Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 14 – Psionic Armament

[Eternum Calendar 1971]

“Huh? Come again?”

In the small head office of the Longmoore Trading post, two figures gathered to discuss the day’s event. They were none other than Francisco Longmoore the owner of the esteemed trading firm and Yvonne the strong-willed townguard’s captain. A small spark was lit between the two as Francisco had brought up a certain possibility.

“Like I’ve said, there’s probably a traitor amongst the people that were at the conference today.”

Francisco answered as he swirled around his chair to gaze out at the darkened skies. He stared at his own reflection on the window lit by a small dusk colored flame. It was inevitable that a disagreement would arise between the two, after all their personalities and philosophies varied wildly. The only thing keeping them together as a team was that they both wanted to be more proactive about how the situation should be handled.

Yvonne clicked her tongue as she replied.

“Are you seriously telling me to even consider such a prospect, knowing full well that it will no doubt divide this city even further? You know our town’s going through some turbulent times, right? What we need isn’t more divisiveness but unity to overcome this ordeal.”

Yvonne didn’t even want to think about it as it would mean to doubt the very people she had grown up with. This town was her home and everyone in it was her family; it was painful to even fathom the concept of a traitor amongst them. Yet at the same time she was also realistic enough to understand that this was merely just her wishful thinking. This was the main reason why she wasn’t more adamant in defending her position. As much as she hated Francisco’s character she had come to admire and value his intuition and judgment.

They had been somewhat of a close acquaintance since youth so they had gotten to understand certain things about each other. Or at the very least Yvonne understood that Francisco was the opposite of her, she was always good at being straight forward but he was good at scheming and deceiving. Thus if that schemer, Francisco, deduced that someone in the city was deliberately causing these monster attacks then even she couldn’t help but at least give some thoughts to it.

In the end Yvonne shook her head in disbelief as she replied.

“I still can’t accept that there would be someone from the town deliberately causing monster attacks. It just doesn’t seem like something anyone from this city would even have the motive or character to do so. In fact you're realistically the only person who would even think of such a thing."

Francisco scoffs at her remark.

“Yvonne you’ve really grown to be so naïve when it comes to the nature of people. From all my years working in this field, if there was one thing I really learnt… it is that someone always gains from another person’s suffering.”

At his response Yvonne breathed out a defeated sigh.

“You really are a villain aren’t you?”

“Hoh? I have never particularly seen myself as such; if anything I think that you’re the one who’s a little too green. The nature of people should always be subjected to scrutiny and suspicion, it is the only way you’ll ever survive in this world.”

“It must feel really nice to always be suspicious of other people, huh? How good for you.”

“It really just comes with the job, you see.”

As their disagreement died down and their conversation evolved into a mellow banter an uninvited guest had unexpectedly shown himself. They didn’t know for how long or how he had even been in here but as soon as they heard his voice they immediately jumped from their seats.

“[Erst denken, dann handeln]. Mr. Francisco Longmoore is most probably correct in his assumption.”

In surprise Yvonne drew the sword attached to her waist and was prepared to swing down with the determination to kill. However she had stopped at the last second after properly registering who the uninvited guest really was. Just a few inches off his face Morgant stood with an unflinching smile as he had revealed himself to the pair.”

“You are…?”

Francisco Longmoore asked as he made a quizzical expression. Though he was most interested in how this small child was able to bypass all of the security down stairs and make it up without even being detected by the two people in the room. Yet he had tried to hide any hint of surprise after his initial reaction, after all having a poker face was the crucial element to his profession.

“Wait… I know you; you’re that Morgant brat from the orphanage that went missing a few weeks ago. Yeah… you disappeared into that beginner level dungeon.”

As Yvonne started to remember Morgant she lowered her sword and her guard. Finally after she had sheathed her sword she breathed another sigh relief as she fell back into her chair in a manner most ungraceful. The chair creaked loudly and for a while after that there was a moment of silence in the room. The still looming question was how Morgant had managed to enter this room without being detected by anyone.

“So? What do you want, brat? Isn’t it way past your bedtime? Ugh… I bet Miko and Diana are worrying about you right now, I can just imagine their tired little faces.”

Yet the only answer Morgant had ever responded with was an unreadable smile. Though Yvonne didn’t particularly feel anything from it, in an instant Francisco was forced to acknowledge the formidable pressure coming from within that iron guarded poker face. A sense of looming doom hovering at the back of his head, Francisco broke out into a sudden cold sweat.

“What is it?”

Yvonne asked, slightly perturbed by the unmoving, doll-like lifelessness from Morgant’s lack of reaction. Morgant slowly opened his eyes to reveal piercing green eyes that felt as though they could stab through someone’s very soul. With those very eyes Morgant stared towards Yvonne and posed a question.

“Town guard Captain, Yvonne. Curious, why did you halt your attack?”

“Eh?”

That was the only thing Yvonne could answer with as she couldn’t understand where he was coming from. There was no real answer to his question, or rather the only answer was...

"Why did I stop from cutting you down...? What? How can you even pose such a question?"

"Because I'm genuinely curious as to why you stopped from connecting your attack. Was that arbitrary connection of 'knowing' me enough to stop your blade? What would you have done if I truly was the enemy or if I was someone else using illusory magic?"

To his question Yvonne was unable to give an answer that satisfied even herself. From a logical prospective everything he spoke about was true. If Morgant truly was the enemy then it would be her job to remove his threat. That being said it wasn't as though she could simply cut him down for the same reason that it was equally possible that he was just an innocent boy. Yet for some reason she felt that this line of thinking was some 'off'.

"Would you have cut me down if you had known that I was actually an enemy beforehand?"

Morgant continued his line of questioning.

"At that point if I already knew you were an enemy then... without hesitation I would've-"

Yet as she was about to answer his question she was cut off.

"Incorrect, you would have done exactly the same thing as now, because at no point did you even consider my entrance as suspicious. You lowered your guard as soon as you saw my face without even question."

Both Yvonne and Francisco understood their flaw at that point. As Morgant had said in no way was his entrance at all natural for a seven year old boy. If he truly was someone else then he would've used that hesitation as an advantage to take out the both of them.

Feeling cornered by his logic Yvonne clicked her tongue as she stared down at this mysterious boy from the orphanage. She was unsure of what his true motives were or what he was even trying to tell her. It was at this point that Francisco interjected.

"Boy, I don't think Yvonne is truly to blame for her own inaction. If you were truly an enemy then you've the most curious way of expressing it. You've had the advantage on us with that undetectable stealth yet you've chosen to reveal yourself; proving that you never had an intention of attacking us. Yvonne merely responded to your lack of bloodlust with mercy, because if you really did attack she would have really unhesitatingly struck down."

Before she even knew it a silent battle of logic and wit had started between the mysterious boy and the sly merchant. Yet in the end it was Morgant who gave up in the end with a condescending scoff.

"Hah~ I guess there's that too. Yet that still does not change the main theme of this discussion."

Suddenly both Morgant and Francisco turned towards Yvonne and nodded. They had struck some sort of an accord that she was not even aware of.

"What, what is it with you two? Ugh, never mind. What are you even here for boy? What is it that you're trying to say with all of this?"

Yvonne tried to change the topic, dodging her question Morgant responded with a request.

"Originally I thought I'd come to form an alliance with Mr. Francisco Longmoore but it seems that it's necessary to change your perspective beforehand. So, Townguard captain Yvonne, care for a little sparring session?"

At the strange boy's request Yvonne couldn't help but accept. Boy or not, he was clearly different than anyone else and she had to find out what made him so special.

...

As the Longmoore Trading Post was an obviously ill suited arena for combat purposes they had decided to move to a more natural environment.

A snow covered proving grounds, softly illuminated blue by the twinkle of the large royal moon. It was the training field used by the townguards of Vertloch Snowdown.

"Are you sure about this, boy? Despite her previous inept display she's a lot stronger than she lets on. Not mentioning that she's from the 'elite' vampire race, she isn't the captain of this little town's guard for nothing."

Francisco warned as Morgant and Yvonne stared at each other face to face. That being said with his ability to read the opponent's threat level Morgant was well aware of Yvonne's combat potential.

"325. Low."

Morgant smirked to himself as he once more read Yvonne's threat level.

"What?"

Yvonne asked as Morgant randomly spewed numbers, to which he shook his head, replying that it was nothing.

"Whenever you're ready, please... come at me."

Morgant spread his arms in a welcoming and accepting pose, almost condescendingly so. Yvonne clicked her tongue as she assumed he was mocking her. With her personality there was no way she was going to accept a handicap, much less from a child.

"Are you mocking me?"

She Asked in a quiet and accusing voice.

"Nothing of the sort, though I can kind of understand why you'd be so hesitant to start off. Very well then, I shall take the lead, just please try and not fall behind too far."

Without budging from his welcoming hug pose he utilized his psychic power for the first time for combat purposes. Several small pieces of rocks that were laying on the ground started to glow with a shade of blue and levitated around Morgant. It started slowly orbiting him before he flicked his wrist and pointed towards Yvonne.

As he did one of the orbiting stones flew towards her at a relatively high speed. Yvonne frowned as she continue to believe that Morgant was mocking her, 'a rock...?'. She drew her sword, preparing to parry the incoming stone without much thought. However it did not go the way she had original envisioned it would.

Immediately upon impact with her sword the flying stone exploded into a bright fluorescent blue pyre. Quickly it was followed by a powerful shockwave that managed to budge Francisco who stood quite away from the battle arena.

The snow covered battleground instantly evaporated into white mist from the heat alone. For a while after that the entire area was dyed in a dreaded pyre of blue and lightning.

"What...?! What kind of magic was that?!"

Francisco shouted at the top of his lungs as he couldn't even fathom what it was that he just witnessed.

"[Psionic Fission]; psychokensis not magic."

Morgant coldly replied; it put a damper on his mood for someone to even dare compare Sovereign's technique to the savagery of magic.

The raging blue flames continued to ravage through the arena yet not even a trace of Yvonne was evident. Morgant knew it certainly wasn't as though she was completely eviscerated on the spot, he was holding back after all. It was unfortunate but he had no ability to detect life signs so all he could do was wait until the opponent decided to show herself.

Waiting, Morgant and Francisco could feel the rapid elevation of their own heart beats. Revelation by a pair of blood a soaked eyes Yvonne stepped forth from the azure inferno. No longer any hesitation to call Morgant an 'enemy'; she was prepared to call this a 'fight' between two equal parties.

Clearing the hundred meter gap between them in only a few seconds, Yvonne drew her sword ready to strike down. With fiery red anger in her eyes her sword arced majestically down, aiming for Morgant’s soft skin. A swing faster than what a normal human eye could ever hope to track, yet the attack did not connect.

As though he had read her mind ahead of time her sword not only failed to connect but left her completely vulnerable. Taking advantage of her temporary loss of balance Morgant slithered the in, swept her legs and dragged her down by the collar, acquainting her face with the dirt floor.

Looking down at the groveling Townguard captain with an arrogant smirk upon his face Morgant declared.

"Experience and training does not make perfection. No matter how much a leech tries it will never be anything more than a leech. What makes perfection... is perfection itself; my humanity."