Rumor about Karma

"Good day, Esteemed human" Shittu humbly greeted.

They all stared at Shittu. He was a four meter tall orc with tattoos probably close to a thousand. They looked like threads interwoven all over his muscular body, a testament to his great strength. His grey hair cascaded down to his shoulders and his eyes showed the wisdom of time. Sloane's eyes lit up as she stared at such a grand orc and she aspired to surpass him. Her tattoos were a lot already, over five hundred and still counting. They were as thick as rubber bands but along the line, they would become thinner and thinner until they looked like Shittu's.

"My name is Licht. I had business to carry out in your empire but now it seems like I am done and have no reason to stay. I would be leaving soon." As Licht spoke, he closed his eyes trying to feel for the other fragments. He sensed no more on this continent so it was time to finally leave.

"Sir Licht, you can stay as long as you like. You can even come to the palace to rest." Shittu spoke. He felt it was better to make a good connection with Licht as he felt Licht was much more powerful than he seemed.

"Hmmmm. There is no harm in wasting a few days. Sure we can follow you to the palace, who knows, something good might happen." Licht nodded.

Shittu was ecstatic that Licht agreed. They headed to the Royal castle where Licht saw guards upon guards patrolling the grounds. He later figured that the orc empire was an empire of fighters and soldiers. Even without war, they still trained and joined the army. Some went to hunt for beasts stronger than themselves and others just fought each other in spars and duels.

They also saw Shittu's descendants. Shittu's three sons were all generals in the Orc army. His two daughters were in charge of tactics and strategies and were also incredible warriors. His grandchildren were knights, dukes/duchesses and even kings/queens in some of the kingdoms under the orc empire. His great grandchildren were learning in several military academies. Not one of his descendants were lacking when it came to military knowledge or combat. It was a family line of soldiers.

Shittu spoke proudly about his descendants. Sloane was listening intently as she stared at some of the paintings of Shittu and his past battles. Some were of his sons and others, his descendants' battles as they fought in grand battles or small skirmishes. There was a recent painting, it was a painting of Shittu fighting a man that looked frozen over but had lava trails running across crevices of his skin.

Shittu saw Sloane staring at the painting and said "He was a strong lad. About the same age as that elf boy but he was strong. He said he was moving on a path of conquest and strength. We fought to a standstill when I brought down my strength to his level, he was clearly experienced."

Licht stared at the painting and smiled as he recognized that the person in the painting was Frances who had fought Midas in the Chrysler clan.

"Where is he now?" Licht asked.

"I escorted him to the sea. He said more things await him across and he would meet his rival on that stage. I of course have no idea what that means but before I could ask, he flew away" Shittu shrugged

Sloane was dumbstruck. "He can fly???" She asked

"Shockingly so" Shittu replied "Let's go to eat"

They all sat on the dinner table and brought up different topics. One topic that caught the groups attention was of a necromancer that killed terrible scourges. The people dubbed him Karma, the necromancer of hope. Hearing such a thing gave the group a rollercoaster of emotions. They knew the so called necromancer of hope was Midas.

Licht smiled as he shook his head, he was proud his disciple had made a small name for himself. Regallas on the other hand, was dumbstruck. His lips kept twitching as he felt Midas was too overbearing. He left a couple months ago and now he had become a household name for hope. Sloane was looking forward to seeing her senior brother and hoped he was going to show up in the couple of days they were waiting for him.

Shittu did not fail to notice the emotions on their faces and asked" Could it be you guys are familiar with the necromancer?"

Regallas sighed" If your description of his feats and abilities are true, then he is most likely master's first student and our senior brother"

Shittu who was about to take a bite of his meat paused. The entire table was silent for a while. Finally, Fenrir moved stealing the meat from the hands of the orc emperor.

"Bad Fenrir" Sloane jumped as she tried to catch Fenrir who kept running around the table. It was an adorable sight breaking the tense atmosphere that Shittu was feeling at the moment. He felt this silver-haired man in his presence was a monster for raising several monsters. He had not seen any of them fight but he felt a subtle pressure emitting from each of these people, especially the orc girl.

He felt he would not lose out in strength but every other way would be his loss. Later they each went to their respective rooms. Day came and the disciples chose to spar with some of the orc soldiers in the castle.

Regallas stood opposite a three meter tall orc with three hundred tattoos on his body, who wielded a giant hammer. He lunged at Regallas with his hammer descending upon Regallas's head. Regallas brought out his dual bladed staff and blocked the blow. The force with which the orc brought down the hammer created a crater beneath Regallas that was two meters deep and several meters wide. Regallas still had a face of relaxation. He still hadn't broken out in sweat. The orc that attacked was confused, but he immediately retreated. For someone as experienced as he was, he knew he could not afford to lose concentration and think about something else.

Regallas laughed and moved forward. In the blink of an eye, he was before the orc. Slashing with his staff, the orc only managed to block the blow a little too late. He was sent flying till he was stopped by a long vine.

The orc knew that the elf did not go all out, and we was shocked as to how a weak looking body could harness so much power. Regallas laughed as he turned his gaze to where Sloane was sparring.

Her opponent was already knocked out but she still seemed unsatisfied. Shittu watched the battle that ended in less than a second. A thought came to his mind but he felt ashamed to even think about such a thing.

"Little Sloane, choose whoever you want to spar with. I will make sure they obey" Shittu said but he had a thought in his mind. He secretly hoped she'd pick him since he said he would make sure they would not refuse.

Sloane was thinking about who to pick. It seemed she did not catch up on the hint. She then heard a voice in her ear. It was her master's voice.

"Pick the emperor. That cunning old man wants to spar with you"

Her eyes opened wide then stared at Shittu, he had a wide smile on his face. She giggled and said "I pick you"

Shittu feigned ignorance "Little girl, you sure are bold but since I said I'd make sure they spar with you I would not go back on my words." He took off his emperor robe, leaving him shirtless. His muscles were properly defined and bulky. Even with his position as the emperor, it seemed like he still worked out daily to keep his body in shape. Standing in front of her like a wall, it was a very scary sight.

"Pick a weapon. We will not be fighting barehanded." Shittu spoke as he carried a great sword that was 2 meters long, even taller than Sloane. Sloane had never used weapons so she was confused on what to pick. She went to the weapons rack, searching through the weapons. She passed swords, sabers, hammers, polearms, and finally she stopped on an axe. It was a normal wood chopping axe but she felt it fitted her the most.

She picked it up and said "I am ready"