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90.74% Oathsworn: Knight & Dragon / Chapter 49: Void

Chapter 49: Void

The biting wind whipped at Larian's face as he fell, keeping him partially conscious. His mind was scattered, his vision getting more blurred by the second.

The harbinger had struck him through his heart, leaving him with a cold, empty feeling in his chest. He wondered when he would hit the ground. It felt as if he had been falling forever.

And then suddenly, he wasn't. He didn't know how but he felt himself safely on the ground, and with someone's arms around him. He could hear the person's voice, but could not make out the words completely. They were trying to speak to him.

"Sir Larian? Are you alright?" Veliona asked frantically. Her voice heavy with concern. She could feel him getting colder with every second that passed.

When he had disappeared earlier while they were looking at the Moonglaive she had gone back to town to look for help, only to find death and destruction.

And then she saw a giant mass of vines rise into the air so she came back, just in time to witness them crumble to dust.

Thankfully she was able to teleport him safely to the ground with a rift from her dagger.

A few meters away a strange man landed, kicking up a small cloud of dust. He brushed off his cloak before making his way towards them. 

Veliona didn't know who he was, but he could tell he was not here to help. She pulled Larian closer and pointed her dagger at the approaching man.

"What did you do to him!" She demanded.

"I made a hole in his heart," the man answered in a casual tone. "He should be dead any moment from now."

Veliona's heart sank. She didn't have any way to heal him. She wished Aldrich and Levi were here so badly. 

The man took another step. She waved the dagger in warning, but he seemed more amused than cautious.

"Did you... kill all those townspeople as well?" She asked. But from his facial expression she already knew the answer. She didn't know what else to say except, "Why?"

The man raised an eyebrow, "Does it really matter why I did."

"No...," Veliona muttered in a small voice. "No, I guess it doesn't"

He sighed, a melancholic look on his face. "I'll make it quick."

Veliona tightened her grip on her weapon. She knew she couldn't possibly win by herself, but she didn't know what else to do. She felt a weak grip on her sleeve and looked down to see Larian's hand on it. He was still alive.

She sighed in relief. "Sir Larian, can you hear me?"

"Impossible," the man commented, surprised. "He should be quite dead by now."

Veliona felt his already weak grip grow looser. She took his hand in her own free one. "Please, you can't die."

She was no longer looking at the stranger but she could hear his footsteps getting closer. She kept her attention on Larian.

"You- you made a promise to me, remember?" She said, her voice breaking. "You can't just break it."

The man came to an abrupt halt after hearing her say that. She looked up at him, confused. 

"You sound... just like her." He whispered. But she had no idea who he was talking about. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

That hesitation had left the harbinger's defenses open for a split moment. And that moment was all Larian needed. For the past few minutes he had been concentrating the last of his power into one final attack.

Being this close to death also meant his Virtue was at its strongest, even Null wouldn't be able to brush off this attack.

From the ground all around Null sharpened thorns flew out at blinding speed, impaling him. His eyes were wide, shocked the knight still had enough strength.

One of the thorns had impaled him right through his hand, and the rest through his legs and torso.

Larian smiled weakly, coughing. "You let your guard down."

Null struggled against the thorns for a second but they wouldn't budge. He laughed, blood filling his mouth. The attack had done some major damage.

He was closer to death than he'd ever been before, he could feel it. Ignoring the pain he yanked his arm, breaking off the protruding thorn to free his arm.

He gripped at the edge of his eye patch, about to pull it off. He hadn't thought he would ever be forced to use this. He had underestimated the knight.

"Limit-" 

He was interrupted mid sentence by an immense and familiar feeling of emptiness in his chest. An apparent shift in the atmosphere, the night air growing colder.

Larian felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. He tried to fight against it, something was coming. Something bad. But he had already used up all of his energy. He slumped into the princess' arms.

Veliona felt it before she saw it. A patch of darkness growing wider by the second. And in its center, a man appeared. An eerie figure, almost devoid of color except for his blood red eyes.

His mere presence seemed to suck the life out of the surrounding area, draining the color from it until all that was left was black and white. He began to move towards them slowly, his red eyes fixed on Null.

"That's quite enough, Null." The man said. His voice was softer than his ragged appearance gave away, but completely empty of emotion. Once he got close enough to the harbinger Larian's thorns dissipated, as if they were simply erased from reality.

Null didn't seem to relieved by the man's sudden arrival, or help. "_____ , why are you here?"

_____ sighed, tiredly. "This is over. Come with me."

Null looked like he wanted to object, but the man's tired but piercing gaze made rethink it.

_____ turned his attention to Veliona and Larian. Veliona felt her heart drop, she had hoped he would just not notice them. She feared if he got any closer they would fade away as well. Thankfully he turned away once more.

"You should count yourself lucky," he stated. "Azazel asked me not to touch you. For now, anyway."

"Who is that?" Veliona asked.

"I believe he told you his name was 'Saito Hasashi', or something of the like." The faded man paused, as if wondering if Azazel would appreciate him giving his information away like that. He shrugged, it didn't matter.

"Once we leave, both of our existences will fade completely from your memory and being. Till we meet again for the first time, cursed child."

Veliona stared at them as they faded into black. Then she blinked, wondering what she was just looking at. She took in her surroundings, the large red arcanum in the sky slowly fading away. What had they been doing there? She felt as if she was right on the brink of the answer multiple times, but then it would fade away without a trace.

Sir Larian stirred in her arms, drawing her attention back to him. She didn't recall what had happened to him. He didn't seem to either.

He propped himself up, trying to clear his head. The aching feeling of emptiness he had felt in his chest earlier was gone without a trace. Almost as if it had never even happened.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, unsure what to make of what had happened. The harbinger and everything he had done had been wiped both from their minds, and their realities. Faded away.

In the distance the sun began to rise, signaling the start of a new day. The night of the Moonglaive bloom was over, they had missed it.

"I'm so sorry, princess." Larian apologized.

Veliona shook her head. "It's not your fault. It probably wouldn't have worked anyway."

She sighed before pulling herself off the ground and sheathing her dagger. She offered him her hand. "Let's just head back to the inn. I have no idea why, but I am completely exhausted."


next chapter

Chapter 50: Limit

Null took in a deep breath of air when they finally emerged from the shadows. He hated traveling through ______'s shadow. It made him feel the same way he had when they first met. Except a hundred times worse.

He shuddered, trying to brush off the lingering oblivion. He looked around, the scenery was a familiar one. An old abandoned church house that had fallen into disrepair a while ago. It sat somewhere between Quelkriste and Shinkoku.

______ had the harbingers meet here from time to time. But not often, they all worked solo. Searching for their own meaning of life.

It was empty now, and as a result eerily silent. Or maybe that was just ______'s presence, suffocating any sounds.

A tap on Null's shoulder madd him turn, but there was nothing there. There was a shrill laugh from in front of him. He turned back to find a raven haired girl sneering at him.

"You always fall for it," she laughed. "You just never learn, do you?"

Null groaned. Of course she would be here, hanging on to ______'s coat tails as usual. Hiding in the shadows. She wore them like clothes, instead of actual ones. But thankfully they covered enough of her.

"Nildi." He acknowledged her coldly. She fancied herself ______'s right hand and always hanged about him. Even though it was quite obvious he barely even noticed she existed. And Null had become a harbinger far before her.

She tilted her head to the side, amused. "How does it feel? To fail so spectacularly."

Null ignored her, moving to follow ______. Nildi trailed behind him, still giggling.

"No, seriously. All that work, and for what? All of it undone in seconds. Not a trace left."

Null felt his eyebrow twitch. She loved trying to get under his skin. And if he wasn't too empty inside to actually get angry he might have taken the bait at one point.

"Where are Akasha and Khali?" He asked. As long as she was here he might as well get some information from her.

She shrugged, the shadows around her leaving a dark trail. "Last I heard they were trailing that 'knight of Brilliance' in Yves. They invited me to join but I turned them down. I almost considered it, it would've been nice to meet up with Aldy again. But there's a little too much light for my shadows."

Yves, he repeated in his head. Where the knight and his princess were from.

"Anyway, while I do enjoy our conversations." Nildi continued, placing her hands on her hips. "You probably shouldn't keep him waiting."

She pointed at the front row of seats right in front of the altar. Where ______ was currently sitting. He left her standing there, but he had no doubt she'd find some way to listen in.

He took a seat in the row opposite him. Prolonged time in close proximity to him was ill advised.

_______ regarded him, the same eternally tired look on his face. "My apologies for interrupting your plans."

Null nodded, but he knew he wasn't actually. Regret was just one of the many emotions lost in the abyss of nihility.

______ sighed and turned his gaze back to the altar. "Azazel, an old..."

He paused for a second, trying to decide if 'friend' was the right word to describe the downcast.

Those that walked the path of Naut didn't have 'friends'. They were meaningless. "... acquaintance of mine. He has plans of his own, involving those two."

Null wondered how this Azazel had gotten _____ to do him a favour. He didn't care enough to ask though.

"That man has been pulling strings from behind the scenes for a while now," ______ added. "Whatever he has planned is bound to be at least a little entertaining."

×

"When do you think Veliona is getting back?" Aldrich asked Levi, resting his head on Astra's work table.

Levi had come over to ask Astra about a few things and Aldrich had tagged along. But there was some kind of emergency so Astra had left them in her office while she dealt with it.

Levi shrugged, flipping through Astra's papers. Veliona and Larian had been gone for around three days now, so they should be getting back any time now.

Levi placed the papers back down as the door creaked open, an exhausted looking Astra walking through it. She shut it and leaned against it for a second.

"What was that all about?" Aldrich asked as she took a seat at her desk.

She shook her head. "Nothing serious, just a few idiots making trouble. So anyway, to what do I owe this visit?"

Aldrich looked to Levi, and so Astra did too. Levi wasn't sure exactly how to start. "You'd call yourself a pretty well informed person, right?"

Astra raised an eyebrow. "I guess. What do you need to know?"

Levi slid into a seat beside Aldrich. "Is it possible to make a Virtue directly stronger?"

Astra thought about it for a minute. "Well... there is one way. But it's quite dangerous."

Levi leaned forward, interested. "What is it?"

"It's called a 'limit release'," Astra explained. "An old technique that allows one to push their Virtue into overdrive for a short amount of time."

That sounded exactly like what Levi needed.

"But, as I said earlier. It's dangerous." Astra added. "It puts a tremendous strain on one's soul, which is the source of a Virtue, so how to use it isn't really common knowledge. Only a captain commander can pull it off."

Levi folded his arms, nodding. That was all Astra knew on the subject, but it was enough. Before they left though, he had one more question.

"What would happen... if the knight of Brilliance were to die?"

Astra was surprised the the sudden change in subject. This was her favorite subject though, so she wasted no time in answering.

"Theoretically, I'm not completely sure because... well it hasn't happened before obviously. All the energy contained in his body would collapse in on itself, causing a massive explosion. And killing everyone."

Levi sat back in his chair. That was what the king had said as well. Not that he had doubted the king's word. He just wanted... a second opinion.

"Lucky for us," Astra added. "No one can touch him. Or else that would be really bad."

Levi left with even more reservations. Maybe he could just tell the knight how dangerous it would be for everyone the next time he daw him. Whenever that would be.

"Are you alright?" Aldrich asked, jogging to catch up to him.

Levi nodded. "Yes, why?"

Aldrich shrugged. "You've just had the same look on your face for a while now. Like you've been thinking."

"And?"

"And it's not something you usually do." Aldrich finished.

Levi scoffed and punched him lightly on the shoulder. Aldrich laughed, hopping a few steps away. Levi wondered if he should tell him about Sir Kazuki's request. But decided not to, the knight had asked him to keep it a secret after all.

[You should learn how to use a limit release anyway, Abaddon suggested.]

Levi was surprised to hear him talk, he had been silent for a while now. "I already told you we aren't killing him."

[Yes, yes. The dragon said, brushing him off. But it would still be a useful technique to know.]

"What do you know about it?" Levi questioned.

[I can't teach it to you, if that's what you're asking. I never had need of it, dragons don't have Virtues. You'll have to find someone else.]

Levi sighed. The first person that came to mind was Sir Andrius. He wasn't so sure the knight would be willing to teach him a potentially dangerous skill though. Especially since he couldn't tell him what it was for.

He waved goodbye to Aldrich at the city gates and returned to his room. Laying down on his bed and staring up at the ceiling.

He would ask the wolf knight about it the next day. But for now, he was going to sleep.


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