I WILL TOO

SAMUEL ARGUS'S POV

we had arrived. The walls of the city spread out so wide that unless I used mana I wouldn't be able to trace out their end, a stark white that was almost blinding in the sun, what was even more blinding were the myriad of paintings and depictions that were probably wrought in actual gold yet my mind tried hard to deny it. I mean there's no way anyone's that wasteful, even Langris who's affection for gold and all things shiny only pushed him to have Trident's walls made of BLUE STONE an ore that was as durable as it was eye catching having a brilliant shade of sea blue that darkened in the night and our depictions were made with pearls something we had a surplus of due to trade with the sea. It design seemed simply as it was supposed to give off a feeling of simple calm but the project which had started and been completed during my reign was actually quite costly but even its price should pale in comparison to this.

But still one could not deny that it was a work of art, especially from where I and Kannie stood. Underneath the walls were lush green fields that spread out for arces dotted with ripe strawberry bushes and fruit trees of all sorts. Baskets were strewn all over the fields some half filled and some which were full to bursting all of them indicating one thing, the people picking them had spotted us from a far and been in such a panic to escape that they failed to properly sort them. A smart choice since we weren't here to visit. The reality of the situation hit me like the bill at an expensive restaurant, instantly destroying the the refreshing feel my surroundings gave me and causing a storm around my heart. I could feel the excited muttering of the men behind me, they had chosen to focus more on the obvious signs of wealth the city had than what we would have to do to get it but I didn't try to silence them, not even when their mutterings jumped from simple excitement to being downright raucous, I didn't move, not even when one of the less decent of them began to bellow of the women they'd have the chance to "sample" I didn't say a word, I had no clue of the procedures taken in sacking a city and since Kannie didn't say anything I took the situation as it is, not my problem.

I sighed closing my eyes in order to find my determination but instead I found myself analysing the situation only to come to a startling conclusion. Kannie wouldn't know how to sack a city either, the last city sacking took place about 250 years ago, far longer than any of us had been alive, back in the days of the Black empire where the Don's association wasn't nearly as strong as it is now and cities were practically autonomous, the name of the sacked city eluded me but Kannie would probably know, he would also know everything I knew and more yet he still chose to go along with this. I looked up at his towering frame his face still resolute, he looked down at me and gave a soft smile, hardly visible unless you looked carefully but it was there, his eyes were green pools of wisdom which confidently displayed one simple message

"I know what I'm doing"

and if he did I had no reason to fear. Afterall I was following him.

"shall we"

he said in a genial tone, I nodded once my distaste all but gone and as I took the first step that was when it happened, a massive force came crashing down on all of us it was undoubtedly the presence of someone powerful the less capable of our number had already collapsed with the best of them out of breath, but neither I nor Kannie moved, instead we braced ourselves for what would be the first true fight we had had in quite a while, the pressure in question was undoubtedly emperor pressure

'I thought all the Don's would be absent'

"they were if one of them were here he would have either been waiting for us on the walls or be trying to conceal his presence so that he could get the jump on us but judging from the scenario and the fact that he's probably rushing here from somewhere it's more likely that they managed to contact one of them and he's on his way here at top speed"

his words sounded plausible after all the presence we were sensing was set to appear in a few seconds, he'd have been quicker if he was already inside the city but still

'to announce his aura so boldly you think its Eron'

Kannie grimaced before saying

"this pressure is definitely less than his but its not unlikely after all if he sped towards this place as fast as he could while minimalising his intent he could fool us but if so I'd say we retreat"

'he's that strong'

"yep, think Langris but with lightning"

I shuddered unconsciously, Kannie must have noticed since he said

"but that's unlikely, if he left his troops Langris would slaughter them all"

to that I nodded but then asked

'then who's the mad man'

he looked up in the direction of the blurry but fast paced projectile that was about to land and said

"we're about to find out"

with a sound like thunder the figure landed causing a massive crater that completely destroyed the surrounding scenery. Through a haze of smoke and rubble I was able to make out the form of a man and it wasn't Eron

"Hello all"

he said with his voice amplified by mana, his tone was calm and cheerful as if he wasn't the least bit threatened by our presence Kannie and I looked at each other and decided to fix that, we let our emperor pressure fly sending a blast of deity like force that didn't lose out to his, but still

"it seems there are two of you"

his voice didn't lose that tone, I wondered who it was who exactly that was capable of such confidence, no, false bravado in front of us, it had to be Eron but Eron wasn't here

"who am I speaking to"

said Kannie

"oh, you can't tell then maybe this will help"

he said as a pulse of mana spread out from his body blasting away all that was obscuring our view of him, with that his figure was revealed

'Phantom beast Lord'

I said as if I couldn't believe it, this was the last person I expected to see a man often regarded as my rival but known by a select few for his utter lack of courage and confidence, yet here he was facing us openly and plainly. Unless this was some kind of plan facing us was not just unlike him it was suicidal.

Kannie took this information much better than I choosing instead to ask

"are you here to fight"

Leon Crackwell looked to him with a slight smile on his face while saying

"I thought I made that clear"

'you'll lose, you'll die'

I said half in panic as if trying to avoid a fight we had more than a fair chance of winning without injury, Kannie didn't say anything. Even though he probably noticed he kept his eyes on Leon

"I know. And it seems a shame since I've finally found a reason to respect my self again, after all these years the man I see in the mirror no longer calls me a clown, that same man wants be to do what I can right here right now even at the cost of my life"

I searched his eyes for the madness that possesed him but all I saw was resolve .Bright and shining like that of a warrior, of a man who had found his pride

'I'll fight, alone'

Kannie didn't say anything but his emperor pressure dissipated like a lie leaving us as the culprits behind the suffocating aura around us. It wasn't slight, the difference between our aura's that is, I could actually tell that I was stronger than him and if I could tell then so could he, I filled myself on confidence as I walked towards him but despite the knowledge of my advantage I still couldn't hold his gaze, the power in them was eclipsing yet still I had to face them, with the sound of metal scraping I pulled my blade, Dalziel or wave bite a golden long saber that was undoubtedly Don class and to that he responded by unsheating his own weapons, a single glance was all it took and we were off I charged at him as he charged me, with full speed I unleashed a sideways strike on him, he took the force of the blade and redirected it choosing to spin with it and send his other sword towards my unprotected side but I stepped back letting his blade go wide feeling the rush of the winds that attack kicked up. He continued to slash at me hundreds of times with inane accuracy but each blow glanced off my saber that was until I returned with an upward slash which he leaned back to dodge, he jumped backwards about 20 feet but didn't have time to do much else as I pursued him jumping into the air and bashing him with an over head strike, he blocked although with some difficulty, the ki surrounding our blades which we had managed managed keep compressed had begun to flare up due to the conflict and was spasming around in highly destructive waves. Luckily the damage was minimal as Kannie constructed a barrier around us, he also expanded the space in its interior so as to give us room to fight, our clash had caused a massive crater to form right where he was standing I knew he had not had an easy time blocking my last move and it was obvious he had gone through a difficult fight before getting here as his clothes were evidence to that but he was still smiling, I placed a kick towards his unguarded chest that sent him rolling in the dirt but he recovered quickly and charged me again swinging at a fast yet measured pace his moves possessing some kind of refined grace about them. Their speed and power weren't completely out of my ball park and my hits were actually stronger and faster yet I was the one being pressed back, every move he made was done with the purpose of finding cracks in my guard that I didn't know I had while when ever I responded he masterfully redirected the force mitigating a great deal of its potential damage. At first I believed the reason why I was having such trouble was because I was rusty but I eventually came to a realisation

even I couldn't be that rusty

our exchange had reached a fever peak by now, our conflicting ki's ran wildly spreading out in bursts of destruction and incinerating the air around us, even Kannie's barrier was showing signs of eventual collapse as we continued, he was directly in front of me when i sent a slash of ki at him, one with such a wide area of attack that he would be unable to make many counters which would in turn give me a something to exploit in his flustered form, but to my suprise and that of everyone watching he did something which was quite frankly, ridiculous, he leaned back, completely bending in a 90 degree angle and letting my attack pass over his torso and face. He then used my shock at the situation to send a kick to my chin instantly stunning me and with expert precision he went on his back hands and placed his boots into my torso sending me flying into the barrier and smashing through it like glass, Kannie appeared at my back catching me before i flew too far

"are you alright"

he whispered into my ear

'I'm fine, just suprised. He's better than I expected'

"yeah, I'm impressed too, if he had back up we'd actually be in trouble. what have you learned from fighting him"

'he lacks the power and speed of most Don's but his technique has been refined to a startling amount, I sense more work into his blade than even Raine's'

it wasn't a mere assumption I truly believed Raine was the most harwoking person in the world afterall she was the only one amongst us who still held hope of beating Langris but today I was proven wrong, I couldn't even hope to understand what drove this man here

"but can you win"

I looked to him, he had given up trying to hide it and let his fatigue show but the people behind him, the ones present on the walls didn't seem to notice, all they had seen was that two Don's charged at each other one an enemy and the other sworn to protect them and half a second later the one who was here to sack their city was sent flying, and they were ecstatic. Their crys of jubilation ran far and wide while our men had to put up a mask to hide their concern. As he muttered some words I nearly coughed out my last meal, 13 ethereal beings materialised around him all radiating power just a ways away from that of an Arcanum user, one of them seemed to be highly attuned to water, not as much as me but if her presence could be counted on he'd be able to disturb my attacks even more than before

"spirits"

said Kannie half in shock, it finally made sense, why his physical aspects were lacking, a decent amount of his potential had gone into aquiring and maintaining spirits who's strenghts weren't half bad. In fact it was likely that after Eron and Jurad this man was Aegis's strongest Don

"I'll help"

'no'

I quickly shot down Kannie's offer

"the situation has changed this is no longer a fight you can afford to lose, one wrong move out there and you'll die"

Kannie said almost pleading but still I replied with

'I don't know what went wrong with him, I can't tell why he chose not to use his spirits until this day but I do know that he's changed, he's not just some poser anymore, right now he's a Don, just like Raine and just like Langris, I want to be a Don too, I'm tired of being the joke only I can't get. its time I lived up to this title'

I then pointed at him

'that man is the 5th Don of Aegis and I am the 5th Don of Trident we are bitter rivals and since I'm here it's only natural that I be the one to fight him'

I stepped towards him once more before opening my mouth to speak

'hey Leon tell me if I'm wrong but after you beat me you plan on beating Kannie and then run off all the people we came with, am I right?'

he smilled a bit as he said

"if possible"

'that's not gonna work'

I said returning his smile

"oh and why is that"

'cuz you're gonna lose, you're not gonna get to fight Kannie cuz you're gonna be beaten before then. 5th Don of Aegis you are not going to fight another man today and that is because if anyone is going to defeat you it's going to be me'

even he's started acting like a Don, and if he's doing it then I will too.