“Lord Tal if we are to make it to the ceremony on time we have to leave soon” an elfish soldier dressed completely in armor said to me as I stood on the side of a cliff, The very cliff that Aiya had flung us over while protecting me with her very body and sacrificing her life in the process.

I clenched my fist in anger as I remembered my first moments in this world, how I had been like a defenseless calf in the middle of starved wolfs. With a nod to the soldier I gazed off the cliff into cloud valley where I had faced death for the second time before entering the waiting carriage.

It had been ten years, a decade, since my aunts schemes had nearly cost me my life. My mother with a platoon from the black sword clan had found me in the woods surrounded by corpses and had carried me back, wisely not to the Van Rost city but to the black sword castle. There they had contacted a healer to help me, but all he could do was confirm what I already knew, my cultivation was shattered.

The news spread through the house like wild fire in the dry season, the next head of the house had lost his cultivation. Former allies jumped ship and became Vanlathriel supporters, parents who had pushed their children to become friends with me now warned them to avoid me, in all I was soundly abandoned. If not for the fact that my mother was the daughter of the head of the black sword clan and a prodigy in her own right, even they would have abandoned me.

As my reputation went to shit, I on the other hand was having a massive mental break down. My death then reincarnation, then attempted assassination had occurred in rapid succession, given me little time to realize what had happened to me, in hind sight I suspect I went slightly mad. For eight months I secluded myself in my room within black sword castle screaming at the ceiling for Yakomo or Shikubu to show themselves. When that didn’t work I went into a depression for an entire year only eating and sleeping and doing nothing else. Through all this the person that had been firmly by my side had been lady Erulasse, my mother.

She visited me every day to console and grieve with me even though she did not know what I was anguished about. When she had heard that my magic pathways had been crippled she had shown a relieved expression, when I had asked why she seemed relieved her reply had endeared her to me, “the world of mages and sword saints is a treacherous one, maybe now that you are no longer a part of it you can live in peace” she had said.

That had shaken me out of my one and a half year depression, that and along with the fact that I had a psychopath as an aunt trying to do me in and a bunch of god like creatures that would probably come to collect on the loan I had never wanted, nobody needed power more than I did.

I dove whole heartedly into the knowledge given to me by Shikubu and searched for a remedy to my ailment, mage backlash, and began to re-cultivate my magic wells from scratch discarding my destroyed ones. But the damage had been done, along with the news that my cultivation had been crippled and my year and a half seclusion, Vanlathriel had swayed the remaining elders over to her side and I had only one family of the twelve that made house Van Rost supporting me and that was the family Aiya had come from.

The Loft family line were nothing if not loyal, and as soon as they heard that I was injured and would not be coming back to the Van Rost family manor they had packed their things and headed over to the black sword castle, of course there were still spies embedded by my aunt but the majority had come in loyalty to me, however misplaced that was.

For five years after that I threw myself into magical cultivation and reviewing the information that was now swimming around in my head. I dove into alchemy to re-grow my ruined pathways, memorized all the runes and their various combination to invoke various spells, learned the language of power to invoke the elements and unlocked methods of enchanting that would make most mages piss themselves in terror.

Not knowing who to trust I had embraced my title as the secluded cripple and for those five years most people outside black sword castle did not lay a single eye on me, and slowly but surely to everyone but my mother I became a passing memory.

As my magical prowess grew by leaps and bounds one glaring weakness became apparent, magicians were physically weak. As an elf some of that weakness had been mitigated due to the natural talent the elf body gave but if I met a halfway decent knight who somehow by skill, tactics or luck managed to get pass my magical defense I was done for. I wasn’t particularly worried at the time, my mother was the most decorated swords woman on the Elvin continents some of her genes must have trickled down to me, is what I thought at the time but that proved to be a misconception.

My mother willingly revealed all her secret techniques to me, her forms, her exercise regiments, her movement and martial cultivation techniques, everything was revealed, however one thing became painfully obvious, I lacked talent. Don’t misunderstand in terms of ability within two years I was confident in defeating anybody in my generation in a duel, and based on my movement techniques, if not win against then escape from anyone in the generation immediately ahead of mine, however that was due to meticulous training and hard work.

In terms of magical aptitude I was a once in a millennium genius that would overturn the world of magic and shake the very foundation of the earth but my skills as a swordsman was only so and so, and this became very apparent within the first month of training with mother. We brainstormed briefly on how to overcome this deficit in my otherwise meteoric rise to power when the novel idea in form of experience from my past life gave us a new direction, unarmed combat.

To the eternal shame of my grandmother in my past life I had not studied the family branch of judo but had been really into the mixed martial arts scene, especially when I had amassed enough wealth to hire the coaches of former champions I had trained in famous gyms and done floor routines with the best of them. After seeing me perform my various floor routines, katas and exercises, mother called of the training for the remainder of the day and disappeared into her chambers staring at various notes and diagrams she had drawn while watching me, the next day was hell. My mother had taking what we had affectionately dubbed the hell gate program in my old gym and managed to evolve it. Gymnastic regimens were added, floor routines were intensified, submission holds were examined discarded or modified, and she took mixed martial arts and turned it into something from an old kung-fu movie.

For two years we trained, for two years I forged my body into a living breathing weapon but more importantly bonded with my mother. It was bliss, I woke then ate, cultivated my magical pathways and magical wells for six hours, then let my mother kick the snot out of me for another six hours after which we simply rested bloodied and sweaty on the wooden floor and talked about anything and everything under the sun, but all things had to come to an end. My mother had been away from the capital for nine years, on the day of my attempted assassination she was meant to have been returning to the main branch of the black sword clan in the capital continent, but upon hearing of the attack she had returned from the harbor with her full battalion, but now that it was public knowledge that I was safe and enough time had passed since the ordeal, her father was demanding she return.

So with my heavy encouragement, mother boarded a ship and headed back to the homeland of the elves and once more I was left alone. I dove back into my training with zeal fully expecting to continue this trend for the next two decades, but signs of my dearest aunt’s treachery had reached my mother.

A single letter was all it took to shatter my peaceful life, lady Vanlathriel had written a letter to the capital requesting they acknowledge her son as the next head of house Van Rost stating that the current head candidate having become a cripple and a recluse was no longer qualified to lead the house, this would prove to be Vanlathriel undoing. Having grown accustomed to having the backing of a noble house the black sword clan was unwilling to lose their link to true political power. Mother along with twelve political advocates marched on the royal palace demanding to know why the crown family was involved with the affairs of a royal house, grandfather rallied his old war buddies to make a united front, now normally the royal family would not be moved by this but however at this time we were at war with the human kingdom of Doncu and the generals defending against the army were my grandfather and his war buddies with their various clans. With the threat of a boycott by all the mercenaries that were currently fighting on the front line, lady Vanlathriel suddenly stopped receiving responses to her letters, this was when I made my move.

I had thanked the current acting head at the black sword manor for his hospitality for the last ten years instructed the loft clan to pack up their stuff and started making my way towards the Van Rost family manor. Where mother’s spies had informed me my aunt was trying to have a small party where the elders would secretly acknowledge her son as the house head. the opportunity to crash a party and catch my treacherous aunt and her conniving husband along with the arrogant elders of my house red handed in actions that would lawfully allow me call for their heads, a better invitation could not have been written by fate itself.

I sunk into the expensive cushion that lined the seats of the spacious carriage giving a nod to the soldier who stood at the door indicating I was settled, with a sharp salute he closed the door and the carriage lurched forward continuing our journey.

“Is everything alright Lord Tal?” a voice filled with disdain asked from across the carriage. I raise my head to see a female elf, faced composed but eyes filled with malice. Without responding I pulled the small table I had been working on before requesting the carriage to stop and continued my writings. It had been that way since Vareyen had been appointed as my new hand maiden from the loft clan. While the elders of the loft family revered me for reasons unknown, I was despised by the younger generation, seen as the reason for their fall from grace, they obeyed my instructions but did not let it remain hidden that they hoped I would fall and choke on horse shit.

This did not bother me much for I had fully intended to use the loft clan as long as they remained useful and discard them the moment they weren’t anymore, I did not have time to waist on petty elves when monsters had me on the mind. We continued to ride in silence over the next twelve hours, as I occupied myself with the manuscript I was creating and Vareyen did whatever elves did when they were bored.

“My lord, we approach the Van Rost mansion, I will dispatch a messenger to the mansion to inform them of your arrival” a deep voice belonging to a Loft clan member called Hauser drifted through the carriage door. Deep jealousy spread through my body as his voice registered in my mind, the last ten years had been good to me in terms of my growth both in magic and in martial arts, I had grown into a fine young man. As Phillip yang my height had maxed out at five-eleven, six feet if the person asking me was particularly attractive, but as Tal I was already at six-three which believe it or not was average among elfin youth, despite my extremely rigorous training regimen I had grown into a swimmers build, but to my ever growing despair my voice did not lose its melodic sound, it had dropped from a treble to a tenor but still had an annoying rhythm to it.

“That would not be necessary Hauser, I will be going directly to the main house” I said and instantly Vareyen froze across from me. Her shock was understandable, normally I would arrive at an inn and send a messenger to the main house so I could be appropriately received, so all things been normal I would arrive at the main house tomorrow morning, or that was the information Vareyen had fed to Vanlathriel. “My lord you cannot, it is against tradition!” she yelped at me, her terror clearly displayed on her face.

I had learned one thing very early on even before I had awakened my previous lives memory, the members of my house were terrified of my golden eyes, it was unnatural the maids would whisper or it was as if he could see into my soul the stable hands might say, It was these eyes I fixed onto Vareyen.

“You presume to tell your lord what he can and cannot do?” I asked in a low deadly voice as my killing aura filled the inside of the carriage. Instantly Vareyen wilted into her seat her face filled with shock, after all this was meant to be the crippled young lord, yet here I was clearly showing martial prowess. The fact that I had regained my magical pathways was a secret to everyone but my mother, but as I was about to go on a rampage in the main house it won’t be a secret for long, so finally putting one of Vanlathriel spies in her place a few moments early wasn’t a problem, especially as I planned to eradicate her entire information network.

“Forgive me my lord, I did not think before I spoke” Vareyen said dropping her eyes to the floor of the carriage, I let the silence carry for awhile before dropping my gaze back to the recently completed manuscript. Anything worth doing was worth doing well and that applied particularly to overthrowing the leading sect of a clan, I must cripple the source of their power and quickly garner favor from the powers that be to be able to establish a threshold as the clan leader, unfortunately Vanlathriel was too well connected to be eradicated at this moment but the elders were prime targets.

The carriage lurched to a stop, it was show time. The door of the carriage swung open and I emerged as gracefully as I could, letting my silk cloak trail behind me. Everything had been set up to make a powerful first impression, my attire was made entirely of black silk a long sleeved tunic, the lady who had dressed me had almost lost her head when I had called it a shirt, black breeches, not trousers, knee high black leather boots, I had then added my own touches, steel tips to the boots steel knuckles on the black gloves and an ornamental shoulder guard with the house of Van Rost emblem welded unto it, to finish the look I had the black silk wide sleeved cloak covering everything. It was intimidating to behold.

With the gold engraved ivory colored carriage as a backdrop I began to ascend the stairs to the main house, on my left a panicking Vareyen and on my right the hundred man commander of the black sword clan Beinon, I would need him to remove a thorn that might become a problem later on.

As we ascended the steps a lone elf rushed out to meet us, despair clearly on his face, “Eeth Rahn greets Lord Tal Van Rost” the male elf said smoothly his left fist to his right chest. It was an extremely formal greeting and an extremely formal salute, probably intended to placate me, fool. “Since when does the branch family not come out to greet the head of the clan?” I asked coldly as I strode past him, “ah, forgive me my lord, lady Vanlathriel is receiving guests she could not leave without notice” he said trying to maneuver the fault to me for not announcing my presence, “oh!, since when has the head of the branch family have the authority to receive guest in the main house?” I asked in mock surprise changing my direction to where honored guest were usually received, the despair that was on his face changed to terror as he realized where I was going.

The tension in our small group reached its pinnacle as I strolled into the receiving hall and I soon saw why, I could not have cut it any closer. On a massive throne made of what looked like a fusion between wood and steel sat a young elf with black hair reaching his shoulder and green eyes, he bore remarkable similarity to Eeth Rahn and since Eeth Rahn was consort to lady Vanlathriel it would be safe to assume that was my cousin and Vanlathriel’s son Glander Rost. On his left was Vanlathriel and on his right were the five elders of house Van Rost, if this was a wedding I had walked in at the part where the priest just proclaimed ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’.

“Hahahahah, is this why you were so flustered dearest Eeth?” I asked with a boisterous laugh as I strode forward. The sudden outburst had drawn every eye in the hall to me, as my gaze swept the room I grudgingly gave my aunt some respect, she had gone all out. Littering the hall were various merchant houses that frequently traded with and for the Van Rost house some mercenary clans although none as prominent as the black sword, but the precious gem in the set was the eight representatives of the house Van Flotina, one of the three royal houses that were based outside the capital territory. If they had succeeded in naming Glander the head of the house with them as witnesses, it would have been extremely difficult to have it overturned.

Without breaking stride I kept moving towards the throne until I stood directly in front of Glander staring down at him. “Get out of my seat you upstart” I said letting venom into my voice. Glander’s faced flushed in embarrassment as my voice carried through the room, been a year younger than me Glander had once looked up to me as an older brother but after years of Vanlathriel dripping venom into his ear he truly believed the house seat was rightfully his, he slowly stood up and retreated to his mother’s side who was currently shooting a death stare at me.

With an exaggerated sigh I flopped unto the throne and let my gaze bore into the elders who were currently sweating buckets, “Minima, Kahl, Durion, Melda, Uranion, explain yourselves” I simply stated and they collectively wilted under my gaze. I let a small smile emerge as I processed the scenario before me, five elves all over eight centuries old were about to piss themselves under the gaze of a sixteen year old, normally someone like me with the title of cripple would not evoke such fear in the elders but the witnesses surrounding the throne, witnesses who they themselves had taken great pains to invite, were all members of the higher nobility and more powerful merchant houses in the Elvin community, if they misspoke and blatantly broke any more laws not just their position their lives would be forfeit.

As if sensing all her plans going down the toilet Lady Vanlathriel stepped forward smiling benevolently at me, “young Tal, I do not understand why you are angry we were merely…..” she began but a raised hand from me cut her of mid sentence. “Who gave the branch head permission to speak?” I asked staring pointedly at my aunt and instantly her faced filled with fury. Turning back to the elders I began the shit storm that would infamously become to be known as the culling.

“elders Minima, Kahl, Durion, Melda and Uranion, you have been found guilty of treachery and insubordination and are stripped of your titles as the elders of the house of Van Rost, all properties bestowed by this house are hereby reclaimed” I stated and the room burst into an uproar. Five elders stripped of their position simultaneously, it was unheard of. If not for the fact I had caught them trying to install a different house head the repercussions would have been brutal, and the elders knew it.

I waited for them to overcome the shock and begin the political maneuvering to save their hides but I had given them no escape route, well almost no escape route and it seemed that Eeth Rahn, my aunt’s consort had also realized it as he stepped towards my aunt and whispered frantically into her ear.

“We challenge the decision of the house” my aunt said, her voice ringing through the hall and instantly the hall went quite, this was too easy. “On what grounds?” I asked in a bored tone, “on the grounds of incompetence, the proud house of Van Rost cannot be lead by a cripple” Vanlathriel said in a malice laden voice. A shocked gasp echoed through the hall, this bitch didn’t, I thought to myself, she had gone too far. I smiled as I rose from the throne and turned to the now ex-elders, “only the house head may acknowledge this challenge” I stated simply raising an eyebrow. These old coots hadn’t become elders for no reason, recognizing the olive branch I was extending to them, they reacted instantly. Sinking to one knee with their left hand over their right chest, “WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE HOUSE LEADER!!” they loudly proclaimed.

Flawless, I thought to myself and finally I let a broad smile spread across my face as I turned to face my aunt. Before that proclamation I was heir apparent to the house seat, but there are any number of stories where the crown prince or heir to the throne, either by crook or by the book, is robbed of his position, but been acknowledged by the elders, though through vague coercion, had solidified my claim, all that remained was for the capital to acknowledge me, and with mother on my side that was simply a matter of time, which I had just bought enough off.

“And who from the branch family presents this challenge?” I asked turning back to my aunt and her fuming family. “I Glander Rost present the challenge” my younger cousin boldly proclaimed stepping towards me. Apparently still furious about my earlier insult, Glander had taken it upon himself to redeem his lost honor…..or something like that.

I sighed, glancing to the left of the hall, my gaze fell on the figure I hoped would take up the challenge, sword knight Kratel. In any other clan Kratel would have been hailed as a genius, however been born in the black sword clan he had spent his entire life in the shadow of my mother, this was a fact that had not gone unnoticed by Lady Vanlathriel. With constant promises of his own battalion and a noble status he had finally abandoned the black sword clan name and pledged allegiance to my aunt, normally this wouldn’t have bothered the black sword clan but information had been received that Kratel had been teaching black sword techniques to the mercenaries hired by my aunt, mother was most unhappy.

“Very well as the house head I accept this challenge”, I said and with a wave of my hands the servants rushed forward and began ushering the guest away from the center of the room. “Do not think because you are crippled I will go easy on you Tal” Glander said as his hand maid handed him a sheathed broad sword as he proceeded to the center of the recently cleared space. I guess there is no time like the present I thought to myself as I followed after him.

“Dearest cousin, something has been bothering me for awhile, why do you and your mother call me a cripple?” I asked letting a confused expression show on my face. “What else should we call someone who foolishly destroyed his own pathways but a cripple” he stated as he unsheathed his sword, at thirty-two inches long, the elf forged blade was a beauty to behold.

A cold smile covered my face as Glander’s named sword had already emerged, at least he isn’t under estimating me I thought then took my most basic stance. Confusion was clear on Glander’s face as he saw me produce no weapon, “you wish to fight me unarmed Tal?” he asked in derision, his lips curled in outrage at the insinuation. The members of the house who were present also had smiles of contempt hidden behind their hand fans or sleeves, before my “incident”, in terms of cultivation Glander had far outstripped me, always diligent in his training and meditation everyone had nothing but praise for him, it’s a pity we had to be enemies.

“You may begin when you are ready” I said with a cold unconcerned smile on my face and instantly he lunged forward his sword chopping towards my shoulder. As soon as I saw where he was aiming for I realized Glander wasn’t trying to kill me but injure me sufficiently enough so I would be unable to continue the fight, on realizing this, my smile became slightly less cold and I decided not to kill Glander. I side stepped his slash effortlessly, bringing me inside his swing range, his eyes bulged open in surprise. I raised a single finger and tapped the side of his head, “do you think its okay to remain so vulnerable in a duel?” I asked and instantly he sprang away from me creating a distance of twenty five meters between us.

With a slight chuckle I turned away from Glander to face the stunned audience, the cripple had just effortlessly dodged a perfectly executed sword strike it was a given that they would be shocked. “dearest guest, as you can clearly see myself and Glander are about to engage in a duel, being as young and inexperienced as I am it shames to have to ask those who cannot magically protect themselves to leave and those who can to do so immediately” I said delivering the announcement like a well trained air hostess in a pleasant tone.

Whether because I had delivered the request so suddenly or they were still reeling from the fact that Glander’s preemptive strike had been evaded but most of the guest reacted by just staring at me, however there were a few sharp knives in the bunch. A blonde female elf with the emblem of the crimson trading faction stepped forward swiftly and slammed an open palm into the ground, instantly a shining light burst forth and formed into a dome covering a large number of the guest most of which belonged to the crimson faction. Another elf threw glittering black powder into the air and as it dropped towards the ground a magic circle emerged. One by one those with magic ability evoked the magical defenses that they could, protecting those that belonged to their factions and nearby guests.

As soon as I was sure everyone was protected, and nobody tried to sneak in an attack spell in the confusion, I turned back to Glander with a smile. “Sorry about that dear cousin, let us truly begin” I said and with a thought began to channel my energy through my magical pathways. It started three feet in front of me, the air began to ripple as the magical energy at that point began to build and suddenly a ball of fire flashed into existence, then two others flashed into existence beside it and two more, soon there were twelve fire balls floating round me. “Now dearest cousin who exactly was the cripple?” I asked.

Glander stared in shock and horror as the balls of fire orbited me in random independent patterns letting my question go unanswered, I glanced over to Vanlathriel and her consort who wore a matching look of despair as finally they realized that their one and only son might very well die. I leapt lightly to the side as Shatter Thorn, Glander’s blade, swung through the spot I previously was, mistaken my moment of gloating as an opening he had launched a sneak attack, as I slid away from the sneak attack I launched one of the twelve fireballs in a counter attack. Glander’s face paled as he saw the approaching fireball but in an uncharacteristically ungraceful move he dropped to the ground and rolled away from me as the fireball smashed into his previous position.

Glander shakily got up to his feet and slid back into a stance, sweat fell in waves down his fore head. his first and most reasonable line of attack was to cut the distance between us and strike up close, after all a mage’s weakness was close combat, but seeing that this had failed twice I wondered what he would do next. Slowly I began to increase the speed of the floating fireballs round me and the temperature of the room continued to rise. “surrender cousin, do not bring unnecessary harm to yourself” I said offering the branch of peace to my cousin, a moment of silence extended over the entire hall before Glander gritted his teeth and dashed towards me sword raised.

I smiled inside as I leapt backwards away from the sword strike. I knew Glander would never accept my peace offer, power corrupted absolutely, he had been moments away from being named house head, he was already sitting on the throne when I had ruined everything, even though he was not willing to kill me he at the very least wanted to see me bleed, besides i would never had let him accept it. I could have ended this fight moments after it had stared, after all the gap between my abilities and Glander’s was like the heaven and the earth, the reason I was prolonging this fight was for my aunt to grow desperate. For the next ten minutes Glander and I covered most of the floor of the receiving hall, me ducking and dodging then occasionally sending a fireball each time missing on a more narrow margin, while Glander chased me swinging Shatter Torn more and more wildly as fatigued forced him to lose his form, we spun around each other twisting and turning as he desperately tried to gain an advantage while I patiently waited for Vanlathriel to f*** up, until she finally did.

For all my vigilance I almost missed the signal, in my defense it was given when Glander delivered a particularly difficult to deal with combo of sword strikes that had me clapping in praise mentally, however lady luck seemed to be smiling down on me so I saw the two tells that led up to the attack, giving me adequate time to prepare. The first tell was the sudden movement of Eeth Rahn to comfort Vanlathriel, the noble lady had been watching the entire time with a calculating face when suddenly she had let out a loud sob causing Eeth to comfort her. The second more obvious sign was when Kratel launched himself from the middle of the guest at me his sword unsheathed, needless to say I was prepared. I disengaged from Glander and dashed towards my new opponent, much to his obvious surprise, who had heard of a mage that willingly engaged in close combat.

With a cold glint in his eyes Kratel stabbed the tip of his broad sword forward forcing me to slide to the side as we sprinted towards each other, but half way through the stab, when I was well within his kill range, his stab turned into a swing. Right of the bat a high level sword skill I thought to myself and immediately began circulating my internal energy in preparation for lightning fall.

A high profile movement technique developed by my mother only three people had this technique in there arsenal, my missing father, my absent mother and me. I swayed my upper body backwards, bending my upper body into an almost ninety degree angle, as the blade cut through the air above me I let my torso spring forward like an uncoiled spring my head shot forward and smashed into his nose, as his eyes closed in pain I stepped forward to deal the finishing blow only to receive a foot firmly planted in the middle of my chest.

As we sprang away from each other, him trying to stem the flow of blood from his nose while I nursed my badly bruise chest, I cursed internally. I had missed the optimum chance to eradicate a bothersome individual, he had been unaware of my abilities and had been under estimating me, I could already feel mother disappointingly shaking her head as if she were here herself. “What is the meaning of this?” I asked throwing a withering glance at Lady Vanlathriel, but for the first time to my knowledge she was speechless. Staring open mouthed at me, Vanlathriel looked like she was at the brink of insanity, attempting to forcefully acquire the house head seat and now she had just ordered the assassination of the recently acknowledged head of house Van Rost, she was finished. On the other hand Kratel’s decision was obvious, escape.

History is written by the victor, with me dead Glander would have become the next house head since there was no one else with the qualification to challenge him, Vanlathriel would have her son the house seat and all the support she needed, to silence the current witnesses all she would have to do was offer various exclusive trading privileges in the van Rost territories to the merchant houses and swear allegiances to the house of van Flotina and all here would have been willing to look the other way, after all what was better?, an enemy who you could blackmail later on or a house head who just caught you witnessing an illegal coronation. But with Vanlathriel’s power disappearing in front of everyone’s eyes, and Vanlathriel and her former supporters adopting an every man for themselves strategy, Kratel found himself in a terrible situation, no one was protecting him.

It would take Vanlathriel all the political pull and favors she had in her arsenal to avoid the headman’s blade but that was still within her grasp, combine that with Eeth Rahn’s connections they were safe, for now, and the elders had chosen to acknowledge me as house leader, hoping this act would reduce whatever punishment I have for them but Kratel had no such cards to play. Having abandoned the black sword clan and backed the wrong side in the Van Rost battle for the house seat he had truly burnt all his bridges, to top it all off he had just interfered in a duel of a younger generation, death would not be quick for him if caught.

I wonder if he will try to take a hostage or attempt to fight his way out, I thought to myself as I watched Kratel’s eyes flash wildly across the hall desperately searching for an escape route, before firmly settling on me. I chuckled to myself as the desperate elf launched himself at me, it would seem I would get to use lightning fall today. In his desperation Kratel had decided to hold someone hostage to escape, but the hostage he had chosen was me. I increase the circulation of energy in my feet to reach the barest minimum for lightning fall first step before executing the movement technique. Kratel quickly closed the distance between the both of us desperately reaching out to seize me, at the same time I moved sideways away from his clutches. Spontaneously six fireballs blazed into existence and shot towards him each one smashing into his undefended side before going off in a mini explosion.

As Kratel staggered away from the assault struggling to keep his defenses as his robes melted into his burning skin, Beinon made his move. The hundred man commander had received specific instructions to not strike until he was hundred percent sure he could kill Kratel, betrayer or not he was the genius of the generation ahead of mine, we could not underestimate him. As Kratel clutched his burning face Beinon stepped in behind him and shoved his sword to the hilt through his chest, the black sword clan had reclaimed their rouge member.

Unable to help myself, I raised my arms in the air and loudly declared, “PLOT TWISSSSSST!”.