Chapter 64 - Variable (9)

Walking towards us was the tall fur-covered woman I had previously seen between the small crowd of onlookers. She was well over two metres and her muscular body couldn't be hidden by her clothes. She had icy eyes and a head of brown bristly hair which resembled a lion's mane.

"Could you explain what your intentions were Amina?" Tobias inquired in a calm tone.

The woman tried to approach me but was stopped by Tobias' raised hand. Even if there was some distance between us, she towered over me.

"I was eliminating an eyesore, Patriarch," Amina responded, keeping her scornful gaze fixed on me.

Tobias' voice became sharper.

"Explain yourself better"

The woman's eyes grew wider. Although her contempt was still perceptible, her tone became calmer.

"This boy almost killed the Torchbearer. It has been generations since someone able to harness that strength appeared. We need to punish him accordingly"

Tobias raised the javelin he had grabbed in mid-air and burrowed it into the ground, with enough force to crack it open.

"The Torchbearer is safe. It is unneeded to pursue this any further"

The woman's brow twitched.

"You know about his importance. We agreed to protect him until he reached maturity. Without him, it will be impossible to kill the Treacherous Bastard"

"That's not true," I intervened.

The two of them turned towards me. The woman's eyes were still full of animosity.

"You are just a dangerous infant who knows nothing. The Torchbearer existence is irreplaceable"

"As I was saying, that's not true. Anyway, even if it was, we'd be hip dip in s**t as of right now. Caleb's aura is too dirty"

The woman didn't respond for a while. She scanned me head to bottom. Although it was clear she didn't like me, there was a tint of interest in her eyes.

"Seems like you're more knowledgeable than I previously thought. Well then, satisfy my curiosity: who will do it? Is there someone else who inherited the Focus?" she spoke sarcastically.

It was refreshing to hear about something I knew well about.

The Focus was what characterised the hero, taking him from a simply powerful individual to a unique existence.

At the end of the Age of Plunder, while the great arch-genai war was raging, the youngest and last of the Legions of the world was born.

They were the Legion of The Candour, the weakest out of all the Legions, but the one who brought spellcasting into this world. They were a rightful individual with an unbendable character, who always put others before themselves.

They forged from nothingness the ability to vanquish all that is evil and employed it against the king of the genais. At that time, the adversary's strength was unrivalled and nobody could defeat him. The appearance of the young Legion changed everything.

Their spell took the name of "Judgement", as those who were identified as "evil" were severely weakened by it and those who were identified as "good" were highly enhanced. The Legion wasn't ultimately capable of striking down their enemy, but forced the adversary to leave the field.

In preparation for the last war to come, before dying, the Legion of The Candour weaved their flesh and aura into an organ, who went on to be called "the Focus", capable of containing their power and which could be bequeathed to others.

In order to avoid such a senseless power to be used for other purposes, the Legion infused its character and motivations inside of it, ensuring only the pure of hearts could spellcast it. Had it not done it, everything the inheritor subjectively perceived as "evil" would be subjected to the spell effects.

This backstory was needed to justify the limitations on the power's scope with the ultimate goal of avoiding it being too broken. Otherwise, the hero would have been completely invincible.

The downside was that the only type of person capable of correctly employing the Focus was the "stupidly-righteous" type, and that was the reason why I didn't particularly care about Isaac. He bored me.

Anyway, I had lost myself in my own thoughts. I returned to the present situation.

"I will do it," I replied confidently.

I had started my journey in this world without the intention of looking for trouble, but trouble had evidently come searching for me for a while. In the current situation, where the future was uncertain due to the presence of the strange boy Caleb, it would be better to take things in my own hands and personally make sure things went as they should.

The woman's eyes became two thin slits. Immediately after, she laughed heartily and turned to Tobias.

"Where did you find him? I now understand why you are so adamant in keeping this young fool around. It is indeed a funny little possession you have here"

"He is not a member of my Household. There is no one in this world who can claim him as their own. He is not prone to lying. He will be the next Legion to walk this earth. He is to be let grow"

The woman froze at Tobias' words. He had spoken with absolute certainty that what he had just told would realise itself.

"A Legion?" she said bewildered.

Tobias didn't respond. A look of alarm appeared on her face.

"Then it's paramount to kill him here before he can become one. We cannot let another Legion be born," she said while unsheathing a knife from under her coat.

Her reaction surprised me but it was comprehensible. As a matter of fact, the fall of the ancient archuman civilization was only partly due to the war against the genais. Although the conflict reaped many lives, the destruction of infrastructures and the majority of the kill count on both sides could be attributed to someone else: the Legion of The Crimson.

The Crimson was born and died before the birth of The Candour. The Legions of the past had been known to isolate themselves and not interact with either archs or genais. The Crimson was different. The first thing it did when it ascended was to travel around the world and butcher its fellows. When the conflict started, it cancelled from the map entire Perimeters.

Its name came not from a special ability, but from the colour the fields took after its passage. Its presence was so relevant that until its death, the arch-genai war was fought strictly defensively by both fronts.

Tobias didn't seem to share in my thought, as he had put his hand around the woman's throat and was strongly squeezing it. The woman's eyes remained focused. She was weaker than Tobias but was still a strong arch. She put her foot on his chest and pushed him away. The two of them flew several metres into the air and landed standing.

"What do you think you are doing Patriarch?!" the woman cried out loud menacingly.

"You were rude, Matriarch Sloan. I told you he is to be let grow. You unsheathed a weapon in front of me with hostile intentions. I warned you" Tobias replied calmly.

"Tobias, I know you like hidden gems, but risking starting a war…"

"He is no gem. He is a sun on the rise, and I will see him shine. I am warning you: if deemed necessary, your Household will be cancelled"

Clearly, Tobias was not as bening as I had initially thought.