Sacrifices Of Aura Benders

Some of the ancient beasts are surprisingly neutral towards others and prefer not to fight but once provoked, they won't stop hunting the person down no matter what.

Some ancient beasts have been said to speak the arethian languages or read minds.

Some have been said to even shapeshift between arethians of different races, like humans, or Demihumans such as beastmen, dragonfolk, merfolk, dwarfs, and elves.

Their aura cores are always red in colour just like a ruby, because the volume and quality of the aura in them are always extremely high.

They're also more powerful than a single aura king in terms of aura and raw power. It is said that hunting one would require at least three aura kings to capture it, and six to kill it.

Hence, in terms of an aura bender to hunt and absorb aura from any of these aura beasts, one has to ingest the beast's aura cores raw. It's extremely bitter and cooling like ice once consumed, extremely painful once in the stomach of the aura bender depending on the quality of the aura core, but refreshing and reviving once completely absorbed into the body.

Absorbing aura cores must always be done in moderation and control else an aura bender would risk damaging their magic heart or crippling their body.

Either way, evolving in just a few months just as Lord Ferdinand had done would in no way be such an easy feat, unless...

There is one other way to evolve as an aura bender in this world of Areth, it's an unofficial and illegal way, a truly disgusting way of evolving, and that is by... Hunting down other aura benders.

A low-level aura bender, lord or master would have to kill and dissect another aura bender, taking out their magic heart and consuming it cooked or raw to evolve. And to achieve aura lordship as Lord Ferdinand had done, he must have sacrificed many aura benders or one single aura lord.

I took a deep breath and faced him again, this time, with my hands out in an alms-like motion. And I sternly said, “Look at me, don't look away.”

He hesitantly looked up at me, and just as he did, I put out my right hand in an attempt to show him my power.

“Lord Ferdinand, what do you see?”

“My lord is that... Aura? Your Highness, are you an aura master!?”

Right in front of the bewildered Lord Ferdinand was the manifestation of royal aura all over my arm, from the top of my shoulder to the tip of my fingertips.

It wasn't just a glow that certain aura benders could perceive but a viscous amount of translucent flowing aura enveloping my entire right arm. And doing such would only be possible for an aura master as they can manifest aura out of their body and into objects and people.

“Get over here,” I said.

Lord Ferdinand hesitated and only stepped an inch closer to me.

“Closer...!” I said, gesturing for him to come closer.

He stepped even closer but still out of my reach.

Annoyed, I shouted, “CLOSER!"

Lord Ferdinand trembled at my order and cowardly did as I said and rushed to my arm.

I took my arm and placed it upon his wrinkly neck, and said, “I... Do believe that you know the abilities of an aura master, right?”

“Yes, sire,” he said trembling from my grasp.

“Just imagine it, all I'd need to do is inject just a bit of my aura into your being, and poof...! Auraless Lord Ferdinand...” I gave a mischievous smirk.

Lord Ferdinand's head and neck began to perspire, a lot.

I laughed, “Hahaha, Lord Ferdinand? Are you sweating this much? I haven't even squeezed...” I squeezed his neck slowly.

“S-S-Sire, please... Spare me,” he begged.

I tilted my head nonchalantly, and said, “I could...”

His scared expression seemed to lighten after I said that but it darkened even more after I said, “But why should I? I'm sure you never showed your prey any mercy. So why should I show YOU mercy? Wouldn't it be best to take care of a parasite such as yourself?”

Lord Ferdinand gulped in fear and closed his eyes expecting his demise.

“Hey...! Don't drift off, I'm not done talking! Tell me, how many?"

“Sire?” Lord Ferdinand didn't understand my question.

I shouted what I meant into his ears, “Don't anger me! How many aura benders did you sacrifice to get this power!?"

I paused for a few seconds and calmly asked, "Tell me, how many innocents had to die?”

“I... I don't know, sire.”

“What!!? You dare test my patience!?” I was enraged.

“No sire! Not at all! I truly don't know how many people were killed in the process of my evolution," he stated in a high pitch and nervous tone.

Enraged even more, I squeezed his neck even harder, “Do you think this is a joke!?”

He began to struggle and cough from the lack of air reaching his lungs. “*COUGH* Sire...! I truly do not know!"

*COUGH* His skin started to turn pale, then blue. Veins emerged on his forehead, his side head and his neck. At this point, he could hardly speak.

He let out one more plea for his life. "Please sire! Honestly! The hunting of the magic hearts is left to someone else!!”

I lessened my grip but still held onto his neck, saying, “I'm listening...”

He could breathe well again and his skin colouration gradually went to normal.

Lord Ferdinand gasped for what little air he could breath then said, “Haa... Haa... Thank you, sire. I shall tell you all that I know now. You see, sire, all I ever did was consume the already sliced-up pieces of the magic hearts of aura benders provided to me.”

“And who provides them?” I sternly asked.

“Well, you see, sire, I don't necessarily know his name...” he gave me a crooked smile.

I began to tighten my grip on his neck once again.

“*COUGH* Wait sire! But I do know the guild that sends the orders of my *COUGH* *COUGH* request and delivers to me the already cooked for my consumption!

I lessened my grip once again, and asked, “And what is this guild of yours called?"

He hesitated for just a moment but still confessed the name, “...Black Hearts. The guild's name is Black Hearts.”

I released him from my grasp and returned to my mattress. He immediately fell to the ground, grovelling next to my feet as he gasped for air.

"*COUGH* *COUGH* Thank you for sparing me, sire.”

I chuckled, “Oh don't thank me just yet, Lord Ferdinand.”

“What do you mean, my liege?” he asked as he gently rubbed his discoloured neck, looking at me with fear and confusion on his face.

With my legs crossed and a mischievous smile on my face, I said, “It's simple really, I've left you with a minuscule amount of my aura in that old body of yours, and let's just say that from now on, no matter where you run to, no matter where you hide, I'll find you."

"You'll find me? *COUGH*" he asked from the floor where he knelt.

My eyes widened as I said, "OH YEAH...! And believe me when I say, if I find out that you were in any way aware of any innocent victims of having their hearts stolen, I'll make you regret not dying today.”

"Hmm, I guess I should explain. That'll put the fear of me in him," I thought to myself.

I rubbed my chin and slowly explained, “Considering I can now pinpoint the location of anything infused with my aura, living or otherwise, anywhere in the world. I think I'll call this new skill of mine, World Pinpoint System. Hmm... WPS for short. What do you think?”

It worked, I could almost feel his bones tremble at the sight of me.

“I... I...” he was short for words.

The skill that I had just mentioned to Lord Ferdinand was a modified version of aura detection that I had created myself, I made it possible by infusing my aura into different objects, objects like combs, cufflinks, quills, and whatever small objects I had in my room.

I focused my aura detection on those specific objects, making sure I could detect them wherever they were placed or hidden in my room.

And to make sure the range didn't matter, with the full aura of an aura master focused on my right arm, I threw some of the said objects out of my room through my window and into the forest of maple trees outside of the mansion.

There was at least a 100 meters distance between the mansion and the maple tree forest and the objects were thrown even farther than that.

To my surprise, the experiment worked, not only could I sense where every object that I had thrown out was, but I could also sense the surroundings of that said object albeit the surroundings that I could sense were within a small radius of two meters of the object.

I had modified the ability just this afternoon when I discovered I had mastered aura detection.

Once I had told Lord Ferdinand of my full and total control of his whereabouts, there was a hint of despair in Lord Ferdinand's eyes as he watched me from below. It was somewhat amusing, it was like watching the final strings of servitude being pinned to a puppet, to Lord Ferdinand's soul.

I covered my mouth as I couldn't help but smile at his despair.

With a hand gesturing him to leave, I said, “Leave my chambers now, I'll have you escort me into town, I'll need to see the true state of my territory, don't you think?”

“Yes... Sire.” He began to leave, completely and utterly defeated.

But just before he left via the door, I mentioned, “And oh, don't even think of discharging your aura to get rid of mine! It won't work unless I, myself break the connection, absorb my aura back or die. Let's not forget, it is...royal aura after all...!"

Royal aura, an aura so pure that it sticks to whatever it's been infused upon as long as the producer of said aura wants. Some say if expelled into the very air, it can last for days, and if possible even make way for the growth of vegetation on barren lands.

But such power comes with certain restrictions and responsibilities; Too much of it can be poisonous if over-expelled into the atmosphere, causing a weaker aura bender what is called Aura Poisoning. It is a power that can only be passed onto the offspring of fellow royals as they are also equipped with a complex magic heart that can handle royal aura.

Normal humans can't reproduce with royal aura benders, as their offspring would sooner die in the womb before even being born, thus, royal aura benders must mate with fellow royal aura benders.

Those are the sacrifices of those that use royal aura.