2025-02-06 03:16:05“What do you think you are doing?!” A man’s stern voice cut through the quiet night, he adjusted his stance and moonlight flashed on the steel of his unsheathed enchanted sword.
“What else?” One of the men standing opposite him said, it wasn't a question, it was quite obvious what they were all up to.
“It is time for him to die! All of his misdeeds are out in the open, there's no use in hiding behind the closure of this big house!” Another voice followed the first, spurred to bravery by the first speaker’s mockery.
“There’s no need for you to try, even if you wanted to protect your master like the loyal dog you are, he can't escape this one, lackey Rex!” The burly guy who spoke next, took a step forward and the men behind him also followed him, their weapons ready in their hands– they had all sorts, ranging from swords, sabers to spears and machetes.
Rex's eyes went over everyone in the courtyard and exhaled silently, even if he wanted to protect his Lord, there's simply no way he would go though the men in the yard at that moment, they were simply too many— he could count at least thirty men standing in the yard. It won't be easy on his mind if he killed them all.
“Escape what exactly? You are the ones walking to your own death! Do you see him hiding from you?! You can't possibly be this stupid!” Rex’s voice was heavy. “You braved through this harsh weather to come and deal with a guy that you hold no power to? Don't kid yourself!”
“You are the one who shouldn't kid yourself! Lackey Rex, we are telling you, get out of the way or you would feel the brunt of our anger! Where's your sense of justice? This man killed his parents and siblings, detained his friends and sent his extended family on exile. That's not enough for us to kill him off?!” The owner of the voice kept swinging his dagger in the air.
“Don't talk as if we were some good activists! His family can go rot in hell, it is their fault for giving birth to an asshole like him! And his friends are the idiots for befriending him!
The main matter is that this fucker cut short all manner of relief that was supposed to help the people who got caught up in the natural disasters! If he hated his family and friends, it is alright, why include the civilians in his schemes? I lost my sweet daughter and wife because of him! And you tell me not to kill him? Over your dead body!”
The man's anger was visible on his face as he spittled all over the place.
“The darn man also refused the King’s order, he gathered some aristocrats all over the town and tried to rebel, marched into the city with two thousand soldiers and two hundred elite Arcaners, that cost a lot of lives of the civilians!”
“The aristocrats weren't spared! He murdered a lot of those greedy people too, he’s a cold-blooded criminal!”
“Criminal is an understatement, that man is a crazy tyrant!”
“Thankfully, his fiancee was smart enough to team up with the second prince, or else, would that poor woman have survived?”
“For a man who is supposed to be a premium Arcaner, Rex, you sure listen to nonsense a lot!” A breezy voice came from above and a figure jumped from the roof of another building before landing next to Rex, claded in the same black with golden stripe outfit as Rex.
It was obvious that they belonged to the same level–a premium Arcaner, the top position a person can get in the Arcane Hall.
“What Premium Arcaner? That's just a fancy name for a shadow assassin! In fact, the whole establishment must be some sort of shady shits. We don't care if you two are seasoned killers, we civilians spent a lot of time training before approaching this Mansion, we won't back down too!” Another protest ran out through the crowd and the new man scoffed.
“Seems like you all aren't ready to listen the easy way,” He said nonchalantly and the other man's face twisted.
“Right back at you!”
The new man unsheathed his sword then radiated a cold blue glare, bouncing off the coldness of the night and approached the men quickly, Rex tried to stop him. He wasn't quick enough but someone else was, in a blink, there was a big blur among the people.
A moment later, their Lord stood before them, several dead men laid behind him.
“Young Lord!” Rex exclaimed in horror.
“Rex, Oliver,” The man regarded with a glance in their direction before he faced forward, Oliver nodded while Rex sighed.
“Those men are civilians! Why did you kill them off?!”
Oliver shrugged. “They wanted to kill him, should he sit and beg them?”
“But still!”
“It only adds to the unending list of wicked things that I have done, this would hardly make it to the top ten,” The Young Lord's voice was authoritative and gentle at the same time.
“No, it won't. ‘His Majesty and Royal Highness’ made sure of that,” Oliver's voice didn't hide the malice in his words.
“Don't encourage him! At this rate, there would be nothing more to do than submit to them!” Rex chided him and he rolled his eyes.
“Haven't we though?” The Young Lord's voice was lifeless and resigned which made the other men stare at him in concern.
It was only then that they noticed that his usually prim and proper dark hair was matted to his forehead and tiny cuts decorated his face with blue eyes tinged with redness, his hands were bleeding profusely and soaking through his sleeves, there were also splashes of blood which were obviously from other people all over his torn clothes.
Rex's and Oliver's eyes widened in disbelief, the young lord of Arcane Mansion never wore torn clothes and heaven forbids that at any time of the day, he didn't look like he just dressed up.
“What the hell happened to you?!” Oliver asked, squeezing his arms which made him winced and Oliver quickly removed his hand which was now stained with blood.
The Young Lord ignored his question.
“Prince Kadel killed my parents and siblings, I had to detain my loyal friends and send my family on exile because that was the only way to protect them, His Majesty ordered me to wage war against all neighboring cities and remain at the forefront– there was no need for war, we were perfectly at peace.
I declined and brought back the soldiers he secretly sent me and somehow, they ended up dead because I brought them to revolt against the king and I managed to seize the relief brought to the civilians while I was at it too?” He coughed and brought his hand to cover his mouth.
Both guards stared at him wordlessly, there was really nothing to say, it was the reality they were all forced to face.
They could only watch as everyone in the country continued to curse the Arcane Establishment, believe the lies they were fed and spit over their Young Lord, without being able to do anything.
“The other friends I thought were loyal would rather let themselves be suspected as my accomplices for rebellion rather than help me clear my name.
My ‘fiance’, who my family helped her family from scratch, raced into the arms of the second prince and told all the secrets about the Arcane Establishment because I refused to let her family be key members of the whole thing.” He scoffed and both guards ball their hands into fist tightly as they remembered the events, death, and humiliations they have witnessed in the past few days.
“The King that I spent my entire youth being loyal to ended up being nothing more than a tyrant who was greedy and suspicious of me. He wanted me gone because I was a threat to his throne, because of the numbers of enemy territories I had captured in his name.”
The Young Lord laughed sorrowfully, the sound carried deep melancholy and extreme regret which made any listener's heart squeeze in pain and distress.
“What a joke! I should have listened to my father and stayed loyal to Arcane Hall, I shouldn't have ventured to be a soldier, talk less of becoming a general that commanded a lot of soldiers– soldiers that I buried with my own hand than I commanded with my voices.
If I had stayed home, they wouldn't have lost their lives carelessly to assassins, my parents would be here and I would have caught wind of what my fiance was up to with the second prince when I was at the war front.” He shrugged, but the deep regrets and heavy sorrow in his gaze betrayed his nonchalance.
“It's too late to regret now, it won't do anybody any good,” he seemed to be convincing himself of that.
“You are right!” They heard behind them and they turned at the same time a figure entered through the front gate, behind him were a lot of swordsmen and he had also stationed a lot of archers all over the roof. “There's no good in regretting now, you are going to die tonight.”
It was Prince Malek.
The second prince of Visteria and his fiancee’s new husband.
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“Intermediate Level.” The judge added and Ashton, along with some other students turned to look at him in surprise.“How on earth did you know that?” Ashton asked, glancing at Lila who was already walking away with a sad expression, Elaris just looked away.“Tarex Cald,” One of the judges called.“Look, Tarex is next!”“It is obvious that he would be the one that would be the topper of this exam.”“Yeah, his siblings have always won—no matter what competition they were in. I must say that Lord Cald is truly blessed.”Chatters ensued as the boy’s name was called, all eyes fixed on the young man who was walking to the judges, taking his good time.He was dressed in the finest material made from cottens that were imported into Astrad from Embrayl, his shirt and trouser suited him perfectly well and the green color e chose greatly enhanced his skin color.“Look, who’s next? He is the third child of Lord Cald, who just happened to be our first city lord,” Ashton began to explain to Elaris.
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“Good, serve him right, his question is the trickiest today,” Dax said with a victorious nod.“I can’t imagine him entering the Academy with us,” One of his two friends who had challenged Elaris earlier said.“There’s no need for you to imagine it. He is not going to enter with us.” Another agreed.Just ten seats away from them, a man sitting beside Tarex turned to him.“What do you think, Tarex?”He was dressed in a white material that wasn't as smooth as Tarex’s but it was not inferior in matters of quality. The difference in color just made their similarities in features prominent.The same brown eyes and brown hair was enough pointer that they were related.“I don’t know brother,” he replied. “The guy is too weird. I heard that he predicted Lila’s grade and also said that my question was the simplest of all.He might win it but I am sure that he is not going to top my score, Lan!”“Topping your score is hard, your result is Master level,” Lan said and Tarex nodded before they turne
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“The poison backfired on the girl, didn't it?” Elaris asked suddenly and the man’s weapon stopped a few inches from Caden's neck.His eyes widened in shock before he whirled over to turn to Elaris, the others exhaled in relief, they were also shocked that he went for Caden instead of any of them but when they thought about it again, it wasn't surprising.“No fair! Trying to hurt the only lady among us.” Oliver scolded as he moved closer to Caden to check his condition.The man’s attention was on Elaris who met his gaze confidently.“H-how did you know about that?” He stuttered and Elaris stared at him from head to toe once again before he shrugged.There was a faint scent of blood and poison on the man, but the splashes on his clothes were bright red that might have been gotten on his during the hunt for a killing but very dark red that a poisoned person coughed out.His sudden request for money also solidified his suspicion, of course, they were bandits who tried to take something fr
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“Ashton! You are here!” Caden exclaimed and Ashton nodded, glancing at him briefly before his gaze was back on the bandit leader and Elaris.The men were already attacking them when they saw that their leader had taken the lead with Elaris, a few blows were exchanged and the sounds of steel colliding was heavy in the air.The man was tall and heavy while Elaris was fast and nimble, putting the former in disadvantage, it didn't help matters that it was just the perfect place suitable for Elaris movements.The fight was over as fast as it had commenced, the men who were fighting Oliver, Caden and Rex also retreated when they saw that their leader had surrendered–it wouldn't make any sense if they continued the futile fight.“We surrender, you can go,” the leader grunted quite harshly, still glaring at Elaris who remained unbothered with a side eye.Even though it might not seem like it to any other person,the bandit leader was very aware that he wasn't on Elaris' level. There was also a
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Oliver hit his back on a tree and slid down while Caden relaxed on another, Elaris remained standing in front of the beast and studying it. The white belly had turned utterly black, merging with the rest of the color of the beast.He remembered what he had once heard one of his teachers say; An Ashcrawler’s color is only united at death.This event had made him realize how much he had missed while he trained at home and never left the military camp, training to be on a higher level.Sure, he had heard of different kinds of beast while he was at home here and there but he never truly faced one and didn't feel the need to study intensively about it because he believed he had no business with it.And he had had none.By the time he was general and earned the king’s approval, monsters had long disappeared from the land and only met once in a blue moon.Now, years back in the past, he discovered that he had no true extensive knowledge of beasts and monsters, and his ignorance almost cost t
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If the ember filled cracks wasn't enough to confirm its identity, then the molten pus that dripped down its jaws and caused everything it landed on to turn to ask was more than sufficient.“What the fuck is that?” Oliver asked in a semi trembling tone while Caden looked like he had frozen up.“Curse my luck,” Rex mumbled.“It is an Ashcrawler.” Elaris replied and Oliver’s eyes widened dramatically before he turned his attention back to the monster that was just standing there and seemed to be observing them–it was hard to tell with things that had no intelligence.They are spider-crab hybrid creatures with scorched, obsidian like shells, which hide in ruined abandoned places and are drawn to the heat of conflict.Considering the fact that they were close to the border where irritable soldiers and citizens collide, it wasn't surprising to see it here. Nethrowl was also the perfect place for its existence, since it is a dry city with little to no source of water bodies.“How are we goin
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Elaris blinked once, then twice as he stared at the second woman who he had started to see some similarities between her and Jaxon.The similarities between her and Max weren't that potent but that was because Max looked especially like his mother while both Jaxon and Elaira took after their father, Dax was a mix of both.Now that he knew her relationship with the household,it made sense why she felt the need to take part in their discussion and pitch in her opinion on their trip to Nethrowl.Caden had once told him that he had a stepsister,he just didn't expect that she would be off in the military with General Blackwell.Even though Hila hadn't said a single word since they entered the room, it was not hard to know from her body language that Elaira was someone that she respected and it wasn't out of fear or status.He half wondered if they had another person to deal with.“It is a pleasure to see you again, grandfather, but I would like to start making preparations for our journey
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Elaris’ eyes went over everyone who was present in the room once again before he took a step forward and properly entered, Caden was hot on his trail since he did that at the same time and closed the door behind them.“Grandfather,” He bowed to the older man who was wearing his armor. Elaris figured that he must have visited some city lords or the Dean, maybe he just did some early rounds.Despite his old age, he was a huge man who sat perfectly straight, his sharp eyes burrowed into him but Elaris didn't flinch under his heavy gaze.His head was lowered respectfully but it was obvious that he wasn't cowering, he remained in that position until he finally cleared his throat and addressed him.“Max told me that you have changed your name once again,” he said and Elaris straightened himself.“Yes.” he replied, his gaze went to Max for a fleeting moment and saw that he had a sardonic smirk on his lips.It wasn't hard to figure that Mad had ratted on him because the older man had expresse
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“Care to tell us what happened now that all of us are here?” Rex cut straight to the chase when everyone was sitting at the field where Caden used to train.Caden had made everyone go to sleep the night before because he believed that it was late and things like this were better discussed in the morning.Then he had made sure that the five of them were gathered before he allowed himself to be asked any questions.“It happened all of a sudden, at least a month ago?” Caden scratched the back of his head as he mused over the timeline. “There were these guys in the market and they seemed to have kidnapped a child. This place is close knit and it was immediately noticed that these men were strangers and the kid had been deceived by them.”All the four men looked at each other with silent understanding, Elaris furrowed his brows while Ashton couldn't control a frown too.They didn't expect that the men would stretch their capabilities to a city with less crowds.“There aren't some men prete
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“And that we can't do,” Ashton replied and Rex scoffed.“What I just saw didn't look like something that you can't do. Everyone saw you when you channelled your energy to those knives.” Rex motioned to the knives which had gone back to looking ordinary.Elaris had also walked closer to them, and he had a blank look in his eyes as he continued to stare at Ashton.“I had no idea how that was possible, one minute I was fighting an assassin over there and the next minute I was here and blocking the assassin with knives and channeling into it.” Ashton's voice was also laced in confusion as he stared at his hands with furrowed brows.“Are you telling me that you suddenly did it out of the urgency you felt to save us? It doesn't work that way. Energy is born with people and it has been known for the past centuries that Astradians aren't born with it, talk less of channeling it.” Rex said.“Can you do it again?” Elaris asked and Ashton shook his head when he tried and was able to come up with
Chapter 52: Yet Again
“Finally! We are going back!” Ashton said as he mounted his horse, he unraveled his fan sophisticatedly and Lord Rades stared at him in amusement.“You make it look like we haven't been treating you well during your stay,” Lord Rades replied.“Maybe you haven't, I had to share a room with this leech.” He replied glaring at Oliver who glared back at him.Rex was standing off to the side with a scowl on his face, he hadn't been able to convince Oliver to stay back in Embrayl and now he was following them too out of sheer suspicion.“Didn't matter if you wanted it or not, like I said, Genius Circle Hall is my good luck charm, I have never seen a lot of coins around like it did in Embrayl.” Oliver said before he walked to his horse which was standing beside Ashton's. He crouched down and took something from the floor. “For example, this again.”He raised another copper coin to them and Rex couldn't stop the groan of exasperation. Oliver removed a pocket and raised it in the air.It was fu
