Chương 276: Failure into fortune

Just a moment ago, power had coursed through Fallen. Terrible power to be sure, but that was but one face of his God. From deceptively eroding to calamitously destructive, Discord was the spark of change, and the ring he had received from Porcelain Mask had let Fallen tap into one of those destructive facets, bringing discordant concepts to the very form of his foes. But discord always required two parties to be possible, as such he too bore the cost of channeling such powers.

But it would be worth it if he could bring that frustrating man to his knees. The Pathbreaker should have fallen twice over by now, but kept defying reason and convention. The magic that was such a supreme tool failed Fallen again and again, but the powers of his God? Those had been beyond that man to dispel with that wicked path of his. Fallen had even been so close, but then a descending axe had ruined that too.

"Curse you," he managed to slur through the daze of the powerful backlash when those empowering energies suddenly left him. At least his foe looked quite ragged too, with the left half of his face - including his eye and parts of his hair - turned to discordant glass. Their clash had been long and intense, but Fallen had already fought this foe and knew him for the endurance fighter that he was.

Escape was his only reasonable option, especially as his useless ally seemed unable to break his sudden incarceration along with the axe-wielder. But that was when Fallen saw them; threads and lines of light suddenly appearing all throughout the mirage arena and its failing illusory display. And those he knew only all too well.

"The mistress. She's here?" he thought, elation and slight panic warring inside him at the implications. Was she here to help him? If so, he was already saved. Safe. But if she had to abandon her work, even for a few minutes, the damage to their plans would be great indeed. Not unsalvagable, as they had already come so far in making sure that the spark was growing nice and steady, but Fallen knew what that sacrifice meant.

Still, as some of the threads angled and set off towards him, Fallen resolved to bear any punishment for his failings, as no matter how harsh it would be vastly preferable to death. Or worse, capture. Along with the threads, his mistress also moved, appearing on the arena rooftop and starting to leap down and- And as suddenly as she had appeared, the mistress vanished, swallowed by a dark sphere of seeming nothingness. Along with her went the glowing threads, her aura, and all of Fallen's hope.

"No!" he thought, unleashing another wave of deathly energies to ward off the Pathbreaker even as the man suddenly glowed from within with a bright light that healed all of his visible wounds except for the crystallized parts of him.

"No!" he thought as the panes of force that had made up the cage surrounding his fellow operative split apart and zipped towards him at great speed even as he started running.

"No!" he thought, as several of those accursed projections ripped into his mana reserves, which already felt fuzzy and hard to gauge properly since a barely felt strike with a half-seen blade a while back.

"NO!" Blade met staff as the barriers fell into place around them, forming a loose cage that left some gaps to more efficiently cover a wider area. But without a phasing power or the like, those gaps might as well not exist as far as Fallen was concerned. So he could only fight, bringing his path to bear; corruption, death and serenity woven together to the forced tranquility of his foe's demise.

But with only one arm and severely depleted, the struggle had gone from decently even to feeling like fighting against a rockslide as the Pathbreaker's many spectral arms wove a gradually tightening noose around him. And given the wooziness Fallen began to feel, causing even more slips in his faltering defenses, he realized that his mana was about to run dry.

Fallen made a last ditch attempt as he threw his blade against his opponent while striking out with his most potent special attack as his lone remaining hand glowed with a pale light. But the hand did not reach his target." Ward!" A barrier appeared between them just an instant before the Pathbreaker's spear appeared in his hands, running through both the barrier and Fallen while keeping him at a distance. Fallen felt no pain however, only an icy, draining sensation as the world faded.

"No…"

"Kite, what's going on? What's that?" Dragonfly called worriedly as she landed at his side. His wife was of course referring to the spherical hole in the world that had appeared above them just by the edge of the circular opening in the arena roof. Kite did not know for sure, but there was a familiar feeling to the sense he got from it, as well as a faint echo of aura from within that he thought he knew well enough to hazard a guess.

"The work of a most welcome source of assistance," he said, sending Ardent a thought of thanks. Focusing his aura senses outwards also revealed a bit more of the surrounding part of the city though, and with it came brand new sources of concern that caused Kite to quickly turn to the unconscious masked agent before them.

"But I believe we need to hurry, as things might soon become even more complicated." Catching his meaning, Dragonfly's own eyes widened along with her husband's.

"Heavens, we need to go to them!"

"Indeed. But we also need to make sure to secure this prisoner. Given that a gold-ranker was willing to step in and try to intervene here, I would hope that he might know something truly worthwhile. Wander?!" His call echoed along the empty arena, the few scattered irons and bronzes of the audience having long since retreated from the wild conflict. And, Fortune be praised, it was soon answered.

"Hey guys, now that you've dealt with the baddies - nice moves there, by the way - I think you should get out and back towards the rest~!" came a lone squeaky voice from among the seats around the arena as a single brown rat that had survived the carnage came moving in towards them.

"I know, but we need to get this man to the branch director, and fast. Can you contact her?" Kite asked, noting how Wimmy came bounding down from the hole leading to the arena's control room as other auras had started entering the room above.

"On it! Got a few bodies nearby, so give me a minute~." Said minute was tense as Kite could feel the multitude of auras moving in the vicinity of the arena. And while he suspected that few of them would spell trouble for their ventures, there was at least one gathering of plenty of silvers and two golds not too far away where he recognized enough of the people to know that their companions might be in trouble.

Vista appeared back among them soon enough, giving Kite a look that very clearly conveyed that he hoped for some answers as to what had just happened, but that he was willing to wait. Which was fortunate, as Wander soon spoke up again.

"She's inbound. Put up a privacy screen. Ours are better than nothing~." Kite did as instructed, and not long after, Anasta Temren appeared.

"And here I thought you were about to leave the city without causing more incidents," she noted wryly.

"We need to be quick though, as I was already preparing to intervene on behalf of your companions. Maximilian agreed to step in though."

"Indeed. This is the operative we've encountered before, Director. A gold-ranker appeared just before I managed to subdue him, making me think that he might be important enough for you to prioritize getting him in custody," Kite said, kneeling down and putting a suppression collar on the unconscious man.

"Good catch then. Amazing even, if it turns out to be true," Anasta said, her brows creasing as she glanced up towards the dark sphere above them.

"And you seem to have quite the luck in having people here willing to help you out, Kite. It has been a long time since I've heard of Ardent Horizon Seeker stepping in like this inside the city bounds. But you should get going towards the others. I'll be returning as soon as I've dropped this one in holding. This will be expensive, but I believe that it is worth it," she said while bringing out a talisman covered in dense enough magical script that it shone like a star to Kite's magical perception.

He recognized it as one of the varying types of consumable artifacts used to force someone through teleportation; an asset so expensive that it only rarely saw use. But extremely useful for moments like these.

With a nod to Kite and Dragonfly and a snip of her fingers, Anasta and the unconscious operative then vanished, leaving Kite, Dragonfly, Vista, Wimmy and a lone body of Wander to give one another a look before they turned and headed for the exit at speed towards where the two nearby gold-rankers had now grown in number to a total of four.

"So, showing where your loyalties lie in earnest, Sect Leader?" Crowned Flame Upon the Mount of Dawn, grand elder of the Thunderous Soul Sect, asked with a dangerous smile as he regarded Frost Among Morning Dew where she stood before the gathered group of silver-rankers from the guild upon a street not too far from the city's mirage arena.

"I knew you were just one of the Adventure Society's dogs all along."

"If that is how you feel of our organization, Grand Elder, I would like to point out that you have been a member for much longer than Sect Leader Dew here," Maximilian Brackenstar remarked calmly, the tall elf in his suit seeming unflappable before the glare of the grand elder and another elder and fellow gold-ranker of his sect who had shown up by his side as soon as the deputy director had shown up.

"And besides, given your recent treatment of the silver-rankers here, I would suspect that said membership is already under quite the scrutiny."

"Oh be silent, foreigner. Your little organization has done a fine job in saving our warriors the trouble of locating the monsters of the kingdom as well as sparing them from having to question the rabble themselves, but do not think that we have ever needed you," the grand elder shot back.

"Besides, now you're even stepping in to interfere in local dealings that are best left to those who actually value our traditions."

"So striking down towards those lesser than you for childish reasons are now part of our honored traditions?" Dew interjected coldly.

"Don't make me laugh, Grand Elder. Just admit to your pettiness and be done with it."

"Why, you-" The other gold-ranker was interrupted, however, as another trio of silver-rankers came rushing out of the mirage arena in the near distance, along with a cerberus loping in their wake. Dew noted that many of the people from the guild seemed relieved to see them, but hid their own reactions as she never let her attention leave the grand elder in case he tried a similar stunt as before when he had struck the guild's pavilion.

"I thought my message was clear, outcast," Grand Elder Crowned called once Kite, Dragonfly and Vista were drawing closer.

"Yet not only did your guild remain in the city, but you went off and started trouble during the very Proving itself. The actions of fools, although I suppose I should have expected no less."

"We were merely extending the offer to leave along with us to another of our close companions, Grand Elder," Kite replied as he drew close, his voice lacking much of his usual respect given the tension and the - to Dew - absurd statement, and this was further warped by some kind of injury that had left much of the left part of his face as rigid glass or crystal.

"And Fortune favored us too, as it let us arrive just in time to intervene as the agents of Discord made an attempt at-""Bah, this again? Spare me. I can sense perfectly clearly that you yourself feel that these conspirators are something significant, little silver. But in reality, they are nought but an annoyance, and an insignificant one at that in the long run. Their kind will always make their way into the woodwork of society, and we will handle them in time. A paltry excuse if there ever was one.

You need to be put in your place, and as my last rebuke doesn't seem to have been enough, I suppose that another is in order," Grand Elder Crowned stated with obvious eagerness as motes of fire started appearing around him. Everyone present probably knew that his words were just what they sounded like; a pretense to, no matter his purpose, find another reason to enact punishment against Kite and the guild.

But such was the language of power, and it appeared that things had devolved far enough in the capital by now that only the thinnest of veneers was slapped onto some of the hostilities enacted. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. By the grand elder's side, his fellow elder - a younger human gold-ranker who conjured some kind of elaborate ritual dagger to further ready himself - stepped up at his senior's side as things tensed up.

Across the street from them, both Mistress Dew and Deputy Director Brackenstar also tensed in preparations of their own, but before anyone had the chance to speak further, a swirling disc of shimmering smoke suddenly appeared in the middle of the road between them. It started out like a pinprick that gradually grew outward in a spiraling pattern over a few seconds, the end result clearly a portal.

And given the reactions of the two Thunderous Soul elders as well as the deputy director, it was a portal they recognized. Dew and the others not as familiar with the capital did not, however, hence their collective surprise and alarm when none other than King of the Pure Firmament stepped out of the dimensional opening, followed close behind by his most favored courtesan.

The bismuth-haired celestine carried a long slender pipe in one hand that left a trail of the same shimmering smoke connected to the portal, leaving no doubt as to whose path had produced it. Everyone gathered found their senses quickly enough at the monarch's sudden arrival too, bowing as one towards the gold-ranker.

"Grand Elder, I believe that enough is enough now," King said, his powerful voice full of reprimand as he turned to the two representatives of the Thunderous Soul Sect.

"Your Majesty," Grand Elder Crowned said with obvious respect, though with less than Kite had imagined. But from the feel of it, there wasn't that much of a difference between the strength of their auras even though he suspected that their paths differed quite substantially.

"We were simply about to teach these foreign-serving radicals a bit of respect, given how they have repeatedly provoked our ire."

"I am aware, as your display was obvious enough for me to actually need to direct my focus and listen in," the King replied.

"And while I will tolerate seeking strength at tempering in many respects, I felt the need to step in. This is beneath you and your sect, Grand Elder. They too are part of this Proving, even though my sources have told me that they currently lack the strength and confidence to remain in the contest. A shame, as I believe that the Blessed of Warrior could have gone far."

"Is that so, your Majesty? Have you too begun protecting foreigners and outcasts?" Given the look the King directed at the grand elder, that had apparently been a bit too brazen for the monarch to tolerate, and a brief clash of auras had the grand elder avert his eyes first.

"As gold-rankers of these lands, we have a responsibility to act as examples, Grand Elder," the King noted.

"Demonstrating power is all well and good, but direct it against those who are strong enough to fight back and surely it shall take you closer to the heavens."

"But Your Majesty, they've-""They seem to have learned their lesson, Grand Elder. Now let them meditate upon it and find wisdom in the experience. If you one day wish to surpass me and take the throne, as should be the goal of every gold-ranker in this kingdom, you should see to your own path," King of the Pure Firmament said with a tone that hinted at definite finality, before turning to look at the dark sphere in the distance that hovered above the mirage arena.

As he did, Kite happened to meet the eyes of Grand Elder Crowned across the street, and had to suppress the instinct to back away from the heat smoldering in it. The King had been quite clear in his intent to stop this little altercation, but nowhere had he said that any protection of his would extend beyond this moment. This only reaffirmed Kite's impression that, no matter this fortunate intervention, any future visit to the capital before gold rank for him and his companions would be fraught with peril.

But there now seemed to be something else on the monarch's mind, as he next spoke.

"Can someone tell me what finally seems to have brought Ardent Horizon Seeker out of his seclusion? It has been long since I've seen his Halls of Emptiness, but I suppose that it isn't that much of a loss. Any duel the man fights is bound to be a rather boring affair when you can't see what is actually happening."

"I believe I can answer that, your Majesty," Kite said, daring to speak even beneath the glare of the grand elder across the street.

"As you may have heard, we found the opportunity to stop an agent of Discord from striking against one of the competitors. Towards the end, there was an unknown gold-ranker who appeared to, as far as we know, aid them. But that was when the honored Sect Leader seems to have caught wind of her, and the pair have been inside ever since."

"Oh? They had a gold of their own? Interesting. And I can see that you once again bear the mark of those wicked inventions of theirs. Well fought then, Sentinel," the King noted before moving on with the topic.

"At least it shouldn't be long until we get our answers from the Sect Leader. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Pardon me, your Majesty, but how do you know?"

"The Sect Leader has kept his position for some time now, so call it experience," King of the Pure Firmament replied, even seeming a bit fond of some memory known only to him. What followed was a few awkward and tense minutes of waiting, with none among the two parties saying anything in the silence. Their group did start drawing a bit of a crowd though, and Kite was sure that more than one additional gold-ranker was watching the proceedings from a distance too.

Then, finally, there was a shift in the sphere atop the arena in the distance when a lone figure stepped out of it, the shredded and partially disintegrated remnants of what was once a person held in one hand. Ardent Horizon Seeker looked down at the gathered people before he floated down through the air towards them while the sphere at his back seemed to swallow itself and disappear.

"Your Majesty," he greeted while giving the King a bow of respect, his voice the low and somber tone Kite was used to.

"Sect Leader," the King greeted back.

"You stepping in personally is quite the rare occurrence. Pray tell, what led to this development? I assume that this particular foe was of personal interest to you?" he finished, gesturing to the quite dead form Ardent still held by whatever remained of a leather armor of shifting colors.

"It was as a favor to a friend, one where the karma between us still remains unbalanced in his favor," Ardent replied, and while he didn't so much as glance in Kite's direction, Kite still got the feeling that he was involved in that somehow.

"As for this foe, she is unknown to me, but once my spirit forced hers into submission, one thing was clear; she carried the touch of the divine. Of Discord." This caused a murmur among the crowds of other essence-users that had slowly been congregating; groups from various sects that were still eyeing one another warily even as they did their best to listen in to these developments. The King was also nodding along, stroking his finely groomed, short beard.

"Well, to think that they actually had a gold-ranker of their own acting here in the city. A good thing that this friend of yours asked for your assistance then," the monarch said before turning to Kite.

"Sentinel, it would seem that the forces you have been pursuing have lost their leader now. And without the head, the snake's body will soon die. It is a good thing to see this matter settled."

"If… if that is the case, your Majesty, I would indeed rejoice;" Kite answered carefully, and even though he tried to keep his true feelings under control, his true emotions did not pass unnoticed by the gold-ranker.

"Not convinced, I see. Well, who am I to rob a man of his enemies that lead to such tempering for him, and through him, the kingdom," King of the Pure Firmament replied, clearly a bit amused rather than offended. As he continued, he glanced towards the gathered elders and initiates of the Thunderous Soul sect, his smile shifting somewhat.

"But it would seem that you have a bit of tempering left before you can truly make your mark here. I would suggest that you gather your strength in the time to come, if you want to keep walking this defiant path of yours. While I found this intervention a necessary one, you and yours will have to stand on your own two feet in this world, not hide behind the strength of others. In this, I wish you luck.

Perhaps you'll even be strong enough to challenge me one day, although I suppose that you will have a bit of a competition in that regard," the King said with a small laugh.

"May Warrior keep your blades sharp. And you, Grand Elder, retreat from here and let those who wish to leave do so. The Proving is still underway, after all, and after that I am sure you will find other ways to temper your sect." Then, the King turned and walked back through the portal, his favored courtesan following just a few moments after before the portal closed.

Grand Elder Crowned gave the members of the guild one last look that promised an unpleasant fate should their paths cross again before he too departed on flaming wings along with the other members of their sect. This still left Kite and his companions, Mistress Dew, Deputy Director Brackenstar and Ardent Horizon Seeker surrounded by plenty of very curious onlookers who seemed quite disappointed when the Adventure Society official activated his privacy screen to surround them all.

"Thank you for your intervention, Deputy Director. I do not relish the idea of fighting the grand elder while trying to protect these silvers," Mistress Dew said, giving the suited elf a shallow bow of gratitude.

"It was the least we could do, even though it might just bring more trouble down upon your heads in the future," Maximilian Brackenstar replied before glancing out towards the curious warriors of the kingdom.

"Even with the recent troubles, I would not have anticipated such a direct reaction though. After everything the Adventure Society has done for this kingdom, they still have the gall? While it would not have ended well in the long run, taking a piece or two out of that grand elder would at least have been cathartic." He then turned towards Ardent, who had remained watching the exchange in silence while once again seating himself in the air to float upon his aura.

"And thank you, Sect Leader, for intervening. I suspect that that particular gold-ranker has been quite troublesome for our endeavors for some time now. If you have no need of it, we of the Adventure Society would be grateful to take care of it for you. It might still contain secrets or hints that might be useful in our future search for the agents of Discord. Because much like Kite here, we suspect that this hunt is far from over."

"That is acceptable," Ardent replied, floating over and dropping the remains before the deputy director, who in turn made them vanish into some dimensional storage. He then glanced over towards Kite and the rest, his gaze lingering just a moment longer on Kite.

"It does sound like your decision to leave this city for now was a wise one, however disappointed I might be with my peers for letting things devolve this far. Know that the Silent Horizon Sect will treat you with nothing but respect for the work you have done here in the city, as well as your impressive showing in the Proving. Our candidate that remained in the final is still quite disappointed to not have been able to go up against you, Blessed of Warrior.

I believe that you can expect his visit to this arena of yours in the future."

"Thank you, Sect Leader," Soul replied, giving at least a decent bow of respect.

"I shall eagerly await that chance at tempering."

"And we of the guild also thank you, Sect Leader," Kite said, finding it a bit odd to feign unfamiliarity with the man who had acted as his teacher behind the scenes for some time now. But not everyone here was privy to their connection, and out of respect for Ardent's privacy he thought it best to keep it that way for now.

"We shall not sit idle in the days to come either. If they want to keep us out and the King means to let them, we'll simply have to do our utmost to prove ourselves too capable to ignore." After regarding him for a moment, Ardent then gave his son and student one of his rare, faint smiles as he answered.

"I am looking forward to seeing it, Sentinel of the Gates. May Fortune smile upon you all." Then he left, and Deputy Director Brackenstar lowered his privacy screen before addressing them all.

"Come then. I shall accompany you on your way back. Sect Leader Dew and I have some things to discuss." Knowing the excuse for what it was, Kite and the others could only bow in gratitude again before setting out in the wake of the two gold-rankers.

Their stay in the capital may have been cut short, but given the developments that left one of Discord's gold-rankers dead and one hopefully important silver-ranker in the hands of the Adventure Society, he had to admit that this last day had truly - at least to some degree - turned failure into fortune.

"I must admit, Ametrine, that not slapping the Grand Elder on the wrist a bit harder for what he did still doesn't sit well with me," King of the Pure Firmament said as the pair had returned to his chambers via the courtesan's portal.

"Striking down like that from mere self-declared provocations just feels shameful. That is not how you reach the heavens."

"While I agree, my King, I still claim that this course was for the best," Ametrine replied, weighing her words a bit carefully. Her long-time lover seldom questioned her, and he had not this time either, but it was still clear that the exchange left him displeased. Fortunately, she was quite adept at taking his mind away from such things, in word and action both.

"Being too protective of the outsiders might just invite more incidents like the one with Young Master Valor, which I truly do not want to risk now that you've thought of taking up the occasional hunt again. I… call me a fool, my King, but seeing what that did to you…" She did not finish, instead casting down her gaze while the hint of tears glittered at the corners of her eyes.

A good display, if she said so herself, further improved by the fact that she actually did fear for him, albeit for a few different reasons that did not always mesh well. Discordant emotions were but part of the world though, and at least her actions had the desired effect.

"Ah, my Ametrine. Protecting me even now," King said with clear affection as he reached out and wiped the moisture from the corners of her eyes.

"You have always kept so many daggers in the dark from finding my back, love, but not even you can deflect each attempt. But come, let us make sure to take your mind off things." During the following hours, as they found pleasure in one another as they had so many times over the years, Ametrine also found herself able to lean into the enjoyment a bit more than usual. Because while it had not been a sure thing by any means, her hard work and setup had been a success.

A costly one, to be sure, as she had hoped that the confrontation which she had arranged between the Pathbreaker and Black Wood Mask's little disciple would have ended the annoying outcast, or that her fellow council member might at least have done the deed before being discovered. Now, they had a possible leak to some of their plans which might complicate things, but Ametrine honestly did not care at that moment. Black Wood Mask had had the audacity to strike at her and her King. Her King.

She had even had the temerity to act all smug about it, but not anymore. Ametrine had gambled to make sure to have her vengeance, and it had paid off. With some damage control, they should still be able to keep the spark alive that had been lit during the Proving, fanning it to a true fire over the years to come while that little interloping guild was at least somewhat warded off.

By the time the upstart organization had the power to carve out a spot in the capital - if that was even possible - their plans should long since have been completed.

"A lesser for your thoughts, love," King murmured from her side, snapping Ametrine out of her thoughts. She made sure to put all of her aesthetic assets on full display as she turned towards him on the bed, smiling.

"Just thinking of the future, my King. And of victory."