Chương 107: History

Kite sat down on the mossy ground close to where Serene stood, his body feeling thoroughly exhausted. While the recovery of a bronze-ranker was a lot more efficient at restoring the spent stamina than he had ever been before, he still needed the rest at that moment. While the gauntlet he had 'bought' from sect leader Dusk helped greatly, it lost a lot of effectiveness when the foes were more numerous and fell more quickly.

Ahead of him, Will and Dragonfly were both hard at work with clearing out the remaining horde of monsters which had probably numbered above the hundred at point of manifestation, but was now down to a mere two dozen; mere cleanup, which in turn allowed Kite to take some rest. Summer was gyrmling-season after all, and the bark-loving monsters truly had come out in force this time.

"I will admit to feeling a bit dejected," Kite said to his friend, who was still caught up in her usual hummed melody as her aura and its fourfold effect suffused the area.

"If anything, this surge has truly driven home the point that I struggle against numerous opponents." Gyrmlings had been the very first monsters Kite had fought back when he had just come into his essence powers, and while they were simple, the surge meant that they had the numbers to make up for it, further bolstered by the bigger brutes and other bigger and more niche bronze-ranked varieties such as the gyrmling tyrants.

This particular pack had devoured the bark and a lot of other plant matter across quite a large area just in the day between their manifestation and Kite's group arriving to deal with the monsters before they found their way to an area with more valuable types of trees.

"Not every path can excel at everything, Kite. Believe me, as I am one who has felt that sentiment quite clearly." Even as Serene spoke, the words manifested in the air next to Kite even as she continually cast her spells of wind, harmony and renewal to make her presence felt.

"There have been many a time when I wondered if my path was a mistake; not giving me the tools of direct vengeance against the adherents of Pain and what they took from me. But as I am now, I will have to credit my counselor from Healer's church. He did share quite a lot of wisdom in the matter."

"Any words of wisdom to pass on, then?"" Be swept away by the hammer of the hurricane!"

"Not what I expected, but I will strive to decipher the meaning of such wise words," Kite teased, Serene's spell chant having interrupted their conversation as she rather skillfully split her attention.

"Sometimes, it is folly to fight against the stormwinds. Consider letting them sweep you away and show you new vistas and perspectives," Serene countered without missing a beat, her face a mask not unlike a high-strung preacher before the facade broke down, the tingling chimes of her laughter following shortly thereafter.

"No, his counsel was more along the lines of forming my path due to what I, the complete me, wanted to be. Not just the parts that had suffered and were still hurting. I did not always agree with him, especially not in the beginning, but hindsight proves ever the smug teacher."

"Those… those are words worth pondering," Kite had to agree, always having been fond of such sayings. Even if he was still left unsatisfied.

"But they still provide me with less comfort at the moment than I would like for them to. I have tried implementing my walls and what means I have to better engage the numbers we are faced with here, but find my attention split as they are more often employed best elsewhere. Why use them to some extent for myself when they can augment our friends so much further. Yet I find myself wanting to anyway. As there are times when I won't have the luxury of relying upon others."

At his words, Serene took another look at the battlefield which was winding down. Deeming it to not need too much more of her attention, she turned to Kite more fully.

"Kite, is this really about the present? Or something else?" Once again, Kite was left pondering, before shaking his head; not in denial but in acceptance.

"You might be correct. I… I think there are still some things I need to resolve after my time in Bastion. Especially the final parts. I believe that I have made progress in accepting the memories, but still find my own capabilities in some regards harder to stomach. In a way I was extremely fortunate that it was only the single foe who came after me, and not a dozen bronze-rankers at once. Against the lone mistress Wither, I could persevere for a bit at least."

"Kite, as one who recently volunteered to fight a dozen bronze-rankers on his own and actually succeeded, I believe that you might give yourself too little credit." Serene's words were accompanied by a distinct little poke of aura; the spiritual equivalent of her flicking his forehead. While just a small gesture, it still left Kite in a bit of awe at the levels of spiritual fine-control his friend was approaching.

"And before you protest, I know that you had more control going into that situation; information and preparation both. That was what made you succeed, too. In this case it was their warped sense of honor which let you get far enough before they decided that they had enough. And with the monsters such as these -," she said, gesturing to the fallen gyrmlings, some still burning from Dragonfly's flames, "- you have your wits and your barriers to hold out and whittle them down.

And if you put your mind to it, there are probably other ways to compensate. Just as long as you don't lose track of the wider picture of where you want your path to go, instead of solely focusing on what is bothering you just at this moment." Kite looked at the priestess as she spoke, a bit touched by her taking his words seriously.

"Thank you, Serene. I am ever impressed by your perspective and foresight. Your words… I will bring them with me into my meditations." He did his best to make his earnest feelings on the matter clear in his aura, knowing that Serene would pick up on them as well.

"They say that a healer needs to keep her perspective wide," Serene replied.

"But in all honesty, giving counsel is easy when it is not you who is doing the soul-searching."

"Then we shall have to continue with taking turns there as well. Got to keep that karma balanced, after all," Kite said with a wink before rising to his geet as Will and Dragonfly were returning, having dispatched the final cluster of monsters.

"Are the two of you done with your little competition?" he asked the pair, chuckling at their debate.

"I still say that last one counts as mine," Will argued.

"Oh no! I was the one who finished it!" Dragonfly retorted.

"Oh please! I had already worked on it. That would be typical of you commoners; just swaggering in and claiming the glory for which your betters have already laid the foundation."

"Really, now, lordling? And the javelins constantly stealing the iron-ranked ones which I had yet to reach?"

"Well, it was obvious that you weren't going to dispatch them in time. I just did my duty." Kite smiled and shook his head.

"I believe that the result was ambiguous then." As he spoke, he reached out his hand and gave the mental assent to trigger his looting power which had accumulated plenty of stored energy with the huge number of monsters fought here. What eventually appeared out of the vortex of rainbow smoke made both Dragonfly and Will pause to look, the latter nodding in approval.

"I see that your power has good taste this time," the scion said before Dragonfly took over.

"Kite, isn't that-""I believe it is, or at least something akin to it," Kite said, surprised as he held the manifested item; a javelin made from what looked like natural wood and a stone head, covered in small, green vines which were sprouting tiny leaves around the length of its haft. WWJS: [Item] Javelin of the Great Tanglewood Bronze rank - Rare [Effect] - Ensnares creatures within a ten meter radius.

Creatures ensnared by this item have their mana and stamina drained for the duration, which in turn replenishes the plant-matter of the snaring vines. Cooldown: 15 minutes While the javelin Kite now held was more intricate and vibrant with life than the one he had owned at the very start of his career, it was still eerily similar in both looks and effects.

"What? Do you recognize it?" Will asked, seeing the look of recognition from his comrades.

"I had one very similar before we met you. The first item ever manifested by my power, in fact. Also gained after killing mostly gyrmlings." Kite explained.

"And I must admit to being curious as to why it returned. Mere chance?"

"Nah, probably fate, fortune or something like it," Dragonfly said, nodding sagely in spite of her words.

"You should keep it, if only for nostalgia." Looking at the familiar yet new weapon in his hands, returned through fate or happenstance, Kite couldn't help but agree. Jarvan sighed as he put down the sheet of paper in a pile of similar ones at the edge of his desk, the exhalation more of a psychological need rather than the actual need to breathe.

"I am sorry for the delay, mistress Indomitable. Those casualty reports always make for grim reading," he said, speaking to the silver-ranked elven woman in front of him. Having met the city lord and his family, Jarvan could see that the oldest child favored her mother's side with hair more white than golden. But in demeanor and looks, one could easily see the patience and stern facade of the father, where Calm of the Indomitable Beyond might one day even surpass her father in those very traits.

She was clad in the fine robes of her family's colors, but the symbol of the god Death was prominently displayed in the shape of an amulet of what Jarvan assumed to be some kind of enchanted alabaster.

"While deaths are ever part of life, so is mourning those who pass. My god will be hard at work in fulfilling their purview in these times," the elf responded, voice smooth and surprisingly soothing.

"And while I have my part to play, my god still found merit in the request for me to return even during a surge. At least as a precaution."

"Yes-," Jarvan began, nodding at her words.

"- I must admit that I was a bit surprised that the lord chose to go himself. With you here, I take it that he foresees a certain amount of risk?"

"Such is always the case when one makes moves of any significance, director," mistress Calm retorted.

"But I have so far not known my father for being a fool. When he decides to openly make a move, it will be decisive and thought out, with contingencies in place. I believe that I am but one of them."

"That would indeed be an apt description of the cunning old man," Jarvan chuckled, only to stop himself as he noticed his visitor's rather frosty glare.

"I did not believe there to be any risks of you not knowing the station of my father," she said, voice having lost its soothing quality.

"Was I mistaken?"

"My apologies, mistress. A lapse in courtesy, nothing more," Jarvan assured her, before looking down at the set of documents that the mistress had brought for him to approve of.

"I take it that, should things go well, this is the contract you want us to assign?"

"That is indeed so," mistress Calm responded, eyes still regarding Jarvan with an amount of disapproval. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Then I will have to at least reiterate that we are still weathering the surge. This means that I will not be able to spare too many adventurers. Had it not been for the long-term security of the region, I would have spared none at all."

"And yet you will, director. Why?" Jarvan sighed again, gesturing to the pile of casualty reports still occupying his desk like a grim, if innocuous, monument.

"Because what we can gather from these reports, things are likely to become even worse if we do not deal with this. The western regions report unprecedented losses, of both adventurers and civilians. We even have adventurers who are missing where we suspect non-monster involvement. So while the cost will be hard to stomach, not doing anything at this point would be even worse. The Descending Star sect needs to be handled. Thoroughly."

"Then we are fortunate that my father tends to be a thorough man, director."

"Constellation of victory!" Gleaming stars appeared in the air around Meridian, strengthening her and any nearby allies with pale silver light. Immediately afterwards, she cast another spell.

"Weight of the skies rain down upon you!"

"Pathetic attempts of an equally pathetic traitor!" sect leader Comet Banishing Clouds shouted, before shooting forward while covered by pale starlight, turning him into his namesake as he simply went through the descending meteors conjured by Meridian's spell.

The sect leader was trailed by shimmering clouds which immediately coalesced beneath his feet to carry him as his charge was stopped by the twin chakrams of sun and moon which followed in the meteors' wake, one glowing swing of his axe sending both thrown weapons off to the side before they had the chance to deliver the flaring special attack.

The aforementioned cloud was the sect leader's now active flying artifact which, along with his gleaming silver armor decorated with the sect's colors, proved that Comet had indeed come prepared for this meeting.

"Just how long did you think that you could hide?" Comet shouted as he leapt towards where Meridian flew on wings of stars, currently trying to create distance as she flung more spells towards her assailant even as she could feel the auras of her followers embroiled in conflict below. Taking to the skies had at least made sure that as few of them as possible would risk becoming collateral damage.

"By your own words, I am no longer part of your sect and therefore not yours to seek out," Meridian countered, twin chakrams whirling around her to deflect powerful strikes of the axe her cousin wielded. An especially brutal strike detonated in a blast of pale light which seared Meridian even as she was flung back through the air.

Comet was just about to give chase, but was instead greeted by the small star-like motes left in his cousin's wake, detonating in a rippling pattern and throwing him in the opposite directions.

"Power is the ultimate measure of a person, traitor. With the sect behind me, I can do whatever I please here. Meet whoever I want. And punish whoever I see fit to."

"But why now? Why not actually do your duties during the surge and wait? Why ambush us-""And let you slink away once all this is done? I know how rats like you will act, vermin. Scurrying away and leaving the rest of us to handle the filth you left behind. No, you hid yourself well. We barely found out about this deployment of yours in time, and I would be a fool under the heavens to not take what might be the only opportunity to deliver judgment."

"Comet, can't you see? Do you even listen to yourself? You are not well. Surely you have read the reports? How there is an affliction of the mind which has been spread? And how it-""The mewling excuses of weakness incarnate, discourteous wretch! I am sect leader to lowlifes such as you." Comet shouted in reply, his aura shuddering under the emotional strain, renewing his assault with furious abandon. Back at her expulsion from the sect, Meridian had few doubts of her cousin's state of mind.

Sensing him now, she felt so foolish for not having noticed anything before.

"Then you should at least have made your research more thoroughly," she answered, feeling another aura starting to unveil itself nearby.

"There is nothing more for me to know. I found my traitor, and I will end her! Do you think that the Adventure Society will shield you? And risk the wrath of our patrons in the heartlands? No, they hide behind politics and contracts like the cowards they are. We will all-" Comet halted, finally sensing the incoming second aura as well, along with a chilling wind and a sense of almost physical pressure.

"You- you traitorous- What-""You never looked into who issued our contract, cousin," Meridian interrupted him, feeling a tingle of enjoyment at the sect leader's slightly widened eyes and tense look as he turned along with her to witness the new arrival. From the forests below, ice started gathering like a tidal wave as a glacier grew upwards. While its growth looked slow, that was merely due to the size of the gathering ice.

And on the very crest, like standing at the top of a wave about to crash down upon the lands below, stood an elven man.

"Sect leader, I do not approve of your interference with my contracted adventurers," spoke city lord March of Indomitable Glaciers. His robes were immaculate where he stood on the monolithic glaciers, his aura as heavy as the ice he conjured. While he was silver rank like the two combatants, it was obvious that he had progressed further than them by quite the margin.

"And neither with your gross neglect of the lands which your founder swore to protect." To his credit, sect leader Comet was not taken aback for long, the smoldering fury inside quickly bolstering his resolve.

"So, the old man has decided to come out in person? I must admit that I thought that your joints would creak with rust after sitting on your peak for all these decades," he all but spat, the vitriol in his voice very clear.

"But this is not your affairs, oh mighty city lord, but just me eliminating some pests which are rightfully mine. And you better not interfere, lest word reaches the capitol that you and your Adventure Society collaborators are encroaching upon the honor and independence of a sect recognized by the royal seat of Hua-Xi." At his words, lord Indomitable nodded.

"It would seem that you have at least a little grasp of the political realities, boy. It is admittedly more than expected, but you are still but a frog in the well, seeing only the tiniest glint of the heavens and believing yourself to know it all. Had I been here at the request of the director or the Adventure Society, things may very well have progressed as you say. Just a member of the society, even acting on its own volition, might have been enough to trigger a response.

But there is one piece of information that you have overlooked, sect leader. I am not a member of the Adventure Society." At his words, sect leader Comet froze, eyes clearly showing him calculating the impact of what lord Indomitable had just said as the elf continued.

"But I am the city lord of Gilded, having defended that position for decades now. And while an adventurer striking out at a sect claiming independence would be one thing, a city lord cleaning out what has obviously become a rogue and unstable element - a very hazard on the lands which he governs - is a different matter entirely." Sect leader Comet, apparently having reached the same conclusion, snapped his gaze back to Meridian.

"You- you traitorous bitch! A trap? How low-" His words were interrupted by a palpable sense of pressure which threatened to weaken even the strength and movement of a silver ranker. Comet just managed to leap back before two huge chunks of ice collided where he had been standing in the air, having moved with a kind of deceptively slow but inexorable speed.

"Comet Banishing Clouds. As city lord of Gilded, I declare your sect to have failed the purpose laid out at its founding. Submit willingly and help clean the rot from the shaking pillars of what was once your strength and honor, or fall and risk there being nothing but dust left of the sect that you so proudly claim to lead." Lord Indomitable's voice carried the full weight of his aura, grinding down the sect leader as the younger man seemed torn between thought and emotion.

Meridian did not know what would have won out before Comet had been afflicted, but felt like she already knew what side that would win out in the internal struggle. And as the sect leader of the Descending Star sect replied, he proved her right.

"Then it is you who are a fool, to think that an antiquity like you would make a difference by hopping down from your dusty shelf. And I will be happy to prove it. I, Comet Banishing Clouds, challenge you to a clash of paths, with the seat of the city lord of Gilded as prize." While the smile of city lord Indomitable was but a slight one, it was the look in the elven man's hard eyes which would have caused Meridian's hairs to stand on end had she still possessed the biological response.

And as things had played out as he had foreseen when making her the proposal of this venture, Meridian could not help but feel that things would continue to progress according to the will of lord Indomitable.

"And I, Indomitable March of Glaciers, accept your challenge. My prize will be you ceding the seat of the sect leader, and what remains of your sect submitting to investigation and judgment. Let us begin." Kite could see that what mistress Dew was reading apparently put her in a thoughtful mood as she idly tapped a finger to blue lips while reading. And as silver-rankers read quickly, he and the rest of the bronze-rankers called alongside her soon got to know why.

"It would seem that the young master Indomitable here has been requested to be allowed a change of contracts along with his entourage," she said, looking at Will with an eyebrow raised.

"It has even been approved by the director, but as the ranking member present here in the field it will also fall to me to approve the change."

"Then please, mistress, do not leave us in suspense," Will answered.

"Who is issuing the new contract?" The words had barely left his mouth before his eyes widened in realization.

"My father?"

"That is indeed correct," Dew noted.

"It would seem that our dear city lord aims to do some cleaning of his own. While the timing is quite unfortunate, with the surge and all that, the director approving must mean that the reason has been considered worth the risk."

"Then please, mistress -," Will said, bowing in respect, "- I implore you to allow me to go to my family." Frost among Morning Dew regarded him silently for a while before cracking a faint smile.

"I will. While that will lose you some opportunities to temper yourself against the monsters, and leave me to handle the uninteresting weak silvers, it is still not enough to deny you what is certainly an interesting opportunity. Local history might be in the making once more. And besides -," she added, looking at Kite, Dragonfly and Serene who had stayed back and let Will handle the talking, "- what kind of mentor would I be to let my student miss out on such a lucrative contract?

The rewards for acting as an entourage to our young master here is quite generous." At her words, Will turned to the rest of the group.

"Then will you accompany me this time as well? Just like the war, there should be plenty of opportunity to plunge penetrating justice into the wicked and dishonorable!" While his words carried his usual bravado, Kite could sense a bit of worry in the aura of his friend, and thought that he understood why.

They had been deployed with mistress Dew for just over ten days now, and while it had been an utterly grueling and exhausting experience of fighting through monsters tougher and more numerous than ever before, it had also led to palpable growth for all of them even at a stage of bronze rank where progression slowed down significantly. Progression rarely, if ever, found outside the monster surges. But to Kite, it wasn't really a question.

"Of course I will, my friend," Kite said.

"Uncle Walker has taught me many things, and his counsel in patience is one of them. There will always be more monsters, so I will rather treasure the bonds I forge. Even if I still aim to get to silver quite a bit faster than him." The last sentence was added with a bit of a quip in an attempt to keep the moment cheerful as Will, often prone to the more sentimental emotions, looked as if he was about to tear up.

"I will as well," Serene added.

"Our song is most harmonious when together. I would not want to accompany anyone else." This left Dragonfly, who had a pained expression on her face while idly twirling a lock of pink hair.

"What? Don't look at me like that," she exclaimed after a while of the others looking at her.

"I would never miss out on this, especially not if it meant being separated from the rest of you. It's just…" she trailed off, looking out the window.

"There are so many monsters out there. Who's going to cleave through all of them in time? Just imagining some smug sect prick claiming my tempering-" she began, but visibly steadied herself and smacked both her cheeks.

"No, Dragonfly, temperance is also a virtue." Looking back to the rest, the usual fire was back in her eyes.

"So, mistress Dew said it sounded important. Are we ready to go make history?"

"The contracts should have been sent out as soon as word reached Gilded, lord," Grim spoke from where he stood next to his master, busying himself with applying some crystal wash to remove the stains of battle and remnants of wounds while also using a special wand which sped up the self-repair of the city lord's clothes. Meridian remained close by, having already seen that her people were assisted, both in healing and containing some of the captives.

"Excellent, thank you Grim," lord Indomitable said, looking to the southwest; the way Meridian's cousin had fled.

"It is a shame that things ended like this. Not being able to close things out does prove that the sect leader was right in one thing; I have at least a little bit of dust in the system." Meridian herself did not share his sentiment, seeing how one sided the clash had been. Sect leader Comet had assaulted the city lord with furious momentum, the powerful attacks and spells of his potent and onslaught-essences on full display.

And while he had managed to inflict some wounds early on, the skies around the battling pair had been starting to gradually fill with hazards. Crashing blocks of ice, freezing spheres, sharp icicles or just areas of dense pressure had started revolving around lord Indomitable. At first, their movements had been rather slow for silver-ranked attack, but as their number and complexity grew, Comet had started to struggle.

While he could plow and cleave his way through most individual projectiles and attacks, that was almost all he had time for after a while. And when the city lord had started changing the speeds and directions of said attacks, guiding them to strike in sequences hard to avoid while also increasing that pressure which hampered his opponent's movements, the nerve of the sect leader had finally broken, Comet using some kind of consumable to speed off like a shooting star.

Meridian had made as if to set off in pursuit, but lord Indomitable had stopped her where he still remained atop his glacial tidal wave; a bit battered and bruised but with his aura remaining steady.

"We'd best see to your people below, mistress Meridian. Remember the plan," the elven man had said, looking after the fleeing sect leader.

"The contracts should go out soon, and the preparations have been made. This needs to end at the very heart of these troubles." Meridian knew what would come next, having been party to the plan, even readily volunteering for her role here today. While it was mostly theatrics, she still understood its political significance in the long run. Even so, his next words had her insides clench a bit in sorrow.

"This will end at the gates of the Descending star sect. As to what will remain afterwards, only the heavens know. A fate for us to realize."