"You are strong"
Deep within the palace two men were fighting – well a man and a boy. The boy had brown hair and a handsome face. This boy was Abelard. The man he was fighting against was the guardian of the device that recorded the auras of the Eastern Empire's wielders. The device was easy to spot. It was a large box-like object which could light up. It worked like a television set. Yet right now it had a huge hole in it, rendering it completely useless. The culprit was Abe.
The one who dished out the compliment was Abe's opponent. He had long black hair and black eyes and was very dashing. He was a charming middle aged man. However he wasn't at his best right now. There were bloodstains on his lips and his clothes, and it weren't his enemy's blood – it was his.
He acknowledged Abe's power. The young boy's power didn't match his looks. Not only did he fail to feel the boy sneaking up on him, he had also failed to protect the device. Although the research division would be able to make another one, the materials required for an artefact as complex as this were all rare and highly difficult to find. This one alone had swallowed up almost all their funds – even the reserves were almost emptied out! So unless they could gain control over the Northern Empire, they wouldn't be able to procure the raw materials for another.
"Why don't you pledge your allegiance to Master? He appreciates talents like you" the middle aged man coaxed Abe.
"Hahaha" Abe laughed at the offer. "Don't be silly. Do you think I don't know what you are really thinking?" Abe smirked as he mocked the older wielder. The man's expression became ugly at the young boy's words. "He doesn't think like a child" he thought silently to himself. The Master wasn't going to forgive him for failing so spectacularly. The only way he would be able to absolve himself and his family of any blame was if he was dead. That way, the only logical conclusion would be that the enemy was too strong for him to handle. But if the Master returned to see him alive, he would kill him himself for failing at the task he was given. And his death wouldn't be swift and clean. The middle aged man still remembered how those who failed the Master died – painfully. Every single one of them died with their eyes open, full of terror and fear. He didn't want to die that way so he tried to find a way out
"Talents! Master loves talented people" he remembered that there was something his master loved more than anything else – the allegiance of a talented wielder. The boy he was up against was strong. He was a true talent. If he could present him to the Master as a new recruit, the Master would pardon his failure. The Master may even accept Abe as his disciple like he did the little prince of that backwater kingdom. But the boy was smart. He could see right through him.
"In that case we have nothing more to discuss" the man angrily snorted and charged at Abe. Abe looked on attentively. Unlike his hearty exterior he was weary of his opponent. The man he was up against wasn't weak. Abelard was at the 6th stage of the profound realm, but this man was two levels above him – at the 8th stage. They had been at for quite a while. Abe was only able to injure him because of his surprise attack. Using his ability as a scholar he snuck into the room unnoticed, effectively evading all the sensors. Although the man was the only one here, the room was heavily fortified with all kinds of counter infiltration devices. The security was so insane Abelard started wondering what the throne room would be like. Unfortunately Abe was wrong. The throne room didn't have this level of security.
What confused Abe was that there was only one person in the room. If they really wanted to protect the place, why would they assign it to only one person? "It's a trap" Abe quickly concluded. Maybe the only one inside was a distraction. Maybe whilst one was occupied with this wielder, reinforcements would have been alerted to the presence of an enemy and would have put the palace on lockdown. So to be safe he positioned the twins outside. He left them at vantage points – each of them at a different location a short distance from the room. Abelard's theory was simple: there must be someone or some people monitoring the room. As for how, he didn't know. So once they realize that someone had gotten in, they would move out to alert the others. The twins must kill anyone who tries to raise the alarm, and must track down where that person came from. If there was truly another place monitoring this one, it would be close by. The twins were to find the hidden room and destroy those within to truly cancel out the threat.
*Boom*
Abe was sent skidding back by the power of the man's strike. This man was unlike the others. The others were weaker than their peers of the same level because of the blessing, but this man didn't seem to have that weakness. Although Abelard could feel that he too had lost half of his life force, he couldn't feel the weakness that was supposed to be part of it. Because of that he was having a hard time defending against the man's attacks. He crossed his arms to defend against the incoming kick.
*Boom*
Abelard was sent flying and struck the wall from the sheer force behind the wielder's kick.
*cough*
The young prince wiped the blood off his lips and quickly rolled to the side to avoid the next blow.
*Boom*
"What are these walls made of?" Abe wondered as he tried to get away from his assailant. Their auras should have been enough to bring down the walls yet they were fine. And though his opponent had struck the wall numerous times there wasn't even a single dent to show for it. Instead the man always hurt himself whenever he came into contact with the walls. So Abelard always timed his evasions to perfection to cause as much pain to the man as possible. There was another strange thing about the walls – they were impervious to his summons. He was an earth elementalist. But even he couldn't manipulate the walls and that left him slightly handicapped. But it was fine. His opponent was also an earth elementalist. The power of the man's punches were too strong for any other element. And Abe ruled out the option of him being able to manipulate more than one element because not everyone was like Mane. So the man was handicapped too.
"Dammit" the man screamed as he held his swollen hand. In his fury he had ignored the toughness of the walls and carelessly struck it. He tried to use his inner energy to reduce the swelling and pain. But Abelard wasn't going to let this chance slide. That was how they had been fighting all this while. The man would go on a rampage until he struck the walls and hurt himself, and then Abe would take over.
As a scholar, Abe would always stop just a few inches away from the wall even if he missed his target. So he always welcomed this kind of opportunity. He delivered a ferocious punch aimed at his enemy's midsection.
*Bam*
"Ahh" the man grimaced in pain as he held his swollen hand. In his attempt to block Abe's punch he had been struck on the very same hand he injured – and it wasn't a coincidence.
"Being a scholar is awesome" Abe thought excitedly as he replayed the recent attack in his head. He aimed for the man's ribs, but when his opponent tried to block with his forearm Abe slightly twisted his arm and went for the hand instead. The young prince rushed in once more for another bite.
"Hubris" he whispered, activating his breath and channeling all his strength into his left hand.
*Boom*
The man's eyes opened wide at the severity of the attack. It was unlike anything he had faced so far. It felt like he was hit in the abdomen by a heavy truck. Although he blocked the attack, his arms were completely numb and he could feel that he had broken his left arm. Even worse his abdomen received a small portion of the attack and he could still feel the pain. Luckily he didn't receive any internal injuries.
"Now!" Abe screamed at the man. "That's weird" the man thought and turned his head. It was then he realized that he was flying towards the door! Abe wasn't talking to him – he was speaking to someone just outside the door! There was more than one infiltrator!
Jake and John quickly dashed into the room. Their target was the helpless man flying in their direction. They arrived only a while ago, but they didn't rush in carelessly. They waited for the right moment to attack. Unlike Frederick and Selina who didn't come with them to the Eastern Empire the first time, they were aware of the strange abilities Abelard and Mane possessed. They knew what scholars were. They assumed that Abe could sense their arrival, and they assumed right. Abe did sense their arrival, and he waited until the right moment to call out to them.
The two boys, one a fire elementalist and the other a water wielder, summoned their elements and headed straight for their prey. Jake's hand was consumed in fire, and John wielded a water spear. They couldn't use their weapons because the guns would make too much noise.
"Hah!" John exclaimed and threw the spear towards the 'flying' man. "Impossible" the man thought when he saw John's feat. He could feel the auras of the newcomers. Although he was sent flying, he was confident that he would be able to fend them off once they got close to him. After all, they were only at the 7th stage of the above-mortal realm! That's right. If not for Abe's strange and miraculous 2nd awakening he would be behind the twins! Their promotion speed was insane given that Abe was able to grow so quickly because the scholar manual had caused a mutation. The man exclaimed because it was almost impossible for a person's control of their element to be so precise. He was an earth elementalist but he knew how difficult it was to shape and throw water. Yet he had seen a young boy do it right before his eyes.
"There goes my plan to escape" he sighed and watched helplessly as the water spear slammed into him.
*puchi*
The spear went through him without any resistance. Without his ability to manipulate the earth he couldn't summon a wall so his defenses were like butter to John. The water dissipated right before it got to Abe and drenched him, causing the prince to look helplessly at John.
"Sorry!" John laughed and darted to the side to avoid his brother. Jake propelled himself forward and increased his speed dramatically. His burst in speed took the already injured wielder by surprise.
"So crafty" was his last thought as Jake's fire fist crashed into his skull and burnt his brain to a crisp.
"You guys took your time" Abe panted and leaned against the wall. He was short of inner energy and needed to replenish it.
"So?" he asked as he sat cross legged. "You were right. There is another room about ten yards away from this one that monitors this place. They are very cautious. We dealt with them though" Jake answered. In the end Abe's assumption was right. Fortunately the Master never foresaw that someone would see through his scheme and had placed only above-mortal wielders in the other room.
"I need about five minutes. Now that they have no way to know we are here, I can take some time to regain some of my energy. Then we'd go after Mane" Abe stated.
"You might want to do that after you see this. We found it in the other room" Jake said and fished out something from his clothes. It was a small talisman that glowed red.
"Can you guess what it is?" John asked. Abe examined it for a while. When he turned it over he saw something that made his eyes snap open in surprise.
"This!"