Breaking The News
"Fuu~" Titus let out a breath of cold air as he withdrew his sword from the head of the massive beast.
His entire body ached as he had sustained more than a few injuries, so worse than others.
There was a particularly deep gash across his chest, though it wasn't bleeding nearly as much as it should have been.
Titus looked around, and it was safe to say that the surrounding area had been utterly decimated. There wasn't a bit of land that hadn't been overturned for kiloters, and as far as he could tell, the Stronghold was the only place that hadn't sustained any damage due to one of the many enchantnts it carried.
On his right, Raya sat with her arm on her knee. She had fewer injuries than Titus, but her face was very pale, hinting at her severe exhaustion.
On his left, Tristan was calmly using ice to support his front left limb which would have fallen off if not for said support.
Of the three, Tristan sustained the greatest damage, as there were gashes all over his body that were releasing a concerning amount of blood, and one of his wings was completely mangled while the other one had several holes.
It was a grueso sight, yet the Dragon had a look of satisfaction in its eyes, as though the battle sated its lust for blood. Which wasn't far from the truth.
"Hm, that wasn't half bad." At that mont, their general, Umbra, appeared in front of the trio.
He took his humanoid form, which looked like a teenager more than anything else, but no one would dare to underestimate him because of his age.
Tristan imdiately bowed his head as he recognized both the strength and the higher bloodline purity of Umbra, Titus did the sa due to respecting his elder disciple, and Raya did so because he was her general.
Umbra did not comnt and continued.
"There were a few things that could be fixed here and there, but otherwise, you all did good. Considering you are all at the Gold rank, beating a creature halfway into the Apex rank is very impressive." Umbra wasn't stingy with his praise, and the three of them felt imnse gratification and pride.
Especially Titus, to be recognized by soone he considered his senior was very good.
"On that note, let's get y'all back to the base. Especially this one." Umbra subtly gestured to Tristan before shadows covered the three of them and they all vanished, reappearing within the base.
Imdiately they did, the vibrant healing energy released by the miniature version of Eidrasil seeped into their bodies, and their injuries began to close at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the exhaustion they felt was being washed away.
Despite that, Tristan still went deeper into the base to be closer to the tree so that his wounds could heal properly. After all, while many of his wounds were visible, there were still many internal injuries he had sustained.
But with his natural vitality along with the help of the tree, he was bound to be alright.
This left Titus and Raya with Umbra who had a thoughtful look on his face.
Titus hesitated for a mont before asking.
"Is there sothing else, elder disciple brother?" He ventured and Umbra made a face.
"Just call by my na, that title is so cringe." Titus coughed in embarrassnt from the statent and Raya just looked on silently, not wanting to speak unless spoken to.
"And to answer your question. Yes, there is indeed sothing I wanted to tell you about." Umbra's tone turned even, which Titus interpreted as sothing serious, so he along with Raya straightened.
"To keep it short, we have been discovered by so of the clans and will make contact with them soon. Whether they will be friendly or not remains to be seen. But I don't think I need to tell you that you should be on our guard." Hearing this, Titus frowned, but he wasn't surprised. He knew they would make contact eventually, it was simply a matter of ti.
"So what should we do?" Hearing this, Umbra just smiled faintly.
"I'll leave that to you. You're the commander of this base after all. I'm just an Overseer. If things get out of hand, I'll step in. But you'll need to rely on yourself for this one." Hearing this, Titus nodded with a serious expression on his face.
He treated this entire expedition as an opportunity to prove himself and get stronger, and he found out that he was doing both with decent progress.
However, his strength wasn't the only thing that needed to be tested. Depending on how things went, his ability to stay calm and keep his wits about him when faced with external pressure would be tried.
The way he responded to the coming challenge would determine many things, and he was determined to achieve the best possible outco.
"Well, that's all I wanted to say, so you do you I guess." With that, Umbra vanished into a puff of black smoke, leaving Titus and Raya to their devices.
Titus let out a breath as his mind spun, there were many things to consider and many things to prepare for. He would have his soldiers rested and on guard for when the mont arrived.
As for what would happen before then, well, since the Seer dedicated to the base could use fate effectively now, he was going to make great use of them.
***
'I'm bored.' Scarlet said with a huff, though his voice was directed at Norn, so Christopher either didn't hear it or wasn't bothered to respond.
'You always say that.' Norn replied with her usual soft voice.
'And it's always true! I'm a weapon designed for Annihilation and slaughter! If I can't do that then why am I here?' He said with so frustration and Norn just replied calmly.
'Master is training, that's why.' Scarlet let out a frustrated breath.
'I know that much. But it doesn't make it any less frustrating.' He huffed.
'It's not forever, you'll be able to do what you want soon enough.' This made Scarlet snort.
'Easy for you to say, unlike , Master has been using you 24/7. Even if he doesn't use you to fight directly, your skills are always in use, to the point where it's as if they aren't yours and Master's! Which is what I want! I'm his and his alone, I want to be recognized as his power and not just a tool to augnt it. You're doing that already, I want that!' Scarlet's voice beca more llow as he sighed.
'I wanna be used more.' Hearing this, Norn was silent for a few seconds as she considered her counterpart's plight.
Indeed, as soul weapons, one of the greatest things to them was to be used by their wielder so much that they were no longer seen as a tool and simply a part of their wielder. To them, that was the greatest honor so it was no wonder Scarlet would be frustrated that Norn was receiving that sort of treatnt despite being in Christopher's care for a shorter ti.
'... Why not do sothing that can make him use you all the ti?' This made Scarlet pause.
'I an, think about it. You want Master to use you to the point of being a part of his power and not sothing that augnts it. But the reality is that you don't have many uses outside of combat. Master uses so much because my uses are very wide and broad, whereas you're focused on a very narrow area. Why not expand your perception a bit and create a skill or ability that Master can use all the ti to the point where it becos an unconscious effort as he does with ?' If Scarlet had eyes, he'd be blinking several tis as the idea struck a chord within him.
'You're... You're right. I want Master to use all the ti, but I've never given him a reason to use outside of combat.' The realization hit him like a truck, and then excitent washed through him.
Christopher who had been jogging tilted his head when he felt the huge wave of excitent wash over him and was curious as to what got the weapon so excited, but he decided to let Scarlet talk to him first and made no move to pry.
'Norn, You're a genius!' Scarlet exclaid with excitent and Norn would have just shrugged if she had shoulders.
'So what sort of skills or ability will you create in that case?' She asked and Scarlet cald down a little bit as he pondered. After a while, he said with so anticipation.
'I have a few ideas. Would you mind helping ?' Norn seed a bit surprised by the desire for assistance, but she thought about it and saw why not, so she agreed.
That's when the two of them started working on a skill for Scarlet that would make the already broken Christopher to be utterly cracked.
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