บท 42: Battle Skills
Clang!
Nicolas deflected it still.
However, Nero followed up with continuous slashes that seemed to never end. Sparks flew from their swords, and both Nicolas were going back!
The sight was hair-raising.
With a fiery red light above his skin, Nero fought against two knights at a high speed yet stood his ground.
With a full view of the battlefield and his opponents, Nero, who had been searching for an advantage, finally found one by carving out a scenario for the advantage.
And the scenario was bringing Nicolas and his clone close. One on his left and the other on his right.
He deflected Nicolas's thrust and led the sword to the other one!
It happened in a split moment.
Pish!
The sword pierced through the armor of the clone!
And his right sword was a few inches away from the true Nicolas's neck!
The young lad was breathing heavily as he stared at the shocked knight with a victorious smile. There were lots of shallow cuts on his body, but the joy of this victory overshadowed the pain.
Nicolas couldn't believe his eyes while Claude's eyebrows knit up.
"Who is that boy?"
"A soldier." Asher smiled.
...…
A week later, Asher and Claude were walking toward the gates of Nineveh, where his carriage and his men were waiting for him.
"You should open an academy. I'm sure many nobles would want to send their men here to become proper knights."
Claude said.
"That might be a plan for the future."
"Sacred Flame Empire earns a large amount of revenue from their academy, and I think you can too. With the quality of knights you have here, you'll surely attract nobles."
Asher smiled in response.
"I'll be awaiting the payment." He said, looking at the carts and carriages filled to the brim with goods. Most of them were filled with boxes of iron ores and beast furs, while the remaining had golden fragrant corn and some hexakad eggs.
After exchanging goodbyes, Claude left with his convoy while Asher watched from atop the walls of Nineveh.
Tpak! Tapk!
Kelvin approached him.
"Do you think he'll pay and not expose us?"
"I showed him Nero for a reason, Kelvin. The payment should be here in a few days."
"I see," Kelvin responded.
"Kelvin, I've had this in my mind for a week now. My ancestors. What were they like?"
Kelvin looked at Asher with a slight curl at the corner of his lips.
"You mean the great ashbourne dukes? All of them were war lords, great rulers and—"
"That's not what I want to hear." Asher interjected him.
"What made them great? Was it just their outstanding willpower, or was it something more than that. Why were only four of them great and the rest just basked in their glory?"
Kelvin breathed out.
"They didn't bask in the glory of the four, Your Lordship. They had their own names, but none of them shook the world."
"They could barely shake the wastelands."
Asher spat with a cold tone.
"Not all of them were like your father and brothers."
"I see."
Asher began to walk away, so Kelvin followed him, walking two steps behind Asher.
"Well, the four had something that made them different from other Ashbourne Lords, and it was more than the intensity of their training and intelligence."
Asher looked at him.
"What was it?"
"It was their pet beasts and their iconic battle skill."
When Asher heard that, he recalled the appearance of snow and water when he saw Atticus in what seemed to be a trance.
"Each of them reached a certain stage called epiphany, and it birthed terrifying battle skills that gave them powers beyond other warriors. Your first ancestor was bad at naming, so he named his battle skill 'Stab', and yet that single word brought terror into the hearts of his foes.
As simple as the name was, not even a force of a thousand saint-ranked knights would live to tell the tales if he used it against them."
Asher blinked a couple of times.
"You're serious?"
He was in disbelief.
"I do not tell you folklore, My Lord. Lord Torah, who was Lord Zenas grandson, also mastered a battle skill called 'Blood Pace' that made him the fastest knight on Tenaria, and all this was through harnessing the power of the shura art. He was able to accelerate his blood flow and speed up everything internally to produce swift and lethal attacks.
He became legendary, like his grandfather, but that same skill killed him."
"So some skills are dangerous to the one who mastered them."
Asher said.
"You don't master such skills; it is born. Same as you don't choose your talent. Only the skill scrolls made by mages are optional. There you can choose the skill you want, but battle skills are not like that."
"I see. What about Ariel?"
"The dread knight. She was a fearsome warrior who was deemed to have been as powerful as Lord Zenas. Her battle skill allows her to control the blood inside of others. It was so powerful that even her allies feared her, and she died early. According to historians, Lady Ariel Ashbourne would have made the Ashbourne name a royal name."
"Ability to control the blood of others! There's no way anybody will be able to fight against her!" Asher gasped.
Kelvin chuckled.
"I believe you shall grow to be greater than them. Also, the second thing that made them unique was that their pet beasts were able to control dual elements."
Asher almost stumbled when he heard that.
"What?!"
Awoo!!
Sirius' pain-filled howl rang throughout the stronghold at that moment, causing Asher's expression to change.
"Your Lordship! Something is happening to Sirius!"
A shura vanguard on horseback bellowed.
"What!"
...…
Some minutes later, Asher, whose expression was as ugly as it could get, walked through the hallway toward the sacred hall with large strides.
He could feel Sirius's pain through their bond.
"Open those doors!"
He roared at the vanguards, and they quickly pushed the door open, revealing the sacred hall from which great howls came.
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