The infirmary wasn’t cold and bleak as you’d expect. No, it wasn’t bloody or pure white and sterilized either. The infirmary was a couple of pickup trucks and the flatbeds on the back. Injured were laid down on them to rest with someone crouched down beside them to treat their injuries.

Understandably, this couldn’t support many injured folk, each truck only holding two patients and their respective caretakers. It made it hard to keep all the injured in one place, yes, but it was the best a convoy could do. Centered right in the middle, they were the best defended. They’d have to settle for a flatbed for now.

Sebastian frowned as walked by the various injured militia and civilians within the small infirmary convoy. The only good part about the current circumstances is the increased cohesion of the group and the increasing population of their total. It was harder for those like Hasan though, an unfortunate event that caused the bladesman to sigh.

Walking up to the third or fourth truck within the column, he eventually found Sarah and Hasan. Sarah was still lying down, a wet rag placed on her forehead as an aid wiped down her injuries. Hasan was sat against one of the sides of the flatbed, his gaze no different than usual, albeit his face was slightly pale.

His hand was laying on his lap while he looked towards the ground, as if the man still wanted to fold it with another. His breathing was erratic, yes, but overall the man seemed calm. The issue was, calm doesn’t mean okay. Sebastian himself knew this; there’s a reason for the phrase ‘calm before the storm’ after all, and it seemed Hasan was caught in his.

“How’re you holding up?”

“Hm?” With a grunt the other bladesman looked up from his zoned out state. There was a little bit of a twitch to his movements, but overall he still remained calm. Sebastian’s heart fell as he saw this, being able to do nothing but resist the urge to shake his head and sigh.

“Mostly fine. Painkillers are a blessing.”

“And your mental?”

“I’m fine. Not like having one arm condemns me to death or anything, right? Just need Rich to make me a one-handed saber.”

“You don’t want to switch to a sword?”

“My stats didn’t change after losing an arm, why would I? Pick a path and stick to it.”

“Weirdly wise of you.”

“Don’t I seem like the wise cripplied veteran?” Hasan lifted what little of his shoulder he had left up, his face completely stoic as he continued looking at Sebastian.

The Warden couldn’t stop himself from letting out a small chuckle, either from how horrendous the ‘joke’ was or simply how offensive it could be taken. It was hardly even a joke, even if it seemed to lighten the mood somewhat.

“You’re not crippled. You can walk, walk, grip and grab. You’ll be fine. Don’t you think the one armed swordsman type characters are badass anyways?”

“But I’m not a swordsman.”

“.. Well, yes, but you’re a bladesman. Which is even more badass, right? Got a different ring to it.”

“Hm. I suppose so.”

Sebastian smiled wryly at the short responses, but he wasn’t offended. Breathing in for a moment, he set his gaze firmly on Hasan before willing a skill to mind.

[Identify Affinity]

[Lv. 8 Human, Ice Affinity]

“Oh?”

He recoiled slightly, eyes slightly wide as he read the text in front of him. Another Ice Affinity, and a saber wielder no less. There were less unlikely coincidences, but not many. Making his mind up quickly, Sebastian willed another skill to active as he stared Hasan down.

[Seed of Vitality]

Vitality quickly rampaged through his meridians as the temperature abruptly dropped around them, drawing mana in from the environment as Sebastian felt something begin to condense within his palm. The vitality surging within him came quickly to his hands before entering the forming seed, leaving him nearly drained of all energy. The only positive to the situation was that he felt his Vitality recover multiple times faster than before, consuming the airborne mana much more efficiently.

Hasan broke himself out of his stupor quickly as he felt the air freeze over, forcing him to shiver in place as he watched the scene in front of him. It felt like Sebastian was coercing the world around them to form this seed, guiding the process with his own energies. The process itself eluded his understanding.

So too did it evade Sebastian however, as he hardly had any control over the creation of this seed. After activating the skill, all that he had control over was his own output of Vitality as it entered, but otherwise he had nothing. It took a few moments for the surroundings to calm when a perfectly spherical ball of ice lay in his palm. With a quick identify, Sebastian glanced over the sphere within his grasp.

[Seed of Vitality (Ice)]

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

[A Seed of Vitality bearing the distinct aura of the Prime Aspect of Ice and Snow, this object when consumed will be held in place within the solar plexus in energy form, allowing the host to draw on its energy or allowing the host to let the Seed guide their own Vitality. Immensely valuable for nurturing lower quality or unawakened Vitality]

With a nod, the Warden tossed Hasan the Seed of Vitality and motioned towards his mouth, making a swallowing gesture. The one armed man caught it with a fumble, giving Sebastian a glare at the blatant oversight; an act that he could only chuckle nervously towards.

Breathing out heavily, Hasan swallowed the Seed down without hesitation and then sat back down quickly to watch the process of the energy settling down within his body. Deciding he was done here, Sebastian wished the man the best before moving back down the column. He still had someone to find.

A large density of wind mana had gathered over one of the trucks in specific, basically acting as a beacon for Sebastian to find. It didn’t take him long either with his natural walking speed increasing as his stats do. Within a few moments the bladesman was looking into another flatbed, his eyes softening at the sight waiting for him.

The teen lay against the side of the truck, clothes stained with blood and hands the colour of rotten meat, his skin soaked and caked on with blood. Bits and pieces of flesh stuck to his hair and clothes that looked like they had been sent through a blender. His body shook as he buried his head within his crossed arms, holding his knees tight together. The poor thing looked like he’d be taken by the wind.

A figure quickly approached Sebastian as he contemplated how to go about it; freeing him from the whirlpool of thought. Recognizing the face but not recalling the name, he gave the figure a nod. “One of my guards a few minutes ago, right. You are..?”

“I.. I’m Elijah, sir.”

“Ah, Elijah. Right. Thank you for protecting me during my.. Evolution? Transformation? Something. Do you need anything?”

“N-no sir, just checking up on Ken.”

The bladesman raised a brow. The lad in front of him was only Lv. 6, probably freshly so too. How did they meet? As if reading his thoughts, Elijah suddenly tilted his head up.

“I was the one who found his mother..”

“Ah, I see. Judging from his attire, her death wasn’t clean. I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Uh, don’t get me wrong sir.” Elijah turned towards Ken briefly and then looked back towards the Prime in front of him. “Ken.. Ken was the one who did that. When he saw it.. The wind came so suddenly and it-”

Elijah moved to cover his mouth with his hands, feeling the need to vomit as he recalled the scene. Sebastian patted his shoulder gently and waited patiently while he looked at Ken with some concern. It was a minute or two later that Elijah finally managed to speak.

“The wind tore her body to shreds, mixed it with the surrounding objects. Turned her into mince meat.. He hasn’t even bothered to pick the rotten flesh from his clothes..”

“Wind?”

“Y-yes, when he saw his mother, he dropped to his knees and screamed. When he did, there was a sudden burst of wind.”

“The Wind’s Ferocity..” Sebastian mumbled, earning him a confused look from the teen beside him as he glanced back towards the trembling swordsman. Even now, the wind seemed drawn towards him much more than before, as if he had grown closer to that title. It was almost ironic; the man named Zen became Ferocity. A sad sigh escaped him as he crawled up onto the flat bed.

“Ken.. I can’t help you. Not with this. We saved each other that day, but now it’s time to save yourself just as I did.” He picked out the flesh from Ken’s hair, the teen not even noticing Sebastian as he came close. Wiping away the other chunks of meat and bone stuck to Ken, he wiped down his hands and dried them off to reveal the skin underneath.

“You’re strong. You can get through this. I am sorry for your loss.. Truly.” Sebastian spoke softly with another sigh and wiped the last of the blood off of the swordsman’s face before hopping off the truck and tossing the bloody rags away. Turning to look towards Elijah, he smiled wryly.

“Can you.. Watch over him? Until he ‘wakes up’? Get him showered and fed? I have something to do and it can’t really wait.”

“Oh,uhm, yeah sure. We have showers..?”

“Probably have buckets of water somewhere. Hopefully a portable shower.. Are those a thing?” Sebastian mumbled to himself as he waved back towards the truck, walking towards the Wall of Myriad Colours with some pep to his tep; leaving Elijah standing there numbly with Ken behind him. The boy sighed, taking out his saber and practicing stances as he watched over him.

Heading towards the wall, Sebastian was holding onto his broken saber. Only half of the blade was left and the edge was dulled, but he doubted a proper saber would influence the strength of the attack he was planning.

As if aware of it’s impending doom, the heat within his chest began to swelter and pulse, releasing quiet cries out into the void. It felt the disdain and hate it’s jailor had towards it, it felt the power capable of extinguishing it’s very essence. The power Sebastian relished in holding over it, even as he abhorred the evil feeling the skills gave off.

Sebastian called out in his mind, called out for the execution of his captive soul. The imagery of a blade of ice formed within his mind and hung within the void as it exuded a lingering chill. Like an executioner's axe, it hung above the Burning Sun Cat’s neck within the Ethereal Prison it was caged in.

Deciding for good, the Frostblade Warden stepped a few feet away from the Wall of Myriad Colours and held his broken blade. His remaining Vitality channeled into the metal and caused it to crack when it filled with Ice Vitality. The dulled edge shined bright blue as Sebastian focused his eyes on one specific crack between the imagery of cities and forests.

Placing his left foot forward, bending his knees and leaning his body forward, he rested what was left of the blade on his shoulder and held the hilt with two hands. The executioner’s blade within his mind hung for only a moment’s more before his voice called out internally.

“Execute”

The blade of ice fell and severed the beast’s head with one clean cut, it’s ethereal body immediately flashing with light before it’s very essence was absorbed into the weapon. Sebastian’s body was filled with power as he felt an energy unknown to him flow from his heart, into his meridians, and into the broken blade. It shined bright, lit ablaze with an eerily blue flame. His body tensed and his eyes narrowed as he breathed in and out rhythmically.

The bladesman lurched forward, his body radiating with freezing light as he swung the blade down against the myriad colours, his blade outshining them all in that moment. He felt what was left of the weapon disintegrate in his hands the moment it collided with the wall. An earth shattering bang resounded like a dragon’s angry roar, blade light blinding all those unfortunate enough to be looking.

An angry howl of a cat echoed out as there was one final bang, flashing through the sky like a burning sun before all became silent. Onlookers watched with bated breaths as they saw Sebastian stand motionless in front of the coloured glass wall, no weapon in hand.

Before glass rained from the sky.