Putting the armor back on
A month passed since Draven was last seen in Veland. Gradually the people were returning to their normal life but with much better vigor and smiles on their faces. With the Clown dead, the crime rate had plummeted in Veland like never before. As a result, ruling the kingdom and developing it became much easier for King Richard. The downside of Draven's appearance was the disappearance of the Black Knight. Ever since he failed to stop Draven, the Black Knight vanished into thin air. No one had seen or heard of him since.
In the sky, far far away from Veland, the sword was hovering above the clouds. Draven was meditating inside the sword while Sarah ate her sandwich in peace. The round table was filled with parchments and barely had a space to keep her wooden dish on. During this month, she spent more time with Draven and Margoth. She was surprised to see the effects of Draven's actions on Veland. It made her slowly question her beliefs.
Bread crumbs fell onto the scrolls. Except for the sound of Sarah chewing, there was no sound in the warship. By the time Draven opened his eyes, Sarah had finished her breakfast.
"I am hungry," The moment Margoth materialized over Draven's shoulder, he growled.
"I made you two a sandwich," said Sarah, pointing toward the two wooden plates with sandwiches on.
"Fuck your sandwich. I want souls," snarled Margoth.
"Draven, tell me you've picked up a place we could go hunting," asked Margoth. For the last month, Draven had been training and meditating nonstop.
Host: Draven Zane
Powers: Flight, Superior Marksmanship, Expert Martial artist, Short distance teleportation, Metal Manipulation
Powers limit: 5
Soul energy absorbed: 4600
To increase the power limit: 1400 Soul energy is needed.
Legendary Points: 9000
Legend Status: The butcher of Veland, The Black one
Bases of Operation: The Sword
Draven took a look at his status window. After a month, Draven was accustomed to the system. His legendary points gradually increased since he left Veland. According to what he had experienced, Draven came to the conclusion that both Soul energy and Legendary points were important for the system to function. Unlike Legendary points, which could be earned by various means, killing and absorbing souls was the only way to get soul energy. Draven needed 1400 soul energy to increase his power limit.
"I said okay when you wanted to lay low for a while. But I can't do this anymore. Let's go outside. I am sick seeing this place," Margoth growled.
"I was thinking of going to Sinith," said Draven after a long moment of silence.
"Who is our prey?" Margoth was excited. He licked his lips.
"No one," said Draven.
Margoth frowned.
"Then why the hell are we going there?" Margoth growled.
"It's where my mother was born,"
Sarah saw Draven's eyes glimmer with grief. Unlike Margoth, Sarah knew about Draven's mother and the Kingdom of Sinith.
"The last time I heard, Sinith was in a civil war," said Sarah.
Draven was surprised to hear Sarah. Sinith was a tiny kingdom in the smallest continent of Odin. Many didn't even know about Sinith. The entire population of Sinith was a meager two thousand people. Even Draven hadn't gone to Sinith but only heard from his mother. But strangely, he had a feeling that the kingdom was calling for him.
"Gather everything you can about Sinith and the Civil war. I want to know everything there is to know before stepping onto the kingdom," Draven ordered Sarah. Hearing about the civil war, Margoth grinned. If there was a civil war, he was sure there would be many people to kill and absorb their souls. It was highly unlikely Draven wouldn't pick a side in this civil war. Besides, since it was his mother's homeland, Draven would do everything in his power to fix the kingdom.
"I'll have everything you need before you finish your breakfast," said Sarah.
Draven rose from the ground and picked up the wooden plates. He went to the ship's front, staring at the clouds outside. He ate while watching the passing clouds. Margoth just engulfed the entire sandwich in one go and stared at Draven's. Eventually, Draven let Margoth eat his sandwich. Despite having a ghostly figure, Maroght was somehow able to consume human food. He never ceased to amaze Draven.
"I am ready whenever you are," said Sarah. Draven turned around, walked toward the round table, and saw several holographic images appear above the table.
"Start from scratch. I don't shit about this kingdom," said Margoth.
"As we established earlier, Sinith is one of the two kingdoms in Odin. For hundreds of years, Odin has been cursed with constant wars and struggles. Sinith was no exception. Every year, thousands of people risk their lives to immigrate to other continents,"
"Why aren't the heroes stopping these wars?" asked Margoth.
"The answer is simple, actually. These wars have always been the result of human greed, not because of a gifted one. No supervillain, no UFH,"
"Then what's the point of having superpowers?"
Sarah couldn't help signing. Margoth was right. She was one of the UFH workers who advocated for superheroes to be involved in all etherian problems, not only things related to supervillains. So many kingdoms could benefit from having a superhero take care of them. But UFH had a strict policy not to meddle in the affairs of the commoners.
"So, back to Sinith. We have the ruler, Azim Mirkiyan, son of the late king Girdan Mirkiyan. As though he's called a king, he is nothing but a dictator," Draven and Margoth saw a holographic image of a man wearing golden robes. He wore a crown decorated with priceless jewels and rubies. His cane seemed to have been made of pure emerald. He had neatly combed ashen hair and a trimmed beard.
"On the other hand, we have Udor," Sarah flicked her wrist as an image of a dark-skinned man wearing tattered battle robes appeared above the table. He seemed to be in his late thirties or early forties.
"Who is he?" asked Margoth.
"Girdan's nephew and the current leader of the rebels. He's been trying to overthrow Azim since his father was executed by Girdan,"
"How's it going for him?" asked Margoth.
"Not great,"
Sarah began to rummage through several holographic images of parchments. Draven noticed some of the documents were redacted. A few moments later, those redacted black lines became visible again. Sarah furrowed her brows.
"It's not right," She shook her head. Dark lines appeared on Sarah's forehead. For a few moments, she fastly tapped on the glass tablet in her hand. More and more redacted parchments appeared in the form of holographic images. Still, they all got unredacted as fast as they appeared. Draven knew how much trouble UFH went through to document all this information and store them securely. But it only took Sarah a few seconds to unredacted them all. Judging by the serious look on her face, even Margoth, who liked to antagonize and mess with Sarah, kept his mouth shut.
"It can't be,"
Margoth lost his patience.
"Are you going to tell us what's wrong or not?"
Sarah put down the glass tablet in her hand on the table.
"These documents saying that King Azim was assassinated,"
Draven creased his brows,
"Does it say who's ruling Sinith now?"
Sarah slowly nodded.
"A mercenary group called the Flaming Phoenix," said Sarah.
"I would have gone with a different name, but meh. So a mercenary group killed the king. What about the rebels and the Sinith army?" Margoth questioned Sarah.
"According to these documents, the majority of the army joined the mercenary group while the rest joined the rebels. The rebels have been fighting the mercenary group for…" Sarah paused for a moment,
"Five years now,"
"What was the mercenary group doing in Sinith? Did Azim hire them to fight the rebels?" asked Draven.
"The UFH has no clear information about that. All I see is something about eternal fire. It seems like the mercenary group has been mining the Westlams hills. I think they are searching for this eternal fire inside this mountain,"
"What is this eternal fire? Sounds like something we should get our hands on," said Margoth.
"There is no information about it,"
After hearing Sarah, Draven looked at the corner of the hall where his black armor was resting on a stand, collecting dust.
"Set a course for Sinith,"
Just by hearing these words, Margoth felt the excitement coursing through his ghostly veins.
"Yes, captain," Sarah nodded before returning to the cockpit. The trio used the month of time to fully stock the sword's ammunition. Furthermore, Sarah spent hours flying the sword to master piloting skills. It wouldn't be an overstatement to say Sarah had become one of the most talented pilots in the world.
Finally, after a month, Draven put on his black armor. This time, Draven planned to end all the wars that have been tearing Sinith once and for all. But neither Sarah nor Draven knew that another group of superheroes was on their way to Sinith to secure the eternal flame before it fell into the wrong hands.