Episode 25: Bestowment

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Lough Freed

The throne room felt even bigger now than it had before. Having been in this room more times than I could count, I would have expected it to feel more familiar. However, entering the giant hall, knowing what I was here for, made my heart beat faster and faster.

Kayndarth, Erentiss, and Eothaniss were all perched up on their floating platforms high above me. I looked up at them with a warm smile as they, too, reciprocated the gesture.

"Here we are..." Kayndarth said almost solemnly. I nodded and kneeled before them.

"As much as I'd love to stay here with all of you... as you're aware, I need to head to a special place and begin my next level of training," I stated calmly.

"We know, and we are saddened by these events," Eothaniss said sadly. In the 6 months I had spent with the Lords and their people, I had grown very close to Eothaniss and Inozkez in particular. It seemed my presence as a human had changed them and perhaps even the other Lords. Erentiss used to have a more apathetic view on my situation and my training as a whole, however, 2 months after my training started, he began to warm up and even told me stories of the dragonkin people and their history. Erentiss had insisted on helping me to train too and even took me away from Eothaniss and Kayndarth to train my ice spells specifically.

Kayndarth was similar, although he had been the only one of the three to actually care about me at first. During the time spent together, I became a lot more familiar with him and even viewed him as a relative, like an uncle. That could be said for all the Dragonlords. They were all special to me, and I'd grown close to them in just 6 months. It hurt to have to leave them, but they, just as I knew that it had to end and I had to continue my training in a distant land.

I was going to head to the central dominion known as the 'Fields of Undoing'. It gained that title after it was discovered that powerful monsters lived there, one's strong enough to push back a full squad of A-rank Hunters.

A lot of the monsters in the Fields of Undoing had artefacts and wielded them with surprising intelligence, which is what made them so dangerous and powerful.

My goal was to complete the next path after destruction in just 3 months so that I was strong enough to head home and be able to put up a decent fight against a God should one arrive unexpectedly like in Nova.

"I'm sad I gotta leave you all too, but if I want to stop them..." I trailed off. I didn't need to finish my sentence. They already knew what I was going to say. I appreciated that we'd got this close that I didn't need to say what they already knew.

"We know, and with that conclusion, we will aid you in attaining your completion of the path of {Destruction}," Erentiss said proudly. "It had been a pleasure to train you and live beside you."

I could feel tears welling in my eyes, and I used my single arm to wipe them away. "You bastard... making me cry... I'd have said the same to you any day."

Erentiss laughed, and I could see tears that froze to Hail dropping from his deep royal blue eyes. I was shocked to notice that all three of them were crying. Even Inozkez, who was stood a few feet away, had tears welling in the corners of his eyes. I stood up and walked over to Inozkez and pulled him into a firm hug. As much of one as I could do with one arm, at least. Inozkez's shoulders were shaking gently, and I smiled as I pressed my forehead to his. I'd come to see him as a brother. A true friend. As one of my own. That feeling would never disappear.

"Don't be sad... I'll come back one day, I swear..." I said through a choked voice.

"I know," he whispered, and he bashed my arm. "You better stay alive. If you die to those gods, then I'll be stealing your spotlight when I kill them."

I stifled a laugh and then suddenly burst into a fit. "Then when I'm finished, I'll come and reward you with the head of a God of your choice," I replied.

"Sounds good," he responded as we broke the brotherly hug, and I walked back to the centre of the hall. Erentiss had cleared his eyes, but Kayndarth still had lava pouring out his eyes, and Eothaniss had electrified plasma flowing out of his, as he watched mine and Inozkez's special moment.

"Come on guys, you're gonna make me change my mind," I said softly with a sad smile.

"At least then you could win some more matches," Eothaniss said with an irritated voice. Clearly annoyed that I was leaving, despite the fact he would never admit that.

"True, I suppose, but seriously... I have to go," I replied firmly and more confidently this time. They all sighed, and a group of small artefacts floated out in a ball of ice and landed before me. The ice melted in a ball of flames, and the fire was extinguished by a sharp gust of wind and lightning.

The artefacts weren't that important as they were. What was important was destroying them. Without the original owner, I couldn't copy the skill that it provided, so they were useless aside from being sacrificed. I activated the ring and cast {Lightning Storm}. Purple lightning crackled along my arm and down to my hand. The memory of the God of Lightning almost killing me surfaced, but I pushed it down with this new power.

I'll let you keep me down when hell freezes over, you bastards!

The purple lightning coalesced into my palm, and in a beam of pure energy, I blasted the artefacts and destroyed them. I felt the rush of power surge into the ring as it absorbed the life of the artefacts. Everyone watched me with bated breath, and that breath released when I smiled and relaxed.

"It's done. Thank you all for your hospitality and for providing me with the necessary strength." I bowed to the Dragonlords.

"You make it seem like you're just an accomplice. Lough. You are more than an accomplice. You are like family now. We will, now and forever, always welcome you back to Khonrigek should you seek us," Kayndarth stated matter-of-factly as if it were law. In a sense, it was law since these were the three leaders of the entire region of Nuhevom essentially.

"Thank you... so much," I responded quietly, and I bowed again to hide my face as I felt tears coming forth again. "I'll always remember your kindness towards me."

"Now then, Lough, go forth and continue to grow. We, the dragonlords of Nuhevom, wish you all the best."

I thanked them and talked for a while before resigning myself to the usual bedroom they had provided for me.It was an extremely spacious room. Easily twice the size of the room at Aurora University. A king-sized bed rested against the far wall, and there was a wardrobe that ran the length of the wall beside that. It was too big for me. The area in the centre I'd used as my meditation and training area. I'd work out in the morning, head out to meet the Lords, and train with them. Then I'd eat with them and come back, do some more training and then go to sleep. This was repeated for the whole of the 6 months I stayed in Khonrigek.

As I was leaving, I turned and smiled one last time at the city and the people who had brought me in and helped me get closer to my goal. Unfortunately, I had to lie to them. Since they didn't want to be responsible for me having an ultimate spell, I'd told them I gained just enough Artificial Points to get everything aside from the spell. Which ultimately wasn't true.

I felt bad having to lie, but it was for a good cause. I opened the archive and looked at the {Destruction} path. Little orange stars littered the path, and only a few white stars remained. As usual, I guided the blue orbs to the stars, and they all lit up.

Suddenly, my brain filled with the knowledge and the searing and agonising pain drilled into my head like a corkscrew. I fell to my knees and gasped for air as the insight to these high-end skills forcefully entered my mind. A wide grin spread across my lips as the skills flashed before me.

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New skills:

○ Skill: {Violet Flames}

○ Master Skill: {Hellfire}

○ Ultimate Spell: {Meteor Fall}

Note: Ultimate Spells drain all mana to cast

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Path: Destruction

Artificial Points: 2

Progress: 100% (Completed)

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The ring hummed gently as I slowly stood to my feet, and I could feel the shackles of the path being broken, giving me freedom to choose another new one. The feeling was incredible. I was ready to choose another path and begin my journey into learning new skills again.

I'd had the ring for around 9 months, and I'd completed only a single path in that amount of time.

As if it were planned, I felt Orebrul wake up. I hadn't heard anything from him since Nova, and even during the entire 6 months of training and gaining more skills, he still didn't wake up at all.

Hey! Orebrul, you there?!

Wha... what? What's with the yelling?

What do you mean 'what's with the yelling'? Where have you been? I replied back. I couldn't hide my rising feelings of happiness and couldn't stop them from leaking into Orebrul's mind.

Someone's happy to see me. He replied with a laugh, and I could sense his own happiness through our link.

Well, yeah. You've been gone for over 6 months.

6 months?! What the f... oh... I see now... He said solemnly as he noticed my arm and looked into my memories of the God when he brutalised me and, in a way, tortured me. But clearly, there wasn't time for a deep catch-up because I felt Orebrul remembering something and panic, not my own however, began to rise within me.

Lough, don't act rash... but we don't have much time. He said quickly and in a concerning tone.

Tell me.

He hesitated. It was the first time he'd managed to hide something this big before, and it worried me a lot.

Nova is under attack. I'll spare most of the details, but -

He didn't have time to finish his thought as I raced back into the huge hall where the Dragonlords were talking and recovering from my departure.

"Lough?! What's going on? I thought -" Eothaniss said, but I cut him off immediately, something I maybe shouldn't have done.

"I need your help one last time... please!" I begged.

They looked at each other in worry, then back to me. "Anything you need... but what's the problem?"

My eyes scanned the room as if it were going to change the situation. "My home... it's being attacked!" I shouted.

"The land of the humans... I'm sorry, but... we can not take you. We have decided not to interfere with their affairs," Kayndarth said. I hadn't expected him to he the one to say the one thing I didn't want to hear.

"But why?! Guys, I know you don't owe me anything, but please... I'll lay down my life for you if you take me there."

Erentiss was the first to rise up. "I will take you."

"Lord Erentiss!" Eothaniss shouted, "We decided we wouldn't - "

"Lord Eothaniss..." Erentiss' demeanour changed, and the ice of his wings pricked and sharpened, his breath became colder and a mist thick with the power of ice, "I will do as I please... since we are both of equal standing... I will take Lough and return immediately."

Tears brimmed in my eyes. "Thank you, Erentiss..." I whispered quietly.

I watched in awe as Erentiss leapt off the platform and flew through the open ceiling. He spun elegantly in the air and dived down towards me. I activated {Lightning Body}, and shifted my body towards a bolt of lightning. I zipped away, and Erentiss followed me. He was travelling about as fast as I was at the speed of lightning, roughly 120,000 metres per second. I jumped and Erentiss flew beneath me. I landed deftly on his back and he kicked up the speed even more and we zipped towards Nova at above the speed of lighting, close to 300,000 metres per second.

I hope I'm not too late... I'll kill anyone who even touches my friends.

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