The day was replaced by night, which is later replaced by the light brought by dawn. This is the cycle of life in many places but a few in the thousand realms, this day is just one of many, is by no means special or should be by no means special.
Leonhard and his crew consisted of Duste, Husha and two of his most regarded talent, Nio and Ona who were twins. They would be his swords in the future and they were being trained by Duste on his behalf. Talents like both of them would only be the second choice in an age like theirs, Leonhard even thought highly of their talent that he believes they are at the same tier as his elder brother, the best choice below those blessed by the gods.
As they were near the mountain, Duste stopped his horse.
"Young master, might we retreat?" He said, not asking a question but proffering a suggestion.
"Why?" Leonhard asked Duste, his face awful right now. Duste had been on his case lately, he was wondering just what could make the silent assassin talkative.
"The mountain is alive," Husha replied before Duste, as a rank seven mage, she knew her stuff and she could sense a very pure life force in the mountain they were headed towards. "Something is gestating in that mountain."
She corrected herself.
"No... Not just that." Duste said, "Something incredible lives at the peak."
"Or two incredible things."
Duste's voice was trembling, unnerving Leonhard, Duste had never felt fear for rank 9 experts. A demigod?
Leonhard realizes they were in trouble and his bad decisions pushed them towards that trouble. Leonhard had the impulse to retreat, but he felt that would be a bad idea. As an Ebony Tiger, he knew, one must not turn their back on predators. Now that they could sense whatever was on the mountain, it definitely could sense them too. They had to go to the mountain, maybe pay respects to whatever that person or thing is.
This might be a fortunate encounter too, he was not counting out anything.
Looking at the two guides, he decided to throw them under the galloping horses, whatever happened today. From the looks on their faces, he was sure they knew the gravity of their offence. They'd put him in a precarious position against something with a strength of at least a Rank 9. He was going to make sure they get what was due.
"Go..." He heard himself say, his voice hard brokering no objections, "We have to pay our respects."
With that, the rest calmed a bit as they moved towards the mountain, whether it was intentional or not, they all had their backs crouched in submission. they all got off their horses as soon as they reached the base. Leonhard stood before the mountain that seems taller before his sights as he moved forward but was blocked by some force. Overjoyed, he tried moving back only to find that is impossible too.
"Greetings Your graces, we have come here to pay our respect to your esteemed selves." Having no more choice he could only announce his party's intention.
How fast the world turned, he was the one accepting obeisances the day before but the one paying one now, despite being one of the few blessed by the gods.
"Come here!" A voice reached their ears only for them to find themselves at the top of the mountain before a humble courtyard.
A ten-year-old boy was sitting on a reclining chair with two cats on him looking at them playfully. The boy looked impossibly beautiful, an extremely beautiful woman was behind him serving him and the cats' snacks looking at them too.
The whole atmosphere seemed genial and playful.
"So, why have you come to my home," Orion asked, knowing the answer and what their reply would be.
"We--" Leonhard naturally took the lead to reply.
"Do not lie to me." Orion cut him off, "There are penalties for that.~~~"
"I came here to help a subject of mine seek justice," Leonhard replied as truthful as he could think of, prompting a nod from those present.
"Have you done your due diligence in the pursuit of that justice," Orion asked smoothly even with a mouth filled with snacks.
"Yes sir." He promptly replied calmly, using a silent blessing on himself.
"Good." Orion praised, "Come here, little Lightless."
Following the call, a teen also came out of the house in the courtyard. Lightless appeared before them.
"This is my son, the one who saved your criminal," Orion said lightly but his words caused Leonhard's face to change as he grimaced and coughed blood.
"Young master..."
"Your grace..."
His companions were startled as they quickly moved to surround him.
'My [Focus] blessing backfired?' Leonhard thought, 'Is he a demigod?'
'No, from the tests I've run. Even granduncle would not detect it.'
"Don't compare me to that weakling." Orion's voice reached his ears.
'Mind reading? A God?'
"I don't expect a mortal like yourself to know the difference between reading minds and just calculating your thoughts." Orion's voice reached them again, "Do not compare me to those weaklings, I said."
Leonhard's beating chest could not calm down, 'I thought gods could only descend with their avatars. Is he an avatar?'. This time he used multiple diversions to hide his thoughts, and his blessings.
The wind stopped flowing and it seems time had stopped before an exhale was heard and they continued flowing once more.
"Okay." Orion seems to have lost his patience, "Little guy, you lied to my face twice."
Looking at Leonhard who was hiding behind the protection of his escorts, Orion felt disdain for the guy. The coward had unfounded confidence in the gods, Orion had walked around the thousand realms before the birth of Lightless and he had seen mages, this one here shouldn't be one. He seems more like a priest than a mage.
Thinking he could control the result with blessings from the gods, in front of any other denizen of the thousand realms, it would have worked perfectly but his methods all came crumbling before Orion. Well, the real reason for his failure would lie in his nature.
Leonhard is someone who believes only people blessed by the gods should matter in the battle against the forces of evil. He is also someone who had never failed, even though his lies had never been discovered as a child. This created a personality that believes he is one of the few special ones amongst trillions and he could get away with almost anything he wants.
He thought he could also get away with lying to Orion even if he were discovered unless Orion was from the abyss pantheon.
"You weren't here for justice, you were here for the 'talent' you thought you could find in my son." Orion broke his first lie.
Leonhard's face whitened.
"The second lie is that you never did your due diligence in investigating the case, showing your complete lack of care about justice." Orion said, showing pure disdain to Leonhard as if he was even below ants, "In fact, you believe your thoughts to be above most people but..."
"Your thought process isn't as sophisticated as any random mortal who had lived for over thirty years."
Leonhard started coughing blood as if extreme damage had been done to him.
"Young master..." Duste was scared his charge would die here today.
"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Husha was the one berating Orion
"How dare you, do you know who he is if you harm him? The whole thousand realms would bear down upon this place."
She was slapped down to the ground, not by Orion, Fidele did the dirty job.
Orion started laughing by this point, a peal of extremely derisive laughter.
"Trillions of people would have passed this simple test I gave to you by simply telling the truth." Orion's words were carving deep into Leonhard, "If you had allowed any of your companions to talk, they would have passed."
Orion finally turned to Husha, "A thousand realms?"
"Let them come, they would die as soon as they get here."
"If your gods all come together with their true body, that might get me to put in become serious but..."
"... a bunch of saints and black immortals?"
Orion turned back to Leonhard who seem to have been stabilized, "Your punishment!"
"All your companions absent from this place have been marked by me, in ten days..."
"Hmm... Ten days should be enough to heal for you..."
"My son here would battle you in that city, in front of thousands, if you defeat him you can leave this place... If you are defeated, those marked will die."
"Off you go!" With a wave of his arm, Orion sent them back to the mountain base.
...
...
At the base of the mountain, Leonhard and the rest were still shaken from the whole situation. Nio and Ona were still frozen as they looked like they could not move a muscle.
"Oh... I forgot to undo Apathe's work." Orion's voice reached them as Nio and Ona both slumped down to the floor, breathing but unconscious.
Leonhard coughed a little bit more, causing a gesture of concern from Husha. Duste was still looking at the mountain, his pupils showing awe.
"It's bad!!" Leonhard cried in grief, "He broke all my blessings!!!"
"Let's go, young master." Duste looked away from the mountain back to Leonhard.
"How dare you!!! It was your job to protect our grace." Husha huffed at Duste, "I'll make sure to report you when we get back."
"No... You can't..." Duste said sadly with a bit of respect, "We can't speak of what happened."
"I tried sending a message to the patriarch now but I couldn't remember what happened when I tried to speak to him."
"I could only send an SOS, for him to come here in my muddled state."
"I might have harmed the patriarch!!" Sorrow leaked from his voice at this point.
At this point, Leonhard and Husha had also noticed the effect as their expression was just recovering from their muddled heads.
Husha's face was pale but Leonhard's face looked lost.
"Duste, The two you sensed before we got up the mountain." Leonhard turned to Duste, "Did you discover them?"
Duste stayed silent for a few moments before sighing, "Yes"
The old man seem weary, "They were the cats."
"Curse Emrod's name, they were the cats."
...
...
Back on the mountain, peace reigned once more.
"Isn't it too harsh?" Lightless asked, breaking the serenity on the mountain.
Sigh!
"Eldest didn't break his blessings." It was Pragma who replied after hearing Orion's sigh. "He lost faith in the gods that blessed him after their blessings failed to affect us."
"Remember this, little Lightless, you are herculean." Apathe continued, "While we are just emerging as a race, Us herculean are the greatest race throughout the six paths."
"Do not rely on abilities someone else created."
"We've done great injustice to you." Orion sighed, "You were never able to decide on your physique and elements."
"We made that choice for you, that's why we had to make up for that with the five wishes we gave you but..."
Orion's voice seemed pained, "You gave three away."
"After the last two, you can only trade us favours to get back."
"As far as that cub is, we did upon him a favour. We pointed out his weaknesses." Apathe said he had a disdainful expression, "Too bad he would only sink further into an abyss from what I've calculated."
"How are you faring with your first refinement?" Pragma asked Lightless changing the topic, "What are the materials you'd be needing so we can get it for you."
Their conversations continued as if there would be no big trouble coming ten days later.