"A wandering sword in service of justice!"

Captain Baharen Ibad's ears received the self-proclaimed title of his victim's savior like thunder.

A wandering sword? In service of justice?... What is that pose... What is all this nonsense? His eyes, brimming with bewilderment, fixed on the guard of the uninvited guest; palms open and fingers pressed together: firm and sharp blades pointed at his heart.

The errant knight concluded his introduction:

"I am Ser Mavros of Havenfalls"

Then, he clenched his hands into fists and assumed a more practical and orthodox stance.

Is this real? Is it really you? Exhausted, Ser Janpelan of Salamandera wondered. For a moment, he believed it to be a surreal hallucination preceding his death. How did you escape the dungeons? Why are you here?... Did you come... to help me?

Questions not dissimilar to those of his equally disoriented executioner, whom Mavros observed with curiosity.

This individual... bears striking resemblance to Sheida, he judged, noting the shape of his ears, his tawny skin, and piercing amber eyes. He must be an 'Ayarian' like him.

The corsair captain pointed his cutlass at the knight, breaking him out of that brief reverie.

“What is an Abiyr like you doing here?! What are you and your kind plotting?!” Baharen exclaimed with fervor. "Many years have passed, but we have not forgotten your betrayal. If you think you can reappear to deceive us again, you are sorely mistaken!"

First 'demons,' then 'legendary heroes,' now 'traitors'... What the hell were these famous Abiyrs that everyone confuses me with? Why can't anyone agree?

Mavros furrowed his brow, frustration bulging the veins on his forehead. His helmet conveniently concealed them.

"Hearken unto me, both of ye," he said to Baharen and Ser Janpelan, briefly glancing him over his shoulder. "This doth vex me greatly, thus I shall speak it once and only once."

Ser Mavros bowed his head, remaining still and silent. The silence and stillness did sow tension in his witnesses. After a brief pause, he raised his head suddenly and shouted at them:

"I AM NOT AN ABIYR!"

That impetuous outburst startled them, sealing their lips for a while.

"You're not an Abiyr?... You bastard! Are you mocking me?!" Baharen finally reproached him, unable to believe him in the slightest due to his armor, characteristic of them. "Why have you come to interrupt me? What do you seek?"

"I seeketh naught. I merely sensed that thou wert about to slay this man" Mavros explained in his ‘knightly’ speech. "I knoweth not thy reasons, but I came hither to stop it. I can discern when a person hath light, when there is sufficient virtue within them to merit life. This man possesseth it."

The captain's left eyebrow arched several times, his lips curved into an angry smile of indignation.

"Are you saying that this man, a Holy Warrior, a veteran of the Nefeshic Wars, possesses ‘light’, ‘virtue’?" he questioned. "Please! Don't make me laugh! He and his people massacred as many people as yours... How does an Abiyr have the audacity to come and tell me these things? Why do you pretend now to be the hero of one of them?"

And they continue with this 'Abiyr' business…

Mavros was on the verge of reprimanding him again for his persistence, but soon came to the realization that it would be in vain. The people of these lands couldn't help but associate him with those legendary figures of the past.

"The Nefeshic Wars…" murmured the knight. "I care not if thou believest me not, but I partook not in those conflicts. I was born when they should have been underway. I merely heard and read a few tales of their events in the lands whence I hail: Tiberland, the lands where I spent my youth," he assured with a funereal coldness. "Yet there I had the misfortune to engage in a smaller, more discreet war, but a war nonetheless. I know what it doth to people; it compelleth even the noblest of souls to become emissaries of hell to survive its horrors... Tell me, what hath this man done to make thee yearn for his demise?"

Baharen was captivated by the palpable solemnity and authenticity of Mavros’s words. For a moment, his skepticism and animosity towards him vanished.

"My father: Qadir Ibad, commander of the navy of Moruk, my Sulfnat. That Holy Warrior whom you protect unjustly killed him twenty-one years ago in a naval battle in the waters of this city. His remains were lost forever in the sea," he recounted with a similar solemn demeanor. "I had just been born back then. Because of him, my father could never return to my mother, and I could never know him. Since I was a child, I swore to follow in his footsteps as a sailor and avenge his honor. Now I finally have the opportunity."

He straightened his body firmly, like a warning from a venomous cobra.

"So not even you, an Abiyr, will take it away from me," he asserted, reclaiming all his fierceness and hostility. "Step aside or suffer the wrath of Protereus!"

Mavros remained unmoved, appearing calm and impassive in the face of his threat.

"Verily, I do not justify the crimes of any man, but thou art mistaken in judging the actions of one during times of war; a warrior who did not slay a defenseless civilian but another warrior in battle," Mavros argued. "I comprehend thee, for I too have endured a similar anguish, but revenge shall not restore the father thou never knewest. No matter how assured thou art otherwise, thou art now the one committing an injustice. Ser Janpelan is not the person deserving of the death thou hast plotted in thy mind."

His amethyst irises intertwined with the captain's amber eyes, penetrating beyond the reflection of his pupils. He glimpsed fragments of his soul; fragments that allowed him to make an important decision. Next, he unsheathed and brandished his staff forward with both hands.

"If mine words doth not serve to maketh thee reconsider and purge thine inner demons, then I shall doth it myself with mine staff."

Why isn't he using his sword? Why does he challenge me with that staff? Baharen wondered. His intrigue did not extinguish his determination, which burned intensely. "So you insist on obstructing me... You have asked for it, Abiyr. No matter how strong you may be, you have been a foolish animal by challenging me in my territory."

"Thy territory?"

Mavros frowned, unsure of what he was referring to.

"M-Mavros..." With difficulty, Ser Janpelan raised his head to warn him.

The knight turned to look at him over his shoulder.

"Ser Janpelan!" he exclaimed in alarm, realizing the extent of his sorry state and its cause: the humanoid mass of water tormenting him from behind.

"Be... careful. Don't let it wet you or... you'll end up like me."

While the two were distracted, the captain raised his cutlass towards the sky.

"Protereus!"

"Watch out!" Janpelan alerted the knight, anticipating what was about to happen.

Mavros turned his head forward.

"Huh?!"

Suddenly, he saw two large and powerful jets shoot towards him from the opposing walls of water at the dock.

You can't escape. You will be punished by the Zujae nim rhabla just like that Janpelan bastard. Baharen felt confident as he saw the jets about to crash into his body, just as they had with his previous victim.

But…

Mavros calmly closed his eyes, making no attempt to dodge them.

"What?!"

Baharen couldn't believe it. His jets were repelled and diverted less than a meter from him, crashing forcefully into the ground and against the barriers. How did he stop them without making any movement?" He couldn't understand. "It's as if invisible walls are protecting him!

"Now I do comprehend thy meaning of 'thy territory'," Mavros said, unveiling his eyes once more. "Thou canst wield dominion over the waters of this port with yon blade and its crystal. I do acknowledge that thou possesseth extraordinary aptitude with the nefesh to accomplish such feat."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Shut up, you pretentious fool!" The captain scolded him, infuriated, raising his weapon again. "Protereus!"

This time, not just two, but at least six simultaneous jets shot towards him from different points of the surrounding barriers, covering him from all 360 degrees. The result was the same: each one was repelled and scattered on the stone before they could touch their motionless target.

"You wretch!"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to touch me with that. I, too, have learned to manipulate my nefesh. I can stop each of your attacks with it," Mavros announced, maintaining his calm composure.

Without warning, the knight flexed his legs to gain momentum and launched himself toward his opponent. Before he could react, he was inches away from him, bringing down his staff with great force towards his body. Baharen blocked it on reflex, angling his cutlass in front of his face. His blade absorbed the blow, but its strength pushed him back a couple of meters, causing his muscles to tremble.

Hilil Senshan! The legends weren't lying! Baharen's skin paled as he realized what he was facing. Ah?!

"HYAAAH!"

Mavros didn't give him a moment's rest, pressing on with his staff. His thrust was repelled. Something forced him to step back.

"Hm?!"

It wasn't Baharen's cutlass what caused the block, but a mass of water that came from one of the barriers and formed a solid defense around its master. Mavros attempted to break through it with renewed thrusts and sweeps, but it was futile. The shield was completely impregnable.

But then, it yielded under the continuous attacks. The water collapsed onto the ground unopposed, revealing that there was no one behind it. His rival had vanished as if by a magic trick.

Where did he go?

Mavros focused on coordinating all his senses to locate him. His ears caught a faint vibration. Baharen pierced through one of the walls of water, flying with his sword extended towards him like the voracious jaws of a great shark. The knight managed to evade it by stepping aside. Instead of crashing, his opponent merged into the opposite wall and navigated its depths like a swift marlin, propelling himself back to the exterior for a new assault.

This time, his cutlass was not held outstretched.

"HAAAAAA!" With a war cry, he swung it in a sharp spin towards the errant knight.

Damn! Mavros narrowly managed to deflect it with his staff, but Baharen resumed his offensive by attacking in the same manner from the opposite side. The cycle continued for several iterations. Despite the variations he made in each of his swift flights, Mavros managed to dodge or repel each of his slashes and thrusts.

I can't keep this up forever, Mavros judged, frustrating what should have been at least his fourth attempt. He felt increasingly exhausted. I have to break his guard and throw him off balance mid-flight.

At that moment, he saw him coming again, lunging towards him. Mavros prepared to deflect it, but…

Oh no! His back! Janpelan realized it would no longer be possible.

But what the...?! To his astonishment, Mavros felt his arms and shoulders stiffen and grow heavy. They responded with extreme clumsiness that prevented him from properly positioning his staff. The edge of Captain Baharen's cutlass crashed into his helmet, pushing him a few meters back until he fell on his back next to Ser Janpelan.

"Mavros!"

***

"What a scoundrel Mavros is... He had to run off just when I was about to ask him to get me out of here with his nefesh..."

Sheida gripped a pair of bars with each hand, somewhat annoyed at the knight for leaving him once again to the solitude of darkness without any satisfactory explanation.

Nefesh, the divine essence that Senshan bestowed upon the world since the legendary times of the Blinitaka and Lilda Fanak. The essence that only the maskirian Holy Warrior, the senshamic Sahirons, the Lebias Order and the enigmatic Abiyrs reserve the privilege of knowing its greatest secrets…

He lowered his head, meditating with profound seriousness on that ethereal energy that had always been a great source of fascination to him.

I am convinced that it is a secret fire that resides within all of us. With enough willpower and focus, an ordinary person like me can ignite it just like him... and her, have achieved it.

His hands tightened and pulled forcefully on the prison bars. He closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in an unreflective attempt to imitate the superhuman feat of his former cellmate.

"Burn! Burn, my nefesh! Perform the miracle!" he shouted, in a completely futile and laughable effort to summon that invisible force.

The fact that no one was there to witness it influenced his lack of fear in making a fool of himself.

***

"What was that?!"

"What is happening in there?!"

Desperate, the soldiers tried to find out, halted before the imposing wall of water that blocked the passage to the pier where their leader had been locked with the enemy.

"Ser Janpe!" Several exclaimed, hoping to hear his voice.

Silence was the only response.

Silence that was soon interrupted by several hurried footsteps approaching from behind. Someone stopped near them, placing her hands on her knees to regain energy. Her refined attire had been spoiled by the abundant sweat that soaked its fabric.

"No…"

Luciara felt desolate as she saw the wall of water unchanged. The corsair ship vanished into the seas on the horizon.

"Lady Luciara!"

The soldier she had released earlier noticed her return and went to greet her.

"My father…" She said between gasps, expecting the worst. "Is... he dead?"

"We don't know! He could still be alive! That damn barrier prevents us from seeing anything!" The soldier informed her. "But something just passed through here and jumped over it! It moved so fast that it knocked us down, and we couldn't see it clearly!"

Luciara briefly averted her gaze, immediately recalling the encounter she had just had.

"You say ‘something’ passed you and jumped over the barrier?" She asked intrigued. "Do you have any idea what it was?"

"No... We're all wondering the same thing," he confirmed. "We only saw a glimpse... a black flash."

"A black flash…"

She could now confirm it: what she had seen on the way back was not a trick played by her imagination. Her eyes filled with hope and uncertainty, anxiously shifting to the wall of water.

“Mavros!” Ser Janpelan called out, concerned for his rescuer, who was knocked down and stunned after the attack he received.

"Aaah…"

The errant knight groaned weakly, coming back to his senses. He was fortunate to have received only a strong blow and not a grave wound.

What happened to me? My body suddenly lost its agility drastically...he wondered. That cut... I didn't think someone would bring me down like that again... It's thanks to this helmet that I'm still alive, he acknowledged. This man is truly formidable. He is on the level of a Holy Warrior... He surpasses many I have fought before.

When he tried to get up…

“Inan?”

Once again, his muscles fell victim to an oppressive pressure that numbed them. No matter how hard he tried to stand, he couldn't extend his legs. With great effort, he managed to squat down.

Damn it…

The water streaming around his shoulders and neck made him realize what had happened. Somehow, he had also fallen victim to the Elder of the Seas.

But how?... If he didn't manage to wet me…

"You look confused, Abiyr," Baharen mocked, cruelly reveling in his new situation. "What do you think happened to all the water that fell to the ground? While I distracted you, I guided it towards your body. You were so focused on responding to my cutlass that you didn't notice."

For the first time in the entire battle, Mavros felt true fear. Just as I imagined... I didn't count on him displaying such cunning. He had underestimated him. It would take more than strength and agility to defeat him. His affinity with water is his greatest strength, but also his greatest weakness, he analyzed coldly. Soon, I will show him.

In a weak and irregular motion, he threw his staff. It passed so far from the corsair that he didn't need to block or move aside to dodge it.

"It seems that the Zujae nim rhabla no longer allows you to think clearly," Baharen smiled with wicked satisfaction at his apparent desperation. "You're giving nothing but your last desperate drowning kicks."

Mavros closed his eyes and ignored his taunts. His body and spirit entered a harmonious state.

Ignite.

"Huh?!"

Astounded, Baharen and Janpelan watched as the Elder of the Seas clinging to his back began to boil progressively, leaving a trail of ascending steam.

Impossible! How can he evaporate it without fire? The corsair captain blinked.

Staff, come to me.

Like a living organism, the staff lying on the ground obeyed Mavros’s telepathic command. It levitated in the air and, rotating like a boomerang, shot directly towards his position.

But something stood in the way. Baharen turned around and found it, on the verge of colliding with him. Instinctively, he summoned a water shield to intercept it. A reaction that would define his defeat.

As expected, the staff was stopped by the defensive barrier, but it did more than just hit it.

Art of the Plasms: lightning explosion.

At the point of impact, an explosion detonated, releasing hundreds of small but violent electric shocks. The shocks spread, piercing through the water shield, coursing through Baharen’s body and water-soaked garments.

"AAAAH!" The corsair captain let out a scream, enduring the piercing stabs of the miniature lightning, torture for his nerves. A rain of javelins from furious valkyries.

Eventually, the storm dissipated. His victim remained standing.

I... I'm still alive? Baharen noticed, amazed to survive such an onslaught. However, he did not emerge unscathed. His body had been completely paralyzed as a consequence.

A swift punch to his skull knocked him to the ground.

He... Janpelan turned his head from side to side. The wicked Elder of the Seas slowly dissolved into running water that trickled down his shoulders and back, finally releasing him from its merciless grip. He did it!

Picking up his staff, Mavros approached his defeated enemy.

I... I never stood a chance, Baharen lamented as his consciousness faded. He clutched his cutlass with his last bit of strength. It seems as though my master has abandoned me to my fate... Perhaps it was Senshan's will that I die today... at the hands of this Abiyr.

His opponent sheathed his staff.

Father, I'm sorry... I worked so hard, but luck has failed me. I will meet you without having avenged you…

The corsair captain closed his eyes, resigning himself to passing into another realm.

However, he was unaware that the gaze of his victor held no trace of animosity.

"Like this man whose life thou didst seek to take, thou dost not deserve to meet thy death," he assured, standing before his motionless body. "Thou hast the right to an opportunity to forsake thy misguided beliefs. I pray that when thou dost awaken anew, thou wilt be inclined to seize it."

The corsair trembled at those unexpected words. The one he had sworn to be a bloodthirsty demon had just forgiven him with the compassion of a true saint. His consciousness did not fade into death as he initially thought, but into a temporary slumber.

Then…

"Ah?!"

The corsair's body dissolved into mist, becoming transparent until it completely vanished. Mavros and the recovered Ser Janpelan were left speechless by this extraordinary phenomenon. Both used their senses to confirm that he was nearby, to confirm that he had only used one of his sophisticated tricks to deceive them. But there was no doubt, any trace or sign of his presence was conspicuously absent. He had turned to dust carried away by the wind.

"He...," Mavros murmured.

"...has disappeared," Ser Janpelan completed his sentence. "He's gone!"

Baharen had been mistaken. The eyes of his "master" had been watching over him throughout all his ordeal.

The mastermind behind the "vanguard" that stalked Najta intervened at the precise moment to ensure the safety of the young captain, one of his many assets.