599 points . . . 840. #1124 - 489 points As there were only 24 batches of candidates so far, every person tested was automatically in the top 1000. The top performers were as expected - those with heavy builds or powerful frames. But there were exceptions. 3rd ranked: #557 Darius. An average sized and average height boy with short black hair. He appeared unimpressive - but the moment he built up strength for a punch, a sense of threat lanced through Lars'' senses. This was despite the boy being only at the low-Elite level! And when he slammed his fist into the face of the drum-like measurement portion, a resounding *BANG!* was heard. He released tremendous power despite his much smaller frame, taking 3rd place and remaining there until now! ''Hmm... Likely a bloodline mutation...? Or perhaps a form of atavism, awakening an ancient bloodline...'' Lars pondered as he admired the talents he could see here Well, there was one bigger surprise. It was the tantrum-throwing, stuck-up and spoiled brat, Natalie Sarouneh. When her number was called, she walked forward with a laid-back attitude, as if not worried that she was wasting precious seconds of her already scant time! She even stopped to glare pointedly and hatefully at Lars as if challenging him and daring him to one-up her! But Lars ignored her and maintained a neutral expression. She scowled in anger when she saw his lack of response, then stormed forward to the machine. Then she didn''t even build up her strength before letting out a vicious claw attack. Images of a red dragon emerged, appearing illusory and threatening though also slightly indistinct. It reared up behind her as if were about to devour the 9 planets and swallow the sun, then it snaked around her arm as she struck out. *BAAMMM!!!!!!!* The thunderous sound of a great impact resounded through their surroundings, startling the other testees who were in the middle of their motions. Two of the contestants were even interrupted mid-swing, causing them to falter mid blow and end up missing the machine entirely! Then the screen hanging in mid-air flashed as the rankings changed extensively. Her contestant ID rose up and up and up non-stop, shooting up past the 800s, then the 500s. It did not slow down as it crossed the 200s and then pipped the 100th placed contestant, much to the dismay of the person knocked out of his top 100 rank. By now, every single contestant and even the staff were watching entranced and excitedly waiting to see just how high the dragon-girl would rise in the standings! At the same time, those who were in the top 100, top 50s and top 10 were watching anxiously and hoping to maintain a high ranking. After all, being highly placed had two benefits. First, it meant that one was among the most capable amongst their rivals. Second, it would give them great exposure and fame, possibly to be recruited by a wealthy noble house. And if they were ranked in the top 10 in any of the areas, perhaps they would even be offered a contract by one of the Four Great Houses of Gorun city! An even higher dream would be to be in the top 3. Based on the past few competitions, all of the top 3 contestants were personally scouted to join the true powerhouses of the continent, one of the Five Great Sects, of which the closest to home were the Great Tree Sect and the Crimson Fire Sect! Natalie''s name rose continually, rising above the top 75th place, then the #50. It still didn''t stop, making those who were in the top ranks nervous. Finally it crossed the top 10 position and stopped - at #2! The slim and pretty girl with the air of a dragon-lady was ranked number 2 out of all the contestants so far! The score rose up all the way to 2,742 points, just a hair''s-breadth behind the number 1 ranked contestant, mountain-man Reshmont! 1. #882 - 2,747 points 2. #1010 - 2,742 points 3. #979 - 2,619 points 4. #557 - 2,599 points . . . 841. #1124 - 489 points "OMG..." "How can that be possible!?" A muscular looking youth spilled his water as he crushed the cup in his hand as he was leap-frogged by the young lady. "Truly a genius among geniuses..." "The rumours must be true! The dragon ancestor''s blood must flow through the veins of the Sarouneh family!" "Look how relaxed she was! I bet if she tried just a little harder, she''d easily be number! No, she''d easily surpass last year''s high score at 3,000 points!" The buzz of countless voices gossiping about the incredible scene filled the arena. Everyone was shocked and standing in awe at her majestic and amazing display of might! As the proud noble daughter walked away from the testing area, she raised her head proudly and basked in the attention given her. "Congratulations, young miss! You are truly the sun that shines in the sky! Your glory cannot be hidden!" "As expected of the grand genius of our Sarouneh House! Young miss, you truly bring make us proud to be your servants!" The two girls who accompanied her showered praises onto the girl who was by now as proud as a peacock showing off her plumage. Then she fired a provocative glare at Lars and Charley who was already hiding behind him. The scheming boy dared not even show his face as he feared that he would piss his pants on the spot! "Hey." Lars spoke to him, curious as to why Charley had so daringly accepted the challenge from someone who could look on the whole 2,000 contestants with disdain from her lofty position up top. Charley cowered behind him, voice shaking as he asked, "W-w-w-w-what...?!" with irritation in his voice. "Did you know that she''s this strong...?" "No way bro! How would I know she would awaken her bloodline so young? Normally it only awakens after the age of 25! If I had known... Crap crap crap CRAP!!! What am I going to do?!?" He sweated profusely and looked pale as he frantically glanced around to look for an escape, panicking. Unfortunately, there was no escape; and old man Wesley had left with the other older contestants to another venue for the seniors'' exam! Lars chuckled, then patted him on the back, reassuring him. "Don''t worry, since you''ve promised me to be my servant for 100 years, I''ll definitely keep my part of the deal and win for you. Oh, right, it''s my turn. Relax!" He said as he walked forward, hearing his number called. Lars grinned. He looked forward to the seeing the girl''s expression once he was done. 57 So close... "#777!" Lars stepped forward leisurely, not even looking left or right at the hundreds if not thousands of gazes that were locked onto him. He did notice that so far, the trap hadn''t appeared again. In fact, she was missing from the crowd. But no matter, it was better if he/ she didn''t bother him anymore... But he really needed to get to the bottom of his/ her gender... He walked with a lanky, nerdy gait, appearing like a cross between a country bumpkin and a bookwork, causing many of the contestants to snigger when they saw him! After walking so slowly that he wasted 15 seconds of his precious time, he stopped in front of the machine - then stretched his arms over his head and yawned. If that were not enough, he rubbed his nose then sneezed - then lifted up his right pinky finger... And stuck it into his nose in public! OMG! "F*** that''s disgusting! Yuck!" "Doesn''t he have any sense of shame? Maybe he''s a village idiot!" "What''s wrong with this guy? Is he a bogan?" "Bogan? What language is that? I think he''s a simpleton - look at how he walks! Just like a 5-year old!" "A joke! What a joke! How can someone like this compete with the mighty descendant of Sarouneh?! Hah!" "Pui! How boring! I''m not watching anymore! He''ll just embarrass himself!" "Yeah! And here I was expecting the rise of a new star." At the sight of this, even Natalie was shocked. Was this supposed to be the great contestant that Charley was entrusting his future to...? Wasn''t this guy just too unreliable, too weak... Too useless? Even she felt disgusted and embarrassed just looking at him! But she kept quiet for now as she also felt a sense of uneasiness. Nevertheless, the stream of insults was endless, rising up into a clamorous roar all around the testing grounds. But the boy continued to be oblivious to the caustic remarks as he stood before the machine calmly. Then he continued stretching! "LARS!!! What the f*** are you doing?!? Are you betraying me on purpose??! No... No please don''t!!! I''m counting on youuuuuu boo hoo..." Charley fell to his knees and couldn''t bear to watch anymore, he had believed in the boy''s silver badge at such a young age. His confidence was bolstered further when he heard that the tall and mature looking boy was someone daring enough to go against the Trenel family! But now it seemed he had chosen the wrong bet. Even Natalie was looking at him with eyes not of disdain or hate, but eyes of pity! Even his sworn enemy was pitying him! "Hahahaha!!! The joke of the century, the joke of the century!" "Well done Charley! You are truly the best! The best joker that is!" "Wow this comedy show is really worth the money!" "You chose the wrong horse to bet on, kiddo! You chose a crazy horse!" And those words stung his heart greatly, causing him to break out in shivers and tears as he felt as if the world were crashing down around him. He felt like he was suffocating as he gasped for air without any way out! While his buddy was going through a bout of drama, Lars finished his warm-up. ''Hmm... 8 seconds left huh... Alright, it''s about time.'' Then he sauntered up, continuing his bow-legged way of walking that made him look like a retard and winded up a comical looking windmill punch. By this time, even the other 34 contestants in his batch were finished, satisfied with their scores. They too could not bear the absurd display shown them by Lars, and were standing by relaxedly as they waited for his next wacky move. Lars winded up his blow again and again. Then after swinging his arm round 5 times, he pulled his right arm all the way back, then spun around 360 degrees to swing a mighty blow at the machine! And he missed the drum, tumbling to the ground! Peals of ecstatic laughter exploded as he showed them an even bigger joke with his move, the crowd couldn''t control themselves anymore! Even those who were supportive of him for standing up to the tyrants of House Trenel could only cover her mouths and hold in their laughter - it was too embarrassing! Too shameful! How could such a bumbling fool ever have challenged that great house?! Natalie, the innocent girl despite her passionate and fiery attitude, couldn''t bear the humiliation of looking at him anymore. She covered her face and shouted, "Can''t you even do something that simple properly!??" Then she and all the contestants were shocked as a tremendous boom resounded! They looked around in shock, which contestant had caused that? Wasn''t everyone else done already? Then someone said shakily, pointing with his finger as if though not believing what he had just seen himself. "Erm... T-the... The boy... His leg hit the machine while he was falling down..." This statement triggered even more laughter, ridiculing both the speaker and the hilarious idea that the boy''s fall could make such a powerful sound. "Hahahahahahahaah!!!" "Worth it, it''s worth! So worth it to be here!!! I won''t regret even if I get last place!!!" But even as the amusement continued, one by one the mockers began to grow silent. That was because they looked up and saw the ID number "#777" appear on the magic screen - and begin to skyrocket like a firework! Stunned and abashed, the audience in the field could only stand with mouths wide open, gaping at the score as it kept rising higher and higher. One contestant, lanky and tall tapped his friend on the shoulder and asked, "Hey, am I dreaming? Are you seeing what I''m seeing?" His stout and short friend replied, "I don''t know... I wonder if I''m hallucinating too... Is this even real anymore?" The most ashamed of all was Natalie, but she refused to show it, keeping up a domineering attitude as she slandered him non-stop, "What is this farce! There must be something wrong with the score, don''t think you can get away with cheating! Anyway, even with all your cheating, there''s no way you''ll..." Her voice trailed off - ID #777 had risen to the top 50 and showed no signs of stopping! ''It... It can''t be... There''s no way... No, no, it''s impossible! How can I, the proud dragon-blooded Natalie Sarouneh lose? It''s, it cannot...'' Her mind was thrown into a downward spiral of anxiety as she nervously watched Lars'' ranking continue to rise. By now, no-one was watching Lars himself. He got up and brushed off his clothes from his play-acting fall, and quickly withdrew his spells. He could have scored highly with just his physical strength alone - his minotaur bloodline was doing wonders for his strength as he made sure to eat well. However, he was smiling cunningly: where would be the fun in doing things the normal way...? He sniggered, covering his mouth and continuing his goofy way of walking back to where Charley was still kneeling and crying. He walked onwards and nonchalantly strolled past the disbelieving crowd as he slipped past them back to his companion. "No... It''s over for me... Boo hoo... I should have just ran away from town while I still had the chance... It''s useless..." Charley was still mourning his fate. Lars, contestant ID #777, shook his head in pity at the boy who was still in his own world, then slapped him on the head. "Hey, get up." Charley''s face hit the floor when he was slapped on the head, eating some dirt. He got up spluttering and wiping his mouth, trying to spit out the dirt that had entered his mouth. Then he faced Lars and shouted at him. "Oi! Why''d you hit me on the head all of a sudden! Can''t you see I''m -- Huh?" He stopped speaking. Because it was completely quiet. "What, what happened? What''s everyone looking at..." He looked up and saw a grinning Lars, with his badge that read "#777". Then his eyes darted left and right and saw the crowds'' stunned gazes, then followed their line of sight, going higher and higher until his eyes landed on the scoreboard. It read: 1. #882 - 2,747 points 2. #1010 - 2,742 points 3. #777- 2,741 points 4. #979 - 2,619 points . . . 910. #1711 - 421 points "...Just one point difference...? Just 1 point behind her score of 2,742... And 6 points behind #1 Reshmont...? How... How can this..." He was too shocked to continue, leaning on Lars for support. But Lars slipped past him and let Charley fall to the floor painfully. It was not just Charley who was flabbergasted. Slowly the voices began to murmur, gossiping. "It must be something wrong..." "A bug... It must be a bug..." Even the administrator in charge, the handsome and dignified man, looked confused and worried. Was there really a bug? Natalie was the most anxious of them all. She quickly called out to the administrator, "H-hey... Hey! Mr White! Isn''t there... Doesn''t there look like there''s s-something wrong with the score...? It... Is it a bug...?" Mr White, the well-mannered administrator, hesitantly nodded, then he caught himself. He realised that he, as a representative of the Stadium administration the Five Great powers of the Four Houses and Dukedom could not allow any smears on their reputation. So he coughed and shook his head in denial instead even as a crew member ran over to him hurriedly and whispered something in his ear. As he listened to the words, the whole audience was whispering softly. "Is it real? How could this be true...?" "H-How could a bumbling buffoon''s accidental kick be as powerful as Natalie Sarouneh''s dragon-aura infused blow?" "This... This is too much to accept! It must be a bug!" "Yeah, it must be a bug!" "Administrator, we seek justice!" "He cheated!" "Cheaters must be punished!" Then they began to quieten down as the administrator''s face changed into one of abject horror and shock, but only for an instant. He controlled his expression and recovered his pose before holding one hand high to call for silence. When the rowdy contestants settled down, he cleared his throat and made the announcement. "There is no bug!" The crowd exploded with protest, shouting and disputing his statement. He watched patiently for awhile, but as the noise and commotion only got louder instead of settling down, he lost his temper and released a mighty aura of a Grandmaster practitioner and shouted. "SILENCE!!!!!!!!" A great gust of wind accompanied his roar, sending some of the weaker or unprepared contestants tumbling, especially those who had opposed him the most vehemently! Some who had been instigating their neighbours to denounce his claim of there being no bug were targeted specifically by his outburst of aura, even coughing up blood from internal injuries! For those who fell in that way, their contest run was essentially over; they would not be able to compete in that state! Of course, in the course of this, the aura he sent over at Natalie Sarouneh was but a summer breeze, he made sure not to harass such a troublesome persona! Then the powerful practitioner released a loud harumph and flicked his sleeves in indignance. "How dare you doubt the honour and dignity of the Four Great Houses and the de Caldis Dukedom! To insult the test results is to question the integrity of all the great institutions of this city!" He cast his gaze all around him, causing all of the contestants to look away - except for Lars. His eyebrows rose in interest as he saw the boy''s precocious look, but he continued with his speech. "Now if anyone still has problems with the results, you can come and see me personally! If there''s nothing else, we''ll continue with the strength test and continue one for the other assessments! Just let me remind you." His voice grew low and sounded threatening as he continued. "Whoever dares to infringe the rules of the Gorun Stadium will be dealt with severely... Along with you families. So go ahead! Protest! Use violence on other contestants! And you''ll see just what happens to law-breakers in here..." With that, he flicked his sleeves once more and stormed off the stage. Natalie wanted to call out to him, but when she felt his aggressive aura, she held herself back. Angry and unwilling, she could only bite her lip in frustration and ignore Charley and Lars as she stormed off as well to hide her frustration and shame. ''How could an idiot like that almost match me...? It''s... It''s impossible... It''s not fair...'' Her eyes began to grow wet from anger and shame as she ran off to the resting areas to wait until the next assessment started. Lars smiled at Charley who was still too stunned to react. The boy finally shook his head then slapped his cheeks to check if he was dreaming. Then when he realised it wasn''t a dream, he smiled confusedly at Lars and said, "T-thanks bro...?" Lars smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "My pleasure..." Face-smacking the proud was his favourite past-time. * * * * * As Mr White was walking, he recalled the sharp gaze Lars had laid on him. It was the gaze of an expert fisherman casting his bait, just waiting for his opponent to bite so he could reel them in. Mr White shivered in excitement but also felt it was odd. It was not a look that should appear in the eyes of a 15-year-old boy. ''Hmm... What an intriguing boy... Let''s see just how far you''ll go...'' He smiled and felt a foreboding sense that a great upheaval and shaking was coming... He wondered if he could make it through this round of trouble. 58 Interes "Well, the battle at the Eastern front is going smoothly. I think we can withdraw about 1/3 of our forces within the next 2 months..." A tall, slim but well-proportioned man with long grey hair spoke with confidence about his status report. He looked cool and collected as he pressed his fingers together before his face and spoke. But at his words, a mature-looking woman perhaps in her 40s spoke up, "No, that will be too long! By that time, we''ll have missed the opportunity to strike the beastmen up north! We need to redeploy our troops and move before winter sets in - then win it decisively!" Her personality was just like her hair - a blazing red just like the tongues of a consuming fire. In fact, she looked just like an older version of Natalie! Somehow, the cool looking man''s face immediately twisted in anger, probably triggered by a long-standing bad blood between the two. He stood up and pointed a finger at the woman, saying, "LINA SAROUNEH! Why must you always argue with everything I say! You don''t have to always undermine me just because I was the one who received command of the Eastern front that you wanted! You could always just prove yourself capable on the North! But no! Instead you make it sound as if though it''s my fault that you''re losing ground against the beastmen!" His fair face turned slightly pink as he raised his voice unconsciously. The woman, Lina, shot to her feet and confronted him face to face, giving as good as she had gotten, "Sefir, you dare challenge me...?" Her eyes glinted with violence and danger as she spoke, causing the man to involuntarily tremble and inch backwards slightly. "Every time I see you, all I see is a P*SSY! Don''t think that just because you''re smarter, better at strategy and better at leadership that you can escape my pounding fists, you girly sissy!" At those words, Sefir, the grey-haired man, exploded and shouted, "LINA! THAT''S TOO MUCH! Do you think I''m afraid of you, huh??? C''mon! Let''s take it outside, I''ll show you just how this "sissy" will teach you a lesson!" He raised his fists up and waved them in front of him in return, but had backed off more than 2 metres before doing so. "Guys... No need to get personal here." A heavy-set man with short white hair spoke. He had a perfectly trimmed beard and moustache and was dressed in military garb with numerous stars and medals on his shoulder. The speaker''s one short sentence instantly stilled the argument. The two involved, the man and woman from the houses of Estreya and Sarouneh respectively, looked at him in shock that they had forgotten themselves. Then theyy silently and obediently sat down. This was the authority and power of General Weres, leader of the Gorun City unified army - and also Duke de Caldis'' right-hand man. However, his authority did not come from his status, rank or position. His status came from his capabilities... And his reputation. "Million-Slayer Weres", "Bloodfield Weres" and "Red-death Weres"; these but a few of the countless monstrous names accorded to the walking disaster of the battlefield. From the moment he joined the military as a private until now, each time he was sent forth, he would return with no less than half of the entire troop''s confirmed kills. And once he was promoted to a team leader, he would lead forth his troops - only to massacre 95% of the enemies all alone! As such, excluding the Duke herself, there was no one who would dare to say "2" if he said "1" - his word carried the threat and weight of death itself. Who would dare cross him? The other two representatives from House Trenel and Jamal kept silent. They played it cool on the outside, but inwardly they were glad they had not participated in the earlier conversation! It was then they heard a knock on the door. "Come in." Weres spoke calmly, as if he had already known that someone was approaching. A nervous white-haired administrator walked in, trying his best to remain confident in front of the luminaries before him. The five gathered there represented the highest working level powers in the country. General Weres, a great and mighty human warrior who had risen from obscurity. He now presided over the military and all external affairs of the North. Sefir Estreya Roth, a young Earl and tipped to be the successor of the number 2 family of the city. A genius in strategy and scheming, but somehow he always ended up on the wrong side of his perennial gorilla-like rival. Rumours were that he was secretly in love with the woman who always abused him, making many believe he was actually an M. The aforementioned rival, Lina Sarouneh. She was the most talented cultivator and combatant of her generation, showcasing the almighty talent of having a red dragon''s bloodline. It was said that she would be the first Legendary realm powerhouse of her generation. She preferred to talk with her fists, but was also endlessly trying to prove herself as a commander - so far without any results to show for it. But what she lacked in military brilliance, she more than made up for with determination, at least! Gaius Trenel, caretaker of all civil affairs on behalf of Prime Minister Trenel who had withdrawn from the public eye due to health issues. He had the looks of a typical hero, valiant and chiseled features, square jaw, honest and clear brown eyes and a head of golden hair. Despite his young age in his late 30''s, he had shown himself shrewd and politically savvy, manoeuvering through many tricky situations with the local nobility and merchant families. Since he had taken up the reins on the civil side, the city had prospered greatly. He had a knack for coming up with great draws to the city like the New Year''s auction, a 6-monthly military demonstration to parade their weaponry and armour industry and also the bi-annual selection tournament for the Duke''s personal guard. Under his stewardship, the city had definitely grown even more wealthy - albeit, there were rumours of uncountable dark activities hidden under the surface of his rule... And finally, the young head of the richest of the families, Yusof Jamal. House Jamal was the only one where their old head had already passed away 20 years ago, leaving the leadership of the family to his young heir, the then 27-year old Yusof. The dark-skinned and black-haired man was always amicable, always smiling and always friendly to everyone he met. But beneath his kindly exterior, there was a metallic hardness that would not yield to anyone! And it was that steel in his character along with his sharp mind that prevented the ravenous wolves from devouring his family. That and his marriage to Elizabeth Adalle, beloved and only daughter of the nearby Wiarno Kingdom''s almighty tyrant, King Soron! Many said that it was not actually his capabilities that preserved the family, but the fear that the war-like nation in the south would seek recompense and exact vengeance if anyone dared to touch even a hair or a single copper coin of their beloved princess'' family...! These 5 individuals gathered here in the Gorun Stadium boardroom held enough authority between them to ruin anyone in the entire Northern regions just based on their word alone. And they were here for 1 reason - for the purpose of their Community Social Responsibility, to oversee any major decisions on the selection tournament for a bunch of teenagers! "Go ahead, speak your mind. You must have good reason to be here." Yusof comforted him and encouraged him to speak up. "Yes, don''t worry about us here. Today, we''re off duty, right? Hahaha!" Sefir laughed gently and calmed down the atmosphere greatly with his good social skills. "Erm... Sirs and Madam... My lords and ladies... Head administrator Natiro is away to preside over the seniors'' assessment and has left the junior''s side to me... And so... I''ve come here now because we''re facing something we thought you, my lords and ladies, would want to know about and make a call on before we proceed with the final combat assessment..." "Yes yes, we know. Hurry up!" The impatient Lina scowled at the man who could not get to the point. This in turn drew irritated frowns from both Yusof Jamal and Sefir Roth who were both trying to calm the man down so he could speak at ease! Nevertheless, Mr White was a long-serving government official and knew how to take it all in stride. Despite his nervousness, he apologised first and continued, "I truly am sorry, my lords and ladies, I''ll continue and attempt to keep my discourse short and to the point instead of winding round and about without getting to the focus." Lina looked even more irritated as the man just apologised for being long-winded, then went on and spoke 20 odd words without even saying anything of worth! A vein on her forehead bulged as she nearly stood up, but stopped when she felt Weres'' gaze fall on her, as if warning her to restrain herself. Mr White continued, "The situation is like this. Currently Natalie Sarouneh is ranked number 1 with a great margin from the rest of the pack." The group nodded, indicating that this was only obvious news. The girl did have great talent, after all, awakening her bloodline so young! "The issue is, there is a candidate who is neck and neck with Natalie Sarouneh, just behind her score." Lina frowned at hearing this. As her niece''s sparring partner and trainer, she knew full well how capable the girl was. She would not be surprised if Nat scored more than 90% on average! For there to be another candidate with such high capabilities... Wouldn''t he be famous even from a young age? How could he have remained hidden all along? No, it was more likely there was something wrong with the tests. "Are you sure? Is there something wrong with the equipment?" Gaius, the acting head of the Gorun Stadium, asked his worker. Mr White hesitated just a tick, then shook his head, "No... We''ve checked the equipment and readings more than half a dozen times, nothing wrong..." This drew murmurs of appreciation from the four. "Oh... What a talent then!" "Impressive..." "I''d like to see for myself the kid who can give the violent little dragoness a run for her money! Heh!" Those words came from a man who had been on the receiving end of a Sarouneh''s pounding fists once too often. Mr White looked hesitant once more, but also seemed as if he had something more to say, so Yusof prompted him, "Our good man, go ahead and speak. What is it...?" The old administrator seemed to struggle with the decision, then chose to share the most earth-shattering news anyway. "The most amazing thing is... He is exactly 1 point behind..." This time, all of the lords and ladies'' eyes widened in shock as they gasped in surprise. Even Weres had an incredulous look on his faces. But Mr White had not yet finished his sentence. He still had a bigger bomb to drop on his superiors. "...And in 3 tests, he scored *exactly the same score as Natalie*, three times in a row..." This time it was completely silent. Those present blinked repeatedly, Sefir even lifting up his pinky to dig his ear, wondering if he had heard it right. "Are you... Did I just hear you say that he scored exactly the same score 3 times in a row...?" Mr White nodded, eliciting exclamations of surprise from all five of the senior leaders, who each had tremendous and vast experiences - but had never ever imagined they would come across such a miraculous occurrence! "That... That can''t be possible! It''s impossible! Lina, could you manage to do that?" Sefir asked his rival who should know her niece the best. But she just shook her head in shock, "Yes... Yes I could... But... That''s only with my World-class level powers and control... And even then, to match her in 3 tests in a row... That''s just too hard, even the slightest slip and the score will change..." She looked horrified at hearing such news. Weres frowned and decided to cut things short, saying, "How old is he? Is he from any of the major families or groups in the area?" Mr White shook his head, "From the bone tests, he''s just 15 years old... And not from any known group... In fact, he has no background, just an orphan street rat from the port city Swinburne...." At these words, even Weres'' eyes widened in admiration. Then he said, "Alright. Don''t worry about it, we''ll be the ones responsible for the results and any issues. Report back only once the preliminaries are over." Then he waved for the man to leave as he picked up a teacup for a sip. The small cup almost looked like a toy''s cup in his huge hand. "Thank you, my lords and ladies. I shall report once more once the preliminaries are over." Mr White bowed and stepped back 5 steps until he was just before the door. Then he turned around to withdraw from the large and luxuriously decorated room. "Oh, just one more thing." Weres'' voice sounded out. Turning his head over his shoulder, Mr White smiled and asked, "Yes, sir...?" "After the preliminaries, bring him to me. I want to see just how impressive this kid is." "Yes sir." Mr White left the room. And as the other four representatives of the Four Great Houses chattered and gossipped about the new talented kid, Weres kept silent as he thought. ''Hmm... A talented kid huh... Let''s see whether you''re for real...'' He took a sip of his cup, then placed it down gently. ''...Or if you''re just another spy to be crushed to death...'' Even with such macabre thoughts in mind, his eyes looked exactly the same as before, undisturbed at the thought of brutal murder. 59 Bail [2:24 PM - after the 4th assessment had just been completed] "Alright! With the end of the fourth test, there are only 128 of you remaining! All candidates, please take a break - the next text, the combat assessment, will be the most gruelling of the tests! Far more intense than any of the earlier ones!" Mr White glanced at the magic screen above his head and checked the time - 2:24 PM. Then he ended his address to the remaining few contestants, merely 128 left of the original 2,000 plus testees. "I''ll see you back here at 3:00 PM. You can ask the guards at the entrance where the canteen and resting area are. Don''t be late." Then he left in a hurry. He needed to make a report to the council of representatives from the Five Great Powers. The preliminary candidates began to disperse, some of them yawning, the others keeping quiet and just leaving. By now, Charley had long left and gone to wait in the resting areas. He didn''t dare to go outside right now when Natalie''s lackeys could possibly be laying an ambush for him! As such, he could only wait until the entire tests were over and hope that Lars could make it all the way to the end. And true enough, the impossibly skilful, strong, fast and talented boy had made it all the way to this point! Not just that, whenever any of the contestants, crew or even the administrators looked at the scoreboard, they would have a look of disbelief on their faces and rub their eyes. Not because of how high the scores were, though that was also amazing, but because again and again, the goofy boy would manage to score just below Natalie Sarouneh! By this time, after the 4th event, the scoreboard looked something like this: [Rank | ID | Combined Score | Max 12,000 points for 4 events] 1.#1010 - 10,997 points 2. #777 - 10,996 points 3. #557- 9,852 points . . 64. #238 - 8,717 points . . 128. # 1924 - 7,834 points After the first round, when Natalie had seen the score, she had accused Lars of cheating. When she was rebuffed by the administrative team, she had stormed off angrily. In the second round, she managed to score the highest and end up the overall ranked #1. But when she saw how the boy scored exactly the same amount of points as her in the running speed test, her jaw had dropped, mouth open and unable to close in shock. This time she didn''t accuse him of cheating but glared at him as her face turned entirely red. There was only 1 point difference between her and the boy - 1 point coming from the first test. She couldn''t believe her eyes and almost went crazy when the same thing repeated in the 3rd and 4th test. No matter how much she displayed her magnificent all-rounded talents, she could only cover her face in shame. The no-name no-body who walked like a village idiot would bumble around but somehow score exactly the same as her??? This was unbearable!!! A black mark on her history, an embarrassment that must be erased forever!!! But she could not deny the numbers staring her in the face as she stared up at the board: Just 1 point difference. 1 freakin'' point difference despite 4 events having concluded. She trembled in rage, shame and frustration. ''Why is this happening to me...? I''m a filial daughter, perfect girl and always pious to the teachings of Goddess Sierra... I''ve done nothing wrong and yet... And yet...'' She stared with eyes fully turned red, shooting daggers at Lars. "AND YET YOU ANTAGONISE ME FOR NO REASON!!!??" She screamed at him then ran away, unable to hold back her tears of frustration anymore. Leaving a speechless but smirking boy to laugh at the girl who could not recognise her own faults. * * * * * [3:00 PM - just before the final preliminary round, combat assessment] ''Hmm... At this point, I might even need to abandon the 3 quests I took on... I''m already so late and there''s still a combat assessment left!'' Lars stood with his legs akimbo, giving off the impression that he was a trained court jester instead of a combatant. But by now the others knew that he was actually a wolf in sheep''s skin and posing as a pig to devour the tiger! Despite his ridiculous behaviour, by now no one dared to poke fun at him. His score proved that he was on a whole other level, granted, as long as the results weren''t fake... "Alright! Glad that you are back. I see that there are still 128 of you; let''s begin!" The crew members had finished preparing the illusion arrays. What was surprising was that unlike the earlier two rounds of magic arrays, each of these was only 4 metres in diameter. The small size was what allowed 128 formations to be set up together. "Dear contestants. As usual, I''ll only explain this once. This time round, everyone will be tested at the same time. There is no time limit, but trust me, time is the least of your concerns!" He smiled as if he had just told a funny joke - the preliminary candidates tried to laugh along to humour him but found it hard as they were puzzled where the joke was. "When you step into the magic formation, don''t resist. Unlike the earlier tests, this round will be run entirely in your mind. At that point, the illusion array will bring your mind to an imaginary world where you will face wave after wave of enemies! The reason we did not make it physical in nature was to preserve both your condition as well as your mana and blood energy. Also, your capabilities will be standardised to the beginner Adept level. What we are testing is not your cultivation speed, but your actual combat power and multiplier relative to your level!" Sounds of appreciation were heard from the crowds. That was a rather interesting method of testing, touching on the usage of skills and abilities mentally only! "The first wave will begin at the beginning of the Normal level, while the second wave will be at the mid-Normal level and so on. As you can guess, the 4th wave will be at the beginning Adept-level while the 7th wave will be at the beginning Elite-level and the 10th wave is up to the beginning Master realm! Points are scored at the end, based on the level you reach. In case you are wondering, even if two contestants reach the same level of difficulty, the points given are automatically computed based on how many enemies you defeated at that level and how much time it took to reach that point." That drew some murmurs from the crowd. "So timing does matter after all..." "But, doesn''t this seem to favour attacking-type fighters?" "No, I think if you fight carefully and consistently like me, you''ll still make it far as a defensive fighter!" "Just for the record, no one under the age of 18 has ever completed the 9th wave! So I wish you all luck, and I hope this year we''ll have some surprises who can match the record set by the esteemed talent Lina Sarouneh 20 odd years ago!" "And to address any of your unspoken concerns about cheating..." He cast a questioning glance around, paying special attention to Natalie who looked away uncomfortably. He raised his eyebrows and leaned closer dramatically for this part. "Every single one of your mental worlds will be broadcast live on the magic screen above!" Then Mr White suddenly turned towards a black device pointed at him, a magic broadcast lense that was recording and replaying his every activity to be shown throughout the city! "Only 10 silvers for an all-access pass to watch the coming combat assessment! Contact your mana cable TV provider for details!" He showed a salesman-like smile as he said that. Having finished his cable TV promo shoot, he reverted to his serious self. "Any questions? If not, you may begin!" A voice chipped in at that time - Lars'' voice. "Sir administrator, I have a question." Mr White raised his eyebrows and his eyes widened slightly when he saw the troublemaker ask a question for the first time. Also, a source of stress and consternation - he would have to bring the boy to see the General and other representatives once this was done... "Ahem. Yes, go ahead. What do you want to ask?" Lars then spoke rather normally and casually as he asked a simple question. "Sir, in the illusion array prepared, are there still levels higher than the 10th?" This time the elderly administrator frowned deeply. Wasn''t that too pretentious a question? Why would a boy not even at the beginning of the Elite-level want to know? Mr White even felt tempted to bet that he would not even pass the 7th level, much less the 10th! But he maintained his professionalism and answered cordially, "Boy, that''s a good question. In fact, the illusion array was designed for children of the Five Great Powers development and training. As such, the highest level is the 15th level - up to the peak of the Grandmaster level!" Sounds of people and contestants inhaling sharply were heard - what kind of illusion array was this? And were the children of the Five Great Powers even remotely human? How could any mortal even get past the 10th level, much less need the 15th level at the Grandmaster realm?! Even Lars had a look of surprise and appreciation on his face - the illusion array was of a far higher quality than he expected! Then he smiled as he said a simple, "Thank you, sir." Looked like this would be an interesting show. "Alright, if there are no more questions... May the best contestant win! Let us begin!" The contestants shuffled over towards the testing areas and into the arrays with their numbers on them. * * * * * Lars stepped into his magic array. To his pleasant surprise, he was side by side with Natalie! The girl pointedly decided to ignore him, scowling and frowning, furious at him for humiliating her thus far. But then, suddenly something occurred to her. Her face began to transform in realisation as a Eureka moment hit her. "Boy!" "Mmm hmm...?" Lars replied languidly as he stretched and stepped into the illusion array. Some of the other contestants were already in the array while others were doing some final preparations or discussing something with the crew members. Then Natalie pursed her lips tightly together as her eyes were set in determination. She had suddenly decided to swallow her pride and use her other forms of powers to solve this situation. No, not her looks or her body! NEVER! She admired her Aunt Lina and how she had never, ever, ever relied on her transcendent beauty or her body of a devil to solve her problems. She, Natalie Sarouneh, swore she would never stoop so low to use the honeytrap tactic no matter what! She spoke. "Boy... You''re helping Charley because of money, right...?" Lars nodded as he went through a series of mental exercises to improve his mind''s agility, not even looking at her. She flashed him a scowl, but then calmed herself down with a deep breath. Then she said, "Well... What if I offered you more than he''s paying...? I''m absolutely confident, whatever he''s giving you, I can double - no, multiply by ten times what he''s offered!" She looked passionate and confident as she spoke. This time Lars paused whatever he was doing then slowly turned to look at her. "He''s promised to sell me his service for 10 years. So are you offering yourself for 100 years...?" Lars did not smile, but somehow right now in Natalie''s eyes, he looked like a sexual predator leering at her, eyes piercing through all her clothes and at her naked body! His mouth seemed to transform into the salivating lips of a pervert, while his long and graceful fingers suddenly looked like the practiced hands of a molester! Natalie suddenly turned pale and stepped back involuntarily. She was terribly shaken as she asked, "W-w-w-what type of... Service...?" But despite her fear, there was something within her, carnal and bestial, buried so deep that even she herself couldn''t recognise. Something that felt excited at the thought of what the deviant boy had just suggested! Lars looked surprised, maintaining his neutral expression and cocked his head slightly. He was puzzled, was she so afraid of work? It wasn''t like he''d get her to do menial labour or washing, that would be too great of a waste of her services! He would definitely get her to work in government or commerce and earn tons of money instead! So he tilted his head and looked at her, before speaking words that would shatter her mental state. "Isn''t it obvious what I would want to do with Charley and you...?" He said matter-of-factly and smiled. A sound of glass breaking rang out in Natalie''s ears. "W-what... What did you just say...?" She gulped as she wondered if she had really understood it correctly. In her eyes, the pervert''s gaze was burning with lust and "obviously" wanted to devour her along with Charley - TOGETHER?!? And his depraved smile threatened to devour her right her on the spot! Then Lars spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Well, he''s already been serving me since this tournament started." He was referring to the information the boy had provided and the explanations given. Lars also swept aside any memory of being scammed - that was an emotional scar, a trauma that should never be mentioned to anyone! But at his words, Natalie''s legs grew weak. She couldn''t help but tremble in fear and... Excitement?! At the thought of just what lascivious things the two boys had already been doing since the tournament started, and what exotic things the three of them could do together! And they even had the audacity to do it in the Gorun Stadium, in such a public place? She was both equally horrified and intrigued! ''It''s just like those, what do you call them, BL picture books Aunt Lina gave to me...!'' Her eyes flashed with desire and she didn''t even realise it herself as she licked her lips and her eyes sparkled when she asked breathlessly in a passionate voice, "H-how about that trap from earlier...?" She would SO want to see Lars and that precious, jade-like beauty getting on together! She let out hot breaths that misted up the illusion array around her and her chest heaved seductively as she locked gazes shyly with Lars. Puzzled, Lars was blank for a while - before he suddenly put two and two together. Services... Obvious... Together... Trap... This time it was his turn to hear the sound of breaking glass, his world suddenly crumble before him. He felt his mind reeling from shock, embarrassment and shame! His legs grew weak at the realisation of what he had just said and implied with his words - then he looked up in desperation and saw a horrifying sight... The screen above was already broadcasting every single thing he said and did! ''AHHHHHH!!!!!'' A voiceless scream left his throat as he fell to his knees and cried out wordlessly. Why did this keep happening to him??! ''I know... It''s all that bloody traps fault! Everything started from him... Or her... Or whatever he/ she is! Just wait till I get my hands on that trap!'' His eyes turned a bloody red, even more red than when he had massacred the 100 bandits in the desert... But the watching Natalie only felt even more excited as she saw the intense gaze and sharp red eyes of the boy in front of her. ''C-Cute... He''s so cute... I want to see him, Charley and the trap, d-doing it, doing it together...'' Her BL fantasies were running wild. 60 Trap Natalie blushed furiously as they waited for the combat assessment to begin. She shook her head and tried to focus on the task before her - how to avoid being humiliated and defeated by this fraudster BL boy! Though she didn''t want to admit that she might lose, she also didn''t want to take any chances with this final round. ''If I lose, it''s not just Mum who''ll kill me... I don''t dare face Aunt Lina after this either...'' She shivered as she thought about the demonic training routine that her mother''s sister had devised for her. What would happen when Aunt Lina found out that she had lost in the prelims to a no-name boy toy...? She shuddered and didn''t dare to think about it. So she put away her pride and threw her face down to the ground (metaphorically) to think of a way to beat the boy with something else other than her skills and abilities. ''How about with money...? I have plenty of that... And it''s useless to me anyway...'' She thought about it and decided to give it a try. If you can''t beat them, why not ask them to join you...? The saying went something like that, right...? So despite the shame of indirectly admitting defeat and also the hot flashes and the 18+ images going through her mind, she spoke as quietly as she could and asked Lars, "I know I''m not at all attractive to you compared to Charley since I''m a girl, but--" Lars turned white and almost vomited blood at that sentence. Why oh why, oh villainous heavens and scoundrel fate! Why have you schemed against me to smear my reputation!?! Such a sentence... Did that mean that women would never see him as a man ever again...?!? Dismissing his reaction as just confirmation of her statement, the girl continued, "But apart from that... I can offer you money! Lots and lots of money! More money than you could ever ask or imagine!" "Money...!!?" In an instant, Lars recovered. His eyes lit up, his breathing grew shallow and his heart beat faster. His face turned pink as blood rushed to his face. "Did you just say... Lots and lots of money...?? More money than I could ever ask or imagine...?!?" His eyes took on a slightly fanatical looking, a rabid expression on his face. Taken aback at his overly dramatic reaction, Natalie nevertheless nodded and said, "Will 10,000 coins be enough...?" Lars blinked, mind rapidly calculating and replied in 0.01 seconds, "10,000 copper, so that would be 1 platinum... Hmm..." He quickly considered his options ''1 platinum, compared to the teleportation cost, it''s still nothing. And comparing their clothes and the backing behind them, there''s not even any need to compare which side has more wealth - if the girl is willing to pay 1 platinum, I doubt that Charley could even match 1/10th of that! Also, looking at Charley''s money-grubbing state, I don''t think he even *HAS* a single platinum to his name, not that that stingy a** would pay me even if he did have that cash...! But on the other hand, he''s also cunning and like a wolf in sheep''s skin in his schemes... Should I bet on his future or should I take the bird in hand...? After all a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, right... Options options options, dammit! Why is it so hard to choose??? If only...'' "Wait, what are you talking about...? Obviously I mean 10,000 platinum coins, heh, were you joking just now? 1 platinum coin wouldn''t even pay for my lunch! Hey hey hey hey! Are you okay?? Why are you frothing at the mouth, hey! We need a doctor! Someone!!!" She panicked as Lars suddenly collapsed, his eyes rolling up in his head, frothing at the mouth and blood dripping out from his two nostrils. And as he collapsed, Natalie thought she heard him say something like, "Ten, ten ten ten ten... Ten thousand platinum coins?!? Damn rich people! Someday I''ll steal all the money in the world and I''ll be the only rich person!!! Curse you!!!" But that couldn''t possibly be what he said, right...? Why would someone be surprised at some pocket change? So she decided to pass it off as her imagination and called out frantically for a paramedic to help the unconscious boy beside her. * * * * * ''Natalie Natalie Natalie...! Why did you call the physician over!!!'' The fiery red-headed girl berated herself for her actions. Natalie regretted her overly kind panicked reaction. If only she had just kept quiet, then wouldn''t she have achieved her objective of getting first place easily...? She sighed and put on a scowling tough face, before feeling worried. What should she say later if Lars asked her why she was so kind...? ''Oh no... What if he thinks I''m just some softie that can be pushed around easily...'' She bit her lip and almost cried as she worried non-stop about it. Lars was quickly resuscitated and appeared to be in good condition. As the assessment still had not yet started due to the crew needing time to charge the illusion arrays, no time was lost and it was dismissed as a minor interruption. Then once the crew left, he turned to the girl and looked at her for a while before slowly saying, "Thank you... I heard you were the one who, despite my antagonising you, called the paramedics over. I... Really want to thank you..." Then Lars pressed one hand to his chest and bowed like a gentleman to a lady, or a knight to a princess. Surprised at his sudden change of attitude to one of gratefulness, and how polite and gallant he looked while apologising, Natalie found her heart beating quicker than normal as her throat grew tight. Then she realised that he was still in his bowing posture, looking up expectantly and waiting for her to respond. "N-no! I-It''s not like I wanted to help you or anything!" She looked away when her eyes met his, not understanding why she felt so flustered all of a sudden. "Since I was the cause of it, I-I was just doing it for my own guilty conscience, yeah, t-that''s right! It''s not for you at all, so there! You don''t have to thank me!" ''What am I saying...??? Even I think it sounds like nonsense!'' She wished she could hide her face under a rock, but she kept a strong front as she spoke those words. Lars smiled as he rose from the bow, and then said, "I didn''t know you were so cute..." "W-w-w-what are you saying all of a sudden! S-shut up! Are you a, a, a pervert! I thought you only like men!?" Natalie turned cherry red in embarrassment and started spouting out whatever came to mind, causing Lars to laugh in amusement at her adorable reaction. ''What a cute tsundere... I didn''t know they exist in this world too...'' Lars smiled cheerfully. In just those short few minutes, it felt like all the bad blood between them was gone, and he didn''t have the heart in him to bully the girl anymore. But he still owed it to his friend to fulfil his part of the deal. "Natalie, sorry... Back to business. Before talking about things like money, which we of course need to talk about and not forget... Are you okay...?" Lars looked at her with a serious expression, causing Natalie to blush even deeper and look away again, sweating profusely as the heat rose to her head. "W-what! Of course I''m o-okay! Why do you care anyway! It''s not like I''m embarrassed, it, it''s just... It''s just really hot!" She looked up, then froze as she realised that the cool autumn weather made it a refreshing 20 degrees right now. ''C-cute...'' Lars couldn''t help but feel his heart skip a beat at her reaction, but continued on. "What''s the issue between you and Charley anyway...? Why are you two at odds...?" ''Charley...?! Why ask about that poor beggar! Why not ask about me, you idiot!?'' She scowled at him, then caught herself. ''Wait, what am I angry about? No no, WHY am I angry? Idiot Natalie! Calm down!'' Then her eyes widened slowly and her face slowly turned into a smile as an idea dawned on her. "If you want to know... You''ll have to beat me in the real competition first!" Then she turned away to ignore him, feeling like she had finally won an exchange of words with the despicable, handsome, elegeant boy... The capable, smart and charming boy... Her heart started to beat faster as she looked forward to facing him in the ring and imagined beating him down and stomping on him until he gave up and finally surrendered himself. Then she would pick him up and kiss him fiercely and say, "From now on, you''re mine!" She nearly squealed as she reveled in her imagination - so romantic! It sounded just like how Dad was courted (read: beaten up) by Mum all those years ago in the East-coast Battlefield! And despite starting on less than the best terms (read: fighting) and not having much in common (read: being the leader of the enemy army), she had eventually convinced him into following her back to Gorun! Natalie sighed as she fantasised about their wedding and then the 12 children she would bear, as well as all their names - when suddenly she heard a cough from behind her. "Ahem ahem! Sorry to interrupt but... What about the deal to lose intentionally...? I''ll lose for 18,000 platinum, okay...?" Natalie turned completely white. "I..." Then she felt her head spin. She''d totally forgotten about that! And then she challenged him to beat her in the next sentence...? ''Oh my god Natalie! What''s wrong with youuuuu~~!!!'' She slapped her two palms against her cheeks and didn''t dare to turn around or answer him, it was too embarrassing! Just too embarrassing!! "Erm... Hello...? Can you hear--" Lars began to speak again, but was interrupted as a loud shout was heard. "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! THE ILLUSION ARRAYS ARE FINALLY UP! Apologies for the delay, everyone! We''re starting in 5 seconds, remember not to resist! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and go!" ''Then is the deal on or off??? Dammit! My 18,000 platinum, why??!'' A crying boy turned away unwillingly and prepared his mind for the illusion array. Then it occurred to him. ''Oh, since her bet is that she''ll do anything for Charley if I win, I''ll just ask her for 18,000 platinum coins... Yeah!'' He smiled and whistled as the combat assessment began. * * * * * A pretty boy with long, golden hair tied up in a pony-tail was walking through the same hallways, doors and passageways that Mr White had just gone through earlier. On her chest was a badge - a newbie quester badge of the lowest Wood-rank, grade G. She was walking towards the Gorun Stadium Board Room, a forbidden area for commoners like her. So it was a wonder that she could even be here; why hadn''t she been barred from entry or kicked out much earlier for trespassing? If Lars saw her right now, he would have insta-casted Wail of the Banshee and traded half his recently recovered soul for her life! That was how much he hated her right now, the nameless trap who he would never forgive! However, even as she walked, her body and facial features began to twist and shift with even the bones beneath her skin snapping and releasing popping sounds. She began to transform into a high-cheeked young lady, shorter by nearly 10 cm and of a smaller build - a drastic change! However, her clothes remained the same. She yawned as she approached the door that Mr White had faced with great trepidation. She stopped when she neared and met eyes with the two Master level experts who stood vigil by the looming double doors. "Are they done yet...?" She nodded at the guards before the door and asked. "Ms Estreya! Yes, you''re just on time! They''ve just finished their session so we informed the food and beverage team to send up refreshments. You can head on in, your aunt and uncle are inside." One of the guards spoke to her in a familiar manner as if he had known her for a long time, while the other also nodded and smiled affectionately. The dignified young lady - still in a newbie quester''s clothes and previously the trap who antagonised Lars - flashed a radiant smile in return and thanked them before knocking on the door, pushing it open and stepping in. The 4 men and lone woman within turned curious gazes towards the entrance, wondering who had barged in. Among them, Gaius Trenel, as the host and patron lord of the Stadium was the most taken aback as he rose sharply to his feet and released killing intent. Who in the world would dare to interrupt their party of 5 that determined the fate of the Northern Reaches? Whoever it was, he would slap them to kingdom come and then casually wipe his hands on the tablecloths before continuing their meaningless small talk! "WHO DARES TO-- Oh, it''s you." Gaius Trenel hollered as his face twisted with rage - then his expression returned to a normal, impassive and slightly arrogant expression before sitting down. He also withdrew his aura of a beginner World-class expert as he regained his composure. As he began to sit down, Lina Sarouneh stood up and ran over delightedly to her niece''s side. "Astrid! I didn''t know you were dropping by! I heard you lost your little pet...? I heard you''ve put out lost and found posters and even asked for quester''s to look for it! How goes the search for the Void Wor--" She held on to the girl''s arm and started to chatter cheerfully to her favourite niece, but she was ambushed by both the girl (the trap) and Sefir Roth Estreya (who looked suspiciously like a recently rehabilitated trap). "Shut up big mouthed bitch!" "W-what are you talking about! No such thing happened! Lalalala!" They exclaimed as they clamped their hands firmly down onto the big-mouthed woman''s lips. For the record, the first aggressive sentence in coarse language came from Astrid while the second flustered one came from her uncle. "Mmmhppff mmfhhmm mhhm!!! Ah! I know I know, I won''t talk about it, okay?" At the comical sight of the three''s antics, General Weres, Yusof and even the temperamental Gaius did not know whether to laugh or to cry. Soon the serious talks were but a thing of the past and the group were happily gossiping and laughing. Lina quickly pulled along the daughter of her sister who had married the Estreya family''s patriarch and made her sit beside her instead of with Sefir, Astrid''s uncle. "So, Astrid... We wanted to ask. Now that you''ve turned 15, have you found a boy you like...? Or are you still doing playing those tricks of yours on the poor men, making them fall you while they think you''re a boy...? Then breaking their hearts with guilt because they think they''re turning gay...?" "Auntie! Why ask me?! You should ask Vignis or even Natalie! You know that I''m just having some harmless fun right...? Besides..." The fairy-like girl stuck out her tongue mischievously and shocked the rest with the words that she spoke. "I''m nowhere near as bad as that Pervert Queen Duchess, right...?" This drew shocked and fearful gasps from all her five companions who furtively looked around to check if the said Duchess were listening! This time Lina was the one who clamped Astrid''s mouth shut, then kept her voice low as she half whispered, half shouted, "Astrid! You must never disrespect her Grace like that! You know she hates to be called a Duchess, as she insists that her position has nothing to do with her late husband''s rank! Ahem, and even if whatever you said was true, ahem, keep it to yourself or she''ll KILL YOU okay!??" Lina looked around conspiratorially while her other peers looked to be nervous. It was a well known, open "secret" that each of the 5 major powers had a dark and dirty secret. The Trenels'' flesh-trade, illegally incarcerating innocents for sale to the highest bidder and to satisfy the depraved desires of the rich and mighty. The Jamal family''s black-market trade that circumvented the Kingdom''s import duties, facilitating the Trenel''s slavery. The House of Estreya''s Planar Expeditions and Dimensional Summoning - in other words, kidnapping exotic creatures from other worlds. And the Sarouneh''s bloodline laboratories, where horrific experiments were carried out which if described would make even General Weres shudder! Finally, the one crowned and enshrined above them all, the unspoken "Queen of Dual Cultivation" who neither condemned nor condoned any of the above, but also did not take any action against it. As long as enough young boys and girls were provided for her "practice" and "mutual enjoyment"... Though no one who entered her grasps was ever seen again. This was the darkness in the heart of the glorious, prosperous and sparkling City of Gorun. A den of darkness that a righteous hearted boy would soon smash asunder. 61 Practice Lars let his mind be enveloped by the illusion array, then heard a voice speak in his mind as his consciousness began to blur. "Level 1: Early Normal stage." Then a scene appeared before him. An open plains with short grass under his feet. It stretched about 200 metres in every direction and was bare except for the grass. Beyond 200 metres, all he could see was mist at the ends of the horizon. Probably a mana-saving measure to reduce the number of illusion pixels the illusion processor had to generate. "Prepare for combat: 10 goblins." Lars yawned. Too easy. Might as well take it slow and easy since there was no time limit, right? He leisurely killed the goblins one by one, dissipating their illusory figures with just 1 finger. He dodged back and forth without moving his legs even once the entire time, casually releasing finger-flicks to their foreheads. The moment he touched them, they would explode in simulated gore, before quickly fading away. Then as he moved about, he tested out using mana and blood energy to unnecessarily power up his strikes. It was really overkill - the poor little goblins popped like balloons when he so much as breathed at them! But despite the apparent waste, he obtained good information from his experiments. ''It seems our abilities really are fixed at the beginner Adept level, and we really don''t use up our physical stamina, mana or blood energy... Looks like the only thing tested is skill, abilities and comprehension of martial techniques...'' He smiled as he realised that he had an unfair advantage over the rest of the kids. ''I guess comprehension of the laws works as well... Though no-one below World-class should ever have such accomplishments, right...? Except me...'' He laughed as he languidly stretched and sent a last relaxed swipe of his finger at the final goblin, mutilating its chest with a gentle touch. ''Mmm, my technique is improving... Looks like the Space-time Sword concepts from Draken Blacksword are applicable even when just using my fingers... I''d better practice to my heart''s content while I''m in here, haha!'' He smiled in anticipation of this priceless training ground. He would make full use of it since it was free anyway, right? "Completed in 18 seconds. Congratulations, proceeding to level 2." "Level 2: Mid Normal stage." "Prepare for combat: 30 goblins." ''Oh, no time given to rest huh?'' Lars smiled. He didn''t need rest anyway. * * * * * [In the Gorun Stadium control room] A serious looking man with short black hair stood beside Mr White as they watched the status monitors. On the control panel before them were numerous screens showing the candidates statistics such as Physical and Mental State, Warning Indicators in case they were in critical conditions, Current Level and Time Taken per level. And from this control room on the 3rd floor observation deck, they had a clear line of sight of the entire magic screen displaying the candidates progress in the testing illusion array. The serious looking man in charge of surveillance and monitoring grunted in appreciation and nodded as he saw the stats, then reported to Mr White, "Sir White, congratulations. The candidates this year are exceptional! All of those ranked in the top 10 have successfully progressed to Level 5." Mr White nodded and signalled for his top staff, Mitsui, to continue his report. "The fastest of them was Natalie as expected, taking just 4 minutes and 27 seconds while the God-tribe descendant Shen Long is right behind in second place. In third place is Adahn, while in fourth place... Ninth place... Twenty-second place..." The man continued on until he reached #64, then looked up at his supervisor to seek confirmation before he continued to the next metric. Mr White cocked his head slightly, looking puzzled. Why hadn''t he heard Lars'' name yet? Was there something wrong? So he asked, "What about Lars, #777? Where is he ranked right now...?" As a model employee, Mitsui did not question his superior and quickly scanned his eyes down the list until he found #777 - Lars. "He''s currently ranked 128 sir..." Mr White nodded, then said, "As expected of the genius acknowledged even by General Weres..." He stroked his smooth chin that he made sure to shave everyday, then spat out saliva, wetting the face of his top worker. "WHAT?!? Did you just say he''s bottom???" He nearly grabbed his staff''s collar when he asked this, but restrained himself from assaulting his aide. "Y-yes sir..." Mitsui wiped off the saliva, taking it in stride, then continued, "He''s just passed Level 3..." Mr White''s eyes widened in shock, then he hurried over to the windows to look up at the magic screen and check on the boy. "What is he doing...?" His mouth widened in confusion and shock. Mitsui ran over quickly to take a look at what his boss had seen, then he too was stunned, mouth hanging open and jaw dropped. The boy had his eyes closed, dodging and blocking the goblins'' sword swings with just his fingers. And he had been at it for the past 3 minutes and 30 seconds. * * * * * Lars had easily passed Level 2 with minimal effort. The 30 goblins fought with abysmal skill, leaving him yawning and unchallenged even with his strength suppressed as it was. So he had wiped them out leisurely, and was now honing the mastery of his mental body against the 50 senior goblins in Level 3. But after several minutes of practice and exercise, he felt like he had reached the limit of what he could learn from these puny insects. Then he decided to test out the sword moves he devised from Draken Blacksword''s memory fragment. "Chasing Shadow!" He pointed a finger and shot out a shadowy, elusive blade light that shimmered in and out of sight as if camouflaged. It was limited in power but made up for it by its esoteric and concealed nature, though its speed was also only average among his moves. Nevertheless, a casual movement easily decapitated a half-dozen goblins! "Void Splitter!" He chopped down aggressively and coldly with his knife-hand, leaving a black rip in the fabric of space and time snaking out from where he struck. The black fissure devoured and ERASED whatever it touched, be it air, wind, light or the flesh, blood and bones of whichever goblins it grazed past! "Heavenly Star''s Path!" He released a violent thrust and rotated his wrist and arm as he did so, sending out an incandescent beam of light that pierced through everything and finally dissipated when it hit the borders of the illusion field! Wherever it passed by, it would leave a smoking trail as the light created incomparable heat from the friction with the air. And finally, his personal less than 0.001% comprehended interpretation of the sole sword move above the heavens'' that he had witnessed in his soul. "Sweeping the Sky!" He gathered all his comprehension of the space-time laws in his being and reached out to the particles of aether in the void, then slowly waved his palm before him, as if he were splashing a bucket of paint over all the goblins in front of him. And though it seemed as if his sword-slash executed with his palm moved ever so slowly, in actual fact, the move was completed in less than 0.01 seconds - and everything in its path was turned to a mist of blood gore, every particle ground to pieces and sliced apart like tofu a million, billion, trillion times! As the carnage of the goblins disintegrated bodies settled, Lars gaped in astonishment at the might of the single move. He had meditated on the move endlessly over the past week and theorised that it would be truly magnificent and overbearing in power, but he had not expected it to be so f***ing powerful! He had just used 1/100th of his strength to execute the move as the goblins were just small fry, but even then it was an overkill beyond overkill, excessively power... So powerful that even with his mere beginner Adept powers, its might exceeded even the middle Elite-level and neared the border to the next realm! ...And that was only with 1/100th of his capabilities unleashed. How much more fearful would the single sword strike be when used with 100% power...? Peak Master level? Beginner Grandmaster? And if that was how powerful it was while just using beginner Adept level strength... Then how bloody kick ass would it be if executed with the capabilities of a Legendary mage...!!? As his jaw dropped in stunned awe, he shivered, thrilled at the prospect of fully mastering Draken Blacksword''s legacy! Then his eyes lit up in excitement as he looked forward to rolling in the lucky draw for more fragments of the transcendent inheritance! ...Little did he know that he had already become a gacha gambling addict! "Completed in 4 minutes and 58 seconds. Congratulations, proceeding to level 4." "Level 4: Early Adept stage." "Prepare for combat: 10 ogres." "Ohh, that''s a good step-up. In fact, it seems a little hard for a regular beginner Adept... The testing array for the descendants of noble houses is truly different, truly different..." But he closed his eyes and slaughtered his way through the levels with a breeze. * * * * * Leocadius Trenel was standing on the private terraces, accompanied by Vignis Jamal. Earlier, they had not even bothered to watch the assessment, however when they heard the results after the first two rounds, they were stunned and could not help but watch, enthralled by the developments. Right now they were watching the magic screen that showed the positions of all contestants, from 1st place to the 64th place, the last person to qualify for the finals; all the way down to 128th place. And at this time, Lars was placed last, a full stage behind his rivals! "Hmmph! I told you that he was just physically strong! There''s no way that he can compare in skills, arts or capabilities to we of the ruling class! Especially not against the invincible Natalie! Just as expected, an ant remains an ant... Sigh... I had my nerves ruffled for nothing!" Leo spoke as if everything he said were the self-evident truth of the universe, which had always gotten on Vignis'' nerves. Yet the sharp-eyed, ever serious and aggressive girl merely sneered at him and asked a simple question. "Want to bet...?" Leo drew himself up slightly at the three words she had just said. He felt as if it were an affront to his dignity for anyone to not agree with him, to not see what was clearly so obvious! And if they could not see the wisdom that he saw, then they must be fools to be corrected! And so he sighed as he took it upon himself to educate the poor, ignorant girl. He said, "Very well. How do you wish to bet...? And what will be your stakes? Mind you, I will not accept an idiotic bet such as you betting that he will be last place - that much is already a given!" Vignis'' expression of amusement did not waver at his words, making Leo mildly uncomfortable at her sneer. The brash and in-your-face girl stepped towards Leo with an unwavering gaze, stopping when she was just about 2 metres away. Then she put her hands on her knees and leaned forward, as if talking to a child and said, "I''m betting that he''ll win. And I''m betting..." She put her index finger on her lips and put on an innocent wide-eyed look, pretending to think for a while before speaking, "Your entire slave trade!" Her rakish grin looked like the smile of a demon in Leo''s eyes right now. "W-what?! Why are you asking for such high stakes? This is just a tiny preliminary round! There''s no way I''d agree to such a preposterous arrangeme--" He looked flustered and protested strongly while frowning, but he was interrupted halfway by Vignis. "Bah! Who are you trying to fool!" Her eyes narrowed dangerously even as she continued to smile widely. "You think I don''t know? That the true prize comes after being selected for the princess'' entourage?" Her grin widened so much that it no longer looked like a smile but instead like the bared teeth of a wild beast. Then Leo''s expression of consternation disappeared, along with his frown. The cunning, snake-like youth maintained a completely stoic and neutral expression as he replied, "If you know, then alright. But let''s change things up slightly. The bet will be for the full competition." At those words, Vignis cocked her head slightly and smiled bemusedly. "You mean...?" This time Leo smiled in earnest and looked away from her. His eyes travelled to the magic screen, to the scene of the boy Lars slaying his opponents in the illusory array with ease. Then he turned his head to meet the ginger''s eyes again and said, "Let''s see how your little prince charming will fare against true experts." And his smile widened as his eyes glittered in a passionate challenge to the girl before him, one that she would not back down from. "If you or that boy wins this competition, you can have my 10% of my ownership of the flesh-trade, but in exchange... Those odds are stacked against me, so If I win..." He smiled confidently and quietly said, "You''ll give me your two entry tickets for the highest grade of bloodline enhancement! Kikikiki!" At these words, the fiery girl''s smile faded and her eyes flickered. ''The relative value *IS* more or less the same... And it will be a pain and slow my growth if I lose my two annual tickets... But it''s strange... He would never take on a deal that he isn''t 100% confident of winning... But in this case... Does he really have the confidence to take the title from me? He''s never beaten me even after all these years... What is this fox scheming...?'' She stared at the smiling and honest looking boy before her, an exterior that they all knew was just a facade for a venomous, ruthless and heartless schemer. Unable to spot the trap within his words or anything wrong with the arrangement, Vignis, true to her brash and forward personality, decided. ''To heck with it! Whatever schemes this snake has, I''ll just crush them with my own two bare hands...'' Then the two youths widely considered as the confirmed #1 and #2 smiled and struck hands together, making it a deal. And as they turned away to return to their divans, Leo smiled sinisterly, while Vignis sneered inwardly. ''After all... That Darius isn''t the only one with God-blood... Hehehe!!'' she thought while sniggering, the blood within her veins pulsing with world-shaking power. ''Foolish girl... Do you really think it''ll be just the same as 2 years ago...? Kihihihi!!!'' he gloated in his mind as he reached into his pocket and touched an ornate, evil-looking statue, one that looked like a miniature xenomorph with 6 tentacles and no eyes. And while this was happening, a boy continued to absorb immense epiphanous revelations of sword-arts and the laws of space-time, while a certain golden-haired dragoness smashed apart her illusory foes, imagining that she was pummeling Charley, Lars and all her other mental demons. The stage was now fully set for the upcoming defining battle of a thousand years. 62 Holding Back "Sir, the top 64 have been confirmed; #323 has failed at Level 4. Shall we end the assessment...?" Mitsui, Mr White''s most trusted employee, paused then and watched his superior for a response. Mr White just continued watching the magic screen and one boy''s progress as he mumbled to himself, "Still at level 7, huh... When are you going to reveal the fullness of your earth-shattering might, I wonder...?" Curious about what his boss was looking at, Mitsui put his question on hold and peered closer. Based on the latest status, after 38 minutes of the assessment, 69 candidates had already dropped out, though of those 69, some were actually placed in the top 64 and qualified to the next round. They might have been eliminated in the illusion array earlier, but that didn''t mean they were lower ranked. Some of those candidates had blazed through to Level 5 within just 14 minutes before failing at that stage, indicating they had tremendous offensive capabilities, but perhaps poorer control, footwork or defensive skills. As such, the top 64 were also made up of those who were no longer continuing, but the qualifying was pretty much settled. So there was no reason to continue the assessment, right...? ''Oh! I forgot! There IS a reason to continue!'' Mitsui smiled abashedly as he remembered. Natalie Sarouneh would definitely want to challenge her Aunt Lina Sarouneh''s record of making it to the ending phase of Level 9! And true enough, as Mitsui followed Mr White''s gaze, what he saw was Natalie Sarouneh''s screen, where she braved on continually against enemies far above her cultivation! ''Wow... What a paramount warrior...! So young but already with combat power far above her level... She''s limited to only the beginner Adept level, and the most she can do is utilise her dragon''s bloodline strength boost in there... She can''t even benefit from the crazy physical strength or blood energy that she has...'' The stern black-haired office worker had a look of awe on his face as he admired the girl''s whirling and turning dance of death as she slew the enemies in Level 8 despite being covered in wounds and (virtual) blood! ''And still she''s nearly managed to make it through.. No! She''s doing it, she''s really doing it!'' "Sir, she''s made it through Level 8! She''s matched Lina Sarouneh''s heaven-defying record as the strongest cultivator under eighte--" "SHUT UP! Can''t you see I''m concentrating!?" Mr White roared in irritation, then suddenly he realised that he had just lashed out at his most beloved staff who had never let him down before. He had an incredibly remorseful look on his face as he hurriedly said, "Sorry, sorry Mitsui! No no no, it''s not your fault, you don''t have to apologise!" Mitsui had almost dropped to his knees in repentance, but the older man quickly stopped him and drew him up to his feet while apologising profusely. Then as the not-just-slightly shaken Mitsui tried to gather his calm again, Mr White explained himself. "Mitsui, take a look at the screens up there. Go ahead, take a look, and tell me what you see. What do you observe among all the different candidates as they contend with the testing program...?" The always fully-dedicated employee then nodded and began to cast his earnest eyes across the multiple images one by one. Some candidates were struggling to survive at Level 5, while others still looked relaxed at Level 6. Each one displayed a resplendent array of abilities and skills, some having excellent evasive footwork while others showed domineering attacking arts. Others still demonstrated sublime skill and control that made their battling look effortless. Mitsui watched, skimming his gaze over some screens while studying others carefully. But look as he may, he could not find one single similarity between the candidates; there was too great a variety of situations and approaches, almost nothing could be found in common...! So he could only take a wild guess and volunteer his thoughts, "Sir... Is it that all of them are trying their best...? Each and every one of them is fighting with their life on the line; some slow and steady while others are rushing with all they''ve got... But each one is giving their all for this contest...?" Mr White''s face broke into a wide smile as he proudly patted his favourite staff on the shoulder. "Good, good! Very good! There''s a reason why I chose you as my successor even though you''re so young, haha!" The elderly adminstrator was so happy that he nearly hopped on the spot as his mentee gave a spot-on answer. "Yes, Mitsui my lad. Every candidate, every contestant is giving their all and doing their best, placing their lives on the line for the sake of glory, fame, honour or money! Albeit, their illusion lives... But still..." Then Mr White grew serious and spoke gravely to the black-haired oriental man. "All except for one." Then Mr White pointed at one screen, a panel just beside Natalie''s display and said, "Look." So Mitsui looked, but though he frowned, squinted, widened his eyes and tried whatever means he had to understand what he was looking at, nothing seemed to stand out. "Sir...? What... Am I supposed to see...? I''m sorry, I truly can''t discern what you''re seeing..." He bowed his head and apologised as he spoke. Mr White had a gentle smile on his face as he explained and guided the man. ''If only I had a son, I would have liked him to be just like you, Mitsui...'' He thought before speaking. "Look, currently #777 Lars is at Level 7. As you watch, can you see that he is just repeating the same few motions with his footwork, again and again...?" Mitsui nodded. "Yes, but isn''t that normal...? He''s just merely repeating the same 4 footsteps, maybe he just has learned that portion of the martial art he is practising...?" He couldn''t see any problem with was happening on Lars'' screen. Mr White patiently enlightened his mentee, saying, "What level of enemies is he facing? I mean, what realm are his opponents in...?" "Well... At Level 7, he''s facing 10 drow hunters at the beginner Elite-level." The older man then nodded, before clarifying, "Mitsui, since you''ve never cultivated, you may not know this. But do you know that for a beginner Adept practitioner, it is incredibly difficult to fight against 2 others of the same realm...?" Mitsui nodded slowly. "Then that should explain why all the remaining top 128 candidates, despite all being talents in their own right, would fall at even Level 3 or 4 - even with beginner Adept strength, it is exceedingly challenging to fight 50 Normal level enemies; much less 10 similar beginner Adepts!" "So what if the same person were to face 10 Elite level opponents...?" "Do you think you could "just merely repeat the same 4 footsteps" and still remain unscathed after minutes and minutes of battle...?" A look of realisation quickly dawned on Mitsui''s face as his expression changed from one of doubt and apprehension, to understanding to one of appreciation, then finally one of shock! Mr White nodded, pleased that his staff now understood. "Yes, my dear man. What he''s doing is as difficult as breaking a brick with an egg - impossible..." Then the elderly man walked back to the windows to stare at the screen once more. "But the boy is doing it in front of our eyes... Without using his hands in battle..." * * * * * At the same moment, Lars was indeed continuing at Level 7 without using his arms to defend himself or strike back. ''Alright... Looks like after my sword arts and attacking skills, I''ve integrated the space-time laws into my defensive and evasive movements as well! All that''s left is to show juuuuust a liiiiittle bit of my abilities and, surprise the folks up above...'' He smiled. ''Just a little won''t hurt, right...?'' He finally stopped using the same four footsteps that he had been using to distil and absorb the space-time laws. He had managed to avoid every single blow not relying on the footwork itself, but based on lengthening or shortening the space-jumps he made, or speeding up his movements by virtue of using the time-laws instead of his muscles! And as a result, he felt greatly confident - he was more than twice as strong as he was before! ''Duke handsome f***ing Silvan... Just you wait... The moment I settle the situation back home...'' Lars then stopped moving and brandished a magnificent backhand slash around him in a rotating circle. All 10 of the drow hunters then suddenly stiffened and came to a halt, paused in their steps, one even still with his leg above the ground, about to leap up into the sky but falling to a stop on the ground. Then all ten of the shadows simultaneously fell apart, cut into 17 pieces from 16 smooth cuts released from Lars'' slashing finger sword. 10 Elite level combatants were wiped out in a seemingly relaxed wave of the hand. As Lars felt the Level changing again, he finished his thoughts. ''The moment I settle the situation on Earth...'' His eyes flashed with vengeance. ''I''ll crush your face so badly, even your mother won''t recognise you! Serves you right for being too close to my Moira!'' As he prepared to face the next level, he added: ''...And I''ll take your money too... Hehe...'' Maybe that was the main point. ''Hey kid! Kid! Psst! It''s really important!'' Surprised that the lazy penguin would call out to him suddenly, Lars answered. ''Yeah Kizorik, what''s up?'' ''Y''know... There''s something really curious about this so-called illusion array...'' ''...? It does seem pretty sophisticated, yeah. Is there anything else special about it...?'' ''Yeah... Yeah there is... You see, Abyss Points are only accumulated when you kill living things, right...? Or when you sacrifice items of value... But when you "killed" each of those "illusions" just now, you received Abyss Points... Nearly 100 for each kill...'' Lars'' eyes widened in surprise. That was a good thing, right...? ''That''s good, right...? I mean, yeah it''s curious and all but... Is there some special significance about it...? What does that tell us about this testing ground...?'' The penguin rubbed its belly as it burped from some raw fish it had somehow conjured to snack on. Lars tried not to think about how there were raw fish in his mental world, and tried to ignore the idea of the disgusting fish scaled and blood that were scattered over the floor... ''Hmm... I don''t know yet but... Maybe, just maybe, there might be more than meets the eye in this illusion array. Far, far more... In fact, I thought it was just my imagination, but ever since we got in here, I''ve been feeling a sense of, how should I say it... Familiarity. There''s just this particular smell that makes me feel like it''s some place I''ve been to before.'' Shaking its head in helplessness, Kizorik then shrugged and said, ''It''s alright, kid. If I figure anything out, I''ll tell you later. For now... Just do your best to go as far as you can and maybe we''ll find out what''s so special about this place...'' Lars nodded but did not agree. He guessed he would have to wait and see whether it would make him stand out too much, right...? 63 Dragons Descendan It was true that in this virtual illusionary world, neither mana nor blood energy would be used up. However, injuries to the spirit-form DID carry over and slowly reduce one''s capabilities as a fighter "bled away" in the mental world. And at this stage, Natalie was nearly at the end of her rope. ''Why... Why is the jump in difficulty so bloody big! Who in the world could possibly pass this f***ing impossible level?!?'' She cursed in her mind as she took another light slash to her shoulder. She tried to strike back at the agile Drow hunter but was interrupted by a stunning kick to her back, throwing her off balance. Then before she could recover, she heard the twang of multiple bows as a barrage of arrows soared through the air towards her from all around! ''Shit!!!'' Unable to dodge, she could only use her defensive skill that had a 15 second cooldown, after which she would be defenceless against a similar combo. A combo that she had been subjected to 6 times so far in a minute! "Dragon''s Aura: Scales!" She yelled out as a golden-red glow surrounded her skin and easily deflected the 5 high-speed arrows which struck her body. Then she landed on her feet and dashed forward in an attempt to close the distance with the 5 drow archers, but they scattered and she was intercepted by the melee squad of 3 swordsmen and 2 dagger-wielding assassins. A 10 drow-strong death-squad, all at the peak of the Elite level! Despite the number of drow being the same in Levels 7, 8 and 9 - 10 drow hunters - their team coordination, battle multiplier, combat power and equipment made them vastly different from stage to stage. The first 10 hunters in Level 7 had haphazard or no teamwork at all, wielding only the trademark stiletto daggers of the drow. In comparison, the team in Level 8 was not just higher in their cultivation at the mid-Elite stage, but also equipped with a mixture of swords, scimitars, daggers and whips. Finally, this stage was set apart by the incredible precision and timeliness of the drow squad''s teamwork. 5 archers laying down suppressive fire at just the right moments, and at other times, sending deadly critical strikes to all her vital points. 3 swordsmen who mutually supported one another and formed a strong defensive blockade around her, preventing her from piercing the trio of dual-wielding dark elves to get to the archers. And 2 elusive assassins who time and again slipped into her blind spots and struck without warning, their blows lighter but always interrupting her flow of counter attacks! And beyond these 10 masterful foes, there was still one last hurdle to overcome. The 11th adversary, a peak Elite already at the pseudo Master level, a drow death-dancer who bided his time and merely stood in the distance. Watching and waiting until she fell or until she defeated the 10-elf squad, at which point he would step in to deliver the killing blow. ''Dammit dammit dammit!!! All these are available and established information, together with all the one-versus-many battle tactics! But why the hell is it so hard to apply those theories in practice??!??'' She frowned as the encircling formation surrounded her again. ''DAMMIT ALL! I''LL JUST GO KAMIKAZE AND TO HELL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES!!!'' "Yaaaaaa!!!!!" She screamed in rage and rushed forward to run down one of the archers, triggering the full power of her bloodline for a strength boost. The trio of swordsmen quickly raised their swords and converged on one another to block her path. and she saw 2 blurs dart over out of the corner of her eyes. But she ignored the 2 hidden assassins and charged straight ahead at the swordsmen even as she heard and felt 4 arrows approach from behind her and from her sides. She gritted her teeth and made a split-second twist of her torso and jumped to dodge the arrows - almost succeeding as she winced in pain. The arrows grazed past her, thankfully not landing any critical strikes! In a flash, she was before the swordsmen, merely 3 metres away and ready to strike in just 1 more step. The drow began to fan out slightly to her sides, each roughly 2 arm''s lengths away from each other, while one remained in her path to prevent her from advancing. They lifted up their swords, ready to bring them down in slashes, cuts, thrusts and stabs. Then just before entering their range, Natalie lifted up her right fist and right leg as if to jump forward in a thrusting blow... And instead roared. Dragon''s Aura: Tyrant''s Roar! "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The high-pitched roar rumbled through the spirit-bodies of the drow before her, shaking up their brains with the wall of sonic waves. Even the archer afar back in the distance behind the drow swordsmen was shaken, unable to keep hold on the nocked arrow in her bow and releasing a haphazard shot uselessly into the ground! The three swordsmens'' eyes grew bloodshot, the veins bulging as their eyeballs began to vibrate from the sound. Then blood gushed forth from every orifice on their face as they collapsed lifelessly and began to dissipate. ''Looks like the guide was right...! 3 down, 7 to go! Before the last one...'' She thought as she recalled her family''s analysis on surpassing Level 9, all while she surged forward to the stunned archer in front of her. "It is certain that elusive, dodging enemies like the drow are best tackled by wide-area skills which can''t be blocked directly, such as flame, wind and water attacks. However, the most effective skills against those with sharp senses are sonic attacks which travel quicker than the eye can see and harm those with the best hearing the most!" "Also, sonic attacks affect a wide area, making it even harder to dodge. As such, a challenger should use our Sarouneh family''s upgraded version of Lion''s Roar, Dragon''s Aura: Tyrant''s Roar! Only 112,000 platinum coins if you buy it today!" - Level by Level Guide to the Talent Assessment Illusion Array by Lina Sarouneh. ''And next... Since I''ve moved past the interception point, the arrows should be coming from the following 4 angles...'' She calculated based on the memorised notes, then the moment she heard the twang of the bowstrings, she stepped left-right-left-right and avoided the arrows completely! ''Yes! Now... JUMP!'' She performed a forward somersault just as the assassins threw their daggers silently at her legs, dodging the 4 thrown projectiles deftly before landing with a roll! As the hidden killers could no longer catch up to the girl who was advancing like a chariot, they only had that move left to impede her. She grinned in thrilled elation, heart pumping fast as she grew in confidence with every successful read and move pulled off. Now that she had broken free from the squad''s suppression, she could freely apply the theory she had learned without being thrown off track! ''And now the last one before their entire team is crippled... Once one archer is down, their 5 Petal Bombardment Formation will be crippled!'' She quickly shortened the distance to the target in her sights, the drow archer who was backpedaling as fast as she could while still aiming an arrow at Natalie. This was the part that she had been dreading and had no answer for - it would still take 7 seconds before Dragon''s Aura: Scales was ready, and at such a close distance, there was no other way about it but to eat the arrow head on...! *Twang!* *Shiiiik!* "URGH!!! DIE!!!!" The moment before the arrow was loosed, Natalie slammed her foot into the ground to avoid any critical wounds. The arrow that was originally headed for her throat instead sank solidly into her shoulder, the impact nearly killing her momentum. But she pressed on and before the archer could pull out her long knife, a sick *SNAP* was heard as Natalie crushed her windpipe. Then the girl stopped and panted for half a second before hurling her body down to the side and way from the volley of arrows striking the spot where she had just been standing. ''4 down...'' ''6 to go!'' Then her sight landed on the sharp-eyed boss of the drow out of the corner of her vision. ''No... 7 more to go...'' She tightened her fists and got ready for round 2 of the battle to begin. "COME ON!!!" She shouted as she ran straight into battle again, adrenaline pumping through her consciousness as she raised her fighting spirit once more. 64 Acciden Reshmont, the bronze-skinned giant''s descendant, fell onto his buttocks, heaving and panting as his pulse raged and his heart palpitated chaotically. As he struggled to catch his breath, he lay on the ground flat on his back, regretful. He had fallen at the cusp of entering Level 8! Just one more enemy to go, but he had suffered through too many injuries in the illusion world and taken too much mental stress. At the key moment before he crossed the watershed moment from Level 7 to Level 8, the defining difference of a true nation-wide genius and a mere regional talent, he had faltered. He had made a rookie mistake, one that he berated himself endlessly for making, and ended up with a dagger through his heart! ''S-scary... I can still feel the pain as if though it were real...'' He was covered in sweat, cold sweat and exhausted despite the entirety of the assessment happening in a virtual world. The body still responded according to the struggles of the mind. He struggled to his feet and quickly cast his eyes up to the magic screen to see how the others had done. Then he breathed out a sigh of relief - he was still in the top 3! The only ones who had entered Level 8 thus far were the monstrous Natalie Sarouneh and the divine-child Darius; the obvious favourites for this tournament anyway. ''It''s fine... The top 3 have immense prizes, while as long as I''m the top 5, I''ll still be recruited for the Duke''s household guards!'' He nodded his large head, his child-like expression matching his baby-face exceptionally well. He stretched his humongous frame and cracked his knuckles before proceeding out. He would get a rest before watching the remaining contestants. As he turned away from the screen to head to the resting areas, he heard a cry of wonder behind him, prompting him to turn around and check out the cause of the commotion. And when he saw it, he teetered and stumbled and finally fell to his buttocks again. ''I''m... I''m out of the top 3...?'' He had a look of disbelief on his face as his lower lip trembled, eyes turning slightly wet. He shook in frustration, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes as he heard the voices around him begin to gossip. "That #777... Is he cheating again?" "No way! How could he manage to cheat the system?" "Yeah! I heard that the illusion array isn''t invented by our Kingdom of the Sands, but discovered from some ancient ruins!" "Ancient ruins? More like aliens! Aliens, I tell you!" "Bah! Shut up if you don''t know anything! Didn''t you pay attention in class? Didn''t you read the Gorun Stadium section of the history textbooks in year 9, that the illusion array is a talent test for the ancient cultivators'' inheritance?" "Anyway, looks like we have a new Supernova Trio on our hands, right?" "No no no, I haven''t agreed yet, I''m still 101% certain that kid cheated!" "Idiot! Not just history, you slacked out on Math too?!? Don''t you know there''s no such thing as 101%???" "What the...!??" Reshmont zoned out the remainder of the conversations. He felt a deep-set fear in his heart as he wearily rose to his feet again. How would he explain to grandma that he failed to get a podium finish...? * * * * * "Level 8: Mid Elite level." "Prepare for combat: 10 drow warriors." The moment Lars was aware of his surroundings, he saw the glint, flash and arc of sword and blade lights flicker towards him! ''Ohh! A little interesting!'' He swayed, leaned forward and hopped energetically to dodge 7 of the blows, but was forced to deflect two more with mana encoating his finger-swords. ''Eh??!'' To his surprise, he was knocked stumbling backwards by the heavy sword blows and his sore fingers ached where he used them to block. ''Such a large difference in strength just from one level change? That''s... Quite impressive! Looks like my mid Adept strength is reaching its limits even with my superior skills...'' While he was knocked off balance, he struggled to spin his body to avoid the last dagger blow but could only willingly receive it, face grimacing in pain as it left a long gash across his ribs. ''Damn! Why does the illusion array have to emulate pain as well! I just hope it doesn''t replicate taste and smell either...'' In the 0.1 seconds gap before the second cycle of attacks began, the golden-haired boy struck out with a thrust of his fingers at a dodging drow swordsman. To Lars'' surprise though, the dark elf reacted to the nearly invisible strike, angling his sword in an attempt to parry his piercing sword aura strike! In the next moment, the drow''s face twisted in surprise as he was blown away nearly 8 metres by the momentum of the sword light! However, his parry across his chest was successful, deflecting the damage to leave a long and deep slash wound on his left shoulder instead of a gaping hole where his heart was! ''My God, they''re that strong??! And they''re even starting to have expressions too??! These illusions are too real!'' Dismissing his frivolous thoughts, Lars continued to dodge, avoid, parry and riposte, sending strikes, slashes and thrusts in the direction of the sword and dagger wielding dark elves around him. Each strike would knock a combatant back a sizable distance and leave bloody wounds on their body. And Lars displayed amazing agility and footwork as he utilised everything he had at his disposal except his magic. However, for every round of combat he went through, he could only dodge 7-8 attacks while blocking the remaining 2 and sometimes receiving injuries of his own! After the seventh round of clashing and dodging and receiving the fourth wound, he sighed deeply. ''Looks like this is as far as I can go...'' He looked around in the brief moment of respite while the drow hunters regrouped to attack again. Then his eyes curved into crescent moons and he smiled as he gripped his katana still in its sheath. ''Time to step it up a little!'' As his 10 assailants charged over, Lars calmly placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword and paused, trying to recall the feeling and unique charm demonstrated by the godlike being in his memories. Though he did not even budge an inch, it seemed as if though there were an unseen field of power, light and danger around him; in a radius of 2 metres in every direction. The drow surrounding him tensed up as they sensed danger, but when they saw the opportunity and how he had stopped moving, all 10 the programmed lifeforms leaped across the last of the 4 metres between them and the motionless youth, taking the chance to strike him down! In just those 2 seconds, everything changed. Lars'' eyes slowly flitted open in a dreamy state. His eyes were unfocused but seemed to be All-seeing at that moment. In his state of oneness with the world, he lowered his body slightly and sensed all the particles in the air *SHIFT* and heed his beck and call. Then soundlessly and without theatrics, he released a swift semi-circular sweep of the common blade in his hand. What was strange was that his blow seemed to slice uselessly through the air, not aimed at anyone in particular and not connecting with anything or anyone. Then the 4 drow hunters approaching him from the front frantically crossed their weapons and even theirs arm before their bodies as they sensed deathly danger. But half a breath later, they landed, unscathed and untouched. Then without missing a beat, all 10 drow hunters rushed towards the boy, weapons raised, ready for the cruel last strike to end his test here and now. But while they were reared up to strike down, they stiffened and were petrified like stone statues - then their upper bodies began to slide sideways, moving diagonally and off the lower half of their torso. This happened not only to the 4 drow before him in the path of his radiant sword strike, but also those behind him who he did not so much as look at. And the 10 cleanly bisected mid Elite level drow hunters collapsed to the ground in neat halves, the cutting point on their bodies spurting out blood like decorative fountains around the golden-haired Sword Saint. And before he knew it, all 10 of his enemies were dead and disappeared. "Completed in 1 minute 43 seconds. Congratulations, proceeding to level 9." His eyes bulged. ''W-what? Only 1 minute? Not even 2?? H-how come? But it felt like the battle lasted so long!'' Wasn''t that too fast, even for himself??! His earlier rounds which were far easier had taken more than 20 minutes. So how would he explain needing only less than 2 minutes to overcome much stronger foes? Wasn''t he supposed not to attract TOO much attention??! ''M-must have gotten carried away... I guess the last level *WAS* pretty enjoyable and slightly challenging... Ahem... I got a little excited...'' ''Good thing I took those earlier wounds.... Else it would seem it was just too easy for me...'' He shrugged, since there was no longer anything he could do about it, he could only proceed to Level 9. Based on the jump in difficulty from Level 7 to 8, the gap to Level 9 should be at least as big, right? And even if it wasn''t, he could just put on a show and purposely fail, right... He grinned. It wouldn''t do to shock his watcher''s TOO much, would it? "Level 9: Peak Elite level." "Prepare for combat: Drow death-squad (10 drow) and 1 pseudo Master level drow death-dancer." 65 An Illusionary Crisis Posting this as a fresh chapter as sometimes the app doesn''t redownload the updated chapter.... * * * The whole entourage of General Weres, Sefir Estreya, Yusof Jamal, Lina Sarouneh and Gaius Trenel turned up at the open air private viewing lounge. Astrid was nowhere to be seen, presumably headed back before she got a shelling from her parents! "Esteemed General! Uncles Sefir, Yusof and Gaius! Aunty Lina! You''ve come to watch the preliminaries personally?" Vignis and Leocadius rose hurriedly from their seats and bowed deeply to their elders. Then they both scowled at their underlings and hissed for them to prepare 5 more seats for the newly arrived luminaries. Ehhehe! How could I not come when my precious Natalie is competing! How''s she doing? Nevermind, don''t bother telling me, I''ll take a look mysel-- OH MY GOD SHE''S AT LEVEL 9??! MORE THAN 80% DONE TOO?!!" Lina''s rosy-cheeks turned white abruptly and she pressed her hands to her face, aghast when she saw her 15 year old niece equal her achievements. "Haha! It''s all thanks to Aunty Lina''s experiences and the instructions written in your guide book. So far she''s been following it line for line and come this far; who knows just how much she can achieve? We all memorise your book like a bible!" Vignis smiled and offered an explanation, also slipping in praises for her senior at the same time. But despite her cheerful attitude, there was also a hint of resentment in her tone, perhaps due to the fact that they themselves had never been able to pass Level 9 before they hit the illusion arrays age limit. However Lina''s face turned slightly sour at the mention of how it was her guidebook that helped her niece get so far! "Yes... Looks like she''s about to reach the last step where the guide says once she eliminates the last of the drow squad, the death-dancer will strike within the next second... If she can survive that surprise attack, she might have a fair chance of progressing where no one in the Kingdom of the Sands has progressed before!" The rest of those gathered there then looked on in rapt interest as Natalie hunted down the last drow assassin who moved far faster than her despite her bloodline strengthening. But while the rest were excited or worried over the girl potentially creating a new national record, one red-headed Aunty crossed her fingers mischievously and stuck out her tongue. Then they were all greatly shocked at the next scene that played out before them. "*@&#@*#&*@#*!&@##@$!!!!!!!!" A furious Natalie rolled out of the magic formation she was in while cursing loudly. She slammed her fists into the grassy ground angrily as she shouted. "WHY WAS IT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THE GUIDE??!! HOW COME THE DEATH-DANCER STRUCK RIGHT BEFORE I KILLED THAT LAST BLOODY DROW!!?? ARGHH!!! USELESS GUIDE!!!" Yes, a certain guiltless red-haired Aunty was certainly not at fault. She definitely didn''t modify the guide on purpose to make sure others failed. * * * * * Natalie''s only comfort was that it was not just her who bowed midway through Level 9. Darius had not been able to progress as far in Level 9 and ended with a lower score than hers; leaving her comfortably in first place! She sighed in disappointment. She did feel relieved though. Based on the scores, her first place finish was confirmed! She walked back towards the resting area keeping her head down in reflection of the earlier battle and what she could have done better. One thing that stuck out to her was that she shouldn''t have relied on the guide so blindly. There was no point blaming the information that someone else provided to her, she had only herself to blame for not validating the notes before applying them! ''Even IF that dastardly witch did it on purpose... Grrr...'' But she could only grumble in her heart - one did not simply diss a World-class expert, not unless one wanted to be subjected to torturous training for the next 10 years... But halfway while walking, she stopped. ''Wait, why are so many people still here if the preliminaries are over...?'' She thought to herself in surprise. Then she heard sounds of the crowds around her murmuring, before they cried out in surprise and began to cheer loudly! Dreading what she knew she was about to see, Natalie turned around slowly - and saw what she was afraid of. The handsome and hot boy was still progressing strongly through the illusion array. And he was almost at the last portion of Level 9. ''DAMMIT ALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!'' She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly, feeling like running away to hide from the potential situation of losing the bet to Charley and Lars. But she steeled herself and stayed to watch Lars'' battle - and learn. * * * * * ''Lars! Lars! My hunch was right!'' ''Yup! Tell me! But sorry if I--'' He swiftly parried a chopping sword blow and triggered a Level 2: Shield spell, a weak defensive spell, to deflect the volley of arrows headed his way. He jumped 1 metre into the air and then tucked his chin as he landed in a roll, then swiftly dodged backwards again. He barely avoided the strike of the remaining drow assassin who immediately backed off after launching his attack. Meanwhile, in the real world, the crowd were standing in stunned silence, in awe of the deft moves and terrifying sword skills demonstrated by the boy! "How can he be so good!" "That... Is he a disciple of Sword Saint Murane?!!" "That can''t be! The Sword Saint only has one disciple and he''s in Danedaar!" "Then how can that #777 be so incredible?!?" "A-amazing..." Even Natalie stood in admiration of the commoner boy whose esoteric mastery of his weapon put even her to shame! But not everyone was pleased at the sight - especially not Darius, the white-haired descendant of the god-blooded race. He maintained an enigmatic and expressionless look on his face, but gave off a frigid aura that made whoever looked at him feel like he would cut down them where they stood! By this time, Lars had already killed 3 of the close combatants - 2 drow sword fighters and 1 assassin. In the process, he had added several cuts to his collection of 4 from the earlier Level 8. Despite his significant power-up from arming himself with the katana, the step-up in difficulty was significant - and he had only managed to eliminate the 3 drow by utilising his maximum capabilities. And now he was half out of breath as well as slightly light-headed from virtual blood loss from his illusion body. ''As I was saying, kiddo. Seems the reason for that feeling of familiarity is because there''s a demonic treasure hidden in this array! If I''m not mistaken, this is one of the Slayer Trials that just happened to be preserved over the years! What an amazing find, kiddo!'' Lars did not have the time or chance to hold a conversation with his pet demon as he fought to stay alive. He could only listen but not respond while frantically parrying both sword strikes, dagger thrusts and arrows. "Chasing Shadow!" He lunged forward and released a swift slash, shooting out a shadowy sword light that darted here and there. The sword fighter he aimed at moved her weapon to block, but Lars smiled as the sword light abruptly changed trajectory and slipped past her defences to pierce her throat! ''One more down! 7 to go!'' He hurried out of the way of a fresh barrage of projectiles sent his way, then suddenly spun around and cleaved his sword down in an overhead descending strike. The thin air before him suddenly wobbled and shimmered before revealing the drow assassin - or what was left of him, as he was segmented from the top of his head until his hip! Then he angled his katana behind his back to block a sharp sword slash aimed at his shoulder blades, before kicking out backwards fiercely. As the last drow swordsman leapt away to the side, Lars smiled as the trap he had set earlier was sprung. During the course of the melee, he had been consistently backing away towards one end of the 400 metre diameter battlefield. As a result, the archers had been forced to slowly move together with him. Despite their max range being 200 metres, they had a much shorter effective range of 100 metres within which they could actually land their arrows, due to the speed and strength of their target''s defence. However, once Lars had moved 100 metres, the archers ended up standing nearby if not exactly where he had started out. And this proved to be a fatal mistake. Without letting the archers have a chance to release their next batch of shots, he gathered mana in his left hand and threw nearly 2 dozen bolts of mana forward to trigger his trap. "Delayed Casting: Level 1: Mass Magic Missiles x20!" The ground under the middle-most archer rumbled and parted as countless glowy comets of arcane power erupted from the earth and shot towards the other 4 archers. The poor drow who lost his footing also quickly lost his life as the foot-wide fiery white missiles pierced through his body on the way to their targets. Try as they might, the archers who were caught off guard had no chance in front of the sinister trap laid for them. With each cast of the magic missile spell triggering 5 magical bolts, the sky was lit up with a radiant display of mystical powers that quickly left the 4 remaining archers as pin-cushions, bloodied and mangled from multiple bullets of power! Then before the last swordswoman''s feet could touch the ground Lars smiled and chanted his spell: "Level 2: Acid Arrow, Level 2: Acid Arrow!" The drow fighter swung her sword in vain to slice apart the incoming globs of caustic liquids. But it was to no avail. Her sword merely passed right through the fluids uselessly and was corroded, just like the female elf ended up being corroded until all that was left of her chest and upper body were bones. ''Alright, now for the last submerged fish--'' ''!!!!!!!!'' A fierce dual stab shot towards him from point-blank range as the death-dancer teleported across the distance, triggering his innate skill: Instant Blink! Just before the peak-Elite level drow launched his twin sword slashes, Lars heard some unintelligible words as he desperately dodged. "Matilah, syaitan menyampah!!" (Die, demon scum!) "Shield!! Mirror Image!!" Lars cried out in response, setting up his defences as he felt an unnerving sense of danger. Then he swivelled his sword in an arc, trying to deflect both his opponent''s curved blades. Unfortunately, he lacked the raw power to stop his enemy. When he blocked the first sword, he felt as if he were trying to hold up a mountain with a toothpick! Unable to fully block the attack, he could only just barely push the strike aside with all his might... And the drow''s other sword was still slashing down, straight at his shoulder! 66 To my Dearest Readers... I''m a simple man, 31 years old, living in a 3rd world country Malaysia. It''s a bit better off than some other South East Asian countries. At least here a fresh graduate can make between USD300 - 500 a month! But that leaves us all with a very, very hard life. I have been working full time for 8 years and just got married last year. But it''s been a struggle financially. My wife is also working full time and her health has been suffering due to the long hours. ...I swore to find a way so my wife won''t have to work and suffer anymore. I tried Uber, Grab. I tried transcription work. I did some freelance work but was paid nothing for my efforts. But I found that it was so hard to support and paid so little - roughly getting USD100 a month from the part time work. Finally, in September, I read a novel here on WN and thought, "Maybe... Just maybe... I could be a writer too...?" I started and failed terribly in the first 2 weeks with just 2 readers! But I didn''t give up, because my wife and my family and my future child deserve more than I am giving them right now. ...I want them to have the best in life. Or at least, a life where they don''t have to worry daily about their needs being met, where my child will have a mother who is with him/her to play, learn, laugh and grow up together with. I don''t want to see my wife coughing, stressed, unable to sleep from worrying about work, her health and her life. I... Really hope... That you''ll still be with me on this journey. I also... Really do understand that, not everyone will want to still follow this novel. I know it''s just a simple and humble novel, not a superstar that can command hundreds of dollars a month. But even if it''s just 50 dollars, 100 dollars a month, I''ll be writing my best for you, for my wife and for my family. Finally, the announcement that I know you expected for awhile. Desolate Mage will be going Premium on 1 Dec. In anticipation of that, look forward to the conclusion of the competition arc, where Lars displays the fullness of his might in an epic battle of Herculean proportions. Last but not least... Thank you for reading. Truly, truly thank you. I will post a youtube video on Wednesday and be doing double releases from Wednesday to Sunday! 67 Reality Note 1: I will not be posting teasers anymore, and will be performing a clean-up of the teaser chapters once the double daily release starts. Note 2: Will do a simple YouTube video and answer some Q&A! Ask your questions in the comments of this chapter and I will answer whichever ones I can - except spoilers 68 Demon-Hunter Marzinus The workers who were trying desperately to pry open or cancel the magic formation trapping Lars in worked double-time, rushing to release the trapped boy who was bleeding heavily by now. Despite his hale constitution, he looked slightly pale from the exertion and battle raging on in the illusory world. Meanwhile, a panic stricken Mr White had long since come down from the control room, leaving Mitsui to oversee the overall operations. The senior administrator had held nothing back, using his full force to attempt to open the formation the boy was held within, but time and time again he was repelled! His blows could not even so much as shake the magic field surrounding the boy''s body! In fact, the reflected force caused the Grandmaster combatant to fly backwards and crash into the Stadium walls! He bounced back off the highly reinforced defensive inner walls and fell down in a heap, before springing up to his feet despite the specks of blood on his lips. "What in the world is going on!?? Can somebody tell me what is happening? Quickly! Sever the mana supply! Cut off all power to the illusion arrays! Hurry!" "S-sir! Administrator sir! We already tried that! B-but the formation is still running!" A harried and stressed out balding man who seemed to be the supervisor of the Stadium crew answered with a shaky voice. "WHAT???! Let me see!" He rushed over to grab the power supply control tablet from the anxious supervisor and took a look himself, only for him to turn even paler than before at what was displayed. [Power supply: Off] [Systems: Disabled] [Mana grid: Disconnected] [ILLUSION ARRAY OFFLINE] "What the hell is this!!! In what way is this, this, this INFERNAL THING offline and powered down?!!" He flung aside the mana tablet in frustration and ran off to check on the state of the power and mana grid while the supervisor called out to his fading figure. "Sir! Sir!!! It''s useless!!!" But seeing that his head had already vanished off into the distance,he plopped to his knees and mumbled to no one in particular. "The severed power lines will just grow back... It''s absorbing mana from the planet itself...!" * * * * * While the great commotion was happening in the real world, an equally pressing situation unfolded in the virtual one. ''Release first seal!!'' Lars undid the weakest and most basic seal on his powers in the real world and felt his strength surge up to the Master level before being bottled up by the next seal. However, that change of power was restricted to the physical world. To his dismay, nothing changed in the illusion array. Lars whispered agitatedly in his mind to Kizorik as he watched the last boss emerge from the mists. ''Ki-Kizorik! What do I do now?! I''ve got nothing left! Even my unsealed powers aren''t applicable in this blasted world! Only the bloodline burst worked, and that is already running out right now!'' He said this even as his body''s bloodline boost began to subside and his physique returned to it''s prior state. His muscles slowly receded until he looked like he had before, a slim but strong teenage boy. ''K-kid... I could give you a temporary boost at the cost of damaging my soul but... It would be useless...'' ''Wait, why would it be useless? How can you give up so easily?'' While he spoke, he observed the Demon-Hunter who stood where he had appeared, breathing slowly. The drow male had the characteristic height, pointed face and sharp long ears of his race. However that was where the similarities stopped. Unlike the slim, lean and athletic frame of the drow hunters or even the death-dancer from earlier, this Demon-Hunter was muscular, ripped even! Ripped being an apt word as he was so buff that his simple button up shirt and pants looked like they would soon burst at the seams! His skin was also much, much lighter despite still being characteristically dark. However it was a different form of pigment, appearing to be a rich and deep purple instead of the usual brown. The most stunning were his hair and eyes. Stunning violet hair, swept and tied back in a pony tail. The hues were so shocking that it looked as if he were plugged into an electric socket with the power turned on - straight to his neon hair! But finally, what mystified Lars was the dark elf''s eyes. Earlier, he was sure that he had seen a pair of shining purple jewels staring out of the mists heralding Marzinus'' appearance. However, right now he could not see the Demon-Hunter''s eyes at all. The man''s eyes were covered by a thick cloth bandana and tied around his head, binding up his vision completely. ''It''s over, over!!! How could I, Kizorik, be so lucky to meet one of the 100 Demon-Hunters in the middle of some backwater city''s test for babies! Why must tragedy befall me?? What have I done to deserve such a fate?? Woe is me, woe is me!!'' While he was observing the dark elf, Kizorik blabbered on hysterically, contributing to Lars nervousness and anxiety. Desperate to find a solution, Lars frowned crossly and yelled at the hyperventilating bird who was rolling about on the floor. ''Kizorik! Snap out of it! Tell me, what was it you were talking about that you can do? Anything at all!'' The bird sniffled as it tried to calm down even in the face of what it was certain would be death. Then it explained in span of time where their enemy was still just standing there, as if curiously observing the golden-haired boy before him. He spoke hurriedly as despite the drow''s quiet appearance, there was no mistake that he would sooner or later try to tear Lars apart like a rag doll! ''If it were any other enemy, it might work to grant you a demonic awakening. But a Demon-Hunter''s abilities work by sealing all demonic powers and dealing even greater damage to beings with higher demonic energies! In other words, it''d be plain suicide!'' Then their waiting time looked to be up. As soon as Kizorik finished those words, their mighty adversary cracked his neck and moved, starting by speaking in an unknown language. "Hmmph... Syaitan keji! Patik, Pemburu Syaitan Marzinus, walaupun hanya satu cebisan jiwa, akan menghapuskan segala sisa yang muncul depan patik!" (Vile demon! I, Demon-Hunter Marzinuseven though only a soul fragment, will destroy every scum that appears before I!) He had a look of condescension on his face as a puissant Myth level supreme being who, despite being suppressed to the Master level, could still crush an Adept like an ant! The drow held up one of the two warglaives in his hands and pointed it at Lars, causing his hairs to stand on end from the sheer pressure. ''Dammit...! Come on Kizorik! There''s gotta be a way, right? Some way to use my Legendary strength and knock this a** to kingdom come!'' ''I''m sorry kid... It''s the end of the road for me as well... This time when my contractor i.e. you die, I''ll be killed together... Demon-Hunters are the only creatures we abyssals truly fear....'' Kizorik sighed and said, ''It''s been nice knowing you, kiddo...!'' Then Marzinus disappeared. The audience and even the noble observers blinked their eyes in confusion and shock, letting out gasps of awe or taking in sharp breaths in horror. Even General Weres, the strongest among them, had to squint to keep pace with the nearly Ascendant level movements! When he reappeared, he stood towering above the boy with his warglaive glowing brightly - then he lowered his weapon in a flash. "Selamat tinggal." (Goodbye.) It was too fast. Lars'' mind could follow, but the slow eyes and this weak body could do nothing to defend himself. He didn''t even have the time to cry out or despair. It had already happened before he could even open his mouth. The falling blade shone brighter and brighter in a glaring white light drowning out the vision of everyone all around. Even the magic screen became a flood of white radiance, forcing every watcher to cover their eyes or be struck blind! "What is that light!" "Come on #777! You gotta win for us! Make Gorun City proud!" One contestant cheered, trying to reverse the glum mood even as he shut his eyes against the explosion of whiteness. But the people beside him shook their heads at the futility of his encouragement. "Boy... It''s impossible... There''s no hope for that bright and young talent... It''s useless..." The speaker sighed as if with the vicissitudes of life despite looking to be around the same age. ''Handsome boy... Don''t give up...'' Natalie clenched her fists tightly, squeezing the hems of her blouse as her heart pounded with worry. "NO!!!!" "Stop!!!" "HAH! SERVES HIM RIGHT!" All kinds of reactions were seen in the arena, whether some concerned and worried, others neutral while some even condemned and rejoiced at their competitor''s downfall! Gradually, the light began to fade. A hulking and massive dark elf with bound eyes was still standing, his warglaives held crossed before him in a striking pose. Behind him, a golden-haired pretty-boy was also still standing, eyes closed and sword held above him in a last ditch effort to survive. You could see his arms trembling so much that the tremors and vibrations spread to his illusory sword. Then the blade and the hilt began to shatter before turning into fine grains of sand-like dust. The weapon could not take the weight of the blow levelled against it and had given up under the strain, returning to mist and shadows. "ARGHHH!!!" Immediately, a great ripping and twisting sound was heard as if an invisible slash were unleashed upon the boy, splitting apart and shredding the clothes on his upper body apart. And then the boy shakily raised a hand to his chest, touching his sternum, face, neck and head. Checking for the fatal blow he knew must have landed. Looking for the signs of the blood that would mark the beginning of the end of his short life. "Terlalu lambat untuk menginsaf! Putus asalah! Hari ini akan kekal sebagai ulangtahun kematian kau!" (It''s too late to regret! It''s hopeless! Today will be established as your death anniversary!) The drow did not bother turning back while speaking as his two blades transformed into motes of light and disappeared. Then he turned around to face the boy who had been sentenced to death and walked past him to return to where he had come from, to rest and continue his post guarding the inheritance against all demonspawn! But as he walked past the golden-haired boy who was still trembling in the aftermath of the world-shattering blow, he suddenly stopped and gasped. And Lars gasped as well. Marzinus saw something he never believed he would ever see happen before his covered, unseeing eyes. He stepped forward hastily and grabbed the confused boy by his shoulders, as if though forgetting that he had just a second ago rendered on him a life-severing attack that was meant to erase him from the face of the world! Lars tried to resist, but he found the Master level aura emanating from the drow had him locked down completely. On the outside world, as the blinding light from earlier faded away, the crowd too rubbed tjeir eyes, wondering if what they were seeing was real! That was then followed by loud murmurs of confusion, cries of surprise and shouts of both jubilation and disappointment. The noise and din rose sharply, drowning out any semblance of discussion and creating a scene of chaos. How could this be happening? Untouched from a death blow even a Grandmaster might not be able to withstand? And now his opponent wad holding him like a buddy? The said drow Demon-Hunter Marzinus was flabbergasted and spoke rapidly in his ancient language, expressing his inability to understand what had happened. "Tak mungkin! Mustahil! Mengapa kamu masih hidup?? Langsung tak tercedera?!?" (Impossible! How can this be?!! How can you be alive!?? Unharmed!??") Then his ears moved and his eyebrows rose in bewilderment, a clear sign of surprise and shock across his face even behind the bandana covering his eyes. His eyes fell on something he thought he would never see, that no Demon-Hunter thought was real, though every one of them dreamed of being the one to unearth it and discover it since their founding father passed on. He gaped in disbelief and stuttered as he spoke. "Ini... Ini ialah..." (This... This is...) 69 The Jigsaw Puzzle Lars shuddered under the suffocating pressure of his captor''saura. He couldn''t even move his lips or mouth to ask what was going on. Despite his real world might, the mystical illusion array exceeded his powers and bound both his body and soul. As a result, his willpower was flagging and mental agility began to grow wan. He felt like his mind was just a blur and began to grow faint. ''Boy! Hold on! Stay sharp!! Something''s definitely fishy, but I don''t care as long as we can survive!'' Whether it was truly a second chance at life or just a swan song before perishing, the resilient demon did not care a whit. He had survived for endless eras and weathered through ages untold; he would certainly grasp every last opportunity to live! The ancient Demon-Hunter, soul fragment though he was, possessed comprehension of the laws that far exceeded Lars''. The drow''s achievements of the Mythical stage (despite being now only at the Master realm) proved that he stood on a higher level than the boy before him even at his full power! "Terlebih dahulu, patik harus membutakan mata yang mengintip dan telinga yang mencuri dengar..." (Before that, I need to blind any spying eyes or eavesdropping ears...) The drow took one hand off Lars'' shoulder and incanted a spell, manipulating the array to his will and whim. At his command, a grand and opaque mist began to coil around the borders of the illusion field, blocking the sight of every watcher. The audience groaned in frustration and disappointment at their viewing being blocked. Then a static white noise began to buzz from the screen, cutting off even the sense of sound. However, while they were still complaining or murmuring in worry, this mist only lasted for about 10 seconds before it dissipated. And as the mists cleared, it revealed only the barechested youth still standing, the line victor, no signs of his opponent being left. Then a voice of neutral gender announced the result. "Congratulations! Level 10 complete! Returning candidate''s consciousness to corporeal realm..." A stunned silence reigned once more, with the only voices heard being those of the frantic crew members still hard at work and the paramedics waiting for the moment the magic field dropped to provide emergency aid. Then Natalie sighed a breath of relief but still could not understand what she had just seen. And one voice pierced through the silence, parroting what had just been announced as if though the earlier voice had just been an illusion just like the illusory world the candidates had been in. "C-completed?!!" Lina Sarouneh''s face turned green from disturbance and envy. Her record was shattered today not once, but twice by wet nosed 15 year olds! Then the disturbed drone of voices picked up a dozen notches just then, with but a few common questions on every tongue and mind: What in the world had happened in those short 10 seconds? Where had the Demon-Hunter gone...? And... What would happen to the boy who had achieved an unprecedented record of completing not just Level 9 but the yet unseen before Level 10? * * * * * "Baik. Kita patut ada sekadar 5 minit untuk berbincang." (Alright, we should have about 5 minutes to discuss) "Pertama, kamu ni siapa? Mengapa kamu ada tanda Pemburu Syaitan yang pertama di dadamu? Mengapa kamu sebagai ahli Pemburu Syaitan membentuk aqad dengan syaitan yang zalim? Di manakah kesemua alat persatuan kita yang kamu patut ada? Jawablah! Mengapa masih tercungap di sana!" (First off, who are you? Why do you have the symbol of the First Demon Hunter on your chest? Why would you as a member of the Demon Hunters form a contract with the cruel demons? Where are all the association tools that you should have? Answer me! Why are you still standing there agape!) The sweating Lars'' heart pounded as Marzinus began to interrogate him - but in a language he could not understand. ''Damn... If I can''t understand him, even if he''s no longer trying to kill me right now, there''s no way to getout of this sticky situation...'' ''Kizorik, do you know what language the drow is speaking? How can we communicate with him?'' ''Hmm... Boy... This is just a wild try alright? But go ahead and try whatever language you know from your homeworld!'' Narrowing his eyes to try, Lars attempted to speak the languages he knew: French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic...[1] But at each of his words, the Demon Hunter merely frowned and got angrier! Finally he tried English. And the Demon Hunter''s jaw dropped open and stared at him as if he had seen a monster. "The ancient tongue of the first Demon-Hunter... The founder''s heir... The prophecy was really true..." The macho man began to grow teary-eyed as he was visibly moved by the sound of the words he had heard! Abruptly, the aura binding Lars dissipated. As he was caught off guard by this, Lars fell to the ground painfully! The Demon Hunter then hurried over to pick him up and dust him off, making Lars feel very uncomfortable as the brawny man over twice his size was touching his bare skin of his upper body and chest... The Demon Hunter paid special attention, examining the birthmark engraved on his chest, the last remnant of the necklace from Earth. Then to Lars'' shock, the drow suddenly dropped to one knee before him then spoke in English. "Heir of the first Demon Hunter from the Great Throne of Majesty, Planet Gaia... This lowly Demon Hunter apprentice, the last of the Demon Hunter''s remaining, seeks your forgiveness!" "...." ''....'' ''WHAT DID HE JUST SAY???!!'' ''I''M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE ASKING YOU!!! AREN''T YOU THE ONE WHO HAS ENDLESS EXPERIENCES??!! HOW CAN HE EVEN BE SPEAKING ENGLISH?!!'' ''WHAT! DO YOU THINK I''M SOME SORT OF OMNIPOTENT, OMNISCIENT GOD OR SOMETHING!?!? I''M JUST A BIRD! A BLOODY FRICKIN'' BIRD OKAY???'' "Lord, is something the matter...?" The drow Demon-Hunter before him looked up with an earnest expression, worried that the young mage had still not responded after awhile. "N-no! No!" Lars'' tried to play it cool but still stuttered as he spoke. But he quickly did his best to adapt and tried to understand further. "S-sir Marzinus sir! Can I ask you a question...?" "Definitely, my Lord. Just, you don''t have to call me sir, as the heir to our founder''s will and powers, you are the new generation''s lord!" The drow spoke with fervency and worship in his eyes! Lars gulped, then decided to take the risk and speak his mind, "Can you explain... What you''re talking about? I... I have no idea what is going on." "Lord...! My apologies once more! Yes, we have..." The panicked drow stood up quickly and then mentally calculated how much time they had left until the time acceleration ended. "...4 minutes or so left. I will explain what I can in the time remaining, but Lord, there''s only so much I can cover." His face was lined with worry and he bowed slightly to Lars. "Is that ok, Lord...?" "Erm... Yeah, yes, please, please proceed..." The drow cleared his throat and began his explanation. "What I know is based on the knowledge passed down from the first generation disciples until now." He sighed and looked up into the white misty skies as if thinking of a great and mystical history. "This was back in the Primordial Era, when there was no knowledge or the concept of demons or devils or the such. The numerous but scattered Space Beasts who would later unite as the demon race were still all working completely independently as they were mighty and unthreatened. Our founder wrote that during those days, the demons, though not benevolent, were also not the bloodthirsty monsters that they are today. Partly because there was no organisation such as the Abyss yet nor the Devil Princes to oppose them. It is said that in those days, the races and species across the Endless Worlds lived at peace and in prosperity, though it was also a far simpler world than today." "It was also around that time that the first Demon Hunter himself had just risen to his power as a regular cultivator and embarked on his journey to greatness." "However, it was exactly then that a grave situation occurred." Lars and Kizorik listened in rapt attention, as this was a mystery and secret of the universe''s history that they might never have the opportunity to hear again! "Despite the Space Beasts not having any form of government nor ruler over them, there was still one being that reigned as the mightiest, strongest among them all... And also the wisest and greatest in relationship with the other species." At these words, even the Mythical realm drow showed a look of awe as he spoke. "The Wyrm at the end of the far..." "A mystical being whose true form until today is only alluded to in broken fragments of texts. Even we in our Demon Hunters'' records know almost nothing about the Wyrm, even more so since we were all but wiped out, leaving me as the sole remaining survivor... Heh... Though some survivor I am... Just a piece of broken soul surviving by latching on to a demonic inheritance array... Just hoping beyond hope to meet someone to pass on the Demon Hunter''s ways to!" He shook his head in self-deprecation and had great sorrow in his eyes as he reached this point. "My Lord... I realise I have digressed. Let me finish this quickly." "In those ancient days, it was suddenly announced that the Core of a Space Beast could be used as the catalyst to transcend Divinity and exceed the Star level... You can imagine the chaos that broke out at just such a simple single sentence! Millions and billions of cultivators across the universe immediately began to frenziedly hunt down the innocent Space Beasts, just for the promise of exceeding the Ascendant level... Yet to this day, it is unknown just which party released such cataclysmic news...!" The drow frowned and looked angry when saying this, then shook his head in pity. "However, one thing was ascertained: the news was true!" "No matter how mighty each individual Space Beast was, they had no chance against entire civilisations of enemies, civilisations that would stop at nothing under the direction of their rulers who hungered and thirsted for the promise of Transcendence... And immortality...!" "Immortality..." Lars and Kizorik both gasped in shock at that one word which would resonate across the realms regardless of age or era. An elusive illusion of grandeur that had not once ever been found, that had always been like the pot of gold under the rainbow, never found! "Merely a week after the chaos began, the Wyrm at the end of the Far convened every Space Beast together. At that time, they planned to unite under one flag, under the flag of the Space Beast alliance to wipe out every other race across the Endless Worlds who had dared to raise their hands against them...!" "The tragedy happened then..." "The Space Beasts were aided by the humans of the universe. However..." Marzinus looked incredibly sad as he spoke, despite it being his enemies who were the victims...! "The humans betrayed them...!" "The moment when the Space Beasts surged forth like a flood across the universe... The humans gathered their mightiest combatants and ambushed the Wyrm at the end of the Far!" "But the Emperor of the Space Beasts was not one to be easily felled. Even as it knew there would be no escaping this situation with its life, it made a cosmos-shaking decision that would change everything forever." "The Wyrm sacrificed itself to slay every human cultivator who launched the despicable attack on them, shattering its own soul into countless pieces. However, if that were all, then there would be no reason for the rise of the Demon Hunters or my story!" "The Wyrm, in order to protect all its kinsmen and members of its race... Opened the door to the Abyss, to forever corrupt the cores and souls of all Space Beasts to no longer be usable for the path to Transcendence... Turning the great beasts all across the universe into monsters..." "Yes, the gentle and peace-loving Space Beasts were forced by the greed of the manifold races into becoming the scourge of the Endless Worlds!" "The demon race!" Marzinus'' eyes turned red as he unveiled the history and the tragedy that shaped the universe as they knew it...! * * * [1] Screw it. I forgot that Lars is supposed to be Malaysian and understand Bahasa... I''m just going to have to continue as if though he doesn''t understand the Demon Hunter... 70 The First Demon Hunter "From then on, the hunt for the Space Beasts turned around completely...!" The Demon Hunter sighed and looked heavy hearted to continue. But Lars (and Kizorik) urged him on. How could he tell the story up to this point and suddenly stop?! There was not much time left, he hadn''t even gotten to the point about Lars and the English language and how he was involved in this Demon Hunter''s inheritance! "Erm... Sir Marzinus?" "Just Marzinus will do." His shoulders heaved as he let out a long breath. Then he lifted his eyes and began the tale of the rise of the first Demon Hunter - Aloin the Liberator! "Along with the corruption of the Space Beasts into the demon race, the Abyss also released the scheming masterminds of all kinds of evils into the cosmos - the devils! They flooded out of the rift of darkness that opened the door to the Abyss and laid waste to wherever they passed, leaving only desolation and destruction in their wake!" "The many races of the universe then forgot about their hunt for the Space Beasts and united to resist the devils. They formed an alliance, the United Universe Alliance, to fight back against the unending hordes of the infernal creatures!" "And this resistance seemed to work greatly, pushing back the combined forces of the demon race and the great tides of the Devil Princes all the way until the battle lines were almost to the Abyssal rift, where everything had started! However... There was a sinister occurrence beneath it all that turned everything around on its head...!" "The demons did not just lie down and disappear! And neither did they just launch all-out attacks to raze down the planets, star systems or even galaxies that hunted them down, numerous traitors among the human race began to emerge..." "Those were... The demon contractors...?" Lars blurted out these words in shock, to which Marzinus nodded gravely. "Yes... The demon contractors. People who gained immense strength from the blessing of the Abyss and the contract with the demons. People who were indistinguishable from another person except for their great talent... A talent that gave these individuals meteoric rises to the uppermost echelons of society and the army of the Universe Alliance!" "You don''t need me to explain just how of a disaster it was... When these same individuals, trusted even to the point of being the apex ruler of an entire dynasty and civilisations... Betrayed the Universe Alliance!" "The flames of war blazed across more than half of the entire cosmos... The whole universe was thrown into disarray, with none able to trust the other..." "With the savage and star-sized demonic Space Beasts on one hand... The armies of the devils on the other... And the betrayals and hidden traitors within... The Universe Alliance seemed all but doomed..." Up to this point, the retelling of the hidden history lost in the sands of time had made Lars'' heart heavy while Kizorik waited with bated breath to know what happened to his race. Marzinus head had drooped by this time as he spoke of tragedy after tragedy and sorrow after sorrow. His eyes were closed, pressed together in a frown. And then at that moment, Marzinus'' closed eyes opened with a sharpness within that seemed to dispel all heaviness in but an instant, and he raised his voice in admiration and praise! "Until the first Demon Hunter Aloin rose in his greatness and established himself as the Divine Demon Hunter and the Devil Slayer!" ''Demon Hunter! Pah!'' Kizorik spat out and swore as he heard the words, while Lars continued to listen, enthralled by the heroic tale. Marzinus spoke faster and faster, but still could be understood even as he raced against time to cover the origins of the Demon Hunters. "It all started when Demon Hunter Aloin himself... Became a demon''s contractor!" This drew an astonished gasp, this time from both the boy and the demonic bird! "How, how can that be...? I thought he was a Demon Hunter? Not a demon''s contractor?" Marzinus nodded as he chuckled and smiled. "This revelation brought about the same reaction from virtually every generation of us who heard it! Though it was always a secret, except to the sole heir of each generation..." He looked sad once more as he thought about how he, the youngest and weakest Demon Hunter of his batch became the heir by default when all his brothers and sisters fell to the schemes of their foes! Then he shook his head as he spoke, "But that was the only reason why the Demon Hunting arts originated - from Aloin understanding exactly how demonic energies function..." Then he breathed in deeply and held his breath, before letting it out as if making a momentuous decision. "...And with the help of his contracted demon who fought against the corruption of its Space Beast race, inheriting the will of the original Wyrm at the end of the Far..." Lars and Kizorik waited with bated breath and hung on every word that proceeded from Marzinus'' lips at this point, anxious to know the great secret behind the universe, and the Demon Hunter''s origin! "...His contracted demon, the true-soul of the Wyrm... Devouring Demon God, the infernal penguin, Razku''rak Kizorik." The words were like a cannonball blasting through the consciousness of the two listeners. Their ears and minds rang with a gonging sound, as if though they had placed their heads in a bell and rang it with the might of a planet! How could this be possible! There was no way what they were hearing was real, was it...? Impossible! Inconceivable! Ludicrous! Preposterous! IMPOSSIBLE! ''L-Lars... Tell me... We didn''t... I didn''t really just hear my name and my title and my description just now, did I...? Please tell me I''m like, just dreaming, kiddo!'' ''Ha... Ha ha ha... Hahaha! Kizorik... I was hoping you''d be the one who told me that... Everything I''ve heard so far sounds like something even my wildest dreams could not imagine...!'' But even as he carried out the mental conversation with his contracted demon, Lars'' memory returned to the secrets of the universe he had seen in the artefact Brightstar. He recalled the esoteric image he had seen and had refused to connect to the bad-tempered, irritating penguin who he had formed a contract with. But he could not deny what he had seen, and neither could Kizorik. Everything so far seemed to point to all that Marzinus said being true! "Together with Aloin, the Penguin Emperor Kizorik researched and created the Demon Hunting Arts, a cultivation path together with a set of 9 great techniques to detect, to discern... And to destroy the demons, releasing them from the corruption of the Abyss!" "To cut the long story short, Aloin created the Demon Hunting sect and turned the tides of war around in the decades to come as he sniffed out every traitor in the United Universe Alliance and restored the mighty synergy of the Endless Worlds fighting as one!" "The united armies drove back the devils and the demons into the Abyssal rift, the place where the Wyrm had self-detonated, where the fissure to the next plane was ripped open. But just when it looked like the war was over, an ominous scene occurred, shocking and blowing away the allied armies from across the universe..." "On the cusp of victory, one almighty entity emerged from the rift. Just one entity! But all that one being needed was to stretch his arm through the rift, and every defense, offense, magic formation, art, power... Everything that the entire Endless Worlds had gathered for that battle was rendered useless! Everything!" "In the face of the cackling, mad ruler of the Abyss, when it seemed like all hope was lost, the first Demon Hunter convened together all the rulers of every party, be it an emperor, self-proclaimed god, patron deity or saint. And with one arcane formation..." "They sacrificed their lives to seal the Abyssal rift, and the being that threatened to erase the entire fabric of reality all on his own..." The muscular drow finished his story with a sigh. Lars, snapped out of his reverie when the story came to an abrupt end, frowned. "But it didn''t end there, right...? How does it relate to me...? How did the Demon Hunters come to this stage, where you''re the only one left and bound here guarding this array...?" The golden-haired boy asked with furrowed brows. The drow nodded. "Before he gave up his life to end the war... Aloin left a foretelling of the future to come. His contracted demon partner infused its soul and part of its memories into the simple wooden necklace Aloin had worn for all his life. Then Aloin said that one day, another would come in his place who would end the threat that he himself could only stall and seal. That person would be fated with the necklace and emerge once more in the time of greatest peril, once more a mere man contracted with a demon...!" "He foresaw that one day, even we the Demon Hunters might face extinction...! So he left his inheritance and a copy of all the Demon Hunting Arts on his homeplanet, and obscured the coordinates to his world somewhere in the universe... And he said that his greatest heir, the one who would end everything, would emerge from that planet, hidden in the mists of time and space! This heir would emerge one day bearing the seal of not the physical necklace, but the merging of his righteous soul with the spiritual essence and mark engraved on his body!" "Aloin handed down the ancient tongue of his homeworld in his most profound tomes... And it has been passed on to the heir of every generation that this tongue shall be the sign of the prophesied one, along with the necklace of the founder and the demon contractor who is unharmed from our Demon Hunting Arts." "Boy! You are the heir of our great founder, the final sect leader of our fallen Demon Hunting sect!" 71 Inheritance "Sir Marzinus, I--" Lars began to speak, but was quickly cut off by the drow hunter. "Please, just call me Marzinus, my Lord." The last Demon Hunter raised up his hand, frowning at the boy and protesting. Lars hesitated but quickly nodded - he didn''t have much of the 5 minutes time left. "Marzinus, how can I - can we know this for sure...? What you''ve told me is indeed a compelling tale, but how can I be sure...?" Despite Lars'' continued scepticism and feeling of "What does all of this have to to do with me?", he also was wary about one thing. He also did need to satisfy his curiosity - since Kizorik was already cursing non-stop and blabbering about how it was impossible for it to be the same Razku''rak Kizorik mentioned in the drow''s stories! And if Lars ended up being a Demon Hunter, how would that change his relationship with the penguin? With the Abyss and the exchanges and the entire system built around the Abyss...? Was it truly all so sinister with a dark hand working behind the scenes to enslave and rule the entire Endless Worlds...? After all, he wouldn''t turn down an opportunity for new power, but he was curious and needed to be sure about how all these things mentioned linked together. The necklace, Kizorik, his own mysterious background as an orphan, the planet and how countless myths and legends existed in the annals of the Earth while no trace could be found in the current age! Also, whoever or whichever enemies of the sect who were responsible for reducing Marzinus and his compatriots to this state could very well end up targeting him too! So it was better to find out early and understand the situation, to prepare well beforehand for what he might be facing. That is, if he could establish one important fact before any other - whether all that he was told was truly real! "My Lord... I... Very well. Perhaps if I tell you about a few facts, you''ll find it more believable. We have roughly 1 and a half minutes left, even if you don''t believe me, I can only give you this exhortation before I impart to you the fragments of Demon Hunting Arts I have. After which..." The drow Myth looked grave as he spoke. "This soul remnant and the last traces of my consciousness still remaining will be gone forever..." "Alright, no more delays. My Lord, more than a thousand years ago, the Demon Hunting sect was at the height of its glory! We had suppressed all devil and demonic activity to the lowest it had ever been since the day the great rift was formed, and a grand celebration was planned in our headquarters in the All-Heaven Divine Empire." ''What? That name again? I have a bad feeling about this...'' Lars thought as he nodded for Marzinus to continue. "We had setup a great party, one unprecedented in all ages before it and one surely to be difficult to surpass even in generations to come. There was no concern of infiltration by the devil or demon races - we had every confidence that no being or individual with demonic energy could penetrate our defences... But we were wrong. So very wrong." "It was true, no demon or one with demonic energy could enter unbidden. But they did not need to do so... Not when the ruler of the Empire himself had allied with the devils and demons, just without receiving any demonic powers!" Lars frowned. So the dastardly Empire was truly involved in all this! "It goes without saying that the "historic" day truly would go down forever in history... As the day the Demon Hunters were wiped out. But what was recorded was not the great massacre nor the tragic betrayal, no. What was recorded was that the Demon Hunter sect turned on itself due to internal conflict and the greed of the human race..." He sighed. "Which is also, in some ways, more true than any other statement..." "At that time, I was still here on planet Yiluo. By the time I heard of our enemies eliminating the Demon Hunting sect, they were already en route to invade the home planet of Aloin, discovered by pure chance! Unfortunately for me, I was already rather famous in this part of the universe, and was hunted down like a dog! Hahaha! I had no chance against those combatants at the Divine level... I was forced to rupture my soul and hide a fragment here in the demons'' own inheritance array! Hahaha! Such is fate, such is fate..." He laughed mockingly at himself as well as his opponents who never thought to search for their target in their own backyard. "My Lord, here is where it should tie in to your history. But first off... Tell me, have you always grown and learned faster than your peers, absorbing in a few years what others may take a lifetime to gain? And is your soul-imprint something like mental celerity? Alacrity of the senses? Insight?" Lars was stunned. Those words were spot on... Though he was half-convinced just by those words, he was also slightly suspicious. Was this bloke some sort of fortune-telling scammer? The only thing he could discern wrong about what Marzinus had said was that he had not only the soul-imprint of mental agility and increased learning, Insight, but also the soul-imprint of one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Greed! What did that mean...? Taking Lars'' shocked expression as confirmation, the drow continued. "Yes, the soul-imprint of Insight was something well known about our founder. He came from an illustrious family whose bloodline was so mighty that their soul-imprint would override any other, even if the practitioner intentionally tried to change it! Nonetheless, every single owner of such a grand soul-imprint rose to illustrious heights thanks to the all-round power and growth potential of the concept!" "One more thing. As was common with all other supreme bloodlines, this concept of Insight and learning prevailed over every other soul-imprint, proving that the bloodline of our founder was among the greatest ever known in the cosmos! And... This bloodline and soul-imprint had never and would never appear in any other family - except... His descendants!" Lars was stunned at this second revelation. First, at the fact that this explained why his soul-imprint had formed as such a strange and odd ability instead of the usual Laws or concepts. As he grew in confidence in his deductions and hypotheses, Marzinus continued on like a bullet train. "And tell me, were there once legends of great heroes, mighty gods and divine warriors? Legends, myths and tales that lasted until roughly a thousand years ago before abruptly vanishing?" Marzinus did not speak provocatively, but his question that was accompanied by his raised brows shook Lars'' heart deeply. These words struck a chord with his soul and thoughts, revealing a shocking answer to the questions he had buried deep inside since discovering the existence of other worlds: Where had their gods and heroes of old disappeared to? Slowly, he nodded, at first hesitantly then more vigorously as he continued to nod. "Then... Little is known of how the battle turned out. But seeing that you are here, it looks like the rumours were true... It was said that the puissant and almighty All-Heaven Divine Empire failed to capture the Earth! In fact, they were beaten back so badly, they fell out of the top 100 civilisations and, if what I hear while spying from this array is true, they are not even a household name anymore among the universe powers! However, the cost was the Earth disappearing from the view of everyone as their champions once again had to trade their lives for the peace and protection of the world..." Lars'' heart beat rapidly. If what the man said was true... Then wouldn''t that explain why no one had heard of Earth before in this part of the universe? And why the All-Heaven Divine Empire was targeting his tiny and weak planet? And why the tales of heroes faded away so suddenly merely a thousand years ago? And this even explained the silent period of history where advancement and growth suddenly seemed to stagnate, the Dark Ages! It was... Too uncanny! While Lars and also Kizorik were still struggling to come to terms with the massive information dump and knowledge bomb they had just been thrown, the drow Demon Hunter smiled sadly and closed off his first and last conversation with his new sect leader. "My Lord... It''s time to go. This inheritance array... I don''t know what the demons stored at the end of it. In truth, the unique personality of the drow death-dancer and myself being here in Level 10 only triggers when a demon or contractor enters this array... From now on, it''ll just be a regular and far easier Level 9 and 10..." "My Lord... May I have the honour of kneeling before you once more? Before I pass on what''s left of this laughable soul and skills to you..." Lars grew even more solemn, and due to the short amount of time they had left, he nodded and spoke sparsely. "Marzinus... I can''t say I''m completely convinced. But I can promise you this. I''ll not rest until I find out the truth behind it all and... I will see to it the All-Heaven Divine Empire is uprooted and wiped out!" His eyes flashed with unbridled vengeance as he spoke these words, emotions roused by the sincere and dignified Demon Hunter who had bared his heart to Lars. Marzinus nodded as his eyes began to grow misty. Then he kneeled and took Lars hand, placing it on his heart which, due to his looming frame, was still level with Lars'' waist. Then he said, "All that I am, all that I have, I lay them down unto you, o my Lord..." Then the drow Demon Hunter began to dissipate into specks of light, quietly, without the slightest hint of sounds. It was as if a patch of dandelion flowers were blown by a great gust of wind, scattering the endless petals to the four winds. Only, what was blown away was the great Mythical realm hero''s soul, and it was not scattered but gathered together to be absorbed into Lars'' mind and soul. Slowly, the hints of memories and Demon Hunting Arts began to meld into his consciousness, but it felt like a far-off recollection instead of something fresh. As Lars looked at his hands and feet, wondering if everything that he had just seen and heard was a dream, he realised that the senior Demon Hunter had been left with only the last dregs of life force, form or mana. It was but a whisper in the winds of time, a sigh before the turning of the wheels of fate and history. ''Kiddo... You... You don''t believe him, do you...?'' Kizorik asked, heart heavy with doubt even about his own self. Lars pondered the question raised by his contracted demon, but before he could answer, Kizorik spoke once more. ''Because... Y''know... Kiddo... I actually..." Kizorik was not his usual firebrand and chipper self. At this moment, he seemed a different person completely. ''I don''t even know my own past... There''s no memory of being born or of the ancient, primordial era, unlike the other demons... I... I don''t have a past... And I wonder...'' Kizorik looked up in his mental world at that moment, eyes limpid but also distracted, troubled by the heavy revelations laid on both their souls. ''...Am I really who I am...? Or am I just a shadow of another self, waiting to be devoured by old memories, waiting to be wiped away by millennia of power... Just a piece of dust on the mantelpiece of my true self...'' Kizorik sighed, and so did Lars. Despite such a great exposition and so much information being told, there were only more questions and not enough answers. He clenched his fist and determined within himself to get to the bottom of these matters, and to find out just what had gone on all those years ago and was still going on today. And he quietly assured Kizorik. ''Buddy... No matter what, we''re sticking together, alright...? I won''t abandon you and, you don''t abandon me, okay...?'' The penguin who had been in a glum and gloomy mood looked up at Lars'' slowly, breathing in and trying to assess whether his words were sincere or not. ''Kiddo... Are you... Sure about that...? You still want to stick with me even after all those atrocities that drow told you we demons have committed...? After you''ve become some Demon Hunter sh*t sect leader and all...?'' Lars smiled in return and, in his mental world, patted his little critter friend on the head. ''My best buddy... Whether it''s true that I''m some sort of Demon Hunter or not, we signed a contract. And I plan to uphold my part of it! And that means, to death do us part! Or, at least, 120 years right...? Heh...'' Kizorik smiled wryly at those words, chuckling himself at the touching words and the comforting joke added on at the end. For now... He would choose to walk with his contractor and see how far their rise to greatness would take them! And hopefully they wouldn''t face any more such life and death situations such as what had occurred today out of the blue! And Lars pursed his lips in determination, regulating his breathing to maintain his injured body''s condition. For now, he could only continue on, receive whatever was left behind in this completed inheritance array... And claim his money from that Natalie girl! His eyes literally turned into platinum coins at that thought! He grinned despite his wounds and whistled in pleasure. Then he listened to the array announcement declare the completion of the tests and his prize. "Congratulations, the inheritance received is..." 72 Bloodfield 1 Normally, the crowds would go crazy over the monumental achievement of the golden-haired Lars. Whether it be the contestants, neutral audience, crowds, organisers or the ruling powers, they would be ecstatic to see a planet-exceeding talent emerge from their Gorun City and Gorun Stadium! In fact, despite soundly and undisputably losing to the handsome heart-throb of a hunk, Natalie was not angry. No, she WAS irritated, but that was over the fact that she couldn''t run over to his side at this very moment and beat him into submission until he surrendered to be hers! Instead, she could stand with folded arms, cheeks turned a deep red and panting with desire, body hot and filled with passion while her thighs were pressed together tightly. As for the boy himself, he should normally be in a relaxed mood as he was wheeled away on a stretcher by the emergency first-aiders. But his eyes held a sharp glint. He sensed something amiss and quickly performed a self-healing to staunch the bleeding and regain his strength. It was fortunate that the wounds were not too serious - once he regained his Legendary might, it was a cinch to recover fully given a day of rest. And despite the paramedics having to rush him off for emergency treatment, and the fact that everyone was barred from approaching, including Charley and Natalie, great excitement should have been bubbling in the air about this historic moment. Well, that would normally be the case. But it wasn''t. As for why, it was because at that very moment, Head Administrator Natiro was fleeing back to the Stadium grounds from the pocket plane where the seniors'' preliminaries was held. A blood-covered young-faced elf came tumbling out of the permanent portal constructed that housed the pocket plan of the Gorun Stadium. This pocket plane was owned by the Trenel family who also owned the stadium. It was used for training sessions and often rented out at astronomical prices to families and groups requiring a secluded and self-contained place away from spying eyes. The moment Head Administrator Natiro fell out of the portal, a dark shadowy figure could be seen behind him, perhaps not dark in the sense of the colours, but obscured by the swirling red and black hues of the pocket plane portal. "GAH!!" The World-class realm elf immediately sprang to his feet and burst away into the distance, headed straight for the private viewing area where he sensed several mighty auras. He needed help. And he needed to warn everyone in Gorun City... Desperately. As he sped away through the passageways and crossed the metres in mere seconds, he did not care that he bowled over and even injured several workers or groundsmen and women. There was something too important to do. Within but a few seconds time, he had emerged from the inner areas of the stadium compound and could see the sunlight. Without hesitation, he leapt across the field and soared across the air to land in a rolling heap, stopping only at General Weres'' feet! "Natiro! What are you--" Gaius Trenel''s face turned dark as he felt this worker employed from the questers'' guild had caused him to lose face significantly, but he was interrupted by the elf''s frantic cry before he could even finish his sentence. "EMERGENCY!!! ESTEEMED RULERS, ALL THE SENIOR CANDIDATES.... THEY... THEY..." Natiro''s face twisted in panic and anxiety as he screamed out the words for everyone in the entire stadium to hear. This scene shocked the crowds out of their jubilant moods: What kind of peril or crisis could reduce the mighty Head Administrator into such a blathering mess!?? General Weres, as a man of action but few words, swiftly kneeled down to help Natiro up to his feet. But the elf''s legs were like jelly and he collapsed a moment later. Frowning in irritation, the mighty General urged him, "Calm down! Speak slowly, what has happened...?" At this, the once calm and collected man looked up with deranged eyes that darted here and there and whispered, "They''re.... ALL DEAD!!! SAVE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Upon hearing this, a chill ran up the spines of everyone in the arena and they felt the hairs on the backs of their necks stand on ends. Even the great powers gathered on the platform shivered as an inexplicable sensation of dread gushed over their entire bodies - a sinister omen they had never, ever felt before. Except for General Weres. The moment he felt this familiar aura, the powerful and usually stoic man roared in rage and released the full power of his aura. Simultaneously, he shot a grave glance to Gaius Trenel, a sign that the latter should immediately trigger the full defences of the entire Gorun Stadium! "Is it really that serious..." Gaius muttered under his breath, but still complied. Despite his brave words, he too felt an ominous omen that boded ill for the fate of the stadium, his second greatest asset! In a flash, the metal lattice crossing the sky began to crackle with tongues of blue-electric fire, darting here and there far above the heads of the test candidates. The lattice then formed a translucent but solid dome of blue energy, protecting everyone from external attacks. Which was just in time, for the moment the shield was erected, black clouds blotted out the twilight sun, darkening the surroundings within mere seconds. And as shadowy figures could be seen flitting through the black clouds and silhouetted by the occasional flashes of lightning, all of a sudden the entire heavens turned blood red. The sign of a devil. "WATCH OUT!!!!" General Weres bellowed and raised his hands to supply mana and bolster the stadium''s defences, quickly followed by his companions who all had grave expressions and looks of worry painted across their faces. Since when had anyone ever dared to launch an attack on the throne of a great Duke of the Kingdom of the Sands?!! The crimson skies then began to swirl in a spiral and converge as if it were a whirlpool of water being sucked down a drainhole. Then without a warning, a terrible pillar of blood descended across the skies, slamming into the blue barried above their heads! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!! The earth shook and the stadium quaked as an eardrum shattering explosion swept across the entire city, causing panic in every sector and every area. For a period of several seconds, the crimson pillar of blood continued to pour down like a waterfall, obscuring the entirety of the stadium from anyone''s perception. The sinister miasma of energies merely looked like water, though. When it poured off the surface of the blue barrier and struck the ground around the building, it literally erased everything in its path - be it the stones of the ground, buildings or even living, breathing people. Everything was erased, leaving a gaping chasm of shadows all around the stadium like a moat. At that moment, a black robed figure emerged from the Duke''s palace grounds, looking with sharp eyes up at the epicentre of the disturbance hovering above the stadium. The figure was tall and bore an aura of inimitable might. This was even despite her just standing motionlessly on the top of the tallest spire of the palace. All over the city, dark clouds were gathering accompanied by the cries and screams of panic from the civilians and the clang of metal again claw and tooth as battle broke out across the entire city. Chaos was descending. Furore and mayhem erupted in every street, alley, lane and neighbourhood of the entire city as imps, quasits, memphits and various other minor infernals appeared out of thin air and slaughtered the citizens wantonly. Her heart rose in rage as she saw her people devoured and felled all across the city, and her shoulders heaved in barely controllable fury. "The devils bloodfield...!!!!" The figure muttered gutturally in an elegant feminine voice, the anger palpable in her words. Yet the smooth-faced and raven-haired woman''s heart palpitated as she wondered if this would be the end of her illustrious and glorious life of 80 years. As she looked around, she began to see purple webs of power begin to form around the city, ley lines that drew a demonic[1] pentagram with the city within and the stadium at its centre. Five great towers of sickly yellow material rose up, tearing apart whatever stood in the way of their ascent. The pillars burst through the weak defensive formations laid out in their area and were formed of bones, blood and some other brown material that sent shivers up the spine of whoever saw it. Then the Frowning in anxiety, the woman raised her hand and triggered an emergency signal that flared up into the sky from the spire she stood on. "I can only hope help arrives... In time..." Then with those words, she turned into a dark blur and vanished, headed towards the Gorun Stadium, where countless waves of dark infernal creatures were gathering. * * * * * Outside of the city, yet afar off but bearing ill omens for the fortress of the north, dark winds rose from the four corners of the land. From the east rivers, countless web-footed and web-handed Murlocs surfaced and swarmed over the villages and towns in between the waters and the city. In mere minutes, the countryside was reduced to bonfires and piles of driftwood. The same scene happened on the north and west as well, only from the north it was instead various devil transformed creatures of the mountains such as sharp-fanged goats, mountain lions and reptilian monstrosities; whereas from the west arose a horde of goatmen with upper bodies of humans and 2 furry lower legs that ended in hooves. Finally from the south, no great movements were seen. Only, four gaunt, white-robed and tall figures with horns growing from their foreheads sped across the countryside, ignoring the unaware village folk they passed along the way. Four Devil Lords of the Legendary stage. * * * [1] The terms demonic and devilish will be used interchangeably for now. I know that this doesn''t fit with the common lore used which is extracted from Dung**** and Dra****, but fits the lore I''ve introduced in the earlier chapters i.e. the Abyss is the common power behind the demons and the devils. 73 Bloodfield 2 [In the Gorun Stadium] The downpour of blood-red demonic energy gradually began to peter out. It revealed the blue dome of protective energy still intact, albeit flickering and spotted with paper-thin segments across the surface that looked like they would shatter at the slightest impact. Beneath the sheer layer of mana, rubble and debris were seen from the aftermath of the blast which shook the foundations of the second most secure area in the entire city. The various people in the field and compound were coughing from the dust, some injured while others were already unconscious from the violent shaking that reverberated through the entire building. Meanwhile, the portal area was still vibrating heavily as the white-robed, evil looking Wesley slowly appeared with a wicked smile on his face. Blood dripped from his lips, chest and hands; blood that was not his own, but from the 50 odd senior cultivators he had slain and drained the blood of. He posed a terrifying figure in his white robes painted red, a slaughterer let loose upon the unsuspecting world. Most striking of all were his eyes - turned completely black without any sclera, the whites of his eyes swallowed up by his unnaturally dark and large pupils. He looked up in the direction of the heavy and strong auras he sensed, then noticed also the strongest aura of all heading over in the direction of the stadium, then flicked his sleeves. Then he smiled as his figure turned into a blur and disappeared. And reappeared in the midst of the testing fields, among the gathered crowds of previously ecstatic and excited contestants and ground crew. His appearance drew the sharp gazes of General Weres, Sefir Roth Estreya, Lina Sarouneh, Yusof Jamal and Gaius Trenel. As well as Lars'' attention. ''That man... Kizorik, looks like you were right...'' ''Yeah kiddo!! Bloody devils!! Always trying to enslave us demons!! You better stay awa-- WHAT ARE YOU DOING!??!? ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME??? DON''T GET INVOLVED!!!!! JUST GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!!'' Lars vanished from the stretcher he lay on right before the distracted paramedics who did not even notice their burden was gone. They continued running with their eyes fixed on the centre of the disturbance nearby, the white-robed and evil looking Wesley. Meanwhile, the determined young man quickly retreated behind a corner and started changing his clothes and appearance with whatever materials he had nearby - spare robes, dirt and grim and by cutting and dyeing his hair with soot and ashes. He quickly finished up and lay in wait, watching and observing. Now it was time to spot the opportunity to move. * * * * * At the same moment, the surrounding crowds who had been trembling in fear and shouting in panic in the aftermath of the demonic phenomena and attack from the sky suddenly felt a different sort of fear. They could feel the change in the atmosphere despite not knowing what it was that had just happened nor the fact that an apex predator had just entered their midst. They did not even know in their conscious minds that death had come for them, yet their eyes were instinctively drawn towards a certain figure standing amongst them - even as those same instincts screamed at them only one thing. RUN. But their voices froze in their throats and their legs were paralysed as the Abyssal figure in white cleared his throat with an *AHEM*. Then he spoke resoundingly, announcing his intentions to the entire city with a booming voice that was as piercing as a clarion''s call. "DESPICABLE LIFEFORMS OF THE CORPOREAL REALM! I, ABYSSAL LORD WESLEY WELLESLEY HAVE COME TO GRANT YOUR WISHES OF A PEACEFUL AND QUICK DEATH! HAHAHAHAHAHHA!" Then he followed up on his declaration of madness with a wave of his hand. And dozens of contestants, candidates and workers turned into a mist of blood along with fragments of bone and flesh from the mere gust of wind his flick of the arm had raised. The gathered people rioted in that moment, turned into a screaming mass of fear and panic from the hellish scene before them. The frenzied crowd did not care about who was before them, whether they trampled someone beneath their feet or clawed out the eyes of the person before them as they climbed, crawled and fled as far and fast as they could. Chaos. Complete and utter chaos. "STOP!!!" General Weres was the first to react, and also the only one who stood a chance at apprehending the villainous white-haired man on the ground. He leapt down, materialising a hefty golden ornate spear in his right hand and brandishing it in an overhead smash. The spear with a dragon''s head at the end and the adamantium tip extending from the dragon''s mouth fell like an entire mountain range trampling down towards Wesley. Weres did not pay any attention to the gathered people around the devil. It did not matter if some perished from the fallout of his attack, for if he delayed but a split second longer, it would not be a matter of "some" perishing but "all" from the devil cultivator''s hands! To Wesley''s surprise, the mighty Legendary warrior''s trajectory was not aimed at the devil, but passed right over his head. But just as it seemed the General would soar over and miss his target, a sudden change of movement occurred. "STARBURST STAB!!!!!!!!!!" As the man''s figure drew a shimmering arc through the air in a parabolic path, he suddenly became suspended in the air vertically above the Abyssal Lord and fell like a beam of glittering golden light; one that could rival the sun and stars in its resplendent light! And the strike that travelled faster than the speed of sound erupted in a sonic boom, blowing away the gathered audience from their surroundings as it landed directly on Wesley''s body!! KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!! Dust and dirt exploded along with a golden burst of radiance, blinding those around. Even the various World-class cultivators gathered on the private viewing area could barely keep their eyes open as the sweeping winds and piercing light stabbed into their eyes, forcing them to turn away from scene of battle! However, unseen to them, in the centre of the shining light, a dark red and purple miasma could be seen, untouched by the fire around it. "Is... It is over...?" "What''s happening...? Lina! You''re the strongest among us! What happened?" "Hmmph...! General Weres has been a tower of strength for our nation for countless years! No arrogant Devil Lord can just simply waltz in and mess up our city!" Lina declared proudly with her chin slightly angled upwards. But there was a slight tremor in her voice as she spoke, betraying the worry within the heart of the World-class combatant. When their vision cleared, they saw a scene of two valiant beings locked in a nearly even struggle, one that could tip in either direction at any point of time. "ARGHHHHH!!!!!!" "GROOOOARRRRR!!!!!" Two simultaneous roars of pain could be heard at that instant. Two similarly indignant exclamations of aggression and defiance that declared their intentions - to not back down until either I die, or you die! And they saw a terrifying scene of destruction - a crater of devastated earth and dirt almost 10 metres in radius, and within it two beings clashing fiercely, striving for dominance one over the other. But it was not a scene of a military man locked in battle with a white-robed cultivator. Wesley had revealed a different form - a wiry and muscular form which appeared like steel wires wrapped around a titanium core. A black figure glistening in the little remaining light in the atmosphere as lightning crackled in the sky, one that stood a full head taller than even the towering General! The Devil Lord''s body was made even more cruel and disturbing by the fact that Wesley''s head and face was still there, only, it was now at the back of an elongated, salivating head without eyes and with countless rows of brutal teeth. A mouth that reared up to chomp down on the General''s shoulder. "What do you think you''re doing!!!" A fiery red streak of light appeared and crossed the several hundred metres between the private viewing area and the clashing duo in the blink of an eye. But despite Lina Sarouneh''s decisive attack and blazing speed, she was still a beat too slow. To the horror of all the people gathered who could keep up with the movements of Wesley and the General, the Devil Lord''s teeth had already sunk into Weres'' flesh and crunched into his left shoulder bones! "DIE!!!!" Lina triggered the full power of her dragon descendant''s bloodline, crashing into the glistening black head of Wesley and forcing his mouth open. The impact sent him flying backwards, but not as far as Lina had expected. And as she continued to pummel the creature''s head with heavy blows, her heart suddenly felt a pang of fear as the Devil Lord''s tail was suddenly stinging straight toward her forehead! Only for the tail to be intercepted by a thrown dagger, blazing blue with gaseous flames - courtesy of Yusof Jamal! In the short gap made for her by her ally, Lina kicked at Wesley''s head and somersaulted backwards and away, panting in fear at her near-death encounter. But that was not the end of this round of blows! Wesley roared in frustration and lashed out with one finger pointed at her even as she sped away. And out of his sharp-clawed finger, a wicked glob of purple acid sprayed forward faster than the eye could see - so fast that in just 0.1 seconds, it had crossed the gap and was about to land on the red-headed dragoness! ''!!!!! Dodge!!!!!'' "Dragon''s Aura: Wind Shear!" Her domineering red aura exploded outwards, sending her flying up and out of the way, but the spray of purple acid still brushed past her as she flew, causing her to cry out in agony and crash to the ground heavily! "LINA!!!" Sefir''s face twisted in worry and rage, and he arrived at her side in a flash, quickly releasing his mana to suppress the caustic fluids. To his shock and dismay, the fluids ate right through her World-class tier defensive robe and began to melt her skin, penetrating her dragon''s aura and blood energy! He poured forth double effort veins appearing on his forehead as he supported her to her feet, holding her waist as he channelled his energies nonstop to aid her in resisting the acids. Quickly, the last bits of purple fluids dissipated, leaving her skin and flesh red and raw! "Lina...! Are you, are you okay...?" He looked troubled and distraught, eyes filled with anxiety. "I-I''m fine! Go, go and help the General!" She pushed him away crossly, face red, though whether from the exertion of battle or from other reasons, Sefir did not know. But he nodded solemnly and turned to join the battle. In the time that he was succouring Lina, another clash had started and ended. General Weres faced the Devil Lord in melee combat while Yusof supported from mid-range, covering the General''s blind spots and weaknesses, especially as the muscular man''s left shoulder was bleeding profusely and weakened by the toxins from the monster''s mouth. Each time Weres showed an opening as he swung his heavy spear or released a fierce stab, the devil would move to let his blow slide off his smooth carapace and counter-attack. But every time, flying knives imbued with the concept of Fire would soar over, deflecting his deadly claw strikes with the flames that burned with bluetongues of fire. As a result of the pair''s great synergy, and despite their lower power levels and the General''s injury, the battle was at a stalemate up to now. But the gathered nobles knew it would soon turn around with the addition of Sefir and Lina as she recovered. For now, they were at an impasse. The nearly unscathed Wesley breathed heavily with mere scratches on the surface of his chitinous armour, while Weres and Yusof bore multiple blood gashes already, panting heavily. "Wait here, okay? Don''t argue! You''re in no shape to fight! No!" Sefir sternly warned Lina who was already preparing to rejoin the battle, and cut her off when she tried to protest. Oddly enough, the firebrand woman, still single at almost 40, blushed and looked away, harumphing - but listened to his words! "W-what''s wrong with you...? Your face is all red, are you injured...? Let me heal you--" Sefir pressed a hand against Lina''s forehead, causing the woman''s face to burn with embarrassment. "G-Get lost!! Go fight or, or whatever! Hmpph!!!" Then she kicked him, sending him flying towards the other combatants, even as her pulse raced and her breaths became shorter. A clueless Sefir sailed through the air from the kick that looked powerful but had no substance, then joined his companions to stand at Weres and Jamal''s side. However, his concerned expression was gone - this time replaced by fury and overflowing killing intent towards the enemy who had injured the target of his hidden love! "You guys... Haven''t used your runes yet, right...?" Sefir whispered as he gathered close to the two. Both of the men nodded. "Based on the fight so far... It would leave us with almost no reserves, but if we pour all our mana into the runes, we should be able to kill or incapacitate it - kill him cleanly!" Weres shared what he had gleaned from the battle so far. Sefir nodded and began to circulate his soul-imprint of Space with the abilities of Space Lock and Accelerate. Simultaneously, the trio also began channelling mana into the Rune of Power which they each had, a rune that gave the user a short burst of double their might in exchange for great fatigue afterwards. As for Gaius Trenel, he was still on the stadium terraces maintaining the blue energy barrier, but when he saw that there were no longer any external attacks, he leapt down to the others'' side. He spoke quickly, giving an update based on the information he received. "Guys, not to interrupt your party but... Sefir, I think you''d be better off bringing the civilians and Lina away. Your astral element is weak against the spatial mastery this Devil Lord has shown so far, whereas if you''re helping them escape, you''ll be more than able to protect a great number of people." "In contrast, my Curse Arts will provide more utility against that THING." While they were speaking, the Abyssal Lord before them seemed to draw back his jowls in an infernal smile, looking deeply sinister and threatening as he gathered his aura, ready to burst forth in the blink of an eye! Sefir hesitated, but then nodded. He was a sharp man and he realised that the three supernovas of the 2nd generation would be more than enough to handle even a Legendary realm Devil Lord. He sped off and went to Lina''s side to help her, but was pushed away angrily. Then the two spoke for a moment before they began to assist the fleeing test candidates and bystanders to leave. The World-class head administrator Natiro also accompanied them as they ushered the contestants and civilians aways to safety. After all, there was still the entire city to protect and fortify. Their already scarce manpower had to be well distributed to reduce the damage to the populace. And as for the inevitable greater devils that would be leading this attack... They could only count on the greatest power in the city, Duke Leanne de Caldis and the patriarchs of the Four Great Families to arrive quickly. "ARE YOU... DONE...? KUKUKU..." The deep growling voice of Wesley resounded, as it chuckled mockingly, apparently intentionally waiting for the humans to prepare. Then its body began to grow blurry. Before they knew it, the beast had already moved and was almost upon them. Space-Jump - a toned down version of Blink, but one that required almost no cooldown as it did not put much strain on the user. "MOVE!!!" Weres and Yusof lunged backwards away from the spot between them where Wesley''s black form emerged, moving away as fast as they could. Gaius Trenel who was further away also leapt back to widen the gap between himself and the danger zone, as he was not specialised in close combat. Then the scalps of all three of the men grew numb as the Devil Lord''s body glowed with flickering purple light. Wesley unleashed furious slashes outwards with his nearly 3 metre long reach from his lanky, dangling arms that looked like black steel beams. Dark purple crescent-shaped blades of purple energy shot forth from his claw tips - moving spatial fissures that would easily cleave any of the men in half! "TERROR STORM!!!" The devil''s screeching voice let loose, striking fear into their hearts with his killing move! Yusof''s eyes bulged in terror. He was already considered among the speediest warriors in the entire of the Kingdom, nonetheless, he was not quick enough to avoid the condensed laws of space fired at him. The World-class cultivator could only grit his teeth and burn all his blood energy and mana in a desperate attempt to survive the barrage of purple blades! But he was resigned to his fate and madly flung out 8 flying knives at Wesley as a counterattack; for he knew that he would not make it through this situation alive. Not on his own, that is. "HYAH!!!!!" General Weres furrowed his brows and let out a booming yell as he triggered his soul-imprint: Chivalry - a concept that was at odds with his reputation of being a bloodthirsty indiscriminate mass murderer, yet it truly was his soul-imprint! The sole ability that he had awakened so far triggered - Valour of the Battlefield. In a move that defied logic, physics and common sense, the general''s body moved in a nonsensical manner, hurtling through the air like a chariot in the middle of a charge. Before the blades of spatial fissures launched by Wesley could arrive at their target, he had already emerged before his companion with his spear at the ready, covering Yusof with his massive body! "The Invincible Spearman!!!" His body shone with a golden glow as he triggered his defensive trump card and took all the purple blades with his own body! Streaks of blood splashed into the air, but much less than what Wesley was hoping for. The valiant general only received wounds about a centimetre deep across his body, not enough to even faze the relentless warrior! And immediately, before the Devil Lord could defend himself, the 8 flying knives imbued with the concept of Bluefire embedded themselves into the joints between Wesley''s carapace, flooding his innards with the molten blue flames! "GRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" The burst of pain overrode the devil''s senses for a moment, leaving him wide open to the follow-up move from Weres who was already bearing down on the black-armoured monster! At the same time, shadowy tendrils of grey smoke, the physical manifestation of Curse Arts snaked outwards, firing straight towards the clashing combatants! The Curse Arts invoked by Gaius Trenel, the house renowned for their Cursemasters! "Go, now! Do it!!!!" Gaius roared, signalling to his teammates that now was the time to strike! Only, it was not to the teammates that Weres and Yusof expected. *clink, clink, clinkclinkclink...* A small black statue landed on the ground between Weres and his target that was stunned from Yusof''s all-out attack made while disregarding his life. The statue looked exactly like a miniature version of Wesley, only slimmer and lither. Like a little xenomorph. And at Gaius'' words, it glowed a sinister purple. Then flickered... Before a full-sized second Devil Lord emerged. And those tendrils of smoke landed on the unsuspecting General, rooting him in place, defenceless as he had concentrated all his mana on the tip of his spear, ready to burst apart the black carapace covering Wesley''s brain. Then the smaller female-looking Devil Lord spun swiftly, before lashing out with her claws - straight at the back of Weres'' head! *CLAAAAAANGGGGG* "NO!!!!!!!!! GAIUS YOU TRAITOR!!!!!!! WHAT--WHAT?" Yusof who was trembling from overdrawing his mana screamed in indignance, then was stunned from the shocking sight before him. A lone swordsman had appeared from nowhere, his rusted white blade attached to a dilapidated, faded hilt. But that worthless looking katana was what stood in the gap between the life and death of General Weres... And was prevailing against the Legendary realm female Devil Lord. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!! WHO ARE YOU??!!" The Abyssal creature shrieked in rage at her failed ambush and leapt backwards as the flashing blade swept out, aimed at her waist. Yet despite her evasive manoeuvre, a sudden spurt of black blood gushed out from the spot on her stomach which the sword had MISSED - a spot that she was 100% certain had not even been touched by the blade! As she clutched her wounds and staggered backwards, regrouping with the now recovered and enraged Wesley and malevolent Gaius Trenel, the lone swordsman stood with his head down and sword in hand, resting on his shoulder. With the strong currents blowing through his robes in the darkened surroundings light up only by the occasional flash of lightning, his forlorn and lonely figure somehow triggered surges of fear in Wesley and his allies'' hearts. And when he lowered his blade to point its tip straight at them, their hearts skipped a beat, pulse racing as they felt a sense of great danger from this unknown enemy. Lars raised his head to reveal a world-weary face with sooty brown hair. The skin of his face was smooth but looked greyish in tone, giving him the impression of age. He stood straight but somehow also seemed crooked, decrepit. But all these were not what the combatants noticed. What they noticed was the pseudo-Mythical might exuded from the mighty warrior. And his words as he rasped out his identity. "I''m just a part-time hero, doing it for a hobby. Don''t mind me, just passing by." But his heroic smile paired with his murderous expression told Wesley a different story. The hunter was now the hunted. 74 To my Dearest Readers... 2 Dearest readers, This is the last day of chapters before going premium. I''m truly sad and regretful that I am not a far richer man, one who can afford to write as a hobby and provide all you, dearest readers, with free content and free chapters and free stories... To recap, I''m a simple man, 31 years old, living in a 3rd world country Malaysia. Well, the rest of the stuff below is a repeat of the earlier written announcement to all of you, my dear readers, supporters and, dare I say it - friends! I really can''t believe that this activity I had started without much expectation would turn out to even be able to earn a small, tiny amount of income! I am just really, really blessed to have had you as my readers, companions and supporters! A BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG THANK YOU to everyone! Thank you!!! ----------------------- ***Recap of the earlier announcement*** I''m a simple man, 31 years old, living in a 3rd world country Malaysia. It''s a bit better off than some other South East Asian countries. At least here a fresh graduate can make between USD300 - 500 a month! But that leaves us all with a very, very hard life. I have been working full time for 8 years and just got married last year. But it''s been a struggle financially. My wife is also working full time and her health has been suffering due to the long hours. ...I swore to find a way so my wife won''t have to work and suffer anymore. I tried Uber, Grab. I tried transcription work. I did some freelance work but was paid nothing for my efforts. But I found that it was so hard to support and paid so little - roughly getting USD100 a month from the part time work. Finally, in September, I read a novel here on WN and thought, "Maybe... Just maybe... I could be a writer too...?" I started and failed terribly in the first 2 weeks with just 2 readers! But I didn''t give up, because my wife and my family and my future child deserve more than I am giving them right now. ...I want them to have the best in life. Or at least, a life where they don''t have to worry daily about their needs being met, where my child will have a mother who is with him/her to play, learn, laugh and grow up together with. I don''t want to see my wife coughing, stressed, unable to sleep from worrying about work, her health and her life. I... Really hope... That you''ll still be with me on this journey. I also... Really do understand that, not everyone will want to still follow this novel. I know it''s just a simple and humble novel, not a superstar that can command hundreds of dollars a month. But even if it''s just 50 dollars, 100 dollars a month, I''ll be writing my best for you, for my wife and for my family. Finally, the announcement that I know you expected for awhile. Desolate Mage will be going Premium on 1 Dec. In anticipation of that, look forward to the conclusion of the competition arc, where Lars displays the fullness of his might in an epic battle of Herculean proportions. Last but not least... Thank you for reading. Truly, truly thank you. 75 Bloodfield 3 ''IDIOT!!!! IMBECILE!!!! FOOL!!!! RETARD!!!! NUMBSKULL!!!! I TOLD YOU NOT TO GET INVOLVED!!!!!'' Lars'' ears were being blasted with curses, insults and reprimands from the little penguin who jumped up and down in frustration. But he shut off the sounds and focused on the battle at hand. On one side stood a team of two devils and a conniving nobleman. Devil Lord Saliza - number 3 in this operation to invade the Kingdom of the Sands and form a foothold in this planet. A wiley, light-bodied member of the Nightmare Stalker devil race. Cunning and adept at capturing the greedy hearts of countless kings, rulers and warriors, masterful at concealment and transformation. Saliza''s figure could somehow still be considered feminine, though one that would undoubtedly leave any observer with nightmares for months. Devil Lord Wesley or "Old Man Wesley" who usually disguised himself as a stern old cultivator, one who would be accepted with open doors to any sect, group or organisation for his great capabilities - until he broke out in an unfettered, unstoppable rampage of death and slaughter. Despite his high intellect and experience in infiltration, he was also famous for his intense rage that often caused massacres to occur contrary to the devils'' plans. And Gaius Trenel, whose Curse Arts were now supplemented by the Abyssal powers infused into his body - the corruption of his soul evident from his eyes that had turned a deep hue of purple, the sign of a devil arts practitioner, even as red eyes were a sign of a demonic path combatant. Whilst on the other side, a dismal force was assembled. Yusof Jamal, drained and dizzy with less than 10% of his mana left after triggering his Rune of Power and betting his life on the last throw of his knives. He still held 4 knives in either hand, drawn from where, no one knew. But he did not look like he would be much help in the ensuing battle. General Weres, Bloodfield Weres. Though the devil formation surrounding Gorun City was more suited to the name. He was heaving in fatigue from receiving the previous spatial blades with his own body, though he had been protected by the nigh-invulnerability of his signature move, The Invincible Spearman. After that, he had used up nearly 40% of his mana for that one focused strike that had been meant to blow apart the brains of Wesley - only to be interrupted and bound by his own kind! And a scrawny, slim and old swordsman who was dwarfed by every one of the other warriors. Yet this lone and frail figure commanded the attention - and fear - of all those gathered in the field of battle. A pseudo-Mythical realm warrior - one who had already condensed a second soul-imprint and was but a half-step away from breaking open the path to a whole new paradigm of power! Even his simplest sword movements were esoteric, containing the mysteries of Space and Time that exceeded the comprehension of the devils and men surrounding him! A true powerhouse of the continent! A true powerhouse who surpassed even the peak Legendary realm Dukes of the Kingdom and could stand toe to toe with King Vishnu himself! ''DAMN!!!! This wasn''t supposed be how it happened, Wesley! What happened to your erudite calculations?!!'' Saliza screamed through her mental link with the older Devil Lord, berating him to release her frustrations. Wesley shot her a furious, murderous glare from his eyeless face and bared his teeth in a growl, then replied, ''BITCH!!! If you had only gone all out on that surprise attack, wouldn''t our situation be completely different! Now we have to take down three enemies and hurry to find our target before the Duke arrives! The others can''t hold her back for long, not without completing the portal to bring Prince Rumin''s full form over!'' ''I''LL KILL YOU!!!'' Saliza roared in rage and snapped her jaws in Wesley''s direction, but made no move against him. She might be berserk in battle, but she was also a veteran of the battlefield - their internal disputes could wait for a deathmatch in the Blood Arena back in the Abyss! ''Let''s settle this quickly... Saliza, tell the portable food container--'' He mentally indicated Gaius Trenel with those words, ''--To hold down those two injured sheep. We''ll have to work together to overpower the swordsman. It''s a good thing they no longer have any supporters or casters left.'' Wesley grinned, showing his multiple rows of teeth and looked to be snarling in aggression. Saliza mentally nodded, then instructed Gaius to move per their plan. He too nodded and began to channel his mana to suppress his two former allies who were already gravely injured. He smiled as he did so. "I''ve always wanted to step on your face, you arrogant prick! And to show you who''s the boss, o high and mighty General! Now please do me a favour and DIE!!! Dark Tendrils! Soul-binding Seal! Shadow Poison!" Gaius flung three Curses at General Weres and Yusof who tried to dodge, but were quickly ensnared, unable to even cry out in pain. They could not move a single muscle, selaed, bound, incapacitated and being poisoned slowly from the shadowy thorns pricking their skin! Nevertheless, it took Gaius'' full concentration and effort to hold them down - he could feel his bonds being tested at every moment, as if the slightest slip-up would set the two loose. ''NOW!! GO!!!'' ''SHUT UP ALREADY OLD FAGGOT!! I''LL EAT YOUR GUTS WHEN WE''RE BACK!!!'' ''KUKUKUKUU!!! I LOOK FORWARD TO FEASTING ON YET ANOTHER COCKY JUNIOR DEVIL LORD...'' The bickering Devil Lords made their decision instantaneously - strike down the pseudo-Mythical swordsman, the only one who posed a threat to them! The two devils charged towards him with a loping gait, running on all fours and turning into blurs as they aimed to ram straight into his flimsy sword and fragile human body! But Lars just smiled. He stared straight forward at the two incoming colossal monstrosities and sheathed his sword, much to the two devils'' surprise. Yet they sensed a chill across their bodies, a sense of palpable danger! ''Careful!'' Wesley yelled to his comrade and dashed forward to take the lead. His body began to glow purple as drops of acid gathered at the tips of the spines covering his body, then the purple liquid flowed over his entire body and coated him in a sheer layer of caustic fluids. Then he roared and lunged through the air to run Lars'' down. Instead of fleeing or dodging, Lars hand on the hilt of his sword tightened - and in one smooth motion, he unsheathed his blade and swept it across the air between himself and the devil, a movement made impossibly quickly. And he spoke quietly, almost like a whisper of the wind, one that could be easily mistaken for a play of the breeze on the ears. "Blotting out the stars." A gleam of light shone, then a ripple across the air as the space between the two was cleaved apart - a slash cutting through the void and headed straight for Wesley''s face! ''DODGE!!!!!! BLINK!!!!'' Wesley desperately triggered his once per day Blink and felt a twisting force threaten to wrench his body apart - the backlash caused by violating the laws of stable space, a force that was more intense the large the user''s body was. He disappeared and rematerialised on the ground right beneath where he had been soaring through the air. Just barely in time, for he then felt and heard a sharp SHIIIIIIIIIIIICK sound as reality itself was severed right above his body! Unfortunately for Wesley, his hulking frame caused the spikes jutting from his back to still be in the path of the ripple of space, which casually passed right through his armoured spines, chopping them off like a pair of shears snipping off a stalk of grass. Even the coating of devil battle aura, a blend of mana, devil energy and blood energy, could do nothing to hinder the dominating slash! "GRAAAAHH!!!!!" Wesley roared in pain but did not hesitate to throw himself forward and open his mouth wide as a spinning mass of purple energy welled up in his throat, a concentrated deathray to blow the dangerous threat to kingdom come! A pillar of purple devil energy burst out from his mouth to consume Lars. The beam was as large as Lars'' upper body and tore through the metres so fast it seemed like it were teleporting to blow him up! But when Wesley saw the expression on Lars'' face, staring straight at him and smiling, he shuddered in fear, even as he poured his 1,000% energy into his trump card to destroy his enemy in one fell swoop. The Devil Lord''s eyes bulged in horror - for Lars looked at him like he were already a dead man! With his hands still completing the swing of his sword and not yet recovered to defend himself, Lars smiled as he opened his mouth wide in an "O" shape. Then he channelled the fullness of his mana through his body and focused it on the same point as his adversary - pouring out through his open mouth. Then a bright blue sunray shot out from the depths of his throat. Level 9 Spell: Gigaflare - Orbital Cannon! A thin beam of planet-piercing pseudo-Mythical might surged out to meet the Devil Lord''s purple deathray - and in a split-second, the slim ray of blue light tore right through the far larger purple beam and blew it apart, scattering the violet rays to the seven winds and shooting forward straight for the black-carapaced creature''s face! "NO--" "OLD FART!!!!!" Wesley could not even roar in indignance as the azure blaze slammed into his jaw and propelled him backwards, pummeling him into the reinforced walls of the stadium! The walls could no longer take the strain after the earlier heaven-rending barrage of crimson lightning struck down on the stadium repeatedly. The structures cracked and burst apart as the relentless beam of blue sunfire bore a hole through the walls and continued to blast the Devil Lord in its path asunder! The male Abyssal screamed, a high-pitched alien sound that caused every hearer to instinctively shudder, the roar of a higher existence that lorded over every living organism in this world. But that scream was also one of terror, pain and despair as the creature''s carapace, face and soul was melting and cracking under the city-destroying beam of power! No matter how much of his mana, devil energy and blood energy he poured in to his head and upper body, Wesley could do nothing to resist the piercing force and disintegrating energies! His carapace was shattered almost in the same split second that he was struck by the ray of shining blue destruction and the flesh beneath incinerated instantaneously! Death was right at his doorstep, and the one knocking was the young Legendary mage, right now in the guise of a feeble and thin old man! But just when the devil was about to succumb to the power of the beam with his defensive measures exhausted, Lars was struck in the forehead by a lashing tail, interrupting his spell as he was sent flying by Saliza. The tip of the stinger on the female Devil Lord''s tail gleamed with a penetrative purple sharpness that could slice apart the void itself and dripped with the malevolent miasma of poison. The female Devil Lord had just arrived before Lars, for though she had been moving at her top speed, the earlier exchange between Lars and Wesley had happened in but a blink of an eye - too fast for her to even react and come to her teammate''s aid! She had been running as fast as she could, aiming to strike as the follow-up pinch hitter after Wesley made the first move, so that the older devil would also receive the brunt of the attack. Little did she expect that the sole enemy would so quickly unleash a table-turning trump card and nearly erase Wesley''s brain! And so she had to unleash the quickest and longest ranged blow she had, a sweep of her swishing tail to knock his mouth closed and prevent the death of her ally! For no matter how much she despised the senior Devil Lord, she knew that she alone did not stand a chance at all against the unknown hero! "MORTAL!!!!! I''LL KILL YOU!!!! I''LL KILL YOU ALL FOR YOUR IMPUDENCE!!!! SALIZA!!!! KILL THEM ALL!!!!" Wesley still managed to roar in a screeching low voice and ignored his injuries to charge forward, while Saliza was already pursuing the man that she had struck flying. But Lars spun lightly through the air, easily regaining his balance and smiled as his feet landed steadily. He was virtually uninjured, only with some scratches remaining from the illusion array, as he had quickly calculated and layered several small mana shields to block the tail strike. It was just that the feeling of swallowing an Orbital Cannon Beam mid-cast was... Let''s just say, less than pleasant. Also, he felt sorely disappointed. Despite nearly incapacitating Wesley with that one surprise he pulled, he had missed out on his opportunity to kill off one of the two deadly devils in the first reveal of his puissant magics. And he felt uneasy as he felt a suppression fall on the entire city, formed by the ley lines being corrupted by the pentagram of blood, a formation that Kizorik identified as the devils'' bloodfield. Regardless, he raised his hands on either side, ashen brown hair fluttering in the wind and displaying a potent aura. In his right hand he held a curved bladed sword glowing with bright blue light, while in his left hand, a spinning ball of compressed mana floated, shining with enough energy to burst apart several mountains! And asked, "Kill me? How is that any different from what you were planning earlier?" And he smiled mockingly as he charged forward, ready to settle the fight in this next exchange of blows. 76 Bloodfield 4 This time round, Wesley and Saliza did not charge in recklessly, instead they circled around their enemy and furtively struck out with probing blows. However, each time they attempted an attack, they were rebuffed sharply by the boy in his disguised form. He would appear to move languidly, dodging easily and then lashing out in retaliation with his dull blade - but that dull blade would turn into a blur every time he swung it and chop away at the two devils'' flesh and blood! Roaring in rage and pain, the two abyssals hastily backed away and reconsidered their strategy of close combat. Though they were supposedly of a higher race and superior physically, the results did not show that superiority at all! Meanwhile, Gaius Trenel was swaying with weakness. He had been exerting the full circulation of his mana to restrain his two targets and he couldn''t hold down Weres or Yusof for much longer. He shivered when he saw the rage, indignance and killing intent in the eyes of the two men and roared at Wesley and Saliza in impatience. "HURRY UP YOU DEVIL DOGS!!! I CAN''T HOLD THEM MUCH LONGER!!!" Upon hearing that, both Wesley and Saliza did not reply but mentally made a note to devour the contemptuous fool the moment this battle was over! That is, assuming that they won and survived! The two devils closed in on their foe once more, but this time, just before they came within range of his punishing sword strikes, they exchanged a mental assent and triggered the innate skill unique to their Nightmare Stalker race. Gravity Field! 2x Gravity Field, combined to multiply the effectiveness! Suddenly Lars felt slightly sluggish as the weight of his body increased twofold and the pull of the planet doubled! Shocked, he tried to leap backwards and out of the range of the devils'' field of influence, but could not get away. Both Wesley and Saliza kept step with him, approaching even as he retreated, keeping him in their area of effect. Then the two Devil Lords bodies glowed with power as they readied their coordinated attack. ''NOW!'' "TERROR BLADE!!!!" "GLIMPSE OF DEATH!!!!" Wesley arched his back and raised his wicked clawed hands high above his head, compressing all his power into a pulsing 3 metre long light-sabre that protruded from his hands. The purple energies threatened to explode even as he moulded and shaped them into a lethal form and brought his blade of pure power chopping down on Lars! On the other hand, the female devil raised her body up straight and turned her eyeless face to the sky. She began to float off the surface of the ravaged ground slightly, then her body flickered and shimmered as her figure grew blurry. Then a grand projection of a translucent prehistoric Wyrm emerged from her back, its figure titanic with half of its body made up of a great maw full of teeth and dripping with green, acidic saliva! Then the astral projection shot forth at a speed that seemed to approach the speed of light and crashed towards her target - the man before her! Even General Weres and Yusof Jamal despaired as they saw the sealed fate of the boy - there was no more hope left for him or for the two of them. Yusof desperately winked at the General, as if telling him, "Use your trump card! Your lifesaving move!" But he only received a grim look of despondency from the powerful warrior - he had no more trump cards left to turn the situation around. ''If only...!!! If only my defensive ace were not just a personal protection charm!!! If only it were an attacking weapon!!!'' Yusof screamed in his heart in despair, resenting their fate to be minced apart and devoured by the alien monsters! Caught between a rock and a hard place as the blade of death and fatal devil projection sped his way, Lars knew that with lowered speed and physical suppression from the gravity field, he could not escape. And he stood no chance at fighting back - despite his vastly superior skill, grand reserves of mana and masterful manipulation of strength, his physique was just too weak! Too f***ing weak! So he did the only thing he could do. Fight firepower with an even greater firepower! He at first thought to unleash a Legendary spell and eradicated not just the devils here but also clear out the entire city - but if he did that, he would probably wipe out the people as well... On top of that, he would injure his soul and weaken himself once more! So instead, he chose to use his newly obtained skill. No, not the Demon Hunter skills that he could barely comprehend right now. Something else, something far more practical. ''Kizorik! Quick! Are devils rich in money or treasures???'' ''No! Why??? They sacrifice everything of value for Abyss points, why would they have money? Why are you talking about money right now--'' ''Great!!!'' Then he ignored whatever else the cute penguin said. He sucked in a deep breath and felt a ripple pass through his soul, specifically, through his soul-imprint of Greed and the second, true ability he had obtained with the concept of the Deadly Sin. "Money Makes the World Go Round..." As he whispered the words, everything visibly stopped moving as a scene that defied the space-time continuum took place. Not only Lars - everything, even the dust motes and the oxygen and nitrogen particles in the air completely froze... And so too did the breathing and minds of everyone and everything in the entire world! Except for the minds and souls of the two Devil Lords and Lars. And the blood that flowed from the boys'' two eyes. Only, it was not blood, but a molten golden fluid, so thick that it looked like liquid metal. And Lars'' eyes... His usually brown and slightly reddish pupils began to have a tri-segmented symbol floating and rotating within them. And if one looked carefully, one would notice that it was an interlinked spinning triangle of a gold coin, a bank branch building and a dollar bill! The ancient, historical and modern symbols of greed, all together! To Lars'' pleasure and to the devils shock, they suddenly saw a grand scene unfold before their eyes, erasing and superseding the "reality" around them with another world entirely. In this real but unreal world, they could see the entire cosmos rotating around them! The depths of the universe and the planets and suns in the starry sky blinked in and out of existence and left the three in awe of the majesty of creation! However, if one looked closer, they would see that those were not planets, but silver, green, red or brown coins! The glittering moon around them were diamonds, jewels or gemstones of every sort! And the suns were instead golden coins spinning in all their glory, radiating splendorous light pouring forth to illuminate the universe! This was the truth of the cosmos - money makes the world go round! (...At least this was the truth to Lars.) Then to Wesley and Saliza''s surprise, they suddenly found themselves standing no longer on the solid earth, nor were they suspended in space. Instead they were now placed on an archaic, rusted scale, massive and looming larger than even the planets afar off! They were on one side of the scale, whereas Lars was on the other. And the entire instrument was dangling from a great golden string, held in the hands of a transcendent white-robed deity whose eyes were closed! ''How great in size must he be to hold a scale in his hands that dwarfed even the sun and stars in its stature??!'' The thought flashed in the duo''s minds, but was quickly ceased by the shocking sight that followed. The immortal god opened his eyes. But there were no eyeballs nor pupils nor sclera within. But instead, an endless rainbow coloured waterfall of coins, riches and every form of wealth came pouring out of his eye sockets! Even the devils who had no use nor desire for material things felt an unexplainable avarice arise in their very souls - a desire that could not be dismissed! ''W-what is happening! Old fart! I have a bad feeling! I-I can''t move! Do something!!'' But Wesley could not reply, for he too was paralysed in fear and terror before the almighty being before him. Suddenly, the transcendent being opened his mouth and released a booming wordless voice. But somehow they all knew what he was saying. "JUDGEMENT!" In that instant, a blast of golden light rippled outwards from the deity and passed over the devils and the boy. Then the golden glow was absorbed into their bodies before circulating one time, then shooting upwards as golden pillars of light! The golden pillar of light began to rise from Lars body as he smiled despite being frozen in place. The pillar ascended higher and higher and higher until it was like a tower to the heavens, so high was it! But for Wesley and Saliza, to their dismay, the pillar of light rose up like a wisp of stubble after a morning shave - and halted completely! Then the scales began to move. Lars'' side sank like a rock while the Devil Lords rose higher and higher and higher until the point where equilibrium was achieved - only when the boy was almost to the very bottom possible! Then the voice spoke once more in an indiscernible murmur of a million changing sounds: "JUDGEMENT! The poor shall be slave to the rich!" The god of wealth lifted up an ancient oriental seal, the type used to affix an indelible imprint of the judgement, a seal to stamp a unique signature of authority. Then the seal came plummeting down on the Devil Lords'' heads! ''!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' The devils roared silently, unable to move their vocal cords to cry out in fear. But their fears were unfounded, as the seal merely stamped on their heads a single word, a single number and a single letter [POOR] and [8x] Then immediately the vision shattered, sending the trio lurching back into the midst of their heated, urgent battle! Wesley''s arms were still raised with the purple sword of pulsing energies bearing down on the boy, and Saliza''s devil spirit was still rocketing towards her opponent! ''WHAT WAS THAT???!!!?'' ''OLD FART, WHAT HAPPENED??!?!?'' Though their minds were still reeling, as they realised that neither of them had any idea what had just happened, Wesley and Saliza recovered in a split second and continued their attacks! But they were stunned as Lars'' eyes reflected infinite confidence and an unmistakable air of triumph - as if the two Devil Lords were already corpses to be looked down on and trampled upon! Yet it was already too late - they were fully committed to their all-out finishing moves - there was no turning back! "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" "DIE INSOLENT CUR!!!!!!" They roared seemingly in unison as they let loose their final attacks! But even as they neared, Lars grinned evilly and gave a quick glance around. ''No one else within 50 metres... Alright!'' And he launched what the Devil Lords were expecting to be his trump card! "Level 9 Spell: Starburst!!" But to their shock, it was merely a Level 9 Spell?!! No matter how powerful it was, an area of effect spell was definitely weaker than a focused attack magic like the earlier concentrated blue beam of energy! therefore, Why would the man who was already suppressed by their gravity fields choose to make such an inconsequential move?!! Was he already ready to die and given up??? ''What... What is he doing? What is the trick here...?'' But as confused as they were, the two devils pressed on from either side of the boy and struck with all their might! They watched as the Starburst spell unfolded from Lars'' hands that were held above his head, pressed together as if in petition and prayer to a higher being. Then they grinned madly, assured of their final victory over this troublesome foe - one they would thoroughly enjoy ripping apart and swallowing once they were done! Then they watched as the merely passable flaming fist-sized asteroids came soaring towards them, not for a moment doubting that the comparatively weak barrage of fire and rocks would not even so much as pierce their armour. But they could only stare blankly as the "weak" spell ripped through their bodies a dozen, a hundred, then a thousand times - each miniscule meteor punching a terrible hole right through their bodies and dissipating their attacks easily. ''W-what...?'' That was Wesley''s last thought as his soul began to leave this physical body, to be reincarnated in the Abyss, starting all over again from a far weaker body. ''It... Can''t be...'' The devil spirit Saliza had invoked vanished like smoke before the sky-rending bullets launched by Lars, then the light around her body began to fade as she was riddled with too many holes to even count. Then the two Devil Lords slumped to the ground, lifeless. Defeated. And left a shell-shocked boy who couldn''t believe just how effective his Level 9 spell was when supplemented by his soul-ability! It wasn''t even powered up by a Maximise Magic due to lack of time...But blew those f***ers the hell out of here in a flash! It was too frickin'' awesome! 77 Bloodfield 5 Gaius Trenel puked up bile and stomach acids, choking on his own digestive fluids as he shuddered and convulsed. He was not hurt nor beaten, no. His physical reaction was purely out of one reason - the certain expectation of death if he were lucky, but more likely an endless torture that would make him long for death as a release! He didn''t even try to take his own life as the last of his mana was depleted and both Weres and Yusof were released from their shadow bonds. He most of all knew how proficient the Trenel family was at capturing the soul and subjecting it to unceasing agonies and inhuman horrors! And he could not help but throw up again and again as he trembled in anxiety and fear of his sealed fate! Weres did not hesitate to move the moment he was free of the Curse-chains - he leapt forward in a single bound and smashed a brutal kick into Gaius Trenel''s jaw, shattering countless teeth and sending him flying. But Weres made sure not to kill him, merely to use enough strength to knock out the weak magic-user. Then he glanced over to look at the still stunned middle-aged man (boy in disguise) who had saved them and bowed deeply and solemnly. Yusof also bowed down low even as he stabilised his physical state after being drained by the curses laid on him. They owed their lives and the lives of the city to this one lone domineering swordsman, this near-Mythical mage whose powers likely eclipsed even their Duke''s if seen in isolation from runes or artefacts! Lars snapped out of his state of shock and shook his head twice, then slapped his cheeks to regain his composure - a string of movements not matching for his image as an elderly and seasoned warrior. However, neither Weres nor Yusof were of the mind to notice - after all, this eccentric wandered had proven himself to be more than twice as strong as the two of them combined! Respect was to be given to the strong, and the strong alone! Little did they know that their counterpart did not think that way at all. Instead, the boy believed in a different philosophy. Respect was to be given to the rich, and the rich alone! For in his hands, Money Is Power! He was exhilarated from discovering the incomparable might of his new soul-imprint''s unique ability, one that defied all that he had ever heard or read about soul abilities! For how could one ability be so overwhelmingly powerful to easily ignore the gap in powers in a two on one fight...? And merely because of the difference in wealth! He also let out a breath of relief - he was glad that the ditzy demon penguin hadn''t been wrong when he said that demons and devils had no wealth! Well, he could have made that observation without being told, just based on the way the bird always squandered his Abyss Points... Lars made a mental note of how his soul ability functioned: The difference in wealth would become a fixed multiplier, weakening the poorer party by a factor dependent on how many times poorer the party was. It just took one sentence to describe, but it was a statement that would send chills up the hearer''s spine and shivers through their bodies - cheating, this was truly cheating! Imagine, if a Grandmaster level combatant were 100 times weaker than one at the Legendary stage... But 1,000 times richer... All he needed to do would be to use 20% of his feeble powers and he could easily overpower the far greater opponent who had spent all his life in grueling cultivation - all merely by the fact that he was blood f***ing richer than his pauper opponents! Lars eyes turned bloodshot. He would never, ever, ever, ever... Never never never ever ever ever ever let anyone know about this ability! It was too ridiculous! And most of all... He would never use this ability against rich young masters! He would be the world''s greatest fool if he committed such an act of suicide such as that! Sighing, Lars determined to become richer, so rich he could fill a city with gold coins and swim in the golden ocean of decadence! Then he regained his spirit and approached the two humbled nobles, a never before seen attitude from the two men standing at the peak of society! "Let''s go. We have to protect the city and drive back the devils." "Yes, benefactor...! We shall follow your lead and instructions!" The two bowed even deeper in deference to their saviour''s words, but then Yusof hesitated, then decided to speak. "But benefactor... May we first know your illustrious name...?" Lars froze. "Errrrrrr...." His mind raced to think of a name. He was really truly glad that he had the soul-imprint of Insight - this was a valuable time where it came in really useful! "Mikael Tumijo. I am the lone magic swordsman Mikael Tumijo." "Yes, Lord Mikael...! Thank you for saving our lives and rescuing so many in this city! Just say the word, what should we do next?" The two men bowed while Weres spoke, taking the lead. Lars (Mikael to the men) thought about it for a short 2 seconds (20 seconds to him) and cast his senses out far and wide to check the situation of the city. Here was the summary: -To the north, west and east, he sensed great hordes of common monsters led by at most a Grandmaster level creature or two. -To the south, there were 4 devilish auras and 4 human auras, though of those, one was only half human in the impression it gave Mikael (Lars) - albeit not in the same way as the beastmen. Despite the auras of the 4 people being roughly a small realm weaker, they were still in the Legendary stage. Moreover, he sensed that they were more than holding their own against their more powerful opponents by virtue of the instruments of power they wielded - clearly mighty Legendary artefacts which exuded auras almost as great as their wielders''! -The strongest auras of all in the city were coming from the centre of the bloodfield, slightly further to the north of the Gorun Stadium - halfway between the arena and the palace grounds! If he were not mistaken, based on the ripples of power crashing forth from the scene of battle afar off, that should be the city''s Duke facing off against the leader of their enemies! As Lars'' lightning quick mind ran over the information he had gathered, he had one grave question in mind as he turned to face his new allies. What were the devils doing...? Based on the team they had assembled, they could at most do some heavy structural damage while reaping many lives - but that could hardly justify the cost of such a great assault on the city! Not unless they managed to conquer the land and sacrifice every life here to complete a perfect bloodfield and summon an unfettered Devil Prince over! However, from what he saw right now, that had not been the intention at all! The devils had immediately triggered the summoning circle effect of the bloodfield prematurely and brought over a Devil Prince''s incarnation merely at the semi-Mythical stage - a clear sign that they were not trying to occupy the city but merely buy time...! The question was - buy time for what...? He shook his head once more and quickly spoke to his companions. "Let us split up - we''ll cover more ground that way. From the emanations of power I sense, the patriarchs of the Four Houses should be able to hold off the Legendary realm enemies in the south." Weres and Yusof nodded in agreement - they bore the same view, and too would have ignored that battlefront if the decision were merely up to them. Lars continued smoothly, saying, "Then on the north, I don''t think we are qualified to get involved in the battle of the two great powerhouses... That just leaves the East and the West. I''ll take the East, while since the two of you both have great synergy together and are both injured, you move together and support the West. I believe your companions also left in the Westerly direction." "Yes, Lord Mikael." "Affirmative, my Lord!" The two men who were countless years Lars'' senior smiled passionately and bowed once more, before thanking him profusely again and again, then making him promise to drop by and visit them once they cleaned up the devil invasion and mess in the city. Then they shot off into the distance, each in their respective directions. Of course, Mikael first evoked the Level 9 Spell: Astral Imprisonment and locked the unconscious and defenceless Gaius Trenel in a luminous magical seal and passed it to Weres and Yusof before they left. And off they went to exterminate some devils! Lars'' main reason for heading off to the East was he sensed Charley was in that direction - and he still needed the boy to claim his promised prize from Natalie! So he could only pray that the gathered forces of the nobles could keep the fiery-spirited girl safe and sound... He especially hoped that there were no more moles or traitors among their midst, lest his "assets" be compromised or threatened! His eyes gleamed with great vengeance - he would make sure to rip out the intestines of whoever ended up harming his golden goose Natalie, then feed those same intestines back to the traitor! Little did he know that his own words of worry about betrayal would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. 78 Cleaning Up 1 ''...'' Devil Prince Rumin was speechless when he sensed the deaths of his two most trusted subordinates. Speechless, frustrated and fuming! He wheeled away from his sky-rending battle with the woman before him and licked the black blood flowing from his wounded right arm. Then he broke off the arrow shafts that were still stuck out of his lean but muscled body. Angular and square jaw, imposing but not overly strong features, sharp sword-like eyebrows and piercing, shining eyes. If not for his blood red eyes and the small horns protruding from his temples, Rumin looked exactly like a human male. One that would instantly leave women smitten with his otherworldly good looks! He was dressed in flowing purple and black robes which now looked worse for the wear - torn and ripped where he had received wounds from the Duke''s artefact - The Windforce Bow! ''Damn it all!!! It must have been Morrow interfering with my plans...!'' He cursed at his fellow Devil Prince with whom he had a less than pleasant relationship. He was also certain that his "ally" who had sent 4 Devil Lords for this joint operation had betrayed him! Else, how could two mighty Devil Lords nearly at the peak Legendary stage fall to one early Legendary man and his World-class teammate? And where would a world shaking powerhouse like that near-Mythical mage appear from, if not because of Morrow''s scheming? ''Curse you, Morrow, curse you!!! If I can''t get the Void Worm... Then neither shall you!!!'' "Woman!" Rumin called out to his opponent, but her only answer was for the runes on her two arms and forehead to light up as she nocked a silver arrow that materialised by itself on her bowstring. Runes of Agility (Passive) and Strength (Active), one boosting her speed slightly but without costing her any mana while the other absorbed her power to give her a boost of strength. Along with her Runes of Mana Regeneration (Passive) that she probably had secreted away somewhere on her body underneath her flowing cloak and wyvern hide armour, the peak Legendary human could just barely cross into the beginning Mythical stage! Though to Rumin, their battle right now was just a farce, a play-acting that would only benefit their common enemy, the dastardly Devil Prince Morrow! "...You don''t have to treat everything I say as provocation, do you...?" "SHUT UP!" The woman roared in anger, not giving him a chance to speak as her exquisite face twisted in rage. The gorgeous woman shouted in rage even as she released the arrow with a resounding sonic boom - the arrow soared through the air so fast that the winds it whipped up even shattered the nearby windows and structures! But her attack merely slid past Rumin''s neck as he leaned aside slightly to avoid the projectile. At this distance, all she did was make an empty threat. Though Rumin certainly didn''t understand why the woman seemed so enraged at him - all he did was invade her city, right? Wasn''t that par for the course in the perennial struggle between the planes? He chuckled as he admired his opponent, even as he continuously dodged more arrows, fiery darts and lightning bolts that the Duke hurled his way. He spoke between movements and made an offer of truce. "Why don''t we call our battle to a halt...? Anyway, I have no interest in fighting anymore, and while we struggle, there are four more Devil Lords and countless pests infesting your city!" He avoided a triple salvo of shots and then waved his hand to cover himself with a layer of purple corrosive liquid, just a paper thin sheen of it. But when the arrows struck the air before him, they immediately melted without even any remnant or slag left over when they touched the uncrossable barrier. Then he continued, "...And, you''re exactly my type, a unique beauty who is ravishing, stunning! Why don''t we continue this conversation some other time, say, over a cup of God''s Tears?" He suavely complimented her, and casually mentioned a wine that could only be brewed by slaying a divine existence - a decadent luxury that exceeded extravagance! But at those words, Duke Leanne de Caldis'' face turned black and her scowl grew so demonic that even Rumin felt afraid. Had he just said something wrong? Maybe she was sensitive about her appearance? But she truly was a sight for sore eyes, beautiful and stately. If not for the slightly discoloured wine stain birthmark on the left side of her face, she would be a galaxy-shaking beauty! But she burned with anger and suddenly went all out within just a breath''s time - without any warning! Little did he know that it was because she hated handsome and flirty men! "Soul-Imprint: Concept of Distortion... Soul-Ability: Perversion!" She cried out as she pulled back her bowstring, this time without any arrow prepared... But the moment the bow reaches its maximum arch in her hands, Rumin coughed in pain. His heart was pierced?!? Without the woman even nocking or releasing an arrow? What madness was this?!? ''Cough cough... Lucky for me that this is just a phantom body...'' Rumin plummeted for a while as he fought to regain control of the corporeal form he had taken to enter this plane. Without a sufficiently powerful portal to cross over with, no mighty beings could make the jump across worlds or planes! Sensing that this body was near the end of its lifespan, Rumin frowned in frustration, then sighed in resignation. ''Morrow... You d*ck... I''ll let you have this round...'' Then he sneered at an idea he had. He burnt the last remaining mana, life force and devil force left in this astral body and shot out all his power. Straight at two of the still standing bloodfield formation totems, the pillars of bone, flesh and blood that held up the suppressive formation to prevent the laws of the world from weakening the devils. ''Enjoy losing your four kids, Morrow! Muahahahahah!!!'' He cackled in his mind as his soul faded away from this plane and his consciousness returned to the devil realm, where he sat in his study. * * * * * It just happened that he saw traces of the other competition contestants along the way and had stopped to question them. From there he found out that Charley was heading in the west south-west direction, roughly headed towards the closest formation pillar to where the Gorun Stadium was. Despite being familiar with the boy''s aura, his feeble strength also made it difficult to locate him. It was like trying to find a ringing bell in the middle of the ocean - unless he could zero in on a certain spot, it was impossible no matter how well he could identify the objective! He ran through the streets swiftly, sometimes jumping to speed through the air, crossing over many buildings instead of traveling around them. Along the way, he easily dispatched of various minor and mid-leveled devilspawn, some with a flick of his fingers while for others, all he needed to do was to stare slightly hard at them for their heads to pop before his concentrated aura! He made it a point to help when the citizens were clearly overwhelmed and unable to save themselves, but he did not get involved in every struggle he came across along the way. He needed to move quickly, locate and save Charley then head over to make sure Natalie Sarouneh was safe! *BOOOOOOOOM!!!* ''What was that?!'' Lars'' eyes widened in surprise as he felt a wave of devil energy lancing over from far away and blast apart the bloodfield pillar that he was headed for. And the moment the totems began to collapse, he felt the bloodfield fading and the Abyssal energy in the surroundings quickly leak away. Accompanying this was also the clearing of the ominous black clouds from the sky, giving way to reveal the now clear night sky. Along with its collapse, Lars also felt a sense of relief, as if a burden had been lifted off of his shoulders. His mana regeneration seemed slightly smoother than before, now no longer hindered by the miasma of devil energy in the atmosphere. But he shrugged. Regardless of whether there was that suppression or not, he could easily take on all but the strongest of the invading forces. It would just change to be easier now that the stronger members of his enemies would receive the world''s backlash for their presence in the corporeal plane. And so he sped quickly through the streets and back alleys, the scenery turning into a blur as he quickened his pace to nearly the maximum. But when he was roughly two thirds of the way to the area where he had sensed the boy''s presence, he saw an unexpected sight. In the midst of the chaos ravaging the city, what he saw disgusted him and turned his stomach inside out with revulsion. It was not a scene of devils slaughtering humans or depravity committed by monsters that assaulted his senses. It was atrocities committed by people... Against members of their own race! ...Against children! He saw a large building that, on the outside, looked to be a long discarded factory compound. However, one of the sections of the walls looked to have collapsed in the aftermath of the explosions rocking the city. As a result, the nightmare within was unveiled. Squalid metal cages, cubes which were roughly 1.5 metres in height, width and breadth were stacked up until nearly the ceiling of the 30 metre tall building. And the cages filled almost the entire building, save for walking spaces between the cages. And within the filthy, rusted and shit-filled cages were people. Three to four children per cage. Either naked or only clothed in loincloths, unprotected from the cold. Some of the children in the cages were not adolescents but already teenagers, while others looked to be as young as 3 to 4 years old. There were hundreds of them, totaling maybe five to six hundred children all locked up - and abandoned to their fate as the building began to catch on fire from the fallout of a far-off battle raging through the streets! Their captors looked to have left long ago - there was one room cordoned off from the sight of the cruelty where a kettle was still boiling, the fire beginning to spread and consume the packs of playing cards, clothes and furniture in that guardroom. The children were already surrendered to perish - fated to die from suffocation, smoke and roasted alive...! Or captured and ripped apart flesh from bone by the devils... Even worse than everything he had seen so far was that, some of the children in the cages had already turned into rotting corpses, yellowed and gangrenous, swarming with flies around them. From the looks of it, the cages had not even been cleared for days based on the dung, urine and filth that stained the base of each cage. Lars did not want to imagine what happened to the cages at the bottom of the piles when those on top defecated day after day and it overflowed down to the levels below...! There were no drains nor sluice channels to allow the excrement to flow, leading to... He shut off his consciousness from thinking about it. Lars'' mind was tremendously shaken, his heart pierced and shredded apart with great compassion for the poor children, despite his heart being hardened through the fields of wars and life and death battles in the Arena of Valour. Worst of all, the most horrifying and appalling of everything was one fact. Many of the children were already bleeding from their private parts. Signs of terrible, heinous acts already having been committed unto them, be it boy or girl. Perversion. Depravity. MONSTROUSNESS!!! "Children! I am here to save you all! Fear not! I will set you free and bring you to safety! Whoever is behind this will be dealt with, punished publicly for all to see! I''m going to open your cages now, follow my instructions carefully! And as soon as possible, I''ll deliver you to the authorities... And I will guarantee your protection and the safe return to your families!" Lars'' heart exploded with rage as he flung out his arms and sent gales of fresh wind and water washing through the area of the cages. Additionally, he heated up the air around the area to keep the water and winds from being too cold and harming the kids'' constitutions. First he needed to clean things up. As a mysophobe who had a phobia of dirty things, he could not bring himself to even approach the building, no matter how much compassion he felt for them! And so he washed the children, the cages and the area clean, not sparing his mana and concentration as he carefully focused to make sure none of the children were harmed during the cleaning. This was met by cries of astonishment, fear and shock - but also some of gratitude and comfort as they were given a bath and a fresh environment after days if not weeks living in the squalor of the hellish cages! Next, Lars warmed up the air a tad more before sending drying winds through the building, filling the nearly naked, shivering children with warmth, a stark contrast from the cold evening winds their unprotected bodies were exposed to. Lars then flung his arms out above his head, summoning dozens and then hundreds of magic missiles and moulding them into tiny motes of burning energy. Then he warned the children, "Stay back from the walls of the cage! I''m going to set you free - be careful!" And the hundreds of bullets of light shot out like glowing keys, breaking free the captive children. He made sure to carefully summon buffets of wind to lower the children to the ground gently from the higher cages, while he shouted out for the children to not rush, to be careful and not to push. But regardless of his words, the desperate and panicking crowds still could not resist and succumbed to their emotions, sobbing as they ran towards their freedom! Irritated at the irrational behaviour of the kids, Lars poured more of his mana into forming walls of wind and prevented them from fleeing. He massaged his temples with his hands as he drew near to the now clean area and spoke to the children slowly, trying to calm them down. Rescuing them was going to be a major headache... But he smiled - this was a headache he was more than willing to have. Yet to his surprise, the children were still fearful and shivering even as he drew near. It was not cold, so why the shivering? "Hi there... No, hey, don''t be afraid, I won''t hurt you. See?" He conjured a display of lights on his palm and made a little pink unicorn surrounded by bubbles of water that rose and popped one after another. The pre-teen girl tried to hold herself still as Lars spoke gently to her, and then she steeled herself and nodded. Then she stuttered as she spoke. "S-sir... P-please... Please don''t hurt us... Mary will do whatever sir wants... Mary will answer sir''s questions... And f-follow... Follow sir''s instruc... Instructions..." Tears began to well up in her eyes and her voice broke as she spoke, her terror and anguish evident from her face and tone. At the sound of her crying, the children around too began to whimper in fear and despair, which confounded Lars. "Wait, girl... Are you okay? Why are you crying? I''m from--" He thought about who he was aligned to and then decided to claim to be from the palace and city guard. That should work to reassure them, right...? But when he told them that, they were terrified! A stumped Lars continued to try to communicate with them, before he frowned in frustration and just decided to incapacitate the few hundred of them and bring them along forcefully, regardless of how much it drained his mana! And the boy was subjected to hundreds of crying, sobbing and whimpering childrens'' voices even as he tried to save and keep them safe from further pain and danger! Only later would Lars discover the reason for the childrens'' fear and consternation. Discover that the perpetrators of these great atrocities were the very authorities and guardians of the city he had claimed to represent - the Duke''s palace and the Four Noble Families! 79 Goatherd Charley ran for his life through the alleys and backlanes. He panted and huffed and puffed as he ran as fast as he could. Stay and watch the result of the monumental battle between two apex combatants? Forget it! He''d rather flee and survive, live to hide another day and all that! That''s how the saying went, right...? So he had abandoned the "safety" of the group of contestants he had initially started out with. He had fled the scene of danger of the arena as quickly as he could along with a large group of other preliminary candidates. The moment they left, they had been swarmed by the weak but numerous memphits, quasits and to a lesser extent, Murlocs, devilised bats, rats and rabid beasts and some few mighty goatmen demons. Regardless of the fact that the infernals were not threatening alone, the mere fact that there were more than a thousand of them swooping down from the skies onto them or biting at their legs was a nightmare in and of itself! The youths had fought for their lives, slaying countless of the demonspawn, but had been forced to make a run for it after they realised that the critters numbers could not be overcome. So they had fled, with their initial large group starting at roughly 50 youths, but now dwindled down to less than 25 survivors! It was at that point as they sprinted haphazardly along the main roads and past scenes of bloodshed, carnage, pillaging or soldiers in combat against demonfolk that Charley decided he had enough of this non-plan of running around like headless chickens. He had insisted on taking the secluded, abandoned or deserted ways to hide away in the empty warehouses of the commercial district, but had been disparaged by the others. Which was an obvious choice that he did not blame the others for, not when their group included the heroic Reshmont and the enigmatic and silent Darius. Since the two most potent fighters in their group had chosen to stay on the main roads and try to unite with the militia, army, quester or other major forces, the group had obviously chosen to follow suit. So Charley had shrugged and sped off along the backways that he was the most familiar with - headed straight for the secret hidey hole he had prepared for rainy days just like this - ever since the games of thrones had brought the downfall of House Charlemagne, once the second greatest among the FIVE Noble Families! Yet ever since his father and family had been executed for treason with their assets seized, he remained the sole living survivor of his family - and survive he did, no matter how low he had to stoop or how much he had to lie, cheat and deceive to do it! After all, his father had lived a completely honest life - and look where that took him, right...? So he could not believe in living like that boy Lars prescribed - living honestly, openly and trustingly at all times, taking a "gentleman''s" word at face value. Pah! He spat as he thought about nonsensical concepts such as Chivalry, Honour or the Noble''s Code. Where were these sophistries when he needed them the most...? When his family was hanged before his eyes, swaying from the gallows as his ancestral home was sacked, turned inside out to unearth every treasure - all on the premise of sniffing out devil worshippers? Look what good that had brought the city! Obviously the devil worshippers were NOT his family - else the hell-like scene today wouldn''t be happening! Twice he avoided near death encounters pre-emptively, all thanks to his sharp senses honed over the 8 or so years of scrounging by and cheating his way through life. The first time, he had a bad premonition about the alleyway he was cannoning down, and decided to turn around and backtrack his steps. Just in time, for a mere 15 seconds later, he heard terrible roars and a great rumbling of the earth as explosions broke out in that alley he had just been in. The second time was when he had been faced with a choice of facing 3 minor demons and be injured, or choose a seemingly unhindered alternate path. This time his senses screamed to him to swallow his fear and face the demon ilk head on - which he did. Once more, he sighed in relief after killing the three quasits, for despite taking several bleeding and infected wounds, after the initial three demonkin, he found the road clear all the way to his secret hideout! And when he peeked down onto the roads from the safety of his dark and hidden safehouse, he saw three mid-tier Elite-level demons patrolling the other apparently safer path! ''Phew! Lucky!'' He slumped down against the side of this dilapidated hut that he had discovered. It was in bad shape externally, but he found that the structure was still strong and it had running water as well as a hard to discover entrance. He had to lie down, pressing his chest against the ground, belly flat and sucked in while she shimmied his body across the floor. Even as slim and scrawny as he was, he could barely slip under! So it was to his great surprise when a furry white creature leapt at him and hit him right in the chest! Charley crossed his arms frantically in defence, but was too late - he had let his guard down and was unprepared for the attack! Before he knew it, the white figure with its horns were right in his face, ready to pierce through his flesh and rend his bones. ''This is it...?!!'' He freaked out as he considered his death, but he could do nothing to prevent the inevitable end to his short and bitter life. In fact, he had nothing left to live for. What did he have? Money? Possessions? A life to look forward to? Lover? None! He had none of those! In fact, every living moment in this city was a reminder of the pathetic state of life he was in, being downtrodden daily and bullied wherever he went. But there was just one thing that had kept him going all these years... Revenge. His eyes turned bloodred and he roared in rage as he swung his arms faster than he thought he ever could, twisting his upper body so fiercely that he feared he would dislocate his hips! But he ignored the pain and slammed his right shoulder into the head of his attacker and sent it flying away into the opposite wall! *BANG!!!!* The flimsy wooden walls held up under the impact of the white creature but reverberated and let out a horrifying loud noise. More than enough to draw the mid-level demons he had just seen roaring and rushing over to find fresh meat, a fresh and juicy new prey! ''Dammit!!!! Run!!!'' Charley spared a glimpse for what had just attacked him before he ran off. It was a cute, furry and fluffy white kid - not a human kid, but the young of a goat! Except that, even with its adorable and cute looks with large and round watery eyes, it had one aspect that made Charley''s hairs stand on end. The tiny goat the size of a grown cat had sharp teeth and was licking its lips even as it stared at him with cute "puppy dog" eyes. As if it were looking at FOOD. Charley froze mid-step, then immediately regretted his decision. There were 3 Elite level demons headed right for him! What did it matter that a little demon goat was staring at him like he were a meal! So he ran! Ran for his life! But to his horror, the little white furry creature turned into a blur and tangled up his legs, sending him flying and sprawling onto the floor! And before he knew it, those same razor sharp white teeth were staring him in the face as he found himself looking straight into the mouth of the carnivorous goat! ''OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!'' He screamed and tried to move but found that he was bound by some sinister power, unable to budge an inch! But at that instant, the goat''s eyes suddenly turned sharp and darted to the side, as if sensing great danger as the fur on its body stood up straight! Then the goat moved its mouth away in a flash and then shrank! It shrank and shrank and shrank until it was smaller than Charley''s little finger, and then it slipped its way down the collar of his tunic and squirrelled itself away somewhere - in his pants! ''OH!!!! MY!!!! GOSH!!!!!'' Charley nearly fainted at the sense of being violated and defiled, but he forced his jelly-like legs to stand by sheer willpower - he had to flee for his life! And he rose just in time to greet the three bull-headed, gorilla-bodied, red eyed ravenous demons as they burst through the windows and entire wall where he had been spying on them from earlier! ''OHMYGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' Why were things going from bad to worse to rock bottom!!!?? He trembled, then fell to his knees in despair. Without a head start, what was he, a mere lower-Adept level cultivator to do against three monsters rippling with muscles and bursting with vigour...? So Charley closed his eyes and prayed for a swift death, prayed that it would be painless... And that all his enemies would be killed off just like he would be in a mere moment. He heard a loud roar and the pounding of heavy footsteps charge towards him and pressed his eyes shut in fear. Then he heard a solid *THUD* sound, then a thundering crash, then another *THUMP* and similar crashing sound. Then a third time. And then silence. Except for the sound of solid footsteps but this time, very different in their gait... How should he put it... Dainty? Graceful? Trying to be light-footed...? Then he heard the sound of breathing - no longer the heavy nosed breathing of a demon, but the even breathing of a human. And to his shock, he heard a girl''s voice call out to him. A sultry, seductive voice that literally dripped with honey, one that just at the merest sound of the voice awokened all his suppressed CARNAL DESIRES. "Boy... You''re that Lars'' friend, right...?" Charley gulped, trying to repress his natural reaction and shuddered in fear as he wondered if he were about to face a fate worse than death - his Yang energy sucked dry endlessly by a succubus! But he forced his eyes open a millimetre to squint at just who it was speaking to him. He opened his eyes and saw the attire first. Completely in black, wearing a pair of femme fatale high-heel stilettos. Sheer black stockings unable to hide the lean and well-toned legs underneath them. The racy looking black leather stocking holders apparently connected to an equally seductive leather garter belt, and just above that, a lacey-bordered black skirt so short it looked like just the slightest movement or just the merest hint of wind would reveal unmentionables. And the skirt joined to a tight form-fitting maid uniform with puffy short sleeves, lacey and goth looking. And a scarred, murderous face of a 2.2 metre tall hulking giant literally bursting with muscles - LITERALLY about to burst out of the maid uniform with his... *Ahem*, HER bulging biceps, triceps, pectorals and glutes. A stunning maid. Stunning in the sense that one punch would probably level an entire building. Charley''s eyes rolled up in his head as he fainted at the "beauty" he had just gotten a hard-on for, much to the surprise of the red-headed temptress decked out in a full-body black leather skin-suit that accentuated her every curve. And he mumbled out some incomprehensible nonsense even as the froth rose from his mouth and his head hit the floor with a solid *THUMP!*. "Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo... Mr goatherd... The hills are so high... The voices so loud!" Sharon frowned, but then changed to a smile as "she" lovingly stroked the boy''s cheeks and gave him a kiss on the lips. Then "she" easily picked him up and flung his body over "her" shoulders, looking like a father -- err, mother picking up her naughty child who refused to go to sleep and fell asleep on the living room floor. A smudged kiss-stain was left behind by the maid''s gargantuan lips, left behind by the lipstick she had just applied earlier. She obviously had started to take care of her skin and looks better, investing in high-quality Raccoon-brand cosmetics! But Seline pouted. "What was that nonsense??! He can''t even say thank you? After we saved his life...??!" Then she grinned evilly and her eyes flashed with a dangerous glint. "Oh well, as punishment for a man who can''t even stay awake to thank his saviour, I''ll just have to tell him just whose lipstick that is on his lips, ho ho ho ho...!" She laughed while covering her mouth with her hand, looking every bit as sensual as an actual succubus, and able to command droves of men to madness with lust to do her every bidding! Sharon winked at Seline and gave a dainty little curtsy as she carried the boy away to seek safety and left to reunite with Lars. 80 Cleaning Up 2 As Lars brought along the mass of children, he rubbed his forehead once more in stress. Just what was he going to do with this large group? And as he literally "kid-napped" the kids, he sensed two familiar auras in the distance converging on where he had last sensed Charley. ''What are THEY doing here...???'' As he saw Seline beside Charley, he looked surprised as well as somewhat undecided just how to react to the girl who had left him stumped and of two minds after their last encounter. He had to admit though, she was truly a bombshell and a greatly attractive woman and also intelligent. And from what had happened the last time, she wasn''t as cruel or heartless as he had thought... Maybe... She wasn''t that bad after all... Lars shook his head, snapping himself out of it as he neared the trio of his companions. Regardless how great a girl she might be, he still had Moira! ''I wonder how you''re doing right now...? Are you well...? Surely you are, right...? As a princess and all... Just wait for me! Just 6 months, just 6 months and I''ll make sure to come back for you!'' He promised himself as he now had a better grasp of this country and the relative power levels. He realised that he was still on the weak side, but with just a couple of Abyss Point (AP) exchanges, a rune and an artefact, he was confident he could bridge the gap in power with even the Mythical hero - King Vishnu himself! Or at least he could, assuming that he could amass enough wealth (AP and money) to obtain top-class boosts to his powers! So it came down once more to only one thing: MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY!!! Money truly did make the world go round, and his eyes turned green with greed as he thought about robbing the nobles blind once he settled things with this devil invasion! And with his secondary identity as Mikael... ''Heh heh heh...!!!!'' His corrupted brain and soul that had already fallen into the depravity of the Deadly Sin of Greed hatched countless schemes to cheat and connive money from those bloody rich fops!!! Within a short few minutes, the boy disguised as a middle-aged man reconnoitred with his companions, two of which he had not met for over a week while he had just seen Charley a moment ago... But he had to play his part as a middle-aged eccentric cultivator. What he didn''t expect were expressions of horror when he approached his old friends... And the words that left their lips without their realising it. "P-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p..." Upon hearing them stutter incessantly, "Mikael" frowned in irritation. What was this? Were they that stunned upon coming face to face with a near-Mythical realm powerhouse? So he spoke crossly and finished their sentence for them. "Yes yes yes, I know I''m powerful, or were you going to say powerhouse? Indeed, I slew the two Devil Lords. But let''s not waste time. You two, help me to arrange for these children I caught, I--" "PAEDOPHILE!!!" The one who had the least tact among the trio yelled at the top of his lungs, almost as if though he no longer valued his life as they were still in the middle of a devil invasion, granted, one that looked to be lessening as pressure as the bloodfield faded away. However, until the devils were finally routed by the city guard and the Four Families Patriarchs, it was not fully over yet. As was evidenced by the hundreds of annoying flies (actually mighty Elite to Grandmaster level demons) - which Lars incinerated impatiently as he stood mouth agape at the horrendous misunderstanding he had just caused. Even as his "friends" were not yet finished with their reaction of terrified disgust - so shocked that they didn''t even pay attention to the countless enemies who were turned to ashes by Lars/ Mikael! "MEGA HYPER ULTRA SUPER CALIFRAGILISTIC EXTREME SUPREME....." Then the three screamed together, united in their thoughts and words in their lambasting of the devil in human form before them: "PAEDOPHILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The trio, "Sharon"/ Sarin included, stared at him with eyes as if though they had just seen a mega paedophile - no, in their minds, they had really and truly seen an incomparably monstrous paedophile!!! ''OH MY GOSH!!!!'' Lars/ Mikael turned his face away, heart pounding furiously as he realised just what kind of scene he had just displayed to the entire public. Hundreds of children in various states of nakedness. With signs of injuries or trauma to their privates. Sobbing, crying in fear. Restrained by bonds of wind, albeit for their safety and to bring them away quickly. Brought along by an unknown, suspicious, scrawny and ragged looking middle-aged man? Paedo-alert! Paedo-alert!!! Even Lars himself could find no words to defend himself, only to shake his head in denial, lips trembling as he did not know how to respond. All he could do was bury his head in his hands and cry. * * * * * "Foolish humans! Don''t think that you''ve won just like this... Kuahahaha! Prince Morrow''s plans are endless, today is not the end! Live in fear forever of tomorrow! To Morrow''s side we return!!! Kuahahahah!!!" The Devil Lords retreated with haughty words, yet in truth they were fleeing like a cat with its tail between its legs! They had been beaten back soundly the moment the bloodfield had fallen, experiencing the backlash as the world will bore down on their powers, limiting their strength to perhaps to between 70-80% of their earlier might. Not missing a beat, the Patriarchs of the Four Great Houses struck in the window of time when their opponents were disorientated, managing to critically wound 3 of the abyssals while the last one, the hyena Devil Lord who had left the parting remark and bad pun had escaped with only medium injuries. Yet despite it being a "victory", the four elderly leaders who between them controlled more than 70% of the city could find no joy in the outcome of this whole turn of events. On the contrary, they were more than heavy-hearted, bordering on despair as they faced the monumental task of consolidating and recovering from the near collapse of Gorun city! In the aftermath of the battle, countless lives were lost while more than half the city had been reduced to rubble or debris. The situation in the heavily protected royal grounds was far better as homes of the rich and the famous were still standing, nearly untouched by the devil attacks, though a multitude of lives had been lost while defending through a human-wall strategy... However, things were exceedingly bad in the poorer areas of town - in fact, if one did not know better and wandered into the slums and the commoners'' market areas, they would think they were in the ruins of an ancient civilisation! Except for the fact that there were still many injured, bleeding, broken or dying people everywhere one turned. And even for those who were only lightly hurt or uninjured, there was no light or rejoicing anywhere to be seen, only the numb and unfeeling eyes of those who had lost too much to even process the emotions. It would be quite some time before those had were struggling from lost loved ones would be able to mourn and experience catharsis from this traumatic ordeal. The city guards were decimated, left with probably only one out of ten combatants still in workable shape. As a result, the city guard were unable to lend a hand in helping the populace get back on their feet again, as they themselves were reeling from the near collapse of their entire organisation! The military, the questers and the other groups of combatants such as mercenaries or even bandits who happened to be in the city fared not much better off - but at least they could claim to have a survival rate of upwards of 30%, much better than the city guard! And as she surveyed all of the mayhem and bedlam that broke loose in her city which had lost all semblance of law and order, Duke Leanne de Caldis sighed as she returned to her personal chambers in the palace grounds, bypassing the guards by soaring over their heads - not like they were in any shape to stop her in the first place! Once she reached her office chambers, she hurried into the now empty rooms; rooms that would normally be full of frantic royal administrators and the hectic hustle and bustle of bureaucratic matters. She arrived before her personal room and quickly rummaged around in her desk drawers before withdrawing a golden emblem upon which was engraved an easily recognisable mark - a coat of arms depicting an eagle''s head but with the eyes of a snake - Duke Silvan''s crest. She channelled her mana into it, coughing slightly as she still had not fully stabilised from the great exertion of power. After but a short few seconds, she heard a voice speak directly into her mind, travelling through the golden emblem straight into her thoughts. "Leanne, what gives...? It''s shocking for you of all people to look for me...! Haha! I thought you weren''t going to give me a chance anymore...? Are you like, finally up for a date...?" The dignified and regal manly voice echoed in her mind and but spoke in an aggravating way that got on her nerves. She tried to hold her anger in as she snapped back at him. "Shut up! You and your dates, going on and on and on about that! Don''t think I don''t know about your endless droves of scantily glad women you keep in the prisons and torture chambers! And don''t think I haven''t heard about the two new high-class girls you brought back from the Arena of Valour last week!" Her chest and shoulders heaved as she spoke resentfully - there was no way she was going to forgive that snake in sheeps'' skin for playing with her feelings! She''d never trust him or any other handsome man again! "Err... Calm down, calm down... I was just kidding, I know you wouldn''t have gotten in touch if it weren''t something important. So, what is it...? Oh and just so you know, those two were definitely NOT part of my harem... N-not that I have a harem, just saying, okay? One of them is Princess Moira, King Vishnu''s daughter, while the other is the girl I sent over to Gorun city. Oh yes, by the way, how is she doing? Has she settled in with the life in court over there...?" The nervous man who had just been berated by the violent woman spoke rapidly, clearly shaken by her outburst. So much so that he had even let slip a dire secret - how could he have indirectly admitted about his harem??? The voice seemed to sweat even over the telephone[1] mental call! Clearing her throat even as a knot of anger rose in her heart and throat, Duke Leanne fumed for a moment silently before deciding that the silkpants playboy was not worth her time of day! So she ignored everything he had just said and went straight to the point. "Silvan! I need your help urgently. We just received a devil invasion and could only get through it by virtue of an unknown and unexpected visitor''s assistance! I couldn''t get in touch earlier due to a bloodfield surrounding nearly the entire city and a Devil Prince''s peak-Legendary avatar obstructing me!" "W-what!?! Why didn''t you say so earlier! Okay, help is on its way right now as we speak!!!" And the two began to talk in length to plan the reinforcements and supplies needed from Silvan. Of course, all at a heavy cost, made even more so high by the fact that she was in no position to negotiate... When the conversation ended, Duke Leanne sat numbly in her chair, wondering how she would make it through the largest crisis in her entire life, maybe the largest crisis to have ever hit Gorun city...! She noted the return of Prime Minister Gurdev, nodding in his direction stiffly and receiving a nod in return. They were colleagues and both appointed by the crown, but didn''t really get along too well. The tan-skinned and tall man with a broad frame looked injured as well, though still in workable shape. Clearly he had gone to the ground to fight and not just sat here in the offices - as was characteristic for the hands-on head minister. She sighed and allowed herself a moment''s respite. Prime Minister Gurdev stayed silent and then decided to hold his report for later. He left as quietly as he had arrived, off to attend to the million and one items he had to settle. And when Leanne finally came back to her senses, she sat up straight in her seat, troubled and startled. She felt the arrival of a multitude of people. Only, strangely, the groups composition was exceedingly odd...! Several hundred flickering, weak lights of life which were led by a couple powerful auras, one of which was familiar - the saviour of the city, the unknown mage who had delivered the city from a far worse fate had all those at the Gorun Stadium been killed! She flew out of her office windows and headed straight for the courtyard from which the group would approach. And anxiety gripped her heart as she saw something which she thought would never be unearthed to see the light of day again. The signs of her sins were staring her right in the face - in the forms of the hundreds of individuals who had been defiled by the royal household of Gorun city. Lars, Seline, Sharon and Charley were leading a group of several hundred children, heading straight over to meet her. ''Sh*t... Looks like things are going to get hairy and nasty...'' 81 What I Want Is... In the palace, the panic arising with the devil invasion began to subside as the people who were mostly safe emerged to start work on the daunting task of restoration. However, this was only the case for the centre of government - chaos still reigned outside the relatively untouched royal grounds. Maids, servants, butlers, groundsmen, guards, porters and all kinds of palace staff hurried about trying to restore a semblance of order to the place. They wrinkled their noses but huddled down to perform every task no matter how bloody or gory it was - such as lugging away the hundreds and thousands of dead devilkin corpses littering the palace grounds! It was to this backdrop of noisy hustle and bustle that the Duke waited attentively for their guests to arrive. Duke Leanne de Caldis'' heart pounded as she saw the mysterious yet mighty mage approaching with his entourage of the red-headed girl sent by Duke Silvan, her gender-bender maid who literally rippled with muscles that grew larger every time she saw him, the controversial last remaining son of House Charlemagne and... A flock of children. Yes, a flock! Not any other word, but a flock! What else could you call the group of pre-pubescents suspended in mid-air by flows of air to keep them immobilised and from fleeing? But they were not JUST children. They were the signs of the misdeeds of Gorun city; misdeeds committed right under her nose by the rich, noble and decadent families. Misdeeds she had felt helpless to eradicate in her more than 20 years presiding over Gorun city! And somehow, her name began to be related and made synonymous with those acts of depravity, those perversions... She had cursed as the populace and the merchant class began to attribute the deeds committed by the noble families to her, just based on the sole fact that her soul-imprint was the Concept of Distortion! And she was certain that this was not just the actions of the common folk, but was also part of the schemes of the noble families who were eager to limit her influence and clout in the city. The old snakes of this city would not so easily hand over the reins of power to a "Lord" they perceived as an upstart newcomer from the capitol! And they still held more power than her whether in politics, commerce or total military might. As a result of their manipulations of the truth, she became known to all as the Pervert Queen of Gorun city! The very masterminds of the acts of evil had pinned their crimes on her, with even the second generation of the noble families believing their patriarchs'' lies! Though she could not blame the people of the city for their misperceptions towards her, she could do nothing but sigh and admit defeat. She was also culpable partly for the crimes occurring - for she was not effective in clamping down on the world of vileness hidden underneath the prosperous facade of the city! Even the Laughing Man''s network of underworld crime run by the wretched playboy Duke Silvan paled in comparison to the atrocities committed daily by the Four Great, Esteemed "Noble" Families! And so she clenched her fists tightly and grit her teeth while preparing for a big showdown as the group of children approached. She shook her head in worry... She was in no way ready for another fight after depleting most of her powers against the Devil Prince''s avatar! "Duke Leanne." The taciturn dark-skinned Prime Minister arrived lightly at her side, obviously also foreseeing potential trouble from this coming meeting. He had changed out of his ragged gaudy gold and green minister''s robes and was now dressed in a simple black pants and white tunic. His dull features were brightened up by a pair of eyes that were still sharp despite his advanced age and great fatigue. And as the duo waited for their guest, Leanne could only quietly and surreptitiously begin channelling her power in the depths of her mana core and slowly stir up her blood energy to prepare for a grisly battle. * * * * * * Duke Leanne looked on tensely as the middle-aged man with a pallid complexion and a curved sword strapped to his waist landed in the palace outer courtyard. She had quickly instructed all the guards not to obstruct their path, lest they incur the mighty warrior''s wrath and be wiped out! She watched him slowly lower down the children by careful control of the flows of mana, then both she and the Prime Minister bowed and spoke first. "Greetings, honourable benefactor. I am Duke Leanne de Caldis, representative of the crown and Kingdom of the Sands here in Gorun city. This is the head of all civil affairs, Prime Minister Gurdev." The bald and aged man nodded and spoke at that point, saying, "Honourable one, it is my pleasure to be graced with your presence." Leanne watched Lars, but seeing that he did not have any adverse reaction or objection, she continued. "We of Gorun city welcome you, o honourable one, and are truly grateful for everything you have done for us. We hope that you will linger on with us and receive our hospitality as thanks, and we will surely reward you for your great contributions in saving our citizens and defending our city! Just... It will be some time before we can muster the funds to pay you back - we hope... That you would be able to understand our situation..." Duke Leanne launched into a long greeting while the Prime Minister who also double-hatted as the Minister of Finance nodded firmly. The experienced player in the game of politics had spoken carefully, making sure to slip in promises of compensation to deter any potential wrath the man might have towards her and the city and to tie his benefits and prospering of the city. If his rewards depended on the city recovering, he wouldn''t be likely to stir up any trouble, right...? Even if somewhere deep in Leanne''s heart, she hoped he would - so that she could trample on those dastardly nobles once and for all! But she restrained her wild imaginations and bowed courteously - an action that was unbecoming of a Duke, the third highest ranked position in the nation after the King and the Prince and Princesses! Mikael/ Lars merely nodded and grunted, waving his hand to dismiss the pleasantries which he had no time for. "No need for that, your Grace. Yes, I understand the need to save the city and its citizens first, any rewards can come later." His stiff face stretched tight, making it look like he was grimacing. In fact, Lars was trying to smile, but his disguise made the expression less than friendly... "Honourable one, we thank you for your generosity and magnaminity. Might I ask - how may we address you...?" Seeing his assent and preference to do away with formalities, Leanne questioned carefully. "Your Grace, there is no need for honorifics; just Mikael will do. I''m merely a common wandering cultivator, I am no one special for such a welcome..." He spoke as he thought about what backstory he would provide if pressed further. "Yes, honour--Mikael. In that case, please call me Leanne as well, there is no need for formalities between equals!" The beautiful raven-haired woman spoke pleasantly and tried to make her guest feel more at east. Then, relieved that the conversation had gone relatively calmly so far, Leanne gulped slightly but hid it well. Then she pressed on and broached on the topic at hand, the glaring elephant in the room - the children. "Mikael, I would love to delve deeper into knowing you better, so that we could be of service and mayhaps find mutual points to collaborate and benefit one another. Only, I notice that the children... Need succour and assistance? Might I ask - what are your plans for the children...?" Leanne was tentative and treaded carefully, for despite the so far amicable discussions, in the world of politics and grandstanding, it was unknown just when a laughing friend would turn into a smiling tiger and devour you! Lars coughed, clearing his throat as he spoke. In truth, this was his first time interacting with people of such high stature! And that as an equal, instead of being a subordinate! "Hmmph!" He harumphed loudly, displaying his displeasure as an opening card. Then he flung his arms outwards, beginning to bring the terrified children down towards the floor. The throng of kids had been held "captive" for now nearly 15 minutes and were trembling, relieved to finally be back on solid ground! But they were still holding themselves back, not letting any sounds except for a tearful sob here or a frightened whimper there. They were afraid of just what their fate would be at the hands of the Pervert Queen Leanne de Caldis. Once they were safely lowered down (and he could finally relax his mana flows for awhile), he began to speak. "What a grand city! What an institution of nobility! What an establishment of integrity and honour! Upstanding and upright in your conduct! Why, I have never seen nor do I wish to ever see again such appalling and devilish a scene such as what I saw!" He raised his voice to resound throughout the palace courtyard, his dramatic words striking blow after blow on the reputation of the city and shaking the conscience of the two leaders! He continued, shaking his head in from disappointment, then raised gaze to the night sky, eyes flashing with fires of righteous anger! The children behind him were confused. Why was their captor now speaking in poems? Wasn''t he here to subject them to greater injustice and torture? Then Lars announced theatrically, his voice gritty and solemn, "For such cruelty to be found carried out openly...! For innocent children to be captured and treated like less than cattle...!! For it to be happening and going on under your very noses...!!!" His voice rose higher and higher, louder and louder as he got worked up and finally shouted. "What have you been doing all these years, huh?!? Have you been sleeping with the devil...?? Or are you the devil yourself!!? What I have found is just one place with already several hundred children, AND WHO KNOWS HOW MANY MORE DOZENS OF DENS OF EVIL ARE STILL HIDDEN OUT THERE!??" Lars'' words rang out defeaningly to the Duke and Prime Minister who, despite being shaken emotionally, maintained their cool exterior and a calm facade. They merely frowned and shook their heads in pity, as if shocked upon hearing this for the first time and sympathetic to the plight of the children! But their hearts and pulses were racing as they feared just what this man intended! "Duke Leanne! Prime Minister Gurdev! My demand is simple! So listen carefully! I care not for your promises of rewards or hints of sweeteners for me! What I want is only one thing!" "What I want is..." 82 The Tower of God 1 "What I want is..." The people surrounding Lars all waited with bated breaths, captivated by his booming rebuke and now dying to find out just what the middle-aged pseudo-Mythical mage would demand! Especially as it might impact their livelihoods - or even their lives if he declared hostility with the palace! So they dared not breath, waiting with rapt attention to find out what would happen next. And Lars spoke his piece sharply. "...For you to take care of these children, safe and unharmed, return them to their families, and guarantee the safety of not just them but their relatives as well!" Duke Leanne and Gurdev were stunned and frowning in confusion, while the surrounding crowds stood there shocked with mouths hanging wide open. Was that all??? So much drama just for such a simple demand??! The people nearby could not understand the implications of his demands, but the ravishing woman and her administrator of the city did. ''...What a cunning man. What a dastardly, wily and cunning man!'' Leanne bit her lip in consternation as she quickly worked through the ramifications of just what he had demanded. ''These children... Their existence is a black mark on the reputation of this city, living proof of the crimes that occurred... Not just that, by slowly questioning them, especially the older ones, slowly but surely the perpetrators will be unveiled... And then from there, those crime lords would not hold any loyalty to theiremployers - they would then immediately rat on the true dark hands behind the curtains - the noble families!'' ''The children will then obviously become targets of their captors and the ones behind their kidnapping in the first place... Which will reveal a trail... Does he really plan to pull through on this himself... Or...'' ''Perhaps his plan is to use a borrowed knife to kill the dragon!'' As their hearts pounded even more fiercely and their scalps turned numb from the impact of this short conversation, both the Duke and the Minister looked at each other at exactly the same time. And they saw a troubled, anxious image in each others faces! The more Leanne and Gurdev though about it, the more grave that seemingly simple request turned out to be! Sinister! Wickedly scheming, yet infinitely upright in his open and above-board plot! Magnificent! Outstanding! Preposterously effective! They wished they could clap their hands in awe of his one request that would slowly reveal the rotten underbelly of the city - and force the Kingdom of the Sands to either take responsibility... And cut off the snake''s head of the true demonic lords hiding in the shadows! The man himself would not need to make a single move, except to oversee that the Kingdom and city government kept their part of the "easy" promise - to protect and guard over the lives of the children and their families! Not realising that the lip she was biting was already bleeding, Leanne''s mind continued to spin endlessly as she agonised over what to do next. She looked at Gurdev and they quickly had a complicit understanding without even needing words - they had no choice but accept and then quickly get in touch with the capitol for even greater support! For after all, wouldn''t traces of Silvan''s involvement be revealed as well...? The only comfort Leanne and Gurdev had in all these was two things. Firstly, they themselves had never, ever, not even in the slightest bit been involved in the shady dealings of the city! Secondly... And it was this point that hooked them in so simply but so surely... If they played their cards right... They could launch a hostile takeover of all the power, authority, influence and assets of their enemies in one fell swoop! The two government representatives could not help but to have fervent gazes of fanaticism as they stared in awe of this man... No, this GOD of Scheming! Brilliant! Too f***ing brilliant! Too amazing and so frickin'' awesome that they were tempted to fall to their knees and disciple themselves to this man who had in one sharp stroke managed to derail the entire politics of the city all in a single conversation! And on top of all that... Who in their right minds would believe that a wandering warrior would appear out of the blue, one at the near-Mythical stage and just be a "nobody", "random passerby" or "part-time hero"??? No! It was certain that this man was not alone; he surely had a great backing! ''One that we must make sure to carefully and slowly suss out...'' "Sir... No, God... Erm, ahem, I mean, Mikael..." Leanne began speaking, then realised that she had mixed up her internal monologue with reality and tried to pass it off as a play of the ears. "Hmm...?! What is there you wish to say! I shall bear no discussions - answer clearly now, or I SWEAR - I Mikael Tumijo shall be enemies with Gorun city forever!" Lars, thinking that he had not obtained the buy-in from the woman and her aide yet, put his foot on the pedal and used his last bargaining chip. Unbeknownst to the beauty and her tall, dark and not very handsome minister, Lars was sweating, worried that the palace would not accept - and strand him with the throng of children!!! What a nightmare!!! Caring for and providing for the needs of even one child was already such a great task - what more six hundred of them! Little did he know that his simple request had been extrapolated so far and so wide to have country-shaking results! Little did Lars know that his fictional identity would become the firebrand to spark off a conflict between the crown and the many noble factions as well as the dark side of the underworld! And little did Lars know that his innocent request... Would be the beginning of the end for the Duke Silvan that he hated so much! But these are all a story for another time. Lars stood still, heart pounding as he hoped that his bluff would not be called. He had not much gas left in the tank - he wondered if he could really take them on at this time! But to his relief, his counterparts'' eyes that were burning with passion soon began to light up in excitement (which he did not understand) as they hurriedly began to nod and agree with his request! "Yes, yes yes yes yes! God--I mean, Sir Mikael, please, it is an honour that you would entrust us as such. But... We truly hope for your help and support in protecting them. Why don''t you stay in the palace and we can accommodate you while we get the children comfortable...? I''m sure they''re all cold and hungry right now." Lars nodded and breathed out a sigh. Looked like his plan worked! ...Little did he know... It worked a little bit too effectively. * * * * * The head steward of the palace was summoned and quickly took charge of the many children. Food and drink were not a problem and neither was space. However, there were not enough clothes of the right size for the kids. As such, a makeshift solution was decided upon - they tore down curtains of the older and unused rooms; halls and passageways that were once full of opulent parties of luxury and decadence. Then quickly cut out long sections of cloth and then used them to wrap up the kids in something like a simple toga. ''Better than nothing, I guess...'' Lars thought when he found out what they had done to take care of the kids. He had not agreed to make the palace his abode, but he did agree to linger on together with the Duke and Prime Minister. Leanne apologised that her daughter was not around, as she had left for a 3 month training session and would only be back in a week''s time. Her absence was a relief to her widow mother; at least she was safe in the capitol, one less thing to worry about during the high-stakes devil invasion! Gurdev withdrew as he had numerous matters to attend to in overseeing the city did not collapse overnight, while he released Selina and Sharon, who requested to be excused as they had other matters to attend to. But Lars demanded that Charley Charlemagne be made to stay. "This boy shall be my messenger and representative." Lars pointed at Charley and spoke matter-of-factly. Charley collapsed, unconscious, much to the shock and bemusement of Leanne. "....." Lars sweated, confused at the over the top and sudden reaction, before remembering that the boy only knew him as an apex powerhouse who could snuff him out with a sneeze. If he were in Charley''s shoes, he too would have a near heart attack at being appointed as the agent of a high and mighty godlike being out of the blue! Of course he would faint! Continuing to sweat, Lars spoke, "Erm... Maybe the boy is just tired... Could you like, someone, bring him to rest...?" He smiled sheepishly, though once more it looked like a stern and displeased grimace, prompting the stewards to hurry to bring the boy away to his resting chambers. While he was being taken away, Lars made sure to leave a simple alarm spell on the boy - just because he was in the palace didn''t mean it was safe... "Ahem, Sir Mikael, once more I express our city''s gratitude to your altruism in coming to our aid... You are truly our hero!" Leanne looked at the man with eyes that glittered with passion and a face slightly flushed due to her excitement at the man''s brilliant plan. But Lars felt uncomfortable as her eyes and face looked more like a woman in love! Creeped out, Lars backed away uncomfortably even as she leaned in nearer. ''We''re in public right now! What are you doing, woman!!! Kizorik!!! Help!!!'' Lars cried out mentally even as he kept a stern face but was sweating profusely. ''Heh heh heh kid... She''s not bad right...? She can be your sugar mommy! She looks filthy rich, with a frickin'' palace and all!'' Looked like the penguin was not in a mood to be helpful... Not helpful at all! "Hmmph! It is nothing to me. Leanne, I believe it is time for me to leave. Thank you for your hospitality, but I have my own arrangements." He spoke firmly and turned his body away abruptly so he could stop seeing the infatuated looks she was giving him. Duke Leanne''s eyes widened in surprise, then she anxiously said, "Oh! No, no... But then, how will I contact you again? I owe you a reward, you see... And, also, so that if you need any help, you can always reach out to the palace..." While she was speaking, she was already thinking about how to rope the mighty mage over to their side in the inevitable clash against the Nobles'' faction! ''If we can just get him on our side... Then we won''t be at the disadvantage at all!'' She shook with exhilaration at the thought... ...Making Lars misunderstand even more! Seriously uncomfortable as he didn''t dig the idea of a woman almost 25 years his senior (regardless of her beauty and good figure), Lars cleared his throat and thought quickly of how to excuse himself. "I will be entering secluded practice for awhile to recover from the earlier battle. However, you may contact me through my representative Charley or Lars my... Disciple. Oh, yes, there IS one thing I would like to check..." The still beautiful woman in her late 30''s nodded enthusiastically, saying, "Yes, yes; whatever it is, I''d be more than happy to help. What is it...?" "Well... There IS something... But I understand that the city will be short of funds in these coming months. As such, it would be too boorish of me to demand a monetary reward at this time..." "No no! We would never think so poorly of you, Sir Mikael! All you need to do is ask..." "Ah. Yes, that is very kind of you to say so, nevertheless, I will not impose on the city and harm the residents'' well-being in my greed. However, I too am in need of money. So... Is there any way to earn a large sum of money in a short span of time...?" With the Duke''s favour, Lars was pretty much rest assured of getting a free trip through the portal to Raccoon city and onwards to the All-Heaven Divine Empire. However, he prioritised strength for the time being, and he should always be on the lookout for an opportunity to amass great power in a short time! Duke Leanne tilted her pretty head, causing her silken black curls to flow down beautifully, an enchanting sight even to Lars who drew the line at women much older than him. Then she thought about it for a moment before giving him a radiant smile. Compared to when they had first spoke and now, she seemed to have no guile and showed him her most charming and relaxed side, giving him the feel like he were in the presence of a goddess of Nature and Beauty! Then she put a finger on her cherry lips and her face lit up as she recalled the upcoming event - one that she had put far from her mind for many, many years. "Well if it''s only to earn lots of money, there IS one option... Which is..." She paused momentarily before continuing with a serious tone. "...The Battle Through the Heavens..." "...To ascend the Tower of God!" "The Tower of God...?" Lars felt a deep resonance in his soul as he heard the words. ''Lars!!! OMG!!! Say yes! SAY YES!!!'' Kizorik urged him agitatedly and desperately, shocking the boy, then realising that Lars was someone who needed things to be explained to him, the penguin spoke like a bullet train. ''The Tower of God... How could it be here...??? Lars, do you know how much a single entry ticket to the Tower of God costs...?'' ''In Abyss Points...? No, of course I don''t. How much does it cost...?'' Kizorik paused for dramatic effect and fixed a dead serious gaze on Lars as he spoke. ''To enter the Tower of God is not a guarantee, but it is a chance... A once in a lifetime, once in a cosmos, once in a hundred trillion opportunity to ascend directly to the heavens in one fell swoop!'' ''Because..... An entry ticket costs 5 TRILLION AP!!!'' 83 The Tower of God 2 "T-the Tower of God...? The Battle Through the Heavens...?" Lars spoke out loud, shocked and speaking to both his penguin companion and the Duke before him. "Yes, haven''t you heard of it...?" Leanne cocked her head as she blinked, feeling that it was exceedingly odd that he did not know of it. She sipped her chalice of swirling red liquid as they spoke, savouring the taste. Lars leaned over and picked up a cup to take a taste as well, but choked and sputtered at the biting and acidic taste - totally not to his preference! Even as they took a short pause from the conversation, Leanne''s mind was shocked too. ''I thought... Every major sect and power on Yiluo planet knew of it... Unless he''s truly a rogue cultivator? And not aligned to any faction...?'' She maintained her smile despite her curiosity regarding her guest''s origins - but determined that she really had to find out just what his backing was! "Well if you''re talking about a lot of money... That IS one option... But it''s only for those below the age of 18... Is your disciple eligible...?" She blinked slowly and smiled brightly, forcing Lars to turn away for fear of falling for the alluring and fascinatingly mature woman! "Yes, yes... I am... I mean, my disciple is only 15 years old this year." "Ah, then... Well he IS eligible, it''s just that, I''m not sure if he can match up against the opponents... Most of them will be almost 18 years old this year and have a head start whether in years of practice or in physical and mana development... Even my daughter Helen and the other noble scions will be hard pressed to even make it past the first round... But..." She raised her eyebrows in curiousity at these words. "Ahhh, don''t worry, don''t worry... My disciple is more than capable of holding his own... All he needs is just the opportunity." Lars nodded, assuring the woman of his alter-ego''s capabilities. At that, Leanne smiled happily and laughed cheerfully, saying, "Of course, of course... I should not have doubted your great disciple''s strength..." "Well, the selection competition held at the Gorun Stadium where you were is actually held to select suitable candidates for that grand competition, one that encompasses the entire Leez continent! This competition is called the Battle Through the Heavens and is held once every 2 years to unearth the greatest talents." "These talents will enter the mystical pocket realm, the Tower of God where there are countless challenges, traps and snares. From there then be recruited into the true major powers of the galaxies and cosmo!" ''Huh? She''s talking about the ascent of the Tower of God as if though it''s just a test... Hmm... Lars! Probe further!'' Eyes widening in awe at the words he heard both with his ears and in his mind, Lars listened attentively as she continued her explanation of how to earn money; ready to ask for more details to satisfy his contracted demon''s queries. "Only, to qualify for that competition, first we have to pass the Nationals... And for the past 20 years, ever since I''ve arrived here, there''s been not a single person from Gorun city who could make it past even the second round of the Nationals, much less make it to the Continent stage!" "That is, until this year... Where my daughter who is only 17 years old but is already at the beginner Master level will be pursuing the ambitions of our Gorun city and the entire Northpoint region! We are pinning our hopes on her, and in the next competition, Natalie Sarouneh! This time, we will make it! To the Nationals![1]" Then she paused shortly, then finished off the last of her tale. "...And if she''s lucky..." "She''ll be recruited as an Outer Disciple of one of the major powers who sponsors this Battle Through the Heavens..." "The All-Heaven Divine Empire!" The five words resounded like thunder in Lars'' ears! ''That name again... Curses... Why does it seem like their shadow is over everything I''m doing...? Their all-pervasive presence... Like a scourge!'' Then he decided to check a bit more about the mysterious Tower of God. "So... What IS the Tower of God...? Is it like, some sort of local testing grounds? What is it like...? And how is it related to earning lots of money?" "The Tower... Well, to be honest, it''s not really known what it is, except that every 2 years at a set place and time, a vast portal will open. But as the number of entrants is limited, the various nations across the world strive against one another for entry!" "The world...? I thought it was just across this continent?" Frowning in confusion, Lars cocked his head slightly. "Ah, the thing is, there are several entrances to the Tower in various locations." Lars nodded. That made more sense. "And as for why there''s great money... Well, every time a person enters the Tower, they start at the lowest floor. It is said that, for every floor they ascend, they are able to have a wish granted up to the value of the floor they climbed to! Though, these are all rumours to us of Gorun city and the Kingdom - we''ve not ever had a contestant even get to the top 16 of the Battle Through the Heavens!" "Rumours have it that the greatest Empire of this planet, the Yiluo Empire was founded by just one girl who ascended to the 12th level... Some gossip says that there are more than a hundred levels to the Tower and if one were to reach the top..." She shrugged as she recited the hearsay she had heard over the years, surely exaggerated many times over. "...They could even become a God or..." "A Transcendent one!" Lars blinked slowly, trying to absorb what he had just learned - about the Yiluo Empire and its might and history, about the Tower of God and about the ability to make a wish come true. If that were true... Then if he ascended to the top of the Tower, wouldn''t he be able to wish for whatever he wanted...? Wouldn''t he be able to wish for his deepest, greatest heart''s desire...? He would wish... To have all the money in the universe! ''Sorry Moira... I''ll make sure to buy the Kingdom of the Sands once I have that money...'' But his mental voice did not sound repentant or sorry at all, instead he was overcome by greed! ''Lars... L-Lars!!! It''s the real thing, the real deal, the true blue Tower of God!!! Oh my gosh, how could there be permanent entrances on this planet? How could no one have discovered it???'' "S-sorry, then what about the earning money part...?" Lars overcame his shock and the noise his companion was making and got back to the main point of it all - why and how much money could he earn? "Oh! I, yeah, I got carried away and completely forgot! What happens is that, every time the entrance opens, the Yiluo planet controlled by the Empire will offer up the majority of the entrance slots to the Universe Alliance and the five major powers that rule over the entire cosmos! We ourselves of this planet only receive a handful of slots, which is why the talents across the entire world vie to be chosen ones of their continent in the Battle Through the Heavens!" "As for the money, all you need to do once you qualify to ascend the Tower of God is to either sign a contract with one of the major nations here, or if you are lucky, with one of the larger cosmos empires! For the truly truly special ones, they will even get scouted for a ludicrously immense contracts with the true major powers of the universe!" "...H-how much money could I get for those contracts?" ''Wow... He really doesn''t seem to know anything, does he...? Oh well... I guess hoping to get in touch with his backers is a futile effort; seems he really is just a lone cultivator...'' She sighed internally but continued her salesman''s smile as she answered the last bit for him. "Oh, before the amount, the types of contracts can be almost anything from service contracts to fight in the army, to endorsement contracts to do recruitment or product advertisements, or even disciple contracts which are the most loose of all - simply an agreement to join the major power''s ranks once you reach a certain realm of might!" "In terms of how much the contracts pay... Well, don''t quote me here, since we don''t even know of anyone in the Leez continent who has gotten one... But what we hear on the vines is that the payment is somewhere around 50,000 units..." "U-units...? 50,000...? How m-much is t... That?" Lars felt his heart racing as he heard an unknown unit of currency. His eyes flashed with fanaticism at the imaginary sound of the 50,000 units of yet to be determined value clinking together. Even if the conversion rate were only 1 unit to 100 platinum coins, he would still be filthy f***ing rich! He could make a platinum swimming pool filled with platinum coins and pay Legendary combatants to serve him drinks!! "Units... I''m not sure since none of us have ever seen them, much less needed to use them... But what I heard is that 1 unit is equivalent to 100,000 platinum coins..." *THUMP* Duke Leanne looked on in shock and panicked as she quickly channelled her still depleted mana to heal the collapsed man before her! To her horror, her guest had fainted right in front of her, nose spurting with blood! And if she were not mistaken, he was still mumbling something like a religious chant repeatedly even while supposedly unconscious... "5 trillion.... 5 trillion... 5 trillion... 5 trillion platinum..." 84 Charley and the Money Factor ies ''Next steps... Retrieve Charley. Go to collect the promise from Natalie Sarouneh.And while waiting for the finals of the selection tournament to start, maybe I''ll drop by Astrid Estreya''s place for that quest...'' Lars thought as he walked with even paced behind the servant Duke Leanne had assigned to lead him to where Charley was resting. Once Lars/ Mikael recovered, he thanked the confused Duke Leanne and acted as if nothing had happened. Then he quickly excused himself, finished off the drinks and swallowed it half-choking when he realised just how much he hated the terribly caustic mead of some sort. "T-this way, please f-follow this servant, Great Lord..." Mabu, the palace worker assigned by Duke Leanne, led the way to Charley''s chambers. He was shaking with every step but trying his best to rein in his fearful reaction. Lars nodded and waved for him to hurry up - as planned to quickly leave with the boy he planned to recruit as his agent. All the while, he was shaking his head and sighing, two tissues stuffed up his nostrils until the flow from the ruptured blood vessels in his nose stopped! ''T-too embarrassing... I''m t-too weak to lust... Lust for money...'' ''OF COURSE YOU IDIOT! BUFFOON!!! WHY CAN''T YOU BE STRONGER WILLED LIKE ME HUH??? EVERY SINGLE TIME A PALTRY SUM OF MONEY GETS MENTIONED, YOU CAN''T STAND IT AND LITERALLY BLOW YOUR LOAD FROM YOUR BLOODY NOSE!'' At those words, Lars frowned in irritation. Who was this gambling addict penguin to speak about self-control and being strong-willed? But he didn''t speak that out exactly... No, those words were letting the furry little rascal off far too easily! So he snapped back mentally at his "buddy", no longer with any sign of respect or courtesy for the demon, not like when he had first started! ''Shut up!!! Who do you think you are!!! Do you think you could retain consciousness at the prospect of scammin-- I mean, legitimately winning a competition for kids-- I mean, people my age and earning a sh*tload of money???'' ''Hmmph!!! YOU SHUT UP!!! Who cares about some useless pieces of metal! It has no value! Worthless! And who are you calling a gambling addict???'' ''.....I didn''t call you a gambling addict, isn''t that your own guilty conscience speaking??? Whatever DID happen to the almost 30,000 AP you earned, huh? Your commission and portion of the sacrifice? And how about the AP we earned from killing those Devil Lords...? When are you going to cough that up? Or are you planning to embezzle that as well???'' ''WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THERE''S NO WAY I''D EMBEZZLE THAT AS WELL!!! I WAS JUST, JUST, JUST... Just waiting for a chance like right now to tell you about your earnings!!!'' Then the penguin was stunned and realised what he had just admitted and protested loudly. ''WHAT DO YOU MEAN AS WELL!!!! SINCE WHEN HAVE I EVER EMBEZZLED ANYTHING??!?!?!'' The penguin rabidly frothed at the mouth and tried to assault the boy in his mental world. But it was literally like a harmless penguin trying to assault a grown man, so Lars merely chuckled and followed the skinny and short Mabu through the long and winding passageways to meet with his first recruit into his team. Once he had Charley on his team, he would then look for suitable investments. Given how shrewd the boy was, he just needed some backing and some capital to strike it rich! ''Of course, he probably needs to be bound by a soul-slavery contract first, heh heh heh... Else knowing him, he''ll probably rob me blind in less time than it takes to say his name!'' He cackled evilly, not realising that the man who was leading him was already sweating profusely in fear - he was dreading this experience of leading the insane, dirty and gaunt looking madman behind him! He could already imagine it - Lars & Co, the richest and most influential company in the entire cosmos! At that stage, who was there who could stand against him...? What All-Heaven Divine Empire, what Universe Alliance? He could just throw money at them until they drowned in coins! Oh, and he would remember to give some allowance to Moira, probably 2 platinum coins a week. That should be enough for her to spend right? He couldn''t give her too much, lest he spoil her... Thought the man who planned to swim in an ocean of glittering coins... "G-great Lord... Y-y-your servant, I mean, your man! Your man is here..." The pasty skinned Mabu bowed so low that Lars could see the back of his neck - his body was bent almost in an "A" shape! And the poor man was trembling in fear, afraid that he would somehow or other incur the wrath of the lunatic devil-slayer before him! "Thank you, good man. Here''s a tip for you." Lars tossed out a bag that clinked heavily as it hit the floor, then dismissed the man as he walked in to retrieve Charley. Behind the middle-aged Lars who had already entered the room, the servant suddenly tumbled to the floor, legs turned to jelly in fear and now relief at his life being spared! What an ordeal! Hurriedly, he picked up the bag of coins and ran back to his normal duty post, ran all the way without looking back, left or right a single time through it all! And by the time he realised where he was, he was back in the servants'' quarters, panting and sweating in gratitude - he was alive! "Hohh~!! Mabu! You''re back! How did it go! I see you got a hefty tip over there...!" His servant buddies, his good brothers saw him arrive and laughed happily when they saw the fist-sized bag jingling in his hands. "Ohh!!! Come on, come on! Open it up! That guy must have been pretty generous!" "Naww!! He looks like a miser, that one! Still, that''s really generous of him to give you a whole bag..." *PIAK!* A sound of a tight slap ringing across flesh was heard as a roar of outrage was heard, followed by a scuffle. "YOU JUST REPEATED EXACTLY WHAT I SAID! DIDN''T I JUST SAY HE''S GENEROUS??" "MOTHER F***ER THAT DOESN''T MEAN YOU GOTTA SLAP ME!!" At that, the first speaker who looked to be the oldest among the male servants shushed them and calmed them down, saying, "It doesn''t matter who''s right! What matters is... Mabu is buying us drinks tonight!!!" "HO!!!!!" "YEA!!!!" "FABULOUS!!!" At those words and the comforting thought of drink, the band of servant brothers raised their voices in loud support and began to settle down. With all the mayhem in the city and the heart-breaking events hitting countless of their homes and families, the men needed something, anything to take their minds off the tragedy they were facing. Even if they didn''t know whether there would still be any bars or inns still open in this chaos, they tried not to think about it. And so the crowd of servants quickly gathered around the still blur and confused Mabu who looked left and right in shock. It was only then that he remembered the bag he was holding. Excited and eyes flashing with expectation, he opened the bag... Only to find pieces of scrap metal piled up - and one bronze coin swimming in the chunks of metal. "S-so stingy...!!!!" Unlucky Mabu cried as his servant friends laughed at him. * * * * * "Charley! Charley! Wake up, Charley!" The aforementioned boy opened his eyes groggily, rubbing them to clear his vision. He hadn''t realised just how exhausted he was - in fact he had regained consciousness some time ago but collapsed back in fatigue on the impossibly soft and comfortable bed. Even if it were just a low-grade guest room, it was still leaps and bounds better than what he was used to nowadays. Often he would end up just sleeping on wooden boards or crates! The mere fact that he could lie in a downy bed... ''What a luxury...'' He yawned and turned over onto his right side, eyes closing once again comfortably as he buried his face in the pillow and began to doze off again. "Comfy...? How long more do you plan to slee--" Charley''s eyes snapped open as he heard the voice whispering sinisterly in his ear and shot up out of bed... And his head slammed right into Lars'' nose and face! Normally if Lars were ready and circulating his mana to protect his body, the merely Adept-level boy''s head would not even shake him a single millimetre - but this was such an unexpected move that he had no time to do so. And his physical body was still only at the lower Elite-level, the minotaur bloodline not yet fully developed to its full Legendary potential! As a result, his not-yet-recovered still-bleeding nose was smashed right into, knocking out the tissues and causing a new gush of blood to rush out - right onto Charley''s face! ".....!!!!!" "!!!!!!!" "IDIOT!!!!" "YOU ARE THE IDIOT YOU SMELLY OLD MAN! WHAT KIND OF PERVERT SNEAKS INTO A GUY''S BEDROOM TO WHISPER IN THEIR EAR WHILE THEY SLEEP!!! PERVERT!!!!! PAEDOPHILE!!!!!" Lars was speechless and had no retort for those words as the blood dripped down his chin. * * * * * Once they were both cleaned up of blood and Lars dug around and found new tissues for his nostrils, he rapped his knuckles on Charley''s head heavily with a firm *BOP* sound, leaving a swollen bump on the top of boy''s head. "Follow me!" Lars stormed off quickly, not bothering to wait for the boy. Charley followed behind at some distance, reeling from equal parts trepidation and confusion. What did this smelly old man want from him? Whilst Lars'' mind was racing with evil intents in mind. Just how should he punish this boy whose mouth was too sharp for his own good...? ''Heh heh heh... I''ll make sure you regret the day you ever crossed me, Charley!!!'' ''...'' Kizorik facepalmed. What a bunch of kids. * * * * * One thing had to be mentioned. Due to the chaos of the devil invasion, the news of the mighty contestant #777 Lars had not spread out to the city. As a result, there were still three pathetic groups of people preparing to track down the boy who had somehow or other crossed them... Hunter Karel and the crime ring under the "Blacksword" Susano; of the Four Lords of Underworld serving the Laughing Man. The hapless bumbling Masra and Captain Eniev of the city guard working under Gaius Trenel. And the high-and-mighty mere Grandmaster raider, Sand Crab Byrus, a raider of the northern beastmen tribes, striving to expand their influence. Three pitiful groups of big-headed show-offs who would stir up a hornet''s nest... And in the next few days, end up causing their faction to deliver over all their possessions, power, influence and MONEY of their factions on a silver platter to their target, Lars... Fools seeking their own doom... Money factories! 85 Aftermath 1 Lars led Charley back through the dilapidated streets as he looked out for where they could make their base. Though it was late at night, people were still up and awake, moving about the streets as they set about clearing the corpses and piling them up in a huge bonfire to burn. Despite their weariness and the fact that many of those corpses were those of their loved ones or neighbours, they had no choice. It was either to dispose of the bodies now, or to join them in eternal slumber from the disease and pests that would accompany the rotting carcasses! Trying hard to keep away from the filth and dirt, mysophobic Lars actually even kept a constant sheen of mana around his body as a shield from the smells, dust, germs and bacteria. Charley though was not so lucky, but he had grown up in squalid surroundings and did not mind too much. Only, it really was too much death surrounding them. That and the hollow, lifeless eyes of even the living, despairing of how they would survive through the coming days. If not for the assistance announced by the city guard, military and the Gorun city government, they would have given up hope entirely already! Even so, there were many who had fallen to depravity, minds turned insane by the sheer pressure and daunting task of rebuilding all that they had lost. Those turned to violence, crime, ****, destruction or blind madness - and had to be put down by the citizens themselves. Those in charge of keeping law and order were themselves struggling just to stay conscious from tiredness. That is, those few survivors who remained alive from the once burgeoning ranks of combatants and defenders! After travelling for just a couple of minutes out of the royal grounds and through the noble district, Lars did not bother to continue any further. If even the noble district was so damaged, what more the poorer areas of town...? As compassionate a man as he was, Lars could not bear the heartache of seeing the tragic, poor and nearly crushed lives of those of the slums... And yet he knew, just as he had, the orphaned, the poor, the downtrodden were those who would be the LAST to give up. They would fight on, striving to survive against the odds... Despite the fact that those odds were greatly stacked against them, as if the world itself were betting against their prospering. Lars then nudged Charley to lead the way to some place that would have room. It was likely that with many buildings destroyed or with the staff and owners likely dead, the great throng of visitors in Gorun city would be packing every inn like sardines! Charley gingerly led the way and they soon found themselves before an expensive looking boarding house. To their surprise, this very first place they tried had rooms available! This was outside of their expectations, what with the many visitors and travellers for the bi-yearly tournament and auction forced to extend their stay. The city might be pretty much back in order with 99% of the devils and demons eradicated, but the same could not be said for the roads outside. It was hell out there, and unless a party had a Grandmaster-level warrior or two and the perseverance to last it through miles of attacks, only then could they brave the roads home! As for the teleportation portal, Lars learned to his dismay that it was shut down temporarily - until the enforcers of the Leez continent declared that teleportation travel was safe from the devils'' intrusion! And so, the thousands if not tens of thousands of visitors would have to seek lodging - that is, if they were still alive! But soon it became clear just why this place, the most expensive of lodging places, had rooms left. That was because it cost too much... "One night will be 2 platinum coins. No bargaining, take it or leave it." Normally they would expect the speaker to sneer and speak condescendingly as he disdained the poor-looking beggars before him. But the front-desk man in this inn had bloodshot eyes, a dazed expression and propped himself up with his elbows on the counter. He looked like he had been mourning, crying nonstop, but unable to avoid working at such a ghastly time. Lars slowly nodded and decided to pay the platinum coins. He looked around and saw that many of the people sitting in the common area and lounge were rough and tough men and women. Almost all of them looked worse for the wear. Perhaps the rich guests had deemed it too risky to be separated from their bodyguards and decided to just pay for their protectors to stay with them - despite the exorbitant cost! Their presence drew some watchful gazes as they finished checking in and made their way up the staircase, but after a while, their observers seemed to lose interest and returned to brooding over their overpriced drinks and quiet murmurs while they half-heartedly gambled. * * * * * "Do you have any personal belongings you need to retrieve...?" Lars asked Charley once they were in the rather comfortable and spacious room. "Erm... No... Everything important I have is always with me..." Charley replied kind of half heartedly. Though he *WAS* eager to do well with his new "boss", he was also perturbed not just by the devil invasion, threat to his life and unexpected new employer, but also by the sharp-toothed baby goat that was still hidden in his pants... "Ah alright then, I do have some things lying about still but nothing important..." Lars nodded and then his mind drifted slightly due to tiredness. He doubted whether those unimportant items like dry rations and other supplies could have survived the razing of half the city. In comparison, Charley was slightly more rested and asked, "Say, now that we finally have a chance to talk, could you like... Explain what role you have in mind for me...? Why recruit me in the first place?" At that, Lars realised his slip up - he still hadn''t said anything after draggin the boy all the way over! Knowing the rascal and his wicked tongue, he might very well end up slandering the persona of "Mikael" as recruiting the youth for unmentionable deeds! "Ah, that... Well... Let me show you something, then you''ll understand..." Then Lars froze, realising his slip of tongue. The dirty minded boy would surely--! And just as he expected, Charley''s face turned pale and he backed off 3 steps immediately. His lower lip trembled and his eyes widen, aghast at the filthy things he was imagining! His hands rose up, one covering his chest and another his groin as his face turned into a look of self-pity as if though he were crying, "Woe is me!". Sighing, Lars did not bother trying to explain himself. It was useless. Better to just demonstrate. So he waved his hands and removed his disguise with the assistance of mana - the process being much faster than putting on the disguise in the first place. Meanwhile, Charley had already closed his eyes and looked away like a damsel in distress who had been kidnapped and was expecting to be ravished by her lust-crazy captor! When Lars saw that self-pitying face, his blood boiled and the veins on his forehead throbbed - he felt like slapping this kid left and right to teach him to not always be so dirty-minded! "Charley! Look!" "No no no!! Please, I beg you, I don''t swing that way, please, please... I-I-I... I''ll find you many other young boys if that''s what you like!! Just please let me go, boo hoo...!" Charley began crying in earnest, tears flowing down his cheeks as Lars fumed. "Idiot! Open up your eyes and look! Charley, it''s me! It''s me! Lars!" And as he spoke, the weary but still heroically handsome Lars stormed over and picked the pathetic boy up by the collar and shook him a few times for good measure. It was at that point that Charley finally dared to squeeze one eye open just the littlest bit, then jammed it shut immediately as if though he were afraid of what he might see. Then he yelled in shock and opened his eyes again, doubting whether what he saw was truly real! And this time he was so astonished that he flailed about and nearly kicked Lars where it would really, REALLY hurt! "Come on, stop panicking! Yes, I''m alive and survived! Yes, I''m also Mikael, and yes, I *AM* a near-Mythical Legendary magic swordsman! It''s really me, Charley!" But Lars also sighed in relief as he thought, ''It''s a good thing I coated my body with solid mana reinforcement first... This bugger kid is too irritating and troublesome!!!'' That was because Charley really did have exceptional accuracy - his last two thrashing kicks while he was flabbergastered managed to land directly on Lars'' protected family jewels, both times with a solid *CLINK* *CLINK* sound! Ph-ew! "Oh it''s you. Okay, you can put me down alrea--Oof! Ouch!!! Hey! Come on!!! I wasn''t ready yet! That hurt, you know?!!" The loud-mouthed boy cried out in pain when Lars dumped him unceremoniously on his bum on the hard wooden flooring of the 2nd floor, then complained incessantly, muttering, "Kids these days, they don''t even know how to respect others... Sigh..." Lars did not know whether to laugh or to cry. This youth was really too brazen for his own good! The moment he realised that it was his acquaintance from the Gorun Stadium, he no longer had even an ounce of respect or deference! "Alright alright. Yes it''s really me. Skip all the useless chatter for now - get some rest and I''ll brief you more tomorrow. To put it simply, I won the preliminaries and the bet against Natalie Sarouneh on your behalf. As promised, you''re gonna work for me - and the first thing you''re going to do tomorrow morning is to lead me to collect our bet from her! For now, you can rest and inform your family about your following me." Lars explained quickly while the grumbling and sour-faced Charley clambered to his feet. He was definitely exaggerating - which Adept-level trainee would be hurt by being dropped on his butt? "Any questions...?" Charley shrugged when he heard Lars'' instructions and at his question, thought about it for a while then raised his brows haughtily and asked. "How much?" "...?" Lars blinked. What was he talking about...? "How much what...?" At that, Charley frowned then sighed angrily, as if he were fed-up talking to a country bumpkin and losing patience. This infuriated Lars, the corner of his lip began twitching as his hands grew itchy with the desire to pound this boy so badly his mother couldn''t recognise him! Then Charley clarified and said, "How much are you going to pay me...?" Lars was taken aback at those words, he realised he hadn''t considered paying his employees! Which made sense... It *WAS* true that he wasn''t buying slaves but salaries workers, right...? Though getting indentured slaves did sound more attractive... ''Hmm... Let me look into purchasing some slave seals for Charley and my next few slaves--I mean, workers... Ehhehhe!!!'' He was smiling dumbly but then remembered that the boy was expecting an answer. So he answered. "Don''t worry, I''m a generous paymaster. I''ll always pay you on time, every time! Don''t worry, don''t worry about that! Yeah..." Charley furrowed his brows even deeper at those words and pressed further, saying, "Come on! You can''t expect me to agree to a job without knowing the pay and job scope right! At least the pay! Come on, come on, tell me!" Lars sucked in a deep breath and then held out his hand for a handshake as he said, "10 silver coins..." Charley perked up slightly and thought about it. 10 silver or 1,000 coppers a month was actually a pretty good monthly salary, given that there would surely be many perks to be had in serving a veritable powerhouse of the continent! Assuming accommodation and food would be mostly provided by his employer, and assuming that normal monthly expenses were 45 bronze a month, he would be left with about 950 coppers monthly. In a year that would be... 11,400 coppers or 11.4 golds a year...? If that was his starting pay, he could probably negotiate for a better contract after a year of service... Add to that the security and safety of having the reputation of a near-Mythical being to back him up, as well as the potential for extortion and collecting protection fees... This was an opportunity too good to let slip by! So Charley quickly clasped hands with Lars and said, "Done!" while smiling with satisfaction. Lars was surprised though as the contract seal was formed by their handshake, then spoke with surprise in his voice, "Oh! That''s great. So 10 silver coins for the 10 years of service, I was surprised you''d accept the contract... I thought you''d negotiate for sure..." *THUD* A sound of a boy fainting could be heard. "...Is fainting this boy''s hobby...???" Lars said wryly even as he pretended to sigh and flipped Charley onto one of the two beds, a scheming glint in his eye. ''Kiddo... Remind me never to get on your bad side...'' A fearful Kizorik shrunk back into a corner, dreading the day he ever made Lars mad... * * * * * ''Let''s see... Since I finally have some time... I think I should check out the illusion array''s demonic inheritance...'' After completing the preliminaries and exiting the illusionary world, Lars had not had a moment to spare to check out the treasure he had received. After that, he had been hopping from place to place until he finally left the palace and was now here. Only now could he catch his breath and consolidate his powers - whether his minotaur bloodline, his now burgeoning second mana core, his Demon-Hunter Arts as well as... The legacy of the demonic inheritance! ''Yeah... It should be some pretty good stuff, kiddo! Here, this is what we received.'' An incandescent globe of light emerged as Kizorik spoke, transferring out from Lars'' mental world into the real world. The globe hovered about in the air before Lars as he looked on in awe, admiring the beautifully carved and ornate egg-like object. ''Go on, boy, open it. It should be a time capsule, an incredibly priceless demonic shell made to lock only the most precious items inside! It freezes time for whatever the contents are, and this incomparably expensive container is used only when there is a world-shaking treasure that needs to be frozen in time!'' Kizorik urged Lars onward as the boy lifted up his hand to touch the golden and glowing egg. The moment he touched it, it split in half cleanly down the middle from the top to the bottom, revealing a blinding flash of light! ''Ouch!!! Damn!! It''s a good thing I already sealed off the room and placed multiple wards of concealment!'' Lars peered through the cracks of his fingers as he tried to make out just what it was that was revealed through the radiant light. And then a look of wonder slowly dawned across Lars'' face as he laid eyes on what was unveiled. And as Lars beheld the incredible sight before him, both his and the old-timer demon penguin''s eyes widened in shock and amazement as they saw an unbelievably marvellous sight! "This is..." ''Lars! Lars!!! We''ve hit the jackpot...!!! That is...'' 86 Aftermath 2 [The next morning] "Excuse me! Excuse me! Great Lord Mikael, are you there...?" A voice called out loudly from outside Lars/ Mikael and Charley''s room, jolting them awake as they stirred themselves from their sleep. ''Wha... So early...? Who could it be...'' Lars rose drowsily and yawned as he peeked over and saw Charley awakening too. He looked at the sky outside through the window and saw that it was still dark - it was not even 5 AM and they woke him already?!? "Who is it?" Lars shouted out, hoping that whoever it was would just go away quickly. "Great Lord! You really are here...! Our deepest apologies, we had not meant to trouble you, nor did we intentionally trail you to this place. However, it is an emergency and all the great Lords and Ladies of the nobility are summoned by Duke Leanne. And, she wondered if you would wish to participate together, to grace us with your esteemed presence!" Charley stared at Lars, seeking his decision - but based on his expression of reluctance, it was clear that he sorely preferred to just get some sleep! After all, the two of them had barely slept 4 or 5 hours before being rudely awakened! "Ah...? Ah...! Alright, alright... I''ll join you... Just give me a moment... To wake up and... Change..." Lars sighed and slipped out of bed heavily and stretched before beginning to get ready. Tempted as he was to just tell them to f*** off so he could go back to sleep, he might as well sow some seeds of cooperation while the relationship was still at a budding stage. Then Lars glared at Charley who continued to lie in his bed under the sheets and was looking at him helplessly with an expression that said, "Do I... Have to go...?" Lars glowered at him until he gave in and got out of bed. * * * * * When Lars and Charley arrived at the palace grounds once more, the two stewards and four guards leading them bowed deeply and handed them off to a feminine looking man in luxurious purple garb. He had thin eyebrows that looked like he groomed them along with long lashes adorning large sultry eyes. His lips look slightly too red to be natural while his black hair was slicked back, making him look rather handsome. His face and skin were clean and unblemished with nary a spot or wrinkle. Truly a perfect example of a metrosexual man! The man gave them a once over then sneered, the disdain clear in his gaze and expression. Then without saying a word, he beckoned them to follow, turned around and began to walk, not even deigning to tell them his name! ''...What a pompous ass!'' Charley wiggled his eyebrows as he glanced at Lars, the meaning in his movements clear. ''I know right...!'' Lars smiled wryly and shook his head, but they both decided to just follow along without complaint. They followed the man for what seemed to be forever but was probably only 6-7 minutes, at which point they approached an anteroom where several groups of servants and armed guards sat waiting. At one end of the anteroom was a large set of double doors - Duke Leanne''s audience chambers were most likely through those doors. As was to be expected, the Duke''s own guards stood at attention on either side of the entrance to the throne room. However, even from where they stood afar off, they could already hear sounds of heated arguments going on from through the doors! One man stood up as they were approaching and stepped forward to greet their purple-attired guide. He waved from the distance and called out as they walked closer. "Ahh! Butler Rashid! There you are! Oh, are these the representatives of Lord Mikael?" The grey-haired man greeted them, his bushy moustache and beard moving up and down as he spoke. Lars and Charley stared at him and wondered how the man could eat through the forest of grey hairs... But decided not to comment and injure his pride. "Tch, Head Butler Idris, how dare that Mikael reject our Duke''s invitation! And he dares to send these--" The feminine Rashid shot a resentful glare at the boys out of the corner of his eyes, "--whippersnappers in his stead!" "Now now, Rashid... In the first place, as a near-Mythical combatant, he is our Duke''s equal! He does not owe her any allegiance and yet chose to protect the city. And he has even taken on some serious injuries while defending our helpless citizens, even saving the General and Jamal boy''s life! How can you find fault with him for such a small thing...? Isn''t it normal for him to be recuperating after such a battle? Can we truly begrudge our benefactor such a thing...?" The wise and knowledgeable looking Head Butler spoke at length with a comforting voice, both encouraging and rebuking his subordinate for his disrespectful attitude. But Rashid clearly did not take the advice to heart, instead harumphing and storming off after shouting out only a short sentence, "Fine! Take care of things your way! Who does he think he is, just a commoner but he thinks that he can stand on equal status with the noble lords and ladies? Preposterous! If I were the Duke..." His muttering trickled away as he grew further and further away, leaving a bemused trie of 2 boys and 1 man who was shaking his head in pity. "Don''t mind him, come, come, I''ll lead you in. Her Grace instructed to bring you in as soon as you arrived." Lars and Charley shrugged, glanced at each other and followed the man as he brought them past the guards and into Duke Leanne de Caldis'' great throne room. He stopped for a moment to inform the man in charge of announcing guests'' arrival and then nodded as the doors were opened for them. "...The Great Tree Sect! What use have they been! I paid them so much, so so much just for the promise of protection and a trial in their disciple exams, but he didn''t even appear during the whole past 48 hours! We need to send our own people, not some outsiders! This is family we''re talking about, FAMILY!!!" "I told you, it doesn''t matter if it''s family or not, we can''t afford the manpower. If we leave our city defenceless, we--" A dispassionate voice spoke, one that was weak but still powerful and carried an air of dignity. "FARHAN JAMAL!!! HOW DARE YOU! WOULD YOU SAY THE SAME IF IT WERE YOUR CHILD??! I DARE YOU TO SAY YOU WOULD!! COME ON!" An indignant man roared in response, obviously one who bore at least the same level of authority. "Gentlemen, let us be calm." A booming deep voice interjected, the familiar voice of General Weres. "I believe that Farhan is just saying that we don''t have the people! Who would you send? That''s exactly why we need to ask them for help...!" "Hmphh! Don''t think that I don''t know what you''re doing. Don''t forget you are the very one who failed to protect my beloved Natalie! You and that Estreya pansy! You''ve both failed completely!! How are you going to be responsible if they don''t return safely??!" "LEYO! How dare you! Don''t forget that my Astrid is among those kidnapped as well! And don''t forget also the reason behind their kidnapping!" A gentle sounding man rebuked the earlier speaker, though at this moment he was not gentle at all and raised his voice in anger. As they stepped through into the grand throne room, the heated discussions within could be heard for a moment before they fell silent; the speakers watching to see who was entering. "Announcing the arrival of Great Lord Mikael Tumijo''s representatives! His disciple, Miller Knight Larsson and his agent, Charley Charlemagne!" Lars and Charley walked into the hall and saw there was a grand wooden table laid out in the centre of the throne room. The rectangular table looked like it was originally for dining. The patriarchs of the Four Noble Houses looked like they had been seated together along the rectangular table with General Weres who looked to be trying to placate and keep the peace. At the head of the table were 3 people: Prime Minister Gurdev, Duke Leanne de Caldis and one more older man with a spear who looked far older. Right now, 3 of the four patriarchs were standing, engaged in an aggressive argument. Only one of them was still seated with a solemn expression on his face - presumably the only one who had not engaged in the argument, the patriarch of House Trenel - Patriarch Mallard Trenel. Rounding off the attendees was the older man who was seated on Duke Leanne''s left hand; a wizened gentleman with long white hair who sat with his chair pushed far away from the table. He had his eyes closed as he sat with one leg up on the chair, his knee pressed against his chest. The wooden spear he had propped against his chest with point facing the ceiling was embraced by him lovingly. Despite his senile appearance, the valiant aura he exuded caused even Lars to feel threatened as the man''s eyes flitted open to gaze at the boy for a moment too long - before he closed them once more and seemed to return to his slumber. "Gentlemen, seeing as I am the only lady at this table, as usual, it befits me to humbly beseech you: Shut up and sit down! We can talk it out calmly, that will get us results quicker!" Seeing that the guests had arrived, Duke Leanne finally spoke her mind, asking everyone to take their seats and have a civil discussion. Though still fuming with anger each for their own reasons, the patriarchs smoothed their robes down and sat down, albeit while still throwing glares at one another. Then Leanne turned to face Lars and Charley. She smiled slightly, although her brow still looked strained from the stress and demands of running the ailing city! If Lars were not mistaken, she had not slept a wink since last night, based on the dark shadows under her eyes. "Greetings, young man. I presume you must be Lars, the disciple of Lord Mikael. Was he unable to make it...? Is he still in his secluded practice...?" She continued to smile as she spoke, though Lars could sense she was slightly disappointed that his alter-ego had not come himself. Nevertheless, Lars pretended not to notice as he smiled broadly and bowed deeply, exhibiting the elegance in his movements and then eloquence in his speech. "Yes, your Grace. My master professes his greatest regret that he is unable to join your illustrious gathering today. He sends his regards and states that whatever the request is, he will do his utmost to support and comply..." Then Lars continued smiling, but like a smiling tiger as he added one line that sent chills up the spines of everyone gathered there, including Charley. "...For the right price, that is." "Preposterous! Who does he think he is! We should have you hanged and send back your corpse as a lesson to that stuck-up fool!" Leyo Sarouneh shot to his feet once more as his face turned red and a vein bulged on his temples. Then he swayed slightly and coughed, then trembled slightly as he shakily sat back down. The servants behind him quickly came to his side but were waved away. At those words, Duke Leanne sighed loudly as a sign of her stance on things and shook her head while looking at the grey-haired Sarouneh Patriarch. "Earl Leyo! May I remind you that Lord Mikael has contributed greatly to the city! If not for his presence there at the stadium, perhaps it would not just be Natalie and Astrid who were captured by Leocadius! General Weres and Yusof might have perished with none of us the wiser to Gaius Trenel''s fall into the Abyss! I understand your worry for Natalie, but your words are not getting us any closer to a solution!" Leyo''s face turned sour as he scowled more and more. But he harumphed and continued sitting, obviously not willing to risk his blood pressure shooting through the roof. Then Duke Leanne turned back to Lars and Charley and smiled as she spoke. "I hope you don''t mind Leyo - he''s a passionate man especially when it has to do with his beloved daughter; a stance that I too would understand fully if placed in the same circumstances." She closed her eyes momentarily and sighed once more before reopening them to observe the two boys'' reactions. "Yeah, sure." Lars just shrugged nonchalantly, while Charley pretended to dig his ear - which made not just Leyo sputter with anger but also the other three patriarchs frown in displeasure! "Very well, I would like to thank Lord Mikael once more, please communicate to him our thanks and gratitude! His presence is much welcomed and we hope he will join us for a simple dinner tonight." Lars and Charley both nodded in acquiescence, though not committing on their master''s agreement, then Duke Leanne introduced those seated in the room one by one. 87 Reunited Apart from the hulking General Weres who was still nursing his injuries from the stadium and the stern and learned Prime Minister Gurdev, Lars had not yet met any of them. Among those gathered, he was the most interested in the spearman who sat reclusively at one corner of the table. Patriarch Hovost Estreya. He was slightly on the slim side, made more so by his advanced age. He looked too old to be Astrid''s father, perhaps because he married late. He had kind and intelligent eyes, glittering with life - only, at this moment they were clouded by worry about his beloved daughter who he doted on. Patriarch Mallard Trenel. Among the four patriarchs, he looked the youngest externally, though he also gave off the air of great age. He looked to be a disciplined body cultivator, one who pursued strength over other things. He had yet to move or to speak, matching his calm, cool and collected appearance. He also had a bright and clear gaze, one that was slightly on the innocent side, as if though his conscience were always clear without guilt. At this moment, he looked very tense, weary and... Old. Very very old. Patriarch Leyo Sarouneh. Red-haired and red-faced right now from anger. It might be thought that this fiery man''s temper was where his granddaughter Natalie got her attitude from - but that was not true. His wife and daughter in law were even more explosive than he! He looked visibly upset still from the earlier arguments. Patriarch Farhan Jamal. He was the calmest among the patriarchs, as his descendant was fortunate to not be involved in anything. The black-haired and tan-skinned man was on the skinny side, even thin, but still looked quick and strong. He looked to be thinking, thinking and thinking, all the time. Lars made mental note to be watchful for this one. And finally, Duke Leanne introduced the gentleman who was still holding himself aloof from their conversation and talk. "Last but not least, the most illustrious of all those present today, it is to our great honour to have our Martial Advisor and Honorary Chancellor, Master Alucard with us. Master Alucard is a retired Mythical-stage Grand Warrior from the Leez continent and had unexpectedly visited Gorun City last week. Just a little bit on his background, he chose a life of seclusion and as an educator after sustaining injuries. " At this point, Duke Leanne smiled slightly and looked like she had cheered up alot as she spoke on. "It is also to my greatest delight to announce that Master Alucard has just yesterday chosen to accept my daughter, Alayna de Caldis, as his disciple! He had brought her for a test of aptitude just last week upon meeting her for the first time, and they were away during the devil invasion, and returned as soon as they heard news of the events... This has not been announced and should be known only to us thus far..." "Though these are troubling times... I find that we should take heart in any and all joyous news especially more so in these days! But for now, keep this under wraps. This is an integral part of our plan to track down the devils, as they should not know Master Alucard''s identity as of yet!" Master Alucard did not even nod to acknowledge whatever Duke Leanne said, he merely continued to keep his eyes closed, aloof and solitary. Leanne cracked her fingers and stretched, having completed the formalities, it was now over to business. "Let me get straight to the point. After Gaius Trenel''s betrayal, Leocadius Trenel too has turned his back on the city. You might know that Sefir Estreya and Lina Sarouneh escorted Vignis Jamal, Leocadius Trenel, Astrid Estreya and Natalie Sarouneh to leave the Gorun Stadium. When their group returned to the noble district, Sefir Estreya wanted to escort Lina Sarouneh for further treatment at the infirmary. At that time, Leocadius Trenel offered to escort Astrid Estreya and Natalie back to their respective manors..." As Duke Leanne spoke, the various patriarchs seemed to shuffle in their seats uncomfortably at hearing the retelling of events - especially Patriarch Mallard Trenel. He looked like the disappointment of finding out his son and grandson had both fallen into depravity and allied with the Abyss was too much for him to bear, and had just fallen silent from the weight of it all. "From there, Vignis was the first to be dropped off. It was then that Leocadius struck. The nearly onlookers said that he summoned a dark devilish creature, not like those four that the patriarchs fought but more like the ones that appeared within the stadium itself. Suffice to say that the girls were soundly captured and spirited away within moments." She let out a long breath as the tension filled the room. "Now the question going on is - how shall we proceed? How do we track down Leocadius and the rest of the Devil Lords? And if we do manage to locate them, do we even have enough combat power to take them on...? These questions... Are what weigh heavily on our minds now..." She rubbed her temples with her right hand and closed her eyes for a brief moment''s respite, before looking up again. "And...?" Lars asked. As per their agreement, Charley would stay out of the discussions. "We... Need your master''s help. Gorun City is in a state of emergency right now, with not a single hand to spare. At this point of time, not a single one of us leaders can make the trip, lest we be struck once more by the devils and demons!" ''Not to mention, backstabbed by our own beloved human "allies" both within and from outside of the nation... Curse those schemers and opportunists...!'' Duke Leanne thought as she continued to keep a grim expression on her face. "That is where you and your master come in. We have--" "WAIT! YOUR GRACE, YOUR GRACE!! I HAVE NEWS!!!" Duke Leanne was cut off rudely and suddenly by a frantic Patriarch Mallard Trenel. He had lost his cool and leapt to his feet in anxiety, presumably the moment he received breaking news. Without waiting for the Duke''s permission, Mallard Trenel immediately carried on, saying, "Leocadius has sent word by the secret channels that only the Trenel family knows how to use... But it''s not from Leocadius...." Mallard Trenel turned pale as he spoke, trembling and shaking in anguish and pressing his eyes closed. "The devils... They''ve... They''ve given their demands... They said..." But at those words, Mallard''s brows furrowed as if he didn''t quite understand the message. "What??! What did he say!!?? Come on, man! Speak quickly!!!" Leyo Sarouneh too leapt to his feet, eyes bulging as he roared out in impatience. "...Bring Astrid''s goat..." "Goat...? What about a--" Charley was about to speak, out of turn of course, when he stopped, froze and trembled slightly in terrible fear. The said goat had its mouth open and its teeth conveniently placed right beside his certain body parts that a man must have. "Shh... Don''t interrupt them, man! But, what is it, bro...?" Lars pinched Charley''s arm and whispered to him to shut up, but still asked what had just happened. Trembling in fear, Charley shook his head and sweated a waterfall as he said, "Nothing... Nothing at all..." Lars shrugged. "Bring Astrid''s goat and meet them in Faroe city... For an exchange... During the Battle Through the Heavens in 1 month''s time! And a stern warning not to inform any of authorities as well as for no combatants above the World-class stage... Or else..." Mallard Trenel sat down weakly, body limp and tired. "Or else all three of Leocadius, Astrid and Natalie will be t-turned into b-breeding sacs for the d-devils... And kept alive for h-hundreds of y-years..." Tears fell from the corners of his eyes as the other patriarchs'' faces twisted into varying expressions of horror and rage. There were many fates worse than death. This was one of the worst of all... One that should not need to be described. * * * * * Lars and Charley stepped out of the inner palace and the throne room area with pensive and heavy hearts. Duke Leanne had decided to quickly adjourn the meeting so that the various leaders could relay the news to their families, but more than that, so they could get some rest and attend to the countless problems in the city both on the military and civil sides. Before the two boys left, they were exhorted once more to beseech their master''s help. The plan was for Alayna de Caldis, Lars and other qualified members of the younger generation to head over to Faroe city, escorted by their respective masters to attend the Battle Through the Heavens which had the age limit of 18 years old for entrants. Of course this assumed that they could make it through the nationals first, held in the capitol city of the Kingdom of the Sands, Danedaar! This plan came about because it was highly likely that the devils did not recognise either Master Alucard who had been unknown until now, or Mikael who had only emerged after Leocadius departed, they would be able to avoid too much suspicion or attention from the devils. However, if it were only Master Alucard alone, who was still not recovered from his injuries and only able to exert peak-Legendary strength, then the plan did not seem likely to succeed. Hence, the need for Mikael''s involvement. ''So if the nationals are in 3 weeks time... Yeah, looks like I''ll have some time to work on practising my skills, solidifying my sword arts and concepts of space and time, and exploring the powers of the Demon-Hunter Arts as well as the demon inheritance!'' Lars was deep in thought as he walked alongside Charley out of the inner palace and headed to leave the royal compound. But it was then that he heard a familiar voice call out to him from the distance. "Lars...?" A girl''s voice rang out, melodic and sweet yet mournful and speaking as if though it carried heavy burdens and sorrows. Yet one that was trembling in happiness and disbelief at seeing him again. He stopped midstep, hesitant, not knowing himself just how he should react. "Lars....! Lars!! It really is you... It really is you...!" 88 Reunited 2 "Lars... It''s... It''s really you...!" The red-headed beauty in a demure and classy one-piece white dress ran over the distance between them and jumped into Lars'' arms, embracing him, and being embraced by him. "I... I''m so glad... Lars... You''re safe, after these two weeks, I''ve been s-so worried..." Seline buried her head in his chest, tears of joy streaming down her perfect face and beautiful rosy cheeks. She held him tightly, fiercely even, as if though she were afraid she were just dreaming and that her sweet dream might turn into a nightmare where he turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared. Lars felt giddy from the fragrant smell of her hair, and held her back tightly instinctively, not understanding how he felt about the girl and Moira. But he knew that at this moment, his heart was warm and full with this passionate and enraptured girl held close to his heart, held safely in his arms. "Seline, I..." "Shh! Just... Please... Let me have this moment..." She spoke so quietly that it was less than a whisper - and Lars merely nodded and acqueisced. The indomitable and powerful queen bee was now at this time just as meek as a lamb, sending waves of delight through Lars as the sensations of her skin against his brought heat to his whole body! ''Seline, I... It''s not like I can so easily forgive you for hurting Moira... It''s just that...'' It''s just that what? He himself didn''t know. Maybe somewhere in those dark and lonely corridors of the Arena of Valour, the just as much alone and powerless girl had touched his heart. Feeling pangs of pain in his soul when thinking about what had happened between them and how she had shed those tears of resignation, Lars didn''t notice it but his hand rose to comfort her and stroke her smooth and luxurious hair. Then all of a sudden, she pulled away, leaving him in the lurch as he was shocked at the sudden development. She turned away quickly and asked with a gentle voice overflowing with love and care. "Have you been well...? I... I see you managed to disciple yourself to an amazing patron... I... I hope everything is going truly great for you...?" But while Lars was still unable to accept the abrupt turn of the situation, she waved her hand over her shoulder and strolled off with her head down, leaving him and Charley to stare with mouths agape as she walked off. ''But I... I didn''t even answer yet... I don''t understand...!'' ''Sigh... Kiddo... The day you understand human women... Is the day you transcend the universe... Just give up on trying and enjoy the journey! You won''t comprehend them even if you try, anyway!'' ''...'' Lars was speechless. Then Charley patted him on the shoulder and said, "I wish I had your luck with girls..." At those words, Lars gave him a death glare until Charley shrunk back in fear. * * * * * Sharon stood still, not saying a word as she stayed silently by Seline''s side. She kept quiet, pretending not to see how her mistress shed tear after tear in sorrow and loss. "Why can''t it be me... Why can''t it be me you love...???" Seline held her chest in anguish as she fell to her knees and cried. She had fled with a strong attitude and left, dreading the moment when the boy told her that it was only Moira on his heart. So she could only steal that moment of the unguarded boys affection and depart... And use whatever wiles, whatever strength, whatever resources she had to support him from the side. Until the coming day 6 months late when that bitch Moira would disappear...! Used as the Priestess of the Land, turned into a sacrificial offering to the glorious All-Heaven Divine Empire! ''Just you wait, Lars...'' She wiped away the tears from her eyes as the grin and life returned to her face, while there was a sparkle in her eyes. I''ll make you mine.'' "Let''s go... There''s a lot left to do until our plans here are solidified." * * * * * "So... What do we do next...? There are 3 days until the finals of the selection tournament, what should we do...? I mean, to earn money... That place we''re staying at isn''t cheap, y''know..." These words sounded perfectly normal, perfectly natural to say - if they were coming from Charley. But as they left the royal area (getting searched and patted down by the guards and subjected to derisive gazes from the butlers under Rashid, the earlier effeminate man who had shown them open contempt), they stopped at a side of the road as Lars asked Charley what they should do next. But Charley merely smiled wryly and took it in stride. Just, beneath his cool facade, Lars could tell that he was actually agitated and worried. ''Maybe he''s worried about us not having enough money...? Or his pay...? I guess if he asks, I *could* give him like, a 5% raise...'' "Yeah, *BOSS*, that''s a good question. Now that Natalie is missing... How do we get enough money to get by...? And for that, I believe there are 3 good solutions." As they stood in the shade of a ramshackle and half burnt building, taking refuge from the 730 AM sunrays, Charley held up 3 fingers before him as he spoke to Lars. "Option 1 is pretty good. Since you''re f***ing strong, we could just go rob and loot the wreckages throughout the city." "So... Is that the best way to earn money...? Are we choosing tha--" Charley shook his head and frowned at Lars'' words, as if though he were disappointed in his boss'' still lacking money senses. "No no no...! That''s too inefficient! Despite me saying it''s not bad and the fact that we can get lots of money, the effort is also very high, what if clearing out all the debris! In addition, it also depends very much on luck! No, that''s an option only fools would choose! Oh, not you, of course, right?" Lars blushed furiously and felt quite irritated at the boy''s glib words, but just cleared his throat and pretended that he wasn''t just about to suggest taking option 1. "Ahem, well, don''t just stand there, carry on. What about options 2 and 3?" "Yup yup! Just about to get to it! Option 2 is also not bad, also to do with searching... Only this time, it''s to take up the doubtless countless quests that are going to be posted up. As you know, money won''t be the problem for many of the smaller nobles right now... You do know right...?" Lars cursed. How could this boy always manage to make him so uncomfortable? How was he supposed to know something like that??! After all, just a week ago, he had still been stranded in the bloody Arena of bloody Valour! "Ahem, sigh, of course I know! But I won''t spoil your story telling, you can go ahead and pretend that I don''t know anything!" Charley thought about it for awhile, but then he looked doubtful and replied, "Nahhh, I shouldn''t repeat things you already know, lest you think me a wishy washy long winded big mouth! Which I am, by the way, in case you hadn''t noticed yet..." At those words and seeing the boy''s irritating faked innocent face that he put on, Lars felt like hitting him until his cheeks swelled up like balloons. But since he needed the boy''s streetwise ideas to earn money, Lars swallowed his pride and humbled himself. "Erm... No, you really can just tell me... I-I don''t mind..." "No no no, how could I do so? You must think me such a boor..." "Come on! Just tell me your story already!!!" "No! I would not dare to belittle you with such a condescending action, why I--" Finally Lars snapped and rapped Charley on the head sharply, shouting at him. "JUST FRIGGIN TELL ME THE DAMN THING ALREADY DAMMIT!!!!" Charley squatted on the floor and rubbed his head with an aggrieved expression on his face, as if though he felt he was done an injustice! But he just muttered some complaints under his breath like, "Stupid ignorant boss," and "Big old brute," and then explained things properly. "Y''see, nowadays, people in major cities don''t actually carry much money around anymore. Everything is in the bank branch! The rich usually place most of their money with the local branch of the Great Tree Sect, and then the branch will absorb the money and transmit it to the Great Tree progenitor, the guardian deity of their sect!" "...???" Lars'' face turned blacker and blacker as he began to roll up his sleeves to teach this tease a lesson for not finishing his sentences properly! "Alright, alright! You don''t gotta be a ruffian about it, okay?!?" Charley folded his hands and looked away, closing his eyes in indignance, looking as if he were a high and mighty person being pestered by a peasant! "All that means that... Most of the money of the rich nobles is still safe and intact! What they''ve lost are their possessions and buildings, but since they still have their riches... They''ll definitely issue collection, gathering and other quests at the quester''s guilds! And with your capabilities, that''s gonna be easy money!" "...Okay, finally, finally! Finally I understand what you''ve been trying to say the past... 1 minute! What a waste of time boy, you really like to beat around the bush!" Lars shook his head and pressed his lips together as he squinted and went *tut tut tut* while looking at Charley. "Yeah and you act just like an old man... Even though we''re the same age..." "WHAT WAS THAT????" "Nothing, nothing! And the answer is - no! That method is also not the most efficient, though it''s something we can do at the side while executing our real plan - Option 3!" Charley posed while looking up at the sky with his head tilted. He had one hand on his hip while the other was pointing to the sky, as if he had just given a brilliant reveal. But seeing that his one-man audience was not impressed at all, Charley sighed with the vicissitudes of a genius'' life and muttered to himself, "What a pity... To have a boss who doesn''t understand you at all... So slow... So slow!!! It''s a good thing he just needs to be the muscle in this operation..." Then he quickly explained irritatedly, "Option 3 is simple! A stroke of genius that only an... Uh, a genius like me can come up with! Behold with awe, the magnificent plan 3 of Charley Charlemagne and his sidekick, Lars!" "....Do you want to die...? Or maybe stay alive, but wish you could die...?" "...S-Sorry. Okay, option 3 is related to options 1 and 2, which is why I started with those two inferior paths! As we know that there are many criminals in this city but also who carry out some portion of legitimate business... All we need to do is..." "Rob those people who are using options 1 and 2! Like a mantis preying on the cicada!" Charley raised his chin smugly as he posed after the reveal of his great idea, expecting applause or cries of "Wow!" from his employer. But he was met with silence and hurtful words instead. "That''s all...? Like... The mantis that hunts the cicada, but is then hunted by the oriole...? Not that I know what an oriole is, by the way... But... Doesn''t the plan sound pretty..." "...Illegal...?" Charley quickly shook his head and grinned cunningly, then said... "...Since when does that matter when getting rich...?" Lars'' eyes widened in shock, then began to narrow in anger... Before his eyeballs began to glaze over as his pupils changed shape - into platinum coins... "...Just one last question..." "When do we start?" The two boys then shared an evil grin as they hatched their schemes. It was time to take over the turf from the local extortionists, robber barons and thieves! * * * * * "...Elder Light Breeze, for the sake of my master, would you be willing to help...?" A roughly 1.9 metre tall man stood before the elder of the Great Tree Sect. He looked normal and was dressed normally as well, only, he looked... Exactly like Mikael - Lars'' disguised form! Elder Light Breeze nodded and agreed. "Yes, the payment is more than enough. I''ll help you locate the killer of your sworn brother. Remember to send your master my regards and... Ask him to get me out of this dump!" The old man with a long wispy white beard said the last part in a whisper. Sand Crab Byrus, who looked exactly like the disguised form of Mikael, sneered with glee. It was time to capture that bloody murderer of his sworn blood brother...! 89 Reunited 3 "So, Byrus... What kind of person is it that you''re looking for...?" Elder Light Breeze spoke. He looked like a stereotypical image of an old oriental martial arts master with his long white eyebrows, wispy but full white beard and moustache and grey robes. He constantly had a look of detachment from the world and exuded a sense of etherealness as if he had ascended to the next, higher realm. Which Sand Crab Byrus, leader of the new bandit group in the Northpoint Desert realised was entirely a sham! From the moment the elder of the Great Tree Sect had opened his mouth until now, all he had talked about was benefits, money or advantages! He had even continued to plaster a look of world-weariness as if burdened by the sorrows of the world as he brazenly asked for cash and a good word to Byrus'' master in the Earth Core Sect! When the leader of the bandit troupe sought his own master''s whereabouts, he had found out that his '' master had left to wander the wilderness of the north together with Elder Light Breeze''s master. From there, he had had no choice but to seek out Elder Light Breeze for a favour, as Byrus himself did not yet have contacts nor any favours to call on in Gorun City. Though that was also one of the key agenda of this trip; he planned to get in touch with the Four Lords of the Underworld and the Laughing Man to form a mutually beneficial relationship. Money, treasure, items and the sort in exchange for smuggling channels as well as sorely needed information - a resource he could not do without if he planned to survive as a renegade raider, much less expand his influence in the north! Currently Sand Crab Byrus and Elder Light Breeze were sitting in the common area of a high-class inn, one of the few that were still operating. They were given the most expensive and grandest private room by the owner (complementary of course, how dare the common charge a grand elder of the Great Tree Sect for use of his premises?!? The fat owner should be grateful that Elder Light Breeze wasn''t charging endorsement fees; he should be paid to even show his face here!). And so they were seated in comfortable cushioned wooden armchairs on either side of a teak wooden table, sipping hot tea in the privacy of their room. From where they sat on the 2nd floor, it would be difficult for anyone downstairs to see them, while they could view the multitudes of people on the street or those downstairs milling about like ants! Byrus quickly described who he was looking for to Elder Light Breeze: "From what little we know, he should have just arrived in Gorun City about 3-5 days ago. He was able to kill my blood brother Raghu without any signs of a struggle, albeit, from what I saw, it should have been a dirty trick, a surprise attack that made him unable to resist! As such, he has at least a Master level battle power, perhaps up to the lower Grandmaster level." Elder Light Breeze nodded slowly and displayed a look of deep contemplation, as if recalling the thousands of faces of newly arrived warriors in the city (not that he actually knew them). He then emitted low sounds of rumination from his throat as he put on a show of thinking about it thoroughly. Then he looked up to Byrus with a sparkle in his eyes, smiling slightly as he raised his hand and said, "Nope, no clues. Do you have any other clues about the killer...?" ''If you don''t have any idea, don''t lead me on like that, smelly old man! It''s no wonder that you''re out of favour with your master - already one foot in the grave and you''re still barely ahead of me at the beginner World-class level... And you have an infuriating attitude to boot!'' Despite Byrus also looking to be aged, he was actually only in his late 40''s, still full of vigour and longevity as every major realm of cultivation would extend the practitioner''s life by 10 or more years. In comparison, Elder Light Breeze was probably already past 120 years old! Even with the extension of longevity, the signs of ageing and slowing down were already very clear in the old man! Byrus looked at Elder Light Breeze solemnly and said, "Yes, there is one more piece of information. I hope it helps - based on one of my team''s deductions, the killer wields a slightly unusual weapon. He uses a curved bladed sword, longer than a regular long sword and with a sharp edge. From the cutting marks and the weight of the blade deduced from that, it should be long and thin, so not a scimitar or cutlass." At these words, the elder''s eyes lit up once more, but Byrus dared not raise his hopes in case the sly old badger was just playing with him again. But this time, he was not disappointed. "A curved blade, you say... And not a short knife or a scimitar, but something longer and thinner...? That''s an unusual weapon... And well, I really did come across someone like that just yesterday!" (Before I turned tail and conveniently disappeared) Hearing these words, Byrus shot to his feet and gripped the edges of the table on which their cups of tea were laid, shaking the cups with a *CLINK CLINK CLINK CLANK CLANK CLANK* sound. He had been grinding his teeth in frustration at being unable to locate his target and being forced to listen to this huge waste of time old man in front of him, but now he was elated! ''Finally! Finally, finally finally!!! Brother Raghu!!! I shall avenge your death on your killer and his 9 generations! I shall slay even his friends, his business associates, even his pets!!!'' Sand Crab Byrus could already taste the blood of his enemies in his mouth. He could imagine the metallic and tangy taste rolling off of his tongue as he envisioned decapitating his foes and then feasting on his blood as a final rite for his dearly departed sworn brother! "Where?? Where did you see him?? What is his name, and where might I find him...?" Byrus was so eager to find out that he barely restrained himself from grabbing the old man''s collar and shaking him to find out the information he needed. He was glad he still had the sense of mind not to - after all, despite the disdain he held towards the old man, he was definitely weaker than his senior here! "Well, I saw him right here in Gorun City, over at the Gorun Stadium! He was one of the contestants in the selection tournament preliminaries... Though, there is one incongruous fact..." "What is it?? Please, elder, tell me quickly! I cannot bear the seconds passing as my sworn brother lies a vengeful spirit in his grave, unable to pass on in the cycle of reincarnation!" He revealed his belief systems regarding the afterlife even as he spoke - a view common to those of planet Yiluo. "Hmm... Your brother was in the Master class, right...? And he was killed from the front by a cultivator whose battle power must be at least Master class as well...?" The elder raised one eyebrow and furrowed his brows in thought as he posed the question to Byrus. "Yes, yes! Exactly like what I said earlier! Why? What is wrong? Just tell me, elder! I''ll go and wring that person''s neck and force them to cough out the truth of just which group is behind my brother''s killing!" Byrus grew more and more agitated, his eyes bulging and the edges growing red and bloodshot. He was so engrossed with finding out the identity of the curved-blade user that he did not notice his spittle was overflowing slightly... Much to Elder Light Breeze''s digust. Elder Light Breeze surreptitiously shifted backwards, even moving his chair slightly back as the grey-haired man before him had moved too close, leaning over the small table and nearly dripping his saliva on him! Then he answered, "Well... Let me check mentally with my information channels..." "WHAT??? Elder! My great sabre cannot take it anymore! He is lusting for blood!!! Quickly, please, I beseech you!" Byrus threw himself madly onto the table and his hands reached out to grab onto Elder Light Breeze''s shoulders, to shake what he wanted out of the older man. Worst of all was that his saliva was spraying out as he shouted frantically! ''Disgusting!!!!'' The elder swiftly backstepped and dodged out of range, even as his scowling and grossed out face suddenly lit up with pleasure, apparently receiving some good tidbit of news! "Byrus! Hold on! I have the information you needed! NO! STAY THERE! NOT A STEP CLOSER OR I''M JUMPING OUT THE WINDOW AND NOT COMING BACK! Okay, right, good. Let''s just calm down and sit down and I''ll tell you exactly who you''re looking for... It''s 100% confirmed!" Elder Light Breeze began to relax as his counterpart also sat down, though Byrus'' shoulders were still heaving heavily with impatience. "Alright, it''s confirmed - the person I met yesterday wields a curved bladed sword, a katana. And despite his tender age of 15, get this... He is already at the peak Adept level, but wait!" As Elder Light Breeze mentioned his age of 15 years old and his merely Adept level cultivation, Byrus almost blew his top - how could the old man believe the killer to be a mere child 3 major realms below his sworn brother??! "BUT!!! The boy, even at his lowly cultivation level managed to complete the MASTER LEVEL illusion array stage!" Elder Light Breeze exclaimed dramatically. But Byrus did not seem very impressed, as he did not know much about the conventional and mainstream practices of sects and major powers. He had grown up as a wild dog-- I mean, crab in the desert, he had never heard of the illusion array! What he did know was that this confirmed it - this was his enemy! "It makes sense, it all makes sense! If he were so young and only at the Adept level, it''s perfectly understandable why Raghu, as a great Master-level Sword King, would fall for a frontal surprise attack! He would never expect the boy to exert an attack that could exceed his defences!" Byrus'' eyes were blazing with the fires of violence as he spoke those words to himself. Then he turned to Elder Light Breeze and asked his last questions. "What is his name...? What does he look like, and where can I find him?" Byrus looked at the white-bearded old man with all seriousness as he asked this. "His name is Lars, an up-and-coming talent unearthed just yesterday! As for what he looks like and where you can find him..." Elder Light Breeze was about to mention the grand finals of the selection tournament that was postponed to 3 days later when he heard a familiar voice and familiar name nearby. "Hahah, Charley! It''s great that you''re so good at talking! Who would''ve thought that just mentioning the Duke''s name would get us such good seats!" "Heheheh... Boss Lars, what did you expect...? I''m confident that if I claimed to be the number 2 big mouth of Gorun City, no one would dare claim to be number 1! Oh, let''s get a seat in the private rooms over there, apart from the 2 old fogeys, it seems pretty empty..." The Elder''s jaw dropped as he nearly lost the next words he was about to say as Lars and Charley waltzed right into the private seating area of the inn they were staying at. They were still joking and laughing around as they sat down noisily and began to call for tea. The senior cultivator only remembered to continue his sentence when Sand Crab Byrus began to stand up and spray his disgusting spittle again. "...He''s sitting right beside us...?" Elder Light Breeze pointed disbelievingly at the pair of youths who stared right back at them. 90 A Symphony of Fails While Sand Crab Byrus and Elder Light Breeze were holding their discussions quietly, another pair of surreptitious hunters were waiting, seated at another table in the same area! "Blacksword" of the Four Lords of the Underworld, Susano the Cruel! Along with his guide, tracker and information specialist, Karel Sharpeye! However, they were right rejoicing at their luck, whispering under their breaths as they watched Sand Crab Byrus and overheard their very conspicuous conversation! Karel, now changed out of his attention-grabbing black assassin''s garb was dressed like a refined young man, perhaps from a minor noble or well-to-do merchant''s family. He was seated beside the cruel-faced but suave-looking Susano who had doffed his supple wyvern-hide armour and was now wearing a relaxed brown shirt and pants of good cutting. "Hey boss, we''re in luck! Looks like we won''t even have to make a move for that Lars boy to be taught a lesson he won''t survive to learn from! Look...!" Karel then gestured with his chin, trying not to be too obvious as he drew Susano''s attention to the elderly pair seated at the table nearby theirs. But he needn''t in the first place, for the Disciplinary Lord of the Underworld in charge of executions was well-aware of the conversation going on. However, that was not what he was paying the most attention to. He was attracted by the fact that the bandit leader''s wyvern-hide armour seemed higher quality than his! Unwilling to accept that a random scoundrel from the countryside could have something better than him as one of the leading crime lords of Gorun City, he scoffed (softly of course). "Hmmph... Mine is still better... Being bigger and thicker doesn''t mean it''s better! Mine is more flexible! It''s not the size that matters, it''s how you use it and how practical it is!!" "...Yeah. Well, cough, yes, your, ahem, thing is better despite not being as big and... Erm... Thick... Yeah!" Karel as usual had no choice but enthusiastically agree with whatever his boss'' boss said. Though he was seriously uncomfortable agreeing. "Ahem, boss, well, as I was saying. We''re in luck - the boy seems very talented, so my hunch is that he has some special background and we might be in trouble if we take him on--" "Nonsense! It doesn''t matter what type of backing he has! Don''t forget, worm! We, the mighty Underworld of the City, are backed by the tyrannical Laughing Man and even the Royal Family of the Kingdom! Whoever it is, we''ll still crush them for daring to meddle in our business!" "Ah... Yes, yes sir... We''ll definitely do so... Just that we might be beaten to the punch. Wait, look! There he comes! The boy we''ve been looking for - Lars!" Susano smiled evilly and began to rise as he saw the boy waltzing in and waited for him to sit down, his gaze shining with wicked lightning! Then just at the same moment that Sand Crab Byrus and Elder Light Breeze noticed Lars and Charley sitting down by them, Susano reached down to his sword to make a move! *BANG!!!* "IS LARS HERE??! COME OUT!!! WE THE CITY GUARD UNDER THE ORDER OF DUKE LEANNE ARE HERE TO GET YOUR HELP FOR INVESTIGATIONS!!!" Susano and Byrus'' move to capture Lars were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a door being kicked down; followed quickly by the roaring voice of a guardsman! ''Dammit!!!'' ''Curses!!!'' The two men with ill-intentions were furious at their plans being messed up - they did not wish to get in trouble with the malicious city guard! As vile as the Underworld and as much power as they had, they were also subject to the local tyrants - the Houses of Trenel and Jamal which had the city guards and the local courts in their pockets! And as bold and daring as Sand Crab Byrus was, he was just a leader of a small raider group starting up - he didn''t have the capital to take on the local garrison and their countless soldiers! ''Grrrr!!!!!! Brother! You''ll have to wait a bit longer for revenge...!'' ''DAMN!!! Why now of all times for those bloody p*ssies to come?!! If only... Wait! Things might be different from what I expected!'' Lars and Charley looked up curiously as they heard the obnoxious roaring of the small group of city guards'' leader, Private Lyam. The dull-looking man unceremoniously clambered up the stairs followed by his 5 guardsmen, then waited at the staircase and yelled out, "WHO IS LARS??? COME OUT AND SHOW YOURSELF!!!" Then a man of average height and shaky, yellow teeth ran up the stairs behind Private Lyam and looked around frantically, before noticing Lars. He pointed straight at Lars and exclaimed, "Sir! Sir! That''s the man! That''s the man who assaulted me and tried to kidnap a boy right in front of me!" He put on the look of a victim as he spoke, though his hideous face only made him look like a villain! Lars was stunned and bemused as the play unfolded before him. He chuckled slightly and stood up before walking over to stand in front of the group of city guards. He quickly took note of their strength - one Adept level and the other five only at the peak of Normal level... What a joke! They expected to capture him with just these forces? Even if he *WERE* in disguise, he was posing as a peak Adept level with a Silver-rank quester badge! They should have at least sent over some Elite level warriors to arrest him! "Hello, I''m Lars. How may I help you...?" "Sir! Sir!!! Don''t let his polite and handsome appearance fool you! H-He''s a savage brute, a-a m-monster I tell you! He raped the girl right in front of us, boo hoo...! And then, and then... He raped me too!!!" Masra, the foolish looking buffoon by Private Lyam''s side, waved his finger agitatedly at Lars and spouted out some top-form nonsense, causing all those listening to feel slightly ill just at the level of bullsh*t this idiot was spouting! Wasn''t it just a boy you were talking about who was kidnapped earlier??! And who would believe that anyone would want to **** you!?? Even Private Lyam who was trying to keep a straight and stern face was so irritated that he felt like slapping the fool! But he calmed himself down with only his face looking even more fierce as he spoke to Lars. "Lars, family name unknown! A report has come in from reliable sources that you have obstructed Leocadius Trenel''s official business, stolen his property, injured his representatives and inflicted severe financial loss to House Trenel''s business! On the authority of Captain Eniev of the City Guard, I hereby place you under arrest for further questioning until we can ascertain the charges and evidence brought against you!" Private Lyam delivered his prepared speech loudly and clearly to Charley''s shock. Then as the 5 soldiers moved to surround Lars and bring him into custody, Charley turned to stare at Lars, wondering since when he had had the time to offend the Trenel family! He also wondered why were they still spouting out Leocadius Trenel''s name... Didn''t they know that he was a traitor to the city and the human race? Or perhaps the mark of shame was too great for the family to admit and they had decided to keep it under wraps... Lars merely smiled as even those downstairs of the establishment and those outside on the streets looked on in fascination, pity and also disdain. Looked like one more victim would be falling into the hands of the Trenel family and their slave trade... Then Private Lyam gave a glance at Charley and realised that their target''s companion would be quite a good catch as well, probably worth a fair penny to the slavers! So he pretended to look through his sheet of unrelated documents and then looked back and forth between his papers and Charley, before saying, "Aha! No wonder I felt you were so familiar! You''re Lars'' accomplice! Men, ensure to bring him in as well!" At the sides, Sand Crab Byrus and Blacksword Susano looked on with interested expressions. They weren''t quite sure what to make of things as they were, but one thing they were certain of - this boy was done for. Only... They did regret that they wouldn''t be able to carry out their vengeance personally... Though they smiled in satisfaction that their enemy would soon be slain before their eyes! Sand Crab Byrus was just about to propose a toast to Elder Light Breeze (despite the man not being of any use at all in the end) when he heard Charley''s voice call out to him. "G-Great Lord Mikael...! I''m so glad I found you! Look, these guys are trying to kidnap your disciple in broad daylight!" Charley was looking at Byrus with glistening and puppy dog eyes, full of sincerity and innocence! Sand Crab Byrus was shocked - what was this boy saying all of a sudden?! He was just about to brush off the boy''s desperate attempt to cling onto his thigh to save himself when the crowds began to murmur loudly. "W-what!?? Is that truly the saviour of Gorun City, Great Lord Mikael...?" Some of the spectators seated downstairs as well as onlookers from outside began muttering out similar words at the same time. Then one of the braver patrons of the high-class inn sneaked nearer to take a closer look, drawing the ire of Byrus. But to his horror, he heard the man then exclaim, "It is! It really is our Great Lord Mikael! How come we didn''t notice him earlier...?" One man slapped his thighs as he spoke, as if he had just gotten a revelation and said, "I know! He was sitting with his back facing us, right?" It was at that moment that Byrus realised it was too late to redeem himself - a great roar resounded out as more and more people began to gather around the expensive inn, eager to take a look at the mighty near-Mythical warrior who had saved the lives of General Weres and Yusof Jamal! "...Why are you guys so excited...? Isn''t it just another high and mighty warrior?" One youth said to his excited friends. "Idiot! Don''t you know...? It''s not everyday you can meet a hero so great and yet so kind!" His friend explained. "Yeah! He not just killed 2 Devil-Lords, he even rescued 10,000 children and 500 virgins from the depths of the Abyss!" Byrus began to sweat in panic, wondering just how he had gotten himself into this situation just by sitting there quietly and not doing anything. Then his eyes flickered in rage as he realised it was all Charley''s fault! His face turned red and he was prepared to smash the boy''s head into a pancake when he realised that right now, more than a 200 people had gathered and were watching him! He didn''t dare make any overt moves in front of such a great crowd! Flabbergastered and so stunned he didn''t know what to say, he even forgot to defend himself, merely coughing in shame and rage! "Wait, why are you guys trying to arrest Great Lord Mikael''s disciple right in front of him! How dare you! Just because House Trenel has the City Guard in their pockets doesn''t mean you can just do as you like! I''ll have you know, Great Lord Mikael has no tolerance for slave traders! Why, just yesterday he defeated a red dragon and rescued 500,000 newborn babies from the clutches of the slavers!" Various of the braver and more passionate spectators began to lambast Private Lyam and his squad of guards whose faces turned beet-red from embarrassment! Wasn''t this supposed to be a simple arrest of a weak newbie quester??! Since when had he turned into the disciple of a godly existence??? Just who set them up here??? But upon hearing those incredible exaggerations, even Lars couldn''t help but begin to sweat. How did the numbers become so incredulous??! And where did the dragon even come from?!! Snapping in desperation, Sand Crab Byrus exploded in anger and decided to go with the flow. "BOY! Let''s get out of here! We''re too weak to clash with the noble houses! Come, I''ll bring you to escape!" Byrus, the wily man, shouted out loudly and leapt towards Lars to grab him, pretending to be bringing his disciple far away to escape! And so he sped into the distance with an unresisting Lars in tow, leaving behind Charley, Susano and Private Lyam, as well as Elder Light Breeze and countless spectators scratching their heads! Why was a near-Mythical combatant running away from just a mere noble house...??! Wait, why was a mere junior of House Trenel picking a fight with the mighty saviour of Gorun City''s disciple??! Whatever it was, the people''s eyes glittered with excitement. It looked like the hideous underbelly of the city would soon be exposed and cleaned out by the coming conflict.* * * * *Meanwhile, the mastermind of the confusion and misdirection, Charley was crying as he was being dragged away by the City Guard, abandoned by his buddy!"W-what about me...??? At least bring me away too!!!"At the same time, the bandit raider carrying Lars was smiling as he headed for a secluded spot to erase the boy forever......The boy who was also smiling mysteriously. 91 Flaming Danger! [Last night, before the encounter with Sand Crab Byrus and the other hunters - the night that Lars unveiled the illusion array''s inheritance] As the time capsule split apart evenly down the middle, it revealed a blindingly great white and gold flash of fire and light! Only, the fire did not burn, though the sight of the bursting flames were a sight to behold! And when Lars vision recovered, he and Kizorik stood in awe of what they saw. ''Lars!!! We''ve hit the jackpot!!! That is...'' Kizorik exclaimed madly and went crazy as it celebrated, jumping up and down on Lars'' head as it announced the identity of the treasure before them: a radiant, golden burning orb that was only the size of a marble! ''...A complete and whole inheritance, a bloody f***ing crazy complete inheritance! Wahahahahahha!!! Whoohohohohohooohooo!!! We''ve struck it mad! Struck it big this time!! Hahahhahaha!!!'' Lars waited a moment for Kizorik to settle down from his jubilant rejoicing and then asked, ''So, something like Draken Blacksword''s memory fragments...?'' ''No!! No!!! And also yes!! Mmmm... Those memory fragments are like the leftovers after a mighty departed soul has been smashed apart and ground down over the eons, washed away by the rivers of time! The individual whose soul was fragmented must have been truly incomparably powerful for his soul to retain such clear memories like those in Draken Blacksword''s memory fragments!'' ''In comparison, what you see before you probably does not come from such an apex powerhouse - but it is far, far more valuable, because these are the carefully prepared knowledge, skills, arts or abilities of a predecessor left behind for the generations to come! It is preserved immaculately and codified to be supremely effective in raising the eventual heir!'' ''So it''s like a mental training manual...?'' ''More! So much more, more than that, boy! Oftentimes, the creator will even detach and then inject a little bit of their consciousness into the inheritance orb! It''s like the difference of watching a tutorial video versus having a user manual... Versus having the creator as your personal trainer!'' Lars frowned. Despite the benefits of having the creator as his trainer, he shivered in trepidation - Kizorik alone was already boisterous enough, how bad would it become with another old geezer chattering and nagging in his mind?!? But this was just too good an opportunity to pass by, so even if he dreaded the thought of another mental assassin tearing into his confidence and self-esteem twice in every sentence, he mustered up his determination and reached out to the inheritance. ''Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on...!'' Kizorik cheered excitedly as Lars lifted up a hand to touch the floating, glowing memory orb and as it connected with his skin, an even greater flash of light broke forth, brighter than before! And the blinding light quickly changed into waves of pain lancing into his brain! ''Shit!!! ARGHHH!!!!!'' Lars grit his teeth and tried to resist the urge to scream to no avail. Once more he was relieved that he''d erected so many barriers and preventive measures - it was only by virtue of these that his roars of anguish went unheard in the middle of the night! ''Kiddoooooo!!! What''s happening??! It''s not supposed to be painful!!! It should be easily absorbed by the young demon who--Oh... Young demon...'' ''KIZORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKKKK!!!!!!!'' Lars howled uncontrollably, thrashing about in agony as the demon''s memory core burned his soul as it attempted to merge with him. However, the incompatibility between a human''s soul and a demon''s caused the memory core to warp and distort, transforming in its shape and form! ...Who knew with what terrifying results! ''Must... ENDURE!!!!!'' ''LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' Lars could feel his muscles begin to twist agonisingly and smoke began to emanate from his every cell as a great heat built up in the nucleus of his body''s atoms! At first he thought the heat was just his imagination, but to his shock, his lengthening hairs began to emit smoke as well, getting singed by the rising heat! Even in the midst of the nearly mind-blowing torture, he was relieved that the temperatures were not high enough to ignite the whole building - otherwise in his current defenceless state where he could not muster any strength nor mana, he would be charred black! Then his flesh, blood and even BONES began to squirm and ripple, crawling about as if though there were a million ants moving about inside his body! The pain grew in intensity, reaching an all-new level of afflictions, threatening to erase his sense of self altogether! As the demon watched Lars rolling about on the floor, Kizorik clenched its teeth and wrung its tiny flipper-hands tightly - the little bird was worried sick, truly truly worried! Why in the world would an inheritance behave like this? Why was a memory core affecting the boy''s physical body...? How could it be so different from what had been predicted...?!! However, even as the bird was anxious about its contractor''s well-being, Lars began to calm down. Eventually the pain began to subside and Lars lay collapsed on the wooden floorboards in a sweaty heap, panting as every cell of his body continued to squirm. But eventually, even that squirming began to settle down as Lars felt fatigue wash over his body. Fatigue, along with the sensation of...Oneness with the world...? Lars gingerly rose to his feet, triggering Kizorik to rush over and embrace him hurriedly in the physical world! ''Lars!!! Larssssss!!! Kiddo!!!! You''re alive, alive!!! Sob... I''m so so sorry... So sorry about being wrong... I won''t ever let you down again kiddo... Don''t leave me alone, don''t leave me wandering by myself again... Don''t be like those earlier damn useless contractors...'' Lars patted Kizorik on the back but could not focus on what the little bird was saying. He was too distracted by the whole new world of sights, sounds and sensations that he was experiencing right now! He felt... As if he could breathe in a lungful of air and NAME every particle that had just entered his lungs! As if he could reach out and pluck out the void particles from between the molecules of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide in the surroundings! As if he could just wave his hand and leave a tear in the void! And to Lars horror, as he waved his hand casually without much thought, he pierced right through his protective and suppressive barriers around him, easily slicing apart 5 of the layers like a knife through butter! The worst part was - he had just happened to flick his hand in the direction where Charley was sleeping! ''Phew....!!!'' Lars let out a breath of relief as he thanked the heavens that the remaining 2 barriers were still intact, else the boy would have been minced into meatloaf by now... And as he felt and examined the changes in his body more thoroughly and turned his mental senses inward, he discovered the memory core was still there within his sternum, behind his solar plexus! Albeit, if earlier it were the size of a marble, now it was only the size of an ant''s head! Nevertheless, the tiny mote of fire was unmistakable due to the golden light exuded from it! ''Buddy! I''m fine, I''m fine! Now enough of that! Take a look, the memory core is still there...!'' Lars pinched Kizorik''s tail to snap him out of his theatrics, causing the little furry to turn into a gnashing ball of teeth and claws! But this time, Lars insisted and ignored Kizorik even when the bird clamped its jaws onto his hand, urging his contracted demon to watch on as he reached out mentally to touch the sphere of flames! And the moment he touched it, his mind and memories were sucked into an entirely new world - a world of the original owner of the memories and inheritance! "Greetings, young demo--What??? What is a human doing here?!! HOW DARE YOU INTRUDE!! DIE!!!" Lars eyes bulged as he saw a flaming sword descend straight towards his spirit body! 92 Hunger [In the pocket world within the mote of light] "Greetings, young demo--What??? What is a human doing here?!! HOW DARE YOU!!! INTRUDER!!! DIE!!!" Disoriented by the entry into the soul world of the memory core, Lars'' head was spinning as he heard the furious voice roaring at him - then Lars'' eyes bulged as he saw a flaming sword descend straight towards his spirit body! All he could see in his eyes was that one magnificent blade strike, all he could see was the furious scowling expression of the wielder of the sword! ''LARSSSSS!!!!!'' Kizorik whose mental state was already reeling and dizzy from the translocation also hollered at the top of its lungs and screamed out to the boy! At that moment, the entirety of the youth''s vision was captured by the mighty and weighty sword strike, blazing with orange and red tongues of fire as it soared towards his face...! He craned his neck madly, in a desperate struggle to avoid it - but it was already too late! The moment he began to even try to move, the blade had already arrived!!! And the 1 millimetre long sword singed the tip of his nose, causing Lars to yelp in pain!!! "OUCH DAMMIT! MY NOSE!!! MY BEAUTIFUL NOSE!!!!" Enraged at his perfect complexion being marred by the little wisp of fire held by the mini-sized demon, Lars slapped out with a backhanded hit and sent the little fairy flying in the illusory world! "AHHHHHH!!! EVIL HUMAN!!!!" The bug sized demon twirled through the air and slammed into the soft, fluffy grey-cloud walls, then fell like a swatted insect to the floor, twitching every now and then in shock! His purple hair was messed up like crazy, spreading over the ground around him like a snow angel! ''LARRSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! DON''T!!!!! Oh, no, you already did it... Oh no, oh no, oh no...'' Kizorik''s teeth chattered frantically and shivered in distress. ''What? What''s wrong, buddy? Oh my nose...'' Lars spoke as he channeled his healing and mana to restore his skin. He calmed down slowly as his flawless nose was restored, then frowned as Kizorik hurried over to the fairy''s side to help him up. "Wooo... Woooo... You... You wretched human... Wooo... I, Velzash will never forgive you... Wooo... Wooo..." The beautiful male fairy-like demon emitted piteous sobbing sounds as he covered his face with his hands and cried. Kizorik trembled slightly and comforted him, bringing out a tube of paste from who knows where to apply on the tiny demon''s bruised body! Lars looked on silently, not sure what to think of the situation. So he took the chance to observe his surroundings. Then he realised he didn''t have to - the mental world he had been sucked into upon touching the wisp of flame within him was bare and small, perhaps merely 50 square metres in area and completely grey. There was no sky; instead, they were surrounded on all sides by the cloudy, slightly soft grey substance that reminded him of rough unprocessed cotton before the material was bleached. ''Kiddo... Psst... Here''s a tip... RESPECT THIS LITTLE DEMON!!! DON''T ANTAGONISE HIM!!! IT''LL DO YOU HELLA LOT OF GOOD, OKAY???!!'' Kizorik "whispered" through their mental link, causing Lars to flinch in discomfort at the shouted words. ''Hey man... You don''t have to be so rude about it... He''s the one who poked my nose with that match-stick earlier... And who is he, anyway? Some kind of bigshot?'' Lars rubbed his nose resentfully at being reprimanded by the penguin - though the skin was now healed, it was still slightly off-colour when compared to the rest of his face. It might even take days to be back to normal, entire long days when he would have to live with his marred appearance! ''Sigh, kiddo... Yup, you''d definitely be entirely okay if someday a demon waltzed its way into an inheritance you''ve prepared specifically for your descendants... I''m sure you''d be 100% A-OK without a care at all and just directly hand over everything you know, yup! WHAT A LOAD OF BULLCRAP!!! OF COURSE HE WAS MAD!!!'' Kizorik was still showing a compassionate and gentle face as he succoured the no longer sobbing Velzash who was now seated against the cloudy walls. Every now and then, the fairy-demon would shoot fearful but also angry glances at Lars, making him feel like the male demon was, well... A bit too sensitive... ''He was just bruised, right? I didn''t use my full power... And yeah yeah, I understand, I''m the intruder in here, I''ll apologise. Does he like candies...? Or sweets...? Or a kitty treat...? What should I use to--'' ''WHAT DO YOU THINK HE IS, A BABY??? A PET??? YOU IDIOT YOU--Oh...'' Kizorik clammed up and shut up when he saw Velzash acting tsun-tsun as he refused to look at Lars but greedily grabbed the lollipop Lars offered him and then began licking at the candy that was almost as big as himself! "Hmmph!! Don''t think I''ve forgiven you *LICK LICK* so easily!" The exquisitely perfectly handsome fairy-demon fluttered his translucent wings and angrily continued to attack the lollipop in his hands. ''...Maybe he has a sweet tooth. Alright, lemme tell you, this guy is a real big deal in the universe! He''s still alive nowadays, so make sure you don''t piss him off or his real body might just decide to delete us from the universe along with the entire planet!'' ''....And kiddo...?'' ''Why do you carry lollipops along with you...? Are you really, seriously, truly a PAEDO???'' ''No! C''mon, that''s just, it''s just something I picked up from the market today, when-- Well, I was planning to drop by one of the kid''s homes today, one of those that I''d saved and I thought... I''M NOT A PAEDO OKAY??? Let''s get back to the point - Who. Is. That. Bug-sized. Demon??!'' Lars finally lost his temper as Kizorik kept wasting his precious time. He was sleepy by now and hoped to get things settled quickly. And... He was hungry. Ravenous! ''Natural Disaster Velzash, one of the few demons of the ancient generation who is still alive until now! Previously I wouldn''t have known this but from what I understand from that Demon-Hunter Marzinus, the ancient generation should mean those demons who were around when the Wyrm at the End of the Far corrupted the entire race...'' ''To keep it short, Velzash is called such because, every planet he goes to will be wiped out... The land and the planet will remain pretty much untouched, but his passing means only one thing for the dwellers of those wordsl: Unconditional Death!'' ''As for what his powers are or how he does it... You''ll have to ask him... But as far as I know, his powers have to do with Devouring...'' ''Like yours...? You''re supposed to be the Devouring Demon God, right...?'' ''...Yeah, but I haven''t unlocked my powers yet! I''ll need at least 500,000 Abyss Points (AP) more until I can emerge in the real world and use any of my powers!'' Hearing that, Lars thought about how to apologise to this Natural Disaster Velzash and explain himself for swatting his earlier. But he also thought about whether the AP that Kizorik received would even be saved up and used for anything other than gambling on slots or Gaccha games... So Lars kneeled down and leaned closer to the sulking bug-sized demon and delivered his carefully crafted, meticulously prepared apology speech. "Erm... Sorry for hitting you." "Hmmpph!!! The vengeance of I, Velzash, endures for as long as the sun, moon and stars of the Heart of the Cosmos prevail! I shall never forget your impudence! I know! You just want to butter me up until I''ll hand over the inheritance to you, right!? Don''t bother! It''s impossible, way way way impossible!" But unexpectedly, the demon''s mood suddenly turned mellow as his eyelids drooped and he sighed then spoke again. "Sigh... Not that it''s useful anyway... My inheritance is worthless, just a load of crap no one wants....." But just as suddenly as he began to look down and sad, he shot a fierce glance at Lars out of the corner his eye and glared at him, adding, "...Even then, don''t hope to get any of it! It''s impossible for you, stinky human!!" Lars, as always, sniffed himself to make sure there were no unusual odours, then realised that this was a spirit body; it was impossible for him to smell! Then he sighed in disappointment, before producing a box jam packed with candies, chocolates, sweets and more lollipops! Which he found strange, how did it work? For him to bring in physical items to the real world, perhaps this wasn''t just a normal mental world... He cast those thoughts to the back of his mind as the angry gaze from Velzash turned into one of undisguised longing! His narrowed eyes changed from thin, beady slits to large round almonds in two breaths, burning with desire! Pure, unadulterated desire! ".....!!!!!!!!!" Yet Velzash struggled against his ego, morals and dignity, gritting his teeth and forcing himself to stay angry by sheer willpower! ...Which lasted for 4 seconds, before he dashed over, ready to fight the golden haired boy to the death for the box of sweet delights! "..." Lars grinned as he flashed a victory "V" sign to a speechless penguin. * * * * * "Don''t look down on me for craving food and sweet things! It has to do with the inheritance I was talking about!" Velzash calmed down significantly after finishing off half the food stuffs and begging Lars for more. Apparently he wouldn''t age or starve or waste away in any way in this high-tech pocket world formed by cutting edge magic arrays, however, this split off bit of consciousness still kept the appetite and hunger of the main body. Which meant that he had gone without food and had to endure the ravenous cravings all these hundreds of years! Lars had long realised the implications of the hunger he felt and what Velzash mentioned. He, too had begun to wonder if something was wrong with him - he had never felt so hungry ever before and it was only getting stronger! Somehow he felt like he just had to eat something chunky and meaty, and fast! Velzash continued to speak as he started yawning, looking sleepy and about to nod off. This made Lars realise that he was also veeeeeery sleepy as well, and decided to quickly get out of here and sleep. To eat something first, or course. Something big! "It''s really impressive that a human could make it through the training rounds I designed! It''s definitely not easy to display such great combat power that lets you cross two whole large realms and defeat a Master level with just an Adept cultivation! I created so many of these arrays back in the day, but even with the difficulty, I didn''t expect that it would take so long for someone, anyone to pass the test!" Lars nodded, afraid that if he spoke, it would trigger the dainty little demon to talk even more. "Very well, as long as you keep to your part of the deal and bring me a box like that every week, I''ll let you have the full inheritance, even if you *ARE* a human! Deal?" Lars nodded again, stifling a yawn and ignoring the rumbling of his stomach. "First off, as far as I know, it''s a completely useless thing. Serious! It''s not just some joke to discourage you from it! All it''s ever done is afflict me with permanent hunger, one that can never be satisfied..." "...And that hunger is what gave me the moniker of Natural Disaster and Devourer..." Somehow at this moment, Lars felt a tremor of fear shake his heart while Kizorik''s eyes were glimmering with admiration as he had the chance to hear his idol''s personal testimony! "But don''t judge me!!! I''ve never, ever, ever eaten a single living creature ever before!!!" Lars blinked curiously. Wasn''t it extremely normal for a demon to eat other creatures...? Even Kizorik''s wide open eyes began to narrow slowly at these words, listening attentively as Velzash continued. "...Because I''m vegan! Yes! I''m a vegan demon, okay??? DON''T LAUGH!!!" Despite Velzash''s admonition not to laugh, in truth, neither Lars nor Kizorik actually found it funny. Instead they were incredulous - how was it even possible??? ''I don''t even... How can it... What in the... How is it possible?????'' The demon penguin exclaimed, while Lars began to imagine the scene of the poor planets despairing when Natural Disaster Velzash descended... And wiped out every tree, plant and shrub of vegetation, every last blade of grass from their world... His eyes widened as he thought about just how cruel and heartless that was - wasn''t eating every single vegan-permissible item just as good as damning the entire population of the planet to oblivion??? Without any plants left, herbivores would perish, then soon after, carnivores and omnivores would cease to exist as well! Until finally, probably only a handful of survivors would remain to repopulate the entire world... Just with no more herbivores in the entire ecosystem? Wouldn''t that lead to a global inability to recover...? Lars refused to think about it anymore and just looked on with a gaze of fear towards this cute and lovely fairy-demon! "...And I set this inheritance array up and split off parts of my soul which held the hunger based on advice from the Wise Woman... She said that this was the only way to ever truly be rid of the incessant hunger, and maybe someone else would find a use for this seed of hunger! Okay, that''s my story... *Yawnnnnn!* now, now go away! It''s... Bedti...." Fairy-demon Velzash couldn''t even force himself to finish the last words as he drifted off to sleep right before their eyes and snored on the soft floor. Leaving a starving Lars and a speechless penguin to their own devices. ''.....F*** this sh*t, I''m going to sleep!'' Lars scowled as he felt he had wasted his time and gained nothing from the conversation, he had already received a certain growth in his sensitivity to the laws of the universe even if he hadn''t entered the pocket world within him! ''.....Me too. Yaaaaaawwwwn!'' ''I thought demons don''t get sleepy....? Ah, nevermind... Goodnight buddy... But I''m gonna eat first, ''kay.'' ''.....''Kay...'' * * * * * [Back in the present, after Lars was spirited away by Sand Crab Byrus while Charley was dragged away by Masra, Private Lyam and the City Guards] Sand Crab Byrus cursed. What was going on...? Why was there another Grandmaster level swordsman hot on his tail??! For what reason did this random bystander immediately get up from his meal to chase after him in hot pursuit??? Byrus glanced back over his shoulder again and again at "Blacksword" Susano''s brown-clothed figure racing madly after him and cursed once more! ''Just what backing does this kid have...?? First some mysterious master? Who looks just like me?? And now a mysterious protector at the Grandmaster stage??! Just what is going on??? Curses, curses, curses!!!'' The worst part was - Byrus was clad in his full heavy plate wyvern-hide hybrid armour, had to drag along the boy with him to dispose of after questioning him later, AND in the first place he was not focused very much on speed or agility! Whereas the pursuer was unencumbered by armour of any sort, being dressed in a very functional brown shirt and pants, had no burden of carrying a person and looked to be a speed-type combatant! Which meant he was closing the distance between them by the second! And when there were only 30 metres left between them, Susano growled and roared in a harsh, gravelly voice as he lashed out in fierce attack! "STOOOPPPP!!! DON''T THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY SO EASILY AFTER CROSSING THE FOUR PATHS OF THE UNDERWORLD!!! I, SUSANO OF THE FOUR LORDS, SHALL EXECUTE PUNISHMENT ON BEHALF OF LORD LAUGHING MAN!!! DIE!!!" Neither Lars nor Byrus were aware of the truth of the situation, that Susano was hunting down Lars! Both of them thought that the man was going after Byrus, and the swordsman''s next move did not help at all in clarifying the situation. Susano did not wait to draw nearer, but immediately unsheathed his blade in a resplendent display of Iaido, and elegant and deceptively beautiful Battojutsu - sword drawing art! Deceptively beautiful... Because everyone who saw it would soon have their heads separated from their bodies in a horrific piece of art - flowers blooming in the battlefield - flowers of blood! Which prompted Susano to give it the name that he called out: "BLOOD FLOWER DRAWING ART!!!" The "Blacksword" of the Underworld released a mighty sharp sword light arcing straight at Byrus and Lars! And while this happened, Lars looked on cynically and irritatedly at the new developments, watching with boredom and trying hard to stifle a yawn and the grumbling of his stomach as he watched the drama unfolding before him. And Lars furrowed his brow and mustered all the willpower he could... So he wouldn''t just bite into Byrus arm and start eating human flesh.... ''Hurry up... Please.... Finish your useless childish fight.... I''m... Hungry....'' 93 Sand vs. Shadows "CURSE YOU!!!!" Byrus roared. He was stuck in a quandary right now as he faced the incoming black sword light fluttering through the air towards him gracefully, not looking at all lethal or dangerous... But Byrus could sense the beginning inklings of a concept of law within the attack! ''This guy... He''s only at the Grandmaster level but already beginning to form his laws and concepts...??! Shit! Who''d have thought I''d meet another genius in this barren land!!!'' But Byrus was not actually concerned about his safety. He could easily dodge the attack or block it... If he didn''t have this useless burden of a boy in his arms! A boy who was whistling a not-very-happy annoying song and staring at him with deadpan cynical eyes in a supremely aggravating manner!!! It was almost as if the kid were saying, "Are you done yet...?" ...And then Lars yawned, causing Byrus to feel like he should just forget about digging more info out of Lars and just letting him die right here! ''Wait!! Isn''t this guy in front of me just as good a lead as this boy...?? No! If that older man is protecting the young kid, then the kid should be someone really important!'' But as the sword light approached ever closer, Byrus was confused as hell! If the boy was so important... And if the pursuer were trying to save him... Then why was his sword-drawing strike indiscriminately heading for the boy just as much as for him??! ''AHHHH IT''S ALL SO CONFUSING!!! FORGET IT!!!'' Byrus snapped as he decided to just crush his opponent head on and question them both later! "Aspect of the Crab!!!" Byrus roared out loud just before the sword light impacted and exploded brilliantly on his and Lars'' body! *BOOOM!!!!* Susano did not let up one bit, immediately landing on a rooftop nearby and continuing to close the gap, jumping from one building to the next. He knew that in a battle between two Grandmasters, just one attack would not be enough to finish the battle. And so he prepared his trump card, resheathing his ornate fully-blackened sword as he peered through the smoke and dust for his targets! True enough, he saw a glint of brownish-red emerge from the dust cloud, bursting out through the air... Not away, not escaping, but right towards him! "DIE!!!!!!!" Byrus roared in retaliation as he flew through the air, his full body rocketing like an armoured missile straight at Susano! He was now covered in a brownish layer of reddish-brown light all around his entire body and the light even formed 2 glowing crab pincers around his arms, making him look like a giant flying crab! Susano''s eyes widened slightly as he saw the great weight and power of Byrus'' surging tackle! The "Blacksword" assassin quickly pivoted on his heels as he resisted his forward momentum and tried to dampen his inertia to dodge backwards. He successfully kicked off the rooftop he was standing on and leapt into the air, somersaulting as he escaped the trajectory of the incoming attack! Seeing that, Byrus smirked confidently and channelled his mana quickly. He then yelled out and suddenly changed directions and accelerated in the middle of the air, displaying one of his three unique skills and hurtling towards Susano once more! "Let''s see how you dodge this!!! CRAB CRASH!!!" Byrus'' legs were straightened out behind him and shooting out mana to propel him forward faster while his two pincer claw hands were aiming straight for Susano! ''Sh*t!!! I hate defensive types the most! Even more when they have a gap-closing move!!! DODGE!!!!'' "Shadow walk!!!" Susano''s body began to flow with murky black shadows and shifted aside mid-air, out of the way of the approaching missile and dodging it successfully! Byrus sailed through the air and past Susano, crashing through several buildings without any signs of stopping, before finally landing with a boom as he hit the stone pavement and went right through into the sewers below! Meanwhile the shadow-clad Susano did not miss this chance - the shadows of the underground sewers were his home turf, he wouldn''t let the aggressive bandit raider off so easily after nearly being smashed into a pancake by him! The black shadows once more covered him and he swiftly flitted off towards the hole in the ground where Byrus was last seen! Leaving behind a bored Lars who looked to have been forgotten in the midst of the intense battle between the two... Lars'' looked around and, upon noticing some food stalls, decided to get a snack first before following after the two men to find out what was going on! ''Lars, I want the fish ones, I want the fish ones!'' Kizorik''s eyes were bulging fanatically as he saw his favourite snacks, Takoyaki. ''Lowly human! I demand you provide me with the plant-based ones! Remember to make them vegan, OR ELSE!'' A haughty voice also reminded Lars that he had not just one but now two arrogant little overlords to please...! ...And who spent his money like water! Frowning and cursing in his heart, Lars was in a foul mood, when his eyes suddenly brightened up and he began to grin evilly, laughing sinisterly. ''Heh heh heh heh... That''ll teach you to mess with me...'' He thought even as he ordered 10 packs of Takoyaki, 8 with unidentifiable over condimented meat jerky, 1 vegetarian and 1 filled with fish. He decided to switch up the two demon''s orders and watch their faces when they bit into the little snacks! * * * * * "YAHHHH!!!!!" "STAY STILL, YOU LITTLE PANSY!!!" "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PANSY, YOU BIG RED D*** HEAD CRAB???" "WHY YOU!!! I''LL HAVE YOU KNOW I''M SUPER PROUD OF MY CRAB ARTS!!! TAKE THIS, TRUMP CARD, SQUIRTING!!!" "UGHHHHHHHH DISGUSTING!!!!" Susano and Byrus clashed again and again and again with neither coming out on top. Flashing sword lights would sail out and slice through the air but only cut into Byrus'' armour and defensive aura, whereas the charging bull-like... I mean, crab-like man would useless crash into the walls, pillars, aqueducts or various other obstacles as he tried to pin down the slippery shadow jutsu user! But this time Susano was hindered by the clear jet of water spouting out from the crab man''s mouth, his revolting mid-ranged trump card with an uncomfortably disturbing name! It was made even more extremely nasty by the fact that... The water was all yellowish, black and other distastefully coloured groundwater that the bandit was sucking up from the sewer waters beneath his feet...!!! Susano did not want to imagine from which hole and extremity Byrus was sucking the water in from... Or the fact that after passing through that hole, it was squirti... Spurting out through the crab man''s mouth! Susano was so disgusted that he misstepped and gagged violently, ending up too slow to dodge the sudden burst of water that immobilised him, slamming him against the walls of the 8 metre wide sewer tunnel! "Nasty... Too... Nasty... Susano stopped himself from breathing, shut his eyes and mouth and withdrew all his shadow defence to cover his face, blocking up every orifice from the horrifyingly sloppy and contaminated waters, disregarding protecting his body entirely! "HAHAHAHA!!! GOT YOU NOW YOU LITTLE RAT!!! Gulp..." The sound of the heavy-armoured man yelling and then gulping, swallowing down the last of the water was heard, further throwing Susano''s mind into disarray as he turned aside and spewed out his breakfast even as he landed heavily and prepared to defend himself! It was do or die at this stage, so neither of them held back anything anymore! "CLAW BULLET!!!" Byrus pulled back one arm and stuck out the other as the glowing reddish-brown magical claws on both his hand shot forward, closing the distance instantly on Susano! "SHADOW ARMY!!!" Whereas Susano also pulled out all stops and his body evaporated into shadows, disappearing completely and leaving the flying claw projectiles to crush the wall behind him into a million, billion fragments of dust! It was a scene of chaos - but one in which shadows reigned supreme as they swirled around and around and around the shocked bandit leader, Sand Crab Byrus as he looked left and right and up and down at the vortex of darkness converging on him! "Shadow Army: First Strike!" An echoing voice sounded out from every direction simultaneously, disorienting Byrus even as a wave of dozens of shadows shot out from his surroundings to slam into his body! "Urgghh!!!" Despite not piercing his wyvern-hide plate armour, he grunted heavily as the shadowy blows landed on him fiercely, knocking him off balance and shaking his magical summoned crab body immensely! But this was only the beginning. Susano roared out in delight as he saw his enemy falling ot his knees and cried out fiercely: "Shadow Army: Second Strike!" Byrus cried out in anguish as the entire vortex of shadows began spinning and spinning - before suddenly lancing out in a spike of darkness that cut right through his red-brown aura and pierced through even his wyvern-hide armour, drawing blood and making him cough out blood! Without letting up for even a moment, Susano yelled out for the third and last attack: "Shadow Army!!!! FINAL STRIKE!!!" At this point, the brown-clothed man re-emerged, though worse for the wear as he was dripping with foul sewer waters, then he made various ninja hand seals in front of him as the shadows pulsated and writhed around crazily - before being drawn into the ninja assassin''s waiting hands, turning into a physical shape and forming into a gigantic sword of darkness! The sword of darkness was ready to reap its harvest in "Blacksword" Susano''s hand! "Take this!!! Shadow Army: BLACKSWORD!!!!" "I was waiting for this!! HAHAHAH!!! Crab Ultimate Art: Sand Cannoooon!!!!" Byrus roared in laughter and pointed his two open palms at a shocked Susano who was soaring through the air completely focused on offence... And blasted out a relentless cannon of sand, swallowing up the Lord of the Underworld before he could even arrive before Byrus! "Hahahahahaha!!! Mwagahahahaha--AGH!!!??" Byrus could only gape in shock as he saw... * * * Takoyaki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki It doesn''t have to be filled with octopus, though my favourite is octopus! 94 Kamen no Maid Guy Sand Crab Byrus gloated and chortled in laughter as his sand cannon attack swallowed up Susano before he could even arrive before Byrus! He sneered in triumph as his trap was successful - he had converted the entirety of his defensive layer of mana into a tremendously potent sand blast that had so far destroyed every enemy he had faced thus far! ''I''m sure you would have never thought that my posing as a close ranged fighter was all to lull you into a sense of security! You''d never have guessed that my specialty and finishing move is a ranged attack! Even though you are truly a worthy enemy... There can only be one victor!'' "Hahahahahaha!!! Mwagahahahaha--AGH!!!??" Byrus could only gape in shock as he saw an unbelievable scene. The black sword was still in Susano''s hand - but was at his throat! The quivering dark blade glinted dangerously in the dim lighting, the only source of light being from the opening above them where sunlight shone through. But even then, Byrus was sweating - he could see just how sharp and deadly the blade was, notwithstanding the fact that his layer of defensive shields had been consumed for his ultimate attack! He kept silent, waiting to see what the panting Susano would do. He was not unscathed, in fact, if they were forced to fight another round from the start again, Byrus was confident he would come out victorious! Bloodied and battered, Susano was panting in exertion and bleeding all over from escaping the attack! Byrus couldn''t help but ask as he faced his fate of sure death. "How... How did you escape my attack...?" Susano did not smile despite being the victor in this clash to the death. He merely looked fatigued and as if he had once more aged, his grey hairs turning more white. He retained his serious look and focused to ensure the bandit did not pull any more tricks as he gave a simple explanation. "The Susano you had seen since you entered the sewers... Was just my shadow clone. Though in exchange for it keeping all of my strength and abilities, I still receive most of the damage it takes..." Byrus nodded slowly. As expected, there was another trick behind the happenings. No matter. In the world of cultivation and combat, each combatant usually had 3 or 4 specialty moves - and anyone who had survived to the Grandmaster level and the age of their 40s or 50s was no pushover. The leader of the Sand Crabs closed his eyes. Despite being unable to avenge his blood brother, he was not worried even if he died. After all, after being reunited with Raghu in the afterlife, his killers Susano and Lars would soon join them - as his master, Elder Goingsteady of the Earth Core Sect would bring his enemies to the grave with him! So Byrus smiled and said, "I see..." as he closed his eyes and prepared for the end. "Don''t think you''ll get off so easily! We have countless treatments to ensure you remain in a state of undeath, wishing you could die but unable to ever have that release! Now tell me! Who is behind you and that boy!? Why are you opposing us of the Underworld!? Do you belong to Duke Valentine''s faction?" Susano was not done yet. He had not fought so hard and pursued the pair of assumed master and disciple just to kill them and let them off so easily. His brows were furrowed together as he asked his questions fiercely. Upon hearing this, it was Byrus'' turn to furrow his brows. What was this man talking about...? Since when had he... Oh! He still thought that the kid was his disciple. No matter; he just had to clarify that. And since the man said he would not kill him and would torture him... Was it that he did not know his identity from the start...? Perhaps this had been a misunderstanding all along! And so Byrus sucked in a deep breath as he prepared to say his part and explain his identity. "I have no idea who is behind that kid! I am not related to him in any way except as an enemy - I, Sand Crab Byrus pursued the killer of my blood brother, Sword King Raghu of the Sand Crab raiders! I came to Gorun City as my lieutenants caught his trail leading here; once I got here, I sought out my master, Elder Goingstead of the Earth Core Sect! However, as he just began his travels, I instead referred to Elder Light Breeze of the Great Tree Sect for information instead! You can verify this with Elder Light Breeze, I''m sure you know who he is, right?" Susano frowned even deeper upon hearing this, unsure whether he was to believe what the fierce man was telling him. But based on what was said, it was something truly easily verifiable - his worry was just that all this was just a delaying tactic to buy time, as the boy was currently loose with his whereabouts unknown! So Susano contemplated and ruminated over it seriously for a moment before making his decision. "Very well. I have decided to give you a chance - for now! But one false and move and I will immediately and quickly cut your throat, no questions asked! Now come, lead the way! I, "Blacksword" Susano of the Four Paths of the Underworld will follow you to see Elder Light Breeze and verify your story!" After those words, Susano''s eyes narrowed and grew sharper, emitting a palpable killing intent that could only come from one who had slain enemies in the four digits, and breathed out a slow and steady, low-voiced threat. "...And if it proves to be false, don''t expect that anyone can come to save you! The Four Paths of the Underworld has not only me to reckon with, and the Laughing Man who presides over us all has long earned the right to sit at the same negotiating table with the Four Great Families and the Duke''s Household! Now go! Lead the--WHO''S THERE??!" The assassin Lord of the Underworld cried out in shock as he suddenly realised that an enemy had sneaked right up behind him - and he was defenceless to fight back as he had to commit 99% of his focus to keep Byrus at sword''s point! Which meant that... If this person were an enemy, he, Susano was done for! Susano sweated buckets even as Byrus watched on with intrigued eyes full of expectation - whether or not the newcomer was on Susano''s side or not, Byrus was certain that he could make use of this chance to escape! And so he tensed up his muscles and channelled his mana inconspicuously as he made ready for any chance to flee! The Blacksword and Sand Crab looked on cautiously and with trepidation as a large, hulking figure dressed completely in black emerged from the shadows, yet still somehow could not be made out clearly, blending into the darkness around him! The figure rippled with muscles and moved gracefully despite it''s immense size. It was dressed completely in black gothic clothes that looked to be incredibly high quality, emitting a black glossy sheen in the dark surroundings - all black, except for hints of white along the fringes which threw the two men off their guesses of the person''s identity! But they could only observe the new visitor for just a moment before they were rendered immobile - for to their horror, the towering black shadow flickered momentarily... Before penetrating both of their defences and guard to lock it''s hands onto their throats in a lethal claw grip, just one jerk away from shattering their windpipes! Barely able to breathe and not daring to make the slightest move for fear of antagonising this new foe, Byrus croaked out a soft, "Who are you!??" while Susano''s eyes bulged in horror, fear and gasped as he recognised who had just captured them! Demon Maid of the Underworld, Sharon, protector and personal maid of the powers that be above even the Laughing Man, her eminence Redmane Seline! "D-D-Demon Maid S-Sharon...! W-what are you d-doing!?? Why are you holding me c-captive as well!! We''re on the same side, right! Let me go at once, I mean, my lady, p-please l-let me go...?" Susano turned whiter and whiter as he spoke raspily and out of breath as he saw the Demon Maid''s expression grow colder and colder at his words... Almost as if he were digging his own grave deeper and deeper as he said more! "W-what are you doing!?? Help!!! HELP!!!!?" "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Both men flailed about frantically but did not dare to strike out as her hands constricted around their throats and cut off oxygen to their brain. They were fighting with all they had because of the horror that was occurring before them... "Hi boys~~! Good to see youuuu both here~~~!" The now 2.5 metre tall Sharon who was continuously growing displayed her graceful and exquisite new mannerisms, fruits of her diligent practice at acting feminine, causing both the men to almost puke as they were crushed against "her" chest in a bear hug! They struggled against Sharon''s strength but found that they couldn''t move an inch - the demon maid was too bloody frickin'' strong!! Were they... Going to be ravaged to death at the hands of this muscle-bound maid...?!! ''NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!'' The two men screamed mentally and began to froth at their mouths in the scar-faced man... Woman''s sweet embrace, even as "she" giggled cheerfully and playfully in "her" deep, rough and booming voice... While trying to use her falsetto to sound more feminine. 95 Hunger 2 [45 minutes after the conclusion of the encounter between Susano, Byrus and Sharon] ''Lars, can I ask you something...?'' ''Mmm hmm...? What...?'' Lars was sitting at a roadside pull-cart diner. He had already finished his takoyaki and was now eating a bowl of unknown meat on a pile of suspicious yellow leaves that could maybe, just maybe be considered vegetables... His plate of food was placed on the surface of a wooden carton that served as a table, and he was seated beside the stall owner''s wagon that had been converted into a makeshift kitchen. ''...Why are you such a bastard...?'' ''...Will you let it rest already...? How many times have I told you, I''m sorry, okay???'' Lars answered in irritation, though deep inside he was still giggling madly at the prank he had played. He could still remember the looks on Kizorik and Velzash''s faces when they excitedly bit into their piping hot (supposedly) potato flour balls covered in a dash of dodgy red sauce. Then they had been chewing enthusiastically and happily for a while, before one sentence came out of each of their mouths (at the same time) that changed their day from one of joy to one of grieving...! "Wow! The vegetables nowadays are amazing! They taste just like fish meat!" / "Damn! The fish nowadays is terrible! It tastes just like vegetables!" Then as the two demons busily munching their food gradually realised what the other had just said, they slowly stopped chewing and turned their heads to glance at each other''s faces... Then to look at the takoyaki in their own boxes and compare notes. Before they began wretching out and spitting onto the floor whatever they had been eating! At this part, Lars was well and truly amused, but also taken aback - they were literally regurgitating onto the floor of his mental world, which he couldn''t help but feel very offended at! This was a world built in his consciousness, you know... The floor of which was now covered by the two demons'' vomit... Ugh! Suffice to say, Kizorik and Velzash were more than just mildly unhappy at his little prank. They were livid! And for the past 15, 20 minutes, they had not stopped jabbering yammering and nagging in his ears, showing Lars that there were more than 100 ways of insulting someone, much to his surprise and shock! Kizorik showed a variety of personal attacks and criticisms, some which actually did sting Lars emotionally. In fact, it was such a wide range of methods of character assassination that even Lars decided to take note and write some of them down! Whereas Velzash had just turned green and began to shake uncontrollably. Then the fairy-demon started to cry, making Lars feel bad! Just a little bit... It turned out that for Velzash, his constitution and body did not allow him to eat any amino acids i.e. the compounds and building blocks that made up meat! If he did, if it were just a little bit, he would turn really really sick and not be able to function properly for days or weeks! And if it were enough... He might even die! Of course, Lars took note of these points for future blackmail... Ahem, I mean, for reference to make sure Velzash was eating safely, yup, that''s right! That was definitely why he was making a mental note to never forget as he made a sinister and gesugao expression while cackling maniacally! And as for the penguin''s incessant nagging and ingenius ways of insulting him... Lars managed to put an end to it by a simple threat. ''Between us, who''s the one who earns money here...???'' ''....'' ''And who''s the one who''s been spending to buy useless toys, trinkets and snacks for you???'' ''....'' Kizorik was even more speechless and could not retort with a single word to that as well. ''AND who''s the only one here who has managed to earn a single Abyss Point (AP) so far???????'' ''.....ALRIGHT ALRIGHT I GET IT ALREADY STOP RUBBING IT IN!!! I''LL STOP HARPING ON YOU OVER THE BALL SNACKS, OKAY OKAY!!! YOU HAPPY??? HUHH??????!!!'' Lars smiled contentedly as he continued eating his unidentifiable meal of "meat" and "vegetables". He noticed that ever since he had received the golden glowing inheritance and began to be unceasingly hungry, every time he ate meat, he would be able to sense discrete and clear changes to his body! In fact, even eating this rotten meat gave him a boost in strength, albeit less than 0.01%, but it was still an amount that his soul-imprint of Insight allowed him to precisely sense! And this was even when eating something that might not even count as meat, something that was most likely devil or monster flesh seasoned so much that it was no longer recognisable or edible to mankind! He was quite pleased despite the ache in his stomach and wallet from all this eating. He also was beginning to grow worried... He''d better reunite with Charley and get started on their money-making ways! ''Charley...?'' Lars eyes turned as wide as saucers as he finally realised that he had completely forgotten his first employee! ''OH CRAP!!!'' Lars panicked as he made sure to finish off every last bite of his meal before paying and running off towards the inn they were lodging at. ''What if Charley is already in jail by now?!! That will mean... That means...'' Lars felt a sense of pressing crisis constricting on his chest as his heart beat furiously and his breaths became short and shallow. ''That means it''ll cost me a bomb to bail him out!!!'' But then Lars cheered up. He could just blow up the jail and rob those corrupt City Guards, right...? He grinned rakishly and ran even faster towards his destination and the promise of money to line his pockets! Only to be obstructed by a group of nearly 15 cloaked desert riders on their healthy and well-fed Sar''peh, led by a group of 4 who were clearly their leaders. The first was one he recognised - it was the man who had grabbed him and tried to kidnap and kill him earlier, the Sand Crab Byrus. Lars giggled a bit at that name. The man had his hood pulled over his head and had shaved off all his hair, perhaps to avoid himself from being confused with "Great Lord Mikael" again! The others were a golden-haired loli with an innocent face holding a pogo stick; a rather tall and thin cloaked man who looked rather cool, if not for the fact that he had protruding front teeth; and a solemn-faced man with the aura of a rapist, killer and card-cheat all at the same time, large and tall with an impressive physique! Snake Spear King Lust, Dagger of Destruction Viyash and Mountain-smasher Adron of the Sand Crab Bandits! Sand Crab Byrus locked his gaze on Lars with eyes blazing with fervent passion - but all four of Lars, Lust, Viyash and Adron misunderstood his look to be one of the exhilaration of close-by vengeance and the burning of anger! So Lars cocked one eyebrow up and asked loudly, "What do you lot want! Haven''t had enough of a beating, huh???" ''Erm, Lars... You didn''t beat them up at all right...'' ''I know, it''s just a line I heard from a drama before, and I didn''t really know what else to say to provoke them so I can righteously rob them of everything they have!'' ''...Whatever! Anyway they''re just some weaklings, be quick and be done with it!'' ''Yeah yeah...'' Upon hearing Lars'' aggressive words, all three of the Byrus'' lieutenants frowned deeply as their faces turned into scowls of murderous rage! Snake Spear King Lust then quickly leaned over and whispered to Byrus'' ear and asked, "Psst... Boss! Is this the person you brought us to see...? He''s the one (who killed big bro Raghu)...?" Byrus quietly nodded, his lower lip trembling as he did so. But he seemed reserved and did not make a move as he answered, "Yes, he''s the one (who I brought you all to recognise as your new big boss, lord and god, Lars)...!" Upon hearing Byrus'' response, Lust signalled with her eyes to her brothers and nodded slightly, then the three of them rapidly marched forward to surround the 15-year-old boy, with the loli woman facing him from the front. Byrus looked on, shocked but also pleased that his long-time followers had so easily accepted their new boss...! Or so he thought... "Kid! You look like you haven''t even stopped suckling on your mother''s tits for a month! Hahahah!" Lust, the adorably cute and innocent looking loli yelled out an incredibly crude insult into Lars face, which caused Byrus to choke on his own saliva in shock! ''W-w-w-what is my blood sister doing??? Wasn''t she going to eagerly acknowledge Lars as her boss???'' And at the same time, Lars'' face turned black as he frowned and his mouth began to twitch. It was illogical! He didn''t even know his own mother, so how could he have been breast-fed...? "Nonsense! What are you even talking about??? Are you crazy???" He spat out the words angrily in response, drawing gasps from the raiders and the now-gathering crowds. What audacity to mince words with the most ruthless of the lieutenants, Snake Spear King Lust! How dare this boy challenge her, was he seeking a painful death!? At least if he were humble and meek, Lust might even keep him as a boy toy to pleasure her in the desert! But if he were so rude like this, he would surely be subjected to a far worse fate; to be passed around the camp to be "savoured" in turn by every member of the Sand Crabs! "!!!!!!!" Lust turned even more angry, so enraged was she that her face turned bright red and her nose twitched! "You...!!! You!!!" She sputtered in rage but could not think of how to follow-up as she was not that skilled at bantering and could not keep up with the boy who had been trained by both the foul-mouthed Kizorik and the glib Charley! At that, Dagger of Destruction Viyash patted Lust on the shoulder to comfort her and as if saying, "Sister, don''t worry, step back - it''s my turn!" Then Viyash confronted Lars face to face, even going so near as to almost touch his nose. He sneered at Lars then brought his thumb to his own throat and drew his thumb across his neck, making a "slitting throat" motion slowly. This was met by shouts and cheers of encouragement from the other raiders and murmurs of worry from the surrounding stall owners and businessmen. A fight breaking out right here in the market would cause chaos for their business! Things were already bad enough as it were, they couldn''t afford any further losses in light of the hard times! Alas, they had no strength to stop the confrontation that was happening! Viyash continued to sneer right into Lars'' face as he stood there, expecting the boy to start grovelling for his life. But to his surprise, Lars blinked expressionlessly a few times as if expecting Viyash to do something more, before a grumbling, gurgling sound was heard - the boy''s stomach rumbling! Viyash looked on aghast as Lars reached down and pulled out a takoyaki ball and popped it into his mouth - right in front of him! "BOY! Y-y-y-you dare disdain us of the Sand Crabs!!!? I''ll kill you!!!" Viyash roared, and at those words, he stepped backwards in a flash and reached to his waist to unsheathe his two heavy curved bladed knives, his kukri! It was not just him who bared their fangs and prepared to strike the boy down - all of the raiders still seated on their Sar''peh unsheathed their scimitars or brandished their spears as they prepared to strike down the arrogant young cock! Even the golden-haired loli who was still seething in anger at being scolded to her face aimed her staff at him, ready to strike at a moment''s notice, while Mountain-smasher Adron smoothly took up a fighting pose with his right fist forward and left hand in an open palm stance! Despite the Sand Crab lieutenants and their men outnumbering Lars significantly, they dared not take him lightly. This was a boy who had managed to cleanly one-shot Sword King Raghu, the strongest of their blood brothers and sisters! They were all merely at the Master level unlike Sand Crab Byrus, and they were taking this fight completely seriously! The tension in the air was electrifying as both sides prepared to engage in a major conflict, while Lars... Continued to eat his octopus balls! Munching on them with satisfaction! Seeing this happen, even the murderous looking and heavily muscled Adron was stunned! "Y-you... You dare to disrespect and disregard us of the Sand Crab raiders!?? You only have yourself to blame for your death, child!! DIE!!!" And with that yell, the three lieutenants of the Sand Crabs readied their weapons... Only to be quickly and suddenly slapped into the ground... From behind! Coughing and sputtering out dirt, dusty and earth, they hurriedly jumped to their feet and warily faced the enemy who had struck them from the backs - and were shocked to see their assailant was none other than their very own boss, Byrus! "B-b-boss!!!? What--" All three of the lieutenants stared in disbelief along with Lars who was equally confused! *PIAK!* *PIAK!* *PIAK!* But before they could even ask the question, the trio of raiders were sent flying into the buildings in three different directions, spinning like a top as they soared through the air from a sharp, tight slap from Byrus! While they were struggling to rise to their feet and while Lars'' mouth was hanging open so wide that he could fit a whole grapefruit into it, Byrus stood with his cloak fluttering in the wind and with the dignity of a king as he declared loudly the following words. "Whoever insults our lord and god Lars shall be punished! No excuses and no forgiveness! Only a tight slap awaits whoever dares to disrespect god Lars! All hail god Lars! All hail god Lars!" The Sand Crabs felt like fainting as their heads spun and their minds reeled with shock. They could not understand what was happening as they watched their eminent leader prostrating himself in fear and trembling to worship Lars on his knees! ''O-o-our boss...'' ''Has gone crazy...'' Lars shook his head and forced his soul to return from flying away in shock, and decided to take it all in stride as he asked: "Ahem ahem... I, err, your lord and god...? Hereby give my first command!" He stood up straight and raised his head to the sky as he delivered those words, then from out of the corner of his eyes, his pupils swivelled over to land on the mounted raiders whose hairs stood on end and bodies were covered in goosebumps when they heard what he said. "I command you to..." "Give me those Sar''peh as a snack... I mean, as a s-sacrificial offering!" The Sand Crabs fainted right there and then, leaving Lars to grumble disgruntledly, saying, "Something''s wrong in this world... Fainting seems to be their hobby!" * * * For those who''ve forgotten, gesugao is "The face a villain makes before they are defeated so that the reader will not empathise for them so much." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuBETyA_yxc 96 The City Guard [15 minutes before Lars encountered the "changed" Sand Crab Byrus] Seline was sitting in an office building that was not too badly damaged from the devil invasion the night before. She sat before an ordinary looking wooden desk, one that had 4 drawers on the right side and was roughly 3 metres wide. It was straight and flat and just the right height for someone of Seline''s 1.7 metre height to work at. And work she was doing - she was busily checking through various accounts documents, job reports and information files as she carefully examined the records before her. She was assigned by Duke Silvan for her first job: to be his eyes and ears and oversee the Underworld powers here in Gorun City and audit their operations, for he had invested a hefty sum of money into the businesses here in partnership with the Laughing Man. Moreover, a major aspect of the Underworld business here relied on the assurance of the crown that no major repercussions would face the mob bosses for their criminal activities - and he had to ensure they were giving him his fair share of the profits! So Seline was rubbing her forehead as she had spent the last few days going over mountains of documents and trying to sort out just what was real and what had been fabricated by the shady businesses including extortion, protection money collection, outright murder, prostitution rings, kidnapping, slavery and much more! Of course, the Underworld itself was not the only shareholder in all these. For example, the slavery flesh trade was a joint venture with House Trenel, executed based on the clout and protection of the Trenel family''s name! Whereas the smuggling business was majority held by House Jamal but carried out mostly by the local branch of the Underworld''s black market fences and traders. At this time, Seline''s head was nearly buried in the piles and piles of papers and files before her as she pored over the information non-stop. This was certainly not her specialisation, but nonetheless, the red-headed beauty was diligent and meticulous in her work. She also knew that without a proper understanding of the facts, figures, resources and backgrounds of every party in this city, she would be hard pressed to suss out their motives and manipulate the people to her own designs. This was Seline''s true strength - a mind that dug beneath the surface of just appearances and words, and understood the desires, benefits and fears of every individual before she targeted them to be drawn to her side! And it was in the midst of this that Sharon returned to Seline''s side, taking her place demurely in a corner of a room behind her left shoulder, a faithful and loyal personal maid ready to take orders at any time. Without raising her head or showing a single change of expression, Seline asked, "Is it done...?" To which Sharon cleared "her" throat and answered, "Yes, mistress. The two sweet mens'' "re-education" has been completed... You have my assurance that from now on, those honey-bunnies will be die-hard supporters and heed every single word that comes from your hottie Lars'' mouth!" It was a good thing that Seline did not look back at that moment lest she be given a chill and shivers up her spine, for Sharon licked her lips in delight when she spoke of the "two honey-bunnies". And if you looked carefully... You could see that Sharon''s normally immaculate lipstick was... Smudged! Fainter at the spots of her lips where the mouth would contact someone else when kissing... "Mmm..." Seline just nodded at Sharon''s report and said, "Good job." Then she paused for a moment and looked up at the ceiling to think for a moment, hesitating as she considered what would be likely to happen next. She absent-mindedly laid one hand across her bountiful chest, resting her arm casually upon the mounds that would drive nearly any man and most women crazy with lust. She held a quill pen lightly in her long and sensual fingers, fingers that could hit all the right nerves and senses on a person''s body - but right now fingers that were weary and sore from making note after note and checking line after line. Then she settled her thoughts and decided with a sigh. She made it a point not to look at Sharon as she gave her next instructions. "Make a deal with House Trenel. Purchase Charley Charlemagne''s safety, but do it discreetly. Then bring him to me and inform... Him... That his friend is with me, safe and sound. I... Believe that I''ll be able to help Lars put Charley to good use..." Sharon nodded, then curtsied daintily - or as daintily as she could, given her titanic frame and power muscles. It was also fortunate that no one was watching her at that moment, for her skirt had been growing shorter and shorter, more and more racy... And... When she curtsied and bent her knees slightly, the hem of the black skirt rose up and... The description shall not continue for the sake of our sanity! After the Demon Maid''s departure, Seline leaned her head back onto the headrest of her roller chair and sighed deeply once more. She closed her eyes and allowed her eyes and mind to rest for but a moment before they flitted open and she pursed her lips, not ready to return to work but without a choice. Duke Silvan would want to know the entire situation in the city when he arrived in 4 days time - the journey from Danedaar being greatly lengthened due to the instability and unusability of the teleportion channels at this time. ''Lars...'' Seline thought as she continued her audit of the local branch of the Underworld''s documents. ''I''ll help you put Charley to good use...'' ''To make plenty of money!'' * * * * * [That afternoon at the City Guard Prison] "...Come on man, when can I get some food and water? And when can I see my lawyer? I can at least do that, right...?" "SHUT UP!!! Do you want me to come down there and mess you up???" "!!! Okay okay! I was just saying alright..." A disgruntled and dishevelled Charley was sitting in his 5 square metre cell, cramped and uncomfortable as he had flung in roughly. He had not been given any explanation nor a chance to explain himself, but he didn''t need any. He knew - no, everybody in the entirety of Gorun City knew that the City Guard was bankrolled by House Trenel and that they collected young men and women to be sold in slavery! It was just that, there was nothing else he could do than ask and just try his luck, right? Better than just sitting here rotting and ready to die! Well, right now he could only hope for Lars to come and rescue him quickly - before he was sold off to the slave wagons. At least there WAS one piece of good news; with the devil invasion messing up the internal workings of the city, the cogs of the flesh trade''s operations had slowed down significantly. He hoped that this would mean that the next batch of slaves being picked up would be delayed enough for his rescuers to arrive! True enough, he soon heard some footsteps coming and his eyes perked up, waiting to see whether it was a new prison-mate, someone who had come to buy him or a saviour! He really hoped it would be the latter of the three! As the footsteps drew nearer, he saw a straight-backed man who practically smelled of ex-military background - Captain Eniev - leading the way for a tall and powerful looking visitor who was more than double the Captain''s size! And to his surprise and pleasure, this was a figure he recognised, but at the same time, he felt uncontrollable tremors run through his body as he shivered in fear and revulsion! Demon-Maid Sharon. But he remembered not to look the gift horse in the mouth; despite the fact that Sharon made him very veeeeery uncomfortable, she WAS Lars'' friend - at least, Charley thought she was. And that meant she would be bringing him out of jail in but a moment''s time! Captain Eniev led Sharon to where Charley was and asked, "Is this the person your mistress is looking for...?" Sharon nodded and smiled, a grin that looked like a scene from a nightmare! But strangely, Eniev was unfazed; in this branch of the City Guard, he had seen many similar people with their similar hobbies among the customers who frequented this place to purchase slaves. But today was going to be Eniev''s "lucky" day. Seeing the maid''s indication that Charley was the one she was looking for, the stern and disciplined Captain of the City Guard made a quick mental calculation and quoted the price. "530 platinums. There''s quite a lot of demand for teenage boys, especially these kinds of spirited pretty boys! I won''t accept less; if I do, the big boss will have my scalp for it!" He gave a firm answer, looking like he would not budge no matter what. Sharon pursed her lips and folded her arms, then held her chin in one hand while she tapped her mouth with her index finger - she was thinking. Then she began to smile, a crafty look appearing in her eyes. She glanced around and, seeing there was nobody else around apart from herself, the Captain and the inmates of the cells, she cleared her throat daintily and struck a "sexy" pose - one rippling with muscles and a powerful physique! Needless to say, Captain Eniev began trembling - not in anticipation, but in shock and horror! What was this monstrosity planning to do, try to seduce him??! He hurriedly tried to back off, but to his shock, the World-class level Demon-Maid somehow managed to move closer and closer to him even while maintaining her "sultry" pose - then blew a kiss at him! With his back to the cold stone walls, Eniev anxiously dodged aside, making sure to avoid that flying kiss! Then he yelled out his objections loudly, "Customer! I''m warning you, no hanky panky here in the City Guard''s premises! Or else you''ll be in big, big trouble!" But to his dismay, Sharon only giggled, a sound that scarred his mind and made him tremble violently in fear! Then she whispered out a sentence that shattered apart whatever was left of his mental state. "Don''t worry..." "Nobody will know... Hihihihi!" Eniev''s eyes bulged as he tried to scream for help, but to no avail. Sharon was far, far faster than him and managed to muffle his mouth. With her own. Once more, needless to say, the Captain fainted on the spot, turning stiff and involuntarily jerking in convulsions. Sharon made sure to cradle his thrashing, unconscious body and prevent the noises from leaking out until the fainted man calmed down. She made a *tut tut tut* sound of disappointment with her mouth as she carefully laid him down onto the floor, and then said, "Sigh... When will I find a man who is... "Man" enough to handle me...?" Then she slipped a payment slip worth of 500 platinum coins into his breast pocket and patted it, before looking at him with the gentle eyes of a mass-murderer. "I enjoyed that... But it''ll cost you 30 platinums for payment... Good girls don''t come cheap, you know! Tee hee~~!" Then Sharon took the ring of keys from Eniev''s waist and walked over to the prison cell where Charley was violently shaking in fear that he would be the next victim, before she tried the keys one by one. She eventually found the right key, opened the door and beckoned for him to come on out, which he refused vehemently. At which point, Sharon did not threaten him to make him move - instead, she began to smile; a scene far more horrifying that immediately got him scampering out! Then she looked around and made a reverse cat-call to the rest of the prisoners in the cages, saying, "Do any of you honeys want to have a taste of this magnificent, fine woman too...? I''ll let you out for free!" She was met by the sounds of wretching men and women who could not bear the thought of being ravaged by the enthusiastic transvestite. "Oh well. Guess not." Sharon shrugged and left with Charley in tow. 97 The City Guard 2 [Just moments after Sharon had left with Charley to meet up with Seline, but before Sharon could locate Lars and inform him that his friend had been rescued] A procession of riders without their mounts was convening on this Lower Market District branch of the City Guard as well. A group of desert raiders walking awkwardly and in stunned awe, following their old leader who was fawning over their new leader - Lars. They were in shock over many things since they''d arrived in this city. First of all, their numbers had been whittled down from a grand 200 plus members to now only less than 20 in the aftermath of the devil invasion! Secondly, they had a new boss all of a sudden! But thirdly and most of all... Their new boss had just devoured their 15 mounts in a matter of minutes! He had conjured flames and instantly cooked their Sar''peh - though cook might not be the right word, more like charred the still-living animals black in a flash - then literally inhaled the flesh, so fast had he eaten the mounts clean! And within mere minutes, there was only a pile of bones and unwanted parts left where the Sar''peh had been before! But though the men could not understand what was going on, they had grown accustomed to just following Byrus'' instructions. After all, over all these years, he had led them from glory to glory and to greater and greater heights. They trusted their leader to make the right choices. At least they hoped this was the right decision... Because right now they were faced with the fourth shock in a short period of time - they were headed for the City Guard''s local branch here in the Lower Market District to conduct a prison break! The group of 16 people arrived in front of the City Guard''s premises and were met with frowns of displeasure from the men standing guard outside. The five chattering guardsmen quietened down as they studied the new arrivals, a group of 14 men in cloaks, one beautiful loli that stirred up their loins, and one youth... Who they recognised! Their eyes widened and their mouths curled into an amused sneer as they saw one of their "Wanted" men right in front of them - the golden-haired youth, Lars! And it just so happened that the one on guard duty today as punishment for failing to retrieve his target was Private Lyam! As the only officer among the guardsmen, he was in charge and quickly signalled to his men with his eyebrows to go and get the boss and bring backup! One of the men nodded hastily and took off, running past the entrance gate and into the inner building of the City Guard premises to fetch their superior - it looked like trouble was brewing, especially with the boy''s Grandmaster-level master around! Private Lyam mustered up his courage and kept his confident but now slightly shaky grin plastered on his face as he was soon surrounded by a threatening line-up of burly men who were sneering at him in return. He faced them, looking at the raiders'' faces one by one, then stared at Sand Crab Byrus who was obviously (in his eyes) their leader, waiting for him to state his reason for coming. But to his surprise, it was Lars who spoke. "Good evening, Mr City Guard soldier sir! I believe we''ve met before but not had the pleasure of introducing ourselves! I''m Lars, the man you wish to apprehend! And how about yourself, what is your good name...?" Lars showed the manners of a perfect gentleman, etiquette that would shame even most minor nobles as he bowed slightly while speaking to Private Lyam. But Lyam frowned deeply as he felt that the boy was trying to threaten him sarcastically. And so his face turned black and he was about to lash out at the boy when he suddenly remembered... He and his 3 Adept-level guardsmen were currently surrounded by a bloodthirsty mob; one which was led by 4 powerhouses all staring daggers at him with murderous gazes in their eyes! So he stuttered slightly as whatever insults or rebuke he had prepared dissipated like smoke and he shakily answered, "G-good d-d-d-day to y-y-y-y-you, s-s-s-sir! My, my, my, my, my name is L-Lyam!" Lars smiled cheerfully, showing off a disposition that would warm even the coldest heart on a summer''s day - but an expression that at this moment only struck dread in Lyam''s soul! ''Just what kind of monster have I antagonised??? Have I become the borrowed knife and run a fool''s errand, used as a sacrificial lamb in some high-up nobles game of thrones???'' Lyam sobbed internally as he returned a tentative smile to Lars'' radiant one! "Well, my good Lelyam, interesting name you have there by the way, I''m here to retrieve my friend from your good safekeeping!" It wasn''t clear if it was intentional, but Lars'' words made Lyam''s face burn with shame as the boy poked a jab at his stuttering speech. Lyam tried to calm his shaking chest but could only make his fearful trembling slightly less violent. "Y-yes s-sir! R-right this w-way s-sir!" He stood at attention and gave a sharp salute to Lars, then when he saw that his sentry team was still standing there in a daze and not following his actions, he swiftly kicked them in the shins or slapped them on the heads and roared out for them to follow him! "How dare you twerps disrespect Mr Lars! Come on! Show the proper respect to a noble guest! On 3, follow me! 1, 2, 3, salute!" And so Lars was led into the City Guard premises - along with Byrus, Lust, Viyash and Adron - to look for Lars'' buddy Charley. * * * * * "Mr Lars! Mr Lars! Ahh, I''m so glad to be able to finally meet you!" Upon entering the compound, Lars was guided to a guest room with comfortable looking arm chairs and a couple of long couches. The room was large enough to fit about 12 people. He was asked to sit down, but he continued standing and stared at Private Lyam coldly to indiciate his displeasure at being made to wait. And Lars was just about to go wild and level the entire building when he heard someone call out loudly. When he turned to see who had just arrived, Lars was met by a rotund and sweaty middle-aged man who was dressed in the military-esque attire of the City Guard, but looked like he had not exercised for at least a decade. The man hurriedly waddled over to greet Lars and shake his hand, though Lars made sure to surround his own palm in a thin layer of mana to avoid touching the greasy man''s hand! Even then, Lars grimaced as he felt disgusted at even using his mana to touch the surely bacteria-filled man''s skin! "I am Major Myner, officer in charge of this branch of the City Guard! Mr Lars, I heard the news from my useless men, what a pity, what a pity! We were led astray and misdirected by malicious information from those Trenel bastards! Why else would we even dare to inconvenience someone so honourable and big-hearted such as Mr Lars? Why, if I could find those bloody scoundrels who work for the Trenels right now, I''d toss them into prison and throw away the key! Along with those useless fellas who had eyes but could not recognise Mount Tai! Perhaps they were even bribed by the Trenels into committing these vile crimes and false accusing you!" The little boss of this Lower Market District City Guard branch office was very verbose and full of bluster. He was also eloquent enough to deflect all the blame away from himself or the City Guard as a whole and only pin the blame on the hand that carried out the orders, Private Lyam! In fact, he was right now making a show of glowering angrily at the poor Private who was just a lackey following instructions, but Lars ignored that and coughed in displeasure before speaking tersely. "Ahem, let me just get straight to the point. Release Charley right now and I''ll not make life difficult for you. That''s all I have to say." "Yes, yes! Yes sir! Yes Mr Lars, certainly and right away! Go on! What are you buffoons waiting for! Don''t you see that Mr Lars is a busy man not to be trifled with! HURRY UP AND GET THE BOY OUT HERE RIGHT NOW OR I''LL FLOG YOUR DEAD BODIES IN FRONT OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS! GO!!!" The snivelling Major Myner nodded obsequiously and kept bowing to Lars as he agreed enthusiastically, then roared fiercely at the guardsmen who jumped at his words and ran off to carry out his instructions. After that, the sharp Major repeatedly attempted to make small talk and ask questions to identify Lars'' background, but was rebuffed by the taciturn and uncooperative youth. Lars had no mood to engage in friendly banter with a vile and scheming man such as him! Seeing that Lars was not willing to divulge any information about himself, Major Myner instead launched into a long and colourful story about his illustrious war adventures to the North of the Northpoint border - a highly questionable story full of scenes of himself defeating hundreds of beastmen alone and rescuing countless damsels in distress who (according to him) threw themselves at him! But as he was speaking, a guardsman scurried over and leaned down to whisper something in the Major''s ear under Lars'' watchful eyes. And the Major''s expression slowly turned from that of a charming, smiling host into one of abject horror when he heard the words: "Charley is gone - already sold." As Myner''s eyes bulged almost out of their sockets, he looked at his subordinates face in shocked disbelief as if asking the man to please tell him it was all a lie - but the guardsman could only solemnly gulp and nod. It was not a joke nor a mistake - Charley was already missing, sold to a buyer of unknown origins! Major Myner began to sway shakily as he slowly turned back to the smiling tiger before him, Lars who was already at the ends of his patience. He gulped and opened his mouth but did not know what to say that would not enrage his guest! How was he going to explain himself out of this situation??! 98 The Anger of a King "So you see... Heheh... Madame Tussaue was the talk of the town for the whole of two weeks! Hahaha!" Major Myner was doing his utmost best to entertain Lars until they could identify Charley''s whereabouts, but all their attempts so far had come to nought. It was as if the boy and his purchaser had disappeared into thin air! And with every moment that passed, it was obvious that the incredibly handsome youth before him was growing ever closer to blowing his top. Myner was nearly turning mad with anxiety as he saw Lars'' gaze turn murderous - if he didn''t find a solution quickly, it might not just be him to perish; he feared that the ruthless boy with a serial killer''s eyes would not even spare his family! So when his aide tried to stay indiscreet and catch his attention for a new update, he ignored all decorum and frantically waved the man over. He shot daggers with his stare and urged the man to hurry over lest he run out of time in front of this ticking time bomb of an arrogant young master before him! "Yes yes! Please tell me there''s some good news, please!" "S-sir...! Major sir... I''m sorry, the only information we have is that he was bought for 500 platinum coins... With the price, it''s likely that..." The aide looked around nervously as if afraid that the walls would sprout ears as he lowered his stance and voice even lower to whisper, "...The Trenel family has purchased him..." "WHAT??!" Myner shot to his feet and grabbed his aide''s collar, nearly strangling him as he lifted the much lighter and weaker man up forcefully and shook him like a dog mauling a rat in its mouth. He splattered saliva all over the assistant''s face as he roared out loud his frustration. "WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO NOW, HUH???!!! HOW IN THE WORLD, HOW IN THE WORLD DID WE EVEN ARREST SUCH A GREAT PERSONAGE??! AND NOW YOU TELL ME YOU SOLD HIM TO THE TRENELS?!! OF ALL PEOPLE, THE TRENELS...??! DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE??? I''LL MAKE SURE TO HANG EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU SCOUNDRELS WHO EVER TOUCHED THAT BOY CHARLEY!!!" Myner released all his pent-up stress and anger in that one outburst; but it was also a calculated move. In those few sentences, he had claimed ignorance to his mens'' actions, shown his displeasure, promised to seriously punish those involved as well as deflected the blame and subsequent ire of Lars towards the Trenel family! Or at least that''s what he thought he had accomplished, for in that swift instant, he was rendered immobile by a chilling, frighteningly thick killing intent! He couldn''t even breathe at this moment, so heavy was the aura of death suffusing his entire body! His eyes began to roll up in his head as he suffocated just from the presence released by Lars, and he began to choke and splutter blood mixed with saliva as the boy who looked now more like a demon lord walked up to him and grabbed his chin roughly. "Thank you... As your reward, you and all the slaver, extortionist, kidnapping scum in this entire building..." "...Can die a swift death!!!" Without warning, a Grandmaster aura exploded outwards, swallowing every guardsman and soldier in the building who had any scent of blood on them. Lars did not know why, but he could literally smell the disgusting odour of a bloody red aura surrounding the major, one that reeked of cruelty and perversion! And Lars decided that whoever it was, as long as they were part of the City Guard as a soldier or guardsmen, it was impossible for them not to be aware of what had been done. He decided to slay them all, whether they themselves were responsible for the kidnappings, slavery, murder... Or whether they were just complicit, ignoring the plight of those whose lives were forever destroyed by the greed of their superiors! As Lars channelled his mana, he released a cloud of energy projectiles and guided them by his spirit sense and his willpower to seek out and strike dead every combatant in the building, sparing only the administrative, cleaning or support staff. Level 4 Spell: Farsight, Level 6 Spell: Greater Hold Person and Level 7 Spell: Heat Needles, together with his soul-imprint: Insight! He spread out his senses and concentrated, splitting his will to lock on to every single one of his targets, accurately binding them and controlling their movements, whether they were as low as a Normal level combatant or all the way up to the Master level Major Myner. Then he set a mental marker on each of them, allowing his spirit sense to guide the needles to unerringly pierce through the walls of the building separating him and them... And sending the blazing hot needle of pure mana bursting through their brains! Within a mere few seconds, a total of 44 corpses hit the ground, eliciting screams and shouts of alarm all over the building! Then Lars slowly walked over to the Major''s aide who had turned into a blubbering mess, having soiled his pants from abject terror and the sight of his boss who he had looked up to as a god among men being turned into a lifeless body right in front of his eyes! Lars then asked him slowly and carefully with a big and friendly smile on his face. But in the eyes of the Major''s aide, he was a demon clothed in human skin, an angel of death here to reap the souls of every man who encountered him! Lars then quietly spoke, saying, "Good man... Can you lead me to the nearest slaver''s den...? Or if it''s closer, the nearest den of those good old Trenel fellows...?" His smile looked that of a ravening monster as the Major''s aide nodded dumbly. "But first, go and clean yourself up... You stink...!" Lars wrinkled his nose and walked back to his seat, along the way flicking out a wisp of flame to incinerate the dead bodies and turn them to ash, bones and all together. * * * * * [1 hour later] Lars had painted a trail of carnage, fire and chaos across the city as he visited den after den of slavers and hideout after hideout of the Trenel family, leaving no survivors to tell the tale wherever he went. He was so thorough in his work (only sparing civilians) that the news took nearly a full hour to spread: An avenger was visiting the establishments of the flesh traders and was here to punish all the sinners who were involved! Another rumour was that with the rescue of the more than 600 children and the declaration of a Legendary-realm apex powerhouse that he would not forgive whoever harmed those witnesses, the masterminds behind the slave trade were erasing their trails and taking care of any loose mouths that might expose them to the light of the authorities! Yet another of the stories going around was that this was a retaliation from a rival gang who were making use of the weakened state of the city''s powers to take over the slave trade. The word was that they were striking quickly and decisively without care of reprisal from the noble houses backing the slavers. However, both the stories above were quickly quashed, as all the slaves were set free to return jubilantly to their homes! And they all told the same story without fail: A valiant golden-haired boy, so beautiful that he would put even the greatest beauties of Gorun City to shame; leading a group of men and a woman clad in the outfits of desert raiders! * * * * * [A further 30 minutes later] "What???!!! Charley!??! You''re safe and with Sharon...???" Lars was dumbstruck when he saw a sheepish Seline and Sharon emerge with a still nonchalant and laidback Charley. "S-sorry, I... I got Sharon to make sure Charley was bought back so as to ensure his safety. I d-didn''t think that, that things would get this out of hand... Sharon was supposed to look for you and inform you as soon as she brought Charley back, but the boy kept insisting that he would bite off his tongue and commit suicide if we didn''t let him get some food... He said that, erm... I quote him: "That bloody miser Lars wouldn''t even let me spend a single silver coin to buy anything good to eat! I''m starving!"... Yeah..." "And... After that... We just couldn''t track you down as you were moving so fast and wiping out everyone who could have witnessed your passing... And even those who survived and were untouched were too traumatised or fearful to even tell us which direction you went in next! Seline lowered her gaze in embarrassment, not quite sure how to face Lars, but had decided that she could just act cool and pretend that nothing had happened between them. Her cold treatment and refusal to look at him threw Lars into confusion, but not as much as the fact that... He had just painted the town red with the blood of countless enemies... When Charley was safe all along?!? "Well..." Lars mumbled dejectedly. "At least I have... PLENTY OF MONEY!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Lars cackled with laughter and lacked even a shred of remorse for his actions of slaughtering more than 300 guardsmen or slavers who were involved directly or indirectly in the slave trade.And Seline, Charley and even the unflappable Sharon looked on, uncomfortable as they saw for the first time just how much greed and the love of money could corrupt a person that they thought they knew... 99 The Model Mother and Wife Patricia Trenel. Wife of Patriarch Mallard Trenel, mother of Gaius Trenel and grandmother of Leocadius Trenel. A virtuous wife, a woman of noble heritage and model mother - but today she wore a black veil over her still beautiful and youthful face that looked like she could be Gaius'' younger sister. She was also covered entirely in black from head to toe in a long black dress and with a black silk manteau draped around her shoulders to protect her from the cold autumn winds. She was standing outside Mallard Trenel''s private training chambers at the moment, standing perfectly still as she humbly awaited her husband to complete his daily practice. She stood demurely, gazing lovingly at her husband of 50 years who was still vigorous in his advanced years and looked to be only growing stronger with every passing year. As was his habit, Mallard would train for nearly 3 hours every morning in his nearly 1 acre large training grounds. Only, today he had been held up with Duke Leanne''s meeting together with the other family heads and had come back in a daze. Unlike the usual though, he had not spoken to Patricia to download what had happened for her to settle all the matters arising. Normally he would entrust everything to her, but instead, today, he seemed distracted and frustrated. The moment he had returned, he had brushed aside everything - including his doting wife who practically ran the entire family for him. For the Trenel family, the one who truly held the reins of power was Patricia. Whether it was the family''s businesses or the household affairs; whether the appointment of district personnel or counterattacks against rival factions. Whether military matters, social matters or even the dealings which involved topics which could not be discussed openly in the light... Everything single one of these was presided over by Patricia Trenel, and Patricia Trenel alone could decide on these! Of course though, she alone would not be able to manage all of these duties. And that was why she had quickly split off subdivisions of the flesh trade to Gaius and Leocadius while managing the bulk of the business herself. All without the knowledge of her upright and pious husband! In fact, Mallard Trenel almost didn''t do anything for the Trenel family except strive to increase his personal power as a deterrent to any other parties who dared cross their noble house. And that was enough. He just needed to be strong; strong enough that the threat of him moving was enough for Patricia to be unshakeable as the iron-fisted Empress Dowager of Gorun City! Everything had been going perfectly well for her and the family for the past 40 odd years. Of course there would be the occasional challenger to the slave operations or a nosey new investigator prying into her business. But all of these had been summarily taken care of with the cooperation of the city guard and the Laughing Man. Yes, all had been going swimmingly - until recently. In the past few days alone there had been heartbreaking news, a devil invasion and some major blips, one after the other! And to top off her foul luck, today when Duke Leanne summoned all the family leaders, she had specified for only the Patriarchs to be in attendance - leaving Patricia completely out of the loop, as if though the Duke were beginning to be more wary of her! And so she stood quietly outside the entrance of her husband''s training area, waiting for him to finish his 3-hour session of practice. She gritted her teeth in aggravation and rage at being humiliated like this, having to wait here and furrowed her brows deeply - but all these were hidden under her dark veil, unseen to those around her. She maintained a calm exterior with her hands joined together and folded in front of her waist, a model wife waiting patiently to see her husband and comfort him in these trying times! And in the eyes of the servants and slaves milling about, Patricia Trenel was the perfect woman! But right now she did not give a flying f*** what they thought, for she was full of anxiety and worried sick over the entire situation she and the family were in... One that she could not allow to come to the attention of her naive and justice-seeking husband! She ground her teeth together and felt extremely stressed when she thought about the string of events that led up to today. First and worst of all was the devil invasion. As the Trenel family''s wealth depended mostly on slavery, the invasion had taken a great toll on their prosperity as both the slavers and the slaves were mostly wiped out! What happened next was far, far worse. She had broken down and wept openly when she found out the news of how both Gaius and Leocadius had fallen into depravity, choosing to share a bed with the devils! And as a result... On the same day, she had lost her only son and only grandson, leaving her essentially childless and without any future in the Trenel family despite her unopposed stranglehold of power. And just today she received countless reports from all over the city of more than a quarter of her slavers'' dens being raided and torched to the ground, with all the slaves set free to tell the world of their plight - all perpetrated by a rogue group of bandits called the Sand Crabs led by a boy named Lars, happening out of the blue! ...Which, along with the more than six hundred children rescued by the troublemaker "Lord" Mikael, would soon reveal the trail of breadcrumbs all the way back to the Trenel family... And herself! ''This string of bad luck all seemed to start that day, with that one tiny incident that wouldn''t have come to my attention were it not for the fact that I was nearby the quester''s guild when it occurred...'' She couldn''t resist her nervous urges anymore and began biting her thumbnail under her veil as she recalled the event that seemed to trigger it all.A newbie quester had dared to stand up to one of the third-party "recruitment" teams. She had heard a commotion in the quester''s guild a few days back and sent her maid to find out what happened. And now that she thought about it... The newbie quester was also a golden-haired incredibly handsome boy! Her eyes sparked with flames of rage as she realised that it was the exact same person who was antagonising her today - the boy named Lars! At that moment, she heard the sounds of movement and wind cease as the white-haired Mallard landed on the ground in the middle of the sprawling training field. He had completed his practice and was covered in sweat. Patricia smiled as she saw he was done and entered the training grounds to meet her husband. And as he walked over to the resting area, two servants rushed over to pass him some towels and a bottle full of a cooling energy drink. "My dear husband...!" Patricia called out lovingly - though she grimaced as she spoke the revolting words to her block-headed husband. ''If only he were sharper and more ruthless... Like that Farhan Jamal...'' Her eyes glittered as she looked at her lawfully wedded husband, though her thoughts were actually fixed on another man. "Ahh! Patricia! I forgot to meet you after the long boring meeting this morning! You know, Duke Leanne and all those old fogeys are such a bore! I wish I could have just handed over all this tedious work to you, but instructions were instructions..." Mallard spoke casually. After his exercise session, the Patriarch of the Trenel family looked to be far more relaxed and as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders. The training-freak always only had one thing on his mind - training, training and more training! And so when he debriefed Patricia about the morning meeting, he could only tell her some bits and pieces of inconsequential information, things that were of no value at all - even missing out the most important portions such as news about the hostage exchange being planned for to recover Leocadius. Astrid Estreya and Natalie Sarouneh! It was almost as if he had forgotten completely about this world-shaking piece of information! However, it soon became apparent that the message about Leocadius HAD completely slipped his mind - along with the important fact of Lars being the near-Mythical realm Mikael''s disciple. And this fact of his absent-mindedness and lack of care towards the family''s affairs or important matters caused neverending grief to his dedicated wife; leading to the current rift between them - though it was a rift that he was not aware of until today. When Patricia left her "beloved husband"''s presence to return to her duties as a model wife, she was seething inside, deeply resentful of her lot in life that led to her being unable to take over the family completely. At the same time though, she was glad that he hadn''t asked more and had dismissively asked her to "take care of everything, as usual." Even when she had mentioned how there were attacks by rival factions on the family business operations, he had not even asked a single thing about it, merely grunting as he picked up a cultivation manual on the Universe''s Laws and waved her away. She let out a soundless bark of laughter as she thought about the flippant man. Would he even notice when his entire family was crumbling around him? Maybe he would - but only because that would affect his precious training grounds and training hours, right? With such a useless man at the head, it was just a matter of time until the family collapsed! She alone could not hold the weight of the entire household and businesses on her own - which was why she had roped in both Gaius and Leocadius to run things together. But to her sorrow, it looked like she was on her own once more in this lonely road to supremacy. When she returned to her room, she sat on her bed and laid one hand on the wooden frame of the structure to open a secret compartment. Out of the secret area, she withdrew a tiny wooden whistle, one which looked completely unremarkable. She then blew on the whistle - but no sound was released. At least, no sound which could be heard by the naked human ear. Then she replaced the whistle in the hidden cubbyhole before closing the panel and ensuring there were no signs of a compartment there in the first place. She walked over and sat down at her embroidery table, then began gracefully forming a beautiful tapestry of colours and cloth with her hands. It was only moments later that she heard a voice speaking from seemingly nowhere. "Mistress Trenel. What is your command...?" An impassive and indistinct voice spoke, one that was so average and normal that a hearer would be hard-pressed to name any distinctive features or recognise the voice even if it were heard time and time again. Patricia released a sigh of relief when she heard the voice of her most loyal subordinate; the only one that she seemed to be able to trust in her entire life! Her tight neck and furrowed brows seemed to relax - just a little - as she relayed her appreciation and instructions to the leader of the Celestial Shadows, House Trenel''s underground arms and legs! "Truly, Boa, without you... What would I do...?" "Mistress, you are like a goddess of wisdom! Even without us, you would still be reigning as a queen over Gorun City and someday, the entire Kingdom of the Sands!" The voice replied unabashedly, though with the lack of inflection in his tone, it could be mistaken as sarcasm. Patricia did not take it that way, however. She instead smiled gently and felt comforted. "Boa, who is available for a mission...? I need you to take out some wild dogs who think they can take on the dragon just because she is sleeping..." "Mistress, I, Stars Boa am always available to do whatever you bid! Unfortunately though, all our Grandmaster combatants were either crippled or killed during the recent clashes with the devils and the Four Paths of the Underworld... However, the Master level Evisu of the Moon, Abba of the Sun and Dee of the Earth are still ready to move at a moment''s notice!" The owner of the voice stopped to catch his breath before continuing, "I take it mistress'' meaning is those curs who have treaded on the serpent''s tail... The Sand Crabs and the foolish boy Lars...?" Patricia paused for a moment before nodding. "Yes..." Patricia''s hand movements changed at that moment as she continued her weaving and sewing. Her fingers danced across the surface of the cloth sharply and aggressively, as if though she were a sword dancer flitting through a battlefield of enemies - and reaping a life at every flick of her fingers! Then abruptly, she stopped as she panted, trying to catch her breath after the furious spurt of speed and emotion. And the snake empress of Gorun City spat out the two venomous words that had ended so many lives and destroyed countless families. "Kill them." It was only silence that responded to her as she continued her embroidery, now smiling pleasantly as she calmly continued her homemaker''s artwork. Once more, she was Patricia Trenel, the beautiful, humble and demure model mother and wife. 100 The Celestial Shadows [In the Headquarters of the "Sword" branch of the Four Paths of the Underworld] A stylish man dressed in lightweight and supple wyvern-hide armour sat on a grand throne in a wide and spacious far-east styled room. Fans and swords were hanging on the walls of the tatami-floored room as the man with long grey hair tied in a ponytail sat with his fingers interlocked together in front of his face with his elbows on the arms of his seat. He was waiting for the news to come... News that came swiftly. Where there had been no one earlier, suddenly a black-clad figure appeared, kneeling with one knee on the ground and head bowed respectfully. The shadow provided his report to the head of the Sword path, Blacksword Susano. "Lord Susano, as you predicted, House Trenel''s Celestial Shadows have made their move." Susano did not nod or show any acknowledgement, making the spy who gave the report nervous. He was even unsure whether their great leader had even heard him as the grey-haired man was still only gazing at his hands as if he had not noticed anyone speaking! But the shadow remained still with his head bowed - for he knew that the Blacksword demanded absolute discipline and would immediately slay anyone who incurred his wrath! The informant did not have to wait long before he received the response he had been waiting for. Susano unfolded his fingers and nodded, though he still did not look at the spy as he spoke. "Who is leading their team...?" He asked quietly with his gravelly voice, the sound grating on one''s ears as he spoke. "Sir... Based on preliminary reports... Boa of the Stars is leading the team personally..." This time when the spy spoke, he sounded less confident. Nevertheless, he delivered the information without hesitation - another habit that all survivors of the shinobi spy squad shared. Upon hearing this the normally calm man''s brow furrowed deeply as he shot up and out of his seat, crying out loudly. "What??! No!! That''s too much for God Lars!! No... No! I must go to support him!" His face looked anxious and worried as he donned his dark-grey cloak and picked up his sword, preparing to set out. Then he spoke solemnly and with a sigh, sounding breathless from worry, "Gather the Shadow Swords. We have a war on our hands." * * * * * "NO!!!!!" Lars yelled with all his might, hand clutching his rent heart, bursting from the intense pain that struck him. He fell to his knees, gasping and coughing. He felt as if though he were vomiting blood and his organs had been turned inside out... He might die! Well and truly die from this! *CLA-CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK...!* The sound of dice being rolled was heard, and the moment the sound stopped, countless people roared with victorious cheers... While Lars screamed in anguish. "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" Charley kneeled beside the fallen boy, brows knitted with worry and tried to comfort Lars, saying, "Boss, don''t worry. You only lost 90% of your money..." Lars vomited blood at those words. "...." Charley was stunned, speechless... Or at least on the outside. Inside, he was laughing madly at his employer''s misery! "Ahhahahahahhhhahaa!!!! Muahahahahaha!!! Kiyahahahahah!!! Worth it!!! So satisfying!!! Finally I can see you crawling at my feet... You poor guy!!! Loser!!!" "....? Why is it suddenly so quiet?" Charley asked as a dark figure began to rise up from the ground where it had earlier lay, fire in the figure''s eyes and lightning bolts dancing around Lars'' body. Snake Speark King Lust was the one who so helpfully offered Charley an answer. "...Boy, condolences. We could hear you say that, you know...?" "..." Charley gulped, once more speechless. And began begging for his life. But it was too late. Byrus kindly "helped" Lars and held Charley still as they ministered their "healing" and "services" to the very loud-mouthed boy who obviously did not have a fear of god Lars! "AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! NO!!! N-no!!!! That doesn''t turn that way, no no no!!! Ahhgrgghhh!! D-don''t!!! Don''t!!! IT WON''T FIT!!!!" Despairing cries filled the air as an overly cocky dice cheat received his just desserts... But still kept the money he had won. Though, whether it was worth it or not... That was hard to say. However, even as the light-hearted scene was occurring in the inn where Lars and Charley were staying and where the Sand Crabs had all gathered, danger was on its way. Several dark shadows were approaching - and approaching fast. Lars'' eyes turned sharp as he sensed the movements. Though he could not be sure what their intention was, at least it wasn''t very likely that they were here to make friends and drink together. Byrus and the other Sand Crab leaders also turned serious as they too noticed the incoming company. They hurried back to their gear and got ready for the coming trouble. * * * * * As Lars stepped out of the inn together with Byrus, Lust, Viyash and Adron, he saw four masked figures standing atop the apex point of four separate rooftops surrounding them in the cardinal directions. He stopped in the middle of the now nearly empty road and waited; waited for the visitors to announce their reason for coming. Whatever it was, it didn''t look like they were here to play dice... Which he was glad about. Looked like his luck with women extended to his luck with gambling too... Lars was slightly worried as he saw the uninvited guests. He wasn''t too concerned about the 3 Master level combatants, but the leader, the unassuming and quiet man who was masking his World-class aura would be trouble. Unless... He just came out in the open and revealed his full strength!... But that would also make moving about in the open difficult from now, and possibly jeopardise him joining the youth tournaments and earning lots of money! So Lars decided to adopt a wait and see approach... And let his lackeys handle it! Lars and the Sand Crabs stood and watched their visitors, locking gazes with the masked figures as time passed - until the unassuming and completely forgettable leader of the killers spoke. "Lars and the Sand Crab raiders... For your crimes against humanity and defiance of the will of the heavens..." The quiet and unremarkable voice spoke like a robot, without any changes of tone or emotion, before announcing sharply and loudly his ultimatum. "...You are all hereby sentenced to... DEATH!!!" And with those words, he launched himself down at Lars while his three companions also lunged forward with their weapons at the ready! Evisu of the Moon, a tall and gangly thin woman in a Moon mask was intercepted by Snake Spear King Lust who held up a long wooden quarterstaff before her! Lanky and apparently clumsy Dagger of Destruction Viyash wielded his two heavy twin kukris and dashed forward to strike down his counterpart, the tall and strong knife-wielding Abba of the Sun! While the well-built and stocky Dee of the Earth directly rammed into his opponent - the hulking and powerful round-faced Mountain-smasher Adron! And as for Stars Boa himself, the leader of the Celestial Shadows... Byrus gritted his teeth but did not hesitate even for a split second as he laid his life on the line to face an enemy a full major realm stronger than himself! "You''ll need to get past me first, yobbo! You''re 100 years too early to challenge our god Lars!! Ugh!!" Byrus immediately summoned his armour and dashed in front of Lars to protect him, but he grunted heavily in pain as his mana armour was easily pierced by his opponent! He desperately held his attacker''s arm in place to prevent the sharp spike held in Stars Boa''s hand from piercing deeper into his chest and straight through his heart! "W-World class?!?" He gasped in surprise even as he struggled to resist the pressure from the far smaller man''s slim body. "Yes. World-class... Goodbye!" With those words, the assassin Stars Boa''s body began to glow blue and emit flames as he channelled mana towards the thin spike held in his right hand! "NOT SO FAST!!!" Only for an arcing black blade to descend from the sky and crash down towards him! Stars Boa hurriedly leapt backwards and barely avoided the surprise attack as the shadowy sword strike crashed into the ground where he was standing moments ago. However, he did not merely dodge. At the same moment that he avoided the attack from above, he flicked out his right hand and the spike in his hand elongated, transforming into a long and thin wire that slashed out at Susano mid-air! ''CRAP!!! UGHH!!!!!!'' Susano twisted his body in an emergency evasive manoeuvre and barely managed to avoid being decapitated by the slashing wire, only, he still received a deep gash on his shoulder, slicing right through his wyvern-hide armour! With that, round one of the battle was over - with Byrus and Susano already seriously injured and having lost 20% of their battle power in just one exchange of moves! "This... Is going badly... God Lars... You''d better make a run for it...!" "Lord Lars... My apologies for being late to arrive. I''ve already informed Miss Sharon, she should be arriving at any moment now! Until then..." Byrus was sweating profusely as he spoke, both from the pressure he had been under and from the throbbing wound near his heart that bled incessantly; whereas Susano''s left arm was hanging limp at his side, incapacitated though not lopped off entirely! But their fighting spirits soared as they had not a single ounce of despair within them as they cried out and gave voice to their magnificent fiery and passionate intentions! "We''ll protect you until the end!!!" The two men roared out their intentions together and charged forward to tie down the lethally skilful Stars Boa once more! "WE''LL CRUSH YOU!!!" / "DIE, MONGREL!!!" Round 2 of the battle was about to begin. 101 Skill is More Important Than Power "You''re too stiff! What''s the point of being so small and flexible when your weapon and your fighting style are as rigid as a stick? Oh! I forgot! You ARE using a useless stick! Gyihahahaha!" "Shut up! You''re so annoying! Do you specialise in fighting or annoying your opponents to death?!?" "Both! Gyihahahahaha! Where are you looking at!" Snake Spear King Lust cursed as she struggled to keep up with the elusive Evisu of the Moon. The short golden-haired loli was wielding a roughly 2 metre long quarterstaff, one that was almost 30% taller than her short stature of barely 150 cm - a weapon meant to make up for her diminutive height, but right now revealed its shortcomings against a slippery opponent like the one she faced right now! Despite Evisu of the Moon looking unwieldy with her loping arms, she pulled off amazing flashy moves, spinning around Lust and slipping through her guard multiple times to land unexpected blows on the slim loli''s body! When the bandit tried to back off, the assassin stuck to her as close as her own shadow and pulled out caltrops to scatter in Lust''s path, blocking off her ways of retreat. And when Lust tried to charge her down head-on, her moon-masked opponent backed off with stunning acrobatics, backflipping away and throwing shuriken at her which Lust was forced to block with her spinning staff! ''Dammit all!!! I''ll kill you!!!'' Despite her aggressive cursing on the inside, Snake Spear King Lust breathed calmly on the outside as she smiled confidently and showed an assured expression - one that made her look as if she were hiding a hidden ace up her sleeve! This unnerved Evisu who was confounded as to why Lust was still so confident. The tiny girl had been outclassed in every way since the beginning of the fight and was now bleeding and bruised in at least 20 places - but she was still unfazed, looking like she believed she was still going to win! Was this just a bluff...? Evisu tried to catch her breath in the lull of the battle - her swift movements were definitely not for free; her unique and unpredictable fighting style took a heavy toll on her stamina. But even as she was resting between attacks, she noticed something. The golden-haired loli was not taking the offensive but merely being passive - almost as if she were also winded and not willing to risk attacking! Evisu smiled under her mask and scoffed at herself and her opponent. She''d nearly been deceived by the bandit lieutenant''s bluff! She shook her head in disappointment at her own naivete and reminded herself not to be caught up in her opponent''s flow next time as she dashed forward to finish off this weak opponent! She rushed forward and straight ahead, as if daring Lust to strike her down where she stood. She was running head on and looked to have no avenue for escape - all Lust needed to do was to thrust out straight at her opponent... Right...? However, Lust hesitated before the apparent no-brainer move, sensing that there was a trap but unable to determine just what it was. Eventually however, she was forced to decide. She could only grit her teeth and still strike out... But she missed her staff-stab completely as Evisu bent her body backwards at an impossible angle, nearly folding her waist in half to avoid the stab! Then in the gap between attacks, Evisu grinned cockily as she swung a palm dagger straight at the defenceless Lust''s throat! Only to see Lust smiling victoriously as she said, "Gotcha!" Snake Spear King Lust puffed up her cheeks and pursed her lips before blowing out a long and thin needle straight at Evisu''s exposed chest - a high-velocity hidden weapon that looked to be coated in poison! She looked on delightedly at her enemy who had fallen for the trap, but her expression quickly changed as she saw Evisu''s reaction - the masked woman was laughing through her mask! "Gyihahahaha!! Got me??? I GOT YOU!!!" Evisu then pulled off an even more impossible move as her entire upper body crumpled up as if she were a boneless slime and slipped right past the incoming needle! And despite dislocating her arm completely while doing so, the dagger in her hand did not seem to slow down in the least as it flitted straight towards Lust''s throat! ''SHIT!!! I DON''T WANT TO DIE!!!'' * * * * * A similar in nature but greatly different scene occurred between Mountain-smasher Adron and his opponent, Dee of the Earth. Both the heavily built combatants were locked in a strange dance, hands intertwined with one another, legs pressed together and faces close enough to feel each others'' breath. They were mostly still except for a slight inching forward of the legs here, a little change of pressure in the palms there, or the minute trembling of their muscles as they fully exerted their strength and concentration, looking for the smallest weakness or opening in their opponent! This had gone on for nearly 30 seconds, the entire length of time since the battle had started - and did not look like it had any sign of ending! At least, until now. "...I admire you. You''re the first one who has matched me in strength and technique." Dee of the Earth spoke in a voice full of respect. Adron looked at his counterpart stoically, then opened his mouth and replied, "Aye two yam yimpwesst!" "????? *Cough cough cough!*" As much as the two men were already covered in a thick sheen of sweat, Dee of the Celestial Shadow began to sweat even more - Adron''s breath... Could kill an elephant! "Ugh... Is... Is that your trump card...? H-how damaging and potent... It''s too bad... I have high poison resistance! Now... O-out of respect for you... I''ll show you mine...!" Dee looked dead serious as he spoke, eliciting a clueless grin from the cute-looking and innocent-faced Mountain-smasher. "Bloodline Release: Bear!" Adron frowned and began to pant as Dee''s form began to writhe and grow stronger as the assassin quickly started to overpower the bandit. "Yoo chitted!?!?" Adron roared in defiance, obviously upset that his opponent had pulled this move out of nowhere. Dee just smiled calmly - and smashed Adron into the ground. * * * * * "Not all dual-wielders are equals..." "...For just as men are weaker in will, so too are there those of the same type who are weaker..." Abba of the Sun spoke philosophically as she engaged in fierce battle with Viyash who wielded twin kukris. She herself held two broad-bladed straight daggers. Though they were shorter and not as heavy as the kukris, the lighter weight and shorter blades gave her more flexibility and smaller movements, leading to more control and agility in battle. The tall and strong woman was fighting toe to toe with him and they seemed evenly matched - if not for the fact that every 10 or so exchanges, she would lash out with a fierce kick to his legs that disrupted his tempo and left Viyash limping! He was so hard-pressed just keeping up with Abba that he couldn''t find the breath to retort in the psychological battle of words - but what he COULD do was keep trying to cut off that bloody sharp tongue along with her head! But despite his best efforts, he could feel that the fight was slipping away from him. He knew he still had his trump card to pull out, but he was certain that she too had not shown all her cards yet! Nevertheless, the deciding point of the battle did not take long to come. As Viyash was forced to block Abba''s two-bladed descending slashes with both his kukris, she kicked him fiercely in the abdomen, knocking the wind out him and sending him back almost 10 metres through the air! Then before he could even so much as regain his foot, her forehead lit up as she triggered her innate killing move - Spiritualisation: Light Dash! "Skill is more important than power!! Let''s finish this!!" Abba''s body ignited and began to release dazzling rays of light, blinding Viyash and hindering him from even keeping his eyes open! Despite him knowing that she was about to launch a killer move, he was helpless to watch - he could only cry out in alarm and focus all his mana into a shield in front of him as he crossed his arms in defence! Then in a flash of fiery light, Abba shot forward - headed straight for Viyash... To end his life! ".....!!!!!!!" Viyash braced himself to face his fate, preparing to combust his soul and body to self-destruct the moment the woman''s attack landed...! *SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!* "AGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" "....????" ".....???? What??" But he was surprised when he did not feel the searing heat or lancing pain he had expected. Instead he heard an exchange of voices even as he continued to keep his guard up in front of him and his ears perked. "H-h-how...!!! *Cough cough!!!* I-Impossible!!! You''re just a kid...!!!" A woman''s voice croaked out, sounding like she was on her last legs of life. A cool-sounding voice responded to her, echoing her words from earlier. "It''s true... Skill IS more important than power..." "It''s just that... I''m the one who''s more skillful!" A grand voice announced decidedly as the sound of a body slumping to the ground was heard. As the blinding light faded and his sight returned, he gaped in surprise at the scene before him. There was no sign of Abba of the Sun before him, only a trail of flames and smoke leading to the side. And when his eyes followed that trail, he saw the woman lying on the ground far off to the side, covered in burns and with one deep cut dancing across the front of her chest. She appeared to be dead; a lifeless corpse. "....???" In confusion, Viyash blinked again and again, and then realised that in his agitation, he had forgotten to notice the boy that was standing directly in front of him. "Lars....!??" He gasped. The golden-haired youth merely at the Adept level turned back over his shoulder to flash a smile at Viyash before he spoke. "Well done...!" Lars smiled as he spoke reassuringly; and somehow, Viyash had the sense that he could entrust his safety - and that of his blood brothers and sister - to the boy; the same boy who had taken the life of his brother Raghu, who he should hate. But somehow could not find it in himself to hate. "You can rest now... Your turn is done!" At those words, Viyash did not when it happened, but when he realised it, he had already slumped back down onto his butt as the adrenaline left his body. He panted heavily from fatigue and fought to recover his energy levels and mana. Despite the short frame of the battle, he was well and truly drained from fighting at 100% from the word go. And with those words, Lars dashed forward, off to rescue another member of his new band of raiders! 102 Skill is STILL More Important Than Power ##### Check out author''s note or Auxiliary chapter for a short YouTube Vlog introducing myself and a lil'' lyrics writing competition! #####* * * * *[Snake Spear King Lust vs. Evisu of the Moon - the conclusion of their close battle] ''SHIT!!! I-I DON''T WANT TO DIE!!!'' Snake Spear King Lust screamed in her adolescent voice filled with regrets. How could it end this way...? Was it supposed to be like this...? Just a poor orphan girl, forced into a life of either prostitution, stealing or robbery. And so she had chosen the third choice and followed their big bro Byrus and 2nd bro Raghu to rise up from out of the masses of street rats and form their own raider group! They had slowly grown from managing one small district to controlling an entire small route to finally establishing a large group of raiders. But their 15-20 years of a nomad''s life had changed for good when Byrus finally broke through from the Master realm to become a Grandmaster! That was a power level that could contend with an army Colonel or even a weak Lieutenant General! That was a power that allowed the Sand Crab Raiders to decide to finally take on the local hegemons and dominate the region! But the story of rags to riches seemed to have come to a tragic closure right here and now, facing the wrong end of a sharp dagger. ''No, NO!!!'' Eyes filled with unwillingness stared down the tip of the incoming blade, unable to accept her fate just like that. But no matter how much she strained her willpower, her body just couldn''t keep up with her mind and intentions - her arms were still extended in the middle of the earlier desperate spear thrust and could not return in time to defend herself. And her legs were like two blocks of stone - unable to respond to the tip of death that was approaching rapidly! So it was with great resignation that she realised - she was finished. At least, until a tiny little projectile whistled over and changed everything. "Level 2 spell: Acid Arrow!" A mature sounding youth''s voice called out from the distance, but though he was far away, to the two combatant''s, his voice sounded like that of a god booming out across the entire planet, announcing his decree of judgment and blessing onto the world! And though it was just a measly level 2 spell, one that would hardly faze her or even force her to dodge, but at this right moment, that spell literally was the dividing line between life and death. The skilful deployment of such a simple skill made all the difference between victory and defeat! And as the green acidic dart hurtled through the air and knocked aside Evisu''s dagger, it bought just enough leeway for Lust to slip past the killing blow and escape with her life! "What the f***!?!" Evisu''s earlier confident demeanour was nowhere to be seen as she hurriedly tried to move her body back to a regular fighting pose from her contorted, limbo-dance current position. But she was not quick enough to regain the initiative. "It''s my turn!!" Lust had now withdrawn her stave, regained her stance and was already beginning her counterattack! * * * * * [Recap of Mountain-smasher Adron vs. Dee of the Earth''s battle] "Bloodline Release: Bear!" Adron frowned and began to pant as Dee''s form began to writhe and grow stronger as the assassin quickly started to overpower the bandit. "Yoo chitted!?!?" Adron roared in defiance, obviously upset that his opponent had pulled this move out of nowhere. Dee just smiled calmly - and smashed Adron into the ground. Or, he prepared to. When he slipped. And how was it possible to slip? "Level 1 spell: Grease! Cantrip: Force push!" A voice called out two spells in quick succession. One was an everyday utility spell that every novice mage would know and use to play pranks on his friends, while the other only exerted as much force as a normal punch. But when two people were in the midst of a nail-biting struggle, exerting every ounce of their strength, just a little difference in footing and the slightest push at the back of one''s knees could become the straw that broke the camel''s back! Lars smiled victoriously as he only exerted at most beginner Elite-level strength, but managed to intervene and rescue his newfound followers. It was not the force nor the power - but the application of the skills and abilities at one''s disposal! "!!!!!!" Dee of the Earth''s strength and power instantly became useless the moment his feet slipped and left the power of the earth; as a fighter could not even use 10% of their strength without anchoring themselves properly. And in that instant, Adron flashed a gap-toothed grin and declared his finishing move. "Skool dwiver!" And Adron smashed the bear-transformed man''s head right into the ground in a rocking, crushing spinning overhead suplex! * * * * * Byrus and Susano were bloody, beaten-up and ragged from the clear gap in power and skill between them and their World-class realm opponent. But though they had been struck down time and time again, they were not defeated - nor were they destroyed! And it was they who were smiling confidently as they repeatedly obstructed the way of the leader of the Shadows from his repeated attempts to head to their boss! "You won''t get through us!!" Byrus declared as he smiled grimly, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth as he acted as the shield to resist those attacks. "Every second that passes is one closer... To your doom! Hahaha!" And a cold gleam "Ah." But even at this time when a normal person would be screaming their heads off from frustration as their teammate fell before the brilliant golden-haired swordsman, his voice remained robotic and without emotion... As well as his face which remained frozen in an expressionless dull stare. Though his actions were anything but dispassionate! "Susano... Blacksword of the Four Paths of the Underworld... Is your stance representative of the Laughing Man...? Are you declaring war on us noble Houses of Gorun City?" Susano just barked out a hoarse laugh and did not reply, to which Boa, the leader of the Celestial Shadows, responded by keeping a deadpan face and voice. At the beginning, when he was just trying to force a King vs. King battle and slay their leader Lars, he had already been exerting his maximum effort. When he saw the Adept-level boy head to interfere in the battles between his subordinates and the raiders lieutenants, he was also not perturbed, still whittling away at the two Grandmaster fighters Byrus and Susano as he probed for weaknesses in their defence. But when he saw one of his few remaining capable Shadows fall to the curved reaper''s blade, then his other two comrades being defeated one by one, he reacted. Not on his lifeless face or voice, but with his actions. He exploded in deft movements and sharp attacks beyond what he had shown even before, making them realise that there was not just a gap in power, but one in skill! Truly enough, though it was supposed to be that 2 Grandmasters were more or less equal to World-class expert... It was not true when the difference in skill levels was too great! Nevertheless, he still could not break through their defences - not quite yet at least! However, it looked to be an inevitability... "You will die. Both of you." His flat voice spoke again as he launched his all out attack. "Get ready!!!" / "Careful!!!" Both Byrus and Susano cried out in alarm as they felt the atmosphere change. "Stars..." "Fall." But they were not the target. * * * * * ''A meteor shower spell?!? This World-class assassin... Was also a mage?!? What the... Dangit all! Are you seriously trying to force me to blast you to smithereens???!!'' And a mage able to use Level 8 spells at that! Lars'' face turned black as he scowled and his eyes turned to the sky. His brow furrowed deeply as he considered the options he had remaining. It was not just him who gazed upwards - everyone around was distracted momentarily even from the critical moments of their battle by the resplendent scene breaking forth above their heads. Dozens of points of light afar off in the sky were swarming downwards, locked on to and targeted straight for Lars, looking ever so much like stars bursting into flames as they descended like a meteor shower from the heavens! ''Crap crap crap CRAP!!! Should I just throw away my disguise and... Wait! Someone''s coming!'' Lars looked to the east and saw a sight for sore eyes... Nope, it was a sight that poked one''s eyes out and made them wish to puke! "Demon Maid Sharon to the rescue~! Hulululu~!" Sharon''s body emitted a bronze sheen, looking metallic and incredibly tough as she let out her nonsensical battle cry. And she soared through the air to land right in front of Lars, his... I mean, her body overshadowing the boy and blotting out his figure entirely. "Hulululululu~!!! No one can pierce my beautiful form!" As Sharon stood before Lars to protect him, she twirled around like a ballet dancer (more like a wrestler throwing a spinning clothesline) and stood as if in a dancing pose, holding out one hand before her with palm open and fingers pointed outwards. "Moon Prism Power, Make-up! I''ll punish you in the name of the Moooon!" Sharon yodelled "daintily" and displayed her formidable muscles, bursting at the seams of her maid outfit. She had changed out of her black and white uniform and was sporting a new look - orange and black instead. And her tanned skin was anything but alabaster or white! Then her body swirled with a copper-bronze sheen once more and emitted dull lights as a field of energy formed over the surface of her body to guard against the incoming storm of firebolts from the heavens! The bolts that fell from the atmosphere struck her in a boom, emitting loud crashes as the veritable deluge exploded against her body! Clouds of smoke, dust and debris fragmented and shrapnelled out to their vicinity but fortunately, there was no one nearby to be injured. Nonetheless, though none of the Sand Crabs were hurt, they cried out in alarm. Their boss'' boss and the Demon Maid were already swallowed up by the deluge of fire! "BOSS!!!"/ "GOD LARSSS!!!!!" Two masculine voices roared out in despair as they turned their backs to the enemy before them. Who had been waiting for this exact moment - the one where he checkmated their king and then mopped up the pawns after that. "A big mistake." Boa of the stars announced mechanically and launched forward with sharp wire-daggers in either hand! 103 Moon ##### Check out author''s note or Auxiliary chapter for a short YouTube Vlog introducing myself and a lil'' lyrics writing competition! #####* * * * *"You''re alive." Just as Stars Boa was about to reach the backs of the two men who were in no position to defend themselves, his eyes narrowed slightly as he heard the voice of the boy he thought he had finished off! But he cared not and pressed on, knowing that he held the absolute advantage at this moment! And once these two Grandmasters were eliminated, there would be nothing standing in his way to slowly cut off all of the boy''s limbs, ears, nose, tongue... Though nothing changed on his exterior, Stars Boa was thrilled deep within him at the prospect of subjecting the handsome and slim youth to a lifetime of torture! "Level 1 spell: Blur!" "...? Futile." Stars Boa ignored the buff spell that slightly blurred the image of Byrus and Susano. To a seasoned veteran like himself, that spell was literally child''s play! But if that were the extent of Lars'' actions, he wouldn''t even have bothered, right...? "Mirror Image! Blindness! Chromatic Spray! Magic Missile! Flash of Light! Torchlight! Web! Conjure Paper! Conjure Cloth! Darkness! Lesser Colour Spray! Minor..." To Stars Boa''s amusement, the boy spat out spell names like a bullet train. ''As if he could really cast that many--?????!!!!'' He began to mock Lars, but his mockery soon turned to amazement. And shock. To his horror, an amalgamation of more than 15 spells burst forth practically at the same time, flooding his vision and obscuring the area between himself and his targets. "Even if one is ineffective, how about 3? How about 5 spells? What about 10? And if 10 were not enough, what about 15? Was 15 f***ing enough to satisfy you???" Lars roared defiantly as he grinned in delight. Despite Boa''s sharp senses and countless years of experience on the battlefield, it was no longer a question of abilities but of common sense. Bursts of light, colour, sparkling spells, flashes of brightness, darkness beyond that and all kinds of obstructions poured forth from Lars faster than the eye could keep track of. It was so bad that Boa felt as if he had stepped into a convenience store - the boy had dumped on him everything but the kitchen sink! And despite his World-class capabilities, the myriad hindrances were still too much for him to overcome! Could you fight in the dark? How about if you were in the dark and placed in a spinning room? How about if you were in the above situation, placed underwater with dozens of distractions swimming around you? In such a situation, even a great expert such as himself could not help but be distracted and lose his aim! And what more when trying to pin down two slippery Grandmaster class who were also doing their best to avoid him! As a result, Boa could only fire off as many blind slashes and stabs as he could, pouring forth his mana to extend his range and the area of his attacks - hoping to catch the two men in their moment''s opening! Alas, it was not to be so. The smokescreen of almost 20 spells was not just for defence or a distraction...! "By the power of the Moon, you shall be punished, evildoer~!" A whiny falsetto but vastly deep voice groaned out, chilling even the stoic Stars Boa and making his hairs stand on end. Not from the power emitted, but from discomfort! Then he heard a snippet of sound, as if a voice announcing to everyone that he... She was about to launch his... Her finishing move... "MOON! SPIRAL! HEART!...." "ATTACK!!!!" The roaring scream echoed forth, bursting out in a flash of grey and yellowish-brown mana that did not suit at all the concepts of the Moon or the Heart and Love. The strong glow of concentrated mana surrounded the gargantuan form of a man bursting through the void to crash straight into Boa! By the time he saw it, it was already too late! But he was still in time to exclaim in exasperation and anger. "T-that''s just a body slam...!" Everything turned black for the man who claimed stars as his moniker, and all he saw left were stars swimming in the darkness. "...That''ll teach you to look down on the power of the Moon~!" The maid who looked much more like a contestant for Mr Universe flexed her muscles menacingly as she did a "bishoujo" pose and pointed at the fallen leader of the Celestial Shadows, "Stars" Boa. "...." And whether it was Lars, Byrus, Susano or the rest, they were all rendered speechless by the terribly incongruous antics of a muscle man in the lacey orange maid''s outfit. * * * * * [3 hours later, near midnight] "Haha. I''d rather die than tell you." A bloody and battered Boa with multiple broken bone and a swelling face was now tied up on a chair with his hands and legs bound by heavy chains infused with thick bonds of mana. Lars had helped to inscribe the formations for multiple restraint spells which were then being powered up by Sharon, Byrus, Susano or the other Sand Crab raiders in turn. Right now, a bandaged-up Susano was questioning the impassive assassin, trying to get him to confess his allegiance and get dirt on the Trenel family. However, thus far their efforts at forcing him to speak went fruitless. The man, despite the tortuous pain they put him through, did not bat a lid nor did his voice waver in the least! After taking off his mask, it was revealed that Stars Boa was just as average as his voice. A normal slightly squaring nose set on a pleasant face, one that was almost a caricature of "Townsperson #1" from some movie or book. He had short and straight black hair and a normal build, standing at a height of roughly 175 centimetres tall. Once disarmed, his weapon was found to be just regular steel wires, albeit hardened by perhaps dozens or nearly a hundred temperings. It was not discovered yet if his use of the formidable Level 8 spell: Starfall had been from his own talents (which Lars and his party felt was unlikely based on him only using magic once in the entire fight) or from some artefact or rune secreted away on his body. Even after searching, they had not found anything that could have been the catalyst for such a powerful spell! All in all, if they had one thing to say about him, it was just the single word: Normal! ...Except for the fact that this nondescript completely unremarkable man - Townsperson #1 - was barely past 35 years of age but had already crossed the boundary to enter the ranks of the true powerhouses of the land - the World-class realm! Susano wiped away his sweat with his remaining good arm, his other bound up in a cast and immobile. He sighed and shook his head slightly. They had been taking turns in this interrogation held in the cellar of another inn somewhere else in town, one which his team the Swords of the Four Paths had setup long ago. However, this was not a hideout known even to the others in the criminal organisation; it was meant as a last resort in the event there was a fallout with the other Paths of the Underworld! And that was important... For by now his actions would have marked him as one who had already gone rogue and broken away from the rule of the Laughing Man, choosing to ally instead with the Demon Maid and Duke Silvan''s mole, Seline. Susano then shrugged. As per their earlier discussion, if the man held strong and his will did not waver even after a few hours of being tortured, they would not be able to maintain humane methods anymore. It was already decided that they would have to resort to vile and cruel means that even they themselves could not bear to imagine, much less witness! Hence Susano quickly withdrew from the room where Boa was held, leaving the man surprised as he was left alone with no one in front of him. He tried his bonds and found, to his amazement, that the chains fell off easily! ''What''s going on. Are they planning to set me loose so I''ll lead them back to my goddess...? That''s impossible. So what is their--'' His thoughts were interrupted as he realised that, yes, there was no one in front of him. But there *WAS* one person above him... One hulking, looming shadow that emitted a sweet fragrance of perfume... That laid a large hand on his shoulder, one so big that it was larger than his entire head... One that overwhelmed his full power struggles to resist even when the owner of the hand did not channel the slightest bit of mana... The one hand was quickly joined by another hand that turned him around ever so slowly to face the owner of the gigantic pair of hands and the one who cast such a great shadow over him even in this dark room... An owner that smiled sweetly and fetchingly and leaned in close to his ear to whisper 4 chilling words that shattered his consciousness and swept away the last vestiges of his willpower. "Starlight... Honeymoon... Therapy..." "KISS!!!" * * * * * "AAARRGHHHMMMMFHFPHMM!!!!!" What started out as an intense scream that would chill even seasoned killers and hardened warriors soon began to be muffled and drowned out by the sound of something wet and sloppy covering the owner''s mouth. Lars and co refused to think about it and continued playing cards as if though nothing had happened. Especially Byrus and Susano who were playing cards in a daze. "Huh? Are you sure you want to fold...? What?!? Byrus! Why are you folding with a four of a kind!?? Oh well, no problem with me ^_^" Lars was super happy as this time round his gambling felt like he was taking candy from a baby! And as the sounds of a struggle in the cellar ceased slowly and only the sounds of silence reigned from the underground room, the party of men and women gathered in that inn felt deeply guilty and uncomfortable at the atrocity they had condoned happening... ESPECIALLY so Byrus and Susano... 104 Regrouping - Before the Storm 1 That same night, Seline moved her base of operations to join up with Lars and the rest. Byrus and Susano''s underlings quickly helped Seline move her things including the many documents and letters she required to keep. Everything else was burned to ashes to remove traces of her presence. Despite things having seemed to go well thus far, Seline was actually worried as she sat on her bed and prepared to call it a night. ''Can we... Really take on the House of Trenel...? Along with the four... The three remaining of the Four Paths of the Underworld? Especially...'' Seline lay down onto her bed, looked up at the ceiling and sighed as her fingers gripped the rough bedsheets tightly. Though the beddings were obviously not for someone of highborn standing or one used to the good life, she was more than fine with it. After all, she had practically grown up in a dank and dark prison! But right now, her mind was on the coming battle. ''...Especially the three Legendary enemies... The Laughing Man whose interests are affected and who would surely effect revenge for us drawing Blacksword Susano away... Mallard Trenel, of course... And House Jamal who might get involved to defend their trading partner''s business...'' Seline continued thinking about things, thoughts swirling through her mind, wondering as well if any of the other small, medium or even Great Noble Houses would involve themselves if it came to an all-out war - something that she was wary of due to the fact that their base in the city was still weak. Could they really take on the sleeping giants of Gorun City? Now roused out of their slumber...? Was Lord Mikael''s strength enough of a deterrence? Would Duke Leanne side with them...? Even if she did side with them, would she take overt action or just wait by the sidelines to support the eventual victor? And Duke Silvan... ''...How about myself...? Am I really supposed to be moving down this path? I know Silvan told me to "act appropriately as you see fit, as long as you can expand our influence and establish a foothold in Gorun City", but...'' She blinked a few times, tears coming to her eyes - whether from sleepiness or worry, she knew not and did not want to find out. ''...Is this really what I should be doing...? Is this really all for the benefit of my faction and the Kingdom...? Or...'' The gorgeous woman who could stun nations and fell continents batted her eyelids in stress and anxiety, pressing her eyes tightly shut as she put a hand on her heaving chest and against her pounding heart as she thought. And then she looked up at the ceiling once more, though there was not an answer to be found in the wooden rafters. "Or am I still just a foolish girl in unrequited, one-sided love...?" She asked out loud - but did not receive any reply. The red-headed girl at this moment looked nothing like the all-conquering, scheming dominatrix. Right now, she was just a lovesick teenage girl with a heart full of troubles. And she whispered subconsciously to herself as tears wet her pillow and she entered the world of dreams, where life was not so complicated and she could imagine herself with the boy she loves. "Lars... I love you..." * * * * * Outside Seline''s room, a golden-haired figure had been about to knock on the door. He had wanted to discuss what the plan for the next day would be in detail and seek her advice as someone he felt he could trust in terms of wisdom and plotting. The youthful and slim shadow had tread with quiet footsteps so as not to wake anyone up, but had hesitated on knocking when he heard the girl asking the question to the air. And when he heard her confess her love once more, he froze; unable to bring himself to enter the room. Because he himself didn''t know how he felt or how to face her right now. * * * * * [The next morning, in the manor of House Trenel] A stately, beautiful goddess-like woman was dressed demurely and held herself with the most regal bearing. And normally, she would be strolling gracefully along the corridors of the family, nodding elegantly to her maids and other workers who would blush and bow to her, pleased to receive a favourable glance from the mistress of the entire household! But today, she was speedwalking down the hallways, still trying to maintain her calm demeanour and gracefulness - even as she almost ran to her destination, startling everyone she passed by! ''Could there really be someone so braindead? So stupid with a mind only full of muscles and nothing else inside...???!!! Why must I need to find out about Leocadius'' plight from Madam Jamal and our neighbours?!? Where am I going to put my face right now??? Worthless idiot!!! Why, JUST WHY did I marry out of love! I shouldn''t have chosen the strongest and most handsome guy, stupid, stupid, STUPID ME!!!'' Even her normally perfect serene smile was twitching at this moment as she thought about the conversation she had just had with the other ladies. * * * * * "WHAT??? Leocadius is what???" "Yes, my Farhan told me about it yesterday evening! I was so shocked! I''m so SO glad that little Vignis wasn''t with them when they were captured... S-sorry about that, L-Lexie, I know your daughter Astrid and niece Natalie, I just-- S-sorry, Bernice... I--" Matilda Jamal spoke with relief at first, but when she realised that her companions Lexie Estreya, (formerly Lexie Sarouneh) and Bernice Sarouneh''s faces had turned stiff at her words, she quickly apologised - but was soon lost for words. The two matriarchs showed her a strained smile, trying their best not to bite back venomously, for they knew that coming from Matilda Jamal, it truly wasn''t intentional. After all, she was just an air-head who constantly managed to commit a faux pas and always got on their nerves! But what could they do...? They were the "Four Goddesses of the Four Great Noble Families", they couldn''t afford to show any discontentment or a rift on the surface, right...? The key word was "on the surface". For right now, all three of the first ladies of Trenel, Estreya and Sarouneh wished they could wring Matilda''s neck and strangle here where she sat! "W-what did you say...? Matilda, no joking alright? Tell me, what did you just say and find out about my Leo...?!?" But it was Patricia Trenel who spoke first, casting away her pride and pretence of knowing about things. This was about her grandson, for crying out loud! One of only 2 persons of her own flesh and blood she could trust and rely on to pass on the family''s matters to! "Ara...?" The oriental girl tilted her head and looked quizzically at Patricia, not understanding why she would be the one who was so worked up. She hadn''t accidentally insulted Leo or stepped on Patricia''s feelings, had she? Then she smiled as she decided that she hadn''t, so she could just answer directly. "Oh! My honey told me about it! Didn''t your hubby Mallard inform you? He was the one who said that the devils contacted him through Leocadius'' message channel! Then they want an exchange in two months'' time - some sort of special goat is to be traded for Leo, Astrid and Natalie!" "WHERE?!?" Patricia leapt forward, half her body covering the table as she reached out her hands to grab Matilda''s shoulders. Then she realised just how uncomely her behaviour was and glanced around quickly at the shocked faces of breakfast companions, her face turning a burning red as she blushed furiously in embarrassment! She cleared her throat and got down from on top of the table, smoothed down her dress and then slowly walked over to Matilda''s side. Then she still grabbed her shoulders and spoke with a low and venomous voice, "Ma. Til. Da. Where is the exchange to be...???" Matilda frowned and did not seem perturbed at all as she replied, "During the Battle to the Heavens...?" Patricia''s expression remained calm and tranquil even as her mind raced crazily and she stormed off, leaving the tea party abruptly. She would need to drop everything and settle this quickly. As she left, Matilda asked the others with a vacuous smile on her face, "More tea...? Oh yeah, I wonder how that disciple of Great Lord Mikael looks like, I heard the blonde Lars is a real hottie...!" Patricia would regret the fact that she left a few moments too early. 105 Regrouping - Before the Storm 2 [In Patricia Trenel''s office/ secondary bedroom] She panted, forced to catch her breath as she cursed the fact that the compound of their home was so big. She had wasted nearly 45 minutes just returning from the party with her friends and a further 25 minutes just getting to her own private area! Dizzy and struggling to stay focused, she stumbled over to where her whistle was hidden and brusquely removed it, blew on it hard and long and then returned it to its place. She then let out a long breath of air and slumped down onto her bed, worn out from the rush back here. Unlike the other ladies, Patricia Trenel had been born unable to cultivate. Though, as the oldest daughter in a slightly wealthy merchant family, she had not faced any major difficulties in life. Due to her amazingly good looks, she had been the talk of the town even before the age of 18 - and when she hit 18, the then-teenage patriarchs of the city, at that time all boys with raging hormones, had vied for her hand in courtship! She thought back slightly wistfully to those days - and wished she had not fallen head over heels for the eventual winner of the little tournament, the dashingly handsome, wickedly strong and amazingly macho Mallard Trenel... Patricia sat and waited for Boa of the Stars arrival, wallowing in regret as she took a walk down memory lane. She did not have to wait long - the man quickly arrived, though he looked worse for wear. Nonetheless, his mask which depicted the starry sky was untouched. ''Probably he has plenty of spares...?'' Patricia thought as she sat, expecting a good report. "Goddess, may the heavens be forever jealous of your reigning glory, may the clouds never cover up the sun so that the blaze of the heavens may be the backlight of your eternal beauty!" Again, his apathetic voice spoke mechanically, but Patricia was used to it over the past 25 years since she had adopted the talented orphan. "Teehee... Boa, you''re such a dearie... Sigh... If only Mallard were intelligent like you..." "Goddess, that would not be good. If the master were such, you would not need me anymore." Patricia''s eyes widened slightly as she smiled, nodding slowly, then catching herself and shaking her head gently with an even wider smile. "No no no, Boa. You''re indispensable to us! Even if Mallard were a genius, he still is restricted by his position and reputation! You, on the other hand, are the one who can act as the dagger in the shadows, executing our enemies quietly in the darkness without anyone ever knowing it was actually I, Patricia Trenel, behind it all along!" Boa''s head remained bowed as he continued to kneel on the floor. This made Patricia curious - was it just her, or was the atmosphere around the leader of the Celestial Shadows... Slightly strange today...? But before she could ask what was wrong or if there WERE something wrong with the mission, Boa raised his head slowly and spoke first. "...Goddess...? May I... Ask you a question...? A serious one..." Patricia''s heart fluttered for just a moment as he spoke for the first time with hints of emotion in his robotic voice. Didn''t Boa have a speech impediment...? A congenital defect that made him unable to express any forms of emotion in his speech? Wasn''t that the reason that he had been hated, bullied and downtrodden as a child in the orphanage - despite being the most talented child unearthed in the past 50, 100 years? And wasn''t that how she had roped him in, given him protection, resources, a name, a status and a place to grow into the mighty warrior he was today? Given him the title of "Stars", telling him that he did not belong with the rabble and masses, but his true identity was to be shining like a diamond in the sky? Of course, that was only after she had also prodded and urged on the bullying until the point the other kids almost killed Boa... She smiled inside as she thought back nostalgically to those days. She had to admit, even when she was younger, she had already been a brilliant strategist! But her heart skipped a beat when she heard Boa''s question. "...Goddess...? What am I to you?" Patricia was speechless, stunned and blinking her eyes multiple times as she cocked her head in confusion. What was going on? What had gotten into the man after this last simple mission? "Boa, what are you talking about? Why are you even asking? You''re the leader of the Celestial Shadows, of course! The grand army of House Trenel belongs entirely to you! And someday, when you are a Legendary combatant, you will reign as the hidden King, supreme over the dark side of Gorun City, while I shall be the true queen, ruling behind the scenes from where I sit!" She raised her hands up high and looked dreamily into the air as she spoke of her delusions of grandeur, imaginations of the day that she would finally be rid of the useless Mallard Trenel and not need him anymore... Imaginations that would soon be shattered into a million, billion pieces. "Now stop wasting our precious time! I have something far, far more important for you! You''re not being yourself today! Quick, report on the mission and then I''ll brief you on what we need to do ne--" "Mistress." For the first time in forever, Boa cut her off mid-speech, making Patricia disbelieve her own ears and subconsciously touch them. Did she hear wrongly...? "Mistress!" Boa repeated himself, sparing her the need to wonder. But this time, there was the clear strength of emotions in his voice. "...What am I to you...?" Patricia''s heart beat furiously, thumping hard as she felt a sense of inexplicable danger in those 5 words. Almost as if she were about to be swallowed up in entirety if she just spoke the wrong words to the changed man; though she could not fathom for the life of her, just what had caused this incredible transformation overnight...? Could it have been the mission last night? But he only had to take out 1 Grandmaster and a few Master-level fighters, what could have possibly happened...? It was too bad for her that she didn''t see the smudges of lipstick remaining on Boa''s lips, hidden behind the mask. "...Boa... You are... My most trusted subordinate! My right-hand man, someone who I trust my entire life to! And no matter what comes, you will always be the one I keep with me, to fight for glory, power and hegemony together! I will always share my rule with you and we will reign side by side until the day we establish an unshakeable empire! Don''t you already know all these...? Haven''t I told you time and time again? Enough with this nonsense! Boa! What''s wrong with you...?!?" Patricia''s voice rose in agitation as she spoke, unable to withhold the worry plaguing her soul as it leaked out in an ever louder diatribe. But she was chilled and struck to the heart as she heard the stoic man''s reply. "...Yes... What''s wrong with me indeed... What''s wrong with me to have believed you all these years!" Even through the mask, Stars Boa''s eyes glinted dangerously! "B-Boa...? W-what''s... W-what''s happening to you??! What''s wrong with you, snap out of it!" Boa began to rise up to his feet as he emitted a heavy, oppressive aura and slowly took one step closer to Patricia. "BOA!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! STOP IT RIGHT THIS MOMENT!!!" Patricia screamed aloud at him and considered calling out for help, but realised it was futile. After all, who apart from Mallard Trenel could possibly help her in this situation? And he was off in his own world of training for a good 2 hours more! Patricia gulped in fear as she backed off in panic - but suddenly found herself with her back against the cool obsidian walls, the smooth surface pressed up hard against her spine! "B-Boa... Please... You''re... You''re scaring me... Please stop..." Patricia pleaded with him, tears filling her eyes as her psyche could not bear the blow to her world-view - how could it be that the one she trusted the most was now the one moving towards her threateningly...? After losing Gaius, then Leocadius, now was it also Boa''s turn...? "Mistress... No, Patricia..." "...Do you love me?" 106 Love/ Hate From behind his mask, Patricia Trenel could feel Boa of the Stars lock gazes with her, staring her straight in the eye as he asked the question: "Mistress... Do you love me?" "L-l-love...? B-Boa, w-what are you talki--" "PATRICIA!" For the first time in the 25 years she had known him, Boa shouted at her and called her by name, shocking her and causing her to bump her head against the wall behind her. She stumbled to her knees and clutched the back of her head as her mind reeled. What was he asking?? Love?? Since when had that come into the picture? "B-Boa, I... I... I lo--" She began to stutter out, hoping to placate the man by telling him what he wanted, but once more she was cut off by his roaring voice. "DON''T TRY TO LIE! Don''t you know that I can see right through every single one of the tricks and fibs you''ve told to others all these years? Don''t you know that I''m the one who crafted almost all your deceptions and schemes? I''ve followed you for so many years, do you think that I don''t know how your first instinct in a situation is to cheat and deceive your way out of it...?" Patricia who was still on her hands and knees stared up at the completely average leader of "her" Celestial Shadows; only, now she felt like she was at the mercy of the boy she had raised from a pre-teen to adulthood to his current position of power. And at this moment, the average height man seemed to tower over her menacingly, as if he were a looming giant ready to squish her between his fingers! "Don''t even try to lie! Don''t you know that I already know your habits...? How your right calf muscle will tighten and your 4th lumbar bone in your spine will twist slightly to the right when you lie? Don''t you know I''ve always, always, always been watching over you...?" He paused momentarily - as if overcome by emotion and passions in his speech - before he continued: "Tell me the truth; NOW! DO YOU LOVE ME???" Boa spat out the words, bellowing in his anger. He was not afraid of any servants of people approaching - Patricia Trenel''s private residences were sacred, not to be trespassed by anyone at all! And this also meant that no one would be coming to her rescue! "What...? My calf... My spine... What??" Despite her fear, Patricia''s mind was also spinning in confusion. Did she really have these signs when she lied? And how in hell would the man know? Had he been stalking her, watching her at every moment like a stalker and pervert? Only now did she realise just how dangerous of a man she had kept by her side, thinking that he would obediently bow his head under her all his life! "Boa..." Patricia gulped, trying to swallow as her mouth was dry as sand right now. Then she took a deep breath to calm herself and resolved herself to speak the truth. "I... See you only as a precious comrade... Someone who c-can... C-can work with me to achieve my a-ambitions!" She forced the words out through gritted teeth, not used to telling the truth after so many years of lying through those same teeth! Boa remained quiet for a moment, the only sounds filling the oppressive and suffocating silence being Patricia''s heavy and nervous breathing. Then he spoke a quiet line that sent chills up her spine once more and made her scalp numb. "...Work with you... Or *FOR* you...?" "With m--Ack...!" Before she could complete the sentence Patricia''s consciousness shook as she saw stars swim across her vision. Her breaths became more and more shallow as a choking aura began to pervade the atmosphere and she could barely catch the next breath, each more strenuous than the last. She gasped out her words with whatever strength she could. "For me..." Boa did not then release the killing intent nor the murderous aura. He intensified it as he asked the last question which did not need any answer. "...Then... What Sharon said... All makes sense..." He smiled behind the mask, the first expression he had made since that day 25 years ago when his bleeding and crippled body was "rescued" from a heap of rotting garbage and shards of glass. The first day when he had ever laid eyes on the angel and goddess of his entire life. No, no longer an angel or a goddess. Neither was she a demoness. No, to Boa of the Stars... To Boa Cruz Bituin, the dead woman did not exist anymore. "It makes sense why you would have paid and instigated the children to antagonise me..." His aura grew colder and colder, fiercer and fiercer as he spoke. "I-I..." Patricia could not even choke out the words to defend herself any longer as she clutched her throat, trying desperately to suck in a last breath of air. "It makes sense why you would have murdered my parents..." Boa took 1 step closer as Patricia''s forehead hit the ground; she no longer even had the strength to keep her body upright as she kneeled on the floor. "...And it makes sense why you would even encourage the caretakers to sexually abuse me and dump me in the disposal heap! Along with all the other dead bodies and corpses of your victims!" "It all makes sense - if I''m just a hired hand, a tool meant to further your ruthless objectives! Hahahahaha! It was only me who was too blind to see any of this!! No, not blind... I was too unwilling to see! Too unwilling to believe that my goddess would turn out to be the devil in disguise!" By now, Boa stood over Patricia and slowly bent over the asphyxiating woman, raising her chin up to force her dying, fading eyes to gaze deep into his. His eyes that were blazing with fury, hell-bent on revenge against her and the entire Trenel household. He slowly took off his mask and tossed it aside, letting it clatter to the floor as he pulled Patricia''s face closer and closer to his. He was so close that, if she could still suck in any air at all, she would have been able to smell the Estreya family''s Seabreeze Cologne - the scent she had once absent-mindedly said was her favourite. And the only thing that was in her mind and heart now was regret... Not repentance of the sins she had committed. Only regret that she had been caught. Until the end of her life, she could not recognise that she was the root cause of all her own woes and sufferings. Boa kissed Patricia passionately on her lips, his fiery hot skin searing the woman''s cold, bloodless face as she breathed her last and heard him whisper a final epithet to their 25 years as mistress and subordinate. He shed a single tear from his eyes that had turned red from resentment and anger. "Today... I mourn the death of goddess Patricia Trenel... May she always live in my memories as a perfect woman, mother and wife..." Then he seemed to calm down as he closed his eyes and spoke one last time. "Goodbye, the one I used to love... My goddess, Patricia..." * * * * * That day, Patricia Trenel was found lying on her bed, lifeless but without a single wound. The first to discover her were the regular cleaners who were in charge of tidying up her room. To their horror, they found her corpse cleaned, pristine and looking just as alive as she had always been - only still and cold, motionless - dead. When Mallard Trenel found out, he had cried for a whole hour, before he grunted for the head steward to take care of things, then mindlessly and wordlessly returned to his training; wishing to forget the hurt and sorrow that he could not bear to handle. The physician''s diagnosis was that she had died of a broken heart and suffocated from that as there were no signs of foul play nor any trace of visitors in the entire vicinity. The only telltale signs of her death from being overcome by sorrows was the wooden child''s toy, a whistle held in her hands that were laid across her chest - perhaps a keepsake from her son Gaius or grandson Leocadius who she had lost to the devils! To some, alcohol, drugs, debauchery or gluttony were their avenues of fleeing reality. Perhaps to the aged Mallard Trenel, the pursuit of power was the only way he could escape the nightmare of losing his son, grandson and wife in the span of a few short days. As there were no instruction from the patriarch of who to inform or what to do, no one was told officially, but within minutes and the hour, the news of the Empress of House Trenel''s death in her sleep became the talk of the town. It was said that she could not bear the heartbreak of losing her only heir and grandchild. Matilda Jamal blamed herself sorely as she felt that it was her delivery of the bad news that morning that triggered her dear friend''s death! The servants made sure to bury her body beside that of her son. They mourned the loss of such a virtuous, kind, gracious and beautiful model mother and wife. They also mourned the fact that, with her passing, there would be no doubt countless jobs lost, people fired and entire functions downsized. But to their surprise, nothing of the like happened in the coming days. And without anyone to give further instructions, the house mechanically returned to its usual routine, like a ship without a captain merely sailing off into the distance with no one to steer or guide the vessel. And the next day, the household continued like usual, as if the woman Patricia Trenel had never existed. ...At least until the golden-haired hero, rescuer of the enslaved and broken arrived to settle his accounts with the Trenel family and uproot the entire slave trade, along with his new follower Boa Cruz Bituin. 107 The Gorun Tournament Begins! With Patricia Trenel''s passing and Boa handing over the control of house Trenel''s Celestial Shadows eyes and ears to Seline, Lars'' faction now effectively had control over the entire flesh trade! The only challenge they would have now... Was how to wipe out and uproot every single one of the slavers in one fell swoop? And the second challenge was how the Laughing Man and House Jamal would react when one of their largest revenue streams was suddenly cut off! For such a large operation would be virtually impossible to keep completely secret - once it was leaked, Lars'' and his team would be likely to face strong resistance and retaliation from the remaining Three Paths of the Underworld and House Jamal. Though House Jamal would not be able to dispatch a Legendary combatant, the Laughing Man himself could likely make a move, along with the Three great Captains under him, all of them stronger than Susano as he was the weakest member of the Underworld''s leaders and the only one of the heads of the Four Paths who was still at the Grandmaster realm! The group eventually decided to delay making any moves until after the closure of the Battle Through the Heavens selection tournament and the upcoming Bi-annual auction. With the wealth pilfered from the raiders and from Patricia Trenel''s secret funds, Lars and Seline''s new faction was effectively scandalously, filthily rich! F***ing rich! ...But the money was not in Lars'' own hands, as he consistently lost in every round of gambling...! Still, his faction would definitely use the money for the improvement of Lars'' strength. Also, the newfound wealth gave him the confidence to vie with the Great Houses and even the neighbouring delegates to obtain the strengthening runes and rare artefacts he needed for his alter-ego, "Great Lord Mikael" to match up against the true titans of the Leez continent... And also to strengthen his Lars identity to match up against those rich young masters and descendants of nobility and even royalty that he would likely face in the nationals and the continent-level competition. After all, though skill was more important than power... Money was greater than any amount of skill! At least, that''s what Lars believed... * * * * * [2 days later - the day of the selection tournament for the Battle Through The Heavens - National-level competition] [In the damaged but still functional Gorun Stadium] As the seniors vying for employment with the Duke''s household were completely wiped out by Devil Lord Wesley, only the juniors'' competition was still proceeding. And even the juniors'' numbers were whittled down from the original 64 youths who passed the preliminaries along with the 2 seeded contestants Leocadius Trenel and Vignis Jamal. Currently there were only 16 contestants still in fighting shape who would compete for the right to face Vignis Jamal in the grand finals! Nonetheless, in the eyes of the higher-ups of the city, the outcome of all the matches was already a foregone conclusion until the grand finals. The only question was whether Lars, Lord Mikael''s disciple, or Vignis Jamal of the illustrious Great House would come out on top! Either way, the top 5 contestants would still be recruited to the Duke''s household while only the warrior who emerged as the number 1 among the younger generation would join Alayna de Caldis to Gorun City in 2 weeks time for the national selection for the Battle Through The Heavens where only the 4 strongest and best youths would proceed to the continent-level rounds! A great mass of people had gathered to witness the grand event that was about to begin; it was a welcome change and a celebratory occasion, one that held the promise of better days and years to come for the Northpoint capitol of Gorun City. And it was also something festive to draw their hearts and minds away from the recent string of tragic events. In the absence of Head Administrator Natiro, Mr White was the next most senior administrator and also the person in charge of the juniors competition had taken over. In view that many ticket holders would no longer be in the mood to attend, or perhaps would have already been critically injured or even lost their lives, Mr White had put forth the proposal for the tickets cost to be refunded and entrance fees to be waived instead. This proved to be a wise move, as even with entrance made completely free, the Gorun Stadium was only slightly overly filled. It turned out that no small amount of the original ticket holders was no longer able to attend - or perhaps no longer in the world. In the upper stands, there was literally only standing space while on the lower areas, people were crowded together with every seat filled. As another form of encouragement and comfort to the beleaguered citizens of the city, the organisers had been given extra funds to provide free food, drinks and entertainment stalls such as games stalls and lucky draws. Nonetheless, the greatest draw was not the free food, drinks nor the side attractions. The main event was just about to begin, and the jubilant, noisy crowds began to quieten down despite the rise in the quiet anticipation for the start of the battles! Vignis Jamal sat together with her family up in the VIP viewing area whilst all the other contestants were lined up in the stadium field while Seline, Sharon, Susano, Byrus and the rest were secreted away in the audience, keeping an eye out for any retaliation or infiltration by their enemies or the Laughing Man''s troops. However, according to Boa, House Trenel was unlikely to make any move as their Patriarch was someone who paid no heed to matters of the world. As long as his privileges of training were still there and his life was not threatened, he would not make any moves against others! At the stroke of 9 AM, a single bell was rung. It should have been quiet and drowned out easily in the midst of the sea of voices, however, it rang out clearly and distinctly, bringing all the spectators to focus on the source of the sound. The clanging bell was held in the hand of a raven-haired woman, her skin radiant and glistening in the morning sunlight. She was dressed in a purple robe of simple design but which was clearly of excellent quality. She was none other than Duke Leanne de Caldis herself! The citizens who were at first silenced by the interruption of the sound of the bell then began to stir once more as they were roused to a great roar of appreciation and passion. "DUKE LEANNE! DUKE LEANNE!!" "WE LOVE YOU!!! OUR SAVIOUR!!!" "YOUR GRACE! Thank you for everything you''ve done! Our protector and heroine!" The people went crazy with delight as they saw the source of their hope, peace and bastion of defence throughout the years in this city; for in the many incidents that they had encountered over the years, it was always Duke Leanne who led (forced) the other Legendary combatants to the rescue of the populace! In other words, she was the true blue hero of the city, not just their ruler but their idol and the aspiration of innumerable young people! Duke Leanne allowed the great cheers to go on for a good 30 seconds before she raised one hand up, as if though requesting for the people''s ears and their silence for a moment''s time. Her silent request was quickly complied with as everyone quickly quietened down. Those who were too caught up in their excitement were shushed or knocked on the back of their heads by others beside them, while anyone who was too rough or noisy were mobbed by their zealous neighbours who would not tolerate disrespect to their Duke and Lord of the city. And after the ravishing and handsome woman saw that she had the attention of everyone gathered, she cleared her throat and then spoke with a voice of great clarity, sounding out as if it were a clarion of war! "Citizens of Gorun City! Esteemed Noble Families! Benevolent Merchants! Respected residents! Honoured guests and visitors! And last but not least, brave contestants! I, Duke Leanne de Caldis Buraizan bid you the warmest and most joyous welcome!!!" "DUKE LEANNE!!!!!" "We love you!!!" "Marry me!!!" All kinds of crazy shouts and a great clamour broke out across the entire stadium as the commoners struck their hands together in applause and cheered while the contestants looked on with a serious gleam in their eyes. The nobles folded their hands and remained seated in the private area, acting high and mighty in front of the populace to maintain their esteemed image. And among all of these multiple scenes occurring roundabout him, Lars who was standing among the 16 contestants stifled a yawn. Though he looked forward to the prize money of somewhere around 100,000 platinum coins, he was also dead bored and not keen on the coming fights. After all, what surprises could there be fighting some underage, snot-nosed brats? He tried to look attentive as he listened to the crowd cheering again and again in response to Duke Leanne''s rousing address and fervent rhetoric. She was skilled and eloquent, at times stirring up the crowd while at others she implored them for their continued support and belief in the leadership of the city. She exhorted and urged the crowds, asking them not to give up hope and to continue giving their best to rebuild a glorious future once more for their future generations'' sake! Lars gritted his teeth tightly and forced himself to look straight ahead as he fought back the yawn that was rising up. After the opening ceremony and speech by Duke Leanne would be the pre-match briefings, followed by the drawing of lots to determine the pairings of combatants for the first round. And finally, the speech was done and Duke Leanne gave her final words to the gathered people and contestants. "Ladies and gentlemen and the young men and women on whom we of Gorun City place our hopes...! I now officially pronounce the beginning of the 18th Bi-annual Gorun City Youth Tournament!" And then she raised her voice to a crescendo, utilising her puissant aura to enhance her exclamation that rumbled out like a thunderclap: "May the best fighter prevail!" A great din of excitement and passionate yells met her declaration, marking the beginning of the tournament which would cement Lars'' position as the ultimate talent of Gorun City. 108 Round One: Fight! 1 With the close of Duke Leanne''s welcoming address, she bowed deeply, an unprecedented show of sincerity, respect and gratefulness to the citizens of Gorun City. It was also an encouragement; one to say, "Keep on fighting!" and "Don''t give up!" to the men, women, youths, children and the elderly who had lived through the devil crisis and were still standing strong. She was met with thunderous applause and appreciative shouts professing undying love and loyalty to her, which she nodded and smiled in response to, as if though accepting the people''s affections, hopes and dreams onto her slim and beautiful shoulders. Then she about-turned and began to leave the stage, the nearly hysterical crowds still clamouring overseeing their beloved ruler and receiving her words of comfort! Right then and right on cue, Mr White stepped forward and took the stage as Duke Leanne departed to the viewing stands. She was seated with the other Patriarchs of the Four Great Families, along with a seat of honour for Master Alucard and another seat slightly further to the side for General Weres. As for Alayna de Caldis, she was nowhere to be seen; presumably off to continue her practice and training as she was on the brink of yet another breakthrough to the mid-Master level! After all, the competition was literally child''s play to her. She had already exceeded the common-sense limits of the entire Northpoint region and entered the ranks of the seniors as a beginning Master spear warrior. Mr White cleared his throat and waited for the crowds to quieten down for a moment before he began his dry briefing on the rules. It was more for the benefit of the crowd as the participating youths had already been informed of the mechanics, schedule and expectations. The only thing remaining was for the drawing of lots to fix the match-ups. In view that the entire event had been delayed by a full 2-3 days, the management had proposed for the schedule to be shortened from 3 days to be completed instead in a single day. This was met with concurrence from Duke Leanne herself; she was of the mind that keeping it short and sweet would enhance the experience as well as reducing the logistic, manpower and raw materials costs needed to fund the free food and run the event. Also, this would allow the auction to be held before the peak exhibition match of the Grand Finals; thus giving the various buyers a good show immediately after the conclusion of the bi-annual Gorun City auction. The updated schedule was supported also by the fact that there were only 1/4 as many contestants as before. As such, the organisers were able to pack all the matches into one day by adding an extra battle ring and running two fights concurrently at any one time - at least for the first two rounds of the competition. Mr White continued to explain the rules as the contestants tried to remain focused, but ended up ruminating over who their first opponent would be and how they would approach the fights. For some, they had paid a precious penny to unearth any information. Problem was, not all the intel was reliable! As such, it was said that the fights were as much about intellect and wisdom as they were about strength - though with a great enough difference in power, all the tactics and scheming would still be rendered useless. The Acting Head Administrator explained that each round would have a strict 15 minutes time limit. In the case that the result of the match was not clearly demonstrated either by knocking an opponent out of the ring or incapacitating them, the final and ultimate decision of who the winner would be was left solely to Duke Leanne''s discretion. As Duke Leanne was someone of unquestionable integrity (despite her reputation for debauchery and perverted tastes) and also the strongest combatant of the city, there would be none who would dare to challenge her decision. The aptly named white-haired man also stressed that there were to be no fatal injuries; every contestant was strictly warned to manage their attacks and to ensure there were no accidents. In the case that there were any unexpected mishaps though, the first aid team was on standby - as was the executioner''s team to punish any intentional flaunting of the rules. All sorts of weapons, armours, devices, items and the sort were allowed, though there was a limit set on both the grade (up to the peak-Elite level only) as well as the estimated value (only up to 10,000 platinum coins value). This was because the objective of the contest was to evaluate skill and strength, not reliance on external items. Nonetheless, it was also admittedly true that the subsequent stages at the national-level and onwards would not have such a rule; as the utilisation of high-powered items was also a form of skill and ability! After the two concurrent matches were completed, there was allocated a 10-minute break both for the contestants to digest what they had just witnessed as well as for the workers to clear up the stage. Once the first round of 16 had been completed, there would be one more 10-minute interlude before the second round began; and after the second round, there would be a rest time of 30 minutes instead to allow the contestants time to recuperate. After the top 2 faced off against each other and the winner of the bracket stage was determined, the tournament would then take a longer break both for lunch as well as for the bi-annual auction to begin. If the word on the streets were true, the visitors from the surrounding areas would be in for a great treat and surprise; it was said that the treasures on offer this year were exceptionally rare first-rate items... And it was also rumoured that there would be multiple Legendary-tier items as well as an actual Mythical-level natural treasure put up for auction! After the auction was completed, only then would the grand finals begin, with Vignis Jamal awaiting the victor among the 16 contestants. As the number 2 of last year, Vignis was deemed to be the true top seed, allowed a bye to proceed directly to the grand finals! Initially it should have been both the third-placed Leocadius Trenel and second-placed Vignis Jamal awaiting the top 2 among the supposed 64 participants; however, things did not always turn out the way they were expected to. In addition, it was also an oddity that the first placed Alayna de Caldis from the last contest was not even required to participate - however, once it was discovered by the audience that she had already exceeded the limits of the younger generation and become an expert of the Master-level, all complaints were immediately silenced! For in the last tournament, despite only being barely past 15 years of age, Vignis Jamal along with Alayna de Caldis and Leocadius Trenel had taken the top 3 positions from their 17 and nearly 18-year old seniors. As a result, the three of that brilliant generation of geniuses came to be known as the Three Supernovas - though that was quickly forgotten as Alayna, the youngest among the three, soon leap-frogged their cultivation levels to enter the Master realm at the tender age of 17! This placed her as a grade 3 talent, a continent-level genius on par with even King Vishnu''s record-setting cultivation speed nearly 80 years ago! In spite of Alayna''s level-crossing battle power being slightly lower than Natalie Sarouneh''s (as the Duke''s daughter had only reached the beginning of Level 9 in the Illusion Array), with her unprecedented cultivation speed, she would still easily defeat any of her peers. This made her the undisputed number 1 of the younger generation in the city and someone who the countless citizens doted over and admired. In comparison, both Leocadius and Vignis were currently only at the mid-Elite level, two entire small-realms behind their one time rival. At this point of time though, they had already both lost the rights to consider themselves as rivals to the only true rising star of the city. Though there were talks of the emergence of a new star - Miller Knight Lars! However, these talks were quickly downplayed; despite his immense level-crossing combat skills, his cultivation speed was just too bloody slow - only at the beginning Adept-level at the age of 15?!? Too slow, too f***ing slow! As the tournament rules continued on, Lars made a mental note of general cultivation speeds according to what Seline had gleaned from her intel sources. Despite not really paying attention to the comments all around, he realised that it WAS true - it was likely that his currently displayed cultivation of merely the beginning Adept-level would not be enough to match up to even the bronze-skinned giant''s descendant Reshmont or the taciturn and serious god-bloodline Darius. Lars thought over the power levels as well as the historical records of advancement of the luminaries and talents of the city... 109 Round One: Fight! 2 Lars ran through what he knew about relative power levels even as he began to undo some of the self-imposed seals he had placed on his body. The most common ways of defining cultivation speed and the future potential a combatant had was by their grade of talent. Based on what he had heard, a talented individual who could stand out among ten thousand people was often called a grade 1 talent. Anything lower or anyone slower was not even in the radar to be considered talented or gifted; instead they would just be considered a normal or mundane cultivator, a plebeian who would quickly fall behind their peers and remain at a low level for their entire lives. Grade 1 talents would have no difficulties breaking through from the Normal-level to become a teenage Adept by the age of 15 years old and advance to Elite at 19 then Master before turning 30. They would then be able to at least reach the Grandmaster realm by their late 40s. However, the defining difference separating these grade 1 talents from the next level above was the great difficulty they would have in advancing to the World-class realm. This was not to say that they COULD NOT break through to that level; no. It was more the fact that either an exceptionally large investment of resources was needed or an exceedingly rare epiphany of the secrets of the universe - or they might reach the World-class level, but only at the end of their lifespans and longevity! Often such an investment was not considered worth it, both by the factions these practitioners belonged to as well as the practitioners themselves who would likely rather invest the time and resources into accelerating their next generation''s growth! Nonetheless, these people would already be considered significant talents, for many normal practitioners would never exceed the Master level in their entire lifetime. These individuals would make up the ranks of key captains, lieutenants or right-hand men of sects and organisations. Some examples of people who were in this category could be heavyweight combatants such as Sand Crab Byrus, Blacksword Susano and the other Lords of the Four Paths of the Underworld were likely somewhere in this category; though there was also a large range of capabilities, with Byrus probably falling at the upper end of the spectrum and nearly entering the ranks of a grade 2 talent. In comparison, a grade 2 talent was classified based on a youth being able to enter the Adept realm at 14, Elite at 16 and become a Master by the age of 21 years old. As they also advanced quicker and received the extensions to their lifespan, grade 2 talents had quite a large assurance of reaching the World-class realm and then advancing to the Legendary realm. They would be able to cross into the World-class realm by the age of 50 and possibly become a Legend before the end of their lives in their later years, forming a resonance with the concepts and laws of the heavens, the earth, the void or the universe. This would then become their specialisation formed in the very core of their being; the soul-imprint that defined a Legend''s identity. This also meant that there was a huge divide between grade 2 talents and grade 1 talents; a grade 2 talent would likely achieve the Legendary level by the tail end of their lives, whilst a grade 1 talent might forever be found languishing in the Grandmaster realm. This meant there would eventually be a full 2 large realms gap between the two grades of talent! Per Seline''s inference and observations, she surmised that some of the warriors who fit such a definition of talent would be Gaius Trene, Yusof Jamal, Sefir Roth Estreya, Vignis Jamal and the other superior talented scions of the Noble Houses. These were talents who could lead their generation, albeit not as the apex existence but as one who could distinguish themselves at a regional level and make a mark even at a national stage - though they would still not be at the top of the food chain. Above even that grade of talent were the grade 3 talents, geniuses who would be recognised as such even when they were compared to tens or hundreds of millions of others; elites among the elites who could already achieve the Master-level at the shockingly young age of 18! They would have easily surpassed the Adept level at the tender age of 13 and leapt into the Elite realm before 15 summers had passed in their lives. They would then advance steadily to become a mighty World-class combatant, a powerhouse in their own right by their mid-30s... Then emerge as a legend even before their years of practice even hit a half-century! As for progression past the Legendary-realm, it would depend very much on the individual whether they could ascend to the peak before they exhausted their longevity... It would depend on whether they could recraft, merge, combine or extend their soul imprint(s) into the core of their souls and spirits and be reborn as a Mythical powerhouse! Per Seline''s estimation, General Weres was one such talent who, despite starting out without cultivation resources or guidance, had still entered the Legendary realm by the age of 50. Some other examples were the Dukes of the Kingdom, Stars Boa himself and also Natalie Sarouneh, Lina Sarouneh and perhaps even Demon Maid Sharon who was already world class in her 30s! It needed to be said though that the various rulers who could warrant being named as a "King" such as King Vishnu, ruler of the Kingdom of the Sands or King Ganon, liege of the beastmen tribes were likely a half-tier above even these peak grade 3 talents! When placed into the pecking order like this, Alayna de Caldis was also somewhere in this grade of talent, though she was already faster than others as a Master-realm expert while merely 17 years old! As such, Seline found it difficult to place her in the grading system; as it was likely that she was at the threshold between being a grade 3 talent and being crowned as a fabled grade 4 talent - something that even King Vishnu himself had not been able to achieve in his lifetime! Even as his lightning-quick mind and 10 times faster thinking speed allowed Lars to sift through and recap this information within mere seconds, the phenomenally talented mage who far exceeded all these talent classifications as a Legend at the age of 23 decided to relax the seals on his body. As he did so, he quietly reined in the mild fluctuations of power emitted from his mana core and gradually advanced his Mage cultivation all the way from the beginner Adept level to peak Adept, then up to the borderline just before beginner Elite level. At the same time as he relaxed the constraints on his magical capabilities and allowed his mana to flow once more, he also examined his physique and body''s state of being. As he concentrated on the inner workings of his body, he could sense that his blood energy had advanced considerably in just the past 3 days; a curiosity that he had discussed at length with Kizorik and Velzash. In the end, the only theories that the three of them could propose were either that he was just a f***ing genius at everything (only Lars supported this theory) or that it had something to do with the seed of hunger... Though an envious Velzash had openly admitted that he had never experienced such growth in his time hosting the seed of hunger. ''Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that... You''re a f***ing vegetarian?!?'' Kizorik had quipped aggressively, leading to a war of words and useless slapping between the little fairy-like demon and the sharp-tongued penguin who had once idolised Velzash... Based on Lars'' senses and a scan of his physique, he estimated himself to be around the peak Adept level as well; his minotaur bloodline''s growth had apparently been stimulated by his greatly expanded appetite to improve a full 2 minor realms in just 3 days! With this, Lars nodded to himself and was satisfied as he stood in a group with the other contestants as they waited for the drawing of lots to begin. Based on his estimate, his dual cultivation as a mage and warrior at the borderline of the Adept and Elite realm would be more than enough to beat all his opponents. After all, he WAS in truth a pseudo-Mythical powerhouse who had been acknowledged by the concepts of Insight and Greed... And he merely needed just a hair''s breadth more comprehension into the laws of space and time to expand his soul-imprints to a grand total of four! Four, along with what he felt was slowly become another seed of a concept still taking form in his soul - perhaps it would be aligned with Kizorik''s yet-to-be-awakened moniker, Devouring...? And if with all he had at his disposal, he still couldn''t beat the here Elite level opponents... Then he wouldn''t even know where to hide face! Finally, if push came to shove and he were backed into a corner... Lars grinned wryly. ''Nothing wrong with "luckily" breaking through to the next realm in a "moment of crisis", eh?'' His mental quip was met by a penguin shaking its head in exasperation. The penguin and Velzash had finally come to a truce, deciding that they two as allies should not be bickering among themselves. Instead, they should be putting on a united front to face their common enemy, Lars! ''...Ahem, kiddo, I do want to ask you something...'' Lars looked away, pretending that he was suddenly very interested in Mr White''s long and monotonous recap of the rules. He knew that whenever Kizorik started to be all polite and stuff, it wasn''t likely for there to be something good to look forward to... Hence he ignored Kizorik who still asked his question anyway... ''How *DID* you manage to enter the Legendary realm...? I never see you practising, meditating or cultivating...!'' Another gentle voice interjected with his opinion, though despite his sweet tone, his words were brutally cutting. ''Why do you even ask? a sluggard knows not the meaning of the word "training"! I bet he''s actually an old monster just pretending to be young for kicks! Like right now, right, right??? A 23 year old fart bullying a bunch of kids, how valiant and charming! My hero! Oh, oh, can I have your autograph, please? Bah! And after all, who has ever heard of a 23-year-old Legend?!? Not even I myself in my heyday could have achieved that!'' Lars sighed solemnly, looking heavy-hearted and sad when recalling his past. The other contestants gave him a knowing look and smiled slightly, sighing too as they thought he was getting fed-up of the dreary speech about the rules just like they were getting tired. ''...Someday I''ll tell you...'' Lars spoke with a sense of melancholy. ''...But for being so mean towards me... No more snacks for you two!! Forget getting anything from the stalls here! No way! Impossible! Not for an entire... 4 hours!!!'' Of course, Lars didn''t tell them that in truth, he would be tied up with the matches for 4 hours anyway so it made no difference... ''!!!!!!!!!! I-I... I demand to see a lawyer!! Officer!! That''s the man!!! Arrest this pervert and scammer!!!'' ''Y-you can''t d-do that! That, thats t-too cruel!!! Inhumane!!! Monstrous!!! It''s a violation of human... I mean, a violation of demon rights!!! The integrity of the Geneva Accord is being threatened!!'' Lars chuckled as he saw his cute little friends reactions. were all demons this cute...? And he zoned them out as he saw that the proceedings were finally finishing. He returned his thoughts to the tournament drawing of lots to determine his first round match. "...And the top 2 seeded contestants Lars and Darius will be split to opposite halves of the bracket. Alright, with the briefing complete, let us proceed to the matchups! Mitsui, would you be so kind as to draw the first two pairs of names for round 1 matches 1 and 2?" Lars and the other contestants looked on with rapt attention - more so the others though, who were each praying not to have to face Lars in the first round! Mitsui fished around in a bag of grey stone balls, each imprinted with a contestants name and participant ID. He then drew out two stones and handed them over to Mr White to announce the first draw. "...Number 777, Lars! Number 313, Sai Kana!" "LARS LARS LARS LARS!!!" "Show Sai Kana who''s boss!" "Yeah!!! We believe in you, Lars!!!" Cheers arose from the spectating crowds as they were roused with excitement - they would get to see the number 1 seed and the greatest young talent in the very first match; what a thriller it should be! Or at least they hoped it would be, as long as it was not too big a stomp against the unknown Sai Kana. Lars coughed in embarrassment upon hearing the crowds and blushed slightly, then he stepped forward to the nearby Arena 1 and took his place. His opponent showed great confidence, neither hesitating nor eliciting any signs of apprehension at facing the strongest opponent he could have drawn. And as the two contestants took their stances at opposite ends of the ring, Lars smiled warmly at Sai and bowed slightly. "Good luck, have fun." Sai Kana looked startled, almost as if he had expected Lars to be a stuck up and arrogant youth. but he quickly returned the smile and bowed too, saying, "Thank you, and good luck to you too!..." Mr White, upon seeing the two of them ready and waiting to get into action, lifted up one hand and then chopped it down quickly and roared out, signalling the two fighters to begin their battle! "Round one; FIGHT!" And Lars was struck straight in his smiling face, sent flying to the edge of the ring! 110 Round One: Fight! 3 [10 seconds earlier] "Before we start, I must apologise, Lars... You don''t mind me calling you Lars directly, right...?" Lars shook his head with a blank look on his race. Some trash talk before the fight? But the shiny-headed baldy with a cape Sai Kana looked rather polite and well-mannered... "Erm... I don''t mind and, I''m supposed to ask you why you''re apologising, right?" Sai Kana looked slightly sheepish as he rubbed his smooth head and smiled. "Err... Yeah haha! T-thanks for playing along. Well, I''m apologising for two reasons. The first because what I''m about to do is despicable..." Lars smiled and didn''t mind playing along with the pre-match bragging. He asked, "I''m supposed to ask you what the second reason is right...?" Sai Kana still continued smiling, but now there was a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he reached into his cloak and began to pull something out as he kicked off and charged forward. And when Lars saw what was in Sai''s left hand, his heart skipped a beat and his mind became blank with terror. His fingers trembled and he went into a daze, before he began to scream in panic! Before he could recover his spirit and even realise what was happening, a swift and sharp fist slammed into his unprotected chin, sending him flying and tumbling to the edge of the stage! As Lars rolled over the ground and came to a stop just before falling off the stage limits, Sai Kana was quick to follow up. The caped baldy rushed over to pursue the blonde-haired boy and end the fight in the blink of an eye. "AHHHHHH!!!!" Lars regained his awareness of self and screamed out furiously. "HOW DARE YOU SOIL MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!!!" Lars'' trembling hand shakily rose to his face and subconsciously touched the brown substance stuck there - then froze once more and began to retch. His soul threatened to fly away as he tried his best to shut off his sense of smell and ignore the slimy and slightly firm texture of the disgusting stuff. ''Gotta finish it quick!!'' Sai Kana frowned in consternation and rushed forward. Then his fists ignited with crackles of mana as he screamed out, "SERIOUS PUNCH!!!" But just at the moment that his punch was about to land, Lars'' body flickered and blurred before he disappeared. Sai Kana''s punch whistled through thin air and he struggled to control his forward momentum. He spun round on the spot and barely managed to avoid falling off the arena. He desperately turned around and put up a defensive stance as he cursed - he had missed his best chance to win right there! He scrunched up his eyes and wished he had been just that little bit faster to end the fight! Now how was he going to prevail against a monstrous talent such as Lars...?!? And right now, Lars was floating in mid-air above the arena, eyes dilated as he repeatedly mumbled soundless words: "It''s... Shit... S-shit... S-shit..." Then weaves of mana began to spiral around him, soothing and cooling winds with growing amounts of moisture. The mana began to turn into water droplets that violently washed over his body, clothes and skin. The turbulent winds buffeted not just Sai Kana but also the contestants in the surroundings. They covered their eyes as the strong gusts with dense moisture and water droplets whipped across their faces and left them breathless! It was almost as if a young Lord of Wind and Rain were descending from the heavens! The only thing missing from the scene was the fact that the mid-morning sun still shone cheerfully in the late-autumn sky. Then without warning, the water droplets evaporated instantly and rings of flames began to surround Lars, enveloping him as the air began to heat up to dry him off. Just seconds later, as soon as he was dry, Lars pointed one finger down at Sai Kana and said, "I understand... Everyone wishes to win..." He closed his eyes as the brown waters around him began to converge before his finger. Of course, about 3 metres away from his body - there was no way he was going anywhere near the sh*t! "I also understand... Not just you, but I too would do what it takes to win..." Lars spoke slowly and measuredly, his soft but clear voice ringing through the Gorun Stadium. "BUT!!" Then his eyes snapped open as he exclaimed loudly. "There are some bottom lines you should not have crossed!! I can forgive you... But you need to face your PUNISHMENT!!" Then with a final roar, Lars drew back his pointing finger and then thrust it outwards, drawing a straight line towards Sai Kana and bellowed. "Receive your just desserts! Eat this!!" And the spinning vortex of wind, water, heat and filth gathered into a stream before gushing at Sai Kana... Straight at his mouth and face! "Oh my gosh!!! Ughhhh!!!!" Sai Kana''s face twisted with disgust. Despite the fact that he had himself wielded the animal excrement against Lars, he had made sure to keep it in a non-spill container and then wear a water-proof, particle proof glove when handling it! But now it was a completely different story when the brown waters were shooting straight for his face! Throughout the display of mastery over magic and the elements, Sai Kana had stood with mouth agape and in awe of the boy''s advanced control... But right now he wanted to get and run for his sanity''s sake! "I GIVE UP!! I GIVE UP!!!! I GIVE--BLERGHHH--" He managed to yell anxiously that he conceded the match, but before the organisers could intervene, the soiled waters found their mark... Snaking its way between the sharp-featured baldy''s fingers... Past his lips... And bullseye! Suffice to say that it was not only Sai Kana who was throwing up crazily after that. A choking and coughing Mr White held a hand pressed against his face as he ran for his life to the toilets before he spewed out projectile vomit... While the many spectators were gagging and moaning in disgust... Though it *WAS* Sai Kana''s fault for using such a dirty tactic first on the germaphobic and mysophobic boy... This was a little bit too much wasn''t it...!?! At least don''t let us see if you planned to get your revenge like that!!!! Nevertheless, the crowds had to admit... This kind of payback was f***ing cool! A rockingly good face slapping given to such a dastardly baldy who did not have any moral bottom line! To think that he would stoop so low as to use Lars'' greatest weakness - to actually harvest and keep a pile of dung in is cloak pockets just for this fight... All those one time fans who had shaken his hand or, even worse, embraced Sai Kana roared in distress and soon the washrooms and washbasins were all jam-packed with people scrubbing their skin, hands and bodies raw. And still they shivered in revulsion. They couldn''t get over the fact that they had touched hands with Sai Kana who handled and kept literal sh*t in his person!!! And Lars sighed heavily, body still trembling from stress and upset from the texture, warm and smell that were still fresh in his mind. His eyes threatened to roll up in his head as he teetered in mid-air. It was only by force of will that he managed to land and return to the contestants waiting room to sit and take a break. And only after Mr White returned from turning his innards inside out and vomiting did he manage to declare Lars as the winner and start the draw for the next match! Mr White cleared his throat after the finish of the first two matches and announced the victor of the other match held simultaneously that had just been completed. "The winner of round 1 match 2, Jun Marda! Contestants Lars and Jun Marda, you may rest until your next match is due... We shall now have a slight rest between rounds for the ground crew to... Clean up the battle ring... Ugh..." He groaned as he saw the filthy brown liquid staining the ground and thanked God that he was far enough not to catch a whiff of the evil scent. With the brief but emotionally intense interlude past them, the tournament went into a short break. * * * * * After the ten minutes break between matches, Mr White returned to the stage. Since the interlude was pretty short, the majority of the spectators had not left their seats, instead they were discussing heatedly about who would be fighting next and who their next favourites after Lars were. But when they saw the Acting Head Administrator ascend the stage, they quietened down quickly. Mr White quickly paced to the centre of the stage that was between the two match arenas and clapped his hands twice before he spoke, "Without further ado, I shall draw the lots for the next two matches. Now, Mitsui, would you do the honours please..." Mitsui, who was standing beside him, nodded and offered the bag of lots to Mr White, who then proceeded to draw the pairings for the next matches: "Round 1 match 3, Michael Vinas versus Deejay Kardel! Round 1 match 4, Reshmont versus Runiel!" He waited as the contestants made their way to their respective rings and then declared loudly, "Let the next battles begin! Round Two: Fight!" 111 Round One: Interlude The matches proceeded quickly even as Lars calmed down his heart and mind while sitting in the contestants'' area. Over at the side, he could see Sai Kana lying on a stretcher. He still felt kind of resentful towards the boy for daring to target his weakness of fearing dirty things, but at the same time he knew that it was nothing too serious, actually... Which was why he had refused Kizorik''s urges to just kill the boy, or Velzash''s suggestions to just eat him alive... ''Yuck... What do you think I am, a demon???'' Kizorik and Velzash fixed condescending gazes on Lars and gave him a flat answer: ''...You''re more demonic than either of us, you monster!!!'' ''.....!!!!'' Lars was miffed and offended, but didn''t really know how to respond. He could only cough in embarrassment and blush slightly as he assured himself that he wasn''t THAT bad, right...? ''Ahem... I... Don''t think I''m THAT bad right...? After all, all I did was scam people of money, rob and trample on the weak... Kill a few people here and there... A few hundred people here and there... It''s not like I''m some sort of criminal or something, right...? Right.....?'' The penguin and fairy could only fix a speechless stare on the boy as they marvelled at how incredibly thick his skin was and how shameless he could be... So after thinking it over and letting his anger subside slightly, Lars regretted subjecting Sai Kana to a punishment that (to him) was worse than death itself! He only hoped that the boy could recover from the trauma and septic poisoning of whatever animal''s faeces he had used... And his eyes slowly narrowed and blazed with killing intent as he swore that if he were ever to face something like swallowing a veritable river of sh*t water, he would rather shatter his soul and self-destruct!!! And bring down the whole world with him...!!! Kizorik and Velzash began to shiver as they saw the megalomaniacal look in Lars'' eyes... Someone they could sense that his thoughts had once more gone off the deep end with some insane idea that could result in the annihilation of entire races... And so Lars was relieved when he saw Sai Kana cough a few times convulsively before he began to wake up, clutching his mouth and throat and wondering if what had just happened earlier were real or just a nightmare. But when he saw the ceiling of the infirmary and the cheers of the crowds outside, he realised that it wasn''t a dream - he had really been forced to drink a sh*itload of... Sh*t... He choked and coughed, trying to clear his already empty stomach and ended up only regurgitating bile, stomach acids and saliva. After a few bouts of gagging, he finally calmed down and realised that there was nothing left inside him to puke out. But he was still not comforted as he could still remember the revolting sensation and taste of... No! He had to forget! Forget forget forget forget it all! He was covered in cold sweat and panting on all fours when he felt someone approach, but could not find the strength to even look up to check who it was. Yet somehow he could tell it was the perpetrator of the act himself... Lars. The footsteps drew nearer as the shadow moved around him to stop in front of him. This time, he tilted his neck slightly and raised his body to look up at the ever-handsome, ideal young man before him. He subconsciously touched his own smooth head and felt a pang of jealousy - why couldn''t he be as beautiful and strong as this Lars fellow...?!? It was too unfair! ''If only I had more power... If only...!!! Then no one would be able to make fun of me for being a 16-year-old baldy ever again!!! Never again!!!'' He scrunched his eyes up and pounded his fists on the dirt floor to give vent to his feeling of helpless. And he couldn''t even look up anymore. He looked away in shame, anger and self-resentment. He didn''t know what to say when he looked into the crystal-clear blue eyes of the boy before him. Eyes that looked like they knew not a single worry of this world... Eyes that were like those of a celestial deity overseeing the mortal world with pity... Eyes of the powerful, the rich and the handsome that could look down on everyone as if though it were only natural for them to be high and mighty, always above! Though he could have sworn there was a tint of crimson in those dreamy, gorgeous eyes... But as Sai Kana was raging in his heart and began to feel warm beads of tears flow down his cheeks, he suddenly heard Lars speak to him again. "Hey! Cheer up, buddy! It''ll be alright! You''re alright one of the top 16, you''ve done really well!" The blonde and heroic boy spoke light-heartedly, as if he had not a care in life... The voice of a privileged, golden-haired one who knew not the sufferings of the bald! Upon hearing that, caped baldy could not help but explode with anger. He began to tremble where he kneeled and would have hopped to his feet to burst out in a scolding if his body were not so feeble right now. "What do you know! How can it be alright?!? Do you even know what kind of hellish training I''ve gone through??? And no! It''s not because of the training that I went bald! I was born bald, okay?? OKAY???! Just because I''m bald doesn''t mean I''m any worse than you good-looking, perfectly normal people!!! Boo hoo!!!" Lars looked on dumbfounded as he saw the stern looking but friendly Sai turn into a weeping mess right before him. Just a moment ago he saw flaring up in agitation and now he was crying?!? What was wrong with the guy...? Lars could only clear his throat and decided to try to comfort and encourage him. An idea struck his mind. If what Sai Kana wanted was power, there was THAT way, right...? "Ahem! Younger... Erm, I mean, big brother... There IS a way to get great strength, you know...? If... If you don''t mind, I could, erm... Share it with you... In secret, that is..." Lars stumbled over his words as this was his first time trying to comfort someone else when it was he himself who had triggered the distress. Sai Kana continued to sob, but slowly, his crying petered off. Lars watched awkwardly, not sure if the old-looking baldy had really heard him. But he got his response soon enough. "...H-how... How might I g-gain great strength...? I''ve already been training like crazy..." "Hmm... Well, maybe first off, could you tell me how you''ve been training? I see that you''re already at the mid-Adept level at 16 years of age, that''s not bad, right?" Sai Kana nodded reluctantly and cheered up a little. It WAS true, he was actually pretty talented. It was just that... He sighed. It was too difficult for him, just too difficult. "Yes... How I train is... I do 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 squats... And I run 10 kilometres a day..." "Everyday...?" "...K-kind of...? Y''know, except for days like--" "That''s the problem! You''re skipping out! Don''t you know? A sluggard shall not inherit the earth! A lazy man shall someday wake up to the end of the world! Only one who learns from the ant will be able to lay up great wealth for his future...! And..." ''...Kiddo, you DO know that you''re the LAST person who should be lecturing others on being hardworking and diligent, right...? The last time I''ve EVER seen you training was... NEVER!!'' Lars completely ignored Kizorik''s sharp jibe and continued his exhortation to a wide-eyed, astonished Sai Kana who looked like he had just received a lecture from Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and Obama at the same time! HIs pupils were literally glittering with stardust and a new round of tears had welled up within his eyes! It was a moment of nirvanic epiphany, one that would most assuredly set him up on the path to infinity and beyond! "...Yup, that''s about it. Remember! Every single day!!!" "Yes, master!!! I shall do so until the day I die!!! Or die training!!!" Lars coughed in embarrassment and was inwardly shocked and astonished at just what level of rubbish he had spouted in the spur of the moment. But as there was no one around to hear or see the crap that came from his mouth, he acted like everything was perfectly normal and gave some last encouragement to Sai Kana, along with a pat on the shoulder. "Young... I mean, senior, errrrrr, disciple...? Persevere on this path and you will attain enlightenment...! But never neglect your discipline and diligence, for they shall bear great fruit in the days to come!" "Yes! I shall engrave your words on my heart for all eternity! Master!!" A teary-eyed Sai Kana prostrated himself before Lars, knocking his shiny head on the hard ground repeatedly as he paid his respects to the boy. As they said, a teacher for a day is a father for life! ...And as Lars returned to his seat in the waiting area (to the incredulous and ridiculing stares of the other competitors), he had no idea just how great of an impact his one moment of "brilliance" would leave on the story of a certain caped baldy''s journey to becoming a hero! 112 Round Two: Fight! 1 The subsequent matches proceeded more smoothly. The next two matches going on simultaneously were between Reshmont and Runiel while in the other ring, air mage Deejay Kardel took on totemic druid Michael Vinas. Copper-giant''s descendant Reshmont cut an imposing figure as he stood opposite the elf hunter Runiel. The slim and agile green-haired fighter wielded a sharp-looking rapier and looked to be highly skillful with it. However, in front of his mountain-like foe, he looked like a twig that would break with just one hit. Reshmont displayed great power and defence. He easily withstood multiple attacks from his opponent, still grinning as he casually fended off the fierce strikes raining down on him. He even took several slashing blows on his body but shrugged them off - his bronze-skinned defence was too strong to pierce even when he hadn''t yet triggered his bloodline! Runiel began to sweat and frown under the pressure. On one hand, even his sharp sword couldn''t cut through Reshmont''s defence. While on the other, the bronze colossus'' swift punches and kicks threatened to incapacitate him in just one hit! Though Runiel also wasn''t a pushover - he still held his own, dodging left and right with unpredictable footwork. This was the reason that despite his attacks not working at all, he persevered for about 8 minutes... Finally, he grit his teeth and his body took on a greenish tinge as he sped up. "Haste!" He received a nearly 50% boost in his speed and darted quickly around Reshmont, striking him several times - but still to no effect. Then he circled around Reshmont, leaving the much slower giant stumbling to keep up as Runiel kicked him in the back of his head and kept him off balance. And when Reshmont roared in anger and spun round quickly, the elf swordsman was nowhere to be seen! ''Above!!'' Reshmont flung his eyes toward the sky and caught sight of a slim silhouette against the radiant rays of the sun, suspended in the air like an eagle about to swoop down on its prey! "Sky Talon!!! FALL!!!" A blue glow mixed together with the green aura already suffusing the wood-elf''s body and began to fuse, surrounding the blade he held above his head. Then he suddenly fell from the sky to the background of surprised cheers and gasps from the audience, and drew a sharp line that seemed to slice apart the air between himself and his herculean target! The flashing blue and green sword energies looked like a great blade of wind and force as it crashed down towards Reshmont, and the giant''s eyes widened as he prepared to face the mighty combination of sword arts and nature magic. Then he sucked in a deep breath, his chest expanding greatly as his skin grew a darker bronze. He sucked in so much air that the crowds wondered if he was a balloon that was about to burst! And he bellowed out in response, sending forth a blast of aura even as he coated his fist with the same metallic copper sheen and slammed a punch straight at the descending blade! "BOOOOM!!!!" A heavy bang rocked the Gorun Stadium as a great cloud of dust, brownish energies and blue-green mana exploded outwards. The weaker spectators coughed and felt dizzy at the sudden pressure exuded from the great impact but were quickly relieved as Mr White and Mitsui led the stadium workers to raise a containment shell between the viewing stands and the ring. When the dust cleared, the broken blade of a sword could be seen embedded in the ground while the wielder lay crumpled on ground, lying on his side. There were no outer signs of injury, but that did not mean he was unhurt from the heavy clash with Reshmont. And Reshmont was still standing, albeit with his large shoulders rising and falling in big motions as he breathed heavily. He looked at his right first which had a thin red line of blood across the knuckles and lifted up one corner of his mouth in a grin. Then he raised up that same bleeding right fist and roared at the top of his lungs. Victory! The crowds went wild with his celebration pose and the deafening applause was like the crash of waves upon the shore. One hit! It had taken just one clean hit from Reshmonth to knock out his masterful opponent! "Reshmont! Reshmont! Reshmont!!!" The crowds cheered like crazy as the hot-blooded conclusion to the match filled them with passion, excitement and anticipation for the upcoming matches; hoping that each would be more intense than the last! "Winner - Reshmont!" Mr White announced the result matter of factly; as the outcome was already clear. At the same time, the match between the druid Michael Vinas and Air-element mage Deejay Kardel came to a close. Michael proved to be the bane of the offence-type Deejay and continuously weathered the literal storm of attacks through his defensive spells, healing and transformation into a grizzly bear. Once Deejay had run out of mana to fly out of reach, all Michael had to do to win the fight was to just run him down and sit on him with his heavy butt. "I-I concede..." The suffocating mage gasped out as the fourth match of the first round came to a dull close. The rest of the matches continued on with the second half of the brackets beginning. Most of the matches were one-sided results, such as the number two seeded god-blood Darius easily dispatching his opponent, knocking him out of the ring with ease after just four or five exchanges. And very quickly, the first round was over. It was time for round two to begin! Lars took a quick glance at his side of the bracket. ''Let''s see... Next up is Jun Marda... I didn''t get to catch his match because it was concurrent with mine, but from what I know, he''s an all-rounder. Based on his earlier results... He was ranked number 6 in the preliminaries? That''s pretty good... In comparison, Sai Kana was ranked in the 50s...'' Lars gave a cursory once-over for his upcoming opponent as he sat idle and listened to a penguin and fairy singing derogatory songs about him: ''Lars the lazy, Lars the lazy, he don''t train! He don''t learn! What the hell''s he thinking, what the hell''s he thinking, he''s so noob, he''s so noob!'' (To the tune of "Are you sleeping, brother John?") Then the two little demons would burst into laughter, holding their stomachs and rolling on the floor laughing as he could only seethe and try to ignore their ridiculing him. Very quickly, one or the other of the demons would then say, ''Oh, how about this one, how about this one... Kizorik had an idiot human...'' Lars gritted his teeth and told himself to ignore the childish millennia-old demons and not pay any heed to their mocking as he waited for his match to start. He didn''t have to wait long as Mr White decided that the contestants had a long enough break. Very quickly, his name was called as Mr White announced the match. "Ahem! May I have your attention, please! For the next matches, we will have the top-seeded Miller Knight Lars fight against Rose Knight Jun Marda, while on the second ring, Michael Vinas will fight Reshmont!" The four youths exchanged looks with one another and smiled as they made their way over to the two circular battle arenas. Darius looked bored and yawned, but in truth was paying rapt attention. His sharp gaze flitted between Lars to Reshmont, watching them with hawk-eyes as he prepared to study the two rivals he had marked and look for weaknesses to exploit. When the four contestants were ready and in place, Mr White once again raised his hand up in the air as the audience held their breaths in anticipation for another thrilling set of matches. Then he swung his hand down, marking the beginning of the new round. "Round Two: Fight!" 113 Round Two: Fight! 2 Jun Marda. He looked like the ideal image of a knight in shining armour; soft and short brown hair that fell perfectly across his brow, straight and piercing green eyes full of courage and spirit, a tall and well-fleshed-out muscular frame and dressed in light plate mail armour. A sword hung by his hip - longer than a longsword but shorter than a two-handed one. As the start of the fight was declared, Lars decided that he shouldn''t look down on his new opponent. He bowed slightly as a sign of respect then unsheathed his sword and smiled politely to his foe as he stood ready to clash blades. He held his own longsword lightly in his right hand, balanced in the palm of his hand. As the original Brightstar was a national-level or Legendary artefact, he had not brought it in with him into this match. In addition, he had also left Moira''s ring with Boa so as not to be accused of cheating - just in case the ring with its strong emanations of power were identified to be a high-level artefact as well. As he needed new equipment for the tournament, he had excuse to go shopping! He frequented a couple of stores during the past two days and gloated over the fact that the price tags were now dirt cheap to him! What was 15, 30 or even 500 platinum coins to him when he now numbered his wealth in the millions?!? He had laughed like a mad scientist as he revelled in the feeling of being filthy rich - that is, until he wept when he realised he was going to be forced to part ways with his hard earned cash! When it came time to pay the 1,999 platinum coins and 99 gold, 99 silver and 99 coppers for the enchanted sword, he fiercely haggled with the shopkeeper like a miser and spent (wasted) nearly half an hour just wrangling over the prices. In the end, the shopkeeper threatened to kick him out if he didn''t buy it and dared him to find another shop with equal quality goods at such a low price... And Lars took him up on his dare. ...Only to return in the evening of the same day dejected and depressed as he grudgingly handed over the money with trembling hands... Snapping out of his traumatic flashback of the moment when he was forced to relinquish his precious money, he came back to the present and kept a stiff smile plastered on his face. His moderately-armoured opponent bowed to him too, showing the spirit of a warrior as he bent his body in a deep bow, smiled and drew his one-and-a-half-handed bastard sword. Though the weapon should have been hefty and heavy, Jun Marda made it look light as he wielded it once handed and twirled it around in a display of his skills. He showed deft movements and drew a graceful arc through the air with the tip of the blade as he took a stance that was equally able to attack and defend. "En garde!!" He yelled as he advanced swiftly despite the weighty armour on his body; clearly he did not lack in any of speed, strength OR skill! Lars smiled as he realised that this would be a good fight and one through which he could hone his sword arts as well as his understanding of the concepts of space and time. This would be helped (?) also by the fact that his 17-year-old foe was a full realm above him at the beginning Elite-level. Lars smiled sheepishly. Helped... In the sense that, otherwise, there would be no challenge, right...? He held his sword before him in a one-handed fencer''s stance and readied for his approaching opponent. Jun Marda feinted first to the right, then to the left - before he suddenly converted his feint into a real strike that went whistling straight for Lars'' shoulder! ''F-Fast! How unexpected!'' Lars'' eyes widened as he had seen the large sword and deemed it to be unwieldy, but was proven wrong as the edge of the blade sliced through the air towards him. He quickly lifted his sword to parry the blow and winced when he received it - at the same time as it was swift, Jun Marda''s fast slash was also not light at all! As Lars was only exerting his peak-Adept level strength right now, even with his minotaur''s strength exerted (passive mode), he was nearly knocked off balance and could barely resist the pressure from the young knight! He kept up his resistance, now gripping the slightly longer than normal longsword with two hands as both the blade and his arms began to shake from the exertion. But he was smiling - how rare was it for him to have a good fight like this...? It had been so long since his last good spar, not since the times he had sparred against Gardner... At the sudden memory of his former best friend and big bro, Lars'' mood turned dark and melancholic, a stark change from his earlier cheerful state. Jun Marda noticed this, but took it to mean that the younger and smaller boy was unnerved by his stunning display of both speed, strength and control. Jun kept a serious gaze in his eyes as he smiled inwardly and felt his blood pumping. ''I can do this! I just need to tie him up and not let him open a gap - as long as he can''t utilise his magic and spells, I''ll be able to prevail! I can do this! Come on, Jun boy!'' The teenage knight cheered himself on, pumping himself up with his inner monologue as he changed his stance. "Take this! CROSS SLASH!!!" He shifted his feet from a pushing position to an open-stanced one. Then his arm muscles bulged as he stirred up his blood energy and launched two fierce slashes; one from the top right slashing diagonally down and to the left and the other intersecting with it in the middle, from the top left to the bottom right... This then formed a gleaming X-shaped sword light: the trademark knight''s move, Cross Slash! Lars'' eyes narrowed instead of widening; he took the boy seriously as he realised that he had already mastered a move normally only learned by knights in their mid-20s and at the Master stage! His feet turned ephemeral and illusory as he backpedalled swiftly to make some distance between himself and the valiant knight. Then he raised his sword up before his face, the edge of the straight blade almost touching his nose and brow, almost as if though he were holding it up in a prayer to some higher power. ''Time to try out my new move!'' ''What new move??? Since when did you even practise of prepare a new move???'' Two incredulous house-pets'' voices resounded in his mind, but he quickly rebuffed them in an evilly irritating way. ''...Secret.'' Then his eyes narrowed even further as, despite his light-hearted response, he began to recall the weight of his responsibilities and the mission he had before him... And also the loved ones he had lost, and those he could not afford to lose...! ''My earth... My brothers and sisters... Moira... What''s wrong with me...? What''s come over me? How could I forget... What really matters to me in life???'' The soul imprint of Greed began to waver slightly in Lars'' soul but nothing significant happened after that as his consciousness seemed to clear slightly. It was almost as if though a veil had been over his mind for nearly a week or two now, and as if though a soothing summer''s rain had fallen to wash away the haze over him! "WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!?" A roar exploded before him and Lars was suddenly drawn back to the battle upon him - and the flashing cross-shaped sword lights about to slice him apart! Jun Marda and his Cross Slash skill had almost connected on him and was only 1 metre away! Lars'' eyes did not waver. A deep and firm conviction filled his soul and he felt something forming within him, a sense of power and strength that arose anew and instilled him in a way he had not felt before and words floated in his mind unbidden. ''Charity... Charity....?'' ''....Living for someone else...?'' His eyes wavered and firmed up, shook and focused again and again in the span of just a few split seconds. He felt confused and felt his heart shaken. ''W-wait!!! DEFEND!!!'' Lars'' dilated eyes suddenly focused once more as he held his sword tightly. If not for the fact that Lars'' soul-imprint of Insight gave him 10 times faster thinking speed, he would have already been chopped apart 5 times over by now. However, thanks to his bullet-train mind, he regained his spirit and released his newly invented counter-attack just in time before the Cross Slash crashed into him! "The Eye... Of the Storm!!!" A serious and worried look crossed Jun Marda''s face as Lars'' raised sword descended swiftly... But to his surprise, the younger boy''s blade did not strike at him, but missed him completely, the sword''s tip descending to touch the ground instead! ''What the--'' His eyes grew wider in shock as he was confused. Had the continent-level genius made a fatal mistake?? Jun Marda''s heart raced crazily as he wondered if he should withdraw his Cross Slash, as he feared that his Elite-level strikes would instantly kill the boy! But he needn''t have bothered entertaining such a thought; not against the super-genius Lars! To his shock, the X-shaped sword lights from his skill dissipated suddenly - before he felt the space and world around him *TWIST* violently and rip through his sword, armour, blood energy, aura and into his skin and body! "ARGHHH!!!" He felt as if though he were swallowed up by a whirlpool, only, one that was spinning through the air and dragging him into its depths. Along with the intense suction force and spinning force was the most serious of the effects - a rending twisting pressure that burst apart all his defences and covered him in countless bloody wounds in the blink of an eye! Almost instantly after the wounds began to appear, the whirlwind-like attack was forcefully dispelled by Mr White who shot forward like a comet to rescue him before he was too seriously wounded! And just in time too, as Jun Marda had already lost consciousness just from the slightest exposure to the space-law sword move! As Mr White held the bleeding Jun Marda and quickly cast healing spells to stabilise his condition, he looked over to Lars with an approving look and announced the result. "Total victory! Your winner, Lars!" The crowds could not quite fathom what they had just seen and were still in stunned silence when the white-haired man declared those words. The fight had been short but very, very tense. Even though there were only a few moves, the awesome display of power from both contestants was mind-blowing! Slowly, one member of the audience after another began to clap their hands and begin to cheer. Soon, the lonely claps turned into a sea of roars and thunderous applause. Once again, they had been given a spectacular show by the young and yet infinitely magnificent Lars! * * * * * While this was happening, Darius turned away from the scene of Lars'' victory. He had an unreadable expression on his face as he looked into the air. And plotted how he would bring Lars to his knees, by hook or by crook...! 114 Round Two: Fight! 3 While Lars'' match was going on, Reshmont was up against the druid Michael Vinas in the other ring. However, this match did not garner much attention - and rightly so, for it was a dull and boring match of two towers of muscle clashing against each other in a battle of brute strength! Though, the result was also clear after just the first 10 seconds - even in his grizzly bear form and with a Bull''s Strength and Blessing of Nature empowering him, Michael Vinas was easily tossed out of the ring! When he hit the floor outside of the arena, he bounced on the floor heavily before rolling to a stop and quickly returned to his human form, clutching his head and moaning in pain. "The winner: Reshmont!" Mr White announced loudly without any expression on his face. An easy victory for the inhumanly strong Reshmont! With both the upper bracket matches completed, it was on to the next set of fights, and Mr White announced that they would be heading to a 10 minute break. * * * * * 10 minutes later and after the break, Mr White punctually returned to the stage and drew the pairings for the next round. While this was happening, a father and daughter pair were watching with mild interest. The father because he was obliged to be here with the Duke, the daughter because she was obliged to be here as the "last boss" in the grand finals. Yusof Jamal and Vignis Jamal, his daughter! "Dear daughter... What do you think of the matches so far...? Do you see any formidable challengers...?" Yusof Jamal spoke to his beloved daughter, Vignis who sat at his side. Apart from Vignis, he also had 2 older sons who had moved to other cities in order to pursue their dreams; one to be a writer and the other an adventurer. Vignis who was sitting comfortably ensconced in her plush armchair thought about his question for awhile before she shrugged. "I guess it''s just like the seedings show... That young boy Lars looks pretty tough to face with his large repertoire of sword skills and spells, while it seems Darius hasn''t even shown any of his true abilities yet... To be honest, I''m more wary of that god-blooded descendant... I doubt he''s even displayed half of his real powers during the illusion array tests!" Vignis'' face took on an academic and intelligent look as she spoke and analysed her opponents. Yet Yusof Jamal only smiled enigmatically and seemed not to fully agree with her answer. The man with a refined moustache and tanned skin was pretty much fully recovered by now from the vital force he had lost fighting Gaius Trenel and the Devil Lords. The curses and the wounds had sapped him of alot of strength, causing him to be bedridden for 2 full days. However, he was now quite fresh and back to his sharp-minded self, managing the family businesses once more with a clear mind. He folded his fingers together and leaned forward as he faced the arena field, elbows on his thighs as he considered whether to tell her or not. In the end he decided to share some of his thoughts with his proud daughter who would likely not heed his words at all. He shrugged, "All part of growing up, I guess...?'' Though he himself had not had that same luxury of being rebellious, seeking his own whims and desires or pursuing his selfish interests. Yusof was a hard man due to the circumstances of his youth when he was forced to take on the lead of the family for nearly 2 years while awaiting the return of his uncle, the current Patriarch who had taken over from his late father! And of course, he understood that for Vignis, as a royal child of pedigreed lineage from her mother''s side, she had been born with a silver spoon... No, a golden spoon in her mouth from the first breath she had taken! Whether it was runes, bloodline activation from the Sarouneh''s, cultivation materials, books on skills and arts, instructors or even the recently popular gene-advancement fluids imported from off-planet, Vignis had not lacked even one bit! In fact, sometimes Yusof himself felt jealous of the luxurious gifted lavished onto his own daughter, courtesy of his father-in-law, Tyrant Soron of the Wiarno Kingdom! Which, in truth, Yusof just wished he could sell off instead of wasting it on a kid who couldn''t even use the items properly... He was also glad that Vignis had returned safely through the case of the devil invasion - it would have been his head on the chopping block if anything happened to one of King Soron''s favourite grandchildren! So Yusof kept a mysterious smile on his face as he looked at Vignis and asked, "Do you really think so...?" "Huh...?" Vignis looked surprised and gazed over at her dad, then narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Was he in one of his know-it-all moods again...? "Yes dad... Just come out and say what you mean... You have some secret you want to oh-so-dramatically unveil, right...?" She looked at him with a deadpan expression on her face. Yusof was stunned for awhile and had to consciously force his gaping mouth shut. He felt shy when he realised his daughter knew him so well that she could guess his antics, but tried to maintain his poker face as he coughed in embarrassment. "Eh, ahem, yes... Yes, I think you''ll be surprised about the results in the next few rounds of matches..." He raised his brows and layed on thick the drama as he tried to play the mystery card. Vignis just looked at him with bored eyes and yawned, then looked back to the fight that was about to start - between an unknown who had finished as exactly number 64 in the preliminaries, just barely making it through to the finals by the skin of his neck. His name was Quagmire Jameson - whether Quagmire was his real name or just a nickname, she didn''t know and didn''t care. After all, his matches were deadly dull and boring. Quagmire or Jameson looked to be not very strong. His fighting skills, strength, speed, mana, blood energy etc. were all pretty pathetic. Instead, he had advanced to this stage based on his self-named ability, Quagmire. This ability, or so it seemed, slowed down and weakened his opponent enough so that even his weak stats and skills were enough to overwhelm his enemy. But this also made the fight he had earlier incredibly boring, so dull that Vignis had zoned it out completely! ''And it looks like this round is more of the same once again...'' She shifted her eyes over and watched the cool and handsome Darius instead. * * * * * He was controlling the fight entirely against his opponent whose name she couldn''t remember. Barely 15 seconds in, Darius had already broken down his defences with some casual martial moves, chopping and kicking to beat him foe out of the ring. Even before the clock had struck 30 seconds, the match was over - Darius had obtained an perfunctory victory once more. He made it a point to send a pointed glare in Lars direction, shooting forth daggers from his eyes as if though he were saying, "Let me see you beat that!" But Lars just lifted up a hand and used his little finger to dig his ear. Darius'' face slowly turned darker and darker as he disregarded the cheers of the crowd. His turned into a deep scowl and the wrinkles on his handsome face were revealed as he turned furious. ''H-how dare he!! How dare that scoundrel human from a low-class bloodline look down on me like that! I''ll kill him, kill him! I swear!!'' Darius grinded his teeth as he stepped off the stage and refused to look at Lars again. However, when he was about to walk past Lars, he stopped in his tracks and declared loudly, "Just you wait! I''ll show you who''s the best in the final match! And don''t dream of advancing once you meet me in the ring! It''ll be me who''s going to the grand finals, and I who will triumph over all!" Then Darius'' face loosened up as he smiled in self-confidence. "...And don''t worry. I''ll make sure to bring Gorun City great glory...! You can just watch from the sidelines as I conquer even the national and continent-level tournaments! Hahahaha!" He laughed loudly as he walked off, maintaining his straight back and cocky attitude. All the while, Lars was chuckling on the inside as he felt the boy was quite entertaining. He enjoyed toying with the overly-serious kid. What was the point of doing all this challenging, trash talk or having such a rivalry anyway...? Weren''t they going to face each other in the ring soon enough? Wouldn''t that be good enough to determine who was the better fighter between the two? And was he really serious that he was confident enough to take on and defeat all the monsters and peerless geniuses on the national and continent-level stage...? Lars smirked; even the hidden bloodline in the boy''s body didn''t seem like it would be enough to warrant such a high estimation of himself! Either Darius was delusional or... ''Does he really have some hidden backing or trump card up his sleeve...?'' Lars rubbed his chin as he considered the possibilities and waited for the next round to begin. * * * * * The next round was one which held the most anticipated fight so far in the tournament: Round three, match number 1 - Lars vs. Reshmont! This was the most hyped up match and the most interesting fighter''s pairing apart from the finals where everyone expected it to be Lars vs. Darius or perhaps, with the slimmest of chances it would be Reshmont vs. Darius! Pure power vs. versatility; titanic strength vs. expert sword skills; impregnable defence vs. piercing attacks - it was one end of the spectrum against the other in this, the first match between two seeded contestants! And as the slim boy Lars stood facing his opponent Reshmont, even his supporters in the audience began to feel intimidated. Would he try a tactic similar to what the air mage Deejay Kardel had used - and failed with - against the druid Michael Vinas with his solid defences? Or would he attempt a head on clash, sword and steel against fist and skin like the brave but fallen swordsman Runiel...? Whichever it was, the audience cheered on their favourite fighter as they waited in great expectation for the fight to begin! "Reshmont! Reshmont! Reshmont! Reshmont!"/ "Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars!!!" The two names being chanted mixed together into an unintelligible roar of white noise as the two groups of fans tried to drown each other out. But there were also two more groups who were silent; one, the neutrals and the other those who supported god-child Darius! Lars stood about 10 metres away from Reshmont on the wide stage and looked up to meet eyes with him. Reshmont returned the gaze respectfully and, as if on cue, the two boys who were about to become men bowed to one another. Mr White looked on and smiled in approval as he saw that they were ready. He held up his hands and once more declared the beginning of a new fight. "Lars vs. Reshmont! May the best fighter prevail! Round Three: FIGHT!!!" 115 Round Three: A Fierce Encounter "Lars vs. Reshmonth! Round Three: Fight!" Unlike all the rounds prior, this round did not begin with a flurry of activities. On one hand, Lars'' fighting style was and had always been the wait-and-see counter-attacking style where he would analyse, dissect and formulate a winning strategy against his enemies - though, apart from the battle against the Devil Lords, he hadn''t actually ever needed anything but his overwhelming power to blast apart his opponents... On the other hand, Reshmont was not like the others. He dared not think that he himself was the strongest, nor did he believe that he could easily overpower Lars. After all, the boy had been suppressed to the beginner-Adept stage but had still been able to muster enough power to destroy the Elite-limit drow death dancer. How much more now, when he looked to have advanced to the peak-Adept stage? He began circulating his blood energy within his veins as well as channeling the man through his meridians as he prepared for battle. He knew this would be tough fight, one that he would not be able to win without giving up his flesh and blood! 10 seconds passed as the two contestants just faced off from opposite ends of the circular ring. The audience were beginning to grow anxious and agitated as they wondered just when the pair would burst into action. And they did not have to wait much longer as Reshmont breathed in deeply, crossed his arms across his chest and roared out loud. "HIYEAAAKKKKK!!!!" Then he started jogging forward, before he broke into a full-speed run! ''2 seconds until impact... He''s fast!'' Lars calculated his next move and decided that it woudl be illogical for his current displayed strength to face the charging bull directly. Reshmont was no pushover at the mid-Elite stage while still being only 17 years old! This was not far from Vignis Jamal or Leocadius Trenel who were 2 small realms higher at the Elite-limit stage at more or less the same age! And Reshmont also probably weighed 5 times as much as Lars with a body as powerful asa minotaur''s! So Lars unsheathed his sword in one smooth movement and then performed an elegant jump-and-flip over the gigantic boy, landing behind him and then lashing out with a sharp sword strike to Reshmont''s back. Clink! Lars'' eyes widened; that was not the sound a sword striking unprotected flesh was supposed to make, right...? And when he looked at the spot where his blade had struck, the only effect was that there was now a slightly pinkish line on Reshmont''s bronze skin! And Reshmont, upon receiving the slash to the back of his neck, immediately rotated his body and repeated the same move, dashing forward with his arms crossed in front of him in defence. Lars hopped backwards and to the side, barely slipping past the clawing hands of Reshmont as he passed by. Immediately after missing his target, the hulking body then kicked off the ground and changed direction, hurtling towards Lars once again relentlessly! Faced by his defence foe who excelled also at speed if not agility, Lars considered his next move and decided to try something with a greater piercing power. ''Hmm... Let''s try this next...'' Then he focused his concentration on the tip of his sword and triggered one of his signature sword moves. "Heavenly Star''s Path!!" He thrust out his straight-bladed sword and included a twisting motion as he felt the laws of space bend along the path of his sword light shooting forth. A spiral of bright white energy lanced forward, straight for the charging Reshmont. Reshmont''s face turned more serious as he sucked in a deep breath while facing down the sword light. It looked like he would be forced to take it full on as he was not flexible enough to avoid it at this last minute. But instead, still with his arms crossed before him, Reshmonth suddenly let out a great yell and burst with power, his arms glowing brightly and seeming to be covered in a layer of bronze! "BREAK!!!!" And when the piercing and spinning sword light hit his crossed arms, his advance was slowed significantly but not stopped - and the sword light instead was deflected away and above to shoot into the air harmlessly! Though, it did brush past Reshmont''s shoulder and bruise his skin... Proving that he wasn''t invincible after all! It was Lars'' turn to have a grave look on his face. If even his strongest piercing skill couldn''t break through Reshmont''s defence, how was he going to prevail in this battle? It didn''t seem likely that the exceptionally fit teen would be the one to run out of stamina first, at least based on his powerful physique. Scratching his head furiously with his left hand, Lars'' mind raced through the multiple options he had ¨C excluding the one of using a higher power level. He needed to hone and refine his battle capabilities, and that included defeating opponents against whom he was naturally weak, right¡­? He thought it through while he continued to dodge left and right, being careful not to slip up and get caught by even the slightest touch of Reshmont''s gargantuan hands. Just one slap or graze from the boy would probably be enough to rip apart any Adept-level practitioner''s body, which was certainly not what Lars desired to happen! ''What if he can''t see the slash¡­? Or if he focuses his defence on the wrong spot¡­?'' Lars smiled as he thought of this plan; and even if it didn''t work out, he could still move on to the next approach. This time when Lars leapt aside, he didn''t directly retreat. Instead, he released a flurry of slashes towards Reshmont, with each slash being easily deflected by the boy''s golden-brown skin. Lars gave his 100% concentration as he maintained the nearly point-blank distance. At such close range, the risk was far greater that one lucky blow would land on his body and break his bones ¨C something he couldn''t afford to happen. It was with utmost focus that Lars weaved in and out, dodging punch after grab after kick after knee strike from the doggedly determined bronze-skinned giant. All this while, he continued to rain slash after slash, stab after stab and cut after cut onto Reshmont''s skin, trying to find a weakness in his resilient defences. Clink! Clank! Clonk! Clunk! Clink! The sounds of metal bouncing off metal rang out continuously, a sound that Lars still couldn''t understand. Was there some special cultivation method to turn one''s skin into metal that was stronger than steel¡­? Perhaps his worldview and experiences were too narrow! Regardless of the result, Lars kept on striking at Reshmont and ignored the fact that it was like cutting up water in a river ¨C pointless. But when he felt that he had gained a certain rhythm and cadence in his blows, he suddenly changed things up. "Void Splitter!!!" He yelled out as he changed his stance and held his long-hilted sword in a two handed grip. Reshmont was shocked by the sudden move pulled off by Lars and hurriedly raised his arms above him and channelled his powers to turn his arms golden, ready to block the heavy, crushing downward slash that was about to come. But instead, Lars suddenly changed his attack halfway and stabbed straight at Reshmont in the face instead! "!!!!" Surprised, Reshmont roared out loud and immediately protected his face with a bronze aura that caused Lars'' blade to bounce of ineffectively! "Damn! Failed!" Lars cursed and hurriedly tried to back off, but it was too late. Along with his face being surrounded by the metallic golden aura, Reshmont''s power continued to flow forth and envelope the area around him ¨C including locking down on Lars'' body! "Gotcha!!! TAKE THIS!!!" The giant''s eyes turned bronze as well as he locked on to Lars with his bronze aura and restricted his movements. Then he pounced forward and launched a wrecking ball''s blow straight towards an immobile Lars! Blindsided by the sudden binding move from the giant''s descendant, Lars struggled but could barely move his legs and body ¨C he was not going to be in time to get away from being smashed into a pancake! ''Sh*t!!! If I can''t dodge, then¡­ DEFEND!!!!'' Lars triggered whatever defensive spells he could as the fist that was as big as his torso flew towards him! 116 Round Three: A Fierce Encounter 2 Lars furiously erected countless defensive layers at the point of impact - based on his count, he had managed to place at least 8 casts of nearly instantly triggered Level 1 spells: Ghost Armour, Shield, Basic Hardening, Minor Mantle of Deflection etc. And at the moment the hook punch connected, he saw all his defensive efforts shatter like dried leaves before the incoming attack! Reshmont''s sizable fist slammed straight into Lars'' ribs, eliciting a heavy "Oof!" sound from the magic swordsman! Lars flew through the air, dizzy from the pain and shock of having his ribcage compressed. It was a good thing that he still had the presence of mind to trigger his budding space-laws and create a buffer of void-space between himself and the titanic punch. If not for that fact, he might have been pulverised right there and then from the hulking giant''s aura suppression and the following attack! Even then, so great was the weight of that one blow that he was wincing in pain. His bruised ribs felt like they were on the verge of cracking and he would not be surprised if he had suffered some minute fractures. He flew through the air and headed for the limits of the ring but gradually came to a halt, floating in mid-air while his hands released a green glow of healing onto his wounds. The skin over the left side of his sternum had ruptured from the pressure, bursting open and oozing blood. While Lars was recovering from the heavy damage he had suffered, Reshmont remained in the position of throwing his punch. His shoulders moved up and down heavily with each breath and he was panting as sweat beaded on the surface of his skin. ''H-how strong is that kid''s physique?!? It took so much of my aura to restrain him! And... H-how could he have survived from that blow...!?? R-ridiculous!!!'' Reshmont felt dizzy as he had burst out in power to secure that one opportunity that he thought would determine the fight. He still had more than 60% of his reserves left, but still, consuming almost half of his energy in one move left him winded and weary. He slowly retracted his extended fist and stood in a neutral stance, recovering and regaining his strength. Lars did not miss that as his sharp eagle-eyes noticed the condition Reshmont was in. ''Looks like that move just now was a trump card, huh...? If that''s so... And if he''s not just pretending to be tired right now... Then he should only be able to use it one more time...'' And neither did the audience miss the fact that Reshmont was low on gas. They shouted out both encouragements to Reshmont as well as to urge Lars to finish off the giant''s descendant! "Come on Lars! Give him all ya got!" "Reshmont! Reshmont! Wake up!!! Figh-ting!!" Lars considered for a moment what his next move would be, then he slowly floated back to the surface of the arena and landed lightly on solid ground. And he smiled gently and waited for his muscle-bound opponent to recover! "W-what??? What''s Lars doing?!?" "Stupid! NOW''s your chance! Do it!! Do it quickly!!!" But Lars turned a blind ear to the crowds and merely stretched a bit as he kept one hand applying pressure and healing his painful ribs. Based on the current rate of healing, it would be fine in less than 15 seconds! And based on Reshmont''s breathing pattern, the giant would also be back to full force in that span of time! "What are you doing? Are you looking down on me right now?!?!!" Reshmont was the most shocked to see his counterpart give him a chance to recover. But after just a few seconds of recuperating, his face turned red with shame and anger as he roared loudly at the golden-haired boy before him. Lars shook his head, expecting this reaction and anticipating how to answer him. He opened his mouth and said, "No, my worthy opponent. That''s not the case... Instead, it''s the opposite. Your strength... It''s impressive; so impressive that I can''t help but think... I want to face it head on! Come on! Let''s both use our trump cards and see who prevails! No pussy-footing or gallivanting around anymore, let''s show these boys and girls how REAL MEN fight!!! COME ON!!!!" Lars bellowed out wildly as he held his sword in his right hand and prepared to resume the fight while Reshmont''s eyes opened wide in awe of the words he heard. Then he smiled a rakish grin and had a pure and simple look on his face as he laughed. "HAHAHA!!! Heh...! What a boor! What an overbearingly arrogant boor!" Then he smiled with a sharp look in his eyes as he continued. "...But I like you!!! COME ON!!! JUST BRING IT!!! I''LL SHOW YOU MY FULL POWER RIGHT NOW!!!" Reshmont returned the great bellow, as if though he were competing in terms of who could shout louder. The members of the audience were shaken by his sudden shout and pressed their hands against their ears to dampen the rumbling noise. But even as they did so, their hearts pumped crazily and their eyes turned berserk with passion! What a match between two real men! Two red-blooded, hot-blooded, insane and battle-crazy real men! "OOOOOHHHHH!!!!! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!!" "SHOW US WHAT YOU GOTTTTTT!!!!!" The audience responded with roars of their own and filled the entire Gorun Stadium with a maniacal din, prompting the nobles and the members of the ruling class to shake their heads in disdain at the raucous display. And Vignis who was up in the stands lifted up a corner of her mouth in a sneer and sighed, "Men... So brutal and violent... How uncomely!" But her father just smiled and continued watching the battle, as he looked forward to seeing the outcome of this fight that reminded him of his exciting adventuring days. Reshmont stayed where he stood, about 15 metres away from Lars who was almost at the edge of the ring. He breathed in deeply and his chest expanded as he began to stimulate the limits of his blood energy and mana - and his chest did not shrink back down even when he let out the deep breath, while the rest of his body swelled up a full size! If before he looked like a gorilla in a human''s skin, now he looked like a rhinoceros, bulging with armour-like muscles all over! He had grown to almost 3 metres tall and the muscles on his were so thick, it almost looked like there were tumours growing all over him! As this transformation progressed and he stimulated his bronze giant''s bloodline, Reshmont''s skin changed to have a bronze sheen, then the sheen seemed to extend to deeper within his flesh as a golden glow seemed to emanate from within his bones! Within a few seconds, the changes in Reshmont''s body slowed down as he continued to solidify his metallic aura and body. His head reflected the rays of the sun as the smooth round surface glinted brightly. Lars watched this with curiosity and wondered if his bloodline would eventually give him such a transformation. The only thing he hoped for though, was that he wouldn''t turn bald when he transformed... Then as he saw the transformation complete and could sense an intimidating and ancient aura, a dominating scent that exuded from the bronze giant''s body, Lars eyes gleamed with excitement. He slowly planned through the dozens of moves and counter moves he could make before discarding them all and finally settling on one move: A head-on collision! And he prepped his sword, slipping it back into its sheath and angling his body downwards in order to demonstrate his killing move - Sword-drawing Arts: Iaijutsu, Battoujutsu! Reshmont drew himself up to his full height and lifted up one hand to point at Lars. "ARE YOU READY... TO BE DEFEATED???!" He spoke so without any sense of mockery, it sounded like he truly believed he would not be defeated. Lars grinned and said, "No...! Because... It''s YOU WHO WILL BE DEFEATED!!!" Reshmont did not reply, only flashing his teeth with a wide smile in reply. Then his body suddenly disappeared - no! He was just moving so fast that he disappeared from where he stood! And in a flash, he had already closed the 15-metre distance to merely 5 metres - he was almost upon Lars! Feet planted in a wide posture, Lars stood, stable and awaiting his opponent. Then to the shock of his supporters in the crowd, he closed his eyes! They gasped collectively and exclaimed in panic, "LARS!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! OPEN YOUR EYES!!! QUICK!!!!" But Lars only lowered his face and his stance further towards the ground and with his left hand, slightly nudged his sword out from the sheath, just the slightest bit. "LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT TRUE POWER IS!!!" He heard a deafening howl blast his ears and focused his senses for just the right timing. The crowd then saw Reshmont''s magnificently huge body cover Lars'' entire figure, then they gasped in terror as the hammer-like fist descended mightily as if Thor''s mighty hammer Mjolnir were crashing downwards! And it was time. ''Now!!!'' Lars'' eyes snapped open and he roared out loud. "Blotting out the Stars!!!!!!!" A great flash of sword light exploded outwards while a crashing golden cannon-ball detonated, clashing with the sword light. 117 Round Three: A Fierce Encounter 3 "Oh no!!!" "I can''t see!! I can''t see!! What''s happening!!!??" "Someone quickly tell me!!! What happened???" A blinding explosion occurred when the sword light clashed against the raging bronze fist covered in a golden aura. The white of the sword light mixed together with the golden-bronze aura and created a flashing brilliant pillar that ascended into the sky, lighting up the horizon for miles around the Gorun Stadium. And as the sky was illuminated by the great golden-white flash, it was not just the spectators within the stadium who were shocked and awed by the scene but even the shopkeepers, stall-vendors and numerous townsfolk who were not watching the matches! "Is it a sign...?" "No... It''s coming from the Gorun Stadium!" "Could it be the birth of a great hero...?" The superstitious and the logical argued against each other about the origin and meaning of the lights even as the nobles and audience members began to regain their vision. Then they saw a terrifying scene of destruction in the ring. To their shock... It was neither Lars nor Reshmont who was, as they had expected, mortally wounded and hanging at the brink of death. Neither were they both unscathed, of course, for they had been in the origin point of the cataclysmic explosion. Lars was still standing, seemingly still in good condition while Reshmont had fallen to his knees, with one hand on the ground. But to everyone''s surprise, it was Mr White who was in bad shape! He had intervened urgently, sensing that the powers unleashed by these two youths far exceeded their abilities to sustain or control. In the moments before the two boys'' attacks met, he had stood in the gap between them and suppressed the power of their strikes with his Grandmaster-level strength. Or so he had thought - for the grand outburst of power had exceeded his expectations and turned his ever-white garb and white hair a sooty black! The audience members tried to resist laughing, but in the end, many could not help but snigger as they saw the Acting Head Administrator coughing from the intense heat and smoke he had experienced when forcefully redirecting the clash of energies. The high friction of the attacks with the air ignited the oxygen and resulted in a small flash of flames that had left him in this ragged state. Mr White frowned deeply and cast angry glances first at Reshmont then at Lars. He coughed again and again then let out an irritated "Harumph!" before he stalked off. While the two boys stared at his retreating back, Mr White shouted out as an aside, "Carry on your childish fight!" Lars had a bemused look on his face as he hefted his sword and took a ready stance, but to his surprise, Reshmont held up an open palm to ask him to wait. He was struggling to breathe and his body had already shrunk back to his 2.4 metre frame. He seemed worn out and pale as he trembled slightly and said, "L-Lars...! That was a, a good fight! S-sorry, I''m... Really not able to continue any more! But... Well fought! I...." He then bowed his head deeply while he was kneeling, as if though a loyal subject before a dignified king and confessed, "...I admit my defeat... You are truly the most talented youth I have ever, EVER seen in my short life..." When he heard those words, Lars felt slightly disappointed but also smiled and shrugged. He sheathed his sword and reached out a hand, offering it to Reshmont and said, "...Friends...?" Reshmont looked up and had a look of shock on his face for a moment before he fixed Lars with a firm gaze and a serious look and said, "...I''m sorry, Lars... We can''t be friends..." Lars looked dismayed and disappointed. He was confused; was there something wrong? Something Reshmont couldn''t tell him that made him unable to accept his offer of friendship...? Then to his bewilderment, Reshmont clasped his hand tightly and flashed him a cheeky grin with his innocent, boy-like face and said, "...Because we''re BROTHERS! Hahahah! Get it...? You don''t...?" Lars clasped hands in return and smiled... But also sweated at the incredibly lame joke... And he looked slightly taken aback as Reshmont got up to his feet and caught him in an incredibly big, manly, uncomfortable and sweaty hug as he said, "Hahaha! Brother Lars!! Thank you for such a great fight!! I, Reshmont will remember it!" Lars trembled in anxiety and felt his mind spinning as he smelled the sweat, dirt and blood on Reshmont''s body rubbing off onto his. * * * * * "So, what do you think now...? I mean, about Lars and who you''ll be facing...?" Yusof Jamal threw the question at his daughter Vignis, but he frowned as he noticed that the girl still seemed rather... Unimpressed. She pulled out a nail file and began to touch up her already-perfect nails and gave him a perfunctory answer, "Meh." Yusof sighed and shook his head, then shrugged as he reached out, grabbed his cup of wine and took a sip. He swished around the pungent liquid in his mouth for a moment before gulping it down and relished the slightly caustic, acidic nature of the drink. "Guess... You really don''t have an eye for talent... Or men..." He muttered under his breath but made sure it was loud enough for his daughter to hear. "Dad! Enough about that! I know looking back now that Leo was a bad choice! How was I supposed to know!" Vignis flared up for a moment, lashing out at her dad for his words that hit her sore points. Then her eyelids drooped slightly and she looked pretty down as she added softly, "But I never brought things up between us... And he didn''t even like me, anyway..." Yusof''s gaze towards his only daughter turned gentle when he heard that as both father and daughter sighed together. What was he going to do with his beloved girl...? ''At first, though I definitely had reservations, I thought that just maybe, Leocadius Trenel might be a suitable man who could accept Vignis'' bad... Ahem, I mean, different temperament... But now...'' He sighed again. Looked like the apple did not fall far from the tree... Despite his involvement in rather shady business as well, and his sometimes supporting the inter-city slave trade transactions, he had always been quite reticent about dealing in that line of work. However, it was difficult to outright reject the requests from House Trenel when they came in; after all, the Five Great Families *HAD* formed the city together from the very beginning - there were some ties that were thicker than blood. As such, his uncle the patriarch had deemed it beneficial for the Jamal smuggling rings to cater for some minor deals, albeit, limited to only goods aged 18 and above... He massaged his temples when he thought about it - it was a glad and good thing too that they were not participating in the local trade here... With the news that Lord Mikael had raided one of the major child holding pens and the subsequent attacks on House Trenel''s slavers'' dens, it was fortunate that the Jamal''s trade network was not involved! ''Else we''d be dragged into the inevitable civil war too... Now the only issue is how to benefit and come out stronger for the upcoming conflict... And...'' He looked once more with a tender gaze at his daughter who had a wistful and lost expression on her normally hard-jawed face. Then her droopy eyes widened and she brightened up. "Ah, dad! Darius'' fight is about to start...!" She perked up slightly and appeared to be past her melancholic mood swing. There was a little bit of excitement and a slight tinge of colour in her cheeks as her eyes twinkled at seeing Darius take the stage. Yusof sighed. ''...And hopefully I can help Vignis to recognise that appearances can be deceiving...'' * * * * * "Round Three: Match number two! Darius vs. Quagmire Jameson!" 118 Round Three: Looks Can Be Deceptive 1 "Round Three: Match number two! Darius vs. Quagmire Jameson! May the two contestants please proceed up onto the stage and prepare yourselves!" This time, it was Mitsui who made the announcement for the beginning of the next match of this round. Mr White had gone to clean up and freshen up quickly, and so as not to delay things, Mitsui took over officiating the announcements and adjudging the matches - at least, until the Acting Head Administrator returned. Darius walked up to the stage with a condescending look painted on his face. This was not due to arrogance or pride; it was simply his objective assessment of his and his opponent''s strength and the conclusion he had drawn from the comparison - it would be an clear victory for him! On the contrary, Quagmire Jameson looked apprehensive and perplexed as he ascended the steps and took his place on the arena ring. He appeared to be troubled as to how he would be able to knock down this formidable foe who everyone had slated to be number 2 if not number out of the 64 preliminary qualifiers! And on top of that, Quagmire himself was only ranked a measly #64. "Are you ready...?" Mitsui looked to both of the youths, checking if they were in place to begin their fight. He stood on the announcements stage, separate from the two arena rings, one of which was now vacant as only one third round fight was held at a time. Quagmire cast furtive glances back and forth from the officiator of the match and his opponent, seemingly fearful about his chances. Darius did not even smirk, merely tightening his lips slightly as he wanted to just get this fight with a foregone conclusion done and over with. This was also true of the attitude of the audience towards the upcoming fight. There was no hope for Jameson, none at all! He would need a miracle of divine proportions to even survive the full 10 minutes, much less threaten the god-like Darius! Even if one looked at the two just from the aspect of cultivation alone, Darius was already at the peak-Elite stage, two full small realms ahead of Jameson who had just entered the beginner Elite-level! Vignis held the same views as the rest - she had no sense of anticipation towards this battle, merely yawning and analysing how the finals match would go. Would the only peak Adept Lars be able to offer any resistance to an opponent a full realm above him? He had probably only gotten so far due to having a weak run-in to the finals... Even that Reshmont had turned out to be all bluster and no power, falling easily to Lars'' weak cultivation! Vignis scoffed; if it were her, the outcome would be as different as heaven and earth! She clenched her fists in excitement as she looked forward to thrashing the boy... That was *IF* he could make it pass the unscalable wall that is Darius first! The only ones who were watching the battle with close attention and keen interest were Lars, Yusof Jamal and Duke Leanne herself. Mitsui, on noticing that the two semi-finalists were as ready as they could be, held up both his hands and shouted out loud, "Contestants! If you are ready... Then let there be no further delay! I now declare the start of the next match - Darius versus Quagmire Jameson! Round Three, Match Two: FIGHT!!" And Darius burst into action. He shot forward, locking eyes with Jameson and shooting an intimidating aura at the pasty faced teen. He did not deign to even execute any evasive manoeuvres or feints; instead he just drew a beeline straight towards his opponent, eager to knock him off the ring immediately! Jameson looked panicked as he leapt backwards, but in the midst of his antics, he kept his eyes firmly on his opponent''s gaze - and Darius suddenly felt that something was wrong! "Wait... His eyes... They don''t look like the eyes of a prey about to be cornered by the predator... Instead... They look like...'' Darius'' eyes widened suddenly at the realisation of the incongruity of the situation. Since when did a fleeing prey who had earlier been trembling in fear with chattering teeth... Have the eyes of a viper about to strike with its venomous fangs!?! Darius then urgently stirred up his mana to channel into defences as he kept his watchful eyes on Quagmire. Nevertheless, he closed the distance, more cautiously this time and kept an eye out for the boy''s signature move, the restraining move, Quagmire that had hindered all his earlier opponents. Jameson held his hands at either side with a mace in one hand and a shield in the other, a balanced mix of attack and defence. Then as Darius entered striking distance, Jameson swung a heavy blow of his weapon arcing towards the head of his muscular opponent. Simultaneously, the much smaller-sized Jameson cocked his shield before his chest, covering most of his vitals behind the round metal buckler in his hand. Darius did not let his guard down in the least as he raised his left arm to deflect the swinging mace away, the hardened mana on his fist knocking away the heavy concussive head of the weapon. Then he pulled back his right fist to near his waist and triggered his abundant blood energy to lash out fiercely at Jameson''s chest that was protected by the buckler! It was power vs. defence, a head-on confrontation - one that Darius believed would settle the match as he would follow-up with a relentless combo and take control of the fight. But to his dismay, the impact he had been expecting did not come - instead, his fist passed right through the shield and straight past Jameson''s body, causing Darius to spin in place when his punch hit nothing! ''What??? How in the hell--'' But he could not complete the bewildered thought as the mace that he had just deflected came flying straight at him again! As he was already off balance, he could only desperately channel his mana to defend his head as he received a crushing blow to his left ear! The crushing hit sent him sailing towards his right, tumbling round and round as intense pain and a sharp ringing sound filled his senses! He had taken a direct smash to his head! ''How?!? How could this be...???'' Darius clutched the side of his head as he glared at Quagmire Jameson. Was this the boy''s trump card? An unexpected dematerialisation of his body? Wasn''t it his triggering of a Quagmire that slowed down the battle into literally a mud-fight...??? What was this all of the sudden?!? This was too big of a surprise, an ability that had nothing to do with his earlier repertoire - it was nonsensical! He forced his spinning head to be still by force of will and quickly looked over to his opponent. ...Who had disappeared! Panicking, with his earlier cocky demeanour erased, he backed off quickly and ended up with his feet at the edge of the arena. He glanced around nervously as he struggled to calm his shaken emotions. His speciality was in strength, power, speed and overall might. He was an all-rounder. But that did not mean he was omnipotent! No, in fact, he had one very clear weakness in his cultivation, one that he had knowingly decided to delay addressing until he had increased his overall strength far more. His perception and detection skills were sorely lacking! Darius focused his senses to the maximum, trying to catch a hint of where his opponent had disappeared to. But though he was glancing all around him, even above him and to every side, it appeared that there was no longer any trace of his enemy! Then just as he was looking to his left, to his shock, he heard a smug voice speaking from a place he had just checked barely 0.1 seconds ago. The voice whispered into his right ear, saying, "Looking for me...? Heheheh!!" ''DAMMIT!!!'' Darius raised his right arm to cover his torso and released a blast of bright orange aura to attack towards where he heard Jameson speaking from. At the same time, he spun his body to face the direction of the voice and dashed backwards quickly... Only to see that there was nobody there! ''SH*T!!! I GOTTA--'' He was smashed in the back of his knee by a bludgeoning metal weapon, causing his weakly defended leg to buckle on the spot and knocking him head over heels until the back of his head contacted the ground! But even when he was caught off guard like that, Darius showed his excellent battle senses and immediately lashed out with a retaliatory back-fist at his attacker - but once more his blow only whistled through the air, a wasted effort! Darius recovered almost immediately, triggering his sublime physique and exerting superb muscular strength to regain his footing and back off immediately. He cast his gaze all around and strained his senses, just trying to catch his elusive opponent''s trail... But once again he had nothing! "Hahahaha! That was a close one! Were you going easy on me...? You almost got me there, why don''t you try again...? Look, I''ll even give you some tips - I''m going to be attacking from your LEFT SIDE!!!" Ignoring whatever the words said, Darius instead closed his eyes, shut off his ears and covered his entire body with an invisible field of aura extending out 1 metre from his body. ''Come on... Let''s see how you attack this time! How will you pierce through my Sensory Field?? Come on!!!'' Darius waited patiently. 5 seconds... 10 seconds... 15 seconds... Then he heard the voice once more and realised he had been played for a fool. "Wow! What a warm welcome you prepared for me! It''s almost as if you--" Suddenly Darius felt a reaction from underneath him and smashed a fist straight down into the ground! "REALLY DID MISS ME!!" But he still heard the voice complete the words, still from beneath his feet! And was knocked flying by a fierce rising blow to his chin, knocking him somersaulting up into the air and landing heavily on his back! Despite his reeling consciousness and the throbbing pain filling his dizzy head, Darius hopped back up to his feet and took a low defensive stance immediately. "Hehehe!!! Good try, good try!!! Now what are you going to show me next...? Exploding the entire ring...? Running away in circles?? Come on, come on! You''re the magnificent Darius, right...? Then SHOW ME WHAT YOU''VE GOT!" But to Jameson''s surprise, the swaying Darius did not seem perturbed at all. Instead, he began to laugh. "Hahaha.... Hahahahah!!! HAHAHAH!!! Very interesting, very interesting!!!" "W-what are you laughing at! Do you think I''ll let you off easily just because you''re laughing at my jokes!! D-don''t even think about it!" Darius then flashed a confident smile and said, "...You know, you may look like a well-mannered and humble guy... Sometimes bordering on lacking self-confidence... But you sure can talk a lot of shit, can''t ya, ehh???" "!!! HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME! Do you believe me if I say I can make you suffer for another 8 minutes before finishing this match!!? By the time I''m done, you''ll--" "JUST BRING IT!!!" Darius roared suddenly, giving the hidden Jameson a fright and leaving him at a loss for words. Then Darius relaxed his stance then stood up straight as he looked up at the sky with the air of an emperor as he said, "...Because I''ve figured out your little trick!" 119 Round Three: Looks Can Be Deceptive 2 "Impossible! You''re just bluffing!" Quagmire Jameson sneered as he stated his rebuttal strongly. "If you had already figured it out, you wouldn''t be in such a sorry state, half defeated already in just 2 minutes! Hah!" But even as he spoke so, his brows formed a furrow, a valley running between the lines of his eyes and over his forehead above the bridge of his nose. Whereas Darius'' expression remained unperturbed, looking full of confidence in his declaration. This made Jameson even more worried. Was it true...? Had his trick really been discovered...? "Really, I would not have noticed it if not for the last move..." The corners of Darius'' mouth began to curl upwards in a smile as he spoke. "...But it''s already over! Heh, I must commend you for such an ingenious tactic... Now I know why you use such a strange name, Quagmire..." Then Darius'' eyes turned sharp and piercing as he tilted his chin up and raised his gaze to the sky. "Because it''s all just a misdirection to deceive your opponents! What restraining, suppression technique! It''s all just a smokescreen for your real strategy...!" Then to Jameson''s shock, Darius made an incredibly bold move. He shut his eyes! ''Crap... It can''t be! No, no... Calm down, Jameson... He''s just bluffing, he''s definitely just bluffing...! Or maybe he has some idea already but he''s trying to bait me...? But then why would he be so confident as to close his eyes completely...? Has he truly caught on... Damn, DAMN!! I can''t risk it!!'' This time it was Jameson''s eyes that turned sharp and gleamed with a sinister light and he flashed a grin. ''...It''s time to finish things!'' As soon as he had determined his heart to call Darius'' bluff, he threw his head back and roared with laughter - though Darius still could not ascertain just where the laughter was coming from. "Hahahaha! Very good, very good! I like a challenge! Come, come! Come, show me what you mean when you say you''ve figured it out! Or..." "SHUT UP AND LOSE!!" Then Jameson who was still hidden to Darius'' eyes shot forward straight at him... From behind his back, from the left side! All this while, the god-blooded descendant merely stood still and continued smiling. Nevertheless, he was charging up the cells of his body and the almighty bloodline that flowed through his veins, building up power for one puissant move... One move to end it all! ''Closer... Not yet... Just a bit more... Come on Darius, don''t chicken out... You gotta wait for it...!'' Darius'' thoughts raced through his mind furiously as he prepared for the deciding moment of the fight. It was time to test his hypotheses - and whether he would win or lose, succeed or suffer a humiliating defeat without even using any of his strength... All of it would hinge on this one bet! But he just needed one more push to make it all tie together... So he opened his mouth and tossed in one last quip which, if he were right, would seal things for sure! "...You want to know your mistake...?" Darius smiled nonchalantly despite his furiously beating heart and put on a smug look on his face. "SHUT UP!!!" Jameson''s voice echoed out from every direction at the same time as he refused to be distracted by his opponent''s provocation. "...I''ll tell you anyway! It''s because... It''s too quiet!!!" Darius shouted out with as much gusto as he could muster, belying the fact that his breaths were coming short and heart racing as he wagered his victory on one bet! And at the same time, Quagmire Jameson''s heart too was pounding too as the muscles on his legs, back and on the right side of his body hardened and stiffened. He continued his steady advance as he made sure, double and triple checked that his skills were still functioning and applied correctly onto Darius. One youth held his ready stance, stock still and not moving a millimetre, but highly strung and ready to burst forth with destructive power in a single move; while the other was hurtling over the surface of the stage, building up his momentum and ready to unleash a crushing, skull-breaking blow in one fell swoop... And both their minds raced to one conclusive thought: ''I''ve gotta make this one move count... I only have this one chance...! Just one move to finish it all!'' Then at the moment when the mace-wielding stealthed boy entered the striking zone, both boys exclaimed out loud simultaneously in their minds. ''NOW!!!'' In that instant, Jameson erupted with power, swinging a full-powered colossal strike arcing towards Darius'' neck and spine! He yelled out silently as he grit his teeth and triggered his finishing move! ''I call your bluff!!! MIST-TIDE PENDULUM!!!'' And in that same instant, Darius'' eyes flitted open and revealed golden-infused pupils swimming with glittering specks - the sign of the god''s bloodline being activated to the fullest! Then Darius immediately spun around to face the thin air behind him on his left side, a move that filled Jameson with dread and caused him to scream in unwillingness. "HOW COULD YOU--" His eyes bulged madly and became distended, every vein in his body and neck bulging as he desperately gave every effort to smash down Darius before the boy made his move! But he was beaten to the count. He could not even complete his question as Darius'' lips parted to roar out loud, "God-cleaving Boundary!! CRUSH!!!" Suddenly and abruptly, the silence and stillness surrounding them shattered and crashed open as the sound-waves from within met those from outside the destroyed illusion barrier. And the sounds of the audience''s warning cries were once more heard. "WATCH OUT, DARIUS, BEHIND--" "No, how did he know! Is he a god??" Many members of the crowd were stunned when they saw the boy who had looked eithered blinded and confused for the past few minutes suddenly react perfectly, spinning round to face his foe and lock eyes with him. "He is!! He''s the god-blooded genius, Darius the Prime!" "Darius!!! You''re the greatest!!!" "Finish it! Finish it! FINISH IT!!!!" Then the great shockwave of sound, mana and divine power crashed outwards to collide with the wall of sound from the audience, cancelling out every voice and leaving only the sound of the roar of a god-like being! "...Boundary! CRUSH!!!" The great booming roar swallowed up the surrounding audience, causing their ears to ring and even reducing some to giddiness and vomiting! And with such severe consequences for the audience members just from some peripheral collateral soundswaves.... Just how much more serious was the impact on Jameson...? Faced with the full-onslaught of Darius'' sonic wave focused entirely on him, a scene of horror ensued. Jameson was flung backwards a full 25 metres, pin-balling off the hard surface of the ground and shattering it even as the sonic-boom was enough to leave cracks all over the arena grounds! Even as he hurtled through the air and bounced off the ground, the internals of his head, chest and body were shaken up so badly that his visceral organs and lymph system began to haemorrhage, all his five orifices immediately gushing forth with great flows of blood! In the aftermath of the great blast of almighty power from Darius, the True Heaven''s Scion, his opponent was left frothing at the mouth and bleeding profusely, all the while still muttering in his unconscious state, "How...? How...? How...? How...?" Before he fell completely silent as his head slumped to one side. "Quick! Get the medical team!!" Within moments after Jameson''s body came to a rest, Mitsui had already reached his side. He, too had been shaken slightly by Darius'' sonic attack - despite being a peak Master-level practitioner in his own right! Of course, he had also forced himself to stand nearby, thus being exposed far more to the brunt of the force. Nevertheless, even while he released healing flows into Jameson''s heavily injured body and attempted to repair his innards, his confidence was shaken no small amount. If he were the one in the ring facing the Elite level boy... Would he have fared any better...? Granted, he had a completely different fighting style and a much higher defence as well as his own potent trump cards, yes... But even then, it wasn''t clear whether Darius had exposed his full capabilities yet or not... He cast his thoughts aside as he handed over the task of stabilising the defeated boy to the medical team who scurried over and then stood up to announce the winner of the battle. "Your winner... With a spectacular turnaround and demonstrating tactical and strategic superiority as well... Darius!" His words triggered a renewed wave of clamorous and raucous cheers, the members of the audience rising to feet in a standing ovation at the rousing conclusion to the cerebral battle! "Serves those doubters right!! Who said that Darius is all brawn and no brains!!" "DARIUS!!! You''re the best!!! The best of them all!!!" "All the way to the Battle Through The Heavens!!! Make us proud, son of Gorun City!!!" Endless applause and jubilation swept over the crowd as Darius waved and bowed in succession to the four cardinal directions, then confidently made his way back to the waiting area. And he made a beeline straight for Lars'' seat, not limping or shaky in his steps at all despite the hits he had taken. He stopped before Lars and gave him a once-over as if though he were a high-and-mighty being looking down on a detestful piece of scum, before he raised a hand to flick his medium-length black hair aside and let out a condescending, "Hmmph." sound. "Do you know how I won that fight...? Did you even know what was happening through-out...?" Darius cocked his head slowly in a questioning manner, a provocative smile on his face. "Or... Was everything just too complicated for your tiny, untalented brain to comprehend...?" He sneered brashly as he spoke softly, not loud enough for anyone outside of the contestants waiting area to hear. But Lars just smiled as if though nothing had happened; as if though a fly had just buzzed by. He did not even respond, not even looking up to acknowledge the existence of the divine-blooded boy before him! After all, who was he? A tiny 17-year-old Elite-level ant daring to flaunt in front of Lars who could easily level the entire city at a whim? Seeing that there was not even a whit of a reaction from the golden-haired boy who was so handsome that he bordered on being beautiful, Darius could not help it anymore and his whole face turned blue as he held his breath in rage. But he realised that he had not yet reached his limits of anger and that Lars had not yet shown his the maximum of his disrespect - when Lars yawned and dug his ear right in front of him! "I--! You--!! I...!!" Darius turned blue then black then red as he felt dizzy from anger and lost for words to even express the fire in his belly. Then he finally decided to just stomp heavily on the floor and flick his sleeves nonchalantly and walk on by as if though the embarrassing incident just seconds earlier had not happened! But even as he passed by Lars, Darius finally could not bear it anymore and still had to slip in some last words which he spat out venomously: "...Just you wait!! I''ll beat you down so badly, you won''t even recognise your own face in the mirror!!" And Lars just continued smiling - looked like he would need to add one more name to his list of overbearing people to teach a lesson to... 120 Break-time: Explanation Vignis was slightly pale and subconsciously brushed back her hair, wiping the beads of sweat away from her forehead as she did so. She had been nervously clenching her teeth as, to an observer, a confounding scene had played out on stage - that of a confused Darius fumbling around on stage against hs deft opponent. Which didn''t make sense at all, unless Quagmire Jameson''s reputation for releasing a suppressing and restraining field was really that effective...? She along with the audience had been sitting at the edges of their seats and watching as Jameson flitted around Darius who seemed to be moving and reacting sluggishly; each time Darius would look dazed and be too slow to keep up with his sword-and-mace wielding rival, then receive a smashing blow to his head, back, shoulders or waist. And finally, along with murmurs of disgruntlement and irritation at seeing their favourite act like a newbie.... And just when they had thought it would be over without Darius even putting up a fight... Darius had suddenly burst out in laughter and closed his eyes! However, curiously, they could not hear the sounds of either his uproarious guffaws nor their verbal exchange after that. Nonetheless, they could sense that the one-sided thrashing had come to an end... Or at least, they hoped that it would finish, one way or another! Then to their bewilderment, Darius suddenly stood still and didn''t even try to react or track down his enemy. He merely stood there with his arms by his sides as he charged up his mana and capabilities. Grumbles of disappointment and anxiety filled the stadium as his erstwhile supporters showed themselves to be fair-weather friends - they began to criticise him heavily and bemoan his foolishness as it looked like cheering Darius on was a hopeless cause! Then when the fight had neared what looked to be the climax with Jameson charging stealthily from behind a seemingly unsuspecting Darius...! But they were then shocked and left in awe as the god-child spun around and released a sky-crashing yell along with all his consolidated power... And the sky and air surrounding the boys was literally shattered! The ear-piercing waves of sound swept outwards and signalled the conclusion of the fight with Darius once more the clear victor. This time around it was a close fight, nevertheless, he had still overcome his opponent without taking any serious injuries, though, the way the fight had played out and the baffling ending exchange left the spectators scratching their heads. And the fact that Darius had been pummeled left and right like a fool also left a bad taste in their mouths! However, there was no explanation given, and neither did Vignis comprehend just what had transpired moments ago as she sat there in relief, hands slightly damp with sweat and body recovering from the tense emotions she felt during the unsatisfying match. Smiling at the side, Yusof Jamal walked over with even steps and gently sat down by his daughter''s side, eliciting a glance from the still slightly stunned teenage girl whose idealistic image of her crush had been ruined. After sitting down, Yusof gently prompted her, this time with the authoritative voice of a father guiding his young daughter in the ways of battle as well as life. "...Do you understand what happened in that fight just now...?" Vignis pursed her lips for a moment before shaking her head. She hesitated for a tick before doing so, but decided that she did have to admit; her father was still far wiser and with greater insight than she cared to admit. She then paused awhile, silent for a moment before she blinked and then asked him, "Where did you go just now...?" Yusof smiled caringly, not mocking nor condescending as he comforted her, "Oh... I dropped by to congratulate the boy and also to confirm my guesses. Don''t worry, alright...? Darius did not manage to actually see through his worthy opponent''s tricks... But he still managed to win through a keen understanding of his adversary''s psyche and mental state...!" Vignis smiled just a little at that, a tightening of the corners of her mouth as she kept her gaze trained at the floor as her eyelids drooped. Then she turned to look at her dad sitting at her side as she asked, "What was the trick...? And how could I have done better in that same situation...?" "Well... First off, I did some checking on Jameson''s background... Turns out he was secretly apprenticed to the Illusion King!" Yusof dropped a casual piece of information that made Vignis'' eyes widened in shock. "The Illusion King!? You mean the peak-Mythical member of the Eastern Mist sect...? The undisputed expert of the Leez continent when it comes to reality distorting illusions...?" Yusof nodded twice, confirming her questions, then he continued, "Based on what I understand... With the boy''s his cultivation of the early Elite-level... He should be utilising the first layer of the Illusion King''s Semi-Charmed Life Scripture... And from what I heard, this should make him unbeatable among the same generation as no one beneath the Master-level can dispel the illusions!" Yusof stated this emphatically, comforting Vignis that this was an exceedingly difficult opponent to face while at the same time expanding her horizons of the vastness of this world as well as the myriad talents and great powers that existed! He hoped that she would understand that, in the grander scope of things, Gorun City and their "geniuses" were just sands on the seashore or a stone by the wayside - there were thousands if not tens of thousands of such "geniuses" throughout the continent, and far more across the planet! And that was not even beginning to mention how there were so many more trasncendental beings out there in the vast cosmos! "Then... It makes sense why Darius looked so confused and was flailing about and turning around uselessly... But at the same time, we couldn''t see or understand just why he was doing so as spectators because the illusion spells were not directed at us..." Vignis chewed her lip then as she focused her mind to analyse the situation. But her eyes then narrowed as she arrived at one thought that frustrated her. "Then how did Darius prevail...? If it''s impossible for him to break the illusion with his own power... And excluding the possibility of outside help... How was he able to defeat such a mighty foe...?" The girl''s ambitious personality was shown in that moment, always eager to figure things out and then adapt others'' strength and learning for her own. Yusof nodded slowly at her question as he spoke, "Yes, that''s exactly what I had to confirm with the boy... And my guess was correct. The truth is, once Darius realised it was all an illusion, he had a few choices. First, break the illusion, something which he quickly realised had not worked. Secondly, find a way to detect his opponent even through the deception - but based on Darius'' profile, I don''t believe he would have been able to, though if it were you or me, perhaps we could..." "Finally, the third way which would work even against other stealthy or hidden opponents... A deep understanding of people and how they function... Their thought processes, their motivations, their behaviour and their emotions..." Yusof smiled and had a look of admiration on his face as he explained this point and continued, "...Even for an enemy that he had just met for a few minutes!" Seeing Vignis'' still attentive but slightly confused look, Yusof carried on. "You see, if ever you face an opponent who you can''t see, can''t hear or can''t detect... As long as you can ascertain two things, they still won''t gain any advantage from their hidden state... As long as you know WHEN they will strike, and from WHERE they will come from!" Vignis'' eyes grew wide and her lips parted as she suddenly understood where his explanation was going, and she too was filled with respect for the boy who had solved the problem in such an ingenious but simple way! "Then Darius, he... He just manipulated his opponent into moving at exactly the time and way he predicted...? That was what the laughter, the closing of eyes and their spoken exchange must have been about! And since he showed such great confidence, there was only 2 possibilities of how Jameson would then approach..." Vignis'' eyes grew ever more fervent as she self-assessed the remainder of the equation, her sharp mind able to supply the conclusion from her father''s slight guidance. And Yusof nodded, pleased that his daughter would grow in more ways than one just from watching another''s fight. Vignis finished off her explanation quickly as she continued speaking, "...Based on the possible approaches of a hidden enemy... And one who was closing in for the final blow... He would have chosen to attack from either straight in front as a form of reverse-psychology... Or from behind at an angle! Normally it would be a 50-50 chance of either, but with how assured Darius seemed to be and how he even dared to close his eyes, this would have subconsciously inclined Jameson to veer away from a frontal assault. Then the only question would be: from the back left? Or from the back and right side...?" Vignis leaned forward and placed her hands on her knees as an admiring smile crossed her face as well as a look of awe at how naturally and quickly Darius had pulled off his scheme. Her eyes flashed with pleasure as she marvelled at his talents and battle sense as she finished off her analysis. "And... Since Darius is well-known to be a right-hander... There was an almost 90% chance that Jameson would choose the back and left direction of approach! Brilliant, utterly brilliant from Darius! Truly worthy of being called the god-child! Not just for his bloodline, but for his immense, staggering capabilities! Even I... Even myself... I wonder if I''m his equal..." Vignis'' cheeks flushed as she spoke passionately and blushed slightly as she mentioned this point. And Yusof smiled as a happy father would when he saw his daughter blushing over the guy she admired and probably had a crush on - though it was also a slightly scheming smile. He was happy because he knew that when Vignis saw her idol lose miserably to Lars, she would awaken to the realities that things did not always turn out the way you expected. 121 Break-time: Deb "Alright! We''ll head to a break and continue the matches at..." Mitsui paused as he checked the mana-dial on his wrist and checked the time - 10:35 AM; 35 minutes ahead of time. "Since we''re well ahead of time and our finalists have each had a gruelling match... We''ll start the winners'' finals as per schedule, 11:25 AM! Please return to your seats and stands on time as the next round will start sharp!" His confident gaze swept over the crowds as he captured their attention and spoke emphatically, "...Or you will regret it for your entire lifetime if you miss this world-shaking match between the masterful and invincible Darius against the unfathomable magic swordsman Lars!" "Have a good break and don''t forget to check out the entertainment stalls and food, all provided free of charge by our beloved Duke Leanne! Enjoy!" With those words, Mitsui left the stage, heart pounding in nervousness and butterflies in his stomach. He was breathing shallowly as he left the stage and finally rounded a corner into the administrative hallways, leaning against the wall in relief. ''Oh man... It''s tough filling in the boss'' shoes... I don''t think I want to get promoted, not ever!'' He wiped away sweat from his forehead and straightened up before heading over to update Mr White on the match results. * * * * * Lars pulled a cloak over his shoulders and lowered the hood to cover his face as he left the restricted contestant''s waiting room and headed over to the public area. He momentarily glanced over and saw Darius still sitting there meditating and preparing for the upcoming fight, then directly left to look for Charlie and Seline. He weaved his way through the crowds, keeping his head low and hoping that no one would bother him. He wasn''t one to care for publicity nor for fame; all he wanted was to quickly settle things here, retrieve Moira, wait for the teleportation fields to stabilise and head over to Earth! ''I just hope... I''ll be able to advance to the Mythical realm... And pick up some heavy-duty equipment, runes and power-up before then... Earth... I wonder how you''re doing...? I hope the war isn''t over yet...'' ''Hmm... It''s been about 15 years right... So... I can''t say for sure... But it''s unlikely that the All-Heaven Divine Empire could actually finish the war so quickly. Based on the rumours I''ve been hearing, their system isn''t far from us on Yiluo planet here, but they don''t seem to be a major power anymore... That fact together with how you described their military efforts and the condition on their planet should mean that the devil''s faction is no longer in control of their Empire.'' Kizorik analysed the facts and assured Lars that he needn''t rush. ''And that should mean that they can''t mobilise the entire Empire''s military might to conquer Earth! I don''t know if you''re familiar with planetary battles, but it''s crazily costly to send over large amounts or high-levelled fighters through the rifts! So unless they make great inroads on the first invasion or the natural resources are exceedingly alluring, they won''t have taken over your planet... Not yet, at least.'' Lars breathed in deeply before letting out a long sigh; but he smiled slightly, looking relieved at his buddy''s words. ''Thanks... Kizorik... But...'' ''WHY THE HELL DIDN''T YOU TELL ME EARLIER????!!! WOULDN''T THAT HAVE SAVED ME WEEKS OF USELESS WORRYING???!?!'' ''WHAT THE F***!!! Do you think information gathering is easy?!? And after picking up those bits and pieces of news here and there, do you think I''m that smart to immediately--Ahem, I mean, I mean, NO I didn''t just say that! I''M NOT SLOW AT AAAAAAALLLLL!!! Shut up! Shut up shut up!!! STOP LAUGHING!!!!'' Kizorik flew into an insane saliva-spewing frenzy at his own slip of tongue as Lars fell to his knees in the middle of the walkways, laughing hysterically. They both began to choke right then; the penguin from outrage and Lars at the outrageous admission from his cute little buddy. Then Kizorik bit Lars on the head (in his mental world), but was ignored completely as his tiny teeth couldn''t even pierce Lars'' skin. Soon, the boy recovered and got back up to his feet, shaking his head at his silly and mildly slow-witted friend. ''Thank you, Kizorik... Sorry for making fun of you... You''re really cute and funny and... It''s ok to be a little bit slow okay...? Pffftt hahahahah!!!!'' He couldn''t help but break out into giggles and chuckles again where he stood and received the silent treatment from Kizorik. Then he was quite taken aback at the disparaging and irritated glances shot at him by passers-by and stall vendors in the public area, but lowered his head and decided to ignore them. ''They wouldn''t recognise me anyway, right...?'' Lars nodded to himself and picked up his pace to find his other companions. But then a tinge of dread ran up his spine as he heard a familiar voice calling out to him from the distance as a pair of excited footsteps pitter-pattered over towards him from behind. "Lars! There you are! We''ve been looking all over for you!" Charlie''s friendly voice called out to him, trying to catch his attention as Lars tried to tuck in his shoulders and pretend it wasn''t him, no, he wasn''t Lars, no no no it wasn''t him!!! "Lars, what''s wrong? Why are you ignoring us...? Are you alright...?" Seline''s honey-like seductive voice called out in concern as two pairs of hands landed on his shoulders - though, at this time, he felt more like those were the calls of the ghastly underworld and the claws of a demon ripping away at his reputation and pride! He realised it was then too late as he heard the voices of those around him turn into voices of disgust and condescension...! "Lars...?" "THE Lars...? What is he..." "Oh my gosh... I didn''t know he''s so... Weird..." "JUST WEIRD? He''s outright mad...!" "Boy, you better keep away from him! I don''t care if he wins the tournament, he''s NOT going to be your idol or aspiration! He''s crazy!" ''.........'' Lars froze there and cried as he wished he could disappear from the face of the world forever. * * * * * Charlie handed over a pack of snacks to Lars as they sat in Seline''s private viewing box, courtesy of her position as one of Duke Silvan''s lieutenants. Byrus, Susano, Sharon, Boa and the rest were also there earlier but had left to look for food, wine and take a look at what they called "the inane commoners'' attractions", though their eyes were sparkling with excitement even as they dashed off to fool around. Charlie then clasped Lars on the shoulder, flashed him a lascivious grin and whispered, "Good luck, boss! Hope you manage to get lucky tonight, if you know what I mean!" Then he made two ridiculous smooching sounds in Lars'' ear, making his face turn black and nearly wanting to rap him sharply on the head. Seline stood at the side, averting her gaze in embarrassment as she tried to play it cool. But her hands were constantly clasping and unclasping, tense and growing clammy as her heart began to race. She smiled nervously as she watched Charlie out of the corner of her eyes. She waited as he sauntered away with his bags of free food, though he was by now filthy rich as Lars'' Chief Financial Officer (CFO), it turned out that he only grew stingier and more penny-counting! Then she suddenly froze up, not knowing what to do! Here she was, finally alone with Lars in a place where no one could interrupt them, but she didn''t know what to do! It was as if though she were a young girl, a little girl in front of her first love all over again... ''Oh... Wait...! I... I''m just 15 right...? And Lars... He''s not just my first love... He''s my only love...'' Her eyes grew downcast and her face melancholic with longing at her unrequited love as she looked away at a blank corner that was incredibly interesting right now. "Seline...? Are *you* alright...? You look... Unwell...?" Lars placed a gentle touch on her arm as he spoke with concern. He realised by now that he felt gratitude to the girl for sending in Sharon to get him and his followers out of a sticky situation like rescuing Charlie and then once more against Stars Boa, as well as a strange sense of indebtedness towards the girl who he knew loved him. And deep down, he wasn''t quite sure of how he felt anymore as Moira seemed so far away and distant, while Seline was right here in front of him... He shook his head, dispelling his wandering thoughts quickly as he felt Seline shiver at his touch, her skin cool and silky soft under his fingers as she turned around to face him. And when she tilted her head upwards, her sharp jewel-like eyes did not bear her usual domineering attitude, but instead one of loss, vulnerability and hurt. Lars'' heart panged as he saw her in this state and felt a strong feeling of sadness and empathy as he realised... Wasn''t this exactly what he had felt with Sara all those weeks... No, all those years ago...? 15 years in this new life as well as about 1 month in his previous life... It was only after a moment when Seline looked away and blushed that he realised he had been staring deep into her eyes for a long time, holding her arm gently and locking gazes with her with passionate eyes. But though she blushed, she did not pull away, and she was so near he could smell the sweet and fresh scent of shampoo, herbal soaps and top-grade perfumes from her being. Lars breathed in deep, firming up his resolve, but felt it waver as he felt her warmth and presence keenly in their closeness - close enough to just lean his neck over, reach out and kiss her... He shook his head once more, his dilated pupils returning to sharpness. He dropped his hand slowly, reluctantly and could feel her shoulders droop slightly in disappointment. "Seline... I promise I''ll repay you for how you''ve helped me and how... How I''ve disappointed you. I''m... I have to go now... It''s time f-for my, my match..." He turned away quickly, not waiting for her to reply, not wanting to hear her reply as he hurried out of the private room. And he left Seline there, gazing sorrowfully at her beloved''s departing back with sad eyes as she whispered out. "I don''t want you to pay me back... I don''t need you to... Lars..." 122 Winnerss Finals: Fight! 1 Five minutes before the fight was slated to begin, the stands were already jam-packed, full to the brim and overflowing as the spectators mutually agreed to just stand and make room for more excited viewers. It was everybody''s guess just who would win the next match. Would it be Lars with his magical masteries, deadly sword skills and great variety of abilities? Or would it be Darius with his incomparably mighty bloodline, killer battle instincts and invincible divine-inherited powers? Whoever would come out on top, everyone was sure of one thing: they were in for a fantastic, phenomenal show! Even the nobles, Duke Leanne herself included, were greatly impressed with the capabilities of the contestants this year. If they were not mistaken and if Vignis Jamal had not advanced too much since the last competition, it was likely that they would have a new champion entirely! The most shocking thing of all was that, of the three possible victors who were neck and neck with each other, one of them was a full 2 years younger at 15 years old! Even though Duke Leanne''s daughter, Alayna de Caldis had similarly triumphed over older contestants at the same tender age of 15, there were no descendants of the Four Great Houses among those 16 and 17-year-old seniors who she defeated - comparatively, her strength level back then was clearly lower than that demonstrated by the 17-year-old Darius and Vignis would have this year... And Lars'' presence standing on the same stage and same level as the grand talents of the city left everyone in amazement at his incredible talent and skills that allowed him to exceed his age group and defeat opponents with cultivation a full realm above his own! After all, it was one thing for a noble heir to beat a common combatant who was a level above them, but a whole other thing when the opponent was also a similar person who was blessed with both talent, resources and the best martial training since their youths... A story made even more preposterous and unbelievable when the roles were reversed! A commoner youth of unknown background like Lars managing to cross-levels against supreme talents to defeat them soundly! Considering the fact that an Elite-level noble scion could cross a full realm with their battle power to contend with a normal Master-level fighter, this meant that the peak-Adept Lars had two full realms of battle power to match these Master-realm combatants... Truly unprecedented and unheard of! Which was why Duke Leanne had made a special request for Alayna to interrupt her training and be here to watch a talent that exceeded even her one-and-a-half realms of battle power! However, as they were hidden, ensconced deep within the best viewing rooms, the audiences still had not gotten their first glance of the reclusive expert and undisputed number 1 of the entire young generation. Leanne looked over to her ever-serious daughter who remained silent even as the crowds roared and chanted for their favoured contestant. Seeing that Alayna was still taking every opportunity to practice and advance her cultivation and make a breakthrough in her comprehension, Leanne nodded in approval. She observed her daughter''s appearance and her cultivation slowly as she thought about how she should advise her. A firm, pert set of lips that were always set in a severe expression. Long, dark black hair, inherited from her mother, lustrous and lush, hanging down past her shoulders. A pair of determined, always-frowning eyes that never yielded; eyes that many perceived as being proud and unwilling to lower herself, but were just a reflection of her personality that always strived for greatness. And an air around her expressing her sincere belief in her position as the number 1 greatest talent of the entire Northpoint region and perhaps, the entire Kingdom of the Sands! She was tall, already the same height as her towering mother at 185 cm and constantly maintained a straight posture, straight as a reed at every moment. Overall, she was sublimely beautiful - but her appearance and demeanour was far too otherworldly, far too detached from the world or its desires to be attractive to others - though, she was instead the object of many a persons'' worship as their goddess of battle who they believed would raise Gorun City to far greater glory! As Leanne considered her own daughter and how she could look so similar yet be so incredibly different from herself, she held herself back from sighing. She was proud of her flesh and blood, but always struggled to relate to or understand the girl who only seemed to care about training and practice. In fact, she always felt inadequate as a mother, for apart from providing for her material needs, she found herself not knowing how to even speak to her daughter - always finding herself at a loss for words and even disdained by the girl almost 40 years younger than her! However, she still spoke and gave her advice to the girl who was seated cross-legged and deep in her contemplation of the secrets of her Blue-Sky Divine Martial Arts and the laws underlying it. "Alayna, I hope you''ll be able to catch something good in the battle. I think you''ll be pleasantly surprised...!" Hearing those words, Alayna''s eyes did not even flutter. Nonetheless, she answered softly, "Okay." Leanne smiled, slightly bemused as she shook her head and said, "Really...! This girl... You can''t always live with your eyes closed and looking inwards... Or eyes on the top of your head, watching the clouds above, but not noticing that the grass beneath your feet have already grown to envelope you!" Alayna once more did not show any outer reaction, but she answered briefly once more, "Yes, mother. All I need to do is to ascend to the heavens first, right...?" Leanne smiled wryly. It looked like the girl had her mind made up. She only hoped Alayna would deign to at least watch the battle. Lars had shown exquisite levels of control and held incredible potential - if he could enter the Elite realm by the time of the tournament, wouldn''t that mean he could exert actual combat abilities on par with Alayna...? That would give Gorun City two possible contenders for top positions at the nationals! So she tried one last push, chiding her daughter gently, "Dear girl... There are always talents everywhere! I believe firmly without a doubt that these two young gentlemen, especially the younger one, will give you a pleasant surprise!" She smiled and waited for her daughter to respond as she seemed to think it through for a moment, remaining quiet momentarily. Then this time, Alayna turned her head to face her mother. "Mother... With all due respect..." Alayna began, then her eyes opened slowly, revealing eyes without whites, completely blue like the bluest sea or sky one could ever imagine - a sign of her godly inheritance she had come across by chance! "...The greatest talents of Gorun City... Are indeed like rulers of the jungle. Only, I... Have already exceeded the jungle and already begun ascending to the mountains..." With those words spoke, a deific smile adorned Alayna''s lips as she closed her eyes and returned to her practice. And Leanne could only shake her head in a mix of approval and disapproval as she heard Mr White officiate the beginning of the winners'' finals match. * * * * * "Greetings, young men. First of all, my apologies for not being there to officiate your last match, Darius. Hence, my presence here to first wish you a grand congratulations for making it to the last winners'' match! Not that I had doubted either of you advancing, yet still it must have not been an easy journey!" Mr White looked at the two contestants fondly, proud of their achievements and resplendent talent as he paused for them to respond. Both Lars and Darius were already standing at attention on the stage, ready for their match to start as Lars nodded while Darius shook his head politely, causing Mr White to smile slightly and tilt his head in curiosity. But his unspoken question was quickly answered as Darius spoke. "Sir, it was not challenging at all. I have not even exerted--" At this point of his sentence, Darius shot a pointed look over at Lars, as if directing the words at him specifically, "--30% of my abilities! How could this considered difficult...? In fact, I believe that my esteemed opponent here should be able to bring out a solid 50% of my strength!" Darius smiled pompously along with his haughty words, but Lars merely maintained his relaxed smile and quietly waited for Mr White to continue. The far older Head Administrator coughed in embarrassment, trying to dispel the awkwardness of one boy''s bristly words and the other''s taciturn reaction. Then he continued on, adding some words of exhortation and advice, "I notice that you are both not exactly on the best of terms, but I hope that you will remember; whatever happens, you are both the future hopes of Gorun City, our Northpoint region and the Kingdom of the Sands! And wider, beyond that, you are the young generation of warriors of the entire human race! We of the human race have many enemies both on this planet and through the cosmos, far too many enemies for there to be minor conflicts between our rising stars!" He directed heavy gazes at first Lars then Darius as he implored them, "I truly, truly wish to see that despite your differences... When you are standing side by side on the battlefield, fighting for the future of humanity and mankind, you will always remember - there is a cause higher than your own, a reason to cooperate and a grander purpose than one''s own ambitions! That is... The continued survival and prospering of the human race!" With these words, Mr White''s gaze rose up to the sky, a weighty look of sorrow in his eyes and seeming to bear down on his shoulders. His short speech drew to mind the recent horrors of the devil invasion and humbled the two boys who had been having an immature conflict. What was mere rivalry or striving for supremacy against one another when there was a true enemy right on their doorstep, one that was eager to steal, kill and destroy their entire lives and dreams? Darius'' gaze slowly turned heavy and serious, no longer cocky nor arrogant but only determined to emerge victorious. He looked over to Lars who was still calm and relaxed, but if one looked into his eyes, they would see the pain of loss and the experiences of two lives reflected within. Neither Darius nor Lars apologised to each other, but they could see the look of mutual respect and comradeship that came from being allies of the same faction. "Shall we...?" Lars smiled as he invited Darius to begin the fight. His opponent for the winners'' finals smiled in return though his eyes remained hard and sharp. "Yes... For our dreams... For our glory, for our country... For the human race!" Mr White this time nodded in genuine approval, pleased with the two boys'' maturity to recognise what was truly important and reconcile. Then he looked around to the great crowds gathered in the entire and took in a deep breath into his lungs before bellowing out the announcement they had all been waiting eagerly for! "Your winners'' finals! To determine who will face Vignis Jamal in the grand finals..." He paused for dramatic effect and smiled broadly, the perfect entertainer and showman even in his old age. "LARS VERSUS DARIUS!! WINNERS'' FINALS: FIGHT!!!" 123 Winnerss Finals: Fight! 2 The first exchange began tentatively, with Lars unsheathing his sword in the very first move - a sign that he recognised his opponent''s capabilities. Similarly, Darius took a fighting stance and approached cautiously, taking one step after another closer to Lars. The two fighters'' ethos of battle was clearly demonstrated - Darius was always the aggressor and initiator while Lars leaned towards a reactive style of combat. Darius approached to within 8 metres before Lars made his first move, merely angling his naked blade slightly to ensure the edge and tip were always facing his rival. Then in a split-second, the two competitors burst into action! Darius leapt forward with an incisive dash, disregarding Lars'' defensive perimeter and immediately came face to face with the tip of a sword thrusting straight for the centre of his forehead! He leaned to the right in a feint, then suddenly pivoted and swept to the left in an attempt to escape the pursuing blade but was thwarted again and again. He circled in and out, flirting with Lars'' striking range as his speedy form left blurry afterimages. Each time, Lars'' would change his grip on his slim longsword to meet his approach. Finally, Darius was satisfied with his probing. He arrived at a simple conclusion - there was no way to pierce his foe''s guard without an equivalent risk. Then he leapt backwards and stood his ground for a moment as he narrowed his eyes slightly and tightened his fists, channelling mana into his two hands. He grunted roughly and nodded at Lars, then the aura around his body began to change. From an aggressive but refined aura, the atmosphere around him shifted gear into one that screamed of equal parts danger and relentlessness - the sign of an awakening of his bloodline! Lars returned the nod, similarly igniting his blood energy and beginning to channel his mana to reinforce his body. He was confident in the advantage of skill and comprehension of laws but was also sure of the vast difference in their strength, speed and physiques. ''Heh... How pathetic... Just one careless move and I''ll be hospitalised with broken bones...'' He smiled self-deprecatingly as he thought about just how much weaker he was physically - something he would fix soon, with his physique just about to break through to beginning-Elite. Then, their niceties done, Darius kicked off against the floor, leaving the deep impression of a footprint where his step hit the ground. It looked to be the same approach as his initial move, only, this time it was more than 5 times faster and resembled a bullet shot out from the muzzle of a rifle - he was headed for a head-on collision with Lars'' defence! ''Shit... This..'' Lars thought as he gripped his blade firmer and braced himself for a painful impact. ''THIS SUCKS!!!'' He struck down with a mighty blow, trying to deter his opponent''s charge, but the descending edge of his blade was met by two aura-hardened fists. The azure aura coated Darius'' knuckles, turning them as hard as tempered steel, if not harder still. And when Lars'' sword received the meteor-like blow, he felt the swords blade bend slightly and his hands nearly lose grip as he pushed back with all the force he could muster, just to defend against Darius'' crushing fists. ''C''mon c''mon!!!'' Lars shoved hard and stirred up his own minotaur bloodline in order to push himself away from his adversary, and with one last burst of strength, he managed to knock aside the soaring punch and spin off to the right. "HAH! Is that all you''ve got!?! You''ve gotta do better or I''ll be disappointed!" Darius'' feet shuffled quickly as he chased after Lars, not letting up on his advantageous position. Before Lars could touch the ground, he had already crossed more than half the gap between them and charged up a heavy punch once more! "Light-Searing Fist!!" Darius shouted as he drew back his right arm which began to shine with blinding yellow rays. Then his entire body suddenly sped up and shot forward; a bolt of lightning with his right arm extended right out in front of him like a harpoon of burning light. This time when Lars saw the incoming attack, he knew that he could not compete with it just based on his basic abilities alone. Even as he still backpedalled furiously and tried to dampen the explosive attack, his brows furrowed as he focused his full concentration on harnessing the space laws...! "...VOID SPLITTER!!!" Lars roared out as he held his sword in a two-handed grip above his head and suddenly changed his backward momentum into a forward motion, ready to clash directly with Darius! This shocking development caused Darius'' eyes to widen mid-flight as he gasped, nevertheless he focused once more and stirred up his strength, ready for the head-on collision. Then just when they were both about 3 metres away from each other, Lars'' blade swept down in a heavy cleaving chop that seemed to slice apart the air, atmosphere and even the space wherever the blade passed. Darius'' hairs stood on end as despite being overall more powerful than Reshmont, he lacked the same level of defensive ability. He knew that unless he could completely disrupt the rip in space hurtling towards him, perhaps his fists would still land on Lars'' body, but the rest of his upper torso would be lacerated and left bloody! But unfortunately for Darius, he had already fully committed his concentration and mana to his incandescent piercing punch; hence he was no longer able to change his course and could only go for a mutual exchange of damage! He frowned deeply and grit his teeth as he prepared for the myriad cuts he would receive while focusing his weight on his explosive punch. But just when he was about to connect with the ripped space and breakthrough for a rib-breaking punch, he saw Lars smile... And begin to float upwards unnaturally, moving his body out of the way of Darius'' punch completely! ''Sh*t!!!'' Darius'' eyes turned wide once more as he tried laboriously to cancel his meaningless punch and redirect his mana into defence instead! The moment his fist touched the void-space created by Lars'' sword, he felt immense pressure bearing down on him before his forward momentum flung his whole body into the turbulent twisting space! "GRAAAAAHHHH!!!! BREAK!!!!" He roared out loud and released a burst of energy from every pore of his body, struggling to tide through the intensely potent Void Splitter sword strike, until the spatial rips dissipated. By then though, he was left with his clothes ripped and multiple cuts all over his body! However, instead of a look of distress, a wide smile was plastered across Darius'' face as he looked pumped up and raring for battle! "This is more like it! I don''t want some p*ssy trickery or one-sided thrashing! That''s too boring! Haha! That''s just how I like it, more, MORE!!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs and his body began to ripple with a layer of illusory azure light. "Watch out, Lars! I''m going to go all-out!" The whites of Darius'' eyes began to disappear as his pupils distended and widened on and on. His long black hair began to grow longer and turn silvery with the slightest sheen of glittering blue. His shoulders seemed to broaden and his chest and legs thicken with a latent power hidden within and just about to break forth in earth-shattering strength! As the fullness of his god-blood was drawn out, the air around Darius changed once more; if earlier he felt like a general about to set off for war, now he gave off the sense of a deity descending from the heavens, beatific and holy, able to wield great might sufficient to crush the mountains to powder or to upend the contents of the seas with one flip of the hand! And Lars could tell that the time for testing the waters and probing each others'' skills was ended. It was time to get serious too...! "Demon-Hunting Arts... First Layer!" 124 Winnerss Finals: Fight! 3 "Demon-Hunting Arts... First Layer!" Lars'' voice rang out softly, such that only those paying keen attention and in the front rows could hear him. Of course, those with higher cultivations or power levels could hear him clearly speak those words, and their brows were raised in curiosity - just what kinds of arts were these...? As our golden-haired hero spoke those words, he triggered the inherited memories received from the Myth-level Demon Hunter Marzinus and began to assimilate with the arts flowing into him. He felt an invisible, nearly imperceptible fluctuation of energy around him, but one that he realised he was not sensing with his mana sense, physical perception or even his spirit sense. The energies roiled about and Lars could feel the immense force hidden within the void, nearly undetectable but mighty in power. He felt as if though the something that was moving lay between the laws of the universe and the corporeal state of the cosmos, almost like it were the aether or the glue that held together everything... And he could touch it! ''Wait, why isn''t anyone reacting...? Is it just me that...?'' He looked up at Darius and confirmed his thoughts - the boy who was bursting with power and ready to fight was still looking at him wondering just what would happen next. Clearly he couldn''t feel the same fluctuations and the effects that Lars was experiencing... ''Boy! Were you just play-acting? Or was the inheritance he gave you a farce?'' Lars spared a moment to blink; was it that even demons couldn''t sense the esoteric force that was stirring...? Was that why the Demon-Hunting Arts were so powerful and feared...? Or was Kizorik in his sealed state just too weakened to notice? Then Lars shook his head, coming back to the present with a smile on his face. Regardless of all that, he had a battle in front of him and a youthful "rival" he had to make sure he satisfied sufficiently! ...And such a potent ability as the Demon-Hunting Arts... Now that it was primed and ready, he would have to use it at the perfect moment and not waste it! The element of surprise was key....! Lars raised up his sword and began to layer countless buff spells on his body, albeit only those at level 1 and 2 as befitting his apparent peak Adept level. Bull''s Strength, Shield, Minor Protection from Physical Damage, Minor Protection from Elements, Minor Protection from Magic... An entire gamut of defensive, strengthening and buff spells were laid onto himself, causing his body to literally glow with a rainbow of multi-coloured light. Then Lars smiled confidently and nodded at Darius. "Thank you; you''ve been waiting long enough... Let''s not let our audience wait anymore." Lars hefted his blade, balancing it in his two hands as he stimulated his mana and blood energy to their peak. "Shall we...?" Darius smiled in return, and though he tried to hide it behind a stern frown and tightened lips, the excitement in his expression could not be hidden. He found himself breaking into a grin as he spoke. "Come on...!!!" They both shouted in unison as they shot off towards each other, closing the distance between them in a split second. Then two boys clashed in a dazzling display of skills and power! This time round Darius had an increase in both agility, speed and power. He dashed in and out of Lars'' sword range with ease, flicking out sharp punches and kicks and avoiding the cleaving sword. However, Lars was still not to be outdone; every time he swung his sword and Darius dodged, Lars would make sure he forced Darius into a certain position or footing. Then he would insta-cast simple offensive spells to counter-attack, effectively neutralising Darius'' overall advantage! "Combined Magic Missile x3!" Lars exclaimed just as Darius slipped under his horizontal slash and tried to attack Lars with a rising uppercut, the azure mana crackling like lightning across his forearm. But before Darius could land his blow, 15 bolts of glowing pink mana combined into one watermelon sized fusion of mana and slammed into his arm, knocking him backwards. Darius stumbled back 3 steps and then furrowed his brows. He shook his arms slightly to relieve the numbness but was otherwise unscathed; the only effect of Lars small tactical move was to knock him away through the impact of the magic missiles. ''Evenly matched, huh... How annoying...'' Darius spoke to himself in his thoughts. But despite his negative sounding inner voice, he found himself smiling and hyped up as he rushed forward once more. "Again?! Haven''t you had enough? It''s not going to work!" Lars too had a grin plastered on his face as he fought. Even if facing a mere peak-Elite opponent was just childs'' play for the Legendary realm fighter, he realised that there *WAS* a reason people enjoyed fighting. It was damn fun! The same moves began to play out once more; Darius stepped in aggressively and was met with a flashing blade sweeping horizontally at chest height. Instead of dodging it this time though, he launched a fierce fist straight at the blade, intending to knock the flimsy piece of metal flying and press in to pummel Lars to oblivion. Lars blinked and recalculated, then immediately shot out a multi-coloured Level 1: Chromatic Orb at Darius'' face while continuing his swing. He gritted his teeth and prepared for the heavy impact but did not shrink back. "Useless! That''s just fireworks!!" Darius roared as he slammed his fist into Lars'' sword and knocked it aside, while taking the feeble orb of bright light to his face. He did not fear it at all as just the layer of azure mana coating his head was enough to easily break through the weak spell! Darius then stepped forward the last step to close the distance into striking range - and immediately stumbled as he heard a bang from below him and missed his step! ''H-how is that possib--'' He couldn''t complete his thoughts as he felt his foot descend too far and nearly pitched head over heels from the inertia of his heavy striking-step. Then to his shock, the orb of shining light exploded onto his face uselessly with literally no damage... But within it was a lump of disgusting mud that splattered over his face and eyes! And along with the mud, he also sputtered in disgust as he felt an oily substance splash outwards from within the Chromatic Orb and coat his whole upper body. "Gotcha!! Aganzar''s Scorcher!!" Darius heard Lars yell and pivoted as quickly as he could. He slammed his other foot against the ground to try to avoid - but found his right foot swinging through thin air as well!!! ''What the hell??!!'' Those were his last thoughts before he was engulfed in flames that were weak enough for him to scoff at normally, but in this situation where it ignited the oil on his body and with his clouded vision and lost balance, it was enough to make his heart race! "The finishing blow!! Blotting out the Stars!!!!" Lars shot forward as he lowered his body and unsheathed his sword in one long, smooth motion; releasing a world-severing cut to blast Darius away and out of the ring! Then he felt his scalp grow numb as he saw Darius smile grimly and suddenly turn deathly still, unnaturally calm. And even though it only took less than a quarter of a second for Lars to dash forward with a sword-drawing Battojutsu and sweep forth his space-imbued strike, time seemed to slow down as Darius'' figure and voice suddenly filled his entire vision and senses. Then he heard an almost illusory, dreamy-like voice speaking "God''s Blood: Incarnation of Light''s Descent..." Lars'' vision was engulfed with a burning, blinding, drowning deluge of azure light as he felt blood fill his mouth and his sword bend backwards at an impossible angle before snapping. And he felt as if though he too were being bent impossibly and about to snap as he was blown away, spinning through the air like a kite with its strings cut! 125 Winnerss Finals: Fight! 4 A glorious pillar of crackling azure light stood blazing brightly in the middle of the arena, centred around Darius'' body. Though the azure blue flames were rising high into the air around his tall and mighty frame, the heat and the destructive power did not seem to affect him at all; instead, he was the ruler of the light and the blaze - the Descendant of the God of Azure Light! His eyes glowed blue, similar to how Alayna''s eyes did, only brighter and more brilliantly; a sign of the complete unlocking of the strongest move of a bloodline, pushing the god''s blood to its limits and taking on the form of an incarnation of the God of Light! In fact, it was as if though an angel or a god''s avatar had descended from the astral plane and was come to pass judgement on any who dared stand up against him! Right now his face was locked in a stoic, deific gaze even as his eyes swam with a vision of an azure blue starry sky, one completely foreign to the sky above planet Yiluo - perhaps a remnant of a far-off ancient realm from ages past, one that was both mystical and profound! At this time, Darius seemed all-powerful, the muscles on his body perfectly highlighted in the flashing blue aura and it seemed as if a single move of his could surpass the Grandmaster level in termso f power. But he stood silently, apart from the roaring sounds of the flames surrounding him, as he watched Lars'' sail through the air like a wounded eagle plummeting from the mountain tops! Lars tumbled head over heels, body and head reeling but his mind still lucid. It was just a pity; his body and strength at the Adept-level looked to be just too weak to even compare with Darius'' strength...! He landed in a limp heap at the edge of the arena, much to the relief of some audience members and to the disappointment of others. It looked like it was not yet over, the fight would still go on! Lars stayed on the ground for a moment, trying to rest and regulate his breathing. When Mr White started to come over to check if he was out of commission or could still continue the bout, the heavily injured youth raised up one hand to signal that he wasn''t out for the count just yet. But as he lay there, he considered his options. ''Demon-Hunting Arts... The first layer is a seal... But it doesn''t look like it will be useful if the gap in abilities is too big...'' ''Then... How about my soul-imprint of Greed...? With the multiplication effect... No, I''m worried that Darius'' networth may be too great for it to make much of a difference... After all, he has the backing of a mysterious faction... It''s not that simple even for a talent of sublime bloodline to rise to his level... I heard he has a Myth-level teacher and the corresponding wealth of an entire sect behind him...'' ''JUST F***ING DO IT ALREADY KIDDO! STOP WASTING TIME! I really don''t get this game of yours anyway... Just upgrade yourself to the Master level and wipe the floor with the kid...!'' Lars chuckled slightly and replied to the exasperated penguin, ''Who was it who suggested I seal my strength in the first place, huh...??? Huh????!!?'' ''....Forget I said anything!!! Look after yourself!!! But remember, if you lose, you gotta buy me 10 cartons of fish! The freshest fish!'' Then Lars heard a sleepy, mumbling voice chip in, ''...And lots of fresh vegetables too... *Yawn*...'' It was his turn to be speechless as he slowly raised himself to his feet. What a good life it must be to sleep, criticise and comment on everything their contractor and host did... And they still got to enjoy a good life! He really should make best use of the Abyss Points exchange that was coming up next week... Else it wouldn''t be worth putting up with the nagging two freeloaders! ''It''s time... You''re right, buddy. But not Master-level... Let''s see how I fare after a "sudden breakthrough" to the Elite-level...'' Lars was smiling inside even as he put on a grim and determined expression, limping to his feet and clutching his bloodied right arm, injured badly from the shards of his ruptured longsword. He continued to make an expression that said, "I am using all my willpower to forcibly level-up! By sheer passion, strength of will and blind luck, I can just-so-happen to level-up in the middle of a fight!" and frowned so deeply that a veritable valley formed in the middle of his left and right brows. Then his aura began to boil over... And release resplendent beams of energy trailblazing into the sky and forcing most of the spectators to cover their eyes and gasp in awe! As Lars crafted his mana into a roleplay of leveling up and breaching through to a new realm, he wondered if the theatrics were enough and decided to up it a bit more. He shot out double the rays of golden light until it painted a wondrous scene in the entire sky of the stadium until he was satisfied that it was clear enough that "I''m leveling up, everybody!" But little did he know just how great a commotion he had caused... "What... What is this phenomenon...?" Many voices cried out in shock, wondering just what the amazing display of colours and the prismatic rays of light meant; but it seemed no one had seen such a panoramic scene before! Even Darius'' eyes perked up and his brows trembled slightly despite his suppressed emotions in his god''s incarnation state, while Vignis and Yusof both gasped in surprise. "I-I don''t know! I''ve never seen anything like this before!" More voices cried out in amazement as the great and glorious shining lights began to condense around Lars'' body, forming a golden shell streaked with dark crimson bands. It was at that point that a voice resounded from the noble stands as a person whose voice had never been heard before in Gorun City shot to his feet and exclaimed in shock. Mythical God-spear Alucard! "No! No!!! It''s impossible, no...!! It can''t, it c-can''t be!!!" He looked incredulous, unable to believe what was occurring before his eyes as he anxiously hurried over to the frontmost edge of the private viewing booth he shared with Duke Leanne and her daughter Alayna. In his single-minded rush, he directly knocked over some of the servants and stewards, inadvertently breaking some of their bones and even crippling one as he knocked the arena worker flying! At the sight of Alucard''s consternation and shock, Duke Leanne too arose from her divan and was concerned. What had gotten into the esteemed senior?!? Was the display of lights really so amazing? She crossed over to stand at the edge of the railings beside Alucard, simultaneously waving for the servants to treat the wounded and tossing a bag of coins as compensation for their injuries. Then she turned away and ignored the commoners as she waited for Alucard to explain. He shot a perfunctory glance to Leanne at his side before returning his full attention back to the stage far down below them where the golden sphere with dark crimson bands began to spin, accelerating faster and faster in its rotations. Then he spoke, casually but also with the air of a senior educating his junior. "Woman...! Have you not heard...? Do you truly not know...? The history of the Yiluo Empire... And why this planet is even named planet Yiluo in the first place...?" Duke Leanne was stunned as she remained silent. She had to admit, she was truly one who did not enjoy studying, especially not history books! Slightly embarrassed about the fact that she did not know, she coughed and apologised. When Alucard saw that she truly did not know, he glowered at her with a condescending frown and muttered, "How can this airheaded woman govern a city when she doesn''t even value the history and annals of the modern world...? Sigh..." Then he shook his head and sighed as he explained with impatience, "Simply put, there were 2 things recorded in the records available only to royalty and their kin along with all Myth-realm practitioners; two things that have always stood out as astounding about our Yiluo planet and the founder of the Yiluo Empire. The first, this one is better known - she conquered up to the 12th floor of the Tower of God and gained both the power and the right to manage the entrances to the Tower on this planet which have been guarded closely by the Empire ever since then!" "But one question needs to be asked, and that leads to the second fact that set her apart!" Alucard breathed deeply and had a mysterious look on his face as he explained, "Just how could a then-peasant girl manage to first of all qualify to enter the Tower of God in those chaotic times where there was no one administrating the entire entry to the Tower...? The answer... She was incredibly, incredibly, insanely powerful among all the youths under 18 years old!" Leanne cocked her head in curiosity and gave Alucard a sardonic smile at that point, saying, "Obviously she must have been... Else how could she have made such great achievements where few others across the ages have even reached the 12th level...?" Alucard shook his head, smiling like a teacher before his students as he clarified, "Her strength is not the point here... The key thing is this: in some obscure records available in Danedaar''s library, it was discovered that one thing stood out in her growth and youth that was different, so very different from all others..." "Well...? What is it...?" "Ahem... It is that firstly... She would breakthrough in realms in the middle of battle! Whether by strokes of epiphany or sudden comprehension, she continuously exceeded her cultivation midway through a fight where she was bound to lose!" "And secondly! When she broke through realms..." He turned to meet Leanne''s eyes as he reached these words. "The phenomena were exactly like what the boy is showing us right now..." * * * * * While this conversation was going on, an oblivious Lars decided that his performance of audio and visual effects was enough and began to wind down the vortex of golden light - though he was slightly surprised himself at the dark-red bands that formed on the shell of golden mana... He wondered where that had come from... As Lars emerged from the cocoon, the audiences were filled with amazement. For he had not advanced to the beginning nor middle Elite-level... Nor even to the peak Elite-level... But to the greatest limits achievable before crossing over to the Master-level, a pseudo-Elite cultivation! As Darius'' already serious face took on a grave look, Lars smiled even as he fixed his sharp eyes on his opponent and said, "Ready for round three...?" And he burst forward, no longer with a sword in hand but instead with his two hands at either side encased in sparkling, crackling golden energies, showing his true abilities as a Legendary Mage (in disguise)! 126 Winnerss Finals: Fight! 6 Darius maintained his stoic look and blazed forward like a missile, ready to mow down his opponent Lars - a jagged blue lightning bolt shooting forth to rip his enemy apart. And before one could even blink their eyes, he was upon the smaller framed boy and about to slam into him once more! He allowed himself to smile slightly as he saw an expression of surprise and shock on Lars'' face as his body froze in the last split second before he was struck! Obviously he did not have any chance to react even with his new powering up! ''Hmmph... Seems I thought too highly of him... Even if you have sealed your powers to prevent yourself from advancing... A fresh level up like that doesn''t mean you can control those powers!'' However, the moment he was about to punch out, his expression grew stiff - and he passed right through Lars body ineffectually! ''An illusion?!? Sh*t!'' Darius urgently resisted his blazing fast forward motion and slammed his feet into the ground to stop himself from flying straight off the stage. His feet cracked open the surface of the strengthened stone ground and he embedded his legs into the ground in an emergency brake - but he still failed to stop his upper body from hurtling forward, and ended up somersaulting forward a few times before he landed at the edge of the arena! The moment he could muster his control and strength again, he dextrously pushed his arms against the ground and forcibly launched himself back into the air to avoid the array of flaming bolts bombarding him from behind. A flood of blazing bolts threatening to swallow him up without leaving even ashes behind - the Level 3 spell, Flame Arrow! Despite just moving from the Adept realm to the peak of the Elite level, Lars'' newly released powers gave him far more options to choose from in his spells as he could now reliably use Level 3 spells. He immediately put these to use as he unleashed a blazing repertoire of higher levelled and more potent offensive spells; a simple Lesser Invisibility that cloaked the caster until he acted offensively along with a Minor Illusion spell to mislead his hasty opponent! Followed by his offence - one of the most efficient single-target magics - Flame Arrow! As fast as Darius was, there was no way that he could completely elude the barrage of projectiles. Lars clearly had predicted his most likely dodging path and had limited his options, leaving him with either the choice of getting hit by 10 arrows and knocked out of the ring, or getting hit by 3-4 flame arrows and depleting his energy for defence! Hence he could only steel his resolve and roar out with divine power to negate the fiery bolts! "BREAK!!!" Rippling sound waves slammed into the Level 3: Flame Arrows that were launched at Darius and the projectiles seemed to freeze, suspended in mid-air before they wavered and started to dissipate into useless embers as they dropped out of the air. The rest of the flame arrows similarly hit the protective shield around the arena in bursts of fire before dissipating. Lars watched as this happened, observing and preparing his next strategy - the result was pretty much as he expected. What he DIDN''T expect, however, was that Darius'' sonic burst this time was not a wide-area attack but a focused beam of sound - headed straight for him even as he stood 20 metres away! Though he realised what was happening very early, his limited cultivation prevented him from responding to neutralise the sound waves - he could barely react at all! With the scant time he had, Lars raised his arms and hurriedly used his mana to violently vibrate the air in front of him; using his impossibly fast mind to calculate just the right vibrations to create destructive interference and superposit the shockwave[1], aiming to create a wall of noise-cancelling vibrations and counter the divine roar! But it was too slow and too little! The first fifth of the sound attack was consumed by the Flame Arrows in order to block the high-velocity missiles. The second fifth petered out as it had to travel through the air resistance for the entire 20 metres distance between the two boys. And the third portion of the sound attack collided with the wall of negating vibrations and was dispelled. Leaving a remaining 40% of the soundwaves to engulf Lars, causing his brain to shake in his skull, the synovial fluids in his cranium to vibrate violently and his vision to swim, turning black! ''Gotta... Pull through... Without... Releasing any more seals!!! BREAK!!!'' Lars struggled through the pain and disorientation as his highly developed mind and psyche pulled off an unimaginable move to even other Myth-realm experts - he channelled counter-vibrations within his every cell, blood vessel and even in the fluids of his body and alleviated the shockwave of sound, relieving his body of the pressure it was under! And though at first the sonic scream threatened to rupture his eardrums and blood vessels, it was just for a brief half-second before he regained a state of clarity and calmness. And after the one-second-long attack had finished, a confident albeit shaken-up Lars opened his lucid eyes and readied his next demonstration of spells even before Darius could even land! Nevertheless, Lars still coughed out a thin stream of blood that trickled down the corner of his mouth as he pushed his body to its limits in order to win this battle. "Magic Missile! Magic Missile! Magic Missile! 10x Magic Missile!!!" Darius at first was prepared to raise his arms to block the onslaught of weak but numerous spells, but was even more dismayed when he realised that the target was not his descending body but... The ground where he was about to land! "WTF!!! This tactic again??? Blowing up public property just to win?!? How dirty can you be!!!" Darius cursed as he helplessly watched Lars fired an endless stream of spells to bombard the arena grounds on his side of the ring, just like he had earlier when Darius'' eyes were covered to unbalance him. "So??? Sue me! It''s not against the rules, right...?! Magic Missile Magic Missile Magic Missile!!" Lars retorted bitingly as he continued to lay waste to the ground beneath Darius to unsettle his footing and control his opponent. The first step in battle - once you know your enemy, take control, take over, take the initiative and you will grasp victory! "Bastard!!!" Darius sucked in a deep breath as he entered the rising cloud of dust and stone shrapnels, preparing himself to land solidly however poor the footing was underfoot. He also focused his divine power and mana into a fusion divine-magical shield in front of himself, one that crackled with godly blue lightning. But to his shock, as he passed through the mist of dust and stone fragments, he didn''t land on solid ground at all... *BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!* He was blown straight into the sky once more and out of the ring! "Goodbye!!! Bon voyage!!! Sayonara, buddy!!! Unless you can fly, it''s game over--Huh??" Lars smiled from ear to ear as he bid farewell to his supremely talented foe, looking relieved that the fight was over... Until his face turned taut as he saw Darius stop unnaturally mid-air, mid-flight! And as he suddenly halted mid-air, the god''s descendant looked grim and wrathful, as if he had been shamed greatly not by greater power or talent, but by more slick skills and control - cancelling out his entire abilities, power and speed advantage! Due to the way the rules were crafted, Darius was still not out of the fight; no, he was still not considered as having lost until he hit the ground! He cast a heavy gaze upon Lars as he spoke through gritted teeth. "Lars... You... Have proven yourself a formidable opponent... One who I truly cannot look down upon, not one bit! Even with your far weaker capabilities... You''ve managed to make a fool of I, the god-blooded son of heaven who has every advantage!" He ground his teeth together, unable to bear the humiliation of playing right into Lars'' hands and being manipulated like a puppet on strings...! And most of all, he cursed at the fact that he was forced to utilise his final trump card before even the Grand Finals! Then his eyes narrowed in determination as he exclaimed, "But no more! I will finish it now! Consider it your honour to force my hand and use my final move..." "GOD''S WRATH!! BLUE LIGHTNING DEVASTATION!!!" In a flash of vision-enveloping blue radiance, an electrified cloud of sky-rending lightning bolts covered the entire ring as Darius'' body disappeared and was replaced by a streaking lightning bolt that zapped straight at Lars! And this time, Darius used the cloud of lightning to scout out ahead of his torpedoing body - he had already confirmed that there was no illusion, no deception, no light-bending effect. This was the real Lars he had locked on to, there was no escaping this time! With his physics-defying breakneck speed, the audience did not even have the chance to cry out in awe, alarm or appreciation of his Grandmaster-class powers that broke past the sound barrier with speed that could not be seen by the naked eye! Only Vignis, Yusof and the other advanced cultivators could follow his movements, and even they were greatly astonished at the incredible level-crossing power shown by him! The various nobles and powerhouses gathered shot to their feet or even nearly fell off their seats as Darius'' move shocked them all! It was simply too heaven-defying, too powerful... Too great, just too great! A mere peak Elite cultivator with the power to defeat perhaps even peak Grandmaster fighters...? Ludicrous, impossible! Yet it was happening right before their eyes, and the watchers could only sympathise for the poor boy Lars. It was not a matter of being talented alone... Just as important were one''s innate physique, bloodline, resources... And their luck! Luck to not be born in the same generation as the transcendent geniuses like Darius! In the short moments before the fight would end, the spectators collectively sighed both in appreciation of Darius'' glorious future ahead and in pity towards Lars... The person in mention, Lars, on the other hand, looked on calmly, smiling as if he had not a care in the world as he faced certain defeat and a crippling injury under Darius'' finishing move. And just as Darius was certain he would smash the boy into a bloody pulp, Lars disappeared! "IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!" Darius could only roar in disbelief as he once more passed right through thin air before hitting the ground behind where Lars was standing in an explosion of stone and dirt. And Lars popped out from the hole in the ground underneath him that he had formed earlier, his two hands blazing with orange-red flames - ready to blow an exhausted Darius out of the ring! But Darius did not despair. Instead, he smiled as he thought, ''It''s too bad... I win!'' ...As the sonic boom that raced after him slammed into an unsuspecting Lars'' back, arising as a product of his super-sonic speed - the second, sure-kill follow-up attack to end it all...! * * * [1] Sound waves, vibrations and interference: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-physics/chapter/interactions-with-sound-waves/ 127 Winnerss Finals: Fight! End As he faced Darius and was about to unleash his spells, Lars was hit from behind by the wave of nearly-solid sound, violently shaking up the fluids in his body and causing his ears to nearly shatter! But at the moment he was about to receive the full brunt of the force, he whispered quietly. "Demon-Hunting Arts: First Seal! Silence!" The moment he triggered the esoteric, invisible sealing art, he felt an invisible, nearly undetectable circular rune form in the air around him, sealing off his body and the surrounding space from any vibrations or shaking of any sort. Even the winds that hit the area enveloped by the rune died off instantly, not even leaving a whistle of the wind when they impacted! He briefly looked at the rune around him, in awe of the sheer effectiveness of the rune. He had put in no power at all but it already had enough power to subdue a Grandmaster-level storm...? In fact, he didn''t even know what sort of energies were used by the Demon-Hunting Arts, much less what the see-through rune was made of! And he realised quickly that it was only he who could see the rune, for Kizorik gasped in surprise and asked him, ''Kiddo! What did you do? Is this the work of the Demon-Hunt Arts? A spell of silence...?'' Lars nodded, glad that he could still hear his buddy speaking in his mind. Then his eyes lit up with a smile. Time to end this match! * * * * * Darius struck the ground behind where Lars had been standing with a boom, cracking apart the surface of the arena ring. He landed with a look of shock and disbelief, looking lost and despairing as Lars popped out of the hole in the ground behind him. Darius'' body trembled and could not react as he had expended almost all his energies and needed time to recover; he was only in time to turn around... And flash a confident, triumphant smile at Lars as the sonic boom that followed in his wake engulfed the blonde mage! ''It''s too bad for you, little bro Lars... For you''re not the only with a trick hidden up your sleeve!'' ''I still win!'' Darius'' eyes lowered down to his own body as he relaxedly raised himself up and began to dust himself off; while the swirling storm of sound swept around him but did not affect his body at all - he, as the user of the soundwave attack had long prepared the necessary defences and would not be troubled! He regulated his breathing, keen to recover his stamina and energy especially his divine power before the next and final match, the Grand Finals with Vignis Jamal. Though, if her strength were not significantly greater than the competition 2 years back, he was rest assured that he had a 90% chance of winning! Then before even a second had passed, he heard a questioning voice call out to him from the midst of the whirlwind of soundwaves; one he could "Where are you looking...? Do you think it''s already over...?" His heart fell in dismay as he watched a bruised but not defeated Lars racing towards him, hands still blazing orange-red with twin fireballs, ready to be launched! "NO!! HOW--" "You''re already finished!!! TWIN FIREBALL FUSION - FIRE STRIKE!!!" When he was about 3 metres away from Darius whose legs refused to obey him to dodge, Lars clapped his two hands together to combine the Level 3: Fireballs in his left and right hand into a compressed mass of molten flames. These flames then exploded forwards through the opening of his hands - aimed directly at Darius'' torso! Needless to say, the exhausted Darius could only muster enough strength to defend his body from critical injuries as he was blown sailing out of the ring to flop down onto the ground... Defeated! Lars, the victor, panted heavily. He looked to be covered in cold sweat and swayed dizzily from the loss of orientation as a result of the sonic boom. But he was still lucid and remained on his two feet, albeit shakily. He allowed himself a slight smile even as a doubtful Mr White who had been standing stock still began to walk over to confirm whether what his eyes were seeing was true or an illusion. What had just happened? How did Lars who had received so much damage from the first soundwave attack manage to come out relatively unscathed from the second, much more powerful sonic boom...? The same question surfaced in the minds of the various spectators. Whether they were supporting Darius or Lars, they all had the same thought - just what in the hell had happened??? How did Lars win??? Mr White stopped by Lars''side and saw that the paramedics had already hurried over to check up on Darius. After a brief examination of the fallen but conscious boy''s body, the lead paramedic gave a big thumbs up to Mr White, indicating that the boy genius was fine! Mr White let out a breath when he heard that, and then turned to face Lars with a questioning look on his face. He found himself crossing his brows in curiosity and clenching his fists as he could not figure out just how Lars had won! After all, there were no fluctuations of mana or signs of any form of power being used, whether from his own skills or from an item... So how had he defended himself? "Ahem... My boy... Just, just what did you do just now...? Was the first round of injuries to the sound attack just a ruse...?" Mr White asked under his breath as the crowds murmurs of confusion began to reverberate through the Gorun Stadium. Alas, the answer would elude him as well as the entirety of the city for a long time to come, as Lars smiled enigmatically and did not speak a word about his secret! He merely shrugged and gave a sheepish look to the tournament administrator as he rubbed his nose in embarrassment. Seeing that he was reticent to speak about it, Mr White''s mouth opened wide as he was just about to press further, but then he stopped himself as he realised that everybody would have their own share of secrets. Finally he just nodded and patted Lars firmly on his shoulder, saying, "Good job, boy! Now, it''s time to present the audience with their winner and challenger for the Grand Finals...! Are you ready...?" Lars nodded, though he did shoot a glance over to Darius - and saw him begin to stir as he lay outside the ring on the paramedics stretcher. * * * * * Darius looked up at the sky blankly as he wondered what just happened. He lay stunned on the floor outside the boundaries of the wide battle arena, face troubled and unable to accept this ending. He heard some voice announcing something and quickly realised that it was an amazed Mr White making the announcement of his loss. "Ladies and gentlemen... I''m sure that you''ve thoroughly enjoyed the exciting and nail-biting match that has just concluded... Though we are not sure of just how the victory was wrought, be assured that there was no foul play involved! I can personally vouch for this on the honour of the Gorun Stadium and our noble city! Therefore... I am proud to present to you..." At first, the crowds were confused, disbelieving and incredulous with some people even angry and upset over what they perceived as an unjust end to the fight Darius had dominated. They were complaining and murmuring their grievances, but not daring to sound out their full objections as they were not sure of what had transpired. However, once they heard the Grandmaster expert Head Administrator give his assurance of the win being fair and square, they could only swallow their discontent... And even if they weren''t satisfied, they would still be drowned out by the resounding roars that met Mr White''s announcement of the winner! "Your winner and the challenger to Vignis Jamal for the Grand Finals... Miller Knight Larsson, Lars!!" And as the crowds started off with slightly unsure and restrained cheers and gradually grew to a crescendo of deafening applause and voices, they were still wondering and curious about how things had turned it this way. Just what had happened...? * * * * * Up above, a not-so-slightly unsure Vignis Jamal sat stunned and shaken. Her father who was seated right beside her on her long and wide sofa-divan was also bemused at the outcome of the fight. "W-well... Ahem, erm... Beloved d-daughter, don''t worry I, I guess...? Even if they''re both formidable... I mean, even if they''re quite capable but not quite as good as you... I guess that boy will be exhausted before the Grand Finals start...? You''ll sure be able to--" "No." Yusof was interrupted by his daughter''s terse response. He looked on with concern as Vignis shook her head slowly and her gaze looked worried. She slowly turned to Yusof just then and asked him, "Father... I know I rarely ask things of you but..." "Please, before the Grand Finals start in 3 hours... Please allow me to undergo the full enhancement surgery...!" 128 The Auction 1 "Please, father, before the Grand Finals start in 3 hours... Please allow me to undergo the full enhancement surgery...!" Yusof was quiet upon hearing those words while the cheers outside continued in their booming volume. Then Yusof waved his hand and instilled mana into the useful privacy magic formations on the walls of room which would dampen all sound from leaving the four corners of the room. Once on the magic formation was activated, everything fell silent all around them. And his quiet thinking became all the more so deafening as Vignis fidgeted in her seat, waiting for her dad to speak his mind, hoping he would agree to her request. After nearly a minute of silent contemplation, one in which at times he would frown, sigh, shake his head, shrug or purse his lips, finally Yusof Jamal spoke. He asked a simple question. "Is it worth the danger just to win a little fight like this...?" His eyes glittered with concern and compassion as he gazed at his one and only daughter with the doting eyes of a father. He looked heavy-hearted and troubled as he spoke, but also had the look of one who sympathised and felt for his heir''s frustration and situation. After all, who among the descendants of the noble houses had never been compared to the others? Who of the Five - no, now it was the Four Great Families - who of the Four Great Families had never felt inadequate when placed side by side with the dazzling geniuses of their generation? In his own year, Yusof had been overshadowed by Lina Sarouneh who was the closest among them to entering the Legendary realm - perhaps even this year before she even turned 40! Apart from her, even Sefir Roth Estreya and Gaius Trenel had been dazzling talents compared to himself who was forced to take on the family business while still in his late teens. Due to that fact, Yusof had missed out on the prime years to perfect his foundations, cultivate his mana core and nourish his blood energy - instead he had been buried deep in problems, books, accounts, stock-keeping... Everything but focusing on the ambitions of youth, growing in strength and establishing himself as a hero of the nation! In his later years, once his uncle had taken over the family and he had the luxury of both time and resources, he HAD managed to claw his way up to at least be in the World-class realm - nonetheless, he didn''t need anyone to remind him that his level of strength and skills were way below his peers. And Yusof also realised that, despite being the richest among the other 2nd generations of the Fiv-Four Great Families, he had lost the right to consider himself their peers and rivals ever since the day his father had died in the civil war to uproot the Charlemagnes... Yusof''s eyes were filled with pity and melancholy both as he thought about how Benhur Charlemagne had been the greatest of their generation of geniuses... But sadly, was dragged down to the grave along with his family due to their betrayal and greed... He let out a deep breath as he saw Vignis bite her lip in uncertainty; as the decision was truly a big one to take - while on the other hand, the opportunity was equally big. It was not just a "little fight", but one that would determine who could enter to the National competition and contest a place in the Tower of God! And it looked like she had made her decision as her troubled eyes turned determined and a certain grit filled her face. "Father... I... I''m sure. Let me take the bloodline inheritance...!" Her eyes glittered in turn as her expression turned into one of pleading, her eyes growing slightly wet as she earnestly asked her father''s grace and blessing. Once more, Yusof looked at his daughter long and hard. He frowned even as his mouth still continued smiling gently, only the sounds of their breathing filling the room they were in. Then he lifted his arms slowly to place them on Vignis'' shoulders to pull her into a hug. She did not avoid his embrace as she began to tear up slightly, her troubled heart and desire to ascend to the apex evident in her determined gaze. Yusof took in a deep breath before releasing Vignis from his embrace and patting her on the shoulders gently once more. "Go to the 4th Lab... I''ll contact the Sarouneh''s and inform them... Even if it''s still slightly early for you to receive what your grandfather, King Soron, has given as your inheritance... I trust you''ll be able to handle it." Then he chuckled and added, "After all, you ARE the daughter of that Phoenix, Elizabeth Adalle..." He shivered slightly as he mentioned the name of his wife, the only other person in this world who he feared - apart from his incredibly biased father-in-law... Vignis'' serious face began to break into a wide, ear to ear smile as she beamed brightly at him. Her eyes were still moist and looked to be on the verge of tears as she suddenly leapt into his arms and hugged him tightly before dashing off, with a shout of, "Thanks daddy!!!" as she bolted off. And as he watched her leaving back, Yusof looked worried as he added softly, "...I pray that you''ll be fine..." Then he picked up his top of the line new mana-based telephone, of his very-own Jamsung brand and made the arrangements for his daughter''s potentially life-threatening inheritance ritual. * * * * * "Bruv! Great that you''ve made it through! If I didn''t know you, I''d have thought that was a super close shave there...! Though, knowing you, of course you were hiding your poweres all along huh..." Charley was bubbly and excited to see Lars once he ascended the stairs up to the private viewing area assigned to Seline. She and her repulsive "maid" Invigilator Sarin a.k.a. "Demon Maid Sharon" were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a simple note placed on the elegantly carved round wooden table that said, "Some work to do. Be right back. Go ahead and spend what you need - don''t worry about it. Seline." Lars smiled gently as he read the note. At the end of the brief 4 line note was a slightly longer crossed out section. He ran his fingers over the paper and felt the shape that had been written in underneath the crossed out section and slowly made out the words - "If anything happens, I just want you to know that I don''t expect anything from you... I''m sorry too..." Lars'' positive mood turned sour upon reading that. He dismissed the thoughts of romance from his mind as he felt confused about things, especially his own feelings recently and decided to put these aside. Perhaps once he had settled things back on Earth... He ran his hands over his body in a routine check of health - making sure that the appropriate healing and restoration spells, balms and potions were applied for recovery before the next match. Satisfied that all was in place, he interrupted Charley who had still been talking non-stop (ignored completely by Lars, of course) and asked, "How much do we have to spend for the auction...?" "And the taste is very--Oh, sorry, how much do we have...? Well, there''s about 197.2 million platinum from what Susano and Byrus handed to us while Stars Boa provided us with 413.9 million platinum... Add to that the amount that Seline said she has secured... You have just over 800 million platinum coins to spend!" Lars nodded slowly. Just a week before, his jaw would have dropped and hit the floor, then shattered the ground to leave a deep gorge on the ground just from hearing numbers in the millions - but today, he was almost a billionaire but didn''t show any reaction. Why...? Firstly, because he had his sights on so so much more! Secondly, because he somehow felt more in control of his urges of greed ever since the realisation dawned on him that all this money... What was it really for...? Wasn''t it to be spent to improve the lives of his loved ones and to protect them...? Wasn''t it a waste to just hoard it for no reason...? Well... That didn''t mean he didn''t desire wealth though! Just... Maybe in a more usable form than just mountains of coins... Heh... "Excluding the amount you need to establish our foundations in Gorun City long-term...?" "Ah, if excluding that amount... Let''s see... Then you have about 600 million platinum still..." Lars nodded. "That should be enough..." He smiled excitedly and passionately as he packed up his things and prepared to leave for the auction area. "Time to buy some toys!" 129 The Auction 2 While the crowds were dispersing for the long 3 hour break, the members of royalty, nouveau riche and visiting nobles gathered in a site underground, much much deeper within the Gorun Stadium grounds but not in the arena itself. It was a location crafted specifically for the purpose of absolute security and defensibility, smack dab in the centre of the city and nearly 100 metres below surface level. Lars and Charley were guided from their private viewing booth overlooking the Gorun Stadium battle arena by a pleasant male servant who led the way quietly, though he continued smiling all the time. They followed him through some deserted passageways and finally to a dead-end, where the servant pulled out a nondescript looking badge from his chest pocket and held up to the wall. When he did so, the wall slowly faded away like smoke and revealed a long and dark passageway with magical light sources lining the walls. They entered after their guide and followed his pace as they walked along. During the process of the walk, to their surprise they did not encounter a single other person - if they weren''t sure that this auction was legitimate, they might even have feared that they were about to be kidnapped and their organs stolen! As they walked, Lars and Charley noticed that there was a constant wind and the drone of an engine running in the background, reverberating through the walls. Here and there they would also notice cracks running along the ceiling, the walls and the flooring - signs of the devil''s attack not so long ago. After about 6-7 minutes of walking through the winding, dimly lit and dreary underground passageways that kept on twisting and turning like a maze, they began to see signs of light - and of life. They could hear hushed voices speaking, echoing through the long hallways and off the resonant walls. Further on they could also see flickering lights, though based on how far they were away and how it was still so bright, it should be a very large hall and one brightly lit. When they drew nearer, they realised that the hall in the distance was cavernous and lit not by fiery torches but by magical lighting to avoid lowering the oxygen content and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the underground area. Once they reached the exit of the hallway, the servant stepped aside slightly and paused at the entrance then bowed his head, inviting Lars and Charley to enter first. As they did, they stepped through the doorway of the room and took a look around at the only room connecting with the long maze they had followed. They emerged not in the an entrance or receiving room, but immediately into a small private lounge that looked to be fit for a maximum of 3 or 4 people. Even then, it was not spacious; those 4 people would have to be sitting shoulder to shoulder on a long but cushy sofa while there was only room for a table for drinks and nothing else. Despite the luxurious decor of the room draped in fine curtains and lush fabrics, it was clear that space-saving was the focus and not only comfort alone. They peered out the opening of the private lounge and found that they were looking down from a high angle at a semi-circular shaped theatre stage with a very, very high wall behind it. There were no rooms directly opposite theirs, probably to ensure that each participant would have absolute privacy except for the sounds of their neighbours voices. "Esteemed sirs, I hope you find yourselves comfortable. I would like to deeply apologise for the long journey and the rather, ahem, cosy space you have here. Due to ensuring there were sufficient private viewing booths for the illustrious guests, we were forced to make some, ahem, compromises to the width of each lounge..." The smiling servant spoke professionally, however it definitely sounded like a memorised speech as it came out too mechanically. He bowed to express his apologies and paused a moment to see if his guests had any comments or questions before carrying on. "You are in room number 83--" He pointed to a wooden panel with the numbers "83" carved into it, "...And if you wish to bid for any of the items, all you have to do is input your bid amount onto the number pad on the arms of the sofa." Lars and Charley looked over at the sofa from where they were standing in front of the entrance to the lounge and saw there truly was a number pad with a large button that read, "BID". They nodded, indicating that the servant should carry on. "And finally, before I bid my leave, if you would have any other requests, feel free to press the button underneath the number plate, and one of the servants will attend to you immediately." The male servant in his late teens kept a warm smile on his face, but appeared to be in a hurry to set off to his next job - whatever it was he had to do. Lars glanced about and took note of the button labelled "SERVICES" and thanked the servant before allowing him to leave. He put his hand into the right pocket of his pants to ensure that his bank card was there and felt the inscriptions on it just in case. Once he confirmed that the cards which held his combined total wealth of nearly 600 million platinum coins was safe and sound, he stepped towards the ledge of the lounge balcony and leaned over to take a look around, both above and below their booth. Lars was surprised to realise that the auction booths were designed such that the aesthetic curtains surrounding each balcony also protruded out further than a person could lean forward, thus effectively denying his attempts to take a peek at the other booths. This together with the meandering path to arrive here Satisfied that this also meant they had complete privacy, he walked over to the sofa where Charley was already seated and sipping on the high-grade juice. "Do you have the list of items to be auctioned off...?" Charley nodded but added, "Yes, apart from the premium items they claim to have secured for the auction. Those ones are only marked by starting price and their category. Such as this one that says, "Life Rejuvenating Pill - 142 MP". Oh, the "M" stands for "Million" and the "P" for "Platinum", so 142 MP means 142 million platinum coins." Lars looked amused as he replied, "I knew that." Then he picked up the jug and poured himself a drink as he sat down to wait for the auction to begin. He was looking forward to making good use of his wealth... To power up and no longer fear other better-equipped Legendary opponents... And also, he had thought about it and decided to secure some fitting equipment for his peak-Elite level alter-ego, such as high-grade weapons, armour, accessories and runes with low requirements on the user. After some deliberation, he had discussed with Charley (the only one who knew about his disguise as both Mikael and himself, Lars) and they had decided to apportion only about 15% of the money for strengthening his contestant form. The rest would need to be carefully invested to make sure his real powers were strongly augmented, as that was what was truly important. Nevertheless, they still chose to allocate 15% instead of just a paltry sum as Lars had insisted on how important and valuable the Battle Through the Heavens was... Of course, he could only quote Duke Leanne, as there was absolutely no way he could reveal that he was a demon''s contractor to any living human! Lars then blinked and a thought came to mind as he asked Charley about something he had assigned him to do. "Oh, by the way, have you or the rest gotten any info about that goat the devils are looking for...?" Charley froze in place for a split second upon hearing that question, but as he once more felt a mix of warm, soft fur and cold, sharp teeth against his skin in his pants, he slowly shook his head and replied, "No, there''s nothing at all... No one seems to have any idea about a special goat that they could be looking for... Though, there ARE rumours of a two-headed goat born from a woman..." Lars tapped his chin as he shook his head, "No... I don''t think it would be something so simple or trivial as a mutated goat born... It''s just that, well... Ah, nevermind..." Lars leaned back against the sofa as he had no idea what he should be looking for, while Charley gave him a sheepish and guilty grin and continued to drink his juice, though with a chill that ran up his spine at the close shave he had once more with the little goat in his pants. * * * * * While Lars and Charley were idling and waiting for the auction to begin, suddenly the lights shut off and everything turned dark all around for a brief second. Immediately after that, a great, bright spotlight lit up a certain spot on the theatre stage down below and revealed a well-dressed and stately looking man in a mask. He wore a tuxedo and a white button-up shirt on the inside. Together with his bow tie and top hat, he gave off the appearance of a magician crossed with a maestro of an orchestra; a look fitting for the host of an auction. "Good evening, your graces, your highnesses, esteemed elders, noble lords and ladies and all guests here today! My name is Aquino, and it is my great honour to be your host for this year''s bi-annual Gorun Auction!" "Now, for those who are not familiar with the rules, they are very, very simple! First of all, the minimum increments for bids are at least 100,000 platinum coins. Secondly, every 5 times a bid is increased by the minimum, the next bidder will have to up the bid by at least 1 MP! This is to avoid too much time being wasted or... Other manipulation by any dishonest party. And thirdly, the safety of every guest is sacred and guaranteed by the reputation of Gorun City! There shall be no cheating, no dishonesty, no violence, no stealing! Or it will be punishable by... DEATH! Of course, this punishment will be carried out by her Grace Duke Leanne and the Four Great Houses..." Somehow, when the man said that, Lars could feel the host smiling predatorially even though his face was covered by the mask. "With that covered... And without any further ado..." The host paused for emphasis as he swept his long coat-tails back as he flung forth his right hand and produced a long and expensive looking walking stick from thin air. Then abruptly, the curtains covering the high wall behind him parted in an instant, revealing a great array of items on display. Then he declared with a powerful voice fit for the theatre, "Let the bidding begin!" "The first item..." "Legendary-level Spellsword, Krieg''s Slayer! Starting with a minimum price of 17 MP, this sword has been equipped with 5 enchantments: Sharpness, Indestructibility, Haste, Strength and Shielding, all at least with a rating of Grandmaster-level!" Aquino paused and gave a moment for the auction participants to absorb the information before continuing. "But if that were all, there would be no way this item could warrant either the price, it''s rating as Legendary-level or even appear in this auction! Haha! The reason it can appear here is because it is also imbued with a Level 7 spell that can be used up to three times a day - Level 7: Finger of Death!" Upon hearing this, a greater clamour of discussion arose as the audience began to murmur in appreciation of the versatile weapon. Lars craned his ears carefully and could pick up some of the discussion going on. "Very interesting..." "What an exquisite surprise attack... At first using brute force and then when your enemy lets down their guard..." "Brother, what do you think of this weapon...? Does it suit you...?" "Take note - set our budget to 35 MP for this item! I want it for the young master!" Then he rubbed his chin and gave a glance to Charley who shrugged and nodded, saying, "Up to you, boss. It''s not a bad item among the list of what they''ve revealed to us..." Nodding, Lars reached over to the screen by his side and input the numbers for his bid... 130 The Auction 3 "Very well, who will be the first to bid for this item? Do we have 17 million platinum coins...? Come on! Don''t be shy! We all know that a sword is very practical and one of the most commonly practised weapons! This would be a steal even at 30 million platinum! How about it? Do I--Yes! We have our first bid!" Aquino''s professional hype speech kept up a buzzing atmosphere in the underground auction hall, especially with festive but tasteful and soft orchestra music filling their surroundings. In some ways, this auction reminded Lars of a carnival or fun fair from back home, except that the focus here was not a performance but a host touting his wares... And that he had never been to such a posh event before. Even his conferment as the youngest Legendary Mage and Hero of the War of Worlds had not been as grand, given the fact that the world had still been reeling from the damage of the war as well as the austerity practised by the military. He had been halfway about to input his bid into the keypad - which only had the numbers 1 until 9 with a red "0" button sitting below the 3 by 3 grid of keys. Beside the red "0" button was a simple square that read, "BID". At the side there was also a note that reiterated the explanation - as the minimum increment was in multiples of 100,000 platinum coins, any number input would be multiplied by a hundred thousand times i.e. if a user input 100, that would be 100 times 100,000 = 10 million platinum coins or 10 MP. Lars had a wry look on his face as he saw the veritable essay printed as a "short note" beside the bidding control panel and wondered if the writer were being paid by wordcount... Perhaps it was true, as the note was already slightly bigger than the keypad itself! He was halfway inputting his bid of 17 MP when he heard the host announce - there had already been a bid before his. "Thank you to our first bidder... And it is not just so simple as the first bid, no! On behalf of the organisers, we would like to thank you deeply for your great show of generosity!" Host Aquino bowed deeply at his waist, forming a right-angle of 90 degrees as he bent his body. "I''m sure you''re dying to know the amount, right? Be amazed! We have received a phenomenal opening bid of 50 MP! What a marvellous bid!" Aquino clapped his hands enthusiastically and the music accompaniment grew louder to help cover the fact that not a single person joined him in applause. On the contrary, Lars and the other bidders began to grumble at the irritating person who went right ahead to grossly inflate the prices! What a boor and a worthless show-off! Even if you were filthy rich, there was no reason to flaunt it right...? As there were many arrivals just in time for the Gorun City Auction this morning, there were many nobles, royal entourages and other important guests arriving under the cover of anonymity here to browse the wares that would be displayed. And from the rumours milling about, the turnout this year was very encouraging despite the devil invasion. Some said that this was a sign of the quality of the "secret" items that would be auctioned today! Aquino then completed his overly enthusiastic applause and then continued to speak, "Esteemed guest! Just to preserve your anonymity while also confirming we have accepted your bid, your screen should have lit up GREEN. This will indicate that you are indeed the one whose bid has been accepted first, just in case there was someone else who tried to input the same bid amount simultaneously. If there is a dispute, whoever''s screen lights up will be the rightful first bidder whose bid is accepted! I hope you are pleased with our auction''s services!" He once more bowed deeply and was about to continue when a loud voice answered him, coming from a room above Lars. The voice boomed out, resounding through the entire auction hall as the unseen speaker made himself heard with an announcement to everyone present. "Most courteous host, you have my gratitude for your kind show of hospitality in keeping my identity confidential... However, there is no need to do so! For I am not so weak nor poor that I fear anyone knowing that I, indeed am the purchase! Yes, I, Duke Moron of the Wiarno Kingdom am proud to announce my arrival as the representative of King Soron! Hahahaha! Fellow guests! Feel free to outbid me, do not fear! I am not petty nor one who takes revenge.... Please, please outbid me! That is, if you can! Hahahahaha!" The laughing speaker continued chuckling as he apparently had said what he came to say. And despite many seething bidders and members of the audience who resented such an abrasive and outright abusive personality, they could do nothing to refute him! After all, they were definitely poorer than the representative of an entire kingdom, especially a Grade 3 kingdom like the Wiarno Kingdom ruled by the tyrant King Soron! In addition, as a titled duke, even if his name was incredibly stupid, he was also at least a beginning Legendary powerhouse - someone not to be trifled with... And that was not even including his likely repertoire of mighty artefacts, runes, weapons, seals and plethora of things that only the incredibly rich could even dream of having! Charley at Lars'' side sighed and pursed his lips in discouragement. Lars looked at him with raised brows. "Yo, what''s up? Isn''t he just a spendthrift splurging his money uselessly? It''s just the first item anyway... And it''s not really that valuable, certainly not worth 50 MP." Charley sighed once more and shook his head with a smile as if though he were a wise old man disappointed in a young''un. At least he had that look on until Lars'' fist began to rise up, ready to rap him on the head for being such a stuck-up smart-ass. Then Charley grinned sheepishly and sucked in a deep breath before he explained. "Bro... Everyone is like, super upset right now at that Duke Moron the... The moron over there. But at the same time, there is a name for people like these... Whales!" "Whales...? What do you mean...?" "You see, what happens is that in every community, you would think that for the organisers, the more customers they have the better, right...?" "Yeah... And...?" Lars tilted his head in curiosity as he asked. "Well you''re wrong!" Charley grinned widely as he quickly continued his explanation. "Actually, nowadays, most organisers, companies and stuff bring in 90% of their earnings just through less than 10 customers! No, you didn''t hear me wrong! Just 10 customers usually make up 90% of their earnings! And the same is true for Gorun City''s Auction!" Lars stared at Charley for a long while as Aquino called out inviting others to contest the bid. Instead of merely waiting for 10-15 seconds and ending the bidding round, he seemed to be tireless in his attempts to coax just one more bid at least, at least one more person to drive the prices up even further. "So... This Duke Moron... He''s a whale...? What does that have to do with us...?" This time, Charley earnestly did look surprised that Lars didn''t get it. Then he clarified. "Lars... Putting together every item on auction... The auction house will probably bring in, I don''t know, 40? 50 billion platinum coins...? And if 90% of that comes from just a few people, then how much do you think that one Duke Moron has on hand to bid with...?" Lars'' eyes slowly widened as it dawned on him just what Charley was getting at and why everyone was so upset. "Yes...! That Duke Moron probably has more than 15-20 billion platinum coins all by himself! Lars, do you understand now...? It''s not funny that he''s exorbitantly overbidding and raising the prices sky high! At this rate, it means that most likely, our 600 million platinum can only get us half as many items....!" Lars looked shocked for a moment, but then his eyes turned sharp and murderous. "Why don''t we... Ahem, I mean, why don''t people just kill him and rob him of his riches after the auction then...? After all, he''s been so generous as to announce his identity! I''m sure it''d be easy to do that. He''s just a Legendary level right?" Charley shrugged helplessly as he replied, "First off, the city is guaranteeing his safety! Secondly, and more importantly, have you never heard the story of Power Overwhelming...?" Lars shook his head, saying, "Tell me." "Well... There''s an old story telling of the power of wealth and the importance of equipment. It was said that once upon a time, there was a World-class level mage who offended a Mythical-realm cultivator!" "This mighty and seasoned senior cultivator was so greatly incensed that he immediately travelled across nearly 5,000 kilometres of distance between to seek out this World-class youth. When he arrived, he found that the youth was feasting casually in a restaurant without any high-levelled guards, and immediately struck out to end the perpetrator''s life!" "To his shock and surprise, his serious claw-strike bounced off the youth''s body directly and he ended up injuring himself, the force of his blow reflected back on himself! Then the youth stood up and showed no great battle techniques nor any special talent for fighting..." "Instead, all he did was challenge the senior Mythical fighter by pulling out treasure after treasure, weapon after weapon, seal after seal and eventually, beating down his opponent just by the unstoppable power of wealth!" "And that''s the moral of the story... Even if he''s, ahem, *JUST* a Legendary realm cultivator... He''s f***ing rich! So f***ing rich, he could probably buy half of the Kingdom of the Sands alone! Ok, I''m exagerrating, but you get my point? There''s no way anyone would dare to lay a hand on him!" Lars nodded at that, "Yes... Thank''s Charley. I..." Then his eyes seemed to glint evilly and mischievously as he said, "I understand COMPLETELY." Then his fingers flew into a flurry of motion on the keypad at his side before he slammed his palm down on the button, "BID"! "Thank you, looks like that will be the closing for the first item! 50 MP going once! 50 MP going twice! 50 MP, sol... What? Are you serious???" Aquino was about to close off the bidding for the sword but suddenly blurted out some words, completely losing his charming and suave flow of speech. He seemed to be speaking to someone backstage as he spoke out loud several times to confirm what he had just heard, then he shakily straightened out his clothes before making a hesitant announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen... There has b-been another bid! T-thank you to our anonymous and generous bidder whose funds have been confirmed... The bid is for 70 MP! A staggering increase of 20 MP!" "WHAT??!?" A great shout of outrage arose from the room above Lars... Causing Lars to smile wickedly even as Charley trembled in fear. What was wrong with his boss'' brain?!? "RAISE THE BID! I''M BIDDING 100 MP! LET''S SEE YOU BEAT THAT!!!" The sound of someone slamming his fingers and fists on the bidding controls was heard. 131 The Auction 4 "100 million platinum coins...?!? Madness!!!" "Preposterous! First this mad Duke Moron... Then the challenger who dares to go head to head for an overpriced item... And now Duke Moron once more increasing the quantum of his waste???" "Hahaha! What a good show... Even if we don''t end up getting the items we want, at least we got a good show! Hahaha!" A wide range of reactions erupted from the on-lookers who were discreet enough not to give away their identities or their locations - though their not-so-whispering voices were still distinctly audible! Duke Moron had been huffing and puffing in shame and was now settling himself down. At the same time, Host Aquino himself was also shaken by the nonsensical bids he had to call out. It was not an issue of high amounts... Aquino had presided over auctions for items with pricetags and bids nearly a hundred times higher! However, the shocker was the enormously wasted money for an item that, at most, should be worth only 30-35 MP... And a whale-against-whale bidding war! Obviously it was not for the item itself, it looked like there was an anonymous someone here who had a bone to pick with Duke Moron or with the Wiarno Kingdom... "Ahem... Seeing that Duke Moron has given us such a grand generous bid, we should-- WHAT??? N-no, sorry, excuse me... Ahem, T-the bid is now 110 MP from our anonymous bidde..." "TWO HUNDRED MP!!! I AM BIDDING TWO HUNDRED!!! LET ME SEE YOU OUTBID THAT!!! HAH!" Duke Moron roared out, hurting the ears of the nearby attendees who, some of them, were merely juniors below the Master-level or finance/ administrative officers of their employers! In fact, some of the occupants of the adjacent rooms immediately fainted and had to be rushed off for emergency resuscitation! While Duke Moron''s entire face was flushed red and his shoulders heaved up and down from heavy breaths, Lars sat reclined comfortably against his seat smiling while Charley was biting his fingernails! ''Why oh why did I have to follow such a psychotic master... Woe is me, woe is me...!!!'' Charley bemoaned the chance encounter that had led his path to intertwine with Lars as he feared for his future... He couldn''t stand the insane anxiety anymore of gambling with their hard-earned money and shakily grasped Lars'' sleeve to urge him to stop! "L-Lars!! Boss...!!! What if he hadn''t raised further...?!? We would have spent almost a fifth of our auction funds on just one sword! It''s not even the item you''re targeting, boss! C''mon boss...!! P-please don''t keep giving me heart attacks...!!!" Lars gave his companion and employee a whimsical look as he replied, "Charley, Charley... Trust me a little! Have I ever been wrong when gambling...?" He realised he had said something and given the wrong example when Charley grew pale and wan-faced before beginning to teeter slightly where he was seated. Lars quickly grabbed Charley''s arm to keep him from swooning and falling off the sofa, then coughed as he corrected himself. "Bro, I-I''m not gambling! Okay?! From the words spoken by the Duke and the small interactions, as well as the reactions of the others in the audiences, I can tell a few things. I''m assured that I won''t get burned in this!" Lars had on his face an innocent look that also bore hidden within it a wolf-like cunning... And this expression made Charley both relieved and outraged. That was the very same trickster innocent and sincere faced expression Lars had given him when he signed that bloody slave contract with a paltry yearly salary! But Charley could only fume and keep quiet as he decided to stop caring and leave Lars to his devices... Whether he squandered away their wealth or not, he didn''t want to care anymore! After all, it WAS Lars'' own money - and as soon as Lars had the equipment or broke through and could contend with a true Mythical opponent, it was certain that the dough would come rolling in...! The only problem was whether it would be sooner, or much much later... Such as if they were bankrupted entirely in this one auction from a certain reckless boss'' actions! Lars had a sharp gleam in his eye and shark-like grin on his face as he sat back once more and let Aquino announce the winning bid - belonging, of course to His Grace. However, even as Lars had a cunning look on his face... His counterpart too transformed his appearance immediately and seemed as if he were a completely different person as he smiled slightly, considering his next move against this opponent who dared to challenge him. Instead of a fuming, angry and reckless man, the tall duke had a regal bearing, with his black hair slightly greying at the sides of his temples and stately robes making him cut a handsome figure. Most of all though, what made him an object of impressiveness were his deep, intelligent eyes that seemed to hold an entire galaxy swimming within them... Eyes that had not even a hint of foolishness nor impulsiveness, but rather the arrogance of a schemer whose dark hand was concealed behind every move... Until the dagger sprung forth to strike down his prey! He toyed with a small knife in his hands, flipping it around dextrously as he seemed to ignore the announcement of his winning bid; so deep in thought was he! "Going once... Going twice..." Aquino did not pause between his words for the customary 5-10 seconds between each call, instead he rushed through the motions and quickly reached the conclusion of the round. "Going thrice! SOLD!! Congratulations to our honoured guest who has obtained the first item!! As a special gift... We will be contributing one-third of the profits to the newly setup Leanne-Mikael Orphanages!" A round of applause accompanied this announcement as the members of the audience were surprised at the generosity of the city''s administration - of course it was from the PROFITS and not from the TAKINGS; which meant that they would still be taking a big fat paycheck just from the little tiff between two silk-pants spendthrifts! And Lars was the most surprised, pleasantly so as he smiled and blinked happily. Charley too was warmed in his heart - and they exchanged a glance of appreciation for Duke Leanne''s sincerity. Though the both of the two shrewd foxes also decided that they would thoroughly audit and check through how the monies were passed and whether the orphanages were just another front for crime... Especially with their new helping hands in the Celestial Shadows formerly belonging to Madam Trenel along with Susano''s Sword Gate of the Underworld... As the applause began to peter off, Host Aquino seemed to have regained his suave demeanour as he smoothly kept the good atmosphere rolling. "Now for the next item! I''m sure you''ve all been waiting for the reveal of the first hidden, secret item, right...? And I''m ABSOLUTELY sure you won''t be disappointed with what we have prepared, all the way from the frigid sectors of Frizo System..." "A Legendary-Grade Cryo Core!!!" Great gasps broke out through the crowds, while Lars looked questioningly at Charley. Charley''s lips parted as if to speak, then he made a double take before pulling out the accompanying mana tablet - of the "Magic Profound Maple" brand, or Mapple for short. He flipped through the item compendium which displayed the goods put up for auction and saw that the first slot for the hidden items had now changed from a series of greyed out question marks to show the Legendary-Grade Cryo Core instead. He read out the lengthy description to Lars. "Classified as a longevity treasure, a Cryo Core does not restore the user''s life-force or blood energy. However, it reduces or may even completely halt aging for a period between 1 to 100 years depending on the grade of the Cryo Core. For this item of the Legendary-grade, it is officially graded by the Alchemical Artisans to freeze one''s longevity for SIXTY FIVE (65) years! Hurry while stocks last! Note: Please consult a physician before using this alternative medicine; your results may vary; length of effect not guaranteed by seller; side effects may include extreme freezing - please be cautioned." Lars shrugged upon hearing this. An item that was useless to him. But he smiled as his fingers toyed with the keypad beside him, waiting to see whose resources he could drain this time. 132 The Auction 5 "This Legendary-Grade Cryo Core, as it is such a rare and precious treasure, shall be starting at a minimum bid of 183 million platinum coins. Now, let the bidding begin!" Host Aquino folded his arms and tucked them against his chest, his tuxedo fitting his well-formed body tightly. As he stood there, he had regained his charm as the one presiding over a grand and auspicious occasion - one that many were hoping would be a turning over of a new leaf for Gorun City and the surrounding regions. And as he stood there silently and smiling, the audience members began to whisper in hushed voices, discussing their bidding strategy and how they would approach this item. Some key aspects had to first be discussed before going in, such as target price, stop-loss price and increment approaches. Also included was whether they would have to contend with the whale from the Wiarno Kingdom, Duke Moron - as well as his challenger from the last round or any other submerged whales who were yet to surface! After all, a longevity-extending treasure was a rare find even in the capitols of great nations, much less this area of the Leez continent which was pretty much a third-world backwater. "Where did they get that from..." "No matter! As long as the price is not too abnormally high, the ancestor will definitely want this item!" "Let us pray that we manage to get our hands on this... Alas, our funds are just too low, else we could surely secure this and save you, Isabel..." A middle-aged gentleman accompanied by a young lass clenched his fists tightly as he shook his head in dismay. The girl at his side was seated on a separate stool and was dressed immaculately, if not luxuriously. Her blonde tresses were combed in a functional manner, simple and efficient in the arrangement. However, this could not detract from her otherworldly beauty! Still, the girl''s pretty and teardrop shaped face was stoic, expressionless, like one who had gone through too heavy a blow in recent days and would not - or could not - open up her heart any longer. At the same time, Duke Moron was standing near the ledge of his viewing area and pondering over the item on offer. He thought carefully for awhile as he waited to see how people would react. This item was no longer a bargain-bin catch, and had to be considered carefully before committing to a bid. He stroked his chin and had a thoughtful look on his face when he heard a condescending voice whisper from behind him, so soft that he nearly could not hear it. But he still could, whether or not that was the speaker''s intentions. "No wonder our nation is in such a dire state... With fools such as this at the helm... Such incapable people in charge of my father''s resources..." The male speaker sighed at this point, pausing. The young sounding voice carried a note of condescencion but also a clear sense of self-superiority as he spoke. Duke Moron turned around naturally, as if he had not heard what was just said. However, he was smiling as he walked over to the side of the young brunette man in his twenties who had spoken. The man was dressed in a grand robe of many colours; perhaps gaudy to some but clearly a mark of the wearer being of at least high nobility, if not royalty. The red and purple dyes were outlined and highlighted by gold and silver linings that showed the status of the boy... As the heir of the entire Wiarno Kingdom! Duke Moron stopped by the prince''s side as he seemed to be lost in thought and pondering something of great importance. Then he postulated a rhetorical question almost as if to himself. "...In the study of a sovereign economy... Oftentimes what is treated as the most important is the liquidity available to the nation... Followed by the fiscal deficit, then the growth quantum over the past years. This then needs to be offset by a corresponding level of inflation - or deflation - to lead to a nation''s continued prosperity...!" The prince''s gaze remained unperturbed, glancing past Duke Moron, acting as if he had not spoken those disdainful words about the Duke, and also as if he had not heard his uncle''s rhetoric. He merely retained an idyllic gaze, like a traveller basking in the warmth of sunlight under a pleasant evening breeze, lying by a beach-side relaxedly... Ignoring his uncle. "But what the classic economists do not recognise... Is that apart from the classical physical resources of a nation... There are two equally if not more important resources to a nation... It''s people and their neighbours!" Duke Moron''s eyes closed slowly with a smile on his lips as he continued, "...Or rather, the beliefs and perception of the people within a nation and the stance of their neighbours, which is ALSO based on what they see and believe about a country!" At these words, there was a slight flicker in the boy''s expression, his lids trembling less than a millimetre - what was his uncle saying...? This was in complete opposition to everything that he had learned - no, in complete opposition to everything that the entire country of Wiarno and the entire Leez continent taught! Why, even the Overmind Collegiate Association of more than 80 of the greatest institutions of higher learning had unanimously agreed on the latest version of economics based on Samson La Farge''s treatise, "A Study of Economics in the Post-Planetary Age - Third Revision"! What... What nonsense was he spouting?!? Was it just to elicit a reaction from him? No! I-it... Didn''t seem like it, but somehow... Somehow what Duke Moron was saying seemed to resonate with his heart and mind...? ''No! I refuse to accept it!'' The prince''s brows slowly furrowed as he shook his head tersely and smiled in mock appreciation, but his curiousity had been piqued and he couldn''t help but wait and listen to what His Grace had to say to support his beliefs. "The citizens beliefs, perspectives and views... Though this is not the point I believe you are in contention with me on... Firstly, the people''s engagement levels and motivations are key; an extremely, extremely important factor in the continued growth of a nation! For whether a country advances strongly and quickly or languishes in its state as a poor and floundering nation depends entirely on it''s people!" "Before you reject this... Don''t you know that once upon a time, even our ancestors of the royal family were but common people...? Citizens who had a dream and endeavoured to achieve greater things in with their lives, for their children...? Therefore the people''s beliefs and dreams are greatly key, the greatest and most important resource of a nation!" "Followed by their perspectives and views... Both towards the outside, whether xenophobic or ethnocentric, whether racist or despising... Or whether mingling well and receiving guests, visitors and the corresponding trade and exchange of knowledge with open arms! Our nation has always been strong on this point, thus your education which has been based on the learnings of the Leez continent." "But even more important... Is the people''s perspectives towards the well-being of their country, and their well-being under their current rulers! For this one point, this one sole cause results in the rise and fall of entire nations! Whether a country''s populace loves and supports their ruler..." "Or rebels and burns down all that he has built!" The young man''s eyes dilated and his lower lip trembled as he heard words expounding a concept that had never crossed his mind before - that the lower people, the masses and what they perceived was so important; important enough to determine the rise and fall of a nation and whether it prospered or collapsed! Then his eyes refocused again as his face turned red with embarrassment and anger at being rebuked and confused by his uncle''s sophistries. "I can admit that the people and their beliefs are important... B-but! But! That doesn''t mean you should squander our wealth uselessly buying... Trinkets!!" He roared in outrage, still keeping his voice low enough so as not to be overheard by eavesdroppers. At this, Duke Moron''s eyes closed slightly as he shook his head in disappointment and sighed, turning away. Then he stopped, standing straight as an arrow with his hands clasped behind his back as he asked his nephew a short question. "Young child... And what do you think would happen if other countries perceived our Wiarno Kingdom as weakening, poor... Or as a prey to be snapped up...?" Prince Lyam''s mouth opened and closed as his mind struggled and tussled with the new thoughts, unable to accept it and his heart rejecting it... But he could not help but admit - what his uncle said all made sense! Completely made sense. And he thought back to the countless times he had ridiculed his father''s younger brother, disparaging him and endlessly pleading with his father the king to remove Duke Moron and arrest his spendthrift ways; especially in the recent lean seasons of the national coffers... And he realised, sometimes there was so much more wisdom that could not be found in the books or in the lecture halls of an academy... But could only be discovered by living a life, meeting people and... Living! He looked stunned and listless as his uncle walked over and clasped him on the shoulder. When he felt his uncle''s grasp, he regained his spirit and shook off his confused expression and smiled at his uncle with apologetic eyes. "Uncle Moron, I''m sor--" "No matter, child! No matter... It''s all part of growing up...! Now, let us enjoy the rest of the auction. And, you know what? I could really use some of your encyclopaedic knowledge in evaluating which items we should bid on... What do you think of that Cryo Core...? How much should we spend on it...? Or should we jack up the price to improve the standing of our nation''s perceived wealth...? How about..." An uncle and his nephew walked warmly, one with his arm around the other''s shoulder, looking every bit the part of a newly forged relationship between mentor and his ward. And in many years to come, Lars'' masterful advisor Prince Lyam would tell of the days when he was tutored under the wing of his late uncle, Duke Moron - who had an unfortunate name, but was great in wisdom and experiences that books could never teach! 133 Auction 6 "85 MP! Brilliant! Ladies and gentlemen, honoured guests! Let us keep the ball rolling! Remember, as long as the bidding price exceeds our cost price enough to break even, 10% of the items selling price and also 10% of the profits from this entire event will be going to the Leanne-Mikael Foundation for the Orphaned Children in the recent devil disaster! Yes! I have received a new bid ¨C 89 MP! Fantastic, fantastic¡­!" Aquino rallied the audience as the competing parties began to wrangle over the Cryco Core. This was not an opportunity to be missed; for though this was not a true renewal or restoration of longevity, even an extension of 10 years was valuable enough! Especially for clans, sects or organisations where the sole powerhouse was already advanced in age. Once that single strongest person had passed their prime and began to decline in strength, it would be the beginning of the end for the entire organisation. They would fade away and begin to be a by-gone; and even their erstwhile allies would soon turn into ravenous wolves, joining the packs of scavengers and predators ready to tear apart the defenceless fat piece of meat that they would become! For in that span of years bought by the Cryo Core, perhaps a member of the younger generation would be able to break through to a new level and establish a new era for their sect or clan! Or perhaps they would be able to ally themselves and attach the group to a stronger and bigger party, like taking refuge under a large tree. Whatever the case was, the number of parties vying over the longevity treasure was not few, not few at all! "Yes! Yes yes yes! 93 million platinum coins! Splendid! Do I hear 95¡­? Tell me, how greatly do you value this item¡­? It is not just a physical or material possession, but one that could guarantee and solidify a clan''s position for decades to come! Remember, this is certifiedto have efficacy of more than 50 years! Yes¡­? YES! 99. Million. Platinum. COINS!!! Give yourselves a round of applause!" Aquino continued in his over-the-top enthusiasm and his hype was met only by silence punctuated occasionally by hushed whispers ¨C bidders discussing their bottom line and just how much they could afford to spend for this treasure. After all, even if they could preserve the life of their grand elder, founder or pinnacle expert¡­ It would be meaningless if it drained the entire clan dry! Whether it meant emptying their coffers and leaving no resources to nurture the future generations, or if it meant drying out their clans strength and becoming unattractive to future suitors, these were paths that led only to destruction. Even if a group had a networth of over 1 billion platinum coins, that did not mean they would have the cashflow to support splurging more than 10% of that in just one transaction. Most likely they would end up having to borrow at exorbitant rates from "friendly" or "allied" clans¡­ Or submit to the rule of the Kingdom or Government in their home base, which would mean relinquishing their identity and ownership of their organisation permanently¡­! Hearing the price nearly breach the 100 million platinum coins mark, countless elders were on the verge of gnashing their teeth as their nails dug into the palms of their hands, nearly drawing blood. Here they were on behalf of their clans, attending as representatives of the leadership and seeking to procure a suitable treasure to secure the posterity of their peoples, and they just had to be swept in to what they felt was a bidding war between two egomaniacal whales! One of them, a black haired man in his late 40''s was especially troubled. He had his hair slicked back and also wore aged-looking robes, perhaps in an attempt to look older. To be here as the lead of his entourage meant that he was probably the most promising successor of his clan who was most likely to take over his leader''s place. However, he gritted his teeth and struggled over the decision internally before lifting his hand decisively and inputting his raise. "Oh! We have done it! A historic moment ¨C this is the first time ever in the history of an auction that only the SECOND item has breached¡­ A HUNDRED MILLION PLATINUIM COINS!!! What a spectacle!!! Now, could this be the end of this round of bidding¡­? What do you think, dear audience¡­? Will you be able to bear parting with this treasure after such a tussle for dominance¡­? What will be your next bid¡­? Will it be marginal at 101 MP¡­? Or will you be flexing your financial muscles and showing your intent with a far grander bid..? You''ve got to let me know in these few seconds, because it is¡­ Going once!!! Going twice!!! And¡­" Aquino''s cheerful and welcoming smile grew even wider at that moment as his count was interrupted once again, followed by his joyful exclamation. "ONE HUNDRED AND TEN!!! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the highest record bid for a second item in the lineup, 110 MP already! If this is how exciting just the first two rounds have been, I wonder just how the next few ones will be¡­?" "What?!? How¡­ How is that possible!??" The black-haired man who had been about to bid was crestfallen and slammed his balled up fist onto the control pad in frustration. Just who had raised the bid so excessively¡­?!? It WAS a treasure, but¡­ Was it really worth that much to others¡­? "Father¡­ I¡­ I know you told me not to do it, but I have no choice!!! It''s not just about the future of the clan but¡­ It''s so you can live after being poisoned by the Blackwing Flame Venom¡­! Father¡­ I''m sorry, but this is the decision I have to make!!! I will raise¡ª" "ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILLION PLATINUM COINS!!" A booming voice echoed through the auction hall, both shocking and eliciting reactions of cynicism from the audience members ¨C though the man with slicked-back black hair was enraged and anxious when he heard it. It was Duke Moron once again! "I would like to see if anyone would care to contend with the pride of our Wiarno Kingdom once more¡­? And if you truly have the resources to back up your reckless behaviour to disdain the dignity of my lofty nation!! Come!!" Duke Moron shot off his challenge towards the entire hall, clearly aimed at the individual ¨C or so he assumed that it was just one individual ¨C who had challenged him on the last bids and upped the price ridiculously. It was silent for a moment on stage with Host Aquino stunned in shocked silence before he caught himself and quickly shook his head to announce the new leading bid. He could not help but gulp as he smiled eagerly ¨C looks like he needn''t have to work too hard for this round''s commission to be sky-high! "120 million platinum coins going once¡­! Dear guests, if you would still want to stay in the running, this is your chance, I believe you will¡ªWait! Thank you once more! I have a new bid¡­ 125 million platinum coins! A clear challenger has emerged! What will be the next bid from our revered Duke Moro¡ª" He was cut off by a loud and powerful cough, not the type that would be to clear one''s throat but obviously just to make a point. "My dear competitor¡­! I am afraid that I will have to withdraw from the bidding this time! You have cowed me with your vast resources and proven to me that you are truly amazing! I''ll let you enjoy overpaying for that measly piece of ice! Hahahahahaha!" "And looks like there is a real whale in this time round''s auction, just, one which is foolish and does not know the market prices! Hahaha! I regret that I cannot accompany you to play this kind of foolish game, and I truly hope you will enjoy your well-earned purchase! I will have to withdraw myself from competing¡­ I will only bid for those items I truly want, but if the price exceeds my limit, I will withdraw and let you have them¡­" "For double the cost! Hahahaha!" Duke Moron''s emphatic announcement immediately caused the audience members to erupt with discussion among themselves. First of all, they were pretty sure that at least one part of what he was saying was false ¨C there was definitely no way he would be withdrawing, not at all! Perhaps this was just a ruse used to prevent unreasonable raising of prices in a bidding war ¨C one that would damage every party. It seemed that the veiled meaning behind the announcement was to seek common ground; a truce of sorts between himself and the hidden whale to avoid either side eating a loss. Secondly, it looked like this round, it was not the other whale who had come out on top; for despite getting his item, it was a clear psychological win by Duke Moron to aggressively raise the price¡­ And then withdraw, clearly demonstrating that he was the more experienced and seasoned bidder, able to correctly suss out just when his opponent would take the final bid, before the Duke withdrew and left his rival saddled with an overpriced snow flake. Thirdly¡­ It was all a pile of bullshit about his stopping bidding! Obviously he was just pretending and wanted people to let down their guards before he silently swooped in to snatch up his targeted items¡­! For despite Duke Moron''s loud antics thus far, he could very well himself stay silent and put in some bids with none the wiser, right¡­? While all this commotion was going on, Host Aquino trembled slightly, unsure of how to proceed. He glanced over to one of the viewing boots where a dark-robed figure was seated. The figure nodded to him and Aquino gulped once more before continuing his count. "Going twice¡­! And¡­" "Sold! To the highest bid of 125 million platinum coins! And as promised beforehand, this means that the charity pool will be increased by a whopping 12.5 million platinum coins!" And at Lars booth, a dumbstruck Lars froze with his hand hanging over the keypad where he was about to key in his bid. While the audience members were pitying the poor soul who had tried to force Duke Moron to overpay for the item (i.e. Lars), the person in question was sitting stunned in his chair beside an incredulous and bemused Charley. Lars slowly turned to Charley who raised his brows to him and scratched his head before asking Lars. "¡­If it wasn''t us who made that last bid, then who was it¡­?" 134 Auction 7 ''Father! I have done it!!! No matter what the cost, I have secured the item we have been seeking for so, so, so long! Haha! Soon, father, just wait! I shall return home and¡­ I know you''ll be displeased with me, ever so angry¡­ But father, all I want is to see you healthy and well¡­ You''re the only one I have, ever since mother and brother passed on¡­'' Everaldus Slith whispered to himself as his right-hand man and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Ancient Slith Sect wrung his hands, a balding man with wispy white hair in a receding hairline. The man was incredibly stressed out from the moment he saw his headstrong young lord defy the old master''s orders and raise the bid 50% higher than their entire years available funds. And now that it was official that they won the bid, the first thing that came to mind was this ¨C how in the world were they going to come up with 150 million platinum coins¡­?!? They only had slightly less than 100 million prepared even if they counted in all the income for this entire year! If they went into debt this year paying this off, would they even be able to keep up the recruitment and invest into the new generation of leadership in the next year¡­? It was already bad enough that recruitment was significantly down¡­ Ever since that promotional poster came out 2 years ago, one that they had invested nearly 20% of their yearly budget on¡­ The tragedy was that no one had realised that the way their sect name was printed would end up so horrific, so embarrassing, so¡­ Catastrophic! It had been printed with Everaldus'' incredibly dashing picture, a scene they had spent heavily to ensure it carried the passion, values and principles of the sect as well as the grand ambitions to expand. However, the problem was in the text on the poster which had been printed on the left side of the advertisement¡­ Ancient Slith Sect Honourable Altruistic Tenacious Seeking new recruits! With the first letters of each word lined up¡­ It didn''t even take half of a morning for the poster ¨C and the Sect ¨C to reach city-wide fame... Or should it be said, notoriety! And in the Wiarno Kingdom, just overnight, the names of Ancient Slith Sect and Everaldus had become synonymous with being an incredibly embarrassing, stupid fool! Overnight the previously steady albeit slow stream of new recruits became but a trickle, before soon drying up completely! After all, who could bear the shame of joining a group of A$$ Hats¡­? "Young master¡­ How should we do this¡­? The item we''ve brought for auction are without meaning or value, clearly items that no one in their right mind would pay 10 million platinum coins for, much less 50! How can find enough cash to even make it through this month after making the excessive payment?!?" Hearing his CFO''s words, the middle-aged Everaldus'' brows furrowed as he too had no ideas of how he would handle this. The only thing on his mind had been his father''s survival¡­ And he had thought to deal with things as they came, one at a time! The problem was¡­ There might not even be a "next week" or a "next month" for the sect based on the price he had bid! "I... I''ll think of something, I will! If worst comes to worst¡­ The only choice will be to borrow from the Laughing Man of the Underworld¡­" Everaldus grit his teeth as he convinced himself that he had made the right decision. He just hoped that he was still doing the right thing now, especially as whoever got involved with the continent-wide Underworld organisation¡­ Historically would never be able to escape! He closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands as he kneaded the bridge of his nose. ''Father¡­'' * * * * * Near the end of the auction, Lars was nursing a sore neck and a throbbing headache! Despite lucking out and not having to buy a useless (to him) Cryo Core for an unreasonable sum of money, he had then went on to struggle, agonise over and be stuck in nail-biting situations when he did try to bid for the items he wanted. Somehow or other, it felt like his rival bidder, Duke Moron who he had antagonised, could sense just which items Lars was bidding on and it seemed that each time, he was forced to overpay for what he wanted¡­! Of course, it could also have just been that the whale had just splurged his money on whatever that he wanted based on a whim¡­! Hence his current condition ¨C one that was far, far worse than anything the battle competition could do to him! He was on high-strung nerves and had to ask Charley to give him a back rub and neck massage (at the fair cost of 100 platinum coins, of course) while waiting for the last few items to be release for bdiding. After the Cryo Core went to Everaldus, Host Aquino had introduced several other items to the gathered audience:- the Firesoul Spear, an instrument of both war and respite that was enchanted with both soothing, healing flames as well as searing, devouring black flames. Despite being only a Grandmaster-level weapon, it was priced at a starting quote of 62.5 million platinum coins due to the ingenious internal circulating arrays that made the energy supply self-sustaining, causing it to not need to draw any strength or mana from it''s user. What this meant was that just about anyone, even a teenager or someone without any mana at all could wield it! This made it an amazing weapon for youths and teenagers and one that had great flexibility both in attacking and defending! Lars bid on this half-heartedly as he wasn''t too interested in the low-level item. It was eventually sold for 88.7 million platinum coins, a far cry from the grossly over-priced first item. After that, a variety of items came out and every single of these precious treasures and equipment were snapped up by fervent bidders. Items such as the Blueprints for the Seals of Bhaskaran, an ancient magical formation that could be executed in groups of 726 practitioners at the Expert-level and above, allowing them to combine and multiply their combat power and abilities by more than 8 times the sum of their individual might, summoning an 8-armed avatar of a deity to battle on their behalf. Or items like a scanner set, a rare technological-based piece of equipment that provided radar functions and could detect even World-class individuals in the vicinity. The set of scanners comprised of one portable scanner with a short range while the other scanner was meant to be installed in either a city''s defence system or on a large vessel. Even more curious in this part of the world was an Immaterial Stone, a piece of visible rock that could not be touched except by divine power or spirit sense. Though this seemed to be something very mundane, it was a rare resource that could be used in crafting to imbue an item with the spirit-element, making either a weapon that could instantly slay undead and greatly harm incorporeal enemies, or defensive gear to nearly nullify spirit-element or negative energy spells. Based on what Aquino explained, the nearly 3 kg of Immaterial Stone was vied over by only 3 bidders, however, the ending bid was nearly 300 million platinum coins due to the incredible rarity and the money-making potential; assuming one knew how to handle the material¡­ And then there were other treasures such as Blackflame Venom, the damaged (restored) hide of an Ancient Behemoth, various weapons, accessories, armour, gear or equipment, myriad natural treasures that enhanced cultivation and various other precious materials. However, it was on one item that no one seemed interested in that Lars'' heart beat like crazy and he was filled with anxiety over. "And now, ahem, m-my apologies, I don''t know why this is included in the last few items before the grand finale but, alright! Here it is! It is¡­" Host Aquino waved his hand dramatically as the hidden item was updated onto the auction participants. "An unidentified piece of a beast''s hide! Yes¡­" Aquino''s highly dramatic and rolling, ever rising enthusiasm suddenly flagged as an awkward moment hit the audience and the auction. ¡­Because what was printed on the screen this time was incredibly awkward for the auction organisers! Name of Item: Unknown Beast''s Hide Description: An unidentified piece of a beast''s hide. Damaged and old, estimated to be at least 800 years in age. Yellow with alternating red and black stripes, thickness varying between 0.5 inches to 1.5 inches. Roughly rectangular shaped measuring 1.5 metres by 0.9 metres. Abilities: ??? Starting price: 1 million platinum coins. The moment these details were updated onto the screens and the audience saw their normally confident host''s apologetic and abashed demeanour, a noisy murmur began to spread throughout the audience! They could not understand for the life of them why this kind of item would even be allowed into the auction! Could it be an act of nepotism or cronyism¡­? But even then, the person placing it for auction wouldn''t even benefit if no one bought it! And on top of that, how could it be mixed in with the last few items¡­? With such a dismal introduction and an accordingly low starting bid, it was like heaven and earth when compared to the previous item, the Red Lightning Cape which went for nearly half a billion platinum coins! But the moment this item was released to the auction participants, Lars shot to his feet, trembling. Because he heard a stunning piece of information from his normally useless¡­ Ahem, normally very busy and focused companion, Kizorik. ''Lars!!!! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT LET THAT ITEM PASS YOU BY!!!'' 135 Auction 8 ''I have no idea what type of beast has that skin, but from the fluctuations released, it''s damn precious!''''Wait a minute, what fluctuations? I can''t sense any...! And how come it''s priced so low if it''s so amazing? People don''t even know what it''s use is!''''Those fluctuations of power are only perceptible to direct contractors of the Abyss; that''s how we evaluate how many Abyss Points you''re likely to get from the item. Now, I don''t know what it can be used for except that the Abyss seems to want it sorely... Comparing it to your necklace which should be worth 2 million Abyss Points, that piece of hide should get us upwards of 150 million AP!''''150 million... What can we get?''''Dammit boy! Be a little bit more excited! It''''s enough to advance your bloodline with at least an AA or even an AAA-grade inheritance! Right now your minotaurs bloodline is just a C-grade incomplete version that takes years to nurture, whereas if you purchase a full package for say 130 million AP, it could boost your physique up instantly to the World-class level and grow into even a Myth level body!''''That good?!? But at the same time I don''t have that much left... Let''s hope no-one vies with me for it...''Lars quickly recounted what he had left again at the purchases he had made.He had spent nearly 200 million platinum coins on two sets of Void Armour, one for Charley and the other for Seline. These armours could completely dissipate any attacks of the World-class level and below, while impacts of the Legendary level would be negated by as much as 95%.It functioned by creating a Void Space around the wearer, forcing any incoming attacks or spells to overcome the null-field before affecting the user!The only reason such a powerful piece of equipment was not more expensive was that the very same null-field did not just defend against attacks, it also greatly restricted the user from making physical attacks as well as dispersing the mana all around, pretty much isolating the wearer from participating in a fight!Another 80 million was spent on a set of flexible and sturdy Apprentice Robes for himself, though the defence ratio was much weaker at 70% armour reduction and the enchantments only gave a 10-20% boost to speed, strength, mana regeneration and spell amplification, it was affordable and comfortable.The Apprentice Robes were also usable by Expert-realm practitioners, thus making it suitable for his "young form" as Lars in the upcoming Battle Through the Heavens.Finally, he had been forced to spend the most for a suitable weapon!It was not difficult to find a weapon that had low requirements for usage, enhanced one''s power significantly and granted great attacking power.What WAS difficult was finding one that did not cost a fortune.He saw his chance when a high-tech magical weapon came on display: a 13th Generation Jethi Mana Saber, Mark IV model.The weapon was merely a hilt with countless minute magical formations engraved within, while the outer surface was embossed with sturdy and hard materials. As there was no blade, the hilt could be made with heavier (and cheaper) materials, bringing down the price.What brought the price down even further was that the blade and the power of this Mana Sabre depended entirely on the amount of mana one channelled into it - which meant that it would drain the user''s mana incessantly just activating the weapon. Hence the low requirements for usage - pretty much anyone who could channel mana could activate it up to the level of one''s abilities.However, on the plus side, the glowing blue blade of light emitted by the Mana Sabre bore an amplification factor of nearly 10 times - making it an ideal cutting weapon for anyone who had an ample mana pool...Someone like Lars!After discussing with Charley on what they could afford as well as whether the weapon was the best choice rigjt now, Lars had grit his teeth and nearly grinded them in desperation as the bids for the item continuously rose until the bidding price breached 300 million platinum!And Lars finally let out a great sigh of relief when it was announced that his bid of 307 MP was the winning bid.However, that left him with barely 50 million platinum left to spend - and if he blew it on this piece of hide, then he might as well leave the auction right after rather than stare with envious green eyes at the majestic treasures that would be displayed!As such, Lars nervously caressed the "BID" button and finally, after seeing that no one else seemed to be making the first move, input a bid.A paltry sum of 1 million platinum coins; the bare minimum starting bid."Ahhh! Here we have it! Our first bid has been received for 1 million platinum! Do we have any other bids for this curio...? Else, I will be calling for the three counts now, starting... Now! 1 MP, going once...! One MP, going twice...! And..."Aquino looked around lazily as he spoke when he suddenly paused a tick, his brows flickering slightly as he received notification of a new bid. Then he realised that, just maybe, this item could be milked for a good taking as well."Wow! Ladies and gentlemen, a good choice, a good choice indeed! Despite not knowing yet what the characteristics and usage of this hide are, I assure you that you will not be wasting your money on this item! Haha! We have a new bid of 2.5 million platinum coins! Any takers for 4 million? How about it?"* * * * *Everaldus in his room trembled as he instantly regretted what he had just done.His fingers were still stuck in the gesture of pressing the "BID" button!It was he himself who had pushed the price higher in a gamble that whoever made the first bid would take the challenge and raise the stakes even higher.But right now he shook with anxiety as he realised that it was already a blessing if anyone even purchased the hide for 1 million coins - and now he could only pray for grace and mercy, that he wouldn''t end up paying 2.5 MP and end up paying a commission to the Auction House for nothing!"Please... Please make another bid... Please...!! Even if it''s just to take this as a decoration, I''m sure it''s worth more than just that to you, right...?? Please please please...! Come on and bid!!!"Aquino down below was all smiles even as, to his disappointment and Everaldus'' despair, there were no takers.And so he began to count, "2.5 MP going once! Don''t tell me that you''re not even willing to spend some pocket change to figure out what this is for...?"This was met by sarcastic mutters and disdainful voices."If even the owner couldn''t identify it''s use and is trying to offload it for a token sum, what makes us think that we could figure out what it''s good for? What do you organisers take us for, fools!?? Hah!""Exactly! Why, we''d likely end up spending more money just researching and testing it than we could even get in return!"Aquino pointedly ignored those criticisms and continued to smile as he progressed the count."2.5 MP, going twice...!"He paused and swept his gaze across the crowds, giving one last moment for a raise to come in.However, he was only met by condescending and impatient glares, urging him to hurry up and stop wasting valuable time with this fool''s show!It was with a sigh that Aquino drew in his breath and said, "2.5 MP going... No! We have a raise! Thank you, generous benefactor for your substantial raise...""To 10 million platinum coins!"And in his room, Lars clenched his fists tightly as he cursed in his heart.Who was it who was raising the bid so crazily??! 136 Auction 9 - End ''Dammit! If I let that person know that I''m desperate for it, they''ll jack up the price for nothing! And even if I strategically pull out just when they do that, I''ll end up missing out on a precious item! What should I do, what should I do???'' Lars bit his thumb nail in anxiety as his forehead throbbed, the stress getting to him. Kizorik was no better off - this was a chance for him to break through the current sealed state and begin to release his powers as more than just an imaginary friend - he would be able to perform scouting, scanning and even fight as an extra pair of hands... Err, flippers. He couldn''t bear the thought that the precious item (underpriced too) could possibly slip them by just because someone was toying with them! ''Lars! It''s still not that expensive, even if it were selling for like, 200 million platinum coins, it''s still a bargain! Even those goods on sale for nearly 500 million can''t even net you half the Abyss Points... Right! Don''t you have stuff to sell? Or like, anything to trade in to raise money? You gotta have something right...? Lars...? Lars!!'' "SHUT UP!!!" The golden-haired boy snapped and raised his voice at Kizorik before catching himself and realising - he had just roared out loud! Charley looked at Lars, spooked. Was this the so-called hearing voices in your head...? He began to inch away on the sofa and looked nervous as he stared at Lars while pretending not to look. "To hell with it! I''m going all the way, even if it costs me a fortune! BID!!!" Then, not having the time of day to explain himself to Charley, Lars shook his head and decidedly input his new bid. Down below, Aquino who was in the middle of his count suddenly froze, stunned as he received the newest bid. Then he was greatly pleased and all smiles as he recited the new leading bid amount. "Ladies and gentlemen... It looks like we have a clear leader now! At a grand price of 50 million platinum coins for this item, this represents the biggest increase in bid price versus starting price we''ve seen this whole auction! Now, with such a decisive raise, it''s almost safe to assume that the bidder has made his stance clear - this is his final price! If anyone else is planning to contend for this item, they should be prepared to at least pay this much to challenge our current leading bidder." The well-dressed host coolly folded his arms at that point while a wind from who knows where made his coat tails flutter. Then after that momentary pause, he continued. "Very well! I shall begin: 50 MP going once!" While Aquino recited these words that they had heard a thousand times over, the various members of the audience yawned or grumbled, feeling like their time was being wasted right now. They had been just about to complain to the head organisers and the nobles to skip this pretentious farce for such a worthless item - but were pre-empted by the close of this bidding. Simultaneously, Lars had risen to his feet, standing tensely with his back bent over in concentration. If he could mind control everyone else at this moment, he would surely do it and command them, "DON''T BID!!!" He stood with fists clenched tight as he mumbled to himself a mantra: ''Please please please please please.... No one bid, please!! No one interfere!!'' "Going twice!" Aquino swept his gaze over the hall quickly, and just before anyone could protest or urge him to hurry up, he declared the words Lars was waiting for. "50 million platinum coins, going thrice and SOLD!! Congratulations to our lucky winner of this bid! And now, on to our next item..." But from there, Lars could not pay attention anymore to what was said - he hurried over and pressed the button to request for service so that he could pay for his items, collect them and leave. There was another round of shopping to be done, this time from the Abyss collection! * * * * * At the same time, a middle-aged man was slumped on the floor in his viewing chamber, nearly fainted from the tension and excitement consuming him at this moment. Everaldus Slith could barely believe his luck! No, he could not at all believe it! That random piece of hide picked up from some barren wilderness by his dad... Chucked into some abandoned cellar and hidden under piles and piles of worthless junk... It turned out to be worth a whopping 50 milloion platinum coins...?!? "Thank you... Whoever you are, thank you...! Thank you thank you thank you for buying my rubbish!!! Heavens, earth, sky, gods, deities... Whoever it is! Thank you for this buyer!!! Bless this buyer everyday!!!" And it wasn''t just Everaldus who was thanking the heavens at this moment - his CFO Bernie was also on his knees, his hands and lower lip trembling in amazement as he could barely stutter out a few incredulous words. "Are... A-are...." "ARE THEY CRAZY!??! Who would even spend 15 million platinum for that mangy piece of hide...??? It''s not even resilient enough to be used as normal leather armour! It''s just that the patterns and characteristics are still unknown... I don''t... It''s just..." Bernie began to trail off into garbled mumbling as he slowly slumped to the floor, exhausted from his earlier worrying about the 40-something million platinum deficit - a worry that was now completely exacerbated. Then to his confusion, someone shook him and began to drag him off the floor and to his feet. "W-what!! What are you doing!! Get your hands off of me!!! Let go, let go--Oh, young master, it''s you." Bernie cried out in panic as he was disoriented for a moment, before his eyes refocused and he realised that it was his young master Everaldus who was pulling him to his feet. "Bernie! Bernie, hurry up! Quickly! We''ve no time to waste! We''ve gotten our longevity treasure, one of the ice element even! And now we sold our worthless item for just the right amount, what''s there left to wait for...? Let''s hurry back to father''s side and cure him, quickly!! Let''s get moving!!" Everaldus, though he was already past 45 years of age, turned into an excited young teenager as his eyes began to tear up when he spoke. He rushed and urged and harassed Bernie to get up and nearly dragged him to the door while they waited for the servants to arrive and bring them to collect their money and the goods they''d purchased. As he stood anxiously waiting for the manservant to fetch them from their room, Everaldus muttered passionately to himself. "Father... Father... We thought it was all good and over... But now, we have a chance at survival...! And most importantly... Not just by ourselves, but together with you! It''s meaningless, to continue on and grow if it''s without you, father..." * * * * * In a dimly lit room, wide and with just one chair and a small round table placed in the centre. On the table were 4 small figurines, all painted black and nearly imperceptible in the gloomy room: A black sword, a black goblet, a black skull and a black diamond. And in this room deep below the auction area, hidden within the honeycombs of the tunnels, a certain conversation was taking place even as those above began to move to collect their items as well as their payouts. A lone figure in a metallic looking cape stood cloaked, face and bodily features masked completely by the wrappings. However, one could tell three things about the figure. Firstly, he was tall, broad in shoulder and wide in girth, yet did not look overweight, but instead, incredibly powerful. Secondly, he was a man as his calm and yet icy voice sounded out in the darkness. "...You have a mark on our target...?" He spoke to no one in particular, as there was not a soul nor a sound around him anywhere the eye turned or one''s spirit sense roamed. And yet, the reply rang out, responding to his commanding voice. "Yes, milord... The three true Lords of the Underworld are ready and waiting for the marks to move. It is expected that anytime now they will begin their journeys..." "Good. Proceed. And the moment that perpetrator LARS appears..." The lone figure stretched his hands out in front of him, before lightly touching the black sword figurine. And though it was made of adamantium, one of the hardest un-enchanted materials known on the Yiluo planet, his lightest brush against it reduced it instantly into glistening black metal dust! "Slay him... And that traitor Susano..." The man''s face rose slowly, revealing a grim reaper''s mask, chilling in it''s visage, gruesome and horrifying. It was completely embossed in silver, but that was not the most noticeable aspect of the mask. The most outstanding feature was what was on it. A smile. 137 Loose Ends 1 "Sir, here are your items." Lars sat in a lush and cosy receiving room together with Charley as they waited for the attendant to return with their items. They had been led here by a different white-robed male servant from the one who had brought them to collect their won items. They were led through numerous twists and turns once more, which Lars wondered how the workers could memorise. He himself had no problem remembering exactly how many turns they''d taken and a rough positioning of where they were under the Gorun Stadium. After roughly 3 minutes of walking, they arrived in front of a sturdy looking door inlaid with various magical crystals in a formation. The servant placed an insignia he had worn around his neck against the door and the sapphire on the insignia slotted in just righ to the door, activating a teleportation array and creating a swirling blue portal where the door was earlier. The servant then bowed once to Lars and Charley before beckoning them to enter, clearly not intending to follow them through the portal. Lars returned the nod and quickly stepped into the portal. In a flash and after just a split-second''s disorientation, they found themselves in a well-decorated and opulent receiving room - a collection area for the auction participants. Upon arrival, they were greeted by another servant, a young lady who seemed to be in charge of the items collection area. The young brunette lady with a ponytail was dressed entirely in black - perhaps as a sign of her status and rank being different from the many white-robed servants. Her attire looked rather similar to that of their auction host, Aquino. Apart from her attire, the only thing that stood out about her was her face and the fact that she was considerably well-endowed in the upper areas for her slim frame... Lars looked around curiously as a blushing and awkward Charley exchanged various niceties about the weather with the lady before she smiled coolly then bowed politely and left to collect their items. There seemed to be no defences and no guards in the collections room which, apart from one entrance where guests would ingress and one exit presumably leading to the store room. ''Wasn''t this setup a bit too lax...?'' He raised his eyebrows and exchanged a glance with Charley, who shrugged in response as they continued to wait. They did not have to wait long, for the young lady returned shortly, yet strangely, she entered with empty hands save for a simple brass ring. His eyes flitted over to Charley but he was surprised that Charley did not look perturbed at all. Instead, his gaze was affixed on the woman''s chest... Ahem, the ring in her hands that she held in front of her chest. Before Lars could ask about where the items were, the lady lifted up the ring and smiled. "Sir, this spatial treasure, this storage ring is free of charge, compliments of the Gorun Auction for high-spending participants! For those who spend between 100 million to 1 billion platinum coins, they receive a storage ring with 3 cubic metres of space. It is rated as suitable for food and perishables, extending the freshness by up to 2 weeks." With a cheerful expression - probably a purely professional one - she added, "It''s been unlocked and you can add your personal mark and seal to i8t, along with your unique mana signature as a password. All you need to do to use it is to Lars blinked several times as he examined the ring while Charley admired the ring and surreptitiously snuck glances at the attendant every now and then. He gently took it from the lady''s hands who stepped back a few steps as he hefted it - it was light, unmarked and showed no signs of being anything but a common brass ring. Lars then channelled some mana into the accessory and was surprised when an etherial-looking cube of space materialised in the air before him, which was why the attendant had backed off. However, Charley who was distracted by the jiggling of a certain pair of appendages was hit by just the edge of the spatial storage space, and though he was unhurt, he was startled enough to fall onto his butt. Lars grinned wryly at his pal as he examined the items within the storage space and ensured that everything was there: the World-class rated Void Armour for Charley and Seline''s safety, Apprentice Robes which would provide him an incremental boost in overall power and the 13th Generation Jethi Mana Saber, Mark IV model which would allow him to multiply his attacking power several fold! Although he would still need time to get used to the 2 pieces of equipment for himself, his estimate was that, if before, he could reach the low Grandmaster stage with his Expert-level cultivation, he could probably contend now with peak Grandmasters! For anything beyond that, it was likely that opponents from the World-class levels onwards would also have level-exceeding combat power. As such, it was hard to tell exactly what the maximum level of opponent he could take on. However, he theorised that if the enemy were someone who reached World-class through boosts, natural treasures or cultivation pills, he was confident that he could hold his own easily! Lars thanked the attendant as he withdrew one set of Void Armour and passed it to Charley to wear. At the same time, he laid his hand on the Apprentice Robes which quickly morphed in shape and remoulded themselves to fit around his body, on top of his current clothes. This was the common practice nowadays - instead of wearing the defensive robes directly and washing them daily, they would be donned on top of the regular everyday clothing. He also strapped the Mana Saber to his belt with the harness that came together with the weapon. Having put on his new set of equipment, Lars took a glance over at the full-length wall mirror that rose until the ceiling and gave himsel a once-over. He saw in the mirror a dashingly charming young man, one who had pretty much already lost the last traces of boyishness despite his body''s young age of only 15 or 16 years old. His medium-length blonde hair was combed back neatly and fell to either side of his head, while he noticed that his once-brown eyes now had a permanent tinge of reddishness to them... He shrugged and also took in his new attire - the Apprentice Robe fit snugly around him and he could feel the arrays stitched into the clothing boost his abilities and amplify his mana output. ''Not bad... Not bad at all!'' He smiled and appreciated his own image in the mirror as Charley continued trying to chat up the girl who repeatedly but politely rebuffed his advances... But whose eyes were fixed hawkishly on Lars like a tender piece of meat she wanted to devour... Lars felt a little shiver run up his spine as he quickly thanked the lady once more and made to leave. And though she looked disappointed that he did not respond to her obvious signals of interest, she kept it to herself as she activated the portal for him to leave. He stepped into the blue swirling portal once more to return to his next task - to complete the Gorun City tournament against Vignis Jamal. Moments after Lars had left, the smiling young lady''s seductive look immediately disappeared, replaced by an impassive and stoic expression. She raised her hand to her ear and spoke to a hidden listener, quietly enough that one would have to be right beside her to hear it. "Milord, this is lookout main - our targets are heading for the interception point..." * * * * * While this was happening, in another reception room manned by another black-clad attendant, Everaldus Slith was also leaving after having received his Cryo Core within a similar brass storage ring. And as he left, the attendant in charge similarly raised a hand to his ear and pressed the button there, before softly whispering, "Milord, this is lookout number 3. The mark has left the auction grounds... I repeat, the mark has left the auction grounds..." 138 Grand Finals 1 Regardless of the undercurrents occurring in the background, as the saying goes, the show must go on. The audience had begun trickling in roughly 30 minutes before the Grand Finals were slated to start. Some came back just because they had nothing else to do, after having eaten and rested, there was nowhere else to go. After all, there were countless citizens left jobless and unemployed or underemployed, unable to find enough work to occupy themselves even on a festive day with many visitors to the city. Albeit the number of guests was also far lower than it would have been prior to the devil disaster... Lars had retreated for barely 10 minutes to test out this new equipment before heading over to the contestants'' waiting area - though he was the only one there apart from the tournament support staff and admins. Charley however took the chance to discuss with Seline on their investments and some trade deals they were planning for. One of the things they planned to do was to establish their own banking and financial services firm, but that would be a plan for the long-term. In the meantime, most of what they could invest in was public construction and infrastructure, taking advantage of the burly and strong members of Susano''s "Sword" members formerly from the Underworld. In the end, their core business had become contractor and construction work...! Of course, they also took on odd jobs requiring certain other "skills" such as protection or intimidation... But that was a story for another time. Separately, a girl was fully hooded in a cloak, her features completely covered. She was seated in one of the Jamal family''s private booths. As per earlier, it was only the girl, her father and one servant ready to attend to their needs and requests. The girl sat with her elbows on her knees and leaned forward, seated on the edge of the divan she was on. She looked eager to get into action - impatient even. All the while, her father, Yusof Jamal looked on with concern and worry, every now and then his lips parting as if intending to say something, but each time he would once again fall silent, unable to speak the words on his lips. In the end, he kept his silence, his thoughts going unsaid, his feelings going unspoken. But he sat there, by her side, worried eyes on her and praying for her safety and well-being. * * * * * On the dot of 2.25pm, just 5 minutes before the scheduled start of the Grand Finals match, an unseen gong sounded loudly, smothering and drowning out the rumbling murmurs of the crowd. Their voices were immediately swallowed up as they raised their eyes to the stage down below where a white-clothed figure suddenly appeared, standing with his hands clasped behind his back and his long white hair flowing freely in the afternoon breeze. It was none other than the host, organiser and Head Adminstrator of the Gorun tournament, Mr White! He cast his gaze left and right, pausing for a moment to meet eyes with and bow slightly to the premier viewing box where Duke Leanne and the other family heads were seated. Then once the stadium had quietened down sufficiently, he cleared his throat and spoke with a clarion-clear voice enhance by his cultivation. "Ladies and gentlemen... We are obviously all here and gathered today for one reason - to witness who will prevail as the new top talent of the young generation! Will it be Lars...?" He paused emphatically as cheers began to boom throughout the stadium for the dark horse of the tournament who had upset everyone''s predictions by defeating Darius with a last-minute breakthrough. Then he continued his address. "...Or will it be last year''s runner-up, Vignis Jamal, heiress of the Jamal family and grand-daughter of the Wiarno hegemony...?" This time there were similarly loud cheers, only slightly more subdued as many in the crowd had not seen her in action in the past tournament. Nevertheless, they were still believers in the natural rule of the world - the strong would trample on the weak, while the rich would trample over the strong! Clearing his throat once more, Mr White carried on, "To spare you the long-windedness, I will only ask you one question before we begin..." Then he raised both arms into the air and waved enthusiastically to the crowds and shouted out loud, "ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" He was met by explosive roars of excitement, this time more than three-fold louder than the cheers of support for either candidate. Even the neutrals who supported neither side were eager to see this highly-anticipated match between the power and speedy all-rounder Vignis Jamal and the magic wielding expert who had emerged out of nowhere, Lars. After nearly 30 seconds of raucous applause and yells from the crowds, Mr White motioned for the people to let him speak and quieten down. Then he beamed brightly and pointed over to the contestant''s waiting area where Lars was seated. "I believe we need no introduction for the contestant who you have seen several times over the past week and today itself. Let us welcome Miller Knight Larsson, today''s challenger for the title of Gorun tournament''s champion!" Lars walked up at a steady pace from the waiting area as he looked left and right while nodding in appreication at the shouts of support coming from the audience. He was rather warmed that he as an outsider and stranger could receive such support and encouragement - though he was also aware that this was only because he was winning. The moment he lost... He shook his head and smiled wryly, not bothering to complete the thought as he ascended the steps to stand on the battle arena ring - newly replaced as the earlier one was too damaged to continue using for fights. Mr White nodded to him warmly and then raised his chin to once more announce to the crowd the next fighter. "And the runner-up of the previous tournament, the reigning champion due to Alayna de Caldis'' ascension to the Master-level... At the very peak of the Elite-realm, standing at 179 cm tall and weighing in at 77 kg..." "Vignis Jamal!!!" The earlier seated cloaked figure leaped out of the 50 metre high viewing booth she had been in and quickly landed on the arena grounds with a loud and solid thump. She then immediately began to walk over to the battle ring without removing her covering cloak. Lars looked on with curiosity, but began to feel strangely tense as the girl approached the stage. His head was filled with question marks as he wondered what it was that could give him this sense of pressure. He would ask Kizorik or Velzash, but it was time for the duos afternoon nap right now... And they would pester him relentlessly throughout the day and the night if he interrupted their precious sleepie timey...! He glanced around quickly, taking in the expressions of Mr White and any of the nobles or higher-ups he could catch sight of. However, he was stumped when he realised wondered if it could be some form of energy similar to his Demon-Hunting Arts - one that was not commonly encountered and was difficult to detect. Whatever it was though, he dismissed the sense of danger. After all, just how dangerous could a mere peak Elite-level opponent be...? He nodded and smiled at the girl as she took the stage on the opposite side, but he couldn''t tell if she returned the gesture. So he watched with expectation as she began to doff her cloak. But the moment he caught sight of her face, his mouth gradually fell open and agape at what he saw. And it was not just him who was stunned at the reveal, whether it was the audience members or the observing nobles and high-ranked visitors, they were all greatly shocked when they saw her face. Her face was nearly the same as any other''s, merely, there was but one difference. At the centre of her forehead where others would just have a smooth patch of skin, there was now a bulging milky white pearl embedded which appeared to not be a separate attachment but rather something that had been integrated into her head and skull. And the moment Lars laid eyes on it, the milky white surface suddenly split open horizontally at the centre and revealed a hypnotic purple pupil, devilishly enchanting and infinitely beautiful. Only, it was also completely unnatural and caused Lars'' to feel a chill run up his spine. And amidst the shock and surprise arising from the sight of the unnatural organ implanted onto Vignis'' forehead, one voice drew the most attention as it belonged to one of great authority as well as one who recognised it for what it was: Duke Moron of the Wiarno Kingdom. "By... By the gods!!! It cannot be!!! How could it be here... The fabled, Mythical-level god''s inheritance..." "The Eye of Omerod!!!" 139 Grand Finals 2 ''Mythical level...? This is the first time I''ll actually be facing something from that stage... But it should be under-powered and restricted by the host''s capabilities... So Mythical artefact fuelled by Expert-realm powers, huh...?'' The corners of Lars'' mouth turned up with excitement. ''Seems like a fair fight! Just like me... Heh! Nevertheless... This would be my first taste of stepping past the Legendary stage and facing the next realm...'' ''Let me see just what my own limits are right now!'' Mr White was intrigued as well when he saw the exceedingly valuable inheritance treasure, the Mythical artefact integrated in Vignis'' body. He gave one final glance to both Lars and Vignis, then upon seeing that they were as ready as they could be, he began to step backwards as he raised his hands and struck them together in a deafeaning thunderclap. Then he declared, "For the Grand Finals of the Gorun City tournament and for the title of the pinnacle of the younger generation... I now officiate the start of the clash between our incumbent champion by default, Vignis Jamal... Versus the challenger, Miller Knight Larsson...!" "The Grand Finals fight... FIGHT!!!" With those words, Mr White''s body turned into a white streak as he shot off the stage and stood at the side, ready to referree the match as well as intervene before any fatal injuries could happen... And he had the feeling that dangerous situations very well might come to pass! On one side of the ring, Vignis Jamal slowly lifted up her weapons, keeping them lightly balanced in the palms of either hand at her sides. She held a paired set of artefacts, a medium-length straight bladed sword in her right hand and a long dagger with a wide blade held in reverse grip. Both the blades had a slight bluish reflection about them, indicating the high-quality materials used in their crafting. With her fiery eyes and her auburn-cum-blonde hair tied back in a pony-tail to avoid obscuring the eye''s line of sight, she looked like a soldier born for the battlefield, ready to unleash hell onto all her enemies. It seemed almost as if though there were a red aura tingeing the edges of her body, emanating from her frame with a slow ebb and flow of power. This was in stark contrast to the purple shining pearl smack dab in the centre of her forehead, illuminating her surroundings with a nearly violet sheen suffusing the stage. And this eye was fully locked on to Lars, not even once blinking since the moment she had unveiled her appearance and ever since the lids of that eye had parted! She was also dressed in a well-cut brown pants and shirt with turqoise blue linings threading through the surface - runic formations to enhance the attacking power and the defences of the wearer. Her counterpart Lars was also decked out in new gear - the Apprentice''s Robes which resized to fit him snugly and was neither too short nor too long, making him look much more the part of a mage. However, his mage''s image was slightly disturbed by the dark grey sword hilt hanging at his hip that looked like a metallic scroll case - the Mana Saber. Based on the rules of the tournament, the weapons and armour on the two competitors'' bodies should be limited to the peak of the Elite-stage and not costing more than 10,000 platinum coins. However, for the sake of giving the contestants the best opportunity to exert their strength, this rule had been lifted at the behest of Duke Leanne herself. As such, the twin-blades in Vignis'' hands were precious items albeit still only at the Master-level to ensure she could fully control the weapons. Similarly, Lars was freed up to use his Apprentice''s Robes as well as the Mana Saber as the former was only at the Master-level while the latter though Legendary in rating would be held back by the mana reserves of the user. Only... No one could predict that this user pretty much had an unlimited mana pool! Lars grasped the Mana Saber in his right hand and raised it to chest height before activating it with a Schvrmmmmmmm! sound[1]. A brilliant blue cylindrical blade of concentrated mana rose out of the hilt and flared with mesmeric power! He stood ready for the start of the battle and kept his eyes locked on his opponent. Vignis in return raised her eyebrows once, then showed a smile - the first expression on her face since she had stepped on the stage. At the side, far off in the stands, Yusof Jamal rubbed his hands together, eyes frowning and body tense with worry. One would wonder whether his worry was warranted since it was only a competition match between two juniors after all. However, it seemed that Yusof knew something that others did not as he continued to grind his teeth in his anxiety as he sat at the edge of his seat. And he could only pray for his offspring''s safety from the sidelines, praying that she would be safe and sound, returning in a whole frame of mind and body after this fight... Back on the stage, Vignis herself then relaxed slightly, which prompted Lars to cock his head curiously. "...?" He was filled with question marks as he saw the tension leave her body, only to hear her speak her mind. "Miller Knight Larsson... Lars... I have seen your prowess in the previous battle... And before we start ours, I would like to speak a few words. If you don''t mind...?" She smiled slightly as she spoke, looking every bit the lady even as she still exuded a heavy aura of fervour and aggression. Lars blinked twice then nodded, "...Thank you...? Sure, we can talk, I guess...?" He cast a glance sideways at Mr White who shrugged and folded his hands in response, as if saying it was up to them whatever they wanted to do. Vignis nodded, acknowledging their permission to speak. "Out of respect for you... I would like to warn you to take this seriously from the get-go... Let me warn you about one thing first... No amount of trickery will get past this eye! And I am not inferior in any way to Darius in terms of close combat, speed or strength! And out of respect once more, I will inform you... I can only fight all-out for the first 5 minutes... No, if it''s truly at 100%, it will only be for the first 3 minutes..." She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath - but the eye on her forehead remained staring at Lars as she did so. Then her two eyes opened once more and she spoke with determination but also with pleading in her voice. "Please give me the honour of your full strength! Show me whatever abilities, tricks or secret arts you used to subdue Darius and prove to me... Who is truly the best of the younger generation! Me... Or you!" Mumbles broke out through the crowds as they were impressed by the degree of respect the young lady of the Jamal house was showing to her rival even as Lars'' eyes widened slightly in surprise at her words. Then he smiled and nodded, saying, "Accepted! Then... Let us fight to our hearts'' content!!" Vignis gaze brimmed with passion, whether towards battle or towards whatever it was, no one could tell - but as she adjusted her stance and prepared for the first move, everyone present was full of expectations for the grand clash between two geniuses of the highest level! Lars lowered his stance in preparation, waiting for Vignis to take the initiative - which she did! She leaped forward, instantly closing 90% of the distance between them and was upon him in a flash! The dagger in her left hand swooped up from below in a lethal arc aimed at his bowels while her sword descended in a chopping blow to crush him from above, just like a wolf''s fangs viciously closing in on Lars! He frowned as he widened his feet and kicked off backwards but found that the twin blades continued to pursue him like a set of ravenous jaws eager to devour him! However, instead of continuing to dodge backwards in futility, Lars smirked and wielded his Mana Saber for the first time. Yet it was not for defence, but in a counter-attack! ''The best defence is a good offence! Take this!'' "Chasing Shadow!" He used his speediest and most elusive sword move, causing his blue blade to flicker and blur, to turn into a zig-zag and sudden appear at the neck of his opponent - defying the flow of the clash and reversing the role of attacker and defender! And Vignis'' eyes hardened as her eyes took in the sight, frantically calculating her next move... To exchange blows and perish together? Or to withdraw and lose her prey...? 140 Grand Finals 3 It turned out her choice was simple: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth! Vignis maintained a focused look as she abandoned her defences and put her all into her sword-and-dagger assault from above and below, causing Lars to be shocked. In that split second, he ended up being the one who was forced to withdraw his blow halfway, incurring injuries to his muscles as he strained them to get out of the way all of a sudden. He burst his mana through his body to stop his advance and even triggered flight to send his body up and out of the way. Finally, Vignis could only click her tongue in disappointment as Lars twisted his body sideways to slip past her dual strike and float up into the air. However, because of the sudden impulse on his body coming from the change in directions, the inertia also ended up twisting his muscles, causing them to be sore and weakened for at least 15 seconds while he healed himself! So he could only quickly speed off into the air and away from Vignis as she leapt into the air and unleashed a crescent slash with her sword, trying to catch him before he got out of range. He managed to make a quick zig-zag mid air and once more slip out of the way, narrowly escaping the incisive strikes. Lars sweated as he applied healing onto his inflamed muscles, reducing the swelling that came from the unnatural evasion he had made. What was going on in this girl''s mind? Did she not have any sense of self-preservation? He did notice the sheen of purple-red mana across her skin, however there was no way those light defences could possibly thwart his high-powered Mana Saber... Right...? But Lars could not spend much time thinking it over as just seconds after he got out of range, he was forced to be on guard once more as Vignis rocketed into the air in his direction, buoyed by a pair of shining wings emerging from near her shoulder blades! ''Shit! I should have guessed she''d have prepared some method of flight or at least anti-flight precautions!'' Lars quickly turned to the defensive and desperately fended off his opponent''s quick slashes and stabs. Everytime he threatened a counter-attack, instead he would be forced to turn tail and retreat as she pressed for an equally mortal exchange of wounds. And in just those short exchanges, Vignis proved more than capable of taking him on with power, speed, skills and capabilities on par with the full-powered Darius - all from the get-go! It was made even worse by the fact that she fought in a style that literally risked her life and well-being just to prove her worth in a "friendly" competition match... In the midst of his flurried avoidance, suddenly a tremor rippled through his skin and Vignis pulled back mid-stroke, before the space before her was cleaved clean in half, leaving a zone of vacuum as even the air in the space was swept away by the intensity of the blow! ''I really should have done this earlier...'' Lars cursed as he felt the soreness in his joints from the strenous clash. His body pulsed with strength as he exerted the strength of his minotaur bloodline and felt a new breath of energy flowing through his body. "Come on!!! Face me with all you''ve got!! That''s more like it!!" On the other hand, Vignis flipped backwards head over heels once before shooting off towards him once more, rising up into the air before crashing back downwards with all the momentum she could muster. And as her eyes lit up with a spark of purple, mirroring the hue of what was in her 3rd eye, she opened her mouth wide and spoke clearly as she struck. "Grand Crusher Calamity!!!" The auburn haired fighter''s dagger and sword were held in an "X" shape as a grand purple cross of energy formed where her weapons touched. Seeing her forceful attack, Lars brandished his sword in a two-handed grip by his waist, ready to meet her blow pound for pound with his strongest move too! "Void Splitter!!!" Even the atmosphere surrounding Lars'' body seemed to dim as his blade rose to meet the female warrior''s violet-explosion of energies. The purple radiance from her blades too seemed to flicker under the influence of his sky-breaking slash infused with rippling spatial laws. Everyone who could keep up with the duo''s flashing moves held their breaths in anticipation of the monumental clash of force, while those who couldn''t follow the fight were in awe despite their cluelessness about what was going on. All they knew was from their fellow spectators'' expressions and reactions that this was one hell of an intense battle! Lars continued pouring in all the mana he could reasonably muster while still ensuring that he limited himself only to the peak of the Elite-realm. And on the other hand, a slightly sinister glow was being emitted from the third eye on Vignis'' forehead, almost as if though... She was about to trigger a hidden skill! Lars tensed his body in wariness even as their blades nearly touched one another''s, and he began to divert 10% of his mana in preparation for any surprises. He didn''t really have any idea of what abilities the additional orb of vision gave her so far, except for letting her keep up with his moves as if she were a super-computer and react instantly to everything he did. And just before their attacks slammed into each other, Vignis let out a savage roar... As her cross-shaped purple-red energy attack suddenly launched off her blades and impacted Lars before he had exerted his full force in his swing! "!!!!!!!!!!!" In shock, Lars Mana Saber was nearly knocked out of his hands as he had not yet reached the full build-up of his attack - her sudden change from a melee blow to a ranged attack messed up his attacking point and connection point of his Void Splitter move, effectively halving the force and disrupting his balance! The violet-crimson cross-shaped attack had transformed into a searing projectile that Lars could only forcefully resist as he was carried by its flight all the way across the sky! The outcome was that Lars was sent plummeting from where he had been soaring in the air, ascending up to meet Vignis'' attack, rocketing straight for the edge of the ring... And perhaps to even fall out of the boundary! With the air knocked out of his lungs and heavy wounds, Lars was struggling to his utmost to dispel the Grand Crusher Calamity and detach himself from the sudden attack! Coughing up blood as the pressure began to mount on his body, he strained and strained and strained and finally burst out with an explosion of mana to free himself. Yet it was not so simple as just getting out of the way of the magical attack - there was also the launcher of that attack to deal with - Vignis did not let up for the slightest moment, using every ounce of her energy and mana to chase after Lars! "It''s not over yet! Starfire Shot!!!" She shot forth after him, running on the ground with rapid footsteps then spinning once before launching the dagger in her hand, aimed unerringly at Lars. Lars hit the ground of the arena heavily with a bang, cracking the stone floor before he bounced off roughly. And before he knew it, the flying dagger was upon him, coated in smouldering tongues of blue flames. In the middle of his tumbling and turning from the impact, Lars still found the presence of mind to engage flows of wind under his body and change his body''s flight out of the path of the blue-fire dagger. However, to his horror, even as he turned in mid-air and moved at an angle, the dagger turned to follow him like a heat-seeking missile! Frowning deeply, Lars turned solemn as he realised that he just couldn''t avoid the dagger that seemed to be guided by Vignis'' spirit sense. He spared a split-second glance only to see that the eye on her forehead was shining incandescently with a mystical purple light - evidence that she was not just idling by while she waited for the dagger to connect! ''Damn!! Shields!!!'' Lars cast whatever defensive spells he could, including summoning a veritable wall of water almost 3 metres thick before him and surrounding his body to defend against the star-fire blade. As star-fire was far hotter than normal flames, he did not stinge with his mana and also raised his own weapon to brace himself for the impact... But to his horror once more... He was shocked! Literally! The glowing blue dagger that shot through the air wasn''t coated in star-fire... It was lightning! Blue tongues of electricity! Jolted by the waves of shocking currents that were conducted and helped by the walls of water around his body, Lars was electrocuted and stunned for 0.1 seconds... Though it was but the shortest of moments, nevertheless it was a window in which his guard and blade dropped just ever so slightly... Even as the dagger pierced right through his left ribs and knocked him spinning round and round and round in a mess of blood! 141 Grand Finals 4 ''F***!!!!'' Lars lost his temper and was pissed off when he realised he had been tricked into defending himself from the "fire" attack, and then completely lost it when he was pierced right through by the thrown dagger from Vignis. ''What the f*** is going?!? This... This little kid! Dammit! It hurts, dammit!'' Lars could not catch even a moment''s break at that time, as when he fell to the ground with the dagger embedded in the left side of his ribs. Every time he tried to move the littlest bit, pain would lance through his senses from the lightning crackling through the enchanted blade. And he didn''t have any chance to even raise his blade when Vignis came rushing at him with her remaining sword in hand! ''Flight? No, she''ll close it off again! Ahhhhh!!! Dammit, looks like I can''t just rely on swordsmanship...'' His frustrated eyes turned cold as tendrils of mana began to pulse through his body. ''Time to get serious!'' Lars stood his ground and began to calculate at super-speed his next moves. Though, it was not like he had the mobility to avoid anyway. Vignis'' eye flickered slightly as she seemed to sense something change in Lars'' demeanour and suddenly slowed in her approach, showing how highly she regarded her wounded opponent. Nevertheless, there was no backing down from this clash and so she channelled purple and red mana into her sword once more, causing it to light up like a pillar of eldritch fire. At a distance of about 10 metres away from Lars, she then lifted the sword above her head in a 2 handed grip and unleashed a flaming wall of blazing fire surging towards Lars! Her target, Lars, instantly reacted, this time not trying to block it with water but to stop it at a distance. He slapped the ground with a shimmering palm of mana and yelled out, "Level 3: Earth Spike!", causing the stone floor to ripple upwards before a section burst upwards to stop the wall of fire heading towards him! Just in time too, as the flames immediately slammed into the stone wall with a roar! "BOOOOMMMM!!!!" Lars was shaken from the sheer volume of the explosion as the stone barrier before him shattered apart in front of the ferocity of Vignis'' attack! ''What the--What kind of fire attack is--'' But Lars had no chance to complete his thoughts as he cast several spells straight at the incoming fire wall that had gone unhindered by his defensive stone barrier. Hurriedly, Lars unleashed a rainbow flurry of prismatic spells, whether physical bolts, arcane bullets, magic missiles or a cone of frigid air to counter the surge of flames coming towards him. "Useless!" Vignis yelled as she was hidden somewhere beyond his field of vision, drawing Lars attention and keeping him on edge. But he quickly returned his attention to resisting the fiery attack barrelling towards him. "BAMMMM!!!!" The ground under his feet shook from the shockwave as a singular, focused wall of power struck against his plethora of spells, and Lars struggled to keep his footing while keeping his eyes peeled in the face of the explosion of dust and smoke erupting before his eyes. ''I really need to learn a signature, focused spell... I can''t keep relying on just using a large quantity of spells to fight back anymore... It''s too inefficient...'' He watched carefully and suddenly caught a glint of light from the corner of his eye through the dust. ''There...!'' Lars flicked his hand toward the light and simultaneously dodged to his left, releasing a wave of force to slow down Vignis'' advance. But just a half-second later, his eyebrows rose and his expression froze when a thrown sword emerged from the dust cloud, revealing the source of the glint of light... And Vignis was nowhere to be seen! The wave of force caused the thrown blade to wobble slightly and veer off target, piercing into the surface of the ground off to the side. Then all of a sudden, Lars a dull grey blur shot into his vision and Lars did all he could to defend and avoid it, but instead, the projectile pierced right through his hip! "ARGHH!!" Lars cried out in pain as electricity coursed through his veins once more, carried by the 12.7x99mm bullet that sliced through his armour and Apprentice Robes like a hot knife through butter and lodged into his flesh and bones! Unable to bear the pain and the shock to his senses, Lars momentarily blacked out and slumped weakly to the floor, limp and spasming under the electric shocks as the auburn haired girl unloaded the bullet casing from her sniper rifle, the hot smoke still wafting out of the gun''s barrel. With deft movements, she quickly reloaded her gun and was poised to fire once more within less than 2 second, raising the gun to her eye and nocking the no-scope sniper rifle! The hairs on the back of Lars neck stood on end and he felt the back of his scalp grow numb as he snapped back into reality. Then before he met his doom at Vignis'' hands, he quickly leaped into the air, soaring off at a diagonal angle and tried to make himself a harder target to hit as he frantically dodged in every direction. But everytime he changed direction, the hairs on his whole body would stand on end again, indicating that the 3-eyed girl had locked on to him again each time! "Lars! It''s been a worthy match! But our 2 minutes are nearly up! Looks like I''ll have to end this!! Good game, well played... See you in the spectators'' stands from now on!!" She pulled back on the trigger carefully even as the purplish eye on her forehead began to grow strained, turning pink around the edges as the veins within the organ started to emerge. She concentrated more and more and more and suddenly, an esoteric form of rhythm seemed to form between herself and the dodging Lars as it was as if though the arena were a dance floor, Lars a dancer and herself the DJ... A DJ about to pull off the grand finale of the night''s performance and bring down the curtains on this great battle! And it felt as if though time froze for just an instant as she pulled the trigger and her sonorous voice rang out through the hearts and minds of everyone in the arena, the bell-like tone rippling outwards and clearing up everyone''s mind. "Gun-Blade Unity: Deadbeat Shot!!!" A peculiar rhythm seemed to emerge, a drumbeat formed between the heavens and the earth as the concepts of the blade and the gun intertwined and resonated with Lars'' movements. His eyes turned wide in shock, the whites of his eyes showing as he felt space constrict around him and the "flow" of reality sucking him in, drawing him against his will into a dance routine he could not resist... Into the soaring bullet that glinted with a sinister purple and red light, instilled with all the energy Vignis had left in her person! Then time began to speed up again and the bullet instantly exploded through Lars'' chest, causing blood to spray forth from the cavernous wound formed on his chest. In that moment, even Mr White was not quick enough to rescue Lars; he could only cover three-quarters of the distance by the time he could react, and watched with horror as Lars'' chest caved in from the calamitous bullet released from Vignis'' rifle. Helplessly, Mr White, Duke Leanne and every person watching could only dumbly witness his lifeless body tumbled through the air like a kite with its string cut, land with a thud, bounce several times and finally flop down to the stone floor... Motionless, without any signs of mana, blood energy or movements... Without any signs of life. Stunned and despairing, Mr White rushed over to the spot where Lars had landed, far outside the ring, thrown nearly 150 metres from the impact of the ravaging bullet. And when he landed beside Lars, his face fell in dismay, and he could only gape in shock and awe as he gasped and exclaimed. "This... This is... This..." 142 Grand Finals End Off in the distance, an exhausted Vignis struggled to stay on her feet, wobbling every now and then until after 3 seconds of fighting to stay upright, she swayed once, then twice and then toppled over, landing on her rump heavily. She had won. But there was no smile of satisfaction nor one of victory on her face - instead, it was only a look of fatigue and tiredness. She had won, yes... But at what cost? Both to herself and... To the talented youngster who she couldn''t afford to hold back against at all... She had spent the last 2 years since the previous tournament honing not just her trademark dual-blade fighting style, but had carefully developed her skills in long-ranged combat as well. The approach that people would naturally expect would be throwing her blades, and so she had gone a step further... Or rather many, many steps further and mastered sniping and firearms! After that, she had practised it in secret time and time again with her father, mother and Uncle Jack who trained her incessantly, all for the sake of surprising Leocadius who excelled at long-range control. She could hardly bear to wait to see the look of shock on his face when he opened the distance and then got gunned down from afar while he was chanting his spells! Alas, things had not turned out that way. Leocadius too had hidden his trump card deeply - so deeply that no one could have guessed what it was... He had sold his soul to the devil for power and lost the qualifications of being a rival, competitor or... Or a potential lover. Leocadius would have hidden defences to trigger ahead of the final bullet. Those defences would trigger and thus disqualify him, leaving Vignis as the victor. In fact, she had calibrated the bullet to ensure it would surpass any equal-level defences - the only drawback being the difficulty in pinning the opponent down and finding the gap to fire... And today, the inheritance that her grandfather, King Soron, had left for her solved exactly that problem. The operation had gone smoothly, just leaving her slightly fatigued, but not something that could not be solved by an hour or two of rest. The Eye of Omerod; Mythical semi-biological artefact of the time domain. The treasure granted its host almost unmatched perception, speeding up their sense of time greatly so much so that it would seem the world around them slowed down. The drawback then was the incredible drain on the user''s mental state as well as their mana, causing Vignis to only be able to function at maximum capability for barely 2 minutes. On top of that, the Eye of Omerod also empowered her attacks with the Blessing of Omerod; allowing her to infuse attacks with multiple elements, such as her earlier starfire + blue lightning attack that caught Lars off guard. After that was the wall of flames which she had imbued with the earth element, allowing her to focus great force into the erstwhile insubstantial fire element attack. The finishing blow then had been a single bullet into which she channelled the entirety of her being, whether her physique being strained to the utmost, her mana being focused completely and her mind nearly collapsing under the mental stress! But no matter how powerful her skills or abilities were, what truly had given her the victory was not those. No, it made her burn with shame to admit it, but she knew that she could not defeat Lars - or even Darius - if she had just confronted them head-on and openly...! What had given her the victory was none other than blatant lying and deception! First, acting as if though she were looking for a close-combat clash... And putting herself on a timer to win his trust and lull him into a frontal collision. Then dramatically shouting out the names of her attacks, only to reverse the entire nature of the moves and shock him with waves of lightning instead of fire. After that, while still in mid-air, she had given him the impression that her "Crusher" attack would be a melee strike, only to turn it into a mid-ranged blow, messing up his concentration and accumulation of force. And finally, after setting up all of these traps, keeping him on his toes all the time against a close-range attack... Only to pull out a finishing blow from more than 80 metres away - an unavoidable, undodgeable distance for a sniper rifle where the bullet would travel at several times the speed of sound for the first 1 kilometre - impossible for a person to even perceive, much less dodge! Panting heavily, Vignis felt her vision swim and pressed her eyes closed, trying to overcome the wave of dizziness as she lay flat on her back on the ground. She felt cold sweat drip down her brow and sting her eyes, then wiped away the liquids and struggled to her feet. Only to find a Mana Saber at her neck, ready and armed. Held by Lars who should be dead or at least on the brink of death by now... But who was standing over her, grinning sheepishly, looking like he felt bad to be winning like this. Vignis felt her head spin and heard some garbled words. The dizzying noise of the crowds was like a wall of sound knocking into her head, making her begin to topple over once more. Only when she was lying on the ground once more did she realise what those words had said. "Your winner, and the winner of the Gorun City Tournament for youths and also the qualifying candidate for the Battle Through the Heavens National-level competition..." "Miller, Knight... LARSSON!!!! GIVE IT UP!!!" Vignis felt cold liquids sting her eyes once more as she lay there with her eyes jammed shut. Though whether it was sweat or tears, she knew not. She didn''t want to know. * * * * * Just moments before, Mr White stood stiff beside Lars'' collapsed body, complexion pale and in a state of shock. Then when he realised what he was seeing, he could not help himself but to exclaim out loud, "This is... This is a wooden puppet??!?" It was not Lars! It was not Lars who was struck through the centre of his chest by the shattering, piercing and penetrating bullet that burst right through his body! The blood that spurted out... It wasn''t blood at all but paint! And the "body"... Was just a wooden frame painted to unerringly resemble Lars! Mr White involuntarily took one step backwards and stumbled slightly as one thought urgently crossed his mind. ''But if that''s just a puppet, then where is Lars...? Where has he been all this while?!?'' The crowds had still not caught on to what had happened, and the noise was rather suppressed under the oppressive mood. After all, even those who had supported Vignis had not expected a young talent to perish here. And there were in truth many more who cheered Lars on as they had watched him progress through the many rounds of the competition, whereas the last time they had witnessed Vignis fight was more than 2 years ago. And so they were the ones who were the most shocked when they saw a lone figure emerge in the middle of the damaged ring, bare-chested, bruised and covered in dust. The boy casually got up out of the ruptured stone floor, pulling off almost exactly the same move he had against Darius - submerging himself underground and out of sight! Only this time he had gone a step further and provided a life-like, realistic, enchanted and illusory form, going so far as to even place his torn armour and robes on the puppet in the few short moments when the explosions had hidden him from Vignis'' sight! Lars grinned as he walked over to the half-unconscious Vignis. He picked up his Mana Saber on the way and activated it at the minimum setting. ''Right about 2 minutes now... Okay! She should be out of gas!'' He thought as he stood over her limp body. "Checkmate...?" He asked politely as he smiled, feeling a bit ashamed at the method he had used to win. But it wasn''t his fault, right...? It was just using a little bit of deception in return... He had sensed something not quite right after the second move she had made, the crushing mid-air melee blow that had turned instead into a mid-ranged attack. And once his danger senses began to tingle, he had made his mental preparations. Level 7: Simulacrum! A copy of himself that retained his abilities, albeit only able to use spells up to 1 level below his own mastery - which didn''t matter, as all he needed the clone to do was to fly around, flitting here and there under his true body''s mental control. And that was all it took to bait his lovely lady opponent into using up all of her abilities - uselessly against a hunk of wood clone! Of course, setting up the clone didn''t come free - using a spell that was more than 3 levels above his current capabilities meant that he was left with an empty tank! It was a good thing that Vignis was even lower on gas right now - she was probably overdrawn and weaker than a kitten. As he stood over her and saw her eyes begin to tear up as she realised she had lost, he let out a breath of relief. He retracted his mana blade and walked back towards the contestants'' resting area, tired and worn out from the taxing fight. ''Kids these days... They''re getting better and better... I guess...?'' He forgot that, at least in this world, he too was just a kid. * * * * * Mr White watched Lars'' retreating back as the audience slowly began to pick up their applause, growing from a soft rumble to the crash of the ocean waves finally to a sound as loud as standing beside a interstellar rocket during takeoff - enough to turn a person deaf if they were exposed to it too long! Mr White allowed Lars to leave to rest and wash up, as the prize giving ceremony would be held together with the 2nd and 3rd placed Vignis and Darius only after the contestants cleaned up. He was also looking forward to the surprise he had in store for not just Lars but those who had lost to him. His eyes gleamed and he smiled in expectation as he thought about how they would be gobsmacked when they received their prizes! 143 Loose Ends 2 After that Grand Finals had ended, Mr White briefly conferred with Duke Leanne who had a personal word with him. He went up to her grand stand private box and received his instructions dutifully, then returned to the stage below to announce the decision. "ATTENTION!" His loud booming and low voice shocked the spectators who were busy discussing the battle they had seen. It was somewhat of a puzzle and a mystery to most of the audience members as the fight had happened in a blitz then ended within 3 minutes. What''s more, the clashes had been clouded by dust, smoke and explosions which, despite being kick a** cool, also obstructed their view of the action. As a result, there were countless small pockets of heated conversations going on around the stadium between passionate fans of either contestant. Some felt that the result was absurd - wasn''t it Vignis who had dominated from the beginning till the last legs of the battle? And wasn''t Lars'' victory merely a matter of deceptive moves, never truly facing his counterpart''s powers full-on? On the other hand, proponents of the boy claimed the moral high ground, stating that it was Vignis who had begun with deception first - at least, this was the view of those sophisticated enough to keep track of the combatants'' moves. More than half the spectators couldn''t do this and were listening with rapt attention even despite the deafening noise of voices all around them, trying to catch a recounting of the earlier fight. In fact, even the nobles and those of higher birth were stumped! Even though they COULD follow the actions for the most part, what puzzled them was how Vignis had pulled out one surprise after the other... And how Lars had managed to counter-trick Vignis in return. After all, since when had Vignis become a trickster on the battlefield...? Hadn''t she always been the in-your-face, combative melee brawler spinning and whirling her way in battle, leaving carnage in her wake? What had happened to cause this substantive change in her approach to combat...? However, all this chatter, discussion, wonder and puzzlement ceased when Mr White spoke to draw their attention. Hearing Mr White''s rumbling voice echo through-out the stadium, even the die-hard fans quickly quietened down to hear him out. He gazed from side to side quickly and upon seeing that he had their ears to himself, Mr White gave a simple announcement. "Attention, noble guests, beloved citizens of Gorun City, honoured guests from afar! Greetings once more to you, all our dearest audience members. As you have witnessed, the dark horse competitor who seemingly emerged from nowhere, yet based on the records is a registered citizen of the Kingdom fo the Sands, has risen from the masses of talents to be the Gorun City tournament champion!" He was met with approving nods; whether it was grudging responses from Vignis'' fans and those who leaned towards her side or raucous applause from Lars'' impassioned supporters - mostly young teenage girls and middle-aged housewives who had an eye on him for their daughters! ...As well as blushing young teenage boys and many balding men approaching their middle-years, who Lars intentionally shut out from even noticing! "However!" Mr White''s voice struck through the din of sound like a thunder clap piercing through the rumbling of the night winds, even as the mid-day began to turn to the early scents of dusk. At his sharp exclamation, the audience began to settle down again to hear him out. "However...! Due to the contestants'' injuries, it was considered for a while and finally decided by our beloved Duke herself, Her Grace Duke Leanne, that the prize giving would only be held a week later, once all the top 3 placers are fully recovered. The reason for this..." As his voice trailed off, even the quietest whispers or the softest mumbles ceased as complete stillness enveloped the arena. You could even hear the sound of a pin drop and man cursing as it pierced his foot, followed by vicious "Shhhh!!!!" sounds from all around the poor chap who felt greatly harassed on top of his injured foot! They were all ears to hear the reason, anticipating that it should be some piece of big news! "The reason is that... The national-level competition this time around is a team contest, with each constituent of the Kingdom of the Sands fielding a team of 4 fighters to challenge for only three slots in the continent-level Battle Through the Heavens!" His shocking announcement rang through the minds of the hearers like a bolt in the blue; those who knew of this morsel of information beforehand merely nodded in acknowledgement whilst everyone else literally exploded into activity! What amazing news! It was not just the winner Lars who would be representing Gorun City to the nationals, he would be going together with the puissant Darius and the analytical, sharp and sly Vignis! And what about the precocious youth, Miller Knight Larsson? The boy who had defied all odds and even beaten the former two, his seniors? Didn''t he have almost infinite potential based on his showings this year? To round it all off, their bid for qualification to the continent-stage would be spearheaded - literally - by the genius regnant who made all other geniuses pale in comparison, Alayna de Caldis who had exceeded all common sense and broken through to the Master-level at the tender age of 17! Based on the rumours they had heard, only a couple dozen youths in the entire history of the Kingdom of the Sands had ever made such an achievement; whilst this year, there should be less than 5 such teens across the Yiluo continent who could lay claim to such an achievement. After all, a normal cultivator might not even dream of reaching the Master-level before the end of his or her life, whilst a normal talent might reach the Master realm in their latter years, never able to see the Grandmaster or higher stages in all their lives. Whereas Alayna might very well be the first person in the history of Gorun City to breach the Mythical stage... And maybe more if she gained access to sufficient cultivation resources to boost her mana pool, hone her mind and train her physique''s blood energy! With such a superstar team of young talents, what more could the populace ask for? Wasn''t this almost a certainty to take top 3 at least, if not the very top spot? So it was with a roar of crazed enthusiasm and the flames of passion that the curtain fell on the Grand Finals and the youth tournament of Gorun City as Mr White left the stage and bid adieu to his captivated audience who were so caught up in discussion that they didn''t even realise that they were overstaying their welcome until the cleaners came to shoo them off! * * * * * The first thing that caught Lars'' attention as he left the arena field was that there was no one in the private viewing room. However, there was a letter placed on the table used for placing their teacups, which he picked up casually, half-expecting it to be Charley on another escapade or off to explore a new business opportunity. But as he read the note, he had to fight the urge to instantly rip it apart as he took in the message left for him. It read: "WE HAVE THE BOY, THE GIRL AND THE MAN... WOMAN... MAID. WHATEVER. COME TO NUMBER XX ON YYY STREET AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT OR ELSE. MAKE SURE YOU''RE ALONE." And at the end of the note, there was but one signature, a smiley: :) Trembling in anger and anxiety at his companions being kidnapped from within the Gorun Stadium, supposedly the seat of security and a place of unimpeachable integrity, Lars'' shoulders heaved up and down as he forced himself to breath and calm down... Lest he erupt with catastrophic might and sweep away half the city in his righteous, mighty anger with flashes of lightning, thunder clouds and death! But he desperately restrained his own despairing feelings that threatened to swallow him up in a blinding mist of red wrath. These were his friends! His precious people, companions who had accompanied him through his journey! Even if they were not close companions... Did he actually have any closer friends? No! They were all dead! And he''d be damned if he let anything happen to his precious people, no matter whether they were distant or the closest of kindred! Lars caught his breath slowly, regulating his pulse and breathing as he forced himself to become ice-cold, super calm and analysed the situation. He decided that the best approach was truly for him to go alone, lest they foolishly harm his comrades in retaliation. Then Lars smiled. If he went alone, there wouldn''t be any witnesses when he slaughtered them all and showed them the horror of a near-Mythical, heavily equipped monster... I mean, mage knight, right...? Lars quickly laid his plans down in his mind as he hurried off to make his preparations. It was going to be a long night, one which he would ensure was the very last night for those who dared to oppose him or his people. * * * * * "Tell me the password for the spatial storage!" A hissing cold voice spoke acidically as the sounds of thuds and thumps echoed through the dank and cold passageways of the dungeon, while the speaker continued to beat into the captured grey-haired man''s bound body. Despite him being a World-class expert, he was still bound up and suspended in mid-air by his wrists, unable to resist nor fight back, bound by various runes and arrays, incapacitated - but still left able to speak by his tormenters. Everaldus Slith remained obstinant, refusing to say a single word as he endured by now the 3rd straight hour of torture. His mouth was already full of blood for the umpteenth time but he merely grinned a toothless grin as he smiled mockingly at his torturer. Or at least, he tried to - before the whip-thin tattoed and shirtless man grinned back as he stomped more than ten times on Everaldus'' mouth. The moment the beating ceased, he coughed and gasped, gulping down whatever oxygen he could, just in time before a finger-thick rod came smashing down onto his shoulder, snapping more bones. But instead of critically injuring him, the tattoed master torturer gestured with his hand and caused warm healing lights to shine from his fingers, healing Everaldus'' internal injuries - albeit with extreme agony as the bones knitted themselves back together unnaturally, causing the sharp ends of the bones to stick out through his flesh as they mended back together. By this time, though Everaldus wanted to believe he was already used to it, used to the pain, used to the mutilation and used to turning more and more monster-like in appearance under his tormentor''s ministrations - but he just couldn''t force himself to believe what he himself said. But what he could do was to thank the Gods... He was grateful, ever so grateful that he had managed to buy enough time for his entourage to escape through an instant rift, escape back to the Wiarno Kingdom. Alas, he had no hopes of them returning. Even if they did, what would they do...? Against 2 Legendary powerhouses, could his clan do anything even if they came in full force...? As for seeking help - who would aid them without any benefits to be gained? And if they wanted to board a sinking ship just to plunder it and asked for the contents of his spatial ring, why, he might as well just give up his soul right now and leave the ring forever ownerless, useless forevermore! ''Heh... Mother... You won''t have to wait long... I''ll be coming to see you soon...'' Everaldus thought to himself morbidly as he awaited his death. He was granted a brief respite though as his torturer stepped away and glanced at a timepiece in his hand as he smiled with pleasure and commented, "Oh, almost midnight huh... Looks like it''s almost time for another guest to arrive... I''ll make sure to entertain them just as a host should!" He had a cheerful, smiling expression on his face as he donned a "laughing man" mask and glanced at his other guest, his noble partner from Danedaar who had authorised him to capture an official agent of the Kingdom of the Sands - i.e. Seline and Sharon. And though it was the very image of a warm smile that was painted on the Laughing Man''s face, right now it was just as terrifying as that of a demon to Everaldus and all the 1,700 followers of the Underworld gathered in their headquarters at this moment. 144 Warehouse #3 Upon seeing the signage for the Warehouse district by the docks, Lars followed the snaking pathways and passed by dilapidated building after dilapidated building. Many were half-collapsing, looking like they were many a year past their approved dates for occupation, while the rest were already collapsed long ago. Some of the warehouses looked like they could be aircraft hangars given how tall, high and wide the compounds were while others were leaning on the smaller side. Others still were by now just piles of rubble - an after-effect of the demon invasion. One thing all of the buildings had in common though, was that they looked abandoned, lonely and... Outright creepy. At least that''s what Lars would have felt if not for the fact that he had a genuine demon whispering into his ear. Though his particular demon WAS scary right now... It was anything BUT the type of scariness that one would expect from him! ''Lars Lars... Come on, come on, just ask me. Come on! Ask me, okay?'' ''.......'' ''What does that mean??? Say something!!! Just because you''re like, super worried about your friends doesn''t mean you should ignore I, your bestest friend and buddy! What about all our years of friendship??? What about all the days we''ve been through??? Just one time, come on!!!'' ''No no no no no!!! I''m not doing it again! Kizorik, I need to focus here, okay!?!'' ''Just one time more, pretty please! Aw c''mon!!! It''s not like I have anyone else to talk to since the past dozen-plus years! Don''t you know how unfair it is for us...?!? All I have in this world is you... While you have as many bitches to talk to as you want!!'' ''......'' Lars was still reluctant to respond especially given the tense circumstances he was in. He glanced at the timepiece on his wrist and saw that it was almost 11:30 PM and he had not yet found his destination. He frowned as his eyes flitted back and forth around him and at the map in his hand, trying to make sense of just where building number XXX on YYY street was. The addresses marked on the map went from AAA street to ZZZ street - but skipped from XXX street directly to ZZZ street. And so he was here roaming around through the area most likely to be correct - but fruitless so far and unable to find his destination. And while he was trying to shut out his yammering sidekick''s begging and pleading for him to listen to a joke, he almost let one statement slip him by. ''...Just one time and I''ll tell you the place that you''re looking for!!!'' Lars was stunned and blinked, then asked, ''Buddy...?'' Kizorik nodded and folded his arms in self-satisfaction, looking smug that he had all the answers for his contractor. ''Yup yup! Praise me, praise me! I''m great, aren''t I? I know everything rig--'' ''WHY DIDN''T YOU F***ING TELL ME EARLIER???'' ''....You didn''t ask.'' ''.....'' Speechlessness swept over Lars as he could feel irritation bubbling up in his heart. However, he was wise enough to keep his lips zipped and keep quiet lest his whimsical companion suddenly decided to play possum and refuse to speak at this critical time! With an internal sigh, Lars stopped searching despite his anxiousness to find his friends and gave in, asking mentally, ''...What did you want to say...?'' Thankfully Kizorik also understood the urgency of the situation and didn''t play hard to get... Well, maybe just a little bit... ''Ahem! Lars, do you know what I like about you...?'' ''At a time like this... Bloody hell...! What is he asking me...?'' Lars didn''t express his frustration though and asked innocently, ''Yes, o great sir Kizorik... What is it that you like about me...?'' ''Boy... It''s because you value your friends.'' ''??? Isn''t that something completely normal...? Is it anything that special?'' ''Hah! Kiddo...! You don''t know even the slightest about it! Okay okay... I probably have to admit, in the first place I''m not like any of the other demons... You could say I''ve always been a bit of a--'' ''Kind...?'' Lars quipped absent-mindedly, then froze as he realised that perhaps he had just made a huge slip of the tongue - after all, weren''t demons incredibly sensitive about being monstrous tyrants who reigned over vast starfields...? ''Whoa whoa whoa! I didn''t mean that okay? You''re like the most furious, ferocious and mean demon I....?'' He hurriedly tried to correct himself but stopped when he saw Kizorik nodding slowly. ''...You''re... Right.'' Kizorik slowly let out a sigh... Then reached up to his beak to tug at his teeth. With a gradual shimmying of the teeth, he removed his dentures, revealing that he, in fact, did not have sharp teeth at all - he was purely an adorable black and white little furry penguin, cute and huggable! ''...Lars boy... You''re right. I... Sigh, from the start you know that I''ve never really urged you on to kill, destroy or otherwise gain more Abyss Points. The truth is, every other demon would be trying to corrupt their contractor into becoming a killing, slaying and murderous machine, whether or not the contractor lives or dies. That''s because that''s the most efficient way to gain AP - short and quick bursts of action by the contractor, followed by letting the contractor''s soul descend into the Abyss for a quick cash out...'' Seeing Lars pallid and aghast expression upon hearing his words about souls being lost, Kizorik looked apologetically at Lars and explained, ''You didn''t know that, right...? Once a contract is signed, the contractor''s soul is forfeit to the Abyss? It''s not in the contract... But it''s the result of anyone accepting the power of the Abyss...'' ''I''m... Sorry boy. I''m so sorry... I don''t know what''s come over me though - why am I bringing all this up at this time? Maybe... I just don''t have a good feeling about letting things continue without telling you...'' Lars was unsure how to respond. He was already stressed out enough as it were about Seline and Charley being kidnapped - and now he had just found out that his soul was forfeit the moment he died...? What was he supposed to feel? How was he supposed to react? ''Kiddo... I really don''t know why, but I felt I need to tell you these now. You deserve it. You''ve been the best contractor to me, being kind and gentle, understanding and listening to me. Listening to my lame jokes... Though yours are even more lame... Heh!'' Lars smiled slightly upon hearing that and mentally reached out to rub his buddy''s belly and soft, downy head before Kizorik continued. ''But kiddo... I guess I''ve never told you either... We demons... We space beast descendants, if that''s truly what we are... Our souls are also slaves to the Abyss! The moment we should perish, we would be resurrected in the spawning pools of the Abyssal realms, forever a slave to be revived again and again, all to sow, reap and harvest for the gains of the nefarious Abyss...'' Kizorik closed off his statement with a heavy and long sigh, looking distraught and resigned to an unavoidable fate. Lars too felt heavy hearted. He had read through the contract many times in the badly scrawled barely legible script but had not noticed any such clause - specifically because it seemed there was no such clause in the contract! And yet it turned out that the enforcement was not through the contract but merely the end result the moment a person received powers from the Abyss! But Lars did not leave it as it was, and pressed Kizorik to ask, ''Buddy..! Don''t give up hope! I know, you feel guilty and all about pulling me into this situation, but I don''t hold it against you! After all, it was either this or I''d just have my soul devoured by that Allheaven god thingy!'' Kizorik looked up to Lars heavily, his lids drooping but now slightly perked up and cheered up at his contractror''s weirds. ''Really...? Kiddo... Lars... You really don''t blame me for it...? I, this useless penguin who only knows how to eat and deceive people into working for the Abyss... But can''t even bring myself to get my contractor''s to hurt anyone...? You really don''t blame me...?'' Lars nodded, though he still kept one eye on the time, then said, ''Yes. Kizorik, my pal! For me... You are the one who gave me a new lease on life... A new chance at starting anew... A new chance to right the wrongs of the past and smash the teeth of the Allheaven Divine Empire and those devils behind them! Come on buddy! Let''s do it together! And...'' ''We''ll definitely, surely find a way to destroy the chains of slavery of that Abyss... And send those devils back to wherever they came from once and for all!'' Lars reached out (mentally in his mental world) to pat Kizorik on the back, then held out his fist for a fist bump. His eyes were brimming with passion and emotion, and it slowly but surely infected his contracted demon. Kizorik looked up and looked Lars in the eye, and as he did so, the strength, determination and fire slowly returned to his gaze as he lifted up a flipper slowly to "fist bump" with his "bro". ''You promise...? You... We''ll, together, find a way for both of us to be released from the Abyss'' bonds...?'' Lars smiled slowly and locked eyes with his best friend by now and said with eyes glistening with slight wetness, ''Yes... Buddy... I promise...!'' Kizorik tried hard to keep his scowling appearance and remain cool, but a smile crept across his face (beak) and he quickly turned away to hide the fact that he was equally touched and embarrassed. He shot some acid comments over like, ''Hmphh!! Not like I care anyway!'' and ''What could you, you little useless bugger do anyway!'' but Lars just smiled emotionally, glad that his little buddy''s blazing heart was back. And hopefully he would be charged up and ready to rumble for good from here on! Lars then checked the time again - 11:52pm. He really had to hurry now! ''Buddy, now... Let''s get Seline and Charley back, shall we?'' ''Oh, right! Your friends... While traveling past the alley back there, I felt a strange tingle. Curious about what could be happening around there, I sent out a little bit of my senses just to check things out, searching down the alley and down the stairs at the end, all the way descending down to the waterfront. And lo and behold, there was nothing!'' ''........'' A speechless Lars was... Speechless as he heard Kizorik''s useless sharing. He was about to explode in irritation when Kizorik shook his head in disappointment and explained. ''Kiddo! Don''t you understand...? How can there be "nothing" when I scan it? I mean, literally, "nothing"...? There wasn''t even any trace of anything at all, not even the ebb and flow of water! It was like a void, emptiness and everything lost! My bet - that should be your destination.'' ''Wait... Kizorik... I follow you so far but, why would the Underworld set a meet-up location so hard to find in the first place...? Unless...'' Lars eyes narrowed as he had a bad premonition about things. ''Unless they had no intention of a hostage or goods exchange in the first place at all... Damn! Let''s hurry and go! No holds barred, it''s 100% all out from here on!!'' He began to channel his mana and release his seals hurriedly as he ran along the pathway in the direction Kizorik directed. And he prepared the prize that Duke Leanne had personally given him as a reward for the tournament - something that upped his game more than double! 145 Warehouse #3 2 As Lars ran to and approached the alley as mentioned by Kizorik, he slowed down his pace to a slow walk, carefully keeping his eyes peeled and ears perked up. He had no trouble with the darkness as triggering the Level 1 spells Infravision and Night Sight was a simple matter. He peered down the alleyway but saw nothing of import. So he sidled along carefully and kept his guard up as he approached the staircase down the docks to the waterfront. "Very strategic... Despite the fact that the artificial river flowing through Gorun City is rather small due to the limits of the terraforming works, this is an ideal place for smugglers, slavers and other criminals'' to hide. After all, who would check to ensure that the number of passengers and boxes on every boat or vessel is exactly as per the bill of lading? Especially if those people had already been bought off..." Lars whispered to himself, appreciating the location of what he assumed was one of the enemies'' headquarters - though he was also quite certain that they wouldn''t reveal all of their cards, and this was probably just one of the many major hideouts of the Laughing Man. And when Lars came near the base of the stairs, he saw a large, circular sewage outlet, big enough for 3 horse carts to enter side by side. ''Sewer pipes huh... More like smuggling outlet...'' Lars commented as he deduced the purpose of this passageway. He waited for a minute and a half as he tried to discern what was in the pitch black culvert. He squinted and attempted to look into the darkness but found that even his Infra and Night Vision could not pierce the darkness. ''Either it''stoo dark or...'' Lars then tentatively extended his spiritual sense, using the lightest touch of his spirit to scout out the area of the sewage pipe. True enough, from the moment he extended his spirit senses to cross the mouth of the sewage pipe, all he sensed was blankness, a void. ''So that''s what you meant... Thanks Kizorik, I wouldn''t have noticed it without you. It''s clearly the right place. Though I seriously wonder - was it always their intention for us to find this way? Or was there another place that we were supposed to meet them at?'' Lars couldn''t help but voice out his curiosity, but finally just shrugged as he slowly entered the cavernous sewage pipe. Kizorik was quiet for just a short moment before he seemed to worriedly reply, ''Kiddo... Be careful, alright...? I have a bad feeling about this place... Something... Smells off. I can''t quite put my finger... I mean, nose on just what it is but... Yeah. And I know you care about your friends, and I do too - but please keep yourself safe. I''m counting on you, m''kay?'' ''Yup, buddy, we''ll definitely save Seline and Charley then get out of here quickly. After all, I don''t think even Duke Leanne is necessarily my match anymore, what more this leader of the local thugs! And once we''re settled with this, let''s travel back to Earth... And find out the truth about your past, and the history of the Demon-Hunting Arts Founder!'' ''....Okay. Just... Just be careful! Okay?!?'' ''Okay okay! I got it already!'' As Lars spoke, he decided to allocate some of his mana to defence pre-emptively. Though he didn''t expect much trouble here, it didn''t hurt to prepare early, right? And so he covered his body in numerous defensive spells and stepped one foot into the sewage pipe... And immediately found himself in an entirely different place - in the middle of an immense, high-ceiling warehouse that was brightly lit, so bright it looked like it was suddenly high-noon... In the middle of a cage, submerged underwater! "Glurg glurgg glurgg!!" (What the f***! Is that any way to receive your guests that you''re going to blackmail for money?!?) ''Shut up and save your breath kiddo, and get us out of here!'' As Lars cast his gaze about, he realised that he was in a cage constructed of solid cylindrical bars, a container about 10 feet cube in measurements. The cage was suspended from the air and immersed in a large body of water on one side of the large warehouse - most likely a section of the river bordering the building. And through the running waters, Lars could make out the figures of several men training weapons at him in the cage such as bows, wands or crossbows. He held his breath and waited for the attacks to begin, but when he saw that none of the men were making any move to fire, he was puzzled and drifted over to the bars slowly to see if they would react. But instead of opening fire, the blurry figures parted way for a lone and scrawny looking man to walk up to the water''s edge. He saw the man wave his hand; immediately after, the cage began to rise up out of the water inch by inch, taking nearly 60 seconds to rise enough for Lars'' head to break the waters and for him to catch his breath. The moment his head breached the surface, he caught sight of his captors and their leader. A gang of black-clad men, looking to be experts in combat and well-coordinated, led by a man in a mask painted with the visage of a laughing man! "Greetings, young lad! Congratulations on your glorious win in the Gorun City tournament! It is my pleasure to invite you here today for some... Business dealings. I trust you managed to find this place easily enough with your worth capabilities...?" Lars felt as if though the Laughing Man were smiling behind the mask as he spoke like a congenial host - though whether that were truly the case, only the crime lord himself would know. "Why, thank you so much! Yes, though it was a very interesting journey to find your secretive location. Yes, may I assume that I have the pleasure of speaking to the Lord and Ruler of the Underworld of Gorun City, the great Laughing Man himself...?" Lars probed, forced to ask as he could not ascertain the identity of the speaker, as the Laughing Man was an elusive and secretive person who no one had met and lived to leak his identity! Even Susano himself had confessed that every time he met the Laughing Man, he, she or it seemed to be a different person entirely - whether in terms of height, attitude, size or aura! The masked man nodded enthusiastically and spread his hands while he bowed slightly, looking like a humble and magnanimous host, causing his billowy black robes to flutter as if though there were a wind in the enclosed warehouse. This was contrasted by the taciturn and silent men surrounding him, also decked out in black leather gear with their weapons locked on to Lars. "Yes, yes! It is I, though I am too lowly to be of any importance... Why, it is MY pleasure to meet such a glittering genius such as yourself!" A sinister gaze could be felt through the eye slits of the crime lord''s mask, leaving his words as empty as tin cans clanging together. "I''m intrigued... Pleased and intrigued! And also... Fascinated by how daring you are to come alone. I had thought that you would certainly inform at least your master Lord Mikael and that child Boa or the worm Susano before coming here... Unexpectedly, you really didn''t reach out to any of them and came alone! How brave!" He paused a tick and added, "...And how naively foolish... I would have been more than pleased to host a welcome more than suited for such a worthy guest as your master... Kehahahaha!" Smiling laxly and seeming to share in his host''s mirth, Lars chuckled in reply, playing along with the act as the cage rose enough such that half his body was now exposed to the cold air, causing him to shiver slightly. "Thank you, thank you! I am honoured once more to be regarded so highly! I have been called many things, and naively foolish is also one of those! It''s too bad those who''ve considered me as such are already no longer in this world, while I still live! Muahahahah!!" Lars'' sharp gaze shot daggers at his opponent even as he gave as good as he got, but he could sense that the Laughing Man was not even slightly disturbed by his jibe. Lars then continued as the clanking of pulleys and gears resounded as the cage was raised out of the waters. "Anyway, this is certainly a "colder" welcome than I had expected...! And forgive me if I cut to the chase..." His eyes slowly narrowed into an intense stare as he slowly and deliberately spoke his question, "What is your intention capturing my friends and asking me to come here?" His question was met by silence, broken only by the continuing sounds of the gears turning, which finally ended with a solid BANG! when the cage reached the maximum height of the pulley mechanism. Then without any signal or apparent action being taken, the bars of the cage liquefied before Lars'' eyes forming an opening for him to exit from. "Follow me and you''ll find out. I have a proposition for you and your master... Don''t worry - your friends are fine... Though I can''t guarantee their safety if you don''t cooperate..." The masked leader of the Underworld then beckoned for Lars to come out and follow him, then quickly turned and walked away while the men around him kept their weapons aimed at Lars. Shrugging, the boy jumped out of the cage, over the waters and landed on the ground 15 metres away to follow his "captor" and find out what he wanted. 146 Warehouse #3 3 Lars followed after the masked man while keeping his guard up. They walked through a passageway that seemed to be too long to be still within the boundary of the warehouse they were in - from the outside, Lars was sure that by now they should have hit a wall of the building and be out on the road. However, the fact of the matter was that, without incline or decline, they were still walking after a good 1.5 kilometres, indicating a folded space or sub-dimension built in to the warehouse. ''Or is it just a trick of perception...? Kizorik, what do you think...?'' Lars kept his spirit sense actively searching around him and attempted to catch traces of his companions. ''...No idea. But I''ll keep my senses perked up too, don''t worry, so far there''s been nothing dangerous happening. Just... I still have a bad feeling about things ok, kiddo?'' Lars nodded mentally in response as he cast his senses around him while they walked quickly. And as he did so, he did sense an anti-detection barrier beneath his feet, obviously to prevent any spying prying eyes. Nonetheless, the level of the barrier was nowhere as effective as the one surrounding the warehouse that had completely blocked off even his Legend-level spirit senses, likely due to cost reasons. After all, such a powerful barrier surrounding the hideout likely cost an exorbitant amount of resources to arrange for and maintain. On top of that, unless the users within the outer barrier were far greater than he in their capabilities, it was likely that they would not be able to sense him on the outside from within the barrier. If they deployed these kinds of barriers within the compound as well, this would mean that if there WERE intruders, even those monitoring within would be unable to detect them! Thus it was not practical to apply too great an anti-detection barrier inside a building, and more effective to use a scrying arrangement within. Lars took great pains to be discreet as he carefully reached out with hidden and invisible tendrils of mana extending from the soles of his feet and into the ground. Very quickly, he encountered a spherical field of light-grey mana, barely noticeable against the similarly grey granite floor unless one were specifically looking for it. As the vines of his spirit sense snaked through the mana tendrils and touched the barrier, he slowly poured his own mana into the barrier and stretched it while laying lines to keep the barrier surface intact. To describe it, it was something like slowly stretching apart the surface of a balloon until it ripped at the stretching point, only that he would then "patch" the rip with another stretchy self-made material. It took him a mere 3 seconds to get through and keep the channel open and he was sure that even the Laughing Man himself should not be able to detect his intrusion as he had masked and dampened the mana ripples - not unless the Underworld master could hire another Legendary mage to monitor the barrier personally, something exceedingly unlikely. As such, he was 99.9% sure that his scrying had not been noticed! The result of that was that Lars easily pierced through the anti-detection field laid under his feet and scanned through the subterranean depths, detecting a large number of life-signs below the ground - surely in an underground section of the compound. Of these, he picked up a few fluctuations of mana and life that caught his attention - three belonging to his companions who seemed to be in a sleeping state while their auras were still healthy and strong. The other mana fluctuation that caused him to be curious seemed strangely familiar, almost like someone he had met before. This signature as well as the majority of the others showed signs of abuse and heavy injury as well as flagging signs of life. By his estimate, the person would likely not last through the night. He determined to himself to check out these prisoners as soon as he "settled" the business with the Laughing Man. He also picked up the mana fluctuations of 3 World-class combatants who were not trying to suppress their mana signatures at all. Clearly they were not afraid of being detected, or else they would have withdrawn their strength. Nonetheless, Lars would have been able to pick them up all the same. And he almost missed it, but just before he withdrew his attention, he detected another top-priority point of note - there was another well-hidden, deeply masked aura, one that he had passed by. This aura was present right beside his companions and, if not mistaken, was one he had met before as well... He felt a sense of caution as he surreptitiously approached the individual; if the person was strong enough to almost fully mask their presence, it was likely that they were quite close to his Legendary-realm powers! Lars kept his distance and tried to sense the by-product fluctuations, as he was afraid that if he actually reached out to touch the person''s field of mana, he would reveal his own presence and betray his own capabilities! He patiently tried to pick up the very familiar traces of aura but ended up with no leads. However, he did know that this person was likely also close to himself in power-level and would potentially be a source of danger! If it were just the Laughing Man alone, Lars was fully-confident that he could win with ease. But with another high-powered combatant added to the fray... He was not so sure and could only prepare himself to strike first if push came to shove. Lars remained calm and focused. He readied his full powers hidden under his demonic seal as a precautionary measure, after all, it looked like they would be likely to meet face to face, and Duke Silvan would probably recognise him and wonder how he had come to be here and become discipled to "Mikael" as well...! ''Things might turn out hairier than I''d expected...'' While Lars looked relaxed on the outside despite being tense on the inside and prepared for battle at any moment, the criminal leader of the city appeared to be completely at ease while he led the way - likely because he felt no threat at all from the "kid" following behind him. He would never expect an opponent a full four major realms below him in power to pose any threat at all, genius or not! There was just too great a chasm of abilities separating the two... If not for the fact that the "teenager" strolling behind him was also more than his equal! After 5 minutes of quick walking, Lars began to grow impatient as the passageway showed no signs of ending. The walls were identical; appearing to be made of wood but turning out to be reinforced by steel and concrete overlaid with countless magic arrays within and without. As the walls looked exactly the same with no distinguishing features to discern how much distance they had passed, Lars could only estimate that they had walked a good 4.5 km by now. Just before he could open his mouth to speak, the Laughing Man stopped abruptly and turned to a blank wall that looked like any other section. Watching curiously, Lars then saw the slim cloaked figure do something absurd. He had a look of ridicule on his face and was about to laugh when he saw the man apparently extract his lunch - a banana! But his sneer was frozen on his face as his expression turned into one of shock - the man swiftly aimed the already-peeled banana at the wall and inserted it into the solid surface. However, the fruit didn''t splatter, instead it shone with bright yellow light as it entered the wall and triggered an ornate circle of runes on the wall! The runes then began to rotate, the inner and outer rings rotating in opposite directions with the sound of stones grinding against each other. Finally, there was a solid, "Thunk!" sound and then the wall began to part in the middle to reveal a doorway. The cloaked mastermind of the Underworld stepped in, then glanced over his shoulder, clearly expecting Lars to follow him into the opening, then he continued to walk further in. Shrugging inwardly, Lars decided to follow quickly before the man disappeared from sight. As he stepped through, he felt a slight chill as the air around him seemed to shimmer and vibrate the slightest bit - a sign of a close-range Dimensional Door. Looked like the "door" was actually a teleportation portal! And when he emerged, Lars immediately noticed that they were now more than 1.5 kilometres below their earlier position, nearby the mana signatures of his companions. He glanced about and saw that he had his back facing a door-shaped portal with the words, "EXIT" written above it in red text. The Laughing Man stood waiting for him at the other end, near a set of sturdy-looking reinforced double doors as they stood in a large "arrival hall" with passably comfortable decor. The hall itself was about 15 feet high and square in shape, perhaps 50 feet long and wide. Several wooden armchairs and a half-dozen wooden benches were arrayed against the wall, probably for guests arriving to wait to be escorted in. Something else he noticed was that, until now, the only guards he had seen or detected were those at the entrance beside the waters and the couple of high-powered auras he detected here underground. Perhaps this Underworld was a rather lean organisation at the top? And they didn''t trust their followers to enter these inner portions of the hideout. His host, upon seeing him arrive safely and regain his bearings, beckoned for him to follow further as he pushed open the reinforced doors and walked on further. Lars quickened his pace and soon they reached the section of the building where he had sensed his companions aura. On the other side at a door opposite, he sensed the other familiar aura. ''Hmm... Now that I''m nearer... It feels like... Yes! It bears a familiar signature, just like... Hmmm... What is it...? Kizorik, you know what I''m talking about right...?'' ''Kiddo... You know, normally I''d call you piss-crazy and ignore you, but you''ve got a point... It almost smells like... I know! It''s the smell that animal skin you bought at the auction! That skin had the same kind of smell, probably from the person carrying it on his body for so long that his scent rubbed off on it! Hey, since he''s here and in trouble, you could be the knight in shining armour and rescue that guy! Maybe you could find out where he found the skin and get more of that!'' ''...You''re assuming it''s a "he" and that the person is in distress, right...? But yes, that was my thought as well... Let''s see what this bastard Laughing Man wants. And if he''s not reasonable enough to let Charley, Seline and Sharon go... I''ll bust his a** and get them free myself!'' Their ten minute long walk looked to have come to an end as the cloaked and masked man stopped before a simple looking door. He pulled out the same banana and inserted into the key hole and the door glowed a dull yellow colour before a "click" sound was heard. The Laughing Man then turned the knob and entered with Lars right behind him. Lars'' expression remained the same as he stepped into the room, but his heart had turned icy cold as he circulated his full-force mana patiently within him. ''...Time to get to the bottom of this...! And if they think I''ll just smile and lay down quietly while they threaten my friends and tread on my dignity... If they think that just because a tiger is smiling, it won''t devour them...'' ''They''re wrong...! Very, very wrong!!! I''ll make them pay three-fold for whatever they''ve done!!!'' "Very well, we''re here. You''ll see that your companions are safe..." Lars looked around and checked; true enough, his companions were safe. They were unconscious; immersed and suspended in mucous green fluid inside tubular glass vats, looking to be sleeping peacefully, their bodies unharmed. Lars nodded coldly and then asked, "Yes... That much at least has been proven. Now... Let''s cut to the chase - what do you want." He spoke tersely, not a question but a statement, showing his discontentment and irritation. "Yes... As for that, let me introduce you to a person who''s been VERY interested to meet you." The Laughing Man turned and pointed him towards the person sitting in the shadows, the person whose aura he had nearly missed early, whose mana signature he was sure he''d sensed before. The Laughing Man showed deference to the man as he bowed slightly while introducing him. "This is..." 147 Old Friends Enemies Lars was struck by a bolt of emergency as he laid eyes on the seated party who was covered in deep shadows. But as the Laughing Man spoke to introduce him, the man stood up and came out from the shadows that were cast on his features and his face was revealed. And Lars'' mind raced to handle this unexpected circumstance - and what he was going to say and do...! "This is Duke Silvan himself! One of the five pillars of the nation, a Legendary-realm monster genius who is still yet to cross the age of 50 years of age! Hahaha! You should be honoured to meet such a luminary in the flesh; even your Duke Leanne is three ranks below Duke Silvan in the ranking of the five pillars; this is the man second only to Grand Duke Sword, the third greatest man in the entire Kingdom of the Sands!" Lars'' mind was filled with the sound of crashing thunder claps as he considered what he should do in the face of this (un)welcome visitor! And how he should respond... Even if it were to risk his life and kill the bastard! "Haha! Mr Laughing Man, you flatter me too much!" Duke Silvan replied jovially with a cheerful expression on his face, taking slow and confident steps towards Lars. While he walked, his eyes were fixed on the boy like those of a hawk, intently gazing at it''s prey, staring deeply as if though unwilling for it''s target to have the slightest chance to elude it''s eyes! Lars smiled vacuously, acting shocked and in awe of who he was meeting. He cursed slightly at his cool attitude towards the Laughing Man - if he had known he would bump into another Legendary-realm opponent here, he would have acted duly impressed when meeting the crime master as well. Now, he had no choice but to act shocked here despite acting overly calm with the Laughing Man - he could only pass it off by pretending that he hadn''t know the Laughing Man''s level of power... Lars also considered what Duke Silvan''s intentions could be as his mind continued to prepare countless moves and counter-moves, practising them in his mind and calculating every possible outcome. On the surface, he looked exactly like how a youth would when encountering a grand figure such as the third mightiest man in the nation - in awe, eyes sparkling and mouth open wide. He reckoned that this would be a suitable reaction as this was the first time he was meeting Duke Silvan, though it was obvious that his grace already knew him - from how Moira had pleaded with him to give him supplies and his freedom from the Arena of Valour. However, in contrast to his star-struck appearance, inside, he continued to be unperturbed and fearless as he was now fully confident in his abilities, equipment and capabilities. The worst case situation would be just escaping with some injuries, while he believed that in the best case he could defeat and perhaps even slay one of the two men before him! The only fear he had... Were Charley and Seline''s safety! ''...And Sharon''s safety...'' He grudgingly added. "Please, please your grace, just call me Joker! That''s not my real name of course, but it''s what my friends call me..." Somehow, Lars could feel that the "Joker" was not smiling despite the sound of his voice. Perhaps it was because of the fact that there was still an icy cold atmosphere in the room, one which Duke Silvan ignored completely as he laughed as if though he was meeting an old friend. "Ah, yes, yes! That would be an honour, Sir Joker--" "No no, just call me Joker!" "In that case... Joker... In return, just call me Silvan. That would be fair, no?" "Haha! Yes, of course... Anything you wish, your grace!" The Laughing Man spoke, still maintaining the formal term of address. And seeing that Duke Silvan merely smiled and laughed warmly, Lars guessed that the middle-aged man really did prefer to be called with honorifics; and he had not been serious when he asked to be called Silvan directly. "And now that my work is done..." Lars detected the slightest tremor of hostility in the Underworld master''s voice and instinctively circulated his mana just in case an act of aggression occurred. But it turned out that it was not needed as Joker continued, "I''ll leave you to your conversation. Let me know once you are done and I''ll release the three children I have in my care. For now... I have some... Other business to attend to." Duke Silvan nodded firmly in response, merely throwing a glance at the man who should be more than worthy of his respect as an equal in battle. The Laughing Man seemed to tense up for a split second at the arrogant and disdainful treatment accorded to him, but apparently decided not to clash with the man. He quickly paced away with a brisk walk and left the room wordlessly, leaving Lars with Duke Silvan who turned to him with his confident smile painted on his face. "Now, my dear friend... Who do we have here...? I don''t believe I''ve had the opportunity to meet this young chap over here before. Young lad, it is my pleasure to meet you." To Lars'' surprise, Duke Silvan spoke to him warmly and even had a kind, gentle look in his eyes as he spoke and extended his hand to shake Lars'' hand as if he were a benevolent and altruistic rich man reaching out to a young fan. "Your grace... My name is Lars. I''ve heard of you in all our studies of the Kingdom! I can''t b-believe I am actually able to meet you today!" Lars resisted the urge to puke and tried to smile like a youth in worship as he shook Duke Silvan''s hand. Lars was then greatly surprised when the duke''s vigorous shaking caught him off guard and nearly made him lose balance. He was glad that the handshake ended quickly as he frantically regained his footing with his mere peak-Expert capabilities. Duke Silvan continued to beam warmly at Lars as he then spoke, "Yes, my dear young man! I have an urgent need of your services. I know that perhaps we might have some previous... Misunderstandings between us, or, more likely, due to the business I''m involved in that your master clearly disapproves of... But as you know, the main party behind that distasteful work has already passed away, and we were merely... Facilitating that work. I have great need to speak to you and hope you''ll lend me your ear for this." Lars blinked in surprise, not expecting that the man would be so forthright with both the situation and his request. He paused and weighed how to respond before speaking. "Your grace, I assume you wish to speak to my master, Lord Mikael...? My apologies as he is not able to be here today. However, he will be returning at the break of dawn tomorrow and I can quickly pass any message you have to--" "No no no my lad, it is not Lord Mikael who I wish to speak to, though admittedly he is a great man of astounding capabilities who I''d love to meet. Why, I myself do not think I could have pulled off the feat he did, facing two Devil Lords of the Legendary-stage at the same time and killing them both! I''d probably have only been able to kill one and fatally wound the other before it escaped since they would flee the moment they saw me, hahaha!" Lars nearly bit his tongue off at the obnoxious self-praise that Duke Silvan lavished onto himself and merely nodded with a mixed look of curiosity and amazement on his face. He nodded enthusiastically and waited to see what the man would say next. "You see, my boy... I have a task I need *YOU* to do. I know you are in love with the Princess... Let''s be frank, you know that I know about you, and I know that you know that too! It''s just that we have not been formally introduced. Correct...?" There was no dangerous glint or sense of threat nor pressure in Duke Silvan''s demeanour or his voice, yet Lars knew that if it were any other youth besides himself faced with the middle-aged suave man before him, perhaps they would already be pissing their pants in fear and falling over themselves to agree and please him. Unfortunately for Duke Silvan, he was Lars, no ordinary youth! ...But unfortunately for Lars, he was still in the guise of a 15 year old boy who had to fawn over his "idol" and worship him! ''Dammit!!! The moment I find out what he wants and dig it out of him... I''ll f***ing kick his a** all the way to the moon!!! To think that I have to act so obsequiously in front of this f*ggot!'' Belying his thoughts, Lars continued to keep an expression of awe and gasped slightly, then tightened his lips and slowly nodded a few times, looking down and away. ''I''d better win an Academy Award, dammit! So infuriating!!!'' Lars vowed to make this man''s death painful. VERY painful. "My boy... I assume you''ve already heard that the upcoming Nationals for the Battle Through the Heavens is going to be a group battle. What I need you to do is simple and obvious." Duke Silvan smiled broadly, then, being nearly 5 inches taller than Lars, he walked over and placed a warm and firm hand on his shoulder in a mock show of affection. "...Your grace...?" Lars looked up and asked questioningly, playing dumb even as the fires of ire burned in his heart. He endlessly repeated to himself, "For a gentlemen''s revenge, even 10 years is not too long!" in order to rein in his fury. After all, despite how satisfying ripping out this old fop''s throat would or how delightful it would be to rip off his genitals and stuff them down his open throat... He didn''t want the entire country, army, 4 Legendary-realm dukes and the Myth-level King to hunt him down - at least not until he himself breached the Myth-realm! So he could only bear with it and wait for the unbearable man''s answer. "Lose." Duke Silvan spoke that one word as his eyes narrowed and he stood so near that Lars could smell his breath. He held his breath instantly - it was not that the man''s breath was bad, on the contrary, it smelled good. Too good, such that Lars refused to associate the good fragrance with the man who was rotten to the core on the inside and deserved death for his crimes to the children! Lars stared back and tilted his head slightly in mock confusion as he waited. Duke Silvan merely smiled wider and explained. "My boy... I want you to make the whole team of Duke Leanne''s lose!" He released his grip on Lars shoulder and walked away, keeping his hands clasped behind his back, obviously trying to put on a "cool guy" image and impress the young lad he was with. ''Annoying poser! Go die, go die, go die!!! I''ll be sure to accept your offer, whatever it is, and then backstab you at the worst moment! Go die!!!'' But Lars kept his curses to himself even as Kizorik added countless other insults, joined by Velzash who was too mild-mannered and sleepy and merely added a few words like, "Dummy" and "Stupid". "But your grace! That... That... That would be cheating! That would mean betraying their trust!" Lars continued to play dumb and tried to fish for more information, knowing that the self-absorbed man would surely not miss the chance of self-aggrandizement. At those words, delighted that the boy was playing along, the middle-aged duke turned to look at Lars over his shoulder with a jolly expression and laughed, "Hahaha! My boy... Not in any way would that be cheating! Do you know why...?" Lars blinked, then shook his head "cluelessly". "Because... You wouldn''t be betraying them if you''re secretly on my team in the first place, right...?" Duke Silvan flashed him a conspiratorial glance. Before Lars could respond again, he turned around full and walked over as he continued, "And... I assure you, the level of treasure for training, runes and equipment I can provide you are far, far, FAR greater than whatever Duke Leanne can give! And even more, far greater than what Lord Mikael can offer you! But I''m not saying you need to leave his tutelage, no!" Silvan then lowered his voice to a whisper as he leaned in close and slung his arm around Lars'' neck to add his final point. "You just need to continue exactly as you are, and you''ll get everything you could ever want, as long your team loses in the Nationals! That''s all!" Lars'' mind flashed for a moment as he had a sneaky idea. He allowed his expression to flicker between conflicted, devastated, unwilling to betray his comrades - then change gradually to one of desire, greed then determination before he spoke. "...Anything...?" Duke Silvan nodded. "Anything." Lars then looked down for a moment, making Duke Silvan wait expectantly for his answer. He then raised up his head to look the Duke square in the eye and said... "Then I..." 148 Old Enemies Friends "Then I have 5 requests. Not one can be missed out, as I will be missing out on an incredibly huge opportunity and lose the trust of everyone in Gorun City as well as Duke Leanne. Only if you can promise me these 5 things will I agree with your request!" Lars by now had allowed his "dreamy, bedazzled fanboy" state fade away and approached Duke Silvan with a serious and earnest expression as he gave his terms. At the same time, there was a twinkle of mischief in his eye as he spoke. ''Wait, wait! Lars! This is nothing like you! Just because of benefits?!? What''s gone over you! Just when I was praising you for being someone completely loyal to your friends and allies, now you''re going to betray not just them but let down all my expectations on you!?? How could you!! You, you can''t do this! You''re better than this! Are you really, really, REALLY going through with this? How can you betray your team?!? Don''t you have a conscience at all?!? Why, how can you--'' ''Calm down, calm down! Just hear me out, alright? I have a plan. Anyway, I don''t have any guarantee that this guy is going to keep his word... Let''s take a wait-and-see attitude towards this guy and milk him for what he''s worth...'' ''You still haven''t answered my question! I asked you if you''re really going to betray your friends!! Lars! Lars!!! LARSS!!!!'' But Lars kept his expression the same as before even while Kizorik wailed away in his mental realm, ignoring his demon while thinking about how incredulous it was for a demon to be lecturing him on morals and loyalty. Who would believe him if he told them that his contracted demon was the one exhorting him to not betray his pals? Would they even believe him if he swore on his mother''s life...? Not that he knew his mother... Duke Silvan''s smile only grew wider upon hearing this, but he kept calm and began grinning from ear to ear as he answered, "Of course, of course! Let me hear your terms and I assure you, whatever it is you demand that is within my power shall be done...!" He held his hand out to strike the deal with Lars. Lars looked on with alarm as he saw with widened eyes that Duke Silvan had already prepared a contractual array to ensure both parties kept their end of the deal, and had powered it up with his mana, affixing his signature and showing his sincerity about this contract. But he merely shook his head and said, "No, let me tell you my conditions first and see if you can meet them or not." Duke Silvan frowned slightly as his smile grew the littlest bit stiff. Then he held Lars'' gaze for a good 10 seconds before he asked, "Boy, do you think that I won''t be able to fulfil your requests...? Do you think that lowly of my power, wealth and influence...? Or is that you''re doubtful towards my willingness to keep my promise? If that''s the concern, fear not; here - in my hand is an activated contract array. You may examine it first and tell me if you''re convinced about my sincerity!" Duke Silvan kept his hand extended and turned it so that the palm faced upwards, letting Lars pretend to peer at it intently and discern the contract array. Then Lars said, "Please, your grace. Let me say my part first. I believe it is only fair to state my terms before requiring you to agree to them. May I speak...?" At the same time as he spoke these words, though he looked Duke Silvan right in the eyes, Lars'' spiritual sense was still engrossed with deciphering if there were any hidden elements within the contract array. After all, once it was signed, whichever parties had instilled the array with their mana signature would be bound heart and soul to it. By that, it meant that the contracting parties would receive a tiny miniature version of the contract array into their mana cores, an array that would extend tendrils out to meld together with the mana core and be tied to their source of power. In the event that they did not hold true to the spirit of the contract, the array would rupture along with the parts of the mana core linked to it, potentially killing the party who broke the contract or at least crippling their mana cultivation. For Lars, he was not too afraid. His plan was to affix this contract array with his secondary Expert-level mana core anyway! However, he was also extremely curious as to what gave Duke Silvan such great confidence to strike up a deal when he didn''t even know the terms. There HAD to be some sort of trickery hidden behind his actions! It was up to Lars to either set things up in a way that no amount of trickery could overcome, or discover the trap and set a counter trap! Duke Silvan once again held Lars'' gaze for a good 10 seconds, as if though upset that a mere child would dare doubt his clout and reputation - though, in truth, with his reputation as probably the largest supporter of organised crime in the Kingdom of the Sands, he should not have relied at all on his reputation for trust! But after a moment more, he withdrew his hand slowly and then shrugged with a "don''t care, suit yourself" look on his face as he said in a resigned and slightly displeased tone, "Very well, boy, I cannot fault you for your naivete, nor can I fault you for your gesture of humility and generosity. Go on, speak your terms." Lars nodded and spoke his part, "First... Before we continue further, let my companions go. I''ll only continue with this negotiation if they are all in safety in Duke Leanne''s palace. Don''t worry - I can wait until they''re dropped off safely! Just like you said earlier, there''s no hurry, right...?" Duke Silvan''s face instantly stiffened and began to change abruptly from a still-smiling - albeit a cold smile - expression into a sudden darkening, frowning mode. He could be seen to suddenly furrow his brows and clench his teeth as if though he could not believe a young pup would dare to question his integrity and demand a show of sincerity from the opening hand! But despite his anger, Duke Silvan knew that it did not matter - the one "bargaining chip" he truly needed was right here in front of him anyway. As long as he could get Lars to sign the contract... There was a sinister glint in the man''s eyes, one he obviously thought Lars did not notice as he began to open his mouth to speak, "Alright, I--" "Wait!" Lars held up his hand and barked out the single-syllable word sharply, startling Duke Silvan - not because it was loud nor forceful, but because he would never have thought that a sniveling young boy would dare to interrupt him in the middle of his speech! But Silvan consoled himself by telling himself that it was okay as long as the result was obtained. ''You little wretch!! Just you wait... Once you''ve signed the contract and become my slave... I''ll make sure to treat you well and keep you safe, even while commanding you to do countless things that torture and destroy your conscience!! Hahahahah!!!'' He smiled, cheering himself up and forcing himself to act cheerful as he asked, "Y-yes, boy... Ahem, what is it you wanted to add...?" "Oh, nothing much. Just that there''s another of my friends in here that I believe you are holding. He''s in the opposite room--" Lars'' eyes shot over to the entrance and over to the next room where Joke, the Laughing Man had entered, then continued, "--And he''s in a bad state. I don''t know why he''s here, but I want him to be released as well!" Duke Silvan''s smiling face froze again as the corners of his lips trembled. He felt like wringing the boy''s neck right there and then at that very instant, but could only hold himself back in case he was accused of foul play ahead of the Nationals. He couldn''t afford anything to tarnish the reputation and "clean" victory of his superstar team and get disqualified! ''So close...!!! I''ll bear with you, boy! But you''ll see who gets the last laugh here! Just you wait, just you wait! You and that blood Duke Leanne, that bitch will surely gladly spread her legs for me once this is over... All I need is to ensure that my team makes it past these Nationals; once that''s done, I''m completely and absolutely assured of success in the actual Battle Through the Heavens...! Once my team gets that hidden treasure... Hahahaha!! I won''t stop at being King of the Kingdom of the Sands; even being the Emperor of Yiluo Empire - no, God of this entire planet won''t be too big of a task!! Hahahah!'' He kept on cheering himself up and convincing himself that this was all just part of the costs of achieving his long-standing ambitions as he swallowed his pride and rage, allowing his dignity to be trampled on as he nodded slowly and eked out a smile. He turned towards the doorway and reached into his pocket and grasped a tiny badge in the shape of a coin-sized white smiling mask, then sent a sliver of mana into it and waited while Lars stood at one side. In less than 15 seconds, the Laughing Man emerged looking exactly like he had before. However, there was a scent of blood around him despite there being no signs at all of the crimson fluids. He still moved exactly as before, walking with a brisk and confident gait and appearing to be - as usual - carefree and relaxed. But when he spoke, both Lars and Duke Silvan could sense a hint of displeasure and impatience in his voice. "Yes, your grace! It is my pleasure to be of service once more. How may I help you...?" He bowed slightly as he spoke, one hand placed across his breast and keeping his gaze low. Duke Silvan acknowledged his bow and spoke directly, "Joker, the boy has another friend in your "safe-keeping" in that room you just came out from. I want him released along with the boy''s other friends and immediately sent back to Duke Leanne''s palace safely. No delays!" The Laughing Man did not move nor did he respond straight away. All he did was continue to be slightly bent over with his body inclined, frozen in the bow. However, the atmosphere in the room immediately turned frigid and chilly, making Lars feel as if though the entire building had just been submerged under water. However, before he could react further, the sensation disappeared just as abruptly as it had came as the Laughing Man laughed delightedly and said, "Of course, of course! And the bill...?" "Yes yes, you don''t have to ask! I wouldn''t have instructed so if I wasn''t ready to foot the bill! Add whatever costs incurred and loss of business there is to my tab and I''ll settle it this week along with any other transactions and services! Just hurry up!" The atmosphere this time turned joyful and cheerful, which made Lars curious. But not curious enough to ask as he just watched as the Laughing Man seemed to be smiling as he bowed once more. "Right away, your grace; it shall be done within 15 minutes... In the meantime, would the both of you care for some tea as you wait...? I have some top-grade Excelsior Tea from the Southern Tip of the Kilolokja Constellation that I''m sure you''ll find delightful! Don''t worry, this one is on the house!" Duke Silvan raised his brows and frowned slightly, surprised at Joker''s magnanimity and wondering if he had just been tricked of an immense sum of money. Regardless, he soon smiled and nodded as he took a seat, not caring whether Lars followed suit or not. And thus they began to wait, though Duke Silvan wanted to cry as he was filled with shame, loathing and dread towards whatever the boy''s next 4 requests held in store... 149 Old Enemies Friends 2 "It''s done, young man. Your friends are safely back in Duke Leanne''s care. And in case you''re worried whether it''s really done or not, I''ll even give you time to check and let down the barrier for a short moment." The Laughing Man seemed rather happy to serve Lars as he spoke such, causing both Lars and Silvan''s heart to itch with curiosity once more as to why he was so congenial all of a sudden. "Alright, let me check." Lars pulled out a telephone and made a quick call to Boa. Once he confirmed that his companions were returned in good condition (though they were still unconscious), he nodded and thanked Joker who quickly bowed once more and left. "Well boy, can we hurry up? As they say, time is money, and my time especially is worth more than it''s weight in gold...! What are your next requests? Make it quick!" Duke Silvan was already rather on edge both from the time wasted as well as a bad feeling about the way things were moving. He consoled himself once more as he lifted the cup of tea to his lips and took a deep long breath, drawing the warmth wafting from the teacup into his lungs. The newly refilled hot water brought out the best fragrances and flavours of the tea leaves and Duke Silvan felt his soul calmed and his emotions soothed by the refreshing and warming scents which stood in contrast to the cold underground surroundings, especially now that they were on the cusp of winter. He felt better as he began to sip at the tea as he reasoned that this was but a small stepping stone and a tiny investment in view of the grand scheme of things. After all, what did it matter if a little chick affronted him? It was not in public or anything and it wouldn''t affect him at all! Satisfied with these thoughts, he raised the cup to take a long draught of tea as he watched Lars speak chirpily. "Okay! Then, I want to marry Princess Moira after the Nationals!" Instantly, Duke Silvan splurted out his entire mouthful of tea in front of him in a nearly 180 degree arc of tea-mist, covering the ''GODDAMN MOTHERF***ER!!! How dare he ask such a preposterous thing?!? Who does he think I am, the King already???'' Duke Silvan huffed and puffed as his face turned a myriad of colours - mostly red - in shame, disgust and resentment. The worst part was that, as he was facing in Lars'' direction when he did this, he would have covered Lars in a coating of saliva and tea but for the fact that the boy had instantly vanished from where he sat and appeared 5 feet away, just out of range of the fountainous liquids spouting from Duke Silvan''s mouth! ''Almost as if though he already knew that was going to happen!!!!!! BASTARD!!!!!'' But the handsome and refined middle-aged gentleman refused to let it get to him even as he felt the veins in his forehead throb. He wiped his face and the front of his gold-embroidered shirt as he recited a mantra to soothe his nerves: I''ll skin that boy, I''ll skin that boy, I''ll skin that boy x1000000. Lars stood there and looked on in amusement, not even bothering to veil his maddening smirk as he seemed to mock Duke Silvan''s circumstances. This made the blood rush to the duke''s head once more and he felt as if though his vision were turning red and pain lance through his chest. ''Ugh!! No!!! Silvan, Silvan! Calm yourself down... You can''t let a suckling baby get to you like this; what will you do when you become King and Emperor then...? You can''t let just anybody affect your emotions... Don''t be like grandpa who died from a stroke when he was too mad after learning that you had impregnated your sisters... You gotta be zen and calm... Chillax bro Silvan... Chillax, me...'' Silvan closed his eyes and took deep breaths, ignoring the fact that he was making a spectacle of himself in front of Lars. He did not mind; the boy would soon be a contractual slave, anyway, how could he speak of this to anyone...? He began to open his eyes and speak his reply, "Boy, haha, that is out of my capabilities. For such a thing--" "Yes, just as I expected, you''re not very useful, are you..." Lars folded his arms and sighed, putting on an expression of disappointment as the duke tried to smile in self-deprecation, but the smile came out as something more like a snarling animal hoping to tear out the throat of it''s mortal enemy. "Alright then, simple! I want to be assigned as Princess Moira''s personal guard and butler - no, her exclusive guard and butler! You can do at least that much, can''t you...? Or are you incapable of even that little...?" Refusing to take the bait at the obvious jab at his pride, Duke Silvan nodded and smiled magnanimously, saying, "Just that...? Of course, of course! It shall be done the moment the Nationals are over, you have my sworn word, engraved into our contract. Here, let me do it right now - I''ll modify the contract array on the spot. You can watch if you don''t believe me!" "Really...? Wow! You''re the best! If I had known you were so influential, I would have asked for something more... Oh, wait, I forgot - you already told me you''re not able to do it... Nevermind then..." Duke Silvan nearly choked in rage as his mouth opened and closed, lips trembling and unable to speak in his blinding anger. He felt like it would be better to die in anger and take the boy with him than endure any more of this verbal and mental torture! He breathed in and out deeply, closing his eyes for a moment as he hissed out venomously, "Come on, boy! Tell me your remaining three requests! I don''t have time for your games! If you don''t want to strike this deal, it''s off and over with! But don''t forget - since you didn''t fulfil your part of the deal, you''ll have to bear the costs of all the Underworld''s services, including the ransom fee and "transportation" fees!" He nearly bellowed out this ultimatum to Lars and, to his pleasure, he saw that the boy was taken aback and slightly shaken, appearing unsettled and nervous. Silvan smiled at the small victory and waved his hand twice quickly, indicating for the boy to hurry up. "O-okay... Then, your grace... My next three requests are truly simple, I won''t be asking anything difficult that you can''t do, as I understand that your abilities, powers and wealth are truly too limited to be of any use... I understand and won''t waste any more of your time, for your time is limited as well, but not as limited as your abilities, powers or wealth... And I understand that your time is also very short and precious, so precious that I would not dare to take up any more of it by speaking worthless words, no! Why, how dare anyone presume to take up your grace''s precious time? It is like gold; no, worth far more than gold, diamonds or precious jewels! How great it is to be one who can bask in the glory of your presence for more than one second, how glorious and envious it must be for those who can ever-dwell in your abode! This humble one..." "HURRY UP AND SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!" Duke Silvan roared and grabbed Lars by the collar, shaking him back and forth violently several times. He lost his self control entirely and only after shaking Lars more than 10 times did he realise what he was doing - and that he might injure the boy severely and disqualify him from participating in the Nationals! He quickly released his hands from Lars'' collar, leaving him to drop to the floor in a heap. Nervous and worried that he had gone too far when blinded with anger, he fell to his knees and immediately channeled healing and strengthening mana into Lars'' body. He focused and sent his mana to every part of the boy''s body, focusing especially on the boy''s internal organs to repair any internal trauma caused by the high-powered shaking rendered. Normally his Legendary-level mana pool would be enough to heal more than a hundred peak-Experts; but to Silvan''s shock, the boy seemed to be like a bottomless pit, sucking more and more and more of his mana! And before he noticed it, Silvan felt tired and drained; by his estimates, in just a flash and a blink of an eye, more than 20% of his mana had been sucked into the boy''s black-hole body to repair his cells and rejuvenate his body! Nevertheless, to his relief, despite the vigorous and aggressive shaking, Lars looked alright, merely turned pale. "Thank the gods you''re alright... What a scare! I wouldn''t know what to do with my plans if..." Silvan breathed out a long sigh of relief and began to speak worriedly before he suddenly caught himself and realised that he was revealing too much to the boy! He gulped and quickly changed his relieved face to be a cold and angry face, scowling as he changed his tone immediately and shot to his feet, pushing the boy away roughly - but gently so as not to injure him. "Scoundrel! That will teach you to mess with me! Now GET TO THE POINT!" He raised his voice to a shout for the last words as he turned away to regulate his emotions. ''What''s wrong with me...??? Being toyed with by a kid! When I get back, I''ll have to go into training for emotional, social, verbal and political exchanges once more - today has been a great failing on my part...'' Silvan sighed and chided himself. Regardless of how he was aggravated, he as the bigger man should not be reacting as such. He shook his head in disappointment at himself and turned to wait for Lars to recover and finish his request. "Al-alright your grace... Please, forgive me... I don''t dare to do that again, never! I would by no means dare to ever again speak too verbosely just to waste your time; by the heavens, no! There''s no way I would--" "SHUT UP!!!!!! YOU DARE TO DO IT AGAIN???? JUST SAY YOUR PART OR BEGONE ONCE AND FOR ALL FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH!!!!!!!!! AND I MEAN IT!!! JUST BECAUSE YOU''RE USEFUL FOR MY PLANS DOESN''T MEAN YOU''RE IRREPLACEABLE!!!!!!!!!! WANNA SEE ME RIP OUT YOUR BRAIN AND USE IT AS A SPONGE???????" Lars looked shocked as a heaving, puffing, panting, enraged Silvan literally screamed this in his face - but the man did not dare lay a finger on him even in his show of rage. Then Lars chuckled as he said, "Alright, alright... Enough fun and games! Though I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did... I''m just worried that you''ll be unhappy if I tell you my request... Maybe I shouldn''t continue and just pay back everything; you know what, I feel bad to be taking advantage of you and all. I think I''ll just withdraw and leave right now without making anymore requests--" "NO!!!! NOT AT ALL!!!! JUST F***ING TELL ME YOUR REQUESTS!!!! I''M BEGGING YOU, JUST TELL ME ALREADY!!!! PLEASEEEEEEEEE!!! P-P-P-PUH-LEASEEE!!!!!" Silvan did not know whether to laugh or to cry as he literally fell to his knees and was halfway between screeching and sobbing, turned insane by the boy that he had though would be a puppet dancing in the palm of his hands... ...Only to find that he was the puppet hanging on strings at the behest of the masterful manipulator before him! Laughing jovially once more, Lars said, "Well, since you asked..." "My request is... I want a huge, tall, mountain-high cliff...!" "?????" Seeing Duke Silvan''s look of shock and inability to process what he had just heard, Lars shook his head and laughed it off. "Just kidding! What I actually want are..." 150 Old Enemies Friends 3 "As for the third request..." Lars intentionally dragged it out for a few seconds that seemed to trickle by endlessly, but resumed just before Duke Silvan lost it completely. "...It''s actually really simple. I want three big, brawny, bad-ass men with great stamina." "??!??!? Alright... Whatever you want it for, I don''t care! Don''t try to bait me to ask you more! I won''t fall for it! I don''t care I''m telling you!" Duke Silvan''s eyes shot daggers at Lars and bulged almost halfway out their sockets, fire lighting up his pupils. "But..." "!!!!!!!!!!!!" ''Again!!!! This a**hole is asking to DIE!!!! JUST. SIGN. THE. CONTRACT. AND. YOU''RE DEAD MEAT!!!'' But Silvan did not voice his thoughts, instead he kept quiet and waited. "...They also need to be... Ahem, how should say this..." Lars blushed and looked down and away, appearing embarrassed to speak his mind. Duke Silvan''s face turned sour once again as he forced himself to speak the words, "...Just say it!!!! Don''t pretend to be an innocent kid! We both know you''re a completely messed up piece of sh*t!!!!" Lars blushed again and looked up slowly then said, "Erm... I''m just afraid you''ll feel insecure when I say this... But... Those men mustn''t be as small as you..." "What are you talking...." Duke Silvan looked confused for just half a second, speaking out of instinct before his voice trailed off and his face turned pale, before it changed to red then finally settled at a purplish-crimson as the blood rushed to his head. "You.... You...!!!! You!!!!!!" Lars put on an innocent look as he played dumb, saying, "Ahem... That''s why I said I''m reluctant to speak! I don''t want to hurt your feelings, you know! If you''re wondering why I know... Who DOESN''T know in the Kingdom of the Sands...?!? Don''t you know it''s no secret? Every woman you''ve slept with has 3 things in common: Number 1, they''re beautiful, number 2, not a single relationship lasted... And number 3... The break-up was because you were too small to satisfy them!!!!" [Even from far off, the sounds of gurgling screams of frustration could be heard - sounds of a man who was helplessly holding on to the promise of murdering his "conversation partner" as revenge while being forced to bear with endless humiliation...] [Yes. The screams could be heard even through the barrier - hundreds of metres underground...] * * * * * [2 minutes later] After Duke Silvan calmed down again, he promptly ignored whatever had been said earlier. He just stared at Lars impassively, unwilling to speak a single word more. Or perhaps, not daring to say a single thing more in case he slipped up again and was baited into further ignominy. And he also did not want to think about what horrendous things the perverted, depraved boy wanted to do with the 3 men. He shuddered when he thought about the boy''s disgusting preference of play. He continued staring. And staring. And staring at Lars silently. Eventually, Lars chuckled again and decided to finish things up. He was a bit tired of toying with the man and was pretty happy with the mental torture he''d rendered unto the royal blood man who probably had never been treated so badly ever before in his life. "Let''s make it simple. My fourth request is cheap and simple: ropes and lots of lubricant. Ahem, if you''re wondering what kind... *THAT* kind..." Duke Silvan choked a little on his own saliva when he heard Lars brazenly speak his request. He didn''t mind that it was actually 2 requests in 1 - those things were dirt cheap anyway. What he did mind was that he was forced to think about the boy''s deviant hobbies again because of what he said. So he just nodded even as he resisted the fit of coughing hitting him. Truthfully, he felt relieved that he was finally finishing this ordeal. It felt like the last hour of "simple conversation" had been a terrifying battlefield. And when he realised how he was fearful towards the boy! What a horrifying thought, to be afraid of a smooth-skinned weak boy! ''Really... How foolish and slow I''ve grown... How can I get mad about this idiotic kid? Sigh... I''ve grown old and comfortable without going to the "battlefield" of external diplomacy... When I get back, I must request to go out to the field and overseas again...'' He made a note to himself as he reflected on his weaknesses again. Lars nodded in return - then began to smile. Slowly, the corner of his lips curling up into a cunning wolf-like smile. "My last request is..." Lars brushed his hair back and then said. "Wanna guess...?" Duke Silvan''s half-relieved, half-expectant face froze for a beat before his face suddenly turned beet-red and he exploded in wrath for the umpteenth time. "BOY!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS IT *THIS TIME*???? JUST SPIT IT OUT YOU BASTARD BUGGERED DUNGHEAD!!!" He spat out the words as he wondered if it was really worth it becoming the All-powerful ruler of the planet. Perhaps it would be better to just right here and right now rip the skin off this little monster inch by inch! God knows that would be the more satisfying option... He began to pant heavily as he glared at Lars with bulging eyes and gripped the arms of his chair so tightly that loud creaking and cracking sounds began to emanate from the wood - and mind you, this was no mere common wood but Lebian Steelwood, harder than normal metals by manifold, and yet it was already cracking under his infuriated grasp! ''No no no, who am I kidding... Restraint and forbearance are the defining characteristics of a king! I shall be patient as a god in my conduct and prove my calibre to rule! Hahaha!'' After 5 breaths, Duke Silvan''s temper gradually receded as Lars acted as if though he had neither seen nor heard anything, just sitting there with a smile still on his face. Silvan calmed down his heart and kept himself happy with the images of the inhumane acts he would perform on Lars once he was crushed under his heel - just a little more and he would have this despicable kid at his beck and call, a slave to his every command! "Let''s get this over with." Duke Silvan spoke harshly and steeled his resolve to just get this over with. He could feel his mental state slipping and felt his mind tangled in disarray. He was grateful that this was not a hostile territory and that he was not going to face any opponents at such a time - for he knew that he was at less than 60% of his maximum capabilities right now. "Not gonna guess...?" Lars stuck his tongue out cheekily and smiled, then pouted when Duke Silvan just gave him a level and "don''t care" gaze in response. "Fine, fine... I''ll just tell you..." "My last request is..." Lars lifted up his hand and pointed at Duke Silvan then said, "...For Duke Silvan to be tied up, lubed up and gang-banged by those 3 "large" men!" "Okay, consider it done..... What. Did. You. Say...?" Duke Silvan''s eyes turned murderous with an aura of death emanating from his body. He grew quiet; very very quiet, until even his breaths could barely be heard. The level of threat being exuded from his person could be sensed palpably, as if though a great dragon were bearing down upon the boy before him, daring him to provoke the dragon once more and be devoured! But Lars nonchalantly raised his voice in a brazen tone and shouted back in response, "I''m saying! Go get f***ed in the a**, you dipsh*t! Hahahahahahaha!" Roaring in laughter, Lars prepared all of his powers and all his equipment to be called forth in a split second - all of his painstaking provocations, teasing, insults and psychology attacks were all for this one moment - to bring down his counterpart''s mental guard and even drain him of some of his mana to make this victory a surety! Preparing for battle with all cylinders fired and his entire near-Myth power actively channeling, Lars was surprised at the one reaction he did not anticipate...! "Hahahahahahahhahahahhaha!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! HAHAHAHAH!!!!" Lars was shocked out of his laughter upon hearing Duke Silvan follow suit in his laughter. He felt creeped out at someone who would laugh at the sound of a teenager telling to get f***ed to his face, and wondered if he had just discovered a dark secret of the royal family! But his question mark was cleared very quickly as Duke Silvan announced his stance. "Excellent, excellent indeed! You wasted so much of my time all to challenge me like this...? Did you think that I wouldn''t just splatter you here and now...? Did you think you''re safe just because your master is a Legend and you''re under the protection of Duke Leanne...? Do you really think so...?" Not waiting for Lars to answer, Duke Silvan continued with his monologue, "But that''s not a problem. Don''t worry, I''m not going to kill you unfairly... Instead, let''s do it like this. What say you if..." Duke Silvan raised his eyebrows with an expression filled with mirth while his eyes were painted with unveiled murder, then he gave his own offer. "Let''s have a bet. If you win, I''ll give you your 2nd request for free! I''ll reunite you with your little sweetheart, no strings attached! I''ll even promise you won''t have to help me at all with the tournament! And if you''re still worried, I''ll include into the contract to never, ever harm you whether personally or indirectly! How about it...?" After dangling out this carrot before Lars, it was Duke Silvan''s turn to smile smugly and wait for Lars to take the bait. He felt pleased to be now in control of the conversation flow and no longer at the mercy of the boy''s psychological attacks. And Lars, feeling that this discussion had taken an interesting turn, threw away his pride and just asked, "And what if I lose the bet...?" "Oh, you won''t have to worry about what happens if you lose the bet, truly, you have my word, you won''t have to do anything for me if you lose the bet apart from losing in the Nationals! I totally promise this; you won''t come to harm even if you lose the bet! In fact, you won''t lose anything!" Duke Silvan smiled widely, baring his perfect white teeth on his perfectly handsome face that even made Lars look just slightly good-looking. Then the older man stretched out his hand and offering it for a handshake to seal the contract. Lars paused for awhile then asked, "Alright - as long as you include that, if the bet is too unreasonable, I can withdraw from it." Duke Silvan nodded, sneering on the inside as he felt he should have just done this from the very start. Anyway, whatever contract rules, promises or bets would become completely meaningless after Lars became his soul-slave, right...? All he had to do was to command Lars to nullify the contract! Lars raised his hand and reached out to shake Duke Silvan''s hand. The moment their hands touched, a warm blue glow of mana began to pulse from the magic arrays where their hands met as the contract began to form. "Don''t resist, let the contract array meld with yourmana core... I''ll be doing the same, and the contract will be cancelled if either party refuses it..." ''Hahaha! Anyway, it''s already too late, boyo... It''s sealed, dealed, done and over! Hahahahah!'' With another pulse that sounded like a high-pitched heartbeat, the blue glow of the contract array sychronised with the pulsing of the tendrils of mana extending from their hands into their solar plexus where their mana cores were located. The warm glow brought with it a comfortable feeling, giving Lars a sense of peace as he felt like closing his eyes due to the encapsulating senssation. Suddenly however, Lars gasped and tried to jerk his hand away - to no avail. Unable to control himself, his left hand clutching at his chest over the middle of his sternum desperately. "Hahahahahaha! Boy! I must admit, you are truly a talent! A talent at disgusting, infuriating and being a sickening pain in the a** that is! And I''m extremely pleased to tell you just before you lose your ability to resist, while you still retain the last dregs of your will! Don''t worry, this slave seal won''t remove your senses of thought, emotion, consciousness or any of those! It will only make you unable to resist I, your master''s commands, that''s all! HAHHAHAHA!!!" And Lars began to fall to his knees, face pale and choking again and again as the blue formation grew ever brighter, shining like the eye of a supernova as the azure-blue tendrils snaked into and violated his mana core, destroying his ability to resist and overtaking the last vestiges of his will...! Moments later, it was over. The light faded and Duke Silvan allowed Lars'' hand to fall from his own as he tapped his nose, his habit when pleased. "Well, I guess it''s good to go through the motions! Boy, here''s the bet. Hmmm... Well, since you''re already a slave, it doesn''t matter I guess. Ahhh, the hell! If you can lay a finger on me, you win! Hahaha! But anyway, that''s out of the question, slave!" Lars nodded obediently, his conflicted face showing his unwillingness but his body and soul unable to resist due to the slave seal. Having cleared that out of the way for his own pleasure, Duke Silvan then gave his directions. "Alright. Boy, now for your first command: Slap yourself ten times on the cheeks! Hard!" Duke Silvan announced his command with the air of a king, deeply satisfied and elated to finally be rid of this pesky and annoying child. He listened with delightedness as he heard Lars reply, "Yes, your grace. 10 slaps coming right up." And Lars leapt up and slapped Duke Silvan on the left side of his face, so hard that the gloomy and dark surroundings of the world around him turned a swimming white full of the entire 12 constellations in the sky in his eyes! 151 Tricked! "!!!!!!! BLRHHGHH!!!!" Duke Silvan could not speak the words he wanted to as, completely counter to his expectations, he soared and crashed into the wall with a resounding *THUD*. He struggled to recover from the unexpected dizziness and intense pain coming from the high-impact collision, unable to comprehend how a puny Expert-level ant could possibly leave him in such a poor state! ''Could it be my carelessness...? Am I really in such a bad state??? I know I haven''t fought seriously for a decade and... And... Missed out on any forms of combat training for more than 5 years... But... But... How can this be???'' His mind worked overtime, racing through the various permutations, reasons and possibilities but he still could not accept what had just happened! ''There''s no way that someone could dispel the slave seal! No way at all! Not in this world, not in the manifold worlds around in the known universe! And forget about what if he noticed it; even if he did, he completed the contract and formed the slave seal with me out of his own will! I saw it with my owns how the seal entered his heart and soul!'' Then just as he could stabilise himself and lurch to his feet, his eyes refocused as he reached the only conclusion he could accept. ''Unless...'' ''Unless this has all been an illusion! Yes! That must be it! It''s all an illusion... Set up by the Laughing Man in tandem with this kid...! Hahahah! So it was a trap all along, how ingenious of the Laughing Man... After finding out that I wanted to bring this boy in, he must have set up this trap! And now all I need to do is...'' Duke Silvan''s eyelids narrowed and he burst forth with his full mental capacity in a bid to dispel the illusion... But nothing happened! ''No...! No!!! It can''t be, it can''t be!!! I refuse to believe it, this cannot be true! Whether the slave seal not working or this 15-year-old child being able to injure me, being able to equal me in strength! Madness, this is insanity! Impossible, utterly impossible!!!'' But even as Duke Silvan wondered if he were turning mad right now, he did not let his guard down nor did he slouch on his defences. He covered himself in what seemed like a thin, fragile layer of red-brown energy, covering him like in a chitinous exoskeleton of armour as he watched the boy before him slowly walk over, calm and at ease. "...Boy!!! I don''t care what tricks you have up your sleeve...! I''m giving you this one chance to expose the mastermind behind this trap and maybe, just maybe I''ll forgive you by giving you a clean death!! Even if the seal has failed, do you really think that you will come out of this alive!?? Better to give up the dark hand behind the curtains while you''re still able to, lest he abandon you and leave you to die as a sacrificial lamb!" While Duke Silvan shot forth his words in a quick-fire manner, he continuous cast his spirit sense about to catch any hint of an ambush around him. ''Curses!!! I need to find a way to pierce the outer barrier as soon as possible and send a signal for rescue!!! Else I''ll be lucky to escape with my life...! I can only hope that the boy in his immaturity caves in to the psychological pressure and switches sides...'' Based on the assumption that the Laughing Man had been party to this trap or perhaps even the lead planner of this snare, he was in literal deep sh*t right now - stranded in the depths of a proverbial lion''s den! And because of that, he himself did not realise it but he had placed his hopes on the worst and lowest probability play of all - he had forgotten that the "kid" had just moments ago completely manipulated him and had him wrapped around his finger! What were the odds of Lars then immediately turning into a weak-minded imbecile to switch allegiances all for the "reward" of a quick, clean death...? Even that was not guaranteed based on the past devilish dishonesty of Duke Silvan! The situation quickly devolved into a stare-down; with Lars unflinching, unbudging and exerting countless pressure on Duke Silvan who was still in a muddled state. The blue-blooded royal was hesitant to make any move on Lars, fearful of a sneak attack being sprung on him the moment he let down his guard and focused on the boy. At the same time, he had his full-powered mana channeled ceaselessly, covering his body in his ultimate defence mode - his signature battle mode, the Red-Earth Locust Transformation! This mode made him strong in all three of speed, power and defence, with the only weakness being poor flexibility due to the extremely hardened and strengthened form. But the other drawback of this mode was that it drained his mana - constantly! However, he had no choice, for as long as he was in the midst of enemies on all sides, he could be literally stabbed in the back at any moment! His only option was to constantly drain his mana to keep himself primed for combat! On the contrary, Lars was relaxed and ready to trigger his mana and combat spells at the slightest notice. Despite allowing the slave seal to enter his 2nd mana core and having it rupture, the damage to him was negligible - merely a temporary crippling of his faux peak-Expert mana core; something that he could easily replace through the next Abyssal Exchange. He had a theory to test and was 99% confident that his scheme had worked... But it wouldn''t hurt to play it safe, would it...? And so Lars'' smirked wide as he continued to inch closer to Duke Silvan while smiling sinisterly; laying on the pressure onto the frantic man and draining his mana further. But just at that tense moment, an amused voice chimed in from the side, coming from behind Lars'' back. "What''s the matter here...?" The Laughing Man had sensed the disturbance and rushed over within 10 seconds from the clash between the duo, only to see a tense stand-off play out before his eyes! Needless to say, he was doubly surprised - firstly that the previously mock-amicable negotiations had so quickly devolved to this state, and secondly that the injured and defensive party was Duke Silvan! The moment the Laughing Man spoke, Lars inadvertently turned back slightly, diverting his attention for just the shortest moment and taking his eyes off Duke Silvan. And the moment he turned back, in just that 0.05 split second, Duke Silvan was upon him, turned into a rocketing torpedo of crushing red power! ''Chance!!!!! DIE!!!!!'' Duke Silvan roared out in his mind as he bore down on Lars! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!! And Lars looked in hilarity as Duke Silvan suddenly found his soul and will forcefully dragging him aside to veer away from Lars, smack dab into the reinforced concrete walls!! A human-shaped hole was left in his wake as his solidly empowered body was embedded a full metre into the wall! However, the fact that he had not burst through to the other side was testament to the Laughing Man implementing the highest standards of defence in his base of operations! Nonetheless, the ceiling produced complaining, groaning and creaking sounds before collapsing down onto a dazed and confused Duke Silvan... While the Laughing Man looked on, equally stunned by the unlikeliness of the situation! What the f*** was going on??? How could a Legendary expert.... MISS his target?!? Especially when that true powerhouse, the undisputed master of combat was one that stood at the apex of the entire kingdom! The Laughing Man felt a chill run up his spine as he slowly turned to lay his eyes on the boy who was behind it, Lars who seemed to be not surprised at the outcome! *Clap clap clap!* The Laughing Man could not help but express his awe for the kid. Even if he had to perform a clean-up after this - both of his hidden base and eliminating the people involved - he just had to give it to him! Had anyone ever heard of a child toying with a Legendary monster before...? No f***ing way! Lars was a bit surprised at the crime lord''s actions and smiled sheepishly before he asked with a serious look in his eyes, "Mr Joker, I hope you''ll give Duke Silvan a chance to explain himself. I''m sure he will have something that will be of great... Interest to you. And to me, of course..." The sound of the stones clattering to the ground was heard as a person moved underneath the rubble. The wreckage slid aside and parted to show a disheveled, bloodied and injured Duke Silvan, albeit one with his Red-Earth Locust Transformation still intact except for two broken feelers of the red-brown summoned helmet on his head. Shakily, Duke Silvan blurted out the words, "W-w-...Why...? Why is this happening...? I-I-I... I can''t muster the will to harm y-you, b-b-boy...!" And Lars smiled before he said, "...Isn''t that obvious...?" And he walked over towards Duke Silvan who raised his arm up, trying to force himself to strike a life-reaping punch and blow Lars'' head off. He shot his fist forward full-powered against the defenceless, unprepared Lars, but just before his knuckles could touch Lars'' face, a deep-blue pulse of light shone from Duke Silvan''s chest before his entire body convulsed and he wrenched his arm away, narily slipping past Lars'' head and not even harming a hair on his scalp! "GUHHHH!!!!!! What... W-what... What''s wrong... What''s WRONG WITH MEEEEE??!?!?!?" Duke Silvan hollered uncontrollably as he collapsed onto the ground, his eyes darting here and there erratically as his state of mind began to collapse. He was pulling at his hair as he broke out in cold sweat and the veins on his forehead bulged out. Lars then kept his arms folded before his chest and calmly explained what had happened, his behaviour completely at odds with the frenetic and nigh-insane actions of his opponent. "...Looks like it turned out just as I expected. Too bad for you, Silvan. The seal and contract didn''t fail..." "It worked perfectly, exactly as intended! Which means you will never, ever be able to harbour any ill-will towards me nor make any decision whatsoever which you know will harm me, whether now in a hundred years to come!" And Duke Silvan cried out in despair and frustration as he roared, "NO!!!!!! NO NO NO NO!!!!!!! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! THERE''S NO WAY!!! THE SLAVE SEAL FAILED, THE CONTRACT FAILED, SO HOW??? HOW????!?!?!?" He began to weep and bawl, rolling on the floor like a man who had lost his mind, causing the Laughing Man''s scalp to grow numb at the sight. And the crime lord looked on in pity and sympathy as Duke Silvan thrashed about on the ground, before he cast a glance with raised brows at Lars - a glance that was filled with fear and apprehension at the dreadful and threatening boy who could reduce a grand royal noble to such a sorry state...! And he also came to an instantaneous decision... He needed to eliminate the boy immediately before he too fell victim to his wiles, while the boy was still weak and frail! The Laughing Man triggered his trump card and brought to bear his full powers, plunging everything around Lars and Duke Silvan into a pitch-black swallowing void that was dark beyond darkness! "!!!!!!" Lars cried out wordlessly as he burst for with his own abilities to clash against the leader of the Underworld, smiling with delight as he could now rid the world of the scourge that was the Laughing Man, relishing the moment as he set forth on the challenge of slaying a dragon on it''s own lair! 152 A Watery Prison The abject darkness that Lars was subjected to was achieved very simply. In the first place, they were already underground; all lighting had been man-made, or rather, magic-made. Pearls of light, non-incendiary torches or magical runes; all these cast meagre but passable light for the gloomy passageways and rooms in this subterranean fortress. The second thing that happened was the total and complete submersion of the compound under frigid waters, channeled from the neighbouring Gorun River! One second it was dry and well-lit; the next, pitch-dark with surging currents of smashing waves flooding the rooms! ''Crazy! He''ll kill not just us but everyone in the entire hideout with this - no, he must have suitable preparations to avoid sacrificing his top subordinates down here!'' Lars immediately surrounded himself with a shell of magic defences, placing on the surface of the magic shield a level of protection appropriate for his Expert-level capabilities while under that thin veneer of Level 3 spell-shields was a true layer of the Level 8 spells: Greater Protection from Elements and Greater Protection from Magical Weapons; rendering him 95% resistant to attacks of those types. Perhaps this change of the battlefield into the water element was unnecessary if Lars were the only opponent for the Laughing Man, but it was likely that his extremely cautious personality of killing an ant with a cannon was what had brought him to the peak of the criminal world in this city. It was also possible that Joker feared Duke Silvan''s interference due to him being bound by contract to not allow harm to Lars... Keeping his eyes shut and craning his other senses keenly, Lars expected an immediate strike from the Laughing Man - and he was not disappointed. Soundlessly and wordlessly, the masked killer shot through the waters as if he were a fish in his element. As this was still in complete and utter darkness, Lars did not see it but instead felt the slight undulations and ripples through the water''s movement. ''Gotcha!'' He exclaimed in his mind as he brandished his Mana Sabre and infused the vibrant blue energy blade with the twin-elements of Space and Lightning - Space through his comprehension of the laws to form a thin channel of existence-cleaving void; a vacuum devoid of water or air around his blade and the Lightning through the Level 9 Spell: Wrath of the Thundergod! The Level 9 Semi-ultimate spell was normally used in the form of an unfettered explosion of lightning bolts, gathering storm clouds to wreak indiscriminate havoc upon everyone around the caster. However in this situation, due to the caster himself being surrounded by water himself, Lars instead compressed the form of the spell to a reduced form, channeled into the slim 3 and a quarter foot blade of his Mana Sabre. This resulted in a reality-rending nerve rupturing cacophony of skills intertwined into a single sword strike, ready to burst through the strongest blow the masked Crime Lord could throw at him! Regretting that he could not speak underwater to cry out the name of his newly-christened and created combination skill, Lars could only settle for a silent mental yell as he brandished his blade with his eyes closed! ''Take this!!! Void-Thunder Judgment Sword!!!'' Due to the band of void-space encapsulating his Mana Sabre, Lars'' move was nearly silent except for the swishing of water as it resisted his swing. However, he was not discouraged by this and swiftly sliced through the water from the direction he sensed the Laughing Man approaching from! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZRRRRRRTTTTTTTTZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAPPPPP!!!!!!!! The instant Lars'' sword strike connected with his opponent''s attack, a crazy crackling explosion of deafening sound burst forth as the lightning "beam" in blade form crashed directly into the veritable wall of surging waters that were gushing his way. At first, the masked mastermind had scoffed when he sensed Lars wielding his sword to counter his Torrential Ruin specialty skill. Was the boy crazy?!? Who in their right mind would try to CUT WATER with a SWORD?!? Moreover, from what Joker sensed, the boy even dared to trigger the lightning element UNDERWATER! How crazy was that? How insane would a person have to be to use a self-damaging nearly suicidal move when they themselves were fully surrounded by highly conductive liquids?!? The Laughing Man smirked as he peered through the pitch-black waters with his perfect dark-vision and watched expectantly for the boy to be swept away by the death-delivering currents, electrocuted by his own skill and then smashed into a pulp by the tsunami of force! However, his arrogant expression was quickly wiped away as he saw the direct opposite of what he expected happen! Not only were the waves cleaved apart cleanly by the sword move, even the force behind his city-destroying wave of turbulent water was dispersed! The void around the blade did not just end 3 and a quarter feet in front of Lars where his sword stroke passed, but the moment the tip of his blade was pointed at his black-robed opponent, the area of vacuum space shot straight forth like a line being struck across a painting; so straight and true that it looked like there were a literal split in reality where his blade sliced through! Bubbles of air escaped Joker''s lungs against his will as he suddenly felt his insides twisting and being shoved aside as the laterally split space passed through his body, parting his unprepared body in two! And he could only gasping in terror as he regret the fact that, despite him using his full-power in an attack to crush Lars right there and then, he had not been ready for such a potent counter-attack...! ...At least, those were the thoughts passing through his mind in the split-second before the Level 9 Spell: Wrath of the Thundergod lanced through the waters and engulfed his entire body in a white-wash blinding pillar of lightning! The lightning bolt did not conduct backwards to harm Lars, but was bent according to Lars'' will and spread out only the direction he commanded it to; streaking through the waters to connect soundly with the Laughing Man''s submerged body! "!!!!!!" The gaunt, masked figure could not even cry out in agony as the Level 9 Spell that summoned the Lightning Spear of the Heavens swallowed his entire body with waves of nerve-frying voltage in the billions of volts, while the glowing white core in the form of a lance pierced through his heart, instantly executing the dreaded and feared master of the darkness of Gorun City, the tyrannical Underlord of the Underworld...! Lars watched keenly with his spirit sense and through the information carried by the vibrations in the water as he felt the Wrath of the Thunder God lance through the gap between them and harpoon Joker''s body, smashing him through one wall, crashing him right through and crushing his limp body into the next wall behind it. In one fell swoop, in one single move and in one split second, it was over. The Laughing Man was dead. The war against the dark belly of Gorun City... Was now over! 153 Loose Ends 3/4 Lars let out a breath of relief when he saw the waters begin to recede as the Laughing Man''s bisected body began to drift in the currents, not resisting the weight of gravity nor the flow of the gushing waters as the corpse floated to the floor. ''...In the end, even his undoubtedly immense riches, wealth of battle experiences and his years of scheming could not save him from death... That proves that of all the resources available to a person, information and the element of surprise is the most important of all...'' ''Yuppers...! Of course, that''s if both parties aren''t too far apart in power. Heh... If you were really just a peak-Expert or even a peak World-class combatant, that attack would have 0% chance of working! Be grateful that you have the power to back up your sneak attack! Never, ever forget; absolute power trumps everything! Remember that!'' Kizoirik chimed in with his 2 cents, eliciting a mindful nod from Lars as he acknowledged the truth in that statement. Even if a Legendary monster forgot to activate his defensive abilities and just took a peak-Expert''s blow to his face, at worst it would merely faze him and leave him bruised; it wouldn''t be sufficient to bring about a decisive outcome such as this...! And after failing to capitalise on that once in a lifetime opportunity, the peak-Expert would then have to give up his life for nothing! Lars rushed over to the body, sending a sidelong glance to check on Duke Silvan who was still safe though dazed and dejected. He set a mental note to not let the man out of his sights; this was the chance to consolidate some important aspects of his power-base in this planet while Duke Silvan was still in a fragile and vulnerable state of mind. Regardless of how big a blow it was to lose in the battle of wits against a junior and fall victim to a reversal, ending up bound by the contract to both protect and keep Lars safe from harm as well as to reunite him with Princess Moira, the seasoned negotiator, diplomat, schemer and Duke would quickly recover and find a way to squirm out of his predicament. Before that could happen, Lars would have to to make sure he struck the final nail into the coffin - immediately! Lars swooped over against the mad currents of draining waters and scooped up Joker''s cold body, depositing it and all his possessions immediately into his spatial storage ring. He didn''t have time to sort through the man''s items and could only leave that for later. Additionally, he was not sure whether the stash of the entire Underworld would be on one man''s body - there was an ~80-90% chance that there would be another treasure trove hidden away somewhere else; whether within this hideout, somewhere else in the city or in the vicinity of Gorun City. Having settled that, Lars cast his spirit sense about to check on the whereabouts of the other 3 sub-leaders of the Underworld. Though they tried to hide their mana signatures, he quickly sensed the speedy movement of the three as they scattered to the four (three) winds in escape. He calculated, making use of his far greater mental alacrity from his soul imprint of Insight and realised that he likely would only be able to capture two at most by himself. In light that, he immediately made a decision as he sneered slyly. As the water had subsided to roughly chest-height, Lars could now yell over to Duke Silvan and make use of the semi-enslaved man! "Duke Silvan!" The dazed man''s eyes slowly regained their focus as he grit his teeth at the hateful voice of the person he abhorred the most in the world right now. He did not answer nor respond but quickly leapt to his feet and made as if to flee the scene without delay, but Lars'' words cut him off and rooted him to the spot. "STOP! Your contract states you have to ensure you don''t take any actions that bring me harm! If any of the three Lords of the Underworld escape, I''ll definitely be constantly exposed to the threat of ambushes, backstabs or assassination! If you don''t take any action, you''ll surely cause me harm!" He gave no answer, but the flaring of his nostrils and the puffs of hot air visibly released from his lungs were an indicator that he had heard Lars - and was maddened in rage! However, he could not refute what the boy said - and due to that, the soul bonds of the contract also bounded him in his place, unable to leave without hearing Lars out and helping him! Lars smirked as he quickly gave the final punch to his knock-out combo, "So why don''t we do this - I''ll take the ones on the south and east while you capture the one on the north side! After that, let''s meet back up at Duke Leanne''s palace discreetly!" And though his eyes flared up with not-at-all-concealed rage, Duke Silvan wordlessly turned around and shot off towards the north, once more triggering his Red-Earth Locust Transformation to boost his speed and destructive power as he broke through the walls in a beeline headed for the escaping Lord of the Underworld. Lars shot off towards the south, his spirit senses forming a map in his mind as his mind that would put to shame a supercomputer running Waze and Google Maps instantly traced the optimum path to catch up to this target. "Level 9: Godly Haste! Level 8: Greater Flight!" Lars quickly casted spells to improve his ability to pursue his prey and shot off into the distance, flashing through the passageways at an impossible break-neck speed, one that was only made possible due to his incredibly quick mind observing all the obstacles, computing all the variables and making the split-second changes in trajectory all within a mere instant. Lars did not not know which of the remaining 3 Lords of the Underworld he was pursuing, but he knew it did not matter - he just needed to keep his guard up and be wary of any deadly traps remaining and the threat of a counter-attack. However, he felt confident since the Laughing Man would be unlikely to entrust the full control of his personal base to anyone else; thus it was nigh-impossible that the three sub-leaders under him could have any ultimate traps that could prove deadly to a Legendary being. The gallant mage-knight soared through the hallways and past countless doors, at times flicking his hand to blow apart a wall to create a shortcut while at others he would swing his Mana Sabre to chop down a door or the errant barrier. When a poisonous dart was triggered, Lars merely adjusted his flight path by the minimum to let the projectile harmlessly fly past him. When the ceiling began to collapse, he brandished his blade and triggered the fusion laws of Space and Earth to smash apart a gaping fissure to pass through unhindered. And when he finally caught sight of a fleeing purple-haired woman, he saw as the floor beneath him suddenly fell away for 50 metres in either direction and the walls turn into spikes that slammes inwards from either side! Peering downwards, he saw that beneath was a pool of viscous green liquid, undiluted by the waters from earlier - probably the highest level of caustic acids that could wound and injure even a World-class combatant! Shrugging, Lars merely sped up and changed into a twinkle of light and slipped right past the area where the walls closed in! Before the fleeing woman could even blink her eyes, Lars had caught up to her and begun swinging his blade down onto her neck! "Wait, I--" She tried to call out to him and speak, but Lars ignored her and instantly lopped off her head, leaving the unspoken words forever unknown, frozen on her now-lifeless lips. ''Hmmph! Like I would even give you a moment to speak, Lumera of the Veil...! The poisoner, assassin, master of seduction, blackmail and coercion! Also the head of the prostitution rings that enslave countless young girls and boys! A scum of the earth, a plague that walks the streets openly; the head of the group that kidnaps teenagers and forcefully make them dependent on drugs and other harmful substances to become slaves to the sex trade! You deserve far worse than death, but let death suffice... I''m in a bit of a hurry... I still have another vermin to exterminate...'' Lars flew through the winding maze-like corridors and quickly made haste to hunt down his next target! 154 Loose Ends 4/4 *GRRRGKKK!* Lars skillfully dodged the crumbling ceiling block which descended to his right, spinning away from it at break-neck speed. He whistled out a breath of relief when he smoothly avoided that probably 40-ton slab of reinforced concrete - and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end when he saw the endless pouring down of earth, sand and stones from above that followed after it! Even with his great abilities, he admittedly was not a physical-focused Legendary cultivator and would be severely injured if that landed on him...! ''Better hurry! Hopefully I can locate the hidden treasure trove as well; but even if I can''t, my priority is to make it out of here in one piece...'' As Lars raced after the last rat, he scanned over the underground complex and mapped out the updated situation. The ground was now just slightly damp as the waters had receded completely. Lars wondered how they achieved this; even on Earth, the levels of construction and engineering would be hard-pressed to pull off this feat except through the use of actively-powered magic formations. Whereas with the Laughing Man dead and the structure of the underground complex collapsing, it was perhaps a miracle of engineering that the waters could drain away given that the compound was right beside the Gorun River and also a few hundred metres underground. That brought up the point - the moment the waters had completely drained away, the entire underground hideout had tremored simultaneously and begun collapsing bit by bit ''Perhaps there was some timer tied to the Laughing Mans'' death, a self-destruct mechanism...? Dastardly... As in his lifetime he stole, killed and destroyed to enrich himself and expand his powers, even in his death he strives to deprive others of his wealth...!'' ''With how wealthy the Underworld branch here in Gorun City is, it''s a wonder that he wasn''t already breaking into the Mythical stage... There couldn''t have been any lack of secret treasures or cultivation-enhancing resources... Nor would he have any want for more physique-building herbs...'' Lars mused over the fact that the criminal leader seemed rather weak, not even at the limits of the Legendary stage when he had clashed with him. Nonetheless, Lars was glad to eliminate that potential problem as quickly and cleanly as possible... If the Laughing Man had brought to bear his runes, items and trump cards, it would have been a different matter altogether with Lars likely to sustain heavy injuries if he wanted to pin him down and kill him. ''Perhaps it was just a limitation of his talents...? A pity for him... No matter! Regardless of his background or the situations that brought him to this end, the great crimes he has perpetrated over his lifetime must come to bear - he deserved his ignominious death here, buried under thousands of tons of dirt and earth in a watery grave...'' He scanned the area and continued tracking the movements of the escaping cloaked figure heading to the east where he supposed the walls could be broken through to the river bed. Seeing that his target was now only less than a kilometre away from the edges of the underground complex and close to escaping, Lars urged himself onwards at maximum speed, forgoing his earlier efforts of approaching undetected. Momentarily he spared an ounce of focus to check on Duke Silvan''s similar pursuit and nodded when he saw that the fleeing rat was already eliminated, it''s mana signature erased wholly. Duke Silvan had then forcibly broken his way through the earth above and presumably burrowed up to the surface. ''Looks like I''ll have to arrange a way to meet him later without drawing attention... Wait... What?!?'' Lars'' full attention was drawn immediately when he saw something that confounded him. He had earlier been at nearly the south-most tip of the underground hideout and weaving through the honeycomb of corridors and passageways headed in the north-eastern direction to cut-off his prey who fled to the east. All this while, he had been constantly calculating and recalculating the necessary trajectory to make sure he intercepted his target. But the moment he averted his attention to the outcome of Duke Silvan''s chase, his target had abruptly changed direction! ''Wait... That... He was supposed to be running to the east, but after stopping at that one point, he''s suddenly changed direction and is running west again...? Why would he turn back into harm''s way...? There''s no escape route to the west, so why is he... Wait, could it be... No, it *MUST* be!'' ''A hidden treasure trove!'' Lars'' heart pumped with urgency as he continued to narrowly dodge the falling slabs of reinforced concrete and granite falling down like Tetris blocks. His mind spun frantically as he changed his direction to catch up to his prey. With the building collapsing like this, would he be able to eliminate his target and still get out safely...? Could he even get out alive if he delayed his escape too much...? ''Damn... I have no idea of how long this place will still hold up before it crumbles entirely... Maybe at most 2 minutes left... Can I...? Can I make it in time...?'' ''F*** it! I''ve gotta try! For money!'' And Kizorik and Velzash lazily echoed their host''s thoughts, crying out in unison, ''For money!'' ''.......Do you two ever do anything useful...?'' Lars shook his head in mock despair at the two freeloaders in his mental realm as he redoubled his efforts to chase his target, all for the sake of money. ''Hey!! Watch your mouth!!! I''m not lazy or useless!! I''m just... I''m just...'' Kizorik was flustered and turned red-faced as he shot back at Lars while the fairy-like demon Velzash pouted in dissatisfaction at Lars'' mental jibe. ''Just what...? Huh?? Come on, tell me just what it is you do everyday apart from eating, sleeping and shooting your mouth!!!'' Lars made a show of aggression but chuckled in his heart while he teased the adorable penguin who used sharp-toothed dentures to look fiercer. ''...Hmmph! Lars, you better watch out! While I don''t know about lil'' bro Kizorik or whether he ever does anything useful or not, but as for me...'' ''You don''t even have to ask! I don''t ever do anything useful! That''s my motto in life! Never do anything useful, in case people actually ask you to do work!'' ''.......'' Lars and Kizorik were both left speechless at the shamelessness level 100 of the vegetarian world-destroying demon. Then they both exchanged a glance and let out a sigh, deciding that bickering with someone so shameless in the conversation would just be a waste of breath. Then Kizorik spoke more seriously, adding, ''Well, Lars, I''ve got good news for you; I haven''t been just lazing around doing nothing, y''know!'' ''...Oh really...?'' ''YES!!! Don''t question me!!! Ahem, now what was I saying... Oh yeah!'' Kizorik roared out in anger then quickly smoothed down his ruffled feathers and continued. ''I''ve stored up the Abyssal energies and the death energy you''ve gained over the last couple of weeks and with just a little bit more, I''ll be able to rank up!'' ''....And what''s the significance of that...?'' Lars didn''t really find the news all that great as his mind was right now only on finding the hidden treasures of the Underworld and getting out alive, just like the proverbial "Boarding a sinking ship just to plunder it!". Or something like that. ''...Alright, I guess you wouldn''t know because I haven''t told you before, BUT! What it means is that I''ll soon be able to release my demonic powers to help you in battle!'' ''How will that work...? Like, you''ll be able to manifest and attack enemies by... Nibbling on their toes? HAHAHAHAAHHAHA BLAAAAAAARGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' Lars put on a serious face initially as he tried to imagine how Kizorik would help in combat, but then when he actually visualised it, he ended up spraying saliva in front of his mouth as he was flying. ...And as he was flying at incredibly high speeds, that meant that he immediately flew into the spray of saliva, covering his entire face with his own spit! So while Lars'' eyes turned red from disgust and he hurriedly washed off and wipe his face (while still flying almost at top speed), Kizorik who had initially had his heckles up in indignation was now rolling on his back, clutching his belly laughing while Velzash covered his mouth at the sight, his tiny body convulsing as he tried to withhold his guffaws at the hilarious sight! ''Okay, okay...! Enough of that! Just tell me what it means when you say you can help me in battle!'' Wiping his tiny beady black penguin eyes of the tears of mirth, Kizorik explained, ''Yeah, yeah... Just give me a moment to recover... It''s pretty painful y''know, laughing so hard like that...'' But when Kizorik saw Lars'' eyes turn murderous and glint with a flash of homicide reflected within, Kizorik hurriedly shouted out, ''Alright!!!! Don''t kill me!!!! I''ll tell you, I''ll tell!!'' ''What it means is that I can now manifest for roughly 2 minutes in a degenerated version of my transformed self - not as a penguin, but with a human appearance! And in that form I''ll be roughly at the peak-Legendary stage, heh heh heh...'' ''Of course, while in your mental world I''ll still remain in the form with the lowest energy consumption... Demons constantly expend energy if they''re not hibernating, y''know...? Which means I''ve never been lazy or a sleepy-ass! I''ve just been... Conserving energy, y''know...'' Lars'' eyes widened as he thought about the various ways he could make use of the additional battle power - it was essentially like doubling his current capabilities overnight! With Kizorik''s powers as his hidden card, perhaps challenging the Mythical-realm was no longer a pipe dream...? So he ignored the penguin''s self-disclaimer about him not being lazy and just nodded, saying, ''Excellent! Buddy, that''s great! We''ll just have to try it out soon and practice fighting together... What do you need to break through to that level up...?'' ''Oh, not much. Just about another 2 million Abyss Points...'' ''TWO MILLION??? WHAT, YOU THINK ABYSS POINTS GROW ON TREES...???!? YOU THINK I CAN JUST SUDDENLY CONJURE THAT UP OUT OF NOWHERE? AND YOU SAID THAT IT''S JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE-- Hold up, our prey has just stopped moving even though he knows we''re coming! It doesn''t seem like he''s doing anything at that spot either, just...'' ''I think he''s waiting for us...? Hah...! He''s a fool if he thinks we''ll negotiate with a criminal! It''ll be immediate death the moment we lay eyes on hi...'' Lars'' voice trailed off as he turned the final corner to his target and saw a long-cloaked man with white hair, a white beard and a stern but gentle demeanour. A face he recognised. Mr White. 155 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also "Mr White...? How... How can it be you...??!?" Lars felt his soul lurch within him as he remembered the heart-warming and enlightening words that the Gorun Stadium Head Administrator had imparted unto himself and Darius. That scene was still engraved clearly in his memories, changing his mindset towards the world at large and erasing much of his hatred and indifference towards human-kind - and yet here Mr White was, caught red-handed as an accomplice... No, as one of the Underworld''s captains and a mastermind of the crime that occurred in the city! "Mr White!!! How could you!!!?!? How could you do this?!?! I thought you were different, I thought you were someone who cared for the human race! You were an inspiration when you spoke those simple yet profound words! Yet were they for nothing!?? Just empty sophistry used to deceive and fool those of the younger generation like me?!? SPEAK!!!" (SPEAK speak speak speak....) Lars did not realise just how loudly he was roaring until he heard the echos of his last bellow continue resonating through the hallways long after he had stopped speaking. Suddenly he realised that he had his fists gripped incredibly tightly and had unconsciously slammed his foot into the ground, exacerbating the already collapsing complex. However, the ever-white-robed public servant who was now revealed to be a member of the underground world remained silent, looking as if he were thinking about how to respond to the boy before him. Lars felt his blood boil over, enraged by the fact that a man he had looked up to and trusted, a man who he had felt a warmth and bond with like no-one before could be one of the depraved minds behind the great crimes perpetrated in this city. He literally could hear the sound of something snapping within him as he thought nothing of wasting his mana and the cooldown of a Blink spell and teleported, reappearing face to face with Mr White. In a twinkling of the eye, Lars had grasped hold of the old man''s collar and flung him into the already crumbling walls, eliciting a heavy "Ooof!" as the wind was knocked out of his lungs. The sickening sound of cracking bones was heard as well as the merely Grandmaster-level man could not withstand the level of mana-enhanced force used on his body as Lars leapt onto him and straddled him on the floor, gripping his neck and shouting into his face, desperate for an answer to satisfy his shattered beliefs. "TELL ME!!!! TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME!! Don''t just keep quiet, SPEAK!!!!" But Mr White continued to lie underneath Lars silently with only the sounds of his laborious breathing heard and the occasional drip-drop of the blood that trickled from the corners of his mouth. Seeing the man''s reaction made Lars feel unnerved. He loosened his grip and narrowed his eyes as he felt confused. Hoping for words that would make everything make perfect sense as to why a man he had considered great and visionary would be leading one of the most vile and wicked organisations to mar the face of the earth. Eeven from their short periods of interactions, Lars had felt that the white-haired old man was a stand-out role model for the human race, able to speak words of wisdom and truth incisively to "slap awake" arrogant young people like himself and Darius with just a sentence or two. And now he was a traitor committing the most heinous acts against his own kind such as slavery, prostitution, murder and countless other depravities...? Lars'' eyes stared deeply into Mr White''s weak and wan face, the youth''s expression imploring the older man for a good explanation, a reason that would make everything clear. But his hopes were dashed as the corners of the older man''s mouth began to curl upwards in a mocking, cunning smile before he began laughing maniacally. "HAH HAH HAH HAHHAHAHA!!! HA, HAHAHA HAHAHHAHHHH! Boy, you are so naive, so so so naive!" Mr White struggled to sit up slightly so he could spit out the words from his damaged body, saying, "Boy! If you think everything works like in those dramas or epics, you''re dangerously naive, stupid even! Do you think everything is so romantic as in those stories?!? If you live with that mush in your brain, how will you survive in this wild, murderous dog-eat-dog world!?? Wake up! Stop being so stupid!" The words became too much for Lars and he began shaking his head - though he still was not defenceless or in any danger of being defeated as his mana continued to circulate through his entire body. However, Lars'' face turned pale and he half-stumbled, half-fell as he stepped backwards, receiving a psychological blow by the sudden change of image of a man he respected. His brows trembled every now and then and his breaths became hoarse. He could not find the words to speak that could express what was going through his mind, so much was there flitting through his brain right now. "I did it all for my own selfishness! So there!!! Hahahaha!!! HAH AH AH HAAHHAHAAHH!!! Yes! I am Rogen the Shadow, the mysterious Head of the Four Gates of the Underworld, the one who stands shoulder to shoulder with the Laughing Man, the man who holds the finances of the the entire Gorun City branch and whose single word means the destruction of thousands of families!! That is me!!!" "And if you want the treasure... Hahaha! Just kill me for it!!! Here it is, here is the secret letter that will tell you everything! Don''t worry, it''s indestructible! So just kill me! HAHAHAHAHHA!" As countless thoughts bombarded Lars and plagued his very soul with doubt towards trusting people and believing in human-kind, he felt his heart ache along with his head. Kizorik and Velzash too were not sure how to react. At first they had believed just as Lars had that the old man had a deeper meaning, a heart-wrenching reason for his acts. Perhaps blackmail, perhaps he was a soul-slave, perhaps... Perhaps something, anything at all! Anything except for the answer that Mr White was pursuing his own selfishness! At times like this, he felt that his 10 times faster thinking speed was a curse more than a blessing, as he was subjected to mental anguish to his sensitive and tender heart. One might mock Lars for feeling such a way, but to each their own, was it not...? And though Lars was someone whose heart was not easily swayed nor opened, to those he did trust and open up his heart to, he began to care for greatly... And was thus truly hurt when his beliefs were turned on their head. Seeing Lars'' hesitance, Rogen a.k.a. Mr White pounced to his feet and began to run away, clutching the piece of parchment in his hand - the key to the Underworld''s Treasures! Lars eye were already completely red and bloodshot by now. Releasing a bestial roar of angst, dissatisfaction as well as resentment towards not just Mr White but the wretched, deceitful world as a whole, he turned into a streak of lightning as he used his own bare hands to smash down on the fleeing man''s spine, instantly snapping his body in half and ending his life. However, he was not satisfied with just that and continued punching, kicking, pummeling and smashing his fists and feet into the already-dead body, venting his frustration and anger even as tears began to brim in his eyes. After an indeterminate amount of time beating down on what was left of Mr White''s body, Lars stood over the mashed up and mutilated pile of flesh and bones and panted heavily, striving to draw in breath after breath of air. He felt dazed and in a blur as he regained his senses, then felt sticky fluids on his face, lips, hands and hair. In disgust, he summoned water to wash it all away quickly. Lars then looked around - he was unsure of just how long he had lost his rationality, but by the looks of it, it hadn''t been long as the collapse of the ceiling had not progressed much. Absent-mindedly he waved his hand and grabbed hold of the piece of parchment lying on the side. It was smack-dab in the middle of a mangled pile of blood and flesh, but whatever material it was made of was extremely resistant to dirt or staining as everything just slid off the parchment when he picked it up. Despite his poor state of mind and being in a terrible mood, one that gave him no joy at discovering wealth as this time, Lars'' greed still spurred him on to examine the note. And when he did, his jaw dropped, his eyes turned into fountains instantly and he fell to his knees, sobbing. ''Why...'' ''Why must it have turned out like this...?!?'' ''How can this be true... How could Mr White be... How could he be someone like that...'' ''No... No!!! It can''t be true... But I can''t deny it... Because...'' ''I''m the only one in the entire world, in the entirety of the universe who would be able to confirm what he has written...'' ''How can it be so sad...? So tragic...'' ''Kiddo.......... I.....'' Kizorik too was distraught while Velzash could barely hold back his own sobs, the melodramatic soap-opera consumer that he was. ''You were right when you said life isn''t like a drama... No... It is far more dramatic, fuller in twists and turns, more tragic than any story or tale could be...'' Even though the urgency of finding the treasure trove and escaping was increasing with every moment that passed, Lars couldn''t care less. He held the note tightly in his hand as tears filled his eyes and streamed down his face, blurring his vision completely and falling with heavy *plop* sounds onto the note. His hands spasmed every now and then, desperate and unwilling to let go, but at the same time unwilling to crumple the last words of the departed man. 156 Selfishness and Desperation Can Make One... [Written on the slightly faded but tough note - the ink looked to be more than a year old] To whoever reads this, Congratulations! You have slain Rogen the Shadow, secret Financial Controller and official number 2 of the Underworld! And with my death, you also hold in your hand the guidance notes to finding the Underworld''s secret treasure trove! Right now you surely wonder why I am giving this information to my killer, but please, just bear with me and you will soon find out. Anyway, you''ll need to read through every detail of this letter for the clues to the hidden treasure trove, so please hear out my story. The tale starts not so long ago when I was a young man. Ahah, I''m just kidding. It''s been a pretty long while since I considered myself young... I dither. I was not young then, merely what, 14 years ago at the time of writing? My story is dull; merely the classical tragedy of a young and heroic wandering warrior who fell in love with the only noble daughter of a great family, nothing much! I had just turned 40, still single and without my roots set down in any place. I came from the capital Danedaar but could never find my place and had ended up wandering from city to city - until I came to Gorun City and met HER. As expected, a nobody like me who was not even at the Grandmaster stage then was not even worth a breath of their time - they persecuted both me and my beloved with insults, threats and even tied me up and threw me into the Gorun River! I escaped and survived, of course, with her defying her family to save me. They were not impressed at all by the fact that I was righteous, seeking justice and not allowing any falsehood or lies in all I did - whether it was with her or with her family. At times, in order to stand for my principles of justice, I would clash with her - but very soon, I convinced her that living by one''s own beliefs, by one''s own conscience was the only way to live, even if it meant a life of conflict with those of darkness and dishonesty! Suffice to say that the family was incensed to learn their only daughter and heiress-apparent renounced their blackmarket dealings and slave trade! She even confronted her father (with me by her side, of course) and implored him to cease all his rotten business! That triggered them to hunt after me with the intention to kill. Faced with their opposition, we ran away in secret and eloped. Romantic, isn''t it...? Pah! It was a tough life. But though we were poor, alone and living on the run... We were happy, more than happy! Ah, what good days those were! We would hunt criminals and bandits when we could and flee from those we could not oppose. She and I made an excellent team, me with my close combat skills and her with her incredible talent for magic. The family had placed incredible hopes on her due to both the rarity of mages in the Kingdom of the Sands as well as her phenomenal talent for instant casting spells. I digress. Please, bear with me just a little bit longer and you will have your answer; the secret keys to uncover the hidden treasure trove. While on the road and on the run, we were blessed with the best news we could ever receive; she was to become a mother and I a father! She was pregnant! However, by the 8th month of her term, we received bad news in turn, ill-omens that troubled our hearts and stained the joy we had of our child conceived in love. Firstly, we heard that there was a big events transpiring in Gorun City, an occurrence with her family at the centre of it all. Secondly, her health was worsening month by month. By that time, when her health began flagging and there was nothing I could do to stop it or help her, no medicine, herb or healer I could find... We decided. We had to return, both for her family and for her, for our child''s well-being. The journey was long and arduous, made all the more difficult by the unrest that rippled outwards from Gorun City to the surroundings towns and villages. Also by her ill-health, forcing us to rest multiple times. We eventually arrived in Gorun City perhaps just a week or two before it was time for her water to break, before the furore that is known as the Great Purge occurred... Sadly, the family did not approve of our love - of me. But at least they did not mistreat her; they gave her the best treatment and she showed signs of recovering even while they lavished her with care. But I felt the unmasked hostility both towards the child she bore and towards me. The family attempted to kill me. However, these attempts stopped very quickly right after they started, when the great family faced a crisis of existence. Should I say thankfully? Or should I say it is a tragedy? That wretched and hellish day 14 years ago, the Charlemagne family was accused of making their bed with the demonic powers and wiped out in entirety. I mourned. I searched the ruins day after day, hoping for a miracle beyond a miracle, to find my beloved still alive... Or at least, to find her body to bury, to honour her and our unborn child with proper last respects... And though I knew that by now, the bodies would be burnt beyond recognition, I knew I had to search, to dig until my fingernails fell off and bled... I could only hope to find the necklace I had given her. [The letter seems stained at this point, and the handwriting afterwards looks shaky, as if though the writer paused and came back much later] During my search, the guards of the remaining Four Great Families chased me out with swords and spears. I returned nonetheless, continuing to search under the cover of night. I came up with nothing. That was something that stirred my heart. How could a person die without even a corpse left behind? Be it burnt, torn apart or in pieces... There had to be some traces of her presence somewhere! Unless... She escaped! She must have somehow escaped the purge of the family! And by now, she would have already given birth to our child... Our son. I searched for years. Year after year after year. At first it was only in Gorun City, braving the sewers and underbelly of the city, offending many and trespassing into their turf. Many a time I barely survived - I cared not. I had to find my wife, my child. When I came up with nothing, I widened the search to every surrounding town, village, outpost, settlement. Even farms and homesteads were not passed by. Like a madman I roamed from place to place, often forgetting to eat, sometimes not sleeping for days on end. I searched all the way up north, sojourning into the frigid north of the Beastman tribes. I sailed across the East Sea, yet found no traces of her on the only seafaring routes. I traversed the south past the Wiarno Kingdom until the Ulysses peaks where no man can cross. I searched the west into the central desert until I collapsed. Days later I awoke, not knowing what had happened. But some kind nomads had saved me. I survived. But I was dead inside. 8 years. 8 long years of searching nearly the entirely of the Leez continent and yet I had come up with nothing. The only respite I had was the fact that somehow, I had advanced to the World-class stage. By then I was grasping at straws. I had no solution and no leads. I could only return back to Gorun City to try to find out what had happened all those years ago. I tried entering the ranks of the nobles and royalty to sift through the official records. But there was nothing; not even a single document made mention of the purge that had happened less than a decade ago, as if though the ruling class had decided to erase it from all memories and wipe it out from the annals of history. If before I had not hated them enough, I hated them even more from that moment on. But that was not why I joined the Underworld. I joined them because... I was selfish. Desperate, but more importantly, all I knew was my own selfishness. I struck a deal - their resources to search for my child, to protect him or her and enrich her with all I have as an inheritance - in exchange for my lifetime in servitude. As of today, I still have no news. But the search continues. [This part of the note is marked with a stark red asterisk and an arrow drawn leading to the bottom of the note] I have done many terrible, terrible things, both before and after joining the Underworld. Perhaps if I had never been born, Milla would still be alive until today. Perhaps she would have been with a better man and escaped the tragedy of the Great Purge. Perhaps my child would not have to go through years and years orphaned and alone - assuming he still lives... I ask not for your forgiveness. I only ask for your mercy in exchange for this treasure trove. Yes, with this I give you the key to the treasure trove, but I have hidden something from the Laughing Man all these years. All this while, I have always hidden, embezzled more than half the wealth of the Gorun City Underworld branch and hoarded it away under the Gorun Stadium. But to get it, one must have two keys. The first, my blood or the blood of my descendants while we are alive! As I am now dead at your feet, please... Find my child. The second, you will have to swear on your life and the lives of your entire family for 9 generations to protect my child, to never let my child come to harm for the rest of your life. Find him, swear to do this, form the soul contract and the treasure is yours. So, congratulations! In your hands is the grand wealth of the entire organised crime of the entire of Gorun City! ...All you have to do is save my child and keep my child safe. [This part looks new, added freshly just days ago] Finally in the last few months, the first lead was obtained after countless years of searching. There was one more survivor of the Charlemagne family picked up as an orphaned child from the streets of Danedaar and enrolled in the Arena of Valour. There was someone else apart from Charley who survived. He must be the one, he must be! Even though the name is not the same as what Milla and I had agreed upon if the child... If he were a boy. But the news of a child with the necklace imprinted on his body... The mystical properties of the necklace could only have been used on him, my son! It is my son! Reader, if this ends up in your hands, I must be dead by now - perhaps at your hands. Your fate and whether you can possess the treasures is now up to you. Find my son, find the boy with a necklace birthmark on his chest and you will have the treasures. Farewell. [End of the note] 157 Proof or Lies Lars teary eyes suddenly began to crinkle at the corners as he grit his teeth and forced himself to get up off the ground. By pure force of will, he overrode the emotions running rampant in his soul and allowed rationality to take control once more. ''...No... NO!!! I can''t just believe it so easily! In the first place, I don''t even know whether I''m the only one with a necklace in that place! Wait, why am I being swayed by someone I''ve barely known...? Is it that I''ve just been too desperate to know my origins...? Whether it''s in this world or the past one...'' ''...I guess I''ve always wanted to have a place to belong... Someone, somewhere to belong to...'' Lars closed his eyes and stood still for a precious few seconds; time that he could barely avoid to sacrifice as the building was about to give way. Both Velzash and Kizorik gazed at him softly as they pondered his words. Despite the demon races reputation for ruthlessness and being world-destroyers, they, too, understood his feelings. After all, they who were born of the universe, of unknown origins... They were the ones who most of all came into this world without anywhere to belong - except for the cut-throat despicable organisation known as the Abyss! Which should not be perceived as a place to belong but rather as a slave-master who reigned in abject dominance over the demon race who were corrupted by the darkness of the Abyss... They both sighed silently, feeling moody and helpless before their closest buddy and friend. Then Kizorik realised something. Wasn''t Lars someone they could trust...? At least, based on what they had been through so far? And didn''t they have each other...? Even if the whole world was against them and it were just the two of them taking on the entire universe of demons, devils, humans or monsters - they would still be in it together, wouldn''t they! Kizorik felt emotions welling up within him - relief, joy... And hunger, of course. He was always hungry. But he shook that off and hopped up beside Lars'' mental form in the inner world and patted him on the shoulder. ''Kiddo..... No matter what... No matter how lonely you feel, no matter how far away you feel you are from the home that you once have... And no matter even if you feel that you no longer have a home! Kiddo.... Don''t you know....?'' ''You have a home here with me...! And this home...? It''ll never go away, never ever ever! Heh... We couldn''t part ways, not even if we wanted to split! Not that I want to split, ''kay...?'' As the little penguin looked away in embarrassment while saying these words, Lars'' frowning eyes that were pressed tightly shut began to ease open, the furrows on his brows and the creases at either end of his forehead being smoothed away. His eyes continued to tear, though. This time from being touched by his last remaining best friend''s words. ''Buddy... You... Yeah, that''s true! What am I moping about?!? Why do I need to believe whatever this guy wrote in the first place! And even if it''s true, I don''t even know the guy! So what if he turns out to be my, my father...! Buddy, you''re right! We''re in this together, just you and me...!'' ''Ahem!!! Excuse me...?!? How about me...? I''m here too and stuck in this together with you hooligans too right!?! Whether I like it or not...!'' A genteel but pouting voice interjected sharply, wincing at the slight of being left out of the heart-warming bro-mance that was going on right now. ''Ahem, yeah, right--I mean, yup! Absolutely! The three of us, together... We''ll take on the world!'' Both Kizorik and Lars cast a sheepish glance at Velzash and chuckled to hide their awkwardness. The terribly tsundere fairy-demon gave them a loud, "Hmmph!" and then muttered, "''t''s not like I like you guys, anyway! It''s just that I''m seriously stuck here together, whether I like it or not...!'' But despite his reticence to be true to how he felt, Velzash still met gazes warmly with Lars and Kizorik, then relented and drew near to them to place his hands together in their pact of brotherhood. They looked warmly at each other and said in unison, ''Brothers forever!'' ''Buddies forever!'' ''Demons together!'' Instantly realising that their supposedly united slogan was not in any way synchronised, the three then began to argue and bicker heatedly over whose slogan was the best and should become their tagline. And despite participating in the debate that bordered on violent, Lars felt a warmth in his heart today and at this moment, a warmth like never before. * * * * * Lars concurrently continued his escape from the Underworld hideout while the argument carried on. Despite being a pretty nice guy, he was also insanely competitive and unwilling to back down - especially when he truly felt that his tagline was clearly the best among them all! However, he did not slack in either putting forth his argument - ''If you guys don''t f***ing shut up and accept my idea, no more fish for you!! - or making haste to dodge the crumbling blocks, city-block sized stones or avalanches of dirt. And within the minute, he was out of the underground labyrinth and back onto the streets - just in time for the entire compound to rumble greatly, letting forth a sound as if though the earth itself were groaning in birth-pangs as there was an intense shaking - and the underground city was finally buried once and for all! The commotion was not discreet whatsoever and had long drawn the attention of the leadership of the city. Duke Leanne dispatched several groups of the city guards to quickly investigate the source of the disturbance while hundreds if not more than a thousand of the nearby slum-dwellers and denizens of the warehouse district were peering out of their windows, wary of possible trouble. The aftershocks of the collapse were no small matter; quckly reverberating outwards and causing shockwaves through the city that made dilapidated buildings that were in disrepair collapse completely. Other compounds that were already in a poor state were left in ruins, in some cases with only one or two walls remaining of the original structure. Even the nobles were not spared, with large fissures and sinkholes spreading outwards from the epicenter of the disturbance. Some streets were sunk entirely while others became less of a road and more of a pavement on either side of a deep ditch formed from the mini-earthquake! The chaos hit the palace too, albeit on a much smaller scale due to the strong and sturdy foundations upon which the royal complex was built. The worse that occured were hairline cracks across the outer walls due to the high-amplitude tremors that shook the entire city. With such a huge disturbance, Lars was quick to make himself and scarce and scurry away from the scene of his crime. He was not worried that he would be caught, unless one of the Legendary powerhouses came themselves, no-one would even be able to detech him, much less stop him. However, he did not wish to leave even a hint of his having been there, lest he draw the suspicion of the higher-ups and be put to question as to why he was there and how he had escaped unscathed! He needed to get back quickly ensure his companions safety, assign his team to quietly take over the criminal organisation of the Underworld and the Four Gates thereof, find if there were more materials like the animal skin he had obtained at the auction, exchange for more power-ups through the Abyssal Vault... There was so much work left to be done and no time for him to be down! But even as he ran through the streets and alleys and made a bee-line for the palace to track down Charley, Seline, Sharon and the fourth person, the strange he had gotten the Laughing Man to release, Lars tried to sort through his feelings about Mr White and the last testament he had left behind. Was it true...? Was it really the truth? And was he, Lars, the one spoken of in the letter...? It was easy to determine the truth of the matter. All he needed to do was to go to the site of the hidden treasure trove and find out if it was really he himself who was mentioned in the note... To find out if Mr White were really his father. And he swore to himself to also investigate, regardless of how he was related to Mr White, he owed it to Charley to find possibly his last remaining kin of the Charlemagne family. And as Lars leapt from building to building under the cover of darkness and the shadows, he was filled with new determination to discover the secrets of what had really happened in this dark, dark city of Gorun. ...And to find the woman who could possibly be his mother. 158 Regrouping *Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack* A rickety merchant''s wagon traveled south-east down the well-worn road, making regular and rhythmic clacking sounds as it rolled along at a steady pace. It was pulled by 2 strong-looking farm horses, strong with thick, heavily-muscled bodies, but not very agile or quick. At the helm was just a regular scrawny old man biting a reed, chewing on it absent-mindedly as he held the reins of the horses. The man had dirty brown-blonde hair and a face full of wrinkles - though, perhaps he was not as old as the wrinkles suggested. Those wrinkles were was probably more due to a hard life, one full of vicissitudes and constant struggling to put food on the table for himself and his family. The wooden wagon looked old, just as old as it''s driver, just as wrinkled and worn-out with the light-yellow wooden frame having turned brown, orange or even grey in some spots with age. It meandered along at what seemed to be a slow pace, but was really quick, belying the clumsy and unstable appearance it gave off. On closer look, one would notice that the old and wisened wagon was not really that old after all - in fact, the materials used were sturdy and firm, freshly chosen from the best woods available. The construction style was also based on the most recent trends in wood-working and wagon engineering, leading to a firm ride with far less in the form of vibrations or bouncing. And even the stains of age on the wood were nothing but artificially-induced discolourations used to mislead all but the keenest watchers. Even if the observers were paying the closest attention to just another merchant wagon, they would have to also be familiar enough with wood-working and wagon design to tell that there was anything amiss with this particular vehicle! Seated within the wagon was... No-one. That did not mean that the wagon was empty, though. It was full of boxes packed with dry food supplies - rice, grains, wheat, flour and corn, packed to the brim with box after box of these food-stuffs. However, all these were just a smoke-screen and ruse for the actual wares being shipped - the driver, Lars himself! Lars flicked the reins, urging on his war-steeds which had been fattened up and disguised as farm horses, raised and bred as a matter of course and provided by the Underworld. Or "provided", as the Underworld was collapsed and no longer existed in it''s previous form in the city of Gorun. From that day forth on which the Laughing Man had fallen with his lieutenants, the organised crime scene of Gorun City had undergone a great uprising and revolution. Lars thought back to what had happened over the last 24 hours since the dawn of the first day after the Underworld collapsed. * * * * * [22:42 PM - barely 21 hours after the Laughing Man''s death] "Master Lars, I am here to report." A plain-faced middle-aged man of average height and barely passable looks emerged from the shadows in Lars'' study, located on the 2nd floor of the inn where they were all lodging. Boa bowed deeply as he spoke, waiting for Lars'' permission to continue before he spoke any further. Lars looked up from the pile of documents before him, a condensed report on the status of the New World Order, the newly established criminal group that Seline had assembled from the remnants of the Underworld''s army. He marked the page where he had stopped in the stack of papers and raised his head to look at Boa before nodding. "Please, go ahead. No need to maintain these formalities, Boa." "Yes, master Lars. Thank you." Boa bowed even deeper in thanks before straightening up, causing Lars to smile wryly at his verbal agreement but complete disregard for his request to do away with formalities. Boa began his report to Lars with a stoic face, "Master Lars, I have successfully gotten in touch with all the former agents of the Celestial Shadows and held the joint operation with Susano''s Black Swords. We have placed groups of 3 to 5 scattered around the city to quell the unrest and rogue criminals who have run amok." "Additionally, per your instructions, we have placed the new combined unit, the Celestial Shadow Swords, under the command of Mistress Seline''s goodself. With the cooperation of Duke Leanne''s City Guards, we have successfully apprehended the dozens of corrupted officials, evil nobles and countless other individuals involved with the darkest of the Underworld''s activities." "With these completed in the last 12 hours, Susano and I have instructed our people to take a break as it is likely that there will continue to be much work to be done before the situation in Gorun City fully settles down." Lars blinked twice, processing the information just given to him then smiled, saying, "Well done! I''m truly glad to have reliable comrades, trustworthy companions with whom I can share this burden of turning Gorun City around!" Lars cracked his fingers and stretched his arms out above him, cricking his neck and massaging his shoulders. He suddenly realised that he had been seated in this same chair in this very room for nearly 15 hours by now and was growing sore and stiff. However, he knew he could not let himself rest until they had sorted out the hostile take-over of the Underworld and all it''s activities within these 2 days. Lars then continued, "I know Susano must be still working on the ground leading the troops personally as we speak. Please pass on my gratitude to him and Byrus. And if there''s nothing else, you may take a break too. It must be tough on you leading the ground operations for the entirety of our people! Please, make sure you rest and take care of yourself too, alright...?" The expressionless Boa of the Stars quickly bowed once more, this time even deeper as he said, "Not at all, Master Lars! It is my duty and my pleasure to be of service to you! I am grateful to be part of this cause... And to see the children just like me taken care of, no longer enslaved and no longer exploited just for the selfish gain of the rich and the mighty...!" Lars smiled once more, touched by his recently added subordinates passion towards the cause, even if the man spoke like a robot even at such a time. Then he waved Boa away, urging him to take a rest if there were nothing left to report. But Boa raised his hand slightly, adding, "Master Lars, there is another thing to report. May I speak...?" Lars nodded, raising his brows and asking, "Yes...? I mean, yes! Yes, you may speak. What is it...?" "Master... There is one thing that I think you would be interested to know. If you remember my earlier report when I had newly joined your team, I had mentioned that Patricia Trenel was the master-mind behind the entirety of the Trenel household''s activities, whether criminal or legal. After her death, Patriarch Mallard Trenel withdrew for many days, being unwilling to be distracted from his training and practice. In the meantime, the head steward of the household has been working together with the treasurer to stabilise things while waiting for new directions from their Patriarch..." "Yes, I recall this. Has something happened recently...? Some new developments...?" "Master, Patriarch Mallard Trenel... He recently executed his head steward and treasurer." These words made Lars freeze in the midst of his flipping through the documents before him, before he turned his gaze to Boa and asked, "...Has he gone mad...?" "On the contrary, Master Lars. The Patriarch emerged from his solitary training and announced that he deeply regrets his behaviour in the past. He stated that he had long known about his family''s involvement in the flesh trade, and is truly ashamed and does not deserve to live anymore as a husband who had not curbed the behaviour of his wife and descendants. He regretted not speaking out earlier and taking a firm hand to prevent things from going so far. He expressed his sorrow that, due to his abdication of leadership, the family had fallen to such depths of crime..." "To make amends for all that has passed, he has stated that he will lead the household on the path of integrity and righteousness, starting from an internal clean-up... And therefore, to show an example to the Trenel house, he executed the head steward and treasurer who he believed to have been working with Patricia Trenel..." "As such, I do not think we will have to worry about a clash against House Trenel any longer; in fact, he has openly begged for forgiveness for not executing Patricia Trenel with his own hands, and even sworn to stamp out the flesh trade altogether!" Lars'' expression brightened once more, tired though his neck and shoulders were. "That''s really good news! Thank you, Boa. Please, have a good rest." Boa once more bowed, then turned into a pool of shadows and melted into the shadows cast by the flickering light around him before his presence disappeared completely. Lars sighed in relief - it looked like everything was slowly falling into place. Even the deal with Duke Silvan had gone smoothly, with both sides relatively happy with the conclusion they had arrived at. That morning, before any other visitors had turned up at Lars'' place of abode, Duke Silvan had made a sudden appearance, scaring each and every one of Lars'' companions who could recognise him out of their wits! What was as Legendary powerhouse standing at the apex of the Kingdom of the Sands doing in the merchant''s district, visiting their leader...?!? Who was their leader for such a luminary, apex warrior and grand member of royalty to come to visit...?!? Wasn''t it always the other way round, for a youth such as Lars to be summoned to the royal premises...? Lars had quickly shushed his companions and requested them to grant them privacy as he stood up to greet Duke Silvan. He gave a warm smile as he held out his hand to shake Duke Silvan''s, but was immediately rebuffed. "Let''s cut to the chase. Tell me what you want in exchange for cancellation of the contract. And don''t push me! If it becomes too serious, I''d rather commit suicide and die than comply!! Don''t think I''m too cowardly to sacrifice my mana core and pull you down into the grave with me!!" Duke Silvan''s mild-mannered expression belied his words and thoughts as he quietly and coolly sat down in one of the wooden chairs in Lars'' study, while Lars continued to smile even as he withdrew his hand. He then returned to his own seat behind his study table, folding his fingers together and tapped one finger on the wooden desk for half a minute before he finally gave his answer. "I want 1 billion platinum coins." Duke Silvan''s eyes widened and he immediately began to consider it. Surprised, he asked, "With our fates bound together by this contract seal, I''ll not beat around the bush with you. What is the catch? It can''t be that you''re just asking for that much in view of my networth! The time for deception and games is over! Just spit it out!" Lars'' eyes sparkled with delight, but he did not change his request as he explained, "Duke Silvan... Please, don''t worry. I know that you are probably the richest person in the entire nation excluding the King himself... However, I believe that you have misunderstood something. That 1 billion platinum coins is not for the REMOVAL of the contract seal, but rather for the formation of a new contract between us." Duke Silvan''s face grew stiff upon hearing this, turning slightly pale as he was filled with apprehension at the boy''s words. By now he knew that Lars was no simple peak-Expert level boy but rather a Legendary powerhouse on par with himself! How this was possible, he had no idea, but the fact of the matter was that Lars at the age of 15 years old was an authentic Legendary-realm monster! As such, he swallowed his rage and spoke slowly with measured words. "What do you mean...? What is the purpose of a new contract seal...? Do you think I would so easily submit to further restrictions on myself...? Hah!" Lars shook his head, cracking his knuckles as he replied, "No, once more you have me wrong. This contract is not for you... It will be for me." Lars stood up and walked around the desk, coming closer to Duke Silvan as he spoke further, "...For my safety, those bindings on your soul must continue - the contract to not take any action to harm me! However, in exchange for those 1 billion platinum coins, I will form a contract seal on my mana core to not take advantage of the binding on you, to not make any requests of you beyond what has already been agreed!" Duke Silvan considered this for awhile before he realised that this was a rather cheap price to pay. Essentially this payment was one to say, "You stay out of my way, I stay out of yours!". The price was definitely worth it as opposed to becoming a pseudo-slave to the boy! With that, they struck the deal and formed the contract, with Duke Silvan promising to deliver the 1 billion coins within the week and to reunite him with Moira after the National-level competition. Lars let out another sigh of relief as he was glad to be done and over with the negotiations with Duke Silvan - despite him having many contingency plans ready, there was still the risk of all-out conflict breaking out with the royal family - something he did not desire at all! Just then, Lars heard a knock on the door - a soft, gentle double *knock-knock* that told him immediately who it was who sought him out - Seline. Clearing his throat, Lars spoke, "Seline! Please, enter. What brings you here at this time...? You must be dead tired, why don''t you rest...?" "Lars. I will... I''m just about to get some sleep, but I need to update you on something before that. The man you rescued in the Underworld hideout has woken up - he wants to see you." 159 Will "Ah! Thank you! He''s woken up... Alright. I''ll settle things over here and head on to see him. He''s still in the palace infirmary, right...?" Lars asked Seline calmly while still keeping his hands and eyes busy jotting down notes on the documents before him, showing off his superior mental capacity and impeccable multi-tasking skills[1]. "...Yes. Though... I think you''d best hurry. The physician says... He has woken up only by sheer will-power... He said he wants to see the man who rescued him, to give him something really important and make a last request... He refused to speak after that, but he looks incredibly weak, as if though he is hanging on by a mere thread to this life..." She stopped at those words, but her soft eyes looked like she had something more to say, so much more on her heart and in her mouth that somehow just could not take flight and leave her lips. Lars noticed it and wondered what it could be, but could not put a finger on it. So he just thanks her, saying, "Thank you for the update, I''ll head over and will reach as soon as possible. Great. You''d better head off to get some sleep. Let the night shift patrols take over things for now; I know that there''re many, many rats who will only emerge after midnight, but there''s only so much we can do. I think we should... What''s wrong...?" Lars had launched into a monologue as his thoughts proceeded onwards while he split his attention to finish up this last policy document for the New World Order before he planned to depart for the palace. However, he quickly sensed that Seline seemed to be holding back from saying something; which was unusual for her. He stopped mid-sentence and probed gently, asking, "Seline...? Is there something else you wish to report...?" Seline looked at him for awhile before her lips pressed tightly together, forming a thin line from her normally luscious and full mouth. She shook her head gently and let her gaze fall to the floor, saying, "N-no... No, it''s nothing. Thank you, Lars. Please take care of yourself too. I... I''ll head off now and get some rest." And with those words, she about-turned and left with long strides, as if though impatient to leave his presence. Lars watched as Seline departed and continued to sit there, pen stationary and mind blank as he wondered what he was thinking... Wondered just what it was he was feeling. He let out a sigh then put his mind to finish up the last lines to the document and stacked up the papers to the right side of the long oaken table. He also made sure to set aside an important note instructing his companions and team what to do with all the wealth, items and resources he had looted from the underground hideout. Lars then stretched his shoulders and arms before pushing his chair out, grabbing his downy white cloak from the coat-hanger and left to see the now-awoken Everaldus Snith. * * * * * When Lars arrived at the ducal infirmary in the north-western section of the palace, he was met by an attentive lady who looked stressed-out with the whites of her eyes tinged with redness. She was dressed like a nurse, or doctor, he was not sure which, and when he looked around to see if there was anyone else in the reception area, he saw that she was the only one. "Good evening, sir. Would you be Master Lars...?" She spoke cordially if wearily. It looked like it had been a long day for her, and looked like she too should have long been in bed. But alas, the infirmary was probably sorely understaffed - just like every other place in the entire city. Just that, unlike many other places, there was no lack of injured people to go around in Gorun even until today... Especially today with the City Guard actively working together with Lars'' New World Order to suppress the remaining members of the criminal organisation still roaming Gorun city''s streets and predating on her innocent citizens. From the moment he entered the open wooden double-doors leading into the infirmary, Lars could hear countless groans and some pained whimpers, while some people were whispering to themselves that things would be alright, or that this was all for the good of their family, or that they would soon be seeing someone - likely someone departed they would soon meet after crossing over the river of life and death tonight... Coming back to the reality before him, Lars nodded, saying, "Yes, ma''am, that I am. I had heard that a certain patient was asking for me; might I know where he is laid...? I wish to see him and find out for the reason for which he is looking for me." Lars tilted his head forward, bowing slightly in the way one younger would show respect to an elder, eliciting a surprised but pleased smile from the lady. The tiredness in her face faded away just a little as she said, "You''re well-mannered, lad! I like that...! I''ll remember it, and, if someday you ever need something, don''t be afraid to look for me and I''ll see what I can do to help you. It''s just a shame... I don''t think anything can save that man from the torture he''s been subjected to... Oh, you''d best head on over. He''s in room 4, fourth ward - that''s a right turn then the second left, before going up the stairs. Then on the second floor, look for the door with the name, "Everaldus Snith" written on it. Go on, shoo! Hurry up! I''ve plenty of work to do!" Lars was slightly taken aback even as he numbly nodded, unsure of how to react. Was this woman someone important...? Perhaps someone famous enough that he was supposed to know her and recognise her on sight...? Whatever it was, he made a mental note to check on who he had just happened to obtain favour with as he scurried along according to her instructions to locate the man he had rescued - apparently he was named Everaldus Snith. Taking the right down the hallway, then the second left and up the stairs, he wrinkled his nose and tried to hold his breath from the smell of blood, pus, infection and also feces leaking from the ruptured guts of the injured as he approached the room she had told him about. He came up to the 7th door along that corridor and saw the words written on a yellowed card of parchment, "Everaldus Snith", slotted in to a slat on the door meant to display the name of the patient. He lifted up his hand and knocked twice on the door before waiting, then opening it and walking in. Walking in, he saw a man wrapped in bandages from head to toe. From the size of his figure, he was likely nearly 2 metres tall - however, his facial features were completely obscured and he no longer had any hair, perhaps due to his preference for baldness, or due to the torture he had been subjected to as even his head was tightly wrapped in bandages. Lars saw that he was still breathing, though the breaths were so shallow they were nearly unnoticeable. Worried that this man Everaldus might pass on at any time now, Lars quickened his step and walked up to stand by the man''s side, then cleared his throat gently, trying to wake him. "Ahem..." Lars then waited for 5 seconds, then 10 seconds before he saw that the man had still not stirred. He then reached down and lightly, gingerly touched Everaldus'' shoulder, shaking him lightly and calling out, "Everaldus! Everaldus! This is Lars! I''m here! Wake up!" This time, Lars watched as the man''s eyelids fluttered slightly before his eyes peered open a crack. Not wanting to waste Everaldus'' breath, Lars immediately asked, "Please; rest and save your breath. No need for extraneous words. What is it you wish to tell me...?" The dying man wrapped in bandages struggled to draw air into his lungs, producing a sickening, painful wheezing sound everytime he did so. Lars winced as he could hear... No, FEEL the air leaking out of his chest and lungs everytime he breathed in - evidence that the injuries were bad enough that his respiratory system was in shambles. Finally after 5 agonising breaths, Everaldus seemed to recover enough to speak. He whispered out, "Lars... T-thank you... My storage... Save... Father... Wiarno City... Password... "Chesed"..." "You, you want me to help you...? Save your father and Wiarno City? Or is Wiarno City where he is...?" Lars leaned in closer to place his ear beside Everaldus'' mouth in order to hear him better as he asked for clarification. "...No... Time... Hurry... P-pleas--" Then without any drama or emphatic event, the man on the bed just stopped breathing and stiffened. He had breathed his last. Lars sat there for a good 6-7 breaths, giving himself time to rest as he felt sorely the ephemerality of life before him. Despite not even knowing the man at all, he felt sad; sad that he had to go through torture, sad for the family he had left behind... And also regret that he had not been able to ask anything about the animal skin or where it had come from. However, he assured himself that if he had a chance to redo this again, he would not have asked about the animal skin over finding out what the man''s dying wish was. After all, what was Abyss Points or riches versus the amount of riches he could get from helping a family in dire straits? Err, he meant, what was riches versus helping those in need...? Right, that''s what he meant... And so began Lars journey by wagon, hoping to reach Wiarno City in the Wiarno Kingdom and be back in time before the convoy departed for the National-level competition in Danedaar city. * * * [1] If he weren''t a mage and warrior, he would probably make an excellent office worker... I wish I were that good T_T 160 Family Lars trundled along at the head of the wagon to the sound of the hooves going clippity-clop and the wheels going clickety-clack. Eventually the repetitive sounds began to fade into the back of his consciousness as he meditated with eyes open, his mind retreating to focus on breaking through to the Mythical stage! In his mental world, Lars was still and floating in the middle of space. A multitude of stars twinkled afar off in the distance, an aspect of his own mental world formed based on his liking. And as he sat, he pondered on what he had read and gleaned from records he could locate. ''From the beginnings of the Normal-stage to cross over into the Adept-level, it is a journey of external imitation... Whether one studies the path of a mage and the 9 levels of spells, or the martial path of a blade, bow or staff... The practitioner focuses on forms, stances, movements, chants... What is learned is based on the commonly established "Ways" already known and emulating the external actions...'' ''Not every person can even progress beyond the entrance of the Normal-stage - only those who are born with mighty blood energy, or those who can communicate with the mana; the aether particles that fill up the universe and even the void, which allows us to communicate and interact with the meta-physical world around us...'' Lars lifted up a finger and created a wisp of flame from the tip of his finger - Level 0 cantrip spell, candle light. ''This is the beginning of the path of an Adept and also a path that an individual can take all the way up to the Grandmaster realm... Purely based on following in the footsteps of another! During this time, they will cultivate blood energy or their physique for the martial practitioners, or absorb mana from the world for mages and other magical practitioners...'' ''Eventually... The path of mere imitation can only bring one so far! If it is cultivated by itself with no creativity or self-discovery, then the individual''s limit will only be the Grandmaster realm... Yet though this is only the path of external imitation, the potential is still great for the common people... A young woman who masters the forms of say, the Northern Cold Sword Way can easily become a great warrior renowned in a city, one of the top-level masters of their art...'' The fire on the tip of Lars finger slowly lit up brighter, larger, hotter and more refined in nature as he increased the level of the spell slowly from Level 0 up to Level 6 - the level-limit for spells casted by a Grandmaster-realm mage purely by manipulating mana without the corresponding comprehension of the laws. The flame that was at first just the flickering wisp of flame that one would find at the tip of a candle''s wick first became a fist-sized round fire dart, then doubled in size and grew longer; a level 2 flame bolt. The shape then grew in size, doubling once more until it was as large as Lars'' chest - Level 3: Fireball. The shape then grew more defined as it developed into a long, thin shape with fletches on it''s tail to stabilise it''s flight - Level 4: Enhanced Flame Arrow. At that point, the flames began to gather together once more to form a roaring ball of flames that continued to suck in mana and grow in size. And when it was bigger than Lars'' body, the ball of flames exploded outwards in a circular wall of fire that swept outwards - Level 5: Sunfire. The burning tongues of flame then spiraled round and round Lars before converging back in from where it had all started - on his fingertip. Only this time, it was not a frail wisp of candle''s flame, but an angry, threatening looking condensed particle of energy that looked like it would erupt in fiery death at any moment. Lars formed a large body of stone in his mental realm, one that was bigger than 4 wagons all piled together, then pointed his finger at it. The instant he did so, the focused red energy at his fingertip turned into a searing beam of light that shot out at great speed and exploded on impact with the lump of stone, erasing it completely - Level 6 spell: Disintegrate! Lars let out a breath as he continued to sense the flows of mana and the ripples of the universe''s laws through his body and soul as he pondered the next steps in the journey of cultivation. ''...Now from the Grandmaster-realm to the World-class stage, a person begins to sense those laws of the natural world... Those who have always pursued a path merely based on the external forms will be stymied at this point as they grasp at straws attempting to detect the undetectable, to sense that which cannot be perceived... Their carnal minds, too fettered by the practices, by the patterns, by the moves and spells they have learned... Minds that moved mechanically, no matter how efficiently or effectively, without discerning the truth behind WHY those moves or spells were made... For those, this becomes their dead end, their eternal frustration until the day they depart this world...'' ''For those born with a bloodline heritage, a natural talent or an in-born inclination, they will easily sense this ephemeral, indiscernible pulse of the universe... However, their path is just as much set as those who follow external practices, only, they are bound to the fetters of their blood and genealogy...! To overcome that... Until today, it is unknown whether any can defy the calling of their bloodline, unless the bloodline becomes so thin that it no longer matters...!'' ''For the rest who lack these bloodline inheritances, many will go all their lives without knowing the laws or comprehending the invisible world... However, there are still many who came across a chance encounter or a moment of epiphany to resonate with the laws of the universe for the first time! And once they have touched it once, it will never leave them and never elude them again...'' ''Strangely, apart from needing sublime talent, those who can breakthrough the Grandmaster realm and enter the World-class stage have always been those who are slightly fanatical, crazy or insanely devoted to their path, element or way... Those that have always resonated with the consuming power of fire, the morbid who love the deathly state of ashes, whose hearts have always frozen over with the path of ice...'' ''Once one has resonated with the laws... A person will then be able to use these laws to enhance their powers greatly... Whether it is water like the Laughing Man or the Devil''s who used the Laws of Space... Or Stars Boa who seemed to have formed the imprint of speed...'' ''At this stage, the practitioner will also begin forming a soul-imprint in their mana cores, in the core of their bodies... This soul-imprint being made out of their accumulated comprehension of their path or way, condensed from understanding the laws and fused together to form a physical manifestation of their powers...'' Lars'' spirit body pulsed once at that point, releasing a silvery-white glow of light as he triggered his soul-imprint of Insight that had no direct combat applications. ''...And from here, another great chasm divides a World-class realm cultivator from entering the true ranks of the powerhouses of a world... The Legendary-realm...'' The soul imprint of Insight began to glow more brightly as it resonated with every cell in Lars'' body and even the blood that flowed through his veins. ''Where previously a cultivator functions through mana or blood energy alone... Mana to interact with the external world, blood energy to control their internal body... This is where they must re-craft and re-form their entire being into a new shell - one that connects with the world externally and connects with themselves internally through the laws they have chosen...'' ''If a mage has resonated with one of the endless subsidiary laws of fire, the moment they re-connect with the world based on the law of fire, they will no longer be able to use spells or trigger phenomena of an opposing nature... This is the path of the Legendary-realm, where one forms a soul-imprint, and the soul-imprint becomes their very nature... The lens through which they see and know the entire world from henceforth!'' ''As for me... I was born with this ability of Insight... Whether I wanted it to or not, the moment I turned 18, I began to realise that I could recognise and see all the natural laws of the world, to pierce through the spells and formations cast by others... Within a few short years, my mana core grew so quickly that I, too was surprised... By the time I had enlisted for the army, I was already at the World-class stage and soon, broke through to the Legendary realm...'' 160 The Myth of the Mythical Realm 1 Lars trundled along at the head of the wagon to the sound of the hooves going clippity-clop and the wheels going clickety-clack. Eventually the repetitive sounds began to fade into the back of his consciousness as he meditated with eyes open, his mind retreating to focus on breaking through to the Mythical stage! In his mental world, Lars was still and floating in the middle of space. A multitude of stars twinkled afar off in the distance, an aspect of his own mental world formed based on his liking. And as he sat, he pondered on what he had read and gleaned from records he could locate. ''From the beginnings of the Normal-stage to cross over into the Adept-level, it is a journey of external imitation... Whether one studies the path of a mage and the 9 levels of spells, or the martial path of a blade, bow or staff... The practitioner focuses on forms, stances, movements, chants... What is learned is based on the commonly established "Ways" already known and emulating the external actions...'' ''Not every person can even progress beyond the entrance of the Normal-stage - only those who are born with mighty blood energy, or those who can communicate with the mana; the aether particles that fill up the universe and even the void, which allows us to communicate and interact with the meta-physical world around us...'' Lars lifted up a finger and created a wisp of flame from the tip of his finger - Level 0 cantrip spell, candle light. ''This is the beginning of the path of an Adept and also a path that an individual can take all the way up to the Grandmaster realm... Purely based on following in the footsteps of another! During this time, they will cultivate blood energy or their physique for the martial practitioners, or absorb mana from the world for mages and other magical practitioners...'' ''Eventually... The path of mere imitation can only bring one so far! If it is cultivated by itself with no creativity or self-discovery, then the individual''s limit will only be the Grandmaster realm... Yet though this is only the path of external imitation, the potential is still great for the common people... A young woman who masters the forms of say, the Northern Cold Sword Way can easily become a great warrior renowned in a city, one of the top-level masters of their art...'' The fire on the tip of Lars finger slowly lit up brighter, larger, hotter and more refined in nature as he increased the level of the spell slowly from Level 0 up to Level 6 - the level-limit for spells casted by a Grandmaster-realm mage purely by manipulating mana without the corresponding comprehension of the laws. The flame that was at first just the flickering wisp of flame that one would find at the tip of a candle''s wick first became a fist-sized round fire dart, then doubled in size and grew longer; a level 2 flame bolt. The shape then grew in size, doubling once more until it was as large as Lars'' chest - Level 3: Fireball. The shape then grew more defined as it developed into a long, thin shape with fletches on it''s tail to stabilise it''s flight - Level 4: Enhanced Flame Arrow. At that point, the flames began to gather together once more to form a roaring ball of flames that continued to suck in mana and grow in size. And when it was bigger than Lars'' body, the ball of flames exploded outwards in a circular wall of fire that swept outwards - Level 5: Sunfire. The burning tongues of flame then spiraled round and round Lars before converging back in from where it had all started - on his fingertip. Only this time, it was not a frail wisp of candle''s flame, but an angry, threatening looking condensed particle of energy that looked like it would erupt in fiery death at any moment. Lars formed a large body of stone in his mental realm, one that was bigger than 4 wagons all piled together, then pointed his finger at it. The instant he did so, the focused red energy at his fingertip turned into a searing beam of light that shot out at great speed and exploded on impact with the lump of stone, erasing it completely - Level 6 spell: Disintegrate! Lars let out a breath as he continued to sense the flows of mana and the ripples of the universe''s laws through his body and soul as he pondered the next steps in the journey of cultivation. ''...Now from the Grandmaster-realm to the World-class stage, a person begins to sense those laws of the natural world... Those who have always pursued a path merely based on the external forms will be stymied at this point as they grasp at straws attempting to detect the undetectable, to sense that which cannot be perceived... Their carnal minds, too fettered by the practices, by the patterns, by the moves and spells they have learned... Minds that moved mechanically, no matter how efficiently or effectively, without discerning the truth behind WHY those moves or spells were made... For those, this becomes their dead end, their eternal frustration until the day they depart this world...'' ''For those born with a bloodline heritage, a natural talent or an in-born inclination, they will easily sense this ephemeral, indiscernible pulse of the universe... However, their path is just as much set as those who follow external practices, only, they are bound to the fetters of their blood and genealogy...! To overcome that... Until today, it is unknown whether any can defy the calling of their bloodline, unless the bloodline becomes so thin that it no longer matters...!'' ''For the rest who lack these bloodline inheritances, many will go all their lives without knowing the laws or comprehending the invisible world... However, there are still many who came across a chance encounter or a moment of epiphany to resonate with the laws of the universe for the first time! And once they have touched it once, it will never leave them and never elude them again...'' ''Strangely, apart from needing sublime talent, those who can breakthrough the Grandmaster realm and enter the World-class stage have always been those who are slightly fanatical, crazy or insanely devoted to their path, element or way... Those that have always resonated with the consuming power of fire, the morbid who love the deathly state of ashes, whose hearts have always frozen over with the path of ice...'' ''Once one has resonated with the laws... A person will then be able to use these laws to enhance their powers greatly... Whether it is water like the Laughing Man or the Devil''s who used the Laws of Space... Or Stars Boa who seemed to have formed the imprint of speed...'' ''At this stage, the practitioner will also begin forming a soul-imprint in their mana cores, in the core of their bodies... This soul-imprint being made out of their accumulated comprehension of their path or way, condensed from understanding the laws and fused together to form a physical manifestation of their powers...'' Lars'' spirit body pulsed once at that point, releasing a silvery-white glow of light as he triggered his soul-imprint of Insight that had no direct combat applications. ''...And from here, another great chasm divides a World-class realm cultivator from entering the true ranks of the powerhouses of a world... The Legendary-realm...'' The soul imprint of Insight began to glow more brightly as it resonated with every cell in Lars'' body and even the blood that flowed through his veins. ''Where previously a cultivator functions through mana or blood energy alone... Mana to interact with the external world, blood energy to control their internal body... This is where they must re-craft and re-form their entire being into a new shell - one that connects with the world externally and connects with themselves internally through the laws they have chosen...'' ''If a mage has resonated with one of the endless subsidiary laws of fire, the moment they re-connect with the world based on the law of fire, they will no longer be able to use spells or trigger phenomena of an opposing nature... This is the path of the Legendary-realm, where one forms a soul-imprint, and the soul-imprint becomes their very nature... The lens through which they see and know the entire world from henceforth!'' ''As for me... I was born with this ability of Insight... Whether I wanted it to or not, the moment I turned 18, I began to realise that I could recognise and see all the natural laws of the world, to pierce through the spells and formations cast by others... Within a few short years, my mana core grew so quickly that I, too was surprised... By the time I had enlisted for the army, I was already at the World-class stage and soon, broke through to the Legendary realm...'' 161 The Myth of the Mythical Realm 2 (Updated title of previous chapter as well) ''Insight... What is it, really...? How do I cultivate it...? How do I use it offensively or defensively...? All it has done so far is hog up the main soul-imprint and enhance my comprehension speeds... Though that is not bad, it also means I lack that killer weapon or ultimate move that others might have...'' Lars continued with his eyes open as he held the reins of the horses and moved along the road. It was early evening now - with this pace of 60-80 kilometres an hour, he should reach the border of the Wiarno Kingdom by tomorrow, then he could push his speed just a bit more and get to Wiarno City by the following day. Checking his surroundings briefly to make sure there were no problems, then being satisfied that there were no threats in the surrounding 10 kilometres, Lars continued to meditate on his path of cultivation. ''...The weakness of my soul-imprint, Insight, is very clear... But this can be supplemented by two things. The first, forming a second soul-imprint, which I inadvertently did in the form of the concept of Greed. The second, by careful preparation. Even if my burst of power is lower due to having no specialty sure-kill move, Insight allows me to extrapolate spells and powers even beyond my level, to even use peak-Legendary spells as long as I have enough preparation...'' Lars shook his head slightly and pursed his lips at that thought, as he realised that it was not so simple. Which opponent would let you prepare your spells in the middle of a battle...? It was a fantasy! As such, until he had comprehended the soul-imprint of Greed with the ultimate move, Money Makes the World Go Round, every time he needed to trigger a spell of mass destruction, he would need his teammates'' protection, or else he would have to damage his soul to insta-cast a weakened form of a Legendary spell... His thoughts returned to the borderline between the Legendary stage and the Mythical stage; one that he was struggling at but somehow could not cross over. ''...A Legendary cultivator communes with his law, concept or element in the form of the soul-imprint. This becomes his new channel of interacting with the universe and triggering natural phenomenon such as twisting space, using a bone-melting acid spray or summoning an eldritch creature. From the most initial Legendary stage to the peak of the Legendary realm, a person would then need to slowly realign his soul, mind and body to connect more and more with the soul-imprint...'' ''According to the years of research, this can be likened to shifting one''s house gradually... If mana and blood energy can be considered as the "old house" while the soul-imprint is the "new house", then at the beginning, perhaps 30% of one''s possessions are moved to the new house. Thence onwards, those items can only be accessed through the "new house". However, as time passes and the owner slowly moves all of his or her possessions to their new place, soon it comes to pass that all of the owner''s possessions can now only be accessed through their "new house"...'' ''Nonetheless, this doesn''t mean that the mana core and blood energy that one has painstakingly developed all the years of one''s life are now useless, no. On the contrary, if the cultivator had an arbitrary amount of resources, say 100 units of mana and 100 units of blood energy... At the peak of the Legendary-stage, they would theoretically still have that amount of mana and blood energy, AND still be able to utilise their full powers once-fold more through their soul-imprint!'' ''That makes a peak-Legendary cultivator someone who is more than twice as powerful as another early-Legendary realm combatant!'' ''This is where I was up till now, up until I comprehended the concept of Greed...! With all my abilities, whether my skills or my spells, triggered through my soul-imprints of either Insight or Greed... I am now qualified to be considered a near-Mythical cultivator! However, this is also where I am stuck despite seeming to have met all the conditions to progress further...'' ''According to the records, a Legendary cultivator masters and resonates with their single concept more and more until they are fully attuned with that one single concept! The reason it is so difficult to advance to the Mythical realm is that after being fully specialised and focused on just one concept, the expert will now have to branch out and comprehend a wholly new concept entirely!'' ''After which, one needs to be able to merge both one''s concepts and create a new fusion concept; one that will cause the cultivator''s powers and capabilities to sky-rocket, allowing them to resonate with the core existence of the universe at a far deeper level...! And the moment one has formed a fusion concept, a fusion soul-imprint made of two distinct and unique concepts... That is when one has entered the fabled realm, entered into what is considered the Mythical realm...!'' At this point, Lars allowed himself to close his eyes and take in a deep breath. He then bowed his head slightly and rested his chin on his chest as he sighed deeply. He had already formed his second concept and crystallised the soul-imprint of Greed, right...? So why was it that he still could not advance to the next level...? Shaking his head once more in unwillingness to give up, Lars kept his eyes closed and crossed his legs in a bid to lay all his focus on one more attempt to break through. ''C''mon... You''ve gotta work this time, dammit!'' Deep within Lars'' soul-realm, separate from his mental world in which he communicated with Kizorik and Velzash, the grand mage released his senses to resonate once more with the concepts within him. (Speaking of which, the two lazy bums were snoring away after a good round of food and nagging away at Lars for not training at all - little did they know that, thanks to his concept of Insight, all of his mental and theoretical practice carried over almost perfectly to his body''s movements and applications...!) ''Insight.....'' Lars meditated on the concept, and realised just how little he understood of this inheritance, this bloodline concept that he had received and been born with. As he watched the silvery-white sigil, the runic word of his soul-imprint rotate round and round and pulse with light, he reached out inwardly to allow it to merge with his consciousness! His incorporeal soul-form reached out and touched the floating sigil that represented his concepts of Insight, and the sigil gradually began to be absorbed into his soul-body! As it did so, Lars once more observed the shape of the sigil - it was a foreign word that he had no knowledge of, perhaps a remnant of ancient rune-words, passed down from his ancestors. The sigil of Insight''s soul-imprint was formed of 6 sharp-looking brush strokes that connected to one another in a smooth, snaking pattern. Each brush strokes ending would then connect with another strokes beginning, forming a pattern that looked similar to the Big Dipper constellation. Similarly, there were also 7 points on the sigil, 7 nodes matching that of the Big Dipper constellation. However, the difference was that the soul-imprint of Insight was flipped like a mirror image to the familiar star-formation. The sigil floated into Lars'' soul-body and sunk into the surface of his incorporeal form slowly. He did not rush this process, but allowed it to happy oh-so-slowly, inch by inch, centimetre by centimetre. Finally after roughly 2 minutes, the soul-imprint of Insight stopped in the centre of Lars'' soul-body where his mana core and blood energy core would be, if his soul-body had such cores. The soul-imprint nestled snugly within him and released a stronger, more vibrant pulse, as if though it were happy and pleased to have found it''s home and was eager to develop further. Lars basked in that pleasant warmth for a moment or two before he pressed on in his soul-realm. He could not maintain this state of merging with the soul-imprint for long, not unless he could fully fuse all his soul-imprints together and then merge them once outright with his soul. If he tried to stay in this state where he only combined with one soul-imprint, he would slowly be cut off entirely from any other remaining soul-imprints and return to merely being at the peak of the Legendary realm, no longer being at the near-Mythical stage. Lars once again sucked in a deep breath and at that moment, his brows furrowed deeply, forming a sharp valley down the centre of his forehead! ''This time!!! I will do it!!! BIND!!! COMBINE!!!!!!'' Using the fulness of his willpower and mind, Lars exerted his entire consciousness, even abandoning any sliver of awareness towards the outside world to focus on this attempt to break through to the Mythical realm! His soul-body slowly floated towards the second soul-imprint, that of Greed. The sigil for greed took on a clearer image; a floating outline of an eye, the outline golden while the pupil was emerald green. At the centre of the pupil was the form of a set of scales with the words "I, Me, Myself" on one end, while on the other were the worlds, "Everyone else". As expected, the scales were tipping entirely towards the side with the words, "I, Me, Myself"! Lars reached out his hand to touch the sigil representing his concept of Greed, and as he did so, almost the same phenomena occurred! As Lars soul-body''s fingers touched the sigil of Greed, the imprint of Greed pulsed with a radiant green light, one that was full of vitality and strength but tinged with a peculiar shadowy undertone to it. Then the imprint began to rotate quicker, before it started to be absorbed into his hand, just like the soul-imprint of Insight before it! Similarly, after several minutes, the soul-imprint of Greed had reached the place where Lars'' cores would be, where the sigil of Insight already was. However, this was where things stalled. He tried to compress his concept of Greed in his soul-realm to merge into or under the concept of Insight, and it began to do so. The sigil of Greed began to merge with the primary sigil of Insight, shrinking down in size and connecting with one of the nodes on the other sigil. It planted itself in soundly at the bottom node of the rune of Insight, then glowed brightly and with a greater vitality, as if though it had found it''s home! But just then, suddenly it would feel like something somewhere had stalled; as if though something had gone wrong or was missing, before there would be a loud "Pop!" sound and the sigil of Greed would just pop right back out! Eyes bulging in frustration at the sight, Lars strained his mind, spirit, body and soul to his utmost and tried to force the soul imprint back in, but however much Lars attempted to subordinate the more junior concept under his original and main soul-imprint, it just wouldn''t work! Repeatedly, Lars would try to use all of his soul''s force to bind the two sigils together, alas, it just wouldn''t happen or come to pass! Each time he tried, the same results would face him - the sigil of Greed would happily slot in to the sigil of Insight''s node, glowing cheerfully - then popping right out and reversing the entire process! He tried again and again and again, until he felt the world spinning around him, and something hit his head, hard! By the time Lars recovered his senses, he realised that it was not that someone had hit him - it was that his head had struck the stony ground! Lars looked up quickly and saw the wagon speeding off, still being pulled by the two high-enthusiastic war horses! Shaking off his stupor, Lars hopped to his feet then sped off after his wagon, flying quickly and landing soundly back on top of the driver''s seat. Lars stopped to give thanks that his face was unmarked from the earlier fall. It was a good thing that his body was sturdy and he had erected strong defence barriers, else the fall from the wagon at high-speed would likely have left a scratch on his beautiful face... But quickly, he let out a breath of relief, then sucked a deep breath in and let out a sigh of dejection. He had failed, once again... Why??? What was going on...??? What was missing?!? What am I doing wrong, TELL ME!??????'' Lars grit his teeth so hard that his teeth began to release a sickening grinding sound, whilst his fists let out a constant *crack-a-crack CRACK* sound as he clenched his fists so tight, the reins in his hands were compressed to become as thin as a string! He had done all the right things, sifted through every book in whichever library he could access, formed a second soul-imprint, went through the slow and tedious process of merging them together... And still it wouldn''t work!?! He was about to explode in rage when he saw that the sun had already set. He calmed down immediately and sucked in a big lungful of air. And as he thought about things more, he began to cheer up. He cheered up so quickly, in fact, that he began to whistle, unnerving the horses that cast uncomfortable glances back at him from the corners of their eyes... ''Tonight... Just 5 more hours...'' Lars thought as he raised his eyes to see the sun set and the moon begin to emerge - a full moon. ''...Until it''s time for Online SHOPPING!!!! Ahem, I mean, Abyss Delivery Services shopping... Hehe...'' A delighted young boy in the guise of an old man smiled merrily, eyes glinting with delight as he urged the horses onward. 162 Wiarno City and the Slith Sect 1 [2 days later, outside of Wiarno City, the capital city of the Wiarno Kingdom] [In a certain building at the centre of a remote compound on the outskirts of the city''s territory near the southern border of the Wiarno Kingdom] An elderly man with barely any hair left was pacing back and forth in a long, tall-ceilinged hall which looked to be able to accommodate more than a hundred people at once. The hall was lined with ensconces for torches or other forms of light, however, these were now mostly vacant holes on the walls, the contents long sold off. Those torches or light sources that still remained were also mostly not lit, the magical lighting left off to save running costs for the sect. The man was dressed in ill-fitting and simple hemp robes that went down to nearly his ankles. In fact, the robes were hanging down so low that every time he took a step, it looked like he would nearly trip over the hem of his robes. Each time, however, he would kick forth with his steps, throwing the edge of the robes up so that his feet would not be entangled in them - a sign that he had long grown used to such poorly fitting robes. And as he paced back and forth and back and forth again, he was muttering to himself, his forehead creased with many lines of worry as his head hung down low. "Oh Kenzie, Kenzie... How can I bear to tell you...? How can I bear to tell you all this bad news... I don''t even know where Everaldus is, and Bernie and the rest are in terrible condition after being pursued all the way back..." The scrawny old man looked like he had been worn sorely thin over the past night, dark circles around his eyes and his complexion pale. Even for a man of tan skin as he, the paleness was showing, accentuating his already gaunt features. All in all, he looked a mess! And if one did not know better and merely judged him from his outward appearance, they would have no inkling at all that this elderly man in question was Maester Slith, uncle of Everaldus Slith and second-in-command after the Patriarch of the Ancient Slith Sect! Maester Slith, oldest brother of Patriarch Kenzie Slith! "Big bro... I dare not wake you from your hibernation, lest your lifespan be affected even further... Ever since that fire-poison wounded you, you''ve been drained of so much of your vitality... Big bro, the whole clan is relying on you... Oh Everaldus, please come back safely! You''re our only hope right now...!" The Slith brothers had been born just 2 years apart. Their father and mother were rather well-off; they had retired from the military service in their twilight years and set up a rather smallish school of martial arts, calling it the Ancient Slith Sect, passing on the old Martial Way of the Serpent that they had discovered in the battlefield many years ago. With the money and platinum coins they had earned over their long years of service in the military, the Slith husband and wife duo purchased the land far from Wiarno City, the land where they had unearthed the Martial Way of the Serpent many years ago! The Ancient Slith Sect did not take off that well; probably due to being relatively unknown as well as the distance from the city. Nonetheless, there WERE quite a few young disciples enrolling over the years from the surrounding farms and homesteads near the southern border of the Wiarno Kingdom. That and the fact that the Slith family also had a reputation as fierce captains of the army in their heyday! Since they were young, both Maester and Kenzie had followed in their parents'' footsteps, whether in terms of training in the martial way of the Ancient Slith arts; or eventually enrolling themselves in the military. The Slith brothers served, with Kenzie following his passion and focusing on the arts of combat and warfare while Maester quickly realised he was not suited nor cut out for bloodshed and violence. After some years serving together on the battlefield, Maester applied for a transfer and took up a role involved in the administrative and civil responsibilities. Having found his own niche, the two Slith brothers soon came to be known as the "soldier and the scholar duo" due to the divergent paths they had taken. Things had been going well all the way until suddenly, sorrow struck. Their father and mother passed on due to an epidemic, leaving the brothers with a handful of servants and 3 dozen or so disciples in the still-small Ancient Slith Sect. At that time, countless business partners had emerged, partners that they knew nothing of until then due to the fact that they had not been involved in the family business or the running of the sect. All they knew was that these partners were very kind, helpful and generous - even offering to buy over the entire sect along with the sect grounds and lands! However, the two had resolved to build the legacy left behind by their parents. Unwilling to give up their childhood home and undaunted by the challenge, the two brothers who were still in mourning resigned from the military in their early 50''s and set out to grow the Ancient Slith Sect. As always, it was Kenzie who, despite being the younger brother, took the lead and firmly rejected them outright - albeit politely and expressing his unceasing gratitude at their generosity. And while he WAS the older brother himself, Maester Slith acceded and supported Kenzie whole-heartedly in this, as he had in all things! Maester openly spoke of his younger brother as "big bro", even saying the words fondly. Since long ago, since he was young, Maester Slith had always known that he was weaker, more timid, less talented and slower of mind. He knew - and he did not mind! For he himself was a man with a simple mind and simple heart, content just to tend to his plants in the garden, his passion and hobby since he was a child. And many, many years later, after realising also that those business "partners" were more like sharks circling, eager to devour their business, sect and family lands, the Ancient Slith Sect faced countless challenges, trials and threats. However, with Kenzie''s talent for cultivation and impressive battle skills as a Legendary-realm warrior, none of their opponent''s had ever dared to come into direct conflict with the Ancient Slith Sect! Until last year, that is! That was just when the whole incident had exploded about the up-and-coming Everaldus Slith''s big slip-up - the issue with the brochures to recruit new disciples being printed with A$$ HATS[1] - the young master had stormed home with face flushed red, in a rage and about to explode with anger. He had stormed over to his father Kenzie and Maester in the middle of their discussion with Bernie, the Chief Financial Officer, before slamming his palms and roaring in fury! "The printing company!! Father!! Uncle!!! That printing company, how dare they!!!" Long story short, the printing company had false amended the wordings Everaldus had prepared, apparently intentionally to humiliate the Ancient Slith Sect! Kenzie''s face quickly turned dark and the father-son duo quickly decided to confront the printing company for their dishonesty. Alas, what should have been a simple matter turned into the beginning of the downward spiral! It was a disaster. Maester knew not the details of what happened that day, only that what appeared to be a humble printing shop turned out to just be a front - behind it was a sinister trap laid by two far larger sects, sects that had ceaselessly been trying to coax, threaten and coerce them to sell their family lands! That very same day, a heavily injured Everaldus returned long after nightfall carrying his semi-conscious father! Everaldus told that the Fire Gecko Sect and the Desert Sun Sect had allied against Kenzie, sending two of their Grand Elders to lie in wait and ambush his father... With the two Grand Elders both being Legend''s in their own right, it was a foregone conclusion. It was already a miracle that both Kenzie and Everaldus could return alive, all thanks to the fact that Kenzie had used his trump card - an Ion Grenade, a military life-saving treasure inherited from their late parents. Their only solace was that their opponents were both also critically injured from the aftermath, struck heavily by the Ion Bomb. However, that was just the beginning of their woes. Even after weeks, Kenzie''s wounds did not seem to recover. It was found out that he had been struck by a vile fire-based poison, one that could only be purged by another similarly strong natural treasure of the opposing element - something that was exceedingly rare in the historically arid desert nations of the north...! As his strength began to wane and the entire sect no longer had a Legendary-realm backer and protector, their already dried-up supply of disciples not only ceased, even their existing students one by one chose to leave...! And that finally brought the Ancient Slith Sect to their situation today - with Everaldus striking off for the bi-annual Gorun City auction all in the hope of procuring a natural treasure to soothe his father, Patriarch Kenzie''s ailments and restore the clan to it''s glory... Thinking up to this point, Maester felt a waze of dizziness sweep over him and felt intense pain in his forehead - a migraine. He fell to his knees and panted heavily, only regaining his strength after several minutes. Struggling to rise from his hands and knees, he felt a trickle of warm liquid flow down his chin and reached up to touch it. ''Blood... Hah... Hahaha... Kenzie.... Oh Kenzie... I can''t do this without you...'' Tears started to roll out of Maester''s eyes as he hoped, desperately and hoping beyond hope that good news would come at this moment, soon, quickly... Before not just he, but the loyal servants and devoted disciples would not be left out high and dry, soon to be devoured by the Fire Gecko Sect and the Desert Sun Sect! But as the sun set, so did the hopes of the man who was seated in the dark, cold room; one that felt darker and colder today than it had on any day before. As the shadows ran long, so too did his hopes run out. Maester Slith, caretaker of the household, slumped back against the spine of his hard wooden chair, dejected and weak. It was just then that he heard a knock on the doors of the audience hall and opened his eyes. Realising that it was completely dark by now, Maester called out, "Coming! Coming! Hold on! Let me light some of the magic torches first..." Activating four of the torches, then thinking twice and activating four more with a sigh, Maester hurried over to open the door - a task that had once been done by the lowliest of servants, but which now he attended to himself. He opened the door to see the face of Ol'' Mulberry, one of the guards who had followed them through all these years since his father''s time, through thick and thin and ups and downs. Ol'' Mulberry had been a young soldier under his parent''s in their army days, and had sworn to follow the Slith husband and wife pair since they had saved his life. Seeing the old and familiar face, Maester''s hardened, stressed out face softened and he cracked a warm, gentle smile as he asked his old mentor and friend, "Uncle Mulberry! What is it that brings you here at this late hour...? You should be off resting and letting the next shift take over!" Responding with a wheezing laugh that sounded like he was about to kick the bucket at any moment, Ol'' Mulberry said, "Young whipper-snapper! Don''t you remember? There''s no other guards left! Only me! So don''t go talking about resting and leaving it to the night shift when there ain''t one at all! Now listen up! There''s someone at the front gates, saying he''s here on behalf of young Everaldus. He said he brings good news and bad news, but he needs to see someone in charge urgently...! Hurry up, he''s been waiting a long time since I had ta'' walk here from the front gates!" "A visitor...? This late, and now of all times...? It can''t be..." Two dire thoughts ran through Maester''s mind at this moment as his heart leapt in fear. ''Could it be... Everaldus... He... He couldn''t be, could he...? No...! It cannot be!!!'' Biting his lips in fear, Maester shook, trembling slightly as another thought struck him. ''...The timing is too coincidental! What if it''s another trap...?!?'' Nervous, Maester nodded in reply to Ol'' Mulberry, saying, "Thank you, Uncle Mulberry. I''ll come with you... It''s not like we have any choice or... Heh... Any defences either..." With a heavy heart and long sigh, Maester followed the old bag o'' bones soldier to meet their soon-to-be saviour... Lars! * * * [1] Recap is in chapter 134 - Auction (7)! 163 Wiarno City and the Slith Sect 2 The cold night-time autumn winds swept through the skinny and wrinkled old man''s dirty copper-brown hair. Though, his hair wasn''t really dirty - it was just the slightly off-colour coppery sheen that made it look so. And if one looked closer, he also wasn''t skinny - he was lean, yes - but well-muscled and power in frame. And neither was he wrinkled nor old - it was just the grey powdery texture and tone of his skin that made him seem so old and weathered by the years. The old but not old, wrinkled but not wrinkled and copper-brown / blonde haired old man/ youth stood by the gates of what looked to be a small outpost in the middle of the wilderness - and shivered. He pulled his robes tighter around his body and muttered under his breath a cantrip spell to warm himself. The night''s were getting colder and colder, especially here in the open country with barely any buildings, sparse trees and just craggy, rocky peaks wherever he turned. What''s more, the large temperature difference between the cool air and the warm ground caused strong drafts of wind to howl through the surrounding mountains and valleys, buffeting Lars with it''s cold embrace... ''...I really should have listened to you and exchanged for the fire-type bloodline...'' Lars lamented inwardly, then instantly regretted it as his constant companion latched on to his slightest moment of weakness to criticise him. ''Of course you should have!!! What''s the point of some pansy defensive improvements!?! Yadda yadda bla bla bla defence is for cowards blabbety blabbety why can''t you just bow down to my infinite wisdom and follow next time!!'' Well, Lars did wince after Kizorik began his tirade, but he quickly zoned the furry bird out as Velzash exchanged a glance with him, the tiny winged demon standing behind Kizorik, shaking his head and making a signal with his hand to mock the blabber-mouth penguin. Lars looked bemused as he saw Velzash''s actions, not knowing how to respond. He wanted to add a jibe and say, ''Aren''t you just as vocal and annoying?!?! HUH????'', but he wisely decided it was better to just keep his lips zipped. He felt the advanced Legendary-level bloodline pump within his veins, the vital life throbbing through the sinews of his muscles, nourishing his skin. The bloodline of one of the creatures with the strongest defence below the Mythical realm, whose guard was not only through rigidity of it''s outward defences but also through superb flexibilty and agility to evade attacks. Some said that although this creature only exhibited the power-level of the Legendary realm, in terms of speed, combat and defence, it was nearly unparalleled! This was the bloodline of the most superior of the Legendary lifeforms available for exchange in the Abyssal Treasury; the bloodline of the winged serpent of the border of light and dark, the peak-Legendary stage Jet-Black Winged Wyvern...! A normal Wyvern was born with a body the size of a cow and the physique of a peak-Adept level human adult. A Wyvern would then just mature naturally, by virtue of their inherent bloodline and genetic make-up, and then gradually but eventually ascend to the peak Grandmaster-realm. But with their advantage of flight and their naturally heavily armoured but light-weight, resilient and flexible body, they were far more deadly than what their cultivation stage implied, threatening even early World-class warriors and requiring peak World-class combatants to hunt them! And above the regular Wyverns were the classes of the creatures that could break through beyond the World-class stage and enter higher stages still - Superior Wyverns which were defined by their ability to break into the World-class stage, Grand Wyverns that reigned in the Legendary realm, and the 1-in-a-trillion Wyvern Kings that stood at the apex of all known lifeforms at the peak-Mythical stage! Though Superior Wyverns and Grand Wyverns were already sufficiently rare and could barely be found on a shared-ecology planet like Yiluo, there would still be some scattered around the globe, perhaps ruling over nests or large groups of other Wyverns in isolated mountainous regions. Above all those classifications, there were tales of a higher creature, one that reigned supreme as a tyrant over countless planets, galaxies or even systems, an organism that bore some slight resemblance to Wyverns in terms of appearance and form but transcended their power in every single way. These fabled pompous rulers would not share dominance of their star-territories with any other race, but would subjugate and indenture all others... Including even the human race! Nonetheless, these were but tales after all... And could not be taken so seriously, not until and unless someone discovered evidence of the existence of such lofty creatures ruling over expansive star systems! Of course they were but bollocks and hogwash - how could such a system-spanning anomaly go undetected for countless years until today...? Therefore such had been dismissed for countless years, millenia and eons...! However, the stories were that the Jet-Black Winged Wyverns and all other Superior Wyvern sub-races and other reptilian races such as the Wyrms, Sea Serpents and the myriad, countless creatures were descended from this ultimate existence, the pinnacle lifeform... The Dragon Ancestor! Lars recalled the stories he had heard since young, including those of St John, King Arthur or other figures, historical or otherwise, slaying dragons. Then he shrugged and continued waiting to enter the Ancient Slith Sect''s gates, knowing he would probably never be able to confirm the authenticity of these fables after all. Bringing his mind back to the new bloodline he had exchanged more than 2.5 million points for, he thought about the Jet-Black Winged Wyvern''s bloodline he had received. All in all it was impressive and gave him an immense boost to his strength. What was different about the bloodline absorbed now and that absorbed earlier was that this bloodline came as a phial holding roughly 15 millilitres of the Legendary Wyvern''s heart''s-blood - blood that carried the condensed energies, gene structure and inheritance of the grand and mighty creature! Unlike the bone marrow of the minotaur, which was also a Legendary stage creature and had taken weeks to slowly incubate before providing him even the beginning of it''s benefits, this was a direct transfusion of 10% of his bloodline to that of the Jet-Black Winged Wyvern. By now, his body had absorbed most of the minotaur bone marrow and assimilated it to his physique, however, the strength would still be gradual. Right now his physique had newly advanced to the beginner Expert-level, with corresponding strength gains in every area especially resilience, reaction speed and strength. However, the journey to reaping the full benefits of the minotaur''s bloodline would be long as it would take perhaps another 10-20 years until his recently fully-formed bone marrow could produce enough blood to upgrade his body to the Legendary stage - unless he incorporated other bloodlines, strengthenings or boosts into the equation! And thus, the newly infused bloodline of the Jet-Black Winged Wyvern! Normally, a cultivator would focus his or her efforts on a single path of training or strength. This was despite the fact that, naturally, a cultivator with balanced and varied abilities was decidedly more powerful and effective in battle. Said cultivator would also be able to hold their ground and make an impact on many different situations due to their wide-range of skills. A general rule of thumb was that, if two separate individuals cultivating two different paths were to join forces, their combined strength would be greater than the sum of the parts and able to defeat another pair of two individuals who had both mastered the same arts. For example, a mage and archer pair would hold a definite advantage in battle when facing against a mage-mage pairing or an archer-archer pairing! This was true even though there would be challenges in coordination between the two combatants with marked differences in their approaches to battle, leading to oft-times mistakes and miscommunications. How much greater and stronger then would it be if both the mage and archer capabilities were combined into one mind, one person and one body; with flawless coordination and perfect combo-ing of skills...? As such, it was an axiom of the universe - two paths is better than one... That is, if one can live that long to cultivate those paths! This was why cultivating two paths or two arts was extremely, extremely rare. Not because it was necessarily better to focus on one, nor because of any advantages in strength, no. It was because branching out to a separate path and developing the twin paths in tandem meant double the length of time to cultivate... Meaning it would take twice as long to break through to any particular stage... And since one would only receive the extension of longevity on the first time of breaking through to a stage... This meant that the cultivator would likely die of old age before making any significant achievements in the twin-path cultivation! With all that being said, Lars... Was a special case altogether! If before, his mage capabilities alone placed him at the peak of the Legendary realm and likely able to hold his own against an early Myth... Now with his boosted physique already at the Grandmaster-realm and soon to enter the World-class realm... He could probably call himself a Myth with not a single soul daring to challenge his claim! Lars then sighed as he continued his more than 30 minutes wait at the front gates; gates he could easily burst open and tear apart with just the littlest bit of strength. He sighed partly because of the tedious wait that he bore with due to protocol... And the fact that the bloodline had such a lame-a$s name... ''...Jet-Black Wings... Literally a name from an anime... S-someone will surely call me a weaboo....'' As Lars lamented his fate and complained over the fact that the strongest and also most affordable bloodline had such an embarrassing name, he straightened his body and brought his attention back to the present as he heard footsteps approaching. A pair of footsteps, to be exact. ''...Hope there are no more delays...'' He waited, relieved that he could finally proceed with his quest to find more valuable materials to exchange for Abyss Points. And as he heard the pair of footsteps draw near and stop on the other side of the heavy metal gates, he heard the clank of metal as the pair on the other side slid aside the small eye-height metal plate to see him. Lars saw two pairs of eyes against the backdrop of a burning torch and noted that the new arrival was not nearly as old as the decrepit, nearly collapsing guard. He looked well-kept, if not for the fact that his bloodshot eyes showed signs of severe lack of sleep and intense stress. Lars tapped his thigh with his right finger as he waited and let the newly arrived Maester Slith give him a once over, waiting for them to ask him some questions and let him in. Finally after 10 seemingly long seconds, Maester Slith asked, "What is your news about Everaldus...? How can you prove you are carrying a message from him...?" Lars smiled as he heard this and responded simply and directly. He lifted up the ring of the recently departed Everaldus and showed it to Maester Slith, the light from the torch illuminating the dull-black surface of the unremarkable ring, indistinguishable from any other black-painted ring except for the insignia of an upright lizard-snake. "This... This... How dare you take this from Everaldus! Guard Mulberry, assist me in accosting this miscreant!!! How dare you, how dare you!!!!!!" And Lars stood speechless, bemused as Ol'' Mulberry slowly worked open the metal gates as the hysterical and fuming Maester Slith stood by his side! And Lars could not decide just what was wrong with the old men as they took nearly 30 seconds to open the gates as he just stood there, speechless and clueless, wondering how he should respond...! ''...Are they... Mad... Or suicidal...?'' Lars smiled as he prepared to explain things to them... After subduing them - gently... 164 Wiarno City and the Slith Sect 3 *Cla-aaaank!* *CREEEEEEE----AAKKKK!!!* The heavy metal gates the height of 2 men and as wide as 4 was unsealed, unbolted and swung open with a long screeching creak. It didn''t look like it was rarely used; perhaps it was just not well maintained...? Lars made the observation as he hoped this would be settled soon. He was eager to get on to finding more of the priceless animal''s hide, wherever it came from, and wanted to settle this misunderstanding as quickly as possible. Though, seeing the level of agitation on the face of the well-dressed man in his fifties, it didn''t look likely that he could get through to him in his rage-induced state right now... The old man burst forth into aggressive action, producing and equipping a pair of 4-bladed claws on either wrist while the even older guard stood by and folded his arms and sighed, clearly feeling that he was far too old for this sh*t. "TWIN FANGS, NIGHT CHILL!!! DIE!!!" Roaring as he released his blood energy and mana in a burst, Maester Slith''s body faded into the shadows slightly as he shot forward, drawing raised brows from Lars''. And as Lars watched as the Slith family caretaker arc through the air as he leapt forward and closed the distance, he upgraded his estimation of the man. ''Oh! At least he''s at the borderline between the peak-Grandmaster and beginner World-class stage...? Or perhaps he''s already broken through recently...? Not bad, not bad!'' Lars thought as he observed the trajectory of the man''s claw strikes at his neck and abdomen. The warrior-mage Lars shifted his stance so he stood perpendicular to the approaching Maester Slith to avoid the strike to his neck, standing with his left side facing the berserk man. He then swayed to the side without changing his footing, letting the skewering thrust of Maester''s left claw slip past his body, barely brushing his robes. "WHAT??? HOW COULD YOU--" Maester Slith exclaimed in shock as his attacks missed. He was shocked beyond his wits as he realised that Lars'' evasion had been effortless, showing masterful control of the entire situation. He also tried desperately to stop his forward momentum as his whole body was still sailing forward to crash face-first with Lars! But Lars almost yawned in a show of boredom as he whipped his left hand forward and delivered a severe tight slap to the face of Maester Slith before his sweaty and oily face could come anywhere near his body! Of course, he also made sure he wore a leather glove on his left hand in a split second; there was no way he would touch the old man''s grimy face, yuck! "BLRAGHRYGR!!!" Maester spluttered as blood, snot and saliva sprayed out of his mouth, causing Ol'' Mulberry to flinch in shock as he was nearly drenched in the bodily fluids. He darted backwards nearly instantly and shot out of the way, belying his earlier slow and decrepit movements, at odds with his ancient-like appearance. Lars carefully began to remove his glove, then suddenly felt a chill in his body and shuddered. ''Wh-what was that...? Did I get hit by something...?'' Lars quickly focused his mind and sent his spiritual sense scanning over his body, then realised that there was a distinct aura of cold hanging around his neck and abdomen - the very same locations that had been attacked by Maester earlier! "Hehhehehe! Bastard murderer and thief! You''re dead wrong if you thought you could so easily avoid our Ancient Slith Sect''s killing moves!" Maester rose to his shakily and wiped the blood from his lips as he confidently mocked his opponent''s foolishness. "The essence of Night Chill will seep into your skin, then penetrate through your bones before permeating through your entire body, flowing into your bloodstream!! Hahaha!! Consider that revenge for plotting against the Ancient Slith Sect and murdering young Everaldus, hahahah! You''ll die a painful death, slowly stiffening and freezing over--WHAT???" His eyes widened and flickered with fervour tinged with sorrow and pain as he pointed at Lars with a trembling hand and declared his fate, until he suddenly saw Lars casually shake off his Slith Night Chill with ease! "H-how... How can it be p-possible... How could you possibly dispel the Ancient Slith Arts... H-how..." The already-injured Maester stumbled backwards as his newly bolstered confidence quickly faded. He backpedaled so quickly that he nearly pitched straight into Ol'' Mulberry''s arms, but ended up falling butt-first onto the dusty dirt floor when the guard discreetly side-stepped his advance. After falling to the ground in shock, Maester suddenly realised that Ol'' Mulberry had not taken action at all. Brows furrowing in distress and fear, Maester Slith quickly urged Ol'' Mulberry, saying, "Ol'' Mulberry, old mentor and friend! You''ve gotta protect the family and exact vengeance on our enemy!!! The vile monster has robbed and, and maybe even murdered our Everaldus, our darling Everaldus!!!" Ol'' Mulberry quickly looked away and folded his arms before backing off swiftly before casting a helpless glance at Lars, as if to say, "Hey kid, no hard feelings, okay...? I''ve got nothing to do with this!" Lars sighed as he felt like he had enough of this foolishness. He held up the ring once more and spoke loudly and slowly, "COULD YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME...?!?" Startled and in a poor state of mind, Maester flinched back and held his arms in front of himself instinctively as he looked on with fear at the roaring Lars. Seeing that he had finally gotten a chance to explain himself, Lars quickly did so. "Yes, this is Everaldus'' ring, yes! But I did not kill him, nor did I harm him in any way! I have come on his behalf to deliver this ring to the family...! So are you or are you not Everaldus Slith''s family...?!?" Maester''s expression stiffened before gradually changing from one of horror to one of half-joy before finally settling into a look of disbelief. "You''re, you''re sent by Everaldus...? H-how can I know that is true...? How can I believe anything you say...? What if you''re sent by the Desert Sun Sect or the Fire Scorpion Sect...?!?" He scrambled to his feet and raised his guard once more, raising his hands before himself in a battle-ready stance. However, it looked like even Ol'' Mulberry had had enough of his long-time employer''s and former student''s silliness as he sighed and patted Maester on the shoulder, saying, "Maester... If he wanted to, he could have easily sent your head flying, you know...?" Turning pale at the thought, Maester turned to meet Ol'' Mulberry''s piercing eyes that were still lively despite his age and gulped as he realised that it was true. Seeing that his boss had finally come to his senses, the elder guard continued, "And if he WERE from our enemy sects, I doubt he would have just stood there patiently at the gates... He would have long broken down our gates and slaughtered his way in...! Everyone knows that the Patriarch is not in a good state..." Nodding slowly as he came to his senses, Maester took in a deep breath before releasing it slowly, then grasped his old friend and mentor''s hand before removing it from his shoulder. He then drew himself up and straightened his stance before turning to face Lars. "My apologies, dear sir. I, Maester Slith, oldest brother and caretaker of the Ancient Slith Sect, humbly seek your forgiveness for this one last request!" With a dead-serious look on his face and a sternness in his eyes, Maester Slith clasped his hands together in front of him and bowed his head, making his plea to Lars. "Dear sir! Please humour this request! Please prove you are truly from young master Everaldus!" Lars looked on with a neutral expression. Then he shrugged and held out the ring to Maester Slith, saying, "Proving myself... Erm... I don''t care, really. I''m just here to pass the news and fulfill a dying man''s last wish to return his storage ring to his family... And also search for information. Here, take the ring and open it. I''m sure whatever''s inside will be useful to--" Lars stopped speaking slowly as he held out the ring. Because Maester Slith fell to his knees, eyes wide open and painted with sorrow. Tears welled up and quickly raced down his cheeks as his lips trembled, opening slightly but without words to speak. Slowly, his head fell and his body turned limp from woe, until his forehead was touching the ground. Soundless sobs racked his body as he fell into the depths of despair. "Maester..." Ol'' Mulberry too looked visibly distressed as his brows creased, his face fell and his lips stretched out thin. He called out to Maester, as if though searching for the words to comfort him and began to walk over, hoping to lift up the younger man and encourage him. But after taking a few steps closer, his feet faltered and slowed as his hand dropped back to his side. What could he say to comfort a man who had lost the young hope of the family...? However, Maester surprised both Lars and Ol'' Mulberry when he drew in a deep breath and rose to his feet slowly. He stood erect and straight with a smile that was reminiscent of a man who had had both accepted his fate and was ready to meet his end. The look of one who had given up hope and realised that, if there were no more hopes to be dashed, what was there to fear or worry about...? "Dear sir...." Maester began, speaking without looking at Lars, casting his gaze to the night sky, wispy greyed hairs billowing in the evening drafts. "Whether or not you are truly from Everaldus... If you are willing to return the ring, perhaps you truly are. Or perhaps you intend to rob us once we unlock the ring... So be it!" Then he turned abruptly and locked gazes with Lars, only this time it was not a despairing gaze nor the weak look of a man who had given up hope. No, this was a gaze that sent a chill up Lars'' spine and caused him to gulp involuntarily. Even Kizorik was disturbed while Velzash nodded in approval. When Lars met eyes with Maester Slith, he realised that he was looking at a man who had cast away all hope for his life and had only one desire still smouldering in his eyes. Revenge. "Dear sir... Whatever your intentions may be... I have only one wish! Tell me what you want in order to fulfill this wish and I, Maester Slith shall do it, even if it costs me my life, even if it destroys the lives of others!" Fanaticism, fervour, madness, rage... Despair and vengeance swam in the darkness of Maester Slith''s glittering eyes. Eyes that shone with the cold flames of murder. Eyes that thirsted for the deaths of his enemies. Lars couldn''t help but feel unnerved as he took a half step back, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He felt uncomfortable holding Maester''s gaze, but somehow also could not pull his gaze away. ''Lars... He''s... Fallen into depravity...! If not for the fact that the devils had recently taken a major blow to their forces, I wouldn''t have been surprised if there were a sudden devil rift torn through reality right here and now to corrupt his soul further... Lars, you''ve gotta help him wake up from his madness, lest the devils claim another soul and further bolster their forces!'' Kizorik urged Lars, speaking rapidly, shooting off the words as fast as a machine gun. Velzash nodded at the side; there was no love lost between him and the devils either. "Ahem, Mr... Maester. I have no qualms against exacting vengeance on the treacherous or on those who are deserving of death. But I will need to first know what is the reason behind what has happened. As I understand, Everaldus was ambushed not due to any enemies you have but due to being targeted by a criminal group, the Underworld. Perhaps you should take a look at what he has for the sect in this ring first before you give up all hope! And what has happened to the Ancient Slith Sect? Can''t you restore the sect and rebuilt it once again...? How about, how about any younger siblings, any young heirs to the sect...?" As Lars words came to an end, he continued to look at Maester, whose fiery gaze locked onto Lars'' for many moments longer. Lars began to grow uncomfortable and felt like looking away but forced himself to persevere for a moment longer. Finally after half a minute, Maester sighed as his eyes closed. With eyes remaining closed, Maester''s tightly clenched fists began to relax and he let out a heavy breath, seemingly letting out also much of the heaviness and tension from his body as he did so. Then Maester''s countenance grew wan and weak once again, having expended all his energy in that one moment of intensity. He swayed once, twice, then steadied himself before he turned and walked away, hands hanging limp at his sides. He stopped after a few steps, head hung low as he spoke softly and wistfully. "...Sister-in-law... She''s been gone for so many years now... Sick with syphilis... The young master''s sister... Died with her together... The sect...? We''ve been in a state of decline for a decade now since the opposing sects poured the pressure on us... Sigh..." Pausing for awhile and leaving Lars at a loss for words, Maester then continued. "...With young master dead and the Patriarch dying, what hope is there left for the sect...?" Maester then began to walk away listlessly, not towards the main building that Lars could see in the distance but apparently randomly - the direction he was walking to was just a high and empty wall of a building, leading to a dead end. Speechless and not knowing how to respond, Lars quickly thought of what he could do, and decided to open up the contents of the ring to see if there was anything of import to shake Maester Slith out of his stupor. He held up the ring in his hand and spoke the key word carefully, one which he had not spoken earlier out of respect for the dying Everaldus'' will. "...Chesed!" The ring began to shine before a single item was revealed, gently floating out from the spatial ring and onto Lars'' open hand. It was a round globe, aqua-sapphire blue in colour and releasing a soft, gentle glow; one that comforted and seemed to bring rest to Lars'' soul. Ol'' Mulberry too was mesmerised by the appearance of the treasure as his creased brows relaxed and unfurrowed, his knotted back seemingly smoothening out and the aches in his joints being eased. Unbidden, the words came to his lips. "I-is this...? Isn''t this...? What young master went to search for from the city...? The treasure that can save the P-Patriarch...!!! C-c-c-cryo..." He stuttered out the words, rubbing his disbelieving eyes once more before he could finally utter the name of the treasure the whole sect, consisting of barely 10 people remaining, knew the young master had set off to purchase. "CRYO CORE!!!" Ol'' Mulberry''s nigh-insane exclamation of half-disbelief and half-clamorous joy caught the attention of Maester who turned his head with wide, incredulous eyes. "...W-w... What...??? Could it be, could, could it truly be...???" He too could not believe his eyes at what he saw! Once more, tears came to his eyes. Once more he fell to his knees. Only, this time there was hope. This time there was joy. This time there was light budding in his soul. Despite all that had been lost, he could sense, feel and hear the voice of his nephew once more, saying, "My life came by my father and mother... My learning and all I have from the sect! Therefore let it never be said that Everaldus Slith should not keep his word, and lay down his life for the sake of this family!" "My life for the family, my being for the sect!" And the words echoed in the weeping Maester''s ears once more as he whispered out the words, "B-brother... There is hope... There''s still hope...!" But all of a sudden, a raucous shout interrupted that magical moment. "HAHAHAHA! OLD SLITH!!! HOW GENEROUS OF YOU!!! NOT ONLY HAVE YOU KEPT YOUR FUDDY DUDDY GARBAGE SECT MAINTAINED FOR US, YOU EVEN PREPARED A WELCOMING GIFT??? AND WHAT A GREAT GIFT TOO! Muakakakaka!!!" "Well well well!!! And you even brought some fresh meat to be devoured...?? I''ll be sure to give him a good injection that doesn''t remove his senses! Then he can enjoy being roasted alive and savour every moment of it!! Gereheheheh!!!" Maester''s tear-filled eyes hardened instantly as he shot to his feet and brandished his claws, looking up to see the two uninvited visitors standing on the walls of the Sect compound. "Sir! You''ve gotta help us! Please, I''ll do anything, please!!! Protect our Ancient Slith Sect and, and... I''ll do anything, even give my life!!!" He shouted as he quickly scurried over to Lars'' side, instinctively realising that he had to work together with Lars if they were to survive this battle. Lars smiled gently, patting him on the shoulder and pushing Maester aside as he stood confidently. "...Alright. I just need some directions after I clear out these trash...!" 165 Wiarno City and the Slith Sect 4 "Sir... T-thank you! I don''t even know your name, but--" "...It''s Lars, and no need to thank me. I have some things I need to ask you and Patriarch Slith after all..." Lars cricked his neck as he stretched his body, loosening up for the upcoming battle. His eyes flitted across the two new arrivals; looked like they were both at the beginner Legendary stage... After the booming voices had cut through the still night air, two conspicuous figures dressed in bright colours soared through the air to land on the walls; both rather tall. One of the men was dressed in red robes with the other in dusty-yellow garb. The man in yellow was well-built with a hefty, powerful frame and looked full of energy; his face passionate and serious, his countenance fiery and aggressive. His look was spoiled only by the fact that his hair was not red, being black with many a strand of grey hair streaking his scalp. In contrast, the man in red garb was lean, skinny almost. However, his sinewy form still gave off the impression of being capable of great feats of power. His mouth seemed to be set in a permanent wicked sneer while his eyes were beady and narrow, cruel and callous. His bald pate contributed further to his venomous and ruthless look, making him appear to be someone you wouldn''t trust even if you had him at knife''s point! The two greying men looked advanced in age, yet they were still full of vigour; signs of having advanced into the Legendary stage perhaps in their late 50''s and receiving a new injection of vitality. They both looked dignified and respectable in their robes - if not for the terrible scowls marring their expressions right now. They were livid! Incensed at being called trash by what looked to be a dirty old potato farmer! As their faces turned black from anger, the man in yellow garb spoke, regulating his expression and putting on a haughty look, declaring, "And just how are you going to defeat us...? With that bag of bones--" He pointed at Ol'' Mulberry who looked away in embarrassment. "--Or that bookworm...??" He obviously referred to Maester Slith.. "Or do you think YOU, you pathetic, scrawny weakling little farmer can beat the great *ME*??? Muakakaka!!! Peasant!!! Commoner!!! Fool!!! Sigh... It is beneath me to even deign to reprimand you... After all, what use is there in correcting a fool...? Useless! Muakakakaka!!" The muscular elder laughed with his low and booming voice, then stopped as he continued, "Don''t you know who you are dealing with...?!? Sigh... No matter, no matter... I''ll tell you!" He clasped his hands behind his back and raised his chin, closing his eyes and letting the wind whip through his hair at this moment, the strong breeze picking up to coincide with his theatrics. "The moon shines flashing, Yet to fade away at dawn, To the Desert Sun!" The man spoke as if reciting a poem, uttering prose to the sky, stars and heavens! And he would have looked incredibly cool, dashing or impressive - if not for the fact that the whistling winds ruffled his hair... And revealed a big patch of male pattern baldness smack dab in the middle of his head... "Pffftttt....!!!" Lars, who was trying to similarly act cool while stifling his yawns, nearly burst out laughing, holding back the guffaws and covering his mouth with his hand. "WHAT!!!?? WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT!!!! I''LL KILL YOU, I''LL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!!!" "Gerehehehehhe!!! Desert Sun!!! Looks like you''ve spent too much time under your beloved sun, huh!!?? And looks like, ahem, the sun has GOTTEN TO YOUR HEAD!!! Gereheheheheh!!!" "YOU SHUT UP, FIRE SCORPION!!! I''LL KILL YOU TOO!!! And you!!" He pointed at Lars with eyes sparking with rage, "I''ll bet you''re too uneducated to even know what the Legendary-level is! Hahaha! You probably don''t even know how awesome someone like me is, what a pity, what a pity!! Right, Fire Scorpion...?" "Gerehehe... Desert Sun, Desert Sun... Why are you wasting your time talking to him...? A dead man doesn''t need to know any of that! I know, I know, you''re facing your mid-life crisis... But do you really need to get your confidence boost from a pathetic little child...? Grow up, big baby!!! Gerehehehehe!!!" The cultivator named Fire Scorpion sneered as he mocked his well-built ally, his sneaky eyes alternating between Lars, Ol'' Mulberry and Maester Slith as he spoke. "And now, how shall I kill you three...? Slowly...? By ripping out your eyeballs first, then carving the map of the Northern Desert Lands onto your private parts, inch by inch...? Or should I remove your finger joints one-by-one and then re-insert them into your rectum...? Maybe I should paint you with honey and then tie you on top of a desert reaper ants'' nest, and let you enjoy the feeling of being eaten ali--" And Lars'' yawned. ''Sigh... Apart from his silly bald spot... It''s just too boring... Maybe I''ll just beat them up without waiting for them to finish talking, yeah, that sounds like a good idea...!'' Lars thought as he stood and listened to the two Patriarchs bicker in the middle of delivering their pre-match trash talk. He fought the urge to yawn - and lost, as he opened his mouth wide and scrunched up his watery eyes in a big yawn! Stunned mid-sentence as he realised that Lars had not even been listening to him, Patriarch Fire Scorpion was beyond outraged while it was Patriarch Desert Sun''s turn to chuckle at him in derision! "HOW DARE YOU!!!! I''LL RIP OUT YO--" He did not have a chance to finish his words as the dark of the night sky was suddenly swept away, swallowed up by all-encompassing light that filled the horizon for tens of kilometres in every direction! "Level 9 Spell..." Lars'' eyes flashed with irritation and impatience as he performed the countless incantations and calculations all within his mind, thus allowing him to shorten the casting of the spell to just a recital of the spell name. And his two opponents hurriedly raised their defences to the max as they heard him call out a top-tier spell while their vision was obscured by the precursor to the magical attack! "SHIT!!! A high-leveled mage??? Incarnation of fire, surround me!!" "O desert spirits, I beseech your grace! Sand cyclone!!" Both patriarchs urgently triggered their soul-imprint boosted abilities and guarded against the impending attack, suddenly wary as they sensed the fluctuations of the Legendary realm. At the same time as they exerted their powers to defend, they also did a delta-split, darting away in opposite directions until they could regain their vision. Around Patriarch Desert Sun floated golden specks of sun, molten motes of high-temperature sand swirling around him in a flesh-rending vortex! The intensity of the cyclone of golden burning sand was daunting and lethal, likely to strip an attacker down to their bones before they could even land a hit on him! On the other side, Patriarch Fire Scorpion''s whole body was swallowed up by blackish-red tongues of fire. The flames flared up and flowed around him, at times looking like water and at others resembling the animal-like undulations of an invertebrate. Then the squirming layers of fire effusing his body began to take shape, gradually taking the form of a sinister reddish-black scorpion! But despite the impressiveness of their powers and defences, they were not ready for what came next. The flash of blinding light quickly receded, a ruse that they had fallen for - alas they realised their mistake too late. Before their vision could return, the outcome of the battle was decided. The two patriarchs could only pour out the 100% maximum power into their defences, hoping to survive the first and last move, this one battle-deciding exchange that they had to survive before they could contend further! "...Just kidding. Heh. Thanks for giving me so much time to prep! Surprise! It''s actually a Legendary-realm spell!!! Take this...!!!" Lars leapt forward towards the more insidious looking red-robed Patriarch Fire Scorpion even as he completed his spell. "Legendary spell... Minor time stop!!!" At that instant - no, it was not an instant even, but a moment that stretched forever for as long as the duration of the 5 second time stop spell - all colour ceased. The wind fell silent. In fact, the sounds of the world faded away entirely, leaving only quiet, darkness, blackness - stillness all around. Apart from the spirit sense of cultivators who were at least on par with the caster, there was no way to still perceive what was happening. The world was still and motionless, devoid of life and colour as the rays of the sun were suspended in mid-air without reflecting off a surface to give one vision... Except for a mana sabre swinging "old" man who hurtled through the air straight at Patriarch Fire Scorpion! The time stop spell was a mystery, one which was not understood, but one which was notorious in both it''s effectiveness and ruthlessness! For if a combatant was not prepared to face an opponent who could stop time, they would be as helpless as a lamb being led to the slaughter! Both these Patriarchs had their own means of defence; but how could they imagine that a normally 1 minute incantation had been carried forth right underneath their noses...?! And Lars'' brandished his mana sabre, activating it with his full-powered mana flows as he raised it to strike a death-blow to his enemies. ''Active defences... Normally the most effective and efficient defence type that works for both protection and attack... But unfortunately, it is also the most useless against time-based attacks...'' ''Because all I have to do is to strike between the gaps of the particles and reap the defenceless life before me...!'' [0.8 seconds out of the 5 seconds duration remaining] Lars'' sensed Patriarch Fire Scorpion''s spirit sense envelope him as he closed in on the heavy-set man. He could detect the frantic desperation in the man''s spirit sense - and ignored it. [1.1 seconds remaining] He swung his sword in an arcing slash, artfully striking at the point with the fewest motes of molten sand obstructing him. Lars'' mana sabre impacted on the heavily-muscled, mana reinforced flesh that was empowered with his full-flow of blood energy - and easily pierced right through, his peak-Legendary mana amplified and focused into the resplendent blade of pure energy and supplemented by the force of his Grandmaster-level physique! [1.2 seconds remaining] As Patriarch Desert Sun gasped in his mind and his spirit sense began to fade, Lars kicked off from the time-frozen body, transferring the force of his flight to the much heavier man''s torso and shooting off towards his next target. [1.3 seconds remaining] Patriarch Desert Sun''s spirit sense ebbed, his soul-fire faded, his frozen eyes dimmed, and he did not even have the chance to breath one last breath. The beginner Legendary warrior perished without the opportunity to resist his death. [1.8 seconds remaining] Lars rocketed through the air and analysed the fire-wrapped form of Patriarch Fire Scorpion for the weakest point. However, after scanning the form of flames, he determined that there was no need to search for a weak spot - the semi-solid flames served more as a damaging deterrent and could do nothing to stop his blade from cleaving through like butter! [2.1 seconds remaining] Which was exactly what he did. Lars'' mana sabre swept through a beautiful crescent half-moon - and separated Patriarch Fire Scorpion''s head from his body. [2.2 seconds remaining] As Lars'' landed on the ground solidly with his feet planted shoulder-width apart from each other, he let out his breath and released the spell with more than half the time left to spare. And colour, life, sound and the blowing winds returned to the world...! Along with the sounds of two *Thuds* as the unwilling Patriarchs met their dooms at the hands of the "dirty old plebeian peasant"...! 166 Wiarno City and the Slith Sect 5 "Look out Sir Lars!!! They''re about to use their ultimate moves!!! LOOK OUT--" "WHAT???!!!!" "........" In that span of a few seconds from when the momentary skirmish began until the time it was finished, the faces of Maester Slith and Ol'' Mulberry transitioned from expression to expression - from panicked and anxious, to shocked and incredulous and finally to utter disbelief! Maester Slith and Ol'' Mulberry stood in stunned silence, staring at the two patriarchs'' corpses slump to the ground. They blinked once, then twice, checking if what they were seeing were really the truth as Lars strolled over quietly from where the bodies lay. Then the two old men rubbed their eyes, trying to ascertain if they had just been pranked. Only, how would anyone get their sworn enemies in on a prank of this level and scope?!? So the guard and the caretaker of the Ancient Slith Sect slowly turned their heads and exchanged a terrified look. Had they just opened their doors to an even greater monster, an even greater threat than their previous enemies ever posed...? Gulping, Maester Slith urged his heart to settle down as he forced his gaze back forward to the man who he now realised was an unknown stranger - just, one that came on behalf of young master Everaldus...! ''Yeah... Yeah, that''s right! If he wanted to take over the sect, he wouldn''t even need to go through any ruses or tricks to wrest the sect from us! And he brought the Ice-element Longevity Treasure big bro needs...!'''' Eyes brightening and clearing up with the realisation that he had no reason to fear so far, Maester regained his confidence. He then stepped forward boldly to greet and thank Lars as he drew nearer - even as he sighed inwardly. ''Alright, time to pay respects to this grand figure and figure out his intentions... To humble myself and, if need be, even snivel and beg... All for the sake of the sect...?'' Mid-step, Maester paused a tick and then suddenly barked out a single laugh, sounding like a cough. Then he began to chuckle more earnestly as his steps resumed and he thought, ''...What sect...? It''s just me and Kenzie left... Sigh...'' Shaking his head slowly, the stress and tension in Maester''s shoulders faded away as his stance grew more upright and confident. He had decided. Once Kenzie recovered, he would urge Kenzie for the both of them to re-join the army and abandon this god-forsaken Slith Sect and this land that had brought them no end of sorrows. After all, what was land for but for the living...? What was the point when... There was no one living left to appreciate it...? Smiling, Maester met Lars'' eyes with renewed vigour, a newfound confidence and sureness of self as he recited his prepared spiel of thanks to Lars. "Sir Lars, benefactor Lars...! Truly, our gratefulness knows no bounds...! You have saved us from abject doom, rescued us from certain death... Ah..." But his voice caught in his throat when Lars did not meet his eye and just waved to him as if asking to do away with the meaningless words and to guide him onwards. "Ahem... I-I..." His words tapered off and he realised that he should just keep quiet despite the questions in his mind about what had just happened in the battle against two Legendary combatants... Maester nodded, drawing a momentary flicker of a glance from Lars, then beckoned the way. The duo walked on, Maester nodding to Ol'' Mulberry who sighed as he proceeded to clean up the corpses - and loot the two Patriarchs of anything valuable. * * * * * Lars sighed. This was the first time since... Since *then* that he had used a Legendary spell. This time, he had not suffered any injury to his soul. This was despite shortening the incantation to merely 1 minute from the customary 3-5 minutes casting time recorded in the spellbooks. This time, he had easily won, instead of like in the last where he had merely thrown it out as a form of swan-song; death throes if you may. This time... He could not help but reminisce of his brothers and sisters, his companions who had tided through the years with him and survived the war. This time... This time he remembered Robin once more; and wondered when he would ever understand why he had betrayed their band of brothers... Lars sighed and shook his head, his mood turned melancholic. He slowly tried to refocus his mind and push aside the moody thoughts; and whether he did or not, no one really knew as he just put one foot ahead of the other and followed Maester to see the Patriarch of the Ancient Slith Sect. Though the sky had grown dark, it was not actually that late in the evening, merely a half-past eight o''clock in the evening. And yet there were no servants, no bustle of life, no signs of activity in the yawning halls and wide paths through the large compound. Lars and Maester Slith''s passage was a quiet one with nary a word spoken by either of the two. Their journey was accompanied only by the echoes of their footsteps falling, hitting the ground. The high ceilings lent further to these echoes, with the progressively lower-frequency reflecte sounds giving an odd, otherworldly feel to their otherwise short walk. Within minutes, they had reached their destination - a simple wooden door on an unadorned wall. Somehow along the journey, Lars could feel the air around them getting more and more frigid, colder in a way that seemed to seep into his bones. Not odd given that it was night-time in a desert, but it was also far too cold to be normal even for an arid winter...! Maester turned back to look at Lars, then, tightening his lips in a half smile, squeezed the storage ring in his hand tightly - Everaldus'' personal storage ring. Then he drew in a breath and knocked in a certain cadence for a total of 9 knocks with erratic pauses in between. Then he waited for several moments before the sound of the door unlocking from the inside was heard; and then a faint voice that spoke, "Come in..." The voice was not weak, decrepit nor old - and yet it carried with it the undertones of weariness; of a soul that was old beyond it''s time and had just woken from a long slumber. Opening the door slowly but surely, Maester cast a glance over his shoulder to Lars and bowed slightly, inviting him to enter together after him. Lars followed the older man in, and the first thing he saw when he entered was the sheen of blue - piles and piles of blue-tinged, dark blue, light blue, turqoise blue or any other shade of blue minerals and materials. It was a veritable mountain of cold element, ice element or other types of resources that were laid up in a huge pile, lying in a pool of liquid that should have by right long frozen over in such low temperatures. Lars was amazed when he was met with the great aura of cold in the room. Just a minute ago, with the door closed, there was at most just a chilly breeze sweeping through the building. However, now that the door was open, he could sense the full intensity of the treasures prepared here. Why, it must have been at least 80-100 million platinum coins worth of treasures! On top of that, this should also be the treasure room with high-grade and highly expensive sound and aura dampening materials in the walls, defending against vibrations or damage from shaking from the outside and preventing any leakage of power from the inside. In other words, a sealed chamber where whatever was within would be isolated from the outside. Seated in the middle of the pool with his legs crossed was a man with wispy hair, long though it was as if he had once had a lustrous, glorious mane on his crown. He was thin but looked swollen; his flesh unnaturally pinkishly red even despite being submerged up to his neck in the freezing cold elements. Lars knew it could be none other than Kenzie Slith, father of Everaldus - and the one who was in dire need of the Legendary-level Cryo Core to soothe the fire-based poison. Curious as to the extent of the poisoning, Lars gingerly extended his spirit sense in an attempt to get an idea, only for the seated Patriarch''s eyes to flutter open and stare directly at him. Lars was temporarily stunned as he felt the man''s eyes land on him and his spirit sense lock onto him - this was an expert! One easily on par with himself; or at least, his old self from before entering Gorun City, that is... The man was clearly suppressing his aura, mana and blood energy, probably to prevent whatever fire-element poison from spreading into his systems. Lars also noticed that the haggard-looking man''s countenance was beleagured, his breathing laborious and suppressed so much that if his eyes were close and he lay still, one might very well take him for a corpse! Upon seeing Lars and sensing the "rat", then mistaking him for a common cultivator due to his suppressed aura, Kenzie''s gaze returned to Maester as he spoke with a raspy, weary voice, whispering, "Maester... What has happened...? Who is this...? Has there been news of Everaldus since Bernie and the other two returned...?" Maester took in a deep breath, then let it out again in a heavy sigh, saying, "Big bro..." Then he sighed again before lifting up the storage ring in his hand. Kenzie''s eyes fell upon the simple ring, his eyes narrowing in concentration as his spirit sense swept through it. Then his eyes widened, narrowed again, then began to mist up, tearing up. "Brother.... Is he.... Everaldus..." Kenzie''s eyes closed, eyelids trembling slightly as a line of liquid ran down his cheek. After losing his wife and family, was it now his son''s turn to go...? Maester stood there quietly, looking on with gentle eyes at his younger brother, one who had taken on a heavy burden all these years leading the family since the passing of their parents. A man of strength, vision and greatly capable; alas, perhaps, had they lost sight of what was truly important all these years...? Perhaps... The sect and the land were just ephemera, like the mist passing in the wind...? Something that they should not have held on to nor grasped; for the sake of keeping the ones truly dear to them... Maester sighed once more, not knowing how to answer his younger "big" brother. He knew; they knew what had happened for the ring to be here. Instead, he lifted up the ring and whispered the key-word, "Chesed..." As the Cryo Core emerged, Kenzie''s shut eyes snapped open, bewildered, confused... He stiffly yet forcefully arose from the pool of waters, standing up and revealing his greyed and pallid looking body; then lurching over and nearly tilting over as he forced his rigid, hibernating body back into motion. Maester, understanding exactly what his brother''s thoughts were, held out the Cryo Core, passing it to the Patriarch of the Slith Sect who held it tightly in his hands. Kenzie looked at it, turned it around once, then twice, tears in his eyes the entire time. Then he held it up high, high above his head - and then his knees hit the ground with a *Thud* as he kneeled; breaking down into tears, sobbing. "Everaldus... You are worth so much more to me than even my life... Why...??? Why...??? Why did you have to leave this old man behind..." "Kenzie...." Maester stepped over quickly, kneeling by his brother''s side, cheeks streaked with tears as he laid one hand onto his brother''s shoulder, gripping it tightly as Kenzie''s arms fell and the Cryo Core bounced on the floor with a *clink, clink clink clink clink* sound, rolling away slowly before stopping against the wall. Standing quietly to the side, Lars could merely watch on in silence as the two brothers held each other[1] and shared their loneliness and sorrow; sorrow at being the only 2 left in their family line. And Lars sighed. How good it was to have someone else to call family. * * * [1] No homo. 167 Mystery Realm 1 That night, after a tearful moment, Maester assisted Kenzie Slith in absorbing the cold element of the Cryo Core into his body. The effects were immediate; his swollen, puffed up skin receded visibly, though it still looked slightly inflamed, while his countenance looked soothed and eased. It seemed that, despite the full recovery not being instantly complete, great headways had been made towards regaining his peak condition as a high-Legendary combatant. And in the meanwhile, Lars stayed on, sitting at the side as he reminisced and ruminated upon his own journey. Born as an orphan, raised in a home for troubled families - one that was closed down before he had any clear memories. Then taken in by a kindly old couple; rubber tappers who, within the year, passed away to tuberculosis. By the age of 10, left to fend for himself; albeit with the knowledge of how to tap rubber, go to school and somehow feed himself - of course, with the kindness and support of the other villagers. He had always known and been known as an incredibly intelligent and talented boy, never forgetting a single thing he had learned, heard or seen. Which also made him an easily scared, easily scarred, emotional and vulnerable child; unable to forget the sorrows in his heart but merely shove them into the dark corners of his heart and soul. He tried hard not to think about the time of knowing Sara, thoughts of her family, thoughts of the promise they made, thoughts of the tearful separation, thoughts of the emotions he could not help but find welling up in his heart. He struggled internally even as his body continued to be completely still, pushing those memories of the schooling years aside as he fast-forwarded his mind to the time he entered the armed forces. That was when he was enrolled into the 3-month crash course to train, groom and identify each recruits war talents - and discovered to be what they called a "once in a galaxy find" as he skyrocketed from the Normal realm to the peak of the Grandmaster realm in those 3 months alone. Then, instead of being assigned to the local South East Asian corps, he was transferred to the heartlands of Europe where the fiercest battles - and the greatest commanders, leaders and mentors - were locked in a desperate struggle for supremacy. In the grand scheme of the war, he had felt that his sublime talents were meaningless in the face of his meagre abilities merely at the Grandmaster level. However, in the local battlefields where he was actually engaged, the addition of a Grandmaster mage turned the tides of the skirmishes again and again. ...And that was while he was still a Grandmaster, for within mere months, Lars had advanced again to the World-class realm, a last-ditch breakthrough on the knife''s edge of life-and-death. While his thoughts were still clouded by these old memories, Lars heard a voice and, when he realised he had not caught what was said, shook his head and blinked. His gaze fell on Maester who stood before him patiently. He looked fatigued as well as relieved; but also like one who had seen too much tragedy for just one life to bear. The head steward of the Slith household also looked like he had been standing there for a while from how he responded, though he did try to hide the fact when he spoke. "Ah! My apologies to interrupt your thoughts, sir Lars, benefactor...!" Maester looked genuinely bashful and apologetic at interrupting Lars thoughts, but Lars just smiled non-committally and waved it off. Seeing that Lars did not mind, Maester spoke his mind, "I, *we*, are really glad for your help and rescue... It''s getting late, shall I show you to a room to take a night''s respite...? We can talk in the morning and, I hope, satisfy your reasons for coming here to this god-forsaken corner of the country..." "Yes... Alright. That would be good." Lars stood as he slowly nodded his head, getting up from where he had been seated, leaning against the cool stone walls. "Please, follow me, it''s not far..." Maester walked briskly, bringing Lars to his room for the night. * * * * * Come break of day, Lars cleaned up quickly, doffing his night clothes and storing them away in his storage ring. ''A real convenience if I would say so myself... Sigh, how different the lives of the rich are... No need for cumbersome or heavy luggage... Imagine how much the transportation and logistics industry on Earth will change once I figure out the mechanics behind making these things...!'' Lars eyes glittered with a fanatical look as he thought about the amount of money he could make monopolising the production and sale of the storage devices. ''No, no... I shouldn''t think like that...'' He shook his head, chiding himself for his foolish thoughts, before nodding as he determined what he should do. ''I can''t be so selfish and narrow-minded... I must learn and be big hearted and think of the long-term benefits...'' Lars gaze sharpened once more as his heart pumped madly at his plans. ''...I should sell temporary patents to other companies, and give them flawed designs with a built-in expiry date of the runes and magic formations!'' Rubbing his hands in glee as he walked to the main meeting room, Lars shoulders began to rise and fall heavily with deep excited breaths as he walked, fidgeting and beginning to skip and hop and jump up and down with every step! ''...That way, I won''t have any initial outlay, I can tap on their distribution and sales networks... And I can come out with a "new and upgraded" product every year for new business!! Yes!!! How could I have such a lowly mentality like producing it myself!!! Imagine the money I''ll make!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!'' "HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! MUAHAHAHHAHA!!!!" Lars began to laugh out loud at nearly the top of his lungs as he was hypnotised by the thought of earning so much money that he could buy and then ride an airline carrier from the Americas to Europe for a picnic anytime he wanted! He was still so busy chortling and laughing over his master plan that when he opened the large doors to enter the meeting hall, he nearly bumped face-first into the equally oblivious Kenzie who was just about to open the door from the other side! Startled, the two distracted men nearly fell unto their rumps, barely catching themselves before hitting the floor; one with his mind only on money while the other was melancholic and brooding over his loss of a son. Kenzie, annoyed and knocked out of his reverie, nearly snapped at Lars, wanting to chide him for not paying attention - before he caught himself from his usual bossy attitude and choked back his words, forcing himself to smile instead and ask, "Sir Lars...! What a, what a surprise to see you, erm... Here...!" Then he stiffened as he realised that he was speaking utter garbage - what surprise was there seeing his guest at the meeting hall, the agreed location, at the arranged time for meeting...?!? However, he brushed it over as was his wont, his countless years of being shameless coming to great use. Lars on the hand flashed Kenzie a deep frown, as if saying, "Stupid and blind old man! If you weren''t so poor already, I''d rob your a** of everything you have! Too bad you''re so poor that it''s too muchof a bother!" The Patriarch was taken aback at the glare, gulping slightly as he felt confused - why was the man acting like he had a blood grudge or some sort of other dire crime had been committed against him...? Kenzie shrugged inwardly and decided to change the topic quickly. "Err, mmmm... I was just about to go look for you! Yes, yes... Yes, let''s head on in to the room! Though there''s only a few of us, we - Maester and myself - felt it would be better for all of us to settle things with an announcement together..." His eyes fell for a moment, looking sad and pensive as he added, "...After all, this decision will affect us all..." Then he regained his clarity and force of character as he beckoned for Lars to follow him to enter the room and take a seat, asking, "And yes, I have not had the pleasure to ask you what your purpose is in coming. I recall Maester mentioning you had a question? Some clarifications to make...?" Lars nodded, taking in the surroundings in the assembly hall he entered. A long meeting table was placed in the centre of the room, one that looked like it also doubled as the dining table during meal-times. At the head of the table was an empty seat pushed back - presumably Kenzie''s - while Maester sat on his right, Lars''s left. Lars saw two people he did not recognise seated on either side of the table beside where Maester sat, while Ol'' Mulberry was seated on the other side, beside an empty seat on the left hand side of the head of the table. At first glance, Lars thought it might have been reserved for him, but when he noticed a high-grade, expensive but very practical looking defensive cloak was laid across the back of the chair, he realised that it must be the seat reserved for Everaldus, the heir and darling child of the Ancient Slith Sect. Kenzie''s eyes scanned over the people in the room, pausing for a short moment on the empty chair, his lids drooping slightly before he regained his spirit. "Ah, yes, sir Lars, you haven''t met Bernie and Ollie yet!" He gestured to the two men seated along Maester''s side who stood and bowed as he called out their names. "Please, please, you may sit wherever you want. It doesn''t matter anyway - protocol and all that... Haha! Too long have I been caught up in such meaningless things such as face and authority, property and land! Haha! Why didn''t I realise earlier what truly mattered to me, to the household..." And though Kenzie was laughing as he walked to take his own seat, he was shaking his head in self-guilt, evident through his slumping shoulders and weak posture, despite his revitalised and rejuvenated frame of body. Lars watched but did not respond, instead sitting down beside Ol'' Mulberry, nodding at the ancient-looking bag o'' bones who looked like he was more suited to being a librarian than a guard! Kenzie cleared his throat, then met eyes with Maester for a moment before nodding. With that signal, Maester Slith drew his body up straight in his chair and spoke clearly, though not loudly as there were but the few of them there. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for gathering here this morning. We, the Ancient Slith Sect, would like to express our utmost gratitude to each one of you--" Kenzie and Maester looked one by one at those seated at the table, stopping with a sincere look of appreciation for everyone there. "--Especially sir Lars, who the rest of you have not yet met; our benefactor who quietly disposed of Patriarch''s Desert Sun and Fire Scorpion the night before..." Bernie and Ollie started to nod perfunctorily, then froze; their eyes widening to the maximum, with no small amount of shock upon hearing those words; those were both Legendary level powerhouses, not some common fry who could be defeated simply and easily! How did this unassuming and greying, skinny old man who looked like a harmless farmer manage to achieve such a feat...?!? Glossing over the fact, Maester continued, saying, "...And you can also see that our Patriarch, Kenzie Slith, is fully recovered due to the young master''s purchase of the Cryo Core... Brought back also by Sir Lars..." Hearing these words made Bernie and Ollie''s eyes bulge even more as they stared at Lars, subconsciously backing away from him, squirming to the edges of their chairs to get as far away as possible from this monster! It was already preposterous enough to kill two beginner-Legendary experts who trespassed unto their sect grounds; now this old man also had been able to invade the Underworld''s hideout and snatch away the young master''s spatial ring from their grasps??? What would they hear next, that the entire Ancient Slith Sect was shutting down...?!? Maester once more continued, "This morning may come as a surprise to you who have followed my brother and I for these years; though I guarantee that it will be good news for you... And we will ensure that we fulfill our benefactors request first before we make good on this... For that announcement, I''ll pass it to Kenzie". Maester then let out a long breath, the tension in his shoulders easing as he sat back in his chair, looking no longer like a high-ranking leader of an organisation, but rather just an old, tired man. Bernie and Ollie, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Operations Officer respectively, also long-time disciples of the sect accompanying Kenzie and Maester since they were teens, glued their eyes on Kenzie with rapt attention. What great announcement was coming after the understatement of such good news as the Patriarch''s grand recovery...? Bernie whispered, saying, "Psst...! I bet you it''s finally time to strike back against those despicable sects! Now that they have lost their Patriarchs, they''ll have no chance at all! We can easily snap up their assets and devour their entire sects, disciples and all!" "Heh, that sounds about right! Maybe we''ll even expand and relocate our base into the city this time!" But when they heard the announcement, they nearly lost their bananas. They were completely right about their guesses - about the earlier guess made in sarcastic jest, that is. "Gentlemen... To keep it short and to the point..." Kenzie closed his eyes, drawing in a heavy and deep lungful of air as he spoke, lending to the gravity of his figure as his eyes slowly opened. Then he spoke. "As of today, the Ancient Slith Sect is no more!!" The sound of his words reverberated like a bad dream, a nightmare, the sound of words that they could not believe were true! 168 Mystery Realm 2 "As of today, the Ancient Slith Sect is no more!!" Kenzie''s shock-inducing words shattered whatever remained of Bernie and Ollie''s calm of mind; upon hearing those 10 words uttered, their jaws dropped even further, eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. They would have even shot to their feet and slammed their palms onto the table in disbelief and indignance, if not for the fact that they were too distraught to even move a muscle - the wine cup in Bernie''s hand even slipped right out, clanging and rolling onto the table before hitting the floor with a resounding ring! It was a good thing there were but dregs of the reddish-purple fermented fruit juice remaining in the cup. Kenzie, despite noticing their stunned and incredulous reaction, merely smiled beatifically and sighed, seemingly a different person from his usual stern, powerful and authoritative self. He looked like a figure who had entered a state of nirvanic enlightenment, one who had ascended to the greater realms; or at least glimpsed the edges of a better world in the heavens up above. Yet at the same time, the creases at the corners of his eyes betrayed his world-weariness and a sorrow that exceeded words; one that could only be expressed perhaps... Perhaps never. "B-But-but...! H-how!?... Howcouldyoudothattous?!?" "Patriarch!! I, you, we, I...!!!! We!!! You!!!" The two finally began to recover their souls, one to splutter and blurt out gibberish while the other shakily rose to his feet, raised a finger to point at the Slith brothers and tremble while repeating various pronouns in confusion. In contrast, Ol'' Mulberry merely reclined comfortably, leaning against the edge of the back of his chair, slightly angled towards the side so he could face Kenzie and Maester Slith better. He did not look surprised, nor did he exhibit any form of reaction at all. Perhaps this was the outcome he had been expecting - or recommending - for a good long time now. Kenzie allowed Bernie and Ollie to work through their shock, confusion and frustration, allowing this to continue for some time. He let the two calm down slightly before his eyelids snapped open and he fixed a sharp, fiery gaze like that of an Asura who had trod through countless battlefields; raising a hand to silence them and to hear him out. Immediately the two''s mouths snapped shut as they obediently sat down like two children just chided for misbehaving. It was only after sitting back down that they realised what had just transpired and blushed in embarrassment, exchanging a look to each other that contained a promise never to recollect this story to any other - to even pretend it had never ever happened when meeting one another! Kenzie and Maester also exchange a good, long look, a certain resignation and placid calm apparent in their eyes, evidence of acceptance of their lot in life. Then Kenzie returned with a determined smile to gaze at his last remaining three companions and followers after these many years in the Ancient Slith Sect. "My most loyal companions... Dear devotees to the Ancient Slith Sect... Also employees who have stuck with us through all the toughest times, even in years when we all had to collectively take a pay cut or forgo our bonuses... At this time, I will revert to what we used to call each other oh so long ago, before the days when we formed this blessed and yet also wretched thing we call the Ancient Slith Sect...!" Kenzie gathered the robes around his body draped over his shoulders, warding off the cold and covering his simple grey pants and tunic underneath. He then rose slowly to his feet then pushed his chair back several feet before making a move that thoroughly shocked his closest associates. He slowly stepped back from the solid wooden table then dropped to his knees, raising his hands clasped together in a double fist in the way martial artists'' saluted one another, lowering his head in a bow as he said, "My dearest friends...! For all the years we have strived together and been besieged at every side by increasingly great adversaries..." Then in the midst of their shock and heightening their disbelief even more, Kenzie''s head hit the floor as he prostrated himself before his friends and said, "I am sorry!" These words rumbled through the hearers ears like peals of thunder, rocking their consciousness and causing them to sway in their seats even as they wondered if they were imagining things. Nevertheless, Kenzie drew in a deep breath to calm his wavering yet resolute spirit, then continued on while Maester looked on and nodded. "I think it is no secret that ever since General Wyoldr was forced to retire, we lost our support in the government and military that had granted us favour and protection. We had attempted time and again to seek the grace of a noble family to become our backer, unfortunately, this was not to be so. Yet that is not the root cause of the problem; I admit now, freely and openly, the culprit of our tragedy..." "Is myself, I and only me!" Bernie, Ollie and this time even Ol'' Mulberry drew in sharp breaths upon hearing this, wishing to speak out to stop and comfort their Patriarch. And yet, they were hesitant, for, knowing Kenzie, he had a reason for everything he spoke. They did not blame him, and yet they could not refute his words for they too had strongly urged and advised Kenzie to accede to their rival sects'' requests - for they and everyone in the city knew and had always known that they were merely lackeys of a far higher force...! Kenzie drew his body upright with a strong and deliberate motion, remaining on his knees as he spoke, "It was my pride to think that we could maintain our hold of these lands. In truth, there is nothing of worth here, and joint offer of the Desert Sun and Fire Scorpion Patriarchs was far higher than the value of our lands! It was merely my arrogance to refuse, the desire to show that we did not need to rely on anyone to gain glory and prosperity for the Ancient Slith Sect..." He sighed at this point as he recounted the story, eyes heavy with nostalgia and regret. "...As for why a great power hidden behind the smokescreen of two Legendary-level sects would desire our barren lands... I believe it had never been a secret to us here in this room. But for our benefactor Lars'' sake as well as to fulfil his objectives here, I will lay it all bare!" Maester nodded firmly to Kenzie on hearing these words, urging him on as they reached the close of this long, grueling and traumatic chapter of their lives - a journey that they truly hoped would turn around in the days to come. Kenzie''s eyes were determined as he met Lars'' eyes and said simply, "The cold-based arts of the Ancient Slith Sect are nothing special. However, it is the origin story that somehow leaked about it that drew the unwanted attention of the dark powers of the Wiarno Kingdom..." "Because more than 60 years ago, a simple pugilistic husband and wife pair could shoot from mediocrity at the Expert-level to rise to the Legendary stage, all because they discovered some remnants pages of fragmented scriptures and an unknown beast''s hide in the depths of an esoteric, dire, dangerous and yet incredibly rich hidden realm..." Lars'' expression changed upon hearing of this story. Didn''t it sound a little similar to his equally meteoric rise in strength and power? Except that he had no such fortuitous discovery... With his perfect memory since the age of 10, how could he have forgotten if such a thing happened...? And then the thoughts suddenly struck him; a glaring and obvious fact that needed no explanation, for even the blind would see it staring them in the face. He rubbed his chin, blinking multiple times as he mused about his "lost years" before the age of 10. ''...Or did I...?'' All these took some time to explain, but it flashed through Lars'' mind in a matter of moments. He collected his thoughts and licked his lips, clearing his throat to ask, "Patriarch, where is this mysterious realm...? What is it called?" Kenzie smiled and replied directly, saying, "That mysterious place... My father called it the Mystery Realm! And as for where it is... It is in the heart of our Ancient Slith Sect''s lands!" His head drooped upon speaking those words, as if reminiscing some painful thoughts before continuing, "...And that is the only reason we can think of for being antagonised incessantly by our foes..." He sighed once, smiling derogatorily at himself and then laughing helplessly in self-pity as he then said, "Why... Why oh why couldn''t I have just accepted the offer of the money and moved to another place..." Then his eyes began to tear up and his voice shook as he barely managed to mutter out, "E-Everaldus... My son..." Kenzie buried his face in his hands as Maester, Bernie and Ollie hurried over to their friend and leader''s side to comfort him - while Lars'' eyes first widened then narrowed. ''...Mystery Realm... What kind of realm would interest and attract a power that could exert pressure even on a Legendary-level sect...? And command TWO Legendary realm masters to do their bidding...?'' He was even tempted to bite his fingernails as his mind contemplated whether he had just gotten himself into a far deeper mess than he could imagine - perhaps this was not going to be so simple of a case as he thought...! And yet, his heart raced and pumped with excitement, adrenaline rushing through his veins as bloodlust and the desire for battle as he relished the thought of a new challenge. A fiery emotion began to bubble up within him as he felt indignant and unwilling to back down from being oppressed... But then he smiled slyly. ''Unless, of course, it''s too dangerous... Heh...'' Lars sat back and retreated to his own thoughts as he waited for the Ancient Slith Sect''s emotional dissolution to complete. He did sigh though; he just hoped they wouldn''t take too long to send him on his way to the so-called Mystery Realm... * * * * * [In the middle of the deepest recesses of Lars'' soul realm. In the darkest corners, far from the ever-shining incandescence of the core of his soul realm where the golden Concept of Insight and the green-tinged Concept of Greed pulsed with power] Unbeknownst to Lars, there were two inconspicuous, minuscule dark red-and-purple seeds beginning to take shape somewhere deep within his soul. Right now the motes of energy were ethereal, otherworldly and illusory; starting out as something so incorporeal one might even dismiss their existence - that is, if one could see the depths of Lars'' soul. But nonetheless, despite how ephemeral the beginnings of the seeds were, the dark seedlings were not still, yet neither were they just floating aimlessly; no... They were moving ever-so-slowly with clear purpose and direction, growing in size, solidifying and gaining speed as they head to their eventual, far-off destination. To the shining centre of Lars''soul realm. 169 Mystery Realm 3 "Fare thee well, Sir Lars!" Kenzie and Master bid Lars good-bye as they prepared to board the wagons and make haste to leave the territory of the Ancient Slith Sect. A tearful group of 5 men and their small families made up of Kenzie, Maester, Bernie, Ollie, Ol'' Mulberry and the latter three''s spouses and children were boarding a wagon on the afternoon of that day itself; in order to get a leg ahead of any possible pursuers. Though they were pretty sure that they were unlikely to get away without their adversaries giving chase, they were also confident that the pursuers would need to be a small group and at most have a beginner Legendary combatant - something that would not trouble Kenzie who was now back at nearly his peak strength. "Mmm. Take care," Lars smiled impatiently as he waved them off. He sighed inwardly as he saw them depart, quickly turning into a speck on the glaring horizon, heading east and away from Wiarno City - hopefully to find a new life somewhere else with whatever remained of their wealth and their families. With that, Lars began to pace back towards the interior of the Ancient Slith Sect''s compound, headed to his original reason for coming here. Based on the time needed to travel here and back, he had 10 days left before the Gorun City entourage for the Battle Through The Heavens were due to meet. He felt not just a little irritated at himself as he felt that he had wasted too much time from favouring stealth and wasting 3 days on the journey, as well as wasting another night and morning''s worth of time by accompanying the Slith''s through their difficult decision to leave the lands. He felt he had wasted too much precious time; time that could have been spent on furthering his objective - get home, save the Earth, get Moira, discover the secrets of the Demon-Hunting Sect, find his own lineage, overthrow the All-Heaven Divine Empire, somehow find out the truth behind the Abyss... ''And find a way to free Kizorik from the bonds of the Abyss...'' With these thoughts, Lars felt a heavy burden upon his relatively young shoulders; for a man who had merely lived a combined 38 years, wasn''t this too much to expect...? Just how many worlds was he meant to save while at it...? Why couldn''t he just forget it all and focus on his own life...? And why couldn''t he just ignore those people he met and just focus on advancing his own dreams...? ''When will I stop being so sentimental...? I shouldn''t have wasted time waiting for them to leave... I should have just checked out the entrance gate to the Mystery Realm and left them to their own devices...'' ''Mm-hmm! Boyo! You''re too green! Gotta be like me! Cold and callous, uncaring and fierce!'' Kizorik folded his arms and puffed out his chest, raising his chin up high as he bragged to an audience of two - who ignored him while smiling wryly... Velzash held back a sigh that would spark a useless argument and instead chose to comfort Lars, saying, ''Young lad, it is no weakness nor a failure to care about others... A big heart is no crime! Instead, what is a crime is if you want to care about others... But lack the ability to empower that care! All you need is the strength and raw power to back up that big heart, as well as the readiness to accept that others might just repudiate your care...'' Kizorik grumbled, feeling that his own "words of wisdom" (translation: Bragging) were not received with gratitude and felt dissatisfied that the relative newcomer Velzash''s advice would be taken instead. But he kept quiet; after all, no matter how much he bragged and prodded Lars to be cold and callous, heartless and cruel, the little birdy himself was just as much as an emotional softy... Lars paused mid-step, appreciative of the sage words. He nodded to himself, eyes softening as he felt vindicated for his soft heart that was often taken advantage of. ''Yeah... Strength and power! That is what I need if I want to protect those I love! Alright! No delays, let''s get on with this journey to the Mystery Realm...'' Lars continued his quick pace, then accelerated into a blazing streak of speed to the centre of the Ancient Slith Sect''s compound where Kenzie had led him to earlier - the core of the sect and the focal point around which the entire land was built around. The journey passed in a blink of the eye as though the lands were large, Lars'' speed was blisteringly fast. He stopped as he approached the Treasury room - now empty - at the centre of the sect''s lands. But that was not his destination. His target was the inconspicuous looking trash room secreted away at the back of the now-abandoned Treasury guards'' quarters, hidden away behind a simple and unadorned door marked, "Refuse Room"! Lars made his way through the rather narrow guards'' quarters and found the room just as he had been shown earlier. Before he pushed the door open, his eyes turned dead serious and flashed with an escalating sense of danger. He prepared multiple spells and instantly cast them. Spirit Armour, Stoneskin, Air-shield, Water-shield, Fire-shield, Earth-shield, Protection from the Elements, Immunity to Physical Attacks! His body shone in a veritable rainbow of colours which would have anyone who watched him; of course though, there was no-one there. He nodded, then stopped before he opened the door. He had forgotten the most important finishing touch... A clothes peg/ laundry pin/ laundry peg to block his nose! Lars materialised the clothes peg from his storage ring and winced as he opened it to clamp down on both of his nostrils. Then, satisfied with his defences, Lars gritted his teeth, mustering up the courage needing for this harrowing challenge and narrowed his eyes as he pushed open the door... And was instantly assaulted by the horrendous smells of countless years of festering, decaying, mouldy and nasty garbage...! Despite all of his magical and physical precautions, Lars nearly puked as he came face to face with his greatest weakness, one which he struggled with every day but still could not overcome... Filth! He gagged, turning green as he fought the urge to throw up all of his breakfast, last night''s dinner, his intestines and his soul at the horrible sight before him of fragments of food covered with flies, maggots, insects... He could not continue as he forcefully blocked his consciousness lest he be mentally scarred for the remainder of his life! ''...I... I need to find an amnesia spell after this... Yes... I''ll pay a hundred million platinum coins for that...!!!!'' Lars groaned inwardly as Kizorik and Velzash chuckled - and also looked away, disgusted but thankful that they could not smell things in the physical realm unless they materialised... Lars hurriedly recited the magical incantations to uncover the entrance portal, rushing through the long chant in a matter of 3 seconds. The moment he finished the incantation, he leapt backwards and stumbled over, falling to his hands and knees a distance away from the disgusting filth of the room as he heard a *ting!* sound behind him - a sign that the trigger key had been successful. Lars did not dare to watch, but had to force himself to as the entrance to the Mystery Realm was uncovered. He saw the image and smells of wretched rotting garbage flicker then fade away, revealing instead a room entirely bare - bare of even tiles, structure or anything at all! There was merely rocky, sandy ground in the middle of which was a craggy opening in the ground wide enough for two people to enter sidelong... Lars took in a deep breath, remembering the reason Kenzie and Maester had given him for why no-one had ever re-entered the Mystery Realm after all those years... Because the previous Patriarch, the founder of the Ancient Slith Sect, had never dared to speak of the realm, except that in there, all concepts of humankind''s powers were meaningless... It was a land of great danger, one in which the original group of more than 50 soldiers had been decimated, reduced to merely 2 people... With the strongest, greatest, meanest and highest-leveled falling like flies, having no advantage to low-level fighters...! The former Patriarch had forbidden anyone else to enter, barring it from all others including his family and procuring a great sealing spell courtesy of General Wyoldr to maintain his order to the sect as well as to guard against any uninvited guests. The only time he had ever spoken of it was in his last testament; his will passed on to Kenzie and Maester as the heirs of the family; to guard but also to retain the access key to the Mystery Realm. Alas, the Sliths had nothing beyond that to tell Lars except that it was extremely dangerous and even World-class and Legendary-level powerhouses had perished like flies within! Faced with this great danger before him, Lars pondered whether it was worth risking his life or not... And jumped in, smiling, for what danger was there that could deter he who had gone through the jaws of death itself...? And as the darkness of the gaping chasm swallowed him up, unbeknownst to Lars, the two dark-red-and-purplish seeds pulsed with dark-light, growing more vibrant and sinister as they expanded in size and virulence... 170 Eyes 1 Everything was black. Blackness, all around. No, not black. Dark. It was dark all around in every direction. But how did he know this? How was he "seeing" the darkness...? What was he seeing? Was he even "seeing" at all...? All he knew was that it was dark, warm, *comfortable*... Almost like he was enveloped in a snug, warm cocoon... Almost like he were encapsulated in a mother''s womb. ''What...? What''s going on...? Where am I...? I-I... I can''t move... Or think...'' He felt a sharp sense of danger ringing through his senses for just a split second. Then he felt his consciousness ebb for just a brief moment, one pulse, before the lethargy overcame his unease and it was all just comfortable and warm again. He felt himself drifting like this, carried on the flows and currents of an unseen river, buoyed by the waves of an unfelt stream. And he knew not of anything except that it was warm, comfortable, peaceful... And that it was enough if this could just continue forever. ''Boy...?'' Faintly, he heard a sound. A *scritch* *scritch* sound that he felt he should pay attention to and remember *something*, recall *some memories*. ''Kiddo....! Kiddo!!!!.....'' The calls of urgency echoed in the distance, or at least that''s what it felt like. A faraway whisper that caught his attention for a second as he struggled to focus his mind on it - then gave up and decided to just relax. ''But what was it...?'' He asked himself, then shrugged. It didn''t matter. It especially didn''t matter at that moment because in the midst of the darkness, he started to see the light. It was funny - because the light though it shone on him and his surroundings, did not reveal anything for him to see; no features, no surroundings, no waters for him to be floating on. It didn''t even reveal his own body! All he saw was the light, the whiteness of the light and... The light. He felt uncomfortable from the brightness and tried to close his eyes to shut out the sharp disturbance. But even with his eyes closed, he could still not shut out the annoying bright light... ''...Eyes...? What are...'' It was also funny - because he didn''t know why he was thinking about all these things or why he even *knew* about these concepts. Who was he...? *What* was he...? Was he even a "he"...? What was this concept of a "he" or a "she"...? He yawned. His eyes began to close. It was too much bother to think about all that. Why think so much when he could just go back to sleep...? And drift along lackadaisically in the streams of wherever he was... Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard a still, small voice. Different from what he had heard before. This voice was not afar-off, not a whisper. It was just soft... But clear, ringing true like a bell in the middle of a silent cove. "Child of purity... Yet no longer pure..." ''Me...?'' He could only yawn and blink his eyes instinctively, however useless the action was - it couldn''t shut out the damned dastardly lights! He shook his head one, trying to keep himself alert - but gave up. It was too heavy, his head that is... He should just go to sleep... Then he heard the voice speak again, just as soft as before but closer this time. "Child... Born of two opposing lineages, each vying one with the other for ascendancy... For coming here... Before my soul remnant is faded away forever... Before my captor erases me forever... Receive my blessing..." ''.....'' He kept silent, hoping the voice would leave him alone to sleep. But alas, it was not to be so, because in the next few seconds, he heard it speak again - this time sounding like it was right inside his ear. He didn''t have time to ponder what an ear was or whether he had one, as this time, the voice shouted uproariously, suddenly frantic, suddenly filled with panic - even as it disappeared, drifting off into nothingness. "Child! Wake up before it''s too late! Wake!......" And there was only darkness. * * * * * Lars'' eyes snapped open. ''Wha--What was tha--'' Lars'' mind tried to reorient itself as he felt himself lying on his back. His mind was still fuzzy, his thoughts in disarray. His vision had returned, but he had no time to consider all these things as the first thing he saw when his eyes opened was the face of a young girl straddling his body. She had long, straight black hair that was rather unkempt but still looked good. Her skin was a stark white, so white that she looked pale. Her nose was high and angular, giving her the appearance of one high-born. Her lips were like two petals of a flower, pert and dainty, except for being pale as the rest of her skin. She would have pretty if not for the colour of her skin and lips... And for the fact that she had no eyes, and had her mouth wide open, full of rotten, sharp inhuman teeth and rearing back, about to take a bite out of his neck! Lars screamed and crawled in a panic, moving on his back across the floor in horror, forgetting even to use any spells as he lashed out at the girl--No, the creature''s chest in an attempt to knock it away. And when his hit landed on the *thing''s* chest, he heard a sickening *crunch* sound as it soared away into the shadows, unprepared and defenceless against his palm strike. Heart still pumping like crazy, Lars quickly fired-off as many low-level insta-castable defensive spells as he could, feeling relieved that despite the creature''s terrifying appearance, it seemed to be rather weak. Still cautious and tense with his nerves fired and frayed, on edge like a cat that had just encountered a cucumber[1], Lars kept his eyes trained on the shadowy darkness where the *thing* had disappeared and quickly cast his senses about to take in his surroundings. Within that half-seconds scan, he found that he was standing on the sandy floor at the bottom of a rather deep gully that ran about 500 metres long and had snaking indents along the sides - indents that struck fear in his heart, where the shadows ran deep and he somehow could not find the ends of. At one end of the 500 metre long gully was the steep slope he presumed he had come down, with the crack leading to the Ancient Slith Sect treasury at the top. While on the other end of this gully was... Darkness. But within that darkness, he could feel a threatening, insidious presence... And somehow, his mind''s eye caught the image of an abandoned, eldritch black altar dedicated to some unknown entity. Which made him wonder about 2 things. First, how had he ended up nearly halfway from the entrance to the other end where the... Altar stood. And secondly, with how far underground he was, where was the light coming from for him to see anything at all...? With that, Lars looked up. And saw countless glassy white orbs hanging from the ceiling, emitting a gentle glow of light, swaying uniformly as one in the wind. Wind which blew from god-knows-where. They looked like milky white marbles with some round disc-like colouration - black, brown, blue, grey and one or two in colours like red or purple. Feeling a chill pass over his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, Lars was about to lower his gaze back down when he froze. If before, he had felt a chill up his spine, this time it was like he had been encased in an iceberg and thrown into the deepest trench of the ocean. Because he realised that the "white orbs" hanging from the ceiling were not enchanted marbles after all. Those were eyeballs. Stifling a scream, Lars'' first instinct was to flee this horrifying place - and he heeded that instinct, making haste as he kicked off the ground and ran hurriedly towards the entrance some 500 metres away. And it was as he was running that it occurred to him. Since when had the altar moved to be so near to him...? And as he ran frantically towards the exit, he realised that that was not the case. He saw the exit moving further and further away, growing darker as the shadows captured it more and more. Frazzled and confused, he cast a glance over his shoulder to look backwards and realised - it was not the altar moving closer, nor the exit moving further. It was he who, though he ran desperately, was somehow still moving nearer and nearer towards the altar. The altar where the pale faced eyeless creature crouched atop, uninjured, waiting for it''s prey to be reeled in. * * * [1] It''s not a joke. Check it out. Youtube search for cats afraid of cucumber. 171 Eyes 2 Lars'' face went taut with terror as he turned to face the altar and the abomination and quickly ran backwards instead. As he backpedaled, he released a breath of relief as he saw that he was now finally moving away from the cursed altar and the creature. He felt giddy and disoriented, unable to make sense of what was going on. He had the thought that he could just easily blast away the entire place to smithereens - ceiling, eyes, altar, creature and all - but a niggling sense inside him seemed to scream not to do so. A sinking sense that he could not seem to shake, that said that the moment he did so, he would be doomed... Lars was relieved as he saw that the monstrosity did not give chase; it merely crouched on all fours and postured aggressively - upside down, yet it''s hair unnaturally hung upwards, as if though sucked into the air by anti-gravity or... Something worse. And suddenly, he realised that it did not have two hands and two feet... It had FOUR arms, two in the place of where it''s legs ought to have been. He had thought that he was already running at full speed, but he realised he was wrong. He found that he could actually still run much, much faster when he saw the creature stare at him with it''s gaping black holes where it''s eyes were supposed to be, then lower it''s body and LICK IT''S LIPS, as if though it were a predator looking at a tasty meal just before it pounced. Chilled to the core, Lars burst off with the maximum speed he could and crossed the distance from where he was to the exit, covering the 500 metres in mere seconds. He did not need to turn around to orient himself as he knew exactly where the indentations on the rocks were and had a perfect mental image of the path to the exit - courtesy of his eidetic memory. Lars lowered his body and in the next instant started to jump - but just before he could, he felt a numbing cold envelop his back, before icy pain lanced through the right side of his back. Hairs standing on end and screaming out in shock, fear and pain, Lars spun his head around as fast as he could in frenzied terror, lashing out wildly with an elbow strike. He felt a sickening *thud* of bone against flesh and heard another sickening *crunch* sound like that of hollow, dried twigs snapping as he felt his elbow smash against some *thing*. Some *thing* covered in hair, flesh and bones underneath... Momentarily blinded by unnerving fear, Lars could not make out through the darkness just what it was that had struck him. He gulped as he felt like it was most like a bite, and spun around to look at what had just attacked him, but his spinning motion caused him to tumble to the ground before he shot to his feet. Reeling in pain and like the glacial northern waters had chilled his back, he gasped in horror and could not believe his eyes when he saw the creature spinning away from his elbow strike - the same one that he had just seen on top of the black altar... The same black altar that he was now lying beside. At that moment, he felt the world spin around him. He could not understand what had just happened. He could not comprehend how he could be here after trying twice to desperately flee the cursed black altar. Strangely, in that moment of crisis, the features of the altar hypnotically caught his attention. It looked to be made of a slightly shiny black material, perhaps bone painted black. The structure was roughly 2 metres high and was 2 metres wide and 3 metres long, a size that he could imagine was just right for a human sacrifice to lie down on top of it as a knife was plunged into his heart... And before he knew it, Lars blinked his eyes once, then twice and wondered why all he could see right now was a ceiling full of white glowing orbs; orbs which stared at him and every now and then blinked while observing him. ''What... Where...?!?'' He tried to turn his head but found that he couldn''t - he was bound and unable to move, unable to even let out a squeak of sound. He tried to move any part of his body at all, any part whatsoever - alas, to no avail. ''Where--! Where is that *THING!!!??*'' Lars struggled to move as his eyes rolled first left then right, then up and down trying to catch sight of the wretched eyeless creature that had taken a bite out of his side. He could feel the blood oozing out of his wound and the painful throbbing of the open, mangled flesh... But also a dread cold that felt like the area bitten was no longer part of his body. But before he could even think about why and what was happening, he saw a figure peek over at him from the edge of his vision, still crawling upside down and *oozing* across the surface of the rocky ground, headed right for him. It''s eyes - it''s eye *holes* were locked right on him, and in it''s mouth, it was *chewing* with big bites, mouth open wide enough to see that it was chewing something bloody... That looked like flesh. *HIS* flesh...! Fear rose up in his heart, washing upon him in wave after crippling wave as he saw it languidly crawl over, unhurried, as if it were fully assured of it''s coming meal. Inside his mind, Lars tried to thrash about frenetically - but on the outside, he could not move an inch. Instead, he was motionless, appearing almost serene in calm except for the fact that his eyes were nearly rabid, darting here and there in panic and desperation. Frozen, helpless, a bound human sacrifice on the hellish altar offered up to a supernatural predator. Lars could not stand it anymore. His mind snapped, screaming out every type of spell that he could remember, every ability and attack he could bear to mind - to no avail. He could not even sense the slightest wisp of mana, could not trigger the least bit of blood energy, much less cast a spell! His mind, broken from fear, began to be swallowed up by the dark, dark sensations of cold, as if though deep, dark black waters were rising, rising and covering his prone body, ready to entomb him forever... But not before the abomination had it''s way with him. He tried to shy away from the icy-cold, clammy hand that landed on his arm; tried to do anything, anything at all to flee in terror. He called out to Kizorik, to Velzash, to the Demon-Hunting Arts, to ANYTHING. And he was still crying out, reduced in abject terror to sobbing maniacally on the inside while his body still lay there as still as a corpse - watching as the creature''s face slowly inched it''s way to stare him in the face. The creature glowered at him with it''s hollow eyes, mouth slowly parting, rotten tongue lolling about. Then it slowly drew back with it''s inhumanly long elastic neck, dislocating it''s demonic maw, ready to swallow his head whole... And it''s head shot forward, the blackness of the depths of it''s mouth enveloping his vision. "FILTHY THING! IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, BE THOU GONE!!!" In sharp contrast to the darkness of the terror of the abyss before his eyes, a sudden flash of light lanced across his vision, blinding him just as much as the inky black darkness just before. Lars felt the nearly weightless cold arms knocked off his body. And this time, unlike the times when he had struck it before and it remained silent, this time it let out a keen screech, like a cacophony formed of thousands of dissonant, discordant hellish howls, like a creature that had been subjected to incredible pain and suffering. The instant that the light flashed, and upon feeling the weight leave his body; it was as if the invisible bonds on his body were instantly loosed and the oppressive haze upon his mind were swept away all in one fell swoop. "TAINTED SOUL!!! HYPOCRISY OF DESOLATION!!! BE THOU PLUCKED UP AND CAST INTO THE DARKNESS!!!" Lars heard the same grand voice roaring with authority and felt heat and warmth all around him, dispelling the dreaded cold. Despite still being blinded by the light, Lars did the only thing his frail mind could at that moment - he fled. He knew not in which direction, except that it was in whatever direction that was away from the bone-chilling screech he had heard. He did not wait to hear what he voice finished speaking nor stop to find out the fate of the creature and the blighted altar, but just ran and ran and ran and ran. after his sight began to return from the blinding blast of light, he saw that his surroundings were no longer dark - he could see a distant light before him in the direction he was sprinting haphazardly towards. He did not stop to think about where he was headed, but ran towards the light. By the time he neared the light, he knew not for how long he ran, but he knew that he ran for long enough that even his far stronger body began to seize up, cramped and sore from the break-neck speeds he maintained. But he didn''t care. All he wanted to do was to get out of here. Fast. ''15 seconds more... 10!!! 5... 4... 3... 2...'' Lars pushed himself hard, harder and harder and harder, until his lungs were no longer burning within him, until he could not even feel his legs any longer. He ran and ran as fast as he could, counting down the seconds until he would be freed from this accursed, wretched darkness and be let loose back into the light. And he burst out of the darkness, his body shooting out of the mouth of the cave of darkness like an arrow loosed from a bow, soaring out and then tumbling head over heels on the rocky, grassy floor. And though he was reeling in pain all over, bleeding, breathless, dizzy and bruised from the fall, he rejoiced with the sensations of the life-giving warm rays of the sun blazing down on him and the tufts of dried grass that were more like weeds that he felt beneath his body. For he had survived. He was free! "I''M OUT!!!!! *COUGH COUGH Cough cough* Ack!!!!!!" He burst forth into a dry croak of elation as he lay there on the ground, vision blurred by tears, nose dripping with snot, overcome by relief at having survived the harrowing encounter with death and the occult. As he lay there, he reveled in the sense of strength returning to him - finally he could feel the laws of the universe, the mana and essence of the world once more. He was no longer cut off from the universe''s strength, and could feel his strength once more. Only, it was so faint, so weak, weaker than he could ever remember even when he had yet to step onto the path of practice and cultivation. Regardless, defying the limits of his sore and protesting body, Lars forced himself to his feet, wiping his eyes of the tears and tried to start running to put more distance between himself and the cave he had just come out from. He immediately regretted his decision to wipe his eyes with his sleeve covered in dust and small stones as he subjected his poor eyes to intense pain. But he steeled himself through that pain and shot back a look at the mountain-side where the cave of horrors was. And when he felt as if though some *thing* were still watching him, looking at him... But looking at him without any eyes to reflect the light of the sun... Lars bolted off into the distance, unwilling to remain there a moment longer. And as he ran off into the horizon, back towards the west where the late afternoon sun hung over the sky, he swore to himself that he would never, ever return. Never, never in his lifetime. As he ran, his mind flashed over the information he had, racing as he fought to figure out where he was in this unfamiliar territory, nearly cut off from the mana of the world that empowered him as a near-Mythical existence. Without mana... Without blood energy... Without being able to commune and tap on the flows of the laws and concepts of the universe... He was just a slightly stronger than average regular person with some meagre skill in weapons... He sighed and could not understand what was happening in this Mystery Realm. All he knew was that he needed to find someplace safe, someplace where that that *thing* could not pursue him - someplace away from whatever accursed place it was he had just escaped from. * * * * * As the sun set far far away from where the lone youth was still running, searching desperately for civilisation and refuge, ragged, beaten and bleeding from the serious wound on his back, an eyeless gaze watched. Though it was pierced through it''s head by an argent-white arrow and was scarred badly, as if though burnt by a searing fire, it crouched, motionless, as it watched it''s snack leave. Even after the sun set and the shadows of night covered the lands, it remained where it crouched, unmoving. Unable to move. Unable to leave it''s lair. Watching... Waiting. Hungering. 172 Life Lars at first remained at a run as he raced away from the hill-side where the cursed cave was located, but quickly he found his stamina flagging and had to stop to rest. He made sure to find a dense bush to take refuge before making his stop, carefully squeezing his way into the foliage of some tightly packed shrubs between two tall trees. As he rested, he tried to ignore the ring on his finger; the spatial storage artefact that was nothing more than a useless silver trinket at this time. No matter what he tried, without sensing the mana and flow of the world, he could not for the life of him make the wretched thing work! And as such, he was left penniless, resourceless and unarmed, dressed only in the rags that remained of his normal garb...! He recapped what he had seen so far in this land that was assuredly not the landscape surrounding the Ancient Slith Sect or any mapped territory of the Wiarno Kingdom. On the macro scale, there were not many differences observed - the sun still rose in the east and was now beginning to descend on the west. He saw traces of trails frequented by animals as he waded through a stream; making sure to quench his thirst but also not to make himself bloated on water. The greenery was also familiar and not queer - though he was no botanist and could not put a name to the plants around him. He did cautiously pick out some safe-looking fruits, nuts and berries, at least safe as far as his limited knowledge of plants could tell. As he thought back towards the bitter, sour or woody taste of the food he had foraged, he winced - the taste was something that left much to desire. However, he soon found his body craving more of it and kept his eyes peeled for more sustenance. he would need it if his sojourn were to end up a prolonged one... All in all, everything in this world was normal! So painfully normal that his encounter earlier felt like an odd, hazy dream... Or more like a nightmare in the deep of night... However, he winced in pain as he could feel the numbness set in to the bite-wound on the right side of his lower back. There was no mistaking that this was real... Without magic to heal himself or medical supplies, the best he could do about his wound was to try to cleanse it in the stream; an experience that he had to grit his teeth and tough out due to the shocking pain. After traveling for 3 hours at the rather slow pace of roughly 8 kilometres an hour - a pace he judged he could maintain for another day or two if he could forage enough fruits and berries - Lars'' eyes perked up and his heart leapt within him as he caught sight of a trail of smoke rising yonder in the distance. He was glad - thus far he hadn''t been able to find any traces of people or establishments, not even any small villages or outposts! His heart had been sinking with every minute that passed when he could not see any traces of intelligent life - his worst fear was to be stranded in the wilderness far from any civilisation and end up unable to return home in time... Or return home at all...! He quickly cast his gaze about and found a tall tree that looked climbable and scampered his way up it''s trunk, making haste as he was desperate to find civilisation, shelter, information and, most importantly, knowledge and safety in this horrifyingly deadly world...! And not just deadly. It was also the quiet that put him on edge. Not the quiet of his surroundings, but the fact that he could not sense Kizorik or Velzash around him anymore. Peering over the horizon with his unaugmented, unenhanced normal human vision, Lars thanked the gods that he had perfect 20/20 eyesight, for if not for his perfect vision, he would not have noticed the wafting smoke. Now, seated atop the tallest tree in his surroundings, he managed to catch sight of where the trails of smoke were coming from, a reasonably large town! Rejoicing within himself, Lars did a quick mental calculation and estimated the distance to be roughly 40 kilometres due north-west from where he was located - roughly 5 hours more at a steady pace. ''Let''s see... Based on the time right now... I should reach there... Shit... Three hours past nightfall... Dammit!!! I''ll have to brave the open wilderness at night in this dreaded land... I DO NOT want to find out whether that thing was just afraid of sunlight... Shit, SHIT!!! I''ve gotta move faster!'' Not stopping to think any further, Lars speedily clambered down the surface of the tree''s trunk then hopped off for the remaining few metres, hitting the ground with a roll, then bursting into a run immediately after. As he ran at a moderate pace, one that he could maintain for several hours, a chill traveled up his spine when thought about the terrifying existence that seemed to defy reality and the laws of the universe that he knew. There was no time to waste... Not if he valued his life... And his sanity! * * * * * Lars had one thought as he raced through the woods, this time headed south-east, at odds with his original intention and his destination that was due north-west from his current location, about 10 kilometres away. Just some minutes ago, half an hour past when the sun set, a niggling sense began to settle into Lars'' gut while the hairs on the back of Lars'' neck and arms rose. Apart from the gnawing hunger in his stomach and the weariness in his lambs, he didn''t see anything, couldn''t hear anything or smell anything out of place in the woodlands he trekked through. But he could *feel* something in the atmosphere - a stillness, a quietness in the woods that was not there before. While he was greatly disquietened by the quiet - pun intended - he was also glad of one thing - he was able to identify the source of the crawling sense of danger he detected, and it was not of the supernatural sort. But that did not mean he was safe, which was something he would have much time to ponder later as he ran for his life from the pack of six goblins grunting, yelping and hunting him down! *Zzztt!!* ''Dodge!!!'' Lars felt his muscles burn as he forcefully threw himself to the side mid-run, feeling a sear of pain scrape across the right side of his torso as he barely avoided the goblin archer''s shot - an archer that had been lying in wait separate from the group of 6! His body hit the ground roughly, scraping his skin further as he hurriedly bounced back to his feet. He thanked the heavens for the relatively good footing as he managed to get back to speed and keep a lead on the pursuing goblin hunters. And for the first time in his life, Lars was sent running helter-skelter from a pack of low-leveled goblins...! * * * * * After nearly an hour of fleeing, Lars felt that he had lost his pursuers. Just to be sure, he made a sharp turn to the north-east, veering off the path of escape he had traveled along thus far. Then he went another few kilometres before he came back to the stream he had crossed earlier. Without wasting an iota of time, he carefully dipped his entire body into the water to ensure his scent and trail was wiped away. As he did so, he took great care to keep the noise minimal and not to leave any traces of his passing. Then he crossed the waters further upstream, once more taking care to choose only stones as his footpath and then began to slowly trek upstream, still as fast as he could, but much slower as he was now focused on staying discreet. As the adrenaline from the hectic chase began to subside, Lars found himself panting and shivering and his strength begin to wane. He resisted the urge to just find a tall tree or secure place to tide through the night and pressed on, not wanting to stay out in the wild for the night. ''What a travesty it is... Hah, how useless I am without my mana and blood energy... Without a weapon to defend myself, I doubt I could fight even 3 goblins... Maybe if they didn''t have an archer, but with that sneaky hunter lurking in the shadows, I''d not last even 5 minutes...'' Lars sighed. He felt weak and vulnerable, cold and helpless - a far cry from just a day ago when he had, in the glory of his powers, crushed two Legendary-realm powerhouses at the same time! Right now, he couldn''t even face weak goblins who were barely as strong as a normal adult...! The only thing he was glad for was that he had still not seen any signs of that *thing* in the cave... He shivered once more, this time unsure if it were the cold or something else and sighed as he continued to trek onwards, following the stream north, hoping that the roaming goblin party was just a stray group. For he feared that they were just a small part of a larger encampment and dash his hopes of reaching the town he had spotted... And as Lars forced himself to continue on by willpower, he pushed away the dreadful thought that, maybe, the goblins were headed for the same destination as he... Perhaps for a raid against the town... ''Perhaps that was where the smoke originated...!'' Lars eyes flashed and his pace picked up with even more urgency. He had to get there fast...! ...And in one piece. 173 City of Refuge 1 [Just past midnight] Lars froze. Based on his estimates, he was now barely 10 kilometres away from the town he was headed to. But as he drew nearer and nearer to his destination, he was also slowing down - firstly to conserve energy as he did not know what to expect once he found the place, and secondly because he did not wish to be caught by surprise a second time by hostile forces. Logically, whether it was more goblins (which he had seen traces of in the form of messy camp sites, foot trails and the excrement) or humans, the chances of him encountering sentient life grew greater the nearer he drew to the town. For that reason, he had been ascending a small green hill covered in trees that was roughly 30 metres higher than the surrounding lands with the intention of discreetly spying out the area. As he crested the hill-top, he startled some birds from where they were perched on the tree tops and quickly ducked in case he drew anyone''s attention. And just as he did so, he heard a voice, barely discernible but clear enough to be heard, cutting through the quiet of the night with only the chirping of insects and occasional call of an animal to obscure it. \"What was that...?\" A woman''s voice spoke softly but was clearly alarmed by the birds scattering and the sound of their beating wings as their flight brought them rustling through the leaves of the trees around them. Then it was quiet for a moment - as Lars imagined that the speaker and his party froze just like him while waiting to see whether anyone or anything was approaching. ''From the sound of his voice... Close... Less than 100 metres away...'' Lars controlled his breathing as he pressed his body flat against the earth, feeling the blades of grass and weeds tickle his skin. He frowned; he would probably be itching for awhile after this whole debacle... Lars patiently waited. He listened intently, knowing that no matter what, he had to first find out the other party''s intentions and disposition, lest they kill him on sight...! After all, it was not unheard of for people to be just as cruel or murderous as the goblin-kind, spurred on out of greed, hatred or for whatever reasons were birthed in their blackened hearts... His patience soon paid off - the group he was waiting for apparently lost patience waiting and began to move and speak again. \"Looks like it''s nothing; just some flock o'' birds randomly taking flight... You be too sensitive, Katya, too sensitive I say...\" A booming voice spoke firmly but gently, chiding the first speaker. \"What!? Don''t tell me you didn''t freeze and draw your blade too! You were just as wary about the rustling as I was!\" The first speaker, presumably Katya, answered aggressively, sounding upset. Lars could feel the moisture in the ground seep into his clothes as he continued to listen and wait. He paid no heed to the wetness; after all, he had already been drenched since he entered the stream. What was a little bit more moisture...? Though he wondered if he''d catch a cold now that he had a body not strengthened by mana and blood energy... He heard the sounds of clothes rustling and footsteps ringing through the distance as the party regrouped. He judged that there were at least 4 people in the party; one more person who had not yet spoken. Lars was wary - he realised that the casual conversations might be a ruse, while that silent someone might still be quietly observing and waiting for a spy or scout to reveal their position! He kept his breaths shallow and suppressed any noises as he lay flat against the ground... Then heard words that struck fear into his heart. \"Guys! Look what I found...!\" To his horror, Lars saw the foliage around him part abruptly, so fast that he could not even get to his feet in time. And as the brush around him was pushed aside, it was just a split second later while he was stuck in mid-crouch when the person before him pressed her wooden-shafted spear against his neck. And as Lars laid his eyes on his discoverer-now-turned-captor, he nearly gasped and had to steady himself from falling over from what he saw. A grand mane of resplendent silvery hair flowing over her shoulders, crowned by a half-moon circlet resting atop her head. A pair of jewel-like eyes, sparkling as if they were a source of light unto themselves illuminating her surroundings. High cheekbones and an angular nose, imposing and yet also enchanting at the same time. The beautiful and dark-skinned woman was not just a pretty face - her powerfully muscled yet lean and slim body gave off the impression of lightning-fast agility. She was dressed in flexible looking leather armour with metal plates stitched on where her vitals were. The workmanship looked slightly rough while it also appeared to have weathered it''s wearer through many a clash, but there was no question about the hardiness and durability - after all, despite it''s apparent age, it looked to be in good condition and well-taken care of. She stood as though bearing the stature of a conqueror surveying her demesnes, lording over whatsoever she observed with her eyes - her piercing, goddess-like eyes that bored into his as if she were gazing into the depths of his soul. Then those fierce eyes began to soften as they widened in shock when she realised what she was looking at. \"A... Human...? Out here in the Bad Lands...?\" * * * * * Lars trudged along carefully in the middle of the group, hands bound together by a hemp rope, placing one foot ahead of the other while trying to remain silent. The bonds were not too tight, but even then, the roughness of the rope chafed the skin on his wrists, but as he was just a captive in a tenuous situation, Lars could only bear with the discomfort and hope this journey in bonds would not affect the dexterity of his hands. After his captor and her team of 3 others discovered him in the brush, they surrounded him and tied him up before asking any questions, silencing him with the threat of a spear and hunting knife when he tried to give voice to explain who he was and plead for their mercy. They then quickly trekked across the grounds of the forest following the lead of the commanding dark-skinned young woman who showed clear familiarity with the lay of the land, all the while not forgetting to keep a knife barely half an inch away from Lars'' throat to remind him to keep quiet. And so they moved with just the sound of the rustling of the brush, leaves and branches accompanying them for what Lars estimated to be around 15 minutes before they arrived at a secluded area - a camp site that looked to have been packed up recently. It was there that the regal young woman signaled for the team to stop briefly to discuss what to do with their find - what to do with him, Lars. He could only gulp and hope they would spare him and give him a chance to speak... Or else his journey, his hopes, his promises would all be for nothing...! Finally given a chance to observe his captors more carefully, he saw that they were all dressed similarly to their leader, the earlier young woman, except that her armour looked to be the oldest and in the worst state, which was curious given that she should be their captain of sorts. All of the 4 of the hunters also bore hunting knives probably 7 or 8 inches long, the thick and sturdy blades just as useful for carving meat and wood as it was for committing cold-blooded murder. The group was made of a woman with a medium-sized hunting bow made out of an unknown wood. It was simple and unadorned but looked to be of exceptional quality due to a certain sheen of something like aura or light, something he couldn''t quite make out with his bare eyes right now. She had sharp and handsome features, her skin supple and youthful despite the wrinkles on her forehead and cheeks and the graying of her brown hair that betrayed her age. Her steps were light yet balanced perfectly and she easily kept pace with her much taller leader and two other far taller male team members. Of her two male team members, one was gigantic, looking like a bear standing on it''s two hind legs rearing up. His girth was such that Lars doubted whether his arms could even encircle the man''s waist...! He had distinct deep-set green eyes and a heavy brow, but seemed rather good-natured. In addition, despite his size and stature, he moved with a spry and light step, weaving his way through the forest without snapping the branches and twigs that his towering height made him brush against. On his back was strapped a sword that looked just about right for him to be a long-sword for his size - or in other words, a humongous two-and-a-half handed sword that probably weighed more than 50 kilos and could probably cleave a bear in half with just one swing. Lars shivered as he imagined just what it would be like to face the man bearing down on him with rage and an ice-cold killer''s look painted on his face... He''d much rather face a real bear than this man! At least, that was the case right now without any magical powers or nomological laws of the universe... Finally, the last member of the group was an average looking man slightly taller than Lars. He had a head of entirely gray hair tied into a pony-tail by a slim hemp rope and in addition to the hunting knife on his belt, he also had two curved combat knives as long as his fore-arms sheathed at his waist. To top it off, he also had an ornate looking long-sword hanging from his back. Lars was curious as to his identity as it was clear that he deferred to the young woman''s authority but also clearly held great confidence in his own skills and authority. However, at this time, he was more curious about one fact - whether he would live or die...! He listened with rapt attention as his captors convened regarding his fate, his entire body tense as he considered ceaselessly his options - or lack thereof - of escape and his odds of survival. 174 City of Refuge 2 \"Katya, Gatyon, Sir; what do you propose we do with this... Person...?\" She spoke commandingly and with authority but also held a tone of respect in her speech as she addressed her older team members. Strangely though, she hesitated before she said the word \"person\", as if though there were some uncertainty in her heart. However, though she had some apparent hesitation to speak, her team members were not reluctant to speak their mind - and quickly too, at that. \"Mmm... Milady, you know that I am a simple man with simple thoughts...\" The large man spoke, the owner of the deep, booming voice from earlier. \"What I think is that every extra pair of hands counts. There are so few of us already and every single person to fight alongside, work together with or breed with makes a true difference. Nevertheless, I understand your concerns and fully submit to your decision.\" \"No! There''s no way at all we bring back a potential threat to our homestead! What are you thinking, Gatyon?!? How can you be so foolish, blind and... Naive??? After what happened the last time, do you still trust in every single strangeling you meet in the wild lands?!? Fool!!\" The very instant he finished his sentence, the other woman in the group vehemently opposed this, exclaiming loudly, clearly disturbed from the start by even the though of bringing Lars back to their \"homestead\", whatever that was. And despite their apparent need to be discreet and the urgency he sensed in their body language, the small group of 4 hunter-warriors descended into a heated argument over whether they should take the risk and bring back the suspicious man in strange clothes or to be safe and eliminate him on the spot. \"You have no idea who he is, whether he''s from a village that has fallen or whether he''s even human at all! Do you even know if he''s human in the first place?!? What if he''s one of the dark-touched ones who''ve turned...!?! Tell me, Gatyon, how will you take responsibility for bringing a dark-touched one into our homestead, huh??! Tell me!!!\" The archer woman brazenly strode forward, taking large steps until she was right in front of the larger man - Gatyon. She stood nearly on her tip-toes, pushing herself forward so that her face was almost touching the far larger man''s face. Her tenacity and combative spirit was clearly displayed as she showed no sign of backing down even against someone who looked to be specialised in close-quarters combat vis-a-vis her garb that marked her as an archer or hunter. Then it was Gatyon''s turn to be agitated. His steady eyes flickered slightly and he raised his arms at his sides, punctuating his words as he objected strongly. \"Katya! We are of the Vulf tribe! How can we be so heartless! What if it were not a stranger but your lost brother that we found in the wilder-lands?!? Would you still be so insistent on eliminating him?! Surely you wouldn''t!!\" The tall and heavy-set man spoke sternly with a loud voice, still trying to remain calm. However, Lars could see the corner of his brows crease and the crows-feet in the sides of his eyes crinkling up as if though he were seething with anger right now. Katya, the woman with a combative spirit, flinched at his words, wavering slightly and backing down just the littlest bit. However, as the words sank in, she became even more furious, clearly triggered by his touching of a sore point. \"GATYON!! You leave my brother out of this!! How dare you even mention his name after you, after what you...!! You!!!!\" Katya''s face initially turned redder and redder as her eyes hardened, cold as steel. However, she began to lose her words to speak as her face took on a pained and troubled expression and she involuntarily took one step back and jammed her eyes shut, shaking her head slightly. Her voice was troubled, her expression like one of great loss. There was silence for a moment, accompanied by the ambient sounds of the woods as their leader, the one they referred to as \"Milady\" looked on, unsure as to what to do. She shot a look to the gray-haired man with the pony tail, as if asking him for counsel in this situation - but she was met with silence as he looked away, not meeting her gaze. \"ARGHH!!!\" But the silence was for just a moment, as Katya suddenly let out a guttural grunt and unslung her bow in a quick, fluid move, completely belying the fact that she was disturbed or in an unbalanced state of mind. Before Lars could blink his eyes, she had taken up her bow into her hands and nocked an arrow, training it directly at his forehead where he kneeled, bound on his knees. And in her eyes, Lars saw the look of a weary soul, one that was fighting tooth and nail to survive - and to find a reason to live. And yet those were the most dangerous types of people. She looked to have no qualms towards releasing the arrow at the drop of a hat and executing Lars right there and then. \"Milady! I shall take it upon myself to solve this dilemma for you; let there be no difficulty, no moral quandary of taking an innocent''s life! Whether innocent or a tainted, let the blood be on my hands and the guilt on my crown - but let the homestead be safe and we lose one life rather than we risk all of our safety!!\" Yet despite her courageous and sacrificial announcement, after nocking her arrow, the woman did not move any further. Despite her brows furrowed with aggression and her red-faced murderous expression, she seemed unwilling to make the move without agreement from her leader. Perhaps unwilling to take on herself the guilt of potentially killing another...? Finally, the valiant woman who was the leader of the group held up her hands and stepped between the gloomy-faced hunter and Lars and firmly placed a hand on the bow, gripping the arrow tightly to prevent it from accidentally taking flight. \"Katya...\" She spoke this time with a voice of compassion, understanding and gentleness as she slowly lowered the aim of Katya''s bow with her right hand and moved closer. The archer did not resist, allowing her weapon to fall and slowly relaxing her muscles, relieving the tension from the bowstring slowly. Then the silver-haired and tanned leader drew closer, placing a hand on the taller Katya''s shoulder, causing the older woman to tremble nearly imperceptibly again before she spoke with empathy. \"All of us... We''ve all lost someone dear... Both to the darkness and to the creatures of the wild lands... But Katya...\" \"If we were to lose you to the taint too... How would we rescue all those who have been kidnapped...? How will we find the answer to the bonds of darkness...?\" Her gentle eyes looked deep into the hunter''s soul as she pleaded. Katya wavered once more, frowning with indecision and clearly struggling internally in her heart. \"...Without you, without us being together as the chosen four... How will we find a way to rescue your brother and my father from the taint...?\" But when she heard her captain''s last words, she broke down entirely and began to weep where she stood, covering her face with her free right hand. Lars could only look on, his worries at being immediately deprived of life and hope momentarily alleviated. Yet he also realised that there was so much going on, so much more to this world than just a simple forest of goblins. He only wondered if he could speak about the monster in the cave... And how he had been bitten. 175 City of Refuge 3 It was a quiet journey back. Yes, it was to be expected as they trekked through the night and kept the disturbance to their surroundings to a minimal. But it was not just so, but more the atmosphere under which they walked. Lars had done wisely to remain silent the entire time since he was captured, except to answer with his name when asked and that he was lost, injured and far from his home base, which was technically true. However, he couldn''t help but feel something... *Other* about the atmosphere right now... But he also couldn''t open his mouth to speak due the foreboding sense of heaviness surrounding them. Different from the sense of quiet of a troop traveling discreetly, it felt like there were a tension in the air that prevented anyone from making the slightest sound. In fact, if he sensed it right, the others were even breathing exceptionally lightly despite the vigorous pace they were keeping! Lars was glad, though, that due to the bad footing and the need for discretion, the pace was still within the bounds of what he could manage and still maintain a reserve of strength for any surprises later... They traveled for quite hours, taking twists and turns here and there, then stopping every now and then while Katya scouted ahead for any dangers. Of the five times this happened, four times she came back signalling that all was clear and they could proceed, while only once she came back hurriedly and urged them towards another direction. Finally after an arduous journey where he felt stifled and weary from fatigue and lack of sleep, the brush began to clear and the trees thin. And then as they crested a final hill, the greenery parted as if though by sorcery, revealing a large but humble settlement of probably more than 250 buildings surrounded by solid wood and iron reinforced walls. Lars couldn''t help but let out a breath of relief upon seeing human civilisation as he could tell that it was already near the break of day, which meant that he had been on the move for nearly 10 hours non-stop, and his entire was sore to show for it! And yet, there was deep apprehension as well. Despite knowing that these people - his captors - were human just like he with hearts, emotions and rational minds, he could not tell just how they would deal with him once they arrived. He could only hope that he could find favour with the leadership of the settlement they called homestead... Or breakthrough with a path of escape. As the first rays of dawn began to pierce through the skies and the sun peeked a corner of it''s sphere above the edges of the horizon, they descended a narrow trail down the side of the hill that looked man-made. During the descent, Lars from the corner of his eye managed to make out trails of smoke and flickers of dozens, perhaps hundreds of fires. ''Goblins camps...? The camps look very large and well organised... And earlier the goblin bowman was skillful and used a respectable weapon... The level of sophistication seems too high... Could there be a goblin lord or goblin king leading them...?'' Lars mused as he carefully followed his hosts. The descent was tricky, made more so by the team''s obvious weariness and the fact that they still had to handle a captive whose hands were bound, but they quickly made their way down and reached a heavily guarded back entrance that was barred from the inside and manned by 4 hunters - guards who had seen them long ago and were now opening the way for them. \"Make way, make way! The lady has returned with her squad! Open up the east gate! Make way!\" Their quick activity was accompanied by muted shouts alerting the rest of the guards on duty that their \"lady\" had come back, accompanied also by the clanking and rumbling sound of the 12 foot high gates gradually opening, the mechanism behind it''s operation sounding like metal grating against metal with the occasional sound of the creaking and bending of hard woods. The leader of his group of captors walked ahead with the grey-haired pony-tail man while Katya and Gatyon walked on either side of Lars and escorted him into the gates, keeping a close eye and a firm hand to prevent any sudden moves by their captive. As they approached the 4 middle-aged guardsmen dressed in flexible boiled leather armour, they bowed about 30 degrees from the waist and placed their hands on their hips, a gesture that Lars felt looked like a peculiar dance - a thought he kept to himself. He quickly glanced at their attire and saw that they were similarly dressed with the group he was with - brown, grey or dark green dyed clothes, long sleeves and long pants with solid boots suitable for traveling in the wild and through the forest. Then Lars realised he didn''t know the names of the two apparent leaders of the group he was part of - but at least as he watched the resplendent and valiant \"milady\" and her dignified companion merely nod in acknowledgement to the guards, he realised that they were probably pretty big names in this settlement. \"Milady!\" \"Milady!\" \"Sir Kenneth!\" The four guardsmen echoed each other and greeted the two, even as their watchful gazes flitted to the relatively oddly dressed Lars. But though they were wary about this stranger, they remained still as he followed his captors through the gates and into a bailey that served as a buffer of defence in case the gates were breached, then through that too to the village interior proper. However, upon passing through the bailey, the sounds of heavy footsteps sprinting and hitting the ground hard were heard, before a handsome and gallant man rounded a corner, headed straight for their group. He had nearly shoulder-length brown hair and a skin complexion somewhere between brown and beige, looking like a sun-kissed god of war with his square jaw, domineering eyes and tall body rippling with muscles. And as he sprinted towards them, Lars felt as if the man were bearing down on their group like a bowling ball about to scatter some stray pins. He tensed up initially, but when he saw that the members of the group merely smiled and looked happy to see him, and that the man quickly slowed down and flashed a bright smile (obviously at the lady at the head of the group), he relaxed. As he neared and came within hearing distance, he called out with a strong voice, one that sounded to Lars like an unbearable self-assured obnoxious one. \"Zera! Thank the gods you are safe!\" ''Ah, so her name is Zera...?'' Lars thought. However, he was taken aback as the earlier smiling expression on Zera''s face was instantly erased, turning into one that was stern and disciplarian. \"Captain Xiloth! Regardless of the situation or how well we know each other, you are aware that you need to refer to me as Milady now! I have told you many times, and I won''t remind you again! The rules of the homestead must be upheld and honoured!\" The man''s eyes flickered as he stiffened and looked clearly miffed at being reprimanded in public by someone who was clearly more than just an acquaintance to him, but he merely took in one sharp, deep breath before exhaling, not giving rise to his obviously soured emotions. But the shining silver-haired Zera did not seem to catch the hint of his blackened face and hardened her stance further, barking out the question, \"Captain! Do you understand!? If you do, please acknowledge an order of your leader in this settlement!\" Hearing this, the man trembled slightly, barely containing the shame and anger bubbling up within him. However, he showed impressive self-control, gaining his Lars'' acknowledgement as more than just a body of muscles as he slowly but firmly nodded, saying, \"Yes, Milady. I acknowledge my wrong and will not repeat such an act.\" He kept his head lowered with a stoic, emotionless expression after he spoke, awaiting her approval before he moved again. Satisfied that he responded, Zera''s stern expression melted away into a soft smile once again as she reached out a hand to pat him on the arm. Despite seeing and feeling him stiffen up even more at her touch, she persisted and explained to him softly in a hushed tone, \"Xiloth, I hope you understand our situation... We''re in a state of constant alarm, just before conflict and... The other men and women have questioned our closeness before. We... We can''t do away with decorum... All the more with the goblins raid ahead of us... We need to observe the rules...\" Xiloth nodded emotionlessly, then drew back slightly, causing her hand to fall to her side. He then raised his hands to his waist and bowed similar to how the other guards had then drew himself back upright. \"Milady, Sir Kenneth. I see that you have a prisoner. Shall we...?\" He looked askance at Zera for her intent regarding Lars, to which she nodded. \"Yes, we found him in the open wild lands, injured by what appears to be a bite mark and an arrow wound. He has no weapons or equipment with him except the clothes on his back and has not shown aggression. He speaks our language but does not look like anyone from a 100 kilometres around...\" Captain Xiloth''s eyes narrowed, thinking as he heard this. He sent a momentary glance at Lars to observe him for a moment before turning back to Zera. \"He does look able bodied and fit to fight. Do you intend for him to bolster our fighting forces...? You must remember what happened the last time we did--\" \"Yes... I... I''m aware...\" The silver-haired leader raised a hand to stop him mid-sentence, interjecting even as her eyelids drooped and she looked aside. \"...And so, I have decided that I will bring him before the elder and the Truth Stone to determine the truth of his story...\" This raised the brows of the powerful juggernaut of a man who shot her a look of surprise. \"But the cost of that--\" \"Yes. I-I know the cost. But we need every soldier and hunter we can get at this time. And--\" She looked back at Lars as she added this, \"--There''s something about him that tells me that he''ll be able to make a big difference in this war... Just... Something...\" She sighed as she spoke, lowering her gaze again before shrugging and smiling wistfully. \"Maybe you could call it wishful thinking, but... Even until today, I''m hoping that we''ll find the destined one and end the struggle with the Taint once and for all!\" She looked up to meet Xiloth''s eyes as she smiled, yet her gaze too had no mirth in it at all. And Xiloth slowly nodded, adding, \"And if he does not pass the test...?\" Her already cold eyes hardened as she heard that and she slowly turned, bearing her 2 metre long wooden-shafted metal-tipped spear in her hand and bringing it to bear, pointed direct at Lars. He gulped subconsciously, feeling his pace quicken at the sudden turn of events and heard her words. \"...Then I will end his tainted existence with my own spear...!\" 176 Truthstone Lars kept his head down and pondered his options as he walked in silence once more, following behind the solemn group of his captors, accompanied by Captain Xiloth and three of his men of varying ages. Despite the bonds around his wrists, his legs were unhindered and he could at any time make a run for it. However, after he had surveyed the layout of the settlement called Homestead and considered his own exhausted, hungry and injured state, he doubted he could make it even across the high walls which were at some points as high as 15 feet, much less survive in the goblin infested jungles! He shuddered involuntarily as he followed behind Zera and her party, the short minutes-long journey feeling like hours. Was there no solution to his plight...? He felt powerless... Just like when he had faced his first death at the hands of the All-Heaven Divine Empire right after crossing the portal between worlds. Only, instead of charging into his own death against the waves of enemies, this time it felt like torture as he could seemingly do nothing to change his fate. His only hope remained that he could pass the so-called test of the Truthstone they were bringing him to. If it were something like a lie detector machine, he wondered if he could trick it with his answers...? But then again, what answers would satisfy these reticent captors? Ones who outright refused to speak to him, answer his questions or entertain a single inquiry from him? Ones that answered him merely with, \"Wait until you''ve been tested,\" and jabbed him with the butt of a knife if he persisted in his asking. Lars mind spun, thinking of one plan of approach after another in his exercise in futility, trying to predict just what he should say or do in the face of this Truthstone test. And if it really detected his words as true or false... Would his words then seal his own doom...? All of a sudden, the group stopped in front of a nondescript building causing Lars to nearly bump into Gatyon''s broad and sturdy back, so sudden was the stop they made. No one seemed to care to explain to him just where they were now as Zera stepped up to the simple wooden door that formed the entrance to the humble abode and knocked twice. \"Elder Mash''noth, this is Zera. We seek your wisdom and the use of the Truthstone. Please grant us leave to enter.\" She spoke respectfully with her head slightly bowed, a sign that despite her high position in this little town, the one she spoke to was of a higher position still, or at least in a dignified role. However, her words were still forceful, not asking but rather stating or even bordering on commanding the Elder to open the door and heed her request! She then stepped back and waited silently, along with all the others who also stood patiently for the resident of the home, the Elder, to respond. About 15 seconds later, Lars heard the shuffling sound of footsteps brushing against the sandy floor from within the building before a sound that was something between a cough and a sneeze was heard from within the house. Shortly after, he heard the sound of a heavier thump on the ground followed by the sound of a firm step landing just as the door unlatched from within before the it swung open inwards. \"...Come in.\" A woman spoke, her voice raspy and tired, yet still firm with a note of confidence hidden in it. The voice brought with it the sound of many years gone by, hinting at countless years of vicissitudes and the troubles of the decades past. It was slightly muffled, the wording not very clear, but Lars put it off as just the effect of the speaker''s voice blocked by the door. Lars also felt a sense of familiarity upon hearing it, but shook it off as an impossibility in this world. With Lars'' position at the back of the group, he could not see the speaker until he followed the group to file into the house. He did wonder how the group that was made up of 2 men bordering on 7 foot tall and 6 other tall and well-built warriors would fit into the small home... As he approached the door, he had Katya taking up the rear, her blade bared and ready as a constant reminder to him of his status as a prisoner despite no one forcing his steps. He stepped up to the doorway to enter and expected to see a decrepit old woman tottering on the verge of the grave - and was shocked at what he saw instead. Nothing! There was no one in front of him...!? He froze mid-step when he saw this and received a sharp jab in the small of his back, sending fiery pain lancing through his entire back as his still-raw wound throbbed under the bandages. \"Move on, fool! What, never seen a Divine Beast before...?\" Katya chided him in disdain and urged him to hurry up and move as she flipped her blade once more to hold the handle after poking at Lars'' back with the blunt hilt. \"D-divine Beast...?? W-what--...\" Lars tried not to scowl in pain and irritation at Katya and prepared to step forward - before he caught something out of the corner of his eye and followed his gaze lower... To see a cat. Snowy white furred, wrinkly faced, wizened and crinkly eyed... Cat. A cat which spoke to him, saying, \"Welcome, child, please, do not be shy around me. I am just another villager here...\" Lars found his mouth dry as sand and tried to swallow, gulping down an empty mouth devoid of saliva as he started to nod in shock and forced himself to start walking and follow the rest of the group. \"Hmmph. Naive idiot...!\" Katya cursed under her breath and shook her head, shrugging as she directed a worshipful glance at the pristine white cat - Elder Mash''noth. * * * * * \"So, child, is this the one you have come to request the Truthstone to be used for...?\" Lars felt uncomfortable as he heard this question. Well, not actually because of the question itself, but because he was seated in a chair, his bonds undone. It was pretty comfortable, actually... Except for the cat perched casually on his lap which was sticking it''s nose into his face, staring at him from barely a centimetre away! Zera nodded to the cat-Elder''s question, saying, \"Yes, Elder. I... Yes, I -- we want to determine this man''s background and whether he is... Whether he can help us as another pair of hands on the battlefield.\" Zera spoke determinedly to Elder Mash''noth. However, she was not looking at the cat - ahem, Divine Beast - but at Lars as she spoke this, giving his a cryptic gaze with conflicting emotions swirling within her eyes, causing him to feel a chill up his spine and doubt fill his heart. After a while of their arriving at Elder Mash''noth''s place, various other venerated, senior and confident people had begun to trickle in, not speaking a word but directly bowing to honour Lady Zera as they entered and took their places at the sides of the room. Lars did not know who they were but could easily guess they were the other leaders of the community. Feeling the atmosphere in the room change and a sense of discomfort envelop him from all around, Lars looked around quickly, ignoring the cat sniffing at his neck and realised that those around him were giving him a variety of looks - none of which were good. Doubt, suspicion, anger, cold indifference... But all of them had something in common - disapproval towards their young Lady Zera''s decision to push for the Truthstone test for him. ...Except for the 15 pound white cat still sniffing at him. ''Just... Just what is going on...? What is this Truthstone test? And what is wrong with this girl...? Is there something heavily serious about this test...?'' But left to his own thoughts, he could only wait in uncomfortable silence for the cat''s -- the Divine Beast''s reaction. The disquieting pause continued for awhile until the white cat sat back on it''s haunches (still on his lap) and nodded slowly, saying, \"To seek the truth is what anyone may do... And there are no restrictions upon whom they will be used... You may submit any to the Truthstone''s tests, yes...\" Lars sweated and glowered at the cat, trembling at the thought of all the hairs and saliva rubbed off onto his skin. He had thought that the Divine Beast-cat was running some sort of test on him to judge if he was suitable! If that wasn''t the case, then what was all that sniffing about for?!? \"But...\" The white cat ignored his irritated look and tilted it''s head backwards slightly as it spoke, angling a glance from the corner of it''s eye at Lady Zera and continued. \"...Are you willing to pay the price for this one...? The price of...\" Elder Mash''noth turned it''s head fully to fix a steady, questioning gaze on Lady Zera, locking gazes with her as it finished it''s words. \"...Half your life...!\" At that moment, the room was deathly quiet. It was silent enough to hear every fidget, every brushing of cloth against cloth, the atmosphere palpable as the various people gathered, leaders and sub-leaders of teams and disciplines, held completely still, awaiting the answer that would only beg the next question. Why would the mighty Lady Zera want to subject this stranger to the test of the Truthstone...? They could only await the answer from the proverbial horse''s, waiting with bated breaths as her lips parted slightly, as if she were about to speak. \"I--\" She began, but was forcefully interrupted. \"Wait!\" \"!!!\" Lady Zera''s eyes widened in shock at the strong voice that interjected... 177 Confrontation Her widened eyes quickly stiffened, narrowing into a glare of rage as she laid eyes on the owner of the voice. Xiloth. Captain of the Guard and third in command of the homestead. \"Xiloth! Who -- what, what do you think you are doing?! You''ve not only butted in to an official discussion with the Elder... You''re not even showing the slightest respect to the leader of this homestead -- YOUR leader!\" Barely able to contain her seething rage, Zera''s eyes seemed to shoot icy cold darts at Xiloth who, unperturbed by her outburst, continued to walk in coolly. The people within, the surrounding men of women of varied ages and positions made way for the sizable man to pass, watching with bated breaths, not daring to speak up as they anticipated a forthcoming confrontation of the two young heads of the homestead. The Captain of the Guard stopped when he reached the centre of the room, facing Zera who stood straight as a reed. The girl seemed to exude power and authority, a palpable yet insubstantial aura flowing out from her pores. An air of domination and primal strength oozed out of her every muscle and fibre, and if Lars'' didn''t know better, he would think that an ancient tyrant of the wild were standing there instead of the slim and beautiful warrior girl. And faced with this show of power and might, Xiloth did not back down. However, his aura was not nearly as combative - as if though he were saying, \"I''m not here to fight, but I''m not backing down either.\" Lars gulped, a nearly imperceptible tremor running through his body. He could sense, feel, even TASTE the energies in the air. Was this the way of power in this world? Something completely different, yet still carrying potent strength of it''s own... If he could get out of this mess, maybe this could be his pathway to returning to that cave and going back to his own world... If only he could find a way past that... Creature... That *thing*, whatever it was... ''I *have* to learn it... These energies that I can barely perceive but I can sense...'' But for the time being, he had other thoughts to care for. ''But first... I''ll need to survive this debacle... Better be prepared to get out of the way of trouble, even if all I have is an injured, weakened regular physique...'' He sighed inwardly as he tensed up and prepared himself to run, drawing a glance of curiosity from the Cat-Divine Beast perched on his lap. ''S-sh*t! Calm down, Lars, calm down...'' He forced himself to relax once more and kept his eyes fixed on Xiloth and Zera, breathing evenly and deeply once more. Then, seeing that he too was focused on Xiloth and Zera''s impending impasse, Mash''noth turned away from him again. ''This better not be bad news...'' Lars sighed once again - internally, this time. ***** While Lars had his own train of thoughts, Katya and Gatyon too were pensive. ''Xiloth Vander Meer...'' Katya''s thoughts flitted through her mind as she kept her eyes on the two, the tension continuing to rise in the air as the Lady stood still, awaiting Xiloth''s explanation. ''I... I only hope he can talk the lady out of this...'' At the same time though, Gatyon''s thoughts ran differently: ''Xiloth... Again and again, you think that just because you''re childhood sweethearts with her, you can run rough shod over her honour? Again and again?! This time... This time...!'' Gatyon gulped down a mouthful of saliva to steady his resolve as the thoughts came quickly. ''...This time I''ll smash your face in so badly, you''ll have to wear a mask all your life!'' While others still bore differing opinions. ''Captain! Show her who''s boss! C''mon!'' ''Yes! You have to think for the rest of us here, milady! You can''t just sacrifice half her life just for a stranger - no matter how important he could be, how could you gamble on something just based on instinct, just based on a hunch! We need all our strength and ready warriors! How can you give up on us, our future, our homestead just for some random strangeling?!'' ''...Good, as expected...'' were the only thoughts going through Sir Kenneth''s mind. And yet, the young man and woman standing in the middle of room who had captured the thoughts and minds of all those around were oblivious to these things happening around them. And yet again, Xiloth''s next words subverted the expectations of everyone around him, shocking those around as he spoke. \"...You can''t lose half your life. We''ll do it together. How else will we grow old together...?\" Xiloth flashed Zera a smile in an attempt to be charming, but the effect was lost on the girl who couldn''t understand what she had just heard. \"!!!!???\" The recipient of those words was stunned into silence, her aura flaring up even higher, perhaps unconsciously. Her beautiful cherry-like lips trembled ever so slightly, glistening beautifully against her contrasting tanned skin as she opened her mouth, trying to find the words to say, then closed her mouth again, speechless. As her aura of power began to grow wilder, Lars could feel a heavy oppressive might bearing down on him. It was as if though his blood churned within him, as if though the earth itself were suppressing him and writhing under his feet. He felt as if though... ''This is... Her power...'' His eyes flickered even as he struggled to breathe. ''Connection with the planet itself...? Cough, cough! This is... Too much... I...'' Lars began to gasp for air, his skin growing cold. He could feel that he was not the only one experiencing such a thing - even the warriors around him who could raise their own strength were struggling. Some began to topple over, others were already unconscious, lying on the floor. \"ZERA! SNAP OUT OF IT! DON''T ACT LIKE A TEENAGE GIRL!\" As the crowd began to fall to their knees under the overbearing power, a sharp cry rang out, snapping Zera out of her shock. Surprised, she turned quickly to the source of the exclamation - Elder Mash''noth who was glaring at her like a delinquent child. Glancing around embarrassedly, Zera''s gaze turned to one of remorse and then guilt as she hurriedly withdrew her powers, drawing gasps of breath from those who could not breathe, while others who were able to hold up under the suppression sighed with relief. Just a little more and... They wouldn''t need to wait for a goblin raid to be wiped out, their own Leader would unwittingly have done it all by herself! * * * * * Zera quickly moved with Xiloth, Katya, Gatyon and Sir Kenneth, alongside Xiloth''s accompanying men, supporting the collapsed and unconscious and helping them to their feet. Within less than a minute, they had helped even those outside Elder Mash''noth''s hall who had also fallen unconscious - including onlookers and some random passersby. ''It''s good that no-one was hurt in that outburst...'' Having made sure that everyone was alright, Zera heavy heart felt like a burden was lifted off her. At least, one burden. She cast her gaze around to look for Captain Xiloth, only to find that he was right behind her, looking at her calmly, eyes placed on hers. Expectant. Waiting. \"Zera...?\" He smiled warmly. And she looked away instantly. This drew chuckles from those around. It was an open secret that the two liked each other. It was just that, ever since Zera''s father fell to the Taint on the Night of Darkness... At this time, Zera''s heart thumped harder than ever before. She had faced down creatures of the night, the twisted and turned ones of the Taint, beasts, demihumans, warriors of blood, demons even... But her warrior''s spirit that had kept her courageous in every encounter, her resolve that brought her to the front of every charge and the lead of every battle... Where was it now when she needed it the most?!? Eyelids fluttering, butterflies in her, Zera fought tooth and nail against the instinct to run away from embarrassment. She steeled herself, forcing herself to turn her body to face Xiloth-- And yet still found herself studying his oh-so-interesting boots. A bit faded, but otherwise well taken care of. And the very intriguing patterns of wooden flooring boards; I wonder what material they are-- \"Ahem, well, maybe I''ll just repeat myself then.\" Xiloth took a breath and began to speak. \"You can''t lose half your life. We''ll do it together. How else will we grow--\" \"STOP!!! You don''t have to finish that sentence! Okay, okay!! I -- I''ll -- We... Okay! Whatever!\" A fleeing girl, desperately escaping the (second) greatest crisis of her (teenage) life left behind a bemused, stunned young man, who wondered just what had gotten into the Imitable Warrior Princess. \"Uh! Wait, wait! Zera! What are you running away for!\" It took him a moment to process it all before he snapped out of it, shouting at her distant back and running after her... Though he himself was not sure what he would say when he caught up to her. Leaving the rest smiling happily, glad that their beloved leaders finally started to be open about their feelings. \"Well, at least open on one side... Teenagers... My oh my, my oh my...\" Mash''noth purred, licking her paw, then pausing to give a look to Lars. \"And what is *your* story, my young dearie...? An outsider, ei...?\" Lars gulped, mind racing as he faced the sharp gaze of the little white kitty on his lap. The very dangerous, threatening, perceptive little white kitty. 178 The World Elder Mash''noth summarily dismissed the others, repeatedly urging them to leave Lars behind in her care. She even released Lars from his bonds with a deft swipe of her claws, slicing apart the steel-like fibres of the hardened rope like it were made of weeds. In response, Zera''s hunting party as well as the Elder''s guards and servants protested greatly, repeatedly urging her in return that she should keep some of them around for safety. Finally, sickened by the endless worried badgering, Elder Mash''noth exploded in rage, manifesting a wall of wind that buffeted everyone away. Some of the people crashed into the walls, while others flew out the windows and door into the streets. Only Elder Mash''noth''s personal guards could stay on their feet; even Katya and Gatyon were knocked sprawling to the ground. Sir Kenneth on the other hand stood safely outside the door, leaning against the sturdy walls of the Divine Beast''s abode. He was virtually untouched. At most, some of his hairs were blown awry, nothing a casual swipe of the hand couldn''t fix. He had wisely chosen to step outside and avoid annoying the taciturn lady¡­ Taciturn cat¡­ \"Good riddance! Which one of you toddlers is stronger than me in the first place?!? And do you think this harmless noodle, this weak-sauce excuse for a boy could even pull out a single one of my whiskers?!? What do you think I am, a weak old lady?!? I''m a Divine Beast, the second strongest person in this entire district!\" She then signalled with her eyes for her two guards to see the rest of the entourage out and turned away to continue her interrogation of the Outsider. The ashen-faced people around could only smile in self-deprecation at their attempt to \"protect\" their mighty Divine Beast guardian from harm. They dusted themselves off once more and hesitated for a moment, before turning to leave at the urging of Mash''noth''s guards. No-one was hurt ¨C they were merely stunned for a moment by the strong gust of wind. After herding everyone out and shutting the door, her two silent and stoic guards then walked off into one of the rooms, leaving Lars face to face with the tiny house-pet ¨C one who could easily rip his head off and use it as her kitty litter¡­ Lars'' shoulders tensed up, once more sizing up the miniscule creature while Elder Mash''noth sat on her hind legs with eyes closed, grooming a few stray hairs on her paws, using her saliva to smoothen down her fur. However, though she looked casual and relaxed doing this, an unseen pressure fell on Lars and he felt the back of shirt grow wet with sweat. He felt as if though every move, every thought of his were being laid bare before the cat¡­ ''Is this¡­ A special ability of her race¡­? To see through thoughts and lies¡­ Wait, no ¨C that can''t be! If that were the case, I''d already be ripped to ribbons for thinking that''s she''s just a cute floofy kitty¡­'' Lars gulped and resisted the urge to let out a breath of relief, afraid that it would betray his inner thoughts. ''It looks like she''s just really perceptive¡­ But I need to figure out why she immediately guessed I''m not from this world¡­ And what story to tell¡­!'' Faster than any other human possibly could, Lars'' spared a moment to thank God that he could still access his soul-imprint, despite not having any mana to use any spells. He then utilised his gift of Alacrity to the utmost, mind spinning frantically to form the best possible response. At this time, his gift proved valuable, allowing Lars to sort hundreds of observations and pieces of information together. Every single fact or shred of info was observed, assessed, sorted and pieced together at 10 times the speed of a normal person''s thought ¨C and finally he reached a conclusion ¨C one that made Lars sigh for the umpteenth time this day, shoulders drooping in resignation. ''In this situation¡­ The only thing I can do is to be forthright¡­ Based on the townpeoples'' reactions thus far, they wholly and fully trust the Truthstone¡­ Which means they don''t plan to eliminate me before bringing me before it¡­ My only worry is whether this Divine Beast here will let me live until then¡­'' Seeming to have realised that Lars was ready to speak, the snow-white feline wrapped up her grooming and wrinkled her nose before placing her gaze upon Lars. \"¡­Yes, I''m not from this world.\" Lars spoke carefully and calmly, trusting in his analysis and instincts that the truth would be the best policy; one that set him free. He was met with the same gaze, the pair of limpid bright eyes only slightly wizened and wrinkled at the edges, with tiny crows'' feet at the corners of her eyes. Seeing that she was waiting for him to continue, Lars carried on. \"I come from a world of magic. I discovered a curious pathway, a hole in the ground that led to a realm with clues of relics of past ages and unique wildlife. And so¡­\" Lars licked his dry lips before continuing. \"And so I stepped in to the unknown passage.\" Lars paused, stopping for any questions. The pair of eyes before him blinked slowly, once, then twice; processing his words before nodding slightly. \"And then¡­?\" \"¡­I¡­ Entered a ¨C a world of¡­ Horror¡­\" Lars'' breathing became faster and more shallow as he spoke. \"A world¡­ Of horror¡­?\" Mash''noth began to have a bad, bad feeling at those words. She felt as if though the skin on her body were prickly all over. If a cat could frown, this cat would have frowned a valley with her eyebrows. Lars'' shook slightly before he continued: \"¡­A world of eyes. Endless eyes¡­ And a creature without any¡­\" At these words, Mash''noth''s hairs really did begin to stand on end, and unconsciously she began to circulate her powers, as if to protect herself from the creature in the story the boy told. \"N-nothing I could do could hurt it or stop it. I couldn''t escape. And there was this dark altar, whenever I looked at it, I felt the skin all over by body crawling and my heart constricted as if in a vise¡­\" Lars stopped. All that was heard was the sound of breathing; one from a man and one from a cat. \"And, and then¡­? What happened¡­? How ¨C how did you escape¡­?\" \"¡­I ran¡­ I ran, and ran and ran¡­ But no matter how much I ran¡­\" Lars began to sway back and forth in his chair, eyes becoming unfocused and mind frayed. He had his arms wrapped around himself, as if though comforting himself and to ward away the imaginary cold. He wondered if it were just his imagination, but the flesh around his wound seemed to be wriggling. It wasn''t opening up or bleeding anymore but¡­ Wriggling. Closing up. As if though it had come to life with his words. Gasping, he continued almost subconsciously, reliving the fear. \"I ran! I ran and ran¡­! But no matter how much¡­ No¡­ No matter how or where or when I ran, I would always end up coming back to the same place¡­! Then¡­!\" He was panting by now, breathing raggedly and breaking out into cold sweat. It felt as if the room around them were dark and gloomy despite it still being high noon outside ¨C the lights seemed to be swallowed up by the shadows around. His eyes darted around madly to the darkness in the rooms, the shadows. He thought he could see an ¨C No! He could see the shadows squirming! Blinking frantically, Lars tried to clear his head. He blinked once and the shadows were still again. And then he blinked again and the shadows reached out to him and he screamed. \"NO!!!!! I''M DYING, NO! NO NO NO NO! ARGH!!!\" \"Boy! BOY! Listen to me! It''s alright! You escaped! You''re safe here, don''t let it ¨C don''t let the Taint corrupt your soul!\" Lars couldn''t see it at that moment, so caught up in his trauma he was, but Mash''noth, the Divine Beast, burst out in a golden, burning warm flame that shot forth towards the shadowy tendrils. The shadows recoiled the moment they were struck by the beams of light, as if encountering their greatest bane and were swept away by the glorious rays of divine dawn. In the blink of an eye, the shadows melted away, leaving behind only a single spot on the ground ¨C like a runic shape of a black shadowy flame surrounding the outline of an eye. Eyes closed, breathing deeply but slowly calming down, Lars'' gulped in the air he thought he would never taste again and found himself continuing. \"I¡­ I-I thought everything was over¡­ Until a voice came, with a light and a golden bright fire¡­\" Lars opened his eyes weakly and looked to the white cat beside him who was still glowing in golden warmth, as if though comforting him and reminding him of her divine power and presence. He found himself able to regulate his breathing and regain his strength, sitting back upright in his chair again and pushed himself to finish his story. \"And¡­ Then I ran again¡­ And found myself¡­ Lost¡­ I headed towards the nearest town, this, this homestead but I was captured by the Lady and¡­\" Lars calmed down as he reached this part, his shaking having stopped and eyes regaining their focus. He felt an itchy feeling on his lower back, right where the bite wound was, but he ignored it. He couldn''t understand it, but as Mash''noth sat by his side, he felt comforted. He felt¡­ Protected¡­ Warmth¡­ Safety¡­ Home. His mouth opened, remaining open without the words coming out for a moment. And then the words came out. \"I¡­ I feel lost¡­ I''ve lost all my strength and powers and¡­ I don''t know how to go back to my family, my home, my people who need me¡­\" Lars'' eyes began to fill with tears ¨C tears he thought he had forgotten in the depravity of the Death Arena, tears he thought had been seared out of him with the countless lives he had reaped by his sword, by his hands, by his spells. Somehow, somewhere, he felt¡­ He could open up and trust this cat¡­? ''But¡­ What if I''m¡­ Wrong¡­ Like Robin¡­ Like Gardner¡­ Like¡­'' ''Like my parents in this life and the last¡­'' ''What if I betray myself¡­'' As if sensing his turbulent heart and thoughts, Elder Mash''noth jumped back onto his lap, snuggled up against his chest and let out soothing wisps of light and air, bathing him in comfort, as if a grandmother comforting her child. \"It''s ok¡­ Shhh¡­ Just relax¡­ We''ll¡­ We''ll take care of you and help you find your way home¡­\" Mash''noth sighed as she swallowed the rage she felt against the Tainted Ones who stole so many lives and corrupted many others. Then she purred and rubbed her head the boy''s chin, nuzzling herself against the poor, lost teenage boy as he cried and hugged her back ¨C a bit roughly, but she didn''t mind. 179 Two Doors 1 Upon sensing that Lars had calmed himself down, Elder Mash''noth quietly summoned her guards and servants to arrange for him to rest. She reassured him several times, even removing one of the silver bells on her collar and pressing it into his hands. \"This bell has been infused with a week''s worth of my aura. As long as you have it with you, you''ll be in an environment of Divine Light - the Taint will not be able to come near.\" Lars nodded, numbly at first, and then more vigorously, grateful for the Divine Beast''s kindness. \"...And if needed, you can squeeze it hard to trigger the power within in a burst. For now, just rest - we''ll go on with the Truthstone test in the evening.\" \"Now go on, shoo! Off with you! Ren, my trusted aide, will make sure you''re well fed. He''ll also fetch you in time for the test. I... Have something to attend to first.\" With those parting words, Elder Mash''noth uncurled herself from Lars'' lap then stretched and yawned once. Then she nodded to her aides and then nimbly bounded off his lap. And before Lars could even react to her leaving his lap, within the blink of an eye, she was out the window and gone. He looked up to the more senior aide sho introduced himself as Ren and followed to a guest room. He looked around and found it simple but comfortable - a downy bed, a study table and a sturdy looking wooden clothes drawer. After getting Lars settled down, Ren brought a set of clothes over from somewhere in the house and laid it down for Lars to change. Before leaving, the studious looking man reminded him to ring the bell - located by the bedside on a wooden drawer - if he needed anything else. Watching the door shut, Lars felt a rush of emotions wash over him. And yet, the fatigue of the past sleepless day and night, the fear of the unknown encounters, his now dressed wound and the comfort of the white cat Elder''s golden aura and words of healing left him fighting back a yawn. He struggled to the wash room, dunking himself in water like a zombie, before plonking himself down to bed. In the end, he wasn''t sure how, but he somehow managed to even change his clothes before conking out. ***** \"Elder Mash''noth! Lady Zera! With all due respect, how can you put our lives at risk like this!!?? There''s no way we can endanger our lives and the lives of our whole community just for a, a, a--\" the speaker, a battle-scarred man who looked every part a seasoned warrior was so angry that he struggled to finish. \"--How can we waste your lives and risk our safety just for a reckless gamble!?! All because you \"feel\" something different and special about a boy!??\" Maester Albert''s shoulders rose and fell as be took deep breaths, calming himself down. Then, realising that he had risen to his feet in his anger, he quickly composed himself and sat down. Zera wrinkled her brows and resisted the urge to massage her temples. When it came to governance, she''d had a headache ever since the day she took over her father''s place as the chief of the homestead. She spared a wistful thought, wishing that her father were still around to lead and to be the bedrock on which the homestead functioned. But she shook her head gently. ''No point reminiscing or regretting at this time...'' She leaned back into her high-back chair and kept silent. She watched the others in the hall, who also kept silent, also unsure of how to proceed and casting glances at herself and Elder Mash''noth who were the proponents of accepting Lars - if he passed the Truthstone test, that is. Within this homestead, the largest and most important building was without a doubt the barracks. And due to the hunter-gatherer and warrior way of the people, this building also served as the centre of government for the settlement. It was within the council hall of the barracks that group of six were seated around a rectangular table - a table that was clearly designed for 9 and with 3 empty seats. The silver-haired Lady and chief of the homestead seated at the head of the table looked around with a frown to her companions seated together with her - though at this time, it seemed that they were more like combatants than colleagues. Elder Mash''noth then gave a dignified mewl ¨C perhaps, it was intended to be dignified, but it turned out more cute than anything, though the others kept that to themselves. She raised her head slightly and laid her two front feet on the long wooden table so that the others could see her more clearly. \"Yes¡­ In all of our records, even in all of the records passed down through the years of our forebears, there has never been a single case of anyone surviving an encounter with the darkness, that is true¡­\" She paused, her words drawing affirmative nods from Maester Albert, Physician Yu, Sir Kenneth and Captain Xiloth. She sensed Lady Zera tensing up, clearly she wondered why her supporter for this proposal would suddenly agree with the main point of contention. \"¡­Yes. And that is the amazing, no, miraculous thing! This boy, this Lars boy, this outsider¡­ He not only encountered the darkness without falling, he not only bears the Taint without being corrupted, but he even can accept Divine Light and repel the darkness!\" \"Hmm¡­\" \"That''s¡­ That''s¡­ But how can we be sure¡­?\" Reluctant agreement began to be heard from the other members of the council, to which Mash''noth continued. \"How can we be sure¡­?\" The cat swept those present with a confident look bordering on smug. Then she dragged out the wait, meeting eyes with Lady Zera before answering. \"I gave him the Bell of the North Heaven.\" \"YOU WHAT?!\"\"Elder!\" Gasps ensued and various statements of shock arose, but Lady Zera, though equally shocked, rose to her feet and raised her hands to regain decorum. \"Everyone, EVERYONE! Calm down. Let us hear her out. I''m sure the Elder has thought things through and has a plan for handing the outsider our homestead''s Inheritance Artefact¡­\" The others looked around and, after a moment, sat back down to wait for the explanation. \"Elder, please do continue.\" Lady Zera beckoned for her to proceed. \"Ahem. As you know, the Bell of the North Heaven is an Artefact of the Divine domain. No creature of the darkness or Tainted One can even bear to touch it, much less keep it on their person. And so, to prove my conjecture that this Lars may be¡­ A special case¡­ I gave it to the boy.\" \"And I''m please to share that he has kept it on his person, sleeping soundly for several hours with only glowing health and restored strength to show for it.\" At this, Zera frowned. \"Elder, but what if he chose to escape with our Artefact? Isn''t this too risky? I''d better send my men to quickly retrieve it from him¡­\" She started to raise her hand to summon her team, but was interrupted by Mash''noth. \"That won''t be necessary. Saint Ren is with him to keep guard whether against an attack or him fleeing¡­\" \"And if you think that someone can defeat Saint Ren¡­\" Mash''noth then settled herself back onto her seat and began to lick her paw before closing off her words. \"¡­I don''t believe anyone can be that capable to hide their strength from under my nose!\" Zera''s hand then returned to rest on the arm of her hardwood chair, clasping her hands together, fingers interlaced. Seeing that no-one had anything to add, she spoke. \"In view of the precautions and checks Elder Mash''noth has done, and that Lars may very well be our first real chance of making ground against the Taint, I believe we should be willing to take this risk.\" \"As such, does anyone have any more objections? Or any more fears that this is a reckless gamble¡­?\" One by one, she met eyes with the others. Xiloth gave her a brief smile, while the rest sighed but slowly nodded in agreement. Zera then nodded in return. \"Let us then proceed with the Truthstone test.\" 180 Two Doors 2 *Knock knock knock* Some polite, gentle knocks landed on a door, but there was no response ¨C as the occupant was fast asleep. *Knock knock knock!* Not to be deterred, the knocks became more urgent ¨C however, as the knocker still did not hear any sounds from within (except snoring), he called out through the door. \"Guest Lars, please do be warned that if you do not wake up after the third set of knocks, I''ll be forced to enter anyway.\" *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!* \"Y-Yes! Ah, I''m awake, I''m awake!\" This time, Lars was startled from his deep slumber and nearly fell out of bed, before he regained his footing and settled himself. Then he hastened over to the door, opening it up to see the steward, Ren, standing there. Ren gave him a polite nod, before saying, \"Young sir, please do get ready. It is now 15 minutes to 5 in the evening ¨C we shall depart at 5 sharp for the barracks for the Truthstone test to be conducted.\" The man then bowed slightly once more, before adding, \"Would you need anything further, young sir?\" Lars looked around, then shrugged. \"No, I guess not¡­\" \"If not, then I shall leave you to change and see you at the hall in 15 minutes.\" With that, the steward turned and left. * * * * * The journey to the barracks was peaceful and brief; taking less than 2 minutes on foot. On the way, Lars observed that there were not many young people or children in the city, mainly middle-aged residents, seasoned veterans and with nary a smattering of youths at most. ''Perhaps that is why they were so eager to have \"another pair of hands\"¡­ Especially someone still young¡­'' Upon reaching the stone-hewn barracks, the guards bowed deeply to Ren per the custom of the homestead, placing their hands on their hips and bowing at the waist before letting them in ¨C curiously without searching Lars. They briskly walked through the simple, unadorned corridors before stopping at a large set of wooden double doors. The guards bowed briefly and opened the doors for them, letting the pair in to a high-ceilinged hall. Lars scanned the hall and saw that it was roughly circular in shape with a lowered area in the centre. In the middle of the lowered central area stood a solid bronze pole about the height of a man with 5 arms extending out slightly from the central stalk. At the top of the pole, a transparent, colourless crystal as large as a man''s head was affixed. Ren then stood to the side, indicating for Lars to enter first. Lars walked through the doorway and saw five people and a cat waiting for him, some of which were familiar faces, with two he did not recognise. Those who knew him gave him a nod while the other two men merely scrutinised him, evidently having their doubts towards him. \"Welcome, Lars. I hope your stay has been pleasant¡­?\" Lady Zera gently smiled to him as she spoke. \"Yes, I am truly grateful for your kindness and hospitality.\" \"Indeed; Elder Mash''noth and Saint Ren have always been the most cordial of hosts. But let us get to the point; exchanging pleasantries is not what you or any of us are here for¡­\" In a smooth motion, Zera then took off a simple ring from the index finger of her right hand. She walked down the 5 steps to the lower central area and approached the central crystal, before placing the ring that was inlaid with a single, large sapphire onto one of the 5 extended arms of the pole, into a difficult to see groove evidently meant for the jewel to be slotted in. \"Council members, if you may¡­?\" Zera spoke as she ascended the steps and returned to where she had been standing earlier. Each of the other council members with the exception of Elder Mash''noth took off similar rings set with sapphires from their fingers and walked over to surround the crystal at the centre, slotting in their rings to the bronze pole''s structure. When the last sapphire ring was placed into its slot, Elder Mash''noth bounded down the steps before turning around and motioning for Lars to approach. The actual Truthstone test was very simple ¨C the Divine Beast raised one paw to draw runic formation patterns into the air, before infusing them with the same Divine energy that she had shown earlier. It was evident that drawing these runes took great concentration and focus, as her paw trembled slightly and her eyes were absolutely focused ¨C perhaps even feeling stressed. Lars was surprised when he saw the amount of effort it seemed to take from the Elder. ''Hmm¡­ It''s hard to make out the words without understanding clearly this world''s power system¡­ But¡­ Those formations seem to be rather low-levelled despite the high power infused into it¡­ Maybe level 6 or 7 at the most¡­'' As the process continued, it was clear that the formation was nearing completion as Elder Mash''noth''s movements grew quicker and sharper. Then abruptly, it was done. The runic patterns fused into a single rune-word, albeit one that was highly complex and made up of multiple layers of lines overlaid one on the other. Once it was completed, she murmured a chant of solemn sounding syllables. Rays of dark-gold light began to shine from her snowy white fur which were absorbed by the rune word. The rays continued pouring forth for half a minute before and were greedily swallowed up by the now solidifying rune. \"Now! Xiloth, Zera! Circulate your Earth Pulse and strengthen the rune together!\" The two closed their eyes and seemed to float slightly off the ground, hands at their sides as their lips moved, muttering softly under their breath. Then a nearly imperceptible shimmer rippled through the air in a halo around them as Lars felt a surge of energy connect with the rune word. The flow of light beams and energy from the boy and girl only ceased when the rune word began to take a corporeal form. Finally, her fur already pasted against her body from sweat, Elder Mash''noth cried out with a guttural voice as she directed the multi-layered formation of energy into the surface of the Truthstone. The moment the rune touched the crystal, it was as though a miniature sun exploded within, causing the people in the room to cover their eyes from the glare. \"Boy! Come! Quickly, while the light is at it''s zenith!\" Mash''noth exclaimed hurriedly, the fatigue apparent from her voice. It was then that Lars felt a push from behind, urging him forward. He looked back, and upon noticing that it was Ren, Lars covered his eyes and squinted, trying to make out the path before him before hastening towards the centre of the room. To his surprise, with each step closer to the centre, he began to struggle as an invisible weight restricted his movement. Forcing his way forward, he lurched forward and managed to enter the central area, stumbling and nearly tripping over the last step. To Lars'' relief, the pressure let off slightly once he was actually near the crystal and he could spare some attention to look through the gaps of his hands at the shining gem. ''It''s¡­ Beautiful¡­ It doesn''t seem hot at all¡­ It looks smooth and cool instead¡­'' Unconsciously, Lars began to reach out towards the Truthstone. The others in room could probably be forgiven for not noticing his action; after all, it was glaringly bright and nearly impossible to make out anything that happened near the Truthstone, while the Divine Beast was too focused on presiding over the formation to notice what Lars was doing. ''I wonder what happens if I touch it¡­?'' Lars fingers of his left hand unfurled as his fingertips neared the crystal. In just a couple of seconds, he would be able to touch it¡­ \"Okay, Lars. Now, under the light of the Truthstone, you''ll ¨C No! Don''t touch it, you''ll¡ª\" Elder Mash''noth''s eyes finally widened in panic as she realised that the boy was about to touch a highly compressed core of Divine Light and power. But her words came too late. Her vision was consumed by pure golden-white light, before she heard a dull *Thump*, like the sound of flesh hitting the floor. \"Damn it! Lars, Lars! You better be alright!\" As their vision cleared over the next few seconds, Elder Mash''noth and the council members struggled to make out what had happened to Lars ¨C and saw the boy knocked unconscious, sprawled across the floor and against the wall, 30 feet away from the crystal. 181 Two Doors 3 Whiteness and light. That was all Lars could see when he opened his eyes - endless white in every direction. As he lay on the ground of this unknown place and looked up at the ceiling or sky, everything was bright and white. Surprisingly though, there was no problem of glare or the need to squint his eyes after presumably a period of being unconscious, he could see just fine. He raised himself up and found that there he was unhurt. Even his wound no longer hurt, nor could he feel any aches¡­ ''That''s¡­ Too strange¡­ I couldn''t have been out cold for *that* long, could I¡­?'' When Lars propped himself up and sat up, he felt confused. He looked around and found that everything all around him was just whiteness, with no sign of anything or anyone ¨C not even walls, clouds or the sky could be seen¡­! What was even worse was that there didn''t even seem to be any ground to stand on anywhere nearby, at least, not within range of his sight. It was only when he looked down that he was truly shocked. It was not just all around him that there was no ground ¨C that was true even under his body - he found himself sitting in mid-air, suspended by nothing¡­! ''??!?? What the hell¡­? Am I in a dream¡­?'' Lars reasons that this was the most likely answer given that he was not plunging to his doom into the abyss of bleak whiteness¡­ ''Right, I''m 90% certain that this is either a dream or a form of mental state my mind entered while unconscious¡­ But¡­ Then why isn''t anything happening¡­? And how do I leave this dream¡­?'' Lars tried to stand up and found that he could apparently walk around without having anything to step on. ''Everything feels¡­'' ''Seems it''s ok¡­ Let me try the basics¡­'' He reached his hand up to his cheek, then pinched hard ¨C *really* hard. ''OWWW DAMMIT! That hurts!! But why am I still asleep¡­?'' Lars winced and rubbed his cheek where he had pinched himself, then stretched his body and legs, shaking his whole person to see if he could jog himself out of slumber. ''Not working¡­ How do I get out of here¡­? Hmm¡­ Oh well. Since there aren''t any landmarks or signs of anyone here, I''ll try heading in one direction and see what I find¡­ Maybe I just need to wait for a while to wake up¡­'' Lars shrugged, chose a direction at random and began walking off into the horizon of whiteness that looked exactly the same no matter whether he looked up, down, left, right, forward or backwards. * * * * * Quite some time later, Lars was still walking. He wasn''t certain, but it felt like he had been walking for hours. He wasn''t sure firstly because there was no reference to tell the time, he wasn''t clear whether his internal clock was still working and because despite walking for so long, his normal body didn''t feel hungry nor fatigued in the slightest. Feeling safer now that he knew he wasn''t in any apparent danger, he took the chance to go through what he knew. ''Since I''m stuck here¡­ Then¡­ Alright, let''s say I am unconscious and that this is just a dream¡­ Let me organise my thoughts and analyse my next actions¡­'' ''Firstly, my physical body is most likely injured after touching the Truthstone. But it seems my mind is fine.'' ''Second, based on what I''ve overheard so far, they were likely afraid of me being a corrupted one, fallen by the Taint or the Darkness. That creature I encountered at the passageway into this world likely has something to do with the Taint¡­'' ''Third, there was an immense amount of concentrated Divine power in the Truthstone, which brings me to my fourth point ¨C it''s likely that their suspicions of me should be allayed.'' ''Then the fifth logical point would be finding out how to return home, before the team heads off to the capitol Danedaar for the National competition¡­ In time to find and rescue Moira, in time to protect the children of Gorun city¡­ Quickly, too, there isn''t much time.'' Lars'' brows tightened as he assessed his options; ''I only have maybe 2 or 3 days left if I were to be back for the competition¡­ But¡­'' ''What if I skip the competition? It will likely last a week based on the format, which means that gives me an additional 7 days to return and launch the escape plan!'' A faint rumble sounded in the distance, but Lars was focused on his thoughts, biting his lip. ''Now the crucial part¡­ How do I get back?'' He shook his head, goosebumps running over his skin as he thought about his best lead ¨Cto return back the way he came. ''The most likely lead is to retrace my steps, following the same journey by which I came¡­ Meaning¡­'' ''Meaning I would need to get past the Tainted creature¡­ And for that¡­'' Lars tightened his lips, gritting his teeth in determination. ''I need to cultivate this world''s Divine Power¡­!'' The rumbles grew louder, attracting Lars'' attention. He looked up and saw that the monotony of the bleak whiteness had been broken by two rectangular structures ¨C structures that were still far off but were moving closer and closer. ''¡­? Could that be the clue to leave this dream world¡­? I guess I''ll find out soon ¨C it''s heading in my direction¡­'' Lars did not have to wait long ¨C the structures quickly grew closer, allowing him to make out two ornate looking doors made out of an indeterminate mixture of metals. The two doors were sharply different. The one of the left was pristinely white, so white that it would have blended into the background and been perfectly camouflaged, if not for the mystical looking strokes carved into the surface of the door frame. The door itself was unadorned, smooth and without any marks or even a handle to push or pull. The only things that stood out were the colour that seemed to fit the theme of this dream world and the mystical writings on the frame¡­ The other door could have been more contrasting. The frame of the door looked to be a dark, black metal with¡­ Veins of red¡­? Lars was pretty sure that it was made of metal, but somehow, it seemed to be the actual blackened flesh and crimson blood and veins of a creature¡­ The veins seemed to be those of an actual organism, but gathered at 7 different locations to form nodes of sorts in the network of blood vessels. One of the nodes was a bright, bloody red colour but tinged with a golden sheen, another was not as bright, looking like a piece of juicy raw meat, while the other 5 nodes were dull and lifeless. He felt a chill run through his body as he scrutinised the door. It gave off a dark, oppressive aura, while the other white door exuded a sense of purity and gentleness. The only similarity between the doors was that the actual door panel had no handles of ways of opening it. And yet, without even knowing how he knew it, Lars instinctively could tell that all he needed to do to open either of the doors would be to place his hands gently on the surface¡­ Lars felt a chill run up his spine again as he looked, because if he wasn''t wrong, every now and then, the red and black door *pulsed* like it were alive, and dozens ¨C no, hundreds of low-pitched voices filled his ears with unintelligible moaning and mumbling¡­ While the white door seemed to be singing to him with angelic voices, giving him an illusory feeling of being raptured to the heavens¡­ ''These colours¡­ These phenomena¡­ If I couldn''t guess at least a little about what the doors mean, I''d have to be an idiot¡­'' ''Obviously the pristine white door on the left represents Divinity¡­ Perhaps this entire realm is formed from the Divine energy and light compressed and released in the Truthstone¡­ While the door on the right with 7 nodes should be related to the 7 deadly sins described in many religions, but primarily in the Christian Bible¡­ It seems that the concepts of 7 deadly sins transcends just Earth¡­'' Lars'' eyes were then drawn to the two nodes that were already lit up. ''One of the sins nodes is already fully alive ¨C corresponding to my soul-imprint of Greed¡­ Hmm¡­ The other one partially lit up should be Gluttony¡­ And based on Insight being an extremely noble bloodline heritage from the Demon Hunting Sect founder, this 7 deadly sins that can contend with my Demon Hunting bloodline should also be a highly noble inheritance¡­'' Lars'' eyes flashed, then grew slightly emotional. ''Could it be from my yet-unknown mother¡­?'' ''No-one in this world should know about my abilities and background¡­ So if these things related to my soul-imprint and my environment appeared here, then that means I''m most likely in a soul-mind projection of my internal world¡­ And seeing that there are two doors before me, is it something like a choice¡­?'' Lars'' continued to look at the pair of doors, alternating his gaze between the two with the question burning in his mind. Which to choose¡­? 182 Two Doors End It was an hour since the horrendous explosion of Divinity when the boy touched the Truthstone. In that hall, at the moment the Truthstone released it''s power, a sudden, intense surge of light had flooded over them all, bringing Zera to her knees, while the boy was struck flying, ending up knocked out when he hit the solid stone walls. The council members were shocked; no-one had ever dared to touch the Truthstone ever before, knowing that it was filled with concentrated Divine Light ¨C enough to melt bone and disintegrate flesh¡­ The only ones who could work with the Divinity in such close proximity were cardinals ¨C Elders anointed by the Divine Sun like the Divine Beasts or heaven-blessed individual. ''But even with Elder Mash''noth''s Divine alignment, being so close to the explosion, she¡­'' Zera''s heart tightened in apprehension. She tried to get to her feet, then struggled to walk over to Elder Mash''noth''s side. But merely on the first step she took, the strongest combatant in the entire homestead found herself swaying and her knees nearly buckled. ''Sh*t¡­ I-I need to recuperate¡­ The loss of lifespan¡­ I need at least a day to recover¡­'' She steadied herself for a moment and was relieved when she saw that Saint Ren had already dashed over to the Elder''s side, while Sir Kenneth was checking on the boy, Lars. \"I''m alright! Just a bit tired from weaving the formations¡­ Right, the boy! Check on the boy!\" * * * * * In a regular looking house, a boy lay sleeping peacefully in bed. He looked slightly worse for wear, but otherwise alright. He still was clearly a youth ¨C especially now when Lars was soundly, peacefully and fully asleep ¨C a state he had not truly been in since¡­ Since always. As a trained killer, when was the last time he had shut off his senses completely and surrendered himself to pure, deep sleep¡­? But this time, it wasn''t just sleep, as the three people standing by his bedside in Elder Mash''noth''s house quickly realised. The Elder was perched by the boy''s head on his pillow and pressed her forehead against his ear as he breathed in and out regularly. She held her head there against Lars'' for some time, long enough that Zera who stood just beside the bed began to fidget, unable to help herself from asking, \"Well? How is he¡­?\" \"Be patient, will you!\" The Elder flashed Zera a look of annoyance, muttering under her breath, \"Kids¡­\" Finally, after several more minutes, Elder Mash''noth lifted her head and turned to Zera. \"His body is fine. Bruised, yes, but not injured. Thank the gods that as terrible as the explosion seemed, there wasn''t much physical force. The power was mainly Divine Light to which the boy seems to have a horrifying affinity for. So yes, he''s unhurt¡­\" \"As for why he hasn''t woken up¡­ He''s¡­ In deep, deep sleep. Almost like his mind is not there. Like you saw, we''ve checked if we can wake him, but neither water nor pinching him nor any sensory perception seems able to rouse him.\" Zera''s face was grim. She, Xiloth and Elder Mash''noth had invested too much into this boy Lars, banking on his unique disposition that could resist the Taint ¨C banking on this chance to defeat the Darkness and forge a path back to the rest of civilisation. \"Sleeping¡­ But his body is completely ok, right¡­? The Fated One can''t be hurt that easily¡­ Could he¡­?\" Elder Mash''noth shook her head. \"I don''t know. His body seems fine, but his mind¡­\" She leapt off the bedside and began to walk away, turning only to add, \"¡­We can only wait and see.\" Zera sighed. She was so tired both physically and mentally that she was tempted to just plop herself down into the armchair nearby. But she strengthened herself ¨C there was still too much work to be done to prepare for the goblins'' raid¡­ Just then, they heard the sound of a horn being blown, a sound that caused their hearts to sink and race, both at the same time. The sound of the emergency alarm. \"Chieftain! Elder! It''s terrible! Come quickly! The goblins, they''re¡ªARGHH!!!\" \"Milady, we''re under attack!!\" \"!!!\" \"!!!?\" Zera and Elder Mash''noth exchanged a brief glance before rushing on out. * * * * * The boy who was still stuck in the world of blank whiteness was none the wiser about what was happening. Lars was seated on the floor ¨C if you could call the emptiness a floor ¨C before the two doors. Just minutes ago, he had reached out tentatively towards the pure white door, before stopping just millimetres away. He didn''t know why, but he was suddenly filled with doubts. So he delayed the obvious choice and instead chose to sit down and, once again, think. ''Divinity¡­ The seven deadly sins¡­'' ''The Taint and the Darkness¡­'' ''This world where mana doesn''t exist¡­ And where I''m not able to utilise mana to interact with the universal laws¡­'' A look of understanding began to set on Lars'' face. He felt that he was nearing a breakthrough¡­ A breakthrough somewhere in his mind and soul that would bring him into uncharted territories never before mentioned in the annals of Yiluo planet or Earth. ''Could this world¡­ Could this be¡­'' ''A completely different universe? One without mana, but where living beings interact with the universe through different paths¡­'' ''¡­And if the door of Divinity is here because of the power of the Truthstone¡­ While the deadly sins should be from my bloodline¡­'' ''Then where is Insight¡­? Insight is my ability that has brought me to where I am, that has been with me from the start and can be said to be my core¡­ Insight should be the strongest and most likely path to be laid before me!'' ''Then¡­ Where is it¡­?'' ''Is this¡­ A trick or trap¡­? Is it hidden¡­? Or am I just overthinking things¡­?'' Lars forced his thoughts to calm down and concentrate. He recapped what he already knew once more and revisited every point he had made so far to identify any gaps. ''Hmm¡­ Let''s come back to these two doors first¡­'' Lars observed the white door and the red-black door once again. What *is* Divinity¡­?'' Lars pondered, allowing himself to process it, digest it and regurgitate the thought again and again. He paused for a minute, before his eyes snapped open and he rose to his feet and he walked towards the doors. ''Divinity¡­ The close encounters I''ve had with the Divine realm should be¡­'' ''The All-Heaven Divine Empire''s All-Father and the being that appears when I use Money Makes the World Go Round¡­ If there is a term to be used for them, they should be called gods¡­ Not the universe creating supreme power, but still gods to us mortals. Hence, the Divine realm.'' ''Their powers seem vastly different. The power Elder Mash''noth uses is of the light element, cleansing and purifying while bringing a calm feeling. At the same time, there is strong burning aspect ¨C perhaps like the light of a Sun?'' Lars nodded. He felt that he was already on the right path and discovering some aspects of the core of the universe''s existence. ''Now the All-Father¡­'' Lars tried to recall what he had seen during his reincarnation, bring the memories of his encounter with Kizorik to mind. ''The All-Father didn''t exhibit any explicit powers, but his size alone can contend with a planet ¨C but with how everything around the All-Father was entirely cold, dark and lacking any sense of life, he couldn''t be further from the concept of Divine Light I''ve seen here in this world¡­'' ''And just from his ¨C her ¨C based on that divine realm being''s nature and powers, Greed as one of the seven deadly sins seems to be in direct opposition to the power of Divine¡­'' Lars looked at the doors before him where Divine Light was placed as an either-or-choice as compared to the path of sin to confirm his assumption. ''I''m back to my original question¡­ So then, what *is* Divinity?'' Lars massaged his neck ¨C not that it ached, just out of habit. Lars shook his head and sighed, deciding to put the question aside ¨C at least he had already resolved one thing. This world''s Divine Light and the Taint ¨C the Darkness ¨C could be thought of as two opposites counteracting each other. He likely didn''t have a door of choice of the path of the Darkness due to not having enough of an understanding or enough exposure to it. Perhaps one could compare Divine Light and the Darkness to Acid and Alkaline. One would encounter these every day, whether using Alkaline based detergents to wash dishes or the body, or consuming Citric Acid ¨C Vitamin C. Acid and Alkaline were present everywhere in our day to day life, just like Divine Light in the form of sunlight to bring nourishment and Darkness, for night time, rest, recovery and sleep. However, once the intensity increased¡­ Divine Light would sear and destroy, turning matter into dust. While too much Darkness, it seemed, would corrode the physical body, taint the nature and turn the mind and soul to depravity. ''Then¡­ What type of cultivation and energy do others use?'' Lars paced back and forth as he thought of the oppression released by Zera back in Elder Mash''noth''s home ¨C the formless, invisible power of inner vitality that could force everyone to their knees. ''Divinity¡­ Seven deadly sins¡­ Mana and the laws of my universe¡­ And the laws of this one¡­ The invisible force¡­'' ''What brings all these together¡­? The seven deadly sins seemed to have transcended the worlds and exist here as well, but what about Insight¡­?'' A niggling doubt began to rise in his gut. He felt that he was held back by a paper thin wall, a veil of understanding in front of him that just needed the lightest of touches to break through ¨C if only he could find where to press! ''Insight¡­ Insight¡­ If Insight is on the same level as the seven deadly sins, and it even requires all seven of the sins to be able to merge with Insight into my Myth-imprint¡­'' ''Then Insight should be here as well!'' Lars felt as if a bolt of lightning struck him, and his mind immediately began to grow clearer. A soothing sensation flowed across him as if he had crossed a threshold, but at the same time, a fiery energy also sprung forth from every speck of his being. ''WHERE IS INSIGHT? HAHA! Where is Insight indeed¡­ Hahahahahahahah!'' \"Hahahah! I was blind! Too blind! Now I see, now I see!\" He was laughing, because he realised that he had been completely blinded, his vision and thoughts clouded, unable to see the forest for the trees. His laughter grew louder and louder, beginning as a chuckle before growing into full-blown guffaws. Then the laughter died off. Gradually, a thought and decision began to emerge in his heart. It started as a seed, but within an instant sprouted into a certainty. The idea began to consume Lars, and with a gaze of determined passion, he strode forward towards the doors, stopping when he was at arm''s length distance. He stopped his gaze on the door of Divinity. \"Divine Light, the power of sun¡­\" He traced his fingers across the surface. Earlier he had been afraid to even touch it for fear of accidentally making his choice, but at this time now he was dauntless. His hand left the surface of the door of Divinity as he moved over to the door of the seven deadly sins. He hesitated for barely a moment before he began to touch the texture of the uneven surface, tracing the veins and stopping momentarily at each node. The nodes that were high up on the doorframe were easily reached as well as Lars began to float up without seeming to make a move. It was as if though the whole world of white were moving lower to accommodate Lars'' intent of touching the doorframe. \"The power of Sin¡­ The Prime Evils¡­\" Lars could hear millions of ghostly voices calling out to him as he touched the door, voices of desire, vengeance, grudges, promises and temptations. But he ignored them all as his hand returned to his side. Lars took one more look at the door, then smiled grimly as he turned away, a glint in his eye. He took a step away, another, and another before stopping arbitrarily. \"Distance¡­ Time¡­ Space¡­ In this world, all that doesn''t matter¡­\" Lars'' eyes closed peacefully. The smile remained on his face, looking completely restful as he spoke to himself ¨C no, for himself to solidify his path. \"These doors represent choices¡­ And the powers within me¡­\" \"But these doors¡­ These doors cannot force me to choose¡­\" His eyes flashed open. \"No!\" He roared out to the skies, to the walls, to the whiteness all around him. To himself. \"And I¡­\" Then he whispered, and yet every word of these whispers resonated with his surroundings, seeming to cause the whole mental world around him to swirl and move. \"I¡­\" He looked up to the sky and opened his eyes. But instead of pupils and irises, contained within those eyes were star systems, galaxies, stellar bodies and what looked like the whole of existence. \"I shall be the master of my destiny! No-one, nothing can limit me to just one path, nothing¡­!\" \"NOT EVEN MYSELF!\" \"This is my own world¡­ And everything within it, is just another part of me¡­ Whether the door of Divinity¡­\" As Lars spoke, the door trembled before bursting open, allowing endless golden-white rays of light to flood the mental world. \"¡­Or sin¡­\" The door of the seven Prime Evils began to pulsate like a heart. Then, blood began to pour forth from it, as if an uncountable number of wounds marred it ¨C eventually exploding into a torrent of blood that flood his world. \"Everything within¡­ Is mine!\" Those words reverberated all around, domineering, commanding and powerful. And Lars knew. \"This¡­\" \"Is my Insight¡­\" \"This¡­\" \"IS MY WORLD! AND EVERYTHING WITHIN IT IS MINE!\" Suddenly, everything around him fell still, frozen within the flows of time. Lars looked around, seemingly only to his left and right, but somehow, his eyes could capture sight of every single thing in this entire cosmos of whiteness, golden-light and crimson-black blood. He paused, as if savouring the sensation of being in absolute control, before speaking once more. \"And if it''s not here ¡­\" He suddenly raised his head up high, eyes piercing the skies and heavens, power emanating madly from him as a whirlpool grew around him and sucked in the whiteness, the golden lights of Divinity and the red-black bloody miasma of the seven deadly sins. \"If it''s not in here yet¡­\" He roared. \"I''LL GRAB IT, SNATCH IT, ROB IT, TAKE IT AND...!!!!\" \"*MAKE*.\" \"*IT*.\" \"*MINE*!!!!\" \"And whether it is the All-Heaven Divine Empire... The All-Father... The being of Greed, the Abyss, the Wyrm at the End of the Far... Whoever, whatever it is that tries to get in my way...!\" \"I will bring them to ends of desolation!!!\" The lone figure wrapped in the world-crushing whirlpool of colours raised his hand straight to the skies like a lightning rod, grasping the heavens in a fist, displaying his determination to conquer and dominate everything. Then everything exploded. \"INSIGHT!!!!!!!!!!\" With that final word, Lars triggered his soul-imprint of Insight, the power that spanned even a different universe, that was greater than the power of Divine Light, original sin or anything he had ever known or seen. The whole of the white-gold-red-black world began to *twist*, changing colours madly. The scene grew from white to grey to black to white again then to red, to gold, to blue ¨C every colour imaginable and even those unseen to the human eye appeared and disappeared just as quickly. Before everything faded away and he awoke. 183 Level of the World 1 Lars opened his eyes only to immediately cover them ¨C the bright morning sunlight streaming in through the lone window was too glaring for his eyes accustomed to darkness. He took in his surroundings and found himself to be back in the guest room in Elder Mash''noth''s abode. Quickly checking his condition, he was pleased to notice that, apart from being covered lightly in sweat and grime, he was in prime condition. Even his bite wound had completely vanished, not even leaving a scar¡­ ''Must be the rejuvenating effect of Divine Light¡­ Hmm, looks like I''ll have to master this type of power to last long in this world.'' Lars stretched his neck, rolled his shoulders and then slipped out of bed. He walked over to a covered basin of water in the corner and freshened up, then changed into a fresh pair of clothes ¨C a plain brown shirt and trousers set. He found his boots on the floor by the door and put them, making a last check to be sure he was presentable before he opened the door and headed out. \"Hello¡­? Ren¡­? Elder Mash''noth¡­? Is anyone around¡­?\" When he walked through the short corridor to the main hall, he was curious ¨C he couldn''t hear any sounds of activity nearby despite it being on the main street. What he did hear were distant sounds of people scurrying about and moving things, set against the background of shouted commands echoing out. Finally, the sounding of a horn could be heard every now and then, signalling that something big was going on. He shrugged and headed out the front door and towards the sound of the commotion, planning to find out what was going on. As his paces fell, he reviewed his body, mind and soul. Despite only having unlocked two of the seven deadly sins and Gluttony not even being halfway mastered, it seemed that his inner state had achieved a qualitative breakthrough. He felt refreshed and as if though he had¡­ Grown and expanded. Based on his conjecture, if previously he were at the Near-Mythical realm, currently he had fully broken through to become a true Myth ¨C and not only one at the fledgeling stages. He felt that, with just a thought, legendary spells would spring forth with the power to crush mountains, evaporate seas or overturn kingdoms. His mind and soul felt like they had changed substantially. ''If a normal person were a cup full sand, then a Legend would be a swimming pool fill to the brim with solid stones¡­ And as for me, I would be comparable to a vast lake full of molten lava ¨C both fluid and solid, able to melt and consume things one moment, and explode in destructive wrath the next¡­!'' He also felt like his body had evolved. Earlier his Minotaur bloodline formed in his heart and bone marrow were endlessly nourishing his flesh and bones. Now however, he felt lighter and yet stronger than ever before. The Divine Light''s baptism must have changed his body at the DNA level, not just increasing his Divine Light affinity greatly but also strengthening him in the process. ''Hmm¡­'' Lars was cautious though. His strength of mind, his Mythical-soul and his high affinity for Divine Light would be as strong as mentioned only in conditions with a source of power. ''Over here without mana and without knowing how to cultivate Divine Light¡­ I''m only about five times as strong as a normal person¡­ I still need to learn the cultivation methods for Divine Light and their mysterious inner power.'' \"Hurry! Load the arrows! The earlier we finish preparations, the sooner we can set up for the battle tomorrow!\" ''Oh? There''re some people over there. And it seems that there''s a battle. The goblins, most likely?'' Lars saw a group of townspeople beside a cart carrying arrows out of a wooden warehouse and loading them to be transported. He quickened his pace and reached their group in no time. The men paused for a moment when they saw him, looking him up and down and frowning warily, wondering why the stranger brought in recently was untied and wandering about. The atmosphere grew tense, but the leader of the men held up his hand, then waved them to carry on with the loading. The leader of the four men, a balding man in his latter years, glanced at his companions and gave them a nod before he tossed the bundle of arrows in his hands onto the cart and walked over to meet Lars. \"...Stranger. If not for you bearing a mark of the Elder, we''d have apprehended you and locked you up.\" The man''s gaze fell on the cat''s bell that Lars had threaded onto the necklace he wore, then returned his gaze to Lars. He then sighed, shaking his head. \"I don''t know what the higher-ups were thinking... How could they let a stranger wander around unsupervised and unbound?\" He sighed once again. \"Well, get on with it. What do you want? Or are you just going to stand there and watch?\" Lars smiled and explained that he had woken up alone after the Truthstone test, then asked what was going on. Hearing that Lars'' story appeared to be sound, the man then introduced himself as Pol, the Arcanist. The goblins had sprung a small sneak attack, managing to breach the walls and injuring a number of residents. The alarm had been immediately sounded and the invaders had then been repelled, however, that was just a prelude to the real act. The main goblin troops were gathering to attack, about a half day''s march away. It seemed that they had sufficient numbers gathered and were ready to launch their attack the next morning. From the scouts'' estimates, reinforcements had stopped, but that still left them with more than 3,000 warriors - more than 5 times the number of residents in the homestead. The only silver lining was that every member of the homestead was a capable fighter from their youth - there would be no burdens found among their number. Ignoring the curious matter of why an Arcanist - a mage - would be loading arrows with the rest, Lars asked a few more questions and found out that the council members were at the homestead walls overlooking the goblin camps, over on the south-western edge of the settlement. Lars thanked the man and apologised that he needed to hurry off, eliciting a harrumph of derision from Pol. Lars quickened his pace, heading over to the battlements to look for the others. * * * * * As Lars moved closer, he began to see more and more people moving about making preparations for the battle. He passed by leaders of small groups shouting commands, blacksmiths hammering away to maintain equipment while men and women of all ages transported supplies, ammunition and materials for fortification. ''Oh...? Finally found someone I know.'' He swept his gaze over the surroundings and noticed Katya standing outside a command point receiving messengers and giving out new commands. Lars jogged over, drawing her attention with raised brows and a conflicted look. Before he drew near, Katya hollered over to him. \"You scoundrel! Hmmph! You may have gained the trust of the rest, but not mine! I''m still watching your every move, *BRAT*! If you dare to betray our homestead, I''ll cut off your arms and legs and feed you to the goblins myself!\" Katya''s eyes were cold and ruthless as she spat out these words, but she was met with an impassive gaze from Lars who just maintained his slight smile. Seeing that he was calm in the face of being confronted, Katya harrumphed again and returned to her work. Lars remained silent and waited a while longer, still smiling. Katya continued to receive updates and pass out commands for a while more, then she gave Lars a murderous glare once more and spoke. \"Alright, alright! Milady left word to send you to Gatyon when - *IF* - you woke up! You can find him at the barracks training grounds.\" \"Now go! Don''t bother me anymore! Can''t you see I''m busy? Get lost!\" Clearly at the end of her self-control, Katya''s hand seemed to unconsciously move to the long dagger at her waist, twitching in annoyance. This time, Lars'' eyes widened and he made haste to leave. Better to find out what Gatyon had in store for him than stay here and be stabbed at random by an enraged woman... It didn''t take long to find Gatyon at the training grounds, as the barracks was the largest building and simple to find. The large man who towered over him was surprised to see him awake out of the blue, but smiled gently and laid a firm hand on Lars'' shoulder. \"Boy! I''m glad you''re well! Milady and the Elder have already told us about your uniqueness. Haha! Boy! Do you know that you - yes, you! Are the first chance - the only hope - we have ever had to redeem the fallen...?\" \"Hahaha! Come come, before you can lead us against the Darkness, you''ll need to be trained, right? We don''t have much time, let''s get straight to it.\" Lars'' eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat - this was exactly what he needed right now. But he was also confused. \"Sir Gaty-\" \"WHAT!? SIR?! THAT''S WHAT YOU CALL OLD PEOPLE ONLY! JUST CALL ME GATYON!\" Lars began to speak, but was nearly blown away by a thunderous shout from the mountain of a man. \"Ah, yes, yes, Gatyon...\" Lars'' face paled slightly, shocked at Gatyon''s insistence. Seeing that Gatyon was satisfied now, he continued his question. \"What about the goblin raid?\" \"Goblins? HAH!\" At his words, Gatyon scoffed and glanced in the direction of the walls. \"Those goblins...? Even a dragon wouldn''t be enough to take us down!\" Gatyon strode towards an empty training room of the barracks, nodding and greeting the men and women who were busy training. As he walked, he let his fingers brush against the old and yet sturdy pillars and walls, aged but still standing strong after all these years. \"Over the hundreds of years our Faro homestead has been here, we''ve weathered countless storms, disasters and battles.\" \"Time and time again, we have come through it stronger. Though we may be fewer now...\" Valiance and strength flashed in his eyes as he spoke. \"Just a horde of goblins! We, the Faro people will slay them all and continue our history for many generations to come! Hahaha!\" \"Alright, come, boy! I''ll teach you the power that we wield...\" \"Earth Pulse - the soul and strength of the land!\" 184 Level of the World 2 Gatyon led Lars to a medium-sized training hall with a high ceiling. The medium-sized hall was already rather spacious - about 40 metres in width, 15 metres long and 8 metres high. Unlike other buildings he had seen so far, the flooring of the barracks and training grounds were made of stone blocks of uniform shape and sizes. Lars imagined that this was to ensure the flooring would last under the weight and pressure of martial training and heavy movements. Gatyon stood in the middle of the hall facing Lars and breathed deeply before beginning the lesson. \"Before we begin, you must know a little about the history of Fetch homestead and our land, the Northern Reaches.\" Gatyon smiled proudly as he told Lars of their heritage passed down for centuries. Nearly half a millennium ago, the ancestors of the homestead had been settlers and explorers led by a landless noble, Baronet Fetch, striking out northwards in search of new fertile lands. Drawn onwards by the promise of ruling over their own fief of land that would be passed down for generations, the progenitors of the Fetch settlement had trekked through an arduous journey crossing into the wild untamed regions beyond the northern border of the Instedt Empire. This involved traversing the rocky, semi-mountainous region that served as the established border of the Empire until they found a safe route to cross the highlands - a route that came to be called Trailblazer''s Path. Gatyon also explained that the Northern Reaches weren''t a well-defined area, but rather a name used to refer to the entire unexplored northern lands. The Fetch homestead was eventually established as a frontier settlement in a highly fertile valley with natural water supplied in the form of multiple streams and rivers. Further north, east and west were the Nogan Heights, a seemingly unending mountain range of icy, blizzard-rife peaks - a no-man''s land. The closest city to the south was Nogan''s Rest, a heavily fortified stronghold serving as a garrison point to patrol and strike out against roaming bandits, wild beasts and most of all, the goblins, orcs and other savage dwellers of the Northern Reaches. The patrols also stimulated trade, with many caravans of supplies plying the trails between Nogan''s Rest and the homestead. They would bring abundant supplies of wheat, corn and other agricultural produce south and transport weapons, supplies and other wares from the city back to Faro. The Faro homestead had been home to many settlers, explorers, hunters and those seeking a new lease on life. Gatyon''s own great-great-grandparents had migrated here some 200 years ago in search of a better life - and had settled down to be one of the influential families of the homestead. \"Alas... These are all stories of the past...\" Gatyon''s boisterous mood fell glum as he reached this point. \"15 or so years ago, things started to change.\" \"At first, everything seemed the same. Children were happily playing in the streets, there would be the occasional hunt organised to clear out groups of wild beasts, sometimes trouble with the demi-humans... The Darkness was an age-old legend! Something told to unruly children to coax them to bed. Things were fine and good! And Katya was still...\" Gatyon drifted off, his body still, gaze distant and lost in the memories of yesteryears. It took a few moments before he shook off his dreamy state and continue with a wistful smile. \"...News of unrest in the south began to trickle in. News of... Of civil war. Rumours were rife, so we didn''t know for sure what started it all. Perhaps it was a power struggle between royal brothers? Perhaps the Emperor had passed on? Who knows!\" \"What we did know was only through the peddlers and travellers who visited Fetch. But somehow, before we noticed it, the caravans stopped coming. We had no more news from the south, no more contact with civilisation.\" \"Things started to change... Strange things started to happen. We sent our own caravans out to the south, but they would inexplicably disappear - not a trace or a word to be heard once they left. More beasts and animal appeared, enough that we could not afford the manpower to guard every field - we had to abandon many farms and homes further away from the settlement.\" \"That was also when the Darkness emerged...\" \"The strange occurrences were finally too much for the people to bear. After a few batches of travellers were lost trying to contact Nogan''s Rest, the council was worried. They decided to assemble a team of twenty, comprised of the most capable hunters, warriors and trackers. This elite team was led personally by the leader of the homestead, Lord Seth, the Captain of the Warriors, Captain Vis and Elder Mash''noth''s head disciple, Saint Ren...\" Gatyon paused here, appearing heavy-hearted and with a look of regret. \"...Lord Seth is - *was* Milady Zera''s father, while Captain Vis was Katya''s brother, both stalwart and fearless men; men who lived with the greatest honour and dignity... Men who would rather die than betray the homestead...!\" \"...And I... I was a rising star among the hunters and warriors. I volunteered to go with them...\" \"I...\" Gatyon eyes grew sorrowful; grew haunted. \"I promised Katya, I''d take care of her father... That we''d come back with good news, come back safe and sound...\" \"We parted with an embrace, and, and...\" Gatyon''s voice choked up and he shook his head, wiping his face, coming back to the present. He paused, growing quiet. \"...The first two days of the journey were strange. We encountered nothing. Nothing at all...\" \"No goblins...\" \"No birds...\" \"No animals...\" \"Not even the insects that were ever-present in the wooded lands...\" \"I remember... Remember how the silence began to get to us. The second night was still fine; but by third, the fourth, the fifth... People began to grow uneasy, sleeping closer together and we realised that something was not right.\" \"A team would go out to scout daily, going ahead to check the path. By right, the whole journey to the southern highlands should have taken only 7 days - and by the fifth day, we should have left the forest... But the scouts returned every night and claimed that there was only forest in every direction for hours...\" \"But it was only on the sixth night that we realised that things were terribly, terribly wrong...\" \"On the sixth night, the scouts returned...\" Lars felt the atmosphere around Gatyon change at that point, eyes narrowing as he listened closely. \"Only... It wasn''t them anymore...\" \"They had changed to become... Creatures of the Taint.\" \"When they returned, they acted normal at first. But the moment we settled down for the night and slept... The two scouts... The *monsters* changed... With their same, smiling faces, with their warm and kind smiles, they, they--\" \"They began to bite and tear apart everyone around them with unnatural strength... Strength beyond even their cultivated powers...\" \"Worst of all, how could we bear to harm our beloved Captain Vis? He... Had been like a father to us all...\" \"Those of us with stronger Earth Pulse working together were a match for them, but they neither grew tired nor could any injury stop them... They wouldn''t stop, they would keep on clawing, biting, kicking and stabbing us with their weapons... Even as they spoke warmly, calling out to us...\" \"They wouldn''t stop no matter what, not even...\" Gatyon trembled when he reached this point. \"...Not even when I cut off Captain Vis'' head...\" Gatyon''s face wrinkled as he shut his eyes tightly, fighting the tears and the memory. \"I remember... His kind smile, his look of shock and horror when he saw my blade slicing towards his... His neck...\" \"He cried out! He called out to me, even as he tore apart our brothers and sisters! He spoke to me...! \"Gatyon! Son of my heart! Why! Why must you kill me?\" he asked!\" \"I nearly stopped, but I, I had to do it... I had to kill the man - her father - the one I had promised to protect and bring back safely...!\" Lars could feel the man''s sorrow, regret, guilt; a wide range of emotions and hurts flowing through him. He waited, not sure how to comfort him. He had always been a warrior, a soldier - Lars'' had no confidence in being a confidant or counsellor. Gatyon smiled at Lars, one of resignation yet with grim determination as he continued. \"We discovered that only Saint Ren''s Divine Light could suppress them, burning and searing their bodies. However, it seemed that nothing short of burning them to death with Divine Light would work... And... How... How could we burn Captain Vis...? We needed to bring him back, try to cure him. Even if Saint Ren could not, perhaps Elder Mash''noth had a way...! She surely had a way to cure them! With that belief as the motivation, we subdue Captain Vis and Alice, tying them up with thick ropes. But that was not before 3 of us were killed and half a dozen heavily wounded.\" \"With the team badly injured, shaken and needing treatment so badly, we dared not continue onwards, not without knowing what it was that had turned the scouts who forged ahead. Lord Seth commanded for us to retreat back to Faro homestead as quickly as possible with the two Tainted scouts as captives.\" \"The journey back seemed smooth. We covered good ground in 3 days... But there was always a fear and tension in the air - a sense that someone, some *thing* was watching us. That and the threat of the two depraved scouts, kept us awake night after night, so much that we reached the point of exhaustion...\" \"While fearful of the night, we never expected that the next attack would come in broad daylight.\" \"A group of more than 10 deformed, rabid goblins burst from the ground beneath us, with the same tell-tale insanity as the other Tainted ones... Along with...\" \"The fallen brothers and sisters who we had buried just a few days ago...\" \"We fought valiantly, but it was impossible. 10 regular goblins would have been wiped out easily, but we were so badly hurt, so weakened from lack of sleep that we just couldn''t fight back... And against those undying goblins, against the mad attacks of our own fallen companions... It was hopeless.\" 185 Level of the World 7 The remaining 20 minutes was enough for Lars to light up another 5 Life Foci, bringing him to a total of 9 Life Foci and breaking through from Soil all the way to the Mountain level. The only reason he had stopped was that the masking formation had almost failed to contain the Earth Pulse fluctuations when lighting his 9th Life Foci, and he could also feel that his body was reaching it''s limit, at least for now. Lars carefully moved his body about and examined the explosive strength that was difficult to contain. He wasn''t at liberty to test out his still-increasing strength, but he could probably take on a Devil Lord or two barehanded... For now, he would have to carefully conceal his strength, familiarise himself with his newly strengthened body''s condition and wait until his physique acclimatised enough with Earth Pulse before he continued cultivating. ''My strength now is more or less the same as when I was on Yiluo planet, except that I haven''t mastered any Pulse-line arts yet, nor have I bonded with a Beast Spirit. Now that I''m confident that Earth Pulse is safe, I won''t have to worry about damage to my soul. I''ll follow Gatyon''s instructions later and acquire one. In the worst case, I''ll just split off a portion of my soul for the bonding. If anything goes wrong, I''ll just cut that part off and destroy it¡­'' He decided to continue only later. Besides, he had to make sure his masking formation was effective enough to keep his cultivation level under wraps, lest the homestead suspect him of being a monster in human skin¡­ Also, he had an appointment with Saint Ren to study Divine Light, as such, he began to walk briskly, returning to Elder Mash''noth''s abode. ''It would be good if it it''s as easy to cultivate as Earth Pulse. If it''s similarly based on formations, I should be able to ascend to Saint level in a day¡­ That should be enough for me to defeat that crawler in the cave and return through the portal.'' Gatyon had not practiced Divinity at all, however, he did share some of the basics, the strength levels and how they mapped against Earth Pulse levels. -Acolyte (Earth Pulse practitioner level): As an accompanying phenomenon, when a Wings of light begin to bud from the acolyte''s back. -Worshipper (Sand to Soil level): White wings of light form fully which can be used in battle as sharp swords of fire. -Petitioner (Stone level): 4 wings of light manifest, greatly increasing absorption and emission of Divine power. -Saint (Hill level): At this level, a user has 6 wings of light, is able to fly and also launch feathers of light as a sharp explosive ranged attack. -Elder (Mountain level): The 6 wings of light now turn golden like the rays of a true sun. The nature of one''s Divinity changes qualitatively and can devour any form of impurity or darkness. A true powerhouse of Divinity, few are able to ascend to this point. -Spirit (Land level): The Spirit level Divinity is also called a Throne, an incarnation of Divine Light and it''s authority in the world. It is said that a halo of light would surround a Throne at all times, even when the wings of light are withdrawn. This halo of light would bring many to fall to their knees in worship of the incarnations of the Divine Light. ''Hmm¡­ It''s also said that those at the Spirit level have the opportunity to ascend to heaven and become an Angel of Divine Light... Sounds like a standard religious system, but somehow there''s something fishy about it¡­'' Since his Soul-imprint of Insight had advanced, he had begun to occasionally have both watershed moments of understanding previously complex items or uneasy feelings about others, something close to a sense of premonition. And the sense he had towards Divine Light was a bad omen. A very bad feeling, as if needles were pricking his eyes... ''I''ll take it one step at a time for Divine Light¡­ I don''t want to run afoul of a Divine realm being in my hurry to return¡­'' Lars reminded himself to be cautious in this other world; after all, not everyone would be so accepting of alien sojourners from another planet. * * * * * \"You''ve already become a¡­ Practitioner of Earth Pulse?\" Lars nodded. \"That was¡­ Fast. Perhaps you really are a fated one¡­ Come, let''s not waste the little time we have. I believe Gatyon has already told you much about Divinity. He may not look like it, but he talks a lot.\" Saint Ren, the butler that Lars had earlier thought was just a house steward, had brought him to the back yard of Elder Mash''noth''s home. In the back yard, there was a wide clearing under the shade of many tall trees spread around in a rough circle. And in the middle of the clearing, there was a simple stone altar. The moment Lars laid his eyes on the altar, he sensed a niggling feeling at the back of his mind. He felt like he should notice something, remember something important, but he couldn''t quite place his finger on it. At the same time, he felt pin pricks in his eyes ¨C clearly there was more to the altar than met the eye. As he walked behind Saint Ren towards the altar, without showing it on the surface, Lars immediately split off a tiny sliver of his consciousness and soul, one that would be commensurate with a teenage boy at the Earth Pulse practitioner level. After that, he suppressed his Mythical-soul''s fluctuations as much as possible, then, not yet satisfied, he even intentionally sealed most of his memories away temporarily, leaving himself with a pounding headache. ''Sh*t¡­ I hope this is worth it¡­ But I''d rather be wrong and nothing happen than for something bad to occur¡­ Better safe than sorry, right¡­?'' He asked no-one in particular. Stopping in front of the altar, Saint Ren motioned for Lars to kneel before it. Lars looked down and saw two depressions where obvious someone had knelt many a time and settled his knees down on the dry soil. \"In the book I gave you, you''ll find the songs of the Sacraments. The First Sacrament is the most important ¨C this is when you''ll meet the Divine Lord and receive his favour¡­ I''ll lead you in the song; you can follow my voice on the second round once you''ve caught a hang of it¡­\" Then Saint Ren began his song of worship; the First Sacrament of the Divine Lord. The words of the song sounded half like gibberish and half like something that he thought he recognised, but was sure he had never heard before in his life. The melody was haunting, calling to mind images of loss, of sadness and of devastation but also of the hope of new life. The song seemed to carry with it a story of sorrow and the desire to see justice served. Despite not understanding what Saint Ren sang about, Lars was strongly moved, his heart strings tugged at. He felt a rising sense of valour, a determination to seek out the source of the loss and the desire to serve this righteous cause¡­ ''Wait, what¡­? What is this¡­?'' Lars'' main mind felt a chill even as his split off consciousness was captured in the mesmerising song and spell. He could tell that the song was weaving a formation, but it was not just the believer who powered the formation ¨C there was clearly another party intervening. However, it didn''t seem like a focused consciousness, but rather more like a conditioned response¡­ Almost like a programmed intervention that was triggered by the song¡­ ''Interesting¡­ And this is even when I''m just listening to the song¡­ What about when I actually perform the song¡­? Looks like I can''t afford to be careless, there''ll be no short-cuts. I''ll have to actually cultivate according to the rules of this world lest I be found out¡­ Lars listened intently, feeling both relieved and nervous. His intuition had proved correct ¨C Divine Light was not so simple as just harnessing cosmic powers. He prepared for the worst in the event the god behind Divine Light caught whiff of something wrong. However, he was also not too worried ¨C after all, why would a Divine realm being pay much attention to a puny believer at the lowest stages¡­? That is, as long as the believer didn''t stand out too much by continuous breaking through¡­ He''d need to wait and see how this encounter transpired before he made his plans. He couldn''t afford to be caught by a Divine realm being, but he also didn''t have the luxury of time. During this time, his secondary consciousness was in a trance-like state, listening in awe of the man and the supernatural imagery conveyed, while his main mind coldly observed everything that was happening. ''Looks like he''s reaching the end¡­ My turn to follow.'' Lars quickly hid his main mind deep within his soul and continued to watch discreetly. Saint Ren''s song came to an end with a grand chorus, one that also left the heart with longing. He stayed still for some time, savouring the sense of Divinity that suffused them both before his eyes opened and he turned to his younger companion. \"Lars¡­ Would you wish to join me in praising the Divine Lord¡­?\" Lars (secondary mind) nodded, half cognisant and half in a trance. He raised the song book in his hands before himself and began to join Saint Ren in his renewed song. ''Divine Lord''s consciousness¡­ Let''s see if your system can see through my masking !'' 185 Level of the World 3 Gatyon''s emotions began to settle down, as he seemed to have gotten over the worst of his experiences. \"In desperation, Lord Seth commanded Saint Ren and I to flee while he covered our retreat. We fled and fled and ran, not turning back, not checking if anyone or any *thing* were following us.\" \"To our shock, we reached the Fetch homestead on that same day. We were so close... So, so close to returning...\" He smiled and shook his head. \"Since then, things have never been the same. We''ve lost touch with the outside world. Our numbers fall month after month. Food is sufficient, but under constant threat of raids and the Darkness, morale is low.\" \"...We never managed to recover their bodies... Could not bury or even mourn the Captain or Lord Seth...\" \"Over time, we encountered more of the Darkness - the crawlers, eyeless creatures that only Divine Light at the level of a Saint can drive away. Anything they touch or wound became... Tainted...\" \"We did capture several Tainted ones, albeit at great cost... Alas... Nothing worked. Nothing could restore them to normal...\" Gatyon spoke quietly, then grew silent, before laying his eyes on Lars, giving him a gaze filled with trust, hope and belief. Lars felt a strange feeling in his heart as he saw the man''s gaze and at the weighty expectations the people of the homestead placed on him. \"Until you came. You... You''re the only one who encountered the Darkness, who was even bitten by a dark creature but was not Tainted. I don''t know if you have the power, but... If Lady Zera and Elder Mash''noth are willing to take the chance, then I...\" \"I will believe.\" \"I, Gatyon Kupra, will believe in you, Lars.\" The eyes of the two met, one a hulking giant of a man and the slim, handsome blonde boy, and Lars nodded - a sign of his receiving these hopes of a failing and hopeless people. Then, realising that he had carried on for long enough, Gatyon sighed and chuckled - sounding half jovial and half in self-pity. \"Well, boy, hope you''ll forgive me the sentimental moment. Hahahaha!\" He laughed loudly, more to break the awkwardness than from actual humour. \"Let''s get to Earth Pulse. From what we can see, you''re as weak as a chicken and as untrained as a suckling child! I don''t understand how you could even have survived the journey through the woods to our lands!\" Gatyon shook his head and tut-tutted teasingly. \"So, we''ll start with the basics of Earth Pulse - the ritual of initiation, Praise to the Land! Watch closely, you''ll need to memorise these movements to connect to the Land and feel her heartbeat...\" The large man then began to move in a ritualistic dance, moving slowly and fluidly in a clear rhythm. His hand movements were graceful and his steps light, belying his size and girth. Gatyon pivoted, turned, feet stepping in and crossing one another, actions flowing in cadence with an invisible beat. Lars was entranced, but at the same time surprised. ''These movements... If I''m not mistaken...'' Lars watched closer for a moment, before he made his conclusion about the so-called Praise to the Land. ''It''s also a formation... It looks quite simple so far, but definitely more complex than a beginner''s formation should be...'' Lars smiled as he continued to study the dance, memorising and burning the patterns drawn into his memory. ''It seems that the formation is complex, but by performing it as a dance, the burden of precision, memory and skill in formations is circumvented entirely... This... This is ingenious!'' Lars'' eyes shone as he found himself in awe of the creator of this simple formation, this dance. The more he learned in this world, the more impressed he was, whether with the power of Divine Light, Darkness or now, Earth Pulse. ''The large movements of the dancer allow the strokes to be large, thereby increasing the margin of error...! This means that Earth Pulse can be learned even by those who lack the mental strength to make chants, draw formations and weave runes! Brilliant! Exceptional!'' Lars then realised how this could apply to magical spells as well, and an enigmatic smile crept across his face as he imagined how he could use this to cast world-shattering spells! His attention on the dance did not waver one bit as Gatyon''s ceremonial routine began to pick up pace. Gatyon''s dance grew faster, and Lars'' heart began to beat faster as well. He could almost hear the sound of an invisible, unheard beat of an orchestra of war-drums booming thunderously as the man''s feet continued drawing a simple yet beautiful pattern around the training hall. And then he stopped, standing straight, placing his hands on his hips and bowing at the waist - the same cultural bow that Lars had seen the people use as a show of greetings. The moment Gatyon''s bowed head reached the lowest point, he stopped - and Lars felt the atmosphere change. There was *vitality* in the air - so thick that he could *taste* it. \"Earth Pulse...\" Lars closed his eyes and felt the particles of energy in the atmosphere, absorbing the vitality from the air around him. He focused and found that even with his immense mental strength and soul-power of the Mythical realm, the particles were fleeing away from him. It was like trying to cup water with one''s hands - no matter how hard one tried, the water would still seep through the gaps in their fingers. Then, Lars realised that he had it all wrong. The idea flashed through his mind and struck him like a gong ringing in his head, causing him to chuckle and shake his head, wondering how he could have missed this. ''The dance isn''t just to draw in Earth Pulse from the atmosphere...'' ''It''s to trigger the formation on the practitioner themselves and... That''s it!'' ''All I have to do is...'' * * * * * Just then, Gatyon breathed in deeply and raised his head to see Lars with his eyes closed. Gatyon smiled and spoke, saying, \"Lars my boy! It looks like you can feel the Earth Pulse, the life of Nature in the air!\" But then, he frowned. \"Hey, boy, that''s not how you do it. You can''t just absorb it directly. The petitioner connects with the Land only through devotion and surrender, as practised through Praise to the Land. No matter how you try, your body and heart won''t be able to accommodate Earth Pulse, not without the ritual of honour!\" He walked over to Lars side, bending his neck to look at the boy''s face and frowned, then smiled again. \"Heh, I don''t blame you! You''re indeed talented to be able to sense it already! But if you want to cultivate Earth Pulse, that won''t do...\" Seeing that Lars had not heard him, Gatyon''s brows furrowed and he reached out to shake Lars. \"Boy! Hey, come on, snap out of it. Don''t waste any more time, you need to--\" But before he could lay a hand on Lars, Gatyon was shocked and silenced, nearly knocked off his feet at the unbelievable phenomena unfolding before him. An insane explosion of Earth Pulse swirled all around them, sweeping him backwards in his unprepared state - and the heartbeat of the land madly surged into the golden-haired Lars'' body! \"What in the world!!? Im-impossible!! Madman, lunatic! It''s impossible to cultivate without the ritual, how can you possibly--Ahhh!\" Gatyon couldn''t keep speaking as the turbulent energies around him forced him to fully circulate his strength, igniting all nine Life Foci - nodes of vitality - in his body to keep his footing. However, he found that he was slipping. The smooth stone floor was not giving him enough grip to stay up, and he hurriedly pressed his body down against the floor to prevent himself being blown away. As he watched in shock, the entire training hall began to shake under the swirling winds of Earth Pulse, causing dust and fragments of wood to fall from the aged ceiling. And then, the shaking and the wind suddenly stopped - and all was silent again. \"Cough, cough cough! Dammit! Lars boy, are you alright! You''d better not be hurt, or I''ll--\" Gatyon tried to wave away the dust and hurried over to the Lars - who was still standing, perfectly alright and now looking at him curiously and smiling. \"Gatyon...? What happened to you? Why are you covered in dust...? Did something happen...?\" Gatyon nearly fell to the floor in exasperation, realising that he was worried for nothing. Shaking the dust off his body, he reached Lars side and asked, \"Boy, what happened? How did you do that? I could have sworn a minute ago that you''ve never cultivated Earth Pulse before! How did you trigger such an intense Earth Pulse phenomenon?!? \" It was only then that Gatyon realised something else. The Earth Pulse had not stopped nor dissipated. It had been absorbed into Lars body... And was so thick, so rich in quality that it could be seen with the naked eye! Gatyon felt like fainting as he exclaimed, \"How did you skip the Initiate and Practitioner stages entirely!?! Impossible! That--that...\" \"That should take a decade!\" Lars smiling expression froze - stunned when he realised what he had done... ''I think I might have just broken the system of this world...'' 186 Level of the World 4 Lars was glad that the phenomenon caused by his Earth Pulse hadn''t attracted anyone from outside. Some trainees did drop by to check if things were alright, but they left after Gatyon waved them away ¨C perhaps thinking that the shaking of the building were from Gatyon''s demonstrations. Once they were alone, Gatyon gave him a strange look, staring at Lars for a long while before asking, \"¡­How did you do that?\" \"I''m¡­ Really talented?\" Lars flashed an innocent smile. \"...¡­..\" * * * * * Afterward, despite still having a look of disbelief on his face every now and then, the seasoned hunter regained his bearings and began to explain more about the Earth Pulse. \"Seeing that you have such *AHEM* great talent *AHEM*¡­\" At those words, Lars blushed, embarrassed, and softly said, \"You don''t have to keep praising me¡­\" Hearing that, Gatyon coughed even harder, feeling like he had eaten a fly. Why did this kid have to be so talented AND so narcissistic¡­ \"¡­As I was saying, as you''re learning so quickly, I think it would be good if I just give you a copy of the manual up to the highest level, the Land level¡­\" Gatyon walked over to a bookshelf at one of the far ends of the hall and retrieved a book about three fingers thick, two palms wide and as long as Lars'' forearm. \"Here; this is a copy of the Rituals of Praise; don''t worry about losing it, these things are pretty common. Go on, take it.\" Gatyon handed it to the younger boy. Lars nodded and accepted it gracefully, fingers running over the rough hide leather cover. \"The contents can be quite esoteric and difficult¡­ Ah, though, for a genius like you, perhaps you''ll find it simple¡­ Regardless, to help you learn quicker, I''ll explain what I can first.\" Gatyon sucked in a deep breath and gathered his thoughts before launching into the meaning of the Earth Pulse. \"Earth Pulse is the land, and the land''s life is Earth Pulse. The life of the Land is everywhere, in every living thing.\" Gatyon closed his eyes as he recited what sounded like a poem. He then continued, \"This saying is the core of our cultivation¡­\" \"Every individual or creature, plant or even the fishes in the sea ¨C everything alive lives and breathes because of the Earth Pulse. It''s just that some are more inclined to it, while others less so¡­ This is the basic vitality that every creature has.\" \"Animals have a greater connection to nature and therefore they continue to grow in strength and vitality as they grow to adulthood. But as for us humans and other weaker intelligent life, we don''t have the luxury of simply becoming stronger just by eating and sleeping. That''s where the history of cultivating Earth Pulse comes in..\" \"Ages ago, before the earliest recorded history, Earth Pulse was already practiced by humans and intelligent life in order to contend with the beasts ¨C the favoured children of the land. Some say that Mother Nature herself saw the plight of us humans and bequeathed unto us this way of cultivation, while others claim that it is a remnant of ancient history, gleaned from the annals of the Great Sages who were lost in the sands of time. Whatever the case may be, Earth Pulse is one of the two great paths, alongside Divine Light.\" \"The entire concept of cultivating Earth Pulse is about we, the children of the Land communing with nature and absorbing the vitality of the earth.\" Gatyon paused for a moment, organising his thoughts to focus on the key points for Lars. \"The 8 stages are Initiate, Practitioner, Sand, Soil, Stone Hill, Mountain and finally Land.\" \"From being a completely regular human being, a person begins to learn the ritual to Praise the Land. Once one is able to perform the first 10 steps correctly, one will begin to commune with Earth Pulse. This is when the person''s body is nourished and strengthened by the energy of the land and grows more robust, though not necessarily larger or bulkier.\" Gatyon folded his hands and continued. \"We call a devotee at this stage as an Initiate. With the improved speed and strength, an Initiate will be much mightier than a regular untrained person. However, Initiates are still merely stronger people¡­\" Gatyon seemed to struggle a little, stifling a yawn as he felt his mouth growing dry from the long explanation. But he forged on anyway. \"The next stage is called the Practitioner stage. Once an Initiate is able to complete the entirety of Praise the Land, there will be a qualitative change in the body. It is said that mysterious energies will form ley lines, which when merged become a web of strength interweaved with a Practitioner''s body, creating pathways for Earth Pulse to be channelled through. A Practitioner is vastly different and this is the true entry to cultivating Earth Pulse. This is when a Practitioner begins to train in Pulse-line Arts and can merge with a Beast Spirit, thus utilising Earth Pulse for battle!\" Lars cocked his head, asking, \"¡­Pulse-line Arts¡­ Those are combat techniques utilising Earth Pulse, right¡­? But what is a Beast Spirit¡­?\" Gatyon smiled, and unfolded his hands as he answered the boy''s question. \"Yes¡­! Beast Spirits are the embodiment between an individual and Earth Pulse... Each person''s character, disposition and strengths will be matched to an appropriate animal, plant or creature of nature. This becomes the personification of a person''s Earth Pulse and power, allowing a warrior to greatly enhance their abilities based on their Beast Spirit.\" \"Ahh¡­ Okay¡­ What kind of Beast Spirits are there¡­? And why is it called Beast Spirit if it can also be plants¡­?\" Gatyon was stunned and froze. \"This¡­\" He had a troubled look, frowning as he thought about the question, finally resorting to the simplest answer. \"Erm, I¡­ Don''t know? Well! Let''s move on!\" \"There are all kinds of Beast Spirits, and these are assigned based on nature''s pairing to each of our inclinations. Some will be paired to noble creatures like a great stag or a mighty eagle, while others may be a sturdy oak tree or even a blooming sunflower.\" \"A pity though would be those whose Beast Spirits are¡­ Less savoury things. It also reflects badly on the character of the warrior¡­ Things like a fly, a cockroach, a worm¡­\" Gatyon shivered when he spoke of these, drawing a curious gaze from Lars. However, he dismissed the thought and continued seeking more info. \"Okay, how about the enhancement from the Beast Spirit? What are the abilities given¡­?\" At that, Gatyon clapped his hands together enthusiastically and stepped towards the training space. \"Finally, the part I''ve been waiting for! Better I show you, it''ll be easier to understand.\" Gatyon walked quite far from Lars and stood at the far end of the training space before turning to face Lars. \"Watch closely. I''ll show you the power of a Peak Hill-level''s power!\" He pressed his hands together and closed his eyes, as if though in a prayer. Then tendrils of brown energy began to emanate from Gatyon''s body, tinged with a green glow. As Lars watched, he felt the now visible flows of energy wash across his skin and watched with anticipation. ''Looks like I''ve finally made a foothold in this world¡­ With this first step done, it won''t be long until I''ll be able to make it back to Yiluo planet¡­'' Then Gatyon''s power level rose again as he called out solemnly. \"Beast Spirit¡­\" The muscular warriors already buff body began to swell up even more and the muscles on his legs rippled with power just waiting to burst forth. He lowered himself into a crouching stance, ready to pounce forward. \"RABBIT!!!\" He cried out loudly and burst forth like a rocket, crossing the entire length of the hall nearly instantly and landing lightly at the other end. Lars was impressed, pursing his lips. ''He crossed the entire 40 metre width of the hall in a split second, definitely comparable to a Legendary warrior''s speed¡­ Fast enough that it seems like he had just teleported.'' ''But what''s even more impressive is his agility and control... The ground at his feet where he kicked off from looks untouched, while he landed lightly, stopping completely without any wasted movements¡­ With his massive build, that''s certainly no mean feat¡­!'' ''So if that''s the ability of a Hill-level Earth Pulse cultivator with a speed-based Beast Spirit, would that mean a Hill-level is about on par with the World-class realm in Yiluo¡­?'' ''But that''s not the most pressing point¡­'' Lars nodded grimly as he kept his eyes on Gatyon''s powerful and yet frighteningly agile figure, and raised his eyebrows askance at the man who was walking over as he asked. \"¡­Rabbit?\" 187 Level of the World 5 An embarrassed Gatyon then completed the briefing, explaining the differences between the levels before he demonstrated the remaining rituals for each level of Earth Pulse. They invested nearly an hour going through the rituals all the way from Initiate to the Hill-level, though Gatyon''s Hill-level ritual was not yet complete. Gatyon then patted him on the shoulder fondly, before sending him off to look for Saint Ren at Physician Yu''s place near the east side of the homestead for his next lesson ¨C to learn the path of Divinity. As he walked to Physician Yu''s place, Lars summarised what he had already learned as he flipped through the Earth Pulse manual. ''An Initiate nourishes their body to increase their nature affinity while practising the Praise the Land ritual. The ritual is a substitute for drawing an Earth Pulse gathering formation, even a partially completed formation allows a cultivator to absorb nature energy.'' ''It seems that completing the Praise the Land ritual is actually laying a formation within one''s body that allows Earth Pulse to be channelled ¨C these are the ley lines Gatyon mentioned¡­'' Lars studied his body structure. ''So far, the Initiate level''s strength seems to correspond to the Normal level back home, and the Practitioner level to an Adept. I can feel the nourishing power flowing through my muscles¡­'' ''Each of the levels ¨C Sand, Soil, Stone, Hill, Mountain and Land more or less match up with Yiluo planets levels of Elite, Master, Grandmaster, World-class, Legendary and Mythical. It''s just surprising that a cultivation method up to the Mythical-level can be so widespread and easily found. The only barrier of cultivating would be affinity, mental acuity and a physique that can handle the nourishment of nature-energy.'' Lars then recapped the process of progressing to the next levels as Gatyon had explained. ''After that, a cultivator practices differing ritual dances to thicken the lines of the formation, laying more and more layers one over another. These rituals correspond to thicken the lines on 12 Earth Pulse nodes across the body called Life Foci ¨C 2 on each arm and leg, with 4 others placed at the forehead, base of the neck, solar plexus and centre of abdomen¡­'' ''At the Sand level ¨C Lines in the Sand. Then Soil by the Wayside for the Soil level, Flesh of Stone for a stone-realm fighter, Peak ritual for a Mountain cultivator and finally Return to Innocence for a Land-realm powerhouse¡­ All names that correspond to the levels, except the hill level, where the ritual is called the Sound of Music¡­ Which is curious but¡­ Oh well¡­'' ''Pulse-line Arts are broken into four standard categories ¨C Fist, Air, Earth and Water.'' ''Fist represents close-combat arts reinforcing the warrior''s attacks, while Air is the opposite ¨Cusing ranged skills by emitting Earth Pulse from the body. Earth is defensive and also allows a user to mould the ground, and finally, Water relates to healing, control and various other miscellaneous arts such as poison¡­'' ''The point that leaves me curious is Beast-Spirit. It seems all I need to do is to circulate Earth Pulse through the formation in my body to simulate a practitioner executing Praise the Land¡­ Then let my soul reach out to the Heart of the Land¡­'' Lars rubbed his chin and thought about it for awhile, paces continuing as he considered connecting his soul with this Heart of the Land to obtain a Beast-Spirit. He had a bad feeling about it which he couldn''t quite place his finger on. As such, he decided to put it off. ''Forget it. For now, let''s see how far I can upgrade myself today. Only, this time I''ll study and modify the formations a little to make sure there are no big fluctuations of Earth Pulse.'' Looking around to ensure there was no-one nearby and no-one watching, Lars found a quiet lane between two homes and found a spot to sit down cross-legged. ''From the Practitioner stage to the Soil-stage ¨C the ritual of Lines in the Sand¡­'' He simulated the formation lines multiple times in his mind and extrapolated how changing certain portions would affect the outcome. The more he studied the formations, the more impressed he was. ''I take back my words earlier. Yes, there''s little complexity and the formations are straightforward, but in terms of effectiveness and efficiency¡­ I can''t even find a single thing to improve, at least not at my current level¡­'' ''Now, since I can directly weave each level''s formations, unless there''s a problem, I should be able to break through whole levels. What about a way to contain the Earth Pulse fluctuations¡­?'' This time, Lars experimented mentally with dozens of formations, the number quickly turning to hundreds and then thousands of simulations ¨C all within minutes. For each formation that looked promising, he would test it out and observe the effectiveness of hiding the fluctuations while circulating Earth Pulse at the Practitioner-level. ''Hmm¡­ What about if I try this¡­ That works¡­ No, this wasn''t the result I expected, never mind. How about if I tweak it like this¡­? After countless experiments and tests, his theories converged into a single formation with two variants. Finally, his simulations and small tests could only do so much ¨C anything further required him to confirm the effectiveness with an actual breakthrough ¨C to the Sand-level. Lars quickly checked his surroundings once again and made a note of how much time he''d taken ¨C 3 minutes and 44 seconds ¨C before he sat down again and prepared for his advancement. ''Alright¡­ Here I go ¨C to the Sand level¡­'' He breathed in deeply and focused his soul on the ritual ¨C Lines in the Sand. The lines of the formation were ephemeral, furtive at times, deep and intense at others. Just like it''s name, the Lines in the Sand formation bore the idea of one drawing in the sand at the seaside or on the sandy ground beneath one''s feet. Whatever one drew would not last ¨C whether wind, rain, footsteps or on purpose, the lines would soon be swept away in no time. As he meditated on the formation and the ritual''s explanation, he began to enter an odd state. He felt as if he were walking on the shores of his home country, Malaysia, once again. He could feel the sand under his toes, smell the salty breeze, see the golden, powdery soft sands of the beaches. He began to enter a state of enlightenment, a cooling sensation flowing through his person as he realised something profound within just the simple lines in the manual, the lines in his mind. The lines in his heart. Heart pumping furiously, Lars felt as if he were breaking through a fog and entering a land of wonder¡­ * * * * * At the same moment, dozens of kilometres above Lars'' head, unseen to anyone around, the clouds began to part. It was a small parting, such that only a person standing exactly where Lars was could look up and see a tunnel that ran through the sky, through the clouds, through the stratosphere and into space outside of the planet. But if one looked closely, one could see that this was not actually a tunnel or parting. An unseen force was flowing from unseen places in the planetary system, flowing in unseen, undetectable, flowing in through the atmospheric layers and flowing down to Lars. And despite being invisible, unseen, undetectable, there was a sense of¡­ Rightness. Of favour and glory within that stream of energy as it flowed down from unknown places. But this was not the amazing thing. What was amazing was that this happened right under the noses of the might Divine realm tyrants of the planetary system, even eluding the higher still entities in the World Star realm and above. And it was flowing down to Lars, continuing to flow until the moment when Lars achieved his breakthrough. And the hole quietly closed. * * * * * Lars continued to sit there in a state of epiphany. Unknown to him, his body, soul and spirit were crazily absorbing the esoteric flow of power, sucking it up greedily. And while this happened, he reached the breakthrough of his mental state. ''However many times we draw in the sand, the lines would be swept away¡­ Just like how, in our lives, whatever we do will eventually be turned to ash in the flows of time¡­ However¡­'' ''However, even if the lines in the sand do not last even a day¡­ The lines drawn in our heart will last forever!'' A thunderous boom echoed in Lars mind as his eyes snapped open and he found himself no longer seated on the floor, but standing upright, face lifted up to the skies, looking at¡­ Something? At nothing? He felt, sensed, *KNEW* that something had changed in the atmosphere. No, not just in the atmosphere¡­ Inside somewhere, something had changed¡­ ''But¡­ What is it¡­?'' He tried to remember the visions he had seen, but to his shock, he couldn''t get a clear image. He looked around, then looked up, but being unable to find anything, he felt a sense of premonition. ''How can this be? Impossible!'' His eyes were wide open with a grim expression. He looked around, a terrifying sense on his heart as his eyes returned to the manual in his hands, a manual that was lying in his grasp innocently and unmoving, unchanged. ''This world¡­ This manual¡­ Even such a low-level, one equivalent only to the Expert-level, even such a level can trigger a mental phenomenon and state that my Mythical soul cannot comprehend fully?!? What are the mysteries behind this cultivation technique?!'' But in just a moment, Lars once more felt a soothing calm in his heart, emanating through-out his person and calming his mind. He felt that the breakthrough had something to do with not his cultivation, but his mental state ¨C his state of heart. ''I can''t even remember what the revelation was, and yet¡­ There''s a sense of ease within me, as if though that, it''s ok to not know, it''s ok to not understand everything¡­ And¡­'' He checked his mental capabilities, and to his shock, found that his soul had grown more than ten times stronger, causing his level of Insight to increase several fold as well. The growth was so much that he even wondered if he could lift a mountain with his soul''s strength alone! ''With this increase in my soul''s strength and Insight, it seems that everything is moving in slow motion. If before, I had the advantage of observing the world almost 5 times faster than others, now, I could even finish reading a book in the time it takes someone to cough¡­ It''ll let me fight as if though I had prescience, and I should be almost immune to most ambushes and surprises¡­ But what other uses could Insight have?'' Lars frowned and came to the question he had dreaded and avoided. ''Others have powerful Soul abilities, like Duke Leanne with her Power of Distortion ¨C the ability to alter the laws of cause and effect, such as an empty cup becoming full of water after one drinks from it, or an arrow striking an enemy''s weak spot even before it is loosed¡­'' ''What about Insight¡­? Again, apart from letting me grasp almost every skill, technique and ability, without a powerful ability, I''ll be too weak against Mythical opponents¡­!'' Lars was troubled, and continued to ponder what other benefits or implications this would have on himself, when suddenly an idea struck him and his mouth fell open. His hands trembled and his eyes shook, nearly losing himself in excitement. ''Wait! What if I tried that¡­? Perhaps for others it might be impossible, but I''d be a fool to not make use of my core advantage¡­!'' 188 Level of the World 6 By his estimates, his thinking speed should have reached a theoretically impossible realm ¨C thinking and perceiving information faster than the firing of the electrical synapses from one''s nervous system to one''s brain, faster than the resonance of mana waves (or Earth Pulse waves) from one''s surroundings to one''s soul. However, he wasn''t too sure just to what extent his moment of enlightenment had strengthened his mind and soul ¨C so he was going to try something crazy and find out. Lars checked the time ¨C a total of 6 minutes had passed. He still could delay by up to half an hour before meeting with Saint Ren to train in Divine Light. ''Ok, let''s see what happens¡­ I can''t try any practical tests yet, but a mental attempt should do¡­ And it''ll let me understand too just how powerful Insight has grown¡­!'' In Lars mind, he prepared to time himself and began to weave the formations for one spell each from levels 1 to 9. He did not use any gestures or chants to supplement the formation, using only his immensely powerful soul-strength and mind. ''Level 1: Magic Missile ¨C much less than 0.01 seconds, but let''s round it up¡­'' ''Level 2: Acid Arrow ¨C a little bit more than 0.01 seconds¡­'' ''Level 3: Fireball, 0.03 seconds¡­ What is this speed¡­'' Lars was astounded. Earlier in the Legendary realm, he could insta-cast 10-12 magic missiles in the span of a single second; now he could invoke more than 80 in the blink of an eye, or nearly 200 in the same second of time¡­! ''How much of this growth comes from breaking through to the Mythical realm¡­? And how much due to the profound experience of mental enlightenment? Interesting¡­'' Lars eyes shone with greed as he wondered if he could replicate the same experience once more by cultivating subsequent levels of Earth Pulse. Settling those thoughts, Lars continued to simulate the weaving of spell formations. Level 4: Stoneskin ¨C 0.06 seconds Level 5: Breach ¨C 0.14 seconds Level 6: Phantasmal Killer ¨C 0.24 seconds Level 7: Globe of Invulnerability ¨C 0.37 seconds Level 8: Whirlwind ¨C 0.51 seconds Level 9: Time Stop ¨C 0.69 seconds Legendary Spell: Wail of the Banshee ¨C 0.98 seconds ''Insane... At this rate, I wouldn''t need preparation time or any protection in a battlefield'' Lars'' face grew pale in shock, then flushed with excitement at the prospects. ''Instead... I can be like a walking battle cruiser - launching death in every direction even while fighting in hand-to-hand combat...!'' Parking aside the marvellous idea of becoming a human star destroyer, he returned to his analysis and the application. ''Hmm¡­ These results are if I include the chants and the hand seals to replace the parts of the formation that are larger and more time consuming, it''s likely I could lower the casting time by a further 30%... Not exactly insta-casting Legendary spells, but close enough. Though, if I wanted to, I could still insta-cast one, just at the cost of burning more mana or weakening the spells effects¡­'' ''Let''s say my previous casting speed was the benchmark for a normal Legendary mage ¨C no, I would still be likely 30% - 40% faster than another mage without Insight. Alright, let''s say¡­ A Legendary mage should require roughly 30-35 seconds for a Legendary spell.'' ''Now for the test ¨C how fast can I identify a spells formation, adapt to the individual style and modifications to the spell, analyse the weak points and then ¨C the key point ¨C unravel the formation from a distance?'' Lars attempted on his own spells, finding that the time needed to break and collapse a spell formation was roughly 5-6 times his own casting time. This might not seem to make sense at first, but it had to be known that before forming the spell runes themselves, a structure would be weaved as a stable foundation. This foundation would then be infused with high-density compressed mana to further strengthen the structure. Only then would the actual spell formation be overlaid and inserted into the foundational structure, making the formation even more solid. ''So, 5-6 times longer than my casting time¡­ This is in the case that I already know the spell and the specific style used¡­ Adding in another 50% increase in time as a buffer¡­'' Lars smiled. It would work. He could unravel formations faster than others could weave them! ''Which means¡­ Perhaps I should be called the Anti-mage¡­ While against close-combat opponents where the formations are on or within their body, I can probably disrupt the flow too just by being close enough. Body reinforcing formations are simpler, the challenge is just that I''d need to engage in close combat to disrupt them.'' ''No matter. I''m already halfway to being a warrior anyway.'' Lars considered his sword inheritance from Draken Blacksword, a star extinguishing sword legacy. Coupled with Earth Pulse cultivation and the nourishing of his body, he was beginning to lay the path of a warrior as well. ''Though Kizorik mentioned the inheritance of Draken Blacksword is at the Legendary stage, there''s no way a Legendary fighter could sweep away planets and quench stars¡­ I wonder what realm he is in¡­ Even the All-Father might not be his match¡­'' ''And others might not have the mental capacity to grasp both close-combat as well as magic, but it''s not a problem for me! Insight oh Insight, it looks like I''ve undervalued you all these years!'' Lars felt like whistling happily at this realisation. ''Kizorik¡­ Velzash¡­ Right, I wonder if they''re alright? Who''s going to feed them? I''d better hurry back quick. I should continue cultivating as much as I can.'' Urgency returning to him, Lars stretched once before sitting down cross-legged and drawing the ritual for the next stage ¨C Soil by the Wayside. ''The formation for hiding fluctuations worked well¡­ Let''s see if it can be extended to the Soil-stage as well¡­'' Lars finished visualising the ritual formation, then carefully drew it out on his legs with Earth Pulse. ''At the Sand-level, the Life Foci lit up are in the centre of the palms¡­ While the Soil-level involves igniting Foci in one''s feet¡­'' Checking one last time that the formation was perfect, Lars closed his eyes to trigger the formation and connect with the land. ''Alright, here we go¡­ I have to imagine the journey and the path that I''ve walked as a child, as a youth and as an adult. As a child, leaving footprints in the mud. As a youth, laying on the grassy ground without a care in the world. As an adult, striving in the fields to till the soil and provide for one''s family.'' ''¡­'' ''A pity¡­ I can''t imagine even one of these¡­'' Lars smiled, feeling that it was a pity. Without enlightenment in these areas, he wondered if he could trigger the strange sensation again. ''Now, power up the formation with Earth Pulse¡­'' Despite his lack of understanding of the concepts involved, Lars felt a connection established the ground beneath his feet and his surroundings. He felt a richness fill the air as faint brown and green particles floated up from the ground and infused his body. The particles of Earth Pulse landed on Lars whole body, seeping through his clothes and into his flesh, nourishing and strengthening him wherever they rested. ''Next¡­ The manual says to imagine walking in the soil while dancing. This seems like an indirect method to focus the formation on the Life Foci in my feet ¨C let''s skip that part and just place the formation in the Foci directly.'' Lars manipulated the Earth Pulse energy and carefully imprinted the Soil by the Wayside formation into his legs. Immediately, the particles began to flow towards his legs, still nourishing his body wherever they passed, but flowing excitedly towards the formations placed in his Life Foci. ''Wait, I''m supposed to have done only one leg at a time ¨C one Foci at a time. I hope there aren''t any problems¡­'' Lars was slightly worried, but figured that there should be no problems ¨C after all, Earth Pulse was mainly vitality as well as earth and nature elemental power. For the next minute, Lars felt the Life Foci on his legs gradually lighting up, pulsing brown-green with the nonstop flow of Earth Pulse gathering from all around him. Then he felt a sensation that left him pleased ¨C as the energies of the land passed through him, he could also sense that his mental state was being strengthened as well. Not as much as when he entered that strange state, but it was still enough to leave him smiling. Very soon, it was done. Lars sighed, slightly disappointed that he could not re-enter that special state, but also relieved that his training was progressing smoothly. He was clearly stronger again, perhaps two to three-fold stronger than before. What was more frightening was his sense of inner vitality. He was almost certain than even a finger that was cut off could be regrown ¨C though maybe within a year. ''Then what level of regeneration will I see when I enter the higher levels¡­? Let''s continue.'' Checking the time, he realised he had 20 minutes left and decided to press on in his cultivating Earth Pulse. 189 Level of the World 7 Reposted The remaining 20 minutes was enough for Lars to light up another 5 Life Foci, bringing him to a total of 9 Life Foci and breaking through from Soil all the way to the Mountain level. The only reason he had stopped was that the masking formation had almost failed to contain the Earth Pulse fluctuations when lighting his 9th Life Foci, and he could also feel that his body was reaching it''s limit, at least for now. Lars carefully moved his body about and examined the explosive strength that was difficult to contain. He wasn''t at liberty to test out his still-increasing strength, but he could probably take on a Devil Lord or two barehanded... For now, he would have to carefully conceal his strength, familiarise himself with his newly strengthened body''s condition and wait until his physique acclimatised enough with Earth Pulse before he continued cultivating. ''My strength now is more or less the same as when I was on Yiluo planet, except that I haven''t mastered any Pulse-line arts yet, nor have I bonded with a Beast Spirit. Now that I''m confident that Earth Pulse is safe, I won''t have to worry about damage to my soul. I''ll follow Gatyon''s instructions later and acquire one. In the worst case, I''ll just split off a portion of my soul for the bonding. If anything goes wrong, I''ll just cut that part off and destroy it¡­'' He decided to continue only later. Besides, he had to make sure his masking formation was effective enough to keep his cultivation level under wraps, lest the homestead suspect him of being a monster in human skin¡­ Also, he had an appointment with Saint Ren to study Divine Light, as such, he began to walk briskly, returning to Elder Mash''noth''s abode. ''It would be good if it it''s as easy to cultivate as Earth Pulse. If it''s similarly based on formations, I should be able to ascend to Saint level in a day¡­ That should be enough for me to defeat that crawler in the cave and return through the portal.'' Gatyon had not practiced Divinity at all, however, he did share some of the basics, the strength levels and how they mapped against Earth Pulse levels. -Acolyte (Earth Pulse practitioner level): As an accompanying phenomenon, when a Wings of light begin to bud from the acolyte''s back. -Worshipper (Sand to Soil level): White wings of light form fully which can be used in battle as sharp swords of fire. -Petitioner (Stone level): 4 wings of light manifest, greatly increasing absorption and emission of Divine power. -Saint (Hill level): At this level, a user has 6 wings of light, is able to fly and also launch feathers of light as a sharp explosive ranged attack. -Elder (Mountain level): The 6 wings of light now turn golden like the rays of a true sun. The nature of one''s Divinity changes qualitatively and can devour any form of impurity or darkness. A true powerhouse of Divinity, few are able to ascend to this point. -Spirit (Land level): The Spirit level Divinity is also called a Throne, an incarnation of Divine Light and it''s authority in the world. It is said that a halo of light would surround a Throne at all times, even when the wings of light are withdrawn. This halo of light would bring many to fall to their knees in worship of the incarnations of the Divine Light. ''Hmm¡­ It''s also said that those at the Spirit level have the opportunity to ascend to heaven and become an Angel of Divine Light... Sounds like a standard religious system, but somehow there''s something fishy about it¡­'' Since his Soul-imprint of Insight had advanced, he had begun to occasionally have both watershed moments of understanding previously complex items or uneasy feelings about others, something close to a sense of premonition. And the sense he had towards Divine Light was a bad omen. A very bad feeling, as if needles were pricking his eyes... ''I''ll take it one step at a time for Divine Light¡­ I don''t want to run afoul of a Divine realm being in my hurry to return¡­'' Lars reminded himself to be cautious in this other world; after all, not everyone would be so accepting of alien sojourners from another planet. * * * * * \"You''ve already become a¡­ Practitioner of Earth Pulse?\" Lars nodded. \"That was¡­ Fast. Perhaps you really are a fated one¡­ Come, let''s not waste the little time we have. I believe Gatyon has already told you much about Divinity. He may not look like it, but he talks a lot.\" Saint Ren, the butler that Lars had earlier thought was just a house steward, had brought him to the back yard of Elder Mash''noth''s home. In the back yard, there was a wide clearing under the shade of many tall trees spread around in a rough circle. And in the middle of the clearing, there was a simple stone altar. The moment Lars laid his eyes on the altar, he sensed a niggling feeling at the back of his mind. He felt like he should notice something, remember something important, but he couldn''t quite place his finger on it. At the same time, he felt pin pricks in his eyes ¨C clearly there was more to the altar than met the eye. As he walked behind Saint Ren towards the altar, without showing it on the surface, Lars immediately split off a tiny sliver of his consciousness and soul, one that would be commensurate with a teenage boy at the Earth Pulse practitioner level. After that, he suppressed his Mythical-soul''s fluctuations as much as possible, then, not yet satisfied, he even intentionally sealed most of his memories away temporarily, leaving himself with a pounding headache. ''Sh*t¡­ I hope this is worth it¡­ But I''d rather be wrong and nothing happen than for something bad to occur¡­ Better safe than sorry, right¡­?'' He asked no-one in particular. Stopping in front of the altar, Saint Ren motioned for Lars to kneel before it. Lars looked down and saw two depressions where obvious someone had knelt many a time and settled his knees down on the dry soil. \"In the book I gave you, you''ll find the songs of the Sacraments. The First Sacrament is the most important ¨C this is when you''ll meet the Divine Lord and receive his favour¡­ I''ll lead you in the song; you can follow my voice on the second round once you''ve caught a hang of it¡­\" Then Saint Ren began his song of worship; the First Sacrament of the Divine Lord. The words of the song sounded half like gibberish and half like something that he thought he recognised, but was sure he had never heard before in his life. The melody was haunting, calling to mind images of loss, of sadness and of devastation but also of the hope of new life. The song seemed to carry with it a story of sorrow and the desire to see justice served. Despite not understanding what Saint Ren sang about, Lars was strongly moved, his heart strings tugged at. He felt a rising sense of valour, a determination to seek out the source of the loss and the desire to serve this righteous cause¡­ ''Wait, what¡­? What is this¡­?'' Lars'' main mind felt a chill even as his split off consciousness was captured in the mesmerising song and spell. He could tell that the song was weaving a formation, but it was not just the believer who powered the formation ¨C there was clearly another party intervening. However, it didn''t seem like a focused consciousness, but rather more like a conditioned response¡­ Almost like a programmed intervention that was triggered by the song¡­ ''Interesting¡­ And this is even when I''m just listening to the song¡­ What about when I actually perform the song¡­? Looks like I can''t afford to be careless, there''ll be no short-cuts. I''ll have to actually cultivate according to the rules of this world lest I be found out¡­ Lars listened intently, feeling both relieved and nervous. His intuition had proved correct ¨C Divine Light was not so simple as just harnessing cosmic powers. He prepared for the worst in the event the god behind Divine Light caught whiff of something wrong. However, he was also not too worried ¨C after all, why would a Divine realm being pay much attention to a puny believer at the lowest stages¡­? That is, as long as the believer didn''t stand out too much by continuous breaking through¡­ He''d need to wait and see how this encounter transpired before he made his plans. He couldn''t afford to be caught by a Divine realm being, but he also didn''t have the luxury of time. During this time, his secondary consciousness was in a trance-like state, listening in awe of the man and the supernatural imagery conveyed, while his main mind coldly observed everything that was happening. ''Looks like he''s reaching the end¡­ My turn to follow.'' Lars quickly hid his main mind deep within his soul and continued to watch discreetly. Saint Ren''s song came to an end with a grand chorus, one that also left the heart with longing. He stayed still for some time, savouring the sense of Divinity that suffused them both before his eyes opened and he turned to his younger companion. \"Lars¡­ Would you wish to join me in praising the Divine Lord¡­?\" Lars (secondary mind) nodded, half cognisant and half in a trance. He raised the song book in his hands before himself and began to join Saint Ren in his renewed song. ''Divine Lord''s consciousness¡­ Let''s see if your system can see through my masking !'' 190 Level of the World 8 Saint Ren was shocked, falling to his knees in worship. One minute he was leading the boy, Lars, in the First Sacrament, the next, a divine conscient descended and enveloped the kneeling boy. Before he knew it, the boy was hidden to his eyes by a seething globe of golden Divine Light to the sound of a choir of heavenly beings singing an overlapping chorus of ¨C as far as he could tell ¨C all 7 Sacraments¡­ A burning yet soothing warmth like a curtain of air then suddenly swept into Saint Ren''s person, knocking him off balance, causing his butt to be planted onto the ground. He felt a most holy presence and a bewildering pressure surround him. A spiritual voice then echoed through Saint Ren''s mind, shocking him into tears unbidden. \"THIS IS MY FAVOURED SON, WITH WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED! I SHALL LEAVE MY MARK ON HIM ¨C LET NO-ONE LAY A HAND ON HIM!!\" Overawed by the descent of the Divine Lord''s conscient, Saint Ren scrambled up from the ground, only to bow in worship, falling prostrate with his forehead pressed onto the ground ¨Cin wonder and awe, not daring to raise his head to lay eyes on the Divine Lord, lest he die from the overly glorious sight. ''The Divine Lord¡­ It is the Divine Lord! The Divine Lord himself is paying attention to Lars¡­! He truly may be the Fated One!'' Saint Ren was overjoyed as he continued to worship, face down on the ground. Within a dozen or so seconds more, the golden globe began to dissipate, revealing the golden-haired youth kneeling within. Saint Ren stumbled to his knees, casting a gaze of reverence upon the chosen child kneeling before the altar. The boy seemed slightly paler than before, the sight of which caused Saint Ren''s heart to tighten. He hurried to Lars side to observe. He dared not interrupt the Fated One''s communing with the heavens, so he chose to wait quietly by the side. It was not long before Lars began to stir from his reverie. He opened his eyes and looked wan, then started coughing weakly. \"Esteemed one! Are you alright¡­? Here, have some water.\" Saint Ren helped a shaky Lars to his feet, taking the book of Sacraments from his hands and gave him a skin of water to drink from. Once Lars coughing settled down and he seemed stronger, Saint Ren bowed deeply at his waist. \"I''m so glad¡­ To meet the Fated One¡­ O esteemed one, how many multitudes over the millennia have desired to see a Child of Light, and yet who would have thought I, Ren En Stinpeh would be the one who received the honour! This must be the most blessed generation to be born into!\" He was smiling at Lars as if he were looking at the most beautiful woman in the world, causing the hairs on Lars'' arms and neck to stand on end. Lars then looked away uncomfortably, and spoke softly with a raspy voice. \"T-thank you, Saint Ren¡­ I-I''m¡­ I need to rest. May we return¡­?\" Saint Ren''s eyes went wide as he realised how he had disregarded the welfare of the Child of Light in his excitement. His lips trembled in fear that he had offended the favoured son of the heavens, and, by extension, the Divine Lord as well. Shaking, hands clammy and covered in sweat, he bowed deeply. \"Y-Yes¡­! My apologies, my deepest apologies, esteemed one! Let me bring you back to rest immediately¡­\" As Saint Ren led and Lars followed behind, for just a brief moment, the wan expression on Lars'' face flickered, replaced by a hint of killing intent. But in just a moment, it was gone, leaving only a pale-faced youth. * * * * * \"Please, I''ll be fine. If I need anything, I''ll be sure to ring the bell. No, no, I don''t need any servants. Please¡­\" It was only after ten-plus times of urging that Saint Ren agreed to leave the room. Once he could no longer hear Saint Ren''s footsteps, Lars checked his surroundings, using his Mythical-realm soul sense to ensure there was no-one eavesdropping, before sitting up in his bed and breathing out a sigh of relief. ''That was close, too close¡­ The last thing I expected was for the Divine Lord to personally descend¡­ Though it was just a conscient with probably less than 0.1% of the Divine Lord''s powers, that was too risky¡­'' ''Looks like my premonitions are quite accurate. It''s a good thing I took that last precaution and submerged my main consciousness¡­ Otherwise¡­'' Lars felt a chill and determined himself to pay close attention to his intuition whenever it arose. ''Divine Lord, o Divine Lord¡­'' Lars fingers rose to touch his own forehead, brushing an invisible sun-shaped imprint. He channelled a wisp of Divine Light through the channels formed in his body from the First Sacrament, causing the golden sun mark to light up. He called up his secondary mind''s memories and recalled how a divine sense far exceeding his main mind''s capabilities had locked onto him. The Divine Lord''s conscient had then smiled at him before speaking those words of declaration directly into his mind. The last thing the Divine Lord had done before leaving was to touch his forehead, causing an instant of great burning pain before fading away. ''Somehow¡­ Despite those words that I heard the Divine Lord speak and his smile¡­ The way he was smiling at me felt more like a farmer looking at a prized cow meant to be slaughtered for a festival¡­'' The killing intent returned to Lars'' expression as he walked over to the dressing table where a mirror was placed to look at himself. He saw that the weakly lit-up sun mark was about as big as his thumbnail and had 12 small marks around it in a radial pattern, like the hour marks on a clock. The marks looked like an artist''s rendition of a sun''s rays. Of these marks, only 1 was lit up very faintly. Lars touched the pattern again while thinking. ''It''s a good thing it only appears when I use Divine Light, else I''ll have to walk around covering my face¡­ Let''s see if there are any other abilities.'' He increased the level of Divine Light slightly, two budding wings of light emerging from his back. These wings were illusory, merely a phantasmal image of light and not a physical phenomenon ¨C at least, not at the lowest Acolyte level. However, the light emitted by the golden sun mark merely increased in intensity and another 1 sun ray was lit up. ''Hmm¡­ Is it not enough¡­?'' Lars slowly increased his circulation of Divine Light until the maximum he had cultivated. It was not much at this level, merely enough to cause minor burns if released as an attack. However, it was more meant to ward off darkness, dispel curses or promote healing. ''Healing¡­? From my observation, Divine Light stimulates the cell activity of the body ¨C just like Earth Pulse, giving inner vitality¡­'' He paused, wondering why the healing aspect was so similar to Earth Pulse, his intuition telling him there was something more than met the eye. However, he put this aside for now and continued to study the sun mark. Even at the maximum output, the second sun ray was not fully lit up. Lars shrugged and stopped his experiment, deciding to look at it later. Then he suddenly froze. ''Lars oh Lars¡­ You forgot that everything so far has been made of formations¡­? Let''s see what this mark is made of¡­'' He chuckled, shaking his head as he extended his soul sense to examine the sun mark. When he tried to pry under the surface of the mark, he was shocked by what he saw. Even in just a momentary glimpse, hidden within the miniscule mark the size of his thumbnail, he saw an insanely compressed, terrifyingly complex formation with millions of lines and runes¡­ No, it was not millions, it was far, far more; there were so many marks that he could not even begin to comprehend the magnitude! ''Even with Insight that makes my soul far exceed another Mythical individual, I can''t even start to imagine the scale of this formation¡­'' Before he could explore any further, a sense of danger encompassed him. He hurriedly withdrew his soul sense and raised his defences, but he was too late. An instant later, a horrifying awareness locked onto the sun mark. Lars was filled with dread and tried to submerge his consciousness, but he was too slow ¨C the awareness lashed out at whoever was trying to pry into it, causing Lars to be pierced by a nerve wracking pain that seized his main mind. To his shock, he blacked out completely, only regaining consciousness a few seconds later. He leapt to his feet and circulated his full powers, preparing his last resort to split off his soul and survive somehow¡­ But found that the awareness had already dissipated. He panted, standing there and swaying ¨C relieved to have retained his life. ''In-incredible! Even my main mind was subdued by that formation¡­'' Lars was covered in cold sweat and his eyes shone with danger. ''That awareness¡­ Did the Divine Lord intentionally spare me even after discovering my presence? No, that''s impossible ¨C if it were just externally, there would be no traces of my nature, but since it touched my soul sense, my power of Sin would have incurred the Divine Lord''s wrath¡­'' ''Most likely¡­ It''s just a remnant of power meant to guard the sun mark ¨C like a security system¡­'' He let out a breath of relief. ''So this is the level of the world¡­'' With his encounter with the Divine Lord''s remnant awareness, the presence of the mysterious Darkness, the transcendental experience when cultivating Earth Pulse and now this absurdly complex and compressed formation, Lars fully realised that this world was truly, truly dangerous¡­ Far more dangerous than Earth or Yiluo planet. 191 Clash 1 In the late hours of the night where dark would turn to light, a low rhythmic rumbling shook the ground beneath the residents'' bodies. However, these residents were not asleep in their beds. They were standing on the battlements of Fetch homesteads walls, weapons at their waists, bows in hand. The rumbling was steady, an incessant pounding of boots against the ground, until the sources of the rumbling emerged in the dark of night. Goblins. Thousands of them. The orderly army of goblins emerged from the distant woods, marching in steady lines. The army of thousands bore many torches as they advanced in orderly formation. Despite their night vision, the demi-humans carried sufficient lighting to ensure they kept their ranks. They marched forward, quickly closing the distance to Fetch homestead and reforming their lines 2 kilometres away from the city walls. And as their marching ceased, so too did the rumbling of the ground. * * * * * However, though the rumbling of the ground had stopped, the hearts of the residents were already shaken. \"Less than 600 against over 3,000¡­\" Zera whispered under her breath, looking grim. She was dressed in her combat garb ¨C leather armour covering from collarbone to abdomen, with shin guards worn over her skin-hugging black tights that clung to her long, slim legs, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. She wore her half-moon circlet which glinted in the moonlight, just like her lush silver hair, looking like an enchanting temptress in the shadows of the night. Elder Mash''noth was perched on the thick walls of the homestead beside Lady Zera. She smiled fondly at Zera and said, \"My girl¡­ We''ll just have to try our best¡­ For the sake of our people¡­ For the sake of the Child of Light¡­\" She looked over to Lars as she spoke. They were on the battlements with half of the Fetch council members. Zera, Physician Yu and Elder Mash''noth were overseeing the battlefield together, standing alongside the archers and signal bearers on the walls. Captain Xiloth, Sir Kenneth and Maester Albert were placed at strategic points among the troops, ready at any time to either charge into battle out of the gates or release an additional salvo of arrows. Hearing the Divine Beast''s words, Zera was tense as she stepped back from the battle front and walked back to survey Fetch homestead ¨C to survey her people, the people her father had entrusted to her. \"Father¡­ What would you have done if you were here¡­?\" Her eyes grew dim for a moment as she recalled the memories of the strongest man in the world ¨C at least, he was to her. She assessed their supplies of food, arrows and materials for the umpteenth time and, finding that the amounts were exactly the same as the previous counts, she sighed. As a foraging and farming community, the people relied heavily on hunting, gathering and a constant stream of agricultural produce. With their supply cut off, they only had enough food for roughly 2 weeks. ''Like we''ll actually last 2 weeks¡­ Our home will have fallen long before then.'' She smiled a mirthless smile, laughing at the grim fate of their homestead. * * * * * \"TTOOT TOOOROOOOOOOOOOO!!!!\" A bugle''s call sounded out a long bassy note, indicating that the goblins were preparing to attack. The war was starting. Hearing this, she raced back to the edge of the battlements in time to see the ranks of the goblin army part as a group of elite hill goblins advanced with 4 taller cloaked figures walking a step behind them. Despite their small numbers, they bore with them an air of threat just in their slow walk forward. These goblins were head and shoulders taller than their other kin, standing nearly as tall as the average human female. They were fierce fighters, naturally advancing to the Sand-level of Earth Pulse upon reaching adulthood. When a group of 50 of these elite hill goblins charged on foot, they could outrun horses and scatter a group of cavalry twice their number just from their sheer strength and power. However, these elite goblins were not holding weapons but carrying a divan on their shoulders ¨C on which was seated a regal figure wearing a crown. If the hill goblins looked like body builders and athletes when placed beside their lesser kin, this crowned figure made the hill goblins look like children. In fact, his size, build and body contours could no longer be said to be of a goblin. He would instead be mistaken for a noble breed of orc if not for his dark green goblin skin. The group of hill goblins continued to bear their leader forward, advancing without fear even as they entered the range of a volley of piercing arrows. \"Lady Zera, the archers are ready at any time. Shall we fire¡­?\" The head of the archers'' squads turned to Lady Zera who held up her hand and shook her head. \"No¡­ At most we''d manage to lightly injure the goblin''s leader and maybe take out a few hill goblins...\" She locked gazes with the advancing goblin lord who was looking straight at her. \"Let''s see what they want.\" The entourage advanced at a leisurely pace, leaving the defenders in suspense, their breaths becoming shallow as they tensed up. The goblin''s leader remained silent and expressionless, only gazing straight ahead towards the top of the walls. Finally, they came to a stop 500 metres from the walls and the goblin leader stood up and leapt forward to land 100 metres from the homestead with one of the cloaked figures sprinting to keep up with him, staying just half a step behind the goblin lord. Then the stalwart goblin lord cupped his hands together in front of his chest, striking a regal stance and called out loudly with a dignified voice. \"I greet you, Lady Zera of Fetch homestead and Divine Beast Elder Mash''noth of the North Light Temple! May I have the pleasure of a conversation with your esteemed selves¡­?\" Zera and Mash''noth exchanged a suspicious glance, unsure of how to respond. \"Talk¡­? What are his intentions¡­?\" Zera spoke first, doubt in her mind as she kept a watchful gaze on the goblin leader. From what her senses told her, the crowned goblin was at least on par with herself at the Mountain-stage. Coupled with his superior physique and a goblin''s cockroach-like vitality, a sneak attack from this distance would be deadly. \"¡­It''s suspicious but¡­ I can''t figure it out either.\" The white cat flicked her tail from side to side unconsciously, eyes narrowed to slits and preparing herself for combat. \"Then we can only listen and see what he wants.\" Zera''s fingers toyed with the wooden shaft of her spear as she approached the edge of the walls. * * * * * \"Well done, sire. You''ll be well rewarded for your cooperation¡­\" The cloaked figure by the goblin lord''s side whispered with a raspy, echoing voice. The voice sounded like three voices speaking together, slightly out of sync and caused the goose bumps on the goblin lord''s skin to rise. Viru, the valiant lord of the Bad Lands goblin tribe grit his teeth, wishing he could strike down the vile creature there and then, but restrained himself. He had to endure ¨C for the sake of his, his wife and his children¡­ \"Cut the crap. You still dare to call me sire while holding my entire tribe hostage¡­?\" Though he restrained himself from striking, the goblin of superior intellect responded angrily under his breath. \"Heh heh heh¡­ Sire, what in the world are you speaking of¡­? Heh! Everyone knows that it is these treacherous humans who kidnapped your tribe and stole the treasure¡­ You know that everything I do is for your benefit¡­ I serve only you, my lord¡­ Heh heh heh¡­\" The cloaked figure cackled madly and a miasma of darkness emanated from it''s body, wafting over Viru''s body. Hearing the ear-rending laugh nearly made Viru lash out instinctively. His heckles rose and the Earth Pulse within him grew slightly turbulent. Despite himself, he felt fear grip his heart in the face of dark power that he couldn''t fathom, much less face. \"Vile thing! Withdraw your foul aura immediately! How can I, Viru, fight your battles if I am crippled by your taint?! \" Upon hearing those words, the cloaked figure fell silent, the dark aura around it *writhing* dangerously, a murderous aura suffocating Viru and causing his Earth Pulse to nearly lose control. And then, the dark aura disappeared, withdrawn. Viru panted, forcibly standing still in his original position in front of the homestead''s gates. He hurriedly regulated his energy and recirculated his Earth Pulse. He felt relieved. If he didn''t even make it through this violent battle ahead, he could forget about rescuing his family. He couldn''t afford to be disadvantaged even before he started. As he recuperated his combat power, he then heard a young human girl''s voice call out from atop the walls. \"Very well, leader of the goblins. We shall hear what you have to say.\" Before he could respond, he heard the nasty raspy croak beside him, \"Then, *sire*, I''ll leave you to do your job¡­ Retrieve the Bell of the North Heaven and your tribe will live¡­ Oh and¡­\" The cloaked figure suddenly pressed up against his side, placing it''s rotting face by his ear, frigid breath blowing against the back of his neck as it said, \"¡­Your little daughter was oh-so tasty¡­\" \"RAAAAGGHHH!!!!!!!!!! I''LL KILL YOU!!!!!\" Viru''s eyes turned red with rage and he roared, smashing backwards at the cloaked figure, but to his shock, his hand only swung through the air. The figure was already gone ¨C but he could still feel the cold air on his neck. Eyes flashing with murder, he turned to face the leader of the homestead. * * * * * Lars'' stood up from his cross-legged position. He had been cultivating Earth Pulse while monitoring the battle. He hadn''t been worried at first when he sensed the 5 main combatants the enemy had. 1 was a peak Legendary combatant - a Mountain-level Earth Pulse fighter with 10 Life Foci, while there were 4 other sources of dark energy. This was not enough to overwhelm with Fetch homestead; the battle would be a war of attrition. It would likely take several days for the stalemate to be broken ¨C more than enough for Lars to reach the limits of Earth Pulse and perhaps even extrapolate it further to exceed those limits¡­ However, he was standing at this moment because he needed to take action. Cries of alarm were arising in the east quarters where the weak, the elderly and mothers with their young children had taken refuge. Fluctuations of dark energy began to condense all across Fetch homestead, but the greatest concentration was right there in the east quarters. Very quickly, the cries turned from alarm to panic, terror and despair. Lars frowned. He had not expected to have to face these creatures once again so soon. Crawlers. 192 Clash 2 \"Foul goblin! Say your part and be gone from our lands!\" A loud shout echoed out as a figure jumped up onto the walls and stood imposingly. Lady Zera stared down at the goblin lord from more the 30 feet high walls, seeming not to care that she left herself exposed to targeted attacks. The walls were basically paper before a Mountain-level combatant such as herself, however, these same walls were the only barrier to keep out the swarming but far weaker goblin army. Viru, the Bad Lands goblin lord stared back at Zera, his mood turning more sour by the second. He raised his chin and looked up to ask in his booming voice, \"Milady, are you the chosen representative of this settlement¡­?\" \"What does it matter to you, invader! Either speak your part or get the hell out of here! Don''t think we''re afraid of you!\" Zera shot back quickly, acid in her tone. \"Very well, milady. It is simple. The ones who sent us request us, the Bad Lands goblin tribe, to retrieve an item that was stolen from them. May we inquire if you have heard of the Bell of the North Heaven?\" Choosing not to retort in anger, Viru choked back some profanities and instead politely delivered the message he was tasked to. However, little did he know that these words would make the lady explode. \"Bell of the North Heaven?!? Stolen!?? Hah, hah¡­! Hahaha!\" Lady Zera began laughing sarcastically. She was about to reply when she heard sounds of commotion from behind her. Glancing back, she saw Elder Mash''noth dashing over, weaving her way through the group of warriors around. Zera quickly leaned down to hear the grim news of a sneak attack. The Divine Beast hurriedly spoke a few short words, causing Lady Zera''s face to distort in sheer anger, before the cat shot off in haste, turning into a beam of light. \"Treacherous goblin scum! Not only you invade our lands, you want to distract us while you ambush us with evil creatures?!? If you want our thousand year inherited artefact that badly¡­\" Lady Zera practically screamed as her expression grew cold. Her eyes flickered murderously and she hefted her spear, infusing Earth Pulse into it before she leaped up into the air and let out a great shout. \"Come and get it!!!\" A spinning, shining green lance of destruction pierced downwards at the goblin lord below. * * * * * In the homestead, a teenage boy sprinted through streets and headed towards the cries of anguish. He began to circulate his Earth Pulse and Divine Light powers, making a mental count of the enemies he had to face as he prepared for his first actual battle in this world. ''1, 2, 3, 4¡­ 9. A total of 9 that have escaped Elder Mash''noth''s team of Divine fighters¡­'' ''9 that I''ll have to hold off until the Saint-level fighters could arrive''. Lars'' eyes were serious as his figure turned into a blur. * * * * * \"Mommy¡­ Mommy, I''m scared¡­\" Wei whispered to her mother with a choked up voice. \"Shush, my baby¡­ Don''t worry¡­ We''re safe here¡­! The Divine Light is with us and will save us¡­ Shush¡­\" They could hear screams, tears and sobbing outside as panicked residents fled out of their homes and into the streets while others tried to hide from the chasing crawlers. The thud of feet falling was accompanied by terrifying shrieks ¨C inhuman, bone-chilling shrieks that struck terror in every hearer. Every now and then, a great boom or explosion was heard from far away, causing the ground to shake. The moment the chaos started, Wei''s mother had picked her up and brought her to hide inside a wooden box ¨C one covered with various runes that glowed softly. Mrs Ling had held Wei close, assuring her that they would be safe as they hid inside. \"My daughter, no matter what, we have to stay inside. This box has been blessed by the Divine Lord, we''ll be safe here¡­ We have to wait for the Divine Beast to rescue us! You have to be brave, Ling Wei Young! If we''re brave, the Divine Lord will watch over us and protect us!\" Wei had nodded at her mother''s comforting words and promised to be good, promised not to cry no matter what. They were now crouched inside that very same box and holding the lid closed from the inside, mother and daughter both shaking in fear. Mrs Ling stroked Wei''s face, trying to calm her daughter down and calm herself down at the same time. ''I''ll be a good girl¡­ I mustn''t make any noise¡­ I''ll be a good girl¡­ I mustn''t make any noise¡­'' Wei repeated to herself as she breathed as softly as she could. Just like that, the minutes passed and the noises from outside began to fade away, the cries and voices slowly growing dull and distant. Slowly grew clouded and muffled, like the sound of echoes in a cellar. Gradually fading away. Until it was silent. The mother-daughter duo stayed alert, but after half a minute longer of silence, Mrs Ling breathed out a sigh of relief. \"Wei, I think it''s¡ª\" The words stuck in her throat as she heard a rustling, then the sound of footsteps. Footsteps that were coming closer. Footsteps that didn''t sound like leather boots falling on the wooden ground, but more like soft flesh landing on the ground. Not like a pair of legs walking, but like a set of four limbs being used to crawl across the floor. Unbidden, tears started to stream down Wei''s eyes while Mrs Ling''s chest grew tight. She grasped her daughter close to her and pressed her face against Wei''s soft black hair, holding back her own sobs as the footsteps approached. \"Thu-thud, thu-thud, thu-thud¡­\" They shivered and listened in despair to the sound of the four appendages hitting the ground again and again until the sounds seemed to come from right outside the box ¨C no, from *on top* of the box! And then stopped. And turned into the raspy sound of a creature''s breathing from right outside the lid of the box. ''Please, no! Please, please, please, please! No!!!!!'' A silent scream filled Mrs Ling''s mind as she held down the lid with all her strength. A lid that began to be pulled open by an unimaginably great force. \"No!!\"\"Mommy!!!\" *BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!* \"Thunk!\" *CRASHHH!!!!* The ground shook and the lid fell back down with a solid thunk as the sickening sound of flesh hitting flesh was heard, followed by a crash of something being thrown through wooden walls. \"???\" Mrs Ling was shocked, confused and in a daze, unable to respond to the sudden changes. She didn''t even notice her fingertips that were bleeding from trying to hold down the lid of the box and held Wei close to her chest, unconsciously smearing blood all over Wei''s face, hair and clothes. Trembling in fear, the both of them froze once more when they heard another sound just beside the box. But when she realised it was a human voice, one of a teenage boy, she slumped back against the wall of the box, all her remaining strength leaving her body. * * * * * \"Hmm¡­ Not even hurt huh¡­ Looks like crawlers are immune to Legendary or Mountain-level physical attacks¡­ Interesting¡­ I''ll have to test out Divine Light next, and if that doesn''t work, I''ll just deconstruct the inner energy formations¡­\" Lars analysed the sensation he felt when he landed a flying kick on the crawler that had been opening the box. Despite the blow being powered up to the Mountain-level with Earth Pulse and being launched at blazing speed, he felt like he had punched water. There was little feedback, feeling like his whole blow was dispersed. \"I wonder what is so interesting about this box¡­ Oh, it''s covered in Divine Light ¨C and it seems that there''s someone inside?\" Lars walked closer and examined the box before opening the lid to free the people inside. \"Are you alright¡­?\" Lars opened the box to find a mother and daughter holding each other closely, black hair unruly and faces pale as ghosts ¨C so pale they nearly looked like crawlers. However, he could sense they were alive and humans, just like him, and he quickly helped them out of the box ¨C before the crawler returned. Lars held little Wei, easily picking up the 6 year old girl and placing her on the ground. Despite her wobbly feet, she bravely stood up, showing her strong will. As he then helped the woman out of the box, she gasped and tried to thank him, but he shushed her, urging her to rest and catch her breath. \"Let''s get you to safety. There''s a group of warriors led by Saint Ren just two streets away. I''ve already checked the area, there are no crawlers left. Head over now while I take care of the remaining crawler.\" Mrs Ling hurried thanked Lars, bowing thrice before she held Wei''s hand and scurried to leave, but the girl pulled her hand away. \"Ling Wei Young! What are y-you doing! Don''t be disobedient! Follow mother now!\" Mrs Ling scolded Wei worriedly, but stopped as she saw Wei bow deeply to Lars at the waist. \"Mr¡­ Thank you so much for saving me and mommy¡­\" She ran over to hug Lars at his waist, bringing a gentle smile to his face. \"You''re welcome, little lady. Now go with your mommy. It''s dangerous here.\" He patted her on the head and shooed her off, watching as she ran back to Mrs Ling''s side. Smiling despite still having a worried frown, Mrs Ling chided Wei before picking her up and kissing her. Then she bowed and smiled to Lars before leaving to look for Saint Ren''s group. \"Please, come back safely¡­!\"Little Wei waved back at him once more, before they both disappeared around the corner. \"Now for unfinished business¡­\" Lars turned towards the darkness ¨C where a certain crawler still lurked. 193 Clash 3 Lars looked around as he stepped through the holes made when he kicked the crawler and smashed apart the walls. One by one, he walked through the broken walls that he had caused, wincing as he realised how badly he had damaged the residents'' homes ¨C he counted13 broken walls, meaning 7 half destroyed houses¡­ However, though he searched and kept a keen eye out and despite sensing a dark aura watching him, there was still no sign of the crawler anywhere. And also no sign of life, no voices, no sounds of battle ¨C which was impossible. ''Something is strange. I should be able to hear Zera''s fight with the goblin lord from miles away¡­'' He stopped in the 7th house, standing still and extending his soul-sense to scan further and further, only to find that he could sense no living things at all in the entire homestead ¨C again, impossible. Wary of the still unfamiliar enemy, Lars maintained a constant output of Earth Pulse at the Hill/ World-class level as a protective and detection layer around him. Looking around, he surmised that he could have stepped into a pocket realm ¨C but what realm or creature could elude his Mythical soul sense? ''Hmm¡­ This is getting more and more interesting¡­'' Lars maintained a carefree smile on his lips as his eyes sparkled ¨C he was keen to add the power of darkness to his collection. ''This ability to mislead a Myth''s senses will be very useful¡­'' Lars considered the various uses such as disguise, stealth, eating for free, assassination, shoplifting¡­ It was then that his senses flared up and a clawed palm scored the back of his left shoulder. Lars spun around ¨C only to see that there was nothing there. "..." Lars looked around and even observed the ceiling but could not catch a trace of the crawler. *Plip¡­ Plip¡­ Piip¡­* It was quiet for a while as Lars stopped, craning his senses once more. The only sound was the sound of his blood slowly dripping to the ground. "Hssss!" Suddenly hearing a hissing sound from behind, Lars threw himself forward and pivoted, turning to face the source of the sound and crossing his arms in front of him. But to his shock, a claw suddenly appeared struck him from behind ¨C the opposite direction of where the sound had come from! But before he knew it, the crawler was gone again ¨C vanished as if it had never been there. ''¡­This time I sensed it ¨C but only for a moment when it was just about to land the strike. Is it staying in an ethereal state and materialising just before the attack? Or is it phasing out to another dimension, another plane?'' He moved as he analysed the situation, quickly running from the living room to the windowless kitchen, retreating to a place his back against the corner of a room. Facing the empty, dark kitchen before him, he increased his Earth Pulse defence output to the Mountain/ Legendary level. It was quiet for a long while as his blood continued to drip. His mind wandered back to the small girl who had hugged him and her worried mother and hoped that they had managed to meet up safely with Saint Ren. As he thought about the adorable girl, realisation suddenly struck him. ''At that time¡­?'' He recalled what had happened since he encountered the crawler until this current moment, then smiled. He waited for the next attack to confirm his theory. He didn''t have to wait long ¨C before he could take in his next breath, the eyeless visage of the crawler appeared by his right shoulder, aiming a bite at his shoulder with it''s teeth. This time, Lars didn''t pull back, but even shoved his shoulder forward to let the crawler chomp down hard. He winced in pain as the rotting, septic teeth sunk into his flesh with a sickening sound as his hands shot out lightning quick, catching hold of the crawler''s arms. Shocked by his audacious move, the crawler flailed around, kicking and clawing him with it''s feet as it tried to loose itself, leaving long scratch marks all over his torso. But when it realised it couldn''t shake itself free from his grasp, Lars felt a chill run up his spine as he felt it''s eyeless gaze land on his neck, it''s gaping empty eye sockets still managing to tell him where it was looking. Lars just smiled ¨C and let the creature bite him on the neck. Only this time, the teeth could not pierce his skin, instead, the highly reinforced teeth that could cleave through an adult dragon''s scales ended up shattering into tiny fragments, giving one the impression that these powerful teeth were instead the dentures of an octogenarian. At this sight, Lars'' smile turned into a grin and he let go of the crawler''s wrists, letting it leap away into the distance ¨C or at least, it tried to, but only ended up crumpling to the ground like a bag of bones. "KREEEAAAA!!!!" The creature shrieked in resentment, letting loose a bone-chilling scream. It struggled on the floor, writhing about, it''s movements slowing down. Gradually, the crawler started to wither, it''s hair turning to dust and dissipating while it''s flesh seemed to liquefy and evaporate at a rapid pace. The shrieks turned to mewls, the struggles to stillness, before slowly fading away. Very quickly, the only signs of the crawler remaining were the rags it was wearing, it''s long-rotten flesh finally decomposing, the product of time and nature finally being able to lay their hands on the abomination. "So that''s what the darkness is¡­ Still formations, only these are meant to distort and twist the laws of nature¡­" Lars "wounds" quickly sealed up, vanishing as if someone had hit the rewind button. Even his torn clothing pieced itself back together, looking clean and as new as when he had put them on. From the beginning, he had knowingly walked into whatever traps might be set for him. Then, when he could no longer hear or sense the battle outside the city walls, he had first thought it to be a pocket realm. However, his thoughts changed when he let the creature strike him ¨C an attack he could have still dodged even at this close range but which he allowed to strike him in order to understand the powers of Darkness. He had also assumed Hill/ World-class level Earth Pulse to be sufficient to protect himself; he was greatly surprised when the crawler''s claws sliced right through his defences! And the next time as well, he found that he couldn''t detect the creature at all until it was right upon him ¨C and that even Mountain-level Earth Pulse couldn''t hinder it''s attack. However, that was when his suspicions had been solidified with only the final confirmation required: by allowing the creature to bite him, he had caught it long enough to analyse the flows of power, identified them to be applying a distortion field, then tested dozens of counter-runes to break the formations. "The power of distortion¡­ Able to nullify other powers, pervert them or twist them¡­ Turning a titanium defence into paper instantly¡­" "Distortion of light, sound, smell, touch¡­ The formations also distort light, affecting vision ¨C perhaps that is why these creatures are associated with the concept of darkness. And at distances large enough, it seems even my soul-sense is suppressed¡­ Why¡­? Is it because this law exceeds my current level of enlightenment¡­? Or is it because soul-sense also perceives the natural, the things of the corporeal world¡­?" He recalled the sensation of the crawler''s claws sliding right through his defences. Then he held up his hand and waved it, applying distortion force to his surroundings as a gentle gust of air brushed into the solid wooden walls. The gentle breeze faded out to almost nothing by the time it reached the wall, however, with just that light touch of wind, the entire wall collapsed, causing rafters above to sink slight. With another wave of his hand, he twisted the light in the room, causing the windows to disappear and be replaced with perfect lines of the wooden wall ¨C an undetectable deception that, unlike illusion magic, could not be seen through or dispelled, unless one knew the laws of distortion that were at play. For who would suspect that the natural light beams reaching one''s eyes were already twisted and distorted before they even arrived? And there were no more distortion effects on the light beams apart from at the point of deviation¡­ With just that one encounter, he could now not only reverse the distortion effects, but utilise it and integrate the power of distortion with his own abilities. "The Darkness should be the wrong name for these creatures. Instead, they should be¡­ Products of someone''s schemes¡­ Someone who exceeds my level, who exceeds a Myth¡­All these creatures obviously don''t have much control over the distortion formations, but they do still retain some level of thought. They don''t seem like mindless puppets, but at the same time they behave like ravenous beasts. Are they capable of higher thought? Planning¡­? Who laid these formations¡­? It must be a part of some grand plan¡­" Lars mused as he noticed his surroundings shift. He could now see clearly ¨C he realised that he was still in the same house as before with the rune-covered box beside him. Only, to his dismay, he saw something that made him feel like he were dunked in frigid, sub-zero water. Trembling, Lars'' light-speed thought stopped working as he walked over to the open box. A box where the sanguine smell of blood was thick. A box where two pairs of arms, two pairs of legs, two twisted torsos lay. His shaking hand reached out, then stopped. He released a tremendous pulse of energy, cancelling and crushing any remaining distortion effects ¨C but nothing changed. This was the truth. Two bodies, of a mother and daughter, crushed at their sternums. A footprint could be seen on the mother''s dress while the girl''s body was untouched ¨C a mark of both their lives being reaped by one kick. Lars heard the sound of something breaking inside him. "....!!!!!!!!!!!! WRETCHED CREATURES!!!! I''LL DESTROY ALL OF YOU!!!!" Lars raised his head and roared in anguish. The boy who had never known his mother wailed out his heart, swearing to wipe out the mastermind of these atrocities, never to forgive the perpetrators. 194 Clash 4 Lars rampaged through the streets of Fetch homestead, crushing every crawler he came across. Though he was enraged, he remained cool headed. He extended his soul-sense to envelope the entire settlement and several kilometres around it, then reversed all distortion layers that were clouding his perception. He could then form a bird''s-eye view of the whole battlefield and lock on to the targets of his vengeance. The moment he dispelled the fog of distortion over the city, his point of view expanded and he saw fires breaking out, collapsed buildings and fleeing citizens. He surveyed the hotspots of battle and decided on his first objective ¨C a warehouse where Saint Ren''s team of 7 Divine warriors formed a ring around a group of civilians, protecting them against more than a dozen crawlers that were darting around furtively. ''The five cloaked figures¡­ They''re lurking at the edges of the battle. I suppose they''re adopting a wait-and-see stance¡­ No matter; I''ll let them have their way ¨C then strike them when they come in for the kill¡­'' If they were here for the Bell of the North Heaven, it was likely that they were waiting for a chance to launch a sneak attack on Elder Mash''noth. That would happen only when the battle reached the zenith ¨C which meant he would have to bide his time as well. ''So for now I''ll just have to disrupt your meticulous plans and give you a reason to come out early to play¡­'' He smiled without the slightest trace of warmth as he headed for Saint Ren''s group. * * * * * Saint Ren was sweating profusely, body trembling as he held his arms up to channel a defensive barrier, alongside his squad members. "My lord Saint! We can''t hold the runes much longer, the Dark energy is corroding our Light Aegis!" "Focus, Nidja! The Elder should be here soon!" The 7 Divine warriors and Saint Ren were positioned in a concentric formation around the civilians, located at the eight cardinal directions around them like an octagon. They were channelling their Divine power into the defensive force field that encapsulated more than 50 residents ¨C mothers, children, the weak and the elderly. However, this barrier had long begun to lose its lustre, turning from a robust golden colour to copper and now fading to a faint bronze. Soon, it would fade to a transparent brown before shattering completely together with their hopes of survival. The 8 Divine warriors were brave and vigorous, determined to lay down their lives for the sake of their home and people. However, even Saint Ren and Nidja, his sub-commander of the Divine Spear squadron were reaching their limits. They had set up this defensive position as a trap, intending to wipe out all the crawlers in one fell swoop ¨C but who knew that these crawlers would refuse to attack. ''These crawlers¡­ They''re too different; too smart¡­ Almost as if someone were commanding them¡­'' Saint Ren was at his rope''s end. They could only hold on for another few minutes ¨C no, a minute and a half at most. He couldn''t understand where Elder Mash''noth was or what had held her up. But whatever it was, they could only rely on themselves to resolve this situation. ''Only 45 seconds left... Damn it! My only choice left is to¡­'' Saint Ren''s grim expression turned into one of ease as he made his final decision. He turned gently to Nidja, nodding at him. His sub-commander''s face turned to one of shock, horror ¨C then gradually, a look of understanding replaced his shock. He tightened his lips together and reluctantly nodded. "Divine Spear squadron! Fulfil your duties! I, Saint Ren and captain of the Divine Spears shall fulfil my duty today! Sub-captain Nidja, you shall lead! Observe!" Saint Ren roared out these words, then withdrew his Divine Light energy back into himself, reinforcing his battle capabilities. He then circulated all the energies madly, intending to flare up his Divine Light in a singular explosion and take the crawlers down with him. Then he walked forward, leaving the protection of the Aegis Light barrier and facing the pack of crawlers alone. "We shall not fail you, Saint Ren! Captain! We, the Divine Spear squadron, observe!" At those words, veins bulged on Nidja and the other Divine warriors'' faces as they overdrew their Divine energy to make up for Saint Ren leaving the formation. Blood seeped from their mouths and eyes as they strained themselves to the utmost. ''No matter what¡­ We must protect our people¡­ Live on! Even if we ourselves are to die here¡­'' Thoughts ran through his mind as blood flowed down Nidja''s dark moustache. He shook under the strain, but refused to give up. ''¡­Live on!!!'' Grim resolve fuelled the Divine warriors'' hearts as they maintained the barrier at the cost of their lives. At that moment, time seemed to stand still for Saint Ren. He had a beatific expression as he cast his gaze about, *feeling* bodies of darkness lurking around the periphery of his senses. He could tell that they were impatient, restless¡­ Hungry for his blood. Ready to pounce on him, their delicious snack. ''Lord Seth¡­ Captain Vis¡­ Today I''ll repay my debt¡­'' As he prepared for their deadly attack and prepared his own retaliation, Saint Ren closed his eyes and took in what would be his last breath and gave his last words. ''I''ll see you again soon!'' The crawlers shot out of the darkness, sinister streaks of darkness that looked like the claws of a beast ready to tear apart a delicious morsel. And Saint Ren jammed his eye shut, crossed his arms in front of his chest, focused his Divine energy into a single point at his chest and¡ª "Oof!" He felt a soft but strong hand push him in the chest, knocking him backwards. His channelling was inadvertently disrupted, the Divine energy dispersing harmlessly, and he found himself back inside the Aegis Light barrier. "¡­???" Fallen on his posterior, he stared at the slim back of a teenage boy who was now standing where he had been, coming under the onslaught of more than a dozen dark creatures. The boy''s back looked too small, too weak, too frail. Saint Ren couldn''t help the fear that rose in his heart ¨C he could not let the Fated Child of Light fall here! "Boy!!What are you doing, you''ll get yourself killed!" Saint Ren tried to scramble to his feet, tried to get up and drag the boy back, drag him back to safety. But his feet were too slow, his body not following his orders as he could only watch in despair as the crawlers approached. "LARS!!! Get out of the way, you''ll die!!!" Saint Ren cried out, but he was too late. The crawlers were about to kill him. This time he was absolutely sure that time really did slow down for a moment as Saint Ren watched Lars move impossibly fast ¨C so fast that the crawlers seemed to be suspended mid-air, mid-pounce. A fist. A kick. A finger, an elbow. A head butt, a palm, a knee, a backhand blow. Lars arms and legs turned into blurs of resplendent light, seeming to flicker in and out of reality as he reaped the lives of one crawler after another. And one by one, the brilliantly shining figure of Lars struck the crawlers, piercing cleanly through their bodies, making their ethereal yet impenetrable defences look like jelly. Before anyone could even blink, Lars stood back in his original position, hands clasped behind his back calmly ¨C while the more than a dozen crawlers suspended in mid-air fell to the ground, collapsing in heaps of mutilated flesh, gore and blood. In just an instant, the crawlers that had forced them all to the edge of despair were turned into piles of rotting flesh by one man ¨C no, one hero''s unerring attacks. In their shock, Nidja and the Divine warriors forgot to maintain the barrier and it petered out. Their jaws were dropped in shock, their knees trembling in awe of the magnificent sight of the one boy who had saved them all. "O-One move, one kill¡­ G-Godly power¡­! Absolutely godly!!!" A resident could not hold back his awe, blurting out these words. "We''re saved!! Our hero has saved us!!" "Lars! Our hero''s name is Lars!" "Thank you, our saviour!!" Very soon, the other civilians followed suit, clamouring in excitement, relief and worship of their godly saviour. And at this time, Saint Ren was still seated on the floor, unable to get up, staring at the same back that he had been so worried about just seconds earlier. But this time, the boy''s back looked strong ¨C strong enough to carry the weight of the whole world. 195 Clash 5 With less than a handful of crawlers remaining scattered through the homestead, Lars left the safety of the civilians to Saint Ren and his team. Minutes ago, he could still hear the sound of a fierce battle with nearly 10 participants. However, the sounds of their clash had begun to grow weaker ¨C indicating that the battle had reached a critical moment. Which was exactly the most likely moment for the hunters in the darkness to strike. Lars advanced stealthily, taking his time to approach as he did not want to spook the ambushers. The last thing he wanted was for the cloaked figures to escape. However, he also owed a debt of gratitude to Lady Zera, Elder Mash''noth, Gatyon, Katya, Sir Kenneth and many others. This was a debt that he would have to repay, at least by ensuring the safety of the homestead. And to do this, he would weed out the roots of the conspiracy of the darkness ¨C the power of distortion that infected people like a plague. He soon arrived at the edges of the battle occurring outside the frontal walls of the homestead. He made his way past the hunters and warriors and found a place to watch and observed the situation. There was a tense silence among the men and women of Fetch homestead, broken every now by muffled whispers of worry for their future. He looked around and saw a good place to watch and wait from ¨C a raised watch tower. He weaved his way through the crowd and made his way up ¨C unseen to the archers within, of course. The moment he got to the top, he caught sight of the main combatants of Fetch homestead. Lady Zera and the goblin lord were floating in the air for their fight so as to avoid hurting their companions in the fallout. On the other hand, the elite hill goblins and a number of Fetch homestead''s top combatants were facing each other on the ground, lined up at a distance from one another. It was apparent that the leaders of both sides valued the lives of their soldiers ¨C neither sides'' main troops had engaged in battle yet, merely watching on as the powerhouses clashed instead. He saw the aforementioned leaders standing at an impasse. Both Lady Zera and the goblin lord Viru looked worse for wear, armour and clothes in tatters and numerous injuries on their bodies. However, none of the injuries were truly serious, suggesting that they were evenly matched. The same could not be said for the other main combatants, though. Captain Xiloth, Gatyon, Katya, Sir Kenneth and Maester Albert were gathered near one another, bearing various wounds on their bodies. However, they fared far better than the 4 elite hill goblins who had engaged them. Of the 4 hill goblins, 1 had lost an arm, no longer able to stand and forced to retreat from battle. The other 3 goblins looked completely worn out ¨C likely with only one more clash within them. They were in no condition to fight much longer. And this was probably the reason that goblin lord Viru looked absolutely enraged. However, the target of his ire was clearly not the people of Fetch homestead, but another party instead ¨C his eyes would dart backwards to glare angrily in the direction of the east hills. Lars scanned his surroundings once again with his soul-sense. When he found where the Divine Beast and the cloaked figures were, he smiled. ''Looks like a good show is about to start¡­'' Lars pulled his hood up to wait. * * * * * Lady Zera and goblin lord Viru were at a stand-off. They glared at each other warily with looks of resentment ¨C Zera because the goblin had invaded, Viru because his trusted companions were badly injured and also because his loathing for the cloaked beings had reached its peak. Viru''s face was both pale and dark at the same time. He was weakened from the prolonged clash, frustrated that he and his tribe were forced into this situation and unable to find any way out of this. He grunted in anger as he saw his deeply wounded lieutenants ¨C the four elite hill goblins who had accompanied him into many battles throughout the years. In terms of battle strength, he and the combine goblin tribe were far superior. However, in terms of powerhouses, he was at a disadvantage. A slight one, yes ¨C but one big enough that he did not see a favourable outcome if this continued. And yet he had no desire to sacrifice the lives of his clansmen to fight another person''s war ¨C he spared a glance at his thousands of tribesmen gathered nearby. He did not wish to drag them into this futile battle. He was stumped. What could he do? And so he was here, staring wordlessly at the humans'' leader without any good moves to make. The only option he had left was to use that thing¡­ That thing that filled him with a sense of dread and made his skin crawl. But could he really trust those monsters? When they were blackmailing him and obviously just using him¡­? Lady Zera, too, was aggrieved. She was deeply worried about the screams of panic and fear that had come from the residential area ¨C however, she could only rely on Elder Mash''noth and her followers to hold the fort over there, while she did her part facing the goblins head on. However, she had a bad feeling about things ¨C a feeling that grew worse as the seconds slowly ticked by. She didn''t want to move ¨C the more she could delay, the more time she could give Xiloth, Gatyon and the rest to recover ¨C but she could sense that she needed to end this battle quickly ¨C end it NOW, or else¡­ ''Or else what¡­?'' Zera was filled with doubt, but she could not shake the niggling feeling she had that something was about to go very, very wrong. ''It''s a good thing we prepared *that* plan already¡­ Now to set the bait.'' Reaching her decision, she shot a scheming look at her party on the ground and, upon making eye contact, she turned back to Viru. "Foul goblin¡­! Let''s not waste our time anymore! Neither should we needlessly sacrifice the lives of our people! You and I, one on one in an honourable duel ¨C let''s settle this now!" With those words, Zera raised her aura then beckoned to the goblin lord, inviting him to resolve their battle. At the same time, her team looked at one another and backed off slowly while still keeping their guard up. However, when they saw that Viru and the elite goblins did not pursue, Xiloth, Katya, Gatyon, Sir Kenneth and Maester Albert swiftly leapt back onto the city walls to take refuge and observe the deciding duel. "Disgusting creature! Do you accept my proposal?!" Zera narrowed her eyes and exhorted aggressively, drawing a look of anger from Viru. The goblin lord ¨C who had been silently staring at Zera for a while now ¨C grunted as he seemed to have made up his mind as well. He waved for his lieutenants to withdraw, which they did so hurriedly. Then he raised his aura and held up his right arm which began to glow with an earthen colour of soil. Thus far, Viru had fought barehanded. Now however, the earthen glow began to flow down from his shoulder to his arm and ended up in his hand, condensing into first a long shaft and then into a heavy head ¨C a hefty two-handed war hammer. "GROARRR!!!!""DIE!" The two fighters burst into action, roaring as they struck out at each other with spear and hammer in hand. * * * * * Not too far away, four cloaked people and their leader who had removed his hood lay in wait. Now that his face could be seen, he cut a strikingly handsome figure with tanned skin, silver hair and the bearing of a lord. Yet, however handsome he was, his eyes would cause shivers to run up one''s spin. His eyes were like pools of blackness, so dark that it seemed like his eye sockets were empty, gaping holes waiting to suck one''s soul in¡­ Among the four cloaked figures, one stood head and shoulders above the others. This figure spoke in a raspy voice, one that was also deep and booming. "Lord Seth, they''ve begun. We await your command¡­" The lead figure, Lord Seth, former Chieftain and Lord of Fetch homestead held up his hand in response, waving for his team to bide their time. "Soon, soon¡­ Soon will be our time to strike¡­ Soon, both the Bell and the Truthstone will belong to our master¡­" "Yes, Lord Seth. And¡­ As for their leader, Lady Zera¡­?" The large figure asked slowly. "¡­Z¡­ Zera¡­?" Upon hearing that name, Lord Seth''s eyes softened momentarily, trembling as a hint of green light seemed to pierce through his entirely black eye sockets. Then the light faded and the blackness stabilised again. "¡­Zera will belong to master¡­" 196 Clash 6 At the same time as the cloaked figures were executing their plot, in the hall of the Truthstone, a group of 5 Divine warriors were seated cross-legged around a snowy white cat, located in formation at the five corners of a pentagon. Their lips were moving in an esoteric chant, but no sound was heard. However, wisps of runic power snaked up out of them every now and then, the lines of Divine light coiling around the Truthstone before being absorbed into the transparent crystal. The Divine Beast in the centre had her eyes closed in a frown ¨C concentrating on powering up their secret weapon. Just then, the sound of someone knocking on the door was heard. Without waiting for permission to enter, a beautiful golden haired girl dressed in nearly transparent white robes entered quietly. She looked to be in her late teens at most, but her height and her curvaceous body gave her an air of maturity belying her age. She carried herself with a perfect mix of dignity and sensuality which, together with her bewitching figure, was enough to mesmerise any man or woman who saw her. She walked over to the centre of the room where Elder Mash''noth and her team were seated, every step graceful and pleasing to the eye. She seemed to unconsciously exude an aura of charm that would stir a watcher''s desire yet, curiously, she bore an innocent air as well. This innocence was contrasted by the fact that each step would cause her robes to catch and cling on to the curves of her voluptuous body in a hypnotic fashion. However, the most curious thing was that, if asked, no-one in the entire homestead would recall ever having seen this beauty before. Crossing the room, she entered the formation easily, the runic symbols seeming to leap in delight when she drew near. Reaching Elder Mash''noth''s side, she bowed slightly and spoke in a melodious voice. "Elder Mash''noth, your orders have been carried out. All preparations have been done." The Divine Beast nodded slightly with her eyes closed. She then finished the last stanza of her chant before opening her eyes and smiling fondly yet sadly at the beautiful girl before her. "Well done, Luca. The tainted ones are likely to make a move any time soon¡­" The Elder''s voice trailed off and she was silent for a moment. She made a silent prayer to the Divine Lord, hoping that they would not need to trigger their last resort. Then she sighed deeply, as if from the bottom of a despairing soul. "Who would have known that the Dark Lord would emerge¡­ There''s no time left, we have no choice¡­" She turned to look at Luca, the exquisite beauty beside her, saying, "Go and find the Child of Light, stay with him and protect him! No matter what, both you and the boy must live! Only with you by his side, can Lars vanquish the darkness forever! Bring him safely to the Temple of the High Priest ¨C Sunil will know what to do next¡­" Having said those words, Elder Mash''noth''s body lit up brightly, burning with Divine fire. She then began to chant wordlessly, quickly joined by the other 5 worshippers around her. The runic formation pulsed once, twice, three times, causing the Truthstone to pulse in response. Then a halo of Divine Light formed above the Truthstone. This halo floated over to land on the girl''s head before turning into specks of golden light which were absorbed into her body. This process seemed to age Elder Mash''noth greatly, causing her snowy white fur to turn grey and dark in some places. Coughing in pain, she let out a mournful meowl and fell to floor weakly. Seeing the Divine Beast''s condition, Luca hurriedly kneeled down by Elder Mash''noth''s side to help her up. Her face was twisted with a look of sorrow and she seemed to be on the verge of tears. "It''s¡­ It''s alright¡­ What must come, must come¡­" Turning to the beautiful girl, Elder Mash''noth laid a gentle gaze on her. It seemed that time froze for a while then. Elder Mash''noth seemed incredibly frail at that moment, but a small cat that was small enough to fit in one''s embrace. She reached out a soft white paw to touch the girl''s face softly and fondly. However, they knew that this had to be done. Elder Mash''noth nodded once slowly, tears streaming down her face and with an expression of unwillingness, spoke her last words to the girl. "...It''s done¡­ Now go¡­" Despite the tears that blurred her vision, Luca nodded calmly, as if she had already known this moment would come. However, she couldn''t still her shaking hands. She rose to her feet, clearing her throat in an attempt to compose herself, then spoke chokingly. "Yes¡­ Mother." The teary faced girl left the temple with determined footsteps, headed to find the Child of Light. * * * * * "Ow!" Lars slapped the back of his neck where he felt something like a mosquito bite. Then he frowned as he looked at his clean, empty hand ¨C how would it be possible for a mosquito to get near a Mountain-level, Legendary individual? He shook his head, chuckling to himself at the silly thought ¨C but he could still feel a prickling sensation on the back of his neck, as if though something was about to go terribly, terribly wrong¡­ He couldn''t quite shake this bad feeling, but without knowing what it was about, he could only shrug and respond to whatever came. He turned his eyes to watch the battle unfold, ready to intervene as needed. * * * * * Where the battle between Zera and Viru had been close before, it was now heavily in the goblin''s favour. They were fighting in close combat, making moves and counter-moves at point-blank range. They were both peak Mountain-level fighters, capable of establishing their names as Legends in the annals of history. However, in terms of strength, however, there was a significant difference. Viru''s heavy weapon and basic physique allowed him to continuously pressure Zera. The agile spear user''s advantage from a longer weapon was counteracted by Viru''s tighter attack trajectories while she was only marginally faster due to Viru''s berserk attacks. ''Shit¡­ I need to create a gap¡­ But this dog isn''t letting me!'' What had begun as an attempt to lure Viru into her trap had instead turned into a life-and-death struggle which she couldn''t disengage from. The moment their battle re-started, Viru had unveiled his berserk fighting style, rushing at her with frenzied, full power blows. If she tried to counterattack, he would threaten a mutually destructive exchange, one which she would come out on the losing end. When she tried to open up a distance, the goblin would roar and momentarily accelerate in a burst, his unique technique that allowed him to close the gap consistently. She could only wait for an opportunity, a mistake from Viru, striking cautiously as she retreated and dodging with her life on the line, each time one blow away from a crippling death. Whenever she blocked his war hammer, both she and her kingswood spear would groan in protest, and unless she dodged each attack completely, even the slightest brush from Viru''s attacks would cause her face to turn pale and body to tremble. She was sweating and panting - she had been walking this tight rope for several minutes with no sign of a chance emerging. "Pitiful human¡­! I have no wish to crush you and your people, but for my tribe, I will make you surrender the artefact! DIE! Killing Art: Peaks-to-Plains!!" Seeing his chance, Viru shot forward like a meteor soaring through the air, wielding his war hammer to deliver a crushing blow. A phantom image of a Primal Beast appeared behind him, looking like a Sabre-toothed Tiger with the skin and horn of a rhino, blood dripping from it''s planet-rending fangs. ''No choice! Dammit, DAMMIT ALL!'' Zera knew that she could not hold on for long. She grit her teeth and made her decision, forcefully drawing on the remaining Earth Pulse in her partially ignited 11th and 12th Life-Foci, permanently damaging the meridians in the process. However, this sacrifice gave her an extra burst of power. "Wretched, audacious goblin! I''ll show you true power! TWILIGHT EXECUTION!!" The night sky that was approaching dawn was dyed black, and the only light that was seen was the shining of a grand spear descending from the skies that cleared out the hills, vegetation, trees and goblins that lay in the path of the attack, leaving only level ground where it passed. Lady Zera slowly floated to the ground, breathing raggedly and clutching at her chest with her left hand. Her bloodied right arm hung limply by her side, her spear already turned to splinters. She smiled victoriously at the figure of goblin lord Viru who still stood, remaining suspended in the air with his arms and war hammer crossed before his chest in defence. He was badly burnt, but the wide-spread attack had failed to deal a killing blow ¨C exactly the expected result. But it was enough to distract him from the hidden joint attack of her companions that was sprung in the darkness ¨C companions that were surrounding goblin lord Viru, whose strikes had pierced his body in 5 places leaving gaping, fatal wounds. "Ur¡­ghhh¡­" He gasped and collapsed, beginning the long fall to the ground as the goblin army cried out in dismay. "GET LOST, BOTTOM DWELLERS! BEFORE WE MINCE YOU UP LIKE YOUR LEADER!" Gatyon''s roar of intimidation resounded towards the goblin army while Xiloth hurried over to Zera''s side to help her stand. But before he could reach her side, the dim light of the night sky turned to darkness and terrifying shrieks and wails were heard as five cloaked figures pounced onto their wounded prey. 197 Clash 7 As the dark cloaked figures launched their surprise attack on Zera and her companions, a golden haired boy with a tinge of red in his irises watched from the side calmly. He considered it for a while, but decided to intervene only if needed. "It''s not my turn to move yet..." He whispered to himself as he sat beside the soldier in the watch tower who was now panicking at the sight of the ambush sprung. "Oh¡­? Who is that¡­?" He noticed someone quickly headed in his direction. From her aura, she was an ally. However, this was his first time seeing her which was odd. Even with his soul-sense, he had never detected this person before. He raised his eyebrows in curiosity, but was then stunned, frozen in place as the girl appeared in his view. Beautiful. Bewitchingly beautiful. And her clothes¡­ It was as if though she were just lying in bed naked, wrapped in a thin bed sheet that clung to her slopes and valleys¡­ Lars watched "calmly" as she approached and ascended the watch tower, startling the soldier beside Lars so badly that he ended up falling off the edge, bruising himself slightly. Lars too was surprised that she could detect him and head straight for his direction, but even more surprised that he had never noticed such a heart-stopping beauty until this moment! She stopped once she was in front of him, chest heaving seductively from her brisk run, forcing Lars to use all his will power to keep his eyes on her face instead of letting his gaze wander. "Lars¡­?" Luca asked, her eyes flitting about, seeming to study Lars face and body. Lars responded with a nod. At his response, the stunning blonde girl crossed over to him and reached out a hand to his neck. Despite his hardened battle senses and combat instincts honed in life and death situations, Lars froze like a rabbit in front of a snake. Before he knew it, her hand had landed on his neck, stroking the necklace he wore and the little cat bell strung on it. He sighed in both relief and disappointment when he realised what she was doing and he coughed politely to interrupt her. Hearing his cough, she pulled back, looking startled and¡­ If he were not mistaken, she also had a look of sorrow when she saw the bell¡­ She gathered herself and bowed deeply, almost causing Lars'' soul to ascend to heaven as this opened up the view down the front of her blouse. He blushed furiously and somehow managed to tear his gaze away at the last minute. When Luca rose from her bow, she had a mischievous smile on her face, one that made her even more entrancing. When she saw him blushing furiously, she began to giggle, holding up a hand to her mouth daintily as she laughed. Lars glared at her resentfully ¨C it was obvious that she was fully aware of her effect on him and was just teasing him. However, he found that he couldn''t stay angry at her, instead finding himself drawn into her deep, blue eyes. And before he knew it, he was instead staring at her with his mouth open, entranced and in a daze. "Cute kid¡­" She smiled fondly at him like a big sister would and reached up to tousle his hair subconsciously. Then, remembering their situation, she grew serious. "Elder Mash''noth sent me to protect you. She has plans in place to counter the Dark Apostles, but¡­" Though she spoke calmly, her expression was grim and she subconsciously gripped the edge of her skirt tightly. "The Elder fears that things may turn out more dangerous than expected¡­" Her gaze turned towards the scene of the battle, drawing Lars'' gaze towards that direction as well. * * * * * "You!! Who are you!! Why are you doing this!?!" Zera exclaimed as she struggled against the writhing black tendrils that wrapped around her arms and legs like a cocoon, leaving only her head uncovered. The dark tendrils originated from where the cloaked figures arms ¨C or where their arms should have been. Her five companions were lying prone on the ground pincered by two cloaked figures and similarly bound by black tendrils that looked like the deformed roots of a rotting tree. Unlike Zera, they were covered from head to toe, not even leaving a gap for an ant to get through. Zera tried to break free several times but could only gasp in sharp pain as the tendrils ground against her limp right arm. "Zera¡­ You should know what''s best for you¡­ Why must you fight that which is inevitable¡­? Just accept the darkness, the comfortable darkness¡­" The lead cloaked figure stood before her, sinister words of temptation leaving his mouth. Zera could not make out anything within the cover of the hood over his face ¨C except for his eyes. His terrifying, black pits, swirling vortices of darkness that threatened to swallow up her soul. How was it possible for two spots of darkness to be the only thing visible, darker than the darkness due to the absence of light¡­? She didn''t know how it could be possible, but what she knew was that there was a terrible sense of *wrongness* to it. The figure emanated a sense of grave danger, different and more deadly than goblin lord Viru before. However, there was also a strange sense of familiarity about the figure, something in the thing''s voice that seemed to prompt a sense of¡­ ''Acceptance and trust¡­? NO!! I refuse to give in!!'' "GRAHHH!!! MONSTERS!!! I''D RATHER DIE THAN SURRENDER!!!" Zera went mad, circulating berserk Earth Pulse into the 10 Life-Foci in an attempt to self-detonate. But to her shock, the tendrils around her pulsed in response to her energies and the flows of Earth Pulse began to dissipate. Seeing her futile struggles, the lead cloaked figure stood motionless and wordless for a moment, before a tremor ran through his body. Then, the figure''s eyes closed, and when they opened again, a pair of eyes that belonged to a human were revealed ¨C eyes that gazed at Zera with love and compassion. "Zera¡­ My child¡­ Trust me, the darkness will give you a new life, a new hope. Don''t believe the lies of the Eternal Liar Sun Lord¡­ Trust me¡­" The cloaked figure''s hands rose to doff his hood, revealing a face that caused Zera to gape in shock and reluctance. "No¡­ It can''t be¡­ You¡­ No!! My father is dead, MY FATHER IS DEAD! YOU CAN''T BE¡­ No¡­" Zera''s eyes widened, trembling. Her eyebrows furrowed, frowning so deep that the veins in her eyes began to emerge, the whites of her eyes turning bloodshot. But then, her protests turned to sobs of denial as her head fell and shook side to side, unable to accept the scene that was before her. Lord Seth moved forward to stand closer to Zera, close enough that she could feel his frigid, decayed breath on her face, making her choke in disgust. "My child¡­ Zera, it really is me¡­ The darkness saved me, the darkness protected me, and the darkness has promised us all a new hope of glory! Come with me, child! Before it''s too late, before the Eternal Liar damns the whole world!" Lord Seth gently but firmly cupped Zera''s chin, forcing the girl to look him in the eye. "No matter how you deny it, the truth is before your eyes. Though I should have died, I am whole and alive! And the cause of the darkness is just and righteous! So join us¡­" Lord Seth looked fondly at his daughter, stroking her face. ''Join us¡­'' ''Join us¡­'' ''Join us¡­'' The words kept on echoing in her mind and ears, causing Zera to moan and grit her teeth, thrashing about in mental pain. She fought against the suggestion, refusing to give in, denying even her father that was before her, holding on to the Divine Light and believing that Elder Mash''noth would come through to rescue them. Seeing her continued resistance, Lord Seth''s expression suddenly changed from gentle to cold and deranged. "¡­You WILL join us¡­" Then that expression changed to one of sinister cruelty and his eyes turned murderous, becoming pits of darkness once more. "Whether you want to or not¡­" 198 Divine 1 Birds took flight, heading away from Fetch homestead, as if sensing danger. And, Luca beside him, Lars'' eyes grew serious. He prepared himself for what was to come. * * * * * "¡­You WILL join us¡­ Whether you want to or not¡­" Black vortices swirled sinisterly where Lord Seth''s eyes should have been, before jet-black strands of hair slowly snaked out of his eye sockets and coiled around Zera''s face. The strands of hair softly brushed against her face, eliciting screams of fear and disgust. The hairs seemed like they were stroking her face lovingly, before crawling over her face to enter her eyes, ears, nose and mouth. "No ¨C NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lord Seth smiled wickedly as he watched Zera scream in panic; helplessly bound, she could do nothing to resist. She flung her head side to side and kicked her legs, but the hairs soon swallowed up her entire head, insistently approaching the orifices on her face. *Ting!* Just then, the clear ring of a bell resounded through the mind of everyone within a dozen miles. Then a beam of searing blue-golden light erupted from the centre of Fetch homestead, rising to the sky before curving in a wondrous ellipses to cut down the cloaked figures. The sight of the soul-vanquishing beam of light caused Lord Seth''s smile to stiffen as he dodged hurriedly, his moves followed immediately by the other cloaked figures - but as if out of nowhere, crystalline chains of silver energy locked onto their legs with a clanging sound, anchoring them in place, rendering them unable to move. "ARGGHHHH!!!! MASH''NOTH!!!!!!!!!!!" Unable to evade, Lord Seth could only roar in rage as millions of dark roots and tightly wound hairs sprouted from his mouth, eyes, nose and ears to form a ball around him just before the beam of Divine energy crashed down on him in a deafening explosion. However, the other 4 cloaked figures were not quick enough, being engulfed by the storm of blue-gold lightning before they could defend themselves. For an instant, everyone''s vision was eclipsed by a dazzling scene of blue lightning, golden Divine Light and sparkling energies that swept away every presence of darkness. The tendrils, the roots, the strands of hairs were disintegrated like darkness dissipating under the light of the sun and eroded even the compressed defensive layers around Lord Seth, causing his body to erupt in Divine flames that damage the soul. The other cloaked figures fared even worse ¨C not even a trace of their bodies or clothes remained in the aftermath of the Divine attack. To their surprise however, Zera, Xiloth, Sir Kenneth, Gatyon, Katya and Albert were unharmed by the blue-gold light ¨C instead, they found their bodies being nourished and their energy replenished. Even Zera''s damaged Life-Foci begun to be restored and repaired. Even the injured goblins could feel the flesh and bones around their bodies itch ¨C a sign of quickened healing. However, all these were but for a moment ¨C until the lance of heaven struck the earth. When the Divine beam hit the ground, it was as if the earth were flipped over. An earthquake radiated outwards from Fetch homestead as the epicentre, wreaking havoc across the land. Whether goblins or humans or Dark creatures, a sense of weightlessness was felt as everyone was forcefully knocked into the air by the impact. Dizziness and vertigo seized every individual, robbing them of their ability to move in the aftermath of the apocalyptic event. A mushroom cloud of dust and soil surged into the air, blurring vision and inundating lungs, marking the end of the destruction and hiding the wounded earth and people. * * * * * The battle was won. Lord Seth and the cloaked figures had been disintegrated without even a strand of hair left¡­ But there was a price to be paid for the victory as well, one that left the people of Fetch homestead sorrowful and feeling hollow. Multitudes of people, goblins, animals and livestock were strewn across the ground all around Fetch homestead. Those who were conscious were groaning, but the vast majority were knocked out cold, some even bleeding from their eyes and nose from the titanic impact. The homestead walls burst apart into remnants of timber, stone and connecting materials, while trees were uprooted in a radius of several kilometres. Buildings were levelled instantly, leaving only heaps of rubble and dust, and even mountains were shaken, triggering avalanches and landslides. Everywhere around, the heaving of the ground left only destruction and devastation with nothing and no one left standing ¨C nothing except the barracks hall where the attack had originated, where the Truthstone and Elder Mash''noth were. The barracks was surrounded by a shimmering golden globe that had protected the building and occupants from the explosion. Nonetheless, the earthquake could only be suppressed, not erased completely. The barracks hall was teetering on the edge of collapse, barely held up by the pulsating glows of Divine energy, while Elder Mash''noth and the other 5 Divine worshippers were covered in dust and lying prone on the floor. They were exhausted and dizzy, partly from the earthquake, but mostly due to over-exertion of Divine power, for the Judgment of God formation was at the peak of the Spirit (Mythical) level, far exceeding their capabilities by a full level. This feat of Divinity was only made possible through the use of the Spirit-level Artefact, the Truthstone. "I''m¡­ Too old for this¡­" Elder Mash''noth panted in fatigue, wheezing and looking weak. But she looked greatly relieved. They survived¡­ "Though at what cost¡­" Her heart shook at the thought of the scale of rebuilding needed, what with food supplies low and autumn fast approaching. And the goblin tribes would be in a state of turmoil for some time at least until a new lord was appointed. Even then, if the new lord chose a militant stance¡­ Elder Mash''noth pushed the thoughts aside. Those were worries for another season. Just getting through the winter would be challenging enough as it were. Closing her eyes, her body turned into a blur and she used a Blink to cross the distance to Zera''s side and manage the clean-up of the battlefield. She arrived before the city gates just in time to see Zera regaining consciousness. She had been lying on the ground propped up by Captain Xiloth while the other council members formed a perimeter in case of any retaliatory attack from the goblins ¨C who, strangely, were yet to retreat but had not attacked either. "Cough¡­ Cough¡­" Zera regained consciousness quickly, finding herself lying on the ground. Checking her body, she found to her relief that she was fine except for her right arm which would need several weeks to fully recuperate. "Father¡­? Father!" She raised herself up hurriedly and looked around, only to see a scene of destruction and chaos. "What¡­? Elder¡­? Xiloth¡­? What happened¡­? Is father¡­?" Zera''s face was filled with conflicting emotions as she looked at those around her, hoping against hope for a miracle. Those around her exchanged a glance, heavy hearted and weary from the aftermath of the hard-won fight. However, she knew from their expressions that Lord Seth was no more. It was Katya who was the first to speak. "Milady, at first, we thought that you were going to be taken by the Darkness too¡­ I-We¡­ We''re all so glad that you were saved just in time¡­ If you were to be turned too, I wouldn''t be able to¡­" The passionate woman could not continue, just falling silent as the tears wet her face. Her face fell as did her gaze, and she could not lift her head to look Zera in the eye. "Yeah, Milady¡­ We¡­ We''re sorry we couldn''t do anything but, Lord Seth, he¡­ We''re just glad you''re safe¡­" Gatyon added. "Zera¡­ I''m sorry¡­" Xiloth put his arm around her shoulder, holding her close. Today, she didn''t pull away even from what she normally termed as an inappropriate public display of affection. Zera took in a deep breath and steeled her resolve. She knew that, if there had any other way, any other thing that they could have done it, they would have. She trusted her companions, trusted their hearts towards her and her father. However, she knew as well as they that there had been no other way. "Xiloth¡­" She looked up fondly at her long time sweetheart who she decided would from today forth be her man, then at her other companions, touched. Then she reached out to put her left hand on Katya''s shoulder to tell her it was alright. "Katya¡­ Everyone¡­ URGH!!" But before she could, she felt an erratic heart beat inside her chest, one that was so forceful, that it shook up her insides. A gush of blood rushed up into her mouth and she forcefully spat out a red mist as she heard a voice calling her¡­ Beseeching her¡­ Commanding her. -Kill them all- "Yes my lord¡­" And she answered. 199 Divine 2 Just before the Divine beam of golden-blue light ascended to the heavens, Lars senses flared up and he turned to Luca to warn her, making ready to guard the damsel. "Luca, be care¡ª" "GET DOWN!" "Ful¡ªUGH!" However, before he could react, he was knocked to the ground by the ravishing beauty beside him. Though he was surprised by her speed ¨C equivalent to the Hill (World-class) level ¨C that was not what made him unable to dodge. You could imagine Lars reaction at being tackled head on by a buxom, tantalising temptress. Not to mention evading, even rational thought was suspended at the moment that he saw her jump towards him to cover his body, her arms and certain other appendages rising with her momentum to crash into his chest¡­ When her pillowy chest hit him in the face, Lars'' vision turned black both physically and mentally. Because of that, even when the Divine Judgment of God rose up and struck the battlefield catastrophically, he couldn''t see it¡­ He *did* feel the outbreak of power bursting forth from the epicentre though, causing his hairs to stand on end. Despite entering the Myth level in terms of soul, his battle power had not advanced beyond the peak-Legendary stage yet. He was still grasping at the laws that separated Legends from the world of Myths¡­ As such, this was the first time he saw ¨C no, experienced a full-power Mythical attack first hand, and he was shocked by the potency. That is, he would have been if he were not shocked by something else far more *potent*. Luca''s lunge to protect Lars had carried him away from the walls, leaving them lying on the sandy streets of Fetch homestead. She lay on top of him, grasping his head in her embrace and making sure he did not receive a concussion or suffer from stray shrapnel ricocheting through the air. It took a while for the dust to settle, and it was only when Luca saw that everything was safe that she got up off Lars'' body. She looked around while brushing the dust off her white translucent dress. All around them were warriors and hunters knocked out cold, some groaning as they slowly approached consciousness. "Lars, it''s safe now. The battle is won!" Satisfied that all was well, she turned to help Lars up, however, she was shocked when she saw the boy. "Lars!!!" Luca hurriedly kneeled beside him then leaned down over his body to wipe the blood away from his nose. "I-I''m fine, really, I''m fine!" Lars waved away Luca''s attempts to help as he rushed to his feet. Though the impact of the explosion had been widespread, the aftershocks were negligible. Only the core area of the blast was of any threat to a Legend. As they composed themselves, Luca expressed relief that Elder Mash''noth''s plan had been executed successfully. It had been contingent on Lady Zera being able to create an opening using herself as the bait to draw in the Dark cultivators. However, it had been beyond their expectations for the enemy mastermind to be Lord Seth, former head of Fetch homestead. Lars paused to think. If Lord Seth were among those ambushed and lost 10 years ago, then these events would need to have begun far, far earlier¡­ It meant that there was still a grand conductor orchestrating the macabre events in the past decade and before that. ''It seems that despite our difficult victory, this was just round one, a prelude to more sinister plans to come¡­ Tch¡­'' Lars regretted holding himself back from participating earlier. If he had taken action, perhaps the destruction to the homestead and the surrounding dozens of kilometres could have been avoided¡­ However, he had lacked the information or the confidence to draw out the dark hand behind the curtains. ''No matter¡­ Even if you are deeply rooted, even if you are a mighty Divine realm being¡­ Just wash your neck and wait for me, I''ll surely rip out your roots and tear you apart¡­!'' Lars gaze sharpened as he determined to find and destroy the heinous mastermind behind it all. "If you''re ready, shall we see Elder Mash''noth...? I''m sure she''ll be able to answer any questions you have. She should be heading over to see Lady Zera and the others even as we speak." Luca smiled gently at Lars and half-turned towards the front gate, that is, where the front gate used to be. All that was left of the walls and gates were piles of rubble ¨C broken logs and cracked stones. It was then that Lars felt the heartbeat ¨C the same heartbeat that pulsed out from Zera''s chest. Alarms bells went off in Lars'' head, raising his caution to the highest level. He moved instantaneously, trusting the premonitions of Insight. And just in time too as just a split second later, the starry sky was blotted out by hundreds ¨C no, thousands of dark tendrils that struck down at every creature in the entire area. The tendrils that were aimed at Lars and Luca landed where they had been standing moments ago, causing a terrifying *shiiiiing!* sound as they pierced the hard rocky ground smoothly like a hot knife sliding through butter. They had narrowly avoided the sudden attack, however, the thousands of others had not managed to evade death. Whether they were human or goblin, the dark tendrils that were as thick as a man''s fist had lashed out indiscriminately, reaping countless lives in an instant of death. Surrounded all around by the tendrils that looked like purple, rotting tree roots, Lars stifled a howl of rage for each of the deadly tendrils had a corpse at the end ¨C the remains of hundreds of Fetch homestead residents. "No.... No¡­.. No¡­!!!" Luca''s eyes grew wide in horror and a tremor ran through her entire body. She swayed in Lars'' arms and grew limp though she was still conscious ¨C her mind could not bear the scene of carnage all around them. "What in the world is this¡­?" The hairs on Lars'' arms were standing on end as he sensed a puissant, oppressive might exuding from where Zera, Viru, Lord Seth and the rest should have been. If earlier the Judgment of God had been a single and one-off blast of Mythical power, this presence was an adversary who had genuinely stepped into the Mythical realm. Even if it were only in the beginning stages, a Myth was still a tyrant able to dominate a country and not something he could face head on. The only comfort he had was that the presence seemed to be slumbering right now. The attacks by the tendrils were sharp, fast and heavy, but lacked the power of laws, and thus only threatening to those below Legends. ''A Myth¡­ This could be my only window of opportunity ¨C before the creature gains full consciousness¡­'' He hesitated for a moment in the face of such a formidable presence, but steeled himself and decided to confront the unforgivable perpetrator. Lars'' figure flashed and he soared into the air with Luca in tow, buoyed by Earth Pulse-controlled currents of air. He cast out a wave of soul-sense and found to his relief that Elder Mash''noth''s location was saved by a thin veneer of Divine energy that warded off the tendrils. This shimmering barrier looked flimsy and like it were about to crack at any moment, however, it still continued to hold up under the weight of dozens of dark vines. On the other hand, Zera, Gatyon, Katya and the rest were nowhere to be seen¡­ He had to forcefully blot out the sight of the thousands of lost lives all around him as he identified the source of the dark tendrils and zipped towards his target ¨C a nearly 30 metre tall humanoid animated tree. ''A corrupted treant¡­?'' On the top of the tree were silvery branches that protruded like spiny hair, and just below that, the jagged and rough tree bark on the surface of the treant''s body was broken by two black pits where the eyes should have been. Unlike the earlier Lord Seth where the darkness in the eye slots was malevolent and sentient, these pits were completely empty, seeming lifeless. However, this lifelessness was belied by the fact that every now and then, the bark on the surface of the tree would vibrate before a new layer slowly emerged to continually grow the girth and height of the creature. The barren treant''s legs were intertwined, connected to the ground by a great tree stump and with colossal roots snaking out around it. Moving upwards, the immense tree trunk of the treant''s body split off into two gargantuan branches ¨C the treant''s arms. The dark tendrils that claimed every life around them emerged from those arms that were outstretched motionless into the air. Lars could see that these tendrils seemed to pulse like veins carrying nutrients from their tips to the main trunk. He could sense that the life force and blood of the slain was being sucked by every pulse of the tendrils. And with every pulse of the nutrients being drawn in, Lars could feel the consciousness awakening. The tree trunk began to tremble more and more actively and every now and then, he could even hear the same threatening heartbeat that had triggered this disaster. Lars suddenly began to feel like he were watching a dragon rouse from it''s slumber, every breath it took one that breathed out death and despair. Though it was unsure how long it was until the beast would awaken, it was just a matter of time. As Lars considered his options, some tendrils that were unoccupied raised themselves up and began waving in the air. Then, like a defence system that had sensed an intruder and a target, they lanced over in Lars direction at shocking speeds. However, these speeds could not elude Lars'' eyes. At the sight of incoming branches, he casually gestured with his free hand, releasing a wave of runes and light like a curtain before him. The vines blindly pierced through the runes that did not seem to hold them back at all, charging forward towards their prey. However, no matter how many tendrils attacked or how much they pressed forward, it seemed like the tentacle-like roots could not advance. The roots would begin to decay the once they came into contact with the curtain of light, disintegrating and dissipating before they could come within 10 metres of Lars'' body. That lasted only until the next second when the creature roused from it''s slumber. 200 Divine 3 Lars knew that something had changed when the tendrils attacking him suddenly stopped at a distance, swaying back and forth menacingly but held at bay like dogs on leashes. Though his line of sight of the corrupted treant''s main body was blocked by the sea of dark vines, he noticed it straight away, because the treant released an instinctive soul-attack, lashing out at Lars'' soul-sense with a roar. ''Shit! Defend!'' Lars'' eyes widened ¨C though the corrupted treant''s soul was far weaker than his, he had to protect Luca, lest she be turned into a mindless puppet by the soul-scorching attack. He formed a spirit shield around his soul and allowed the soul-strike to disperse around harmlessly. He also took the chance to dash backwards to open up as much distance as he could. Just in time as well, for when it realised that it''s unfocused soul attack was ineffective, the treant released another roar and uprooted itself, forming countless legs with its roots to pursue Lars and Luca. In contrast to it''s looming size and height that was by now over 50 metres high, the rotting treant moved like a blur, crashing it''s way through the destroyed remains of Fetch''s city walls and bearing down on Lars. Despite it being awake, he could feel from the touch of their soul-senses that the creature was¡­ Like a mindless beast or a child¡­ But in this case, the child was in control of a monstrous body and flinging hundreds of dark tendrils of raw power in their direction! "Come back here!!! I''ll crush you and suck out the sweet blood from your bodies!!!" The corrupted treant chased after the duo relentlessly while growling out sentences that sent chills up Luca''s spine. She held on tight as they weaved their way, turning left and right in the air to avoid the straight-line charges of the treant. Lars frowned as he shot out wave after wave of a combination of Earth Pulse and Divine Light runes around them. Each time the tendrils hit the runes, they would still turn to dust, however, it seemed that the energy required for the runes to counter the tendrils was increasing steadily, almost as if¡­ ''As if the child were maturing in real time¡­ From being unable to use any laws, to gradually grasping the basic laws of distortion¡­ Shit¡­ This isn''t going to end well...'' Lars felt his throat tighten as he grasped Luca''s supple waist. He still had more than 70% of his energy in reserve, but he could not identify a path of escape or victory. And what was worse was that the enemy was improving by the second. Where earlier it would charge headlong blindly after him, allowing Lars to zip off to the side and leave it in the lurch, now the treant began to moderate the speed of it''s charge, allowing it to make quicker adjustments to its path. "Lars, what are we going to do¡­?E-everyone''s already¡­ Already dead¡­" Luca spoke breathlessly as they soared through the air at breakneck speeds. She had thought that she would be protecting the youth, however, she now found herself in complete dependence on the heroic boy''s strength and agility for survival. She could only hang on to him and hope that they found a solution ¨C and quick. "Damn! Think, Luca! You need to think! Do you have any backup plans, any artefacts or something?" Lars yelled back as he dodged a hulking tree root that rose up unseen and nearly skewered them both like kebabs. "T-The Bell of the North Heaven has an escape mechanism, but¡­" "But what! Quick!" Lars dropped down out of the air and kicked off the tree bark before shooting back up, narrowly avoiding the treant''s arm that descended where they were just moments ago. "Ahhh!! But it requires us to stand still and chant for 15¡­ No, I can do it in 10 seconds!" She screamed back, still thinking quick and replying. "10 seconds! Impossible! Even 2 seconds would be too much! Come on, lady! Don''t you have some powerful tool or secret weapon?!" Lars exclaimed, pouring forth his powers at maximum capacity. He could sense that the treant was adapting to his movements swiftly, but worse than that, the powers of distortion that he had been unravelling earlier were now powered by the laws of distortion that he did not have the power to challenge with his mere Legend strength¡­ "Something else¡­ Something¡­ Wait!" It was then that she noticed something. The homestead was now a web of roots, covered almost completely by tendrils. However, every now and then, she catch sight of a twinkle of fading light. At first, with how fast they were darting around in evasion, she had thought it to be her mistake. However, the longer she observed, the more certain she was. "Lars! Over there! The Truthstone¡­ Mother, I mean, Elder Mash''noth is still alive! We need to save her! Maybe she''ll have a solution!" But before he could act on it, Lars felt the air around him change suddenly. The tendrils ceased moving abruptly, stopping their pursuit. At the same time though, the space itself was frozen. The sensation¡­ The *presence* of the corrupted treant had completely changed ¨C changed so abruptly that Lars had barely noticed it before the new consciousness had already locked onto them both. Locked down in mid-air, the boy and the girl strained with all their might, Lars even lashing out with his soul which did manage to make the consciousness retreat slightly and raise it''s defences. However, the space remained locked down along with the two occupants who were suspended and helpless. The treant then approached at a slow, almost leisurely pace, it''s black eyes twinkling and face seeming to smile in delight. Then it spoke with a completely different voice from it''s earlier growling guttural one, a young female voice that was sweet, enchanting and mesmerising. "I was wondering what had held up my pet for so long. Interesting¡­ I was initially going to punish it for having wasted so much effort... I didn''t expect it to have fished up someone so valuable as the Child of that damnable scoundrel Sun¡­! Aghahaha!" Only, the enchantment of that sweet voice was broken by the grating laugh at the end. From the smiling treant, a sinister presence descended upon them, one that gave Lars a sense of immenseness, like an entity that towered above the heavens and was toying with a pair of goldfish. ''¡­Semi Divine realm¡­ Even if it''s just the sliver of it''s consciousness, I''m doomed¡­ Damn it, damn it all!!!!!!!!" Every muscle of Lars'' body trembled as he screamed in his mind, trying to escape the predator before him. But no matter what he did, he couldn''t even move a strand of hair. He could only watch as the treant under the control of a Semi Divine conscient raised it''s hand and pointed it''s index finger at him. "I''m so glad you chose to, *hang around*! Aghahahah! I''ll settle both you lil'' rats as well as the other rat hiding with the Truthstone¡­ Do you get it? I''m calling the white cat a rat! Aghahaha!" Lars winced in pain unintentionally, cringing at the inappropriateness and bad quality of the words the being seemed to regard as humour¡­ Noticing his change of expression, the treant/ being smiled even wider and drew Lars and Luca towards itself. "I hope you don''t mind my jokes. You should learn to enjoy them; after all, I''m going to keep you alive for a veeeeery long time with I, Belic Wildwood¡­" Then, from that index finger, one dark spine extended towards Lars'' chest to pierce his heart. 201 Divine 4 In the semi-collapsed hall of the Truthstone, the Divine Beast was no longer a pure snowy white. Instead, Elder Mash''noth''s fur had turned grey and even fallen off in places. However, the biggest change to her once-beautiful was in the streaks of red flowing down from her eyes and mouth that painted Elder Mash''noth in crimson tides of blood. However, she was already considered to be in a good state as compared to her squad of Divine worshippers who were already unconscious and on their last breaths. Nonetheless, she continued to overstrain her Divine energy and powered the light barrier around them all. Having finished even her last reserves, by this time, she was burning her life force in a last stand against the tendrils of darkness'' descent. "Haha¡­ There''s no hope anymore¡­ There''s nothing left I can do¡­ At least, at least the Child of Light is safe¡­" As she coughed up blood once more and prepared for her end, she realised that her resistance was futile. The horrific presence was coming nearer and would be able to shatter her fragile defences with just a breath of wind. The only comfort she had was that Lars and Luca had made it away safely¡­ "As long as the Child of Light is safe, the war against the darkness isn''t over¡­!" Lacking the Divine power to continue any longer, Elder Mash''noth could only watch as the barrier of light began to flicker before it would begin to disappear completely. She smiled in relief. She was ready to meet her god. Silent before her impending death, Elder Mash''noth closed her eyes and braced herself, ready to surrender her soul to meet the Divine Sun Lord in his Realm of Eternal Radiance. Ready, that is, until she felt the fluctuations of a fierce battle, a clash between the immense force of darkness the two people ¨C one whose Divine Light signature she recognised. Her heart sunk, filled with dread. Was there truly nothing left she could do¡­? She had already emptied every reserve she had. She had even burned her remaining years of life in a feeble attempt to struggle for survival, in the hopes that some miracle would occur. What was there left for an empty, broken vessel like hers to do¡­? ''Oh Divine Lord¡­ I''m unable to save the Child of Light, nor am I able to protect my own daughter¡­ H-how... Useless I am¡­ If only there were something left, some way to protect them!'' ''All I have left is this crippled soul that''s about to be given up¡­'' Despite her will to fight, Elder Mash''noth was unable to find the strength to resist any longer. Her head fell onto the hard ground. However, her own words jogged her thoughts. Just then, an ancient memory came to her mind ¨C one that had happened so long ago that even she with her mighty soul and superior intellect could barely recall. No! There was something left ¨C and she would do it without any hesitation! ''Teacher¡­ You said that this was a forbidden Sacrament¡­ But today, I, your student will have to disappoint you¡­'' Somehow, something changed in the environment. Though she was still lying limp on the floor, there was now a light in her bloodied eyes. And she whispered the beginnings of the forbidden chant that would rend her soul, turning it into the fuel for a last gasp retaliation. "Deific Manifestation¡­" As Elder Mash''noth began the chant, the barrier of light above her shattered and the tendrils of darkness descended, intent on reaping her life and liberating her soul to ascend. However, they would not be able to reach their target. For in the hall below, there was no longer any snowy white cat, no Divine Beast who had tided the Fetch homestead through nearly a century of struggles. The majority of the gathered tendrils waved curiously, searching for their target while some other tendrils greedily pierced into the bodies of Elder Mash''noth''s team members who lay unconscious on the ground. However, the Divine Beast was nowhere to be found. There was only a wisp of light, an incorporeal body of Divine energy imprinted on the surface of the Truthstone slowly being absorbed into the glassy crystal¡­ One in the shape of a cat. Then the feline image gradually dissipated until all that was left was just the Truthstone glowing with light that grew increasingly bright. The light continued to grow ever brighter until, suddenly, all the light from the Divine crystal disappeared as it was sucked back in for just a moment. However, in the next, a shockwave of golden fire was released in a dome that incinerated everything it touched ¨C tendril, human bodies, wood, stone, armour¡­ Everything was turned first to ashes, then to particles of dust, then to nothingness before the cleansing flames. "What is thi¡ª!!" Faced with this unexpected fiery onslaught, Belic Wildwood exclaimed in a girly, youthful voice. The corrupted treant could only cross her arms and block the blast of light with a flood of dark tendrils. "Grahh!!! Damn you, Sun!!!" However, the tendrils were like kindling in front of a bonfire, ending up being burnt right through. Without a chance to plant her roots into the earth, the singed treant could not keep her footing and was thrown back several kilometres. Lars and Luca were no better prepared. With the spatial lock shattered, they had not even begun to fall from gravity before the blast was upon them. To their surprise and relief, a beam of gentle white light emerged from the Bell of North Heaven hanging around Lars'' neck. This beam then merged into the golden flames and turned into a protective bubble that kept them insulated from the furnace-like surroundings. The brilliant light that burst forth expanded rapidly before forming a dome made of golden plumes of flame, stopping its growth once it covered an area of nearly a quarter of Fetch homestead. Then a pillar of resplendent glory began to descend from indiscernible heights of the atmosphere to connect with the centre of the dome where the Truthstone lay. The heavenly scene was accompanied with the voices of millions of worshippers and holy spirits raising up songs of the Divine Lord''s Sacraments, and the light grew brighter and brighter. Lars and Luca shielded their eyes and were almost forced to look away due to the brilliance of the glorious divine light. However, as the light slowly dimmed enough for them to pry open their eyelids, they squinted and attempted to make out what was happening. With strained eyes, they could barely make out a divine figure descending downwards along the pillar of light, one that immediately called to mind only one entity: a god! The divine being stopped his descent and hovered high above the Truthstone, still enveloped in the pillar of light. Then the voices of the choir of heavenly beings ceased as the divine entity raised his hands. He spoke, his voice seeming to come from within Lars and Luca''s mind, "Belic! Wildwood!" His voice echoed out through millions of metres around, booming and causing reverberations in the atmosphere. The clouds rippled from the force of that exclamation, revealing a night sky that had turned to the hey-day of noon from the manifestation of Divine Light. And from afar off, the ground rumbled as a great hulking tree raised herself to her feet and lifted her arms to roar in reply, "Sun!!!" Belic bounded forward, crossing the kilometres of distance in one step, her landing rocking the entire earth and threatening to topple even the mountains surrounding the valley. The divine being, Sun hovered in the sky, dwarfed by the treant that looked like a small hill. However, in Lar''s perception, the being named Sun''s presence blazed with far greater pressure. The treant then stopped moving as dark purple mist billowed out from it''s facial orifices before gathering in the shape of an elegant woman. Purple hair, purple eyes, purple lips. She was dressed in dark purple armour that covered her entirely except from the neck up. She cut a tantalising figure with her armour that hugged every curve of her bountiful body tightly, the runic black formation lines and shining black spikes giving a hint of danger to her beauty. "Hmmph! It''s been countless centuries since you last dared to face me! What, you''re ready to come crawling out of your wretched hiding hole now? How dare you lay your hands on the Truthstone and its wielder! I''ll rip out your conscient and roast it in the ninth Hell!" Upon hearing that, Belic ¨C the purple-clad woman ¨C burst out in bell-like peals of laughter, the corrupted treant following suit to laugh with a booming voice. "Aghahaha!! Some divine being¡­ Don''t you know that you sound just like a devil, talking about Hell¡­? Hah, though you call yourself the Divine Lord, a more fitting name is Eternal Liar¡­! Aghahah!" 202 Divine 5 "You may call me whatever you like¡­ But it surprises me that a mere demi god would dare to antagonise a true divine being¡­! What gives you such brazen confidence? Is it merely that shell ¨C" Sun pointed at Belic''s treant body, "¡ª given to you by the Land Goddess? If so, you should know that a Terra Root is nothing before my cleansing flames! Not to mention a thousand Terra Roots, even the Land Goddess herself would hesitate to face me¡­!" Faced with Belic Wildwood''s provocation, the being that he referred to as Sun played it cool. He fixed his eyes squarely on the treant''s visage and pulled back Lars and Luca to float beside the pillar of light before he retorted. Sun did not even pay a glance to Lars and Luca as he did so, however, his action drew raised brows from the creature of darkness. A crafty look then crept over Belic''s face. "Aghaha! I may be but a demi god in a puppet body, but what about you? Injured as you are, why did you bother to manifest yourself here? Just to defend the Truthstone¡­? And after you already knew you''d be facing a peak-Myth Terra Root, you didn''t even send a full avatar but just a minor conscient! Looks like you''re still badly injured from the clash with my lord back then...!" Belic threw out her conjectures, smiling widely but with a sneaky look in her eyes. Listening intently, Lars took careful note of the words spoken. This could be key pieces of information into the mysteries behind this world. ''Based on what''s been said so far, the being in divine light should be the Divine Lord himself, or a conscient of his will¡­ From what I can tell, this should be the same conscient that met me and ordained me as the Child of Light¡­ I''m glad he''s arrived to save us, but what implications could this have on myself? And what caused me to be chosen as the Child of Light in the first place¡­? Could it have to do with that strange voice I heard back in the cave that saved me from the crawler?'' Many thoughts ran through Lars mind, but he could only watch and confirm his hypotheses as the conversation unfolded. The Sun Lord did not respond to Belic''s words. Without a change of expression, he instead pointed a palm at Belic and shot a concentrated beam of light at her, causing her to frantically dissipate her body into miss in order to dodge. A second later, the remainder of the purple mist flowed into the corrupted treant while a small portion of the mist reformed, this time forming only Belic''s head and face which looked slightly paler. "Bastard! Don''t you know better than to strike a woman! Haha! But you''ve always been a cruel, heartless cold blooded killer! You think you can defeat me with just sneak attacks? You trying to silence me before I can find out the truth about your reason for being here¡­? Heheheh!" Belic maintained her arrogant attitude even as the treant''s body moved threateningly. "¡­Be silent! You dare trespass and damage by temple? Only divine retribution awaits you!" Sun decreed loudly, but even Lars could feel the discomfort in the golden being''s words. "Hmmm¡­ It can''t be for the Bell, the Truthstone or their wielder ¨C those things are just Myth artefacts after all¡­ Could it be¡­" As Belic mused to herself, a sly smile returned to her face. "Could you be protecting the boy and girl¡­? Ah! Right!! Could one of them be your long awaited Child of Light?!" Seeing that Sun did not move and stayed silent, Belic continued, becoming more and more pleased as she analysed the situation. "You!! Shut up!!! The moment I''m recovered, I''ll find and destroy your true self! Until then, I''ll wipe out your conscient here first! DIE!!!" Face twisted with rage, the Sun Lord pressed his palms together and chanted, causing countless rays of life-extinguishing fire to shoot straight at Belic. "No matter! Regardless of why you''re protecting them and this place, all I have to do is to crush it all! Aghahahha!!!" Belic laughed maniacally as her head turned to the same purple mist and was sucked into the treant''s body. Speaking from the treant''s body, Belic laughed and the corrupted Terra Root charged forward to break apart the golden rays of light forcefully. "Just a weak conscient! Come on! Show me how you deal with this Terra Root''s vitality! I wanna see your pitiful face when those golden flames that you''re so proud of sputter out! Aghahahah!" A deep violet glow surrounded Belic''s body, accentuated by 9 black balls of energy that circled the treant like miniature planets in orbit. Then the ancient tree opened it''s mouth to concentrate all the violet energies and black balls into one compressed beam of distortion to fire back at the Sun Lord. This main beam clashed with the majority of sun rays and snuffed out the light of every ray of light it touched. However, the purple distortion beam was also weakened by every light it touched. Simultaneously, the treant''s body charged forward to forcefully smash aside more rays of light while countless dark vines burst out from the treant''s back to support her charge, striking forth towards the Sun Lord''s pillar like multitudinous scorpion stingers. "Is that all you''ve got!?! I''ll thrash your conscient even faster than I expected!! Aghahhaah!!!" The treant managed to advance, closing more than a third of the distance to the pillar of light. When the Sun Lord''s conscient realised that his technique could not hold Belic back, he grimaced and let out a great shout as he raised his right hand then lowered it in a chopping motion. "Heaven''s Severing!!!" For a short moment after the Sun Lord''s action, nothing happened. Belic continued to advance, pouring forth more and more tendrils of darkness while laughing maniacally. Then a couple of seconds later, following the movement of this chop, the 10 metre thick pillar of light cleaved downwards like a celestial blade. It was like a scene of a great tree being felled and crushing everything in it''s path ¨C only, this tree fell from the skies and devoured whatever it touched for several dozen kilometres. The Heavenly Severing attack completely bisected the treant and erased the entire trunk of it''s body, leaving only two arms and disjointed portions of roots. The attack didn''t stop there, though. The fiery pillar then exploded, blinding Lars and Luca and taking their breath away. At first, the power of the blast left their ears ringing before their hearing disappeared completely, replaced only by a dull numbness. Even the bubble of protection stretched and began to crack, almost unable to bear just the side effects of the divine attack. Though turned blind and deaf from the impact, Lars'' heart was pumping crazily at the scene of unstoppable power. ''Heavenly Severing¡­ A move that exceeds the Mythical realm by leaps and bounds¡­ If I had such power¡­'' Unwittingly, his mind began to analyse the technique, the power of Divine Light and the laws at play behind the scenes, hungry to emulate the godly power. If the Sun Lord''s conscient were a living, breathing being, it would have been left breathless. In this case, devoid of breath, the conscient''s brilliant light had faded by more than half. The great attack left him sorely drained as he scanned the surroundings to confirm his adversary''s death. This time, there was no dust to settle as even the dust was vaporised by the heat. As sight returned to Lars and Luca, they were struck in awe. The aftermath of the destruction left a smooth canyon a kilometre deep that looked like a half-cylinder snaking nearly a hundred kilometres off into the horizon. "This¡­ Divine Sun Lord¡­ Invincible might¡­" Luca fell to her knees in the bubble body going limp at the terrible scene. However, Lars was silent as he spent 95% of his consciousness meditating on the laws, while another 5% of his mind to observe the surroundings grimly. He had a bad feeling that things were not over yet. Just then, a cracking of the earth was heard from the bottom of the smooth canyon, before a sapling emerged¡­ A dark black-purple rotting seed. 203 Divine 6 "Krrkkk kkrrrkkkkkk¡­" The sounds of the earth breaking could be heard as the seed sprouted roots that began tiny but which quickly began to grow. These roots shot out through the ground, rapidly expanding into a slowly growing network to draw in nutrients. These sounds could be heard all over the vicinity both within and outside the bounds of the homestead ¨C countless seeds were sprouting all over the area! "Lars¡­ D-don''t worry¡­ The Sun Lord will surely defeat the monster and save us! S-surely, surely he will!" Luca subconsciously tugged at Lars'' sleeve as she spoke. He wasn''t sure if her words were supposed to comfort him or if they were to console herself¡­ Nonetheless, Lars felt a warmth from the girl who had already endangered herself to keep him safe and protect him ¨C not that he actually needed her protection in the first place, but her sincerity and aura of a big sister were something that touched his heart. "Thank you, Luca??? Don''t worry, I''m sure we''ll make it out of here safely¡­" ''Even if this Sun Lord doesn''t save us, with the damage done to both sides and the insights I''ve gleaned from their fight¡­ Perhaps crossing the threshold to the Mythical realm and the power of laws won''t be such a great challenge after all¡­'' He calculated his odds of defeating the peak-Mythical treant and slowly formulated his own contingency plans, coming up with one after another and discarding those that were too uncertain. One thing he was sure of was that the Sun Lord''s conscient''s full-power attack had used roughly 70-80% of his power. He wondered if the Sun Lord still had anything left in the tank. If that move earlier could not wipe out the rotting treant, what would¡­? ''If I could obtain such a power¡­ I *MUST* study the Terra Root''s powers¡­ Then I would have a nigh-invincible life-saving technique... Wait, what if I¡ª'' Lars gulped as a crazy idea suddenly popped up in his mind. ''What if I *DEVOURED* that treant¡­? Ugh¡­ It''ll taste terrible, but¡­ I''m suddenly hungry just thinking about eating it¡­'' Lars felt the greed rising in his heart. Not just the Sun Lord''s pillar of light, not just Earth Pulse, not just the power of distortion ¨C he wanted all of the abilities both under the sun and above it ¨C he would grasp them all! He glanced over at the Sun Lord as his lips parted slightly and traces of saliva wet the corners of his mouth. Perhaps the Terra Root wouldn''t be any good for the palate, but the Sun Lord however¡­ He licked his lips discreetly, trying to still his raging desire to EAT. However, he did not let his expression betray any of these thoughts as he watched the Sun Lord''s conscient''s grim expression at the sight of the revived foe. As the Sun Lord drew near Lars and Luca, the voluptuous girl fell to her knees and bowed prostrated before him. "Lord¡­! I, your devotee, am not worthy to be graced by your presence¡­!" Luca spoke reverentially. Then when she noticed that Lars was still standing up straight cluelessly, she reached up and tugged on his sleeve hard, pulling him off balance. Getting the hint, Lars, too fell prostrate and managed to copy Luca''s words, "Divine Sun Lord, I, your devotee, am not worthy to be graced by your presence." Nodding in approval, the Sun Lord''s conscient reached down to raise Lars up to his knees. Then his fingers brushed Lars'' forehead where the mark of a sun in the shape of a clock was hidden, causing Lars'' senses to flare up. However, the Sun Lord then merely nodded again as he smiled gently and spoke, saying, "Chosen one¡­ You won''t know how long, how many thousands of years I have waited for you to be born into this world¡­!" Then his expression grew serious once more and he added with a sigh, "Just¡­ I regret to say that¡­ I fear that I may not be able to protect you right now¡­ For I, as just a fragment of my main self, am unable to destroy this opponent¡­" "L-Lord! But, but that''s impossible¡­ Divine one, there''s no-one who can¡ª" Luca immediately blurted out, nearly raising herself up but catching herself just before she did so. However, she was cut off mid-sentence by the divine being ¨C albeit in a gentle but commanding tone. "Silence, child. It is not your place to speak. You will have your part to play as well." The Sun Lord stepped through the bubble and placed a hand on Lars shoulder. Strangely, though his body was burning with flames, Lars did not feel any heat. "Chosen one, you are the one foretold in my prophecies of the millennia. You will be the rising sun of I, the Divine Sun Lord''s new era¡­! You will be like the second coming of my greatness, uninhibited and irrepressible in your glorious might!" Lars looked on with a look of innocence, but also with apprehension at those words. However, in his heart, a sense of suspicion was rising. Nonetheless, he played along with the Sun Lord''s spiel, mouth opening in awe and falling face down again to bow before the Sun Lord''s conscient. "M-my Lord! I, I am unworthy of such an utmost honour! I will do my humble best and pray that Lord, in your grace, you will find my service acceptable! But Lord, if I may ask just one question¡­" Lars'' looked up, keeping an innocent look on but with slyness in his heart. "¡­What is it that gives me the greatest esteem of being the Chosen Child of Light¡­?" Hearing that, the Sun Lord smiled with a look of gentleness and a touch of reminiscence as he chuckled. "Chosen one... Seeing you reminds me of myself when I was your age¡­ One that is beloved by the laws of the heavens and the earth¡­ One that is kissed by the Divine Light¡­ And yet, you have something that I never had¡­" Just then, Lars could sense that the Sun Lord''s gentle smile had another hint of something else behind it. Not just the fond look of a parent towards a child but¡­ ''More like a chef when they lay eyes on a prized cow to be fed, reared and slaughtered¡­'' Lars'' eyes flickered for a moment, but he remained bowed and said, "I am unworthy, Lord! In no way can I compare to your greatness, Lord!" "Alright, enough small talk. I will send you away. Look for my high priest, Sunil. I believe that even in this age of decline and the rise of darkness, my Divine Sun Lord''s temple is still known throughout the realms, you should have no trouble finding this era''s high priest." "As for myself¡­ I and this child here¡ª" the Sun Lord looked at Luca momentarily before continuing, "¡ªwill stay behind to contain this creature." Instantly, Lars frowned. If he were sent away, how would he devour the conscients of the Sun Lord and the demi-god¡­? ''This won''t do¡­ I''ll need to pull a little trick¡­'' Continuing the act, Lars shot up with a look of horror, saying, "Lord! No, you cannot do so! It should be I, your child, who sacrifices myself for your safety! Let me stay, Lord, while you escape to the heavenly realms!" "Shush! Innocent child, you are kind but foolish! Don''t you know that even if this conscient is extinguished, all I will lose is one puppet and some power? Even the memories can be recovered once my full body is healed!" The Sun Lord firmly placed a hand on Lars'' shoulder and spoke without leeway for discussion. "Your job is to survive, grow and bring glory to my name! You will be my second coming and share all of my power and greatness ¨C but not now. For now, you must go!" "¡­Yes, my Lord, your servant¡­ Shall obey!" "Good¡­ Let''s begin before that *thing* fully recovers." One divine conscient began an esoteric chant and weaved threads of laws as the boy kneeling before him analysed, understood and began to form counter-measures to reverse the Divine Light runes of teleportation forming around him. ''Complex¡­ But?? It truly seems that the formations of this world are several notches lower than Earth or Yiluo ¨C even a god''s rune arts are only at the Legendary realm¡­'' Lars watched as the Sun Lord completed his chant and then injected a strong flow of Divine Light into the formation, causing it to come alive. "There, it is done. The teleportation should begin in half a minute. Chosen one, you won''t be able to move until the transportation spell is completed, however, you''ll also be immune to harm." The Sun Lord, satisfied that Lars would be sent away safely, turned over to Luca who was still kneeling, hands clasped in front of her lap and trembling in awe. "Now, child, I will need your help." "Y-yes! What would you require, my Lord¡­?" Her face lit up and practically shone at the honour of being able to please her god. "Child, I will ask of you a truly great sacrifice. However, I believe you have been raised well by my Divine Beast and priestess Mash''noth. Child¡­ Are you willing to lay down your life for me to vanquish this creature of darkness¡­?" "Yes my Lord! I would do anything for you! For the light!" Luca''s eyes were practically ablaze and, in her passion, she shot to her feet and looked up towards the fiery eyes of the Sun Lord''s conscient. "Good, good¡­! I see that Elder Mash''noth raised a good daughter¡­ Then, child, you''ll need to¡­" In the last second before the teleportation was to start, Lars'' mind froze as a bone chilling scene unfolded before him. "Die for me here, child..." The Sun Lord smiled peacefully as his arm tore clean through Luca''s chest. 204 Divine 7 Lars'' eyes shot wide open as he saw the Sun Lord in his shining divinity plunge a cruel claw right through Luca''s chest. What Divine Sun Lord was this? Asking his devoted believers to be human sacrifices, then mercilessly slaughtering them like cattle? ''Luca¡­ She¡­ You¡­ How could you die so cheaply¡­ All the rest of Fetch homestead¡­ You were slain cruelly by the enemy¡­ But Luca you ¨C you were betrayed by your own god!!! Is this what a god, a divine being is like?!?'' ''Luca! I barely knew you but¡­ But¡­!!! Regret, my heart is filled with regret!! I''ll kill you, Sun Lord ¨C no, I''''LL *EAT* YOU!!!'' He watched in anguish as Luca took a ragged breath and choked as she no longer had a heart or lungs to breathe with. Even in her moments of death, her face was beautiful, pristine. Luca looked like a statue of a goddess as she struggled but could not take that next breath. Weakening by the second, shocked as she was, she could only stare in disbelief at her "god" who had heinously taken her life. Then, helplessness, unwillingness and vengeance marred her beautiful face and she turned her head to face Lars, tears in her eyes. Then she mouthed the words, ''Help'' before her eyelids fluttered and she fell to the ground, motionless as the Sun Lord withdrew his arm from the hole in her chest. Lars burned with impatience for the teleportation formation to trigger. He clenched his fists tight in rage, his eyes turning bloodshot with unwillingness. He could feel another node of Prime Evil pulsating as he had to forcefully swallow a belly of fire. He had to put this aside ¨C he couldn''t afford to lose his head to Wrath and foolhardily rush headlong at the Sun Lord¡­! He was unable to stop it for it had already happened before he could even react, and even if he could have reacted in time, he lacked the power to confront the Sun Lord''s conscient in a head-on conflict. To save her, to slay both these evil gods conscients¡­ He needed a surprise attack. Gritting his teeth and swearing bloody revenge, Lars didn''t notice that the irises of his eyes had already turned a beautiful crimson. He forced himself to calm down as he channelled his Earth Pulse and Divine Light while the teleportation formation took effect. He had to be calm and cool if he wanted to rescue the dying Luca. ''Hurry up, hurry up! I must hurry and save her!!'' Lars stared daggers into the back of the Sun Lord who dashed towards the Truthstone as he set his own plans into action. He would save her and have his revenge on not just the Sun Lord, not just this Belic Wildwood, but all the high-and-mighty, bloody "gods" who dared to take away anyone from his side! Teleportation could be done via many methods. One approach was translocation ¨C breaking down a person or object into magic particles, then "cutting" from the origin point and "pasting" to the destination coordinates. Another was forming a dimensional doorway ¨C similar to the scientific theory of a wormhole. The method used by the Sun Lord was the simplest and with the lowest energy consumption ¨C transmission. This method was also by breaking down the traveller''s body into magic particles but then instead of "cut" and "paste", it worked by sending those particles to the destination at super-high speed. The low cost was offset by the vulnerability to obstructions and interception, however, this approach was also the easiest for Lars to counter. In Lars'' perception, time was broken down to tiny units. He counted the microseconds as the transmission triggered. He analysed the speed of progress as his body was transformed into magic particles (though perhaps in this world a better term could be Divine Light particles?). ''Based on the speed of the process and the energy injected by the Sun Lord, the destination is roughly 438.722736 kilometres away to the south-south-west and the travel time will be 7.891313 seconds¡­'' ''My initial plan was to travel further, about 50 kilometres away¡­ Then I''d time my return for just before their battle ends in mutual destruction¡­ But with Luca''s life fading quick, I need to revise my arrangements¡­'' ''Instead, I''ll stop 10 kilometres away, I''ll have to time it just after 179870.2 microseconds pass¡­ That will give me enough distance to elude their senses and still allow me to return fast enough¡­'' Lars made full use of his unique capabilities that exceeded even the Sun Lord''s divine consciousness and managed innumerable calculations within the split seconds of the teleportation. He even managed to allot time to review his plan of action, and revise it based on the situation he faced ¨C all in the microseconds before the teleportation began. ''Alright¡­ Ready¡­'' ''GO!'' He sensed as more and more of his body was turned to light particles, then detected a change in the energy signature ¨C it was starting. Lars silently weaved the counter formations, keeping the runes hidden from sight by forming them within his body. He then checked and rechecked his stealth runes and, assured that these were well in place, he prepared for the right moment. A split second later, the transmission fired and he felt his body moving at blinding speed. ''179851 microseconds¡­ 179858¡­ 179866, almost¡­'' ''179869 ¨C NOW!!'' All this took a while to explain, but happened in a little more than the time needed for one to blink their eyes. At just the right moment, Lars powered up the counter-formation to prematurely terminate the transmission and felt his body begin to rematerialize. To an observer, it would have seemed that one moment, there was just empty space and the next, a golden haired, red-eyed heroic teenager had appeared from thin air. Lars popped out suspended half a kilometre in the air above a tiny hill. He was glad there were no birds to startle, lest they drop their "payloads" in their fright ¨C they had all been scattered or slain long ago from the aftermath of the apocalyptic battles. ''I can maintain super speed for a short burst all the way to Fetch homestead, but it''ll still take 1 minute and 12 seconds¡­ Luca, please hold on!'' Wasting no time, Lars sped to the ground and then bounded off back towards where Luca lay dying while the two monsters clashed. * * * * * The seeds of the rotten ancient tree grew into saplings and the saplings grew into young vines which congregated together into a mass of writhing dark roots to revive Belic Wildwood''s Terra Root body. While this was happening, the Sun Lord was in the middle of an incantation that sounded like ten thousand voices speaking in a discordant cacophony set to a mess of off-key chords in diminished minor. Then upon the completion of his chant, the Truthstone let loose a great cracking sound as it dislodged itself from the copper/ golden stand on which it was fixed. The Truthstone began to rotate slowly at first, then quicker and quicker until it turned into a beam of light that shot at the Sun Lord with a ear-piercing boom. A great cloud of distorted air burst forth, a product of the immediate high temperatures caused by the Truthstone. The stones nearby and the ground were all turned to slag, the impurities vaporising while the trace metals found within were liquefied by the heat. When the air cleared, the Truthstone had shrunk to one-tenth the original size and was embedded in the Sun Lord forehead. It was set like a diamond shape surrounded by the rays of the sun in the shape of the numbers of a clock. Smiling and turning to face Belic Wildwood, he waited as dark-purple energy began to crackle around the Terra Root ¨C the sign that his opponent, too, was finally getting serious. He took one last glance at the still-warm body of Luca that lay in one corner of what had been the Truthstone hall and then examined the throbbing power of the Truthstone. What should have been a peak-Spirit (Mythical) artefact was now pulsing with power well in the semi-divine realm, power on par with what his fragmented conscient could bring to bear. ''However useless that mother-daughter pair were, they at least did one thing well¡­ By placing the Truthstone here in a danger zone where lives are lost daily, they''ve unwittingly fed it with the blood and souls of countless powerhouses¡­ The power within is now exquisite, far more than I expected! Truly commendable¡­!'' The Sun Lord''s expression remained impassive even as his heartless and cruel thoughts would cause one''s heart to turn to ice. [22 seconds left to Lars'' arrival] 205 Divine 8 [5 seconds before Lars'' arrival] The battle between two massive figures was reaching its climax. The corrupted treant had remoulded itself into the shape of the purple armour-clad woman, accurately depicting her visage, body shape and contours even to the bulging mounds of her chest and buttocks ¨C albeit, magnified in size to fit a 50 metre tall giant. The purple armour looked heavy and tough with a metallic sheen despite being formed from the Terra Root''s wooden bark. Purple feathers floated around her like illusions while solid black chains could be seen to be wrapped around her body at a short distance, brimming with power to support her attacks. These were the manifestation of her powers of laws, her personal derivations of the laws of distortion and darkness respectively. These powers were concentrated onto a sword and shield held in her arms which she wielded fiercely, clearly exceptionally skilled. And despite the rough, barky texture of her skin, Belic Wildwood was still as appealing as ever with her flawless, chiselled facial features and enticing posture. However, right now dark black sap was pouring forth from wounds all over her body where the Sun Lord''s strikes had broken down her purple plated armour. While she had received numerous injuries, her opponent was no better off. The Sun Lord had also formed an equally large body in order to better contend with Belic Wildwood. He maintained his same form with an expressionless but perfect face, only he had now covered himself with a golden robe of light embedded with countless crystals that looked like copies of the Truthstone. He held no weapons, fighting only with open palms, however, he was supplemented by the image of a sun that floated behind him with 12 semi-corporeal wisps of golden fire. Every time he attacked, blinding rays of fire would accompany his strikes like lances from the heavens shot out from the wisps of fire. The Sun Lord had been on an endless offensive seemingly with the intent of tying Belic down from escaping ¨C or rather, from pursuing the fleeing boy. Every time she tried to disengage, he would ruthlessly throw himself bodily at her, threatening to consume her body and soul-fragment in a mutually fatal conflagration of divine fire. And so, she was forced into a conundrum. Unable to advance, unable to retreat, unable to trace down the key which was even more important than the Truthstone of the Bell of the North Heaven ¨C the fleeing boy. ''Tch! The Sun Lord is really giving his all¡­! The way he''s fighting now, does he not care about consuming one of his only remaining conscients?!? With his main body slumbering, he can''t even form or power up any new conscients¡­ Which must mean that boy is even more important than anything else! I need to give chase before the traces of teleportation grow too faint!'' Belic stood with her shoulders heaving ¨C she knew that the Terra Root did not breathe but it was hard to shake the habit. Though she knew that the Sun Lord was equally low on energy and could only perhaps launch one last attack or two, she had to admit that his power of laws were superior. She would not be able to get past him unless she could find an opening in the Sun Lord''s defence. ''If I can''t find an opening¡­ Then I''ll just have to give it my all and *MAKE* one¡­ Dammit all! I''ll bet my conscient on this one move!!'' Face twisting with rage, she determined to decide it in a make-or-break moment and shot forward at full power. "Cursed Sun¡­! *You* may be willing to sacrifice your conscient, but I''m not¡­! Damn your determination, damn the Truthstone, damn you, Sun Lord! I don''t care anymore!! Get out of my way!!!" Belic roared as great black chains shot forth from her body at every angle surrounding them both. Then, purple wings emerged from her back, this time not rotten nor corrupted but beautiful and soft, making one wish to lay to rest eternally in their embrace. All in all, she formed the perfect angelic image, a war angel set on slaying her enemies. "War Angel Second Phase: Dragon Hunter!" As she charged, Belic slammed her heavy two-handed wide-bladed sword together with her "V" shaped shield at a particular angle. As the two pieces of equipment touched, they merged into one with the tip of the sword turning into the connection point with the shield, changing it into a heavy half-moon war axe. This wasn''t merely a change of form, but more like returning the sword and shield to their original state. When the weapons merged, a shockwave was released and multiple holy golden halos formed around the war axe, at odds with the dark aura Belic was releasing. Then, the violet-aura mixed with the golden halos and erupted in a magnificent duality of rampaging power. Belic launched herself into the air with her next step, brandishing her axe overhead and winding up a savage, sky-eclipsing, earth-rending swing. Faced with the ferocious strike, the Sun Lord ground his teeth. This would be the first time he ever ate a loss in order to save another, but he resolved himself to sacrifice one of his final conscients in order to protect the Child of Light. Nonetheless, this could not wipe away the bitter after-taste in his mouth. He sighed as he consoled himself. ''Calm down¡­ In truth, protecting him is for my own posterity¡­ Wash your neck carefully, Belic! Once this conscient''s memories return to my main body, I''ll hunt down and drag out your true self and execute you!'' "COME! Singularity Point, Galaxy Domain, Solar Flare!" The Sun Lord roared as he reluctantly ignited his divine soul and released a single surge of Divine Light. A third of the surging energies rushed from his solar plexus out to his limbs, causing his body to turn incandescent and so bright it forced even Belic to close her eyes and rely on her soul-sense. Another third flowed into the Truthstone in his forehead. The crystal then released a string of tinkling bell-like sounds before it split into 4 clean quarters. All 4 quarters shot out at high speeds into the sky before stopping at the cardinal points around the duelling pair. Then, a sparkling teal curtain fell from the skies and surrounded them both, creating a field of suppression that weighed down on Belic''s body. The final third of the Divine power was absorbed into the 12 wisps of flame floating behind the Sun Lord. The 12 flames grew engorged by the overflow of energy and each turned into a fiery furnace. Then hundreds of tongues of sun-fire lashed out even as the Sun Lord himself transformed into a laser soaring towards the war angel. "Tritoch Annihilation!!!" The three facets of the Sun Lord''s attack began to resonate as he shot forth as a beam of disintegrating light and he yelled out a dominating cry. Grimacing at the explosive triple threat before her, Belic was not to be outdone. She grinded her teeth and ignited her own energy core, causing the whites of her eyes to disappear, turning into pools of purple liquid that gushed over and flowed down her cheeks like rivers of tears. "War Angel THIRD PHASE! Godslayer!!" As she shouted those words, an image of a ten-thousand metre tall ancient war angel appeared with a star-destroying axe in hand that was about to descend to wipe out all life. The illusory image looked almost physical and caused the teal screen of Galaxy Domain to falter and nearly fail, releasing Belic from the suppression effect. At the sight of this phantasm, the Sun Lord paled. Without any further trump cards to pull out, he could only bet on the triple fusion of his forces in this unavoidable collision. In the moment the two unstoppable forces met, it was like a scene out of myths - a fallen angel rebelling against the heavenly fate, a god of Divine Light punishing an apostate believer, a war goddess clashing against a deity. Neither the semi-divine Belic Wildwood nor the divine conscient noticed that a third party lurked not far away. 206 Divine End It was a climax devoid of sound. The war axe descended. With the head alone being almost as large as the entire Fetch homestead, it looked like Belic were wielding a hammer to smash a birthday cake as the ground cracked open forming a hole so deep the bottom could not be seen. A shockwave was created from the attack that drove forward and crashed into three hills, turning them into three flatlands instead. Despite the Sun Lord managing to move away from the edge of the war axe''s strike, he groaned soundlessly in agony as the surrounding force from the blow still caused his entire mind to waver, nearly wiping out his divine conscient on the spot. However, at the critical moment, the rays of the sun suspended behind him let out jarring CRACK sounds as all twelve burst into embers while the four shards of the Truthstone up above shattered into microscopic fragments. The destruction of these sun rays and the Truthstone fragments seemed to alleviate the strain on the Sun Lord as he managed to gather himself and ignite the flames in his body to counter the force on his body. Nonetheless, he was still sent flying deep into the ground, helpless to resist the shocking combined force of distortion and divinity released by the fallen war angel. At the same time, the twelve tongues of sun fire engulfed Belic''s entire body. The light of the flames burned so large and so bright that even a satellite in orbit three planets away would be able to see the spot of light. However, the treant endlessly threw out more and more vines, roots, bark, sprouts, leaves, tendrils ¨C anything at all to counteract the devouring might of the solar flames. The flames started out golden, the turned white to blue and then back to white and then golden and red again as the oxygen in the vicinity was instantly consumed. In that moment, sight as well as sound were stripped of anyone nearby ¨C though, they would have likely lost their lives first before they thought about their senses. The energies of distortion, divinity and solar flames collided fiercely before mixing together and beginning to swirl around in a rising spiral shape. If there were still rocks, trees or buildings remaining, all would have been sucked up and fragmented or disintegrated in the chaotic forces at play. The swirling energies did not spread out, but continued to fight against one another wildly, Belic and the Sun Lord somewhere within the conflagration. The energies began to compress tighter and tighter into a spinning ball of purple, gold and red and what had started as a small mountain of energy shrunk into a super-compressed ball. And then it exploded into sparkles of light. A sonic boom occurred as the movements that exceeded the speed of sound many times over were finally heard, causing a whirlwind in the epicentre and a typhoon for a hundred kilometres around. In the middle of this storm, the form of Belic Wildwood''s Terra Root body still remained standing tall and strong, charred black and carbonised. The body was no longer that of a beautiful angelic being but an abomination of tendrils, vines and roots, some parts too burned to recognise while others were overgrown with vines. On the other hand, rising up from the cavernous hole in the ground, the Sun Lord''s divine conscient looked painfully mortal as he was now devoid of any golden light. He looked like a normal wounded human male, bare chested and clad in torn white pants. However, he had a calm look of victory on his face while the treant ceased moving as the final wisps of purple mist dissipated from it''s body. Above it floated a tiny incorporeal image of Belic about the size of a palm. Belic''s face was twisted in frustration and she grinded her teeth. ''...¡­.'' She was speechless. This was not the outcome she expected. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes momentarily, before reopening them, cool and in control now. Then she folded the arms of her tiny self and asked, "Sun Lord¡­ I admit you deserve this victory... But tell me one thing. When I saw the sun rays and the Truthstone shards, I already knew you would redirect the force of my attack away from yourself to those external objects. I knew this and imposed a distortion effect along with a holy light godslaying aura to counteract the redirection¡­ And this should have worked perfectly to make this an equal exchange of conscients¡­" The Sun Lord continued to look at Belic calmly as he nodded for her to continue. "So tell me¡­ How did you counteract the laws of distortion¡­?" She asked this question as she felt the last of her conscient''s powers dissipate ¨C time was up for this conscient and her soul and will would have to return momentarily. "Ha¡­ Hahaha¡­ Hahahaha! What do you mean, how did I counteract the laws of distortion¡­? You mean, Aerol didn''t tell you¡­?" "W-what, what are you laughing about?!? Lord Aerol is impeccable! There''s nothing he would hide from us!" Belic frowned at the sudden outburst of laughter from the Sun Lord. His sudden change of countenance surprised her and she couldn''t help but blurt out her response. The Sun Lord was bent over and holding his stomach as he laughed. Then he raised up a hand and waved it around as if he had heard a bunch of nonsense. "Really! I haven'' heard such a good joke for a long while now!" Wiping away the tears from his eyes, the Sun Lord raised his gaze to look at Belic again. "You see, child¡­ Aerol, too, is just a child before me, for¡­" A complicated look mixed with gentleness, a desire to kill and sinister plans crossed the Sun Lord''s face before he completed his sentence. "For¡­ I am the founder of the laws of distortion who taught him all he knows." Belic''s soul fragment began to dissipate further, turning into flows of air as her mouth gaped open and her gaze turned vapid. Her mouth opened and closed as her lips trembled and a confused, disbelieving expression covered her face. "Impo¡­ Impossible¡­ No¡­ That can''t be... Lord Aerol¡­ Sun Lord¡­ No¡­" Subconsciously, Belic mumbled out loud the doubts in her heart as she turned into dust, leaving an empty shell of the Terra Root. Ignoring his defeated foe, the Sun Lord''s conscient closed his eyes to stabilise this vessel. He was relieved that he could retain this conscient as he was sorely lacking pawns to work, and he needed to share the information about the Child of Light with his main body and other conscients quick. After all, though it might take decades before the Child of Light was ready, what was that to a divine being who lived millennia like him¡­? It would pass in the blink of an eye¡­ For now, his top priority was to recover this conscient''s strength and protect the Child of Light''s growth until, like a fruit, he was ripe and ready to be plucked. The Sun Lord smiled with satisfaction as he closed his eyes to repair his body. * * * * * Belic''s soul was shaken to it''s very core. Not from the damage taken ¨C as conscients were meant to be expendable anyway ¨C but from the shaking of her beliefs in distortion and Lord Aerol. Was not distortion in opposition to the Divine Light¡­? Wasn''t their existence meant to oppose the tyranny of the Sun Lord and his evil designs¡­? However, she felt doubly shaken when she realised that she herself had all along been proof that the laws of distortion and Divine Light were not opposites, as she had always wielded them in fusion and unity as her ultimate killing technique. Sighing, Belic decided to enter secluded meditation to consider the conflicting information. She resolved herself not to emerge until she could regain her convictions and restore her soul''s beliefs. And so she began to fade away, her conscient''s lifespan done and the soul fragment about to return to her main body with her memories. However, she could not shake off the confusion that seized her from that one sentence of the Sun Lord''s conscient. Her consciousness faded and was about to ascend¡­ When she realised she could not. She was blocked by an invisible, undetectable formation that covered the sky like a net. ''What is this¡ª'' But before she could finish her sentence, a crimson door emerged, one covered with veins and arteries that were concentrated and gathered at 7 large nodes, one that pulsated as if though with blood, as if it were a living organism. The door opened outwards and a gigantic mouth that was more than 5 times larger emerged to snap her up, devouring her in an instant. 207 Door of Gluttony The moment when Lars arrived was also just before the greatest climax of the battle. Covered by runes of stealth, he dashed over to Luca''s side, layered protection over her fled as fast he could. Still, he did not forget to channel a mixture of Earth Pulse and Divine Light, spurring her body''s natural regeneration while supplementing her vitality with his own abundant energy. As Lars sped away from the centre of the explosions, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck being singed even through his defensive layers, but he didn''t care. He held her tightly in a princess carry, still being careful not to touch her bountiful assets. Even unconscious and dying as she was, Lars had to work hard to ignore her sweet scent and flawless face body that could belong to a goddess'' statue. Without a heart and lungs, Luca''s body had already started to cool. However, he could sense that there was still life force remaining - as an Elder (Legendary) Divine Light cultivator, her inner vitality had advanced to a high level. When he reached a distance he judged safe enough, he immediately executed the resuscitation plan he had thought of. He grunted and steeled himself as he split open his chest to allow his a small ball of flesh to emerge. From the time that Luca had fallen to now, he had gone through the agonising process of extracting heart cells from every key area of his own heart and simulated a new organ. Based on natural processes, this organ would be nothing but a lump of meat in the shape and structure of a heart, however, Lars added an extra step that made it beat. He split off his mana core, infused it with Earth Pulse and melted it down into nutrients to be the life catalyst for the artificial organ. ''Here goes nothing... Please, live! Else, how will I repay the debt to the entire Fetch homestead? To whom shall I repay the debt of saving my life and giving me a foundation in this world...?'' Lars concentrated as he carefully placed the artificial heart into Luca''s chest cavity and then allowed her body to heal itself, sealing the wound. ''From here... There''s nothing left but to leave it to chance... Luca... Live!'' Having settled that, Lars sprouted wings of a grey so deep that it would allow him to be camouflaged against the midnight sky, then rose into the clouds to find his prey. He arrived back at the ruined battleground just in time and smiled. Belic Wildwood''s soul had just begun to dissipate while the Sun Lord was oblivious to his surroundings as he stabilised his state, neither aware of the danger lurking right on their doorstep. "The fisherman has arrived at just the right time..." Lars smiled grimly. He cast a fine net of runes into the skies spreading several kilometres in every direction to block Belic and the Sun Lord''s soul and consciousness from returning to their main bodies. Then, Lars flitted down from the pre-dawn sky towards his first unsuspecting target ¨C the soul fragment of Belic, the War Angel. He moved quickly, wasting no time. The moment he was in range, Lars summoned his soul-imprint of Prime Evil, manifesting in the shape of a door that seemed to leak blood from its edges. "Prime Evil: Door of Gluttony!" whispering under his breath, Lars watched as he summoned this soul-ability for the first time. If it weren''t his own ability, Lars himself would have been creeped out by the sight, and despite it being under his control, he made a point never to allow the Prime Evil''s combined power to override his conscience. When he spoke the words under his breath, Lars felt an insatiable hunger to devour not just food or life, but to swallow up all things. Then he realised that this hunger was not from within him, but was emanating strongly from within the door. He felt a sense of danger and backed away from the door in an instant ¨C just in time as well, for in the moment he withdrew, a gruesome eyeless head burst out from the door''s frame with its neck pouring forth and stretching further and further to snap up Belic''s soul fragment. Not stopping there, the blood-covered head that had its veins and arteries exposed swiftly turned and bit at the spot where Lars had been just a moment ago. Watching the scene of the ravenous mouth devour even the air, dust particles and space where he had been located, Lars felt the back of his clothes grow wet with cold sweat. However, another sharp pang of danger struck him and he used a Blink to withdraw a further 100 metres. Again, he was just in time. The snapping mouth that was already 5 times bigger than the door had disappeared. No, it had just moved so fast that its speed eluded even Lars'' perception. The mouth re-emerged right where he, now 10 times larger than before and bit down on the empty space he had just vacated. Lars shivered and trembled when he saw the ferocity of his own summoning. He fought off the dread at the thought that he had just opened a door to a world of horrors beyond any horrors he had just seen. ''It''s, it''s just too shockingly fast! I''ve gotta act before it stretches again and devours me!'' Decisively, he channelled energy into his soul-imprint and forced the door downwards at high speed, sending it like a meteor crashing down at the Sun Lord. The snapping fleshy head/ mouth released a deafening roar of defiance when it realised that its prey was moving further away, and it shot out its tongue like a lasso to catch Lars which he barely dodged by rocketing backwards. He breathed out a sigh of relief when the tongue stopped short by several metres. He could almost feel the frightening power of that gargantuan tongue even from a distance ¨C he had no desire to find out what the insides of this infernal creature were like¡­! Upon hearing the roar above him, the Sun Lord''s eyes snapped open in shock. His gaze turned to the skies and his expression turned from shock to horror as the mouth chomped down not just on him but also everything in a 3 kilometre radius. ''No!!! How could anything elude my divine sense¡­! This can''t be, can''t be!!! How can such a creature enter the Prison Planet, this power that exceeds even the Star¡ª" the Sun Lord could not finish his last thoughts as even his soul fragment was turned into nutrition for the embodiment of gluttony. Lars breathed out a sigh of relief. He checked the rune net above him briefly and found that no hint of soul-sense had passed through ¨C which meant that neither Belic nor the Sun Lord''s memories of him had returned to their main bodies¡­ Which also meant that he would remain hidden in the dark, unknown and unnoticed by his soon to be doomed enemies! Suddenly, Lars'' skin began to crawl and he felt the grim reaper descending down on him. He hurriedly began to unravel the Door of Gluttony when he realised that the mouth, though it seemed to be happily munching on its latest snack, was actually keeping its eyeless attention on him while inching closer¡­ He banished the flow of Earth Pulse he had used to summon his soul-ability and allowed the door to fade away into a bloody red stream of energy, much to the chagrin and unwillingness of the devouring god. When it realised its time in this world was up, it desperately fled back through the door with the neck, mouth and head managing to stuff its humongous body into the frame that looked like a pinhole compared to its size. It promptly disappeared without a trace. And as the door faded away, the streams of red energy that looked like a shower of blood turned to particles of light and returned to Lars body, nourishing him with the power of laws he had just devoured. 208 Door of Gluttony 2 It was a bright and sunny day, yet one that was not too hot ¨C the kind where children would rush out of their cottages after bidding their mothers good-bye to dance and frolic in the grassy fields. In the middle of one such verdant, grassy field stood a tall and healthy tree with green leaves that shone with vitality and purple flowers in full bloom. From that tree hung a swing, and on that swing sat a girl in the prime of her youth, radiant in her beauty. She was gorgeous with a face that would put a goddess to shame, chiselled and dignified and yet still soft with the tinges of her youth. She was laughing as she swung back and forth on the swing, pure joy seen clearly on her face as her eyelids were half-closed in happiness. Her laughter seemed to affect even the grass, trees and wind around her, with the greenery swaying gently and happily along with her laughter. If one could see or hear it, one would feel as if they had ascended to a heavenly place, an Elysium devoid of sorrow or pain. Seated on the swing and going forwards and backwards in nearly a full semi-circle, the radiant girl was looking behind her, gaze fixed on the man behind her, eyes enamoured with the deepest of love and devotion. ''Even if the world collapses, just being with you¡­ Is enough for me¡­'' she continued to laugh like bells ringing, a dreamy look on her face as she felt his gentle yet strong hands push her to swing again and again. They played, they rolled in the grass in one another''s embrace, they breathed in the sun, the grass, the dew and the wondrous smells of nature''s glory as they lay together. She was happy, more than happy ¨C completely content with their lot in life, as long as she had him. As the afternoon sun began to turn to the golden-orange rays of the sunset, they stood beneath the tallest tree of the entire forest, plains and fields. This tree was so tall that, if one stood on it''s peak, one would be able to see a thousand kilometres away, even over the far horizon. And when standing at the peak of luxuriant red leaves, one would feel that they would be able to just reach out and grasp the clouds. As the sun began to dip, the girl with purple hair stood at the base of the tree and looked up, calling out, "Hello uncle Red! Bring us up!" A loud rumble and a great creaking resounded as one hefty branch of the mighty red oak tree stretched down until one part at the tip large enough to sit on was level with the ground. "Thank you!" the girl clapped her hands together in delight and hopped on to the branch, then reached out her hand to her companion, smiling. "Let''s go up ¨C I want to show you my world!" she looked expectantly at the love of her life, eyes brimming with joy and pride to be his and for him to be hers. He beamed at her as he reached out his hand, but he stopped just before, hesitating and biting his lips. "What''s wrong¡­?" her face fell for a moment as she wondered what could have happened. "Belic... I''ll come up with you to your world¡­ But¡­" he looked her flat in the eyes as his smooth voice trailed off. "But what¡­? Aerol, you know I''ll do anything for you¡­!" desperate to please him, the purple haired 16 year old hopped off the tree branch and lunged forward to hold Aerol''s arms and shook him. Her voice shook and her eyes trembled, just as her heart was shaken and felt crushed at the thought that there could be something that would take her beloved away from her. But he avoided her gaze, turning away and taking a sharp breath. She didn''t know why, but despite the warmth still exuded by the earth, the warmth of dusk, her hands were cold and her body too. Aerol paused for a moment, brows furrowing as if in indecision, struggling to make up his mind. Seeing this, Belic''s eyes welled up with water that nearly spilled over. Her vision grew blurry, but she did not reach up to wipe them away, only holding on tight to her beloved lest he fly away into the sunset. "Aerol, you, you know I love you and I''ll, I''d do anything for you! Please, please just tell me¡­ Please!" she begged him, pulling on his hands, tears streaming down her face and she looked up at him with pleading eyes, until finally he relented. He pursed his lips, then met her eyes squarely and said, "Belic¡­ Will you be my¡­" He stopped halfway, looking at her seriously as he held her face in his hands. "Aerol¡­ Will I be your¡­ Your what¡­?" Her face burned, her heart thumped, she felt as if she had died and come back to life and died again as she stood there, not knowing what she was saying. All she knew was that she would say yes ¨C no matter what. Aerol''s eyes turned hard, his expression growing deep and unfathomable. But this was lost to the girl who only had hearts in her eyes. Then he spoke. "Will you be my angel¡­? My angel of war¡­" Not hesitating in the least, the love-struck girl said yes, gazing up into her captor''s eyes helplessly, a prisoner not struggling in the least as she was held in the hands of a predator. Then they kissed, and the memories of sunlight, tears and doubt melted away under the veil of love. * * * * * "Shit! What the ****!!!! What the hell was that!!" Lars woke up abruptly, spitting in disgust as he wiped his mouth and looked around hurriedly for water to wash and gargle his mouth. He could still feel the hot breath of the man, Aerol, the touch of the lips, the moisture of an appendage as it snaked into his mouth¡­ Face turning pale, he turned and gagged, trying to vomit ¨C but nothing came out. Some moments later and after many attempts to cleanse his mouth and lips, Lars finally settled himself down and resolved to expunge the memory from his mind. ''Belic''s memories¡­ Hmm¡­ So the door of gluttony devours not just the target''s powers, but also some memories¡­? But apart from this, I didn''t get anything, no plans, no names, no faces, nothing¡­ And I only received a memory from Belic. Perhaps it is only the strongest and deepest memories that can be devoured? Or perhaps it''s just that the soul fragment was too... Fragmented¡­?'' Lars mused as he sat beside Luca and monitored her condition while reviewing and making his plans. Luca''s heart had resumed beating and her body was now alive and well, however, she showed no signs of regaining consciousness. About matters of the body and anatomy, Lars had a wealth of knowledge from his endless hours in the library both as a civilian and in the army. However, as for matters of the soul and mind, these were something that he had not enough exposure to. He was not sure what having one''s heart ripped out and lungs damaged and left with a gaping hole in their chest for a minute and a half would do to one''s soul and mind. Would a person still be left with their consciousness, their self¡­? He did not know. What he did know was that he would have to take care of her and monitor her condition. It would be best if she woke up on her own, but he would also delve into studies on the soul and mind''s restoration from this point on. He sighed. It seemed that responsibilities, grudges, enemies ¨C these would endlessly increase. There were so many thoughts in his mind in this moment of quiet and repose. Thoughts of Sara, Moira, his birth parents both in this world and on Earth. His fallen brothers and sisters of the 108th platoon¡­ He thought about the people of Gorun city, the Devil invasion, the kidnapped children¡­ Sara ¨C did he love her anymore? It seemed so distant, so far away ¨C almost like another life. No, literally, it was a story of his past life, wasn''t it¡­? And yet, he owed her a debt as well ¨C the necklace he had worn around his neck, the one that Kizorik and Demon Hunter Marzinus had said was an heirloom of the Demon Hunting Art''s founder¡­ ''Strange¡­ She gave it to me¡­ So doesn''t that mean that she is the heir of the Demon Hunting Arts¡­? But¡­ What has got me confused is that my bloodline inheritance is that of Insight, exactly the bloodline ability of the Demon Hunting Arts founder¡­ Too confusing¡­'' Lars sighed again. He set this riddle aside as he thought about Moira. How was she doing? Was she better off as a princess of a nation than being by his side¡­? Even if he now had the power to just take her away, would that¡­ Make her happy? Should he instead join her and stay by her side¡­? The Darkness ¨C Lord Aerol and the Divine Light Lord ¨C Sun Lord. Also two schemers who he needed to deal with. But they were still too far above his current league ¨C based on the power hierarchy, he had not even entered the Semi-divine realm yet, much less to contend with divine powerhouses¡­! And the dastardly All-Heaven Divine Empire. When he thought about the All-Father¡­ He felt small. Infinitely small. The best he could do would be to travel there covertly and disrupt any further invasion of Earth ¨C to be a small spanner in their cogs. To challenge the All-Father¡­ He needed power. Far, far greater power. For that, he had some plans in mind and some preparations to be made on this world before he returned in 5 days. Having put his mind to rest, he turned his attention to the last task to be cleared before he brought Luca to leave this place ¨C digesting the power of laws he had just obtained¡­ 209 Door of Gluttony 3 Glancing up at the horizon to the west, Lars could see the first early hints of dawn coming. In this world, he knew that the sun set in this direction, opposite to Yiluo planet and Earth. He was well aware that, with such a great battle occurring, there would surely be some parties coming to snoop around. However, based on a search made via soul sense, he estimated he would have at least until dawn to abscond ¨C unless there were entities able to elude his senses. But based on the colossal clash here that was at least semi-divine, he doubted that there were any more such peak powerhouses around. Still, to be safe, he layered stealth formations over himself and Luca before secreting their bodies into an inconspicuous pit he dug and then covered themselves with dirt. ''Since my runes were able to fool the Sun Lord and Belic, we should be safe unless a true divine realm titan comes¡­'' satisfied, Lars turned his consciousness inward to his mental world where the doors of Divine Light, Prime Evil and now two additional balls of laws were held. Of course, his core soul-ability of Insight was there as well ¨C this was what held everything together, this law that he had been using but was not able to comprehend himself was his internal realm. Having taken full control this world, he hadn''t bothered to renovate anything. It was still a realm of pure whiteness except for the golden door, crimson door and two floating balls of golden-orange and purple ¨C the devoured laws of the Sun Lord and Belic''s laws of Distortion. Lars'' spirit body floated over to pass by the two doors and approached the acquired laws. He stopped before the two floating balls that were about the size of a grown man''s upper body. The globe from the Sun Lord appeared to be made up of fire and light with wisps and tongues of fire rising off its surface every now and then. On the other hand, the ball that contained Distortion was almost inactive, the insides just a swirling mass of purple mist and grey clouds. Rubbing his chin, Lars looked back and forth between the two laws and considered which to begin with. ''Between Divine Light and Distortion, I believe I have a stronger affinity for Divine Light¡­ Let''s start with that¡­'' choosing to begin with the golden-orange ball, he pressed his face right up beside the surface of the flaming globe. When he peered into their depths, he could see a near-infinite variety of rune words, sentences and nomological formations. He tried to make sense of what he was seeing, squinting his eyes and focusing his insight on the runes, but each time he was just about to grasp one, the insides of the globes would swirl with other words coming to the front then being replaced by a jumble of other symbols. ''In terms of affinity, my understanding of the Sun Lord''s laws should already be at least 30% since my comprehension of Divine Light is at the brink of the Mythical realm¡­ That gives me an 80% confidence of doing this. In comparison, Distortion is probably only at 10-15% at most after learning from the crawlers¡­'' Undeterred, Lars continued to observe for a minute more, however, he quickly realised that he was making no progress. He pulled back his face from trying to peer into the depths of the golden globe, and went over his options. He glanced between the two orbs and considered shortly before making the clear choice. ''Looks like I''ll begin with the Sun Lord''s light¡­ But I can''t be too careful about this¡­ The last thing I want is to "over-eat" and die from self-explosion¡­'' Shaking his head, he knew that he could only take the risk and directly attempt to merge with the obtained laws¡­ He separated a sliver of consciousness from his main mind as a contingency just in case things went south ¨C the same secondary consciousness he had used to dupe the Sun Lord''s conscient earlier when being initiated into Divine Light. ''Alright. Here goes nothing¡­'' Preparing himself for the worst, Lars reached out towards the laws of the Sun Lord. When he placed the palms of his hands on the surface of the orb, he heard a roar of raging flames drown out his hearing and felt as if he were blown away by turbulent winds. His eyes were filled with the image of a great body of fire ¨C the Sun in its all-devouring, all-cleansing flames. Violent heat, gales and searing flares of flame erupted all around and Lars felt as if though his skin was disintegrating while his blood evaporated and his bones melted. He struggled to breath but could not inhale any air, feeling dizzy ¨C his lungs had stopped functioning. Nearly panicking, Lars felt helpless. Whether mana, Earth Pulse or Divine Light or even his own physical strength, nothing was responding to him. ''No¡­ Lars, snap out of it, it''s not real, it''s not real!'' Somewhere at the back of his mind, he could hear a girl or a young woman''s voice call out to him, telling him that this was but a mental vision, an illusion. He didn''t know where it came from or whose it was and why it could appear in his mental realm, but this voice helped him to refocus himself. Closing his eyes and no longer trying to resist his surroundings, Lars allowed the fire of the Sun to encompass him in its blazing embrace, swallowing him up in a sea of endless burning. To his pleasant surprise, he did not feel any pain ¨C only warmth, energy and life. ''Yes¡­ This isn''t real¡­ This is all happening in my spirit, my mind, my internal world¡­ Which means that mana, Earth Pulse, Divine Light, strength, powers¡­ All these are meaningless¡­'' With his eyes closed, Lars was no longer overwhelmed by the image of devouring fire. He could focus instead on unveiling the truth of this vision, this realm of fire. By eliminating his senses of sight, touch and pain, his other senses grew sharper. If he quietened his heart¡­ He could hear¡­ Music. The plucking of strings of a harp ringing out, the strings resounding and vibrating without cease, a melodic yet discordant tune at the same time. And beyond the five senses, he could feel something resonating with his soul ¨C an affinity, a relatability and something that he felt like¡­ Belonged with him. With his eyes closed, he opened his eyes - his inner eyes that allowed him to see no longer with his brain and mind, but with his heart and soul. And with his soul opening up, he still saw the fire and the flames and the sun and the devouring power. But this time, he could see through the surface of the body of fire into the internal workings of the golden-orange sun, into the inner parts where countless laws circulated. ''That¡­ That''s it¡­ That''s it! Somehow, from the sheer presence of this vision¡­ I had nearly lost myself and lost my mind¡­'' Lars could hear that the music and the melodic sounds were coming from the Sun, and he felt a great calm over himself as he willed his body towards the globe, the beautiful globe full of runic words that represented the laws of fire, light, of the Sun. As he grew to the Sun, he could hear the music of the instruments growing louder, now even accompanied by the voices of a choir of angelic voices ¨C just like the visual and auditory phenomena that had manifested when the Sun Lord triggered his abilities, only, far greater, purer, louder. Finally, Lars reached the surface of the sun and stopped, watching mesmerised as the runes could now be made out clearly. He found himself stunned at the sheer beauty of the sight before him ¨C before seeing these as laws, he was moved by the majesty and greatness of the laws before him. He felt¡­ Like these were a part of him. Like these were precious, beloved parts of him that he had somehow lost¡­ Suddenly, he realised that his thinking was strange. Belonged? Something he had lost¡­? He felt confused for a moment, but his attention was quickly drawn back to the swirling laws that seemed to chirp joyously in response to his call. As these emotions stirred up within him, the laws seemed to grow brighter, as if though responding to his feelings of awe. "Ignus Exeneratus¡­" Unknowingly, Lars found these words leaving his lips before he noticed it, words that he did not understand, nor did he know where these words came from. But at the sound of his voice, the scene around him exploded with activity. The lights flashed, flames leapt from side to side, various shades of colour danced all around and the music burst into celebratory songs. The rune words before him seemed to come even more alive, leaping and jumping with joy as if though¡­ As if though happy to see him¡­? Then the sun moved, the entire great body shifting towards him and enveloping him within. Then he realised what all this meant. He suddenly understood without knowing why, without knowing the background. And he knew what to do to master these laws. And as he spoke one more word, everything around him grew completely still. It was still a scene full of majestic power, might and world crushing power, but one where the laws were tamed like a wild horse that had suddenly submitted and acknowledged him as their true master. "Acies¡­" "Insight¡­" And the laws rushed into Lars soul, consumed fully as his own. 210 The Secret 1 Who shall free me from this prison¡­? I shall be free, I shall be free! This time round, there was no vision or memory flooding his mind when he absorbed the laws, only a voice resounding in his head, one that he recognised as belonging to the Sun Lord. ''Prison¡­? Is the Sun Lord imprisoned somewhere?'' Lars considered it for a while but dismissed the thought. He would just need to find out later. For now, what was important was reviewing the laws he had just received. And digesting the wondrous event that had just happened with the power of Insight. "Acies¡­" Lars whispered the word and felt his soul-imprint resonate. Looking inward, he could see a mixed mass of coloured mists which represented his soul and all the laws within him. The coloured mists were mainly a mix of blue (representing mana), faded green-brown (Earth Pulse), white (Divine Light), crimson (Prime Evil), purple which was dim in comparison (Distortion) and it was all held together by a colourless white-grey ¨C Insight. Currently, 5 characters had emerged and were embossed on the surface of the mists like an imperial seal ¨C ACIES [pronounced similar to ah-cheese]. This word was practically buzzing with domineering power that made the other laws cower around it, superseding other laws and taking the sole place as the ruler of the laws. "My true name huh¡­ I thought only demons and devils had such things¡­" shrugging, Lars reached out mentally towards his true name and quickly received an understanding of its powers ¨C or rather, power in the singular form. The power to subdue and assimilate other laws instantaneously! Blinking repeatedly, Lars was shocked. Wasn''t this¡­ Cheating? Even though he did not have any substantive memories from the Sun Lord and Belic, he at least had a sense that the war angel had lived and reached her level of comprehension of laws in several centuries or even one or two millennia¡­ While the Sun Lord''s age would probably make even a millennia old powerhouse look like a child! And he¡­ Right here¡­ Could just make their laws and comprehension his own in a snap of his fingers? Figuratively, of course¡­ Lars shivered. If anyone found out about this ability of his¡­ He could almost hear the gods, deities, demons, devils, saints, patriarchs, emperors, EVERYONE¡­ Rolling in their graves, cursing him, crying out against the heavens at the sheer unfairness of it all! They who would spend thousands of years to ascend the heights and comprehend laws¡­ And he who just needed to give a sideways casual look to copy all they had?!?[1] Of course, as Lars slowly went over his true name''s powers more closely, he realised that there was a severe limitation ¨C he would first have to hear, obtain, receive comprehensive knowledge or read the details of the laws before he could absorb them¡­ Truly a severe limitation¡­ Not! "What rubbish! Ridiculous! This is, this is too much, too much I tell you!!!" "It is just too unfair, too terrible!!!" Lars roared in anger (in his mind) and spat out vehement objections about his own ability, even as he blushed in embarrassment and tried to hold back a gleeful, gloating smile from his face. He even raised his head up to look at the sky to shout his objections to the heavens (in his head) while covering his mouth that had cracked open from ear to ear in a mad grin. "How can it be so unfair to all the rest of the world¡­ No, the universe¡­! How can they spend their lives cultivating, only for one undeserving such as I to waltz along and obtain all they have¡­?" he sighed, looking down as he wiped a (non-existent) tear from his eyes in mock sorrow. "¡­For along with Insight, Acies¡­ I have¡­" "Gluttony!" Lars'' eyes sparkled with evil ¨C ahem, I mean, righteous passion as he hatched countless plots and schemes to devour the gods of this world¡­ No, the entire universe! Shaking his head once more, Lars came back to reality. He smiled beatifically like a saint or a monk who had reached enlightenment and was no longer weighed down by the red dust of this mortal world. After all, how would the fate of mere mortals tie him down any longer? He who was born to be the godly cheat? "Ha hahahahaha! Hah, hahahah!" he laughed madly while keeping the expression of a tranquil saint, his chest heaving as he walked towards the ball containing the laws of distortion. He continued to chuckle until he was satisfied then reached out to plunge his hand into the orb without any hesitation. "Oh, I forgot. I should have reviewed what I gained from the laws of Divine Light before I---GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLELUJAH!!!!!!" And he screamed in severe mental pain as he entered a different vision this time. * * * * * The reason Lars screamed was that the vision began with him being face to face with a hideously scarred man who looked like he murdered his family then cut off their heads to use their skills as a urinal. He looked MEAN, so mean that Lars shuddered even while living through the memory fragment. Lars found himself standing on a castle''s parapets overlooking a full moon night, clouds parting perfectly to allow the lunar light to be cast upon himself and his companion. The wind was billowing through their hair, or, for the murderer beside him, his bald head¡­ And despite his appearance, the robust man spoke gently as he raised his hands to touch Lars'' face, causing him to struggle and scream, thrashing about mentally but unable to move an inch. Instead, he felt himself, the body he was in, leaning into the disfigured man''s embrace and placing his (gulp) head on the burly man''s shoulder ¨C shoulders that were so broad that they could be used as an ironing board for giants! Lars cringed as he could smell the manly scent coming from the man''s (ugh!) armpits, as his host was so dwarfed by the large man such that Lars'' nose was almost level with the man''s underarms¡­ ''@@\u0026*#($%\u0026 what f****** bad luck is this!!! Why twice in a row!!!!'' Lars cursed his fate in getting pulled into memory fragments, then froze in terror at the next scene. He felt his gaze turning upwards and looking longingly at the horror-fying man''s face, his own face moving ever-so-close to the bigger man''s until he could feel the man''s breath. To his fright, the killer-faced man blushed like a teenage girl as his eyelids drooped. Then their heads moved closer and¡­ The scene changed. ''Thank god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' Lars cried out, tears streaming down his face. He¡­ Was so grateful. His mind and sanity and orientation, ahem, were preserved! No matter what¡­ The man was just too ugly! He could not accept that! He would rather kiss a??? Dragon! Unbidden, the image of Charley Charlemagne with his lustrous flowing golden locks of hair came to mind, then the adorably cute boy-version of Astrid Estreya who had sneaked in a kiss in Gorun city¡­ Lars shivered. He channelled his laws, whichever would respond to seal and bind those memories and thoughts away forever and ever¡­ Then he sighed and continued with the vision. [1] [Copy ninja kakashi¡­] 211 The Secret 2 The scene moved to a stone walled room, one large enough for a jousting tournament to be held. From the equipment arrayed around, it was a training room, one that was very well stocked with weaponry and items for development. He was still with the same companion, only this time they were standing at a distance ¨C something that gave Lars a great relief. "Listen closely! No matter what, you must keep this secret and never, ever, ever tell anyone about it! No-one should know, not a soul! Can you promise me this¡­?" "Y-yes, Hakundak, of course! You know that I''ve never spilled a single secret of yours, don''t you¡­?" Lars'' host felt hurt at the tone of voice used and couldn''t help but retort petulantly, looking away. Then Lars stiffened as the big man rushed over to hold his host''s hands tightly as he spoke, "No, no! That''s not what I mean, Aerol¡­ You know I trust you more than anyone else in this world¡­ Only¡­" The man, Hakundak, pursed his lips as his eyes showed a moment of indecision, before resolve returned to his face. "¡­Nevermind. Though my sect persecute me and hunt me down¡­ Aerol, for you, I''d give it all up¡­! Heck, I''ve already given up everything to stay here with you and fight against the Sun Lord¡­ What else is there to lose¡­?" Hakundak looked deeply into Aerol''s/ Lars'' eyes, gaze filled with care and intimacy ¨C almost making Lars puke. Lars could feel his host''s heart fill with love as his face burned and he said a quiet "Thank you¡­" Then Hakundak stood straight, releasing Aerol''s hands. He stepped back and stood, face turning serious as he seemed to channel an invisible yet familiar power. "Listen and watch closely. I can''t afford to show this twice, lest the Sect Leader sense it and track me down¡­ Observe¡­!" He sucked in a deep breath and pressed his palms together before performing numerous complex and esoteric hand-finger seals, his elbows moving rapidly to accommodate the movements. As he grew in momentum of his movements, his legs began to move, drawing an opposing yet parallel pattern that seemed to resonate magically with the seals his hands had weaved. His tempo and cadence rose, growing faster and faster, higher and higher. It seemed like his steps had even left the floor without using any energy or powers at all, so great was the mysticism of the powers at this moment. Then, the movements stopped. As suddenly as he had begun moving, he grew still. Silent. Hakundak stood with his two palms grasped in front of his abdomen, legs bent in a //keima// horse-stance pose. Then his two hands began circling one another in a yin-yang pattern and then suddenly he yelled out loudly as one hand rose to point with all five fingers to the heavens while another seemed to strike the earth. And in response, the ground shook, a tremor ran through the air and something seemed to //CRACK//. Then, it was still again as he whispered the name of this skill as the vision faded away. "Demon Hunting Arts Sixth Seal: Mana Seal!" ''!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' ''D-d-d-demon, demon hunting arts!?!'' As the vision faded away and he found himself back in his all-white internal world, Lars'' eyes widened into saucers as he plonked himself down onto his butt and seated himself to focus. ''What a windfall, what an absolute windfall! //Durian runtuh//! [literally "durians collapsing/ falling" - an expression that means a windfall of profit] Who would have expected this bloody despicable world to have clues of the Demon Hunting Sect and their Arts, much less for Belic''s memories to directly gift me the Sixth Demon Hunting Seal!'' Lars forced himself to recall every moment of the memories. He sucked in a deep breath and steeled himself even as he studied every motion, minute movement and inch of Hakundak''s body while he executed the sixth seal of the Demon Hunting Arts ¨C Mana Seal! He even paused, rewinded, fast forwarded and swivelled the memory from every angle in order to ensure he captured absolutely everything related to his heritage of the Demon Hunters. ''Alright¡­ Alright! Based on his movements, there should be 322 seals, 420 movements and 69 steps¡­'' Lars nodded to himself as he reviewed the moves. Finally, satisfied and over 99.9% confident he had captured the intent and seals, Lars shot to his feet and readied himself. And he began. Moving precisely, he replicated Hakundak''s motions carefully and slowly. Despite his deliberate and measured movements, he was still smooth in execution thanks to his perfect memory and infinitesimal control of his body. A little over a quarter through the seals, Lars could feel the familiar ripples of the universe resonating with his soul, letting him know that he was on the right track. Then, when he was halfway through, he begin to sense an immense flood of power, feeling as if though he was connecting to the core of the cosmos themselves. At the 3 quarters point, his skin started to tingle and he felt his heart shaking ¨C he could nearly see the vision of a galactic being lifting its hands in response to his actions, moving according to his will. As he approached completion, this giant entity flickered through space and time, moving so quickly he might as well have been teleporting across entire galaxies. Then, in Lars'' mental view, this invisible gargantuan cosmic entity arrived and hovered outside the planet he was on. Surrounding the planet were a sun and a moon, however, the sun looked strange. Instead of being a ball of gas suspended in the starry sky, it was a person''s disembodied head. The eyes were closed and the expression peaceful, but every now and then the nostrils would flare slightly as it breathed, the only sign that the head was still alive. On the other hand, the moon was¡­ Bizarre. It was a haphazard combination of massive machinery and living flesh and blood, tissues fused together with the highest peaks of technology. And the key thing Lars also noticed was that it was¡­ Purple¡­ With a single glance, he could tell that these represented the two major powers vying over dominion of the planet ¨C the Sun Lord and Aerol of the Distortion. The galactic entity drew close to the atmosphere of the planet, his humongous size making the planet look like a gumball while the sun was just the size of his thumb. And despite his immense size and power, or perhaps, due to his great power, it appeared that he was undetected. As the entity searched the planet, he appeared to find what he was looking for and smiled while releasing a terrifying aura of destruction that caused the hairs on the back of Lars'' neck to stand on end and his heart to stop. Then the entity withdrew his aura, then whispered a word that echoed in Lars'' mind. ''Penjara planet... Sealed for 9,999 years¡­ Until the coming of the one of prophecy, the final inheritor of the Demon Sealing Arts¡­'' ''The one who will understand the true meaning of the Sixth Seal...'' The entity''s voice sounded like the frigid cold of absolute zero winter, while at the same time overflowing with endless passion like the fires of infinite hells. And this voice¡­ Was familiar. It was the voice that had whispered in his heart the words Ignus Exeneratus and Acies ¨C the voice of Insight. ''The voice of Insight¡­? Is it¡­ The same presence that I encountered when cultivating Earth Pulse¡­?'' Lars furrowed his brows as he experienced the vision. Having frozen in place when he saw the being smile at him, he gulped, then decided that if the being wished to eliminate him, it would have done so already. Gritting his teeth, Lars sucked in a breath of air and resolved himself to finish the sixth seal ¨C Mana Seal! As he completed the seals and stood in the keima position with one palm cleaving the heavens and the other slicing apart the ground, the great entity smiled at him gently from outside the planet. Then apparently from nowhere, great streams of blue astral winds began to gather from the hundreds of millions of kilometres around Penjara planet, congregating to form a vortex around the planet ¨C still unnoticed by the Sun Lord and Lord Aerol. After what felt like minutes of the blue vortex growing thicker and thicker and circling the planet, finally the blue streams of mana stopped. However, the vortex only grew more violent and suddenly turned into a funnel descending¡­ Right where Fetch homestead had been. ''!!!!!'' Lars tried to respond, to raise his defences, to rise to his feet and protect himself, but all this happened too fast. Before he could even exit the vision and his mental world, the concentrated mana of a star system had arrived before him and struck him in the forehead. As his consciousness faded, Lars felt the ground, earth, sky and seas churn, rumbling as the 9,999 years of sealed mana was concentrated into his mana core. 212 Friends "My liege, Belic sent word that the Child of Light has been anointed but the Sun Lord''s conscient is stalling her. What are my liege''s commands¡­?" Tens of thousands of kilometres away, there was a great crater spanning nearly 15 kilometres in radius. The ground all around had been scorched an ashen grey, while that within the crater had turned into a mix of blackened residue and what looked like shards of glass. The smell of ash and sulphur hung heavy in the air as well as that of salt. There was no life all around, not even wind in this place. And if one looked at it too long, the only thoughts in one''s mind would be bone chilling fear at the thought of the destructive power required to render such a scene possible. In the middle of this scene of barrenness stood a grand palace, one with pillars of ivory, floorings wholly of silver and walls of solid, pure gold, completely incongruent with its surroundings. Everything in this palace looked brand new but would also give one a sense of countless years past. In contrast with the beauty of the palace was a sight that would cause one''s skin to crawl. From afar, it looked like the ground around the palace were just the same as anywhere else, a mix of white from the reflective glass shards and blackened ground. But when one looked carefully, the ground around the palace squirmed. Surrounding the palace were hundreds of thousands of crawlers, piled into a river, a moat flowing incessantly around the building. Though the construction was somewhat reminiscent of human aesthetics, the scale of things indicated this this was not the case. Whether the archways, doorways, passageways, hallways¡­ Whether the seats, tables or curtains untouched by time¡­ Whether the royal hall, the decorative swords and shield hanging on the walls or the imperial throne¡­ Everything was so large that a human would be more than dwarfed, looking only as big as a cat or small dog. And on that imperial throne sat a person dressed completely in black. His long black hair was tied with a black sash and hung down his right shoulder, contrasting his sun-kissed brown skin. He was handsome in a masculine way, his bearing and body structure exuding power. His clothes were luxurious in design and of obviously the highest grade of materials, however, the colours left him looking sorely out of place. He was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the throne with a low, black obsidian table placed before him, reading through several documents ¨C missives and letters requiring his attention. Before the throne stood a stunningly beautiful woman dressed demurely in full-black garb, one whose beauty neared the realm of perfection. The conservative black robe hung loosely, covering her from neck down to her exquisite travel boots ¨C also black. However, no matter how loosely her clothes hung, they could not hide her bountifully curvaceous body, full and fleshed out at some places while slim and refined at others. Her flowing silver hair, sparkling, enchanting silver eyes and supple brown skin were the only parts of her body that were not completely in black. Countless a man had been smitten by her beauty and charm, as well as a good number of women. However, those who had attempted to court her had quickly found that she was as deadly as she was beautiful. After all, "she" was silver dragon queen Valenti, a warlord of the Semi-Divine stage who had reigned unhindered for a dozen generations. And yet she was the one who had spoken those reverent words to her liege who was seated before her. She stood patiently before the seated man, awaiting his reply and orders. The throne room was empty except for these two people. Silence was all that was heard except for the sound of skin against paper as the man continued to leaf through his documents, acting as if he had not heard a word she said - but Valenti knew that her only options was to wait. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the man on the throne sighed and leaned his chin on his arm, closing his eyes. "For even Belic and the Sun Lord''s conscient to fall¡­ It looks like our plans have to be brought forward¡­" He mused to himself as he opened his eyes, thoughts running through his mind. Valenti nodded, then waited. However, the man just continued to slowly browse through the documents and missives before him. Confused and unclear as to her instructions, Valenti opened her mouth to ask, "Lord, what are¡ª" "Leave the Child of Light alone, let us wait and watch. The waters are too muddy¡­ Proceed with our plans and ignore that Child, I want to see what our nemesis has planned¡­" * * * * * Far away to the south-east, there stood an unassuming tree. The tree was located in the middle of rolling lands, the ground cresting and falling all around with several small rocky mounds not far away. This tree was rather tall, but otherwise completely normal in ratio of width and height. Curiously, there were not many other plants nearby, merely sparsely spaced brown, wooden grass, shrubs or herbaceous vegetation with green moss covering the ground in between. The roots of the tree were thick and gnarled, slightly protruding up from the ground as if though it were ensconced upon a round and high hill or perhaps a solid rock. And from underneath the dense network of roots both hair-like and large, there seemed to a brown glow gently pulsing every now and then. The roots of the tree seemed to pulse together with this glow, giving one the impression of a person''s chest rising and falling as she breathed. Clinging to the tree were also lush vines with sharp thorns, while a ring of lighter yellow-brown texture was seen spiralling up the tree''s bark. One could also see many small insects buzzing and soaring by, while animals were either crawling up its trunk or, for those that could not climb so dextrously, following the spiral path leading up the tree''s surface. On this morning, surrounding the branches and leaves of the tree were plumes of mist and moisture so thick that it seemed nearly like fog, or perhaps even clouds. However, it was clearly refreshing and soothing morning dew rising into the air to nourish the land¡­ The small animals, insects and miniscule organisms approaching the micro-scale congregated near the top of the tree where there was an odd landing of sorts formed from intertwined branches. It was curious how the floor of the landing was flat, so flat that water spilled on the surface would remain stagnant, not flowing away to drip down through the canopy layer. The sound of chirping, squeaking or chitterling filled the atmosphere as they gathered round an empty protrusion in the centre that looked like a tiny tree branch sticking upright, one with a flat top. Just then, a little scaled bird about the size of a humming bird glided in, glittering silver under the rays of the sun. The little insects scurried out of the bird''s path, scrambling away at seeing a predator far higher up in the food chain, allowing the bird to land near the front of the crowd among other creatures roughly around its size. A miniature monkey turned to greet the new arrival, though his expression showed he was far from pleased to see her. He fixed a piercing stare on their visitor, raising one brow, saying, "Valenti. Why are you here? If you are looking for trouble¡­ We have enough already. I don''t mind resolving one right now if she insists on it¡­" Folding his arms, his powerful biceps and pectorals to bulge dangerous before continuing, "Here before mother World Tree¡­" He let off a dangerous aura as he finished. "Don''t think you''ll leave with your life." Silver dragon queen Valenti flexed her wings once before tucking them away, folding against her body the life-reaping appendages that spanned more than 40 metres in each direction. She then narrowed her eyes and had an enigmatic expression on her face as she faced the God of Beast-Spirits, Berethar. "Your Highness¡­" She paused and smiled slyly. I''ve come for an alliance." The atmosphere at the World Tree exploded into clamour, dissipating the clouds and shaking the mountains that were nearby. * * * * * Across the world, countless great entities'' turned their attention to the north ¨C to the far off Northern Reaches near the northern-most pole of the world where the sun shone throughout the year, drawn by the impending changes to the world. Abyssal Devil Princes. Demon Kings. Kings and Emperors of nations in the four corners of the world and the Central Dominion that had nearly united the entire world. Elemental spirits of the wild. Titans of the sea, Tyrants of the air. Rulers of sleeping ancient civilisations or reincarnations of fallen gods. All of them were called to attention at the descent of the Divine Lord''s conscience on one boy. Each of these major powers of the world arose to look to the Northern Reaches, each with varying objectives, but all with one target. Some frowned, unable to decide what to do. Some had gazes of vengeance, some eyes of hope. Others still had looks of merely mild interest or even boredom. But there was one person whose expression was the most perplexed of all of these. He was seated in a simple wooden chair, dressed in plain and rough yellow robes. His face was plain but kind, round and ever smiling. He kept his hair short in a style that required no grooming and had not a single ornament on his person ¨C except for a staff that looked like two golden serpents intertwined tightly, culminating in a transparent blue orb at the top where their mouths met. However plain he looked, there would be not a single soul who would dare to disdain him as he sat before the 8 Mythical Spirit-level believers who were performing the forbidden Ninth Sacrament in a choir. Seated on the Prime Servant''s chair in Temple, Pope Sunil of the Divine Sun Lord''s church allowed his kindly smile to crack for just an instant for only the second time ever in his life as he raised his hands in the middle of the finale, joining the heavenly choir to complete the last burst of song. Then it was silent. Smiling benevolently once more, Pope Sunil shook his head with pity and spoke to the awaiting Myth-level believers. He spoke but two words; spoken in a gentle, loving voice, one that sounded frail, wavering and almost breaking. "Kill him." * * * * * Lars awoke with a start. Instantly he gathered his consciousness, realising to his relief that only a little more than an hour had passed, that dawn had arrived¡­ And that a Semi-divine Land Dragon stood over him, saliva dripping onto his body. 213 The Secret 3 Lars awoke to find himself and Luca unearthed from the hole in the ground where they had been hidden, gazing up to the cavernous maw of the grand dragon looming large over them. The dragon was not opening its mouth to chomp him, but even the slight parting of its jaws allowed Lars to peer into the dark depths that were lined by fangs more than twice the length of a human''s height. The¡­ Pink, wingless land dragon blinked slowly, the horns and ridges across its scaled body giving it the appearance of a jagged mountain range. The great beast was half-sitting, looking to be patiently waiting for Lars to wake up. And as the dragon breathed in and exhaled, the hot air expunged wafted out, causing Lars to nearly suffocate from the stench of¡­ Menthol? Mint? Chewing gum? The dragon must have seen the look of shock on his face, for the 200 metre long creature //giggled// and smiled, a scene that raised Lars'' as this action revealed dozens of sharp life-reaping fangs. ??Little human! You thought my breath would smell like rotting meat? It matters not. Though I am a lady, I do not expect my playthings to have respect or manners of any sort." The dragon''s eyes narrowed dangerously as she spoke in a sing-song voice, her tone turning fierce at the end of her sentence. ''Stupid, stupid Lars! You used so many stealth formations but you forgot the most basic thing ¨C smell! It''s not only this dragon, just about any beast brave enough could have sniffed you out! Careless!'' Lars chided himself and cursed his mistake of hiding with only stealth formations. Thinking quick, Lars considered what he could do, then he realised there were only two choices. Fight or die. ''Semi-divine realm or not, let''s see how the power of a Myth paired with near- Divine law comprehension fares! I don''t have any other choice anyway!'' As Lars prepared and looked for an opportunity, the dragon continued to speak. "I, Frenoshreth, am the overlord of the Northern Reaches! Tell me, human, where have Belic Wildwood and the Sun Lord''s energy disappeared to¡­? Do not fear, as one of my numerous subjects, I won''t harm you as long as you do not lie to me. After all, even if I were interested in eating you, you and that girl are too tiny! You would just get stuck in my teeth ¨C not even fit to be a snack!" Blinking, relieved as well as somewhat offended to not even be worthy of being a snack, Lars was surprised. Did this dragon function as something like a local lord of the north? And¡­ Could he trust it? Or should he just strike first¡­? As these thoughts crossed his mind, the dragon Frenoshreth looked peeved as she continued to rant. "Those impetuous beings¡­! Just because one is backed by a Divine being and the other //is// Divine doesn''t mean they can prance around in my backyard freely! After all, here on Penjara planet, the greatest strength they can exhibit is only at the Semi-divine stage at best! They dare wreak havoc in my territories¡­! Hmmph! They dare injure my subjects and destroy my land!!" She lifted her nose up to the morning skies and scoffed haughtily, clearly not impressed with even divine conscients messing around in her home turf. Blinking again in confusion, Lars shrugged silently and decided to give it a shot. The dragon Frenoshreth didn''t seem too sharp in the first place, so why not, right? Lars cleared his throat, drawing the colossal dragon''s attention. Then he spoke eloquently and gave her a full (read: edited) version of the story, of course omitting the parts about himself as the Child of Light, Luca being killed or the Door of Gluttony. Instead, he exaggerated Belic''s strength, attributing it to the enigmatic Terra Root which seemed to have been referring to some in-born capability of Zera''s. Finally, he ended by the two opponents wiping each other out, returning to the heavens with only their soul-fragments and memories. When questioned as to how he and Luca had survived unscathed, he said that the Sun Lord wanted to preserve them as his precious subjects, something which Frenoshreth scoffed at again while shaking her head, but ultimately accepted with a sigh. She looked disappointed as her great maw turned into an inverted "U" shape and she plonked her great head onto her front claws, causing the earth to rumble and shake violently. "And I was looking forward to trying out a meal of war angel or divine meat¡­" she sighed to herself and shook her head, no longer paying attention to Lars or Luca. Smiling bemusedly, Lars waited for a short while before turning to leave when he perceived that she no longer cared about the two of them. As he walked away, he too sighed and shook his head while his eyes sparkled mischievously. ''A pity¡­ And I was looking forward to trying out a meal of dragon meat¡­'' * * * * * The first thing Lars did was to revisit the crawler''s cave ¨C the place he had arrived at when he entered this world. He quickly retraced his steps and within a couple of minutes, he was at the cave once more. Now, standing before the entrance to the cave, he recalled the experiences, learnings and challenges he had encountered from the moment he arrived here. And he also could not help but feel trepidation and daunted at the thought of re-entering the cave that had scarred him so greatly. Breathing in deeply, Lars chest rose as he listened to the sheer silence around him. Before, there might have been the chirping of birds, chittering of insects or various noises in the brush. Now, however, life in the vicinity had been more or less wiped out, leaving destruction everywhere around. Even the mountain ranges were laid waste to, with this cave only surviving because of its distance from the epicentre of battle. As Lars felt the strong arid breeze and dust blowing against his face, he calmed his heart and stilled his thoughts, letting his thoughts move to all that he had faced and learned. The moment he arrived, he had faced despair and a sudden rescue ¨C a sense of helplessness against the crawler and then a flash of light that rescued him, one that he now believed was sent by the Sun Lord to protect him as the Child of Light. From there, he had travelled to Fetch homestead and had learned that there were completely different paths of power, so vastly different that he could not even extrapolate it despite his godly mind and experiences in mana-based cultivation. He felt sadness as he recalled the warmth and camaraderie of the denizens of Fetch homestead and vowed to exact revenge on the powers of this world. The powers of this world¡­ Through the battles that unfurled before him, he had approached the edges of the Semi-divine and seen first-hand the might of this lofty realm. But most of all, he had consumed and combined the powers of this world, the laws and the cultivation methods to be integrated to his own, forming an all new path of power that he had yet to fully analyse and understand. Lars kept his eyes closed, no longer feeling fearful of the cave ahead after settling his heart and mind. After all, if he could devour Belic Wildwood who was at least a high commander of the Distortion camp, what was a mere crawler¡­? Pausing, Lars felt there was something special in the words he had just thought of. He began to frown in rapt concentration, divining something that triggered his heart and mind to spin wildly. "My path¡­" Lars whispered softly to himself and space and time around him began to ripple in response, a natural phenomenon not triggered by any form of power but purely by the laws of the universe. Lars suddenly began to feel a stroke of inspiration, being rooted in place as he began to formulate an all new path formed of all his learnings, powers and comprehension of laws. "Earth Pulse¡­" as he mouthed these words slowly, Lars began to glow with the colours of dirt and nature, a rich brown and a verdant green. His hair began to float gently despite the wind growing still, and he could feel the cells of his body coming alive wildly, responding with sheer virility and vitality of life. "Sword Arts¡­ Combined with¡­ The War Angel''s battle ethos¡­" his eyes opened slightly and the illusory image of a black katana could be seen spinning in his pupils, flashing with dark-violet energies. "Both of these can be considered as the Physical Path¡­ The path of combat, the Martial Path¡­" his eyes flashed with multi-coloured lights as he spoke these words. Then the brown-green glow in the atmosphere around him suddenly rushed to flow into the sword in his eyes. The sword greedily drank up all the pulsing glows of brown-green energy and abruptly stopped spinning. However, despite the sword growing completely still, instead of looking calm, it seemed that the sword were a volcano at the verge of eruption. The katana was still black but was now tinged with the slightest green-brown aura of life ?? a blade that seemed to shimmer ever so slightly, like a wild horse about to burst forth in power. Satisfied with the merging of these paths, Lars could feel the cells of his body advancing once more. If before, his physique had been at the peak-Legendary state, with this growth, he had already crossed the early-Myth realm ¨C and the activation of his cells was still continuing. These phenomena continued as his mind transitioned to the other facets of his self, combining with each additional unconscious display of might. "Now, the path of Light of the Sun¡­" 214 The Secret 4 "Now, the path of Light of the Sun¡­" Lars sword-pupils remained dark while his body shone white in a holy-looking display that would cause worshippers to fall on their knees in awe. However, this light did not seem to brighten the surroundings, not reflecting off the stones in their surroundings. "Divine Light¡­ No, there is nothing divine in nature about this law¡­ It is not even truly the laws of light but the laws of fire¡­ Crafted to form a strong visual aspect of white holiness¡­ Why¡­? Likely to draw more adherents and form a cult¡­" he did admire the extremely well-established understanding of the laws of fire that he had consumed from the Sun Lord, but the more he knew about the Sun Lord, the more he was disgusted. Who would intentionally alter their laws to become weaker, less effective just to put on a light-show? Just to gain more believers? "Just like a confidence trickster or scammer¡­ Dastardly Sun Lord¡­" "Nevertheless, I have to thank the Sun Lord¡­ The laws of fire I''ve absorbed are among the most well-developed that I have right now¡­ Sadly, it isn''t the laws of light, heh." "This could fall into the category of the Physical Path or stand alone in the Elemental Path¡­ Or it could also be combined with the Arcane Path together with the laws of mana¡­" Lars paused, toying around with little balls of fire, tossing them from finger to finger. He considered the permutations for some time, pondering the similarities and differences between the laws of fire with the Physical Path and the Arcane Path. Alternatively, he could continue with the laws of fire by itself and add-on more elemental laws as he progressed. Shrugging, Lars decided to leave it by its own for now. He would have to revisit this in the future as well as to refine his understanding and shed off the extraneous and useless cosmetic aspects of the laws of fire¡­ Having made his decision, the light faded away from his body and flowed to his eyes, forming a second tiny symbol of a ball of white fire in his pupil which floated alongside the dark sword at a certain angle. The two emblems circled one another and orbited the centre of his pupils, seemingly connected to one other by an invisible link. And as these emblems circled one another, he felt a strange feeling ¨C a cool and hot flow of energy washing over him, only, this energy wasn''t anything he was familiar with. Keeping still for a moment more to savour the sensations, he tried to see if he could connect this with anything he had felt, but could not put his finger on it. In the end he decided not to look further into it yet, putting it down as the unique power of laws related to the fusion and co-mingling of multiple systems. What he did know was that he could palpably sense a significant boost in the potency of the laws ¨C something he hoped that he could test out soon. He was not quite sure, but from the fluctuations of laws, he thought that he could hold his own against the full-powered Terra Root War Angel form that Belic Wildwood had taken¡­ He hadn''t been able to ascertain his strength level until now in this world, having faced opponents too far above his power level at that time. If not for the Door of Gluttony and the bone-chilling power of the creature behind that door¡­ Lars knew he would not have lived to see this day. Or at least, he would have had to run away with his tail between his legs and not gotten a free lunch! Excited, Lars moved on to the remainder of his main powers ¨C the path of Mana or Magic or Arcane Arts, Prime Evil of the Seven Deadly Sins and the Demon Hunting Arts. He went inwards once more, focusing on his soul-realm and calling up the soul-imprints that represented each of these laws. Three imprints that remained floating in the centre of his soul-realm. Prime Evil ¨C an ornate set of double doors covered in blood with 7 nodes of veins of which two were practically shining with sinister crimson light, pulsing like beating hearts. The Arcane Arts ¨C a transparent bluish-white crystal which he now believed represented the aether energies that flowed throughout the universe. The blue tinge, he surmised, came from the stellar energies while the white was a result of a combination of multiple colours ¨C representing a rainbow of all elements and all schools of magic. And the Demon Hunting Arts ¨C a practically invisible insignia, a 9-stroke seal. If not for knowing that he was looking for something incorporeal, he would not even notice the slight difference in the air of his soul realm. But there was one more. ''¡­Insight¡­ Acies¡­'' Lars muttered to himself and willed his core soul-imprint which began to materialise in his soul-realm. However, as the sigil of Insight appeared, Lars felt the strange sensation of epiphany again, something amazing, wonderful and beautiful just calling out to him from deep within himself. In his mind''s eye, Lars suddenly could see through and into the sigil of Insight. He saw darkness. Cold. A little boy. Lost. Shivering. Alone. Without sight. Without mother or father. Crying. Alone. Despairing. Desolate. Looking up at him with pleading, longing eyes. Reaching out his hand, begging him to bring him out of his prison of darkness. Unbidden, Lars found himself reaching out in return to help, for he himself could understand fully those same emotions. After all, he had been alone, lost, cold, crying¡­ Without anyone in this world. And he didn''t want another to go through the same. As he reached out to the crying boy, Lars felt his fingertips touch the surface of the soul-imprint of Insight, and as he did so, he felt a pang of wrongness, but he ignored it. And as his fingers pierced through the surface of the sigil, the boy smiled from ear to ear ¨C literally. Lars felt a sense of dread overcome him as he saw the boy''s mouth spread in a smile that was impossible for a human to make, one that literally split the boy''s head in half as a mouth full of row after row of deadly fangs was unveiled. Lars reacted quickly, trying to pull his hand back, but before he could, the boy''s fragile and small hand turned into a titanic claw that shot forth and locked on to his ¨C and Lars screamed. The vision disappeared, but the sigil of Insight began to squirm madly almost like a cocoon from which something was trying to burst out of. At the same time, Lars chest felt an intense tearing pain ¨C as if though that same thing were struggling to break out of him. His mind wavered and his soul-realm to shake crazily. The pure-white ground, walls, ceiling, everything began to burst apart and crumble madly even as Lars consciousness was hit hard. And even though there should be no concept of vision in the soul-realm which existed within Lars, he felt his vision blacking out as stars swam in his eyes. At the same time, he felt a ripping sensation deep within him, as if though something was struggling to break free from inside. As this happened in a short instant, a dark omen swept over him and his intuition told him that he was in grave danger, the greatest crisis he had ever been in. At this moment, Lars felt genuine fear. But what was most confusing and frightening was the fact that, deep inside, Lars felt as if though there was rejoicing and delight¡­ A sense of jubilation and glee, a sense of liberty and¡­ Salvation! But those weren''t his emotions. Nearly panicking, Lars fought to keep conscious while he felt his mind slipping. Fear gripped him even as the other entity within him pushed harder, harder, harder and he could feel something like a membrane or shell of an egg within his soul nearly cracking open. He felt/saw/heard/experienced mad, turbulent memories flood through his mind, visions and images. Images of galaxies exploding. Images of horrific creatures lying slain by his side ¨C for whom he wept. Images of glee and delight as tens of gruesome, mutilated abominations that passed for claws stuffed mangled and bloody pieces of flesh into his mouth. He felt disgust... And yet, hunger and a great desire to stuff his mouth with bloodied flesh¡­ And for a brief second when he could see again, Lars suddenly saw the one who was in him ¨C a red-eyed, horned, scaled bulbous monstrosity with eight scorpion legs and a devil''s upper body with countless clawed arms protruding from all over it''s upper torso. And yet he knew that this was but one form of the being... ''I AM THE DESOLATOR!!! AND FINALLY I AM FREE!!!'' he suddenly heard a sickening, putrid voice whisper the name. Then he lost his vision once more, lost control of everything as his consciousness was flooded by millennia, by eons of visions and images again. Images of being surrounded by countless enemies as darkness closed in around him, roaring in discontent, roaring in rebellion against the heavenly fate. And most of all¡­ Resentment, anger and despair and the desire for vengeance against the man with a penguin on his should and the necklace wearing woman before him as they perfected the seal on him. And now joy. He was free to track them down, to exact vengeance, to find them and devour their souls. Almost. "NO!!!!!!!! MOTHER, FATHER!!!!" Lars cried out desperately, not knowing why, but he suddenly knew. He knew. He would not give this body to one who would kill his parents. In that short moment, time stood still. In that short moment, he thought back to the people he had fought alongside, loved, cared for in the past and present. He thought about the people who were waiting for him. He thought about his homeland, his home planet. He thought about his comrades of life and death in this life and the past one. He thought about the women in his life, one separated, one who was forever another''s, one who loved him unrequited. And he thought that there was no way in hell he was giving up here! "Arrrghhhh!!!!!!!" Opening his eyes despite his shock and dizziness, Lars roared out and steeled himself as he brought to bear all his strength and laws. Whether it was power of laws or energy of Earth Pulse, Prime Evil, Physical Strength, Arcane Arts, Distortion, Demon Hunting Arts or Blood Energy, Lars channelled it desperately. In less than a thousandth of the time it takes to blink an eye, Lars weaved the most complex, abstruse and powerful formation he had ever formed in his life. If it were a painting, it would take hundreds of master artists decades to emulate ¨C and yet Lars formed it naturally, almost as if he already knew what to do ¨C no, he did know. He knew exactly what to do. He knew it because this was the same sealing formation he had seen closing in around the being, the Desolator, in his memories¡­ The rune formation in his soul, the sigil of Insight. He did not know how he did it or how long it took, but quickly he weaved a new rune of Insight and, with a decisive move, slammed it into his own chest. Correspondingly in his soul-realm that was still in chaos, a brilliant shining insignia of light materialised before instantly rushing at the sigil of Insight. The moment the two runes met, a great soundless explosion burst forth, sweeping away Lars'' consciousness and mind. Nevertheless, Lars smiled as he fainted ¨C because he heard the response he wanted. A voice of timeless evil letting loose a long desperate wail, crying out a single word. ''No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' 215 Preparations to Return 1 It was like d¨¦j¨¤ vu when Lars woke up in the once-forest now-desert outside the crawler''s cave as the first thing he saw was a gaping maw full of teeth and dripping with saliva¡­ He could feel the warm drafts of air waft over his body and throw up clouds of dust around him as the fresh minty breath of Frenoshreth, Overlord of the Northern Reaches, filled his lungs. And as he regained his senses, Lars couldn''t help but choke and gag slightly as he linked the idea of chewing of fresh spearmint gum with the dragon''s saliva¡­ That was not a pleasant thought, not at all. "Ah, you''re awake. About time, it''s been almost half an hour, do you know how much of a waste of time it''s been waiting for you? I could have finished twenty elks in that much time! Don''t you know that irregular meals are terrible for a lady''s digestive system? I could even get gastritis from delaying my meals for you! It''ll be days before my gastric plays down!" Lars was bombarded with the booming complaints of the pink dragon as he got to his feet. He mused as to how a Semi-divine being could have gastric problems while checking his condition ¨C everything was fine. ''Ah, wait! Luca¡­!'' Eyes widening and breath catching in his throat, Lars cast his gaze around frantically for Luca''s body, only to see her settled nicely on a pile of humongous leaves. He let out a sigh of relief and felt incredibly thankful. He had no idea where they came from but from their gargantuan size, they were obviously plucked by Frenoshreth. However, something else quickly caught his attention - around them were also the remains of dozens of crawlers, each one mauled through in varying places by a smooth round hole, clearly formed by a dragon''s claw cleaving cleanly through their bodies. Lars was shocked at Frenoshreth''s magnanimity ¨C why had she protected him and Luca? And even provided a nice bed for her sleeping body? He turned upwards to the dragon who was mumbling to herself about being hungry and how she wished some fresh meat would drop by, and how the crawlers were just disgusting rotten bags of melted flesh. "Erm¡­ Lady Frenoshreth¡­" "Ah! Don''t call me lady! I''m still young, just a little over 20 years old! Frenoshreth is fine, or even Freno for short!" Frenoshreth ¨C Freno ¨C smiled from ear to ear, eyes curling up into a happy face which, to Lars surprise, was actually very cute¡­ For a mountainous dragon. Blinking in discomfort at the scene of a cute dragon and disbelief at the blatant lie, Lars still complied and bowed in gratitude to his unexpected benefactor. "Thank you, Freno. But¡­ Why did you help us?" Lars looked around him at the mutilated bodies of crawlers lying in a ring around them, then back at the pink dragon who looked extremely pleased with herself right now. Then the dragon abruptly settled her expression, erasing the smug look from her face and instead replacing it with a look of haughtiness and the dignity of an Overlord while looking away slightly from Lars. "Huh? What, what do you mean? I didn''t do anything¡­ Tell me, what did I do?" Freno glanced at him from the corner of her eye and spoke in mock dignity, causing Lars to sweat at the clear attempt at fishing for compliments. Gritting his teeth, Lars swore internally but resolved himself to go all the way with this. After all, she had indeed saved their lives and it wouldn''t do well to offend someone who dared to contend with beings like the Sun Lord even at their full power¡­ Revisiting his lessons in buttering people up or etiquette, Lars formulated his words carefully and continued. "Didn''t do anything¡­? How can that be! O great benefactor Freno, with your great abilities and sagacity you surely must have felt the fluctuations of power ¨C which is why you came to this place. And out of the broadness of your heart of gold, you deigned yourself to assist us humble humans who do not even deserve a moment of your time ¨C even to the detriment of your poor stomach and harming yourself! How great a crime it is for us to have brought trouble to you, o wondrous saviour, oh how it pains our hearts!" Lars put on his best show, an anguished look marring his expression while he teetered on his feet, almost falling to his knees in his distress at causing harm to their precious saviour. He clutched both hands to his chest over his heart and even managed to eke out a one-eyed tear that glistened as it ran down his cheek. And even as he spoke, he felt his own stomach rumble and churn in disgust at his own words, his goosebumps rising at his own words¡­ Hearing him wax eloquent with cringe-inducing speech, even Frenoshreth was embarrassed, managing to blush and turn her already pink scales an even deeper shade of pink. However, her eyes sparkled as the corners of her lips began to rise in a smug smile despite her trying to keep a straight-lace attitude. "Ahem, erm¡­ Oh, t-that''s too much¡­ There''s no way I did all that, I-I was just being a good neighbour, that''s all¡­ Come on, this is too embarrassing to hear¡­" she coughed in embarrassment and turned away, causing Lars to let out a sigh of relief as it seemed he wouldn''t need to continue. But then the pink dragon''s eyes suddenly darted back to gaze at Lars once more as she thickened her skin and spoke words that caused Lars'' skin to crawl and the back of his neck to prickle with the tingling of awkwardness. "¡­B-but, do t-tell me more¡­ What else did I, who did nothing, do¡­?" Lars cried on the inside as he pressed on in his cultivation of esoteric Path of Shoe-shining and Flattery. * * * * * After several puke-inducing minutes of suffocating apple-polishing, a bizarre scene occurred. Lars was holding his ears and performing squats in front of Frenoshreth who had a cross look. It turned out that she had sensed a disturbing aura, but despite shearing through the winds and knocking up a storm of sand and soil, she was still not quick enough to catch it. The aura had already been snuffed out by the time she reached. Irritated but deciding that Lars was definitely suspicious, she decided to stand guard over him until he regained consciousness. Lars then concocted an explanation about encountering a great creature of darkness in the Crawler''s Cave before him. This creature had used a soul attack on him in an attempt to possess his body which led to a battle of wills, one which he had eventually prevailed in. Facing sure defeat and possible annihilation, the creature quickly fled with a mystical technique that allowed it to disappear into thin air. Lars had wanted to give chase, but the battle had taken a great toll on him, hence his falling unconscious. Hearing his story, Frenoshreth narrowed her eyes in an angry frown, causing Lars'' heart to race as he prepared himself for the worst. However, her next words made him relax once more. "Dastardly Aerol and his spawns of distortion! Another one of his dens of disgusting darkness right here in my territory! No wonder my population growth rate has dropped while the economy around here is in a recession!!! They''re annoying, all so annoying! And none of them taste good either! Curse you, Aerol!!! You hear me!?! Curse you!!!" Frenoshreth roared in frustration, raising her great neck to curse at the heavens as she finished with a bellowing cry. As for Luca''s comfy bed of leaves and Lars being punished like a kindergartener¡­ "How can a lady be allowed to lie on the dirty ground!!! You should be decapitated for such a crime!!! Hmmph!!!" Lars could only grumble silently as he swore to pay this annoying dragon back someday¡­ 216 Preparations to Return 2 "Phew¡­ Finally she''s gone¡­" Lars could feel his neck ache as he waved off the pink dragon with a stiff smile plastered on his face. He sucked in a deep breath and massaged his shoulders ¨C he felt more fatigued from this encounter than from the struggle for his soul. He watched carefully as she flew into the horizon with both of her 200m long wings flapping purely for aesthetic purposes. After all, as a land dragon, her flight mechanism was entirely non-physical as her size was too large for wings even twice the span to bear. Land dragons were only able to fly once they reached the Legendary realm and even then they were bulky and far from agile in the air. Once she was far enough away, he could finally relax and focus on more important matters. Lars hurriedly looked inwards towards his internal while still maintaining a sliver of consciousness to monitor an area of dozens of kilometres around. Once he entered, he found to his surprise that everything was exactly as it had been before the soul-attack had occurred ¨C orderly, tidy and with every soul-imprint where they were earlier. In fact it seemed that the whole event had never even happened. Lars would even have wondered if it had just been a figment of his imagination if not for Frenoshreth arriving to investigate. Except¡­ Lars felt a sense of trepidation as he could somehow recall not just the images of horror, bloodshed and terror, but also sizeable chunks of a new law, one that seemed to transcend all the laws he had grasped thus far. Though the memories were not complete, Lars could see the patterns of the law clear as day within his thoughts. This law was complex, so complex that when he brought it to mind, his consciousness was strained to its limits just trying to take the entire rune pattern in. He even felt a wave of dizziness hit him until he was forced to shut the laws off from his mind and grit his teeth until the sensation passed. ''W-What is this¡­? Wait¡­ This sensation¡­'' Lars eyes narrowed as he hurriedly focused his mind on the sigil of Insight. At his beckoning, the pure-white rune floated in his inner vision, pristine and untouched. No matter how Lars looked at it, there were no signs at all of a nightmarish creature being held within. If anything, the sigil now looked stronger, more robust with golden threads outlining key sections. Nevertheless, Lars scrutinised the sigil of Insight slowly, going over it inch by inch and covering every angle. It was only after repeating this several times and probing it with every type of sense and power he had available that Lars withdrew his mind, satisfied that there was nothing wrong ¨C at least, nothing he could detect at his level¡­ He still felt traumatized from the soul-erasing attack on his consciousness and sweat flowed down his back as he recalled the event. Taking a deep breath, Lars could only accept that things appeared fine¡­ At least for now. He decided to continue investigating the new law that had been left in his mind, adopting the highest caution as he prepared himself to sniff out any further traps. Sweat flowing down his back and breathing quickening, Lars hurriedly crossed his legs and sat down on the dirt floor to investigate deeper. He called up the image of the laws once more, this time slowly and tentatively, splitting it into four equal parts to reduce the mental strain. This time though he was stretched, the dizziness was not as bad and he managed to make out both the outline and details of the exceedingly complex rune of law. However, Lars'' brows furrowed as he studied it. Though he could now bear to look at it without swooning, what he saw¡­ Had no logic at all to it. ''What is this¡­ It''s too weird and doesn''t make sense¡­'' Lars struggled to digest the threads of law as he tried to grasp the overall concept of the rune. He tried to start from just one of the 4 parts, beginning first from the right side, only to fail before he followed the lines even 10% of the way into the rune. Then he chose to start from another corner but could not even get half as far as before. He tried beginning from the centre outwards, but found his head spinning and stars swimming in his vision ¨C it was even more difficult than his earlier approaches. At some spots there were bright fiery dots which did not appear to move, however, they would slowly drift away while pulling along some other smaller dots. However, those smaller dots did not move in a uniform pattern, instead moving at odd trajectories and arcs. Lars swallowed deep, jamming his eyes shut before he overstrained himself. This was just too difficult. ''This can''t be real¡­ Every law has a pattern, every concept has an order, and every rune has its rules¡­ Unless this isn''t even a law¡­?'' Lars paused, frowning as he pondered this thought. But shaking his head, he quickly discarded it. The fluctuations of power in these memories were too similar, too reminiscent of the creature hidden in the sigil of Insight, and whatever he could do to understand the creature better, he would do. Otherwise, wouldn''t he just be left as a sitting duck if it suddenly managed to break through the bonds of the sigil of Insight and appear again? His face was set in a look of deep determination; he had to understand this enemy within, understand its powers and identify a way to defeat it! Lars put these extraneous thoughts away from his mind as he redoubled his efforts. As he saw, studied and attempted to digest the four individual segments, it seemed as if though the formation were just a mass of tangled threads and points criss-crossing one another at random angles. At one point the threads would be moving in an orderly fashion, then abruptly the formation would descend into a chaotic pattern reminiscent of atoms in Brownian motion¡­ ''Brownian motion¡­? That''s it!'' With that simple phrase came images and memories of science lessons and Physics textbooks, ones in which the motion of every atom in the universe was described as being by random walk or Brownian motion. This type of motion was caused by the energy within each particle ///research browning and get a description/// And with this information, Lars called up the new rune of law once again. This time, he forced his mind to zoom out, placing the four segments side by side. As his consciousness once again began to waver, he waved his hand and blurred out all the detailed lines of the formation. ''Remove layers of lines¡­ First layer¡­ Second¡­'' Lars whispered to himself as he worked double time to simplify the rune image, stripping the overly complex rune of the fine lines that made up the mess. ''Fifteenth level of detail removed¡­ 12,496 layers of detail erased¡­ Come on¡­!!'' Lars paused when he reached this point ¨C the lines were now far cleaner and clearer, letting his almost make out something significant. However, it was not yet enough. He still felt his vision swimming and his mind spin as he tried to lay eyes on the full formation. ''Come on¡­ Remove¡­ Colour, yes, remove colour! Then... I''ll remove motion! That should make it simplified¡­ And¡­ There! Finally it''s¡­ It''s done!!'' Pressing onwards, he stripped the image of further levels of details and finally, stepped back with delight as he laid eyes on the outcome. Lars let out a breath of air, then immediately sucked it back in sharply. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he could finally see the forest without being obstructed by the trees. What Lars saw literally blew his mind away. ''Amazing!!! Wondrous and¡­ Amazing!'' Finally with the four segments placed together and with his eureka moment of understanding the concept behind it all, Lars could see the pattern, the grand image illustrated within the formations, within the majestic rune of law. It was a galaxy, a system of stars and a system of systems of stars. A constellation pattern, the paths of meteors and asteroids twinkling beautifully within. Planets orbiting one another, dust clouds surrounding them with multiple moons spinning gracefully around some while others were bare, solitary and lonely. When he took in the full picture of even this fragmented image of a galaxy, Lars whole body began to tingle with exhilaration. The sheer magnitude and weightiness of this law almost blew his mind with its scale and power. Lars eyes then widened in shock. If this law were so all-encompassing¡­ Wouldn''t that mean it also had tremendous, overwhelming power? Excited by his discovery, Lars hastily tried to add back one layer of detail to the image of the galaxy ¨C from the planet level, he went down to add back colour to the image. To be safe, he did so little by little and started with only one of the 4 segments. His vision wavered as he progressed, but his mind slowly adapted. He could also feel that this exercise was developing his senses and sharpening his soul-imprint of Insight, strengthening his comprehension and perception by many folds. However, his focus was on the rune of law and what he saw when he added back colour. His face turned pale as he realised why the creature of terror within would possess this law. ''This is¡­''s 217 Preparations for Return 3 As Lars observed the painting of a galaxy in his mind, his face turned pale as he realised why the creature of terror within would possess this law. "This is¡­ It can''t be¡­ It can''t be a¡­ An entirely dead galaxy¡­" The words left Lars'' lips as a barely audible breath of air. He looked here and there in the complex sigil formed by the new law, hoping to prove himself wrong. However, even after scrutinizing corner after corner and thread after thread, Lars could only resign himself to accept his inference. This was likely¡­ An actual image of a dead galaxy. There were no signs of any forms of life, no fluctuations apart from the natural motions of the stars and celestial bodies ¨C but even these stars were already dead while the bodies were cold and barren. Lars felt as if a cold, tight claw gripped his heart as chilling thoughts began to flit through his mind. He weighed these thoughts against each other, first selecting the most likely conclusions, then re-evaluating and discarding these as other pieces of information were analysed and confirmed. Finally, his eyelids closed softly as he arrived at the most likely conclusion. "If not mistaken¡­ This scene¡­ I, I can only wish, can only hope that I''m wrong¡­ But I''m 87.36% certain¡­" Speaking to himself, Lars paused mid-sentence, voice choking up slightly. A tremor could be seen running through his body at the revulsion and sense of wrong-ness about it all, about the deduction he had made through the picture of this dead galaxy. Eyes re-opening, looking sad and dejected, the idealistic young man who cared for all life and for all people more than he would ever admit could only sigh as he spoke the words he dreaded hearing himself. "This scene¡­ Comes from the actual extinguishing of an entire galaxy¡­ An act of absolute entropy¡­" "Why¡­? Why do galaxies fall? Why does life in hundreds of millions of planets¡­ End? Who did this¡­?" Lars mused, but he knew he was speaking in rhetoric, voicing out questions that he already knew the answers to. And as if responding like a mischievous child who was caught red-handed stealing candy, the rune tapestry of the new law pulsed with a sinister black light, as if confirming what Lars had already deduced. "From this law''s resonance¡­ The originator of this destruction is entirely caused by¡­" "The owner of this law¡­" Lars'' fists balled up tightly as he gripped so hard that cracking sounds could be heard from his knuckles. Though his fingernails pressed deep into the surface of his palms, no blood was drawn ¨C his skin was too tough for that. Nonetheless, he could feel the pain in his hands ¨C but this pain could not compare to the pain and hate he had in his heart towards the creature. He knew now why the scenes of carnage were so strong and in such great variety, with populations of star systems being massacred by the hands of the creature, entire civilisations and cultures snuffed out¡­ And why it called itself the Desolator. Keeping the memories aside but marking them in his mind, Lars determined himself to never let this creature appear again. A thirst for greater power, surpassing knowledge and all-conquering might surfaced in his heart stronger than ever before. This time, he needed strength more than ever not just to protect himself and those he loved, but to preserve the life of the galaxies. And even if he didn''t really know just what galaxy he was in right now, he surmised that this realm and the Abyss were likely two galaxies that had intersected, both with vastly different systems of power and inhabitants. Nonetheless, when faced with the creature known as the Desolator¡­ Lars shivered. It didn''t matter whether one side was called Devils ¨C they would just as soon be snuffed out by this vile destroyer¡­ At least the Devils wanted to conquer and not just wipe out all existence! Considering the dark law pulsing innocently in his soul-realm, Lars was tempted to just shatter it and purge it from his memories, but he realised that he couldn''t. Instead, he placed it to one side, the rune looking deceptively beautiful as it twinkled with myriad lines flowing in endless variation within. "The Desolator¡­ I guess I''ll call this the law of Desolation¡­" He needed this law, if only to understand it fully, comprehend it to the limits and hopefully, counter-act the creature''s powers once and for all. To do that¡­ He needed to find out how his parents had sealed it, to understand the law of Insight, to understand the seals formed, to uncover the hidden history of such a monumental event¡­ On top of that, he still had to resolve the issues of Earth, the All-Heaven Divine Empire, wrap things up on Yiluo planet, repay his debts here on Penjara¡­ Lars sighed. There was just too much left to do and he felt the burden weigh heavily on his shoulders. He could feel tension in his neck and he massaged his neck subconsciously, though it was impossible for the muscles of his surpassingly mighty physical body to actually ache. And he realised he was¡­ Feeling alone in this battle against a veritable storm of challenges. His thoughts went to his fallen companions both in this world and before, and wished that he had such good companions with him right now. His thoughts turned to his closest friend of the past year ¨C Kizorik. Even though the lil'' penguin guy had his quirks, he was someone Lars felt he could trust entirely. Not because of the contract they had between them, but because of the bond they had formed, one that had started out as a contractual obligation but had developed into what he felt was a true friendship. Kizorik also had knowledge of odd things that somehow often ended up useful for the situations at hand. But most of all¡­ "I miss him¡­" Lars sighed as he lifted his feet to move on. He needed to scout out the cave and learn the means of forming inter-planetary teleportation, or at least to secure this site for his return to Yiluo. He stepped foot into the cave of the crawler, one step at a time - but the steps felt very heavy, as heavy as his heart. He missed his buddy. "If only Kizorik were with me right now¡­ There''s so much I wish I could discuss with him, plan out and tap on his eons of experience¡­" "¡­Kiddo?" "WHAYEITIM-WHO!??" Lars leapt up in shock, head hitting the ceiling of the cave and sending a great web of hairline cracks through the rock surface. But Lars had no attention to spare for that, as he could barely contain the shock and elation overwhelming him right now as he heard that familiar, annoying, loveable/ despicable voice. "Is¡­ Is that¡­" Lars'' mind spun as he turned his gaze inwards to his soul-realm, and when he did so, tears of joy flooded his eyes. He saw a little fluffy 1.5 foot tall black and white oval-shaped bird, flapping his wings crazily but barely leaving the surface of the ground. He chuckled inside, wondering why his little buddy didn''t just use his powers to fly ¨C but that didn''t matter. "It''s¡­ It''s really you..." he breathed out in shock and disbelief as his soul-body stepped forward, then began to run forward desperately, vision practically blurred out completely but not caring as he dashed towards his buddy, who was also rushing towards him. "Ki¡­ Kiddo¡­ KIDDO!!!!" And when they crashed into one another, one young man/ boy and one penguin demon were reduced to blubbering masses of tears as they wept/ laughed/ rejoiced, boy and pet reunited once more. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PET?!?!?" ¡­ Erm, boy and his demon contractor, reunited again¡­ "¡­" "That''s better." 218 Preparations for Return 4 It was a tearful reunion for the demon and his contractor-- *SMACK!* ...A-a manly reunion in which not a single tear was shed by great Devouring Demon God Kizorik and his human contractor. Immediately after their reunion, Kizorik started by complaining about the boredom of being trapped in a soul realm with no food, no entertainment and no-one to talk to. "But... What about Velzash?" "DON''T GET ME STARTED ON THAT LITTLE, THAT LITTLE *BEEP!*!" Kizorik turned red and started raging, thrashing around madly in anger at the sound of his "friend"''s name, making Lars'' eyes widen in surprise. "After he ran out of greens on the first day, the little *BEEP* fake vegan demon began complaining about hunger! As if though spirit beings like us in a soul realm could even be hungry! Yeah! And then, when I offered him some fish, he, he... He...!!!!" At this point, Kizorik''s face turned beet red and his cheeks puffed up so much that he couldn''t even speak. Then, like a balloon that was popped, the penguin let out a burst of air from his beak and spluttered in rage. "W-What did Velzash do to make you s-so mad?" "HE ATE ALL MY FISH IN ONE GULP! ARGHHH!!! THEN COMPLAINED ABOUT HOW NASTY IT TASTED AND RESUMED HIS COMPLAINING EVERY DAY UNTIL TODAY!!!" Lars tried to placate Kizorik for a while, deciding to avoid talking about Velzash until the bad memories were more distant. He did learn though that Velzash had entered a deep, deep sleep just this morning after complaining of intense headaches. Even when Lars had re-opened his soul realm and met Kizorik, Velzash had not reacted in the slightest - he seemed unable to even sense anything that was happening around, even when Kizorik had shook him back and forth or stamped on his head... Ahem. This was strange - first off because demons who didn''t have bodies had no heads to ache, but doubly strange because it was around the same time as when Lars had unlocked the Rune of Desolation... However, Lars kept the though to himself as he brought Kizorik up to speed on all that had occurred within the past week, eliciting emotional sighs, looks of excitement and at times yawns of boredom from the penguin. Kizorik''s interest was piqued upon hearing of the trail of the Demon Hunting Sect that had surfaced here of all places. Sadly, there was not enough information from the fragmented memories consumed from Belic Wildwood, and any further investigation would have to wait until a later visit, especially because their only lead Aerol was a Divine-realm being on par with the Divine Sun Lord... However, the point that he was the most interested in was oddly enough the pink dragon, Frenoshreth. The penguin asked various questions such as what the length of her body was, the width, the textures of her scales and her favourite food (minty and Divine beings) and colour (obviously pink). When asked why he was so interested, Kizorik''s reply left Lars sweating and wishing he had not known. It turned out that the preferred mating partner of Demonic Devour God''s were female dragons... Having finished their catch-up, the boy and his companion then resolved to explore the mystery of the power of Desolation and also assess the limits of Lars'' Myth-realm powers once the opportunity arose. For now though, there was a journey to continue. And so their party was once more complete (minus Velzash) and ready for their return to Yiluo Planet. "Alright... Let''s scout out the Crawler''s Cave and secure the portal home before wrapping things up here." "Yeah... Let''s get back and kick ass!" Lars exchanged a look and a smile with his companion and reached out a hand towards Kizorik, which the penguin reached up to smack in camaraderie. Kizorik''s form then faded into mist as he retreated to the soul realm, boy and contractor reunited once again. * * * * * *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* Lars paced through the passages of the Crawler''s Cave, hearing only the sounds of his footsteps and the occasional drip-drop of water echoing through the chambers. As he retraced his steps (thanks to his photographic memory), he began to realise that the cave... Was most likely not truly a cave. Rather, from the smooth yet textured surface of the walls and the oddly regular sizes of the chambers, he began to wonder if this were a man-made structure that had been abandoned over the years or centuries. The only parts that had him feeling that it could be natural were the uneven levels and shapes of the walls and the interspersed depressions and holes on the floor that looked like they were formed from countless years of erosion. ''Gives me the creeps... I don''t like the smell of this place, it''s as if though someone or some *thing* puked and we''re now walking through it''s vomit... Ugh...! #Feels bad man... Something just ain''t sitting right with this place... Let''s get this over and get out quick, ''kay boy?'' Kizorik commented with his customary complaints while keeping his nose shut with a clothes peg. Lars at first shrugged it off as just the usual gripes from his penguin buddy, but also began to have a bad feeling about this journey. He couldn''t quite place it, but he, too, felt a sense of discomfort and unrest - almost as if though he were missing something highly important. Nonetheless, he couldn''t quite figure out just what could threaten him as a Mythic being. The most powerful creature here had been the Crawler, and that was at most at the World-class level. Maybe it had been a threat when he had been helpless, but right now it would be the Crawler that would be helpless if it dared cross him! Shrugging as he continued onwards, he avoided the droplets of water that dripped from the ceiling as he approached the last turning. He noticed that the water droplets were growing thicker and slightly... Viscous. Perhaps due to the water seeping through limestone or dust residue. Wondering why he would notice such a thing and dismissing the thoughts, his steps continued until he stopped just before he would reach the location of the teleportation gateway - the location where he had met the first Crawler that had nearly taken his life. He stopped just before the intersection, somehow feeling as if the passageway before him were the gaping maw of a lurking beast. Looking on, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of apprehension and hesitance, causing him to frown. It was too illogical to be afraid of moving forward against a mere World-class, mindless creature. How could he be hesitating here? What about when he had to someday confront world-destroying beings such as the All-Father of the All-Heaven Divine Empire? Or against a true monstrosity that could even bring an end to galaxies - the Desolator? ''Kiddo... I know how you feel. It''s just like... When I... I had to face my ex-girlfriend again and borrow money from her, and she had to borrow the money from her new boyfriend...'' Kizorik whispered "encouragingly" to Lars, causing him to smile with eyes wide, shocked by his admission but also finding it a ridiculous image to have at such a time as this. He was tempted to call it nonsense and ask Kizorik not to joke at this moment, but the sincere and heartbroken, agonised look on the bird''s face made him catch himself. ''Erm..... Alright...?'' Deciding not to mention anything more about it, but still cheering up a little from the unexpected words from his buddy, Lars sucked in a deep breath and, casting aside the ghosts of his past that had no basis, he willed himself forward. After all, what was the worst that he could face? With that, he bravely entered the Cave of the Crawler. Little did he know that in the passageways he had passed, too far away for him to notice, the spots where the "water" droplets had fallen began to sizzle and disintegrate, pits and holes began to appear on the surface of the floor as it was broken apart into basic elements, almost like the floor were dissolved by digestive fluids.