CHAPTER 135

  THE BLUEFIRE KNIGHT

  People were angry, they couldn’t see what they had paid to see. But none dared to shout or stand for even a second. The shadow of the owl spirit still hung above them as if someone had affixed it in the sky covering the sun

  If that behemoth existence even flapped once, the colosseum could collapse and they would get buried beneath it. Everyone understood that, so they didn’t dare a squeak.

  Only warlords and Warlocks moved, covering the whole arena with runes and wards. Preparing for what everyone fearing. Even Eleanor was compelled to summon his guardian spirit. That reluctantly used its so-called unbreakable dome to cover whole colosseum.

  Eleanor never had faced this Solunox, heck he didn’t even heard of it till recently.

  But he with others were curious, a man capable of summoning that spirit what he could be doing where he had taken Martys.

  Theodred had dominated the battle from the start unlike his previous duels where he was calm and collected. But this was different, he was ferral from the moment he saw Martys and him walking the arena covered in blood from head to toe and the scene which was later reported—a bloodbath in outskirts of the capital. All of that suggested what the night must’ve been for the young knight.

  But unbeknownst to them, inside the summoned spirit world, Hans was struggling.

  There was only two fire knights under top ten. Where Adrian was known to use Parvian bloodline to overpower his opponents. Martys was a pure force to be reckon with.

  His blue fire could even burn the fire itself. But thanks to Amateran tiger disappearing. The heat was toned down by several margins. Yet this was enough for giving Hans a life threatening trouble.

  Fighting a fire knight as the big giant behemoth made of tree—the elder form was the bad idea. But it was his most powerful form.

  Having stripped that. The difficulty level was significantly risen.

  Now Hans understood why every one warned him not to fight Martys. A warlord with Amateran tiger was unstoppable. For a brief moment he thought how strong the higher ranks has to be so Martys couldn’t climb higher after taking Reina’s rank.

  “How dare you drift your mind when facing me.” Another swing came, a swift duck had saved Hans but not the green army that was bothering Martys giving him some breathing room. This UndyingArmy is what made him hero of Grimgar and saved the countless lives of southern elves in the civil war.

  But they were like a dry twig against Martys’s Ablaze skill.

  “You bastard. They cost a lot you stupid.” He cried looking at his burning army.

  VoidZone

  The world stilled, everything paused. Only a mana line aiming at the chest piece of Martys pulsed and on it another Longshot charged with photons was shot.

  “CLANG!!”

  Another piece or artefact fell infuriating Martys further. This was his fourth defensive artefact negated.

  Effective immediately, the VoidZone broke and Martys launched himself back. Creating the distance. He was a cautious man who would blow before even taking a single step.

  Seen Theodred fight, came up with many strategies to torture him to death to teach Reina a hard lesson.

  But never in the million years. He could or anybody else could think that Theodred was the Parvian Prince whom Clandor was so vigilant about.

  He was an entire new flavour for him and he wasn’t liking it much.

  Three swift steps forward and a hand in a punching position filled with massive photon energy aimed at the general location of Martys.

  “Take this.” Hans cried before Martys could gain a proper foothold.

  SolarStorm

  The small world shuddered, few cracks appearing in Hans’s conjured reality but he didn’t care. All he was focussing on was Martys failing to dodge the attack.

  And he was right. Martys wasn’t of much speed to begin with but was expert in raw power and his power wasn’t fully returned since the backlash of Spirit dying.

  “Fuck.” He cursed and defended with what he could.

  Solar storm was a fury incarnate of ManaStrom that shredded anything with strained mana. But filled with Photons, it added extreme heat amid it.

  Crossing his arms with his sword and facing it with his remaining pauldron. Martys resisted the outlash.

  Being the blue fire knight and having a compatible spirit gave him an invulnerability to fire but it wasn’t the same for his artefact since charged photons were excellent in breaking runes.

  Even the dwarves had failed to come up with a solution. And Martys learned it a hard way. He believed the best defence was the offence. Never focussed on any defensive skills, relied on artefact his family had provided.

  But now that was gone.

  He resisted, but it seemed there was no end to Hans’s depleting mana, one after another big spells were being used, Martys was waiting for his mana to exhaust but it wasn’t the case.

  “How are you still going on. Does your mana have no end.” He cried shaking off the SolarStorm effect.

  “Do you homework you ignorant moron. And you want to stand against Parv. Man, Clandor is doomed.” Hans spat hard and with his cry came the upgraded VeganBind, slithering and quickly grabbing his one or two limbs.

  An opening.

  Blastbullets.

  Six simultaneous photon Seedbullets were fired. Four got deflected, one dodged but the last hit the back of his head.

  Boom!

  Stolen story; please report.

  An explosion right at his head.

  “You fucker” Martys swung his sword again, filled with blue fire aura—the Ablaze skill— but Hans leapt the little sky. Swiftly dodging.

  “Damn it. Curse you Reina.” Martys cried looking at the blessing of Wind work before him. “That was supposed to be mine. My family’s heirloom.” He hissed. “Did your mother gave it to you—”

  Swoosh! Another longshot right at Martys groin. “How do you like me getting personal. I warned you not to say that.”

  Something shattered, making Hans stop for a minute. “Damn, this bastard was really wearing an artefact in under.”

  In a fury Martys began to swing sword in every direction. ‘Blessing of the wind’ wasn’t as fast as wings of freedom but against someone who wasn’t fast either. It served the purpose.

  Hans avoided almost every bluefire ablaze but another skill of Martys got free from the shackles—Blackfyre—the blue turned black and became heavier and slow but they weren’t aimed at Hans only at the summoned world he was trapped in.

  He had realised, Hans was the king of this place and his lost aura was returning way slower inside this dome.

  Pft! Hans chuckled, “do you think your puny fire could do something to my spirit world—” in a moment he was forced to eat his hat. The world began to crack as the black fire began to gnaw it, little by little.

  Even the people in colosseum began to see threads like crack in the invisible barrier of arena.

  “How about this fucker.” Martys smiled sinister after a long long time. The blackfyre consumed a lot of his aura and without Amateran tiger, it strained him hard but it was worth it.

  Soon, the world would know what was happening inside.

  “So, you were saying something—half breed,”

  “You?” Now Hans understood why Delimira wouldn’t want to hear those words. They stirred something inside. He turned even colder. “You sir just expedited your expiry date—I don’t give a damn now.”

  VoidZone.

  The world again stilled, pausing even the ash and dust. And taking in a massive chunk of solar energy he expanded his influence.

  Every living thing, grass and trees, even the soil began to disintegrate.

  SunFieldSanctuary

  He called on and the whole void zone began to burn in scorching heat. Even the resistance of Martys was taking toll. The spirit world was showing cracks at multiple location. Widening one after another.

  He was affixed to the sky raining down like a god’s judgement. A significant disadvantage of using VoidZone and his sanctuary. But the opponent has to be capable of exploiting it.

  And Hans knew Martys was. So he began to harass him with Blastseeds, one after another aiming from high.

  The sanctuary had weaken the effect of VoidZone as always, allowing a little manoeuvre. But it was also stopped by Hans’s constant attacks.

  The sanctuary had another effect and Martys was feeling it too. He was dehydrating constantly. His body turning slower and VoidZone getting stronger.

  Martys felt like he was in some hot vicious liquid. He cried in annoyance aiming at every parvian’s ego, “Does fighting like this—cornering me—using my weakness—does it bring honour to you.”

  “No.” Hans denied calm. “But it sure does bring JOY.”

  MUTILATE.

  A cry muffled in shot fired from Hans.

  And Martys’s world silenced by his own cries of getting shredded like his people the yesterday night.

  He resisted, tried to burn the sharp string like tentacles gnawing his inside with his blackfyre. But it brought him to his knees, trying to do everything to contain it. The world was shattering, the glass like barrier falling like debris. Giving hope to Martys, that in just few moments he would be free from restrictions. “Just for a minute—”

  Swoosh!

  Hans closed the distance, his wings of freedom spanning the view and his sword coming to cleave his head. He was back to being Theodred.

  “This is kindness.”

  Shiick!

  The blackfyre burned the remain of mutilate while the evidence of being Hans got swallowed by the ground.

  He had placed several contingencies, the mana stones in yesterday’s run and took them with him when he summoned the spirit world.

  It took his all means to get the result he wanted and looking high as the barrier fall. And the Solunox fading. The audience saw an angel like figure standing, looking at the heavens while holding something in his hand.

  He casually threw the dripping head and it followed an arc with a blood trail.

  “I won.” He declared. And the crowd silenced.

  Herald reluctantly announced victory.

  The young knight had taken the eighth rank and for the first time in a while someone had unalived a high ranked knight in public. This was bound to make the dead knight allegiance come at him with full force.

  Even Samson restrained killing in his climb for not making enemies without purpose.

  But Theodred’s action carried brutal insult. Shouting without words that he didn’t fucking care.

  When the scene unfolded, the clandorian box, Reina stood close to the glass window. A smile etching from cheeks to cheek. She was satisfied as if a fishbone was removed from her throat.

  “Was it you?” Eleanor asked, doubting her wife who was amused beyond measures.

  “No, He did it. I just bend his direction.” She mumbled.

  “I thought you cared for him?” Eleanor asked, glancing at the boy who was basking in glory of an high elf execution.

  “I did. That’s why I could manipulate him to get the very result you were looking at dear husband. When he came to me first—what I saw wasn’t a rebel, a fake but he was an opportunity. I’d be fool not to take it.”

  “But you were so sincere to him, even our own children were jealous the amount of affection you gave him.”

  “Yes. Because it was true. I truly didn’t want him to clash with Martys, not even Dijkstra yet he did. He is not someone whom you could point to as you wish. Whether he was raised by good people or not, he was an orphan. What an orphan wants is undeniably his very own family.”

  She paused as the children beside her began to understand the meaning of her words. She looked them and for the first time, she patted her daughter’s head.

  A warm smile on her face. “I’ve shown my pitiful side I was sincere in doing so. Even his cold heart weakened, mine too. For as long as I've known him. He is someone who’d go to any lengths to protect whom he cares about. For a brief moment, we have bonded like one. Whether it was a duty or compulsion or his own will. He couldn’t stand me, or rather her innocent smile.” She pointed to Allynna ,“being hurt.”

  She paused for a moment.

  “He was right you know.” She added, “Our daughter really has something in her that makes you care for her—The only weapon worked on people like him was genuine affection. It worked on me in the past—it was a hard lesson I learned from the Parvian king. And now the teachings were passed.”

  “Stop talking nonsense, Reina. Now he is the enemy of whole Clandor—Shadow family will pay this debt in blood.”

  “That’s on him” she turned to Riftal her hand touching his face, trying to clean his smeared chin. “I’ve won this battle of throne without even lifting a sword. Isn’t this fascinating husband.”

  “Then why the tears Reina. You look like you’ve lost something very precious to you.”

  “I guess, I did. He is no fool. He’d have realised by now, he was being used.” She turned to the glass view. Her hand covering the silhouette of him. And with a sorrowful voice. She said to Bernard. “Relay my orders—Theodred Atelier is now a public enemy of Clandor. Those who’ll give him refuge will be seen as Clandor’s enemies.”

  “You are a scary woman Reina” Eleanor mumbled while Bernard followed the orders.

  Allynna belatedly understood the words Theodred had left him with. It was really a goodbye. He now became a spark and existence, hatred towards him will act as glue holding the Clandor together.

  Reina looked at him for the last time.

  “Now I hope you can escape this trials, Hansellidore.”

  But Theodred smiled back, his eyes filled with Lumengaze met those eyes beyond the glass. A smile as if mocking her.

  “She knew from the start. I got played.” He burst into laughter, a maddening laugh that was easily misunderstood as a psychopath enjoying his first murder. “But screw you too, mother.”

  The next moment he took out from the dimensional pocket, raising it high facing skies. “I’m ready.” He shouted as the view zoomed in on the object he was holding— a sun covered partially by darkness.

  Before the authorities could take action. The Ingress Beam fell on him and with it came the most wanted 12 men. Some hidden faces but some known as the Eclipse.