55

As Pef followed the flight corridor on his retina, the Legion knife manifested in his hand, again on its own.

'Are you doing this?' Pef wondered a bit annoyed.

'Of course not. The knife needs to recognize you as well. It might hurt, so better wait til you're in a bed or something' the glove answered while testing the link protocols as well.

A mere Tier 1, without a Saint conduit, shouldn't have been able to use the knife to sever souls.

Something was wrong, something more profound than it had calculated till now.

The Heavenly Lightning was the clue. It was trying to help, in a weird way. Which meant something...but what, exactly?

The Legion glove was itself damaged and lost 99 percent of its memories, only the Legion kernel code being able to self-repair.

But if the Legion knife was damaged as well? Would it accept any user, no matter the genetic markers?

Maybe Xie could wield it now? The glove didn't know. And it didn't like not knowing. Lack of knowledge meant enemy action.

It scanned the universe again, waiting for a ping from any Legion item able to respond.

Still the same. No Legion power armor, no White Jade Holonode. No Legion medikit either.

Using primitive stone age pills to cleanse its user meridians would take decades, instead of a week.

Were they locked someplace where they could respond? Did they get lost in transfer?

Why did the Veritas pistols get scattered galaxies away?

So many questions, and every possible answer raised more questions. Where, who, why, how, when?

Every question had only scary answers, and the huge number of golden auras implied a massive catastrophe had befallen the Veritas Legion.

Four golden auras and perhaps five, if Gaia was who it thought she was. A caretaker in the Veridian Legion.

No memories, but the instinct to nurture and protect the ecology was there.

Pef arrived at the Drummer Inn to find the crew kinda worried for him, as throughout the city there were arrests and lashings, even executions. Also, wild rumours of dark cults and the Patriarch was missing.

Xie jumped to hug him and scanned him with a pair of worried silver eyes. "You didn't disappear the old guy, did you?" she asked with curious eyes, after noting the increase in strength.

Erin and Pela gasped in shock, as the Patriarch was presumed immortal and invincible, but then again Pef kinda beat up everyone he met.

"Oh, you mean Old Deng? Nah. We partied at his villa, he has this hot spring and..." Pef explained with a hand wave.

"Idiot! You scared us to death..." Erin cried in relief.

The knife chose that moment, to appear and be recognized.

"You...took his Neo Knife?" Pela muttered in disbelief.

Pef shook his hand, until the knife returned to storage. Damn it, that thing will be inconvenient, if it kept popping out as it wanted.

"Stop it with the crazy ideas! Me and the Patriarch are cool. I just had to regrow my right arm, and cook for him and drink his wine..." Pef said in the correct order.

His wives focused on his normal looking hand. "He cut off your arm?" Xie asked with revenge in her voice.

"No! I did it, for reasons..." Pef replied with a bit of shame.

"It was crushed beyond repair, wasn't it?" Xie said in an understanding tone, patting Pef on his back.

"Sigh. No! It was melting and bubbling with evil qi. Some god named Locust hit me. It kinda hurt..." Pef explained, taking out his partly melted bony arm, as proof.

The knife flew out and stabbed the burned arm for some reason.

They all stared at the sight in confusion.

"Why did you do that?" Xie asked after a minute.

Pef shook his head and pointed: "Gah! It has its own mind. Like a puppy. With Sovereign ranked teeth..."

Erin figured it out first. "So you need to train it. Then you could wave around white beams, like the Patriarch!"

Pef sat down on his bed, and grabbed the handle. "No...it needs to taste me. The knife uses my qi, and right now it has none. So...this might hurt" Pef muttered as he stabbed the knife, right in his right lung.

It hurt like hell, as the blade began glowing and comparing genetic markers.

'Normally, a stab into the forearm or the palm is enough' the glove added after a minute of intense pain.

Pef gritted his teeth and cursed inward. All those myths about becoming one with sword!

Damn it. He got tricked.

"Wow, you're really badass, Pef. If the knife rejects you, it will sever your soul. Please don't die!" Pela said with an amazed and worried face.

Pef tried to laugh but it hurt too much. He smiled and nodded.

"Okay then. Let's drink some wine, while hubby wrestles with his new puppy" Xie proposed and took out a few jugs of wine.

After a long drunken revelry, the wives turned to find Pef asleep, the neo knife gone from his chest and no wound or scar.

They fell asleep in relief.

The glove sighed in relief as well, as its idiot user lucked out again, showing courage and sacrifice, and even presenting the chopped off arm as a trophy.

The Veritas knife would become a Godslayer now, as soon as the user reached Monarch ranking, and could combine sword qi with his soulstrike.

A tiny cut on the arm might have worked, and usually did, on new knives, but this old and damaged blade seemed really peculiar.

The plank scale edge was serrated, like it had failed to cut something and had to grind its way through armor. Something durable like Legion power armor or a high tier god.

More mysteries surrounded this knife, and made the glove ask more questions.

Why two knives, but only one glove? Where was the other glove?

Why two power word pistols in this universe, and only one glove?

Pef woke up next day, feeling rested and happy, and the knife jumped into his hand like an eager puppy, ready to bite something tasty.

'So, I can kill Sovereign ranks now?' Pef asked curious.

'Indeed. But better craft yourself some full plate armors first. Will reduce regeneration time, substantially.' The glove replied in a pleased tone. The user was back on track!

Pef looked around, finding his wives on the floor sleeping as pile of half naked women, drunk and drooling.

He sighed and began splashing then with water. Their wet clothes made it easy to see through, and that made him happier.

More water and some wind from Pela flew back, creating a tornado of magic joy in the room.

Major Wu opened the door for a second, took in the sight and closed it back, blushing fiercely.

The new Xi family laughed and hugged in a pile of wet happiness.

Pef began planning his next moves, while the hungry wives undressed and abused the young husband. Not that Pef minded. He deserved some love, for all his hard work.

Some three hours later, Pef went to make lunch, and take stock of his company.

A few guys were already close to their next rank, as the city women were plentiful and adored war heroes, like the famous 413 regiment.

Pef waited another week, setting up some manufactures along the river, for paper and glass, while his wives received some Sky and Emperor ranked bones to craft their own items. As did his Majors, as reward for their service.

He visited Ventu at the Patriarch's Hall on his last day, once the aftershocks of the secret inquisition among the priests started to fade.

All over the Patriarchy, Emperors and their staffs were put to work, ordered to investigate and stamp out the schismatic cult.

"Young Pef, you caused quite a mess since you arrived on my continent" the old Tyrant said with a sad voice, while pouring tea for both of them.

"Hey! I just uncovered some evil cult, didn't do anything wrong..." Pef retorted in a half annoyed tone.

"And, it's not over yet. You asked for these Majors, Lara and Remi, to be transferred to your staff..." Ventu continued in the same pleasant voice.

"Cool girls, yes. Remi's my sister too." the young Emperor agreed, and tasted the tea. A bit too soon and hot, but he could take it.

"And my old man gave you free rein almost, before going on some soul finding quest. You're going to push your wives to Emperor rank, aren't you?" Ventu said in a soft voice.

"I'm not Saren, don't worry. My goals are much higher, and I will need all the Xi behind me. But think of it like this. If your beloved wife was alive now, and also a Tyrant rank, what would change?" Pef asked with a wondering manner.

Ventu clenched his fist for a second, before looking far away. "I'd be a happy man, and maybe a even Sovereign. The pain of losing loved ones..."

"I had to cut open three women, and take out soul arrows from their bellies. One of them was my mother. And then I used those arrowheads to kill Earth and Sky ranked beasts and climb myself out of the low rank and depleted qi continent.

The arrows had powerful formations on them, able to incinerate a thousand kilometers if they blew out in the open. So I had to get them inside those beasts, first as a Core rank, then as a Nascent. It's a cruel world Ventu. But don't give up. Now that I am here, we'll make it better!" Pef proclaimed in a calm voice, holding the neo knife out for a second.

Then he turned and left, accelerating fast towards the Sky Crown Mountains. He had people to see, and ranks to gain.

And he wasn't patient. If his Practice wasn't enough, he would use a higher rank to do, what lower ranks trained a thousand year to do.

So what if he never made 6 cubic meters of storage? A Tyrant would get 10 meters of his first try. And a Sovereign would get 50 meters. It only took a few lucky kills.

Pef was hopeful as hours flew, by and he approached the snow capped mountains.

Ventu poured himself another cup of tea, musing on the hurtful words of their new prodigy.

A wife to grow old beside...not having to burn her body and find another. He would have to speak with Wixtal, find out what really happened. Soul arrows. Even with glove to whisper in his brain, the boy must have been like 10 and cut open his own mother.

And that dual soul, like he had a twin and shared the body. Whatever Wixtal did, would have to be solved, before the boy returned a Tyrant himself. If those two fought, half the continent would die.

Damn the old man! Ventu didn't want to tangle his brain with complicated politics and family weaves.

His sword, a beast wave, some tea after. Life was much simpler on the Wall.