“Rats, you say,” the white robed man said. “To us, that is the highest degree of complement that anyone can give us. However, flattery will get you nowhere, child. Armis has already given you his best offer, and yet you still refuse to join us. Unless you change your mind, and help us capture the girls, I will not be lenient with you. Of course, you have lost the privilege to enjoy the girls. You can only watch from the side. But it is still better than wading the world of lies. How about it? Do you wish to join us now?”
“…I once thought that when I will have to kill humans, I might hesitate a little. But it looks like I was worried for nothing. I am glad that the first people I will kill are scums like you. And rest assured, I will make sure that your death will be gruesome, and full of pain.”
“…Another lost child,” the man white robed man said, shaking his head. “It looks like only when you return to the embrace of the Supreme Lord will you understand the ultimate truth.”
“…Your Supreme Lord can go eat shit!” Cecilia said, gritting her teeth. She was tired, and exhausted. Not only had the Storm of Darkness exhausted more than half of her Spirit Power, consuming so much Spirit Power at once had also put a great strain on her Spirit. Let alone Peak Stage False Wanderers, even Advanced Stage False Wanderers would be enough to give her troubles. No matter how Alnea looked at her, she was in condition to fight.
Standing just a few feet away from them though, were three Peak Stage False Wanderers—Heterodox Wanderers— with one of them being strong enough to tear through her Storm of Darkness. Even if she had been in her best condition, she would not have been their match. And yet, no matter what condition she was in, or how strong their enemies were, Cecilia never gave up. She stood tall, staring at the Heterodox Wanderers as if she could not wait to beat them to death. And if Cecilia could withstand the pressure of these scums, then as her teammate, how could he let himself fall behind?
Not waiting for the lunatics to go crazy after hearing Cecilia insult their shit eating lord, Alnea urged his Aspects to cover his legs, chest, and sword, as he rushed towards the Heterodox Wanders. And as he had expected, the moment they heard her insult their Supreme Lord, the faces of the lunatics contorted in rage, and a twisted emotion that only the scums could understand.
The man in the white robe stood where he was, while the ones in green, and red robe prepared to rush towards Cecilia. Alnea had already taken a step ahead of them though. And the distance between them was not too large to begin with. So, by the time the two scums made their moves, Alnea was just a couple of feet away from them. Enough for him to initiate his own attack.
Concentrating all of his Aspects along the edge of his sword, he swung a ‘Crescent Slash’ at the scums. Even the white robed scum was not left out of his range. His attack was too weak to break through the defences of the scums though. On the contrary, after blocking the golden light that flew out of his sword, the scums gained a chance to launch an attack on him, which they did not let go.
While the green robed man confronted him in close quarters, forcing him to use the stability of a mountain, and adaptability of a river to continuously block his strikes, the red robed man condensed a spear of red light in his hand, and—
Yuri struck at the red robed man with her bluish white sword, forcing him away from Alnea and the green robed man. The red robed man, of course, scum as he was, assumed his retreat to be a result of being caught off guard, and did not take Yuri seriously, clashing with her fearlessly. Given his advantage in strength, and the length of his weapon, he assumed that he was bound to subdue her in just a few moments.
It was not until Yuri had decorated the scum’s face, and hands with tens of wounds, that the Heterodox Wanderer began to take her seriously. Her sword may be shorter than his spear, but it was far to fast, and unpredictable. The way she flowed with her sword… it was as if she was dancing with the winds—no, it was as if she was dancing along the rules of the world.
Wherever her sword went, his body follow on its own. It was as if his body was asking her to kill him. If not for his quick reaction, and higher strength, then he would not have been able to fight her off for tens of moves with just some shallow cuts. Such delicate mastery of sword, and her Aspects…
“Who are you?” the red robed man asked, retreating to distance himself from the white robed girl. “What are you doing in Rianra?”
“…A Heterodox Wanderer asking an Orthodox Wanderer what she is doing in an Orthodox Domain… Are you here to fight, or make jokes?” Yuri said, before rushing towards the red robed scum once again. And this time, she even used one of her Arcanas, creating a pair of hands from darkness, that kept punching, and stabbing the red robed scum whenever he tried to dodge her moves, or distance himself from her.
In contrast to the ease with which she was handling the Heterodox Wanderer, Alnea was having a hard time just defending himself. The Mountain and River Style may be one of the best Intermediate Grade Martial Style when it came to defence, but it was too slow to be of any use. Maybe, things would have been better, had he been at the Advanced Stage, or had Aspects corresponding to the mountains, and rivers.
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However, the world did not work possibilities. It worked on certainties. And so, noticing himself becoming more passive against the green robed scum with each passing moment, Alnea gritted his teeth, and chose to stuff his bones, and muscles with lightning, shifting from the Mountain and River Style to the Lightning Storm Style.
A decision that was proven correct right in the next moment, when he used his increased speed, and agility to shift a little towards his left, avoiding the scum’s grab at his neck, before following it by ‘Raising the Earth’ right under the scum’s chin. Forced to dodge, the Heterodox Wanderer avoided his strike, but also lost all the advantages he had gained.
Next, just as how he had kept dodging, and defending against the scum’s attack, the green robed man was also forced to keep dodging, and blocking his sword strikes. From ‘Raging Waves of the West’ to ‘Piercing the Stars’, followed by the ‘Crying Wind’, only to push his enemy into the ‘Depths of Abyss’, Alnea kept changing his sword moves one after another, linking one Martial Style with another, surpassing his personal record of linking seventy three Martial styles. However, he had no intention to stop. Until he killed his enemy—
“That should be enough,” the white robed man said, disrupting his rhythm, and breaking his chain of attacks. Alnea still did not stop though. Rather, the more dangerous that situation became, the more he could not stop. Because he was not alone. Because he had to protect. Because—
“I have seen enough of their strength. These two children really do not seem like natives of Rianra. But that other girl is different. She is bearing the emblem of the Serpia clan, and she seems to be the weakest of the three. She will do for our purpose. You two keep these children busy, while I capture that girl, and force her to kill the cat.”
“…Hurry up, and come help me subdue this girl. I am going to teach her the ultimate truth of the Supreme Lord myself.”
“Fuck. Are you here to play, or to complete Lord Ghost Fire’s commands? It is because of you that we lost track of the cat in the first place. I am warning you, if something goes wrong this time—
“What are you afraid of? Isn’t Maren here with us this time? I am sure everything will be just fine.”
“…You better hope—
“Stop getting distracted. If either of you end up dying at the hands of children, then it will be a shame to our entire clan.”
“…We will be fine. You go get the girl.”
“No one is going anywhere!” Alnea yelled, before hurriedly sending Yuri his warning message.
“Fifty metres!”
“Worry about yourself first, kid. Don’t think that just because…”
Ignoring the scum, Alnea continued with what he was preparing, mumbling his words under his breath so that only he could hear himself.
“In the threads weaving through the forces of the worlds…”
“Hiding in the folds of existence…”
“I beseech upon the forces of the Origin…”
“To shower unto the world, Yuri’s Dominance.”
Strange fluctuations spread with Alnea at their centre, imperceptibly changing the world, increasing the force pulling the scums to the ground by five times. Fortunately for the Heterodox Wanderers, they were experienced enough to immediately resist against the increased gravity with their Aspects, or might not even have been able to keep standing.
Still, unaccustomed as they were to the sudden change in gravity, the scums still found it hard to move for a while. Of course, being subject to the universality of his Arcana, even Alnea was barely able to keep standing. His condition was even worse than the scums. After all, they were two entire Stages higher than him. However, he was not afraid.
“He who lights the world with his shine…”
“He who gives breaths to all things alive…”
“I beseech the Lord of Light…”
“To destroy the world with Lia’s Shine.”
Cursing him, promising all kinds of revenge on the girls, the Heterodox Wanderers soon got accustomed to the increased gravity, and were just about resume their earlier plan, when three pillars of light, thick enough to cover three persons standing next to each other, descended from the sky, and fell upon their bodies. These were not just any pillars of light though, they were the pillars of Lia’s Shine, his only Intermediate Stage offensive Arcana. Though these pillars were not as powerful as the Storm of Darkness, they were far more concentrated, and also dealt a burning damage to his enemies.
Finally relaxing a little, Alnea released Yuri’s Dominance, and moved back to regroup with Yuri. He was tired, but he could not rest yet. Lia’s Shine… it should be enough to injure the Heterodox Wanderers, but expecting an Intermediate Stage Arcana to take out three Peak Stage Wanderers at once was too much to ask. Unless the Arcana was of the Transcendent Grade…
The pillars of light slowly faded away into the darkness, revealing the figures of the scum. The red, and green robed ones were injured to various degrees. Even their robes had been left singed, and tattered by the scorching light of Lia’s Shine. The white robed man though… he did not even have a scratch. Not even on his robe. The scum… he was far strong than Alnea had expected him to be. Was the man really just a Peak Stage Wanderer?
“You have surprised me once again, boy,” the white robed man said, smiling for the first time in front of Alnea. “Such talent… Arre you sure that you will not consider my earlier offer?”
“Go, eat shit, scum.”
“…Pity. Since we cannot have you, then we must not let you live. However, do not worry. You are a very special child. I will personally send you to the embrace of the Supreme Lord. I am sure he will be happy to receive a talent like you, and offer me great rewards.”
“A rat who easts shit also deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence as someone I fancy?” Cecilia said with a sneer, drawing everyone’s attention to herself. “Didn’t you say that I was the weakest? Then I will let you see how strong this weak girl can be.”