Inside the long hall of the golden cathedral, right where the altar would usually stand, the glowing lights of the floating golden orb began to expand and reflect on the stained glass windows around.
The murals on them of the Primordial Light and Sun Goddess shone with a brilliant and holy gleam, making the depiction of the stretched out sun she was holding out seem almost real.
All that brightness dispersed the darker shade of the Tartarus continent within the hall as all the lights came together to highlight the priest, the executive of the Golden Garden Guild, Zoran.
“I don’t know who you are, but you seem to have the wrong idea here.” After having snickered at Lawkey’s proclamation and put up with his glaring gaze, Zoran slowly rose up from his seat and adjusted the priest robe on his shoulders. “You may see an awful situation here, but I assure you, this is for the benefit of both this dying clan, and the little girl. In time, once they have all survived and find themselves thriving once more, they will come to understand-”
“Shut up.”
“...”
Zoran raised an eyebrow after getting interrupted mid-sentence. He was a priest, and naturally wanted to avoid fighting and bloodshed as much as possible. That is why he was taking the time to explain the situation properly to this stranger that destroyed part of the cathedral without a sign of remorse in him.
Forgive me, oh goddess, first that Baahir, and now this stranger… They have both disrespected you too much for me to simply look aside. Forgive me, Oh Eversun Goddess, for what I am about to do. The priest chanted inwardly.
“I don’t want to hear your excuses, if you’re not going to let her go peacefully…” Lawkey trailed off as he tightened the grip on his sword and summoned his shadows to erupt from beneath him and engulf the blade. “I’ll take her back by force if I have to!”
WHOOSHH!!
“?!”
In a split second, Lawkey swung his sword in a long arc in front of him, releasing a sharp wave of shadows towards his new opponent.
One Shadow Sword Style - Second Stance!
Evening Autumn Moonbow!
“!”
Just as the wave traveled half a dozen meters, it suddenly dissipated completely beneath the glowing pillar of light that descended from the top of the cathedral, where another mural of the Light and Sun Goddess was portrayed.
“I see now, so that’s how it is.” Zoran said nonchalantly as he ignored Lawkey’s puzzlement and approached the despondent little girl he had chained to a metal needle in the floor. “Have you really come to save this girl, or was that simply a pretense, an excuse for you to pick a fight with me?”
Lawkey narrowed his eyes, there was only one reason he could think of why Zoran would say that. While he was still figuring out how his shadows had quickly disappeared from a simple light reflection, he was growing a little impatient while watching the priest approach Sana.
“Whether you’re part of the Golden Garden Guild or not, I don’t care one bit. I’m only here for her, so step away!”
“Come now, I’m not talking about the guild, and you know it.” Zoran forcibly patted Sana on the head a couple of times, as if to gauge out a reaction of the stranger swordsman. “I see you’re a user of the Shadow Manipulation Sign. That is quite the surprise.”
“What are you getting at exactly?” Lawkey grinded his teeth without letting his opponent notice it. He decided to play along, even for a small chance that the priest in front of him would take the bait and walk away from Sana.
That one moment of distraction was all it would take to save the little girl.
“When I was sent to this dark continent to spread the love of the Eversun Goddess’ light and embrace, I never thought I would meet one of you…” Zoran paused, then took a step away from Sana and looked at Lawkey with a face that one would only show to the most horrifying and disgusting garbage. “One of you cowardly, repulsive, sickening lots!”
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“...”
Lawkey didn’t even know how to respond, his brows had quickly furrowed when being at the receiving end of such an expression.
Is this guy just crazy?! Is he sick in the head? No, he really must be straight up cuckoo… He thought inwardly.
“I had heard that the Kage Clan had begun making connections with the outside world, after having hid in the shadows for almost a millennia now, but to think that one of you would be brave enough to cross me.” Zoran descended the few steps down the altar as he opened his arms wide. “Has it been so long that your ancestors forgot the very reason they went into hiding? Should I remind you once more?”
“!”
Even though Lawkey had no ancestors from the Kage Clan, during his time in the village, he had naturally come to learn about the history behind it.
And of course, the reason that the Kage Clan went into seclusion in the first place had been due to an utter defeat at the hands of another Royal Clan.
And that clan specifically…
“This should jog your instincts a bit! Nothing better than a direct demonstration to show you what I really mean!” A glowing yellow emblem suddenly faded into existence in front of Zoran’s forehead, his ember eyes took a gleam of the same color. And to top it all off, the lights from the surrounding stained glass converged and connected into his two open palms, shining two pillars of lights at him and making his figure glisten under them,
Seeing that, Lawkey finally figured out what the priest had been insinuating.
This guy… he’s a user of the Light Manipulation Sign. That means he is very likely from the Aurora Clan, the Royal Clan named after their light deity… Lawkey frowned as he was suddenly reminded of another deity he knew that gave off a blinding light. He quickly shoved that into the back of his mind for now. There was no time for it.
In front of him was an opponent he couldn’t underestimate, not if he wanted to save Sana as soon as possible.
He needed to go all out.
WHOOOSSH!
“Enough talk. Since that’s what you want, we’ll do it the hard way!” As shadows erupted from beneath Lawkey, wrapping themselves around him and his sword, a purple emblem formed itself in front of his forehead.
Now that both of them were using Pathbreak, a battle was imminent. Lawkey took a step forward and immediately went into a stance.
“!?”
Just as he was about to swing his sword, pillars of light too fast for a normal eye to see invaded his space and devoured some of the shadows around him completely.
Dammit! They’re too fast…!
“Ugh!!”
Just as he thought that, Lawkey had barely dodged another pillar of light at the last second. This one had been aiming for his head.
“The Eversun Goddess’ embrace! Welcome it! Accept it!” Zoran went on as he showered his opponent with more and more light pillars, coming out of his hands, the mural on the ceiling, and all different stained glass across the hall.
“Dammit!” Lawkey continued to dodge left and right, his shadows had pretty much all dissipated. Any new ones that he was making were immediately thwarted by a pillar of light or two. He was barely able to focus on keeping up with them to avoid getting a hole burnt through his body.
“Give it up. You can’t do anything to me.”
“...”
“Enough of this, boy. Give it up already.” That was what the Undying Elder had demanded too.
Whenever he tried to push the memory of that day to the back of his mind, Lawkey was forced to remember those unpleasant feelings.
He was growing sick of dodging, of being helpless against anything light related.
First the Undying Elder destroyed his shadow slashes.
Then the bounty hunter he fought in the Shadow Valley before leaving had used shining light runestones to shatter his shadows.
And now, this priest was once again using his Sign to devour all the shadows Lawkey was summoning.
At this rate, he would lose.
Even if the goal was to simply draw Zoran’s attention away, losing to him would leave a bitter taste in Lawkey’s mouth.
After all, wasn’t there another reason he left the Kage Clan for?
While looking for the Leviathan, Lawkey had decided to challenge strong fighters to duels. That was the original way he knew to get stronger.
And now, right in front of him, a strong enemy that challenged him in a way only a few could in the past.
And if he were to one day fight the Undying Elder again, he needed to overcome this weakness of his, right here and now.
“Oh? Finally given up? My Light Sign will stop all your shadows from reaching me, it makes sense.” Seeing Lawkey suddenly stand in place, Zoran’s brow perked up before the corners of his mouth stretched wide. “Good! Now, embrace the Eversun Goddess’ love!”
Just as countless pillars of light made their way to Lawkey again, Zoran’s hair suddenly stood on end.
“?!”
He watched as shadows erupted from beneath the opponent once more, but this time, they threatened to reach up to the ceiling. For a second, it almost looked like darkness had completely overtaken half the cathedral, while the other half was shining brightly.
Even his pillars of light were quickly devoured beneath the neverending shadow rise.
“What… is that?!”
And yet, that was the most surprising thing to Zoran, for something else was occurring in front of him that he couldn’t begin to comprehend.
The previously purple emblem on Lawkey’s head had now turned completely emerald, matching his glowing eyes that glared at the priest.
He had finally done it. The upgrade he had desperately trained for in the past six years.
Although it wasn’t completely the same, still missing the complete blanket of the emerald aura… Even so, he finally had reached a similar state to what the tri-colored butterfly had given him on that day.
The mark on the side of his neck began to throb as he remembered that pain.
But now, with his new power that he didn’t quite understand himself, he had become a little stronger.
He was a step closer to reaching a point where he could defeat the ones he’s after.
**👑**
Amongst the chaos and the battle between light and darkness within the cathedral, a single siren jumped in through a window after seeing her opportunity.
Her turquoise hair shined under the constant flickering of lights, almost blinding her, but her light crimson eyes were burning with determination as she kept them focused on the little girl who had crawled into a ball.
I’m coming, Sana! Your auntie is here!
Riana paced around carefully, taking care that Zoran doesn’t notice her.
But that wasn’t who she needed to pay attention to.
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image [https://i.imgur.com/F6h7vmX.png]