Cecilia was never a girl who could easily bear her grievances. And she was surely not someone who would let her companions fight dangerous battles all by themselves. Strangely enough though, while Alnea and Yuri had been dealing with the Heterodox Wanderers, she had stayed put where she was, maintaining her distance from the lunatics. She had not even said anything for a while.

Her abrupt shouts then easily drew everyone’s attention to herself. She was still standing where Alnea had last seen her, but she was not alone. At some point in time, the cat had crawled its way towards her side, and was looking at the Heterodox Wanderers as if it was looking at its enemy of life. It did not have the power to resist against its enemies though, and it surely did not have enough strength to help her.

“Did you know that everything in the world has its own Fortune?” Cecilia said, ignoring the cat for the moment. “Of course, that also includes living beings. Like you, and me. However, this Fortune is not fixed. It fluctuates based on our actions, and deeds. If you fight someone who is stronger than you, your Fortune may dip. And if you fight someone who is weaker than you, then your Fortune may soar.

“Now, Fortune may not directly change the outcome of fights, but it surely can influence it in very imperceptible ways. Like increasing the chances of your attacks succeeding, or triggering a chain reaction, increasing the prowess of an attack. And right now, since I am the weakest, and the most exhausted, my Fortune is the weakest. While you, with not even a scratch on your body, have the greatest Fortune.”

“…Are you trying to blame your loss on something as illusory as Fortune?” the white robed man said, shaking his head. “In the end, what decides the outcome of fights is strength. Things like luck, and fate are only for the weak. For the strong, only they themselves can master their lives.”

“…Let’s see if you will still say the same thing when I am done with you,” Cecilia said, before grinning at the white robed man, and mumbling something under her breath. Moments later, a ray of golden light emerged from her head, and shot straight towards the white robed man. And though the man was confident in himself, he still side stepped to avoid the light. Unfortunately for the Heterodox Wanderer, nothing could escape the light of Fortune.

Before the white robed man could react, the light changed course in mid air, and shot straight into his head, making stagger for a few steps. The light itself did not deal any damage to the Wanderer, but he could feel something missing from within his body. From within his Spirit. He did not know what it was, but he knew that the golden light was anything but ordinary. And if it could deprive him of something he did not even know he had…

“Did you take my Fortune?” the white robed man said, staring at Cecilia with a solemn light in his eyes.

“Why are you so serious. Aren’t things like Fortune illusory, and unnecessary to you?”

“…I underestimated you.”

“You haven’t even seen anything yet,” Cecilia said with a scoff, before mumbling something to herself once again. In the next moment, the darkness within the canyon began churning once again. They began to gather, and coalesce into a giant vortex, large enough to touch the ceiling of the canyon, before being compressed to twice of Alnea’s height. But she was not done yet. And neither was her Fortune.

To the horror of the Heterodox Wanderers, due to some chance happenstance, the mass of darkness at the centre of the storm was much higher than the mass of darkness at its outer edges, causing the storm to shrink even further, concentrating all of its powers within a miniate vortex of darkness floating above Cecilia’s palm, temporarily Perfecting the Storm of Darkness.

From the first glance, the miniature vortex seemed relatively harmless. But that was just a misconception, an illusion created by all of the powers of the storm being contained within the vortex. For an Arcana to be so concentrated though, focussing all of its powers at a single point, without leaking so much as a gust a wind, it had to be of the Perfect Grade at the very least.

A Perfect Grade Arcana… Even if it was just of the Intermediate Stage, was enough to threaten some Peak Stage Wanderers. And a Perfect Grade Arcana focusing on destructive power to the extreme, like the Storm of Darkness, was even more dangerous. Though they could not feel any threat from the tiny vortex, none of the Heterodox Wanderers dared to underestimate the miniature storm.

However, Cecilia’s Fortune was still not done. Just when she was about to let the Heterodox Wanderers have a taste of the Perfect Storm of Darkness, the cat, which everyone had kept ignoring for a while, jumped onto her shoulder. It hissed towards the Heterodox Wanderers once again, before gritting its teeth, and touching Cecilia’s cheeks with its forehead.

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Almost simultaneously, blobs of golden floated out of the cat, and submerged into her head. Into her Roots. Into her Fortune. And before anyone could understand what was happening, the Night Canyons itself shook. Threads of darkness from places as deep as the Labyrinth of Night, to places as far aways as the edge of Night Canyons in Numein, began making their way to the vortex above her hand. And in just a few moments, the storm grew to the size that it was meant to be, roughly twice of her height.

Yet, its increased size did not change its appearance. It still looked as if it was harmless. That it was nothing but a collection of darkness. However, it was exactly this collection of darkness that made the Heterodox Wanderers tremble in fear. Not even the white robed man was an exception. The Storm of Darkness… it had reached the threshold of a Transcendent Arcana.

“…We cannot delay this any longer,” the white robed man said. Instead of moving against Cecilia though, he moved towards Alnea, hoping to catch him to threaten Cecilia. But how could Alnea let him have his wish?

Having already expected the Heterodox Wanderer’s reaction, Alnea had long shifted from the Lighting Storm Style to the Sky Streaming Style. And the moment that the white robed man moved towards him, he urged his Aspects to their limits, and rushed towards Cecilia, taking shelter behind the storm. It was not just him though. Even Yuri did the same, regrouping with him, while staring daggers at the Heterodox Wanderers.

The Heterodox Wanderers on the other hand, were left grasping for air. Unlike Alnea, and Yuri, they did not dare to rush towards the Storm of Darkness. Catching the kids as hostage was their only hope. And watching their hopes slip out of their hand, they finally felt despair for the first time in a long while. Only the white robed still had some of his sanity left.

“What are you two doing just standing still?” the white robed man yelled, urging his Aspects to the extreme. “So what if her Arcana is strong? She is still just a kid. As long as we can block her once, won’t she fall into our hands? Or do you want to bear Lord Ghost Fire’s punishment?”

“No!” the other two scums yelled, shivering at the mention of Lord Ghost Fire. Facing the storm, at best, they would only return to their Supreme Lord. Against Lord Ghost Fire’s wrath though…

Gritting their teeth, the other two Heterodox Wanderers also began to urge their Aspects to their extreme, shining in red, green, and black lights. They even began casting their Arcanas. After all, they might be Warriors, but it did not mean that they did not have any Arcanas. Gaining Access to Peak Stage Arcanas may be a little tough for them, but they had made enough contributions to their clan to earn some Advanced Stage Arcanas. Of only the Low, and Intermediate Grade of course.

It was not that their clan did not have better Arcanas, but Perfect Grade Arcanas were too precious. Even Top, and High Grade Arcanas were far beyond their reach. Heterodoxies were inherently different from Orthodoxies, after all. Orthodoxies could spend resources on their younger members, providing them with all sorts of Arcanas, Glyphs, and Martial Styles, but Heterodoxies were different.

Everything that the Heterodox Wanderers had, they had earned with their own blood. No one had ever offered them any help. And even if someone would have offered to help them, they would have refused without any hesitation. Only fools would accept help from those in Heterodoxies. Scums like them dared to kill their own parents, and lovers, what else could they not dare to do?

Still, Heterodoxies had their own benefits, or else, they would not have lasted for so long against the crusade of Orthodoxies. After all, if there were no benefits, why would anyone risk joining a bunch of lunatics on their suicidal missions? And one such benefit was open access to all resources of the Heterodoxies. As long they had made enough contribution, they could get their hands on even Divine Grade Arcanas. For the moment though, the Heterodox Wanderers had to make do with Intermediate Grade Arcanas.

Swathes, after swathes of fire materialised in front of the red robed man, before he willed them into the shape of a shield, large enough to cover his entire body. On the other end, vines, and roots thicker than green robed man’s thighs burst forth from the ground in front of him, and intertwined with each other, creating a thick wall between the man, and the vortex of darkness. Only the last scum did not cast any an Arcana.

Unlike the hurried actions of his companions, the white robed man calmly reached into the fold his of robe near his chest, and took out a blood red token. He seemed a little worried, and hesitant, but gritted his teeth, and chose to believe in the token. Still, his strange actions were not enough to garner Cecilia’s attention. Summoning two Storms of Darkness one after another had already exhausted her, while condensing the second storm to perfection had pushed her beyond her limits. Controlling a storm that had transcended the realm of perfection…

Yet, Cecilia showed no weakness. It did not matter if her Spirit felt like it was about to be torn apart. She held on, sweating, and panting, and reached towards the Storm of Darkness with her thoughts, pushing towards the Heterodox Wanderers with the last of her strength. Pushing the scum towards their death.

And yet, the scums did not run. After all, there was no point in running. The storm could be persistent to say the least, something that the green robed man had experienced personally. With a tacit understanding, the scums decided that facing the storm head on was better than letting it ravage their backs. Pushing their Aspects to their limits, the Heterodox Wanderers glowed in the glory of their Aspects, as they braced themselves to clash with the storm.