Chapter 23 - Qi Revolution

Roger was dumbfounded. He didn't understand how it was possible that Menke, Dennis and the rest of the guards were safe and sound. Menke and Dennis were clearly still injured, both were supported by other guards and Menke, although he had just used a Magick Spell, was clearly breathing heavily. Therefore, it was impossible in Roger's mind that they could have escaped the Macaques' attack unscathed. They even had no fresh wounds.

Suddenly Roger saw that there was an extra person in addition to the original group. A man in rags with some missing teeth, the same man he had seen at the entrance of the orphanage the day before. This, precisely, was Maikal.

In fact, Roger was not wrong. The rest of the guards, Dennis and Menke, thought they were going to die. They were all about to pull out the mana bombs and make one last desperate attempt to attack as many of the beasts as they could and try to breach the Macaques' formation in an attempt to escape. They knew they would probably all die, but if at least one of them made it out alive, they could tell Master Corena what happened, and he would avenge them.

However, just as the Winter Barrier was ending and everyone was preparing for the final battle, they noticed that the Macaques were all standing still, most of them shivering. The leader of the Macaques was roaring at a person who was sitting on top of a pair of apes, with a lazy grin on his face. The great ape had all his hair standing on end, and although he was roaring, he was actually trying to fill himself with courage. Magical Beasts after all live in a world where the strong eat the weak, and so the vast majority had a markedly powerful instinct in the face of danger, especially the stronger and more intelligent they were. When the leader of the Macaques saw Maikal, he was not seeing a human, but a hideous beast glaring at him with narrowed eyes. If he took another step forward, he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he would be killed.

The guards were surprised but immediately became elated. Seeing the reaction of the beasts, they knew there was a high probability that they could come out of this alive.

....

Roger broke out in a cold sweat. It was clear that this person, who he thought was no more than a beggar, had rescued the steward Menke and the rest of the guards, implying that this was clearly an expert powerful enough to put a whole group of Shadow Macaques to flight. Certainly, Roger thought, he was stronger than he was, though he didn't know what rank of Warrior he was. If he was just a Qi Centurion, then perhaps he would still have a chance to flee.

"Surrender Roger. There is nothing you can do now. If you turn yourself in and denounce those who hired you, there is still a chance that Master Corena will have mercy on you," Menke said. Roger answered nothing. He knew that if he got into the hands of old man Corena, there was no chance of getting out unscathed. Especially since the people who hired him would not allow him to say a word and would silence him first.

Roger immediately formulated a plan in his head. His only chance to escape with his life intact. He took his personal mana bomb and threw it at Elijah before anyone could react, creating a huge explosion. Elijah had to jump to the side to escape. Roger took that moment to launch himself full speed ahead towards Nerun and Julieth. His plan was to take the children hostage and use them as leverage to escape.

"DAMN!" shouted some of the guards.

"YOUNG MISS!" shouted Menke for his part.

Maikal at that moment showed a dangerous look on his face and was about to move, when he suddenly stopped, in surprise.

Roger arrived in front of the children and extended his arm. Nerun who was holding onto Julieth let go and looked at Roger straight in the eyes, a golden halo began to swirl around his pupils and spread to the entire sclera of his eyes.

"Καλειδοσκόπιο" - /Kaleidoskópio/.

Nerun said quietly. At that moment the captain's eyes lost clarity. The secret technique that Nerun received from the Eyes of the World was precisely this. Kaleidoscope, a technique that allowed him to make the opponent start seeing multiple images at the same time, confusing his mind. If Nerun were strong enough, these images could overload the opponent's mind and make him lose consciousness altogether, however, Nerun was too weak for this. Roger only lost consciousness for a second, and Nerun even suffered a backlash, and one of his eyes began to leak tears of blood. Roger's inertia made him follow in Nerun's direction, and with the power he had used to move, without the control of his consciousness, Nerun would probably be killed by the collision.

But Nerun instinctively stepped in front of Roger and by rapidly moving his hands in a counter-clockwise spiral, he began to mobilise the natural energy of Heaven and Earth. This time the movements were completely natural and fluid and a spiral of Qi accompanied the movement of the natural energy, forming an almost invisible focal point of power as Nerun brought his hands closer and immediately extended his hands towards Roger's outstretched arm.

"<Qi Revolution>" said Nerun.

- CRASH!

Roger stopped dead in his tracks, as Nerun shot several metres backwards and threatened to crash into a tree and be crushed. However, Maikal appeared behind him and received him in his arms. Maikal sent some of his Qi into Nerun's body and began to stabilise his wounds. Both of Nerun's arms were broken.

"NERUN," Julieth and Elijah shouted.

Maikal, however, had his eyes fixed on Roger, who had regained his senses. He was less than a metre away from Julieth and could easily reach her before anyone could stop him. However, he stood completely still, his eyes fixed on Nerun, with a look of disbelief and distress.

Suddenly Roger began to walk backwards, as his arm deformed with every step, with a great amount of blood pouring out of every pore, as if every bone, muscle and tendon in it had come undone. When he had taken 10 steps he stopped. His entire right arm seemed little more than a rag hanging from his shoulder. The right half of his chest had collapsed slightly, and he vomited huge amounts of blood. He then fell face down on the ground and was about to lose consciousness.

"Little Menke, if you don't want that little captain to die and lose your witness, you'd better freeze his wounds, otherwise he'll die before long," said Maikal.

Julieth and Elijah rushed over to Nerun, who lay unconscious in Maikal's arms. "How is he, Father?"

"He will live. He just lost consciousness from the overexertion he's been through. He has a couple of fractures in both arms, but nothing that can't be healed, hehehehehe. The truth is that the brat has surprised me a lot" said Maikal looking at Nerun with tenderness, as if he was his own grandson.

Julieth was very worried and on the verge of tears. Everything that had happened had affected her greatly, and seeing Nerun and all that he had done to rescue and help her had touched her heart. She knew that if it wasn't for Nerun, she would be dead and hopeless.

Menke approached Julieth, and she threw herself into the butler's arms as she began to cry out her grief. She was finally venting all the frustration and helplessness she felt.

Menke tried to comfort her. Then looking at Elijah, Nerun and Maikal, he said, "Thank you. If it wasn't for you, this would have ended in a great tragedy. I don't know how we can repay you."

"We can talk about that more calmly as soon as we get out of the Woods." Maikal said.

At last, the whole group came out of the forest escorted by Elijah and Maikal. 7 guards had lost their lives on this trip, 5 more were wounded, and Dennis and Menke also had injuries of varying severity. Mariuz and Roger were completely crippled, and were being carried by two companions on makeshift stretchers they had made from branches and the two traitorous guards who were still alive were tied up. They had not saved them because they had been shown special mercy, but because they knew that Master Corena needed them to find the mastermind behind this whole fiasco. Maybe their ends would be much worse than death.

Elijah carried Nerun on his back. Although Nerun was unconscious, he was nevertheless smiling reassuringly as he breathed softly. The journey to the Rando Woods was over.

....

The next day the guards were saying goodbye to the people of the orphanage. Menke had given Maya a large amount of money and all the children were happy because they knew they were going to eat very well for many days. Julieth even approached several of the girls and gave them some of her dresses as she told them stories of the capital of the kingdom, amidst much laughter. Julieth realised that these children were all full of life, and she began to see that her so-called wonderful life in the capital and her mansion was actually markedly cold, with many people only coming to her because of her father's power and her family's money, and not because they really wanted to know her or be with her.

Julieth began to realise the error of many of her past actions and couldn't help but cry a little. "Is something wrong, big sister Julieth?" Miriam asked as she tried on one of the dresses Julieth had given her.

"It's nothing. You look beautiful in that dress," said Julieth with a smile on her face. Menke was also happy to see the change that was taking place in the young lady. Maybe this trauma wasn't all bad, he thought to himself.

Menke then walked to a secluded part of the orphanage, seeing Maikal with his back turned, sitting in a chair in the courtyard. Menke bowed at 90 degrees as he said with great emotion, "Brigade Captain Menke salutes the Dragon General. Many of us old soldiers remember the glory days with the General. We have all been anxious for years, waiting for your return, but we had no news from you. Master Corena especially is still greatly affected by your departure."

Maikal however remained undaunted as if he had heard nothing. He raised a bottle and took a large swig as he continued to stare blankly at the horizon. Menke continued his bow for several minutes but got no response from Maikal. In the end, he could only sigh and get up to leave. He knew that his former General had been through some very painful things in the past. He was happy, to say the least, because he had been able to see his old General and knew he was alive and in Ansem. Then, thinking of young Elijah and Nerun, he could not help but believe that perhaps the time for the General's return would not be long in coming.

Finally, Julieth and the others had to leave. Julieth wanted to see Nerun but had not had a chance to see him because he was still unconscious. The carriage and all the guards left when suddenly a voice was heard coming from the orphanage.

"UGLY GIRL. DON'T FORGET ABOUT US. SOMEDAY WE WILL MEET AGAIN".

Nerun's arms were in casts but he had a smile plastered on his face as he stood with the rest of the children from the orphanage saying goodbye. Julieth leaned out of the window as she waved goodbye to Nerun, also smiling. This was something that would stay with her for the rest of her life.