Ultio and Eric walked into the large branch building of the Guild Embassy.
The Guild Embassy was the organisation in charge of the creation and management of Guilds all over the continent. They were the ones you went to when you wanted to create a guild or dissolve a guild.
"Wow... The place is so cool." Eric said in awe as he was immediately bathed in white, divine light the very moment he stepped into the building.
Ultio eyed the expensive mana crystals which were used to light up the entire room instead of lamps or light bulbs. "Indeed. But it is highly inefficient." He said to his company and went over to the counter at a brisk pace.
"Morning, young lady, I am here for a training session with Guild Ouranos." Ultio said without delay as soon as the lady behind the counter turned to him.
"Right away, sir." The lady said and bowed respectfully, as she guessed that Ultio must have been a very important person to be able to meet with the famous Guild Ouranos so easily. She didn't even mind that he called her young lady even though she looked to be a year or two younger than him.
And of course, it was also out of that respect that she struggled to hide the blush that had began to spread across her face after she saw Ultio's face and heard his voice.
"They are waiting for you in the underground training facility. I-I'll lead the way, sir." She said nervously and began to walk towards a walkway that led downward.
Ultio rose a hand and stopped her. "You seem to be extremely uncomfortable, so I would rather not bother you." He said and left without waiting for a response.
"Someone's in a good mood." Eric chuckled at Ultio then waved awkwardly at the lady, before quickly jogging to catch up to Ultio.
"Why do you always leave me behind?"
"Because you're too slow. And you dwell too much on insignificant things."
"..."
"Stop staring at me like that."
"... I'm blind."
"I can feel your other senses honing in on me, Mister Midas."
*****
Guild Ouranos.
One of the most important and influential guilds in the continent, comprised of some of the best heroes, warriors and legends around.
Troy Achillescio.
Verah Thunderbird.
Veryn Ford.
Hyperion Ashbane.
Veronica Suduna.
Rena The Shadow.
Tyrian Woods.
The Stoic Killer Kuro.
Ichi Hyotsube.
Dorgan Blakburn.
Derrek Darkwater.
And many more.
Guild Ouranos was literally known for being the guild of heroes. Action figures, branded clothes and other merchandise were just one of the many ways people made use of their popularity to make money.
And now, this very Guild Ouranos was in the underground training facility of the Guild Embassy, awaiting the arrival of a certain Ultio.
The underground facility was just a large open space with three large, rectangular stages for fighting. The stairs that led to the facility ended at a sort of balcony that over looked the three stages. This underground training facility was present in every branch building of the Guild Embassy.
The members of Guild Ouranos were warming up and going through some quick practice sessions against one another in preparation for their fight against Ultio.
"Where do you think he is right now?" Troy asked Rena.
He was no longer wearing the armour set he had worn when he arrived. Now, he was wearing his own personal armour set, which was made and customised specifically for him.
It consisted of a black Muscle Cuirass and a black shoulder piece from a Linothorax with red coloured Pteruges over his right shoulder, and a leather strap that crossed over his chest, which attached the shoulder piece to a thick leather belt around his waist. Around his shoulders was a tattered crimson Chlamys with gold borders, which was barely long enough to pass his shoulders.
His helmet was a customised gold Corinthian Helmet with a thick, red plume. The cheek pieces and nose guard were all painted red to match the plume, and the cheek pieces were larger than normal, which reduced the space between them, making only Troy's eyes and nose fully visible.
The lower part of his crimson, gold-embroidered Exomis served as the main source of protection for his thighs, aided by a Pteruges made of six belt-like strips of varying lengths; the three longest in the front, and the others at his hip.
His shins were covered by golden greaves with an elaborate decoration in Repoussé. Its design was that of a shining sun with many rays over the knee and lines emphasizing the calf muscles, as well as a wing on each ankle. Under the greaves, he wore a pair of black, simple sandals.
And to match the set, his bracers were also decorated in Repoussé, with its design being that of the shining sun that was present on his greaves.
By his left hip was his personal sword which had an ornate gold scabbard. The hilt was also made from gold and was ornately designed, with a pommel shaped like a Dragon's head, which curved upward to form a sort of handguard.
"He's here." Rena said simply and awaited Ultio's formal arrival. She had also put on a different set of clothes and mask for today's activity, and also in preparation for the journey to the Tomb of the Night.
Her mask was shaped in the likeness of a cat, with red lines around the eyeholes and mouth, also forming whiskers on the cheeks. Her black hair had been cut short recently, and was at chin length, with a few strands falling forward and over the mask.
She wore a pair of black boots, a black, loose-fitting high-collared shirt and black leggings that revealed her shapely legs. A grey coloured strap went over her torso, which was used to hold two Tantōs on her back.
"I hope he shows up in time; it's been a while since I've fought someone with this much hype." A man in a dark hooded cloak with tattered edges said. He had fair skin, a light 'chin curtain' beard and curly hair which fell forward slightly.
Under his cloak, he wore black boots, a black longsleeved shirt as well as a black padded vest and black pants, with a black harness fastened around his thighs, waist and vest.
The only thing on him that wasn't black were the buttons of his cloak. His name was Ritcher Shadowdark, and he was the third most mysterious member of Guild Ouranos, behind Rena and Kuro.
Someone chuckled beside him. "No one's hyping this guy." Hyperion said and sighed slightly. As strong and powerful as he was, he didn't really like conflict and tended to look down on it.
He wore black tracksuit jacket with silver strips on the sleeves, which had been left open, revealing a shirt made of mesh underneath. His casual attire was completed by his black, fitted pants and black boots.
"Finally. I hope he doesn't disappoint." Dorgan Blakburn said with a violent grin. He was currently wearing white pants and a white coloured mantle with black trims that split down the lower half, as well as a black, metal shoulder pad on his right shoulder. Around he waist was a white belt that held a golden plaque which had his name imprinted in a foreign language.
His white boots and grey hair, combined with the white mask that resembled the upper half of a reptile's skull, which hung on the left side of his head, made him look more like a member of Guild White. However, this was simply the outfit he had been given by his clan, and was just a slight variation of his clan's standard uniform for royalty.
At this moment, a voice rung out from the balcony that overlooked the three stages in the underground training facility.
"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen of Guild Ouranos."
All eyes turned upward to find Ultio and Eric looking down at them. One had his signature smirk on his face, and the other one's face remained an emotionless mask which was void of all expression.
"Hi." Eric, not wanting to be rude, also offered his greetings before turning to walk down the stairs of the balcony.
Ultio simply stretched his leg over the railing and dropped down the ground, landing with a grace that could only be achieved by cats or other felines.
"I apologize for the delay." Ultio said and waited for Eric to arrive by his side before he continued speaking.
"But now that we are all here, shall we begin?"
A young man with spiky white hair that was aligned forward, over his light eye, smiled slightly as flames burst to life around his right arm, burning off his black t-shirt. "No argument from me!"
Without any ceremony, the young man charged at Ultio and struck him in the face, sending him flying backwards.
Eric, who was left in the same spot glanced over his shoulder and saw Ultio getting his ass handed to him, before sighing and stretching out his right hand. A bright blue light shone from within his veins and gathered at his outstretched hand, before fading away to reveal Needle.
"Alright, let's fight. I promised I wouldn't severely injure any of you, so I must warn you that my weapon is able to pierce through-"
Eric's words were directly cut short, as Dorgan suddenly appeared before him, swinging a large spear with a red horsehair tassel below the blade, at his face. The blade of the spear resembled a large, black Scimitar with a serrated edge.
Eric simply went below the attack and kicked behind him, striking Dorgan at the back of his knee, causing him to fall to one knee. But before he could follow up with his attack, a white tiger head suddenly attacked him from below, forcing him to jump away.
"Art as a weapon? Colour me impressed." Eric joked as he turned to face Kuro, who was standing a few feet away with his hands in his pocket.
The pale man shrugged lazily. "They're protectors given to me by my previous teacher."
"A shame. I really wanted to learn how to draw from you." Eric chuckled and dashed forward, however, a second later, three more white tiger heads shot out from behind Kuro.
Eric weaved around, avoiding the jaws of the tigers, because even though they were artworks that were brought to life by magic, they could still do a lot of damage. As he dodged, he noticed that the heads were connected to Kuro through extensions of their bodies.
But before Eric could make use of this new information, Troy suddenly tackled him to the ground.
Surprisingly, Eric was proficient enough in combat, that he knew to roll out of the way immediately after hitting the ground.
"You're not so bad, for a tailor." Troy said from underneath his helmet, his voice echoing and sounding... Evil due to the shape of the helmet.
"Ultio told you my profession, didn't he? Well, he couldn't have told you where I learnt how to fight, because he also doesn't know." Eric said laughingly, before suddenly frowning, as he felt something powerful coming his way.
A second later, he kicked off the ground and performed a neat back flip in the air. As his body arched beautifully in the air, he discovered that what was shooting at him wasn't a projectile, but was actually a person.
Eric landed on his feet and blocked a sneak attack from Rena without looking, as his attention was focused on Verah. "Flight... I wonder how you came to possess such an ability." He said and tried to kick Rena away, but the black-clad woman was too swift and she managed to get away.
"None of your business." Verah said, as lightning began to build up behind her eyes.
Eric smiled slightly and started running and jumping around in an extremely unpredictable manner.
"What are you doing?" Troy asked as he halted his charge at him with a frown. His metallic voice conveying the confusion that his face could not, as a majority of it was covered by his helmet.
Eric didn't reply, as at that moment, a mighty, blue thunderbolt shot out from Verah's mouth, arching through the air to hit him. But instead of panicking, Eric displayed an astonishing reaction speed, but thrusting Needle forward as soon as the thunderbolt was right in front of him.
BOOM!
With the sound of a muffled explosion, Eric was sent flying through the air by the thunderbolt.
As the flew through the air, Eric surprised everyone by doing a flip in the air and landing on his feet. Although his right arm was charred slightly and his blindfold had fallen off, Eric stood there with a grin plastered on his face.
Feeling everyone's shocked and surprised gazes on him, Eric chuckled. "That's right; I just stabbed lightning!"
"I'm impressed," Troy said and nodded at Eric. "But you should pay more attention to your surroundings."
As soon as Troy's last words fell, Dorgan suddenly thrust his spear at Eric's back with a speed rivaling Eric's when he stabbed the thunderbolt earlier.
Eric's smile disappeared immediately, and he sidestepped the attack and was about to counterattack, when he suddenly discovered that a shadow was expanding beneath him.
He rolled away in time to avoid being crushed by a large, metal coffin with a skull on its front.
"Wow, I don't feel like y'all are trying to kill me at all." Eric said sarcastically and rose his sword, just as the green-skinned Derrek Darkwater appeared before him and sword a blue-bladed sword at him.
Eric exclaimed slightly, as Derrek's sword went past Needle almost as if it was made from water. But before he could find out if the blade would actually cut him, the young man that had engaged Ultio before, suddenly flew through the air and collided with Derrek, and his momentum carried both of them away, taking Eric out of harm's way.
"I must applaud your strength, Guild Ouranos, but in the face of Ultio V, there is nought but defeat." Ultio said these arrogant, irritating words with a smirk, as his right arm burnt with flames, similar to the one of his opponent.
At that moment, Verah's eyes widened and she gasped slightly. "Holy shit, it's him!"