Armad closed his eyes and gripped his sword, allowing the lightning bolts to reach every part of his body and flow through his sword.

Then his pol, the energy that gave him power, rapidly increased. In just a couple of seconds, it raised from 51 to 83 years and still counting.

Power surged through his body and he disappeared from his position and reappeared twenty-two meters above the ground, just above the blue flame. As soon as he reappeared, the flame burned in his direction as if aware of its target.

But Armad, whose eyes were still closed, disappeared again and reappeared behind the flame, in front of the guardian. His Pol had already climbed up to 100 years.

The guardian was sure he had won the duel with his last attack, and by the time Armad appeared in front of him, he had already sheathed his sword. But then he saw the mark on Armad's forehead and he took a step back with mouth wide open, quickly reaching out for his sword to counter. But Armad was already in front of him, and before he could withdraw his sword, Armad slashed at his right arm, the arm holding his sword.

Armad's sword was so fast that it was just a blur. It emitted heat from the excess lightning burning on it which caused the air to boom. And just when the sword was about to slash the guardian who was desperately trying to dodge, the sword sped up, so much so that it disappeared completely. When it reappeared, it had already gone past the guardian to appear behind him.

Armad stood behind the guardian, looking at his sword with narrowed eyes. The sword which was just overflowing with lightning had become normal again. The lightning had disappeared and the steel was dark. He sighed and returned it to its sheath. The lightning covering his body disappeared as well.

The guardian inspected his body. He felt just fine and there was no wound anywhere on his body. He'd dodged the attack, even if by a narrow margin, he thought.

Meanwhile, Armad turned around and faced the guardian again.

"So, what's the meaning of this drama?" The guardian pointed at his body as if to emphasize his point. "You think this will help...?" He paused as he felt an unusual sensation in his body. A quick inspection of his core revealed him to be at 91 years. Hence the unusual sensation. But instead of the guardian being alarmed, he just smiled.

He pointed at Armad's forehead. "I know your miyura." He drew his sword and walked toward Armad. "I'm sure it's from House Wilberforce. And the Bend you use to escape from my flame... I know it as well."

He paused and turned around to look at the blue flame he fired earlier. It was still burning in Armad's previous position. Anything it touched would turn to ash. Be it the massive trees, or the air, or even the sand, nothing was immune to it.

He sighed and turned back to Armad. By now, Armad's forehead had stopped glowing. Both the statue and the swords in the marking had stopped moving. And his Pol was back to 51 years. A combination of lightning and ancestral Bending that gave a temporary boost in pol that would expand the core and raise his pol, allowing him to use a restricted set of powerful Bends.

"By imbuing your longevity with lightning," the guardian said. "You expand your pol capacity. This alone couldn't have been any use. But you found a way to connect the extra space you got from the expansion with your ancestral Bend, thereby channeling energy from your ancestors.

"I'll just tell you one thing, which you probably already knew, what you just did would enhance your body and abilities in every way for a few seconds, but it will shorten your lifespan in the long run. By just looking at you now, I can estimate you have lost about five years of your lifespan. Of course, you won't know until you awakened, and by then it will be too late."

By now, he was standing in front of Armad, blade drawn. He was ready to finish him off.

"Old man," Armad said in a hurry. "Are you not curious about what brought me here?"

The guardian opened his mouth to respond but Armad interrupted him, afraid the guardian would say he didn't care.

"Triple Factor," Armad said. "I have come here to find Triple Factor."

"T...Triple Factor?" The guardian stuttered and took a step back, trembling. For ten seconds, he remained in this state.

However, he was in this state, when he felt his right hand holding his sword shook so violently that even the sword in his hand began to shake and almost fell to the ground.

It was a look of astonishment on his face as he pulled back and stared at Armad in a state of doubt and disbelief.

But of course, if everything had stopped there, then it wouldn't have been so violent, but at the same time, the skin, the muscles, and the ligaments of his right shoulder and the right side of his chest burst in a pool of blood and gore. You could see the guardian's white bones beneath as blood gushed forth and splattered on the ground, turning the soil red. Consequently, the guardian couldn't hold his sword and he dropped it to the ground. He jumped several meters backward, away from Armad.

On his face, there was... doubt. He was uncertain about what happened. When did Armad slash his shoulder without him realizing it? He wanted to know so he could relieve the uncertainty threatening his sanity.

"Twenty-seven seconds," Armad said. "I have improved. It was twenty-three seconds when I used it last, which makes it four seconds better." He was both calm and wild as he spoke, making him look like a dreadful storm.

Seeing the pathetic state of the guardian, Armad walked to him with gentle and orderly steps, mimicking the guardian's previous calm demeanor when they first met.

He stood in front of the old man and went on, "old man, I know I couldn't win against you the moment I saw you. Your pol is so strong that I couldn't even assess it. But the strong don't win every day. I was still confident. And when you lowered your pol to 100 years, I know luck was on my side. I may be at 51 years, but I have {lightning overcharge} and my miyura to depend on.

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"As you said, there's a risk to using this Bend. I borrow pol from my forefathers through the miyura on my forehead. Both this and overcharging my longevity with lightning will undoubtedly reduce my lifespan by causing a chronic compression of my core, but it's worth the risk if it will help me find Triple Factor and save my mother.

"And if you look at it from the moment I untied the scarf on my forehead and put my blood on it, my pol raises until it reaches 100 years. This allowed me to use {dance of uncertainty}.

"The only sword Bend that surpasses Blood Barrier. After all, Blood Barrier doesn't take more than a couple of seconds to manifest, but with my Dance of Uncertainty, the victim takes a considerably longer time to realize he was cut. It's simply too fast for the human body to react in time.

"The people I cut find themselves in a state of uncertainty. They keep asking me about it. 'When did you cut me,' they would say."

Armad shook his head with a sigh as he looked at the guardian who was also looking at him but his mind was somewhere else.

Confidently, Armad went on, "I could have called the Dance at my current level of 51 years, but its speed is directly proportional to the user's pol. It wouldn't have been possible if my pol was lower than yours.

"I want you to know that not only this, whatever is required of me in my journey, I'll do it. I'll find Triple Factor no matter what it takes." As he said this, his voice was filled with so much determination and resolve that it could break the heart of his enemies.

"Hmm." The guardian sighed. "At my current level, I can't heal this wound and stop the bleeding." He looked at the gaping wound in his arm. "And since I have already promised to fight you at 100 years, I won't go back on my words. So, I will allow you to pass. But, I will warn you before you leave. Consider it a reward for winning against me." He clapped his hands, causing his pol to raise.

Within few seconds, the wound in his arm disappeared as if it was never there. His pol raised by 20 years every few minutes and still counting. At first, Armad was keeping track of it, but he soon couldn't keep up with the rapid rise. Armad went stiff, he swallowed hard and sighed all at once. He kept thinking about the vast difference between himself and the guardian and how lucky he was that the guardian had agreed to fight him at 100 years. The man had only used a fraction of his pol during the fight.

"It's about what happened hundreds of years ago with a powerful Bender that came here," the guardian said. He sounded different all of a sudden, almost celestial. "His name was Amrai'kugyu."

As soon as he heard the name, Armad furrowed his brows in confusion. Amrai'kugyu was a very popular name that was mentioned in many history books. Many knew about it. And because of how old the stories were, people didn't believe them anymore.

Seeing Armad's reaction, the guardian asked, "what?"

"I know about Amraikugyu. I have read every version of the story many times over. And even if people don't believe it, I still like it."

"Was he not the one that was revered by both djinns and men? Djinns would greet him every morning just to avoid his wrath. During his reign, he did what nobody could do: standing toe-to-toe with Ururu.

"Ultimately, he carried his sword, the famous Yurashira, to the second world and fought with the king of the second world, King Dul'Ururu. The battle lasted for one hundred days, and the winner was never clear.

"In the end, it was reported that he went to the Land of the Seekers. Nobody heard from him again.

"But before he disappeared, he left his sword in the Land of Stones. For all these years, nobody could retrieve the sword because of the impossible terrain of the area and the dangers lurking in the depth."

Armad spieled without stopping even once to catch his breath. From the way he spoke, it was obvious he was fascinated by this man.

The guardian smiled. "Oh, so you know something of history. But, what's the real name of this man?

Armad frowned. "His real name? He's Amraikugyu..."

"No, that's not true." The guardian interrupted. Then he continued with an angry tone. "That's the problem of the young people of this generation. You don't understand any language besides Aldurish. Let me tell you, the word 'Amraikugyu' is just a word from Wilburish. It means the highest-ranking king in an empire. During that era, an empire would have seven kings. Among these kings, one would be appointed as the leader and he would be named as Amraikugyu."

Mouth agape, Armad stared at the guardian who was angry that Armad didn't know Wilburish.

The old man went on, "his real name was Bayajidda. It was after he has defeated all his enemies that the world started calling him Amraikugyu."

"BAYAJIDDA!" Armad frowned at the name. "Bayajidda? Isn't that the name of the man who founded the tribe of Bayajidda in the seventh century after the war of red crows?"

The guardian nodded, signifying Armad was right before he continued without giving Armad enough time to recover from the shock. "The reason I brought this up is that Amraikugyu, with all his power, has spent his entire life looking for Triple Factor."

"Eh?" Armad subconsciously took several steps back, tripping.

The guardian ignored him and went on, "in the end, he lost. He couldn't find the man." He fell silent for a while, staring at Armad with pity. "I can remember at that time when he came here he was full of energy just like you. 'I, Bayajidda, swear by the creator of Wilberia that I will find Triple Factor. Even if I have to kill every man and djinn that live in the seven worlds. This is a promise between the man of the camel and me'." The guardian sighed and shook his head. "That's what he told me. And after just ninety-two years, I heard that he died in the Land of Stones."

The guardian inhaled deeply and looked Armad in the eyes. "After hearing this, do you still want to continue?"

As soon as Armad heard the question, he jerked as if someone had splashed cold water on his face. "I will not go back on my word even if I die." Then as if eager to leave or afraid someone else would beat him to it, he went on, "I'm grateful for the warning; it has encouraged me more than you can imagine. But I should leave now so I can find him sooner." And return home to my mother.

The guardian was at a loss for words after seeing how determined and fearless Armad was. He just stared at Armad who was now waiting for him to show him the way.

After some time, the guardian sighed softly. "My name is Hán Diyuza of the Light, do not forget it for I believe it will help you in the future."

Seeing the guardian's courtesy, Armad opened his mouth to offer his name, but he stopped him by raising his hand. "It's not needed for I don't remember names. But if we meet again, I'll remember your soul. I don't forget souls easily."

Having said this, the guardian retrieved a small book from his pocket and opened the first page. He stared at some writings on the page for several seconds before he looked at Armad. "Only the fourth world is available now. But the second world will be available in the next few hours. The fifth world will be available for visitors in a week, and the sixth world will take up to a month or more. However, the seventh world is closed up. There's no specific date for its opening. It's safe to assume that the seventh world will take years to be available. After all, the last stand of the recent war took place there."

He continued with a hurried tone that sounded as if he was eager to send Armad on his way. "Which world would you like to go to?"

In a tone that also showed how eager he was, Armad answered, "I want to go to the fourth world."

Without saying another word, Hán Diyúza flipped through the book, tore a paper from the center, and handed it over to Armad. Armad looked at the paper and saw multiple runes and unrecognizable insignias.

"Eighteen years ago," the guardian said. "A traveler by the name of Bihanzin came here. He carried Amraikugyu's sword with him. I don't know how he got it, but it was the real thing. Watch out if you ever meet him. He is currently the most powerful Bender in the fourth world. If possible, don't cross paths with him."

After saying this, he turned around and walked away. Armad wanted to ask him how to use the runes on the paper, but he suddenly felt so dizzy that he couldn't even speak or open his eyes. The ground beneath his feet melted into a liquid.

Aargh.

He screamed as he felt something dragging him into the sand. He had the unpleasant sensation of falling into a bottomless pit.

***

The word miyura means 'birthmark' in Aldurish. It's commonly used to refer to the markings on the forehead of certain people and tribes.

***

Of the Light - allegiance to the elves.

Of the sword - allegiance to House Sisiya of the fourth world

Of the sky - allegiance to the underground empire of Denizens

Of the wall - allegiance to Mikironomada

Of the flame - allegiance to House Han of the third world

Of the sand - allegiance to the Rafiyans of the desert

***