Chương 294: I'm not sure if the world is ready

"... AND NOW, IT IS TIME TO DELIVER JUDGMENT." As Kite took in the gathered people and their reactions, he marveled at Gleam's aura control. She might not be close to the equal of her mistress in quality or nuance, but the construct was still skilled enough to hit them all with different levels of intensity; enough for all sect members in sight to stagger or sway slightly regardless of rank while himself, Dragonfly, Sprite and Glint seemed only to notice a faint pressure.

Raven on the other hand didn't notice anything of the spiritual pressure where she clutched Glint's robes. In the silence that followed, she even leaned in to whisper a question.

"Big Brother Kite? What essences will I need to be able to transform into something as awesome as that when I've grown up?" Everyone present heard her of course, but the huge construct paid her no mind as she continued.

"Whom amongst you will stand ready to receive my verdict?" The question seemed to bring clarity back to the minds of those still staggered by the massive presence and Sect Leader Dusk took a short moment to center herself before walking out to stand before Gleam.

"I am Luster of Imminent Dusk, leader of this Victorious Sunset Sect," she stated, voice calm even though her spirit was decidedly trembling.

"It is I who has tried to follow your decree after the folly of our ways were revealed to us a decade ago. We have tried to make amends and better realign ourselves with our heritage and the intention of our founding. In the old archives, we unsealed the scrolls of our history, reread their tenets and spread them throughout the sect. While still carrying the strength and progress of the Victorious Sunset Sect close to our hearts, we have tried expanding our efforts to make them one with these northern lands.

I stand as our representative, ready to face your verdict." Then she fell silent, standing as tall as she could beneath the scrutiny of the many-lensed eyes of the herald before her.

"Then I shall collect and process my observations," Gleam stated.

"And thus shall your attempts be weighed." At her words, Kite saw small notes of light suddenly become visible all around the sect compound. One appeared somewhere on the person of each sect member present while plenty seemed to have perched on the roofs, walls and trees. Upon closer inspection, he saw that each mote was a tiny mechanical beetle that - to his senses - had been entirely undetectable up until now.

From the looks of the people of the sect, they all wondered the same thing as Kite; just how long had those been present? Like small streaks of light, each of the diminutive constructs flew towards Gleam before disappearing into a hatch that opened in her colorful exterior as the chitin-looking segments slid apart. Each of her eyes clouded briefly before she once more turned to regard Sect Leader Dusk while ignoring the befuddled looks and worried murmurs of the other people gathered around the garden.

"Just a few more moments. Compiling ten years worth of observations takes some time even for me," Gleam said, albeit that her voice was a lot softer than her previous proclamations. A few seconds later, she was done.

"Ah, I see. You, Sect Leader, seemed quite reluctant to follow my decree in the early days. Still, you bore the indignity for the good of the sect as you seem to have known well enough what consequences there might have been for you all should you not. However, through these ten years you have also remained at your post when the option of simply leaving everything behind would have been readily available to you.

You took responsibility, and in the later years seem to have somewhat changed your opinion of what I demanded of you. You have even worked hard with your elders to further develop what you set in motion after my task was given. As for your members, most have followed the decrees. There have been some who fragrantly disregarded it, but on each such occasion where it was discovered the sect took measures to discipline them.

Overall, I deem that the Victorious Sunset Sect has followed my degree to an acceptable level in execution and one step above that in intent. This pleases me." At Gleam's final statement, it was as if the wind had left both Sect Leader Dusk as well as the grand elders and other functionaries present, such was the apparent and understandable relief that spread through their auras like a southern monsoon that quenched a smoldering forest fire which had previously refused to be completely extinguished.

"While it may bear no actual meaning compared to the judgment of the herald, I will note that both the guild and I have seen the same efforts," Kite noted aloud.

"This bodes well for the Autumn Lands for the years to come."

"That is so," Gleam agreed.

"And that's where we come to the matter of a reward. I have given this some thought, seeking something within reason that is mine to give while also something that can benefit the whole sect. Thus I decided that should you prove to have succeeded, I would personally oversee the construction of a proper mirage chamber for your sect.

What better way to strengthen both you and the whole region than to let more of your warriors practice and temper themselves even when there are no worthy beasts or new challenges to find? And iron-rankers more at ease with their abilities will have a far better prognosis at surviving to grow strong, after all.

Besides, I have been curious about the making and running of this kind of creation for some time now, and would love to temper my own skills in constructing such a thing and optimizing it for low magic lands such as these. It shall be a marvelous and worthy heritage for you to build upon." Gleam's statement was quite final, as if the construct was quite sure that she would face no complaints, or simply didn't care. However, the sect would be filled with fools to look askance at such a gift.

There was a reason that only the capital had a proper mirage arena, due to the staggering costs of their construction, and while there were many Hua-Xian Warriors who did not think highly of them due to their lack of actual risk involved, Kite suspected that this was mostly just a sentiment assumed to handle the lack of opportunities to ever get in one.

In a wise show of gratitude, Sect Leader Dusk fell to her knees before the grand construct, as did her elders, grand elders and each other member of the sect in sight.

"Honored Herald, your gift is beyond compare. We shall cherish it for as long as our sect stands, and for the good of these lands, we shall also discuss a system for others of the region to take part. By your grace, may we find victory at each sundown from here on out." A cheer broke out among the gathered students after that, spreading like a wildfire until the atmosphere went from tense to celebratory in a few moments.

Gleam stood and seemed to take it all in for a moment, her insectoid face inscrutable as well as her aura. But from his previous dealings with her, Kite had gotten the sense that the construct enjoyed being around people, and thus would not have been surprised if she indeed stood and tried to take it all in and save up a kind of storage of sorts for the many years of solitude that no doubt awaited her.

"Thank you, honored Gleam," he said softly while knowing that the diamond ranked construct would hear him even over the din of the impromptu celebration.

"I might not live here anymore, but the thought of the Autumn Lands growing just a bit more secure and stable is a comforting one."

"This would not have happened if it weren't for you, young Kite," came the construct's voice from just beside him as she seemed to project it through her aura via methods unknown to him.

"Even as young as you were, you made an attempt to see to the future for both yourself and these lands from which you hail. I may never have walked these roads or met these people, but the thought still sits well with me too." Kite thought that their conversation would be over at that point, but was surprised as Gleam continued, even though the person she was addressing had clearly changed.

"And you, child," she said, Raven looking both terribly excited and deathly afraid at the same time once she realized that she was now the focus of the being that was so much more powerful than any she had known before.

"You did ask a question of how to become like me, did you not?"

"Y-yes. How? You look so amazing!" Raven managed in the way of reply, the enthusiastic words tumbling out even while fear made her stutter.

"Well, I may not be an essence-user and thus my form would not be entirely applicable to one like you. But should you want to, once you come of age, use this essence along with one of the insectoid ones as well as perhaps adept or something similar to shape your path, then I am sure you can make yourself a foundation that might even surpass me one day."

As the soft words finished, Kite and his group all turned and looked down in surprise to where another beetle construct - this one the size of a small dog - had stopped in the grass before Raven while proffering an odd cube in its mandibles for her to take. It was a strange one that Kite had not seen before, looking metallic while being covered with glowing angular lines forming a distinct pattern not unlike his own tattoos while small openings hinted at turning gears at its center.

"The technology essence isn't too complex in and of itself, but my mistress has told me that it is not too common in this world," Gleam explained.

"Still it is definitely not unheard of. My mistress has the very same, after all. Which would mean that should you choose to take it into your soul in the future, you would share at least part of your path with a queen."

"Do not fret, my ardent Dragonfly," Kite said as he held his wife close.

"From what you have told me, all of you here back home are making excellent progress on our more long-term plans. You have also kept our family safe."

"That's not what worries me most, you foolish husband of mine." Dragonfly grumbled into his chest.

"You might not have told me everything of your contracts during the months gone by, but just that little surprise crusade against Undeath had way too many gold rankers mentioned. I know things are always dangerous in our line of work, husband. But here back at home I can at least pick some of my battles. So just… be mindful as you stride back into the unknown, okay?"

Kite could only smile at Dragonfly deliberately choosing not to use the word 'careful', as that would simply be impossible in most situations he - and her too, for that matter - might find himself in.

"And may your passions keep guiding you and our family to continued growth, dear wife. It'll be a shame that I'll probably miss Sprite reaching bronze rank, as well as Raven's next birthday. And the birth of Uncle Walker's son. It is odd how quickly being gone a few years is something I can just chalk up to necessity while to the young or those of lower rank it has been a substantial and important part of their lives. One that I will have missed."

"If things work out though, we shall all have plenty of time to make up for that in the future," Dragonfly consoled.

"But it is something to keep in mind when we strive to rise further and further from the ordinary lives of many people in these lands. There is a cost. I haven't thought of it that way before, but I think it is something we both need to remember. Even though the cost can also be deemed worth it."

"Huh… when did you become so wise, dear wife?"

"I've been around you for over a decade, Kite. I may be caught up in the moment a lot of the time, but claiming that you haven't rubbed off on me a little would be a lie if there ever was one. Now, I believe we have kept your portal courier waiting for long enough. Go now and find those insights of yours. I'm already looking forward to your return during your next leave. As are the others, especially Raven. Because you sure didn't skimp out on those presents for her.

I'm not sure if the world is ready for that girl having winged boots."

"Fuck!" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Less swearing, more running."

"I wouldn't have to fucking run if it weren't for this," the speaker, a silver ranked leonid man snarled, showing off a crackling brand of lightning on his arm without breaking stride as he and his companions passed through the overgrown rainforest at speed.

"Otherwise I could have just teleported away and left the rest of you here to rot, like you deserve." Even as silver rankers, they would have had trouble navigating the dense growth if not for one of their group employing an impressive number of conjured hatchets to carve them a path as fast as they could run. This had the unfortunate side effect of showing their pursuers exactly where they had gone, but a steady number of nasty traps laid out in their wake should at least alleviate some of that problem.

They would have to come up with a better solution in time though, once they gained some distance.

"Also, what was up with that guy with the glowing arms?" another human man chimed in.

"He just made my attacks vanish like they were nothing. Even my Grand Reaping. That is some bullshit right there."

"And you were the fortunate one. Didn't you see Wrack and Sestreina being ripped to pieces by that hot girl while the rest got sucked into that big-ass lightning cage? And where did all those beams come from any- fuck!" As if a cruel gesture of fate, that was exactly when one of said beams of light suddenly came in from the side and pierced through the head of the leonid.

While not dead - given the relatively thin, precise beam lacking the stopping power to take out the head completely - the hulking man still started staggering as most of his motor control was lost. One of his companions sent a healing spell towards him to help speed up the process, but none of them stopped or slowed down further. The spell shot was proof that those scary adventurer bastards were hot on their heels, hunting down what remained of their band. Or rather…

"Above!" A glittering comet seeming to be made from jewels swept in above the trees and passed over them. Two of their fleeing numbers managed to dodge out of the way of globes of water that suddenly appeared among them, already knowing what would happen if they got caught. But that did not help as two figures dropped from the resplendent dragon's back, launching towards them at speed.

"I should never have taken this job. Shifty zealot bastards…" was the last thing one of the fleeing silvers breathed before the fight got up close and personal once more. Léon stood at the top of a tower that slanted at a precarious angle from where it emerged from the jungle soil. He did not know which country, faction, hidden organization, splinter faith or the like had once established the town below, only that it was now in ruins and long since overgrown as nature tended to reclaim things left abandoned.

However, the last part was not entirely true anymore, given that the rest of his team - Kite included - was currently fighting a mix of zealous cultists and their frankly bizarre summons below. While the people among them looked like their targets tended to do - garbed in armor and robes with their faces hidden - their creatures instead looked like odd collections of geometric figures packed together upon one another to form bodies whose general shape was always somewhat symmetrical.

Ceasar, for example, was currently containing a three-legged behemoth the size of a house where each leg was equidistant from one another on its triangular body. Also, it seemed like the more perfect and symmetrical the creature was, the greater its level of power. They had arrived in time to interrupt what they assumed was a gold rank summoning - Fortune be praised - sending some kind of circular being of rotating rings back to whatever part of the cosmos had spawned it.

The rest might have been odd, but at least they could be fought, proven a moment later as Léon conjured a series of mirrors to arc in a ray of light that zigzagged between a few buildings before suddenly emerging from a ruined alleyway to blast off a significant part of a leg from one of the brutish creations Kite was currently engaging.

Léon had to admit that he had been skeptical of the young man at first, but had quickly realized that it was probably mostly prejudice on his part, along with the fact that Kite was not to join them permanently, that had made him initially hesitant. But now, having spent around one and a half years together while being portaled from contract to contract… Now he was more pondering how they were ever going to find someone to fill the gap Kite would leave behind.

Léon prided himself in taking in wide areas and acting upon them from advantageous positions, but Kite instead did something similar but from within where the fray was the thickest. Not always perfectly, but close enough for Léon to have started depending on him more than he thought he would when the quarters were close.

The battle below was quickly starting to turn in the favor of the adventurers when Amica managed to drop most of a building onto half of the cultists, killing two outright with the amplified force of her telekinesis while the others were stunned and quite inconvenienced by suddenly being buried beneath a few tons of stone. Léon was just about to turn his attention to the big one that Ceasar was managing when he suddenly noted a slight shift in the air. A shift that should not be there.

It was very similar to that of a privacy screen meaning that someone suddenly had become very interested in a private chat. And Léon doubted that he would be as enthused to participate. This was proven true a moment later when a long, thin blade suddenly appeared out of nowhere to impale Léon through the throat, only for the sniper to seemingly shatter like a mirror and teleport to safety atop another building.

When he instead appeared near to the edge of the field that surrounded him, it was proven beyond doubt that this was something a lot more powerful than a mere privacy screen if it could block his teleportations like that. The next moment a whip struck Léon's leg and dragged him back to the center of the slanted tower, where a tether emerging from the ground to restrict his movement soon followed.

"Not so fast, Raymán," came a voice as the blade's wielder suddenly appeared, causing Léon to curse.

"What? Not happy to see me?" asked Rafàel Beauchamp even as his fianceé Aglaé - no, they should have been married by now Léon corrected himself - appeared at his side.

"A shame, since I am most pleased to see you here." He followed this with a series of lightning fast thrusts, the point of his thin blade glowing ominously while he constantly moved on fleet footwork to keep Léon close to the center of the tower. While Léon managed to avoid some of the attacks, three of the trusts still struck true with wounds that struggled to reknit themselves.

"Don't worry for your companions though. They won't feel lonely, seeing as to them you still stand here all brave and watchful. And they have more company inbound soon." Rafàel was about to say more but was forced to sidestep as Léon counterattacked, creating mirrors inside the sphere before also conjuring a refracting prism to scatter a single light ray into a burst where each smaller beam was then reflected off the mirrors for a continuous onslaught inside.

Léon then started targeting the theater in the hopes of breaking it, the damage that usually followed be damned, but this had both of his assailants accept a few of the relatively weak but numerous beams to once more push him back. Mere seconds had passed, and Léon already found himself balancing on a knife's edge. Rafaél being here was bad, and not just for him. How had they found him? One of the intentions of him joining this team was to buy time.

But as it turned out, time was something he had less of than he liked. Even through the attempts of the married pair, Léon still managed to make quite the headway on the tether and his one shot at rejoining his team, because while Rafàel and Aglaé were both very skilled fighters, they weren't Gauntlet material and could not keep up with him one on one.

However, the numerical advantage swiftly proved its worth when one attempt of Léon's that was a bit too desperate left more of an opening than he should have leading to Aglaé suddenly having made her way close enough while Léon was fending off another storm of thrusts from her husband. Her right arm morphed into a nightmarish appendage with a set of vicious fangs where the hand and lower arm should be, and Léon was just a moment too slow.

chomp Icy pain shot up his left leg as Léon noted with dreadful clarity how his left foot was now missing, blood spurting in great gushes across the tower floor while his body's attempts to close it were hampered by the lingering afflictions of Rafàel's sword. This meant that, for once, the bleeding might become a true problem. Which in turn forced Léon to tip his hand early." Incandescence of Blinding Radiance!"

The chant rang out in his mind like a war cry before one of his most potent close range defensive spells caused a globe of brilliant light to emerge from his body. To say that the spell was blinding was an understatement at silver rank, with the light now affecting multiple senses so that even a creature without eyes would be affected.

Léon didn't wait to see the results but instead fired one last spell that sundered the tether - accepting the painful feedback - before he threw himself to the side in another attempt to make some room and buy some time for the field around them to fade. But even this proved in vain as Rafáel suddenly appeared before him and delivered a thrust that nearly caught Léon in the eye had he not managed to drop below it, instead receiving a kick that sent him stumbling back.

"I thought I came prepared, but that intensity sure is something," Rafàel noted as some kind of lenses that had rested over his eyes seemed to be disintegrating back into pure magic, their protection spent.

"I can still see the afterimage of that flash, but–" The next moment proved that Léon's power had indeed worked better than he had feared, because from the way that Rafàel did not try to dodge or even notice the incoming staff before its ringing head caught him from behind and impacted his left cheek, there was clearly more the man couldn't see.

Léon got a good look at how his somewhat pained but still very smug expression was turned into shock before his cheek caved in to further twist it into quite the unsightly grimace. Staggering to one side, Rafàel did manage to evade the follow-up attack as he flickered and disappeared, regarding the newcomer warily from his wife's side a moment later.

"You! You are meddling in something beyond you. If you know what's–""Glint awaits outside," Kite murmured to Léon, ignoring Rafàel's words.

"Get back and provide support. I'll hold them off." Then, without waiting for further reaction, one of Kite's spectral arms reached out and shoved Léon quite forcefully. He let himself be flung, however, having understood Kite's intent even though retreating from Rafàel and Aglaé was quite a blow to his pride.

It was also then that he noted that Kite had flung him straight towards what seemed to be a crackling hole in the field that had previously kept him contained, albeit one that was closing itself before his very eyes. But a flash of jewels outside had Léon teleporting without hesitation, landing on Glint's back where she floated in her draconic form.

This let him see that the battle was still going on below, and from his vantage Léon could also note hints of some other force moving in from the jungle outside the ruined city. Raphael and Aglaé had indeed not come alone.

But as he started calling out to his teammates below and apprising them of the situation while he simultaneously braced against Glint's back to start sending precision rays of light to once more harass and kill his foes one at a time, Léon Raymàn XII-III also couldn't help a slight smile through the strain and pain of this contract that was devolving into a most unappreciated direction.

Rafàel had clearly come prepared for him, but he truly doubted that the scion of his family's counterpart in their long-standing vendetta could ever have anticipated someone like Kite. Kite and the others had quickly understood that something was wrong when the frequency of Léon's spells had started dropping. While subtle, they even realized that the few beams of light that did come down from the tower were mere illusions, as was the aura they sensed when subjected to any level of proper inspection.

While the cultists and their alien summons still pressured them, Amica regardless sent Kite to investigate without hesitation. If there was something she and Ceasar excelled at, it was crowd control and management after all.

Plowing through what turned out to be an invisible field using Implacable Motion had drained an impressive chunk of Kite's mana, but as soon as he entered he felt quite confused as to where the other two essence-users - who clearly did not seem to be part of the cultist force with their much more impressive armor and equipment - had come from or why they would target Léon like that. But with a teammate down and momentarily crippled, there was little room for hesitation.

Immutable Echo sent the man with the thin blade temporarily on the retreat, and after extracting Léon from the trap, Kite regarded the man and woman, as did they him.

"So I see that you choose to meddle in politics far above you," the man stated even while some wariness crept into his confident tone along with grim determination.

"Then you will die." Without any further attempts at conversation - wise, given that their apparent target in Léon had temporarily escaped their grasp - the pair moved in a unified rushing blitz of whip and blade, only for their conjured weapons to shatter in their hands as they met Kite's defenses. Both looked quite surprised at that, and Kite got in a few mana draining swings before they had to turn and backpedal.

Both quickly produced spare weapons however, attempting another sudden rush as the woman flickered briefly and sped up while the man teleported. Or at least he tried to, but Kite's three vortices had already locked upon him after his last such move. This left only the woman actually closing in on Kite while wielding a razor-edged glowing whip with incredible speed and position.

A blur of attacks followed as she tried to ensnare Kite's limbs, only to find that they had a hard time finding purchase while he used his much heavier armor to deflect a lot of the lighter strikes. A swing with his staff had her sidestepping into a beam of resonating force from Sage that hampered her next attempt at dodging and causing the next two mana draining thrusts from Matra's descendants to strike home as they left the telltale blue glowing cracks of Chakra Implosion.

That was when the man had managed to catch up however, and the intensity of the pressure upon Kite's defenses increased manifold as the pair tried to find a rhythm and it became obvious how they both seemed to want to finish him quickly. From their lack of attempts to simply pursue Léon, Kite assumed that they were both either unwilling or unable to end the containing field early.

And given the feeling that was now also buzzing at the edge of his mind; the sense that there was something for him to learn here about himself - or perhaps realize was a more apt word - Kite found that he didn't mind the cage match against two obviously skilled and unknown opponents. Those had started to become a bit of a specialty for him, after all.