Salvation?

"No sign of pulses on the neck, no sign of breathing form the nostrils and no heartbeat is observed from his chest, moreover, his body is already growing cold despite the burning flames on his arms."

The professor then looked towards the expressionless Collins before continuing with his statement,

"Congratulations Mr Collins, you have successfully killed your opponent."

"Huh?"

Collins expressed with a surprised face as he was baffled with the professor's statement.

"I'm not mistaken lad, your opponent is now dead."

"Well, seems like his time arrived, so what do we do with his body then?"

Collins shrugs while he asks.

"Don't know, don't care, we just have to report his state to the academy head and have you undergo a judgement."

"Huh?

What the hell did I do wrong?"

"What the hell did you do wrong? Nope, let's reverse that question.

What the hell did you not do? You attacked first while he was still trying to explain himself.

You gave him no choice so he had to fight but the worst of all, you had your pride hurt and went nuts on him."

"Didn't you see how his flames burnt up my barrier?

If that had touched me, I would be in flames and something tells me I would regret that and might end up in a severe situation."

"That must be the infamous mythic soul flames and he would have called back his flames."

"How could you tell that he would have left me spared."

"At first, he was already loosing his consciousness, thanks to someone."

The crew member gave him the eye while making his statement, then, composed himself before continuing,

"Again, he was fighting to defend himself not to kill you. He has already ruled off the possibility to immobilize you and was fighting for your approval since you are a knight.

Sadly, he didn't know that your pride as a noble overshadows that of your knighthood."

"Jeez, sorry I guess?"

"Sorry? You will need more than that when you meet with your childhood friend, Brianna."

"What? Brianna? Why?"

"The person you just killed was her training buddy and her father's disciple."

After the crew member's statement, Collins' butt hits the ground as his eyes gets locked on over Liam's lifeless body.

"Get up boy, accountability calls.

Not just do you have to answer the child Brianna, but the crew as well for you killed an innocent victim.

The one responsible was having a death duel with the childhood friend you cherish.

Should have concentrated on saving her than trying to show forth yourself.

Again, hope she survives the duel and my colleague arrived on time."

The crew head finished with his statement, spits on the ground and continued his journey back to wherever he came from.

.....................…

"Last struggle, I see but that's just it, a fancy defence. God's stigma." Said Gerald as he throws the spear at her.

The spear clashed with the first barrier, broke it, clashed with the second, same result, the third was the same, so was the fourth.

As it made contact with the fifth, Brianna fell to her feet in total defeat as she is currently now traumatized.

"Come on, no, not like this." She murmured under her breath as she stared at the spear's tip breaking the fifth barrier wand making its way to the sixth and final barrier.

"For Axonia!!" Gerald chants out loud in total victory.

The spear then broke the last barrier and as for Brianna, she quickly shut her lids close.

Seconds passes by and she feels no penetration, she opens her eyes in a matter of a nanosecond and to her surprise, there was another layer of barrier.

This time around, the barrier was dark like a tinted glass and had an eerie aura surrounding it.

Brianna was so sure of herself that this barrier did not belong to her.

She took her chance to check up on Gerald only for her to see a stoned figure.

"Now now, first you infiltrated the academy with a false identity,

Secondly, you plotted on eliminating the paraders that are under this very institution, thereby, causing a chaos.

Can I ask? Are you just looking down on this very academy?"

The two tracked the voice that just spoke out simultaneously only to find out that amongst the most Gerald had created, a figure with folded arms at the back was slowly walking up to the both.

Gerald on seeing the figure quickly have his guard up and took a stance while withdrawing his spears.

Just as he picked up a spear, he could no longer see the figure who he has his eyes locked on.

"Down boy."

This statement rang a bell in Gerald's mind while triggering the alarms.

The voice which produced the statement was too close to mind his personal space.

He quickly swung his spear behind him before turning his face to same direction with high hopes to take the threat by surprise.

His face suddenly turned sour as he could not only pull the surprise attack on the threat but he could feel someone's hand on his head.

"Now boy, although you are a dog for Axonia, you barked your way into my hands and I now desire your breed.

Once again, down… boy."

The voice sounded once again and in response to the voice's order, Gerald's knees gave in and dropped hard onto the ground.

"Good boy."

The voice spoke out as the owner pats Gerald's head before heading towards Brianna's position.

Just as the mysterious figure's hand left Gerald's head, Gerald began barking exactly like a dog as he gets on his fours while shaking his arse excitedly, as a dog would but with it's tail.

Terrified on the act being displayed in front of her, Brianna couldn't help but draw out her small pocket dagger in an attempt to defend herself.

"Who are you!? Stay away from me!!"

She shouted as she began crawling away from the oncoming mysterious figure.

Brianna could hear a loud chuckle from the figure while it approaches her slowly like a stalking ghost.

"Ladies and gentlemen, right here is your parader, one chosen by Odin's crow and the daughter of the empire's greatest mage!!"

The figure echoed as he dives back into his entertainment while laughing out loud.

"Relax Brianna, I'm just one of the council members of the academy, as well as someone who worked with your dad."

Said the mysterious figure as he gets into the light, revealing himself.

Before Brianna was an obvious middle aged man who was heading towards his 50's due to his visible grey hairs.

Sharp jawline and a skinny stature like a country farmer, also supports the claim of his old age approach.

After stating his identity, Brianna became at ease as she lays back down trying to calm her rapid heartbeat.

"Now, according to the academy head's order, I am to invite you into the academy, you have proved yourself not just as a worthy student of this academy but as a growing parader as well."

"What… then… happens… to… the… invader?"

Brianna asks curiously as she tries to recover her breath.

"Of course, a judgement will be passed on his actions, so there's no worries over that."

The council members reassures as he snaps his fingers, thereby, returning Gerald back to his normal state but unconscious for the moment.

"Then… one… last thing."

"Yes? Go on."

"Can… I… be… assured that… both… Liam and Collins are… safe?"

"If you are referring to the other two paraders, just worry not for my colleague was assigned to them and I believe the both are fine.

Is that pleasing to your ears, miss Brianna?"

In response, Brianna heaves out a heavy sigh before falling unconscious.

"Really? You both have to be unconscious at the same time?

Wow, great, thanks for increasing my work."

The crew member nagged as he levitate the two bodies with a snap of his fingers, pocketed his hands and heads out of the forest with the two levitating bodies following right after.

.....................…

It was a nice morning, the birds' songs were as pleasing as one can always imagine.

The host's POV, which was nothing but black began brightening up as the eyelids began showing forth some motions.

As the eyelids finally lifted, the rays of sun suddenly hits onto her eyes, causing Brianna to take cover.

She slowly sits up as she tries adjusting to the bright environment.

That was easily achieved and her next quest was wondering where she is.

She took her time to stand up as she could feel pains all over her body but it was obvious that every injury she occurred during the duel has been healed.

As she gets up, she quickly began to analyse her environment.

With the arrangement of things and how spacious it was, she hurriedly looks out the glass door and notices the busy pathways and lots of other magnificent buildings.

She opened the glass door and entered onto her porch to get a nice view which also came with a gentle breeze.

After being lost in this few seconds of having a piece of heaven, she quickly came out of her trance as she utter the word under her breath

"Liam".