It was the time between the waning of autumn and the beginning of winter. However, today was an uncharacteristically hot day as the sun was out in the sky bathing the world in its radiance and heat.

In a small dirt road surrounded by green shrubbery and trees that seemed to cover everything, six people were walking forward in a steady pace. Out of the six people, five wore dark robes while the sixth wore an azure robe.

The azure robed person seemed to be a middle aged man slightly past his fifties. His eyes were filled with ardor and strength and his slightly graying hair reached to his shoulders and was swaying with the autumn wind.

On the other hand, the six black robed people seemed to be much younger than the azure robed man. There were three boys and two girls and they all appeared to be in their teen years. However, their faces contained no small amounts of pride uncharacteristic of people their age. Each of these black robed youths exuded an air of confidence and their eyes payed testament to this fact.

One of the black robed youths, a girl, with dark hair that almost bordered on purple turned to the azure robed man. Her eyes contained a hint of worry that was hard to notice since her head was raised pridefully.

The girl spoke with a melodious voice:

"Elder. Do we really have to do this. We have no need for such a paltry amount of gold."

The azure robed man turned to look at the girl with a complicated look. It was clear that he felt reluctant. He was about to say something, however, before he could, one of the other black robed youths, a handsome youth with welcoming features spoke as he laughed:

"Tey. Think of this as an adventure. We do have the Elder with us after all."

The azure robed man frowned at the words of the of the youth. He immediately spoke in deriding tone to the youth:

"Mike, You best change your mindset now. I won't allow you to die but you might lose an arm before I intercede. And while we're on the subject, if I have to save you, you will fail this year."

Mike's welcoming smile instantly vanished. He spoke as a joke, and yet, he seems to have made the elder mad. He immediately started feeling nervous and an invisible pressure piled up on him.

The azure robed man didn’t pay attention to the youth named Mike and continued speaking:

"And Tey. This is not about gold. This is training. If you are not confident in the training you went through the last five years, then am afraid you'll spend five more years here."

Mike and Tey instantly looked down. They knew that this elder was a kindhearted and happy person, so the change in his tone told them that he was serious. The other three black robed youths simply snickered at the exchange but said nothing.

Almost an hour of walking later, the group of six suddenly stopped in their tracks. Their surroundings were still filled with trees and shrubbery, but now there was a wooden building to the side of the small dirt road.

One of the black robed youths instantly spoke with a questioning tone:

"Elder. Is this the place. It seems a little too shabby."

The elder's eyes sharpened for a moment as he seemed to be evaluating the small building closely.

"It seems this is in fact the first destination. Let's go."

The azure robed man immediately strode forward followed closely by the five robed youths. The five youths were slightly hesitant in their steps, but they all had confidence that despite his words, the elder would definitely save them.

The azure robed man and the five youths walked through the door of the small building. As soon as they did, they were met with a heavy smell of alcohol mixed in with numerous other odors. The faces of the two girls in the group instantly changed, while the three boys also frowned.

There were nearly fifty people crammed into this small building. The building was rowdy and there was constant screaming and talking, however, the moment the group of six walked in, the entire place quietened and all eyes were turned to them.

Out of the fifty people in this building, the majority of them wore various armors and all carried swords and shields. There were three people sitting on the counter eating something while talking and a bartender behind the counter who was also taking to the group of three.

The azure robed man stood at the entrance to the building while the five black-robed students walked to the center of the building before standing there with their backs to one another. Everyone in the building were looking at this scene with uncertainty.

The azure robed man cast his gaze over everyone in the building as if he was doing a headcount. Shortly after, the man spoke to the five youth with a clear enough voice that everyone present could hear it:

"Everyone present here must die."

As soon as the words left the man's lips, everyone who heard it couldn’t help but stare In disbelief, but these men seemed to be rather experienced and didn’t dwell n their surprise. Each of them reached for their swords. Some rushed to attack the azure robed man, but the majority moved towards the five dark robed youths.

However, before they could even take two steps, a sonorous voice resounded from one of the black robed youths:

"Water Fog."

A milky white fog spread from the youth that spoke and covered the entire room. No one could see an inch in front of them. The rushing men stopped in their tracks as they realized that they couldn’t see anything.

"What is this?"

"They are mages. Attack them before its too late."

"Where are they."

Screams of confusion rang out throughout the building. The armored men seemed to understand what was going on, but none of them knew what to do as they couldn’t see a thing in the fog.

While the men were shouting to one another while other were aimlessly rushing forward, another voice reverberated throughout the room:

"Water Drizzle."

A sort of cloud formed near the roof of the room and then small water drops started falling as if it were raining. Before any of the men could react, another voice was heard:

"Water Fall."

The small drops of water that were falling lightly suddenly started accelerating and increasing in size. Soon enough, it was like a waterfall was actually descending from the roof of the room.

The armored men started feeling their bodies get heavier. Under the weight of their armors coupled with the pressure of the water that was falling on them, they simply couldn’t move normally.

"Water Needle."

"Water Needle."

After the two soft voiced were heard, agonizing screams started reverberating throughout the whole building. The drops of rain that were descending at an already fast pace were suddenly became elongated and hardened.

Soon enough the rain that was falling on the men became a rain of needles and started burrowing into every exposed part of their bodies. They simply had no means of retaliation and no means of survival.

A few minutes later, the agonized cries completely disappeared and only silence remained in the foggy room. The milky white fog now had streaks of read mixed in it, and a thick smell of blood overtook that of alcohol.

"Disperse."

"Disperse."

"Disperse."

Three voices followed behind one another, and a few seconds later, the room was back to its original state. Except, everyone in the room was now dead. There were dead bodies strewed all over the floor with faces and bodies filled with bloody holes.

Seeing the scene around them, then five youths' faces turned ugly and some of them even started vomiting their guts out. They have all killed before, but they have never witnessed such a scene of carnage and gore before causing them to feel slightly queasy.

While the students were battling their own senses and keeping themselves from passing out, the azure robed man's voice reached their ears:

"FOCUS. There are still some enemies alive."

The five youths instantly became vigilant and pushed their uneasiness aside. They looked around only to have their eyes settle on the counter where four people were still alive.

Two of the people, the bartender and a middle age man were currently staring at the five youths with faces filled with horror and drained of all color. The other two simply looked forward and even seemed to be continuing their meal.

The five youths also stared at these four figures, especially the two that were looking forward as if everything that was going on didn’t concern them. The thing that scared the five youths was that there were currently two swords floating near these two.

One of the swords was a giant greatsword that seemed somewhat larger than regular greatswords. This sword covered one of the men under it like an umbrella stopping the offensive of the five youth from reaching the man.

The other sword was a thin dark sword that was about five inches wide. It was floating vertically behind one of the men. The amazing thing is that this sword seemed to be emitting some sort of hazy energy that stopped the spells of the five youths. It was this man's sword energy that saved the bartender and the other man.

The five youths understood what floating swords meant; these two were at least master level swordsmen and possibly Grandmasters. This caused them to become vigilant because the distance between the two and them was really not too big, and it is very unlikely that the two would allow them time to cast their spells.

The five youth moved backwards slightly to put some distance between them and the swordsman, but none of them dared to run lest the two swordsmen attack them immediately.

Before the youths could move backwards enough, the azure robed man walked past them and stood between them and the two swordsmen. He immediately spoke:

"The five of you did well. I'll take care of these two."

At this point, the two swordsmen turned around and faced the azure robed man. The one with the broadsword was a giant of a man, standing at around six feet six. His body was burly and his muscles were putting a considerable amount of strain on his robe. He also had a strong face with a rectangular chin and a strong jaw. This man was simply a prototype for swordsmen.

Comparatively, the other man was much shorter at a height of six feet. His body was extremely slim while his face was extremely defined with every bone clearly visible. With his sky blue hair and his jade green eyes, he was rather handsome.

Now that the azure robed man was able to see the faces of these two men, he couldn’t help but be dumbfounded; they both seemed extremely young, barely past their teens. However, these two youths were emanating a sort of subtle killing intent. The azure robed man didn’t know whether the killing intent was because of all the carnage around him or something else, but he still grew weary.

Suddenly, the youth with the blue hair stepped forward. He took a single step forward causing the azure robed man to prepare for a fight, but before he could do anything, the blue haired youth smiled and spoke:

"Greetings Elder."

The burly youth also spoke, only he didn’t smile amiably like his companion:

"Greetings Elder."

The azure robed man's burrows furrowed slightly, he couldn’t help but wonder how they knew he was an elder. However, the fact that they knew him seemed to confirm something in his mind but he still spoke questioningly:

"Which year are you two and whose batch are you."

The five black robed youths behind the azure robed man seemed surprised at the man's words. Neither of them recognized these two so they just looked at them suspiciously and some even secretly started preparing their spells.

The blue haired youth simply continued smiling and spoke respectfully:

"We are sixth year seniors. The batch under the second elder."

"Oh. The second elder..."

The azure robed man looked around for a while as if looking for something then a short while later, he spoke again with a frown:

"Where is the second elder?"

The blue haired youth's smile suddenly switched and became somewhat helpless as he replied:

"The second elder is on vacation. We haven't seen in almost a year."

The azure robed man suddenly understood something. He reflexively looked back at the five youths behind him and smiled resignedly. He turned back to the two youths in front of him and spoke:

"You two get going. We'll still need to finish up in here."

"Yes elder."

The two swordsmen youths were about to move; but before they could, the man that was next them started running with all his might. The azure robed man was caught by surprise as he turned his head and looked at the man that was already running past him and towards the youths behind him.

However, before he could even do anything, two cold lights, one blue and one black, rushed past him on either side with the black one seemingly faster. One second later, a dark sword stabbed into the running man's back while a bluish greatsword chopped his head off an instant later.

The azure robed man turned his head back to the two youth in front of him, as soon as he did, he discovered that they were just standing there; one still had the same smile on his face, while the other was still standing emotionless like a rock.

Their reaction time, their coordination, their ruthlessness;everything was top notch. The azure robed man simply couldn’t help but sigh at how superior these two were compared to his students.

The blue haired youth stepped forward and spoke while smiling:

"We'll head out Elder."

The other burly youth also walked alongside him. Their two swords returned and attached themselves to their backs. The two just walked forward, but when they were walking by the five black robed youths, the burly youth with the broadsword suddenly spoke in growl like voice:

"You might want to consider attacks that do not come from a single direction."

With this said, the two swordsmen youths exited the building without hesitation. The five students simply stared slack jawed at these two youths. They simply had no idea what to say.

The azure robed man spoke with a hint of resignation in his voice:

"let us also leave. We have five four more places we need to visit."

The five youths didn’t even hear what the man said. They simply continued staring at the entrance with a myriad of expressions on their faces; surprise, fear, envy, veneration. They were simply overwhelmed by those two.

One of the girls spoke with a slightly shaky voice:

"E..Elder. Who were they."

The azure robed man simply shook his head and spoke:

"They are your seniors. The students of the second elder."

It seems that the man's answer didn’t satisfy the girl as she immediately asked another question:

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"Why didn’t we see them during the send off ceremony?"

"Hmm. Because the second elder took his students out for their final test a year ago."

The azure robed man's words struck the five youths like lightning. The final test only took two weeks at which point they would graduate. What kind of test were those two taking for it to continue for a whole year.

"Enough. We're leaving as well."

The azure robed man didn’t want his students to think too much about those two, lest they start feeling inferior and lose their confidence as he himself started losing confidence. He couldn’t help but feel inferior to the second elder.

.........................................................................................................................................................

Wesley and Kellan were moving south along a small dirt road that was surrounded on all sides by forest. Currently, neither Wesley nor Kellan had an ambiance of a smile on their faces, rather Kellan was even scowling.

Kellan turned to Wesley who was walking next to him and spoke with some annoyance. Only the annoyance in his voice made anyone who heard it feel some dread and fear.

"Wesley. What should we do now. Those little brats took our prey."

Wesley just kept looking forward while frowning. His eyes shone with heart wrenching coldness. He spoke without even turning:

"We are close to Blackreach City. There should be plenty of bandits around. We're bound to run into some of them."

Kellan only frowned further and spoke again with even more anger and irritation in his voice:

"Why didn’t we just use all those dead bodies. There was enough of them strewn all over the place."

Wesley simply turned his head and questioned Kellan with a calm but cold voice:

"Is that so. And what about those brats and the elder that was with them?"

Kellan's face changed slightly and he only snorted. Wesley just smiled slightly at Kellan and continued his walking as he walked:

"Forget it. We'll find the bandit base and get to work. Am sure they have more people there compared to that Inn."

After a few hours of walking around the back roads, Wesley's prediction came true and the two of them found a group of hundred or so bandits assaulting the guards of a small group of merchants.

Most merchants would rather avoid the back roads, but the towns that are located away from the main road still require things; so a few merchants would often brave these bandit stricken roads. Because of the danger, most merchants charged rather steep prices for their merchandise.

This current group of merchants were unfortunate as they have met with bandits. Although the profits merchants receive from these small towns bordered on extortion, this didn’t mean much if they got killed, so many merchants chose the safe path.

Wesley and Kellan were hidden in the shrubbery as they watched the scene of this battle. The bandits had almost double the amount of guards, and although the guards were better coordinated, they still couldn’t overcome the numbers advantage of the bandits.

Wesley turned to Kellan and spoke softly:

"This group of bandits seem unusually large. What should we do."

Kellan stared at the battle with a sharp gaze. He stayed quiet for a few seconds and then he turned to Wesley and spoke:

"Those guards are well organized. They should be able to kill half of the bandits before half them also perish. We'll wait for that moment."

Wesley only nodded his head. Although Kellan seemed hotheaded and was often itching for a fight, his skills in strategy and tactics were not something Wesley could compare to. Wesley's skills in strategy and tactics could be said to be impressive, but Kellan was simply a genius. He was practically built for war.

This was the reason Wesley asked for Kellan's advice. And, as Kellan predicted, almost half an hour later, the guards lost half of their numbers, but not before half of the bandits were dead or dying.

Kellan spoke with some fire flickering in his eyes:

"I'll take the front. You take the back."

"Understood."

Wesley and Kellan walked in different direction. Kellan walked directly towards the battle while Wesley circumvented the battle and headed towards the rear of the bandits.

..............................................................................................................................................

The battle between the bandits and the guards was very intense. The guards were fighting while slowly retreating while the bandits simply rushed towards them with recklessness. This made it easier for the guards to have the advantage over the bandits, however, the bandits still held the numerical advantage so they didn’t care.

The guards were starting to feel the hopelessness of this battle and some of them even started to consider running. However, before they could do anything, a sudden roar came from behind them:

"FORM UP. MAKE A SHIELD WALL"

The voice was so loud and commanding that the thirty or so guards immediately huddled together without thinking. Two lines were made with the first line putting their shields together and the second line brandishing their swords.

"ADVANCE."

The voice roared again, and immediately the guards started inching forward with some difficulty. The bandits started throwing themselves against the wall but accomplished nothing but slowing the wall's advancing speed.

And everytime one of the bandits reached the shield wall, a sword would pierce towards him from the back line. The bandits instantly realized this was not a good idea so they divided into two groups. One groups went to the left while the other went to the right.

They wanted to attack the edges of the shield wall that was its weakness. But before they could reach their destination, another loud voice came from the back of the guards:

"RIGHT SIDE RETREAT FIVE PACES, THE LEFT SIDE ADVANCE TEN PACES."

The guards did as instructed. Their right side retreated while the left advanced causing their wall to wheel right and face the bandits that were heading to their right. However, as soon as they did, the guards realized their mistake.

Now that they wheeled right to meet the enemy heading to their right, the enemy that was heading to their left is now at their back. Some of the men in the back line who realized what was happening turned back, but what they saw made them dumbfounded.

A bluish, greatsword, that was five feet long was currently slashing past any of the bandits who approached them. Between them and the bandits stood a giant of a man waving his right hand while his left was behind his back. Each time the man waved his hand, the giant sword would follow and a bandit would lose his or be cleaved in two.

The man turned his head and looked at the guards who were staring at him with slacked jaws. His face was twisted into an odd expression that was between a scowl and a smile and his eyes seemed almost bloodshot.

His figure caused terror to take root in their hearts. The man turned his head back to the bandits in front of him and roared:

"FACE FORWARD. ADVANCE."

The guards who were looking at him turned around without a word of complaint. They had no idea who this man was, but he seemed to be on their side and extremely powerful, so none of them questioned him.

However, the moment they turned around they saw something else that made them slack jawed again. The bandits that were in front of them started heading for their flanks again. But every time they did, a dark streak of light would appear out of nowhere and chop their heads off.

The black streaks of light disappeared as fast as it appeared leaving those that saw it wonder what it was, while those with keen eyes were able to make out the form of a sword, but nothing more.

After a short period of time, all the bandits in front of the guards were laying on the ground dead. All the guards remained standing for a moment as if they were confirming something, and then they all sat on their butts.

After almost an hour of fighting, the mental and physical burden on the guards was long past their endurance level. Initially, they were being held up by their will to survive, but now that the battle was over, they simply couldn’t maintain their state of mind.

However, before they could even piece together what happened, a voice came from behind them:

"No time to rest. Get moving."

As soon as they heard the voice, all the guards turned and looked at the source. The moment they turned, they saw a giant of man standing twenty feet away from them with a giant greatsword floating behind him.

Behind the man was a scene of utter destruction as incomplete bodies of bandits were scattered everywhere. The man must've seemed like a devil to the guards as they all instinctively stood and brandished their swords.

The guards knew that this man was the one who was shouting at them and helped them, but they still felt a feeling of dread coming from him. Especially, that greatsword of his. The man simply frowned and then spoke:

"These bandits were expecting reinforcements. If you want to live, leave this place. Or you can sit there like idiots and die."

The guards just looked at each other confused for a few moments, then a middle aged man with a scruffy beard stepped forward and nodded to Kellan and then he spoke to the guards:

"Pile the bodies in the side of the road away from sight. We leave in ten minutes."

The guards immediately went to work without question, Almost a hundred and some bodies were pulled from the road and placed amidst the shrubbery. Ten minutes later, aside from blood stains and the occasional body part, all the bodies were cleared away.

The guards immediately went and stood by the carriages of merchandise and merchants they were supposed to escort. The guard with the scruffy beard approached Kellan and spoke:

"Thank you for your assistance. We have no way to repay you, but we'll remember your favor today."

Kellan literally looked down on the man and spoke with a calm yet cold voice:

"Get going. The two of us will remain here and slow down the bandits."

The man's brows twitched slightly as he looked oddly at Kellan and spoke:

"Two of you..."

At this moment a voice reached the man's ears from behind:

"You should really get going. The two of us will not risk our lives to halt the advance of those bandits, so the further you are from here, the better."

The man instantly turned his neck to his right only to see a brown robed, blue haired Wesley slowly walking towards him and Kellan. The man's eyes focused on the dark sword that was on Wesley back.

He has also seen those dark streaks of light that killed many bandits, and now that he was seeing this dark sword, he seemed to have understood what they were. He immediately bowed towards Wesley and spoke:

"Then We'll get going."

The man walked away and led his remaining men away posthaste. It seemed like he was running from the bandits, and although that was true, he was actually running from these two monsters. Wesley and Kellan looked at the rushing people apathetically. Wesley was the first to speak:

"I counted about hundred and some bodies. That should be enough for you to breakthrough, right?"

"Right."

"Good. Get to it while I guard you. And then we can return to the second elder."

"Hmm."

Kellan nodded his head and immediately walked to the side of the road where the bodies were piled. He immediately waved his hand causing the sword to plunge into one of the piles. He then sat down cross legged and closed his eyes.

................................................................................................................................................

Four hours later, Kellan's bluish sword was standing on top of a pile of ten or so bodies. It wasn’t clear to the eyes, but strand after strand of blood was oozing into the Kellan's sword through its tip.

A few minutes later, all the bodies in that pile didn’t have a single drop of blood in them;even the blood that was on their clothes and wounds was sucked dry by the sword.

At this point, Kellan opened his closed eyes. His eyes shone with a look of anticipation and a small smile creeped on his face which coupled with the fact that he was surrounded by bodies gave him a fiendish appearance.

Seeing that Kellan had his eyes open, Wesley walked up to him and spoke with some laughter:

"Are you done?"

Kellan simply nodded his head and waved his hand prompting his sword to leave the pile of bodies and appear before him. The moment the sword reached him, Kellan looked at the sword with eyes filled with excitement. Wesley immediately spoke again:

"Well show me your zone."

Kellan looked at Wesley with a smiling look and then his sword started shaking slightly. The moment the sword started shaking, a red mist that reeked of blood wafted out of its tip and covered Wesley and Kellan in it.

Wesley's nose twitched slightly as he was able to taste the blood, but that wasn’t the most impressive part. Wesley was unable to see anything besides red within the mist that he was in. He simply laughed and spoke:

"I get it. I get it."

The mist receded and went back into Kellan's sword revealing a smiling Kellan within it. He looked at Wesley and spoke with laughter as well:

"What do you think of my Blood Zone. It is better than you Null Zone, isn't it."

Wesley couldn’t help but laugh at Kellan's words. He spoke with some resignation in his voice:

"It is indeed better, much better. Haha."

Kellan simply looked at his sword dotingly as he continued smiling sheepishly. Seeing this scene, Wesley couldn’t help but smile, he looked at Kellan and spoke:

"Time to go back. We have reached the second elder's quota. We can now graduate."

At the mention of graduating, Kellan's eyes lit up and he spoke:

"Finally. It took six years, We can finally be done."

"Haha. Indeed."

Wesley's gaze became slightly unfocused as he recalled his brother. It has been six years without seeing his brother, but that was about to change. He really looked forward to it.

"Let's go."

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Hola.

This chapter is alot longer than am used to, but i have alot of things to foreshadow.

Next chapter coming up shorty, and with it comes some not so good news.