Gerak Palarius stepped out of the cave and clapped his hand twice after he saw the devastation I had caused. His face was the epitome of indifference, as if nothing that happened here had anything to do with him.
"Congratulations, Adventurer. You have subjugated the camp of the great Bandit Lord. People will sing your praise wherever you walk, and women will beg you to fertilize them. Only one last step to eternal glory." Gerak Palarius paused and stretched out his arms a wide grin across his face, "you just need to defeat me. HAHAHA"
The Bandit Lord began to laugh like a maniac, as a dark blackish red mist appeared around him that ignited into sinister black flames. Yes, the Bandit Lord had achieved Elemental Manifestation.
I already told you that a Mage with Elemental Manifestation abilities is superior, in comparison to normal mages.
Before I completely realized what was going on, a barrage of black fireballs rained down on me. Everything happened so fast that I instinctively unfurled my wings, which were covered in natural armor from the titan physique, to shield my body and head.
The black fireballs exploded on my improvised shield, and a dust cloud formed once more. After enduring 150-200 of these black fireballs, the onslaught stopped.
"Another one bites the dust!" Gerak Palarius' conceited voice sounded through the dust cloud before he erupted in mad laughter again.
I was enraged and decided to quit hiding my strength. I flapped my wings, clearing the dust cloud while summoning my own Elemental Manifestation. A gray mist formed around my body that was covered in the black scales of my natural armor.
"Don't you think it is too early to celebrate your victory?" My voice was a perfect mirror of my emotions.
I shot forward like a black and gray lightning while sending forward bolts of pure Chaos. Gerak Palarius reacted instantly and retaliated with more black fireballs.
By the time I reached him, he was ready to battle, a black bone sword met the swords I swung. While my physical strength and my speed were superior to his, Gerak Palarius' skill with the sword surpassed mine by strides. Additionally, his expertise in Magic eclipsed mine by far. I was only able to hold my ground because I was using the superior Element.
The stalemate we created lasted for hours. We traded blow for blow spell for spell. The fight had become a battle of attrition. After eight hours of this deadly dance, my superior physical body showed its benefits as Gerak Palarius slowly became slower, as his stamina depleted. Finally, Gerak Palarius collabsted defeated.
Just when I was about to eliminate him, another idea crossed my mind.
"It would be a waste to kill someone as capable as you are!" I said while taking deep breaths.
"What do you want?" Gerak Palarius asked, panting heavily while laying on his back, temporarily unable to move his body.
"I will recruit you." was what I said before I initiated a soul contract between the two of us that enforces lifelong servitude.
"Fine!" To my astonishment, he just sighed before he accepted the soul contract.
Our power balance was 54-46, which made him my first equal. This is also the story of how the Bandit Lord was defeated and driven out of the Hesmaton Kingdom.
I walked over to the place where Kulum Echon Necron sat leaning against a tree staring at me with wide eyes. His eyes followed me as until I reached the place directly in front of him, his face was showing a lot of emotions. Kulum was a great diplomat, and his poker face was steel proof.
Unfortunately, witnessing the prolonged fight between a 14 years old student and a feared S-Class mage was too much for him. The fact that we were hacking at each other with swords and summoning one magic spell after another disrupted his perception of powerful people.
After he stayed silent for 15 minutes, Gerak stood up from the ground to clear his hideout because he was going to accompany us. After the soul contract was established, a mental connection to Gerak appeared. It was similar to the one I had with Athena.
Because Gerak was a human and capable of the common language, it enabled us to talk to each other over vast distances. Kulum nearly had a heart attack as he saw that gerak stood up again.
"Is this really happening, or is this a weird fever dream?" Kulum's voice was as funny as his expression.
"It is 100% real." I assured him.
His gaze drilled into my eyes. Searching for something, before he asked: "What kind of monstrosity are you?"
"I have no clue." was my answer.
Gerak took 3 hours to tidy up his belongings and everything remotely valuable from the cave. In the meantime, Esy and the guards approached the raided bandit camp. While Esy congratulated me for my victory, the guards looked at Kulum with concern.
It took him 30 minutes to acknowledge their existence. "You will tell no one what happened here. Should someone ask you, you will tell them that you saw nothing and only approached after the fight was already over." Kulum's words hit like a whip.
"SIR, YES, SIR!" The uniform response was loud and clear.
"Good!" Kulum let out a deep sigh of relief.
We buried the dead while setting up our temporary camp in the cave. We waited one and a half days for the Nature Guard to arrive. At that point, we had already tidied up the battlefield completely. The Nature Guard set up camp where the old bandit camp had been, while Gesat tried to milk his uncle for information. The next day, we continued our journey.
After 3 weeks, we reached the great formation that separates the Hesmaton and the Huntsman Kingdom. We met with the Royal Bastard. The illegitimate child of the late King. He was already an old man who had the command over the formation. He let us through the formation.
Two of the guards that had accompanied us left us here, and another group of people joined us. These were people from the Huntsman Kingdom. They were also a vassal of the Necron Empire. They appeared to be stronger than the Hesmaton Kingdom, but the last war ended in them as the big loser.
The group from the Huntsman Kingdom was stunned at the proportions that the delegation had reached. After a few days of travel, we met with another infamous person. The Dark Witch Lilith, an old and powerful S-Class Mage that had caused the Hesmaton Kingdom a lot of trouble in the last war.
The exchange we had with her was very unusual and displeased not only the guards that accompanied us but also the witch herself.
"Greetings Master Necron!" The witch kneeled in front of Kulum after he stopped and dismounted his horse.
"Good to see you, Lilith. I hope you are well."
"I am fine Master Necron. It is only a matter of time until I am able to breach the formation and conquer the Hesmaton Kingdom for the Huntsman Kingdom." Lilith said her voice sounded seductive and sensual.
"That can't happen." was Kulum's reply.
"Why?" Lilith asked astonished, "the orders were clear. The Hesmaton Kingdom needs to be conquered. I also want to take revenge on the little Silver haired girl who ruined my last conquest, with the help of her nature spirit."
"The situation has changed. The little silver haired girl that ruined your plan is the sister of Lady Maxima. And Lord and Lady Maxima are going to enrol in the Imperial Academy. You need to switch sides and become Pro Hesmaton and Anti Huntsman. You need to prevent under any circumstance that the formation is breached. This order can only be circumvented with a written Imperial decree."
"Master Necron, this subject understands. I will do everything I can to ensure that the Hesmaton Kingdom's formation isn't preached. I have both princes of the Huntsman kingdom secured. I just need to point them in the right direction."
"Good." Kulum petted Lilith's head as if she was his little pet. After that, he gave the order to set camp and informed us that he would be back in the morning before he left with Lilith. It wasn't hard to understand what was going on.
Lilith was Kulum's slave and she was willing to do anything for him. Ignoring her principles, disposing plans that have been in motion for years, or just spreading her legs. Nothing was off limits.
The next day, we continued our journey without seeing Lilith again. We travelled through 5 other kingdoms, and everywhere, we met one or two shady figures that were infamous for their notorious deeds. It showed me that the Necron Empire ruled the Kingdom's in the light through the dark.
The best example was the fact that he ordered several assassinations of high-ranking nobles or even royal family members. He ordered the assassination of the Joker Kingdoms new concubine and the eldest prince of the Persol Kingdom, which doesn't even exist anymore.