Chapter 2: Crisis (1)
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Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!
https://www.webnovel.com/book/12013957905760805/Desolate-Mage%3A-A-Legend-Reborn!
History's youngest legendary mage has a broken heart. His fiancée and childhood sweetheart of 10 years married another man! While he warred against other-worldly invaders to save planet Earth...!
With nothing to live for; he leads a squad of his closest brothers and sisters to cross over and scout their invader's world - only to be wiped out; betrayed by the squads big brother, their most trusted member.
On the brink of death; his soul is protected and reincarnated by a mystical necklace his former lover gave him…
…And contracted to a demon – to wreak havoc across the planes.
Will he find new hope for living?
Will he make it back alive and escape the curse of the demon…? Or be found out as a spy and executed...?
How will he survive when he falls in love with an impossible lover – his world's sworn enemies...!
* * * * *
After listening to the girl's excited chatter over dinner, Lucius warmed up the water for her to bathe. While she washed up, he walked over to his room where the gandharva boy lay.
The gandharva boy was still unconscious in Lucius' bed. He had cleaned him up and laid him down; albeit still in his full armour which seemed stuck to the boy's body. Despite the fall and being dragged through a forest for 200km, the boy did not even have a scratch on his skin; courtesy of the Semi-Divine armour, Udumbara's Leaf – made of a single leaf, and able to take any form according to the user's will.
"Goodnight grandpa! I'm going to bed! And goodnight Mr Handsome! Wake up soon!"
Lucius' expression didn't change as he stood by the boy's side. He stood there silently for nearly half an hour, until he was sure Sam was asleep. Then he turned and walked out of his room, out the door and stopped only when he was at the edge of the shrine grounds; at the east gate of the shrines walls.
"Well…? Are you coming or not?"
Only the wind and the rhythmic rustling of leaves could be heard. It seemed that no one had heard him. Yet what was curious was there were no sounds of animals or insects. Instead, there was an tension that could be felt.
After nearly 10 minutes, a man in white robes could be seen walking out of the forest from the west, towards the shrine. Despite the poor lighting of a new moon, the contrast of the white robes with the surroundings meant the man could be seen from hundreds of metres away. A sign of his confidence that he would never need to approach in stealth.
The man in white walked slowly; unhurriedly. Lucius did not say a word as the man approached; and neither was he impatient.
The man stopped 50 feet from the walls. As if on queue, the winds stilled.
As Lucius looked on indifferently; the man pulled back the hood of robe, revealing a smooth, young face marred only by his blind eyes. Yet despite being blind, there was the uncanny sense of the man being able to see everything around him.
Dhrtarastra was the first to break the silence.
"You look aweful."
Lucius coughed lightly in awkwardness; but did not respond. He did subconsciously brush the dust off his sleeves though.
Exuding an otherworldly grace, Dhrtarastra calmly turned his face upwards to gaze at the moon.
"I-"
"Enough theatrics; get to the point". He was cut-off by Lucius.
It was Dhrtarastra's turn to cough to hide his awkwardness. He turned to face Lucius again, clearing his throat before he spoke, "What do you intend to do with the boy?"
At this, Lucius smiled. "You mean the prince? Your nephew?" Seeing no reaction from the gandharva king of the east, Lucius continued, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'll make him work the fields. Or marry him off to my grand-daughter. And when he's no longer useful, I can pry the Udumbara Leaf off his body. I wonder how that would feel, having the skin on your entire body being forcefully torn off…? Hmm…?" Lucius watched Dhrtarastra's expression for any changes.
Dhrtarastra maintained his calm, but the corners of his once tranquil smile was now tight.
"Though I do not dare to overestimate myself... I think I can keep you busy for long enough until the boy wakes up and overpowers the girl. Surely you don't want to see your granddaughter hurt, do you…?" Dhrtarastra smiled serenely, an expression incongruent with these threatening words.
"A little interesting… But what makes you think a random orphan girl matters to me…?" Lucius asked with arched brows. "Why don't we do it like this. You take the girl and this entire town. I take the Leaf." Lucius wore a dangerous smile.
Dhrtarastra's expression went stiff. He could barely prevent himself from lashing out. He regulated his emotions and spoke with a hint of trembling in his voice, "Can we not negotiate...?"
Lucius frowned. "You intruded our lands, infringing the border and agreement between our gods." His voice rose as his wrinkled face began to turn red, "And now you want to negotiate?"
"Lucius!" Dhrtarastra could not control himself and burst out in anger; before catching himself and returning to his calm demeanour. He took awhile before he spoke again.
"...A little forbearance brings much calm and peace; take a little step back and the ocean will be broader than the skies." Dhrtarastra paused; sighing as if bearing a great burden.
He then reached into his robes, to obscure the process of retrieving something from his pocket dimension.
When he drew out his hand, he was holding a plain glass orb.
"Lucius. We both know that war is the last thing our lords want. Why don't we both find common ground? And take a step back to mutually benefit. Return the boy to us, and I will leave this behind, and you have my word that you will never see us in Uro again. Or else..." Dhrtarastra began to gather his mana as he spoke.
As he spoke, he held a hand behind his back and made a decisive, sharp signal to the darkness behind him, before continuing. "Else even if my mortal vessel is lacking; I don't believe you will come out alive if we both go all out."
Lucius raised his brows in askance at that statement. No mana could be sensed from him; yet it was as if he were an ancient dragon, ready to rampage the moment he was provoked.
He smiled as if he had just heard a joke. "Is that so...?"
The two men stared at one another, before Lucius spoke again.
"Then show me."
* * * * *
Sam woke with a start.
She could feel that something was not right. She sat up and looked around; but saw nothing out of place. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling of unease in her heart.
(Maybe I'm hungry...)
She slipped out of the mattress that was as thin as a blanket and began to walk barefoot to the kitchen. Then she stopped.
She could see no-one in front of her. And yet she could feel that she was not alone.
"Grandpa...?"
In a burst of speed, she lunged forward. Despite there only being thin air in the doorway, it was as if she had knocked into a stone wall.
And just like when she had crashed into the stone walls of the clock tower, the "wall" in front of her tore apart - revealing Lucius' empty bed. The prince was gone.
Sam had no time to think. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a shadow dash over from her right. A glint reflected off the long curved dagger in the shadows - a dagger aimed at her throat.
Astonished, she bent backwards; and the moment the blade missed it's target, she rotated her body counter-clockwise and attempted a spinning back-kick to the shadow's torso.
The shadow realised that pulling back would not avoid the blow; instead he lunged further forward, attempting to throw off the point of impact of the kick. Simultaneously, he produced a short stiletto from his left hand aiming at the girl's waist.
*Thud*
The shadow was knocked upwards slightly. He struggled to stabilise himself and landed with a roll; kneeling on one knee to recover. The back of his scalp was tingling - despite dispersing the majority of the kick's power, he struggled to breathe - that one kick cracked a rib!
If he had tried to dodge and taken the hit full-on... He would be in the third heaven by now.
Sam was also shocked. If it were not for the fact that her clothes were hand-me-downs and much baggier than her figure, the stiletto would have removed a kidney. Instead, she had just received a bloody gash across her waist.
Keeping her body low and nearly parallel to the ground, she rushed towards the man. Sam's instincts screamed at her that this was the only path of survival.
His face grim beneath his hood, the veteran hunter felt like he was facing a savage beast, not a 9 year old girl. He took a stance and prepared for a desperate struggle of life and death.
* * * * *
Shanzi's - the gandharva hunter Sam was facing - was numb and sore all over. His heart pounded as he nimbly dodged a dashing headbutt which brought the girl crashing through the walls and into another room. He used the opportunity to open some distance with the girl.
Every muscle in Shanzi's body was aching; he was dripping with sweat and his hands trembling.
The fight had started well. After the first exchange where he had missed due to her loose clothes; he had taken control of the fight. She had several deep wounds within half a minute while he was untouched.
But after that, things took a turn for the worse.
Her strength gave him great pressure - one clean blow would shatter his mana reinforcement like paper. He tried to take advantage of having weapons and a longer reach; but she didn't seem to understand the concepts of attack and defence. She threw caution to the wind - each blow was thrown aiming for mutual destruction.
She didn't shirk away from cuts or wounds; just doggedly trying to land blows on him. She didn't draw back when he threatened a killing blow – she chose a mutual exchange. He ended up pulling back; he had no desire to trade his life for hers.
He had tried to use feints and set traps for her, but she seemed to completely ignore every feint; and inexplicably avoid every trap at the very last moment.
He tried outlasting her, but he was panting while she was growing sharper with each passing move.
Now Shanzi had one last idea. If she could see through every trap and escape it – what if he manoeuvred her into a situation where there were no escape moves…?
He narrowed his eyes as Sam approached once more.
She clumsily tried to copy his footwork and close the distance. But Shanzi didn't underestimate her despite the poor imitation. He opened his stance, his right hand holding the dagger in reverse grip while his stiletto was held by his waist.
She made the first move this time.
Just before she entered his striking distance, she leaped forward with a sudden burst of speed and aimed a ferocious punch at his waist. He dodged and countered by dropping into a sweep at her legs.
Sam jumped lightly over the sweep, landed and allowed the momentum of her punch to spin her around in a full circle. Then she whipped her right leg around into a kick. As he was still crouching, her kick was aimed straight at his head.
Shanzi acrobatically fell back until his back touched the ground; the kick brushing past his nose. Immediately as his back hit the ground, he did a backflip; aiming a kick at her chin.
As per his calculations, she tilted her head backwards and turned her spinning momentum into a second attack.
(…Chance!)
As Shanzi landed from his backflip; he saw her land solidly on her left leg and, as predicted, pivoted her body and fully committed for a bone-crushing roundhouse kick.
Instead of drawing back; Shanzi decisively dashed forward; his dagger whistling towards her throat. Simultaneously, he tucked his left elbow against his waist, ready to receive her kick.
(Let's see how you dodge this!)
Faint illusory green specks started to float around Shanzi's body as he poured all his mana into his skill – Accelerate. Due to his poor talent in mana manipulation, he had to save it for as his hidden ace; he could only trigger it for 0.1 seconds. He judged it would be enough.
Sam felt a sense of crisis. The dagger was approaching too fast.
When the dagger was only an inch away from her throat, Sam was inspired – she sacrificed the strength of her kick to make an impossible move – hopping forward in the middle of the kick - just by the strength of pushing out her toes.
Shanzi's dagger landed first – despite missing her throat, he struck her collar bone; a fatal point.
(Yes! It's ov-)
He didn't even have the time to be shocked as the dagger snapped.
He was knocked off balance despite Sam's kick losing 80% of its power. Not giving him a break, the girl landed, caught hold of his leather armour and dragged him into a right then left hook to his jaw, then followed it with a left kick to the side of his head, knocking him groggy.
Reeling from the quick combo; he blindly raised his arms in front of him. Then he was smashed to the ground by her finishing move of the three part combo – she leaped forward and landed a spinning axe kick to the crown of his head. Overwhelmed, he collapsed like a rag doll.
As he teetered at the edge of consciousness, he heard the girl's footsteps approaching. He tried to move; but couldn't even raise his head.
Through his bleary, bloody gaze he could see she had a terrible wound on her collarbone – the bone was showing. But that was a miracle in itself. It was impossible for a human child's unreinforced bones to be harder than steel, impossible even for a higher race like the gandharva. Unless…
He couldn't complete the thought as his consciousness faded. Shanzi resigned himself to his death.
He was infinitely grateful to the prince who had accepted a group of young, talentless and "useless" hunters as his own men, and given them a livelihood, a family of brothers and a dream. But he could no longer keep his promise to serve at his side until the bitter end.
Blood flowed from his nose and mouth as he gave up his will to live.
(Sakra, take me to your embrace… Please watch over my family after I pass…)
.
.
.
Wondering why nothing was happening, he opened his eyes again, to see her standing over him with her arms behind her back.
"That was fun! Get well soon, let's do that again sometime!" She gave him a warm smile that was incongruous with the blood, grime and wounds covering her body and face.
…
…
…
Shanzi was stunned. His partner in the dance to the death was thanking him…?
Deciding it was just a hallucination, he allowed his consciousness to slip away and fainted.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Ierrech
Ierrech Trying a new approach - brackets "( .... )" for internal thoughts, and asterisks to emphasise *words* instead of using bolded text (i haven't figured out how to use bold or italics yet... halp)
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