“So,” Aaralyn dusted her harp off, “you’re just a couple of friends wh–”
“Best friends,” we both corrected in unison.
“Uh, yeah. Best friends. And your country was under attack by us, because we’re assholes.” We nodded every now and then. “So, you’ve come to undermine us from the source. Is that right?” We nodded once more. “Well, it is quite a smart move from your king, considering you actually have the power to wipe out about half our military. They’re recalling most of our overseas soldiers now. And let’s see,” she tapped her lip in thought, “you learned about the Firmament midway through and realised that was the lesser evil?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” I said.
“How are you sure I won’t turn tail and tell? Are you actually planning to kill me at the end of this conversation?” Aaralyn asked. It was hard to tell when she was joking.
“Well, if you tell, you tell. Whatever. But if our covers are blown, well,” I shrugged, “we may just have to go back to mass murder.”
“Hmm, a fair point.”
Apparently, her family were in the employ of the military, and had extremely strict standards. She wanted to become a musician, but they wouldn’t have it, especially seeing that she had a talent for their fighting style. They abused the shit out of her. She ran away many times but they found her anyway and dragged her back. The authorities did nothing, because her family were basically full of authoritative figures. She eventually snapped and killed them, in a planned sort of way, becoming that which she hated the most – military.
That was pretty messed up, I had to agree. But the story was from her perspective alone. We leaned more to believing her though, because she didn’t exactly frown when she heard of the other Sword Paragons’ deaths in Whitemane. In fact, she smiled. Especially when she heard of what we did at Blackmane.
“Well, I’m obviously not going to throw my life away in a Firmament to any of you. If you can just kill SPs like they were ants in Blackmane, then there’s nothing I can do.” She suddenly stopped playing the mesmerising harp, “I know this might be pushing it, but in the case that our paths don’t cross and I get to live, and you succeed with your quest, take me back with you. I’m really good with a harp and lute.”
“What makes me think we want you in our country?” August asked.
She shrugged, “Well, if it’s not meant to be, then so be it. But it is better than being alone in this shithole.”
A banging was suddenly heard at the door. “Sutherland!” a voice yelled at the door, and before any of us could answer, the door was smashed open. “Witnesses saw those two Firmament boys enter here!” the man yelled, stampeding his way into the living room and eventually seeing us. He glowered, contempt sweeping through his veins. “Have they already challenged you?” his voice went low.
“General,” she stood up out of respect, or obligation. Who knows? “Sir, I’ve made it clear that I wouldn’t accept their challenge, so they have not issued it.”
“Then why,” his anger broiled underneath, “are they still at your house?” he asked, trying to keep it contained.
“I like them,” she bluntly said. Anyone could tell she had her woes with authority.
“Get these criminals out your house at once, Sutherland!”
“Sir, this is not a military exercise. I ask that you do not force this upon me.”
“Sutherland,” his fist balled, “I order you to–”
“Hey, asshole,” August continued looking forward, not even giving the Whitemane general the pleasure of seeing his face, “I challenge you to a Firmament.”
The man smiled coyly. “Come then. There are ample witnesses outside. I’ve already done up the contract and brought a Firmament official with me. This can happen right now, boy.”
August stood up and went outside with the general. A squad of soldiers stood outside, along with scores of people who followed them along to an open place fit for a Firmament. Bianca, back in Invisibility, followed alongside Aaralyn and I. This had to have been the fastest Firmament preparation I’d ever seen. August challenged him again in public, and he accepted immediately after. The contracts were signed, and the official made it exactly that, official.
As soon as the official walked out the allotted space, I stacked Timedial twice. The general rushed forth with his weapon drawn. He placed what I could only assume was Ulanos’ gravity magic upon August; the blacksmith was down on one knee and his arms were pulled downwards. He was defenceless. Well, that’s what I thought at first. He used Mind Break and the general froze. With little to no effort, he stood up like he wasn’t even affected. Well, he probably wasn’t because of his magic resistance and all, but he did a good job faking it.
August removed the sword from the general’s hand, swiped his feet to fall the bearded man and got into a mounted position. August cracked his fingers, took a breather, and began pummelling the life out of the general, until there was no more. The cocky general was literally punched to death, until his face was a bloody disfigured mess. In fact, the hasty general’s skull was broken in and his brain damaged. It was so brutal, the children who were usually allowed to watch the Firmament in which there would be sure death, were instead told to leave the minute August began punching with such strength and vigour.
Once the general’s death was confirmed, August was declared the winner, but the usual cheers weren’t there. Neither were the cries of mourning. Aaralyn questioned why August got so worked up about it, and why he didn’t just use his sword like the rumours about his Firmaments always said. “Hmm, well, the simplest answer is, hatred.”
I couldn’t tell her how we both knew that people like the general were the very reason Ulanos was the way it was. People like him contributed the most to the culture and love of war. Men like that general were likely the men that ensured Methelia would be attacked and pillaged. He was undoubtedly someone subject to our vengeance.
It was becoming ever apparent to us that Ulanos’ ways gave Bianca’s motive to kill her own sister proper justification. We couldn’t blame Aaralyn for her family’s death even if she did it.
This place was madness. War and conquest would topple all aspects of society. The horrible war-centric economy meant anything outside of military service meant living in poverty, except for those born into wealth. And those born into wealth already had their paths paved towards killing. Something as simple, yet important as agriculture was forced to make the army their top priority. Men from the military would do what they wanted with those not in it; things that included the rather inhumane side of humanity.
The crowd cleared after the body was cleaned up. August’s usual family visit could happen, unlike with Firmaments against Sword Paragons. Not only were they supposed to kill their families, they couldn’t start any of their own. It was a terrible deal.
The general’s only child, a young boy, hated his guts. His parents and wife grieved as usual. His grandparents and son couldn’t give a damn. The visit went as usual, with people in the army. But this young boy really surprised us. “Wait!” he ran after us once we exited. “Hear me out. Don’t say anything, don’t reply, just hear me out. I know you guys are here to mess with us. By us, I don’t mean my family; I mean Ulanos. Everyone knows you’re the two who wiped out Blackmane and the half the country. The fact that you’re still alive means you’re strong enough for the assassinations to fail against you.”
This kid knew what he was talking about. The number of assassinations we went through were too many to bother counting. “If you’re that strong, then just kill the Sword Sovereign. I don’t care if whatever country you’re from invades us. I only ask that you exterminate the army. No one likes them besides themselves. They’re leeches, pieces of shit that…” he stopped himself. “Sorry, back to the point. Try and bait the Sword Sovereign into a Firmament. By now you know that once one is accepted, it is absolute. If you kill him, you basically own Ulanos.”
We wanted to know why this kid knew so much. Or perhaps, this was common knowledge that we’d just been ignorant of.
“Why the hell are you telling us this, kid?” August asked, ignoring the kid’s request for us to say nothing.
He grunted. “My father raped my mother, then forced her to marry him. I came as a result of that. Found out after he broke my arm because I wouldn’t start learning to fight. After that, he’d just force himself on her in front of me, and I couldn’t do anything about it. And those things are more common here than you think. Now you understand why I hate Ulanos soldiers. Everyone wants them gone, we just don’t have the power to do it. But, you two can.”
“We’re just two normal guys, kiddo,” August denied.
“Hmph,” the kid didn’t believe a word of it. “Just think about what I said, okay? He’s at Nuan’s Heaven-Wind temple.”
Later that day, we returned to the inn we were at. We were already going to Nuan, but came to an agreement that we’d go straight for the head of the dragon like the kid suggested. We asked some folks around if they thought we were the two amethystine creatures that killed over a million soldiers. Some outrightly said yes. The rest either didn’t give an answer or didn’t say no. It really was a common suspicion that we were responsible for all that death. I guess timing is everything.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
There was no way that people wouldn’t make the connection. The minute the mass murdering creatures stopped killing, we came about. When we thought of it like that, it was pretty obvious. But they couldn’t prove it. No one could. That’s why all those assassination attempts were made on us.
A couple days of flying later, and we made it to Nuan, the capital and largest city in Ulanos. The place where the head of state, the Sword Sovereign, rested his head. Nuan was just waking up. Unlike Blackmane and Whitemane, the city wasn’t walled around, but man was it huge. It strived a little better than other places, or at least looked that way.
Well, the final stride.
“Not really.”
Way to kill the mood, woman. I really missed her. And man did I miss Anjali. There was no way to talk to her besides a clone relaying the memories or messages to me.
August and I could somewhat rest easy now. The ships surrounding Methelia already left once Blackmane was attacked, but our mission wouldn’t be over until there was new governance for Ulanos. Wouldn’t make sense if they simply reverted to doing the same thing.
We flew farther and farther into Nuan, heading straight to Heaven-Wind temple in the northeast. When we reached in a certain vicinity, gravity magic pulled on August, but did nothing.
“Alright, let’s go down,” he said softly to us who were invisible.
“Only authorised persons are allowed beyond this point. Turn back now or we will use force,” the armoured guardsman told us. With his helmet on, we couldn’t see anything at all.
August sighed, and copied my squatting habit to think. I rested my hand on him and squatted as well, “I’ll just make you invis too. No biggie.”
“Oh good, ‘cause I was seriously gonna kill my way in.” August stood up, nodded and apologised to the guard, then moved out of his sight. I placed Invisibility on him then, and we simply continued flying to the temple.
Like the name suggests, there was some strange wind about the place, acting like a barrier of sorts. I’d never seen anything like it. It was controlled, constrained within a certain area, yet unbelievably strong. Hmm, all my manipulations are eight out of ten except for lightning, huh? Sure, I could just Voidwalk and not be affected by the encirclement of wind at all, but not so much for Bianca and August. I had numerous ways for them to enter, but none that I would trust fully against something as strange as that barrier.
I summoned Gale to handle it for me, and that she did, flawlessly. The spirit lords’ understanding of elements, especially their own was astonishing, really. We walked in leisurely, and Gale let the strange wind barrier continue afterward. After thanking her, she went back to Phoenix in the spirit world.
Inside the barrier, was an expansive courtyard and the temple up a flight of stairs, being hugged from behind by the mountains. Two men and a woman walked towards us from inside the temple, drew their swords, and continued closing the gap. August drew his as well, but I stopped him. “Nah, man, you go on inside. I’ll take care of these guys and meet up with ya.”
The flashes of light from three Arm of God spells lit up the place, and those people died before being able to raise a hand. Bianca and I walked forward to meet up with August, but she remained in her Invisibility.
Within the huge main room, was the biggest throne I’d ever seen. It was like a bed, but with arm rests. Silken drapes hung and satin sheets gave emphasis to the prominence of this place. The entire floor was clear except for a few people standing in front of the throne. One of which, was an uneasy Isana. The three behind her were covered from head to toe in black apparel, quite similar to the two individuals that Bianca fought off to save Anjali.
Bianca removed her Invisibility. “Do not interfere,” she warned us and walked forward. They clashed swords, nulling each other’s blow. A cut appeared on Bianca’s face, then one was duplicated on Isana’s stomach. This was their own personal fight, and no one deemed it fine to interrupt. She finally had the chance to make Isana answer for everything.
“Hmm. How cute,” Isana smiled. “I hope he did you good. It would be a pity to die with regrets,” she taunted. She really was a cynical person. They were so evenly matched, that their high-speed match wasn’t really going anywhere. Only small cuts and scrapes were allowed through their defence from time to time. Anything fatal or leading to injury was guarded against.
Without Timedial on, I couldn’t discern what they were doing. The fighting style was truly intriguing. It was like a very minute and accurate force would push and pull on their limbs to make them move a certain way. Added in with miniscule but very controlled gravity fluctuations, you could make your opponent slip up, increase the weight of your blow, or decrease the strength needed to fight against gravity so you could dodge better.
Really, it was a hodgepodge of manipulative magic that made Ulanos the strong nation they were. Doing all of that, while still attacking with occasional fire magic was immensely difficult. The switch-ups, focus, and stamina needed was unreal. Methelia’s mages were better at magic by bounds and leaps, yes, but our magic wasn’t done in such quick succession. No wonder Ulanos didn’t use spells in particular. They kept with low-level manipulation because it was faster to pull off and speed was king in a close-ranged sword fight.
However, without Division, physically moving your body and incorporating mana to help you was sapping. In a minute or so, they were exhausted. Bianca then began smiling and walked forward. Isana held her blade up, ready to intercept whatever her sister was about to do.
Within a couple seconds, they were at each other’s necks again, but a strong gust from Windsail swept Isana’s balance away just for a second. But that was enough. Isana tried to swing her sword down but Bianca was too low. The vengeful girl grabbed onto her sister’s wrist, blocking the strike then swung a hidden knife into Isana’s stomach with the other hand. “This is for mom and dad, bitch.” A Fireball went right into the wound from point-blank range, tearing it apart even further, scorching Isana’s guts and busting through the back.
Isana still managed to smile. “Atta, girl,” she robotically caressed her sister’s hair before falling down, a quivering demise following soon after.
“Good job, sword girl,” I said to her, fixing up her wounds and giving her potions.
August smiled at her and patted her head, then turned his attention to the three dark figures and the Sword Sovereign who sat on his throne, obscured by the drapes.
“Are you the Sword Sovereign?” August asked, but there was no reply of any sort. I could immediately tell he was pissed off. “I’ll ask once more, and if I do not receive a reply, I will kill you all where you stand. Are, you, the Sword Sovereign?”
The atmosphere was bitingly intense. But once again, there was no reply. August held his sword in front of him, the blade facing directly upwards, and simply disappeared. Even with two stacks of Timedial, I couldn’t see shit. The next thing I knew, he was in front of the mystery man on the throne with his blade pointed at him. The trio of assassins that stood before us suddenly fell to the ground, their heads separating from them on impact. How much goddamn quint did you use, dude?!
I’d never seen him move that fast, in all our battles together, in all his Firmaments.
The person suddenly shot his arms up in surrender, “Wait, please, don’t kill me! I’m just a double!”
A slow clapping was heard, getting louder as the man approached. “Pleasant morning, gentlemen, and lady. I must say, those movements were impressive, Methelian. It’s truly a wonder beyond the stars how you got this far. If I had known Methelia would have such power players, I’d have focused most of my resources there. Your tiny size really made us overlook you. For that, I humbly apologise.”
He was clothed in a sky-blue robe, with accents of white here and there. His finely groomed beard gave him a softie kind of feel. “Now, I assume introductions are in order. I am Frederick Bartholomew, the Sword Sovereign of this fine nation.”
“Eric Archibald, a Methelian mage.”
“August King, a Methelian blacksmith.”
“Bianca Belgrave, a former–”
“Belgrave?” the well-mannered man interrupted. “Ah yes, I remember you. SP Belgrave’s sister. Hmm, it seems you’ve had your revenge already. She was a good soldier. A pity… Well,” he switched gears back to happy in a heartbeat, “congratulations! Although, it’s also quite a pity I lost you as well. You had a lot of talent. Had you continued in the assassination unit, you’d have been a force to be reckoned with.”
“Thank you, sovereign. But I hated it.”
The man shrugged, “Ah well, it can’t be helped then. Alright, my esteemed guests, I understand you’re here to remove me as sovereign. Is this true?”
“Yes,” August answered flatly.
“Ah, I see. Well, there are some issues with that, but before we get there, allow me to thank you. After the reports of what was done in Blackmane, I humbly extend my gratitude for not using such indiscriminate magic in civilian-populated areas. You fight for your country and have no obligation to spare my people, yet you remained adamant in seeing that you didn’t directly trouble them. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” After a deep bow, he escorted us out of the Heaven-Wind temple. Walking out with him made any guardsman that saw him kneel in seconds.
“If you thank us for sparing your people, then why do most people outside of the military live like pigs?” August asked. He wasn’t of mind to spare any words.
“Well, it’s a simple reason, really. War is our bread and butter. We’ve got to reinvest what we get from war back into war, if we want to keep on living properly.”
“Can’t you live properly from other means? Like food export, or literally any other export,” August interrogated.
“I’m afraid those industries take too much time and effort to develop. You see, the sovereigns before me made Ulanos into a warring country for almost a century. It’s hard to steer off that path and spread your resources to other things without weakening your army. And it’s hard to weaken your army and not be vulnerable to invasion from nations that you’ve previously invaded. And therein, gentlemen, lies the issue with removing me – or anyone else rather – as sovereign. If you takeover Ulanos through a Firmament, then you leave us to our devices, we’d just continue warring. If you cripple our military power however, like you’ve already halfway done, then the Ulanosian citizens you’ve actively avoided killing would be killed by another nation anyway. It’s quite a thin line to walk.”
“We’re still going to challenge you,” August concreted.
Frederick guffawed out. “That’s the spirit! That’s the very fire that drives Ulanos, blacksmith King! I do wish you, or your friend, mage Archibald, the best of luck in the Firmament!”
“You, don’t seem upset,” Bianca looked at him strange.
“Oh, that’s just because I find it rude to brood around my guests. In reality, I’m bordering on losing my temper with every passing second,” he said with a smile. What an honest man. If honest was even the word to describe him. “I can’t believe I underestimated Methelia as much as I did. But I must say, I’m really very mad I didn’t go investigate those murders the first day you started. Perhaps, if I confronted you from early on and we had the Firmament, I’d have been able to save my precious soldiers. The men you’ve killed outside the Firmament is around one and a quarter million. That’s a huge blow.”
“You sound like you’ll win,” I commented.
“Well, I don’t mean to boast, but the title of ‘Sword Sovereign’ literally means the strongest of Ulanos. I’m quite confident in my skill.”
We went on, having a weirdly civilised chat, until we got to a densely populated area. He asked that the guards get everyone’s attention, but that wasn’t even necessary. People worshipped that man, or hated his guts. There was no inbetween. He got attention simply by being present. To the hundreds of people present, he challenged August to a Firmament to take place two weeks from now.
August accepted.