97 The Fool.
*Swoosh*
Sounds of wind being slashed could be heard.
"Five thousand nine hundred ninety-eight!"
*Swoosh*
"Five thousand nine hundred ninth nine!"
*swish*
"Six thousand!"
Slashing one last time, Sabastian's grip on his sword loosened and the sword fell on to the floor.
*clatter*
Extremely tired, Sabastian slowly sat on the floor.
Sabastian was sweating profusely.
Beads of sweat were dripping down from his ears and chin to his track pants
He sat crossed-legged leaning his head forward.
Sabastian was breathing heavily, so he started meditating to calm his beating heart and heavy breathing.
"You have been practising really hard, Sabastian." A sweet voice resounded in the training room of the Heilige manor.
"Compare to you, sister? I'm still a child playing with sticks rather than swords."
"I have abandoned my 'path' long ago, Sabastian. So how did you get those wounds? Who was it?"
An immense amount of blood lust comparable to Aurora descended on the training room.
He felt like, illusionary figure of yaksha was choking him.
Sabastian felt fear for the first time in this new life of his.
Soon the crushing feeling subsided, still the after-effects of the experience made Sabastian still as a statue.
"N-no one, sister, but I can assure you that they do not live in the lands of the living anymore." Sabastian stammered at first before he quickly reverted back to himself and got up from his sitting position, standing upright.
Turning around Sabastian saw a beautiful woman in her early 20s, wearing a silver mist round neck delicate bowknot decorative button skater dress and black and white stilettos.
Her hair is pitch black with white streaks in the front.
One of her eye colours is white and the other eye dark brown which looked almost similar to black.
Sabastian's eldest sister.
The first child of Ursula and Harold Heilige.
Onyx Viviana Heilige.
His eldest sister almost became a 'Sword Saint' but for a reason unknown to everyone, she abandoned her 'path'.
If she had still trained in her sword, she would have become a 'Sword Saint' by now and also would have become the leader of the Heilige family.
Everyone in the Heilige family tried to dissuade her from abandoning her 'path' but she didn't listen, instead she demanded her freedom and asked for 'pardon'.
The Heilige family then enraged gave her an impossible task that they thought no one would be able to do it, but she took the task and completed it.
The task was to kill the President of country B.
It was a national event back them a few years ago.
The whole country Z was shaken.
The presidential Palace of Country Z was totally lifeless.
Not a single human soul was spared, all died with a single slash and severed heads.
People call her the Devil of the sword.
Even her sword is a famous sword from the east.
'Devil's Secret - Akuma no Himitsu'
A sword made by Sengo Muramasa himself.
Legend has it, a Sword Saint travelled to Japan to have his sword made by Muramasa.
Sabastian really coveted that sword.
It was a beautiful sword.
Now it lies behind a glass box in a room, right beneath this training room.
"Is that so? Then tell me how did you even get these wounds?" Onyx narrowed her eyes looking deeply at Sabastian's eyes.
"Uhm, sister, please!" Sabastian pleaded to her sister to let go of this topic.
Sighing, Onyx changed the topic.
"When are you leaving? I heard from mother that you have decided to remove your name from the candidates of Sword Saint? Why did you ask for something outrageous like that! Was it not your dream to be the Sword Saint?" Onyx's voice became sharper, she was really shocked when she found out about this from her mother.
"Do you know the implications of your action? Most of the branch family has been spreading rumours of you rebelling against the Heilige family."
"Just like me."
Sabastian gulped hearing the soft whisper his sister muttered, at the end.
It sent a chill down his spine.
"No, absolutely NOT!!! The reason I have asked to remove my name is that I'm weak! It's true, the 'path' that I walk on sheds blood but does not kill. It's completely different than the orthodox practice of the Sword Saints." Sabastian turned away from Onyx and continued.
"They laugh at me, they call me a fool, they tell many things about me. Isn't it better that I stop this facade and give up?"
"..." Onyx stared at the back of her youngest brother.
There was a moment of silence before she burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! I wonder who's the fool, I wonder who's shrouding the eyes of others with a thin veil of facade."
Onyx stepped forward and hugged her younger brother from behind.
"Sister! I smell like s*it!" Sabastian was flustered and tried to get out of Onyx's hug.
"My little Bastian! Who are you trying to fool? Is it me? How can you fool this sister of yours who raised you like a mother than our own 'Saint of a mother'" she whispered in Sabastian's ears.
Sabastian hearing flinched Onyx!
"Our mother is the 'Swords Saint of the Heilige'. But you? My brother is not a 'Heilige'."
Biting his lips, Sabastian turned around and placed his head on his sister's shoulder.
He tried to say something but before he could say anything Onyx placed her arms behind Sabastian and gently caressed the back of his head.
"Whatever happens, know this, my brother! Even if the 'Heilige' is against you, I will help you cut it down."
"That is my path to 'Sainthood', my light!"
Onyx let go of her brother, she looked down and saw her clothes have become dirty from Sabastian's sweat.
Complaining, she turned around and left the training room to change into better clothes.
Sabastian stood in the training room alone.
He knows that 'they' will never let him go.
He is a genius, worthy to sit on the 'Throne of Swords'.
All 'they' have to do with him is to change his 'path'.
No, they already have prepared a 'path' for him to walk on.
'They" just need to force him to walk on that 'path'
"Tsk! And they call themselves 'Saint/Heilige'." Sabastian muttered clicking his tongue.
He looked at the wall near him, there was a plaque with his name on it.
All members of Heilige has to write something on a plaque that depicts their 'path' in a few words.
The plaque with his name on it has words that say 'The light that protects all' in Deutsch.
He recalled a memory from a few years ago, a memory of Onyx burning her plaque.
Her plaque read 'The protector of light' in Deutsch.
"Haha, they never thought that I'm actually a fool and not acting like one."
He chuckled thinking about his past life.
~~~
In Country O, at the clubhouse.
"'ey, Aaron?" Ana turned to Aaron and called out to him.
She suddenly remembered something that she wanted to ask Aaron about it.
"Vhy do people call Basti, a foolizh but a vize king?"
Sabastian never told her about it, so she asked Aaron.
Turning to Ana, Aaron laughed.
"It's because he is a fool."
"I know 'e iz a fool, but vhy do they call 'im vise vhen 'e iz a fool?" Confused, Ana asked.
"In essence, he is a fool but he is also wise. He is a fool who is fooling the world with his existence. His existence itself is a lie. The person you know doesn't exist in truth."
"But the person you know is the person Sabastian is. He is a fool through and through, A wise fool at that."
"I don't get it." Ana shook her head not getting what Aaron is trying to make sense of.
"In his previous life, he was taught by his sister 'The art of playing dumb, is an essential part of being a good leader'. So if he wants to be a good leader then he needs to fool people, not just others but himself too. He can't let others get inside of his head and let his intentions to be known. So that he can control his enemies by strings of his own, he needs to let his enemies know that he is a puppet of theirs, to begin with."
Aaron started to laugh so hard his belly started hurting.
"He played himself to be a fool. But by playing like a fool? he came to love being treated like a fool. Thus the birth of an idiot fool."
"Sabastian is an idiot, he always chooses the most idiotic and stupid solutions for all of his problems but those idiotic and stupid solutions works."
"That's why he is called a fool but a wise king."
