After a lengthy battle, Warmarshal Frostgard and Xav Doomcry had pushed the Grimnights back into their compound. When they had arrived, they had encountered them beginning to leave for Stonedge.
Currently, Warmarshal Frostgard had the Grimnight Clan head pressed down against the floor, under her boot.
"Betrayer... I will enjoy watching you atone for your transgressions before His Grace." Sarah Frostgard, Warmarshal of His Grace said in a grim voice.
"Lift your boot, Warmarshal. There is no betrayal to move my clan,"
"But there is when you provide false information to a Warmarshal. I suggest you keep quiet until His Grace has decided what to do with you."
"...." The Grimnight Clan head remained quite. He only had to endure. The First and Second elder had already departed. When he got the message to them, he was sure they would make something happen to spring him from this encampment.
"Frost Knights... Put him in chains!" The Warmarshal hissed to her guards. She was in a most disagreeable mood.
As she walked back out of the compound, the signs of a fierce battle were scattered all over the Grimnight compound. The land was pocked with craters, and the walls of the Grimnight's were laying in all directions from the battering of forceful entry.
Xav approached the Warmarshal, "Did you always have to be so heavy-handed?"
Warmarshal Frostgard sneered, "You seen it for yourself, they were planning to abandon our Kingdom."
Xav smiled wearily, as he looked at the Warmarshal's profile. He hadn't noticed her beauty until now. One could say that Sarah Frostgard was a beauty. A cold beauty, that would only make sense as one of the Frostgard family.
"What are you looking at?" She turned her head to look at Xav.
Xav, of course, quickly turned his head, "Nothing."
"MMmmm? You know I hate cowards. If you do something, follow through with it. Where is all the talk you had when we first met?" The two were quickly approaching the field tent that had just been constructed after the battle. Both the Doomcry and the Frostgard were going to camp until The Holy Witch King gave further orders.
"...Well... That didn't turn out as I wanted it too... But this is okay, as well." Xav looked forward.
"Oh? If you think you still got some fire in your heart... I wouldn't mind getting to know you a bit more, but I want to get to know the Xavier Doomcry that called me a bitch and tried to take down my army... Not the Xavier Doomcry that takes quick looks at me and whispers apologies."
"Will The Holy Witch King really let me go on this?" Xav decided to change the topic. Yeah, he had started looking at the Warmarshal, but he didn't know how to handle her.
The Warmarshal laughed, "His Grace will always do what he says... Now how he decides to let you off, that will be his choice... But depending on the outcome... Well, We will see."
Xav was dazed on this answer... Did this mean he was off the hook or not? Also was the Warmarshal into him? He couldn't be sure. She did say she wanted to get to know him, but also she didn't...
They had both made it to the tent. A Doomcry warrior quickly approached, "Sir Xav!"
"Speak Silver ear..." Xav said, now with an imposing voice. Nothing of the meek Xav appeared at this moment. This got a raised eyebrow from Warmarshal Frostgard, too bad that Xav didn't see this with his back turned.
"Two bands of Grimnights left before we encountered the rest of them here. It seems that We only have half of the Grimnights contained."
"You got to be shitting me." Xav was displeased. He didn't know how His Grace would react if any fish slipped from the net. This concerned his freedom, possible unlife.
The Warmarshal's brows furrowed, but she remained silent.
"How far have they gotten?"
"Far enough that if we give chase, they will have already made it across the border to Stonedge, before we can get to them."
"Damn it! Fine! Go report to your squad, and patrol. Remember to approach me later for your reward for service to the clan." Xav gave his final word.
"Yes, Sir!" The Doomcry warrior ran off into the compound.
Xav turned to face the Warmarshal, "Now what?"
"We send a report to his Grace."
"...Okay..."
*******
Jack and Leslie finally separated themselves from each other. She had work to do, and Jack really wanted to go to his Library. They both agreed that tonight! They would both meet her mother tonight, barring any major incidents.
Jack walked into his library and again marveled at all the golden tomes. He went to the tables that were labeled by the last guy and picked up the books on the Faith of Deagoth.
Jack then absorbed them all and learned many things. With the highlights, that the Light was based on Three Aspects and Seven Virtues. The Three Aspects were respect, tenacity, and compassion, with the Seven Virtues of Fidelity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility.
[No wonder the last guy was a pacifist... With practice like this, your enemies would come and knock down your front door, and you would thank them for it... How odd] Jack thought after reading an overview.
Jack might have taken this to the extreme, as even the Church of Deagoth wouldn't stand for such a thing, The Holy Witch King prior to Jack did indeed try to embody these qualities. It could even be said that he was entombed because he invoked such a massive widespread carnage on his enemies, breaking his life long compassion of unlife.
Some, if not all, of these practices, mirrored a lot of his last life's religions. They certainly didn't seem like bad advice... Maybe a bit too ironclad for his taste, but the in the major book he read, the tome called simply 'The Faith of Deagoth,' it mentioned sin.
Sin was something that wasn't just a concept. According to his reading, sin was accumulated in the soul of all living creatures, when they committed acts that were known to the creature as wrong. Jack felt this even more odd, as this implied that if you believe you were doing right... You couldn't sin, and if you didn't know it was wrong, to begin with... Then it wasn't a sinful action to the soul!
But sin marked the soul of the creature, and over time tainted it. This sin would warp the creature. This was almost like brainwashing. The more sin one committed, the more it would accumulate, and the more it would influence the creature to commit more sin. It was truly a terrible cycle.
What boggled Jack's mind was that there wasn't anything about absolving of sin. He absorbed the book, but actually when back to read it by hand. He couldn't believe that the book didn't mention how to rid oneself of sin. It only spoke of how to cope with sin, and to live with one's mistakes. It was to move on, and not commit more, before the soul became completely tainted, turning to what was called a Soiled Soul. Once someone obtained a Soiled Soul, they were to be cast out.
Jack scratched the top of his bald skull but decided to think more on this later. At least, he now knew what he was the pope of... It wasn't bad to be like this.
Jack finished his reading on his Faith and decided he needed to read more on the nature of the Light, and Cultivation. This assassination attempted proved to him that he needed to get strong. He had noticed that the Bat Warrior Assassin was able to make a hole in his so-called-perfect defense, Seal of Protection.
This showed him that his personal power made a difference in the spell and that the spell might not show it's full power without the correct cultivation, as he was currently Knight Rank. Everyone thought he was Emperor Rank, but he wasn't even King Rank. Jack thought maybe if he was King Rank, he would have been able to fully block the assassination attempt.
It was actually due to Jack's amazing programming he learned in his last life he applied to spell crafting that saved his unlife. By all rights, there should have been no spell that he could cast at the Rank of a Knight that would have saved his unlife, but it did in fact work.
After finishing more tomes, Jack walked over to the wall to sit under the same Glowstone that he had first done to Cultivate. He folded his legs and put his hands into his lap to form a triangle. He began to mediate following the tenets of 'The Heretical Side of the Light.'
Jack made a startling discovery as he looked at his own Cultivation. He was now Mid-Level Knight Rank.
One has to know that all the Ranks have three levels. Low, Mid, and High. This usually only matters when one hits Knight Rank. These levels within the Rank show how much magic power one can store and how potent a spell could be cast by the Cultivator. Usually only by using resources, or cultivating could one increase their cultivation, there were rare techniques that could allow the practitioner to increase their cultivation passively.
As an example, Unholy tomes usually borrowed on the principle of malevolence. This was to cause harm to others to increase their connection with the Unholy powers of the world to increase their speed of cultivation. On the flip side, cultivators of the Light would use the principle of benevolence. They would do good for the world increasing their speed of cultivation through good deeds.
Jack's increase could be attributed to the strange nature of the tome he practiced. 'The Heretical Side of the Light's' acting principle was the principle of the Light's Center. This sounded a lot nicer than it actually was... The principle, as stated by Ex-Archbishop Julius, of the Light was indifferent, but more than that it was selfish. It was self-serving and would have no other powers before it. The light wanted to consume all. It negated many powers and pushed back darkness. That anything in the presence of the Light must succumb to it.
Jack villainous nature of being selfish befitted this principle to perfection. He did want he wanted, and what he thought was right for the occasion as to serve his own purpose. His self-serving nature mimicked the true principles of the Light. The actually caused Jack to be closer in the path of the true nature of the Light than any other before him.
After all... The 'Heretical Side of the Light' was banned by the major faiths of the time it was produced so that Jack was the first practitioner. Even Ex-Archbishop Julius didn't know if his tome was correct, as he wrote it in wrath, on what he believed was correct about the nature of the Light.
Jack moved his mind, and formed a connection with the Light, as per his knowledge. This lead to a beacon of Light forming in the skies above the Holy Palace. Much like the first time Jack Cultivated, but the intensity of the Light and the girth of the beam was much smaller in comparison. Only those in Saigunrai could see the beam of light in the sky that poured down on top of the Holy Palace.
The people of Saigunrai looked to the sky and smiled. They knew His Grace was with them. The remaining Officials of the Court collectively wiped the black sweat from their brow, as they saw the beam in the sky.
Jack began his cultivation on the seventh day of the week, and Lucius notices two things this day, as he prepared to preach his sermon for the Grand Cathedral of Saigunrai. There was a beam of Light that washed down from the sky that pored over the Holy palace, and church attendant doubled.
Lucius rubbed his lower jaw... He knew that this beam was a sign that His Grace as cultivating... [I got to get Jack to cultivate every Seventh Day. We can double admittance to the church this way, haha.]
It was seen that the passion of the Grand Minister's sermon was the highest it had been for the last thousand years. Many were in awe of the beam in the sky followed by the contents of the Grand Minister's preaching!