{Air Code: Tempest}
Powerful winds ripped apart the stone giant in front of Seventeen into a thousand pieces as if it was made of paper. Pieces of rock flew past his opponent as her mouth hung in shock at what she just saw.
Seventeen walked towards her. Suddenly the second stone giant appeared in front of him, "You're in the way.", Seventeen muttered and slashed upwards, "Seventeen Style fourth form: Equinox", The giant split cleanly in half and shattered into pieces as both halves fell on the ground.
His opponent looked upwards and her eyes almost popped out of their sockets as she saw the clouds splitting right above where her opponent slashed. 'Was he holding back all this time?', she thought as she saw pure magia glowing behind the eyeslits of his mask.
Seventeen held up Nyx, "Time to end this", {Lightning Code: Electro Boost}, lightning crackled as it enveloped him. He took a step forward and streaked toward his opponent.
She raised an earth wall to protect herself and held up her staff. But it was in vain. Seventeen easily shattered the wall and sliced the staff in two. His opponent found her throat just a few centimeters away from the black blade. She gulped. Her cat ears flattened to her head.
"You are indeed powerful, just like headmaster Zephyrus said.", The masked man said as he removed the sword from her throat. "It's a pleasure to fight against you, Earth Cardinal Violet Zelien.", He retracted Nyx and bowed in respect.
She was thunderstruck, "How did you figure that out?", she asked and took off her mask revealing a beautiful face with bright violet eyes and slightly tanned skin. Her tail poked out of her cloak and swayed from side to side.
Seventeen replied, "Well, headmaster Zephyrus once told me about the Cardinals and he said that the Earth Cardinal is a demi beast with cat features from the Zelien family. Also, you are the strongest Earth user in Arken."
He continued, "Another thing is that other than the Air Cardinal, only you would know about this huge magia in the Elder mountains. Also during our fight, you used high-level Earth magia, thus eliminating the possibility of you being a warlock sent by the Earth Cardinal."
"This means you came by yourself without telling anyone in the middle of the night.", Seventeen concluded.
"Amazing. You are right. I presume Zephyrus sent you?", Violet asked. Seventeen nodded.
"So what is your name and from which squad are you?"
"I've been asked to not reveal my name. But you can call me Black Fox. Also, I'm not affiliated with any Cardinal Knights squad. I'm just a wandering warlock working with the Air Cardinal. I hope you understand", Seventeen answered.
(Smart move Seventeen. But seriously, Black Fox? You just named yourself after the mask you're wearing)
'Shut up.', he said in his mind.
Violet nodded, "I understand. It's better to keep your real name a secret but if you ever feel like it, you can tell me.", she smiled and winked, "Also, I am not surprised that you're not in a squad seeing how powerful you are."
Seventeen smiled underneath his mask, "I can take off my mask since you also did it.", "No need. You have your reasons to hide your face and identity.", Violet said, she held out her hand, "Nice to meet you, Black Fox".
They shook hands, "Now, the reason we are here.", she said, her face becoming serious.
"Indeed.", Seventeen looked at the summit, "Shall we go see what is causing this much magia density?"
They began climbing. Violet created stone steps along the mountain wall to help them climb faster. "You are indeed strong Earth Cardinal. You can manipulate your attribute as if you're breathing.", Seventeen remarked.
"Thank you, Fox. And no need to call me Earth Cardinal.", Sophia replied.
"As you wish miss Violet. By the way, how many stone giants can you make at a time?", Seventeen asked.
"Ten of them, each double the size of the ones you just annihilated. I can also create huge stone serpents and other animals. ", she answered.
"Ten giants?", Seventeen was shocked. He imagined ten 60-meter stone giants laying waste to a battlefield or even doing a tribal dance around a colossal bonfire.
(You have the weirdest imaginations Seventeen)
"How strong are the Cardinals?", he wondered aloud.
"Well, you could say we're high-level CAT 0 warlocks. We always have to hold back.", Violet complained. "Oh. So are you guys the strongest?", Seventeen asked. She shook her head.
"Nah. Two individuals are more powerful than the Cardinals combined.", she said and looked at Seventeen, "Soon you will be on their level.",
"What do you mean?", Seventeen asked.
"As you are now, you can defeat two Cardinals together. But you are getting stronger at a constant rate. It won't be long before you beat all of us five Cardinals together.", Violet replied.
She continued, "There are also individuals who can use CAT -1 and stronger codes despite being a weaker category themselves. They are called Slayers. The most common of these guys are the Dragon Slayers who defeat dark dragons that harm not only other species but their brethren too.", she explained.
"I see. By the way. Why are you here despite asking headmaster Zephyrus to investigate? Don't cats hate the cold?", Seventeen asked.
"Of course, I hate the cold! Do you know how many layers of clothing I am wearing to stay warm?", Violet replied wagging her tail.
"I rather not."
"Ah, you are so not fun. And to answer your question, I came here because I was curious.", she looked at him to assert her point.
"You do know that curiosity kills the cat.", Seventeen replied.
(Ooooh, nice one)
"Please don't. I've heard that many times.", Violet rubbed her neck.
'Is everyone in this world too trusting?', Seventeen thought.
(Why don't you ask her?)
"Um. Miss Violet. I'm surprised that you're talking friendly to a stranger who just fought you. What if I'm just acting as a partner to trick you?", he asked. "I know you wouldn't because you're a good person.", Violet replied brightly.
"How?", Seventeen was puzzled.
"I was born with the soul vision. I can see the souls of every living thing. A person's soul tells a lot about themselves, whether they are kind-hearted or just plain evil and your soul is interesting. It appears to use another soul as a foundation and is slowly developing which is a first.", she smiled.
"You may have your reasons for laying a previous soul as a foundation for your own so I'll not ask any questions. But what can I see from your developing soul is that you're a good person even though you have a slightly sadistic side.", Violet said.
"That explains a lot.", Seventeen said. Soon they reached the top of the mountain. The top is relatively calm with a lot of snow. In front of them are huge walls of rock that jutted towards the sky.
Seventeen activated his magia vision. Thick magia surrounded them. "This magia density is much higher than before.", he remarked. "You have magia vision?", Violet asked. He nodded.
Violet touched the ground and closed her eyes, "There is a big crater surrounded by these huge rocky peaks. Climbing the peaks and jumping down on the crater sounds like a bad idea since it is protected by a powerful barrier.", she said.
"There could be a passageway that leads to the crater.", Seventeen suggested. "That's a good idea. I will start searching for it now.", Violet resumed her search.
Seventeen looked around with his magia vision. He searched for irregularities in the magia surrounding him, "All of this magia has to come out from somewhere", he muttered.
He suddenly noticed something in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw magia flowing out of a crack in the wall. He frowned, "Miss Violet, can you focus your search on that part of the walls?", he pointed at the crack.
"Sure.", she said and concentrated on the crack. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and smiled, "Looks like we found our entrance.", she got up and walked towards it but got stopped by Seventeen.
"What is it Black Fox?", she was puzzled. "You need to be ready for an attack or a trap and your staff is broken for which I apologize. I'll fix it for you.", he said and extended his hand.
"Oh, sure.", Violet said and handed the two pieces of her staff to him. He held the pieces in his hands and activated his weapons gloves. The intricate designs of the gloves glowed as they took in the information of the staff. After a few seconds, the glow faded.
The fully fixed staff rested in his hands, "Here you go.", he offered it to Violet who took it with an awed face, "Weapon gloves huh. This is the first time I'm seeing them in action. They are the rarest enchanted items ever. I'm surprised that you have them", she said.
"Let's say I'm a lucky person.", Seventeen winked. He realized that the gloves can also fix weapons if they have the information.
He summoned his sword, "Let's check that place.", he nodded towards the huge crack. They walked towards it and Seventeen looked into the crack, "It's pretty dark but I can make out a passage.", he said.
He moved aside, "Ladies first.", "Yeah. Send the lady first into a creepy dark passage in the middle of the night.", Violet grumbled and entered the passage. Seventeen followed. Violet activated a light stone and illuminated the walls of the passage.
The passage was wide enough for both of them to walk side by side. They walked for a few minutes without saying a word and looked out for any traps. They soon reached a wall.
"A dead end?", Violet rapped the rock.
"Nope.", Seventeen said and pointed at a spot on the wall, "There is a rune on the wall.", "Oh yeah. There is one.", Violet peered at it, "It's a simple earth rune, probably to let this rock slide to the side but....", she frowned.
"What is it?", Seventeen asked. "I did say it is a rune to open the rock but this rune is an ancient rune.", she replied.
"The rune system we use for enchantments now was created about 2000 years ago and is constantly being improved. But this rune is much older. These types of runes that existed 2000 years ago are classified as ancient runes. We usually find them in ruins and ancient tombs around Arken but that date back to 3500 years ago back when the Codes were first created.", she explained.
Violet looked at the rune, "But this one is different. Even though it looks somewhat similar to the current version, there is a difference in its shape. It's not even similar to the ancient runes we discovered.", she held her chin in thought.
Suddenly a thought came into Seventeen's mind. "What if this rune is 3000 years old?", he wondered aloud. Violet looked at him, "No way. If it is, then this is a groundbreaking discovery!", she exclaimed.
"This could be the first remnant of Arken 3000 years ago.", her eyes shined with excitement.
"Miss Violet. Are you perhaps an archaeologist?", Seventeen asked. She nodded, "Indeed. I even read Zephyrus's theory. It's pretty good but needs evidence."
She touched the rune and streamed magia into it, "I've studied ancient runes and their principles are the same to the runes of the present.", the rune glowed and the wall trembled as it slid to reveal an astonishing sight. Both of them gasped in amazement.
"Unbelievable.", Seventeen said.