2025-01-31 17:00:14# Welcome to the match you’ve all been waiting for…#
# At my right, here he comes, the Undefeated Swordsman, The Slayer himself!!#
# From the left comes crowd favorite, Death!#
# Place your bets…..#
The sound blared from microphones in the arena. Today was the semifinal of a no-restraint the mixed style tournament ran by the boss.
It is been 3 days already.
Honestly, Kane hadn’t expected to stay this long. He had been able to gather some information but as he was about to go slayer mode, he felt it.
The presence of a Shard.
Another one here? He thought. Are we being drawn to each other?
He had to stay and discover who it was.
He knew that Sophia and Luthen would be thinking something happened to him. But he also knew that they wouldn’t look for him, partly because they were all still strangers to each other and partly because they had bigger fish to fry.
He had to wrap this up quickly and join them. Who knows what information they may have been able to gather or what they had been planning?
But first, he had to take care of this match.
*******
# Still undefeated, The Slayer! #
# Next match, finals!#
# The Slayer vs. five-time champion, Almighty
Today’s fight had ended with the opponent unconscious and bleeding. Kane hadn’t sustained any injuries from any of his matches so far. His opponents strength increased the further they advanced into this tournament but it all paled when compared to a Shard’s might. To mask his ridiculous strength, he had to take it easy on them. But they all ended up in similar near-death experiences.
He advanced faster than anyone in the tournament. Except his next opponent, the five times undefeated champion, Almighty. If Kane had to guess who the Shard was, he would bet on that guy. The matches he had watched of the champion were brutal. He could determine that the champion used some restraint but to a far lesser extent than he did.
He was, however, quite relieved that his self-imposed mission would end tomorrow with the final match of the tournament. He thought of Luthen and Sophia and sighed. He had to focus on tomorrow. He was thinking of them too much.
They would have to wait.
*******
Next day.
They would been waiting for Kane for 4 days. Sophia could not delay it any longer. Luthen agreed too.
“We’ve got to do this today.” He said that morning.
“Yes I am tired of waiting. Why do you think he did not come back?”
“Maybe he got cold feet. This isn’t exactly a piece of cake, you know.” He replied
“He just doesn’t look like the kind of person to quit.” She said
“If anything did happen, He can take it on by himself. ” Luthen was sure of that.
They had more things to worry about.
“You remember the plan?”
“Yeah.” Luthen said.
“Okay then. Let’s head out.”
*******
To enter the Archive, Sophia would pretend to follow the tour group while Luthen would just teleport inside the building. Using the building’s blueprints and confirming from the tour guide, they would be able to locate the exact position of the Archive’s vault and also if there were any other security measures.
Normally, it would be near impossible for Luthen at his current strength to teleport into the interior of a building that he had never seen or was not seeing currently. This could now be achieved by viewing the destination through Spatial World and then teleporting inside. He just had to be close enough.
Luthen teleported into the Archive’s record vault to disable any traps present before going back to collect Sophia
He could have just come himself, but he did not know how to read the archaic language the older records were written in. Those languages, though, were still taught to Nobles and their heirs. So Sophia had to come with. He tried to stop her from joining the tour group and just teleporting directly into the building but she refused.
Sophia slipped from the tour group at Luthen’s signal and they both got teleported into the Archive.
It took some minutes for Sophia to overcome her initial awe. The entire place looked like a library and was packed full of books, ancient scrolls and files. It was in their favour that the only thing it lacked was a librarian. They would have to leave faster than they came if they were caught by one.
“Where do we start looking Sophia?”
“Uhm.. Let’s start from the beginning?” She said. Luthen sighed.
This was going to be too much work and there was too little time. Since the Archive was mostly written in a language only Nobles could read, the Archive wasn’t ever broken into. No self-respecting Noble would think to do that – except Sophia. In fact, since its formation centuries ago, the Archive had never been broken into. That explained the lax security around the Archive’s vault. There were no guards around. The only security measures in place were automatic life sensors that swept through the vault every 2 hours.
They had entered the vault about a minute after the sensors had left. So they had the greater part of the 2 hours to work with. Luthen did not want to find out what happened if they got caught.
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“Let’s see…. Conquest of Frenen…. War for Kalern…Yes! Chronicles of the Age of Nobles” Luthen said after about an hour as he picked up a dusty scroll. “Can you read this, Sophia? The language is ancient.”“Ok then. Let’s see what it says.”“In ... the ... beginning, the ... world ... was ... ruled ... by–”“Can you read any faster? We have a lot to cover!” He complained“I am trying! This isn’t a piece of cake!” She defended herself“In ... the ... beginning, the ... world ... was ... ruled ... by ... gods ... who ... controlled ... the ... seven ... types ... of ... magic. So basically the Shards and their Seven Aspects” She continued“I thought there were six?” Luthen asked“The world thinks there are six because nobody has had an Ability with the Null Aspect. Except its Shard.” She
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Mother?Sophia had to skip the Circle session. She just wasn’t herself since the conversation.When Voyne called her Mother, something woke in her. It was almost like she was used to hearing him say it.It woke some memories that she did not knew she had. Some felt a lot like they were hers while most felt…off. Like she borrowed those memories from someone else.In one of her memories, she was a child, somewhere. On some wide street, playing, holding a paper fan. There were lots of sounds, like a festival or some occasion going on.Some cloaked people approached her. With the exact same cloaks that the Soul Church adherents wore.The one in front of them knelt in front of her. He took off his hood and she looked into his eyes. She knew that face, knew those eyes.Voyne, looking exactly the same as the present day, took her hand and kissed it with a greeting.“Hail, Mother.”*******<
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“Now, it’s your turn. We need the location of the Relic.” Kane said.“You already know that is what he is looking for, right? The Relic? Your slip earlier proved it.” Somen said.“We can protect it better than you.” Somen continued when Reese said nothing for a while.“I don’t have to answer that as you did not answer my last question.” Reese said. “A guess is not an answer.” He said when Luthen tried to protest.“It is safe as long as nobody except us knows its location.”“No matter where you kept it, it is not safe. The Legend says that the location was entrusted to two groups of people, as you know already.” Luthen said, folding his arms.“The Great Nobles? That is a bluff. That knowledge has been lost to them for hundreds of years.” Reese said.“I think we all know you are guessing here.” Kane said.“Doesn’t matter. With my Ability, no matter how many times they try, their failure is assured.” Reese said.“Rely
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Back at the inn, Luthen tried to contemplate their next move. They had now checked all of the holy sites in Jerletown. They still had zero idea of the Relic’s location. And now Voyne’s generals had come to the island. They had to move fast.But, what if the Saintess hid it somewhere else than the capital? No, Voyne would not have made such a big play. The purpose of him sending his subordinates to cause a ruckus was mostly likely to announce his presence on the island.There only option was to team up with those Shards they had fought earlier, if only they could believe them.Jonelle and a healthy looking Reese suddenly appeared in Kane’s room. The sudden presences attracted both Luthen and Kane.“So, what about it? Come to finish the job? You are outnumbered.” Kane declared confidently.“You are the outnumbered fool. Ask your friend.” Reese said referring to Somen .Somen had told them all about the
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Chapter Twenty-Three: Shard Fight II.
In truth, Somen was satisfied that he just parted from Luthen and Kane.He was quite happy that there was no one to restrict him. He embraced his violent tendencies.Yes! Time to find an opponent.But Jerletown was a city of pilgrims and priests, so there was little to no violence there. The whole city had begun to bore him. He came to the holy site, a waterfall. He could see pilgrims praying at the waterfall or carrying some water for good luck.All this for a dead Shard? He would never understand.But, it wasn’t the waterfall, or its pilgrims that caught his attention. There was an incredible presence coming from behind the waterfall. He couldn’t pass through the river created by the waterfall directly because of all the pilgrims around. Kane had advised against unnecessary attention. So he used a roundabout route.There it was. Carved into the rock from which the water spilled over to make the fall, was a cave entranc
Chapter Twenty-Two: Shard Fight.
Kane was finding that his new swords were much better than the previous ones. For one, they did not break. They also did not limit the amount of soul energy he could put in one strike. He could also change their size at will. Overall, they did a far better job.However, he wasn’t quite used to using them, so there was a lot of unnecessary damage to the temple building which only served to infuriate his opponent. He could tell that this place was important to her.From the way she fought, he determined that she was manipulating forces. That made her a very tricky opponent since; he had to put some force into his swings and plus he was always under the control of one force, gravity. He had to use his Null ability more frequently now, further frustrating the sister. But she was adapting.Again she increased the force of gravity on him. He could barely move.“Null.” he said through gritted teeth. The force disappeared. This was tiring.He saw an openin
Chapter Twenty-One: Stopped by Force.
The boys walked around the city. Under the pretext of leaving some of his aura, Luthen had managed to try every food stall they came across. Kane and Somen also had lunch.The sun was now beginning to set. Kane decided that he did not have an appetite for an evening confrontation with anybody so he suggested something.“The sun’s setting. It’s late. I think we can turn of our auras now.” He said.“So we won’t be tracked on our way home?” Luthen said.“You’re catching on.”Luthen looked offended. They marched back to the inn.*******They had done it. They had managed to make her angry.She had been tracking them for a while now, their auras pointing in the directions they had taken. It was clear that the perpetrators were working and walking together. It was exciting, following their auras and mentally preparing for a trap that could spring at any moment. She could almos
Chapter Twenty: Asking Too Much.
A few days later.Voyne had to travel to Osyna again. These repeated meetings was making him develop a fondness for the city which had once been a stronghold of those who wanted to oppose him.He played with it in his hand. The High Council’s invitation. He knew they would eventually bend. It was all a matter of time. He shredded it.He could not stop a small smile. The last time he was this pleased was when he first saw Sophie at the trial hall of the Circle. She would come too. Eventually.*******At the hall of the Circle, Voyne stood in the middle with the now unlabeled box as he had done before. Except this time only the seats of the Great Nobles were filled. Normally, there were multiple venues they could have used instead like the Archive. Why they chose here was up to them.Renée wasn’t here because she wasn’t important enough to be. Plus, both he and the Nobles would much prefer that the contents of this mee
Chapter Nineteen: Island Landing.
Mother?Sophia had to skip the Circle session. She just wasn’t herself since the conversation.When Voyne called her Mother, something woke in her. It was almost like she was used to hearing him say it.It woke some memories that she did not knew she had. Some felt a lot like they were hers while most felt…off. Like she borrowed those memories from someone else.In one of her memories, she was a child, somewhere. On some wide street, playing, holding a paper fan. There were lots of sounds, like a festival or some occasion going on.Some cloaked people approached her. With the exact same cloaks that the Soul Church adherents wore.The one in front of them knelt in front of her. He took off his hood and she looked into his eyes. She knew that face, knew those eyes.Voyne, looking exactly the same as the present day, took her hand and kissed it with a greeting.“Hail, Mother.”*******<
