David intently looked around, trying to understand what the threat was, seconds later he heard a metallic ringing sound followed by an imposing mass of astral force, threading the sky, towards him.
David noticing it too late, was barely able to avoid it, causing it to graze Reigis, making a scratching sound before finally imbedding itself in the barren ground.
David recognised it as warden's spear, and expected the sudden arrival of warden, fortunately for him, that wasn't the case, as warden voice came from the spear,
"Take this spear you will need it, master it and find your way out"
David was taken by surprise but nonetheless took it, he indeed need a weapon, he didn't know how many times his hand would endure destruction and reconstruction, as he pulled it out, the last amounts of his already dented reserves of astral energy was quickly drained, he didn't even have time to losen his grip on the spear, when his eyes closed, everything becoming a dark haze, and he fell, the SAI called out, but to no avail, even Weiss was silent.
David opens his eyes, but finds himself in a strange yet familiar place, it was the same vision he had when he first arrived on locke, and he recognised it, but this time, his point of view was different, he could no longer observe the tall muscular commander who stood in the middle of the command room, this time, it was rather him who was the burly and authoritative figure as he soon realised, seeing his reflection in the screen.
All eyes were on him, eagerly awaiting his answer, as though their lives depended on it, a cold and robotic voice inquired urging,
"Sir, should I initiate full output, the enemy will soon be out of range"
The commander rose his head to glance at his men, recognising the fear, despair, loyalty, complex emotions they showed on their faces, he sighed, closing his eyes and ordered,
"initiate"
"the ships repair protocol, I am sure the princess would want this also"
Silence befell, his subordinates in unison look down with shame, they were relieved, they could live to fight another day, but, they were by no means delighted by the fact that they might have doomed the princess to a fate of captivity or death by the hands of the Lycana.
"ORDER OVERODE"
Were the last words they heard as the lives withered and faded away with the bright light.
David jolted back awake, furiously roaring,
"LYCANA"
He found himself once again covered in cold sweat, but this time, it could not be hidden, he clearly felt the cold chill from Weiss' consciousness, it shivered and shook, clearly deprived on it's calm.
"quickly, run the astral energy absorbtion technique, and use it to stabilize Weiss, or his consciousness might dissapate"
SAI quickly warned.
David, understanding Weiss continued utility, quickly sat in lotus position, slowly beginning to levitate as he began to absorb the astral energy, this was he second time, but he had more insight and understanding, effectively guiding the energy to his heart, then the rest of his body.
Weiss was soon calmed, but still seemed to be in a state of slumber.
"It will be better to let him recuperate, now we have to be worried about how to escape this place"
The SAI advised.
David finally filled with energy and brimming with vitality finally noticed the absence of the spear, but before he could inquire about it's whereabouts, it materialised in his hands.
The spear, despite it's apparent mass, was quite light, and easy to handle, David was pleased with, and tried to test it's energy conductivity, his face immediately showed displeasure as he felt more than a third of his astral force suddenly empty into the spear, David decided to call it "Abyss Monarch" , David thought he was pouring his energy into a bottomless abyss.
"Better increase my strength first"
He remarked, acknowledging the toll it took on his energy reserves, this was indeed the weapon of a lvl 10.
David got up from his seated position and noticed that there were far few crystals than earlier, and the SAI confirmed this, and it didn't take long for him to realise, the crystals were probably condensed astral energy, it seemed this misfortune turned into a fortuitous encounter.
In order to better understand his situation, he climbed to the highest crystal close by, which stood at least 20 feet tall, it was like a small mountain, upon climbing, David could only see similar crystals stretching for miles and miles, over the horizon.
It seemed David was once again in solitude, but he wasn't bothered, and he for some reason felt free and calm, the ominous cyan star never set, and the chimming and shimmering of the crystals never ceased, this was the exact opposite of the void prison, which was infinitely dark and dead silent.
This freedom and tranquility gave him a feeling of procrastination and wasting of precious time, this gave him the urge to start training, to be precise, the spear technique that came along with the spear, he also contemplated his old skills and abilities he had accumulated over the 60 yrs of service for the sovereignty, he intended to incorporate them into he training, so opted to list them
[Cardiovascular override:Short burst body enhancement; increasing one's physical and mental capabilities for a short while]
[Diamond skin:prolonged excersion, body toughening]
[Quantum computing:Short burst neural excersion; allows one to think so fast, they start to be able to predict ocurances in their field of vision, essentially seeing the matematical future and inversely, the past, of short period of time.]
[Sovereign sword style:Martial art; the martial art of the Vanguards, and is utilised through a great sword, conjured from neural force, it is versatile and simple, created and perfected by the first sword god, who is of the same generation of the emperor.]
[Feather steps:Prolonged excersion Movement enhancing; it allows one, to nimbly and stealthily traverse their sorroundings, regardless of mass and weight, if trained to the extreme.]
These were some of the many techniques David accumulated of the decades, the military taught this way of identifing cataloging the techniques, to ensure they do not forget, the up and downs, the heritage and the possession of the the several techniques they were expected to master.
The only problem with these techniques, were the fact that, they all required neural force to perform, and to use other means could prove to be an arduous task.
David was nonetheless motivated to affront this wall, and scale it, he was the going to be the best his bloodline had ever seen, and a mere rough road was not going to impede him.