Chương 263: Grateful for the treat

Bound and collared as he was, Echo of Moonlight sat in silence while he watched his captors make their preparations.

"This should be enough to shield this place from too much attention if they decide to step outside of our stated terms," one of the three armored silver-rankers said, checking a set of formation plates laid out around the spacious building.

"Hopefully though, this little show of force will lure that bastard out to let me settle things on my own. So I'm sorry for dragging you into this, but this needs to be done. Honor demands it, and that coward has refused my previous challenges by ducking behind responsibility." The last part of the statement was directed towards Echo, the other man seeming genuinely regretful at having kidnapped him.

But while Echo himself tried to look stoic with some fear seeping out between the cracks in his expression, inwardly he was rejoicing. Because his kidnapper, called Unbent Sky, was a prominent member of the Eternal Embers sect, and even though he currently wore none of the sect's trappings in an attempt to show that this was him acting alone, his rival in the Flowing Viper sect would care little for that as they would no doubt come down on this meeting in force.

The letter Echo had sent would make sure of that, as it was delivered right about the time of his capture, thus arriving before the actual demands. And said letter was worded with a lot more… decisive wordings. Echo and his superiors couldn't just leave this little rivalry contained without it spreading to the sects themselves, now could they?

"It shouldn't be too long now," Echo thought to himself, feeling a bit blind without his aura senses. Still, he trusted his familiar to have gotten the job done on his own as infiltration was definitely a forté of the Vapor Wisp. It- Echo's thoughts were interrupted as he noticed a small rat silently skittering along the floor of the large room. This wasn't too unusual, but as it drew near it rose up on its hind legs and waved a forepaw at him before continuing on its silent approach.

"Wait? A rat familiar? That wasn't part of the information about the targets in the Flowing Viper sect. Could they have brought in outside help? A tracker or something?" It did not matter overly much though, as its presence no doubt meant that it was soon time for another seed to be sown. The grounds outside were prepared too, as Unbent Sky hoped to fight his duel there, and they should be arriving through the front doors any moment now…" Wall!"

The murmured chant was barely a whisper, but the silver-rankers present were no slouches either as they no doubt sense the discharge of mana. That was why Unbent Sky and his two companions were only taken by surprise for a moment before acting, but with silver-rankers present a moment could make a decisive difference. Myriad chains seemed to sprout from nowhere to reach and entangle while the inside walls and ceiling of the room were suddenly covered in barriers.

One of the three silvers from the Eternal Embers sect was yanked into the air and out of sight by an invisible force just as Echo had the time to notice the previously locked back door being slid open by another score of rats similar to the first he had seen while a man wearing nondescript robes and cloth wrappings around his face rushed in to meet the charge of Echo's captors.

"Halt! You will-" Unbent Sky began, but the glowing spear he leveraged towards where Echo sat at the other side of the room suddenly shattered after a flick of the assailant's wrist created a ripple in the air. This was also when another masked form - this one wearing an odd human-looking mask wrought from smoky glass - appeared behind Unbent Sky's companion and engaged the woman through a furious onslaught with the chains that had kept spreading throughout the room.

Before the still bound and seated Echo, a fierce but controlled clash unfurled as it was clear that everyone involved were minding their powers so as to not make too much of a ruckus. The powers that resided in the city might be willing to turn a blind eye to fighting outside their direct interests, but if people started demolishing neighborhoods and inflicting collateral damage then most golds would have no choice but to act.

Unbent Sky fought valiantly as he clashed with the masked assailant in a battle that looked surprisingly ordinary given how many of the inner disciple's attacks and powers winked out before gaining any kind of momentum. Echo could only imagine the man's frustration, which was evident as he spoke again after a few more exchanges.

"H-halt, you knaves! These are not the terms! Did that coward send you in his stead?! Answer me!" But instead of answering, the masked man turned to his companions wielding the chains while ignoring Unbent Sky's furious questions.

"Any of these three?"

"No," came the response after a few more seconds, the woman's voice deadly calm even during her nimble dodges or lashing counters.

"Curses. Wander? Can you get the collar off?"

"Working on it~!" It was only then that Echo noticed that three of the rats he had seen spread out around the room had climbed up on the wall beside him, two of them holding the last by the tail as it tangled to reach his neck with something.

"Wha-""There~!" As the suppression collar clicked open, Echo couldn't help a sight of relief as part of the world came back to him. The clashing spirits were surprisingly intense though, and he winced slightly at the pressure. As a bronze-ranker among silvers, Echo knew his disadvantage. But he also knew exactly how good the aura masks provided by their allies in the church of Disguise were, and therefore kept up his charade as an unwitting prisoner. At least for a second or two.

"The captive." The calm words from the masked woman with the chains barely had the time to register to Echo before an intense, searing pain unlike what he had ever experienced before washed through his being. A scream burst from his lips, but its notes of pain were also joined by that of fear as his aura mask was ripped apart by the spiritual edge that had just been run across his soul. Which in turn left the divine touch of his god noticeable in his aura for the first time in over a year.

While the opening of the collar meant that Echo's powers were returned to him, he was still drained of mana by the experience. So tied up as he was, this also meant that Echo remained helpless as the chains descended upon him to add more physical pain to the spiritual one, along with the draining attentions of a trio of vortices that hungrily started devouring the little mana he had recovered.

"Nonononono-" was the last thing he had the time to think as darkness claimed him, as things had somehow gone incredibly wrong.

"W-what is the meaning of this! What was that?!" the spear-wielding silver that Kite had been engaging called, confusion evident as he - like everyone else present - had felt the divine touch in the captured man's aura as his obscuring spiritual mask burst. And that was not the touch of a deity approved by society.

"What we came for," Kite replied, not re-engaging in the moment of stillness that the revelation had caused in the fight.

"You have been misled and deceived, disciple. I know not who you are or your sect, but I do know that the schemes of people like him will only end with you drowning in conflict," he finished, gesturing to the unconscious man now wrapped up in River's chains.

"I'll have you know that you are standing before Unbent Sky, inner disciple of the Eternal Embers sect. And while we might have been here for me to settle a personal score, I will not allow some stranger to treat our junior like this. Release him and I shall allow you to retreat. The sect will investigate whatever that touch upon his aura was." To his side, River let out a derisive snort at the mention of being 'allowed' anything by these people, but it was Wander who chimed in next.

"You might want to rethink that, Unwitting Sky," one of the rats called, purposefully replacing part of the man's name.

"Because you're about to have company. Which means that we'll be leaving now. You should too, unless you want to be caught up in what I assume that the chained-up piece of dung over there intended. Come on, guys. Let's skitter~!"

"Halt! I won't-" Unbent Sky began as Kite, River and the floating Amica - having just flung the third and final silver-ranker back to his fellows - started their retreat with the unconscious bronze-ranker in tow. But that was when he too felt the incoming auras. Five silvers, to be exact, and their indignant fury was obvious to anyone with an aura sense.

This led to a moment of indecision when the man and his companions stood torn between pursuit and escape themselves, which in turn let Kite guide a few panes of his barriers to block off the back door through which they left while opening up a few other avenues of escape around the room that would still be a detour should the group still decide to pursue. Because Kite did not fancy the idea of Discord's plans coming to fruition either, no matter how much sect politics might frustrate him at times.

Therefore, he let out a sigh of relief as he felt the auras of the three disappear in some kind of teleportation power before their own spiritual senses were blocked as they passed back into Braid's array.

"Any pursuers?" Dragonfly asked as soon as they entered, seeming almost disappointed when Kite shook his head.

"Not at this moment. The other incoming presences might be upon us if we don't move soon though. So let us take our leave, and swiftly. This might not be their most important operative, but I suspect that director Temren will be grateful for the treat nonetheless."

"So, it seems that I was correct. It is indeed the same disciple who challenged me back in the day," Kite noted from where he stood next to Soul, looking across the arena at her foe. As was common among his kind, the form of Strides of Conviction towered above them both even at that distance. His fur was the bronzed gold that felt typical to how leonids were often depicted, with a powerful muscled frame clothed in combat robes that allowed for ease of movement.

While the man's stance was proud where he stood waiting at his end of the arena along with a few followers, he did shoot Kite the occasional glare that confirmed that Strides of Conviction remembered the previous encounters as well. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Any worries?" Kite continued, words kept between the pair by the privacy screen surrounding the area allotted to the contestants for preparations. To expedite the preliminary rounds, several simple but functional arenas of stone-shaped walls had been created for that very purpose outside the city, with wooden stands around them to allow for onlookers.

They were quite sizable too, but for a pair of mobile silver-rankers the area would definitely be limiting, and they did not have any of the usual amenities of infrastructure beyond a shielded alcove for each of the contestants.

"My path will see me through, or I will find pointers to incorporate into its further growth," Soul replied calmly.

"Warrior will judge us both either way. Given his stance though, I remain confident that this bout will actually prove worthwhile. What about you, Pathbreaker? I do not need any moral support. Would you not rather be out with the others?"

"Needing and deserving are two different things when it comes to support, Soul. And some of us will need to stay visible so as not to raise questions right away. Besides, Will and Laevyeth were only too happy to join the others following the leads Wander sniffed out. Gods, that woman can be terrifyingly effective when she chooses."

Soul only nodded in response, seeming content with the exchange as she returned to her meditations for a few more minutes before the privacy screens fell away as a robed acolyte of Warrior took the officiator's position. Their bout had drawn a bit of an audience, with many curious about the guild and their chosen even though the interested parties were spread thin over the goodly number of clashes going on simultaneously.

"Warrior calls to battle. Will the two of you answer and prove your paths?" the acolyte called, a sleek and dangerous-looking elf woman.

"I will," Soul called calmly, rising to her feet and finding her balance with her usual grace.

"As will I. The Thunderous Soul sect stands ready to prove the might of its students!" Strides of Conviction roared in return, to which the officiator nodded.

"Then step into the arena. Prove yourself before Warrior and the kingdom." Upon reaching his assigned starting position, Strides of Conviction briefly surged with mana as his form grew and shifted. His fur took on more of a rust-red tone as he grew a long tail covered in chitinous plates and wicked, venomous spikes while he conjured a similarly spiked whip whose points started glowing with similarly toxic magic.

"I, Strides of Conviction, challenge you to a clash of paths. I'm looking forward to this," the man growled with three rows of sharp fangs spread in a wide leonine smile.

"I, Soul, blessed of Warrior, accept your challenge. May both of our paths benefit from this round of tempering," the celestine replied, falling into a combat stance. As was her way, Soul did not activate any of her empowering internal boons right away as she was loath to overshoot and make things too easy for herself. Even though Kite doubted that would be the result this time.

For all his bragging and brashness, the leonid's aura was as controlled as it was vicious, and Kite could only imagine that the manticore confluence which the man no doubt had would mesh well with the race's innate gifts.

"Warrior has acknowledged the both of you. Now… begin!" called the officiator, and the two combatants both exploded forward in a blur. Strides of Conviction's whip elongated and struck even while the pair was still closing, both choosing an offensive approach. Worse, a snap of the tail sent several spikes flying Soul's way to close off more angles of dodging but Kite sensed no strain in the celestine's aura as she instead chose to take on the incoming, venomous weapon.

Given her special abilities, Soul's fist - or rather, most parts of her body - could repel most attacks of a similar grade as long as the celestine had the reflexes and right intent behind the motions. And in that regard, one would be hard pressed to find Soul lacking." Riptide stance" In her last few steps, Soul's posture changed slightly as her motions became more fluid.

Recognizing the shift, Kite was all too familiar with the subtle force behind those moves, and this was shown in full when a dodge and a palm strike sent the incoming whip rebounding in a way that looked most odd for the otherwise flexible weapon as Strides of Conviction suddenly struggled to control the weapon's momentum; like a piece of vine suddenly caught in the vicious backdraft after the crashing wave.

This let Soul close the distance in a final dash and land the first proper blow of the bout to her foe's chest in a burst of transcendent light before flowing out of the way of the barbed tail that came down like the multi-pronged stinger of a great scorpion. Strides of Conviction did not let that first blood dissuade him though, giving off a forceful roar that blew Soul back a few steps while his whip came in from the other side.

This had the celestine blink out of existence only to appear at the leonid's side while using her aura to hint at a blow coming from the other, her foe falling for the feint as another burst of transcendent light marked another hit as Soul's strike was straight like the thrust of a spear.

"She's really starting to embody that ambition of hers," Kite thought to himself as the dueling pair kept clashing, disengaging and moving around the quite sizeable arena in the way that many silver-ranked conflicts tended to. In the beginning, Kite had thought that Soul's many and varied stances and styles were just that: the celestine experimenting with techniques to further augment her path, but as Soul had later explained it was a bit more than that, courtesy of one of the essence powers of her might essence.

Soul had named it 'Self-as-Weapon Approach', and among the powers Kite had heard of during his career it stood out as a bit of an abstract one; it allowed Soul's unarmored attacks to gain some additional effects based on her learning and adapting certain martial styles and techniques.

Practicing, internalizing and formalizing these let something like her Riptide Stance actually excel at forcing opponents into unbalancing backswings beyond Soul's own strength and technique, much like the spear-like jab she had just delivered would help focus the damage of her strikes more precisely.

"I wonder how far this will go once that ability reaches gold rank?" Kite mused to himself as he saw the celestine unveiling more and more of her arsenal while her opponent did the same. Strides of Conviction also had many more tricks to show beside his whip and spiked tail, and his form was soon overgrown with even more protective bristles that forced Soul to plan her attacks more carefully while he pursued and dodged upon leathery wings with impressive nimbleness that was almost a match for Soul's own.

However, as the celestine had also been forced to start activating her own enhancing boons one by one, the tide still felt like it was shifting in her favor. Because while it might ostensibly look like Strides of Conviction was dominating the arena with swathes of spiked attack and his long, lashing whip, none of his attempts stopped Soul's flow as she shifted, dodged, feinted and countered with a singular focus while her body showed off the concepts of the world put into martial form.

It was while witnessing this that Kite was struck by an odd realization that he still felt held some merit.

"She's touching upon something not too removed from that of a combat ritualist," he thought as the elusive thoughts clicked. People like Braid and to a certain extent his own Auntie Crow used their powers to enable things that their skill and practice alone made possible as they formed ritual circles through other mediums.

Kite had heard of plenty of similar powers, such as drawing lines of light in the air, but those were in the end capped by the user actually knowing and implementing said rituals both in execution and timing. And while very different at a glance, Self-as-Weapon Approach felt similar; letting Soul use practice, skill, understanding and a bit of magical help to turn something into more than the sum of its parts.

"I wonder what she would say to the prospect of studying more magic theory? It could help her gain a better understanding," Kite mused as a roar powerful enough to trigger the defensive arrays of the arena caused a geyser of dirt to erupt into the air, more flashes of transcendent light the only thing visible through the sudden obscurement.

"But on the other hand… I'm not sure she would trust any lesson not delivered by the edge of a sword." Soul kept her momentum strong even when the cloud of debris had settled, though the same could not be said of her opponent. For several minutes, Strides of Conviction's frustration only continued to grow as he failed to land any decisive hits on the smaller opponent that was somehow still stronger and faster than him while reacting faster and recovering from the hits she accepted.

Self-cleanses stopped his venom from gaining any kind of momentum and even some kind of potent paralyzing gaze attack failed to do more than slow Soul down briefly as the power she shared with Kite, Implacable Motion, let the celestine shrug it off while the steady stream of transcendent damage attacks kept landing with increased frequency.

Still, Kite did also see the hints of a smile tugging at Soul's lips, meaning that the battle-mad celestine felt challenged in keeping hold of her advantage until the end that came around nine full minutes since the start of the duel.

A sonic roar had flung Soul backwards followed by the leonid closing in for a crushing grapple to leverage his larger form, but in his momentum and furious determination Strides of Conviction fail to see the way Soul shifted her feet as she landed, and Kite winced as he recognized what was to come.

"Rising Pillar" The leonid's arms failed to connect as Soul had shifted onto one foot before kicking almost straight upward, hitting her opponent straight in the chin in a brilliant burst of gold, silver and blue that was further augmented by her own charging power and a more explosive self-boon. What was a powerful lunge was abruptly reversed into a backwards-toppling arc that left the leonid prone in the dirt of the arena floor as even his silver-ranked toughness failed to clear the clouds from his eyes.

"Victory goes to Soul, blessed of Warrior!" the acolyte called out, surprised shouts and excited calls spreading like wildfire among the spectators. Strides of Conviction tried to rise to his feet and failed once before managing an unsteady standing position, seeming ready to fight again only to be met by Soul giving him a respectful bow.

"I thank you for the help in tempering my path. I have received many valuable pointers," the celestine said somberly, and while it looked like the leonid might come at her again the surrounding crowds and officiator seemed to have him reconsider.

"I… do the same…" he eventually managed before turning and striding from the arena at a pace that could almost, but not quite, be called fleeing.

"So? How was it?" Kite asked Soul as the celestine returned to her assigned area, and received an actual grin in return.

"Pathbreaker! That was excellent," the normally dispassionate Soul said with a grin that mirrored her excitement after her first time facing Kite back in early silver rank.

"And this is only the first bout. Oh blessed Warrior, thank you for this opportunity. I have so many styles I'd like to refine. The next match cannot come too soon." Exiting the rudimentary arena, Kite was surprised to see several silver-rankers surrounding their exit, waiting by themselves or in pairs, and they wore different badges or colors of allegiances.

None showed any sign of hostility though, rather the contrary as several gave bows or nods of respect towards Soul, who stopped and looked at them with an indifferent expression.

"An excellent match, Blessed of Warrior," one of the women called out, her colors marking her as a member of the Wandering Winds sect.

"I learned a lot simply by watching, and had to come pay my respects. The pointers you gave me have allowed me to further my path, as have those of my fellow students you faced. Neither of us may yet be on the level of being chosen to compete in the Grand Proving, but know that you have left a mark on our paths which we won't forget."

"As you have on mine," another man, this time from some city or family Kite did not recognize.

"While the experience was humbling, the impact on my Shadow Dance has been undeniable. I've even passed the advice on to my disciple." Several similar congratulations or words of thanks and respect followed, Soul listening to each one while occasionally nodding.

"Warrior might judge those lacking, but he will judge those who stop reaching for the heavens by bettering themselves even harsher. Your progress is pleasing. Carry on," she said, those gathered drinking in every word before eventually dispersing, and Kite noted that some even talked between their respective groups while sharing tales of their encounter with the Blessed of Warrior.

"So it happened again. This might be troublesome," Soul noted as their little greeting party had gone far enough away.

"Again?" Kite asked.

"This has happened before?"

"Five times since we arrived. Most have sought me out in our camp, but I suppose that the duels mean that they know where they will find me… What?" The last question was directed at Kite, who had started chuckling and became unable to keep his mirth under control.

"Pathbreaker?"

"Sorry, sorry," Kite replied.

"It's just a bit ironic. Or perhaps some divine intervention. I just found it very amusing to see how all it took for some of these people to come together was you beating them up. And here those priests inside the Gate called me the unifier."