Dry Plains - Improvement

In one of the many dark alleys of Invon City, Osirus would recognise the Jacks and Crimson Talons anxiously conversing and chatting, he would also notice that these 2 mercenary groups seemed to be missing their leaders.

"I cant believe that arrogant bastard, if it wasn't for his father Reinhardt would have crushed his bones to dust.", Simon's eyes were almost bloodshot as he thought about that conceited prick.

Annie was much calmer as she tried to think of ways to save Reinhardt and Armen, "We have 48 hours before they are executed, if we act fast enough, we might be able to save them during the execution."

However, hearing this, a skinny man with big ears nicknamed, 'Monkey', from Crimson Talon, spoke, "But what will we do about the fact Lord Invon will be preceding over it himself, due you really think we can take on a monster like him?"

"We can only try."

**********

18 hours later.

Back at the Dry Plains, if you followed through one of many tunnels, you would come to a large cavern. Inside that cavern was a teen sitting before a small flower, however what was shocking was the atmosphere, even the air seemed still before him and this stillness continued expanding outwards.

The flower had begun to lose some of its vibrancy, a clear sign that it was running out of Mana, and after another couple of hours, it had completely lost all its colour as it began crumbling into dust.

Opening his eyes, the tranquil atmosphere began receding and concentrating into Osirus's body, stretching out his muscles, they began to crackle from not being used for quite a while, followed by an immense strength.

Unlike before where he didn't really have much control of his explosive power, the feeling was completely different now, his power felt like a massive lake, and with a thought he could create a river that led that unstoppable flow of power to smash into anyone who stood before him.

His {Status} now stood at:

{Status}

{Name:Osirus}

{Age:16}

{Race:Human}

{SP:2}

{Body Cultivation:Lv.8(63/80SP)}

{Mana Cultivation:Lv.9(34/90SP)}

{Active Skills: {Quick Slice Lv.6 (4/60 Proficiency) - Beginner}, {Guardian Golem Lv.2 (1/20 Proficiency) - Beginner}, {Fire Ball Lv.3 (4/30 Proficiency) - Beginner}}

{Passive Skills: {Threat Detection Lv.6 (12% Proficiency) - Beginner}}

Both areas of cultivation had experienced qualitative improvements, he felt his Mana Core had almost doubled in density, while his body felt many times more powerful.

Leaving the cave, he had one more thing to do at the Dry Plains before he returned to Invon City.

Leaving the extensive tunnelling, he took a breath of fresh air before heading deeper into the depths of the Dry Plains; it wasn't long before he reached the inner area, Death's Greeting.

With his new and improved strength, killing the Crystal Lizards alone was easy, let alone with the help of the Golems, he continued to head deeper, the heat increasing along with the strength of the lizards.

After walking for about 2 hours, the heat had started to reach his limit, it was so hot that his armour was constantly steaming, and that wasn't all, the Crystal Lizards strength had begun to match his own, the only reason he was still able to continue forward was because of the Golems.

Eventually he came upon a Crystal Lizard he couldn't defeat, it was roughly 3m long with crystal so strong that no matter what he tried he couldn't even begin to damage them, and to make matters worse, its speed was too quick for him to accurately attack its weak points.

In the end he had to give up trying to kill it and return back to his campsite.

Although, it wasn't for nothing as he had amassed another 80SP, enough for an Active Skill he had been planning to create, it was called {Metal Sphere}.

{Metal Sphere : Using Mana the User can create spheres of extremely dense metal, the more Mana supplied in its creation, the larger and heavier the spheres. Maximum area of control is 10 metres. Maximum amount - 2.

Cost : 75SP}

Creating the Skill, a new addition appeared on his Active Skill section, bringing the total amount of Skills to:

{Active Skills: {Quick Slice Lv.6 (4/60 Proficiency) - Beginner}, {Guardian Golem Lv.2 (1/20 Proficiency) - Beginner}, {Fire Ball Lv.3 (4/30 Proficiency) - Beginner}, {Metal Sphere Lv.1 (0/10 Proficiency) - Beginner}}

After the Skill had been added, Osirus immediately tested it out, Mana began flowing out of his body, and in a similar fashion to {Fire Ball}, begun to pull in something the surroundings, slowly but surely a pitch black sphere began to form in front of him.

After using about 10% of his Mana, a sphere roughly the same size of a tennis ball was formed, however as metal wasn't volatile like fire and didn't need a constant supply of Mana for it to work, once the metal ball was created, he wouldn't need to use any Mana to keep it together.

He would only need a small amount to control it, with the consumption increasing the further away he tried to control it from, however once it left his control, it would explode like the {Fire Ball}, but instead would just fall to the floor like a normal ball of metal.

With everything completed, the metal ball whirled around him as he started to head back to Invon City at a slow speed, so that he could practise his {Metal Sphere} and {Guardian Golem}.

24 hours later.

Station in the very centre of Invon City was a mighty mansion made of the same Ebony Stone that gave the city wall its famous impenetrable nature, this mansion was the home of Lord Invon, the City Lord of Invon City.

Stationed in front of this palace were hundreds of mercenaries and citizens alike, a sombre atmosphere weighed over everybody as they all looked in the same direction.

In a spacious area between the crowd and City Palace sat 2 guillotines, under the ebony blade lay 2 familiar faces, Armen and Reinhartd.

Even though their deaths were near, neither felt fear, instead anger as they both stared at a singular person.

Atop the City Place, a balcony stretched outwards, giving one a view of the entire preceding, sat on that balcony were 3 figures, an arrogant teen with a bruised face that Armen and Reinhardt wearing staring at, a tall muscular middle-aged man with a bushing beard and short hair dressed in a thick black coat whose body exuded dignity and superiority.

And an older gentleman dressed in a custom fit suit with refined disposition due to his clean shaving beard and neat hair style.

These 3 figures were the arrogant Ethan and mighty Lord Invon along with closest confidant as well as butler, known city wide as Sir Elijah.

With a raise of Lord Invon's hand, any quiet whisper that still remained within the crowd was cut off, "We are here to witness the death of these scum who dared hit my son and question my authority!".

During his short speech the crowd was deathly silent, after all, just how much strength did it take to control a city of mercenaries known for their disregard to authority and rules?

It took a monstrous amount of strength along with a reputation, and Lord Invon didn't have a reputation of being kind hearted.

After he finished talking, a monstrous man walked out from the side, towards the guillotines.

Although everyone knew this was just a superficial display of strength, they couldn't help but be slightly intimidated by watching the giant of a man who would do the execution.

Suddenly, "Stop!", Simon, Annie, Elisa as well as the Crimson Talon, broke through the crowd as Annie shouted out.

The public crowd stood rooted in place, shocked that someone actually dared to speak against the Tyrant Invon, however their shock quickly turned to pity as they thought about how their future was ruined by a single word.

Up on the balcony, Lord Invon witnessed the change of events and frowned, as a true butler, Sir Elijah quickly noticed this and acted appropriately, "Guards! Apprehend these idiots immediately."

Suddenly 10s of guards clad in black armour rushed forward, spears in hand, in response, the Jacks and Crimson Talons, got in formation, ready to put their lives on the line for their captains.

"Guys, just stop."

A proud, but tired voice sounded, naturally, it was Reinhardt, even with a giant blade hanging over his neck, his death imminent, he still cared about his team.

"Just wait there, we will save you.", Annie didn't even consider leaving her captain as she prepared to fight till her last breath, and she wasn't alone, "Yeh, just stay their captain, we'll get rid of these assholes and we can move to another city."

"Hang in there Armen, these puny guards won't be able to stop us today."

This time it was Armen who said, "Go home guys, you don't stand a chance against these guys, even if you beat the guards, stronger people will come. Leave now and enjoy the rest of your lives. That's an order."

"Bu-"

"Just no, our lives are already over, and we've accepted that, if I had another life, I would have made sure to kill that arrogant prick, but I don't, however you guys can continue living your life, hunting monstrous beasts and drinking to your heart's content, so leave, and never turn back."

Unfortunately, they had forgoed that right by stepping forward, "Did I say you could leave.", it wasn't a loud voice, but it held such unshakable authority that everyone felt a shiver run down their spine.

Upon the balcony rail, everybody watched Lord Invon step off, his body plummeted down, "Boom!", his knees barely buckled as he hit the floor, a massive crater spreading out from his impact zone.

"Thump. Thump. Thump."

His footsteps reverberated through the silent area, if one looked close enough, you could see imprints in the concrete after each step Lord Invon took, however that wasn't all, with every step, his aura seemed to grow.

By the time he stood upon Simon and the others, his aura reached a climax, it felt as if a mountain weighed upon everyone within 10m, causing their knees to buckle, however even in the face of such a monster, they didn't give up, using every ounce of strength, they lifted their heads in defiance, staring directly into Lord Invon eyes.

"Very well, you have made your decision."