Volume 03 - Chapter 03: Legacies. Plural

~3200 words

// Arthur Leywin //

Shifting my body's weight a bit to the right, I let the huge hammer land just a few centimetres away from my toes.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Jasmine cleaving the beasts in rapid succession as one after another foe that approached her fell to the ground with audible thuds.

The hammer that landed close to me was lifted once again as the orc attacked me with a horizontal swing.

Bending backwards, I let the hammer whistle past me. The narrow gap that appeared in between his defences while his hammer was still mid-swing allowed me to close the distance.

Augmenting my fingertips in the form of elongated pure mana claws, I dashed towards it. My arm extended and stabbed the right side of its chest.

Orcs' physiology was similar to humans to a large extent. However, the location of the heart in Orcs was on the right. The skin tore open as my fingers touched the rapidly pumping heart of the Orc. Crushing it in my grip, I receded my hand and let the limp body fall to the ground.

The multiple other goblins that were attacking Jasmine all stopped as they looked at him. The look of fear in their eyes was evident as they saw the huge, abnormally-sized Orc fall to the ground—devoid of life. 

A green light flashed behind them followed by razor-sharp blades of wind, decapitating every goblin.

"Woah."

"Those two are something else."

"It's not even a challenge at this point."

Murmurs of appreciation echoed from everywhere.

We were currently in an A-Ranked dungeon. The dungeon was located at the border of Beast Glades and Elshire Forest.

The prospect of investigating the bewitched mist of the Elven Forest had always intrigued me. However, now wasn't the time for such things. Although I was sure there was more to the mist than just a normal phenomenon.

Jasmine started to walk towards me, swinging her blades in an arc, getting rid of the foul-smelling goblin blood. The other three people in our party started collecting the Beast Cores while one of them began the preparation to eat something.

However, there was something that kept me on my toes. An ominous premonition.

Mana.

It was moving. Not naturally. But it wasn't just mana. It was something else disguised in a veil of mana. A feeling similar to whenever I use the fifth purple element.

"AHHHHHHHHH."

A blood-curdling scream tore through the man's throat who was collecting beast cores. Looking in his direction I saw a metallic talon impaled through his chest.

"Fall back and get into formations." Jasmine was the first to compose herself.

The death of one of them wasn't what got on my nerves. The responsibility of one's life solely lies with the person in question itself. What made my hair stand on its edge was the behaviour of the beast that had suddenly appeared.

Even after killing the man, it wasn't looking at the victim. Its crimson red eyes looking right at me. Like a hungry predator looking at its prey after days of hunger.

Once again I could feel the mana crawling from every dark corner as more and more mana signatures flared to life.

Something was definitely wrong. First the Blind Spriggans and now these. The closer the dungeons get to the border of the Elshire Forest, the amount of abnormality in these mysterious beasts increases.

It wasn't big in size or bulk at all. From what I could guess it was hardly five feet tall. However, with the body of a horse and the face of a bat, it had a weird build. The amount of muscle mass on its small body was absurd from a logical perspective.

It had huge bulky arms. The hands were shaped like metallic talons.

It looked at me and then disregarding its kill pounced in my direction. Jasmine was still a few yards away from me. I could see the panicked expression on her face as fear overcame her completely. Wind mana was already coiling around her, ready to take her in my direction.

She won't make it in time. Her speed was the fastest in this party of three A-Ranks and two AA-Ranked adventurers. However, it wasn't enough to protect me. I had to do it myself.

A tired sigh escaped my mouth, not willing to reveal my abilities like this. However, the situation was bizarre. I not only have to reveal some of my abilities but also investigate whatever was going on.

Within an instant, it was upon me. Its metallic talon swung at me, trying to cleave my body in half in one blow. The animalistic thirst for blood in its crimson eyes was... strange. I couldn't comprehend it. I've never seen this look in any beasts' eyes.

Something was wrong with these dungeons. And it was because of me. Like my presence was somehow triggering beasts that had been slumbering for too long and were considered extinct.

Time slowed down as I saw its arm swing while I began my evaluation of this unknown beast and planning on how much power I have to reveal.

With minimal movements, I ducked a bit to the left as its arm whistled past me. Taking into account its speed and the amount of wind produced from the single blow followed by the follow-up kick with its hind legs in the mere span of one second indicated one possible scenario.

It was an AA-Rank. And it wasn't alone. There were others. From the corner of my eyes, I saw multiple other crimson eyes look hungrily at me. The amount of bloodlust oozing out of each one of them was making Jasmine and the others stumble to their knees, while the healer girl had already passed out.

Mana shot out from its bat-like mouth as I closed my eyes. The multiple tethers that weren't visible but were always connected to Dawn, strained. I could feel her. She was in her hibernating state in which she couldn't talk.

Dawn fed on the purple motes. Every once 15 days she would wake up but go back to sleep to refuel herself. Right now she is sleeping. But, I could still make use of her.

Time to let loose a little.

// Jasmine Flamesworth POV //

I felt weak.

Helpless.

Pathetic.

The hordes of beasts that appeared out of the shadows let out a killing intent that I had never experienced. My legs felt out of strength.

But how could I allow it? Allow Arthur to die like this.

Gathering my strength and enveloping myself in an extra layer of mana, I unsheathed my daggers. I was about to dash towards him but something stopped me.

It wasn't a physical force. It was something intangible.

It was...

Instinct.

As the beast attacked Arthur more and more, I could see his stoic face not breaking down even for a fraction of a second. Rather it seemed like the beast was dancing in his palms as he purposefully continued to drag him away from us. And he didn't feel stressed. I could see his intelligent sapphire eyes calmly evaluating everything about it. Its speed, strength, intelligence, agility, stamina. I could see him evaluating everything.

Arthur's back pressed against the wall as the beast let out a snarl revealing its fangs. A bridge of slimy mess connected its fangs. Just as when it sneered, thinking that it had the prey, I saw Arthur's lip move.

Despite the uproar in the dungeon, I could somehow hear it.

"Dawn," he muttered.

A flash of teal arc appeared for a split second. The next moment, the beast's head was replaced by a fountain of blood as its bat-like head with two antennae on top of it rolled backwards.

An eerie silence ensued as its body fell down.

"You've got to be kidding me... how?" 

"H-Huh? W-Wh-What happened?"

The remaining two of the other three people in our party muttered as they saw Arthur standing beside the corpse with one of his feet on its head.

I wanted to run towards him but his eyes looked at me. They carried no emotion. I flinched under his gaze as he looked around.

"Don't let your guard down. There are more." I ordered silently, not wanting to draw any sort of useless attention. Arthur nodded and then looked past me. I couldn't see them, nor sense them. But that wasn't the case for him. His eyes were shifting rapidly. Following something. Like he could see everything.

The floor of the dungeon rumbled as one after another, multiple figures whistled past me.

More and more of these beasts were running towards Arthur. They stumbled, fell, ran over each other's bodies, but still kept running towards him, completely disregarding our existence. I stood up and swung my dagger at one of them.

My eyes widened as my dagger got stuck in its skin. The skin was too tough to cut even when I had augmented the dagger to a limit that any more augmentation could damage the weapon itself.

Its crimson eyes landed on me for a second. Much to my own surprise, it let out a low-pitched growl and leapt off, totally ignoring me while the dagger was still in it.

My gaze landed on Arthur.

Arc of teal from his unique sword formed followed by crackles of lightning. The cacophonous booms of his sword clashing with metallic talons echoed throughout the cave making an ear-splitting noise.

Sparks frizzante everywhere as every thunderous clash was followed by a booming, deafening roar of thunder and flash of lightning.

I wanted to help him. But all I could do was stand and stare at him.

At this moment, he wasn't the clueless, expressionless kid that I came to adore as my little brother.

No...

Right now...

He wasn't even human. There wasn't a shed of mercy or any emotion over his face. His face was neutral, not showing a single expression.

Not even fatigue.

All I saw was an empty husk of the boy. Even seasoned veterans show some kind of expressions.

An expression of joy or ecstasy, or sometimes remorse. But Arthur... he was doing it without blinking his eye.

What scared me the most was the absence of murderous intent from Arthur.

Even little infant beasts emit it when they're in danger.

Yet, here Arthur was, killing beasts we could barely injure with such brutal efficiency and not a single drop of bloodlust.

Almost... as if killing was second nature to him.

Crosswinds blew from every direction as they severed the frontal and hind legs of multiple chimaera beasts while others fell to the teal- coloured blur that was Arthur's sword.

"W-Wh-What is that thing?"

The man screamed, as he crawled backwards on his feet and legs. His face contorted into a mix of agony and despair.

"You are a grown-ass man. Get your wits together. How can you be scared of mana beasts?" I snapped at the man, his eyes fixated at the source of clamorousclamourous booms exploding behind me.

"No. No. NO. NO! You don't understand!," The man screamed back at me, clawing at his own face. "That boy... no, that thing isn't human."

I took a step forward, raising my dagger at him, "He is a boy who has more guts than you." I spat and turned around, trying to think of a way to help him.

"You can see it too, right?," The man behind me spoke once again.

"See what?"

"The endless madness behind that expressionless face of his. You can see it too. I know. You just refuse to accept it because of your infatuation with the boy," he paused, taking in a dry lump of saliva, "I've seen killers. Mass killers. Maniacs. Those who kill for fun. I've seen every kind of monstrosity in this world. Yet, nothing comes close to this... whatever he is."

His words crashed in my ears like a tumbling wave crashing against a cliff followed by a rumble of roaring thunder. I didn't want to accept this. But his words stirred the inner conflict inside me even more, making my heart throb violently.

The cave rumbled once again followed by an ear-splitting shriek. Looking back I saw Arthur's sword plunged inside the beasts's chest, stabbing its heart as it jutted out of its back. Four others were pouncing at him, their talons coated in a thin purple layer.

The time seemed to slow down as a sudden panic welled up in my heart. Like placed in a scorching claw, my heart seemed to wither away as the thought of losing him entered my mind.

Just as I took one step, loud thuds echoed and an eerie silence ensued.

All four of them laid on the ground—headless. I hadn't even blinked.

Arthur looked at me, his azure blue eyes shining in the dark of the cave as it continued to rain. Rain of blood. And in the midst of it stood Arthur, his face as clueless as ever. He looked at me as if asking what was going on here.

Once again the ground seemed to move. I looked around, augmenting myself in a veil of wind mana but there was nothing. Not even a single mana signature other than us. Then what was it?

"We have to run." Arthur said calmly as he wiped his sword with a piece of cloth.

"Huh?"

"The dungeon. It's collapsing."

That is when everything started to fall into place.

This structure couldn't bear the brunt of the fight that had just taken place. The foundations that supported the massive weight were crumbling already.

My feet raised above the ground. I looked down as I saw a gust of wind underneath my feet. "Let's go." Arthur's voice reached my ears, muffled by the booming cracks appearingthat ran all along the walls and roof of the dungeon.

"RUN!" I shouted back at the healer girl and the man from before. Snapping out of their frightened daze, they started to run alongside me. My sprint soon converted into a flight as it seemed like I was skating on the ground. Looking back I saw Arthur two yards away running at a moderate pace while maintaining a gust of wind beneath my feet.

The whole cave was suddenly engulfed in amethyst lightning. Arthur looked back and then at me.

"Arthur. Please focus on yoursel-" I was interrupted as a heavy mass fell on my head and stole my consciousness away from me.

// Arthur Leywin //

Once I was done with the beasts I had to somehow investigate the whole place without any of the others being present here.

The man was a liability. And he definitely saw me changing forms for a split second when I activated Realmheart for a fraction of a second. I need to get them all out of here.

Using earth mana, I conjured multiple earthen spikes and started sabotaging the foundations that supported the whole structure. With enough focus, I could influence the earth mana and anything comprising earth mana down at the molecular level.

Like causing breakage at its atomic level, I could make the whole dungeon collapse inat itself. There was something wrong with this place. I could feel it. The presence of the fifth element around the chimaeras and their influence over it.

In my brief but eventful life in this world, I had never come across anything that had any relationship with purple mana. Let alone influence it. Even usage of this purple mote for more than five minutes started breaking my body.

Influencing the earth mana I started breaking the walls, floor and roof. Crevices ran through them as they started collapsing.

My only priority was Jasmine. Since we had some sort of similarities and had a good time together, I deemed her worthy enough to be saved and not killed in my pursuit of knowledge. 

Conjuring a gust of wind underneath I made her ski across the dungeon. Once she was close to the opening, I sent a sound wave, knocking her out. It was a crucial step. If I didn't knock her out, she would've sent the adventurer's guild after me, hence hampering the process of my investigation. The other two were panicked enough not to think about me.

Just as they neared the entrance, I threw Jasmine out of it while throwing a stone boulder at the man's head. The bones in his skull broke audibly as it turned into a bloody mess. I wasn't sure if he had seen or felt my second phase. But keeping him alive was based on the mere possibility that he might have not seen me would put me in way too big of a predicament.

Making sure Jasmine was far enough, I collapsed the entrance, covering it with huge boulders that laid one over the other.

"Papa? S-Someone's here."

I stopped at Sylvie's voice. I had never heard her talk with such panic.

"Who is it?"

"It's... a dragon. I can feel him come closer."

"Can you handle it?"

"I am not sure. I will avoid combat for now and rendezvous later when you're done with your work."

"Understood." I replied as Sylvie cut our mental connection.

I took in a deep breath, brimming my lungs with pungent air that reeked of death. A small crack in space with purple sparks laid in front of me. I could feel multiple motes of purple distorting around it. Like they were bending every law of physics and tearing through space itself—overwriting the norm of reality.

I took a step forward. The whole dungeon disappeared and was replaced by a square room made of white tiles.

I felt my eyes widen a fraction of an inch.

This was it...

I was back in the White Room.

But how...

"So this is the one chosen by fate." A gruff voice spoke, echoing from every direction.

"He does indeed seem to have an affinity for aether. Are you sure he's the other legacy?"

"The world shall face its doom when two beings collide. A legacy of mana and a legacy of aether. The legacy of mana is here already. Fate has played its role. Now it's our sacred duty to nurture him."

Multiple voices conversed as I heard every one of them calmly. Just as I was almost done with pinpointing their locations, the White Room was filled with a subtle glitter of amethyst. Looking up I saw three crystals, brimming with purple motes as they hovered above me.

"Welcome to our sacred sanctuary, Arthur Leywin... or should we say, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji."

(*****)

A/n Hello everyone. Been a long time, eh? Anyways, a lot happened in this chapter. A lot will happen continuing this chapter afterwards.

Do comment on what you think of the chapter and what you think will happen next.

The upload schedule is a bit fucked since I am barely having the motivation to write. Plus I am sick af and have been having some medical issues lately. So, sorry for the delay that might come in upcoming chapters. I will make up for the delay with chapter length. This chapter was 3k words.

Jasmine art by MaiFurumi