Chapter 606 Now I Remember You
The man was swept by the intense Qi that he felt, causing him to fall over. A simple guard of the clan would be in the initial stage, and he had never felt such Qi before.
On top of that, Raze’s Qi was incredibly condensed, making a person feel it far more than they usually would. Before the Necroshade Clan member realized it, he was completely covered in sweat.
“What are you doing!” Another member of the clan shouted, coming to his side.
There were a few more behind the gate that had rushed to the man’s aid, a group somewhat of a small squad.
At the same time, the guards, along with regular citizens that were coming in and out, were looking at the commotion that was occurring.
“You come up to our clan, and then do something like that!” A man shouted. “Are you trying to start a war on our territory?”
“I didn’t touch the man,” Raze replied. “I don’t get involved in people’s personal space like that. I was just making it clear who was exactly here to see him.”
Many of the guards didn’t know who the Dark Magus was and only knew vague descriptions of him. Raze wanted to keep it this way since the name was more important than the figure.
Pagna was void of most technology, with a few strange odd bits here and there. Which Raze assumed was mostly due to the otherworlders’ interference such as communication lines but only in certain buildings.
The large wedding event that had taken place in Repton; only the leaders and high-ranking members were invited to witness the event.
All they could go off were descriptions, of black hair, and a youthful look. At the same time, Raze had even worn a mask on the day to conceal himself.
Based on the latest report as well from Bubble, many clans still viewed the Dark Magus as mostly an alchemist. They found it hard to believe that he had taken one of the pillars down.
“Are you trying to bully us into action!” The man shouted as they helped the other off the floor, his knees shaking.
“You are on our territory!” The man pulled out his sword and went to strike it at Raze.
Before he could get even close though, Alba had swung out her sword and swung it down. The metal had been cut cleanly, leaving only half the sword.
While at the same time, there was a sharp point at the man’s neck, the tip of a spear. Looking down the end of the spear, Rayna was holding onto it.
Both of them had acted quickly to stop him from attacking Raze. Yet, even in this situation, although the man didn’t dare move, he still smiled at them.
The other man that had fallen to the ground was managing to get some of his strength back and was deeply embarrassed by what had happened to him.
“Look at this!” The man said. “You can’t even do things yourself, that you have to hide behind two women to protect you, what type of man even are you!”
“What does that even mean?” Lily said. “All of us could slice his throat before he drew a breath.”
Lily didn’t get involved. For one, she still didn’t really care what happened to Raze, and she knew the others could handle the situation.
“Are you stupid!” Alba shouted. “You have no idea; we are the ones that are protecting you, you idiot!”
The commotion was starting to cause quite the stir among those watching, and people were also starting to recognize Alba. Unlike Raze who had chosen black hair, something that 90 percent of the people in Pagna seemed to have.
Alba had dark slightly red-pigmented skin which was well known.
“Stop!” A loud voice shouted out.
Coming out from the gate, an old man walked out in the same dark purple clothing. His garments were slightly more elegant with woven patterns compared to the others.
There were also twelve more members of the clan that had come out with him.
“At least we’re getting somewhere; it looks as if someone important is finally coming out,” Lily stated.
“I am Titus, one of the elders of the Necroshade Clan.” The old man bowed. “We welcome you for coming all this way; please let’s head inside, where we can talk in our clan base.”
The easy option of sorting out the matter would be not to fight, so drawing down their weapons, the group decided to head inside.
The town was relatively small, around the same size as Flendon. However, the population was far larger, perhaps housing around fifty thousand citizens in the place.
“I’ll be honest; we are quite surprised to see the Crimson Crane at our doorstep so soon after the events that you have been through,” Titus commented.
“Right, so I’m sure you know we have come here with a reason for visiting you,” Rayna said.
“Ah yes, I’m sure I can take a guess; is it to do with the Martial Arts Tournament?” Titus replied.
Rayna was surprised that the old man knew, since they had sent no information beforehand.
“It’s not hard to guess. Our clan is not a big clan; we are one that is growing. We don’t get many visitors, but we had recently gotten a lot of attention due to one of our members getting a position to take part in the Martial Arts Tournament.
“The fact that you have turned up here with a young gentleman of your own, I think most people would take a guess at what you are trying to do, a new clan comes here, and now they are trying to take our position away.”
“You know, our clan doesn’t have many achievements, and we finally have one, yet of course there are always those that wish to take it away.”
Titus turned to look at Raze; however, Raze didn’t turn away and stared back at him in the eye, until the old man continued looking forward.
Some might have felt bad for taking the clan’s great achievement of getting something, but at the end of it, there was more at stake.
The Dark Faction practically had his new allies hostage on the other side. This could be the only chance to take them back, safely.
The Dark Faction Academy, which had taken the lives of multiple students, and the Dark Faction that was connected to his goals, needed to stop.
If the clan thought it was painful to have this position taken away from them, then they knew nothing about pain.
Entering the house base, it was a large single-floor building set up in a courthouse, connecting with hallways to other buildings.
It was quite similar to how the Dark Faction Academy looked but on a smaller scale. Heading through the doors, they were now walking through the courtyard to have a meeting with the other members and the clan head for their request.
The fact they had gotten this far, things were looking hopeful.
While walking to the main building, Raze had turned his head to the right, where he could see a young man in his twenties striding through the place, curious about the visitors; he had looked at them.
Raze’s eyes had met with the young man’s, and that’s when it had all hit Raze.
“Now I know why the name of the Necroshade Clan was so familiar.”
Chapter 607 You Shouldn’t Have Done That
It was only for a brief moment that Raze had caught a glimpse of the young man in passing. The two had made eye contact, yet the young man had next to no reaction at all, other than that of curiosity for why people were being brought into the clan, especially at such a big time.
For Raze, though, it had jogged his memory as to where he had seen this person before, why he had heard the name of the clan before as well.
‘I never did get to pay him back. A lot happened back then. Unfortunately for him, I remember the faces of everyone who has tried to wrong me.’ Raze thought.
Entering the main building in the center, the group was brought to a large mostly empty room with wooden flooring.
There were scuff marks on the floor, as well as weapons and ornaments that had been hung on the wall. There was nothing that stuck out, and Raze could tell that they were more so items on show rather than those of practical use.
“Please wait here while I get the Clan Elder. It won’t be long, and I shall inform him of your intention here,” Titus said, giving a bow and sliding the door closed.
In the room itself, they weren’t alone; there were clan members standing in every corner of the room.
“So what do you think, will they accept our proposal?” Alba asked.
“More than likely, the fact that I am here and the Crimson Crane leader herself has come. I think everything should be okay,” Rayna added.
“Not if the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree,” Raze commented, yet no one knew what he meant by those words.
—
When Titus closed the door behind him, his expression from a smile had immediately changed. He walked down the hallways with a heavy storm raging above his head.
Heading into another room, one that was darkly lit with only a few candles for light, Titus bowed his head. The candles gave the image of two others, one old man and one woman filled with grey hair.
“I’m sure by now you two have heard of the news of who has come to visit us,” Titus said.
“We have,” the woman, who went by Seran, answered. “Why when the opportunity for us to prove ourselves has come upon us, must someone come and try to take it away!” Her words almost had a hissing sound at the end of them.
“We must be cautious,” the Clan Head Halan said. “These are the people that managed to battle with the Behemoth Clan head-on and had taken out their pillars; they are by no means weak. How many of them are there?”
“Three females and one male; he looks young, most likely the candidate that they wish to bring forward. However, it is Rayna from the Neverfall Clan and Alba herself who has come,” Titus answered.
The three elders sat there in silence as they thought about the predicament they were in.
“They will most likely be here to propose a duel,” Seran added. “Which means we have no choice; no matter what, we have to do as we can to make sure that the participant will lose the duel in question.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” Titus asked.
“I heard that the Crimson Crane only won due to the Dark Magus’s pills that he had supplied to an army of two hundred. Right now, with only four of them, it will be our only chance to silence them,” Halan answered.
The Clan knew what needed to be done, and just in case the first plan didn’t work, they had gathered all of the members to make them aware of what they needed to do.
Informing them of everything for the sake of the clan, after that, Titus, Seran, and Halan all went down the hallway to greet their guests.
—
The group was patiently waiting in the room, to the point where Lily was getting extremely frustrated.
“Does it really take this long just to go and get someone!”
Right on cue, the doors slid open, and the three elders had entered. They walked over and sat down on the ground, gesturing for the others to do the same, and they soon followed.
“I am Halan, the head of the Necroshade Clan. We are a clan that has a long history but has never been able to shine like that of the top Clans.
“Yet, we had been blessed this year with a talented individual who has been selected by the academy to take part in the Martial Arts Tournament and to represent our clan.”
“I can tell that you are here today to perhaps challenge our student for the position. I have to ask, is it possible that you return and try next year? We are willing to give you a few gifts for your journey.”
On cue, members of the clan had entered, all of them holding ornaments and jewelry that could sell for a decent amount of coin.
It went to show how much their reputation had increased now that they had bested the Behemoth Clan.
“It seems that you are aware of our intentions,” Rayna respectfully said. “Unfortunately, the tournament is something important to us as well, and we too have our reasons for needing to take part in it.”
While Rayna was speaking, some of the servants started to place small tables in front of the guests, and they soon brought out herbal tea for each one of them.
“I believe that a duel is also fair for both of us. We are not asking you to just give us your position that has been earned, but for our young talented individual to have a chance to take part. After all, what would be best for the Faction as a whole, is for those that are most talented to take part, wouldn’t you agree?”
Halan and the other Elders nodded; they had to agree. Maybe if they were in the Light Faction, they would have considered what was fair, but the principle of the Demonic Faction was that the strongest were the ones that had their say.
Disagreeing to the duel now that Rayna said this would be against the principles of those in the Demonic Faction.
“Very well, you have made a request, and as you said, it is only fair. May the best student win!” Halan said as he raised his tea and took a large sip from it.
He then placed the palm of his hand out, gesturing for the others to do the same. Out of respect, Rayna, along with the others, held up their cup and was ready to drink it, that was until Anna held onto Raze’s arm around his wrist.
Raze’s heart took a deep beat for a second, but noticed the touch was incredibly cold, and for some reason unlike when others touched him, with Anna, it didn’t get his heart pumping the way it normally would.
“They’ve poisoned your drink.” Anna leaned in and whispered.
Raze looked at the eyes of the Elders; he could tell they were waiting for him to gulp it down.
“Is it only mine?” He whispered back.
“I’ve analyzed what’s in the cup; yeah, it seems like it’s only in yours,” Anna said again.
However, what were they to do in this situation? Should Raze call them out for their actions? Should he just say he didn’t feel well and not accept the drink?
In the end, he did neither. As he looked all of the Elders directly in the eye, he gulped the whole drink in one go, placing it on the table.
Chapter 608 Remember Me?
When taking the cup, Raze didn’t let a single drop of it not go down his throat as he looked at the elders from the back, even after learning what the contents inside were.
Anna was in disbelief. Was this man a child? Was he just trying to prove he could take the poison because she said there was poison in the drink?
“What are you doing?” Anna asked. “That poison, it wasn’t designed to kill, but it was a poison that was designed to make your reaction time slower and your whole body groggy.”
Raze was happy to know that what he had just consumed wasn’t meant to kill him. It actually made him think of the clan in a better light.
‘I guess they are just trying to make it so their contestant wins the upcoming duel no matter what.’ Raze thought. ‘That’s fine. If it was poison to kill me, then that would be another story.’
Right now, as the liquid was inside of Raze, he was using the Dark Magic to destroy all of its contents. There wasn’t a trace of what he drank left, so there was no way that it was going to affect him.
Right now, the plan would work the same. Raze would win the duel, and after tomorrow, he would head to the Light Faction.
Rayna could hear the sound of whispers. She didn’t know what was going on, but could continually see that Anna was leaning in and saying a few words.
‘What is she saying to him that can’t be spoken out loud?’ Rayna thought. ‘As his wife, I should be the one sitting next to him, but as the representative of this clan, I’m stuck sitting here next to Alba.’
Rayna and Alba were at the front, while the other three were lined up at the back.
“Very well!” Halan said with a smile. “We shall commence with the duel immediately. We shall have it outside around the back; there is a beautiful flowing pond and an area that is used for some of our personal guests to train.”
“I hope you don’t mind, but is it possible I invite other clan members to this event? I wish for them to use this as a learning tool.”
“This fight, whether win or loss, will benefit us greatly.”
This was standard with a duel, although Alba thought they would want to dissuade from doing this. She even felt bad; it was clear that Raze was going to win, and depending on how he won, he could embarrass the entire clan.
“Very well, if you insist,” Alba said.
The Crimson Crane and the rest of the group were led through one of the doors to head to the outside area. It was beautiful like they claimed.
A large lake-like pond water feature surrounded the entire outside of the buildings. There were several stones that were placed on the outside, placed in a way that fit in with the entire scenery.
Clearly, a lot of thought had gone into the place. The area of fighting was small. The color of the dirt was a hardened orange in one area.
There was grass all around apart from the one area, as if someone had been practicing the same movements and never expanding too far out, or a path through the fields of grass that had been trodden on again and again, only it was in one spot.
As they waited, clan members eventually came out and began to gather around the site. There was something that Raze had noticed.
Although they had claimed this to be a good learning session, no teenage students or children that were part of the clan were present.
As everyone came out, Raze’s eyes had also caught the young man from earlier, and finally, the three elders along with their contestant had arrived.
A teenage boy who looked to be around 18 years old, short hair that was spiked up. He had a good strong build and a confident look about him, but Raze could tell he was at the initial stage.
“Pritter, enter the stage; this is the young man that has asked for a duel,” Halal ordered.
Pritter did as told, while the Elders continued to look at Raze’s condition. They were trying to see if the poison was having any effect.
It would be subtle until one had tried to fight, but it didn’t help that they were nervous.
“Don’t worry; remember, we always have plan B,” Seran whispered. “Everyone is ready at a moment’s notice to go through with the plan; they know it’s for the sake of the clan.”
Pritter got into position, and so did Raze. It looked like the fight was about to start. Everyone was a little tense for what was about to happen.
However, that’s when Pritter noticed something. When he was looking at Raze, his eyes—they were staring at someone else. When following his eyes, he could see that he was looking at someone in the crowd.
“Hey, I’m your opponent; why aren’t you looking at me?” Pritter asked.
Raze continued to look at the young man in the crowd at that point.
“Hey, stop looking at Fin!” Pritter shouted.
“Ah, right,” Raze said. “So that was your name. Now I remember, Fin. Everything is coming together, the clan, your name.”
In the crowd, the young man named Fin was unsure what was happening. Why was this man talking to him, why was he staring at him?
He had never seen him before, so why was he staring?
“I’m sorry, do we know each other?” Fin eventually asked.
At that point, Raze had decided to get into a fighting stance, as if he was about to take part, but his eyes still stayed on Fin.
“Oh right, I forgot you probably don’t remember me. The last time you saw me, I was wearing an iron mask,” Raze said.
Fin’s stomach immediately sunk down below. His whole world was spinning at that moment. He was so stunned that he had even forgotten to take in a breath.
There was a certain day in Fin’s mind that would repeatedly play out for him. Again, again, and again. One day, Fin had entered a portal in the Demonic Faction belonging to that of the Behemoth Clan.
While inside, he had gathered a team and set his eyes on a certain place. However, a man in an iron mask and his group refused to stand by and allow them to kill the beasts inside.
In order to get all of the rewards for himself, Fin and his group had attempted to kill the others, but what he had witnessed that day instead was a massacre.
The ones they were attacking, one man in particular, had slaughtered everyone in his group. Killed them heartlessly. Fortunately, he had managed to escape in the middle of the chaos from a Dimensional Boss.
That day never escaped from Fin’s memory, the man with the iron mask who had killed them all. Fin would wake up thinking one day he would come for him, and that day would be now.
“Alright, alright, let’s start the match!” Halan ordered.
‘No wait!’ Fin shouted in his mind. ‘If that is really this man, if Pritter loses this match, and we all attempt to kill them all… he’ll kill everyone, I have to stop the fight, I have to stop the fight!!!’
Chapter 609 You, pass on the message
“I do remember,” were the soft words that came out of Fin’s mouth. The nightmare that had occurred daily in his head had become a reality; the person was in front of him.
Yet doubts started to creep into his mind. What if this wasn’t him? Was the person that had attacked them back then really so young?
Not just that, but maybe they were safe with their plan? If Fin was going to die anyway, then the only way for him to protect himself from what was going to happen would be to kill him now.
All of the strong members of the clan were present, including the leaders.
However, this thought almost quickly went out of his head as he made eye contact with Raze, and for that moment, everything was almost a blur.
“Start!” Halan ordered.
Pritter charged toward Raze, having drawn his sword trying to get a jump on him. Raze had yet to pull out his sword, leaving the Elders to believe that the poison had worked.
Effortlessly, Raze avoided the strike. He grabbed onto Pritter’s head, and then with his might, lifted his body and threw him onto the floor.
The back of his head crashed into the ground; a strike would kill an ordinary man. Thankfully, the student was a Pagna warrior, and he would recover from this.
The crowd of onlookers were stunned into silence. For something like this to happen, there had to be a large difference in strength.
Pritter was a fourth-stage warrior. How could this have happened? What they had just witnessed was the difference between a middle-stage and an initial-stage warrior, as well as a difference in experience and skill.
Seeing what had just happened, Seran looked at the Clan Head and gave a slight nod.
“We have no choice now.”
Seran had charged in herself quickly with her sword, and at the same time, everyone else did as well. Seeing this, the three women with Raze were ready to help, but he stopped them from coming closer.
“I’ve got this,” Raze said.
His hands were lighting up, and Dark Magic surrounded his entire body. The warriors were getting closer, close enough to hear the words he said.
“The Flames of Darkness, Expand.”
The Dark Magic that was swirling around his body pushed out in all different directions. They were shaped like flames, unlike the Dark Magic that he had used before.
When pushed out, they had latched onto all of the onlookers’ clothes, destroying them in an instant, and quickly it started to spread across their whole body.
It was strange; the Warriors didn’t feel any heat, yet the properties of the black flames were spreading the same, and one thing was sure, they could feel pain as it went from their clothes onto their skin.
It was affecting most of the warriors in the area; the ones it weren’t affecting so much were the elders who were on the low end of the middle stage, but as the dark flames were extinguishing off their body, that was when the three women had made their move. Rayna and Lily, using their spears, stabbed right through their hearts, and Anna pulled Halan’s face forward and with a fist crushed his entire skull until he was no more.
Many of the warriors were falling to the flames one by one, while at the same time, Raze was using his sword to strike them down, those that had managed to survive or didn’t get hit by the Dark Magic as much.
‘That was a new spell, a 4-star spell, and was quite effective for that situation. However, it wasn’t as powerful as a basic Dark Pulse which grows with the Dark Magic affinity and can be used with martial arts.
‘Something like this can’t be used with martial arts to make it grow stronger, at least not yet.’
Taking care of the members one by one, there were eventually two that were left alive. The student that Raze had originally knocked out, the flames had expanded out beyond that of the student directly in front of him.
Something Raze had purposely done, and there was one more, there was Fin, who had quickly retreated backward to the point where he had fallen onto the ground and the bodies in front of him, of those members that had charged forward, had been killed instead.
It was at that point that Raze started to walk towards him, even placing his sword away by his side and looked directly at Fin.
“Do you remember me yet?” Raze asked.
Fin’s face was soaked with tears; the whole clan was done for. Although not every member of the clan had been eliminated, the Clan Head as well as its strongest members were all gone.
There was next to no chance of the clan recovering, especially in the Demonic Faction where the strong ruled.
“I remember, I remember!” Fin cried out. “But why, why did you have to do this?”
It was then that Raze said the same words he had said not too long ago.
“The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.”
“Now I understood what you meant before,” Anna said as she came over. “Your clan can only blame themselves for what happened.”
“I have no clue what happened between the two of you, but it’s clear that you know each other, but there is one fact. All of you guys here had coordinated an attack; it was quite clear that all of you had planned from the beginning to attack us as soon as the battle was lost.”
“The only person that didn’t know about this plan was Pritter.”
Anna assumed that’s why he had been left alive compared to the rest, but she couldn’t really tell what Raze was thinking.
“All of you would have killed us without a second thought, so why are we doing this? We are just doing what you would have done to us if you hadn’t done this; then you would have lived today.”
Anna was right in her assessment; Raze was going to leave them alone, perhaps give a little scare to Fin. Although he had tried to kill him in the past, he wasn’t a current threat.
And looking at him right now, Raze thought the same way.
“You will be left as the messenger of the clan. You probably are the highest-ranking member in the clan. You can inform the Demonic Faction Academy that Pritter is going to pull out, and in its place, they will be sending a student that’s a part of the Crimson Crane.”
“You mean you’re going to let me live?” Fin asked, his voice laced with disbelief. Was he escaping death for the second time? Were there actually such things as gods looking over him?
“You are the messenger, and keeping you alive will make sure that more don’t try to do what you did today. By keeping you alive, it will keep my hands clean.”
Walking away, Fin didn’t quite understand, but he later realized just like before, he lived each day with fear, and it was even greater than before.
With that done, Raze had now become an official participant in the Martial Arts Tournament, and tomorrow would be the day… the gathering of the three factions.
Chapter 610 The Word Prepares
In the Dark Faction, at the Pagna academy, the five major clans were arriving. They were to have a meeting based on what would happen tomorrow, to discuss the finer details.
A lot of back and forth was also required with the Light faction on who they could bring in after all. There had to be a balance when it came to these events; for one, they had to allow enough people for each faction to feel safe, while not allowing enough people for them to be able to plan an attack. Although it had yet to happen, every faction knew that the best opportunity for a faction to attack the others and get rid of powerful people at the top was the Martial Arts tournament.
Inside the faction, Amir, the vice principal, had gathered the participants into one of the private training rooms, where he had been helping all of them for the big day at hand.
Simon, Liam, and Safa were all seated on the ground, their facial features had aged. They looked different from when they had entered the academy, and the story was even more true if one was able to look at the glow in their eyes.
It was the same for Mada and Ricktor, two of the direct disciples of the five major clans, that had decided to stay with their clans, but what was the plan going forward? What would they do if Raze wasn’t here?
As they were, they weren’t strong enough to go against their own clans, for sending them to their death.
On top of that, Cronker was also present, a man who had to hide in the shadows and could never be present in the room when the actual principal was there, afraid that he would be found out.
Along with him, three more of the second-year students who weren’t taking part in the tournament itself but were part of knowing full well of everything going on.
“All of you have been working hard for this day,” Amir said, looking at each of them. “If this was last year or the years before, I would have no doubt in my mind that any one of you would be able to reach first place in this tournament.
“However, my information network tells me that this will be dangerous for all of you. Still, I wanted to let you know that you have all managed to improve beyond regular means. I can safely say that you are the cream of the crop, but your opponents will be doing anything they can to win.
“As for you, Cronker, along with your fellow three disciples, I have made it so you are also allowed to come to the event. They have allowed us to take as many students as we wish since they aren’t so threatening to the Light Faction.”
Tinson, Joe, and Violet hadn’t been taking part in the same training sessions as everyone else; they had been focusing on stealth techniques passed on to them by Cronker from the Crimson Crane.
Knowing their strength wasn’t on the same level as the others, for them to still be helpful to the group, they wished to do something, becoming skilled in assassination arts.
“As for those from the Dark Faction, myself, the principal, as well as two other leaders from the Dark Faction will be coming with two others from each clan. There won’t be a large amount of us to protect you.
“And I shall warn you, my informants, with the information I have, this will not be a normal Martial Arts tournament.”
Amir wanted to continue, but he waited, allowing them to let everything sink in. They had worked hard, worked non-stop, no distractions, they did everything they could just to get stronger for this situation.
“If all works out, this might be our chance to get out of the academy, including me.”
At the same time, the Light Faction was doing their best to hold the event. An arena was being built just for the very event. Preparations had finished a while ago, but being the perfectionists they were, they were getting every single detail they could correct.
Wanting the whole ceremony, their displays of strength, and making sure if there were any problems, they knew how to deal with them.
The clan in question that was at the center of it all was the Dawnblade Clan. They were one of the three major clans in the Light Faction and consisted of ten powerful Elders.
However, they now numbered 9 elders due to one of them perishing to the Crimson Crane. One of the members, Beatrix Highborn, was the winner of the last martial arts tournament.
Because of that, the next tournament was to take place in the Light Faction and in the Dawnblade clan’s territory. It was more important to them compared to others due to the string of their reputation taking a hit recently.
Beatrix had failed in an attack on the Demonic Faction, and the loss of an Elder. If they faced more humiliation with this event, then the other clans were likely to put pressure on them, telling them to step down.
Beatrix walked through a heavy door, a beam of light shining in on the dark blue tiles.
She walked as she could see another female with blonde hair, on her knees praying, looking ahead toward the glass pane windows.
Hearing the footsteps behind her, she turned around to look at Beatrix in her white clothing.
“Hannah, I was looking for you everywhere, this was the last place I expected you to be,” Beatrix said.
“Why, am I not allowed to pray for good luck tomorrow?” Hannah asked, smiling back.
Beatrix was only around a head taller than Hannah, but she was still able to rub the top of her head. The two of them had a special relationship in the clan; it felt like they were sisters even though not related, but in truth, Hannah was Beatrix’s direct disciple.
“We don’t need to rely on luck; we create our own luck with hard work,” Beatrix answered.
“Whether it works or not doesn’t matter then, right?” Hannah replied. “If it doesn’t work, then no harm done, and if it does work, then maybe someone can help me.”
“All there is up there are the Divine warriors, a place where we all strive to be. Maybe. They will – bless you, and when we are up there, maybe we can pass on our blessings to others as well.”
The two of them smiled for a bit, until Beatrix pulled out a pendant. It was a light silver chain and round in size; she placed it around her neck for her. Without gestation, Hannah had accepted it.
“This is a gift from the Elders; they said they worked hard in getting it for you, and that it’s priceless. It would be good for you to wear it on the day,” Beatrix said.
Lifting up the pendant, Hannah took a look at it; it was made with white gold, with a golden center in the middle, in the shape of an ‘I’.
“With this pendant, the Elders asked me to pass on another message. No matter what, you must not lose,” Beatrix said. “But for me, I will say, no matter what, you must not die.”
At the same time, after letting the others take the words in, Amir spoke to them all.
“Tomorrow is the big day, and no matter what, you must do whatever you can to survive.”
Chapter 611 The Demonic Clan Meets!
There was no real leader in the Demonic Faction, just the stronger and weaker clans that everyone was aware of. However, there was a legacy.
The Demonic Faction, being the way they were, wasn’t a faction per se, but due to the growing strength of the Dark Faction and Light Faction, they needed to do something otherwise risk getting wiped out.
The Neverfall Clan was well respected because it was their leader who had brought all the major clans together to agree practically an alliance to go against the other Factions.
There was still no clear view of which clan was the strongest, but all of those that had been invited by Belil were considered the strongest.
This consisted of the Neverfall Clan, with Belil at its head. The Behemoth Clan, the biggest clan in the Demonic Faction, with their leader Sha Mo.
Then there was the Lost Clan, with the leader Lince, whose true appearance was quite a mystery to most, due to parts of his body being wrapped around in black.
And finally, there was the Splitting Fang Clan, with the leader Yunro. Out of all the clans, the Splitting Fang Clan was the newest in age, coming up with new techniques but still following the philosophy of the Demonic Faction.
Because of this, these four clans were at the center of representing the Demonic Faction and when situations occurred like the Martial Arts Tournament, they were the ones that needed to make the decisions.
To each of these four clans, they were surprised when a letter had been delivered to them, from the Necroshade Clan. When reading the details of the letter, some of them had smiles on their faces.
Others threw the letter, not too bothered. While for a particular individual, his entire head was shaking with rage.
Having returned to the town of Flendon, the sun was starting to set, and that’s when from the town hall, there was a visitor that had come in the middle of the night.
Entering into the town hall, Rayna had recognized him straight away.
“You’re from the Neverfall Clan, right? Has my father sent you to deliver a message?” Rayna asked.
“This is a message from the Neverfall clan, but it is not for you young miss, it is for the Crimson Crane.”
The Crimson Crane still hadn’t quite established a preeminent residence in the town yet, helping with the building. Instead, they had been staying in the grand town hall in several spare rooms the place had.
It was as if Mayor Yarlston foresaw this would happen, and they needed places for guests anyway. A place where they could treat them well without forcing them to one of the inns.
Alba came over to take the letter; she and the others had a good idea as to what this would be.
Opening it up on the spot, she read the contents.
“Is it what we think it is?” Fixteen asked.
Alba nodded.
“It appears that our messenger managed to send his message; it’s acknowledgment of our candidate taking part in the tournament, and also a meeting place for tomorrow,” Alba explained.
Rayna let out a big sigh.
“I’m guessing there are further instructions as well.”
“Right, from our side, along with the client, we are only allowed to send two people along with us,” Alba said.
Looking around the room, they wondered which two would accompany Raze, but coming down the stairs having overheard everything, he had his own solution.
“That shouldn’t matter too much,” Raze said. “For what I have planned, instead I need to tell you about something else that you need to be ready for.”
The next day, the day of the first tournament, had arrived. Up bright and early, Raze had headed to the border of the city where a carriage was waiting for them.
They were to travel to the meeting location where the other clans would be waiting for them as well. By his side was none other than Anna.
“Are you disappointed that I am coming along?” Anna said. “I guess it doesn’t really fit into the rules since I’m not part of the Crimson Crane.”
“I’m not disappointed. It just felt like the room had gotten incredibly heated over the situation, that was all. I know we had a deal, I don’t know when Zon might show up near me again, or if he ever will.”
“But there is a chance, and in return you don’t explain to Alter a thing of what is happening here.”
Anna nodded as the two of them moved along, and the tall, slight, dark red-pigmented-skinned woman was waiting by the carriage, but she wasn’t alone, Rayna was also there as well.
“Even though I won’t be going with you, I wanted to see you off,” Rayna said, her cheeks turning slightly red again.
“I appreciate it,” Raze mentioned. “If I could have brought three, I would have asked for you to come along. You have helped me in more ways than you can imagine.”
“I have come to enjoy seeing this city grow, so I will let you know, that after all is done with the Martial Arts Tournament, I will be back.”
Rayna wasn’t expecting a response like that from Raze. In a lot of ways, it was the first time she had heard him say so many words.
Regardless, she smiled and gave him a wave as he, Alba, and Anna had entered the carriage on the way to the city of Repton.
Everyone felt a little more tense in the carriage. Raze imagined that neither of them thought that they would ever be in a situation like this, and honestly neither did he.
‘When I used that book, I didn’t think I would be involved in so many affairs in another world,’ Raze thought.
Thinking about what he had been through to get to this point, the carriage was starting to slow down as they approached one of the main entrances of the city of Repton.
Looking out through the window, Raze could see quite a few people had already gathered as well.
Getting out of the carriage, an old gentleman, who had a beard that went down to his waist and was white in color, approached them.
“I welcome the Crimson Crane to this meeting,” the old man said with a bow. “I am Elder Xank from the Neverfall Clan. I have been assigned to be the mediator in our affairs with the other factions, and also will be in charge of your program and our journey of travel.”
“Please let me introduce you to the other contestants that have arrived.”
Standing out in the barren wasteland, they could see four other students in a mainly black with a red trim uniform. They were not wearing the standard uniform of their clans, and Raze had also been given a uniform to change into.
Which he promptly did inside of his carriage before coming out again to be introduced to the others.
Along with the four students, just like with Raze who had Alba and Anna, each of them also had two members of their clans by their side.
Before the introductions occurred, Alba had a quick question to ask.
“I heard that there would also be two heads of clans joining us on this trip, that have been allowed by the Light Faction, do we know who they will be?” Alba asked.
“Ah yes,” Xank said. “Lince from the Lost Clan will be joining us, and as for the other individual, it will be Sha Mo, from the Behemoth Clan.”
Chapter 612 The Demonic Five
An instant sick feeling had entered the stomach of Alba after hearing that name. She was sure that the other two felt the same as well, and because of it she couldn’t help but ask a question.
“Why has Sha Mo been selected for this, out of all the other options?” Alba said with a fake smile.
She didn’t want to offend too much, especially with members of the Behemoth Clan being here; she had even looked over her shoulder to see if Sha Mo was around.
“I am happy to explain,” Xank said with a gentle bow. “Firstly, I should explain why Lince had taken the position. With the recent portal outbreak and allowing the Flesh Clan to go past to attack the Dark Faction, Lince believes it’s his responsibility to go over.”
“It is a chance for him to prove himself while also mending any bad relations that had been caused with the Dark Faction.”
“Although we have heard that the old Lethal Bite Clan leader is no more, it is unlikely we will meet him, since it was a request of Lince we decided to accept.”
“As for Yunro, of the Splitting Fang clan, he seems to have incurred some injuries of some sort. He stated that he wouldn’t be in the best condition to protect those that he needed to if it was the case.”
“Because of that, it left us with two options, either Belil, or Sha Mo. In the end, Belil declined the option of him going instantly, and when we told him that the only option was Sha Mo, he still gave his okay.”
The look on Alba’s face had dropped when hearing the conversation. Did Belil really not care about the Dark Magus or the Crimson Crane at all?
He should know based on their recent history, what danger it would be for them to go along with the Clan head.
“I can guess what you are thinking, but because Belil has given his blessing, you do not have to worry about Sha Mo, he knows where he stands with all of this.”
Regardless of Xank’s comments, Alba still wasn’t happy with what had occurred. Things just never seemed to be easy for them.
With that explanation over, Xank walked them over to introduce them to the rest of the participants, holding out his hand as he called them one by one.
“First, I should introduce you to Kaylie from the Seeno Clan,” Xank said. “She is from one of the mountain clans; they have unorthodox skills that have impressed in the academy!”
Raze gave a slight nod to Seeno. She had small scratches over her face, and half of a wooden mask with claw marks covering her face.
“Is this allowed?” Seeno asked. “I never saw this student at the academy…”
“Jake here is from the recently joined Crimson Crane; he has bested Pritter from the Necroshade Clan in a duel to earn his position today,” Xank explained. Jake was the fake name that they had used, rather than Raze or the Dark Magus.
“He clearly has the strength to be part of your students and he is the same age as the rest of you. His registration was pushed through by all four of the great clans.”
Saying these words, none of the other students were going to argue with the fact. Especially since he had beaten Pritter. They knew Pritter’s strength well.
News of his defeat wasn’t widespread because it was an action that no one had been expecting and only half a day had passed.
“From the Lost Clan, we have Beret!” Xank said.
“Umm, nice to meet you…I’m from the Lost Clan,” Beret answered in a quiet voice that was hard to hear; he even moved his body facing away from Raze.
Yet for some reason, Raze felt like if he was to get closer he might strike. Maybe because this person felt quite similar to Raze in a lot of ways.
Xank also seemed to get a strange feeling from this student so he didn’t linger on him for long and moved onto the next student.
“This here is Brack, from the Behemoth Clan.”
When Raze went to look at the student, he had immediately turned his head away. Although young like the others, his facial features made him look older due to the full thick black beard he had under his chin.
Just like many of those that were strong and came from a Behemoth Clan, he was well-built and taller than the other students, but his body was clearly mostly muscular.
“We perhaps should move on from that,” Xank said as he went to move onto the final student.
“Here is quite the infamous student, known as the strongest in the DemonicFaction Pagna academy, and even claimed to be the strongest in many generations, you might know him as the Black Tiger, Mantis.”
Raze looked at Mantis, and he was standing there in the same way as he was the last time. Although wearing the same cloth as before, the upper part of his uniform, half of it was dragged off revealing a side of his body.
A large claw mark could be seen peeking out of his chest giving him his nickname.
Mantis was also a student that Raze had met before when he had come to Repton with the others. He had returned to find that Mantis was close to finishing off Simyon that day and the rest of his friends.
Raze had managed to gauge his power somewhat. He was immensely strong. Based on his talent he had the potential to grow even further.
Whether or not he was at the same level as Raze, he found that hard to believe because Raze had many outside factors helping him, but looking at the Black Tiger, his eyes had strong confidence in them.
‘From the looks of things, he doesn’t seem to remember me. I guess facially during this time I have changed a bit, and with my black hair, people aren’t fully putting two and two together.’
“With the introductions done, I have to remind you all, that these people by your side for the most part of the tournament, are not your enemies, but they are your allies.
“You will need to work together! One of the reasons for our losses last year was because our faction is not good at working together, unlike those from the Light Faction!” Xank said.
“That won’t matter.” A loud booming voice was heard from behind.
Just the voice alone had covered everyone in sweat. Even Raze could feel a deep tingling sensation from behind him as he felt a shadow cast over him.
Turning around, he saw a large figure, big with hair covering both of his arms, and covering most of his face.
Although Raze had never seen this person before, he knew immediately who he was.
‘So this is Sha Mo, the leader of the Behemoth Clan that has been giving me so much trouble.’
Sha Mo slowly tilted his head down to look at the contestants until his eyes started to linger on Raze. On the day of his wedding ceremony, he was wearing a mask covering his face and so far no one had recognized him.
“So you’re the reason why my Pillars fell,” Sha Mo said, with not even a slight raise of his cheek. His eyes were filled with anger.
Chapter 613 Enter The Light Faction
Sha Mo’s eyes were focused on Raze; he wasn’t turning away from him for a moment nor was he bothering to look at the other contestants.
Even Xank, who said everything would be okay initially between them, gulped as he wasn’t so sure anymore.
‘How was he able to figure out who I was?’ Raze thought. ‘So many people have seen me in the mask and seen me in person but haven’t been able to put two and two together.’
‘Some might have had the thought, but would think they were crazy, so how did Sha Mo manage to figure it out? Is the Qi lingering out of my body?’
Due to Raze being able to condense his Qi even further than that of warriors at the same stage as him. This skill only increased when he had reached the middle stage.
He was so good at it, that even other middle stage warriors couldn’t tell what stage he was at because next to no Qi would leak out of his body.
This was also the case for those like Belil and Sha Mo. The two of them would often just leak out a small fraction of it on purpose as a way to win a battle without lifting a finger at times as well, or to exert pressure.
“I can’t believe it, how could someone so small like you take out my two pillars… you certainly must have some secrets about you,” Sha Mo said.
Everyone could hear his loud and deep voice clearly. They could tell what he was insinuating. Was the student that had been accepted on behalf of the Crimson Crane really the Dark Magus?
“Just to make you aware, things like Qi pills won’t be able to be used during the tournament events, only in between the rounds that take place,” Sha Mo explained.
“You’re lucky that I wish to see your strength with my own eyes, and for this assessment, it seems like you might be a big help.”
Sha Mo could tell, he knew that Raze was a middle stage warrior, and knowing that, he was confident that with him they would win this fight, and ultimately it was the reason why he had decided to leave him be.
With his eyes finally off from Raze, there was one other person that had caught the attention of Sha Mo.
“What’s happened to you… you feel different, I’ve met you before as well,” Sha Mo asked. His eyes were looking at Mantis, the Black Tiger.
Yet even with Sha Mo asking him a question, he was able to stand there not nervous, while the other contestants nearby were showing some signs of weakness.
“What a strange group of people we will have for the tournament this year,” Sha Mo stated.
“Yes, and it’s our duty, to make sure to protect them, and that they get out of the Light Faction without a scratch on their body.”
The voice came from the side, the slightly slender man, covered in black bandages around his arms and the upper part of his face; this was Lince, leader of the Lost Clan.
On his back, he had several different shaped spears on his back that were fanned out like a fan.
“Great you are here!” Xank said. “Now that everyone is present, we can head off.”
The large group had a total of eight carriages that were heading to the Light Faction. The Neverfall Clan, along with Xank, had two members present that were there for his protection.
Then, in each of the carriages, there was the participating student, along with two members of their clan in the carriages as well.
So in Raze’s carriage, he had Alba and Anna, representing the Crimson Crane Clan. Finally, there then was a separate carriage each for Sha Mo, and Lince who were traveling on their own.
During the journey, those in Xank’s clan, as well as the other carriages would take it in turns to step outside and make sure the situation was fine.
They were running at the same speed as the horses and keeping up, making sure nothing would get in their way.
Then finally, they had reached the border of the Light Faction. There were warriors waiting for them and an inspection occurred.
The Light Faction checked how many people were present and matched it up with the list of people that had been sent beforehand.
Right after that, they could continue on their way. While in the carriage, Anna, and Raze were constantly looking outside because the Light Faction was vastly different from the Dark Faction and the Demonic Faction.
“There’s so much wildlife here, and followers with large fields,” Raze commented. It wasn’t just that, but the people were living in larger houses, and they weren’t cramped together.
Raze could even see strange machinery being used on the crops, machinery that felt as if it was too advanced for Pagna, helping them with their lifestyles.
Stuff he hadn’t seen in the other two factions.
“Ah right, it will be the first time both of you have come to the Light Faction, right?” Alba asked. “The Light Faction is definitely the nicest out of the three places.”
“The general citizens seem happy here, and they have a closer connection with the kingdoms in this area. It seems the clans use a lot of their investments to help the town people grow as well, rather than just thinking about themselves.”
While hearing the story, Raze thought that there was a but in there somewhere. Why did wanderers exist, if the Light Faction was such a nice place, then why didn’t Alba and her group decide to settle here?
“However, it just isn’t a place for everyone, especially warriors that don’t want to stick to the strict rules and morals that the Light Faction uphold,” Alba continued. “There was just always a strange feeling when I came here, as if I was constantly being watched.”
Raze knew what she meant because he felt the same way the moment he had entered the Light Faction. While looking out the window, Raze had noticed large towns and cities in the distance.
And then he could see it up ahead, built slightly away in a large field in its own area away from the city, there was a giant coliseum, and arena that was made just for the martial arts tournament.
“We’re here,” Raze said.
And, it wasn’t just them that had arrived.
