Severance

(Adam the mage’s POV)

I rode the horse until I reached the edge of the capital. I can see the walls surrounding the luxurious white city. I used to live and stay in this city, and it is a good place. What I am about to do now may seem taboo in the human world. But I have not much choice. I must stop the nonsense from its root cause. The kingdom focused too much about keeping up with their name and reputation that they choose to sacrifice the people just to keep up their appearance.

I pray to god that things don’t turn out worse. But it seems god themselves are interfering with my life now. The hatred in my Sword of Rage is about to get dissipated. I quickly think of those that can affect my life if I leave them alone, and several of them appear in my head. In order to rend the person in my mind, I need to perform the swing action, and also I need to be within a certain distance from the target. The Sword of Rage is about to dissipate after the long travel time, so I just quickly swing it while thinking of just hurting the hero and the king, and cutting down the main general. The king is pivotal for uniting the kingdom, and I don’t want a civil war to happen because of me. The hero is a terrible person, but I don’t want Ester to cry due to his death. The main general, General Gramont, seems to hold many hidden hands, and losing him will not affect the kingdom’s affair too adversely. Storming in the castle to demand a stop to this farce is also an option, but I am not sure how much longer I can use the Sword of Rage.

When the Sword of Rage is swung down, there was a huge resistance and a yellow material can be seen blocking the path of my slash and holds me there. I tried to push and pull the Sword of Rage to get it out of the entanglement, I managed to get it out, but the energy of the slash went to the castle wall as a physical assault of energy, hitting and breaking a part of the castle and its walls from the outside. The army garrisoning the capital got alerted of the attack and quickly went to investigate. I was standing quite a distance outside of the capital so it will take some time for them to reach me here. I suspect that the capital is not such a simple place, and it’s probably protected by some sort of divine item or beings, and can even prevent an attack from this divine item gifted by God.

The Sword of Rage has returned to its blade form. I suppose I can try how I can use it in this form. I tried swinging the blade of Rage, but each time, it hits the yellow material as I tried to target General Gramont in the capital. After three tries, the blade then loses its shine and it says I have to wait a day to use it again. I stored the blade inside my storage that utilizes space magic phenomena, something that is against the natural law of causality. The blade disappears from my hand and is reported that the blade is stored in the storage. It is very convenient, and it cost nothing to invoke the space storage. It’s really strange even in terms of this magic world.

I need to quickly get back to the village and stay away as far as possible from the capital. I would have to say my goodbye to the place I spent eight and a half years of my life. I quickly got on the horse and dash through my way back to the village. After some distance away from the capital, I came to the stream I know, and I get down to wash my body off all the blood and dirt. My shirt is all ragged and tattered, mostly from sliding away from the spears and swords aimed at me to dodge them. I cover the holes well by putting my shirt together with some tree saps that I can find and then return to the village

While getting on my horse and about to turn away and return to the village, I saw a nun and a little girl walking by. I asked them if they are in a hurry or if they want a ride. The nun rejected my offer, but the little girl wants to ride the horse. I give both of them a ride and the three of us ride on the horse. The horse is quite tame and steady, and I have trained to ride on them when in the capital, as I don’t have the chance to ride one when I was at the village. As the hatred in me subsided, my mind began to think clearly again. I galloped the horse steadily while I chat with the nun and the little girl. It seems that they are going to meet someone in a village neighbouring Thrisand village. The nun works as a healer for the church in the capital, and the little girl works as her apprentice. They live in the church orphanage, where the sister works and the little girl lives. The little girl has talent in simple healing magic, so the nun brought her along when she works so that the little girl can help out and learn how to heal.

I galloped the horse all the way to the village, and it’s about to turn dusk. I ask her if it’s ok to drop her near the village of Thrisand, and she said ok. I asked her what will they do if they were to walk out instead of he send them there, and they replied that they are used to camping outside. I am skeptical that they can bring enough with them to do camping outside. They seem to want to keep the secret to themselves, so I don’t pry further. As we reached the village, I decided to drop her near the village. Some of the soldiers that don't participate in the battle are garrisoned there, and I totally forgot about them. They saw me from a distance and began calling me the devil mage and begin arming themselves.

The nun got totally scared of me after hearing my nickname being called by the soldiers. She jumped down and ran away without even trying to help the little girl to get down. I tried to call her out and tell her to calm down, but she got so shaken, she just ran away while shrieking. The little girl got too shaken, she cannot move. Her body shivers and the colour of her skirt darken at the base. I am really sorry for it to end up like this. I invoke the inventory and retrieve both the Sword of Rage and Guilt in their blade form and engage the soldiers charging at me with spears. My natural running skill allows me to close in on the soldiers and I hit them with the blades. I check their status with appraisal, and will seriously injure those that have committed serious offenses and only disable those who committed light or no offense. I want to abstain from killings if possible, as I have taken so many in just today.

I return to the horse and found the little girl has climbed down herself and is running away, but she fell. I quickly go to her, but she got so terrified, she can’t move.

“Please, are you alright? I'm not going to hurt you or anybody. Can I carry you up?” (Adam)

She shakes her head and crouches down, refusing to look at me. I tell her that I want to go visit my friend and ask if she can offer prayers to the dead. She didn’t answer my question. I can’t just leave her out here, so I carry her and put her on the horse, and I ride it to go to the place where the battle with the army took place earlier. She shivers all the way of the travel. It seems like I’m using her for my own convenience, and I felt bad.

I reached the location and got down from the horse, and I carry her down and put on my shoulders. The smell is there, but I just ignore it at the moment. Bodies that can be seen strewn around the battlefield earlier have been properly placed in marked graves. I told the soldiers that I have absorbed their loyalty to the kingdom earlier to collect the bodies of their dead comrade and bury them properly in marked graves, like how they would pay respect to a fallen soldier in the battlefield.

I go to the pothole where Amanda’s family has fallen into earlier. After putting the little girl down, I carefully go in and carry their bodies up from the pothole. I cried as I do so, as much as I fall for my parents. They are like my family too. Brandon is a brother to me. I raised up Brandon, his mom, then his father. They all have a pained look on their faces. I noticed that they are still breathing. The gouge of the stakes is not deep, as they fall into an angle that avoids critical it on them. The father has very little breath left, and so do his mom. Brandon is badly wounded from other injuries, but I can see that his father and mom break the fall for him and he has not been hurt badly by the stakes in the potholes.

I ask the little girl, does she have enough mana to do some healing. She moves her head up and down. I ask her if she can perform healing on the father and mom of Amanda and Brandon. She goes beside their bodies, presses both her hands lightly on the chest of Brandon’s father and invokes the magic by prayers, and a little green light is emitted from her hands. Next, she repeats it on the mom. Lastly, she does the same to Brandon. The complexion on all three of them did turn for a bit better. Brandon is slightly conscious at that time, so he woke up after getting some healing. I was really glad that he wakes up, and that I brought this girl along.

“Hey, how do you feel? I’m sorry about all this. Sorry for causing all this trouble.” (Adam)

“…Where…is….paa..maa…?” (Brandon)

“They are here, beside you. They are still alive.” (Adam, holding back tears)

“…Amanda…” (Brandon)

“She’s with Lillie, and she’s alright” (Adam)

“…He..lp..heal..pa..ma…” (Brandon)

“I will. I definitely will. Don’t worry. Just rest your mind and body to recover.” (Adam, tears fell)

Brandon still doesn’t know that I was no longer able to invoke magical phenomena. I went to find the imperial army chief, now insane and not himself anymore, with a group of soldiers. I approach him, and he is scared of me. I request for the blue pendant to be returned, and he timidly passes it to me. I wear my glove and take it from him, and appraise it.

Named item: Aqua Regisais (Blue Pendant)

Abilities:

Passive: +200 Mana to wielder

+Mana recovery (% depends on compatibility of item with wielder)

+Improve invoked magic, especially water-based spells (% depends on compatibility of item with wielder)

Active: Mana Shield (Personal)

Mana Shield (Targeted)

Password is required to invoke active abilities

Item can still be tempered for improvement

Yes, this is the item that I made for to my sister. The name for the item is made at the spur of the moment. I return with it beside Brandon and the little girl. The little girl is busy healing the father and mom with her healing phenomena. I asked her that if she can heal them to the point where their life won’t be in danger, she just shakes her head. I place the blue pendant over her neck. I told her I’m merely lending her the pendant, and she nodded. She’s still fearful to speak to me. She tried healing again, and the result is better. The pendant compatibility with her is high, and her healing phenomena are more effective now. It also depends on her intent and how strong she desires to heal others, and for the healed person to accept the healing. It seems to stop all the bleeding and close up the wounds. She got tired and fell asleep while she keeps healing all three of them.

It’s lucky that the army that’s left behind after the battle has turned quiet and passive. They fear me, and they seem to obey my words well. I tell them to go back to their homes if they have one. They must have missed their family. I told the ones who are still going to stay here to make themselves useful and go help the village in any way they could. I assigned several that I have appraised their status to be clean to keep guard and to help care the little girl and Amanda’s family. Using appraisal several times a day is very taxing on the mind, as it causes the brain to work excessively on the person’s details and some mana as the invocation cost. After making sure the assignment here is done, I intend to go and fetch Amanda and Lillie from the forest.

I ride on another horse I can find, and let the previous one eat some hay and take a rest. I go to the direction of the forest under the foot of a mountain nearby. This is where I told Amanda to bring Lillie. If they don’t get any news from me in three days, they would journey to a village adjacent to the mountain and hopefully find some shelter there. Now I must go to find them there. I hope Amanda and Lillie have prepared enough for the journey.

I go down the path of the road until I reached the forest. I tied the horse to a tree and cut a stack of fresh grass for it to eat. I got no cup for water so this will have to do. I quickly dash into the forest. I tried to look for markings that only Amanda, Lillie, Brandon, Larsen, and I know. There are some booby traps set here and there to catch unwary trespasser, but with my trapping skills and disarm skills, I can know where they are usually set and can either avoid or disarm them. The journey has been three long hours, and I have to track the uneven path, and sometimes encounter wild boars, snakes, or wild leopards. The predators were agile, but they don’t dare to approach me when I take out my blade of Rage and Guilt, and they ran away. Before this, I gave my small knife to Amanda that I got from Larsen so that she can at least fend off creatures like this, but I guess that’s asking for too much, even from a woman as strong and brave as Amanda. I ran and ran as fast as my legs can carry me. The fatigue from the battle earlier seems like a lie, as I felt like I got refreshed partway through. It’s dark already, so I hope they can stay safe before I reach her.

I heard a scream when I was running around looking for the markings and footsteps left by Amanda and Lillie. It dashes to the location and found Larsen, with this body bandaged, is protecting the two behind him against a large-looking brown bear. Brown bears are ferocious if it has targeted a prey for their meal. Larsen is holding up the knife and a wooden handguard to fight and block the attacks of the large brown bear. Without wasting time, I invoke the blade of Rage and Guilt onto my hands, and plunge both of them into the body of the brown bear, using my entire body weight to supplement my low physical attack. The brown bear raises a terrible scream and tried to turn and swipe at me, but the sharpness of the blade and the force of its turn made the wound opened larger, and it was seriously wounded. I don’t intend to slaughter a wild beast in nature, because I respect the law and life of nature also has meaning, like us. I remove the blades, and after making sure the bear no longer able to fight, I stored the blades back into the inventory and went to Larsen and the girls.

I briefly tell the girls and Larsen about the events on my side, and I want to bring them out of the forest. I told Amanda that her family is still alive, and she was overjoyed and fell into tears. Lillie looks at me like a stranger, and always by Amanda’s side. Larsen also apologized to me regarding my parents, and I just acknowledge him that we had all tried our best. I wanted to carry Lillie and go home, but she wouldn’t let me. Larsen is still hurting, but he said a guys pride is broken if he has to be carried, and he hates piggyback carry. Carrying Amanda is possible, but Lillie wants to be with Amanda, so I can’t carry them both, at least not with my current condition. I guide them out from the forest while protecting them, and we set out camp at a cave that some hunters from the village use when they stay out overnight to give them some rest. I take a seat and stand guard outside. Amanda approached me while I was guarding.

“Thank God Mother Freya that you are still alive“ (Amanda)

“Yeah, but I have become a subordinate for the God of War now” (Adam)

“What? The God of War? How come you got acquainted with?” (Amanda)

“I was about to perish in battle when the God of War made me Its subordinate and gave me a gift. The gift turns the tide of the battle one-sidedly” (Adam)

“I’m so sorry for my action the past days.” (Amanda)

“It’s already over. I didn’t keep it at heart, and you did it for your family. I will also do my best for my family too, so I understand you” (Adam, rubbing Amanda’s hairs)

“It’s just so terrible. It’s so unbearable, that feeling. Adam, you can still hold everything together after all the bad things that happened. You are amazing.” (Amanda)

“I’m not very sure what all this will lead me to, but I will lead this world to a better place from now on. I realized that one can’t do everything on their own. It’s just that I will have a hard time with people and their behavior. They are very dark. Do you believe in past lives and rebirth?” (Adam)

“What is that?” (Amanda)

“Rebirth or reborn is a concept where living beings grow old and die, then their soul transmigrates and enters a newborn again, repeating the cycle of life” (Adam)

“Our church only teaches us that we have one life given by God, Holy mother Freya, and we must love our life dearly and never do anything sinful. The demons are beings that are sinful in itself, the incarnation of sin in a body.” (Amanda)

“I was taught that too when I was a child, but I always knew I was different. Now that I know more, I want to know even more. I will investigate what are the truth in this world without any bias or hearsay without proof.” (Adam)

“Will you share it with me” (Amanda)

“Yes, and you can also check it with me too so that I won’t get lost alone. Come and journey with me” (Adam)

“Ahem” (Larsen)

We got out of our talking session and noticed that Lillie and Larsen have not sleep due to our talking. Lillie looks peeved, and I quickly got to her side to console her, only to get sharp punches on my chest, and she ran away to Amanda’s side.

The night is going to be day in a few more hours, so I gather them up and make a move towards the battlefield first before the village. While we travel, I also fill in on the details of what happened to them. The day is going to be long as we return back to the village.