As the day had begun and the sun was progressing slowly in a very unhurried manner, for it had been some time since it had broken past the horizon line to the east, and started the new day for the world, and its own denizens.
While the situation for the guard and scout was rather dire, as they were carrying the now unconscious Adrian while dashing through the long corridors, as they were searching for the exit of the hold that they were in. While in the fright of their lives from the shaking that seemed to make the whole structure inside the cliff, collapse.
“Hurry!, Hurry!!, Hurry!!!.”
“What the hell do you think I am doing!!?”
Nevertheless, only if Urger and Levis could have observed thru the memories of Adrian, could they have known of the mad dash made by the two men in their frantic escape, hours before they arrived at the village.
However, at the same time, a meeting was taking place high into the peaks of the mountains, overlooking the valley and the cliff of the former bandit's stronghold.
As the one to come and greet the visitor, while he could be called a resident of the place, the “young man in red”, that now had his back facing the sun, was looking at a mountain cliff several thousand meters away from him, where the unclear form of an ant could be seen.
If one was a mortal, that was, as in the red eyes of the “young man”, the figure of a tall and sturdy build figure of a man looking south could be witnessed. The man had long black hair, and an equally long beard, wearing a dark-brown robe, with exits only for his head and of the sleeves for his hands, while to his belly was a thin rope to keep attached the robe to his body, as to not be blown in all directions by the wind.
“This friend!? May I ask, why are you shaking my abode?”
Even though the “young man” was speaking as normal, as the receiver was just a few meters away and not a thousand and more, the sturdy man reacted, as he turned his face to look at him, from the other side of the valley.
“Hmm, “abode”. Then let me ask this friend, are you so poor, as to not only have a place of your own status and power but to even be unable to move out of this poor region, lacking in energy?”
Yet, at the sudden off-topic question for an answer, the “red man’s” eyes began to darken, as a red hue began to emanate in his surroundings, covering the top of the mountain, and beginning to spread in the surrounding sky.
“My question still remains, why are you shaking my place?”
“This-, I am sorry. But as I am about to greet a guest, I have accidentally stomped over the mountain you are currently residing in, so please accept my apologies, “friend”.”
However, the red hue stopped expanding as the “man in red” began to rescind his slight anger, once the man excuse himself.
“It is good that you apologize, truth be told I was about to leave for the interior of the mountains, so this can be cleaned off as a small inconvenience.”
“I am glad that I had not offended you, though my “friend” I have to advise you against your endeavor, as these mountains hold nothing good for someone as powerful as you, only frenzy madness awaits you if you proceed to go against all the warnings of the world.”
“This is something I have to do at my own risk, as you can see this place has become far too noisy.”
Yet, as he said that, looking down to the valley, the guard and scout could be seen coming out of the hold while carrying Adrian, barely escaping as the structure was collapsing onto itself, as loud noises of rocker colliding resounded in the area, sending a fast-moving cloud of dust towards them while they were running, eventually as the dust settled, the men were still dashing in the distance to their horses, as they tended to the wounded one, before beginning to run off down south, although, for the cliff, the shape had been altered permanently by the unexpected event.
“I can concur with you “friend”, the commotion caused “by those loud idiots in the south” had some small ramifications that had led to an increase of activities in this normally quiet place.“
“This friend, may I ask from where you come or where you reside, as if I did not hear wrong you said you are waiting for someone here, right?”
“That is correct, I am waiting for someone and from where I am—, well I just live here as a reclusive monk.”
“Recluse monk—, hmmm?”
“Yes. It seems that the little fools have left, “senior”, is this good not to help your “disciple”?”
“I am not so old as to be called “senior”, and even if I am older, power does not know age, anyway.”
“If my elder brother called you “senior” that means you are old, so do not try to hide it, your "young" appearance does not fool my brother.”
“Who is—?”
Though, as the conversation between the “young man in red” and the monk was proceeding in a direction, which made him take a defensive stance in his words, a sudden retort came, though from a voice behind him, whilst the voice was not that of a man as it was of a higher pitch, belonging to a woman.
As he turned around to look at the mysterious woman that had sneaked so close to him, what the “young man” saw, was a woman in her late teens, a long black hair was falling from her head as her face seemed to be a mixture of joyful playing and an understanding that a young mortal girl did not have, as she was looking at him while a grin was at the corners of her mouth, while her figure that was hidden by a dark-violet robe similar to the monk although the exquisite material and the elegant texture were giving her a feeling of high born status, different from the plain and simple man, when compared.
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“Talented young lady!”
Yet, the first thing that the "young man" set his action on, was to take a step forward toward the woman, as an incredibly evil and sadistic glance appeared on his face.
“Rumble”
“Ha-ha, sister, do not scare people like this, they might get the wrong impression.”
And yet, before the “young man” could do anything, the monk appeared behind him, applying immense pressure on his body, stopping him completely, only to incur a glare as he turned his head and looked at the monk as though he was looking at a dead man.
“Rumble”-”Rumble”
“Elder brother, you do not need to tell me that, as I can take care of any problem I might create.”
And yet, before the woman started to speak, an almost suffocating aura began to emanate from her as both the monk and the "young man" were being pushed into the ground, as though two needles into soft wood by a hammer.
Though the monk did not seem surprised at the power of his sister, the "young man" had his eyes widen in surprise at the sheer power she was displaying, as well as the true monstrous stage she was in, as he was more or less aware of her true age, making him even more shocked.
Although the one to be shocked was the woman herself, as she knew her strength, even though she was hiding it while only using a fraction of what she could, the fact that the two men before her seemed unfazed and just slowly being buried alive, while they were pushed slowly into the mountain, only gave her a rather unpleasant feeling, as she truly wanted to show more of her power.
And yet, as the eyes of the monk met hers, she could only reluctantly retrieve her aura, as did the monk, letting the "young man" free, as they were still positioning themselves in a pincer-like tactic if things were to change.
“HAH-AHA-AHA, young and talented, young and talented, you must be one of the great talents of the world, though I do not have the knowledge or the name of your wonderful name.”
Although he was still in a somewhat offensive-like stance, the "young man" did not give the intent of making any strange actions, putting the two at some ease.
“This one does not have a name, nor does it intend to give it to a crude one who does not introduce himself properly.”
“AHA, that is true, that is true, and you monk!?”
“My name died a long time ago, therefore I can not give anything.”
“Hmmm, in that case, we shall remain, as unnamed friends. If it is to be, we shall meet again, till then farewell to you two.”
Nevertheless, the "young man" did not seem inclined to spend a moment more in the presence of the two, as he took to the sky, and shot deeper in the never-ending mountain peaks to the northeast.
“Is this a good decision to let him leave? He reeks of blood, and he might become a problem in the future if we let him go like this.”
“Sigh---, you really should read more, do you really think we can bring down a monster that had to survive the onslaught of even bigger monsters?”
As the "young man" was gone and the young woman questioned the monk, a sigh escaped him as he knew his sister had no interest in the history of the passed cultivators, except for important or dramatized influential events that had taken place.
“You know who he is?”
“Well, you yourself should be the first know to know who he is, only you are too slow to arrive at the conclusion as to who he is—, well I will not tell you as I do not know what you will do if you know, anyway the old fools might lock you up, just so they can study his endeavor, for a mere piece of further understanding.”
“I know him? Who, who, I can not think of anyone that I have met before!”
“Sigh, it matters not anyway, if he is here after all this time, he must be desperate and on his last leg, I will let the old fools decide on this, anyhow one word into the world, and old monsters will line up for him.”
“Hmmm, who? Can you tell me?”
“No. Anyhow, congratulations on your successful ascendance, now you can be considered the greatest talent we have in our monastery. If we were not so shut out from the world, your name might have been alongside the four strongest Emperors. Ahh, although with this, the old fools will finally stop bothering me. I will give your gift once we go back.”
“What four Emperors, can not the elder brother match any one of them? And, If you do not want to tell me about that "one", then tell me what happened here. The region seemed to have been slightly affected. And I don’t see the villagers from forty years ago, just a big camp, to the border of the three regions.”
“One idiot from the Desert and another from the Empire, had some bickering to do, thanks to them I had to come and kill some of the beasts that were ready to awaken. I wanted to go and beat them but one of the chieftains had been faster than me. As for here, I had just discovered "him", when I came to await for you.”
“Is the Ural Empire aligning with the Desert?”
“I have no idea, it did not seem like that, however, this could all be a ruse. Either way, the kingdom is being played to its death now, If they do not make a drastic move they will lose all they have, eighter to the Ural Empire, the Eastern Empire, the Prairie, and even the War State might try to take its territories if the situations will become chaotic on the continent.”
“BOOORING!!! What Kingdom, are they not the ones to be so afraid of using even their own name out of fear that the empire might attack them?”
“Ahh, you truly are like the old fools not interested in the outside world at all—”
“What did you say, how am I the same as the boring old idiots.”
“---unless another Ural Saint will come again, otherwise they will not look too deeply into them. Truly an od ball---, is the Ural Empire.”
Though as the monks continued to speak, he was losing himself, while leaving the woman to look at him mumbling by himself, as though he had gone mad.
“Enough, let us move, I want to see what present have you made for me.”
“Wait—, have you sealed your energy absorption?”
“Obviously, why do you think I have not buried the two of you before? Now let us go already.”
“Sigh”
Though, as the monk seemed to have suddenly become a mere afterthought at the young woman's fast whims, he could only sigh at her impatience, and lack of interest in the matters of the world at large.
“Hmmm.”
Yet as he overlooked the valley and the surrounding mountains, as his gaze moved towards the place where the camp of the villager and the guards resided, two particular individuals became clear in his eyes despite the hundreds of kilometers of distance.
“The youngest son of East, and ha-ha just as sensitive as ever.”
“What are you blabbering about, move already?”
“Yes, yes—, maybe this time I can use his son to—.”
“Now!!!”
“Ahh, yes—, wait I am coming, wait for me!”
And yet, as the monk kept talking to himself, the woman took to flight as she furiously made her last warning while taking into the distance, only to be followed by the monk as he was trying to catch her.
Although, at the very same time, as Rowen was checking on restoring Zuger's face, while Square was looking at them, as he had regained both consciousness and a healthy glow on his face, old Wan turned his head while his eyes sharpened, as he looked in the direction of the Borderer mountains with his eyebrow raised in surprise as he had the feeling of someone looking at him.
“Old Wan, is there something wrong?
“No, no, just a strange feeling—, I might be getting too old as I keep having the same feeling over these past days.”
“You should go and see what a physician or a mind specialist, once we go back.”
“I do not believe that may be necessary, let us just hope, this may not be a bad premonition on vice-captain Adrian’s side.”