Chapter 13

1

My ears rang with the sound of sraping metal, it reminded me of the time magic took over my body and made that slicing wind…

Kensei, who was probably an exceptional warrior and skilled with the sword beyond my year, could not so much as lay a scratch on Jupiter. Okay that was a lie, he is being scratched, but that is it, just a scratch. Armor is meant to protect the person inside, so maybe it wasn’t so shocking that it was doing it's job, but he simply wasn't being moved.

Jupiter had the liberty of wearing thicker and heavier armor due to his size and strength, so even the greatest of weapons had little to do against plates of that caliber, in a sense it was as pointless as attacking an actual ore vein with a sword.

Only that this was the strongest metals known to man, refined, and built to withstand the Wrath of the Gods, there were so many parts of it that looked burnt or damaged, but it still deflected attacks. It was simply too heavy, dense, and ridiculously large, it was more like a obelisk.

“Kensei, why are you here, surely you don’t plan on killing Elias.” Jupiter spoke, still taking the hits, it seems that he wasn’t even feeling the attacks under all that armor. But who was I that someone would plan to kill me? maybe it has something to do with that ‘Dreg king’, or the prophesy…

“Hah, I don’t kill kids, you don’t know me at all Jupiter, you’re no better you monster haha!” Kensei did not seem bothered that none of his attacks were effective, as if Jupiter not being able to be hurt was normal, I could believe that.

“Aha! I knew it!” For some reason Europa seemed exited to notice something, I could never get a read on her, she was always changing her mood, or at least that was how it seemed…

I looked down at myself, I had sat down at some point, it took me a while to feel the effects of my magic taking it’s toll, it was like my body moved out of sync. My eyelids were heavy too, but like hell I’d miss this battle, a chance to see how Jupiter fights, most would call that a once in a lifetime chance.

Jupiter had not responded to Kensei’s provication, had it gotten to him? I imagined he would not get phased by words, but maybe that’s the only thing that can get through that armor, I had been told that people who gain sentience often take advantage of others…

Did Jupiter feel guilt? I felt close to an answer, but I couldn’t place my finger on it.

“Kensei, you know you shouldn’t call me that…” Jupiter’s tone shifted deeper, his already low voice became more grave, even his posture seemed to grow more looming, looking like this, maybe monster was a actuate description.

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“Listen up boy! Elias was you’re name right, I’m here to warn you, don’t get on this guy’s bad side!” Kensei rolled his shoulders, even the one that had no arm, he seemed to be doing some sort of warmup, he stretched and cracked his limbs and back. All the while Jupiter hunched over more and more, craning his head to look Kensei in the eye.

“You don’t need two monsters hunting your head do ya? Grahahahah-”

Kensei’s back was facing me, I could really sense the power in his posture, like the air around him was active, and in fact, light radiated from him. Floating an arms length from Kensei’s back was a set of glowing symbols, a curved diamond, a vertical line with wings on either side, and a set of intertwined parallel lines.

From this perspective it almost looked like he was the one protecting me, and from Jupiter no less. I already planned to not get on Jupiter’s bad side, so why give me a warning? Was he worse before? a real monster? all I knew for sure was that he isn’t a demon, but other than that, I have no idea what’s under that armor…

Was I about to find out?

2

‘Over in an instant’ would not be the word to describe it, durring the battle I realized that Kensei excelled at decisive strikes, and probably ends fights within the first or second strikes, he most likely trained the speed and power of his strikes, such that when he hit something the very air crackled as it split and sent a small shockwave. The only problem was…

Kensei’s sword was broken…

There was barely a blade left attached to the hilt, somewhere along the way the bump where his left arm used to be started to bleed as well. Kensei was completely worn out, and Jupiter was still standing…

That’s because the battle did not end in one strike, or ten, or 100, as the battle reached its fourth hour, Jupiter still steadily approached Kensei even as he backed away. Europa had sat next to me to watch, seemingly engrossed with the fight, excited.

I, however, began to understand what Kensei wanted to warn me about, something dangerous lurked in Jupiter, and he could not be hurt, if he were to decide anyone his enemy, they might as well be dead. Perhaps his power has made him detached, when he had broken Kensei’s ribs an hour ago, Kensei tried to surrender, but he would not accept it.

In fact he had not spoken in quite a while.

Jupiter was not using his sword, but it didn’t seem like he planned on sparing Kensei, I could not even tell why the fight was still going on, all I could do was look on to fulfill the curiosity in my heart.

“Boy… I don’t plan on dying here, and I don’t think the big guy could even understand the concept… hah-ack…” Blood run from under Kensei’s helmet as he hacked it up, it was surprising how much punishment he took, considering his lighter armor and previous wounds, in terms of body, he was a freak, muscle bulged from the exposed parts in his chain, and lacerations all over his body closed quickly.

Something was different about him, he was stronger, faster, more durable, faster, and even after four hours he barely seemed slower, nothing about it seemed natural, the only answer was magic. Only, while Europa was watching the fight with me, she told me he had no magic to his name, only that his own soul was extremely powerful. Of course that had no effect on his own combat ability, or at least it shouldn’t, so his power was an enigma.

Eventually, more time passed, and more…

Europa fell asleep long before I did, but in time, my eyes could no longer remain open, I stole one last glance at the forest around me.

Every tree was cut down.