"I'll advise awakening your Gift first." Iqra repeated himself. The voice was masculine so Armad decided to call it as such.

I've lost my Gift. Armad said.

"What? How? When? No, no, you have not. It's all over you."

Look at me. Can you see any Miyura?

"Oh? Yeah, it's a pity you've lost that. But it ain't all. Your Gift is the ability to manipulate longevity, just like your friend's Gift to manipulate time."

Armad knew the voice was referring to Tyren but he ignored the 'friend' part which was obviously meant to tease him.

"You can manipulate longevity with your Miyura, you can do it with your eyes, you can do it with spells and you can even do it with a sword. Your Miyura is just the easy way to do it without Awakening. Now, I can help you with that. Can you move your hands?"

Even if I can, I've Nestone all over me.

"This gesture can negate it, trust me. Are you ready?"

No harm in trying. But someone will notice.

"They are busy with the bidding war. It will be too late by the time they noticed. Spread your fingers and bring your palms closer, precisely five inches apart."

Armad did as he was told.

"No, no, that's not it, master. This gesture has to be absolutely precise."

What did I do wrong?

"It's your fingers. They are too wide apart. The space between every finger shouldn't be more than two inches."

Armad brought his fingers closer.

"That's more like it but your thumb is still off."

What?

"Yes, closer, closer... Yes! That's it."

"Now, the next two steps are going to be continuous. Lock the ring finger of your left hand and the middle finger of your right for one second. Then lock all the five fingers immediately after for half a second before you close your eyes. Remain in that state for five more seconds."

Come again, and slowly.

The voice repeated it. Armad managed the gesture after several attempts.

"This is the gesture king Aeriyon Wilberforce used. His descendants often need to make adjustments because of their diluted bloodlines."

What adjustments? And how will you know?

"I won't know until you perfect this gesture. Repeat it again."

And I'll perfect the gesture right now. Armad thought sarcastically.

"This isn't a spell or a sword. It's a Gift. Gifts solely depends on the purity and strength of your bloodline. If my calculation is right then it won't be long. Just keep on trying."

Longevity Soul has been Awakened.

Initiating...

Longevity Soul? Is that the Gift?

"Already? Is it initiating?"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Yeah.

"Well, let's see if you can pull a celestial sign."

***

The country of Burja enjoyed an afternoon sun throughout the year. Probably, the weather would shift next year to favor the night cycle but nobody expected any darkness for the next three months.

Suddenly, the city went dark. All the lights disappeared and the city was plunged into a complete darkness. Everyone looked at the sun in shock.

Some thought it was an eclipse. The more religious people thought it was an omen and others thought it was a premature night cycle.

Suddenly, the sun reclaimed its glow. But it was different from the colorless brightness of the sunlight, this was a dark brown light. The lay men were scared out of their minds. Some began praying to the First Worlders to save them. But the more experienced mages knew exactly what was happening.

Deep in Sisiya, there was a forgotten graveyard near the border of the capital. It used to be the resting place of the old nobles in the country. Right now, an emaciated old man opened his eyes in one of the caskets lying deeply under the ground. His longevity alone had exceeded anything Armad had ever seen. His body was dry and scaly like a hundred year old corpse. When he opened his mouth, it creaked like a ragged door. "An Heir of Wilberforce has appeared." He said before he closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Apparently, he just woke up to say those words. But his words reached emperor Áyúbu of the Perpetual Damage.

The same thing happened in other parts of the world. The same mummified man woke up in the Underground Empire and informed the emperor of the arrival of another Heir.

On the Seventh World, another man opened his eyes to reveal the same brownish glow like the sun. This man just smiled and went back to sleep.

The new sunlight engulfed the entire world. Including the countries currently under the night cycle.

Meanwhile, something was happening in the auction hall. The new sunlight had been absorbed by Armad. It healed his wounds and destroyed the Nestone collar. His eyes transformed into the same dark brown like the sun and the old man on the Seventh World.

It happened so fast no one could react. The presenter shook violently and edged backward away from the podium.

Armad tore the chains apart with Lightning Shock and dropped them on the ground. Once the Nestone was removed the rest was just steel. He bombarded the cage with a bolt and appeared outside to face the slavers. His eyes glowed with a brown light like a flame and his body radiated an oppressive life energy.

Armad summomed his soul sword and activated his most powerful Sword.

"Yellow Dance!"

Surprisingly, it came with three stars instead of the previous two when he fought Tyren.

"ANYONE BIDDING HIGHER?" He roared.

From the first section to the last section no one moved a muscle. He roared again and shot a challenging look for several seconds but no one took the challenge.

"I thought so." He said loudly. Armad turned to the other slaves waiting to be auctioned, he would free them in front of the whole world.

Iqra?

"Yes, master."

How do I take their collars off without them exploding?

"Your Lightning Shock should work. It will disable the Nestone element. Then you cut down the rest."

Armad lunged forward only to be stopped by... Nostalgia Nára. She looked offended as always. "Why didn't you meet me in the dark alley outside the arena? I waited for seven hours." She said with the same innocent tone.

Armad stopped for a moment. He just couldn't get this woman. She pulled him out of the fallen city, read his mind without his consent and then tried to kill him. He'd expected to fight a bloody battle with her the next time they met but instead he saw her at the Jinzidal acting very weird - inviting him to a dark alley for a secret meeting. That was an obvious trap. He was sure of it. And now this...

"Do you want to fight, girl? You couldn't have chosen a better time to..."

He stopped, narrowed his eyes and then widened them to confirm what he was seeing.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Armad cursed out loudly.

"What? I didn't do anything." She defended herself.

"No, your face did. Was that a fucking pity on your face?"

"Wait, wait, I didn't mean to. But listen to me. Escaping alone from the auction is one thing, nobody will sweat it. Slaves always try to escape from their masters, some will unavoidably succeed."

"Go straight to the point. I don't have time for your games."

"I am saying you can escape alone but you can't free the others. That's what you were about to do, right? If you free them then you have declared war on slavery and the First Worlders. Trust me, you don't wanna do that."

"Nobody deserves to be a slave. I have already made enemies with the First Worlders, adding the Jinzidal Kings will change nothing. And why the hell do you care?"

"Nobody deserves to be a slave? That's a very dangerous ideology. What are you talking about? The slavers, the slave auction and the annual Jinzidal are all under the Second Commandment. You can't possibly be against that, can you?"

"Watch me." Armad walked toward the slaves. There were about three hundred who were sold already. He just had to take the collars off and they would be free.

"Please, I am begging you to reconsider." Nostalgia cried.

Armad ignored her. He disabled all the collars at once. Then he cut down the remaining steel with his sword.

"Well then, I'll just free them as well. Maybe that would stop you." Nostalgia appeared by his side and slashed through the chains to free the slaves.

"Maybe that would stop me?" Armad looked at her incredulously. "WHY THE HELL WOULD I CARE?" He honestly didn't get her at all.