Chương 37: Hadrian the Ironwilled (Pt. 2/2)

"Ahem." Hadrian cleared his throat, trying to get the ophidian's attention. She jumped, clearly startled by his presence.

"Who are you?" Her tone was guarded and suspicious. He noticed how her hand pointedly drifted toward her side. She was being cautious, but he'd excuse that. They were in Grull territory, after all.

"I am a Blessen from the Blessen Division of Aura Cay."

"Oh, I see." Her expression was tense.

"And does Mr. Blessen have no name?" she asked, glancing nervously at the chasm wall beside her.

"Pardon me. My name is Hadrian."

"No surname?"

"I am not obligated to give it." Hadrian waited, thinking she would introduce herself. She didn't.

"It's part of my job to know every Blessen in this city," he continued.

"So, am I wrong to assume you're not from here?"

"No, you're not wrong," her voice tried and failed to sound casual.

"However, I'm well within my rights to be here, no?"

"Yes, of course," Hadrian said, waving his hand dismissively.

"But this is an Unhallowed area. Am I correct to assume you're an Emanant?" He searched her attire for an insignia and found none.

"I am," she replied, leaving it at that. Hadrian sighed.

"I'm conducting reconnaissance in the area. We got a reading of a Grull, one that had to be at least of the Revenant class if the reading was correct." The Ophidian woman held her chin, slitted eyes sharpening in deep musing.

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"Nothing in particular, I wish I could say. But the reading led me to this exact area. I didn't find a Grull, but I did find a foreign ophidian woman angrily hitting the chasm wall for some reason. So I'd be grateful if you could understand why I wish to ask you a few questions and hope you'll answer them."

"Am I detained?"

"No, of course not," he assured her.

"Land security comes first in a situation like this. The questions are just to dispel any suspicion."

"Well, I assure you there's nothing to fuss over. I'm just a scholar," she said, reaching into the deep neckline of her robe and slowly pulling out a small book tucked snugly between her breasts.

"I heard about the chasm and how it might contain history yet to be discovered." She wagged the book as if to demonstrate its validity. Really? He had never heard of the chasm of Aura Cay being anything more than, well, chasms. Then again, he wasn't a scholar.

"Interesting. I'm pretty sure the chasm on such a small island like this one is of no noteworthy significance at all."

"Oh, trust me, it is in such places that we researchers find the most interesting history, concealed by the very banality that makes others overlook it." Hadrian nodded.

"I understand. However, I would still need to verify what you said. It's protocol. Just a few simple questions and your cooperation."

"Such as?"

"Your name," he said flatly.

"We keep a detailed logbook of every Blessen that accesses the forest. And of course, for research, I need to see your permit, and it needs to be signed and stamped by the proper authorities. Details on your research must also be logged, just to verify your alibi is truthful." The woman patted her robes, and Hadrian noticed how ruffled her clothes were, askew even, but she seemed unharmed. And she was in Unhallowed territory. She must've had an encounter or two with Grulls on her way.

"I see you have one stripe on your shoulder," she said, completely ignoring his words and grabbing his attention back as she pointed a long nail at him.

"Are you just a Blessen?"

"Yes… I am," he lied, eyeing the woman sharply. Her eyes moved over him slowly. Then she tucked the book back snugly between her breasts.

"I'm an independent scholar from Nagareth. I can have documentation sent from the mainland within the fortnight if that satisfies protocol."

"It doesn't," Hadrian said pleasantly.

"I'll still need to ask some questions now."

"I see." Her posture shifted, and her eyes swept over him in a slow, deliberate measure.

"Then I'm afraid we have a problem, soldier," she said, immediately dropping into a fighting stance.

"My presence here must remain a secret. Take it up with the gods. They dealt you such an unlucky hand."

"Well…" he grinned.

"The Ophidian finally reveals her venomous fangs." Hadrian didn't want it to end this way, but he wasn't one to turn down a challenge. An Emanant wouldn't provide much of one, but it would at least be good exercise. The Ophidian did some odd waving motions with her hands, like someone folding clothes. Hadrian's brows furrowed as the air between her palms bent and folded, then shot forward at him.

"What the—" He had planned to let her attack first, confident nothing she could do would work against him. But something—call it intuition and battle-hardened instinct—warned him that whatever gravity-bending attack she launched was perilous. Desperately, he threw up a forearm and blocked it.

"Damnit," he grunted as blood dripped from his forearm. As the pressure of heavy gravity tore at his skin, he shifted his stance and forcefully redirected the ball of bending gravity into the chasm wall, causing a small avalanche of mud and rock as it hit. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"You are not an Emanant," he groaned.

"And you're not a Blessen." She retreated a step, sweat beading down her forehead.

"I guess we're both liars." Hadrian sprinted forward, far too fast for her eyes to register. The ophidian barely managed to evade his attack as she swiped at the air, and Hadrian's fist warped inside the gravity she created. He thrust his other arm forward. She flinched but managed to push both of her palms out, producing an iridescent protective shield. The force of his punch sent her flying, but unharmed. Argh, what an annoying Blessing. A punch into the chasm wall sent rocks exploding around his fist.

Hadrian grabbed a batch and hurled them at her, each one fast enough to shatter an Unhallowed's skull. She was overwhelmed, blocking them with her iridescent shield, and that was when he took the opportunity and charged her again, unleashing a barrage of brutal punches and jabs. Her shield blocked most of his punches, but when it cracked, he knew he had her.

He drew back his arm, but before he could strike her debilitated shield, she twisted and kicked him hard in the neck, her Achilles' heel coated in an iridescent power similar to her shield. Hadrian stumbled, yet he still drove his fist into her stomach and sent her flying backward, her body crashing into the chasm wall. A hollow pop echoed as he cracked his neck, trying to realign it after her kick. She was definitely a Luminous. No Emanant could damage him.

It had been so long since he'd fought someone near his level. Still, he could already predict how this would end. She was strong, but not nearly enough.

"Some people said he was a warrior made of iron," the Luminous spoke, her voice hoarse. Her once-neat bun was now disheveled and filled with dirt that was turning to mud in the rain.

"Broad-shouldered with an unbreakable will and shoulder-length blond hair bright as the twin suns." She staggered, still catching her breath.

"Ironwilled Hadrian. That's you, isn't it?" His breath caught, and his jaw worked, but he didn't respond.

"No need to answer. That expression tells me I'm right," she smirked.

"You killed lots of my people in the Ashen Vain War."

"I—""Don't worry, I don't care. I was just a kid when it happened," she said in a low voice, a frail smile tugging at her lips.

"Still, to think the famous lost Luminous, the one who even with such a straightforward Blessing competed with the gods' favorite Blessens and was even better than them, has been hiding on this island. What do they call you now? Was it the Great B—""Don't you dare call me that, Ophidian," he warned.

"Let's just finish what we started."

"I'm not too thrilled to fight a legend such as yourself," she said.

"Today has not been my day. Twice I've been defeated, so this is goodbye for now, Ironwilled." She swept a trembling hand over her body and vanished into a fold of iridescent matter.

"Wait!" Hadrian jumped forward and kicked at the spot where she had been standing.

"Don't run!"

"Do not concern yourself, Ironwilled. I have no need to reveal your location to your enemies," her voice echoed through the chasm, vanishing in the distance.

"Still, it saddens me that for twenty years a legend such as yourself couldn't break past the Luminous ascension."

"Hey! Get back here, you cunning woman! Coward!" For ten more minutes, Hadrian walked around the chasm, listening hard and scanning every shadow. But he couldn't see anything. The fact that she had escaped him so easily was starting to bother him in earnest.

"Damn it all." The chasm wall took the brunt of his rage—a fist, a crack, a spray of rocks. Behind him, tiny steps echoed through the creek. He looked back, thinking it was her, but instead found a Grull that resembled an ant—a really ugly ant. He smiled and cracked his knuckles.

"I guess I found where to release this pent-up anger." What a triumph! You have defeated Abominant-Class Grull: Brood belly Ant. The Divine Voice echoed in his head after he wiped his hands off the sluggish green blood and the ant's mucous membranes. Looking at the sky, he noticed there were still hours of daylight. He knew he should head back to his post, but he had already been out far too long to find a good excuse.

So he might as well enjoy his time in the forest—if what awaited him was a scolding he couldn't talk his way out of. Using the shard Gazers, he saw that the area near the end of the chasm was teeming with Unhallowed Grulls. One Unhallowed wouldn't present much of a challenge… but what if he were to lure five, or even more of them to one place? Yeah… that could be a bit fun. It was more troublesome than he'd like to admit.

After about five hours of running, jumping, trying to find Unhallowed, and hitting them without killing them, he finally gathered enough of them and guided the group like a shepherd with his flock. After he managed to gather them in one place, the wretched creatures seemed to realize they had to either fight him or die trying to escape. Either way, they'd died. After about thirty minutes or so, Hadrian packed seven Grullshards into the dangling bag on his utility belt.

"One did manage to escape," he grumbled under his breath, disappointed in himself. This was the result of many years of neglecting real training. He raised the gazers again. The signal of the remaining Unhallowed had stopped moving somewhere in the Abominant territory south of the chasm. He frowned. That would've taken a regular Blessen or Grull an hour to reach, but of course an Unhallowed was way faster. His frown deepened when he realized that was in Abominant territory.

If the Grull were to encounter any Blessens, it would be dangerous. Hadrian was already moving before the thought finished forming, covering the distance in minutes. The scene he saw when he reached the Unhallowed was too much. Two boys lay unconscious on the ground. A girl knelt in the mud, ink-stained hands, a fox breathing shallowly beside her. A few paces away, something that looked like a dissolving painting melted into the dirt. The Unhallowed stood over her, ready to strike. Hadrian didn't announce himself.

Something primal tore loose inside him as he crossed the distance in two strides and drove a fist into the front of the creature's skull with everything he'd been holding back for years. The Unhallowed hit the ground and didn't get up.

"Dad?" the girl whispered, his daughter Aelia.

"Is it really you?" Her face was muddy, blood under her nose, eyes glassy with exhaustion.

"Yes," he said, pulling her to his chest.

"I-I thought I was going to die…" she wept.

"Anadis… his arm." His stomach dropped as he saw Anadis. He hauled his son into his arms, shaking him gently as he tried to rouse him. Anadis's chest rose only enough to prove he was still in this world. Hadrian had caused this. Because he wanted to release some anger and played with some Grulls, now his kids were paying the price. His wife would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself. The thought cut deeper than any blade. He punched himself in the face. Hard.

The pain buzzed through his skull, snapping him into focus.

"I'm sorry, Aelia. You're all safe," he whispered, then he glanced at the grey-skinned boy he didn't recognize.

"You did well, protecting them until I got here." She hugged him tight and didn't let go. He stroked her hair gently.

"Let's go home."