There were two kinds of Heterodox Wanderers in the world. Those who were fooled into worshiping Origin Beasts, and turned into sacrificial pawns by the Heterodoxies. And those who truly believed in their patron Origin Beasts to be their Supreme Lords, and worshiped them with all their Heart. The Wanderers who were a true part of Heterodoxies.
The mad man was clearly of the latter kind. Just the air of craziness that the man exuded was enough to tell the world how demented he was. But Heterodox Wanderers generally had a problem with their head anyways. The true reason that set the man apart from the former retainers of the Lotus clan was his calm, and confidence. Though the man was not a True Wanderer yet, even True Wanderers would not be able to scare him, that was what his face said.
Whether his strength matched his confidence, Alnea did not know. Still, he could not take his chances. And he could not let Cecilia face the lunatic all by herself. Rather, he would prefer if she was not in any danger at all. Some things were not under his control though. And he truly believed in her. Not to mention that what they were facing was Peak Stage False Wanderer. Without working as a team, they would stand no chance against the lunatic. And they had worked with each other for long enough to know what the other was thinking.
Without the need to talk, or even look at each other, they burst forth in the glow of their Aspects at the same time, and rushed towards the mad man. The Heterodox Wanderer had already expected their actions though. Before they could even launch their attacks, he took a step forward at just the right moment, slamming his palms, glowing in red light, on their chests, and sent them flying back from where they had rushed towards him.
“You thought that I have yet to reach the True Rank, so you can take me down?” the man said, chuckling to himself. “No matter how weak I am when compared to others, I am still a Peak Stage False Wanderer. If I allowed myself to be defeated by some kids who have just begun their Wanderings, then I would become the shame of all Wanderers. Not to mention the scolding I will have to receive from Lord Ghost Fire… You kids cannot be too naughty, you know?”
Backflipping in the air, while executing the Turbulent Flow Style, Alnea transferred the force of the blow to the ground, while stabbing his sword into the ground to stabilise his footing.
“Be careful, Lia,” Alnea said, changing the flow of his Aspects to become stable as a mountain, while retaining the flexibility, and adaptability of a river. “He looks like a Warrior.”
“…Not bad,” the mad man said, nodding in satisfaction. “At least you have good observation. I am liking you kid. How about it, do you want to learn about the Truth of the world? Do you want to come with me, and experience ultimate bliss? Do you want to experience the embrace of the Supreme Lord?”
“Save your strength, rat. You will need it when you cry in pain later.”
“…Are you sure you will not join me? I can even let you enjoy the girls first. How about it? You will not get a better offer, you know?”
Something within Alnea clicked. He knew that the lunatic was just trying to taunt him, to make him lose his temper, but hearing him insult Cecilia, and Yuri… Before he knew it, he was next to the Heterodox Wanderer, swinging his sword down onto the man’s head, like a ‘Meteor Descending’ from the skies. And a very heavy meteor at that, carrying the weight of all twenty seven of his Aspects.
Confident as the Heterodox Wanderer was, even had to bow down before the might of such a meteor. With a solemn look on his face, the mad man stepped back, escaping the range of the meteor, gathering his own red, and green Aspects in hands to—
Alnea stepped forward, following the movement of the Heterodox Wanderer, while twisting his grip on his sword to halt the meteor, and transfer all its weight, and momentum into the tip of his sword, thrusting it towards the mad man’s chest as if he was ‘Piercing the Stars’. And the Heterodox Wanderer, almost on the verge of breaking out with his own attack, did not have enough time to dodge once again.
Still, it was not as if the man was helpless. Manipulating his Aspects, the mad man willed the red, and green lights to extend out of his hand, and form a shield. In the next moment, the sword, carrying all of Alnea’s might, clashed with the half hearted shield of the Heterodox Wanderer, creating a loud explosion, that sent both parties flying back for a few steps.
“…I underestimated you, kid,” the man said. “It will not happen again.”
Not waiting for Alnea to reply, the man gathered his Aspects on his legs, and burst forth with a terrifying speed, almost catching up with the speed of the Star Streaming Style. He was so fast, that before Alnea could blink, the Heterodox Wanderer was already beside him, throwing a punch at his face. It was not just any punch though. It was a punch reinforced with the mad man’s Aspects, and Martial Styles, carrying a faint breath of death.
Too late to dodge, or even understand what was happening, Alnea could only focus some of his Aspects on his face, while he himself jumped back, hoping to lessen some of the force coming his way. Normally, that would have worked against Oren Beasts. But what he was facing was a Heterodox Wanderer. Noticing his actions, the Heterodox Wanderer just smiled, before releasing the Aspects on his fist to his face with full force anyways.
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Consequently, Alnea was sent flying once again. And this time, he was not able to mitigate the force. After all, what was hit was face, and where he crashed was the wall of the canyon. It was only because of the glowing Glyph Arrays on his robe that he was left largely untouched. His injury free state, however, attracted the Heterodox Wanderer’s attention even more than before.
“…How many secrets do you have kid?” the Heterodox Wanderer said, licking his lips in excitement. “I cannot wait to—
“It is not good manners to ignore your enemies, you know?” Yuri said, appearing behind the mad man, and thrusting her sword into his chest. The attack was so sudden, that the man did not react until the sword had pierced his chest. And when he did react, gathering his Aspect in his hands to smash the white haired girl, Yuri cleanly withdrew her sword, and retreated away from the Heterodox Wanderer.
“You…” the Heterodox Wanderer said, clutching his chest, as he hurriedly shifted his gaze to look at the place where the white haired girl had been standing for a while. And as he had expected, the white haired girl, standing in the distance, slowly burned dissipated into the darkness. “A doppelganger?”
“An Illusion, to be exact,” Alnea said, with a prideful smile on his face, as he pushed himself off from the wall. “Did you like it?”
“You brat…” The Heterodox Wanderer gritted his teeth, and turned towards Yuri. “How did you escape my detection?”
“Because I had the best Arcanist that there ever will be helping me hide in the Shadows of Night. Now, are you going to talk yourself, or do we have to beat the information out of you?”
“…Do you think that you have won? Such an injury is nothing. It will not take long for me to recover. Why do you think I am wasting my time explaining so much nonsense to pipsqueaks like you in the first place?”
“…And why do you think we have been entertaining your nonsense?”
“What can you do? All your cards have been revealed. All I need to do is…”
The Heterodox Wanderer paused, and looked towards the girl who had been the most vocal of all the kids, but had turned strangely silent for the past few moments. Unfortunately, he was too late in his realisation. A strange fluctuation emerged with the green robed girl at its centre, that spread for thousands of metres, churning all the darkness within its range, guiding them to move, and coalesce into a giant, towering vortex, large enough to touch the ceiling of the canyon.
“…What are you doing? Do you want to kill all of us?”
Cecilia ignored the Heterodox Wanderer, and continued casting her Arcana, repeatedly compressing the darkness within the vortex, until all that was left was a small Storm of Darkness, just about twice as large as Alnea himself. And yet, somehow, the feeling of danger that the small storm gave off was several times more intense than the large vortex had been exuding. Even the Heterodox Wanderer, upon seeing the storm, could not remain still.
Ignoring the cat that he had come to capture, the Heterodox Wanderer turned around, and rushed into the darkness of the canyon, trying to escape the range of Cecilia’s attack. No matter how he struggled though, he could not run away from the storm, and was soon engulfed by its terrifying darkness. Still, even then, Alnea did not let himself relax, until he heard the Wanderer’s screams of pain.
“…Are you alright?” Alnea said, walking next to a panting, and heaving Cecilia. “Your Storm of Darkness is too consuming. You should not use it unless absolutely necessary.”
“…He was a Peak Stage False Wanderer, Alnea,” Cecilia said, trying to catch her breath. “You clashed head on with him yourself. How long do you think we would have lasted against him, had I not used the Storm of Darkness?”
“…I still have a couple of Arcanas I could have used against him.”
“And the best those Arcanas could have done, would have been to contain the Heterodox Wanderer. In the end, the result would have been the same. Besides, the sole reason I created Storm of Darkness was to use it against enemies stronger than us. Against the Heterodox Wanderers. Since I got the chance, why should I not use it?”
“…Just be careful to not hurt yourself.”
“…Jeez. Fine. Now, stop nagging, and let me breathe.”
“…I think you should hold on to that breath for now,” Yuri said, pointing to the cat in the distance, still hissing, staring warily into the distance. “If the Heterodox Wanderer has been dealt with, then why is the cat still so tense?”
“…Inkah’s spit.”
“…Poros fangs.”
“Using the name of the Gods in such crude language… I thought that you children of Orthodoxies were taught better.”
Alnea stiffened as he heard a voice coming from the direction of where the Storm of Darkness was still raging. The voice did not seem hurried, or panicked though. As if it did not care for the storm. And rightly so. After all, the voice was different from the voice of the mad man they had just dealt with. It belonged to the man dressed in a white robe, who split apart the storm with his bare hands, saving the Wanderer trapped within.
“…I would have returned to the Supreme Lord if you had come a little later, Maren.”
“How could I let you return to the Supreme Lord’s embrace before me?” said the third Heterodox Wanderer, dressed in red robe, and standing a little behind the white robed man. “Even if Maren had not stepped in, I would have still saved your life.”
“…I would rather return to the embrace of Supreme Lord, than you save my life.”
“Shut up, Armis, Faiz. Do not forget the command of Lord Ghost Fire. There can be no accidents, or you would not even get the chance to return to the Supreme Lord’s embrace.”
“…Fine, fine. Let us just capture the kids, and have them kill the cat.”
Three Heterodox Wanderers… with one strong enough to tear through the Storm of Darkness with his bare hands… Nervous as Alnea was, he did not let his weakness show on his face, going so far as to use his Aspect to disguise his real emotions, and putting on a brave front, saying, “…There is just no end to these rats.”