Added some more to Chp 10 (missing part from before). Do check it out.

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“The Link”

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It was dubbed as a legendary bout between the strongest Great Knight of Cestia and a mysterious genius martial artist from somewhere. The news and rumors spread like wildfire.

“The Great General Heinz duel with a martial arts genius!”

The Daily Crest and other newspapers made headline of the news – even adding more “spice” to the story – some makes sense, some just don’t. The people spoke of it with excitement.

“That martial artist is a young girl from the east. A genius in her art.”

“She was quite small, but she had the blood of Arcadian Knights!”

“Lightnings above the lord’s residence! I saw them that day!”

“It was a beauty with power equal to a High Knight…”

“The General had to manifest his Fighting Spirit!”

“She was trying to find a man worthy of her hand!”

The public was ecstatic. At the time, whispers and rumours among the soldiers, citizens and even Knights in Central City of Crest made many of them motivated to pay their Great Knight a visit… in bulk. Foreseeing the situation, old Heinz had both of them out before the fuss reached its peak. With Shisha’s quick recovery, they got out of the mansion the next day.

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It has been a month since.

Again in a rather ethereal atmosphere, two people were sitting in half lotus on little higher ground. They were Master Kharnain, still blurry, and Kyosei. In front of them, stood two girls in slightly lower ground – one of them was Shisha.

“How’s the preparation?”

Master Kharnain said.

“Lord Heinz had agreed, and he himself had volunteered to safeguard the ceremony with his four most trusted High Knights and one of his apprentices. I’ve set up the Seal for the ceremony in advance. We’ll begin when the moon is out tomorrow.”

“Very well. Lord Heinz had already shown us that he’s more than competent to handle high-level demon – his aid is assuring. As this will be your first time, Laksha…”

To Shisha’s side, a much younger-looking girl was standing. She looked oriental, with her braided semi-long grey hair and smooth skin. She was wearing a short gray robe until her knees, with long pants underneath. Her long, wide sleeves extended down to the surface, and her pair of leather shoes extended up to her knees. She looked up to Kharnain, her eyes were black, with only her iris silver.

“As requested, I’ll be there to monitor and aid the whole ceremony. I’ll be meeting the Valerys that night. Right now I’m just at the border of the capital.”

Her soft voice ringed around the space.

“Good. Be there early as to check on Shisha’s Seals… Check thoroughly, it’s her first time doing it personally afterall.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Master Kharnain.”

“Shisha, about the irregularity, did you not sense anything else aside from the boy and the presence within him?”

“No Master, the nature around Crest only directed me to the boy. Unless all signs are wrong… impossible for me to mistake the source of such irregularity. Similar to what you sensed before, the nature was excited yet in fear at the same time.”

Shisha answered, definite of her observation. She had extended her sense in deep meditation all around Cestia within the month, and she was certain of the fact.

“These two facts are what troubled us – the nature being excited would mean it’s something nurturing, but in fear would mean devastation…”

Kyosei turned to Kharnain.

“Just like a natural disaster – one may see it as destructive, yet at the same time… hmm, don’t over think it Kyosei. We’ve made the decision so we’ll proceed with it. Laksha, after the ceremony you will have to separate yourself, maintain an appropriate distance – enough to observe and lend aid should… the worse happen. I’ll leave the distance up to your discretion.”

“I understand, Master Kharnain.”

“I’m sorry for asking this of you, and separate you from your previous task. It may very well be a task that takes years.”

“Don’t mention it… when the time comes, I’ll ask you to recompense for it.”

“Really now… haha, Shisha, as your Master has given you his blessing, I give you my blessing as well. I hope you will obtain what your desire. Laksha, Shisha, may God protect you two.”

“May God protect all of us, Master Kharnain.”

Both of them replied in unison.

“…Very well. All of you, you may dismiss.”

Shisha’s image became blurry before disappearing all together. Kyosei’s image followed suit. Soon, only Kharnain and Laksha were there. She raised her right hand and observed it right in front of her face, and felt swirling wind around it. She checked the surrounding before turning to him with an intense look.

“…You’re restraining my dismissal, Master Kharnain. Explain.”

She said, some weight in her words.

“Please excuse me for that Laksha, as I have special mission for you.”

“I shall hear, Master Kharnain.”

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It was past midnight.

The moon was out. It was a full moon, with some clouds hovering in between… The light reflected by the moon was shining ever brightly, illuminating one of the fields and several pools next to Heinz’s mansion. On the field, there were five knights, fully armored – two standing while the other three were sitting beside large roots of a 30m Kapok tree. The two standing were Alnair and Vestianna.

“It should be about time. Where’s the General?”

“Master is in the room just next--- hm?”

Soon, the other three stood as two figures and a lynx came towards them. It was Shisha, and beside her, slightly shorter, was Laksha. Seeing their approach, Vestianna quickly went into the mansion to call for the lord. While waiting, Shisha introduced Laksha to the knights present while Alnair introduced the others to her. Seeing her stature, the knights had trouble believing her to be a possessor of power surpassing theirs, yet were reminded by Alnair with the story of the Masters of the East – whom retain their youth using their supernatural power.

“Hm?”

Laksha turned to the direction of the mansion as she sensed two particular presences.

“These two presence… Such power… one must be Lord Heinz I’ve heard so much about…”

She softly spoke to Shisha just beside her.

“You can sense it, Laksha-sama?”

“Faintly. He suppresses it, but still it’s unmistakable. However, the other one…”

Soon, old Heinz came out from the mansion with Vestianna and Averon beside him.

“You must be Lady Laksha I’ve heard about. Thank you for making such a long journey.”

“It is my pleasure, Lord Heinz. I’ve heard so much about you from the Master.”

“Oh? Kyosei told you about me, eh? That makes it awkward… I hope I didn’t disappoint you somehow.”

“On the contrary, Lord Heinz. I felt the same level of power I could sense from the Master… raging inside you… roaring to get out… it’s amazing how you could effortlessly suppress such… power.”

“Hah. You’re sharp, Lady Laksha, I’ll give you that. Oh, this is my apprentice, Vestianna.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Lady Laksha.”

Vestianna gave her salutation by placing her palm on her chest, and gave a slight bow.

“Pleasure to meet you too, Knight Vestianna.”

“So you’ll monitor today’s ceremony, yes?”

“Indeed, Lord Heinz. I thank you for your cooperation and support. By the way… is that the boy, Averon?”

Averon was looking at her intently, and she noticed the gaze.

- Another one of my next-generation! Woohoo lucky me another beauty~~

The gaze staggered her – as if the boy was examining her, but not in an ill way. She could not detect any of such, and just as Shisha had said, the boy did not have any presence of demon whenever he was awake. After a month of observation, it was discovered that the presence only seeped out when he was sleeping, about once a week.

While Laksha might seem like a child, she was a sage with abundant experience – she had fought devils before, and defeated five of them. Her extremely sharp intuition was acknowledged even by Sage Council. The experience gap between her and Shisha was quite evident, yet at this time, she was a bit perplexed by the gaze… It was a gaze filled with affection and delight. She could also sense positive excitement coming from him.

- This is not the gaze of a child who met a stranger, but more of a brother who seemed to meet his long lost sister… Just who is this child?

...

...

“Laksha-sama?”

She snapped out of her muse.

“Ah, excuse me. First and foremost, let me check the seal you placed on the boy and afterward, on the ground.”

“Yes, Laksha-sama.”

She kneeled in front of the boy, with her head now at par with his… no, slightly lower. She smiled as best as she could, before introducing herself.

“Young Averon… My name is Laksha. I’m Shisha’s friend coming quite far away to meet you. Nice to meet you…?”

She held her hand slightly up to her chin, with fingers up -- and Averon noticed such hand gesture – the camaraderie hand-shake of Astarian Knight! One must put his hand in response and grip tightly, and take them to their chest.

“Ah…”

- No, no way… this hand gesture survived? Why didn’t Shisha… wait, she could be restraining herself since she’s away from her normal circle. Anyway, is this a test? Meh, let’s just do it!

While Laksha chuckled at his musing, he grabbed her hand, gripped and pulled them towards his chest, and hers along – much to her surprise.

“Ah, em…”

Now their hand was barely at each other’s chest, their face an inch away from each other -- his eyes met hers. He smiled confidently, while his eyes conveyed acknowledgement. Not just Laksha, the others who observed the exchange wondered in amusement, and pondered – either the boy was well-trained or just filled with overconfidence, or both.

“Nice to meet you too, Lady Laksha. Pleased to be your acquaintance, and I hope we can be friends.”

- This boy… did Shisha taught him of this gesture… no, she told me she didn’t. This… so this is why Shisha was attracted to the boy… such quality. Can this really be coincidence? Did he learn this from somewhere? Perhaps his grandfather..?

Ah…

She took a little more comfortable distance before answering.

“I hope so too Averon. Now I have a task to do… I heard you’re a rather smart boy, so I figure you can comprehend what is happening?”

“Pretty much.”

“I need to check on the seal Shisha placed onto you. May I?”

“S-sure… it’s on the back so…”

He eyed the others around, and Laksha exchanged look with old Heinz before he asked the others to give space. He took out his shirt, revealing a really well-toned body of a five-year-old. Laksha examined the seal placed onto him. It was a seal with eight celestial inscriptions – a five star as base with a circle around it, and a rather obscure language in the middle of that star and on each of its five point.

“You forgot to place this, Shisha…”

“Eh? Oh…”

Laksha placed another round of language – from her fingertips light came out, and she wrote symbols that kept on connecting with each other. After a few minutes of rather awkward and ecchi, I mean, itchy moment – she finished the inscriptions.

“Done. Now I’ll check the seal on the ground.”

She turned, and began to examine the ground where previously, the knights were sitting on. The seal was placed near the large 30m Kapok tree, with inscriptions hard to see with naked eyes. The tree however, did not obscure the moonlight. At the same time, Shisha’s lynx went to take a nap near that very tree.

“Hm, hmm…”

She circled the ground three times before stopping.

“Good – Perfect, actually. The seal is ready and the moon --”

She looked at the moon, which now was obscured by the clouds. She turned to the others, and they seemed to anticipate something – it seemed they might have been acquainted with her ability more so than she had like. She sighed a little, before raising her right hand – her long and broad sleeves rose up to the air, and a series of swirling air currents rushed up onto the sky.

SWIII -------- SWIIIIII ------------ SWIIIIIIIIIIIIII------------

Up above, all present could see the clouds being dissipated and the larger ones being pushed. The knights present gawked – jaw dropped -- as the full moon returned to shine over them again.

The image of silver haired girl with grey robe, illuminated by the moonlight filled their vision, and the waft kept the robe flying – making a majestic sight with the large full moon at her back. Her silver iris – and the sound of swirling wind added to the magnificence of such scene.

“Laksha – The Grandmaster of Wind Manipulation…”

Alnair uttered. The other High Knights exchanged look, trying to figure out whether what they were seeing, was not their own hallucination. Old Heinz smirked while his body was trembling, raring to have a go.

- Amazing… even though we’re not in full war, these Sages – successors of us Astarian Knights did not grow weaker… instead, they develop more techniques unique to theirs… then again, I’ve yet to see some of our old ones… meh I’ll ask Shisha later… in a discreet way. Hm? Vestianna… heh heh heh…

Meanwhile Vestianna still had her mouth open. The blonde lady snapped out when Averon poked her belly, of which he feigned ignorance when she turned to him.

“Now it’s time. Shisha…”

“Yes, Laksha-sama. Young Averon, come.”

“Yes~~”

Averon left the confused Vestianna.

Shisha kneeled just beside him, speaking softly.

“Hear me, young Averon. This is the vow of a lifetime. You may reject it, though I wish you would accept. Accepting it would mean linking your life-force with me, secondly my master and slightly so with all the Sages around Ein Gard. This is the Master – Apprentice Vow of Sages – Sworn Protector of this world – against any injustice, cruelty and things of similar nature. As per custom I’ll let you have a minute of time to think over your decision.”

- It must be similar to Master – Apprentice vow of Astaria… but why the seals…? Oh well I’ll just trust my next-generations on this…

…

…

“Do you, Averon Valery, accept me, Shisha Valarov as your Master, and you yourself as my Apprentice?”

“I do.”

“Then repeat after me.”

He nodded, then Shisha, clearly stated.

“I, my name, solemnly agree to be a loyal apprentice to my master…”

“I, Averon Valery, solemnly agree to be a loyal apprentice to my master…”

Averon followed her instruction. The vow was nothing binding except the fact that the apprentice have to be loyal to the Master as long as the Master did not ask or do something outrageous, cruel or against any just principle.

“… O’ God, May I be guided by you at all times, and not strayed off the path of righteousness. So please help me, God.”

“… O’ God, May I be... guided by you at all times… and not strayed off... the path of righteousness. So please... help me… God…”

“Eh? Eh?”

Tears started to swell on Averon’s eyes… The important part of the vow still did not change… even after 700 years. Even if they were not called Knights but Sages instead -- Even when they were so far from homeland. Laksha and the other noticed his peculiar behaviour, yet soon he wiped out his tears.

“…Are you fine, Averon?”

“Yes, yes I’m fine, Master Shisha.”

“Haha… then I’ll proceed with the linking.”

Shisha instructed Averon to lie with his front on the ground, of where the seal was placed. His shirt was again removed, with only pants on. She uttered something, but it was so softly spoken he could barely make sense of what it was. Heinz’s High Knights surrounded the place, with a hand on their sword.

She stood up, and exchanged look with Laksha. She nodded in response, of which Shisha then put her hand on Averon’s back.

“I, Shisha Valarov, accept this boy, Averon Valery, as my apprentice. As the Master I shall share my life-force with him, and aid him to his formation of strong mental, physical and spiritual attunement. Should he be worthy, I shall aid him in his formation of Life-Force Regalis – the very skill of which God has blessed us with. With the moon, the nature surrounding us, the Ether and those present here as witnesses, I hereby proclaim this vow as my responsibility, until he was strong enough to be independent. Light our way, O’ God.”

The Seal placed onto Averon’s back glowed in brilliant light, absorbing the moonlight around them. The Seal on the ground glowed slightly, and Shisha with her right hand seemingly attached to his back, and left hand its wrist, glowed in similar manner.

“Ugh…!”

“Is she alright?”

Old Heinz asked Laksha just beside them.

“Should be. It’s always the hardest for first-timers – but nothing life-threatening, I assure you… at least so far.”

“That last line was not at all convincing.”

“I guess… If anything goes wrong I’ll jump in to help. Until then, let’s wait, Lord Heinz.”

…

Shisha had her eyes even turned to similar glow as the moonlight, and she was trembling… From within her chest, a sphere of sparkling light seemed to slowly seep its light into Averon through her hand. Averon gritted his teeth to keep himself from shouting. The exchange took a few minutes before…

*Flash*

…

…

A flash of light entered Shisha’s vision, and she noticed she was somewhere… the ground was a wasteland – the land was badly burned, and signs of battle was evident. Smokes from afar… so many that the battle should involve hundreds of thousand… Soon, a shadow – large enough to cover the whole of her view, covered her vision. Two pairs of eyes… each with head so large that an eye alone was larger than her body…

“Dragon…? Two dragons? No… What’s with this ridiculous size?!”

KUAAARRRGGHHHH…!!!

They roared in unison. The roar was unlike any she had heard before.

“Ugh…! The sound… how… annoying…! Who are you, you… beasts?! Darn it, I can’t… move.”

The fighting spirit the beings emitted was bizarre – enough to immobilize her – something that never happened before. Soon, she heard two familiar sounds – the sounds of deep breath being taken in.

“OH, SHOOT!”

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