Chereads / Mikael's Tale: The Ring of Seven Pillars / Chapter 12 - The Man That Fell From The Sky

Chapter 12 - The Man That Fell From The Sky

Onami was walking in the main building of the castle, looking at the red architecture and thinking. She has been training with Prospounae for a while now and so far, she was not able to kill him or even penetrate the plates of his armor with any type of weapon. When they started to train, they would only practice hand to hand combat, which Prospounae is not good at; in that time she had the upper hand but still was not able to actually injury him. In the beginning his defense was not very good but she also did not know how strengthen her attacks enough to hurt him. Now, she knows how to concentrate all of her mana in her fists or weapon while she is attacking, after the attack is complete, her armor pulls part of the mana used back to her. Even with this technique, she cannot cause any damage to him.

Prospounae armor consists in the fusion of the Ontariel and Aetos armor; these two are considered defense-focused armors, they have shields and excessively heavy plates throughout the whole body. With the fusion, the two angels battle for control and dominance, constantly trying to have more space with their cavalier. If the user of the fused armor manages to find a point of balance, or truce, between the armors, he can greatly increase his powers and attack/defense possibilities, but that depends of how the armors interact with each other and the cavalier's style of fighting. Even though Prospounae is having a hard time trying to control Aetos, the natural defense that the two armors give him are enough to deny almost all of the damage Onami is currently able to cause him.\\

Onami entered the library and saw, in one of the tables, Mikael surrounded by stacks of books, some open and others thrown on the table. She approached and saw him lying on the table while trying to read the book close to him.\\

—Are you okay?\\

—No… \\

—Didn't find the name yet?\\

—No…\\

—Don't you have nothing? Like a clue or something…\\

He slowly half-lifted his head and stared at her.\\

—Well... I discovered that Rigil Kentaurus is not a star…\\

The cleaver appeared under the table.\\

—Is that all you got?\\

—Yes… What about you… Did you came to see if I got the bow?\\

—No, I'm going to the forge. \\

He fully lifted his head and asked excited to her:\\

—The forge? What are going to do there?\\

—I am going to ask Caliel to make a bow and arrows for me.\\

—Oh really… — His eyes shinned — Can I go with you?\\

—Aren't you going to finish you search?\\

—I don't know if I'm going to remember the name searching like this, I looked in all of these books and didn't find anything.\\

—Ah…\\

They returned the books and went to the portal in the library.\\

—You are not going to the forge classes right?\\

—No… Do you think this will be a problem?\\

—Nah, it's fine. Asphela isn't going to the classes either and she asked him to make a weapon for her a few days ago.\\

—Talking about her… Are you going to keep her sword?\\

—I'm planning to. Why you ask?\\

—Just curious.\\

When they entered the forge, the heat and the loud clank of working machines and hammers shocked Onami, she never witnessed the forge running at full power. They got closer and saw Caliel screaming at the cavaliers in there, some of them were working on the machines and anvils, others were cleaning the floor and organizing the tables and shelves. Caliel sees Mikael and walks screaming to him.\\

—I don't have time for you today, go away.\\

—What is going on here? — Mikael asks while Caliel grab some tools close to them.\\

—The devil is back, that's what is going on.\\

—What? — She asks.\\

Caliel continues to walk grabbing the tools people left on the table and putting them at the correct place.\\

—You probably heard of the cavalier that fell last night.\\

—Yes, I heard. — Mikael said laughing.\\

—Well, that cavalier is Satan himself that returned to make me pay for my sins. Idiofyel, he is the gold cavalier responsible for the forge; he was in a mission since middle of the last winter so you guys haven't met him yet. All you need to know is that he is the worst thing ever.\\

—I'm starting to cogitate the possibility that you don't like him…\\

—Oh really? Why is that? — Caliel answered Mikael — Every time he is here is like the happiness that once roamed around the forge is gone, just look at this place now, everyone is getting crazy and he hasn't even woken up yet. He likes things in a very specific way, otherwise, the little star goes supernova.\\

—So you probably can't speak now…\\

—Yes, if you want to try to fix your knife it will have to be another time.\\

—That's not it, I'm here just accompanying her.\\

Caliel stopped and looked Onami top down.\\

—Who the Hell are you? — He screamed.\\

—I'm Onami sir… One of the saint… cavaliers from this year — She stuttered a little.\\

Caliel got closer and stared directly at her eyes.\\

—Are you Onami?\\

She froze.\\

—I think so…\\

—What do you want with me?\\

—I want a bow.\\

—A bow?\\

—I want you to make me a bow…\\

—What happened to your bow?\\

—I don't have a bow.\\

—Of course you do.\\

—No, I don't.\\

Caliel stopped looking at her and continued walking.\\

—Your armor already has a bow. You just need to find it.\\

—Find the bow? How do I do that?\\

—I don't know… I didn't build Onami, devil has…\\

—Do you mean Idiofyel? — Mikael asked.\\

—Yes.\\

—Cool, we have sister armors. — Mikael said smiling to Onami.\\

Caliel stopped and slowly looked behind.\\

—Do you have an armor?\\

—Oh I haven't shown you yet. Look at this — He showed the black ring at the middle finger of his left hand — Isn't it beautiful?\\

Caliel looked surprised to it, after staring for a while he left the things he was carrying in the table next to them and pulled the ring off his hand.\\

—What's the problem? Why are you looking to it like that?\\

Caliel gave the ring back to Mikael and asked them to follow him. He silent walked to the armory, opened the door and let them walk in; after they passed the door, he closed the entrance and kept walking until they reached the end of the main hall.\\

—Let me see it. — Caliel stopped walking and said.\\

Mikael placed the ring on his finger again and called his armor. This time the armor looked like a warm summer night, almost black; Caliel could see clearly the stars shining in it. \\

—What do you think? — Mikael said excited — Beautiful isn't it?\\

—Not bad… — Caliel responded.\\

—I've even found the weapons you were talking about. — Mikael said and called Kentaurus and Toliman.\\

Caliel stared surprised at the two cleavers in his hands, Onami saw the expression in his face and timidly spoke:\\

—Mikael said that he found his weapons in a dream; will mine be in a dream too?\\

—Being honest with you I have no idea. Idiofyel made your armor and he likes to… make little games and place some traps in the things he do, it is kind of his way of seeing if the cavalier his armor picked is really worth it.\\

—So I need to pass in a test?\\

—I really don't know. If the armor haven't shown you anything until now you will probably have to ask him…\\

—If I ask him what is the name of the other weapons, do you think he'll give me the answer? — Mikael asked Caliel.\\

—Are there other weapons?\\

—There were in my dream…\\

—Tell me this dream of yours.\\

Caliel listened carefully to every single word Mikael used to describe his dream, he kept thinking for a while but did not reached any conclusion about the meaning of the pillars and the secrets they could hold. The same thing with Onami, she decided to wait until Idiofyel wake up and then go ask to him. After moments discussing and thinking, the three cavaliers left the armory; back in the forge, Onami saw a familiar face using one of the machines in the corner, ValonVorum just attached his black gem to a gold and long necklace. Caliel was also surprised when he discovered that Raphael's armor parted and now Valon is using one of his halves, he have never seen the ValonVorum armor before.\\

Slowly opening his eyes, a small ray of sun that escaped between the rain clouds shortly blinded him. He lifted up his upper body and looked around; he was in a bed in the infirmary, a small grunt reached his ears but no one in sight. While he tried to stand up one of the Cavaliers in the place walked in and helped him, he was still a little confused but slowly regaining consciousness. The other Gold Cavaliers and Raphael were called to the infirmary; Azazel was the first one to get there. When he arrived, Idiofyel was sitting in the bed staring at the wall in front of him, Azazel tried to talk with him but there was no response. Soon after Raphael arrived, Idiofyel looked at him and started to talk normally. Azazel does not like him.\\

—Wow, look at this illustrious visit I just received…\\

—Enjoy it while you can — Raphael responded smiling. — Glad to see that you are alive after falling like a meteor.\\

—C'mon… Like a little fall like that can kill me.\\

—What happened when I was gone? — Azazel asked.\\

Idiofyel stared at him with disdain and then turned to Raphael.\\

—What is he doing here?\\

—Funny you say that, I asked myself the same question when I found out that you were alive.\\

—Why don't you go to one of your useless "missions" that nobody has ever seen you doing?\\

—I'll go as soon as you tell me what you've been doing in the past few months…\\

—Ok, that's enough both of you. — Raphael said standing between the two gold souls. — You two look like two kids arguing.\\

—If I was you commander, I would clean the castle and throw away this trash of cavalier — Idiofyel said to Raphael — and Caliel too, is he alive?\\

—Yes, he is. And he's been working a lot more than you'll ever did. — Azazel made his last attack.\\

—You'll see what I've been working on when you see Seraphim… By the way where is he?\\

—He is… away in a mission… — Raphael answered.\\

—In what mission?\\

—The Annual Paladin thing…\\

—Oh, the ring is with you then?\\

—Well it was, for a short amount of time.\\

—What?

The potions class is the one with the highest count of cavaliers, outside of the combat class, which is mandatory, and the duel class. Mikael, ValonVorum, Exoutius, Amniela, Sotíel and Laylah were the ones going to the class in that rainy morning. They are being tested by making large quantities of minor scarlet queen turnip healing potions that can be distributed to entire armies before big confronts or given to hospitals in the city.\\

This is one of the simplest recipes they learned, it consists of taking the turnips, placing them in a cauldron with water and stirring under a constant flow of mana. It is so simple that the only things that could alter the quality of the resulting potion is the quality of the turnips, oscillations in the mana flow, lack of agitation and the water/turnip ratio. In order to complete the test, the cavaliers organized themselves in a small work line planned by Valon to maximize their productivity. It starts with Sotíel separating and cleaning the best material for the potion and then throwing them at the giant cauldron given by the teacher. To make sure that they have a constant amount of mana passing through the cauldron, Valon and Amniela are in the horizontal extremes leaking a certain amount of mana in the mix. Exoutius is feeding a big flare under the cauldron while Mikael is on top of it, stirring the liquid with a big ice spoon. The heat does not affect the potion, it causes the liquid at the bottom to heat up and go to the top of the cauldron, where the ice spoon cools it and sends it back to the bottom. Laylah is the one with the best instincts for potions, so they left her to coordinate the production and decide when the potion is ready.\\

They were halfway through the test when a commotion started in the corridor; the professor of the discipline went to see what happened but before he could open the door someone exploded in. It was a Cavalier in a red armor, he quickly entered the room, looked around and rushed to Mikael who reacted by slamming the spoon at his face. Soon after, Azazel came running after Idiofyel who went on a blood hunt as soon as he found out what happened to his armor, Asphela also appeared in her armor followed by Haamiah. When Raphael told Idiofyel that one of the new cavaliers was wearing Mikael, he started running around the castle looking for cavaliers he never saw before; Haamiah was right outside the infirmary when he rushed out, Azazel explained to her and both of them ran behind the blacksmith. Asphela was walking near the garden when the Cavalier charged at her, Haamiah screamed for her to immobilize him but as soon as he saw her armor he changed direction. Asphela turned into lightning, chased him and eventually reached him, bringing both of them to the ground but before Azazel and Haamiah could get to them, Idiofyel escaped and ran to the potions room where he found Mikael on top of the cauldron.\\

Azazel grabbed the Cavalier, immobilized him and took off his helmet while Raphael walked to the potions classroom. \\

—What are you doing? — Raphael said in anger.\\

—Give it… Back — He mumbled to Mikael — Let me go...\\

—Let's go back to the infirmary — The Commander ordered.\\

Mikael jumped closer to the door to see the Cavalier up close.\\

—Is this the guy? — Mikael asked — Idiofel?\\

Raphael blocked his way not allowing him to get too close to Idiofyel who was snorting with anger. Mikael was excited to finally talk with him, he started to make many questions to the Cavalier that was not answering any of them, Idiofyel was focused trying to escape from Azazel's grip. \\

—I am sorry for the disturb we cause you. — Raphael said to the teacher in the room — Mikael, if you want to talk with him, we will restrain him at the infirmary first. Go there after finishing your test. — He turns to the teacher once more — Sorry again for everything.\\

Raphael, the gold souls and Asphela left the room and went to the infirmary; Mikael, after fiercely preparing the potions, ran to talk with Idiofyel, followed by Valon and Sotíel. When he got there, the gold cavalier was locked in bed with extremely thick chains that immobilized all his limbs. Haamiah and Asphela were near the window next to his bed, Raphael and Onami were close to the door and Azazel was next to the bed laughing of the situation. \\

—What are you doing here? — Valon asked to Onami.\\

—When they were bringing him, they passed through me in the hall. I needed to ask some things to him so I talked to the Commander and he told me to come too.\\

Mikael entered the room and all the eyes turned to him, Idiofyel tried to move again squirming and foaming inexpressible groans, he smiled and said:\\

—Hello sir… My, name, is, Mikael — He talked slow as he could.\\

—Mikael is Not you name — Idiofyel screamed as much as he could — Give me the armor back.\\

—I have a couple of questions about my armor sir. — He gently responded — And I would be extremely happy if you answered them. — He approached the bed and placed a chair right beside it while talking. Azazel went to Haamiah's side.\\

—This Is Not Your Armor. Take that ring off right now.\\

—So like, a couple of days ago I had this dream… — Mikael kept describing his dream.\\

—Take these chains off me. I am going to crush him.\\

—And I forgot the name of the bow. Can you tell me? Please?\\

—I won't tell you shit, you little… armor thief.\\

—I did not stole this armor… Well… not from you at least. Your armor chose me, my armor… my armor chose me.\\

—It was just a coincidence. This armor already has a Cavalier and it is Seraphim.\\

—Seraphim already has an armor and it is Seraphim, so I believe he won't mind if I keep this one…\\

Idiofyel started laughing and Raphael looked away.\\

—You Obviously does not know Seraphim well enough. — Idiofyel said while laughing manically.\\

—Don't worry about me… I'll handle him when he gets back. What I want from you is the name of the bow. And the other things at the pillars please.\\

…\\

—Say it. C'mon…\\

While Mikael tried to convince the chained Cavalier, Azazel whispered to Haamiah.\\

—Hey, is your student strong?\\

—What?\\

—Mikael, do you qualify him as strong?\\

—Well… in class, he can be a problem if I'm not careful.\\

—Hm, do you think he is strong enough to give a beating in Idiofyel?\\

—Ohhh, I see you. Yeah, go ahead.\\

—Okay both of you stop — Azazel interrupted the discussion — This will take us nowhere. I have a more efficient way to solve this problematic.\\

Everyone listened carefully.\\

—We go to the arena right now and you two fight to the death.\\

—You mean a duel. — Onami asked.\\

—Yes, a duel. If Mikael win, he gets to know everything he wants about… the bow, or something. And if the idiot there wins the boy returns the armor. It seems fair right, what do you think Commander?\\

Raphael thought for a while and then said:\\

—If the two cavaliers agree if the duel I have no objections.\\

Mikael and Idiofyel stared at each other in a mix of excitement and rage.