Year 2, Fall, Third Month, Fourth Week.

“So, you’re really trying to kill me?”

Omero didn’t understand what the man meant, he threw a spear at him, of course, he was trying to kill him. He tightened his grip over the sword and approached the Captain while praying to the Origin to help him keep the man occupied long enough.

“Hahaha… You are planning to fight me? You might be crazy, old man… You had better chances getting me executed…”

Omero couldn’t comprehend what Horacios saying, but he would try to play along with it, better talking than fighting.

“I tried, but you…”

“I knew something was wrong… Who is helping you do this? Are they after my father? Which family?”

Omero didn’t try to move faster, actually, he was now moving more sideways, kind of circling the Captain.

“Can’t you guess?”

“Ugh… I don’t care about politics! It doesn’t matter which family from the Wind Capital is after my father, they can’t destroy us. The Howland family is stronger than they think.”

“Maybe… But can you escape from their other traps?”

Omero had to push back the desire to laugh, the situation was dire but the man was too stupid.

“Which traps? They don’t even dare to attack us directly… Hahaha... What can they do? Get another village to attack me?”

“I don’t think you will be laughing when you meet the Dynasty…”

The panic in the Captain's expression made it clear he was buying into it.

“The Dynast… Impossible! They can’t!”

“From where do you think these especially sharp weapons came from?”

Omero used the sword to easily cut through a chunk of wood and prove his point. Horacios gulped, earlier he was wondering why the villager’s weapons were oddly sharp. If this was the job of the Dynasty, everything was possible.

“Holy Origin! We are doomed, I need to tell father…”

Omero tried to be as silent as possible, maybe the man would decide to leave. However, he might have overdone it and the Captain would soon realize the insanity of his words. The Captain turned around, but before he left, he turned back.

“I should kill you right now to prevent them from finding out that I know…”

“You don’t need to, I don’t have a way to communicate with them here…”

“Better safe than sorry.”

Horacios dashed towards him using the magic energy around to power his movements, he was fighting seriously. Omero only had time to change his stance to barely defend against the attack, the Captain’s strength pushed him a few meters back. Fortunately, he managed to remain standing but the attack strained his fragile muscles and bones. The Captain made a displeased grunt before dashing towards him again, but this time, instead of pushing the old man, he would attack from above and prevent him from using the impact to jump back. Omero barely defended, the powered attack pressed him down and he had to let the sword slid to avoid being crushed. The attack didn’t kill him but it left a big cut on his shoulder.

Omero hissed before jumping to the side, his old body wouldn’t be able to handle much more. Horacios cursed and took a MQ energy crystal from his pouch. He started to drain the crystal with visible displeasure to waste his resources with this Origin-forsaken old man. Omero looked around, trying to find a way to escape, but couldn’t come up with anything before the man was dashing towards him again. This was it, his life, his goals, his revenge, everything would end just like this, by the hand of some stupid noble-born Captain.

He held the sword high, ready to offer his last futile resistance. At least, Diana had escaped, she would avenge him. He was ready to meet his end, but an arrow flew through the camp and carved Horacio’s leg. The wounded and enranged Captain stepped back as he searched for the offender.

Next to the fallen wounded boy, a white-haired old woman stood holding a bow. Horacios looked at her, incredulous of the ability of the elders of this village. She smiled sweetly and said:

“I’m sorry… I don’t have a good aim… I was trying to hit your head…”

“…”

Horacios took out the arrow to allow the energy flowing inside him to heal the wound faster and was about to resume his attack on Omero when his perception made him turn back and block an upcoming attack. Lew didn’t allow his fellow Fighter to empower his movements and proceeded to attack him non-stop. Horacios blocked and tried to jump back, but his enemy wouldn’t allow it. His not-yet-healed leg faltered as he failed to block one attack. The sword entered and left his body faster than he could curse, then another slashed to his chest ended his life.

Omero looked at Marlen expectantly, but she just shook her head negatively as tears started to fall. He turned to the sky and repeated some wise words he heard a lifetime ago:

“True freedom can’t be given… It has to be earned…”

***

The Wind Lord played with his fingers as he read through the message sent by Wind Castle City Lord. Every time his expression turned complicated the attendants in the throne room stopped breathing. Their Master was usually calm, but nobody could predict when his mood would shift. He finished reading the message but contemplated for a few minutes before speaking:

“Summon Thundery here… I have a mission for her… This might be a good opportunity to test her abilities…”

However, after thinking a little more about it, he decided to take a peek himself. It wouldn’t hurt to see what was waiting for his daughter. Windsor extended his right arm and the staff flew to his hand. His left hand caressed the big grey crystal on the top of the staff, extracting some dense wind energy from it. The air in the throne room stirred forming wind currents around him, it continued to increase strength until it became a whirlwind.

He chanted something and the wind currents took the form of a giant eagle. The wind servant flew off the Palace balcony and traveled towards the east. Windsor smiled proudly and closed his eyes, on his mind he could see the strange “vision” of the wind servant. Instead of actually seeing, the servant could perceive everything the wind touched. It traveled above the land, revealing first Wind Castle, then the Guard’s tower and finally, it arrived at the empty fields near Caiset Village.

The servant circled the area, but Windsor couldn’t sense people there. He frowned and commanded it to fly around the region. Surprisingly, he sensed a group of approximately one hundred people southeast from the village, the servant smelled a lot of blood. Then, he sensed a smaller group coming from the direction of the Forest. Windsor was even confused. He commanded the servant to fly lower and traced the sent of the smaller group to check their origin. The servant follow it until it entered the Forest, Windsor felt a strong discomfort caused by the unrestraint dense energy that was suppressing his servant, but he pushed through it, he could keep the spell going for a few more minutes as long as he didn’t go too deep.

The servent tried to keep following the sent, it was getting harder, but fortunately, it was fresh. The wind servant neared a place with fewer trees, but it struggled to survive the energy pressure. Windsor urged it to proceed, he just needed to check what was there. The servant’s debilitated perception sweep through the clearing but it was suddenly stopped by a giant dome before the servant was dispelled.

“What was that?”

***

Karl smiled as the light blue thin layer appeared around the outpost, everybody cheered, it was magnificent. But then, a giant faint symbol appeared on top of the barrier as a large amount of spiritual energy left Karl. He felt dizzy and had to lean on his mother to keep standing, the symbol disappeared and the barrier changed color for a second before returning to normal. Reiner asked concerned:

“Karl, what happened?”

But Karl was too confused to answer.

‘Master AI, what was that? I think I saw an Array on top of the barrier… How?’

‘-- Someone very powerful tried to scry through the barrier.--’