Alnea paused, both in his thoughts, and his actions, prompting the red winds flowing along the edge of his sword to lose their source, and dissipate back into—

  Hesitate? Why should he hesitate? He had already known that the Heterodox Wanderers were coming after him. It was only natural for them to know his name. The only thing he was worried about was his mother. But she was with the Serpia clan, so she should be safe. What he had to do at the moment, was to focus on the enemies in front of him. Enemies, whom he had to kill.

  Slaughtering the hesitation in his Heart, Alnea urged the Killing Winds to wrap around his sword once again. It was just that his movements were a step too late. Taking advantage of his momentary hesitation, the blue robed man burst out with all his strength, and pushed him back, right in the way of the yellow robed man’s stab. As if that had always been their plan.

  So perfect was their teamwork, that even after he had recovered from his daze, it was only by jumping off the ground, and flipping over the yellow robed man’s head, that he managed to avoid the man’s spearhead stabbing into his chest. Still, their attack was not a complete failure. At least they managed to get some respite from his relentless attacks. Alnea, on the other hand, was not happy with how things have developed.

  After a quick scan of the battlefield from his Domain, Alnea noticed that while the Star Seekers had managed to injure three Wanderers in their previous barrage of attacks, their situation had not improved much since then. On the contrary, without his deliberate interference, except for the girls, who were barely holding back their enemies, the rest of the Star Seekers were getting continuously pushed back, losing all the advantage he had created for them. Especially after his earlier slip up. Was that why—

  Slaughtering the hesitation jumping within his Heart, Alnea focussed his attention back on the two Wanderers in front of him. A blue robed man, and a yellow robed man. Both of the original ten Dark Priests. They did not seem to be much older than him, but that was because of their delayed ageing. All Wanderers, unless they were nearing the end of their lives, would look younger than their age. The same was true of the two men in front of him.

  Nikas Rosefield and Bassin Gorvein. From the Rosefield and Gorvein clans of the Third Sector. According to the information that Vestia and Karl had gathered, both of these men were at least three to five years older than him. As were the rest of the Dark Priests. Still, to reach the peak of the False Rank before the age of twenty, all of them had exceptional talent, enough to be valued as core members of their clan. And yet…

  “Why did you fall to Heterodoxies?” Alnea said, dissipating the Killing Winds from his sword, just as he summoned Golden Lighting, before rushing towards the two men. And before the two knew, he was already in front of them, swinging his sword towards their chest. And though his sword did not have the red wind wrapped around its edge, just the sheer speed and power with which he swung his sword was enough to at least break their ribs, if not slice through their chest right away.

  Or so Alnea thought, until he felt his sword blocked by another layer of shields, buying the two men enough time to react, and defend themselves. But he had already expected as such. If the two men would have been so easy to deal with, they would not have been known as one of the strongest False Wanderers in the Lost City. Not to mention that were also Heterodox Wanderers. It was only natural for them to have some weird means to save their lives.

  “With such talent…” Alnea said, attacking the two men once again, leaving behind traces of golden lightning in the air with all his movements. “Why did you have to throw it all away?”

  “Who told you that we threw away our talent?” the blue robed Wanderer said, as he and the yellow robed man barely defended against the barrage of attacks raining down upon them with the help of the shields they had prepared in advance. “Did you even know us before we chose to abandon the hypocritic Gods? Did you know how much we suffered… how much we had to pay?”

  One shield after another kept shattering, buying just enough time for the Heterodox Wanderers to summon another shield, while backing away from the storm of golden lightning. Yet, Nikas Rosefield showed no fear. No matter how the lightning raged, it could not reach him. Alnea’s words, however, ignored all his defences, and reached his Heart, dredging up memories long past.

  “No, you know nothing about us. You know nothing about our past. About how much we lost… In our moment of darkness, in our moment of despair, when not even our clans would help us out of our plights, it was the Heterodoxies that you so despise which came to our rescue. Throwing our talents away? Falling to the Heterodoxies? What a joke. Had we not abandoned those hypocritic Gods, should we have waited for our deaths?”

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  “…I don’t know what you went through,” Alnea said, still pressing the two Heterodox Wanderers, launching waves after waves of attacks, only to be blocked by the shields again and again. “Maybe your clans did wrong you. Maybe you are carrying some great burden on your back. I don’t care. I only know that you chose to become my enemy. And that is enough.”

  “…As expected of a—

  “Why are you talking nonsense with him?” Bassin Gorvein said, gritting his teeth in annoyance. “Do you really think our shields won’t run out?”

  “…I almost forgot about that.”

  “Is that something you can forget in middle of a battle?”

  “I—

  “Stop struggling,” Alnea said, slashing the yellow robed man, blasting his Aspects while he was at it, shattering the shield before his sword could even touch it. It was only natural then, for his sword to slash through the man’s chest, and leave a wide gash behind. “Your shields will no longer be able to stop my sword.”

  “Cretes spit!”

  “Your efforts are futile, scum. You, and all your teammates are going to die today.”

  “…You forced me to do this, Tresting!”

  “What can you do?”

  “…Do not be smug just because you hurt us a little,” Nikas Rosefield said. “This is not the first time you are using your Golden Lightning. Neither is this the first time you are using a Concept related to Speed and Lightning. You did not think that we would come to you before making any preparations, right?”

  “Like I said, your efforts are futile. No matter what preparations you make, in front of absolute strength—

  “Do it,” Nikas said, making some gestures with his right hand. Right in the next moment, before Alnea could understand what the blue robed man meant, or even react, he felt a strange fluctuation in the air. Almost similar to the fluctuations of his Domain of Night. Another Domain? Was this what the Heterodox Wanderers were relying on? If so, then—

  Alnea felt the lighting in his body being wrested out of his control, before being stripped out his body altogether, and sent back to the Origin Sea. Even the Concept that he held could not stop the lightning from leaving his body. Neither did his understanding of the Martial Styles. The Primitive Golden Lightning of Life…

  “How is it?” the blue robed man said with an ugly grin. “Did you like the surprise we prepared?”

  “…Don’t be happy too early,” Alnea said, rushing towards the two men, brandishing his sword, glowing in reddish golden light, against their heads. It did not matter if he did not have the aid of the Primitive Golden Lightning of Life. He already knew how to deal with the pesky shields. “You should not be able to use your Concepts either.”

  “True. But—

  “Just stop talking, and capture him already,” Bassin Gorvein said, clashing against the reddish golden sword with his yellowish black spear. “Don’t forget that it was your useless chatter which let all those people run away.”

  “…Those losers are of no consequence,” Nikas said, not in the least bothered by the naked contempt in his companion’s voice. “But you are right. We should indeed focus on capturing him first.”

  “…You do not think that just because you have stopped me from urging lighting that you can defeat me, right?” Alnea said, as he distanced himself from the two men. His battle was taking longer than expected. Mostly because of the seemingly endless number of shields blocking his sword. Otherwise, with how pathetic their skills were, they—

  No, there was something wrong. The Dark Priests… From the results of their Trials, they were supposed to be one of the best in their Blood Hall. Their fighting skills should not be so dull, and full of flaws. Just relying on the number of shields… These Wanderers…

  “Huh?” Nikas Rosefield said, noticing the frown on Alnea’s face, and the hesitation in his eyes. “Did you notice something? It does not matter. We are almost done with our preparations anyway.”

  “…What are you planning?”

  “Losing your patience already?”

  “…Looks like I cannot waste my time with you anymore,” Alnea said, taking a deep breath, as he slipped his sword back into its sheath, and bent down, while shifting his left leg slightly behind his right leg. “Are you ready to face your death?”

  “We already faced our death the day we abandoned those hypocritic Gods. But since you are so impatient, then let me show you the true surprise that we prepared for you,” Nikas Rosefield said, with the edges of his lips curving upwards in a grin. But that only prompted Alnea to—

  Before Alnea could make his move, he felt a change in his Domain of Night. No, not change, but ripple. He sensed a ripple in his Domain… a ripple in the world, almost as if someone, or something, was pressing against its fabric of existence, interfering with all that there was, and all that there could be. And not just on the material level, but on the level of Mysteries that composed the world, shifting it closer to… Blood.

  Deep, dark, red blood. The ripples that came from within the world, and spread across its surface, made it turn red like blood. Be it the skies, the ground, the fog, or even the forest, everything in the world was in the shade of blood. Everything, except the heretic Wanderers. Wanderers, who did not believe in blood. Wanderers who did not worship blood. Wanderers who dared to blaspheme Blood.

  “Welcome to the Blood Trial, Alnea Tresting!”