The fog of battle was still spread out through the air. Unfi looked down with red eyes and clenched fists. The attack ended in failure. When they had arrived, they were only met with traps and useless casualties. Tarban had only become more oily throughout the years. before he was just a dangerous serpent, but now he was harder to catch than a hapcron in the sky.
Each time Unfi thought that they had finally found Tarban's lair, he was only met with disappointment. It was like the man had eyes everywhere. No matter what, they were always too late. The arrival only met with grizzly traps and a ravage lair that had nothing but glass flasks and the rustled beds. Each of the bases seemed to be ransacked by a bandit, but the signs of recent residency said something else.
Back in the capital of Gukulm, the warrior sat at a round table. It was not the first and it would not be the last
"So. He got away again?"
Unfi looked down as rage filled themselves in his veins again.
"Yes... No matter what we do, we are always too late to catch the trail once we see it."
Munta had a pondering look. Tarban was a menace and his influence, although not having risen much, was still a problem. Much less than Tarban's existence, but still too dangerous to ignore.
The room was silent. They had gone over many means of tracking over the years, but they never worked. They would have to do something different. Munta sighed. It could work, but it might also not. He was reluctant not because of the sources needed, but instead the risk of failure, one that may not be so apparent at first.
"... We will move on to spies."
Everyone knew of Munta's intentions. They all had it on their minds, but nobody in the room could be picked for the role. It would be impossible for Unfi, or anyone even remotely close to the inner workings of the kingdom to suit the role.
The first spy they would use could be a brilliant success... Or a flaming tragedy. There was a third and even a fourth outcome, but nobody dared to state the obvious. To speak of the possibility of the spy being corrupted by Tarban or to bring about mundane and useless results.
"We need someone from the ulmagi school... This person needs to be talented, but also not connected to us. This matter must be kept a secret amongst this table, understood?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. Unfi held the ball in his throat. Too many failures, too slick of an enemy. Still, he would get his redemption when the time comes. All he needed was a guaranteed way to know Tarban's position before the man knew Unfi's.
The spy would be a lone agent. It would be impossible to have even a small, remote success rate of killing Tarbon on their own. Tarban was too powerful and old for that.
"Grolock, you are in charge of finding a suitable candidate. Unfi, you train it and Trilla, make sure he doesn't kill anyone."
Shortly after, the meeting was dispersed, Unfi was met with nothing else to do but wait. He thought of the most useful skills a spy would need. Combat was a good factor, but it was not... Necessary. No, it was to hide the truth and remain calm even in the middle of the enemy's territory. To be able to snoop around undetected.
A curriculum was forming in his head. It would be good enough. It would take too long to develop the combat skills, but instead he would focus on teaching all the stealth skills he could. Lies were useful, but not Unfi's strong suit. He was used to fighting his way when something went wrong. Still, it was necessary.
A year passed by and no one had come to his doorsteps. The meetings continued and the expeditions did not stop. Not once did they discuss the matter again and another year passed by... Nothing.
Just when he thought that the whole thing had been forgotten, Grolock knocked on his hall's door. A young man that looked to be 30 years of age was standing confused. Unfi was just as confused before he remembered what Grolock's appearance meant.
"This is the one?"
"Of course it is. Top of the school, excels in ulma control and is a recent stage 2. Perfect for recruitment. He has a good mind and his fighting skills are above the graduation standard. Also, Munta passes a message. 'A talent we are in need of, don't kill him.'" Grolock patted the man's back, causing him to stumble forward. However, he caught his feet fast and was standing in the hall's doors.
"I'll be leaving. It's all up to you for what you do with him." Grolock shut the hall's door and there was only silence between Unfi and the young man.
What is your name?" Unfi could not go easy on him.
The man still looked dazed as he answered. "I'm Hark"
"Follow me, Hark." Unfi moved farther into the halls. After a few moments, Hark followed.
The long halls were small in the eyes of an ulmaster and Unfi displayed it so. He dashed across the hall in an instant and Hark was caught by surprise.
"You need to be able to follow my movements, if above all else."
"I can't do that!" Hark spouted incredulously.
"Yes you can. If you can't, then I will make you." Perhaps the second most important aspect of a spy was their ability to know when their time was up. When they had messed and were no longer undercover. When death was on the cusp of their neck. To see life's embrace in the next moment, or death's blood instead.
Unfi evaluation of the man was simple. Ignorant. He could tell from Hark's eyes. His gait. Even the way he talked. It was full of unknowing interest. He doubted that Hark had even left his house since he was born. It was Unfi's job to temper it out of him.
Because Hark was a recent graduate from the ulmagi school, he could skip a few lessons in the... Pain department. As a warrior it was important to never flinch and lose focus of a battle, in all, it was a valuable skill in tense situations.
He would start off by evaluating Hark's combat and stealth skill. Taking the man to an indoor sparring area, he picked up a wooden sword as Hark did the same.
"Fight me." Unfi said, commanding.
"... Really?" He looked reluctant.
Unfi did not respond and dashed forward. In just a second, he was before Hark and struck his body. His target flew a few feet and stumbled on the ground with stupor. Hark snapped out of it and quickly stood up, now in a combat stance.
"You should always be ready for battle. It does not matter if the men around you are your enemies, friends, your instructor, or anyone else. The situation can change on a coin's flip."
Hark nodded and took a defensive position. Sweat already caked his forehead.
Unfi dashed forward again. He did not fight with even a quarter of his skill and took it slow. Even then, Hark struggled to comprehend all of Unfi's movements. With another strike, Hark was sent flying.
A few more bouts of sparring went about before Unfi had a decent grasp of Hark's skill. It was a shame that he couldn't keep the man stuck in his training halls until he had fully matured his sword skills. It was a process that took years and even Unfi couldn't spend that long for a spy that was supposed to be trained.
He decided to set a limit for himself, otherwise he might do just that. Keep the man before him, a supposed talent, stuck under his training for a decade or more.
A year. That was how long he needed to temper the skills of stealth and self preservation in the man. Not only that, he couldn't spend a long time anyways otherwise he would be too connected with him to not be under the suspicion of Tarban when he would inevitably try to get recruited.
Moving onward and out into the field outside of the training halls, Unfi instructed Hark to hide and he was... Okay. It was not the best and he had some concept of camouflage and other aspects, but it was nowhere near enough.
Afterwards, he got onto his least favorite, but necessary part of evaluation. Pain tolerance. It was either they learned to ignore pain early or through battle. Luckily, Hark was ready before he even knew it.
A couple dozen minutes of torture later and the soft bone in Hark's mouth was nearly chewed through. After giving the man a few hours of rest, Unfi outlined what he would learn in the next year.
"Do you know why you have been selected?" Unfi Asked.
Stolen story; please report.
"Yes, Grolock said I will be a spy."
Unfi grasped the bridge of his nose. It is only on matters of utmost importance does the man actually divulge more than vague information. Still, it was a good thing to not have to deal with the shock of Hark.
"Alright, now unfortunately, that earlier session will not be the last. You will also be learning how to become more stealthy while also training your ability to not die in tense circumstances. Your combat ability will go mostly untouched. I will find someone to teach you how to not give yourself away too."
Hark's face grimaced before coming to one that of acceptance. It was necessary and all Hark could do was leave the small lump of regret in his heart.
With that, the lessons began. Unfi taught him methods to distract himself from pain and coping methods as well as basic tolerance. For his stealth skills, they were slowly improved. Hark learned to blend in seamlessly. His breath was as calm as a swaying tree and his body moved like grass.
The hardest part was improving Hark's reaction speed. The other two were a simple matter of learning and experiencing, but training reaction speed was a tedious and finicky matter for the teacher. To select the correct exercises and to train him right. It was mostly about training Hark's muscle memory and to make decisions without hesitance. As an additional exercise, Throughout the day no matter when, Hark would be punished if he was ever ambushed by Unfi and it only got harder as the days came by.
The floor became Hark's bedding and time passed in weeks for the both of them. When it only seemed like two months had gone by, a year was already gone and passed.
Unfi came back from Munta's office with information in mind. There have been recent rumors that Tarban's people were recruiting in the capital of Gukulm itself. A bold move and one that would help them accelerate the process. Still, that left the matter of getting Hark to be recruited entirely to him.
He started with increasing the patrols, forcing the people to become more strained and to lurk in the darker, harder to see places. Afterwards, he sent a few elite to scour the alleyways one by one and after a week had gone by, he finally received some news.
By now, Hark had been set up with an ordinary job in one of the more rural districts. The recruitment area was near, which was a bonus. Unfi sent him a letter before resting on his chair. Now all he needed to do was wait. Hark had been given instructions to send a letter as stealthily as possible in any way possible. The best way would be the "pet" hapcron he was given, all of which always knew where their birth place was.
---
In the middle of the night, a sharp, chirpish bark rang outside the hall's doors and Unfi saw a hardened hapcron standing outside. Hidden on its feathered legs was a small letter. Unfi opened the worn out paper and smiled.
"358 Galn North East of the dark tower. Preparations are complete. Eyes are everywhere within 20 Galn."
Perfect. The paper was a sign. A chance had presented itself. Tarban's forces were either reduced, weakened, or whatever made it possible for an attack. It's Hark's job to send the signal, but Unfi's job to move into action.
It did not take even half a day for Unfi to put together his elite team along with Trilla and her assistants. Over time, he had become extremely experienced in traveling long distances. Besides, speed was of utmost importance. Compared to stage 3 ulmasters, tilmikes traveled much less than them in a day.
By dawn, Unfi was already more than 20 Galn out of the kingdom. A three day journey was ahead. Along the way, they stopped only to replenish their energy and ulma when necessary. It wasn't until three nights had passed when they were 20 Galn away from the destination. They feasted. It was not for simple celebration, but to make sure they had all the energy available for the inevitable battle.
They slept into the night and awoke when the darkness would be at its peak when they arrived. Unfi's heart beat like never before. The time was near and this would be the closest to Tarban perhaps ever in his life other than that day so long ago. When his small village was nearly destroyed. When the world he knew was as small as just a few Galn.
He did not let his senses get to his head, though. He could not let his body's unrest disrupt his thinking. They prepared their ambush on their sprint. Like midnight lightning, they flashed through the trees. No longer counting the Galn, Unfi and the group only ran as fast as they could. Not a word was spoken as their bodies became more invigorated for the battle.
A big stone tower hidden among the trees. It was wide yet thin. Compared to the forest around it, the tower was but a small trunk in the swath of bark and wood. In the next moment, robed people flooded out from the door and it was then that Unfi knew the time had come. Their dark hoods flitted in the nightly breeze.
Yells of bravery and hidden anger was apparent between the two sides. Unfi drew his sword and struck the first man. A fountain of blood gushed out as the first victim of the night was claimed.
Whipping out his hand, a solid sword phantom was released from Unfi's hand. Like a desperate wolf, it cut and howled through the air until it found its maw on the enemy's neck. It shattered after cutting to the bone.
Unfi threw out his bone sword. It cut through to more robed men before he pulled it back the yank of his finger. It was satisfying. He relished in the deaths of Tarban's disciples. A fury sheathed for more than a century finally unleashed. It was euphoric.
Just then, the ground rumbled and an explosion of ulma caught Unfi off guard. He leapt away just fast enough to save his skin from more than a few burns. One of his elite was caught in the blast, laying shaking on the ground before losing all control in the next. The man was dead.
Unfi looked around and spotted him. As sinister as he thought, he gazed on a pair of deathly black robes. Under the cloth, Unfi knew who it was.
He immediately lunged towards the robes, but his fists only caught air and cloth. Ulma seeped out in waves and in the next, fire erupted right in front of Unfi. He got away with a charred face and hands that were almost incapacitated.
Tarban stepped out from the tower with his palms pointed towards Unfi. Fire plunged out like the sun itself was being siphoned into the world.
'How?' Unfi thought. Never before had he seen the techniques only thought of in fantasy. Such a sight was completely foreign and his mind blanked. A situation which could almost guarantee death in desperate times on the battlefield.
A moment later, his mind snapped back into motion like a well greased machine. He jumped out of the fire with even more charred skin. He did not let the stinging burns flinch him. All around him, Tarban's disciples performed the same miraculous techniques of fire. Some manipulated earth while others manipulated air and water at weaker scales.
From the side, Tarban gathered ulmt before a deathly energy leaked out. It was like the ulma itself had become corrupted with the sewage of the world. A feeling deep inside of himself told him that he needed to get away from the ulma.
Unfi pushed into the ground as hard as he could, sending his body rocketing to the side and he landed on a tree's trunk. He jumped off of it and the deathly ulma clashed with the tree, withering it rapidly. It cracked with the force of the jump and he flew towards Tarban with a wall of phantom swords slashing out.
Unfi could only keep up his dizzying moves to get away from more small bursts of deathly ulma, but his body was losing more ulma by the second. He reached deep down inside himself and willed the ulma within his core to seep out and flourish within his body. His ordinary strength wouldn't work and he was not in the advantage to fight a battle of attrition.
A minute. That's all he needed. His breath let out a faint blue mist and his eyes felt like they could see the streams of wind itself. The world slowed down and his muscles had unbridled strength. The clash of sword and element was like a symphony to his ears.
Gripping his sword so tight, it may have welded into his skin, Unfi pushed down into the ground. Boom! A small explosion where feet and ground made contact sounded out. For a second, no, less than a moment, he was rapidly approaching the dastard robes that covered his enemy. Unfi put all of his might into the jump.
Tarban's eyes widened before rapidly closing. A wall grew itself around the man and a thin film of ulma bursted out of Tarban. Just when it touched Unfi, Tarban's brows furrowed and he held in his breath.
Unfi went for the strike, but Tarban had managed to dodge narrowly in time. How? Unfi knew the reason. It was also the reason why he, himself, had never gotten caught by sneak attacks. Ulma perception. It could receive and feel signals as fast as any muscle or reaction could, but it was also extended from the body.
Still, it was not without loss as a waterfall of blood poured out of Tarban's arm. One arm down, one neck to go. He saw the man raise his other palm in the next instant, even in the slowed perception of time did it seem so fast. Ulma gathered fast and before Unfi could blink, a fiery explosion was directly in his face.
Unfi continued his flight towards the trunk of a tree. His face sensitive from the heat. His hair singed and his eyes all but useful and nearly melted. His vision was gone, but the battle around him was not. He dispersed even more ulma and found Tarban's position.
He closed his eyes and felt the ulma around him. He jumped again, another small explosion accompanied. He slashed his sword, but he could not hit Tarban. His ulma was running out. Unfi could feel it. An idea popped into his head.
It was only two jumps later, did he stop the ulma from being used up in his body and quietly hid the remaining away. His body was riddled with soreness and pain, but still, Unfi could not give up. It was then that he felt Tarban approaching. The ground that no longer held grass sounded out dull footsteps.
"It was a mistake to ever think you were strong enough. My goals are not for you to understand... No. You can't understand. I know the truth, something darker than all you filth may think. It is no longer greed or jealousy that lit my path so long ago. No, it is desire." Tarban looked up in solemn and spoke mumly as if in solitude. Like he was preaching of a great apocalypse.
He could sense the ulma in Tarban gathering towards his palm, but Unfi did not allow it to continue. The last of the ulma in his body was willed so hard, that it came gushing into his arm. The pressure felt like it was going to explode, but Unfi only added more and more ulma into it. It visibly expanded to accommodate. His whole arm was energized. With a punch, Unfi was sure he could split a mountain's peak
His fist gripped his bone sword tight enough that the grip nearly cracked. Tarban couldn't react before the sword had already been thrown and pierced through his neck. Unfi could not see, but he could relish in the thought of seeing Tarban's face wrinkle and shrivel in pain before death. A nuisance from his life gone. It may have cost him his eyes, but it was worth it.
The mist of war dissipated as his elite quickly shrunk the number of disciples that became slow and fearful after their leader's death. Unfi panted hard and his breath was ragged. His body ravaged from the inside. It had been strengthened too much to handle the ulma that pulsed in it, not to mention his arm that was limp and numb.
The battlefield became clear to all but Unfi who had lost his sight. 11 out of the 20 elite were dead, one of Trilla's assistants was caught in a pillar of flame and succumbed to death mid-battle. The losses were large, but it compensated for the death of Tarban. What were a few dozen years of training elite disciples when Tarban was killed?
The night passed as everyone recovered before they explored Tarban's towers. The tower itself held the dense living quarters while deep underground there were only a few valuables left. They ransacked the place of any books and valuables before Unfi suddenly remembered an important matter.
'Where is Hark?' The group looked for the spy for the next day, but they could not even find a speck of him other than his name being mentioned on a few papers as the author. In the end, they could only assume he was killed by Tarban or in the midst of battle. Afterall, the man's ability to fight was good... But beside Tarban it was as good as a child's.
Unfi breathed out with a sense of loss. It was unlike him. A him that had lived nearly a century and a half to be sad at the death of a new disciple. Still, Hark was a promising young man. More than once had he thought of training the kid into an elite after the mission was over.
The group packed everything that was remaining and set off back home with the head and body of Tarban in tow. Something shivered along Unfi's back and he couldn't shake away the feeling of something amiss.
---
A celebration. A festival. A holiday. It could be called anything, but Unfi couldn't keep his thoughts off the corner of his mind. It laid there inconspicuously, but it was like an impossible itch. It blared to him that something was wrong, but he just didn't know what.
The streets of Gukulm were filled with festivities. People danced while others made a fortune off of the jolly mood. Tarban's death, the death of a menace, a villain, had come true.
People celebrated Unfi and he relished in the feeling. He gave into himself. He solved the problem. From its roots. It was only now did he feel...
Unfi felt a pat on his back, he turned around and saw Munta smiling softly.
"Looks like you really are a hero now!"
Unfi grinned before lightly punching his old friend in the gut.
"Haha! Yes..."
Although wincing, Munta replied by punching Unfi even harder.
The two of them laughed in pain before fully joining the festival. Tarban's death was something to be celebrated. They walked around the city of Gukulm, giving generous smiles to all those that passed.
The day was one of rest. A day free from Tarban's presence.
Soon, though, the days came to pass. The city settled down. All good things must come to pass and by then, everyone seemed lost. What were they supposed to worry about then? Most walked along through life as normal as usual, but some rose from the shadows. Tarban was gone, but they were not.
Deep underground, a meeting was met once again.
"Haha, congratulations Unfi. That kid though... It is not good to hear of his untimely... Death." Grolock was happy with a smile, but deep underneath, it was hard to accept the loss of a bright ulmagi graduate.
The room was grim. Everyone there expected the bright Hark to join them, but it seemed like the world would not allow for it.
"It is unfortunate, but we must move on." Unfi could only silently regret each time he thought of Hark, but there was no changing the past.
"Now we must think of the future. With... Tarban gone." Unfi felt... Empty. The words came out of his mouth like bricks. Perhaps the most out of all people in the world, all that time and anger spent at Tarban was gone. He didn't know what it was like to live without it.
With Unfi's words, everyone's eyes shifted towards Munta before drifting to a jovial man in extravagant clothing. He wore a tailor made hat that had feathers sticking out of it.
"Head of transportation. I hear that you have already made significant progress on a vessel that can sail the water that surrounds our land?"
"Yes, it is a large thing, a behemoth of a structure that requires a hundred men to man its functions. With enough ulmasters on board, we would also be able to deal with the pesky leviathans that plague those waters too." He spoke of cheery grimness. He was serious, but also joyful. His words contracted from his high and happy voice.
Just then, a presence was felt outside the door. All members noticed it immediately. The figure knocked on the door and wriggled the handle before sighing. Unfi manipulated a tendril of ulma to insert a key and unlocked the door.