Looming Phantoms

Unknown? Are there... gods we don't of?

Plato laughed at his confusion, “The pantheon of Gods is larger than you think. Great or minor, gods are still gods; beings that we call forces of nature, but in reality they have a human shape, just like ours. After all, this was the way Fate decided to create us.”. He got up, patting Kael's shoulder, “Let's get out now! I want to see the night sky once again.”

“W-wait!”, he turned towards the cell, “How about the others? Are you leaving them there to rot?”

“Mhh? Oh, them... You think I'm leaving those poor souls to die? Remember, you...”

“I say it, Camena says it. The truth.”, a faint whisper in Kael's head.

“They're gonna always be alive within me – within her.”

“Within me.”, at the same time, that same feeble feminine voice, quiet yet so strong that Kael couldn't ask anything else and just nodded assertively.

What was that... why did I hear a female voice?

They both got up the stairs in silence. The echoes of panic grew louder as they walked further up, making wonder Plato what was happening on the surface.

Are the reinforcements already here?

The hellish show he was presented with made him recoil from the surprise. The main building of the prison was nothing more than a bunch of ruins. The air was tinted with a strong orange hue, coloring the smoke that was rising from every single angle. The temperature was unbearable and so was the smell – there was no fresh air to breath in the streets.

Dead corpses of prophets covered the alleys, leaving the city like an open-air graveyard.

Did he do this? Oh, by the Gods... how is it possible?

Kael finally spoke up, “My mission was not only to rescue you. I had to destroy everything in my path... for the rest of the District, I asked help from a little friend.”

He then proceeded to make the Fertitas appear. This time, the gem at the center was broken.

“... Karan.”

A gasp came out of Plato's mouth as he tried to talk, “...”

“Who do we have here!”

… ???

Both turned left to look at the summit of a building.

“Kael and his friend, the famous Last Philosopher!”, with wavy dark hair and green eyes, Selivan's smirk was assessing them from head to toes. “You have caused quite a ruckus, you know?”

“And how do you know me?”, Kael stepped back to stay next to Plato.

“Many know you. You can't think of coming to this place, defeat some very strong individuals and get away with it. Every action has a consequence... and here, they're very dire.”, he raised a hand and a serpent of plasma attacked from the smokescreen on their right.

Kael was the only one to get down in time, using an unnatural flexibility to go into a split.

Plato!

Clang

The jaws of that serpent – already open to strike him down – were halted by a double scythe, which looked to be made entirely out of light. Plato retracted the blade, cutting the fake animal's head and making it disappear.

His eyes rose to meet Selivan's ones in a fierce look, almost furious.

W-what is going on here? Why did the atmosphere around him changed all of a sudden?

Kael got on the defensive, taking out his spear. He looked at Plato first and then at Selivan.

He spoke again, “Nice tool you have there, Plato. I bet you wish you could use it on me!”

“I do. And I wouldn't hesitate.”

“Unlucky you, then!”, he replied with a sinister laugh.

The philosopher moved forward of a few steps, “And why are you laughing now?”

Selivan pointed towards him, “You're enemy is another one.”

“... !!!”

Plato quickly raised the posterior of his double scythe to block Von's knife just in time. He rotated it with quickness; the other end of the weapon collided with Von's one to deflect it down. He then positioned it behind his back to avoid being hit by the next upward slash, before finally jumping away to a nearby roof.

Von followed him. He began attacking with a nagging series of precise slashes and lunges, Plato kept walking backward while always blocking or redirecting those blows with great fleetness, until they were both out of reach for both Kael and Selivan.

They both looked at each other.

“You have a lot of questions, don't you?”, the latter said with arrogance.

“Yeah, I have. But I have to settle something else first.”

Kael launched his spear towards him, but it missed. It flew right past Selivan, who's smirk immediately disappeared.

What?!

He turned around to see Kael reappearing in the air exactly where the spear was in a flash of hexagonal blue particles.

Just as his enemy had blocked, he spun his weapon to create a deadly and big ring of fire. The impact was devastating as the air trembled and everything under the attack was demolished to pieces.

Selivan was thrown several houses away, but still managed to land on his feet. His enemy reached him.

“Magnificent!”

He dodged right and waited for Kael's next move. As the spear swung towards him, a strange looking weapon materialized in his hand and parried the hit. It was a peculiar twin-blade with a decorated handle made of blackstone. One of its ends was normal and resembled a long knife blade, while the other was a plasma extension in the form of a big sickle.

He used this extension to cut Kael's spear's handle in half before kicking him away.

He tried jumping over him to stab him with the metal blade, but got to pierce only the roof. Kael was out of his visual field now.

… ? Where...

He got kicked harshly in his chin. Still, he managed to stay on his feet and throw a right punch blindly. His adversary blocked it with the same arm and responded with his left elbow, before charging him off the roof down onto the flame covered streets.

Kael quickly lifted his head to avoid three small plasma serpent coming from below. Selivan somersaulted from the street back on the top of the house, landing behind him and turning outright with his weapon in hand. Kael did the same with his spear. The two weapons clashed, the friction of the metal created a loud screeching which echoed all around the battleground for long. The sparks lit the already fiery air between them, until a bigger one flew right next to Selivan's face.

Here!

Kael extended his left arm – still keeping the blade lock with only the other one – and opened his hand. The spark shrunk to a tiny point with a high pitched noise.

“... Ugh!”

It exploded, sending Selivan flying meters and meters away in a great plaza.

Damn it... I actually underestimated him! So it's true... he is what they said he was.

He got on his feet, touching the left side of his face – now covered by blood and burned by the explosion. Kael emerged from the smoke atop the roofs and walked closer, stopping right at the center of the square.

“You're strong.”

Selivan cackled incredulous, “Look who's talking! I've never seen anything like that in my life. Seems like I underestimated you, Kael.”

Kael observed him in silence, “What do you want from me?”

“Ohhh, you're asking that now? What a bad timing.”, he joked, “As I said, many are interested in you. Your power is... embarrassingly incredible, and for that people want you dead. You're too much of a threat to this place, its equilibrium and its affairs. Someone just sent us here to capture you.”

“And who is this person?”

“Its name is a taboo, even for us.”, he answered confidently. “I repeat: you're strong as heck, but I'm no less. Our battle will be long, so get ready!”

Kael smirked, “Yeah.”

A kilometer away, some minutes before

Von's offensive style was suffocating, but Plato's defense was nothing short of extraordinary. His double scythe moved with ease in his hands, parrying every attack and sometimes launching short counters. His agility matched Von's brute strength perfectly. Their fight, frenetic and exhausting, unraveled on the roofs as the smoke kept rising from the destroyed houses.

Plato quickly put his weapon behind his back, stopping Von's blade before staving him off with a kick. He turned to deflect a flying dagger thrown to him, which reappeared in his enemy's hand in the blink of an eye.

Tch, he's tough. I'm defending myself very well here, but I can't let him be always on the offensive!

He jumped towards him, trying to strike him with one end of the weapon. Von parried the vertical hit, but got hit by the blunt part of the other scythe as soon as Plato rotated it. The philosopher turned it again and prepared to stab him, forcing him to step back.

It's my chance!

Plato put both hands in the middle of the handle. With a sharp movement, he detached the two scythes, which hilts became longer – all in a flurry of pentagonal white particles.

He lunged at him, striking with grace and precision. Von kept up, alternating moments of defense to ones of counterattack. He tried a lunge with the dagger in his right hand, but it was blocked by one of the scythes from above. Plato moved the other under it and moved his whole arm towards the inside.

Von lost balance and panicked. Before he could be hit by the handle of one of Plato's weapons, a clone of himself made of red mist blocked it.

“...”

The philosopher clenched both his weapons, releasing a shockwave of light, which made the clone disappear. But Von had already retreated.

He nearly got me there. I've got to stay composed!

Under the already aware eyes of his opponent, he smashed his daggers together. A mini cloud of red hexagonal particles fell to the ground, revealing his real weapon: a simple yet beautiful sword. It was slim, made of a hard metal, which gave it a shiny look under the moonlight. Its handle and cross-guard were made of platinum, decorated with intricate red patterns.

“The Reality Cube...”, Plato muttered.

Von heard him, “What??? How... how did you understand?”

“It's clear as day now. Your face is hidden under that cape and only two inhuman red pupils are visible, your clone and those red particles: it could only be one thing. I know a lot more than you can even imagine... and for this immense knowledge, I only have to thank my Mistress.”

“Tch... and who is she?”, he sounded now more annoyed than usual; distressed, even, in front of such a powerful enemy.

“You're not ready yet! It would be such a waste to use my ace right now.”, Plato mocked, knowing his superiority.

Von didn't answer. He appeared in front of him, the sword already near the philosopher's ribs. He evaded the hit, blocking the second one by erecting a thin wall of pure solid light. The sword slightly cracked it, but it then shattered as Plato's open fist emerged from it, grabbing Von's sword's hilt. With a rapid succession of moves, he rotated his opponent's arm in an unnatural way, disarmed him and almost slashed him – alas, only achieving a little cut to the robe.

Von's weapon began trembling. He knew it was going to return to the man's hand, so he secured it to the ground with one of his scythes. In a ridiculous amount of time, he looked left, blocking Von's copy's attack. He dropped on one knee, avoiding a lateral kick from the real counterpart and then rolled under his legs, getting to safety as Von regained hold of his sword.

He fused the two scythes back together, pivoting to face the enemy again. He hurled his now single weapon against him. He deflected easily, but Plato opened his hand. The double scythe came back like a boomerang, stressing him to turn around to block it a second time. His right side was unguarded and was struck exactly on the lower ribs by a powerful uppercut.

“Gah!”, he growled in pain, his breath became heavy as he started retreating with haste as he held the injured part with the right hand.

Plato capitalized on the successful hit and pressed his adversary, making him step back under the pressure of a long series of assaults.

Von was damaged a few times as his mobility was now compromised. He kept shielding himself thanks to the used of red mist clones, small walls of stone and fire barriers on the ground – showcasing a great magic versatility. Even so, the philosopher's prowess was exceptional; he easily got through everything, opposing all things that he was thrown against. The upper hand was his by a long measure at this point.

Von – being in a desperate position – lifted a wall of fire between them two. Plato sliced vertically through it, finding him already lowering a blow towards his head. He wasn't caught by surprise and stood clear-headed, using one of the scythes' edges to disarm him again before slashing both the right arm and the left leg, leaving deep lacerations on them.

Just as he was about to ready the final blow, a sinister whistle came from behind him.

“Huh... what is this?”, his vision began to blurry, then got all wiggly as if a deep nausea was pestering him. “Reality magic? Ach!”, he hit his head out of frustration.

Finally, his vision was back to normal. Von was nowhere to be seen. The battle had ended as quickly as it began.

“He's slick...”, Plato clicked his tongue, dissatisfied.

I sensed a great power in him, both physical and magical. Was he holding back... or maybe not?

Over to the other side of the battlefield, Selivan and Kael's duel was getting more heated every second that passed. Their weapons had clashed so much, but now they were resorting to hand to hand combat and magic alone.

The large plaza was beginning to shimmer, through the sounds of their fists meeting.

The two danced, Kael pushing with attacks and Selivan deflecting them precisely. After traversing almost all the length of the battleground, he blocked a punch and unexpectedly jumped behind his enemy. Kael reacted faster and crouched down, avoiding Selivan's punch and unbalancing him with a leg sweep. He finished with a right hook, which sent him rolling against a building on the other side of the square.

Through the smoke, the same pieces of stone of the ruins flew towards him at a great speed.

“... What?!”, Kael began avoiding or destroying them as Selivan walked forward.

What's this kind of magic?

He sprinted to the left, creating a spike of stone to block a bullet of plasma. This was destroyed right after by a slash of wind. Kael responded with the same move. The two charges clashed, forming a shockwave. The already damaged houses around them began trembling even more.

Selivan launched a ball of fire, but it was avoided as his opponent hopped behind on the ledge of a roof. He kept on going with a fast ray of the same element. Kael brought a piece of stone up to shield him, but the attack switched to a plasma one in an instant.

“... !!!”, as it pierced through Kael's defense, it nearly hit him. It passed near his cheek, burning it slightly.

Another attack destroyed the ledge he was on, forcing him to get down. Selivan reached him. They kept exchanging punches and kicks at high speed. Kael blocked a right hook with a reinforced parry, pushed the arm on the outside before turning left to avoid the following uppercut. He pivoted again – always to the left, in a way so that his back was turned towards Selivan – and quickly glided behind, pushing both arms to hit him with the elbows on the abdomen. As his enemy was slightly pushed behind, he formed a lightning sword to protect his back from Selivan's plasma one. He rotated right this time, giving the impression of trying a circular slash. But it wasn't Kael's true intention. His opponent instinctively blocked, but as soon as the weapons got close, Kael made his disappear. He clenched his fist, enveloped it in blue mana flames and hit Selivan's face.

The impact was violent. Blood flew out of his face as he stumbled back – grunting with pain.

Kael walked calmly towards him, grabbed his shoulder and punched him again in the stomach.

“Huh?”

His body stood still, as if chained to something on the ground. He raised his head, showing a grin on his blood-stained face.

“There's more than just you out there.”, Selivan growled, breath heavy. “And they're all coming.”

“You're crazy.”

“I know!”, he took Kael's hand and threw him on the ground.

He united both fists to strike him on the face. Kael rolled away and got back up. He crossed his wrist to block a blow, then stepped behind him to avoid another one. He jumped, spun midair and kicked him on the nape. As soon as he began his descent, Selivan punched him on the chest. He was thrown away, but managed to land on his feet.

They were now far away from each other.

“... You seriously piss me off, Kael!”, he snorted, cleaning the blood from his face. “As much as I try... I know I won't ever beat you.”

For now at least... he'll see.

His knuckles turned white. “But one will come to you. She makes tremble anyone, even me!”

Kael listened in silence, not moving an inch. He calmed down, concentrating his mana equally in his body – readying for the final part of the battle.

“I won't run away. Not without being properly defeated.”, he charged a magic attack; his adversary stood still, waiting. “Aaaagh!!!”

With a battle scream, he darted several plasma serpents of different form and length. Kael waited. He gazed the serpents intensely, until they were in front of him. Time seemed to slow down.

“Chanted Spell, Wind Ring, Lightning Variation: Steps of Divine Grace, God of Thunder.”

a flash of lightning fell on him. Just as fast as it, he sprinted forward. No human eye could see him, closing the distance as the serpents were one by one enveloped in bundles of electricity and destroyed. Selivan couldn't even process what had happened nor dodge, but just found Kael right in front of him. His whole body was emitting sparks, which all concentrated on his right hand – closed in a fist.

Shit!

He was sent flying through several buildings. The sound resembled the one of a loud thunder, echoing in the lingering night. The shockwave gave the final push. All the houses around the plaza fell like they were made of cards.

After all the sounds settled, Kael was left alone in that place. The moon was disappearing over the horizon. The fire that was devouring the Prophets District was settling. Selivan and Von's presence were no more – they had fled.

Unknown Land, Some Days Before

In a far, far away land, a never-ending desert of red sand reigned unchallenged. Old as the Reign of Mitarsen – some dare to say, it was host to horrible monsters, some lying deep within the dunes.

The sun cast hot rays on the ground, alternating with the moon to bring much needed cold.

As far as a place could be, impurity and evil would still reach it. The same way, justice would always find and try to eradicate them.

“That should be all of them.”, a woman, dressed in light and white clothes and with long rosewood hair and mahogany eyes, was sitting quietly on the outside of a tent.

These guys were tough to eliminate... I'm beginning to hate this place to be honest.

“I can feel your frustration, Anastasia.”

“... !!!”. She lifted her head, meeting two white eyes framed on a shadow. “Who are you? And how do you know my name?”

That same distorted and deep male voice continued, “I sense a strong feel of justice coming from you... you seek more power to fight evil and to protect the lessers.”

She cautiously nodded, speaking again with a serious tone, “I do. But how do you know it?”

“I know a lot of things. But I can also see it in your eyes... and in your actions. You killed all these outlaws after all.”

“Yeah... it's what they deserved.”

“No one knows what anyone deserves...”

She reacted surprised by the hardening of his tone.

“Not even Fate. We just follow destiny. If someone would get what they really deserve, destiny would have to sway away... impossible.”

“...”, she stood in silence at that ambiguous words. “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to go South-East... cross the sea and get to an ashen land. Seek a city called Rmune. Seek a young man called Kael of Nara. If you stay by his side, fight with him until the end... you'll get the power to save anyone you want. The might needed to eradicate evil.”

Anastasia's eyes widened at that mention. At first, she was skeptical and wanted to question that mysterious entity. But as soon as it disappeared, a feeling of security and trust filled her whole body.

She was left no choice but to follow that order. She got up and walked away.

Rmune, Joran's blacksmith shop, a week after Plato's rescue

“Ngh...”, in the big garden of a colonnade – just on the back of Joran's workshop – Polus was holding a wooden sword, sliding behind after blocking a hit from Kael, who was on the opposite end. All around, in the shade of the portico, everyone – except Plato – was observing the duel.

Kael jumped the whole distance, lowering the weapon. Polus blocked and retreated again, closer to the columns. He was attacked with a lunge. He turned left, hitting his opponent's sword with his to lower it. Kael foresaw his next move. He crouched down to avoid the slash and rotated the hilt in his hands. He lifted it with force, disarming Polus with easiness.

“Good thing you tried there! Come on, let's keep this up.”, he smiled as he went to collect the falconer's training weapon.

Polus frowned dissatisfied under his turbans, “That guy is unbelievable. I bet he isn't even trying!”

“Maybe you're not trying enough, boss!”, Meku joked. He was sitting next to Vera, with Joran and Kele behind leaning on a wall.

“Oh, shut up! You wouldn't even last two seconds with him.”

The four of them laughed it off. Right beside their group, was Ascarin's one. He was resting on a column, talking with Mala while Olivia – on her left – was looking intently at the fight.

“Ascarin, do you know where Plato is?”, Mala asked, noticing the philosopher wasn't anywhere around.

“Him? Kele told me he's... meditating.”

She looked puzzled, “Meditating? Isn't that a practice the Uberdia's clerics use to try and get into communion with gods?”

Ascarin nodded in response, “Yes... but I'm sure it's a different form of meditation. I don't know what is he using it for. I'm just hopeful he's searching up answers to our questions. The Curse and the Null...”

“... Yeah. I hope so too.”, she said almost with sadness. “...”

“Did you sense anything in him?”, he suddenly broke the ice again, as the sounds of Kael and Polus' fight kept going. He saw that his question had thrown her off balance, “I looked at your reaction when we got to meet him a week ago... I never saw such a look on your face. It was... astonishment mixed with fear. You never show those emotions. You didn't even when Kael told us about those two mysterious men who tried to kill them at the prison, back at the Prophets District.”

Mala looked down with bashfulness, clasping her soft hands. “I did. I sensed something in him. I can't quite tell what it is... but I feel like he has so much hidden power on his shoulders.”

“You say?”, he thoughtfully moved his gaze to the training ground where Kael was pressing Polus with his abilities. “I believe you, as always. Not only because you're my wife, but I also asked you this exact thing because of your true nature.”

Mala let out a little laugh, then replied with feeble voice, “Now that you make me think about it, they don't know it yet.”. She pointed to Kele, Meku, Joran and Vera.

Ascarin looked at them, then positioned his sight back to the garden. “Pft... they'll find out.”

Meanwhile, Polus was getting more and more overwhelmed by Kael's relentless attack. His wooden sword moved gracefully in hands, dancing on its own in the air as he put just the right amount of force to deflect all the useless counters.

As soon as Polus made one mistake, Kael rotated his weapon, guiding his adversary's one down. He viewed an opening on his left side. By stepping back with the same foot, he set a trap. The falconer fell for it and immediately after moving a step forward, he got struck on the chest and then on the right wrist. He left the grip on his sword, which fell on the ground.

“Ack!”

Kael smirked with satisfaction, “You're a good duelist. I'm having so much fun! You should be wary of traps though... you fell for eight of them during this duel alone.”

“Eight?!”, Polus exclaimed perplexed. “D-did I really fall for that many traps?”

“Mh mh. The last one was the most apparent since it led to my victory, but the other seven were the ones who guaranteed me the upper hand for the majority of the fight, even if they were more subtle and unnoticeable.”

“What are you... even a master swordsman now?”

“Not yet!”, Olivia said. “Unfortunately the Uberdia Combat Academy keeps rejecting his application for that title.”

“Tch, you didn't have to say that! Even without the title, I'm still the best swordsman in all of the Kingdom of Mitarsen.”, he crossed his arms, smiling proudly.

“Yeah, yeah. Maybe it's because they don't trust you with both the archmage and master swordsman title!”

“Huh?! And why would that be? I'm just, like... you know... the strongest person in that whole continent!”

“I know you are! But saying it just makes you sound arrogant. Maybe if you were more humble you would get both titles like me.”, she teased.

“Don't shout that from the rooftops!”, Kael was getting madder and madder.

Olivia kept going with her words, “You're getting mad, huh? If you want we can duel right now, so you can blow some steam off! I will accept any challenge too.”

He was struck by what she had said, “Any?”

Olivia nodded self-assured, not knowing she had just dug her own grave. Kael, on the other hand, smirked and nearly laughed.

“Then... the challenge is easy. It will be a normal duel...”. He opened his right hand, lifting his sword from the ground, “... and any type of magic is allowed.”

She gulped, passing from confident to scared in a fraction of a second. “W-wait... maybe we, well, can do a normal duel?”

“Are you afraid now? Ehehe...”

Olivia tried to hide her cowardice and embarrassment by lowering her head. “F-fine...”, she finally muttered.

“What?”, he ironically replied, “I can't hear you!”

“Fine!!! I'll duel you with magic. Now stop teasing me!”, she picked up the sword, ready to fight.

Ascarin and Mala were watching the entertaining banter.

“She's so done for.”, he said with a little laugh.

Mala gave him a light puff on the shoulder, “Come on, have some faith in her!”