Divine Sword Art System

Chapter 9. Flame At Night

***

The tiredness Tobias felt made him sleep so deeply that he didn't realise it was already eight o'clock at night. He opened his eyes and saw it was already dark outside the window. The room lights had already been turned on by the maid who entered Tobias' room.

Sleeping for six hours made the young man's head feel so heavy; his body was even quite sweaty due to the room temperature. His eyes shifted to the wooden table with plates, bowls, glasses, and a kettle.

Everything seemed to be neatly enclosed using a flat tool made of glass, except the kettle, which already had its own lid. Tobias sat on the edge of the bed with his right hand, trying to open each dish.

"They must have served it while I was asleep," Tobias said, seeing that his food and soup were already cold.

Tobias tried to taste his food. It was good and savoury, but it only lacked a cold taste on his tongue. While enjoying his meal, Tobias' attention was distracted when he heard the sound of an explosion from outside Archibald's residence.

"Is there an attack at night?" asked Tobias, stopping what he was doing and opening the window to his room.

The eastward location of his room meant that Tobias could only see the beautiful, well-maintained gardens of the Archibald residence. He didn't see any explosions or lights at all from that place.

Since nothing happened, Tobias decided to go back to eat his food. However, he was distracted once again when he heard another explosion. This explosion sounded continuous and came from the west of Archibald's residence.

Tobias, who was curious and anxious, immediately picked up the sword that was hanging and walked out of the room. The location of his room on the third floor meant he had to walk down the stairs to reach the first floor.

Along the way, he did not meet a single one of Archibald's maids. This left many questions in Tobias' mind, fearing that while he was fast asleep, Valcke's troops would break the ceasefire agreement and attack the city without him knowing.

Seeing the silence made Tobias even more worried. He quickened his pace until he reached Archibald's residence door. He opened it with his right hand and saw that the refugees were fine.

Not only those refugees but Archibald's maids were mostly there. Tonight, they were making dinner for the refugees.

"I thought something happened here," Tobias said, taking a deep breath and letting it out, relieved that his fears didn't happen.

"Oh, are you awake, Tobias?" asked Lussie, seen standing with Luke outside the refugee tent.

"I heard an explosion nearby. Is something going on?" asked Tobias, walking closer to his mother.

"It was Giselle. She seems to be practising her magic," said Lussie, pointing to the west, where the refugee children were gathered around watching something under the watchful eye of Archibald's guards.

"It looks interesting. I'll go there to see it," said Tobias.

He enthusiastically ran from the refugee tent to the west to the training ground he had used before he fought Thompson. Tobias' arrival drew new attention from the children and the residence guards, who began to greet him.

Tobias smiled at them and looked at Giselle, who seemed to be practising in a sleeveless T-shirt. Her long flowing hair increased her beauty in the eyes of the refugee children.

Giselle turned her head, her eyes catching sight of Tobias among the children and the residence guards. The woman instantly swung her right hand towards Tobias, telling her brother to walk over.

Tobias said yes without arguing. He walked past the children until he reached Giselle.

"What's up?" Tobias asked.

"You just happened to be here. I want to practice magic with you," Giselle replied, excited after realising that Tobias had arrived with his sword.

"But why me? Why don't you practice with the guards?" asked Tobias.

"They would lose easily against me, unlike you. I haven't won against you since you could use sword skills," Giselle retorted.

He sighed. It was true that Giselle always lost against him because Tobias could neutralise magic. In the end, Tobias agreed to practise with Giselle.

They took a long distance, preparing with their own techniques before the signal started training. Tobias pulled out his sword, leaving the children watching in awe.

"I'll start!" said Giselle, extending her right hand.

[Magic Skill: Sparkling Flames]

A magic circle was created in front of Giselle's palm, giving rise to a long-radius flame aimed at Tobias. The young man was not ready with his sacred sword skill, so he chose to evade by running in a circle.

"Come on, Tobias. Bring out your sword skills," Giselle pleaded.

The woman wanted to prove that Tobias' sword skills would not neutralise her magic this time. She thought so because she cast medium-level magic to attack Tobias this time.

His younger brother was busy avoiding Giselle's burst of fire. He ran past several wooden dolls, which caused them to burn to ashes. Tobias occasionally glanced at the destroyed wooden dolls; the young man realised the magic Giselle cast was not just any ordinary magic.

[Sacred Sword Skill: Fading Art Style]

Tobias jumped away and turned his body around. He slashed straight at the burst of fire, causing it to split into two as if Tobias' sword was blocking it.

"As I expected, my magic didn't disappear this time as it did before," said Giselle, smiling widely as her magic was still active and continued to sprout flames.

The spectacle of the exercise resembling a real battle made the refugee children watching them gasp in amazement. Not a single one of them looked away from their marvellous training.

Tobias was thinking hard, especially about stopping Giselle's fire. Seeing a wooden puppet that hadn't been destroyed, Tobias thought of stabbing it with his holy sword skill.

He continued to run towards the wooden puppet as his mouth began to chant the second technique of his sacred sword skill. Giselle didn't take her focus off Tobias at all.

[Sacred Sword Skill: Dark Dimension]

He stabbed the wooden doll until the sword blade was pierced. A black sphere appeared inside the wooden doll when it pierced through, causing anything nearby to be strongly pulled.

"Now, could you release your burst from my black sphere?" asked Tobias, jumping away.

Giselle's eyebrows furrowed. She couldn't move her burst of flame as it was already magnetised to the black orb that Tobias had spawned. Seeing the advantage, Tobias chose to run over to Giselle.

"What's going on?!" asked Giselle, continuing to try to release her flame burst.

Seeing Tobias approaching forced Giselle to deactivate her fire blast and cast a protection magic spell. Her right hand quickly approached Tobias to protect her from his attack.

[Magic Skill: Fire Dome of Protection]

When Tobias swung the sword to place it on Giselle's neck, his sword swing was stopped when it clashed with the woman's fire protection. Tobias again jumped back in his medium stance.

"You really overwhelmed me," Giselle said.

"Those protections I can destroy with my sacred sword skills. Shall we continue this exercise?" asked Tobias.

The young man was quite tired, considering his stomach hadn't been filled since the morning's victory party. If Tobias kept forcing things, he could get injured due to a lack of focus.

"This exercise will end if one of us-"

BOOM!

Giselle and Tobias were startled by a loud explosion outside the Archibald residence. Giselle instantly deactivated her magic while running to the front of the residence, as well as Tobias.

Not only the two of them but all the refugees, Lussie, Luke, and even Archibald's maids and guards were distracted by the flames coming from the north. Lussie began to worry. She couldn't trust Valcke to keep the truce.

"What happened?" asked Giselle, curious.

Lussie pointed at the flames soaring in the north, as it was currently nighttime, so the huge flames could be clearly seen even from a distance.

"They seem to have broken the ceasefire agreement," Lussie lamented, making the refugees start to get anxious and scared.

"There's no guarantee they'll stick with it, considering they are more numerous than the border troops," Tobias said.

"We're going there," Giselle explained firmly.

"All men who can lift a weapon, defend this place and your families!" said Tobias.

Things were starting to get chaotic. The guards of the Archibald residence began to bring out the swords stored in the armoury for the men to use and the armour that was quite rusty and weathered.

Tobias and Giselle mounted their horses, saying goodbye to Lussie and Luke while telling them they would return safely.

The gate opened, and the two rode off at a gallop leaving Archibald's residence with strong expressions. Giselle was upset that Valcke did not respect the manners of war, but Tobias was not.

While they had the upper hand, they would do everything possible to make Atrea's territory fall into their hands.

"Don't die, Tobias!" pleaded Giselle.

"I won't die that easily."