Lady Etessa was confused by elder Cross’s sudden plea. Of course, she remembered Leo and the theory of him being the feared ‘luck absorber’, but just like her mother she didn’t quite believe in the tale.
She could understand elder Cross’s train of thought though. The guy returned just when the Sacred Order was about to be destroyed, dressed all in ominous black, with the oversized weapon on his back as if he was some kind of a soul reaper.
What was even worse, him appearing made her mother rush away! It didn’t matter if he was successful in his mission or not – without lady Evelyn the Sacred Order was surely doomed! Yes, Etessa could probably stand her ground for half a day, maybe even for a whole one day, but now that so many core formation cultivators switched sides, she will be definitely over exhausted at some point and then the war will be instantly lost by default – without lady Evelyn present there was no one to hold back the two Nascent soul stage experts!
Of course, in that case they would just surrender, but she was unwilling to be the reason for the downfall of the Sacred Order. And besides all of that the question remained – what if the guy actually was the jinx elder Cross claimed him to be?
After pondering for a moment, she slowly came back to the group and said to Kai Thomas in a plain voice, “The Sacred Order nominates their disciple Lucky Leo!”
“What?” Was the thing everyone apart from her and elder Cross exclaimed.
Of course, the mass bafflement was not because of the name which Etessa remembered from the stone slates at the main square, but the fact that she was not the one to step forward first.
“You’re up!” Elder Cross shouted towards Leo who from the moment the sect master left was looking for Jack’s familiar face in the crowd.
“What?” Leo was as confused as the rest.
“Will you set up arena or will our disciples fight in the empty field?” Lady Etessa asked the representatives from the Mercenary guild.
“It’s your war – you do the work.” Emile Landry shrugged and stepped aside, but seeing that a random guy who just arrived from who knows where was appointed as the first defender, Goran suddenly got a bad feeling.
“Who the hell is he? Why isn’t he wearing your colors? Is he even a member of your sect?” He asked and the two from the Mercenary guild suddenly became interested.
Fortunately the interest died down when former elder Willis interjected, “Judging by his weapon this is the guy we deployed on a suicide expedition more than two years ago. Lady Evelyn sent a bunch of people in order to find a remedy for Laura Cloud’s poisoning and from what it looks like he once again returned as the sole survivor.”
“Wasn’t the soul of Angelic Dawn’s sect master damaged?” Milos asked him, “What could a kid like him do about it?”
“Well, he did get the cure for lady Evelyn.” Willis helplessly shrugged, “But I don’t see the reason for you to worry. The kid was at the Qi gathering stage back then and if they are sending out him first, they still have this delusional idea that he’s the jinx who brings bad luck to the Sacred Order. Clearly they expect us to simply kill him.”
“Good!” Goran grinned, “In that case, we’ll help them! Masters Thomas and Landry, our disciples will compete in an open field! Atila, get your ass over here!”
The co-sect master of the Seven peaks outwardly looked careless and condescending, but the idea of Laura Cloud getting well was scary. If lady Evelyn arrived alongside her best friend, the battle wouldn’t be one sided anymore no matter how many more Core formation stage disciples the Seven peaks had. Thus the best option was to end the charade the Sacred Order started and put the end to their struggle.
Truth to be said, lady Etessa was unhappy with herself for sending a clueless youth to his death. Unfortunately she was out of options and even if sacrificing one person could mean her a chance for her sect’s survival, she had to be ready to do that without a second thought. This was what her mother has taught her.
She came over to Leo and said, “Thank you for returning on this crucial moment. The experience you gathered during the past years has become an invaluable asset and now the sect needs your expertise, so please, do your best! We believe in you!”
Leo looked back at her completely baffled. Even though he was exhausted and needed a detox bath as soon as possible, it was hard to imagine he could be so stupid to take seriously the crap she just spouted. Earlier he was too far from the group of leaders to overhear their conversation by accident and was more focusing on finding Jack, but he already made up his mind to grab his buddy and escape the moment the hell broke loose. Not only he didn’t intend to fight in the war, he never even had a thought he could.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“You can’t refuse! It’s an order!” Guessing the reason for the change in Leo’s expression, lady Etessa said and with the corner of his eyes Leo noticed how the division heads slowly surrounded him.
‘I make you all pay for it!’ He inwardly hissed, but currently there was nothing he could do.
He already knew the leadership of the sect would hoodwink him with the rewards and didn’t expect much to begin with – after all he intended to only take his friend and leave. Unfortunately from what it looked like even the last part was impossible, at least for now.
Few moments later he was left alone in the middle of the grassy field between the two armies, that is besides the athletic young man, who was currently being instructed by a couple of older men. Earlier they stood with the other leaders and judging by their clothing they were the big shots from the attacking army.
Suddenly Leo began to involuntarily laugh. He didn’t even know whom was he fighting! He had no clue what sect or power the army on the other side represented, much less why he had to do it! All he did was to bring the sect master a priceless treasure and apparently this was the pay.
Sadly Leo’s seemingly arrogant chuckle didn’t win any friends. The guy he was supposed to fight grew angry, drew his thin and long sword and quickly dashed over.
Leo couldn’t know Atila, along with a couple of others, have been preparing to fight lady Etessa for several years. Obviously the earlier instructions the two co-sect masters gave him were regarding her and not the random nobody the Sacred Order sent out to die because of stupid superstition. Atila’s angry countenance was also just to scare the youth and get over with the warm-up faster.
Leo had to give it to his opponent – he was fast. After barely evading the first couple of slashes and thrusts, Leo got cut across the chest and then slashed on the back while trying to evasively roll away. To his surprise the guy’s forte turned out to be strength rather than the speed even though the last slash landed on the Cleaver and technically didn’t do direct damage. For a split moment though Leo’s breathing was impeded as if he got hit in the solar plexus.
‘This one clearly isn’t a random villager from the Greenland mortal realm.’ Leo bitterly thought to himself.
For a moment he thought of storing the Cleaver in the amulet, but then realized it could actually be used as a shield against similar slashes he couldn’t evade on time and for now decided to continue as he was. He channeled large amounts of Qi in his feet and continued to evade the opponent’s sword which not only was set on taking Leo’s life, it also didn’t allow him to get close enough to attack the guy in any way.
If Leo felt mostly resentful, then the two large crowds were watching the duel completely speechless. To not speak about the forces from the Seven peaks sect, most from the Sacred Order didn’t recognize him. It seemed that at the very last moment someone showed up from who knows where and after offering their help to the junior sect master went and fought her battle! And even though he was clearly the weaker one, he was still around after surviving a rain of slashes from one of the best swordsmen of the Seven peaks!
“Didn’t you say he was only at the Qi gathering stage?” Goran angrily asked former elder Willis, “How come he is able to go against Atila?”
“I …” Obviously there was nothing Willis could say or do.
It was against the common sense for someone to cross two cultivation stages in two years, but fortunately it looked like it was about to end, at least that’s how it looked like after Atila landed another slash on Leo’s back.
Actually everyone thought so except for Leo. He was finally finding the rhythm of fighting a Core formation stage opponent and, more importantly, thought of a new technique – the ‘Cleaver parry’!
Of course, he clearly understood it was developed by the sole necessity of survival, but it was fun to use it if he channeled enough Qi to his back to support the weapon when struck. That way it almost didn’t hurt, but afterwards opponents next attacks felt much lighter and slower.
‘Wait a moment!’ Leo came to a sudden revelation, ‘This was what I was looking for in the Dryad mountain city! Apart from the fact that the guy is trying to kill me, this is an amazing opportunity for me to practice! Since he is clearly at the Core formation stage, he won’t get tired so soon compared to when I fought with the easterners and westerners! And I don’t need to hold back!’
The last thought was especially invigorating and, after another successful Cleaver parry, Leo purposefully let the opponent graze his shoulder, but this time took a long step forward, instantly reducing the distance between them and lowering his upper body. Then, purely based on instincts and the many lessons he received in the Dreadlands, punched the guy in the groin with the good old Lightning punch. In the Dryad mountain city Leo used the Lightning techniques only against the weapons his opponents carried and a split moment later he realized why.
The gloomy silence in ranks of the Sacred Order’s disciples and casual murmurs in those of the Seven peaks were broken with a seemingly thundering sound of something breaking. Those who were looking elsewhere at the time or were blinking, couldn’t forgive themselves for missing it for the rest of their lives, because after Leo’s fist landed, the poor Atila flew at least a dozen yards, landed on his back and remained motionlessly lying in the lush grass.
“F*ck!” Leo loudly cursed, seeing that because of a momentary excitement he abruptly ended the exercise.
Actually he voiced what the most people thought, for different reasons, of course, but while the Sacred Order’s side burst out in cheers, it was time for the Seven peaks to fall silent.
Their two co-sect masters arrived at Atila’s side a heartbeat after he fell down, but sadly there was nothing much they could help the lad with. Clearly this has been a trap lady Evelyn prepared beforehand, even though she always outwardly appeared to be direct and righteous, and such approach didn’t suit her. Of course, neither Goran nor Milos could blame her for this, especially because they’ve employed some underhanded tactics themselves.
That didn’t mean they gave up though. On contrary, finally the whole thing became interesting!
Being a Nascent soul stage cultivator after living for centuries one’s life tends to become dull. That is also the reason why they both decided to go to war in the first place. Fortunately their opponent, the seemingly righteous, but cheeky lady Evelyn also thought several steps ahead and was preparing during the past years. And since even the former head of the Administrative department, elder Willis, didn’t know about this, it meant she did it in secret from her closest people!