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Chapter 48 - Crisis
🕑 Added 2024-11-26 14:00:04 +0000 UTCThe next morning, Alex woke feeling more refreshed than he had since his first night in Tianluo. Despite his body’s recovery, he woke to chaos in their bedroom.
Alex scrambled up in his bed, reaching for his jian as he noticed another mana signature in their room. He assessed and processed the situation quickly thanks to his high Willpower stat, noting that Sam was backed into the corner with his eyes wide while Val hovered in front of the teen with his many teeth bared.
Wait, is he growling? When the hell did you learn to growl?
“Friend.” Val sent back, and Alex was surprised at the amount of sturdy confidence and protectiveness he felt come through the bond.
“Val, relax. It’s just Xue.” Alex leaned his sword against the wall and sat down on the bed hard. His heart was pounding, and he ran his hand through his messy hair.
“The Sect Head has called an emergency meeting.”
“Alright… why does that matter to us? Isn’t it sect business?” Alex asked, rubbing his eyes.
“He requested the two of you specifically. Please get dressed in your nicer robes and meet me out front when you’re ready.”
Alex groaned and gave a tired smile to Sam.
The two of them got dressed and met Xue out front. Tianluo was busier than normal despite the darkness and chill of the morning. They were met by a contingent of sect warriors that Alex recognized as those who worked closely with Eura. Alex began to get a bit worried once he realized they were there as a personal escort to the two of them.
A bit later, they entered a large room on the lower floor of the Grand Pagoda that Alex hadn’t been in before. It was open, with many different seat cushions on ledges at varying elevations facing toward a central stage. Their small group entered through a side door and were seated near the stage with one guard sitting on either side of them.
Once everyone was gathered, the meeting was shockingly brief. Eura addressed all of the Elder Brothers and Council members of the sect to let them know that two spies had been found. One was intercepted delivering a report of their plans of their assault to a Shadow Sect member. He ended the meeting abruptly after telling everyone to remain in their homes until the situation was under control, that everyone was being investigated regardless of their standing or background, and that these were direct orders from the Sect Head of the Celestial Lotus Sect.
Throughout the terse speech, Eura blanketed the entire room in the suppressive feeling that Alex had felt in the training yard a few days before. Just glancing over his shoulder, Alex saw many faces filled with fear and even more filled with outrage.
I wonder if that’s at the thought of there being a spy among them or at the orders.
Alex and Sam were quickly escorted out of the same side entrance and back to their small house. The two were told to stay put and that they’d have guards placed day and night for their protection.
They both felt overwhelmed by the quick order of events, but quickly, that turned to boredom. For the last three weeks, Alex had been training nonstop. At any time he was either pushing his mind, body, or magical abilities past their previous limits. Suddenly, he’d been woken up early and told to sit in their home.
Naturally, he decided to just continue with his personal training until he heard more from Eura. He tested various substances around the house for several hours to create solid mana threads. Eventually, he began to feel antsy, like he needed to move his body.
Damn, is this what extroverts feel like? So productive.
He set aside his personal study to talk to some of the guards that were watching the house. He asked if one of them would come into the yard and spar with him. At first, they were resistant. After some good-natured jibes, one of the guards relented. After sparring weapons were given to both of them, Alex realized he may have accidentally angered the sect warrior.
Alex apologized and greeted the man formally and with deference. It seemed to take some of the anger out of his attitude, though he still took the spar seriously. They exchanged blows, and Alex tried his best not to use his superior stats to his advantage since the sect's warriors were still under the restrictions of restraining Rakshasi.
There was a valuable learning moment as Alex activated his [Feather Step] to move backward, and the guard had charged forward and struck Alex hard. While he was able to block the attack, his reduced weight from [Feather Step] meant that he went flying in the direction of his end-point anchor. He lost his balance and crashed into the wall of the house.
Alex felt the wind escape his lungs as his back struck hard, and something in his shoulder popped. Before he had even stood however, Sam had already cast a healing spell on him. It was his first time seeing this particular healing spell. After seeing Sam’s status window the night before, he had asked the boy about his other healing spell.
The one that he’d already seen several times was the [Minor Heal], which could be used with physical contact. He’d been interested in the other one, that he hadn’t seen Sam cast before. It was the active ability that came with his class called [Rejuvenation]. The skill created a heal over time effect on the target.
Through his Heavenly Eye, the sight was mesmerizing. At varying distances within a one-foot radius around his body, ethereal green and brown leaves floated down around his body. It was clearly the mana manifesting for the spell, but he’d yet to see a skill with such a stunning effect.
His attention was pulled back to the sparring partner, who bowed to him from across the yard. “I apologize, Honored Guest; I know that it was harder than it should have been, but I hoped to make a point.”
“Oh?” Alex asked. He glanced at Sam and winked.
“Yes. While your movement technique is very quick, and you have worked its use into the Eight Petal Steps very well, there is a flaw in it. When you step off, your weight is greatly reduced; while this allows you to move quickly, it also leaves you vulnerable. If you block an attack in the air under its effect, you will absorb the momentum of the strike while losing control of your own bearings.”
Alex nodded, “It’s a good point. Thank you for the lesson.”
The guard bowed again, “It is the kind of error that can take one’s life in the heat of combat. I hope the demonstration wasn’t too harsh.”
Shrugging, Alex stepped out of the crushed flower bed near the house and back into the yard. He realized that he’d had a Mana Stone tucked in his pocket to siphon from between his training sessions. It was now broken from the impact. He tisked before saying, “No apology is necessary. Can we continue?”
The desire to continue training was met with the guard’s approval.
They continued sparring, and while Alex didn’t use rituals in the sparring match, he did his best to anticipate where he might use them and even went as far as to see if he could form them from his threads fast enough.
The rest of that day and the following were filled with personal projects and sparring with the guards. Sam watched closely and was quick to heal Alex if it was needed, since the guards liked to punctuate their lessons with the sparring swords. Despite the monotony of the situation, he felt like he was polishing his sword skills by sparring against so many different skilled opponents.
It wasn’t until almost two full days after the declaration of spies being found, only seven days before the planned assault, that Eura appeared at their small house. A flustered Xue entered their house while Alex and Sam were eating breakfast to announce the sect head.
Eura waved him away before joining them at the table in an informal manner.
Even to Alex, Eura seemed stressed and tired.
Man, what do you have to do to stress out such a powerful existence? I guess this world’s Council is the equivalent of Earth’s Karen?
There was an awkward pause, with both Alex and Sam sitting quietly, waiting for Eura to explain what was on his mind. The odd tension was broken by Val, who flew into the room and circled over Eura’s head before dive-bombing onto his bald head. There was a dull thunk as Val’s little head clearly lost against the celestial’s smooth dome.
After the three of them finished laughing at the wobbling mana wyrm, who curled up in Alex’s lap, Eura expressed his concern. It was clear after investigating that there were members of the Council who had reached out to the Shadow Serpent Sect to make a deal. While not all of the specifics had been discovered as of yet, the general idea was that if the Shadow Serpent Sect aided the Council in getting rid of, or recapturing, Eura, then the Council of the Celestial Lotus Sect would back off all attempts to contest the others for the prophecy.
This led to the Council agreeing to allow spies and other implants into the Celestial Lotus Sect’s forces so that they could counteract the plans at the end of the week. The Firstborn now knew specifics of where they were going, the objective of the assault, the idea of using Alex as bait, as well as when they would strike.
Eura was of the mind to call off the entire assault.
Alex was whole-heartedly against the idea. After all of the training he’d done, the joint assault was the only way to get out of the Rift. He said as much to Eura, which seemed to cause some distress in Sam.
Through several back-and-forths, Alex was finally able to convince Eura that they could still continue with the plan without too much of an increase in danger to the sect’s warriors. The solution was to simply take care of any remaining spies and traitors before completing the plans of the operation. Then, whatever the plan was, move the timetable forward by several days. By doing it this way, they should catch the enemy off guard before they’ve finalized preparations.
Eura gave the idea some thought before agreeing to the plan. He seemed sad and like a very tired father returning from work. The reasoning became clear as he mentioned what would have to happen next.
“I’ve tried to play by their games and give them grace. I did not want to use might to subdue those who would oppose me; rather, I tried to win them over through reason and honor.” Eura rubbed his two celestial eyes with his thumb and index finger. “We have spoken on more than one occasion on the use of might. This is a time when I could choose to stick close to my ideals, even at the cost of more lives, knowing that such evil humans would come out victorious. But… I am not so righteous. Let me pose a question. Is it more selfish of me to stay strong in my convictions, regardless of what happens to those around me? Or is it more selfish to take what I desire and say that it is for the good of my people?”
Alex let the words hang in the air, unsure of what to say to console the man. Over the last three weeks, Alex had truly begun to see Eura as a mentor. The celestial being truly cared for humans and wanted his people to prosper; even more so, he was kind to Sam and provided them with many benefits that he didn’t need.
To his surprise, Alex found himself leaning toward the belief that while having the power to change something didn’t necessarily mean that he should, nor did it necessarily give him the right to change something, it would certainly give him the ability to do so. That was a scary thought, as while he might trust his own judgment and ability to reason through problems, he wasn’t so sure he had the same faith in the rest of humanity on Earth.
In the end, Alex encouraged Eura to do what the man thought was right. The ancient sect head had seen more human relations and dynamics of power than Alex had ever even dreamed of. Just a few weeks ago, Alex had issues standing up to his own family and coworkers, let alone leading an entire population of people.
Eura nodded along somberly before excusing himself and thanking them both for their time. He told Alex to expect a summons in the next day or so and that they should plan to continue ahead with the assault even if plans change.
When the man left, Alex let out a pent-up breath of tension.
I don’t envy the decision he needs to make.
While they weren’t connected for mind-to-mind communication, Sam seemed to pick up on Alex’s line of thought. The teen nodded his head and reached over to pet the snoozing Val.
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