How To Start A Flame

Large chunks of the ground lifted into the air, broken and toughening as the people hundreds of meters around the zone Heian Ciemnosc's Vocón Link struck turned into pulp. Those who survived by luck or were heavily injured widened their eyes to their utmost. The ground broke apart in several chunks around them, surrounding them with incoming death. But before they could even think about dodging these lethal weapons, traveling at a scary speed, they saw the same dark whip raise at the same time as the ground chunks.

“AAAAAAHHH!!” - “Here it co-” - “Save meee!!” - “Hold it togeth-” The cultivators reacted as the chunks flew by, and some of them were brought away or turned into gore stuck against those chunks and miserably died. But they all saw their source of terror, the dark whip, rise again, and their hearts clenched as they knew what was coming. However, before they could complete a movement, the dark whip lashed against the bottom again, breaking apart even bigger chunks than before and decimating the earth they walked.

Whiplash~~! THUUUUUUD! Rumbleeeeee~! Braaaaaggghhhhhh- thud, thud, thud, thud…!

The rest of the dark whip’s body struck the ground while its tip raised. Just as the second kilometer was about to land on the ground, the tip crashed downwards again. With such immense force behind its weight and strength, the dark whip immediately hit the rest of the ground with several more kilometers in under a few seconds. But immediately after, like a domino reaction, after the tip again landed on the ground, it made its 2nd kilometer arch before slamming downwards again without any delay.

The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on, kilometers of the Vocón Link’s body slammed again in a row, leaving any living being below and from this side of the empty spot of prairie-like land in the middle of the jungle deathly quiet. Bodies weren’t even seen, and only chunks varying in height from several meters to half a kilometer crashed outwards and skywards. Some passed by the Ornament, scaring the shit out of Little Ish but also immensely impressing her until her retinas turned like thin lines.

The world on one half of the land was simply death. The other was quieter but alive, with some cultivators receiving the remnants from the force used to Heian Ciemnosc to strike the ground with his Vocón Link. They bled and fell on the ground, but those were not mortal injuries, and they could see as half their numbers disappeared in under a few seconds. Their heads were helplessly thinking the same. ‘This is impossible… inconceivable… this can’t happen! What were we thinking?! Oh, gods!’

“...” But that wasn’t all. Heian Ciemnosc turned around and looked into the eyes of those below him, still alive. His darkest eyes were like black suns to devour everything in life that they knew of, even their thoughts. Then, a young cultivator, not even in the Crabstynian realm, took a look at the other side again as if sensing something and realized something… worms, tentacles, snakes, and simple monstrous shapeless limbs spread everywhere and ate the cultivators’ remains. He pointed at the other side and hysterically screamed, “What is happening?!! AAH! HEELP! Please, I DON’T want to die like THIS!!”

Wheesh- whistle!... Poom! Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud! Swish-... Heian Ciemnosc didn’t waste another second. When the young cultivator broke the silence and screamed to the top of his lungs without any rationality left, he pointed at the decimated half, but his legs didn’t move a centimeter. He lifted his right hand and struck down with his Vocón Link again! Everyone knew what was coming next and knew they could do nothing about it. They had already attacked him first…

Debris was the minority of things flying around. Gigantic chunks from the ground flew up outwards and destroyed the terrain even far from the prairie-like land. Bodies and remains were second, barely visible amidst the dirt and the broken ground flying around, but Heian Ciemnosc’s Vocón Link sub-bodies got to work and started devouring flesh and delicious power sources while slowly lifting his right hand to welcome the second batch of snacks.

In the Ornament, Little Ish wasn’t blind and could see everything that happened. Her Spirit Formation realm 9th stage cultivation allowed her to see a couple thousand kilometers without anything in between, so she could see the sub-bodies moving and squirming in the air, between the flying chunks, and underneath the ground, smoothly traversing everything.

“Huh? What’s… this?!” - “The hell happened???” Then, the newcomers, who were told of the prize and wanted nothing but to hurry and gain some merit, became baffled as they witnessed a decimated land without signs of life… or even a battle. It looked like an earthquake happened in a city, without survivors, months after. The situation made their scalps numb as if unlatching from their bodies. Before they could see ahead and notice a rapidly flying dark thing moving randomly in the sky, spinning nonstop, and then heading towards them, some of the newcomers’ bodies were already smashed into Vocón Link’s body without warning or mercy.

Thuuuud~! Thud, thud, thud… swish- whistle- pah! Whiiistle- thud, thud, thud, thud, thud… pah- swish, whistle, pew- thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud…~! ~! ~! ~!

“... wow!” Little Ish was like a rat trying to find a way out of a box, bending her little body until it looked like she had back problems as a kid. Her face was planted against the glass as she saw her personal Imperial Teacher not move a step forward, backward, or sideways even once. All he did was fling his right arm, let that dark whip dance before exploding with dark Neutral Energy, and finally land downwards some more.

Little Ish had even devised a pattern. Her teacher would first ready up his strange weapon, or tool, with his energy before lashing it against the ground, breaking everything it found! However, what the little girl couldn’t tell about this was how much dark Neutral Energy was spent for each attack and how much knowledge Heian Ciemnosc needed of the Earth element to conduct this in a controlled manner. Otherwise, he might cause the ground to break in 2, and his Vocón Link would continue drilling into the earth instead.

However, another thing that impressed and put more curiosity in her was that the number of enemy cultivators didn’t dwindle. Despite the visuals of something going on, with a dark whip dancing under the obscure sky, they kept coming and didn’t hesitate to try taking over the fighter she was in. About 15 minutes passed before she saw a change. The number of enemy cultivators decreased until it finally stopped. Her teacher’s dark whip was no longer hectically dancing in the air, and some whistling noise sounded from the far distance and at several angles.

Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistleeeeeeeee~... … …

“...” Heian Ciemnosc watched as his Vocón Link receded into his body. His right pale palm faced the ground as his darkest eyes looked everywhere around him in the air. A few seconds later, tiny dots appeared, slowly becoming bigger and rapidly approaching. In another few seconds, they arrived in the immediate surroundings of Heian Ciemnosc and his Ornament. They didn’t stop and came right at him… they were General type Fighters.

Pfsst, whoosh whoosh whoosh… The Fighters slowly stopped when reaching the 1 kilometer mark towards Heian Ciemnosc. After they halted, their cabins opened, and several figures exited them to float everywhere around him, nearly forming a circle. What lacked was the east, which was where his Ornament floated. The rest of the ‘big shots’ coming out of their Fighters formed a circle around him in midair, entrapping the pale young man.

“Sir Heian Ciemnosc!” One of them, who seemed to hold some of the highest status, shouted as he raised his right arm upwards into the air. Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes narrowed and looked to his left, landing on that old man’s face. It was orange-creamy skin, Human, had the wrinkles of being of old age, and had the Sand Emirate Grotto’s emblem, wearing a pale purple tunic and leading the other members from the other Grottoes.

This was the San Emirate Grotto’s Vice master, Irsome. His cultivation base was at the 1st stage of the Dantreulity realm, and he was probably the strongest with the same cultivation Heian Ciemnosc had seen in the Far East Region. Behind him was a middle-aged man with short black hair and eyes. She wasn’t buffy or manly-looking, but she lacked femininity. Yet, her cultivation base was at the 3rd stage, and she was one of the strongest within the same level Heian Ciemnosc had seen. She was the Sand Emirate Grotto’s Grotto Master, Orsome.

“Mm?” Casually and without any intention of feeling guilty, Heian Ciemnosc looked at their faces as they brought the Grottoes’ group slightly toward him but stopped 50 meters from his Ornament. Heian Ciemnosc felt their Spirit Sense try peaking into his Ornament vehemently before stopping, not giving up, and directing the words towards him. The Vice master spoke, “What is the meaning of this?! You have attacked our people for no reason! Why?!”

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The Vice master spread his arms, raised his shoulders, spoke in a light, high-pitched tone, and looked at Heian Ciemnosc as if he couldn’t comprehend how this could ever happen. As if it was… impossible!

“Assigned supervisor, although I believe there must be a reason for this aggression, I don’t believe this was done by mistake. What happened here? I can’t even see my people… our people!” They gave Heian Ciemnosc no time to react nor to look at the other leaders present, as the Grotto Master said while placing her left hand on the old fellow’s right shoulder. She added, “Please give us an explanation. We should be able to resolve this as… experienced cultivators.”

“I don’t want to,” but then, Heian Ciemnosc said as he crossed his arms and gave them both an indifferent, narrowed glare. The atmosphere lost meaning, and a vacant silence filled the area as Heian Ciemnosc sensed those below them start closing in, little by little, step by step, and looking up to see if he noticed something. Ignoring it, he kept looking at the Sand Emirate Grotto’s highest hierarchy as if contemplating a stone’s shape.

“So, you’re saying all this happened… just because of a whim?!” The Grotto Master spoke, her left index finger pointing at Heian Ciemnosc's chest. Everyone from the Grottoes stopped playing and took their weapons out. The other top organizations’ people didn’t follow, but they placed their attention on their respective Covert Space bags just in case. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t respond this time and calmly looked at these fellows.

Whiiiiiistle~~! “...” As the sudden stalemate grew more intense every half a second, a whistling noise behind Heian Ciemnosc sounded, and the others grew slightly alarmed, looking in that direction but hid it as well as they could. They kept their stares at Heian Ciemnosc as if he was someone about to turn into a dangerous person, and together, they planned to take this soon-to-be criminal down.

“What is happening here?!” A rough voice sounded as Head Mo Liao got off his Fighter and flew to stand a few tens of meters behind Heian Ciemnosc, followed by only the Grand Master. From another Fighter, Pastor Miguel and Preacher Alex said nothing but bowed towards everyone once before keeping quiet and saying nothing. They didn’t bring anyone with them, but only themselves, having not enough time prepared to do this and getting the news too late.

“Head, Pastor. You must clearly define your stance before we continue interrogating this potential threat! What are you here for?!” Another person from the Grottoes’ group shouted this time. From the Blue Emirate Grotto itself, a man with short black hair spoke, wearing purple and golden robes, wearing its emblem. He was their Grotto Master, Azulfor, a cultivator in the 2nd stage of the Dantreulity realm, but he wasn’t that strong. If anything, his skin was pale, and was an Elf, with Water elemental affinity.

Heian Ciemnosc looked at this Elf before ignoring him as Head Mo Liao was about to answer, and his Grand Master was about to stop him. Pastor Miguel chipped in and interrupted both Pavilion’s highest hierarchy. “Ehem, if I may ask. Why are all of you here in the neutral zone? In fact, I guess it could be said to be the ‘free’ zone since many Fauna live and rule here without bothering us. Has something happened? Is there an incursion against an enemy Fauna?”

“Err… no, I- uh…” Grotto Master Azulfor didn’t know how to respond as Pastor Miguel didn’t address their situation at hand. The black woman behind him, wearing pale purple robes, spoke out loud at this time. “Pastor Miguel, I’m afraid that isn’t important. What happened here… was the massacre of our people! The Blauw Empire has struck again! The very same you’ve allowed to step in this land of ours! Do you not see it?!”

“Yes, yes… Of course, I see it, but you are telling me not to talk about that, yet you want me to think about it? I don’t understand, Vice master.” Pastor Miguel’s little smile couldn’t be erased even as his face became confused, and his hands gestured that confusion. Heian Ciemnosc looked at the person who spoke. She was the Blue Emirate Grotto’s Vice master, Azulina, and was a Dantreulity realm 3rd stage cultivator.

“Pastor Miguel… let’s drop this. It has no meaning.” The Vice master looked at the always-smiling, robust fell and said with her head low and her knits slightly sinking. Pastor Miguel looked like he wanted to say more and had a lot of things to delve himself in, but stopped and looked at the Vice master disappointed before voicing, “Ah, I see… what a pity!”

“What’s more, this assigned supervisor utilized one younger generation cultivator’s mistakes from the Wyrm Land Nation to attack the rest. See this place? It is he who destroyed it! Just to take care of the evidence! If it wasn’t because of a few survivors relaying this news to the nearest cultivators and them to others until the message reached us… He would’ve gotten away with these acts!”

Pastor Miguel cracked a wider smile, but before he could speak, the Green Emirate Grotto’s Grotto Master chipped in, interrupting both sides as he stared directly into Heian Ciemnosc’s face as if locked. “No time for useless talking now. Heian Ciemnosc, the Blauw Empire’s assigned supervisor, has committed murder, mass murder! These crimes aren’t well-seen in our Region, even if your Academy allowed its students to do more than this before. You should’ve understood this, little black monster!”

“It’s funny when you call me like that in a situation like this,” Heian Ciemnosc separated his right hand from his crossed arms stance and said, pointing at the Grotto Master. The Green Emirate Grotto’s Grotto Master was a Dantreulity realm 2nd stage cultivator, with aesthetics between middle-aged and an elder, languid, and looked strangely obsessed with him. He was Jibnyeom, and beside him was an old man who looked serious, slightly robust, with a square face, white, short hair, and small, pitch-black eyes.

This old man was the Green Emirate Grotto’s Vice master, Takinti, a Dantreulity realm 2nd stage cultivator, and the strongest in that level that Heian Ciemnosc had seen in the Far East Region. The Grotto Master seemed touched by Heian Ciemnosc’s words, but naturally, not in a good way. He said, “Heian Ciemnosc, this can be resolved very easily. If you are willing to come with us and show us your Academy’s new Supreme Art to let us gain proficiency and inspiration, we may be able to find a way to think of a solution over the decades. If-”

“It seems you dogs really forgot who you have to fear. Wanting to have the Academy’s Supreme Arts? Fine, you can dream,” Heian Ciemnosc interrupted the Grotto Master. His words gained the widening of everyone’s eyes, including the Pavilion and Cult’s pairs. But more than anything, it put their brain into thought so as to who was the ruler here, the Wrath Nihility Academy! They turned to stare at the Green Emirate Grotto’s Grotto Master, and even the Vice master felt the pressure, but the former kept looking at Heian Ciemnosc without parting his eyes from Heian Ciemnosc’s pale face.

“Good, it seems like there’s nothing wrong with you wanting to be taught how to remember better. Don’t worry- I know some civilians have trouble with illnesses and genetics. Today, I will teach each of you some lessons about bowing your heads.” Heian Ciemnosc said calmly… and softly. The others from the True Dragon House and the other vassal organizations that should’ve been busy at the southernmost sections of the inland Region’s territory took their weapons out.

“You, pet from the Blauw ‘Empire’!” Heian Ciemnosc turned his head as his arms relaxed and posed them on his sides. The last group was from the True Dragon House, and their handsome young man leader, and also their House’s Head, wearing a purple and golden swordsman uniform, wielding a jian sword with a thicker, wider cone-like handle ornament, golden-bladed, and Earth grade; shouted at Heian Ciemnosc with his sharp, azure eyebrows disdainfully frowning.

“There’s only one good way for you out of here. We 7 top organizations will guide you a chance to redeem yourself. It will be simple, very effortless for an Academy’s Leading Student like you!” The True Dragon House’s Head was Blauw Monstorm, a Dantreulity realm 5th stage cultivator, and behind him was the Vice head, a 5th stage cultivator in the Dantreulity realm. She was Blauw Bristorm. And one of the strongest at the same level along the Head.

They looked at Heian Ciemnosc, but their Spirit Sense latched onto his Ornament the most, nonstop since the beginning of the dispute. Suddenly, and without surprises, they asked for the obvious. Meanwhile, the other 6 top organizations said nothing and seemingly accepted the True Dragon House’s right to speak.

“That’s right, vile vermin of that Empire, there’s only one way for you to go out unscathed from our Region and flee back to your Academy!” The Vice head spoke, elevating her voice. She was a delicate, dainty beauty. Tall and simply a feast to even bloodthirsty eyes, where any vile living being would turn soft to look at. But Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes were pure and impregnable, irritating Blauw Bristorm more despite knowing her beauty.

She looked down at Heian Ciemnosc. Her eyes were upturned, and her voice became hostile. “Grant us the little royal princess as a hostage until you leave the Region. Once you’re outside, she’ll stay with our top organizations for a few decades each before returning to her so-called Empire. Take this as a means to ‘teach’ you what the world works like, and study some more, kid.”

…