Krigsain P.O.V.
I took our little gang to the nearby town, Klerolain. We used a carriage service that was nearby the limits of the barrier of Malaktaraf. Transportation was something premium merchants could never do without when it came to orgon crystals. It cost a pretty penny, thirty Ucra. We were sitting in the premiere Andurian establishment, Klerolain Tavern, having some drinks.
“This is far bigger than just a tavern.” Ikrei commented sipping some blegar juice.
“That’s how it started off, a tavern, as you can see it grew to be so much more.” Iru the perennial teacher spoke.
“I want to thank you all for coming out and trusting me. If any of you want to back out, now it is the time to say so.” I gave the group one final warning.
“As long as I can meet a proper beautiful wife, I’ll consider the risks worth it.” Our last addition Puri spoke expectantly.
“You become Kotari, I’ll get you your ideal muse partner from the houses of Lemuria, remember there will be disadvantages.” I answered.
“We live longer, consider normal people and the situation. You will probably have to wait until the conflict is over, you don’t want your loved ones to be dragged into this.” Iru declared.
“Five years ago I was making shoes, now I sit with you, just make sure she’s exactly as you described her, chosen one.” Puri sipped his drink.
I nodded. The uncomfortable gaze in Ciel’s eyes didn’t go unnoticed.
“In the midst of war, having women flock around should be a cause for celebration.” Puri said.
“Bring this man a drink! Thruskan, I am paying!” I offered effervescently.
The nearby waiter ran for the bottle. He was going to get a pretty nice commission from that sale.
“You are a very intriguing prospect, perfect for alchemical studies. A ringleader who has no mana.” Kletay expressed with her wine cup.
“You sure you are content with your arrangement?” I asked the female bookworm.
“Following a truly blessed of the Will is its own reward. You created an undetectable fissure on a millennial barrier. I would like to see more, of everything.” Kletay smiled.
“Ikrei my man! You ready?”
“As much as a beansprout can be. I cannot be much more than a burden just like Puri.” He was having second thoughts, clearly worried.
“Trust your training, my man.” I reminded him.
He nodded.
“Krigsain is bait, we are insurance. They will take the bait if six of us are gathered. They must know we are here by now.” Ciel explained.
“Let’s finish up here. Now, we are going to catch an extremely elusive serpent.”
“Can’t the Will simply tell you who and where? You know, instead of doing this?” Ikrei asked.
“The blessings of the gods counter each other. There are other limitations but that’s a long and boring explanation that we will do without for now.” Iru said.
“Explanations always come later with these people.” Ikrei said to Puri.
I placed five small cubed artifacts on our table. Ciel and Iru looked surprised.
“These are the Will infused glyph cubes I told you about, they will protect your life from a single attack of any kind. Wear them under your clothes. They will self-activate at the crucial moment. Let’s do as we discussed in the carriage.”
“Let’s find out how big that serpent is, Krigs.” Ciel stood up and her bow materialized from her temporal ring.
“Next time we are here, let’s have some fun together.” I said urging the group outside.
The bottle of Thurskan disappeared into Puri’s temporal ring and so did 100 more Ucra.
“The price of sincerity, chosen.” Iru patted me in the back.
“Go all out book man.” He nodded with soberness.
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We walked merrily through the streets towards a small shrine of the Will on top a small hill. We all pretended to silently meditate.
[You should have told them they could die young one.]
[Worry and fear will only hinder them. Didn’t you say the fluctuations were severe?] I questioned.
[Powerful fluctuations detected, unknown. Three blessings of Beltor. They are coming.]
[Kazardim? Not Zigurs? How far are the reinforcements?] I asked hurriedly.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
[Thirty breaths.]
“Ciel!” I ordered.
In a single motion, Ciel’s arrow pierced the sky. The Andurian call for help. A raven like roar resounded in the clouds as the blue energy arrow dispersed.
[She’ll be here in sixteen breaths. They will be here in two. Brace yourself.]
[They think they can kill the rest in less than ten breaths. Infuse all the power you can.]
My brand new artifact sword materialized from my temporal ring. My eyes shone bright red. My senses magnified in all directions.
[Where are they?] I looked around everywhere.
[Temporal fluctuations increasing. Airborne young one.]
A bird, a four winged gigantic bird I had never seen before speeding through the air amidst the clouds. My Will infused vision saw it clearly, the beast was made of mana or something akin to it. An ethereal beast. The four that were riding the beast made a beeline to our position. A death dive.
My body exploded with all the power it could muster, my cores pulsating. My glove artifact shining its blue hue. One upward strike with all my might. My orgon infused metal alloy met the diving cloaked enemy head on.
BOOOM!
The ground opened up in all directions, rocks and dirt splattering. The little shrine was no more. My feet were sunken into the debris. My opponent was kneeling and his cloak spread out touching the remains. His hand appeared from within his robes. He threw charges at me.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
I sliced through a few charges with my sword and a couple of others with an energy blast from my glove while retreating.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
The other three Kazardim also had orgon charges with them. I heard the screams of fear from our future ladies’ man, Puri. Iru and Kletay had created a dual barrier protecting Puri, Ikrei and the bookworms from the blast.
ZIIING!
Ciel’s arrow hit the target perfectly but they were prepared. A magic barrier disintegrated but her Kazardim foe was unharmed. She was slightly hurt from the initial explosion caused by the opening dive by the opposing quartet.
[Four breaths young one.]
[Only four? No choice then.]
“Iru!” I roared signaling a change in strategy.
“Let’s go Ikrei!”
Iru’s barrier evaporated in an instant. He charged towards the closest Kazardim he saw. Ikrei was following close behind. Ciel was evading the energy attacks of the other hooded blessed of Beltor. The slashes were creating cracks all over the ground. Kletay was resisting orgonid charge explosions and energy slashes on her sphere shield, the magical construct was showing a pronounced cleft. She was puffing heavily.
“You can do it sister!” Puri cheered her on with a worried face.
I could hear, feel and see everything with my heightened senses. My unrelenting opponent threw even more orgonid charges my way, eight. He added four floating mana bolts that shot forth like the wind.
[Five breaths.]
“ANAM KALIN DES GLAOH!” I chanted unifying my soul with my cores.
ZIIING! BOOOM! ZIIING! BOOOM! ZIIING! BOOOM! ZIIING!
Charging forward, I executed my own version of Freslia’s blade dance. Taking the brunt of the explosions, I bled. Nevertheless, my exquisite sword and my technique deflected the mana bolts and a couple of charges.
[Not perfect control, the bolts dissipated upon deflection.]
Up close, it was clear that my foe was of eastern descent but with green eyes.
“Die!” He shouted.
Three more bolts materialized while he swung his blade beaming with kinetic power. I used my glove to intercept the slash and the energy strike. I used my elbow to block one of the bolts, evaded the other two; my body was strengthened by the chant but not enough to avoid bleeding again.
The mana bolts did not turn for an attack on my blind spot, they exploded behind me. He was trying to cause a stun, a stagger effect.
[Careful. Materialization behind you.]
With my other hand and my sword, without looking, I let the Will guide me. I blocked two more bolts coming from behind. They almost cracked my skull open like a watermelon. A half turn later with a downward slash, my opponent blocked my counter with his bare hand.
[Keep an eye on that beast for me. The feeling of dread is almost palpable; it wants to strike.]
The beast had gone invisible.
I let go of my sword, rolled backwards and released the sealing artifacts I had prepared. I didn’t know if it was going to work, this guy was a bag of tricks.
[Mana manipulation, blade control, strength and an ethereal beast?]
[He is like you, you will have to make him unconscious to find out.]
The restrictive energy sphere formed around the two of us, the same tactic the princess applied during our rescue. A sudden surge of energy encompassed the sphere. With only one hand, my adversary tore my new sword into pieces. He didn’t seem to be preoccupied in the slightest.
“Lord Sarkan is not going to be happy.”
My opponent gesticulated towards me.
“Come!” He was grinning.
[Seven breaths.]
Seven mana bolts materialized, floating near the dark cloaked green eyed nemesis.
I took a Reika stance and prepared for an all-out brawl.
[Fluctuations are intensifying even more.]
[The consequences of my choice, huh?]
This time I received no reply, I exhaled deeply, I could sense the crackling of rocks and the total absence of wind. I stormed with all my strength.
[Nine breaths.]
“AELZIR!”
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Ikrei P.O.V.
‘Why am I foolishly running towards death by my own choice? Because of the promise Krigsain made to me the night before. If he can do it, then I can live with the consequences.’
Iru was running ahead of me, straight into the enemy. The heat from his bluish flames was scorching, even being several steps behind didn’t stop the fire in my cheeks. As Krigsain foresaw, we have to be swift when charging stronger or more prepared rivals.
‘We have two breaths, maybe.’
“This better work.”
“LOIZG!” Iru chanted.
The flames unified and expanded into a single pillar of infernal matter, it surrounded the dark cloaked foe.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Kinetic energy slashes came through the fire. Iru blocked one with a small frontal greenish barrier. Deflected the other one with a blade coming from his temporal ring. The weapon disintegrated.
All the brutish training was bearing fruit. I could sustain an ‘awakened state’ for a couple of moments, with my pitiful unstable latent core.
‘Inhale, exhale, release.’
The world slowed down for a split second. I evaded the energy blast and pushed forward. The opposing bastard targeted me. He was bursting through the flames, cloak sweltering.
“Please, please work.”
With my remaining hyper focused state, I dived into the enemy attack, right hand at the ready.
‘I’m not much of a praying person but I hope that the Will is listening.’
I glanced back at Iru with a ‘Don’t you dare fuck up!’ expression.
We couldn’t just overpower an awakened fighter, so we had to make do with artifacts and charges. I knew things weren’t going to go exactly as planned, I was exacerbated. The cloaked bastard was thinking the same thing. I saw how he threw charges my way with a couple of energy slashes for good measure.
I freed the charges stored in my temporal ring, they were on a preset state to explode upon release. Iru threw his charges from his ring as well, he had to time it with godly precision.
‘I’m trusting you, you read head muscle brain!’
The massive conflagration from the combined orgonid charges reacting to mine in a chain effect, it felt like being compressed into a can and also like sand grains in the wind.
“MOTHERFUCKING SHIIIT!!!”
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
“AAAHHHH!”