Chapter 119 Competition
"Great Lord, be wary. These Dragons might not recognize the unique Aura the Law of Wrath holds, not after the passage of so many years, but those that are familiar with it, like myself, can easily pick it out." Leader's voice was calm, but slightly earnest, as he spoke to Dorian.
"I know you wish to stay undercover for a time, and if we have to kill them, it could disrupt your plans." Leader placed a huge amount of confidence in Dorian's strength.
Dorian stared back, ruefully smiling internally.
'Don't give me that much trust, Leader. I probably couldn't even hold a candle to those two.' At his current level, there was little chance he'd survive a direct matchup against either Dragon.
Yukeli would probably be able to handle it just fine, being the genius warrior that he was, but it wasn't like he and Yukeli were on speaking terms. He didn't want to risk losing his body or soul to that man.
"I am aware, Leader." He hadn't been, actually, but now he was. The thought hadn't really crossed his mind. Still, he needed to play it up, to maintain the mental image the Pride Demon had of him.
"Of course, Great Lord." Leader nodded as if it was the most natural thing ever.
"How are things with the Dragons?" Dorian continued, rubbing his elegant chin.
Leader hadn't blinked at Dorian's new Wrath Vampire form, taking it for granted. The subtle feeling of the Law of Wrath was impossible to replicate unless one had some type of rare Wrath based Artifact.
"Hmph. The gold one, Aiden, is arrogant. I've butted heads with him a few times on deck, to show him the errors of his ways, but made no overt moves otherwise." Leader's unerring pride seemed to force him to confront anyone that was daring to act arrogant around him.
"As for the quiet one, the Wise Jade Dragon, she keeps mostly to herself."
Dorian had spent the better part of an hour focused purely on his new understanding of the Law of Wrath. Because his Soul Spell Matrix was already at the Lord Class, he technically should be able to draw upon the Law of Wrath to imbue it within his attacks or use it in unique manners.
Unfortunately, he didn't actually know anything about the Law of Wrath, beyond some basic info he'd gained from Leader. He didn't know any secret techniques, like what Leader had explained was the 'Super State' his Law of Pride allowed him to access.
If he wanted to discover what else he could do, he'd need to bumble around, testing on his own, or seek out an inheritance of some sort. According to Leader, there were remnants of the Demon Race, and the Laws they studied, hidden within the lands of the Shade Commune. He made a mental note to check there in the future.
In the time that Dorian had been going over all of this, Leader had been interacting with the others, intent on gathering information about them.
"Got it." They were currently standing in Dorian's room. Leader had shown up after Dorian stopped meditating on the Law of Wrath, the Aura he gave off fading away.
"Let's go take a look." Dorian continued and walked over to his doorway, opening it. It exited out onto a small wooden hallway, with a long fur carpet set into the ground. Dorian walked over to one end where he found a flight of stairs. He climbed them quickly, without hesitation.
As he arrived up above, he took a deep breath, looking around. A large, several dozen meters wide wooden deck spread out around Dorian. A few men could be seen, tending to various parts of the flying ship. The crew size was rather small for these types of transportation, far less than what would be needed for a seafaring ship.
"Ah, the great warrior in the flesh." An arrogant voice filled with a hint of irritation rang out.
Dorian turned, looking down towards the left side of the skyship, near the edge.
Aiden, the Golden Flame Dragon, stood there in his humanoid form, a long gold robe adorning his body. He held himself with pride, a sense of royal might flowing off of him.
'Huh, Leader must've really irritated him.' He thought, slightly eyeing Leader askance. The Pride Demon had followed him up on deck.
"Hmph. Your prowess is as nothing in comparison." Leader returned, stepping forward to stand next to Dorian, his arms crossed. The Dragon apparently recognized Dorian despite his changed form. The fact that he transformed into different bodies seemed to have been fully explained to him by his companion.
"Oh is that so? Well, I've been thinking…" Aiden began, leaning his right arm on the side of the skyship,
"How about a little competition? We still have another hour before we arrive."
"What type of competition? If it's something only a Golden Flame Dragon can do, obviously we will decline." Leader immediately responded, his voice full of suspicion as he crossed his arms.
"No, no. A simple test of skill and accuracy, I will remain in my Humanoid Form for it as well. A fair contest to all." Aiden returned, shaking his head slightly.
"Then we accept. You will learn what true strength is, foolish Dragon." Leader's voice was prideful.
"Well, one of us will learn that." Aiden smiled slightly, a smile that did not touch his eyes.
'Wow, they're really getting at it.' Dorian thought, a small seed of worry in his heart. The skyship they were taking couldn't take too much damage, after all. If the duo started battling, it would doubtlessly be destroyed.
Aiden waved his hand. Immediately, several dozen sets of knives appeared, floating in the air magically. They appeared to be made of metal and were about the length of Dorian's hand.
"Here is the contest. Each of us gets twenty-one knives to use." Aiden began, motioning at the knives. He then turned, pointing to the sky they were soaring through.
The sky of Lansc was full of floating islands and chaotic breezes. The wind currents took odd twists and turns all around them, the thousands of floating islands creating huge streams and eddies. It was a chaotic, almost random setup.
"The goal is simple. The first knife must be thrown out ahead of the ship. The person who can keep that knife ahead of the ship the longest without letting it fall away, using the other knives to alter its flight path, wins. A test of accuracy and skill." Aiden nodded his head firmly,
"A caveat, however. No Magic is allowed, nor are either of us allowed to use the Power of Law." Aiden turned to face Leader and Dorian, the arrogant smile on his face.
"A perfectly fair challenge. Do you accept?"
'It does seem pretty fair.' Dorian thought, nodding his head. Leader was a talented archer, and while his Pride Aura could greatly boost his strength, he was still very strong without it. He had no doubt that Leader was also skilled with throwing knives.
"Yes, we do!" Leader saw Dorian's nod and responded, thumping his chest.
"Excellent. Then let us begin immediately." Aiden turned towards the front of the ship, walking there in confident strides.
Leader turned to face Dorian, his eyes full of fervor,
"Crush his arrogance, Great Lord! Show him what true strength means!"
Dorian's eyes widened as he came to a horrifying realization.
The Golden Flame Dragon hadn't been talking about Leader when he challenged them. He had been talking about Dorian.
His head slowly turned towards the front of the ship, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
'Oh dear. This isn't good.'
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
On Magmor…
WHOOSH
A flash of light blasted out as a bedraggled group of figures appeared in the middle of a small courtyard, in the outer district of the city of Tomo.
The courtyard was made of stone and nicely kept, with a few young trees decorating the corners and a mid-sized stone wall covering it from outside view. A pair of wooden houses could be seen at the back of the courtyard, connecting to a few stone buildings, all with grey, ash stained roofs. A picturesque and quaint large home, built in the traditional style common to Tomo.
"Quickly! Get Probus treated immediately!" Trajan's urgent voice was unrelenting as he picked up the mortally wounded Probus, carrying him inside one of the adjacent houses. The Rain Wizard spared Helena a single, emotionless stare from his empty eyes before rushing inside with the silent Probus.
Several of the Grandmaster Vampire Wizards followed after Trajan, preparing to do everything they could to save him.
Helena caught her breath as she looked around the courtyard, clenching her fists.
They had been forced to use the backup escape plan. Helena had sent one of her Vampires in to rent out a courtyard. It had only taken her a brief trip, since they were so close to the city, to get its location and return back.
No matter how powerful the Shades were, unless the Shade King or High Priest of the Church of Light came personally, none of them would dare to cause trouble in Tomo City.
The Capitoline Wolf Bracelet was a Magic Artifact that had two powers. One could be used for escaping and the other could be used for attacking. The original plan was to try to win Veritas over using the other Anomalies, and if that failed, kill it. The bracelet could unleash a sizable amount of concentrated power, and with Helena's skills, killing the Anomaly known as Veritas would've been a done deal.
Trajan's time slowing rain Spell, the Time Chained Torrent, paired up with Probus and the other two Anomalies, would've held off the Shades. The plan should've been near foolproof.
But everything had gone wrong.
She clenched her fists again, taking a deep breath. She felt as if her heart was twisting as she looked over to the house Trajan had rushed into with Probus, her keen senses picking up on his pained yells. The two of them had been as close as brothers.
She took a second, shuddering breath, small tears forming in the corners of her eyes,
'I'm sorry…'
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Pavlo frowned as he looked out from the city wall of Tomo, rubbing his chin.
The wall itself was large and towering, made of white stone that was stained grey by the ashfalls that took place on occasion. While it was rare for any Lava Giant or other beasts native to the Magma Lands to attack the city, especially considering how high up it was, there were still guards and Wizards moving on it on patrol.
"Henry, what do we have on the groups that are fighting over there?"
Standing next to the Blazing King were a group of his subordinates, led by the King Class Wizard Henry. The red-headed man had a frown on his face as well as he looked at the distant explosions.
"Sir. While we are not certain who the attackers are, at this present moment, we know that the Aurelius Family stationed 3 of their Reavers there, in a temporary camp. In addition, we believe that two of their party members are the chaotic creatures known as 'Anomalies,' according to the Fate Wizards. The Vampires entered the city earlier and rented out a courtyard in the outer district." His words were precise and fast-paced, spoken so quickly they seemed to clip off each other.
"The Aurelius Family, eh?" Pavlo looked down at the scepter he held in his hand, shifting it slightly.
"I spoke to their Highlord many years ago. They have made it clear they have no interest in trying a hostile takeover of Magmor, nor would they have any chance of succeeding at such." Pavlo shook his head, confused.
"Henry, take some of your men and check it out. I don't like having such intense combat so close to the city. Force them to break it up." Just as he finished speaking, however, a fast, almost imperceptible beam of light shot off from the distant scene of combat and landed inside the city.
This beam moved so quickly it was practically invisible to the unaided eye. Even Pavlo, the powerful King Class Wizard that was close to breaking through to the Angelic Class, was unable to detect it.
In fact, of everyone standing on that wall, only a single person saw the beam of light.
A hooded figure, standing at the back of the group of subordinates.
Mello's eyes flashed inside of his disguised hood as he just barely managed to see the beam, his head slowly turning towards the outer district of Tomo where it had landed.
He cocked his head to the side slightly.
Henry immediately bowed as he heard Pavlo's orders, barking out a few quick commands,
"Balt, Kanden, you two are with me. The rest of you may return to the city and are free until you are called upon. Be prepared to move with your team at a moment's notice. The Flame Empyrean Turtle will be surfacing, and surfacing soon, somewhere near Tomo this time."
The group of subordinate Wizards to the Blazing King dispersed from the wall, moving in various directions.
One form in particular, covered by a long, dark cloak, could be seen leaving the group, headed towards the outer district…
.