The world was a blur as we sped through towns and forests, i had to drop my speed quite a bit in order to let my companions keep pace, Lucas who was the fastest after me was struggling to keep up while Felix who kept casting warp continously was in an even worse condition but I had to make them bare with it as I thought of who put us in this situation.
Langris had been an enigma to me since we first met but I could still tell he was quite smart definitely conniving but he still needed me for his plans, at least at the moment, another thing that unsettled me was his seemingly forced friendship between us,
Langris was my sponsor, it was through him I became a Don which meant I owed him and had to listen to his words more than I'd like too but instead of coming off like a master to his subordinate he spoke to me in a chiding that often felt like he was speaking to a younger sibling, i had felt like that since the first time we met at the senate building but back then I he was simply putting up appearances in front of a crowd, then he did the same at my coronation party, if his action were to put on face he wouldn't have needed to continue the act at said party, at best he would only need to approach me with fake friendliness while detailing the specifics of our relationship but instead when I threatened to kill him even when he began to speak about his dream he never lost that air, I shuddered at the thought, it was either he was hoping to build some warped sibling relationship between us or he was so mentally composed he could fool me even in the night when my senses were sharper but if so what was his end game, this would most definitely cause a war between I and Aegis second Don who I knew virtually nothing about so I couldn't speak on whether I could beat him
"what are you thinking about"
said Langris, I felt guilty looking at him, he was having trouble keeping up with us even with his repetitive use of warp but he held on without complaining, his face filled with sweat while I looked unbothered as this was far from my max speed
'Langris, what do you suppose is his motive'
"well it can simply be to get rid of you, this is too complicated for that and if he wanted you gone he wouldn't have let you in as a Don, this guy you almost pissed off, what do you know about him"
'nothing really I don't suppose you do'
"I know a bit about him"
said Lucas, I turned to face him, I managed to properly hide my shock but from his twisted expression I don't think Felix managed to do the same
"what's that look for"
said Lucas
"don't judge me who would expect you to onow that recluse unless he's a beautiful woman"
Felix said bluntly
"is that what you all think of me"
"Yes!!!"
our entire party said in unison, his forehead showed visible creases as he spoke
"for one he's not a woman, he an old man though since he's an Arcanum user he doesn't look it"
'how old are we talking about'
I asked
"187"
"that's not so old, he's an Arcanum user remember"
said Desmond
"yeah he's young for an Arcanum user but not for a Don especially a second Don for a city like aegis"
He was right, although a man being at that age wasn't absurd due to the nature of the bodies of blade masters and magic-casters there were almost no Don's at that age on the continent, the reason being most chose to retire and seek employment at the Don's association because they couldn't keep up with the constant challenges to their seats, most often died in battles against younger and more tenacious youngsters, there have also been cases where an injury from a previous fight lead to defeat in another,
Up until a while ago fights in aegis were very common, aegis was a central city with a rich history and quite wealthy to boot lots of Arcanum users would line up to have it under their thumb but that all stopped when a new first Don came into power coincidentally that was also when it's problems with Trident started
'he's good, at least he has to be in order to hold onto that place for so long, tell me how long has he been the Don, because of conflicting rumors most can't get a true measure on him'
I said
"not long at all"
'what'
"let me explain, have to ever heard of the event know as the mad scramble"
I shook my head
"I had an girlfriend who lived in aegis at the time"
"of course you did"
said Jesse
"anyway, she worked as an accountant for Helen Karr the former first Don and she found out about the woman's plan to get all these nobodies off her territory, it was called the mad scramble"
we slowed down considerably in order to hear his story better but we would still be approaching the border in a matter of minutes
"basically she spread false rumors that some of the contestants that came for the challenge had already defeated the rest of the active Don's in the city, about 24 Arcanum users converged at a famous battle ground near the city, it turned into a massacre, after about 3 hours Helen and Aegis's other Dons arrived with some of their subordinates to see the carnage and mop up the rest"
"wait a minute"
said Felix
"that's illegal, there's no way the Don's association would let her get away with that"
"who knows what they would have done, because they never got to, Helen was probably thinking all it would take was some reparations a sleeping with an official or two since I heard she was quite the looker but instead the scene of blood and gore they came upon was far from complete, there were 5 men who were completely unscaved and only one of them had his weapon out and be was only cleaning it, three of the others stood there silently while the last and youngest sat upon a pile of bodies, I heard he had a smile on his face when he saw them coming but it soon changed to disappointment"
he paused for a moment as if picturing the scene he was about to describe and I could tell it wouldn't be an easy one
"Helen and her possy landed right in front of them, she expected them all to be tired but the man with the weapon, the only one who fought wasn't even out of breath some say they heard him muttering about how the death of these weaklings wouldn't bring fame to the empire but I'm not sure and if you hadn't guessed it that guy was the second Don of Aegis"
he kept his mouth shut after those words probably because he knew how much they carried but even though his eyes pleaded with mine I still had to ask
'Lucas, finish your story'
"very well sir"
he said with his head hung low
"apparently, this second Don guy traces desent to the black empire and he has a darkness like Arcanum"
the entire party looked at me for answers
'of all the Arcanums in the world the only people capable of possessing the Arcanum of darkness are the people of the black empire, similarly they can't use anything else, this guy and I posses the same Arcanum, this must be why Langris sent me to deal with him'
"so the rumors are true"
said Jesse
'as true as you and I, Lucas finish your story'
he snapped from his look of contemplation and began to speak again
"Yeah so this second Don guy killed 19 Arcanum users himself without getting a scratch on him but chose to spare three"
"why three"
said Desmond
"and what about the younger guy"
"he was the one who asked him to spare them, the two of them came to the challenge together"
"so your saying someone younger than that guy could command him and he'd answer, who the he'll was he"
said Felix
'Aegis current first Don'
everyone turned at the sound of my voice while Lucas asked
"how did you know"
'he's the only one who fits the criteria, what happened next'
"he asked them all to sit this one out, they say the 3rd Don back that started walking forward talking about how he was going to show him his place but just like that his head got cut off, all the other Dons except Helen charged at him while unleashing their Arcanum's but they couldn't touch him witnesses claim everything from his foot work to the control was nothing short of perfect, it didn't take long before he killed them all Helen snapped out of her trance and took a stance but he only looked at her with the same disdain as one looking at a bug before unleashing a single edict, it took 14 days before the Don's association could repair the destruction"
our party was met with a silence once more, we were just told that out enemies included a man who could demolish 19 Arcanum users casually and someone who could do the same to full fledged Don's who were even stronger
'I'm guessing those three he spared all took up posts as the missing Don's'
"most likely"
'huh, and I thought Langris was a control freak'
my party looked at me freakishly as if wondering what I implied
'Langris and Aegis's first Don, they're both very alike, strong confident and likely hiding behind a mask but that not my problem right now, the real issue is that 2nd Don'
the faces of my party stiffened, all except Felix who could tell I wasn't joking
"sir"
Desmond called
"of you meet this second Don, what are you going to do"
'well if he's willing to talk and clear up this misunderstanding I'll do the same but if he wants to fight I'll fight and if he tries to kill me I'll do the same'
Although it would have felt nice to connect with someone hailing from the same homeland as I if he tried to cause me trouble I wouldn't spare him after all I wasn't playing on sparing Langris.
I had barely finished talking before I had to shout
'SCATTER!!!!'
As a massive Ki attack entered our veiw.