Chapter 170 Rest

As the dome around the city strengthened until it could easily tank the indirect attacks of Elam and Godfried, the duo had been battling it out in the sky. The fight continued on for hours as the sun slowly went down and the pale moon rose.

Elam burned every piece of energy he had been storing in the mountain, holding his ground against someone far above his station. They moved quite far away from the city throughout their fight, but it was still visible in the distance.

While Elam was extremely prepared and managed to remove one of Godfried's arms. His titan was about to break down. Large chunks of stone were destroyed, and the storms around the giant's hands were calming down. The energy needed to fuel its movements was massive, and his resources were running low. 

Godfried had long acknowledged Elam as a worthy opponent, but that only made it worse as he started to use complicated spells that Elam couldn't match. 

The giant's movements slowed down as the firestorm and blizzard faded away. 

"You have done well, as a Rank 2, you managed to hurt me, sadly, 'tis but a scratch.", raising his stump, a new arm was being formed in real time. New flesh and bone were created in an instant. Seeing all his efforts amount to nothing in the end, Elam felt the weight of his efforts on his shoulders, his motivation to continue plummeted. 

He knew this wasn't a fair fight, even with all the preparations he made. Still, he felt as if it wasn't fair. Decades of work easily brushed aside by someone more powerful than him. If there were gods out there, would they just let these kinds of things happen. 

Elam didn't do anything wrong, he just met the wrong kind of person. If the Rank 3 coming after Lucas was one that was still somewhat normal, he would most likely be alive, yet here he was, exhausted and hurt.

'Great One...'

Elam was in the chest of the giant, controlling every limb from the center. Yet now he let go of the controls. 

Boom

Godfried easily ripped the chest apart, revealing Elam. Godfried could tell Elam barely had any mana left. With enough shields, there was nothing he could do. Stepping closer to Elam, he raised his fist. 

"I still need to return this to you!", a punch landed right on his face, Elam flew through the back of the giant, landing on the ruptured ground that got turned over by their fight. 

The titan collapsed as there was no more magic keeping it intact. A storm of dust covered the area. Elam looked up and saw Godfried flying above him. He slowly descended as he plunged his hand into Elam's stomach. Pulling it back out, a small blue crystal was in his hands. 

The pain was insane, but something inside Elam had already pushed the pain aside. He looked up and could see the dark clouds slowly drift apart, a beautiful starry sky was revealed. The imposing figure in the sky was gone, leaving no reason for the clouds to stick together. 

"Now you can't do anything stupid anymore. I don't know who you are, but it's clear you aren't willing to reveal where my son's killer went. So I'll give you a choice. Either I take you to my torturer, or I kill you here without any pain. I'm capable of waiting a few years, if you can even last that long."

Elam kept staring at the sky, as a full moon was surrounded by infinite stars, his body was aching with pain, yet his face wasn't displaying any discomfort. There was no god giving him any powers to rely on, no sudden savior that rescued him, no lucky fate that helped him live another day. He would die here, in the wet mud with an open wound in his stomach. 

And even so, Elam didn't feel bad, he didn't despair, he didn't lose hope, as he probably never had any to begin with. The fight he initiated wasn't because he was a battle junkie like a lot of the mages. Everything he did was according to the orders he received. Day in, day out, all he had to do was obey orders. He followed those very orders that lead him to this end, not with melancholy but acceptance.

He could've easily disobeyed the orders, yet he didn't. Not only that, but he knew perfectly well that this was the best way to achieve their goal. If Elam had to give up his own life to create a better world for others, he would do so without question. Haunted by mistakes of his past, Elam had been finding his purpose in the orders that came through. Now, his final order would be fulfilled.

Godfried kept talking and making threats, but it was all a mere blur for Elam. He didn't hear the words, all he could see was the open sky, a clear moon was hanging high. Through Elam's eyes, the world always looked different, a view only those selected could have. To him, the beautiful clear moon was covered in a layer of blood-red. Slowly, the moon started to lose its color, not because his eyes were malfunctioning, but his body couldn't sustain itself any longer. 

Godfried stared at the silent Elam and didn't understand why the man looked so happy. The smile he had on his face wasn't because he had a hidden card or someone had come to save him. The smile was genuine. 

Out of nowhere, Godfried felt an immense pulse of energy. The core in his hand was starting to go haywire. It started to crackle with electricity as the energy from the fight started to gather in the core without anyone commanding it.

"What the hell is this?!", once a core was outside the body, it was just a crystal. As long as he handled it carefully, which he did, it wouldn't do anything. "What did you do?!", Godfried hurriedly looked at Elam, but his eyes were closed while his small smile slowly grew. 

"Finally, I'm so tired."

BOOOOOOOM

A small moment of complete silence appeared before a colossal explosion consumed everything around them. The Sabertooth mountain that turned into a giant was wiped from existence, the everlasting blizzard, removed from reality. Avesta was far away, yet even then Micheal had to put his all into protecting the city from the blast.

The land was ravaged to smithereens as nothing was left behind, just a wasteland of dust, earth and ash. In the center, the upper body of a now beardless man was left behind. His power had plummeted, his strength sapped from defending such an explosion from point-blank range. 

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Weeks passed in a blink of an eye, the news of the national school competition was blasted everywhere.

In the Holy Kingdom, the news was spread throughout the capital and biggest cities. Normally, it wasn't fascinating for the local populace. Yet this time there was a small uproar. Rumors that a commoner was capable of winning the national competition of the first years spread like wildfire. Many saw it as a sign that the Frigus Kingdom was in extreme decline. While the nobles found a great new joke, the commoners found someone to look up to.

Only the enthusiast and the military regarded the results with an interesting eye. Since they kept tabs on anyone that could even remotely pose a threat. 

Besides the results of the competition, there were two pieces of news that spread, although one of them quickly died down. Apparently, two mages were fighting near one of the cities at the border. Why they fought wasn't that well known. Some were happy that no innocent people were caught in the crossfire, others were angry that just fight between two mages could potentially threaten the lives of thousands. 

What really spread in the Holy Kingdom was the birth of a new Saint, a man named Micheal. Many never heard of him, and were quite skeptic of his so-called protective powers and good deeds. Still, it was a sign of the Goddess and many celebrated that news.

In a lavish mansion near the capital lodged a man who had been a rising star among the merchants. A quite young man who had been successful in many deals and bargains had been amassing a large fortune. Many saw him as a great schemer capable of taking advantage of any opportunity thrown his way.

An older knight rushed through the halls, his outfit was probably the most expensive one he had ever worn, scared of damaging them, his hurried walk looked a bit strange. Reaching a large door, he politely knocked before entering. 

Most would wait for a response, but he had been given special treatment. Entering the room, he saw a noble with a frustrated look. Seeing the knight enter, he quickly made an excuse and left the room.

"My apologies for interrupting your talk.", the knight apologized to the young master that sat in a large, beautifully decorated chair. His looks were nothing special, it was his thinking and haggling skills that were impressive. 

"No worries, he was at a dead end anyway. Preparing for war is good and all, I just doubt that luxury items like saunas are going to be a hot topic during the war. Normal commoners would kill a man for some food during harsh times, truly foolish, all these nobles. And to even dare imply that he should get most of the profit if it turns into a success because he thought of the idea. Argh, I'm sorry, what's wrong, Liam? You look stressed, sit."

The young man spouted his frustration openly, even if he was, mere minutes ago, a well-behaved and friendly companion to the noble. His powers were reaching Rank 2, but not quite yet. He had grown a lot over the time, even if he thought himself as weak and slow.

The knight, had a small gray beard growing in, his face was exasperated. The news he had could be colossal, he couldn't sit still as he kept rocking his knee back and fort. 

"Robert... I, I think he's back.", he said with a grave tone. 

"Who? The assassins of the Trader's Association? If that's the case, we should contact the church again, they'll do it for free. I've invested enough in the churches that I can ask for guards."

"No... Let me explain, the national competition of the Frigus Kingdom has ended. From the first years the winner is a commoner called Conrad."

The knight had a worried look on his face, yet Robert didn't understand why. "And? Commoners and nobles are the same, the only difference is the amount of money you can get from them. Although I guess the nobles are going to have some fun laughing at them."

"Robert, be serious for a moment. I had a strange hunch after I saw the news pass, so I visited one of the intel shops and asked for some background information."

"You paid those hags?", Robert had an annoyed look on his face, if there was one group he had given too much money it was the intel business. The information he got from them was nowhere the cost. Since then, he had been on bad terms with them. If there was anyone ripping anyone off, it should've been him doing it.

"It wasn't much, and trust me, it was worth the money. According to the information they dug up, Conrad came from a mansion near the border with the Holy Kingdom, which is now a nest for monsters. Conrad used to be the scout there, or at least, that's how the story goes."

An eerie silence filled the room as Robert needed a moment to think. Every second that passed felt so slow, the knight felt as if time slowed down to a crawl.

Eventually, Robert looked him straight in the eyes. "Are you saying that he's back? That Lucas escaped the chaos and made his way to a nearby academy and went to beat all the first years in the entire Frigus Kingdom?"

The knight, Liam, still remembered the horrific scenes of his old home being ravaged by monsters that killed almost everyone. Seeing the grave look on Robert's face, his own spit nearly made him choke. "That, I, it looks like that's the case. I wasn't capable of getting a drawing of him, but they said his hair was blonde.", afraid of his young master's reaction, he prepared for the worst. 

"Hahaha, so the killer of my father has returned, how ominous."

"Robert, you surely don't think of going after him?"

"Are you afraid? I haven't seen you so scared when we fled our home. The killer of my father has been found, and you expect me to not care?", Robert turned completely serious, the anger in his face was visible.

Liam had a concerned look on his face. If the little devil he knew from back then was capable of so much with so little power, what could he accomplish now? Sweat formed on his back as a single drop appeared on his forehead. 

"Hahaha, look at you! Of course, I'm not going after him, my father was a bastard who didn't know anything about maintaining a fortune, he didn't even spend his money well, investing so much in useless items. Well, even with all that, he was still my father. I'm sad that he's gone, but on the other hand, trying to kill Lucas now would just put me in debt. I could probably rally the church if I wanted to."

Seeing Robert think about it rationally Liam lost a lot of his worries. He could've easily hidden the news, but knew that Robert would figure things out eventually. It was better to be confronted as soon as possible to give Liam enough time to potentially change his mind. 

"But I do wonder, why bother changing his name?", Liam pondered mostly to himself. 

"Oh, there are multiple reasons really. If he stayed the same as when I knew him, he would crawl under so many people's skin. Winning the competition probably wasn't his plan, but angering and offending a bunch of nobles would be a second nature to him at this point. Now, all the nobles of the Frigus and probably some of our country all hate Conrad, the winner of the competition, not Lucas the survivor of a destroyed village."

"Would that really be the reason? Why pick Conrad, then? Couldn't he just pick a random name?"

Robert got up from his seat as he walked towards the windows. "No, picking a random name was an option, but then he would have absolutely no origin, making his standing quite bad plus people would assume he could be a spy or something similar. He had to use the name of someone real to avoid suspicion. He read all the books in our library back then, meaning he knew about the political position of the kingdoms.

If a mansion on the border would be destroyed there would be investigations. Since it's property of Frigus, they would figure out what happened and search for the people responsible. Although I guess the Holy Kingdom could also check it out, nosy as they are. But since Lucas disappeared in the chaos, and his name never popped up again, they would put the search on hold since it would be useless."

"Did he think of all that while he was so young?"

"Who knows, perhaps he had some idea, maybe he got lucky. Either way, he was tenacious enough to kill a mage a whole Rank above him. He was destined to succeed. And since we're the ones he decided to let go, means that he doesn't want us dead. And since we know his real name, we can easily prove our legitimacy."

"Do you plan on making contact with him?"

"No, in fact, I think he'll get in trouble, and we'll be there to play the savior. Then he'll be in our debt, and having that devil in our debt can only be a good thing. Although I guess if we want to be helpful, we'll need to increase our treasury."

Robert had a smile on his face as he visioned a perfect future, seeing such enthusiasm, Liam reflected on when they just left their home. Back then Robert experienced a very bad period, Liam tried to cheer him up but nothing worked. Only after giving him work and something to do did everything change. 

Robert too responsibility, and worked nonstop to ensure his future. Now they had reached a comfortable state, yet Robert felt like he could still grow so much more. Looking outside the window he could see the capital in the distance, his wealth had grown tremendously, but he still hadn't reached the top. His eyes were filled with excitement as he stared at the Grand Church that stood high in the capital.