Chapter 11, The Journey begins

The shards of Abaddon are the fragments that imprison the pieces of the tyrant god's soul, Amon. Knowing the nature of his blade, he settled to accept his miserable defeat. His mana slowly drains and is absorbed by the lands of Arnon, but it isn't the last of the tyrant god.

Alina, the strongest of the Edos, took the shards and infused them with Alchemy. They all became a rightful place to harbor her respected god's power, but it lacked the manas to awaken him. She and her followers scattered his shards throughout the lands of Arnon. They are sown in places with enormous amounts of mana, waiting for their glorious awakening...

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In a desert between Dea and Regis.

Salvino roamed with thoughts bothering his mind.

For the past few days, he had seen no people but sand and the desert's bizarre creatures. Creatures that make infuriating noises at night and disturb his sleep, beasts that charge at him whenever they see him, and the voices that he assumed to be hallucinations.

But none of them bothered him more than Lena's arrest. He heard from Henry what atrocities Atalantas committed against their prisoners. They became a subject of abuse and experimentation. Some of them lost their lives, and some of them lost their minds.

He's starting to regret his decision to listen to Amon and his servant's advice. But there is little he can do, and he hates it. He was confident that he had mastered the six manas. What was he lacking? How can he take on the strength his protector failed to defeat?

He had tried rushing towards Regis for more of Amon's powers, but his impatience didn't help. The desert seemed endless. The more he ran, the heavier the air felt, which implies why Regis isn't the most popular place.

But Amon needed to be there. It was one of the kingdoms he conquered when he sat on his throne and one of the few who remained faithful to his glory. He kept pieces of his great treasures forged from the Eons of Abyss in the kingdoms he had conquered, and now, he is here to retrieve them.

One night, After Salvino prepared his camp, he tried to play with the compass he got from Betty, but the compass reacted strangely. It was pointing at someone. When he tried to check where it was hinting, he saw wreckages of carriages and disfigured bodies lying on the ground.

Salvino was shocked...

He immediately acted and tried to look for those who survived. He tried healing the corpses, but their manas and souls were no longer there. Only their empty shell remained. But his compass is still reacting strangely, pointing at a nearby wreckage.

When he approached the wreckage, he saw a woman with bruises, trapped and unconscious underneath. She seemed to be shackled on the base of the carriage, and when Salvino touched the shackles, he couldn't channel his manas. They were shackles made to cancel the flow of mana. So Salvino removed the debris instead and carried the woman to his camp.

The next day. The woman woke up and noticed an unfamiliar ceiling. It was Salvino's poorly made tent. She exited the tent and saw Salvino sleeping with his sword nearby. She tries shooting magic at his sleeping body but can't channel her manas. The shackles were preventing her.

She tried picking up the nearby sword instead, but the moment she touched it, it started feeding on her manas and caused her excruciating pain. The woman then screams, and this wakes Salvino up.

"Are you alright?" ~Salvino

"Stay away!" ~The woman

She kept screaming as she tried to let go of the blade, but the sword kept absorbing her manas, making it seem like it was glued to her hands.

"Take the sword! She'll die if this continues." ~Amon

So Salvino did as Amon said and rushed to take the blade back. When the woman saw Salvino approaching her, she started waving the sword around, desperate to attack Salvino. What the woman didn't know was that Salvino was her savior.

Salvino held her arms and took the blade away. After Salvino lets go, she started running.

"Hey!" ~Salvino

But she could only sprint so far. Suddenly, a desert abelian dragon lands in front of her and roars. She lost all hope. She was on her knees in despair, remembering how she lived her life. She is a perfectionist in her sword, and even the most brilliant sword fighters recognize her talent.

Her friends encouraged her to become an Alchemist or a warrior, both of which she had the potential to do. But she chose to be a mercenary. She doesn't want to be bounded by any rule. Though she may not be as powerful as the strongest mercenaries, she is confident in her potential.

One day, while she was escorting a merchant on his way to Regis. A group of Magnus warriors blocked their path and threatened to steal their goods. She went to confront them, but they were powerful and too many.

When she retreats to the carriage, the merchant is already gone along with the mount, and there is no way she could fight the warriors of Magnus. They abducted her and did horrendous acts to please their wickedness. Every day she wished she should have listened to the advice of her friends.

Every night, she struggles to get free from her abductors, but the shackles won't let her. Until one day, a group of desert chimeras approached the abductors. They all got ripped into shreds, along with the carriages, but the carriage containing her flipped over, knocking her unconscious.

~ flashback ends...

As the dragon charged at her, it got pinned by wind magic and impaled with several earth thorns. This made the woman speechless, and then Salvino approached her.

"It's dangerous to go alone!" ~Salvino

She had no choice but to follow her savior...

After a long while, she witnessed her savior's nigh omnipotence. Every beast they encounter is crushed like a twig, blown like a candle flame, and cut like butter. It was the first time she had seen someone like him. She has never heard of someone's mana being so tremendous.

She thought maybe she had overestimated herself, and her confidence was the one that led her to the traumatic experience. She's yet to learn that she had no fault, as it was entirely the fault of those who abducted her.

One night, Salvino decides to approach her. She was silent the past few days and only spoke a few words. He was oblivious to what had happened to her.

"My name is Salvino. Yours?" ~Salvino

The woman didn't reply. She was in a middle of a deep thought, though her mind was clouded by many things, and wants to be left alone. She can't deny that she heard the voice of her savior asking for her name.

Her silence continued for a long time until Salvino was already done preparing their tents.

"Amira." ~Amira

Salvino was pleased to hear that she responded because she rarely does.

"I like your name." ~Salvino

She didn't react...

It was 20 days since Salvino arrived in the desert, and there were still no traces of Regis. Just how long will it take for him to reach his destination? But at least this time, it's less lonely. Even though Amira rarely responds to him, he's still glad to be with someone he can talk to.

Time by time, she responds more and more. With more words she speaks, the more pleased Salvino becomes. He notices there are days that Amira wakes up in tears, and every time she does, he hugs her.

"Don't worry. I'm here." ~Salvino

Though Salvino is clueless about her situation, she appreciates his comfort.

"Thank you." ~Amira

Meanwhile, at Tervanas. Theo, the now head researcher, is introducing his Alchemy armor to Mustafa, the chancellor of Tervanas, and wants it to become the norm. It was an armor that defined innovation, and its design may look heavy but equipped with power.

The wearer can run at high speeds, carry heavy objects, and negate opposing magics. He added confidently that the armor is close to indestructible only a handful of materials can scratch its surface.

"Outstanding! I'll inform the smiths right away. Expect good news." ~Mustafa

"Thank you, sir!" ~Theo

"But for now, be quiet. We can't afford this being stolen. Especially by Magnus." ~Mustafa

"I understand." ~Theo

After a while, Theo and Zalia are in a restaurant, chatting. Zalia is proud of Theo's achievements, he was appointed as a junior alchemist in Tervanas not long ago, but now he's the head alchemist. All of his inventions seem to please the chancellor.

But it couldn't have happened without his mysterious mentor.

"What's your mentor like?" ~Zalia

"She's annoying." ~Theo

"Why?" ~Zalia chuckles

Theo almost died a couple of times while being trained by his mentor, and his mentor always shrugs whenever he gets in trouble. But he couldn't deny the genius of the mysterious hooded woman. He also mentioned that there was a time that she made a dragon bow to her.

There was a time when she burnt a forest and then reverted it to normal. The time she made both of them fly to look for his house, she was the first to make him realize the limitless capabilities of alchemy...