Subconscious Overtake (02)

- "Starting Threat Elimination"

An air reverberating killing intent released from Val as he started walking toward the levitating Zion. Sensing the killing intent, Zion's heart skipped a beat. Then his gaze moved toward Val's fist.

Crackle! Crackle!

As Val walked with his eyes closed, several electrical sparks released from both of his fists, which then prolonged in an instant and formed two whips of blue lightning bolt.

Bzzz~! Crackle!

- "Conjuring The Lightning Whips of Duality from the vision"

An emotionless voice came from Val and both whips started omitting numerous lightning bolts in the surrounding as they dragged on the ground. The lightning bolts from his right whip cleaved and burned the ground while lightning from his left whip cleaved and froze wherever it landed.

- 'I-Impossible!! controlling three elements simultaneously and what is this sudden surge in his mana?'

Zion shuddered seeing the destructive whip of lightning. He knew how hard it was to master every elements not to mention manipulating several elements simultaneously.

- "Y-You won't be able to defeat me anyways..."

Feeling threatened, he shot several huge fire balls, icicles, earth spikes and wind blades at Val one by one.

fwip! fwip!

But Val effortlessly deflected all magic attacks by just the swinging of his whips.

- "Take this then"

Seeing that his attacks were deflected, Zion raised his both hands and released a massive jet of violent flames at Val endlessly.

Shwaaa~!

But before it touched him, Val swung his left whip rapidly in a circular motion which blocked and extinguished the massive jet of flames.

pssss

Thick vapors released as the flames clashed with the left whip. Not able to see Val due to the cover of vapors, Zion continued his barrage but suddenly like an arrow, a whip came at him penetrating through the veil of vapors.

Swish!

Val used the other whip to strangle Zion's leg as his speed was now equaled Zion's.

Bzzzz~! Ughghgh

Zion got caught off guard, he was inflicted with a high voltage current and burning wounds which traveled up to his legs.

Without any delay, Val shoved him down to the ground with a swing.

Bang!

Dust rose and a big cavity formed on the ground but Val didn't stop there.

He quickly swung Zion around with the whip and sent him flying into the wall.

BOOM! Shatter Crumble

- "Ugh"

Zion crashed, forming a cavity in the wall but he quickly recovered his injuries thanks to his divinity and shot toward Val while picking his sword on his way.

- "Aaaargh, I'll cut you in half"

Sensing him approaching, Val started swinging his whip at him ferociously.

They clashed fiercely and exchanged countless attacks in a terrifying speed, mostly it was Zion who kept on deflecting the whips. While Val swung his both whip violently making it invisible for the naked eyes.

As it clashed with the Zion's sword, numerous lightning bolts left out which cleaved, burned and froze the interior of hall.

Crackle! Crackle!

- 'W-What is happening? How can he fight in an unconscious state and why am I the one who is pushed back? I'm clearly the stronger one here.'

Zion was bewildered and afraid because every swing of Val was now threatening to kill him.

In their exchange, their body continuously got covered in wounds but simultaneously got healed at a very fast pace.

But now, burned and frozen wounds had started accumulating on Zion as his magic was loosing its strength due to his declining confidence.

- "N-No no"

Crackle! Crackle!

Zion's willpower was swaying with every attack from Val and fear was crawling up to his heart.

During the exchange, Val's left whip, holding a terrifying freezing mana suddenly came toward Zion's face, but consumed in fear, Zion closed his eyes and raised his sword to block it

But it didn't made contact with his sword

- "Huh?!"

The moment he opened his eyes to find out what happened, he saw Val below him, appeared out of nowhere and punching toward his abdomen while covering his hand in thick horrendous amount of mana.

In that short moment, his life of harassing Val flashed before his eyes as Zion felt the imminent death.

BOOM!

His punch made a sonic boom which sounded terrifyingly in the hall and sent Zion flying toward the wall.

BOOM!

Zion crashed and dug inside the wall making a several feet long cavity while the impact traveled forward and created cracks all over the huge supporting pillar of hall.

- "Threat Neutralized...giving up the control"

Said Val in an emotionless voice before falling like a puppet whose strings got cut suddenly.

***

BOOM!

The gate burst open and dozens of knights came running inside the hall.

- "Oh goddess, What happened here?"

Exclaimed the head of knight order, everyone was stunned after looking at the destruction of hall.

- "Sir, we found them, while his grace the second received some injuries, it's not life threatening. But his grace the third.."

Reported a knight but he stopped at the end, contemplating how it happened. Everyone knew it was a sparring session between brothers and they also knew how Zion treated Val in this session.

- "Wait, his grace the second is injured, how is this possible?... but W-What happened to his grace the third? don't tell me.."

The head knight froze in fear thinking that, what'd happen to him and the knight order if Val would found dead inside this place.

- "N-No sir, actually his grace the third is alright. The thing is.. he don't have a single scratch on his body."

- "WHAT?"

Crack! Crumble!

The supporting pillar couldn't hold up and crumbled down to the ground.

***

- 'Again?'

Thought Val as he woke up in his room. While sitting back up, he sighed at the repetitiveness of his awakening.

- 'Wait..This!! my mana calibration increased exponentially and this body is all healed up. What just happened?'

Val felt the surge in his mana, on top of that, his calibration rate increased greatly. With every breath now, his calibration increased by 0.0002%. He instinctively realized his strength but what made him confuse was his scarless body, he thought his body would be in tatters given how Zion treated him last time. It seems like he had no recollection of the period when his subconscious side taken over his body.

- "Y-Your grace!"

Ana entered his room and came running to him. After releasing him from her embrace she said with a kind smile

- "I knew Goddess Heira wouldn't abandon you, it must be her who blessed you and gave you this strength"

- 'I doubt it'

Thought Val with an expressionless face, then he asked Ana to explain what she heard about his training session.

- "So, according to Deaconess, while we were exchanging our attacks, I suddenly got awakened which you think was through a blessing from Goddess and then, I couldn't able to handle the sudden surge in my strength and lost conscious while my brother who stood close to me, got injured by the mana shockwaves which released through my awakening"

- "That's what everyone knows your grace"

Ana didn't care how it happened, she was just happy for Val. But Val, who always had an expressionless face, was now showing little sign of disgust.

- 'What kind of nonsense is this. It's so obvious that they are covering it up for Zion's injury which I don't know how he got it'

- 'Well anyways, blessing or not, I'll find out what happened to this body once I get that'

Thought Val as he knew that a blessing from a God always left a mark on the body but he didn't want to just assume things, so he decided his next course of action.

- "Deaconess, what'll happen to the task I left you with?"

- "It's done, I found the whereabout of Sir Nozroc. What would you like to do now your grace?"

Asked Ana in a serious tone as she stood up straight. Ana was excellent in her duties, she loved Val very much but she didn't carelessly show her emotions in time of her service.

- "Prepare robes and money, let's give him a visit. It'll be just the two of us, so don't inform anyone else."

- "As your grace desire, but.."

Ana hesitated to speak which got Val's attention

- "What is it?"

- "It's the money issue your grace. Actually compared to others, your grace has only 1000 Cemu in your possession"

-'Only?'

Val was dumbfounded, it's true that, compared to others, 1000 Cemu (Currency of Lower Realm) seemed like few change, but it was enough to buy 2 local shops in the city. After all, he was from the divine family, so his pocket money was respectively high.

- "It'll do. Please prepare it immediately"

Ana bowed and left the room. Val didn't stress about money, since his father already provided him the assistant, he could take care of it whenever he wanted.

- 'I was too naive to think that I can fulfill my purpose peacefully. I accepted everything, I laid low, I didn't retaliate just to make sure that this frail body wouldn't break until the awakening of first chakra'

Thought Val as he sat alone in his bed, thinking about the past few events and how close he was to dying.

- 'But I clearly insulted my purpose by thinking that I can achieve it without violence. I accept that I was biased but now it'll change. After the full awakening of my mana heart, my ranking will be establish among the gods which simultaneously increase my adversaries'

Full awakening of mana heart meant an infinite access of natural mana and additionally with total control over the nature itself, since mana dwelt in everything, regardless of living and non-living.

It would make him a god and his strength would get ranked accordingly to the ranking system of Divine Realm.

- 'So, it ultimately comes down to kill or be killed'

Val was now determined more than before. Not long after, Ana came with a set of robes and a box.

- "His grace the second asked to deliver this box to your grace"

Ana handed the box to Val as he stood up to get dressed. Val took the box indifferently and opened it.

- "This!!"

Ana exclaimed in surprise.

- "The tear of ocean"

Said Val while looking at the pendant and its majestic blue crystal. He didn't expect Zion to hand it over so easily and because of this, he was now more curious to know about what happened during the time when he was unconscious.

- "Well received"

Val closed the box with an expressionless face and put it aside on the table. He wasn't elated as if he already knew that it would come to him one day.

***

Few hours left before the dusk, two person came out of an alley wearing a dark robe which covered their faces.

- "If not for Aleesia and Lenna covering us, it will hard to come out of the monastery while unnoticed your grace"

Those wearing the black robes were Ana and Val. They came out of the monastery in a carriage together with Aleesia and Lenna. Then they made an excuse to wonder around to get rid of the knights.

Ana and Val entered a dark alley and wore the robes while everything else was left to Aleesia and Lenna to handle.

- "I'm grateful for them"

Said Val as they were walking down to a street watching several stalls beside them. It was the first time that Val came out the monastery and he found the city just as how a fantasy novel always describes it.

Architectures were a mix of medieval and religious style, you can just imagine a fantasy holy city with a bright and lively atmosphere while several priests and bishops wearing bright robes roaming the street and helping the citizens.

Lively citizens, wearing robes, armors and tunic, with a mix of different races crowded the street. Some negotiating with the shop keepers, some having discussion. While the street was endlessly filled with several different stalls of food, accessories, clothes, utensils etc.

Adventurers visiting the temple of Goddess Heira for blessings, Knights patrolling the area, bunch of Ixegers boasting about their mounts, Yasa children creating flowers with magic, Horaens gawking at passing group of Sirens, people laughing as the spirit animals stealing food from others. Kelnar was a truly peaceful and lively city.

- "Deaconess, please guide me to the nearest Temple of Xandar first"

Said Val while walking among the crowd toward a more spacious area.

- "But at this time of the day, The temple of Xander is most crowded with new adventurers and people, who started their paladin journey. Are you sure you want to go there first your grace?"

- "Yes, it doesn't matter, so guide me there and please refrain yourself from referring me as someone from from the divine family. Wearing a robe is the whole point of hiding our identity."

Said Val in a low voice as they stopped and faced each other.

- "Understood, then I'll call you according to your temple rank"

Said Ana and then she moved to lead Val to the nearest Temple. As they walked, Val thought about the temple.

- 'Descendant built the temple to worship their godfather Xander, who was known for his scholarly knowledge about mysticism. His doctrines led them to take interest and research in the runic language which obviously took place in the temples, and after thousands of years of research, they came to called the runic language as The language of blessing'

Temple of Xander was like the mage tower where worshiper pursued the secret behind the runic language. They performed various task related to magic engineering and also provided services in that field.

- 'According to the settings I put, that thing is a must to have for everyone, who wanted to venture outside for strength and glory'

Thought Val as they reached in front of a tower like huge cylindrical building. They stopped after watching the huge crowd which was consistently moving in and out of the temple.

They all looked like beginners, who were entering the temple with an excited face while coming out of it, looking all exhausted.

- "It's too crowded today"

Said Ana as she stood beside Val

- "Let's go, we don't have time"

Said Val as he started moving toward the temple, leaving Ana behind.

- "Y-Y-Your Grace!!"

Ana called out to Val in a greatly surprised voice.

- "Deaconess, I just told you t-"

As Val turned around to complain, he stopped in the middle of his speech after looking at the scene behind him.

Around 12 different spirit animals who looked like small pokemons with a semi-transparent body, glowing in different colors, rallied behind him and were looking at him with sparkling eyes.

That bizarre scene caught the attention of many onlookers as many people started staring toward Val.

- "Isn't that weird? Usually spirit animals refrain from getting close to anyone"

- "Yes, even for Yasa like me, approaching them is really hard"

- "Don't they look suspicious? Walking around in dark robe"

- "What are their race? Should we call for knights?"

Val sighed at his own foolishness as he grabbed his head. So much effort for the robes and names when he didn't even consider to suppress his mana.

Val quickly suppressed his mana flow and stopped his primal mana breathing, in the next moment, the spirit animals dispersed and vanished in air.

Then, he turned around and entered The Temple of Xandar while everyone moved out of his way on their own.