Aura

Orok

"What is this?" I asked in alarm, as the feeling that suppressed the very soul of me washed over me.

It's a power I had never felt before but understood deep in my heart that it was stronger than any skill I have.

It had stopped my company, which was moving to help those who asked for help.

We have doing that since the battle begins. It's a job that is assigned to us.

"Aura!" said Rev. From Mr. Hugo's mercenaries.

"Someone awakened it?" asked Lt. Hasid, and he nodded. "Yes, I hope, it's not the enemy," replied Rev with a heavy nod.

"We should be able to know soon; it seemed to have originated from the direction we are moving," said Lt. Hasid.

To that, I nodded.

"Company move!" I ordered and moved, but stopped soon after when I realized some were not moving.

Some are shaking so much that they sat down.

"Give them some time; it is not easy to bear the aura," advised Rev.

The man is experienced, and I decided to listen to the suggestion and waited for a few seconds when I felt movement from the feeling.

It seemed to be moving back to its source, and within a second, it disappeared completely.

"Company move!" I ordered again and this time, people moved. We moved fast in a formation to deal with any attack that came at us.

We got closer and closer, till we reached the battle; that made nearly everyone's eyes widen, including mine.

"Its Master Silver! He awakened the aura!" exclaimed Barb with joy as she looked at the battle.

…

My enemy froze as that feeling burst out of me.

It took me a moment for me to realize what this feeling was. As I did, my eyes widened.

If not for feeling every part of it; I wouldn't have believed it either.

It's aura.

I had awakened it in my moment of desperation.

If it had any other moment, I would hop in joy, but now there is not a hint of joy in my heart, only the rage.

I looked at the frozen energy and swung my rapier toward him, not caring about the pain, feeling in every fiber of my hands.

He had frozen under the power of aura, but self-preservation and experience made him react quickly.

Clang!

He defended before taking a step back. His expression recovered, but deep shock remained in his eyes.

I looked at mother and child. It made me relieved to see them covered in dusky light. The priest had reacted quickly, sending the spell to heal their injuries.

The enemies' mages reacted quickly when the priest tried to target me.

Stopping the healing spell from reaching me.

It would have been a manageable problem if the priest had experienced it, but he hadn't. It's his second battle, with yesterday's one being his first.

I turned to the enemy, still shaking, when the aura began to return to me.

It took a second for it to return to my body.

"A..aura, you awakened it," he said with a shaking voice. As if I could not believe that I had awakened the aura.

"It didn't matter. You have just awakened it; you have no control over it," he said, more to reassure himself than to threaten me.

His expression recovered with those words, and he came at me, with him being faster and stronger than before.

Earlier he was playing around, now he is using every bit of his power to kill me.

If I had been to a place, I would have done the same. Those who awakened the aura become really dangerous.

I reacted immediately and moved my sword forward. At the same time, I brought the aura out of me.

I don't know what to do with it.

I could not control the aura, nor did I know how, but I brought out and covered myself with it.

It is the only thing I could think of.

It was hard as I felt it slipping, wanting to go back to my body. I didn't let it and instead pushed some of it on my enemy and activated the Lord's Presence.

I might not know how to control it, but I know the aura is versatile.

It could be used to suppress as well as strengthen.

It becomes dangerous when one gains control over it. The finer the control; the greater the power one would be able to project through it.

There are also things like methods and arts that turned it into terror.

I pushed those thoughts and looked at my enemy, who seemed to have gone slower, with strain appearing on his face.

Aura is one's extension. I had covered him with it and used the Lord's Presence.

The skill affected him a lot since his mind was already shaken and suppressed by the aura. Opening the gaps in his mental defense that attacked thoroughly.

This is the one of strongest skills, I have. Stronger than Gale of Blade or Mauling Strike. It worked through the power of Charm, which is my strongest attribute.

Clang!

My rapier clashed against his sword, shaking him, despite him using his full power.

I felt the blinding pain in my hands, but I bore it and activated another of my powerful skills.

"I have awakened aura. You are dead already. There is no way for you to remain alive," I said with a Silver Tongue, another skill that runs on charm.

Its expressions changed. Hesitation and fear appeared in his eyes.

Though he seemed to have recovered a little a moment later.

"Shut up!" he screamed, with a hint of panic in his eyes.

"I am not wrong, and you know it. There is no chance you will survive; you will die like the enemies you killed," I said with a smile, hammering those words with Silver Tongue and attacking with the rapier.

Clang!

His reaction was a little delayed, but the man was experienced and was able to defend.

"You should accept the death. If you are alive, you will suffer a fate worse than death," I stated, and this is a truth.

It's why, it affected him the most, shaking him from up to down.

This man will not receive mercy, even if he surrenders. He had broken the most sacred laws of battle; he had not only killed a civilian but was unhesitant to kill a child.

Such people would not be left alive. Even if he surrendered.

Clang Clang Clang!

I begin to attack him while hammering his mind with thoughts of death to break him mentally.

He is already at a near-breaking point; I would need to push him further.

Normally, it wouldn't be easy, especially with no control and difference in level, but the awakening of my aura had hit him hard.

Not to mention with his experience, he would see many aura masters and their strength would be itched in his mind.

Even if I don't have such strength now; his mind would unconsciously associate me with it.

"I am an aura master now; you should just give up. Fighting more is just prolonging your suffering," I said and attacked again.

Hun!

As I did, I heard the commotion behind me. With the noises, I didn't have to guess the reinforcement had arrived.

I didn't look back and focused on my attack, which had just avoided his sword and moved toward him.

Rip!

He tried to dodge but was not successful. I was able to give him a cut.

Injuring a Lv. 30+ powerhouse.

"See that blood coming out of the wound? It is just a starting, soon, it will come out from every wound of your body," I said and attacked him again.

Clang!

This time, he defended.

"What the fuck are doing standing like a fool? Come and help me!" shouted the man to the armored orc, who was not far away from us.

The orc hesitated, and faint hesitation appeared in my eyes seeing him coming, when I saw something coming from behind.

Orok came running from behind at amazing speed and swung his ax toward the armored orc wildly with incredible momentum.

Clang!

His ax hit hard against the other orc's shield, sending back a couple of steps.

He didn't give the enemy a chance and swung his ax at him before the other orc even stabilized from his attack.

This young man is incredible. Stone had praised him like no other and those words had rung true in the battle yesterday, when he killed a Lv. 30.

"See, there won't be any reinforcement for you. You are alone and you will die. This is an undeniable fact," I said and attacked again.

Rip!

Another cut appeared in his arm, but it was small. The bastard dodged the attack on time.

I have to kill him quickly as I feel the aura slipping through my fingers. I am having a hard time controlling it; a minute at most, before it will go back to my body.

"Give up," I said and attacked again.

Clang!

He defended by looking at me with fear and panic, but there was also an unwillingness to die.

"I will not!" It roared and attacked while taking a step toward me. His attack is fast and powerful, and I want to dodge it.

"You will!" I roared back and attacked while pushing as much as my aura at him.

Clang!

Our swords clashed, and I felt pain. That made me cry. It put a smile on the man's face, but a moment later, an alarm appeared as he tried to take a step back.

Puch!

He was slow as my dagger, on the other hand, reached him and pierced through his neck.

I had kept him focused on my sword and rapier, that he forgot about the dagger, I held in my other hand.

He opened his mouth, but instead of words, blood came out of it.

Pachac!

I removed the dagger and blood from his sprayed on my hand, but I didn't care. Instead, I slashed the dagger at him again, decapitating him.

Destroying all the chances of survival of a monster like him.

Some of the blood spread on me, but I didn't care. I looked at Captain Orok, who had killed the enemy in four attacks, before turning to the woman.

Only to see Barb taking her to the side. She had fed them a potion and bandaged their wounds.

I took out the potion and drank it. Immediately, I felt it working on my injuries.

I took out another potion and drank it. I felt my stamina recovering, but the tiredness remained.

Likely because of aura. It couldn't be recovered by any potion or spell.

Only the rest could help in recovering it.

I sat down on pieces of broken wall my men dealt with the enemy. Many had started to surrender, which we accepted, but not without precaution.

"Congratulations on awakening the aura, Master Silver," said Barb as she appeared in front of me. "Thank you, Barb," I replied tiredly, before getting up.

The battle is yet to be won. I cannot rest until we do.