Chương 298: A first time for everything

"Again, if you would?" Crooked Star asked as a new conjured sword appeared in his hand as the man assumed a ready stance. During the last hour, Kite had thoroughly had to reevaluate the dueling champion of the Grand Proving, as the man's controlled demeanor gradually started cracking as they clashed to show a pure dueling enthusiast. Not perhaps on the level of Soul, but still.

"I should have the time for one final round," Kite said after glancing towards where Riz - his portal courier - still seemed quite happy to sit back, enjoying the drink Kite had provided while watching the handsome guys fight. Her exact words, not his. Assuming a balanced stance of his own, Kite gave a nod for Crooked Star to call the start of the duel. A surge of aura came an instant later, and the two men were back at it.

Kite immediately conjured the three barriers of his Heaven-and-Void Warding as well as filling the room with other smaller segments of shields through Leyline Warding, the barriers all readying themselves to intervene for what was to come. Crooked Star tried to seize the initiative by initiating the duel with a charge, even though this was quite an odd one.

Rather than forcefully making his way forward, the inner disciple instead seemed to form a kind of connection with Kite that made his movements a lot faster as long as he moved either closer or away. While not teleportation per se, it certainly looked like it as the man started flashing forward and backwards like a blur while his sideways motions were more normal to a silver-ranker of his level of advancement.

The power sure was an odd one, but one which Crooked Star had proved very adept at using while it was but a mere glimpse of his true path. Kite held him off with a swirling layer of barriers that kept the other silver-ranker constantly shifting around until unfortunately, one straight path to Kite opened up for a mere moment as the spaces between shields aligned, and that was all that Crooked Star required to suddenly appear right in front of Kite.

His sword flashed in from one side while his other armament - a small round shield covered in shifting runes - was swung towards Kite's chest, only for a barrier to crash into Crooked Star's side and interrupt the attack. Several other projected strikes followed, a few even impacting only for Kite to need to use his wards to defend as rippling pulses of retributive damage followed.

"At least I have the option to forego direct damage," Kite thought to himself, just imagining fighting Crooked Star and his karmic path in a more conventional clash. His magical perception also revealed when a few karmic tethers started reaching out from the other man looking to connect to Kite and his equipment, but Ripple of Cancellation made sure to cut short such an attempt.

Even so, he was still unable to avoid all of the mirrored effects and similarly transferred instances of damage and afflictions that Crooked Star used, but with Sage helping him as well as his constant replenishment of his own mana that simultaneously kept his foe from teleporting, Kite could hold on better than most of their rank.

Crooked Star was thorough and decisive, planning his approach with care yet adapting on the fly whenever needed, but much as it had during their last four clashes, a rhythm started emerging that the other man could not break out of; a dance where Kite took the lead and kept costing him more and more mana until he would eventually run out.

Half a minute later, a brief exchange led to Crooked Star's sword being shattered by a dispelling counter-attack just as Kite managed to trap him between three panes of force in a manner that made their conclusion obvious to both of them.

"Curses, even faster this time," Crooked Star muttered as he gestured his concession.

"Even as silver-rankers we are not inexhaustible," Kite replied as he let his barriers disappear.

"It is not just that though. It is your path, Sentinel. It is just so… brutal, at least to one's pride and sense of control. Here I have been daring to feel a bit proud of my path and what it can achieve in a one-on-one setting as well as on the hunt, yet facing off against someone like you or the Blessed of Warrior was denied me during the Proving. I believe it would have meant insight and experience that I would have needed more than this hollow champion title bestowed upon me."

"Mine is the breaker of many paths, with yours actually being one of those with more of a chance," Kite consoled.

"I can only imagine trying to fight you as a more conventional warrior, where each strike is returned while your own offense threatens to drown my attempts at defense in fell karma… We truly must make sure that you get the opportunity to face off against Soul in the future. I would be most curious about the outcome. She is in many ways a bane of my path, after all."

"Given how things went here, I am less than confident in the outcome, but I thank you nonetheless. It seems like she was right about you."

"She?" Kite asked, curious as Crooked Star did not seem to be referring to Soul in this mention of him.

"We happen to have a common acquaintance," Crooked Star said after erecting a privacy screen around them.

"Bright Day. I am to give you her regards."

"Wait, she actually asked you to?" Kite asked, surprised both by Crooked Star knowing of River's fake name as well as the very thought of the priestess of Pain doing anything even remotely similar to 'sending someone her regards'.

"Well, not exactly. She is a bit lacking in the courtesy department. But I did manage to get her to speak of you a few times, with her at one time grumbling about your annoying path. And given how that was perhaps the kindest I have heard her speak about anyone… I figured that adding some politeness of my own to that scenario only felt reasonable."

"That does sound more like the Bright Day I know," Kite sighed.

"I do not know how you ended up actually conversing with her, and will assume that you can't tell me much more about it either given what I know of her tasks."

"That is indeed true," Crooked Star confirmed.

"Then I will at least thank you for helping in an important cause," Kite replied while giving the other man a bow.

"And do give Bright Day my regards when you next meet her. Now though, I must be off."

"The wider world awaits?" Crooked Star asked as the privacy screen dropped.

"Parts of it, at least. And often quite troubled ones," Kite said as he walked off to join Riz while the other man said his farewells and took his leave.

"Wow, you sure showed him there, honored customer," the colorful elf remarked once Crooked Star had left, closing the door to the shielded dueling arena behind him.

"Honestly, Mistress Riz, he was very skilled and with a path that most would struggle severely against given that you essentially fight both the damage from yourself and him," Kite replied with a shake of his head.

"That one is a pride for both his sect and this kingdom. It may perhaps not be too fair to judge him after facing me alone. But… there is some truth to be found in your words. Traveling so extensively with Gauntlet these last few years… Skill comes in many forms, but perspective and experience is always part of it, and given how this country tends to isolate itself in many ways, I find myself a bit sad for all the insights and experiences that could have been ours yet never reached our borders. Home just feels so…

small."

"That sounds an awful lot like something best further discussed over a good drink," Riz replied as she gestured towards the stone archway that was her portal as it rose from the ground.

"And would you know, I even know a good place where we're going."

"Revel in discord, Sister Gardener," Altessia Sessante greeted as Ametrine emerged from her portal inside the other woman's study.

"May the gardens of strife grow strong," Ametrine finished, taking a seat upon a shimmering cloud that was conjured beneath her.

"You requested a meeting, Sister?" Some might have been surprised to hear the added honorifics between the two women, but in the years that had followed the Grand Proving and Altessia's arrival, Ametrine had to admit that the woman knew what she was doing. Or at least in most cases. She had set a much faster pace for things than Ametrine herself would have chosen, but so far she had also delivered.

All around the kingdom's heartlands, the tensions between the sects as well as local prominent families were on the rise and had continued in that fashion to a satisfying degree. Sure, there have been a lot of opposition that curtailed their progress, especially in the capital, around the lands of the Fated Severance Sect and - of course - the north. But so far, they should be able to meet the required concentration of their deity's purview to begin the ritual at the appointed time in three or so years.

As such, Ametrine had taken to calling Altessia sister, finding it a worthwhile investment to foster relations, no matter her own personal feelings at the outsider essentially having come in and taken over.

"I did, but it was mostly for a short report so keep your portal open," Altessia replied, leaning back in her chair and idly twining a curl of dark hair between her fingers.

"I wanted to inform you that your people should be able to move a bit more openly from now on. Ever since we started deploying Cala to hunt more in the city, it seems that those little pests that had begun nabbing our people have decided to abandon ship. We haven't seen a trace of them in well over a month now."

"While that does sound like a positive development, I must point out that they might be biding their time for us to do just this."

"It might be so, and that is why I will have Cala keep watching from the shadows. It was most fortunate that I was able to bring her, as you can never have too many additional gold-rankers on hand, now can you?" Ametrine did not share the other woman's smile beyond allowing the corners of her mouth to tug upwards only ever so slightly. Such a question made in jest really served to drive home that not all parts of the world were made equally, given how few gold-rankers there were in all of Hua-Xi.

"That was all," Altessia said after it was clear that Ametrine would give no further reactions.

"Return to your palace and your king. Focus on keeping our progress stable. We are closing in on the final stretch now. Soon enough, our patience and hard work will be rewarded."

"Ready?" Amica whispered under her breath, the confirmations from her teammates coming in rapid succession.

"Ready. Cage is available."

"Circle down and lenses in place."

"I too stand ready, Amica. As does Glint." Taking a moment to center herself, Amica started focusing her aura on the seemingly ordinary rock wall in front of them. They would only get one chance at this, and frankly she was impressed that they had managed to even get this close, given the extensive preparations of their paranoid target.

With a surge of her telekinesis, Amica channeled over a third of her mana reserves to rip most of the rock wall outwards and to the sides, the expenditure being steep in order to affect such a solid object. Next came Léon's beam of focused and manifold concentrated light which instantly seared a hole through the layer of metal that proved to hide beneath the stone. As they had suspected, this revealed the hint of a shimmering barrier as their third layer to overcome, meaning that it was Kite's turn to shine.

Not needing to wait for any command, the easterner had already shot forward even while the hole in the metal layer still glowed red hot, ignoring the hazard in order to strike the barrier with a mighty thrust of his ringed staff. Kite's dispelling attacks had always looked rather humble at first, eating away at either unseen magic or blowing decent - but not overly large - holes in more stable magical constructs. Now though?

Amica could see the large expenditure of mana swirling inside Kite's form as his staff impacted the barrier, and with the sound like a frozen waterfall shattering the wall of glowing magical force shattered in what she assumed was its entirety, or at least very close. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

This let them finally sense the lone aura inside, silver-ranked and quite startled as well as terrified as Ceasar finished their breaching sequence by conjuring a crackling cage of lightning inside the very well hidden bolt hole. A failed teleportation attempt caused even further alarm in their quarry, the whole sequence having taken less than three seconds from start to finish.

And as Ceasar would have a very paltry excuse for a prison confluence if that wasn't the case, the now trapped man would of course be unable to make any other such teleportation attempts while still caught inside his cages.

"Wait! wait! you can't– I'll pay you five times– no! A dozen times whatever they were offering! Just–" The rest of the screaming man's words were cut off as a bubble of water appeared inside the lightning cage, enveloping him and choking out all sound while mercifully enough not touching the cage itself as that would have made things even more uncomfortable for their prisoner.

"Great timing everyone!" Amica called as she flew in after Kite, who was keeping a careful eye on their prisoner.

"This newly evolved power of yours really came in clutch, Kite. It meant that we did not have to redraw any plans even when we learned of the barrier generator."

"I too am quite pleased," Kite replied with a smile.

"Quite pleased indeed." WWJS: Congratulations! Your power [Disrupting Strike] has reached Gold 0. [Disrupting Strike] has gained additional effects. - Disrupting strike - Special attack. Cost: Low mana/varies. Cooldown: 2s. Current rank: Gold 0 Effect - Iron: Strike an opponent to attempt to cancel an ongoing magical effect and deal disruptive force damage. The latter is increased if an ability or effect was affected.

Some ongoing or very powerful effects might not be able to be negated entirely, and will instead be suppressed or reduced for a short duration. Effect - Bronze: Dispelled effects suffer an increase in cooldown in proportion to their cost and original cooldown. The minimum cooldown for such an effect is 10s. Effect - Silver: This ability gains an alternate effect, with its own cost and cooldown separate from the original.

May increase cost to moderate mana to instead target a special ability of the target, suppressing it for 30 seconds. This effect may not target aura or familiar abilities. Cooldown: 30 seconds. A target may have only one of its special abilities suppressed by this power, regardless of source.

Effect - Gold: Gain the option of increasing the cost of this ability, to a maximum of extreme mana, in order to proportionally increase both the damage dealt as well as the size or volume of the magical effect that can be afflicted (where applicable). Not only had Disrupting Strike ranking up given Kite quite a bit more impact in most situations with magic involved, but it was also a very important symbol to him and his endeavors.

It was a surefire sign that the powers of his negation essences were advancing, and even though he had felt their seemingly glacial growth over the last few months part of Kite had still harbored some fears that he was either imagining things or that this progress might cease at any moment and prove him stuck once more. Now though?

"Oh we've noticed," Amica noted.

"Relieved too. And proud."

"Well, I–""Hey now, no need to be embarrassed," the telekineticist interrupted, sensing Kite's conflicted emotions.

"You've cause to be proud. You're a bit younger than me and you've still made more progress. Most of all of us, and we're an inner member team of Gauntlet all touching upon gold. Treat yourself to some pride, Kite and–" Both fell silent in an instant as Kite suddenly swung his staff towards a seemingly innocuous spot at the wall.

The bolt hole they had broken into was a bunker through and through, but its insides were furnished very comfortably, and Kite suspected that the wooden paneling he smashed through was worth a silver spirit coin or two at least. For a split second, rays of rapidly intensifying light shone out through the cracks created by his swing before the ringed head came to a stop inside the hidden compartment in the wall, another use of Disrupting Strike causing the light to instantly wink out.

Silence reigned as all of the team members looked in silence at the magical charge that had almost gone off inside the wall to no doubt devastating effect for anyone still inside the bunker before they, as one, turned to regard their prisoner.

"Did… this bastard just try to take us with him?" Ceasar asked nobody in particular.

"This young mistress did get the same impression," Glint replied, the others nodding their agreement.

"Then, if you don't mind oh most beautiful and fair Glint, I believe that the time for courtesy is over," the runic replied, casting a spell that intensified the crackling bars of his lightning cage that surrounded their prisoner.

"If you would? We need to make sure that he isn't able to focus enough to activate something else before we can get him out and collar him." Then, the globe of water expanded ever so slightly, letting the electrifying fireworks begin. The contract did prioritize them bringing in the prisoner alive, but not unscathed or in comfort. A distinction that had suddenly become very relevant. Walker sighed as the leader of one of the guild teams left his office to return to her companions and take a well deserved rest.

He noted down the details on a scroll for their archivist to sort through and store, before a step into one of the many potted plants of his office had him emerging one building over, and to even more pleasant company too.

"Daaa!" Smiling, Walker immediately turned to where Hunter was making his way over towards him by shuffling along one of the walls, the baby-turning-toddler's face a mask of unbridled enthusiasm.

"Well, little Hunter!" he said while scooping up his now one year old son, who cooed with delight.

"No concerning news can cloud my mind when I have you!"

"I thought I saw Drake's team returning through the window. Bad news?" Spring asked as she came to join the rest of her little family.

"That depends. That was indeed Drake's team, returning early after yet another two sects have started guarding their borders and expanding their territory. No violence or anything though, Fortune be praised. But our people are starting to have trouble traversing the roads of the south."

"Good thing that we have plenty who can make better time without roads then," Spring remarked.

"With you as our leaders, we should have enough domain confluences to easily cover the different regions. Even the rivers to the southwest. If I remember correctly, we had one member with some kind of small boat conjuration, no?"

"A canoe, actually. Along with his knowledge essence and his tendency to make sure that each of the villages along his routes are well stocked with books, many are even praising him as their sage. But that is a bit beside the point," Walker said, having started playing with little Hunter through multiple vines conjured from the plants in their homes.

"The point is that our members are more isolated while traversing the south now, and possibly in more danger depending on how certain sects will react if they find them there. The tensions are at an all-time high, dear."

"Good thing that we are making some preparations too, then. Have you heard anything from Soul?"

"Not a word, but that does not surprise me. When she has her projects she does not tend to be the most communicative. You know, scratch that. She has never been communicative in almost any situation. We can only pray that she can find what she is looking for out there. Young Master Silver is a good stand-in, surprised as I am with him remaining here even though Soul has left, but we will miss her soon once enough disappointed little pilgrims start hanging around the city."

"Still, I don't think we should give up on the south. Both we and our allies need to know what's happening, at least as much as possible."

"Indeed, my dear," Walker agreed.

"We'll just have to make sure that the teams heading south know to retreat as soon as they deem it necessary, as well as increase the pay of those contracts. With the money flowing in from a certain branch director and her mysterious benefactors, gods know we have the means. The Autumn Wanderer's Guild will make sure to do our part for this kingdom and its people, whether certain forces in the heartlands like it or not."

"I suppose that there is a first time for everything," Kite murmured mostly to himself as he stood with Amica, Ceasar and Léon at one of the shuttle ports of the massive airship which they found themselves aboard.

Through the mostly translucent barrier shielding that covered the opening, the group could see a breathtakingly beautiful vista of fluffy clouds colored peach and gold by the setting sun, only made all the more impressive by the contrast to the growing maelstrom of clearly magical and turbulent storm clouds that was visible ahead.

"For what? Taking part in an airship raid to capture an agent feeding information to sky pirates? Acting alongside members of the Sapphire Crown Guild, one of the most famous in the world, who will be the vanguard and take on the rest of the pirate fleet? Fighting gods know how high up in the air while a storm conjured by a member of the Storm Kingdom's royal family rages all around? Or - perhaps the most pertinent question - that we are about to do all of that at once?"

Amica asked while ticking off each point on her fingers.

"We should all be incredibly proud to have actually been hand-picked for this," Léon noted, eyes sharp as his voice did not mirror the telekineticist's levity.

"Of all the silver ranked teams in Gauntlet, we are apparently now considered one of the foremost in taking live prisoners. So let's make very sure not to embarrass ourselves and the task group."

"To be fair," Ceasar added, "It is probably Kite, Amica and yours truly here who are actually contributing to that. Because people you direct your powers towards tend to end up full of very precise holes."

"Which in turn makes sure that you have less trouble reaching your targets and that they have less backup to call upon," Léon shot back, and looked about to say something more before Amica lifted her hand to silence them both.

"Not the time, boys. You are all very valued parts of this team. We couldn't have done it without either of you. Or you, Glint," he added, gaining an appreciative nod from the small carp floating at Kite's side.

"Léon is right that this is important. You heard Sir Ilmaril's tone as he briefed us. In person, for once. Let's–" She was interrupted as a massive light was suddenly unleashed from somewhere out of sight - probably from one of the other airships in the trio they were part of - before it blew the clouds in the distance apart and impacted something previously unseen. It had been so fast, and only as he was blinking away the afterimages did Kite manage to wrap his head around what he had seen.

"Was… was that a sword slash?" he asked with awe clear in his voice.

"It was," Léon confirmed, sharing Kite's sentiment as the keen-eyed sniper had no doubt been able to glean even more detail.

"And from what I can see, it did quite a number on the barriers of what I assume is our target." Focusing, Kite could understand what the sniper was talking about. Through the hole where the massive attack had blown away the clouds in a wide area they could now properly see one huge airship that looked a lot like an ocean-faring one that was kept aloft by a huge circle of some unknown material that floated horizontally beneath it, crackling with magical discharge.

It had five smaller vessels as an escort, and those started fanning out into an attack formation as they headed towards the three carrying the adventurers of the Sapphire Crown Guild and their auxiliaries. The larger ship made to follow, but was slowed down as its main barriers were indeed broken in most places, the crew working to redirect the remaining parts to the fore to protect the vessel from its most exposed angle.

Given that this was probably the signal Kite's team had been waiting for, they had already boarded their small aerial skiff and made themselves ready when a stern celestine woman with the pin of the Sapphire Crown Guild flew up to them.

"Good, you are ready. Given the successful initial strike, we will launch the boarding crafts within the minute. Do you have your information crystals and your flares?"

"We do," Amica replied crisply, proving capable of shedding her more jovial demeanor.

"Glad to see that we got decent auxiliaries this time, even though you might be more generalists then what we usually see in these parts," the woman from the Guild that was the local Royal Guard noted.

"Here, results matter though. Expect chaos once the boarding starts. Fortune be with you." Then she flew off, no doubt to deliver a similar message to other groups. With a wave, Amica gathered the group and held out a small projecting crystal.

"Let's take a refresher," she said, tone brooking no argument as the image of a human man with curly hair gathered in a loose knot appeared above the device.

"Roberto Amorim - high level silver-ranker - is the informant identified by local investigations, and they want him alive. You've all got the aura sample so we at least have a chance at finding him that way. Otherwise he is not expected to be part of the pirate front line, so we're heading deep. I'd still expect plenty of hostiles about though, but we always do. I will be focusing on detection and once we locate him we'll let the situation dictate our approach.

But as we will be approaching among the other assault crafts, you will have to hold your fire, Léon, as we would not want them to start focusing on us that early. This is pretty standard for us, but as Léon also said, some pretty important people will be very disappointed if we fuck up. So let's not." As if to punctuate Amica's words, the formations of their little hangar lit up, and a silver-ranked pilot in sleek aerial gear came running over, giving them each a nod as he leapt into the pilot seat of the skiff.

Shaped like a small boat, the boarding craft was long and sleek with plenty of protections along its pointed fore, including some low barriers for its passengers to duck behind. Kite suspected they were meant both to protect from the airflow as well as incoming attacks, and each member of their team found their own spots and handholds while Glint kept to her carp form tucked away in Kite's belongings.

A countdown of flashing lights later, the skiff then accelerated out through the barrier protecting their hangar and into the open air. Even over the roaring rush of air, Kite could still hear plenty of other magical propulsions engaging, adding a whining chorus like a high-pitched insect swarm to the din that was punctuated by various - and often impressive - sounds of more potent magical armaments and powers being unleashed.

Then their skiff sped up, accelerating in a way that was only possible if the lowest ranked passengers were silver or above. Volleys of smaller projectiles started being launched from both sides as well as some boarding crafts from the pirates. Beams of magical destruction, shimmering illusions real enough to split the air with their motions and clouds of whirling magical daggers were only the tip of the iceberg of the pandemonium that followed, and Kite and his team dove straight into that madness.

They had important work to be done and, in Kite's case, even more important insights to grasp; a process that had begun in earnest after his talk with Ardent Horizon Seeker. And as those kinds of insights were driven home and taken to their extremes in the most intense of situations, this chaos that awaited them fit Kite perfectly.