Wild Era 2, Ch 38: Herald's Verdict

Kelin looked down at Verasun’s lifeless body and shook his head.

The baron’s strength had always been in plotting and using others to do his dirty work. 

With everything external stripped away, he wasn’t much, just an average Second Evolution fighter. 

Like a turtle outside of its shell.

More importantly, the duel had been won long before they stepped onto the field, when Kelin’s mark had landed on his soul.

Kelin hadn’t given him much of a chance to have a final speech, but if he’d had the chance, it probably would have been something obnoxious.

It was better to skip it.

In the end, the job was done. A punishment had been delivered for the disaster that had killed his younger self at the mine and for all the other things Verasun had done.

Based on the terms of the duel, he was no longer Baron Verasun either.

Kelin was apparently that now, not that he wanted it.

He’d have to deal with that in a minute.

He glanced over at the stands, where the kids and Sandren were staring at him in shock. They weren’t the only ones. 

There was a deathly hush across the entire arena as the spectators took in that a Level 132 had just killed a Level 254.

Without being injured.

Kelin glanced down at himself, where dozens of layers of talisman shields still glowed. He hadn’t even needed to rely on all the Constitution he’d gained.

That was the result of preparation, as was the flood of mana that had overwhelmed Verasun’s mana field.

The right plan would beat pure strength nine times out of ten.

With Blaze, he’d closed some of the gap in their mana density and levels. Soul arrows and an overwhelming number of talismans had done the rest.

From now on, everyone was going to see him as a powerful Knight of the Path and a high-level adventurer. 

There was no getting around that, but he didn’t want them to ask too many questions about how he’d acquired his power. 

It would be better if they saw it as the guild’s power, instead of his, so he decided to deflect some of the attention to the guild and Sleset. 

They could handle it.

Then he could get back to more important business.

He looked out across the arena seats and then he raised his hand and summoned a Seal of Silver Stars.

The glowing seal and silver runes spun into existence in front of everyone. It was larger than normal, standing dozens of feet high as it dominated the center of the arena.

All attention shifted to it.

When you wanted to distract attention, it was best to go big.

“You all know Verasun’s crimes,” he said, his voice carrying on a wave of mana. “And how he tried to undermine the Stars Alliance. You know he hid behind others, created illegal dungeons, arranged for the deaths of those he disliked, and twisted the laws in his favor. 

“Many of you are familiar with his bribes and threats, his influence over the city guards, and his businesses that took what they wanted. 

“Many of you also know that he sent assassins after me in the guild hall itself, insulting the sanctity of the alliance, and when that failed, he challenged me to this duel, thinking that he could kill me as he has killed commoners and others before, and that no one could stop him.

“He hoped to use this duel to hide his crimes, since he was afraid that I would expose him.”

He looked over at Sleset, who was hissing in amusement, and continued.

“As a Knight of the Path and a member of the Stars Alliance,” he announced, “let me remind you of the truths of humanity and of the Sovereign.”

He waved a hand at the seal, which shimmered as it changed its shape into a glowing silver guild hall. Brilliant stars gleamed above the roof and the doors swung open as if welcoming everyone to walk within.

“The Sovereign of Silver Chaos and the Alliance offer stability and a path to power for everyone,” he continued. “Those like Verasun who betray others and kill our own weaken us. 

“Eventually, they will be found. When they are found, they will be dealt with. If not by me, then by him and those like him.”

He indicated Sleset, and with a nudge of mana, he sent the silver guild hall flying toward him. He also sent a silent message, giving the Herald his suggestion about what to do.

Sleset hissed in approval, and then he reached out and stopped the illusion. As he touched it, it flared with blinding light.

“This duel has ended,” Sleset announced, his voice carrying across the arena with an overwhelming sense of power. 

“Kelin of Highmist is the victor. By right, the Verasun estate and title is granted to him, as well as the other spoils of victory. Let none dispute this claim.”

He knew what Kelin was trying to do, and it was in the favor of the guild and the Sovereign’s authority, so he gave him a hand.  

When he spoke again, his voice carried a power that made reality tremble. Illusory cracks split through the sky and the earth shook.

“The former Baron Verasun betrayed his people and his world,” he announced, his words falling like an eternal verdict. “His death is justified. Make sure there is no need for another to join him. Observe and see his crimes.”

The Herald touched the illusion of the guild hall and images began to appear, showing Verasun in one image after another, from the collapse of the mine to bribery, to hiring the assassins, their attempt on Kelin’s life, and more.

Sleset limited the images to mostly Verasun and not his accomplices, but it was clear that he’d met many people, and after the first few the crowd began to mutter and boo.

A wave of discontent and anger flowed across the area, all of it settling on Verasun’s corpse.

“This former Baron was a traitor to the Sovereign and to your race,” Sleset said, hissing as he pointed at the body. “He forgot why we live and what we fight for, the Truth of the Sovereign and the Chaos War.”

A shiver went through the crowd as Sleset’s hiss carried a heavy and unmistakable threat.

“A Herald of the Silver Lord rarely visits this world and it has been too long since you have seen the truth of things. This is as good a time as any. I will show you. Witness and remember.”

The Herald’s eyes glowed with brilliant light as he looked across the arena and then a towering image of him appeared in the sky.

The sky folded, making it look like streams of boundless starlight were falling throughout the world, and the other kingdoms of Lareth became visible.

Somehow the entire world was present in the sky, all beneath the naga’s fierce eyes. His mana radiated everywhere, submerging the world in an ocean of majestic power.

Then his voice rang out, spreading to all the kingdoms like the words of a god. Each of them pressed down on reality, making it tremble with vast and mighty power.

“Witness the truth of the Sovereign of Silver Chaos and the Chaos War. Enemy Gates appear among the stars and armies invade our homeland.”

At Sleset’s will, the sky changed. It was like an ocean of truth descending, filled with endless vitality and terrifying force. 

Thousands of images of Chaos Gates appeared through the stars, shining in endless colors, rainbow and silver, dark and light, as they filled the horizon with a profound and overwhelming power.

Countless armies flooded through the gates and raced toward hundreds of distant worlds. It was like a tidal wave that could annihilate everything, a cataclysm that raged with foreign power. 

Then silver stars appeared throughout the Void, accompanied by streams of endless grey light. Each stream radiated an eternal and primordial force, like the original beginning of time and space had appeared again.

That power met the armies from the gates like two oceans colliding, with waves exploding in every direction.

Star-shattering forces exploded outward, carrying waves of eternal essence, primordial strength, and ancient elemental laws.

The waves of that explosion rolled across all of the stars, covering the endless Void from one side to another, and brilliant swathes of chaotic color, elements, and Truths appeared, combining and breaking apart again in ceaseless, changing forms.

Shards of Laws, primordial essences, Truths of Chaos, and eternal forms mixed and shattered across the stars, thrown to every edge of existence.

“This is the Wild Era,” Sleset hissed as the images intensified, showing battle after battle. “It is an age of war and force, of the essence of Laws shattering in eternity.”

At a wave of Sleset’s hand, the battlefield shrank, until it showed the thousands of worlds hiding behind the front lines.

Some remnants spread outward from the great battles, like meteors flaring away into the darkness, and where they fell, dungeons were born.

“Your world, Lareth, is one of many protected by the Sovereign, but war rages at our doorstep.”

He waved his hand and a vast map of the world appeared in the sky, full of kingdoms, oceans, mountains, and plains, each of them streaked with mana and elemental forces.

Then thousands of colorful stars lit up across the world, shining brilliantly like gemstones.

“Each of these lights is a dungeon, a small remnant of the greater war,” he announced. “They hold a fraction of the forces that we face. Some are true remnants and others are training. Some of you will face them, others support those who do.”

The sky changed again, showing warriors marching upward from the world, ascending from the dungeons and cities.

Then the scale changed, showing forces from other worlds rising up as well, until thousands upon endless thousands marched into the stars in an unending stream.

The forces rose from every world, merged into the battle lines, and shone with starlight as they drew their blades. 

There were hundreds of races on the front lines as they drove their enemies back, but the clearest were Silver Nagas and humans standing at the front. 

They were surrounded by sylphs, dwarves, Winged Furies, Dragon Spirits, Lifeweavers, and other races.

The battle lines flowed back and forth as undead and alien monsters rushed through the gates, giving rise to cataclysmic explosions that bent space and shattered reality.

Streams of mana and elemental power filled the sky, shaking everything, but here and there a sense of primordial force and chaos shone through the destruction, bringing a sense of timeless order and sanctity as silver stars blazed in the dark.

Each place they appeared, the battle turned in the favor of the defenders.

Mightier forces marched out of the starlight, ranks of towering Silver Nagas and others that joined them. Where they passed, opposing armies were broken and the gates shattered.

Sleset let the images play through the sky for a long time, until everyone could see the truth of them, and then he closed his hand.

The images disappeared, replaced by a shining white and silver guild hall in the sky, its doors open. 

“The Stars Alliance,” Sleset hissed, “commonly called the Adventurers’ Guild, is tasked to oversee dungeons and to assist in clearing them. Those dungeons are your path to power and independence in life. 

“Even if you do not fight in the war, you still support it by helping to maintain the dungeons. If you have trouble, but a will to fight, then come to the guild and we will set you on a better path.”

It was a promise that echoed across the world. It hung there as the images disappeared and the Seal of Silver Stars appeared again.

After a long moment, Sleset withdrew his power and the images in the sky faded away.

The arena was silent, but this time, only a tiny part of their attention was on Kelin. Most of it was on Sleset. 

From time to time, someone glanced at Verasun’s body and at Kelin, but then their eyes flicked away. Given what Sleset had just shown them, Verasun’s death was almost unnoticeable.

Kelin nodded in approval. 

People would still remember what he’d done in killing Verasun, but now it would be mixed up with the authority of the guild and the Herald’s announcement.

His position as a Knight of the Path helped, making it likely that people would see him as just part of the guild who had carried out a punishment.

He would emphasize that if anyone asked.

He glanced into the stands, his eyes falling on Hugo Whitestar and some of the nobles. Most of them were pale and shaking.

The view of the war had ignited flames in the hearts of most people, but it had terrified them.

They’d all been given a warning.

Sleset didn’t seem inclined to kill them all, so it would have to do for now. 

If they caused any more trouble, they would know the executioner’s blade was only inches away.

The crowd was still processing what they’d seen, so Kelin turned his attention to the notifications from the Path that were ringing in his mind. 

There were quite a few from the battle.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You have gained 10 Levels.

You are now Level 142.

You gain 90 Intelligence, 30 Wisdom, 30 Aura, and have 60 free points to assign.

Since it had been a sanctioned duel, he had gained experience from Verasun, but the baron’s crimes were enough that the Path could have marked him as a bandit anyway.

He considered the free points and then he tossed them into Intelligence, since his Constitution was good enough for now.

His Intelligence increased to 1,195, while his Aura was up to 632.

Some of his abilities had improved during the duel too.

Your Class Ability: Ascending Flame has improved by a tier and reached Expert.

At the Expert tier, this ability enables you to enhance the power of your spells by 70% over two minutes, at which point they will maintain that level of intensity until the spell is ended. The mana cost of the spell increases by 35%.  

Then there was the result of using all of those talismans in battle.

Your Subclass Ability: Mystic Echo has improved by a tier and reached Elite.

At the Elite tier, the echo is 40% as strong as the original, but as the ability improves, the strength of the echo will increase.

If you activate something you’ve created yourself, the echo will be twice as strong and can be infused with your supporting abilities.

Controlling that massive inferno had also had an effect.

Your Spell: Soulfire Inferno has improved by a tier and reached Epic.

The Law of Endless Flame has begun to burn more brightly in your Inferno. When this spell is cast, its intensity and range have improved by 50%. Its duration has doubled and it may now be renewed for half the standard mana cost. 

It was an excellent improvement and it sent the power of his inferno soaring. The ability to renew the spell at half of the mana cost meant he could keep it running almost indefinitely.

There was also a new Skill notification, which was rare for him.

You have learned the Skill: Soul Sever (Basic). 

It is difficult to strike through a soul in a single blow, but you have demonstrated this skill, which has been recorded. You will find it easier in the future to sharpen your soul energy into a blade that can sever the souls of your enemies. 

Use this skill wisely.

That was the last of the ability notifications, but there were still a couple of other results from the duel.

You have gained a Local Title as a Baron of Highmist, one of the City States of Celadon. 

You have acquired the Verasun estate and its subsidiary properties, businesses, and streams of income.

A long list of things that Verasun had owned poured into Kelin’s mind, along with details about the Verasun title, the authority it granted in Celadon, some legal matters, and more.

Kelin glanced through all of it and shook his head. 

He hadn’t wanted this title, but it seemed he was the new Baron Verasun. 

He wondered if he could change the name to something more appropriate.

He spent a few seconds sorting through everything, putting his Intelligence to good use, and before long he had a clear understanding of exactly how much Verasun had owned.

The man had been proud of his status, but it wasn’t much in Kelin’s eyes. If everything was sold off, it would only amount to a few hundred thousand gold.

It wasn’t worth all the trouble he had created.

The bulk of Verasun’s income came from the taxes he charged other nobles in Celadon to run the dungeons he had.

It was about 30,000 gold a year.

Kelin glanced down at Verasun’s body as he considered what to do with it.

The money was coming from the nobles and not the regular people, but Kelin didn’t need it.

Most dungeon runs already gave him over ten thousand gold, if not two or three times that, and were more in line with his plan for the future.

Managing Verasun’s empire would only waste his time. 

He had places to be and needed to travel, especially since he would have to start going farther away from Highmist for the right dungeons soon.

He would keep the title and maybe a house, but the rest could be sold off or put to a better use.

He spent a moment considering the options and then he decided on an idea.

The orphanage where he and the kids had grown up needed some work. Even with some funds from the guild, it wasn’t doing that well. 

He would put Verasun’s wealth toward creating a better one. 

The baron’s income would be enough to turn it into a true academy, one with all the resources kids growing up should have. 

If it went well, he could expand it to other cities, for as long as the money lasted. 

It would be his gift to the people here, to give something back.

The money should be enough to last indefinitely, especially if it was invested into other businesses and properties that could keep supplying it.

If there was anything left, the rest could go toward offering classes to teach skills to the people of the city, educate young adventurers, foster crafting, and so on.

He’d just have to hire someone at the guild to manage everything and make sure it had the guild’s protection.

With the decision made, he waved away the remaining notifications about Verasun’s empire. There was nothing of real interest left in it.

Not much time had passed and the crowd’s attention was still on Sleset. 

When the naga noticed that he was ready, a shimmer of light passed through the arena and the silver barrier blocking out the crowd disappeared. 

At the same time, Kelin’s equipment and potions that had been confiscated were returned to him, including the lightning staff that had been lying on the ground.

Verasun’s spatial items and gear were also transferred to his spatial ring, both the items on him and the ones that Sleset had taken away. 

Kelin glanced through it all, noting a decent pile of artifacts and materials. 

The most important were Verasun’s main weapons, like the lightning rapier that he hadn’t been able to use.

Nothing was too useful, but he could sell it all at the guild for a decent amount of money, maybe another 50,000 gold.

“You can look through those later,” Sleset said, his voice carrying to Kelin. His tone rumbled with power. “Do you wish to take the body as a trophy or shall I discard it for you?”

When Kelin looked up, he noticed that time had frozen again. 

The arena was still and Sleset was standing nearby.

“Just bury it somewhere,” Kelin said, glancing down at Verasun. “Unmarked. Or disintegrate it perhaps, so that Undeath can never reach it. I don’t want to see him show back up as a skeleton one day.”

“A wise choice,” Sleset agreed. “Undeath’s presence is higher nearby than it should be. We must talk about that and other things.”

A wave of Sleset’s hand made the baron’s body turn to dust, which blew away in the wind.

“I cannot stay for too long,” Sleset said, “so I’ve seized this moment of immortal time for us to speak. You can deal with the guild and the remaining matters once I leave.”

The naga waved his hand again and a stone table and a chair appeared, set with a pitcher of some drink and a few plates of food.

Sleset’s height shrank down to something that was more human, and he moved to the far side of the table, where he relaxed and pointed to the seat.

“Your scales are bright, Wildfire, and your enemy is slain,” he said, “so it is past time to catch up properly.”