Trying to calm the hurricane of emotions that had been going on for the past five minutes, he needed time to think. Even the simplest decisions would now have to be calculated. After all, he was in a scene practically untouched by anyone but the main suspect. So he decided to postpone his return to the arena for a few seconds. He calmly looked around. This was the only opportunity he would have to think about who he could count on and share this assassination attempt with. The people he could really depend on at the moment weren't strong enough to deal with an enemy of this magnitude. None of them had reached the Disciple Step, much less Jin who couldn't even be called an elemental warrior.
Deciding to head back to the arena and regroup, Jin was surrounded by questions and running short on answers. The hundreds of Disciples that had been assembled, vibrating both for Vendrick's death and victory had dispersed like a horde of frightened crows. The first defeated young men had ran for their lives without looking back, without an ounce of consideration for the last two who had suffered in the flesh the true elemental potential of a Sentinel.
His brother was still in the center of the arena and Jin didn't plan on going to talk to him directly now. He couldn't omit this event from his kin forever, but he couldn't mention it in a place like this either. If anyone else listened they could draw unwarranted attention to the problem.
Walking with his eyes to the ground, he retraced his trajectory in the opposite direction as if he were tracking an animal in the forest. Reaching the point where the black gemstone had fallen to the ground, he crouched down looking for some sign or proof that there really was this black gem in that spot. But he could find neither smell nor trace. Jin wasn't particularly good at hunting, although Alaric had taken him two or three times he was terrible at tracking. But this one seemed to lead nowhere.
The black crystal that Jin had broken had crumbled into thousands of smaller fragments, which disappeared like dust, lost in the wind. The only evidence of what had transpired in this room now was two unconscious men, their backs resting on a crack in the wall that skirted them.
Still dazed from the blow they had taken, they could barely see a shadow approaching them. A cunning shadow that had been brandishing a spear.
***
Towering over the defeated, Vendrick turned to Verpast and scratched his head.
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“Good fight. I'm sorry for doubting your skills, you are all very capable…Especially you, what is that style of yours with the blade called?”
Embarrassed and with pain in his eyes, Verpast tried to get up. Looking up, an arm came down towards him at a fast speed. Feeling as if every bone in his body had turned to shards of glass, he quickly closed his eyes and braced for the inevitable blow that would finish him.
But seconds passed, and nothing happened. Opening one eye slowly, he suspiciously looked sideways. An arm was facing him, a hand for him to lift extended.
“Your strategy with the throwing daggers made it clear what weakness I should work on when engaging in close combat. For that I must thank you… as soon as I was about to strike back you were already out of my reach, such as a slippery stance…does it have a name?
“Gorlangarth Style we call it, Guardian Helmonn has taught me everything that I know in Umboltos…You are a formidable opponent, Sentinel of Fulgur, but a fool.”
“Umboltos…to come from so far east as a Disciple, you awakened the Elemental in the Hall of Trials long ago…for what purpose were you here then?”
“For four years I have been refining my elemental, slowly strengthening my inner nucleus as best as I could but it became difficult to proceed. Master told that I had hit a bottleneck, his training was leading me nowhere. I was lost, helpless and so I prayed. Until I met her..with an unexpected visit I was graced with knowledge. I realized...there is no better way to advance than to utterly defeat a Sentinel...in the ancestral and spiritual homeland of the Elemental Gods no less.”
Vendrick shrugged and pulled Verpast up by the chest.
"So you came all this far to defeat me yet when my knees were on the ground you did not hesitate at all…you kept coming at me at my weakest state, at my worst conditions."
Verpast laughed maniacally, “You accepted the challenge and conditions, Sentinel. Nothing else was needed, no law in the continent protects the weak nor the strong. If you were truly in peril, then the Gods should thank me for exposing your feeble skill.”
Pushing Vendrick back, his right eye so swollen to the point he could barely open it, Verpast and Wollman headed for the exit.
Vendrick wanted to stop them, but they technically hadn't done anything wrong. Every Disciple worth their Step knew very well it was perfectly acceptable to kill opponents in battle as long as the challenge had been formally accepted. Beating five Disciples while a Sentinel however, was no achievement to be proud of.
Vendrick might as well have taken the lives of all the Disciples who faced him today, but killing someone at a lower rank would be extremely unfavorable by the Elemental Pantheon and the Nine Sages. And a bad reputation would make it extremely unlikely to find a master in the Guardian rank willing to hone his skills further. He did nothing more than this today, showing the gap in strength that they were lacking to advance.
When Wollman opened the door, pointing to his swollen eye he spoke out to Vendrick, "I'll wear this mark as a badge of honor."
"Then wear it in silence or I'll honor you again." Vendrick returned with cold courtesy as the pair staggered to the exit.