Moonlight Slash

I altered my breathing and opened my aura to the light of the moon. Kloan tried to take advantage of my opening with a thrust that I parried away and I leapt back to increase the distance between us. I gave up on any type of attack while focusing on increasing my aura beyond its current limits.

"You must really be scared to try a breakthrough at a time like this. But it's not going to be enough." Kloan said.

"You never know. Are you scared that I might be able to beat you?" I said.

"Ha, you'll be lucky not to screw over your entire aura foundation before I kill you." He said.

"You could always let me finish in peace. Prove that you're that much better than me." I said.

"I don't really care about being better. I just want the payday your head will provide." He said.

The conversation ended quicker than I wanted it to. Of course I had taken advantage of the lessening of attacks to advance that much closer to the next stage. I could feel the energy of my aura pressing against its limits. The invisible barrier just didn't want to budge.

"Just give up already." Kloan said. "Your stubbornness is affecting my mood." He burst forth with a flurry of attacks.

Time, I just needed more time. He was too quick for me to run from him. I could try to make it back out into the main street to look for aid, but then I'd have to answer questions. Kloan would also be able to get away. If he did, he might be able to let others in the Hall know where I was. If he didn't lie to me, noon else knew where I was. But that wouldn't matter if I couldn't survive this exchange.

While focusing this much on the Lydos aura, I wasn't able to use the Osgar aura to its fullest. More and deeper wounds kept being sliced into my body. Maybe it wasn't going to work. Maybe my parentage was always what I was told it was. But I couldn't let it end like this. Even if my dreams weren't true memories, I didn't want to die here. I wanted my life to mean something.

Then it happened.

I felt the light of the moon course through my veins. I had the same feeling when I first entered the Novice stage. While it felt like ice moving through my body, I could feel my muscles heating up. The glow on my sword intensified as I slashed forward. Kloan stepped back to avoid the attack but was caught by the Moonlight arcing off the blade. It only extrented a few feet but that was enough to catch his right arm and that side of his stomach. Under the light of the full moon the Lydos Lineage gained extra strength.

It wasn't a deep cut but it was enough. The attacks from his right arm were slower and he had to alter his stance to protect that side. I wanted to immediately take advantage, but was racked with pain as the foundation of my aura began to fall apart. He had been right, a breakthrough in these circumstances was dangerous. Time was also becoming my enemy in this fight.

Still it was kill or be killed. Pushing through the pain I lunged forward, forcing him back. He tried to counter but I used my earth magic to hold firm against his counter. After a few more exchanges Kloan had accumulated more wounds than he gave me, but I could tell time was running out for me to be able to reverse the damage I was doing to my own body.

I allowed myself to stumble, letting my sword to lower to the ground. Without hesitation, he pressed his apparent advantage. It wasn't too hard for me to fake weakness as my body was reaching its limits anyways. Having drawn him in, I shifted my weight to my back foot and pressed off with my front. As I fell backwards I pulled my sword up and released everything I had in a Moonlight Slash.

The wind was knocked out of me as I landed on my back. Struggling to sit up I saw Kloan stumbling backwards. His dagger and sword had dropped and he was trying to cover the bleeding gash that went from his navel to just below his neck.

"Bastard." Was all he could get out before falling to his knees. As the last of his strength left him and he fell to the side, I lowered my head and began the slow rhythmic breathing associated with the Lydos Lineage.

After a few minutes I had my aura stabilized enough that I wasn't going to die any time soon and was able to stand again. I would still need to spend most of the night in meditation to reverse the damage and fully enter the intermediate stage. I took Kloan's low grade storage ring and searched his body for anything else that might identify him.

I quickly changed my coat since it was blood stained with a number of cuts. Using my water mote I cleaned my wounds and applied an earthy paste to them. I wish I knew the spell that Vesta had used to lessen pain. Then I used my fire mote to burn Kloan's face beyond recognition, before picking up my sack and stumbling out of the alley.

I found a flask of what smelled like whiskey in the storage ring. Not taking the chance that it was poisoned, I didn't drink it but poured a little on my clothes. It didn't take me too long to find a cheap inn. After using my best drunk impersonation, I was able to get a small room with the best view of the moon.

Stripping naked I sat near the window in meditation as I calmed the raging storm that was my aura. The entire way here it felt like someone had placed coals under my skin. After about an hour the pain had lessened enough for me to stabilize the Lydos Lineage. Taking out my sword I began to move through the forms in what little moonlight was available. A tear ran down my cheek as I copied the movements of the woman I could now confirm was my mother.

Near sunrise I gathered everything in what was now my storage ring and snuck out of the inn. I didn't know if Kloan had been found yet, and I didn't want to stay in the area if the city guard started asking questions. On the other side of the city I bought new clothes and got a shave and a haircut, I hadn't had one since we started north.

It was best if no one from the caravan recognized me. I was the last one seen with Kloan and while it would be easy to say that I parted ways with him shortly after leaving the Jagged Tankard, it was best to avoid any questions. It was obvious now that I wasn't going to be heading back south with them.

If I went back home, I could use the moonlight slash to show that I was my fathers true heir. What would their reactions be? Would Eadri hate me for taking his place? We always had a good relationship but he was the heir and I was the bastard. Would my true mother be able to love me as her son after years of indifference towards me? Would my father allow such a scandal? And my sister Aethel, what would her reaction be after everything she went through? Real or not, scandals don't just disappear.

Then there was this whole born for greatness thing. While one day becoming a Duke would definitely set me up for greatness, was it the right type of greatness? While the high nobility may take on threats that cropped up, they rarely left their own domains. If I was originally supposed to prevent many of the tragedies during the Years of Sorrow, being a Duke would have prevented that. The events of those years happened all over the kingdom.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized the real reason I didn't want to go back. In both my childhood here and on Earth, I grew with stories of heroes on grand adventures. I wanted to be those heroes, I wanted those grand adventures and I couldn't go looking for trouble in the same way if I was a Duke's heir.

I'd give myself four years. After I turned 22 I'd head back and see what the situation was before confronting the woman who switched me at birth. By then I'd be at least an expert in the Osgar Lineage and proficient in the Lydos Lineage intermediate stage, along with my magic and general skills being higher. Even if my father still wanted to kill me, I'd at least have the ability to get away by then.

For now I just needed to lay low in the north while using the Adventures Union to start my path of becoming the greatest hero this world had ever known.

**End Accepting Fate Arc**