Chapter 16

Chapter 16 - LOT - [Unedited/Extra long]

*Thud thud*

The sounds of feet pounding upon stone rang out as Jack and the group around him rushed towards the scene of the battle in the city.

They pushed past large groups of gawkers that pointed towards the south, merchants with caravans stopped in the road, stray warriors with curious faces, downtrodden peasants that moved off away from the scene of the battle. A chaotic mixture that slowed their progress.

*BOOOOOOOOM*

A loud explosion rang out, shuddering in the air. Jack saw large golden flames lick high into the sky, creating an almost world ending scene before him. Even from a distance, he could feel the heat the flames created.

As the flames shot into the air, however, they began to distort, shockwaves passing through them and spreading out like waves. A loud cracking sound rang out as the air itself trembled, a powerful shockwave blasting apart much of the flame.

For a brief instant, Jack saw a man wreathed in golden flames fighting with his bare hands against three other warriors that were covered in shimmering blue auras, fighting in the air. The fire wreathed man seemed to have no issues blocking their attacks, easily throwing them to the side. Shockwaves spread out in the air with each blow, distorting the flames that swarmed nearby.

A moment later, the flames covered the scene up once more, blocking it from Jack’s view.

“Quickly! We will move to a safe perimeter, guards keep watch and try to assist those injured.” The Branch Chief handed out orders to the Hunter Association guards as they came upon the scene of the fight.

The ground beneath the fighters was devastated, entire storefronts, inns, and homes burning wrecks. Thankfully, most of the people in the area had evacuated once the fight broke out, leading to very few casualties.

As they came upon the scene, they found dozens of the elite Frostplate guard standing watch, already having created a perimeter. The Branch Chief quickly went up and made contact with them.

While the Chief was talking, Jack took the time to catch his breath, his lungs heaving. He kept glancing back behind him at Jackal and the tracker, the line of worry in his heart still present.

“Alright. I’m going to assist the Impact Clan. Guards go complete your assigned tasks. As for you three…” The Chief turned to stare at Jack, the tracker, and Jackal.

“You will remain here, and we will settle this issue in the light of the law when I return. The Frostplate guards have agreed to guarantee this.” Several of the blue armored guard members came over, moving agilely. They were elite soldiers one and all, despite their lack of any measurable impact on the fight before them. Jack exchanged glances with them, ducking his head in relief as he sat on the ground and rested for a moment.

The Branch Chief nodded with satisfaction as he saw Jackal and Corker agree to wait, and then turned to face the ongoing battle. With a grunt, he leapt up from the ground, and began to enter into the fray.

..

..

“This man is NOT someone we can take out. Lyra, we need to retreat!” A harried voice rang out as another shockwave shook the air, distorting the waves of fire that surrounded the scene of the fight.

Both Jebraim and the three martial artists were all currently fighting in midair. The leader of the Snow Knights, Ser Guvas, had already been forced to retreat, injured almost to death, and was no longer attacking the red haired warrior.

Jebraim was simply floating, using his Natural Ability to keep himself off the ground, manipulating fire to give himself an advantage. The golden aura of fire around him would pulse, projecting heat as he flew through the air. It gave him a majestic appearance, as if a god looking down on the world from above.

For the three Impact Clan members, they used a secret martial technique known as Sky Walking to constantly kick off the air, keeping themselves afloat. The impact of their technique create miniature shockwaves that carried enough force to keep them up.

Like this, the battle was kept entirely in the air, roughly a dozen meters above the ground.

Currently, one of the two brother martial artists, the shorter one, was taking a moment during a lull in the fight to talk to the female martial artist, Lyra.

Lyra coughed as she faced the shorter of the two brother’s, her eyes filled with steely determination.

“Gladius, I know you’re in charge of our main mission here, but in regards to anything else I have the higher authority. We cannot allow this man to continue his rampage, abandoning the scene will cause the deaths of innocents.” Lyra’s voice contained a stark refusal, her eyes filled with anger as she turned her focus back on the lonesome red haired warrior.

Another shockwave shook out as the taller of the two brothers retreated from a clash with the red haired warrior, the blue aura of Spirit around him protecting him from the golden flames.

“I’m going to go all out, since we’re in the air. Gladius, Micheal, cover me. There is no way he can survive my strike, this was something my grandfather personally taught and trained me for.” Lyra then leapt forward once more, her eyes giving off an intense feeling of focus, and a feeling of eagerness at the thought of facing a Formless Warrior, as well as arrogance.

These shockwaves were all related to the unique ability of the Impact Clan. The namesake of the clan itself described their unique power, Impact Master.

Members of the Impact Clan had the ability to absorb the impact of an attack, and release an identical impact to that blow from any part of their body. Further, once they absorbed any attack, they could release that impact over and over as long as their body was able to handle releasing it.

Thus, the only limiter to the strength of a direct bloodline member of Impact Clan was the strongest attack their body could handle.

The air around Lyra began to tremble as she focused an incredible amount of force in her body, causing the particles within a few meters of her to vibrate. Light itself began to distort slightly, her unique Natural Ability twisting the environment as it intensified.

The two martial brothers, Gladius and Micheal, both leapt forward once more, covered in a heavy layer of Spirit. The fight with the Golden Flame warrior was extremely tiring on their Spirit, something they were forced to use in abundance to protect themselves from his flames. Already both martial artists had depleted more than two thirds of their Spirit Energy, leaving themselves with little reserves.

“The Tiger Rushes the Mountaintop!” The taller, but younger, martial artist Micheal shouted out a technique name as he jumped forward at an incredibly fast speed, using his Impact Master Natural Ability to launch himself quickly in an instant, creating a small shockwave. He lead with his right leg forward, aiming to hit the red haired warrior in the chest.

Meanwhile, the younger brother Gladius opted to not yell out the name of his technique, instead simply jumping forward in the wake of his brother’s attack, his hands covered in an especially heavy focused blue aura as he prepared an attack. He frowned as he moved forward, displeased with Lyra’s orders, but unable to do anything but follow them.

On the ground, below all of this, the Branch Chief of the Hunter Association Garmen frowned as he looked about, preparing to take action. Entering into a fight between two Super Clans was not a pleasant scenario, however, and it left the Chief worried. As he considered this, he heard a faint noise, causing him to turn towards a mostly destroyed inn with a concerned look on his face.

..

..

Jebraim frowned. This was taking far too long.

He had already sent word to a cadre of the Golden Flame clan about the little princess he had discovered. In response to that, he had received a mental message via Spirit, an extremely difficult thing to do, ordering him to wait while someone came shortly to pick her up. The fact that he received such a message meant it would be someone with authority, sparing no expense, meaning he had no choice but to stay.

The little girl was incredible. Jebraim had never seen a purer Golden Flame bloodline, and the flame aura she gave off was a majestic one, like that of a queen. Even as she was in the midst of Awakening, Jebraim could sense the ridiculous potential she had. Only the Golden Flame Clan would be able to properly train her. He knew the First Torch was desperately looking for a successor, and this girl would be exactly what she wanted.

Finding this girl was far, far, far more important than finding the activator of the Chalice of Dobraine, his original mission. Finding the inheritor of that legendary Swordmaster, and his blade Wyrmblight, was important, but nothing compared to finding such a pure successor.

Thus, he decided to take her in, as a favor to the First Torch, and because it was the right thing to do. The girl would never reach her full potential if she was trained anywhere else.

Now, however, Jebraim was trapped. He couldn’t leave the area, he needed to stay within range of the girl while she finished Awakening, which would still require some time. Moving her was not an option. Thus, he needed to stall.

He also couldn’t carelessly kill high ranking members of the Impact Clan like these warriors in front of him clearly were. While he himself didn’t care for any personal consequences, the Golden Flame Clan was already at war with the Magma Clan. The Impact Clan was neutral to both parties, turning them into an enemy was foolish.

Jebraim flowed slightly to the side in midair, dodging the tall and stocky martial artists kick, feeling the rippling shockwave the attack created blow his flames off to the side. Each attack these warriors struck with was ridiculously strong. If he tried to take even a single attack with his physical body alone, he would be badly injured or even killed outright.

That is, if he hadn’t achieved the Formless Stage of his Natural Ability. The only one in his generation to reach this level. One of only 14 Formless Warriors in the entire Golden Flame Clan, a Clan with millions of members, albeit most with diluted bloodlines.

As he dodged the first attack, he noted a second attack racing towards him, exactly where he’d dodged into. He gave a slight nod to the shorter warrior as he saw the two spirit covered hands rippled forward, trying to catch his chest.

There were few ways to truly injure a Formless Warrior, and an attack powered by Spirit was the most common way.

Unfortunately, these martial artists were simply not fast enough. Jebraim was already considered half a Swordmaster, having attained the level of One Body, One Mind in his body control. Against warriors that had failed to reach this stage, he had a huge advantage.

Once more, Jebraim effortlessly dodged, this time grabbing the shoulder of the Impact Clan warrior, and throwing him downward. He let loose a heavy aura of Golden Flames as he did so, whittling away at their Spirit. Like this, he could defeat them without killing them, draining them of Spirit Energy and forcing them to retreat.

At that exact, moment, however, a deadly premonition of danger struck him. Jebraim forcibly twisted his body behind him to look at the source of the feeling, raising his right arm to grip the great sword that rested on his back.

In the split second he took to turn around, the attack was already upon him.

The only thing Jebraim saw was rippling black lines spreading out and distorting space in front of him, the very fabric of space itself cracking under the incredibly powerful attack that had been unleashed. The attack moved extremely quickly, far too quickly for any human to react too, even Jebraim with his superhuman reflexes.

In an instant it reached him.

And in that instant, an enormous fireball of golden flames blasted outward, incinerating the air for a dozen meters. These flames were different than the previous flames. They burned a bright, pure gold color, and gave off a purifying aura, as if they could burn anything and everything out of existence, leaving a great, pure, nothingness.

A gargantuan shockwave spread out. The blast from this fireball and the shattered space shook everything within miles of the impact zone. Almost every building within a mile collapsed, onlookers within several miles fell to the ground dazed, and any window within ten miles shattered. The Frostplate Guards that had created a perimeter were all smashed into the ground, several of them knocked directly unconscious. The two martial artist brothers were directly slammed into the ground due to close proximity, where they lay still, their status unknown.

The female martial artist, meanwhile, was directly caught in the blast, and was nowhere to be seen.

Jack himself was thrown into a daze, smashed down alongside the others. He felt lightheaded as he tried to stand up, the wreckage of the nearby buildings rumbling.

As he observed this incredible battle, Jack truly understood how weak he was, and how powerful other people were. Jack branded this experience, these sights before him, onto his soul.

The smoke and haze of the massive fireball cleared, revealing an injured, red haired martial artist, with an unconcerned look on his face.

“Not bad, forcing me to actually go all out. You are to be commended. If I hadn’t reached the Formless Stage, that attack would have killed me. Your Clan must truly treasure you, for your Natural Ability and body to be able to handle such an attack.” Jebraim turned to look at a point several miles away, his eyes showing a grim smile, completely focused on the battle at hand.

The female martial artist had not actually been caught in the blast. Merely, the force of the attack she unleashed was so unbearably powerful, she had been knocked several miles away in an instant, leaving behind a blurred afterimage.

Currently, she was laying in the recently created ruins of a tailor’s shop, the wreckage of eleven other shops forming a long tunnel she had sailed through to land. The female warrior lay on the ground in a daze, blood dripping out of her lips, a very faint blue aura of spirit flickering about her, slowly healing her.

“Well, this is settled. Now I just need to wait a little more. Get here already, damned cadre and whomever.” Jebraim mumbled, rubbing his right hand as if it was sore. He surreptitiously glanced off to the side, looking at a single building that hadn’t collapsed in the wake of the explosion. He had been extra careful to shield where the little princess was currently finishing her Awakening, something that should be complete any moment now. He couldn’t see the little princess, but had to hope she was still okay.

As long as she remained in that building, she shouldn’t have felt even the slightest bit of impact. Everywhere else around that building, however, was completely destroyed, the impact of the attack extremely brutal.

*Clap clap clap clap*

At that moment, a clapping sound rang out.

“Quite a performance, young warrior.”

An elderly, wizened voice rang out, filled with authority and grace. An old, wrinkled but lean man appeared in the air a few dozen meters from Jebraim, a simply and faint aura of blue Spirit surrounding him. The old man had a long white beard and a kindly appearance, bearing a simple white robe, with the insignia of the Impact Clan on it.

“I also agree. To defeat and badly injure my granddaughter, quite unexpected.”

A second elderly man appeared, this one with a large belly and a jovial smile on his face. Instead of a simple white robe, this warrior wore a brown robe, and gave off a monk like feel, though the same insignia of the Impact Clan was apparent on the chest of his robe.

Both men seemed to be floating simply by relying on their Spirit alone.

A third voice rang out,

“Ah, to think the Second and Fourth Great Elders of the Impact Clan have graced my Duchy, tis an honor.”

A middle-aged, smiling man wearing a sharp black leather suit appeared, floating in the air atop a small blade made of ice. His eyes were cold as he gave a slight bow to the two Great Elders, before turning his focus on the red haired warrior. The man continued to speak,

“I believe you have some questions to answer for us, oh Formless Warrior of the Golden Flame Clan. If I’m not mistaken, you should be Jebraim, the Searing Sword, the strongest young genius of the Golden Flame Clan.”

“What exactly do you think you are doing here, and why have you been linked with the murder of my son?” The Duke of Snow’s voice was cold as he focused on the shirtless, red haired warrior. The air around him rippled, a heavy blue aura that was far superior to any icy auras released before emanating outward. This aura caused the temperature of the air within several miles to drop, countering the heat unleashed just moments ago.

On the ground, the leader of the Snow Knights, Ser Guvas, looked up from treating his injuries, a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes as he saw his leader arrive.

“Yes, no matter your performance, how dare you cause such a ruckus in our Clan’s territory. If I wasn’t here visiting the Fourth Elder, you might have completely gotten away with this. Such arrogance.” The lean Great Elder spoke, his eyes boring holes into Jebraim. A rippling aura began to surround this elder, the air distorting.

The potbellied Fourth Elder didn’t say anything, and instead continued to smile. His eyes, however, carried a sense of extreme rage, anger at the injuries his granddaughter had suffered. The Fourth Elder doted on his granddaughter. When she was assigned to a mission far from the clan headquarters, he had decided to check up on her every once in a while. He had just been leaving after checking up on her when this entire incident broke out.

Jebraim looked from side to side, examining the two Great Elders of the Impact Clan, warriors that stood at the peak of strength in this world, and the Duke of Snow, a warrior who was only slightly lesser, ruling a large territory.

His expression remained neutral, but a worried gleam appeared in his eye.

Meanwhile, while all of this was occurring, on the ground several hundred meters distant, Jack was currently trembling, forgetting the pain in his injured shoulder, the weird state of the blood in his body, the various bruises and cuts he had sustained from the shockwave, he forgot everything.

For, roughly a hundred meters from him was the Branch Chief, covered in horrible injuries, barely tottering. The warrior seemed to have been caught in the direct aftermath of the powerful shockwave and fireball, and sustained extremely serious injuries.

However, rescued and unharmed in the Branch Chief’s arms, was a pallid, pitiful little girl.

“LITTLE SEVEN!”