54 LIONS ASH

Sunday night August 2nd, 2240 ATE. Dead-Tree Island of The Greater Glorian Archipelago. Nine hours remaining until Wraith Night Event-Test is Completed. Current projected House Champion: Caspien Witherings…..

"Hey, you're pretty cute. Everyone says your brother has the looks but I don't know...I think I prefer a man that can perform. You're at the bottom of the leaderboard now, but I'm sure you won't stay there, Samuel Leon. The Son of Ronin cant be at the bottom of anything can he?" Wraith-Revanant said. The sultry feminine voice coming from the massive undead executioner would've been confusing to most. 

But Samuel wasn't most people.

"Shut-up and play your role as escaped Tangent-Boss, hexblade. You're ruining my immersion." Samuel replied as he hid with his back to a leafless tree in the dead sanded island. Silently, he groaned and pulled the poison tipped arrow out of his shoulder.

"That's not very nice, handsome. Are you sure you want to make an enemy of the Hex-Club? After all we've done for you?" Wraith-Revanant said as they stalked the desert island full of dead trees and steep hills. One of their rotted grey skinned arms had it's hand replaced with a massive black steel crossbow. The other dragged with it a rusty curved great-sword. 

"Are you sure you can make an enemy out of me?" Samuel asked while he raised his body's internal temperature. Purple flames danced beneath his skin and steam flowed from his parted lips as the poison was scorched out of his system. Unfortunately he also burned nearly all of his body-fat and ingested calories. In a flash he lost thirty pounds. He suddenly wondered if the wraith would be edible if he cooked it enough.

"I'm a Hex-Blade, sweetie. Money is in my magically charged DNA. And I'm in House Ronin, second place graduate of the Island Gauntlet. Three House Stars for every Tangent-Boss I've solo'd. Your father is a callous man. Right now, I mean more to him than you. But it doesn't have to stay that way." The wraith cooed. He could hear the wraith's skin tear as thet raised their firing arm.

"You're telling me how my father works? Don't piss me off, tramp." Samuel stomped his aura shrouded foot into the sands. 

A beige tidal wave rose and rolled to the left of the tree. He sent a wave of dark-fire into the sand, flash-searing it into glass. 

The wraith took the bait and assumed he made the wall of glass as cover to travel. 

Six poisonous crossbow bolts ripped through the glass. Then the wraith charged, swinging it's massive greatsword through the glass with ease.

On the other side they looked around. Samuel was gone.

"You've got a temper.... I've always found angry men hot. Blame my father..... Or thank him. I don't care either way." 

"I think we have that in common." Samuel said from behind the wraith. 

"Cheeky!" Wraith-Revanant spun around swinging. Their shadowy black hood ruffled in the winds of it's highspeed movement.

Samuel jumped over the low swing, coming face to hidden face with the Wraith. 

While in the air, he brought his hands together, forming a diamond in front of the wraith's face. He focused two high temperature blasts of fire from his hands, powered by his own breaths. The small space and converging blasts of heat created a blinding flash of purple light.

[20% MP Remaining…]

The blinded wraith cursed, "Asshole! Why do you even know Assassination based fire techniques?" 

"My father.... The guy you were trying to tell me about, he was a ninja before he swam across the Solantic Ocean and became the strongest hero alive. I assumed you'd know that Ms. Second place."

The wraith spun and shot at the sound of his voice only to find all of their bolts missing.

Samuel continued from elsewhere. Moving soundlessly. As if he wasn't a heavyweight knight. "Stop looking for boyfriends and find a competitive advantage against me, your junior, or you'll embarrass my family's House."

"Listen to me, you littl--" 

"No." Samuel landed on the wraith's shoulders with two poison tipped crossbow bolts in hand. 

It was silent as the wraith tried to process why his voice was coming from above. Samuel didn't give them the chance to realize and slammed the bolts through its ears, hitting the necrosed brain and severing the connection immediately.

[+1000 EXP]

DING! 

[You have Leveled Up! You are now Level 16!]

[+1 Stat Point]

[1 Stat Point Available.]

Samuel stepped over the corpse and stood at the shoreline of the island. He dug in the pockets of his scorched uniform and pulled out a golem core.

A small unnaturally occurring stone called hexenore. Smugglers went to the Halls of the Basilisk for life if they even had a gram of it.

Samuel had three hundred…..

He tossed the core into the ocean as high tide came under crescent moonlight.

The stone fell into the waters and sank into the mud beneath.

A brown hand of sludge rose.

"I have been summ—"

"No." Samuel reached into the partially formed mud golem and ripped out the core.

He threw it further into the water.

This time, an ocean-golden rose from the early night waves.

"You know, you could kill a lesser hex-blade by doing that?" The ocean-golem asked as it took the shape of a lanky teenage boy.

"You aren't lesser last time I checked, Orion."

The ocean-golem crossed his arms, "You're buttering me up, what do you want, prince?"

"Three things."

Orion nodded.

"Don't patronize me."

Orion considered his request with a headbob.

"Why has no one requested a duel against Wraith-Revanants pilot?" Samuel asked. "You most importantly. She shouldn't be in House Ronin."

"Because she's hot."

Samuel stared plainly.

Orion leaned in as if he was studying Samuel, "I heard you only smile in combat…. It's starting to look like less of a rumor and more of an observation."

"Answer."

"Fine. We haven't booted her from the House because politics resides in a temple seated miles above power." Orion explained.

"Only if you talk better than you punch." Samuel retorted.

Orion smiled. Samuel couldn't see it through the ocean-golem's liquid transparent face, but he could feel it.

"I get it now. You and Tai are a project."

Samuel clenched his jaw. He hated talking to House Ronin upperclassmen. They all seemed so excited to boast what they knew about his father over him.

"Tai's the political socialite. He'll be a heartless degenerate in business dealings and pain in the ass in Tangents where he won't lift a single sword. But you, Samuel… with your philosophy and old guard mentality. Your supposed to be some kind of war general, aren't you?"

Samuel stared plainly. Blonde buzzed head glistening under the sun.

"I know on your sixth birthday you started having to fight goblins and kill gnolls every full moon in open dungeons. That's a philosophy thing too, isn't it?"

More silence. It wasn't an actual conversation, anyway.

"He rewired your mind. I heard you don't have Lunar-Hysteria because of it. Dude, how are you not scared of the silver-cursed? I can't imagine being traumatized so badly as a child that my DNA undoes evolutionary responses built over thousands of years."

Samuel blinked.

"I mean… are you even human?" Orion asked, "Like inside. You're a stud on the outside with your blonde hair and blue eyes and…. pectorals, but inside. You're a little off kilter, Samuel. Behind your quotes and sense of duty and twisted spartan honor…. You're a violent anti-social headcase."

"Clock's ticking, Orion."

"Not that you'd know. Your whole outfit is an ashen husk. But like I was saying…. It's weird, man. You're different inside. Which makes me question you more. I mean look at you. You were always going to be a knight. But you were trained with a samurai sword….. one of the least effective blades against monsters. Better yet, you're a duelist. You fight people better than you fight monsters."

"I'm a problem against both."

"Why would your father, the greatest monster slayer alive, train his son to lead men against men…? What is he hiding? What is he planning? You ever wonder?"

"No. I have better things to think about." Samuel said through gritted teeth.

"What's better than conspiracy theory?"

"Breaking your teeth on my knee."

"Debatable." Orion replied.

The two stared at eachother in silence for a moment. It was then that Samuel could hear the roar of war spread across the other islands. Fish-men rose from the seas in hordes. Goblins and lizard-men riding boars and island cats pillaged and hunted stray students. Lights danced under the leaderboard glowing sky.

"Oh, you had three requests."

"We're on the second." Samuel said.

"Why don't we remove Jean. The current wraith-revenant pilot. Good question, allow me to answer it with another."

"Go."

"Which hand did you lose three of your fingers on?" Orion asked.

Samuel raised his left hand.

"Gnoll accident?"

"Trap. My father realized I grew too comfortable killing trapped monsters. He said complacency breeds incompetence. I agree."

"So whos fingers are those?"

"Lab grown. Homunculus. Alchemists on payroll." Samuel replied.

Orion nodded, "Do you remember the hexblade who stiched those digits on?"

"M—"

"Mr. Firescribe." Orion answered.

Samuel groaned, "Her name is Jean Firescribe, isn't it?"

"Politics over combat remember, prince?" Orion asked.

Samuel didn't have a reply.

"What's your third request?" Orion asked.

"Where's Claude Grey?"

"Somewhere doing the impossible again. You should see him. Ravon is still sulking after the lowborn boy outsmarted him. What an idiot, right? Everyone knows Hobgoblins don't speak. If there's anyone you remove from House Ronin it should be him. He's beginning to obsess over the boy as badly as you. Says he has dreams of him eating the world... raising the dead….. becoming king of some wild nation…. He even said something about a blood witch? I think his experimental drug use is frying his brain."

"I think you talk too much."

"Oh absolut—"

"Answer the question."

"Well….. he's becoming a bit harder to trace. The bit of blood you gave me to track him isn't doing it anymore. It's taking me to trees and flowers…. I don't understand. Even so, I found him in a war against some Lizardmen near Center-Island. He's not looking very kingly anymore. It's just him and that berserker, the red knights girl."

Samuel readied himself.

"Take me there."

Orion laughed, "You're so spoiled, Samuel."

As he finished speaking, he turned into a focused board of water for Samuel to ride on.

"Claude Grey eating worlds….. what a joke."