...
Bastian was getting bored. His attempt at improving his reaction speed was becoming more and more pointless as time went on, because Tate's swings became slower and easier to predict.
This was not only because the giant was tiring, but also because Bastian's eyes were adjusting. Thus when Bastian saw that Tate had stopped, he decided to put an end to this farce.
Bastian's mind had finally returned to what could be said to be a good place but he was still not his usual self.
Be it Bastian from Earth or Sebastian from the Sovereign Continent, both were very calm and hard to anger. They were very passive in terms of emotions and would never get enraged in the truest sense of the word.
Now that the two personas had fused, they had changed each other. Bastian had come out on top over his far younger companion. Thus, it was more accurate to say that Bastian had devoured Sebastian. Either way, the new Bastian was different from both of his former personas. One of those differences was about to come out.
This new aspect of the new Bastian was ruthlessness.
Bastian Smith was kind hearted, Sebastian Tirius was also soft. Yet when both souls fused and bore a third, much darker side.
Bastian's wisdom and knowledge of the human mind, coupled with Sebastian's knowledge of the true nature of the Sovereign Continent, had led Bastian to a conclusion; Kindness to your enemy is cruelty to yourself.
Tate was a stranger to Bastian. He did not know the man. But Bastian would not hesitate to kill the giant, especially considering that his survival hinged on this battle.
So why had Bastian not killed the man now that he had no use? The answer is simple.
"Old man, I am about to kill you, but before I do I need you to help me out with something, and tell me where I am. Specifically what Country and City this is."
Bastian's question baffled the audience. What kind of person would request a favor from someone he was about to kill? Especially in such a nonchalant manner.
Bastian's face was no different from the face you would have when you were talking to a friend.
He had a smile that was not a smile. His expression was relaxed and he had his guard down.
The audience knew very well that Bastian was relaxed because he had Tate within the palm of his hands. But his shameless act of asking a favor from a man, whom he had just toyed with and was about to slaughter, had surprised quite a bit of people.
The smarter people in the audience, people like Kai were speechless for an entirely different reason.
He doesn't know what country he is in?
Bastian looked very relaxed, and he had asked what country he was in, as if he was asking for the time of day!
Absurd, just who is this youth?
"You are in the Blue Seas Alliance, in the City of Yani."
"Hhmm what is the date?"
"The 1st of May 4130 E.D."
"Hhmm that's good. Thanks for helping me out. I owe you one."
"Nonsense, it's the least I could do, after all. You are helping me."
At Tate's odd statement, Bastian merely shrugged.
Meanwhile in the booth containing Kai and his Master...
"Kai, do you believe in miracles?"
"No young master."
"If not a miracle then what are we looking at?
"Two mentally ill people young master."
Kai's Master put his hand under his chin and entered into a state of deep thought. He was really trying to understand what was occurring before him.
That was when Bastian opened his mouth.
"Tate, I'm attacking. Get ready."
"Alright, come at me."
Bastian loosed up his body and made a crouching pose, looking to pounce on Tate. Tate raised his sword in a defensive manner. Assuming a stance that said 'I will block everything you can give me.'
Meanwhile somewhere else...
"Kai, do you see the sparring match before us?"
"No young master."
"If not a sparring match, then what are we looking at?"
"A death match....I think."
The moment Kai finished speaking, Bastian pounced.
His feet pushed off the ground, launching his relatively small body toward his foe. His left hand was reaching out, while his right hand was lingering on his back.
Tate stood there, like a large rock that could brave the force of a large wave of water. Tate's intention was simple, the moment Bastian touched his sword, he would smash him onto the ground.
Tate, like most of the veterans in the arena, knew the hardness the gauntlets had, coupled with Bastian's lightning fast reaction speed, Tate knew he would not be able to cut the boy.
But even if one could prevent himself from being cut by the blade, the force behind it could still damage him.
Tate's instinct told him that he was at death's door, yet his logic told him that he had a fighting chance. The moment Bastian headed straight for the gloves, Tate knew that there was a dragon amongst snakes.
Even if the young warrior is faster than me, even if he is quite strong, there is no way he can damage me without a weapon!
Tate had seen Bastian's strength when he had smashed the blind disaster into the ground. The cracks spread all along the arena floor.
If I was to concentrate my strength into one blow, I could do the same! No, I could go further!
With this naïve thought, Tate tensed his muscles, and got ready to smash Bastian into the ground.
Bastian could tell what the giant was thinking, but this did not change his thinking one bit.
The moment Bastian's hand gripped the sword with a roar; Tate put all his strength into his sword in an attempt to swing it down.
The sword started moving, but it was not in the direction Tate wanted, instead, the sword was being taken away from the giant's grasp. Bit by bit, Tate was losing his grip.
What? What is this?
Tate and the audience had expected a fast paced collision, with Bastian relying on his fast pace to get the better of Tate. Yet the completely unexpected occurred.
Yes, Bastian had taken advantage of his speed. But not to dodge the large sabre and counter, instead, his intention was to grip the sword.
"Now you have nothing to protect yourself with."
Bastian's words brought Tate and the audience back to reality.
To Tate's horror, Bastian had completely stripped the giant of his sabre.
The giant wanted to jump back, but unfortunately for him, Bastian had already gripped him with his other hand. It was at this point that Tate realized the fact that had led to his death.
He is stronger than me.
Tate was taller than Bastian by quite a bit, so at that moment, he was looking down at the boy, yet he felt like he looking up at a god.
With an arm breaking yank, Bastian pulled the giant closer.
The giant attempted to use his free hand to strike while he was falling, hoping to use the weight of his fall to supplement his momentum.
Bastian used his other hand to catch the giant's hand. He had already tossed the sabre aside. Then, like he had just done, he yanked, further hastening the giant's fall.
The result was that the giant was forced into a kneeling position.
With a loud thud, his knees greeted the bloody floor. Then with a quick movement, Bastian attacked.
Yet he attacked with neither of his feet. Instead, he used his only other available option, his head.
Bastian's head met with Tate's skull. A cracking noise, like twigs being snapped, resounded throughout the arena.
The giant did not understand Bastian's motive. Bastian had opportunities to strike. He could have hit his eyes, his ears, twisted his neck, or even cut him with his sword. Yet Bastian chose such a brutish method of victory.
Blood started flowing from Tate's ears and nose. His death was only seconds away. Even though Bastian's work was done, he did not separate his head from the giant's body.
Instead, he let go of the already lifeless arms and gripped Tate's skull. Tate still had a bit of light in eyes. So Bastian told him the last words he would ever here. And quite the words they were.
"Tate the Smiter. You are the first man I have ever killed. I have no grudge against you nor do I despise you. But rest assured. If I truly do become worthy of my arrogant words, then your name shall never be forgotten as long as mine is remembered."
...
.....As soon as Bastian had finished his words, the light in Tate's eyes had dimmed. Bastian let go of the giant, allowing the body to fall lifelessly to the ground.Bastian walked away from the corpse and looked at his bloody hands.Nope. Don't feel anything.Bastian had thought that perhaps after taking his first human life, he would feel something. But the opposite occurred. He felt nothing.Meh, it's actually a good thing. This will make my life easier. Speaking of my life, why did the giant know I was strong?Never mind that, he's already dead. I have bigger fish to fry.Bastian looked at the unconscious white haired boy. He truly pitied him and wanted to assist him. After a few moments, an opening suddenly appeared by the wall, with armored guards walking out....Bastian was told to carry the white haired boy out of the arena as they were being led to their cells. Bastian was surprised to learn that he and the wh
Kai and his Master were being led by guards through a passage, one that lead to the cells where the slaves were kept."Young master, I understand you're very happy with what has just happened, but please keep in mind that we should leave this building as soon as possible", said Kai with a grim look on his face."You have been rushing me this whole time, and yet you refuse to tell me why. You know I don't like being rushed Kai, especially during a meal", said the young man in a matter of fact tone as he walked.I thought blood and gore sickened you, yet you immediately demanded a meal after the fight.Kai shook his head as he realized he knew less about his Master than he had thought."Either way young master, we shouldn't dally here. I have important duties to which I must attend to at home", said Kai.The young man stopped and looked at Kai, disbelief plastered on his face."What duties?""They are duties that are too menial t
...In the beautiful sky, far, far away from the Sovereign continent, in an area that is not accessible by ordinary means, stood an immense structure floating in the sky.It was a large golden city. Different kinds of buildings, from large to small, covered most of its surface. They were all unique in some way. Be it in shape, size and position. Yet they all had something in common, gold.All of the structures were golden, shining brilliantly in a manner that made it hard to dislike. The entire city, from top to bottom, was covered in those golden buildings, making the entire city shine, its splendor made it look like it was made by the caring hands of deities. Or rather to be more accurate, it was.The city had many floating structures above it, giving one the impression that the city was divided into levels. Judging from the outer appearance, one could even say that the higher one went, the sites were more lavish and the surroundings looked more imposing.At the highest level of the
...Minister Sky was a simple man. He had little ambition and was very comfortable with his life. Having a position in the imperial court, one could even say he was high ranking. Well at least compared to most.Amongst his colleagues, he was quite pitiful. He was usually mocked and scorned. Due to his low rank and his simple way of doing things, he did not mind. He was quite happy with living out his days the way they were.This was Coiling Dragon City, a monolith that controlled countless lands. It was run by the imperial court, which was composed of Ministers.These Ministers each had a role to play in the running of the city. Minister Sky's role was sanitation. It was his role to make sure that the city was clean.The citizens of the city were not ordinary beings. They were all special, and were naturally clean. In other words Minister Sky and his department had little to do. Which is why no faction desired him to be replaced even though he is lazy and simple minded.The court was
Of all the people I had to meet, under these circumstances, it had to be him.Even though he had a smile on his face, his heart was in turmoil. It was a necessary façade; he couldn't let the pain get the best of him."Come let us go! Its fate that you are here as well"Before Sky could react, Li had grabbed Sky's hand and was headed straight for the Ambevilius.Wait what is he doing!?Sky started panicking; he wanted to avoid being involved with Li, at any cost. But his nature made him unable to act. He did not like Minister Li but also did not want to offend him. One could even say that Sky feared Li more than Titus himself!Due to his personal inner conflict, Sky did not notice that he was nearing Ambevilius himself. By the time he had noticed, it was too late.Ambevilius had come for one reason and one reason only. Normally he would not even run his own Empire, let alone attend these meetings. He preferred to spend his time indulging in carnal pleasures.The moment he heard Ministe
"Your Highness, might I suggest something before we decide on this matter?"After Ambevilius had made his proclamation, Minister Filo walked out from the crowd and appeared before the Emperor."Filo, what kind of suggestion?" said Ambevilius.Everyone turned their attention to Filo. "Your Highness, in order to become a successor one must either have passed the 1000 benchmark or one must be very gifted. This Sebastian Tirius is a name none of us have ever heard; this shows that he is not noteworthy. Even though Minister Li has the right to choose who he wants to invest in, it is unfair to the candidates who are more worthy of becoming successors.We should at least ask Minister Li why he has chosen an unknown candidate. I believe his words would put the rest of the investors at ease. Every time other candidates were chosen, their information was known by all, yet none of us here know of this candidate. Don't you think this is a little...unfair?"Filo's words struck a chord with almost
In the dark space, Bastian sat cross legged, observing the white haired boy on the other side of the transparent barrier. A look of contemplation was on his face, as he struggled internally with what to do next.*Buzz*Then suddenly a loud buzzing noise, like a swarm of bees, entered Bastian's ears.Sigh, here it comes again.In preparation for what was about to come, Bastian sat upright and backed away from the barrier.Although the Soul Force membrane could not get past the barrier, it could at least illuminate the surrounding area, showing what was happening on the other side.The white haired boy got up the moment he heard the buzzing, then, in frenzy, he backed himself into the barrier, completely ignoring Bastian's presence.The source of the buzzing was directly where the white haired boy was looking at. The white haired boy screamed, as if he was suffering excruciating agony. The louder the buzzing sound became, the closer the source of the sound was.At some point, the source
Shit! The creatures are here!Indeed. The dreadful ghost like creatures had returned for another round of their attacks on the white haired boy. Except this time, the white haired boy was not alone, Bastian was with him.Bastian had been thinking about quite a few things while practicing with his Soul Force. For example, would he be able to fend off the creatures? Would they even attack him? Would they show up if the barrier was brought down?At this point, Bastian was a few meters away from the white haired boy and he chose to remain there. The intimidating appearance of the creatures was a bit too stimulating for the scholar.OK. This is scary.Looking from the barrier, had given Bastian a sense of security. So even though he was intimidated by the creatures, he was still able to stand being close to them. But at that moment, the barrier had disappeared.Bastian tried to soothe himself using logic.I destroyed the barrier, and the creatures couldn't pass the barrier. So logically sp
The streets of Yani City were abandoned for the city was under siege. The usual hustle and bustle of the markets, the shouting and cursing from the arena and the footsteps of civilians were now like ghosts of memories past. No one would have accepted that this was a previously active peak C-class city. Repeated attacks from previous years had taught them many a painful lesson, especially when it came to evacuation procedures. The entire city had been safely evacuated to a large underground bunker by the Dwight family members.As the de facto leaders of the city, they had the ability to mobilise all city resources under them. The troops provided by the Yorks made sure the civilians followed the orders and kept the peace while the Cole provided provisions. The large bunker was under the stewardship of the Oxlade family.At an intersection, in one of the richest districts in the city, an area considered just outside the Dwight family compound, stood a relaxed Guy, looking at the sky. He
Let's rewind time a bit to understand what was happening. All the bigshots of the Cole family and Shasha family had gathered together. Bastian had put together a plan, and they were getting told what to do."First is the southern wall. This will be the only defensive battle on our hands, so it makes sense to have most of our soldiers there. Vermaelen will take most of General Moto's soldiers and hold the wall for us. This job is probably the most simple yet most pivotal.The aquatic daemons will have to climb over the wall to have any chance, so all Vermaelen has to do is keep them away from the wall. If that's hard, then take care of them if they climb it."Vermalaen grunted in response. General Moto was uncomfortable handing her his troops, but he trusted Bastian so he nodded, giving his blessing."Both Sula and General Moto, select and take the most elite soldiers from both armies and make a second group. This group shall move in tandem with Tino
Every ten or so years Yani City would accept a new batch of mercenaries within their city. The unsuspecting mercenaries usually came from far away lands, so they had no clue regarding the tragedies that would befall them from the horde. On the Sovereign Continent, wars were as numerous as the stars in the night sky.Plenty of cities and countries would rely on mercenaries to deal with the problems that plagued the, with Yani city being no exception. The difference between the weak and strong however became apparent at this point, with the strong cites having strong home grown armies.Onismo York stood above a pile of daemon corpses.These were some of the birds that had made it over the wall. Onismo had stationed his men just behind the west and north side of the wall just in case the mercenaries were overwhelmed.The man was adorned in armour from head to toe while his right hand held a large battle axe that was far bigger than what his body should be able
Kitrid started breaking into a cold sweat, because Meera's point was quite valid. Best way to deal with a horde this size is to deal with the alpha. The problem was that in this case the alpha might be too strong for them to handle, so Kitrid was not sure how they were going to go about it."What is taking Tyson so long? The support he promised should be here by now" Kitrid was fighting on the east wall facing the south east direction from which the horde was coming from. Due to the fact that his troops faced the full brunt of the horde, the elder council had promised support. Tyson Cole represented the elders by giving his word that he would send reinforcement if they were in dire straits.At the moment they had lost thousands of men. Thousands more were injured and even more were to fall in battle if this were to continue. The birds in the sky and the beasts on the ground formed a perfect combination minimizing all the advantages Kitrid and his troops had. 
Bastian sat in the Cole family garden. It was a charming botanical wonder full of flowers Bastian had never seen before and well trimmed trees and hedges in neat little rows. Soon the plan would be put into action, and Bastian's mind had been racing. Several gardeners were tending to the maize of stunning flora. His clothes were fine and comfortable, provided by Tyson Cole while Bastian had been living under his house to prepare for the ensuing battle that was to come. His hair was growing again, in fact he found it grew quite quickly, but Bastian had become accustomed to keeping it short.He had been taking walks in Tyson Cole's garden more frequently in the past few days, choosing to seclude himself in meditative isolation as much as he possibly could, and he knew why. Since the deafening roar – no, that was too recent – since he had woken up in a foreign body in this foreign land and trapped with this foreign soul inside him that claimed to have become a
She regained her footing and prepared to fire again. The thunderbird was busy snapping at something. She realised it was one of her men that the alpha thunderbird must have snatched as it swept over the wall.A few more chomps and it swallowed, leaving a dismembered leg to fall limp to the ground. Meera conjured another bow and began firing arrow-lances like crazy. With amazing agility it dodged them all and returned for another bite.it was clear the alpha was faster and stronger than normal thunderbirds, but Meera kept firing. As it swept over the wall again it snatched up another soldier with its tremendous jaws and took another one in its talons. The soldier trapped in its talons was still alive and was struggling to get free. The alpha thunderbird simply squeezed and there was a crunching noise. The soldier stopped struggling. The talons released him and he fell limp all the way to the hard ground.The alpha thunderbird made another hundred and eighty degree
He was one of Kit's commanders and had been charged to hold the eastern wall. Now as the behemoths came closer he found that all the thoughts that had plagued him earlier. All the uncertainty seemed to fade away. Now his mind was clear, except for one thought. It was of her. He imagined her waiting for him in the city after the battle, and held on tight to the memory. They were getting closer now. Large, herbivorous behemoths with three large horns arranged in a triangle; two on its head and one on at the tip of its snout. They shook the earth as they knocked down anything in their way. If they got through then the city would definitely fall.Suddenly something heavy came down on him. He hadn't expected it. It knocked his horse over, throwing him to the ground. it was the corpse of a thunderbird that had been slain in mid-air. As he fell he spun around and kicked the thunderbird into the path of an oncoming behemoth. The lumbering beast tripped on the corpse, resulting in a d
Yani city itself was situated on a large desert island. the island itself was about the size of a small country. The daemon horde usually came from the far south east region of the island where there was a vast jungle that had not yet been consumed by the desert. While the inhabitants of the city could leave whenever they wanted, the island happened to be rich in one thing: minerals, and lots of them. This is what had drawn humans to the island and forced them to stay. Now the city was thriving and it was too late to turn back.As Kit scanned the horizon all he could see was sand and trees until the point where the sky touched the ground. But there was no doubt about it, the horde was coming. He turned around on Valo, to face his men."Listen." He said, calmly. His voice was loud and clear, and as the archers on top of the walls were all cultivators he knew he didn't have to speak very loud for them to hear him. "Can you hear it?" as the wind faded into the backg
Kit took a deep breath. His heart was racing, but his mind was surprisingly clear. Maybe he just couldn't hear himself think against the blaring noise of the sirens of Yani city warning them all of what was coming, a constant reminder of the impending doom in Kit's ears.His uniform was new, or it may have been Kit had never seen actual battle, which did little to inspire his men's faith in him. He led a band of mercenaries that had been hired by the elders of the city about ten years earlier for this very purpose. It was less a band and more like a small army and for ten years they had known the horde was coming. They had talked about this day, trained for it, and waited for it for ten years. Now the day had arrived and the city expected to get its money's worth.It was obvious that the past ten years had been all talk for most of the mercenaries belonging to the avenging shield mercenary group. They wore light black leather uniform. Kit, their commander,