Chapter 18 - Faster than light

"Pay..." Antanasia didn't let the woman finish her words.

*gulp*gulp* As she poured the brown alcohol down her throat, *poof *clink* a bag landed on her desk.

"Hm... it's only half..." She confirmed the gold in the bag solely by the sound it had.

"The other half..."

"I know... then, where do I need to go, what do I need to do?" Antanasia interrupted the woman again, she didn't give her any face, showing the difference in strength.

"The southernmost battlefield, search for an object or energy that fell from the sky." The young woman didn't bother with her words.

"Hm..." It was obvious the job didn't interest her that much.

"And lay low, the new king can be around in the area..."

"Oh! The strongest of the previous generation will be there...?" Anastasia's voice sound excited from what she heard.

"Yes, but you should avoid any fights just try to find the thing, if you can't get it then at least come back with the location."

"Alright, alright..." As Antanasia stood up she slammed her hands down on the table.

She grabbed the bag full of gold coins and turned to the woman, "Oh?" seeing the beautiful and fine proportions, Antanasia tilted her head to the side.

"Oh right! Tell the boss that the cost has gone up..."

As he looked at the girl known as Leyla, the ring on her index finger glowed. The bag disappeared from her hand as she placed it in her space ring.

"I'm not the weapon to play with his enemy, if he wants me to deal with someone of the Blood Red Flash's calibre, send more money." A smile showed on her face with the words.

"Don't be greedy first get the job done!" Leyla's voice turned to an irritated one.

"Alright, I don't care, just don't forget it." Antanasia's words were not serious, it sounded like it was just a play for her.

"I'm going then..." She strode past Leyla. The green veil which followed her went past Leyla's pretty face. *slit*

"Oh, sorry. It's a little too sharp." Blood flowed from Leyla's cheeks while anger appeared in her eyes.

"If you don't repel the killing intent, my veil left, it might leave a scar..." Antanasia's voice died down with a light laugh as she went down the stairs.

'Fucking bitch!' With thoughts of anger and rage, Leyla disappeared from the slightly illuminated tavern.

...

Back at Temorsth and his parents.

The silence has already ensued for a few seconds when Xalier stood up, he went to the side of Temorsth.

"Son... I will..." Since Xalier had to make a difficult decision, his words sounded heavy and uncertain.

But then, after pausing to clear his head, "I'll teach you something, if you successfully learn it, I'll let you go outside!" his voice became resolute.

"Huh?" Temorsth was only surprised, but Elah...

"What!? What are you talking about!?" Elah's scream stopped everything.

"My love calm down..." Turning to her Xalier touched her upper arms.

"How could you say this!?"

"Honey, don't worry..."

"Why are you...!?" Elah wasn't angry at Xalier, but rather she just wanted to protect her only child. She and Xalier had too many enemies, and even if only one of them found out about Temorsth... it would become incredibly dangerous.

"I will teach him my unique ability, so don't worry."

"...!?" Xalier's calm words shut her up, she was shocked to the bone.

"..."

"But... if you pass it on..." Elah's voice quieted down, but now it become hesitant.

"...? Oh no, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to give mine, I will just try to teach him..." Realizing that Elah misunderstood his intentions he explained.

"...it depends on him water he could learn it." With the latter sentence, Xalier turned to his son.

"Son, do you accept this? If you do, it will be solely on you, whether you succeed or not." Xalier words were not pressing, his tone was calm and slow which was in a strange contrast to his rather deep voice.

"..." Temorsth hesitated, he didn't know what this unique ability was, no one told him, before this he never even heard about it, not even Aidana spoke about it...

"I..." He looked down at his hands, emotions, and feelings he didn't speak out loud passed through him. Feral: 'For fuck sake, just say yes!'

"I accept! I will do it!" With clenched hands, he looked up.

"Good!" A smile showed on Xalier's face.

"..." Elah was still hesitant. 'Unique abilities indeed need the perfect host, which most of the time never goes down with blood, but...'

"Then mine..." Determination rose in her words.

"Huh...?"

"I only accept if I can teach my unique ability too..." Following their reaction, a slight awkwardness became evident in her speech.

For unique abilities, you need to be born with the potential for that power, teaching it to someone who doesn't have that potential will most likely result in failure, and yet now Elah tried to make it even harder.

But it wasn't because of fear... she knew, she knew their son would do it, and to say she was right.

Neither Xalier nor Elah could have suspected or known, what Temorsth gained after his first use of both of his energies. But for Elah? It was a motherly instinct, which was almost always true.

"Uh? Uhhh...? Mom, this isn't fair!" Temorsth called out with a surprised yet joking voice.

"Honey..." Xalier turned to his wife, eyes opened in wonder.

"Don't look at me like that... It isn't fair that only you can teach it to him!" Elah stomped her feet on the ground, her face red from ear to ear.

"Ugh..." *Haha*HAHAHA* Seeing his mother's reaction Temorsth started laughing.

"Ahm..." Xalier hid his chuckle with a fake cough.

"Don't laugh at me..." She was even more embarrassed.

"My Love, don't make..."

"I want to! So shut up and sit down, it is already past noon the food will get cold!" Elah changed her speech and turned to a domineering one.

"Yes... sorry..." Without further words, Xalier sat down at the table.

"...?" Seeing his father heed Elah's words like this, Temorsth had a curious or rather odd expression.

"Son, you don't know yet how scary your mother can be..."

"What?!" Xalier tried to explain in a low voice but was stopped by Elah calling out.

"Ah, nothing-nothing I didn't say anything..."

"Thought so...!" While Elah sat down with these words, the golem maids brought the food out.

"First, let's eat, we talk about this later." With Elah's words, the three started their luncheon.

...

Around the same time, when lunch passed for them. The slightly muscular woman named Antanasia was crossing the dark forest.

Her high ponytail raised because of the wind, she was advancing through the dark forest with incredible speed.

As she landed on a larger branch, the transparent-green, veil-like cloth overtook her and began to float around her.

"Why is that old man sending me here? I'm not even good at tracking down things... Ughhh and there isn't even any real enemy..."

Her words sound annoyed, as she took a few leaps with greater strength in them, each of which crossed a great distance.

"If we know the new king is with the enemy, then why are we looking for crap evidence and whatnot? I don't understand these politics..." She jumped to the ground and started running again.

"Ahhhh, it's so frustrating why can't I fly...? You have to stay low blah blah..." She was annoyed by the situation, she hoped she would meet with someone strong but rather only weak monsters appeared.

"Ugh... fuck, why are there so many illusion and energy-disrupting arrays?" As the area around her started to change she pulled out the katana on her right.

"It's no wonder that many didn't come back from this shitty forest! Fuck, even for me, it's hard to navigate here!"

She slashed at the air right where she stood. As the slash was done, black cracks appeared on the fake scenery that materialized around her.

"I've been here for a few hours and I can't find anything. They told me to look for some energy that comes from the sky, but..." As her voice trailed off, she began to smile, showing off her beautiful red lips.

"Found it..." She began to feel the energy of something which made her run even faster, each of her steps leaving the ground destroyed.

...

"Son..." It was not long after lunch, the sun was still up high so about an hour could have passed.

"Yes?" The whole family was outside. Xalier and Temorsth were facing each other in a clearing a little way from the big tree house. This was their usual training ground.

Elah was a little farther from them, it looked like she was setting up a picnic as she laid a blanket below a tree, her clothes changed to a loose white full dress from the time of lunch.

The weather looked perfect for a picnic even though the weather and seasons didn't affect the world below the barrier that much.

As Elah sat down on the blanket "Huh?" she noticed something.

'Somone is at the first dummy...' She communicated with Xalier through a massage-like thought.

'I noticed too...'

"Son, do you know what a step is?" Xalier wasn't bothered by the thing, he just started his explanation.

"A normal step?"

"Yes, a normal step."

"Uh, if it's just a normal step then... yes...?" Temorsth was confused by his father's words.

"Then show me."

"What?"

"Your step, my son."

"..." Tem was even more confused but followed his father's words.

"This..." As Tem had his spear in his hand he took a step forward while using the spear like a walking stick.

'Do you go or do I need...?'

'I go, it has a dark force, it's likely someone from my race.' Xalier and Elah still communicated through mental messages.

"Good, that is your step."

"My step?"

"Now then let me show you my step, pay attention or you miss it." Xalier raised his leg, and then... he took a step toward Temorsth.

"Huh?Where?" Tem become surprised he didn't even blink just to see everything, but there was nothing, or to say his father was no longer there before him.

"Here." Xalier touched his shoulder from behind.

"Uh!? Teleport?" A surprised question came from Tem.

"It's a good guess, but it's not, for magic like teleport, you induce Mana, but now I only used energy to take a step."

"..."

"Was Dad, faster than light?" His eyes widened in surprise as he looked at his father.