The Lone Wanderer

In the end, three more months passed in relative quiet.

Naturally, Percy hadn’t stopped sending out clones in that time, hoping one of them would stumble upon something interesting. Sadly, that hadn’t happened. He hadn’t bothered to return to the Vault either, as none of his recent hosts seemed suited for the combat challenges. Of course, he could have tried learning some more runes – he definitely had enough credits. That said, he didn’t have time to practice them, busy as he was.

Things on Remior hadn’t changed much either. Everyone had continued working on their projects, Percy and Nesha both making great strides with their new spells. Percy’s Self-bestowal had improved noticeably by now, though his Status had yet to acknowledge that.

As for Micky, he had continued his relentless hunt for Yellow beasts, eating their cores before delivering their bodies to Percy, dumping them in the preservation runes. By now, they’d wasted dozens upon dozens of souls, fighting to maintain their stash. In fact, Percy was afraid they were close to driving the Yellow beasts to extinction. At least, Micky no longer managed to find one every day.

Watching the souls crumble, Percy was beginning to reconsider his plan. They’d have to go through with the experiment in the next couple of weeks, regardless of whether an enemy arrived in that time. Delaying any longer would hurt more than it helped.

Luckily for him, the noble finally reached Bogside town just days later.

“What do you think?” Nesha bit her lip.

Percy could tell she was nervous, and he didn’t blame her for it either. Talking and planning about ambushing a Green and actually going through with it were two entirely different things.

The two observed the man from a distance. He was standing just outside the tavern, chatting with Fegan – presumably discussing the bog’s situation with the old man. He wore the same standard attire as all the other nobles of House Tantalus, his elegant silken robes adorned with his family’s insignia – a man’s face sporting a set of strangely elongated canines. Though his was green.

“Not the strongest they’ve got. Not the weakest either.” Percy whispered back.

The man didn’t have the bloodline – his skin was a healthy shade of pink. He didn’t look that young either, meaning he was probably an older Orange-born. This wasn’t a good thing, as it meant he was more experienced. Other distinguishing features included a bald head and a scruffy ginger beard.

“According to our information, he’s either Grian, or his cousin, Broose.” Percy elaborated.

He sure hoped it was the former, as Grian had a pure affinity. If it was Broose, they’d have a tougher time. But it was a coin toss at this point.

“Are you sure you still want to go through with this?” Nesha asked, clenching her fists. “It’s not too late to call it off. Just tell Micky to hide until he’s gone.”

But Percy shook his head.

“Forget it. I haven’t spent the last four months carving preservation runes day in and day out only to give up when the guy finally shows up. Besides, there’s no escaping this now.”

“How so?” Nesha furrowed her brow.

“Need I remind you that the swamp is full of traps and other traces of activity? No way he misses all that.” Percy explained, before continuing. “If he goes in, he’ll know there are humans working with Micky. After that, he’ll interrogate the townsfolk until they all figure out it’s us.”

“What if we run away now? We can circle around the province and escape towards your family’s mansion.”

“There’s no guarantee he won’t catch up. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to face him, I’d much rather do so in the swamp, taking advantage of all our arrangements.”

Nesha swallowed hard, the finality of their situation hitting her. There was only one way out of this, and it was over that man’s corpse.

“So, how do we handle it then? Have Micky keep him busy until nightfall?”

“No way. I’m not leaving Micky alone with him. Let’s head to the swamp now, before he’s done talking to Fegan.”

“What if somebody comes looking for us later? It’ll look suspicious if we disappear right before this guy goes missing.” Nesha said.

But Percy only smiled bitterly in return.

“That’s tomorrow’s problem. For now, let’s focus on surviving.”

***

The sunlight barely pierced through the dense canopies, softly illuminating the muddy waters of the Grisly Bog.

Percy and Nesha had split up, each hiding behind a different tree. A Green’s spells were more than powerful enough to kill them both in one fell swoop, so they figured it was best to not stay clustered together.

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They’d also wrapped more home-made bandages around their torsos, to hide their grades and, in Percy’s case, his mana channels once he used Synchronization. Not that it would make much of a difference, but he’d gladly take any edge he could get.

As for where they got them from? Naturally, he’d crafted them himself, engraving the preservation runes on a few long strips of linen. They weren’t as good as the one Baldy had given him, nor the ones Nesha had purchased for Micky back in the Alchemists’ Guild.

But it couldn’t be helped. Percy didn’t have access to the enchanted silk those were made of. Instead, he’d embroidered their interior with reinforced cyan constructs, meaning they wouldn’t last very long, nor would the cover they provided be as ironclad.

‘Oh well… They’ll have to do.’

The rhythmic squelch of boots trudging through the muddy waters broke him out of his thoughts. The sounds were interspaced with the occasional crunch of a twig breaking – betraying their opponent’s arrival.

Percy’s heart pounded heavily in his chest, thrumming with both excitement and fear in equal measure. And he knew this feeling, having experienced it a few times before. It was the same he’d felt back when he ambushed Rick and his goons, or when he fought against the Starry Knight. This was a fight he couldn’t guess the outcome of.

Biting his tongue, he forced himself to calm down, breathing as deeply and as quietly as he could manage, directing the ambient mana to his two cores. At the same time, he nodded at Nesha who was hiding some distance away. Next, he coordinated with Micky too.

‘Don’t approach him. Just fly in the vicinity and be ready to intervene if one of us needs backup.’

Percy knew Micky was strong, but he couldn’t risk his friend getting close to the powerful mage.

The trio patiently waited for their opponent to draw nearer, mentally preparing for the difficult fight ahead. And soon, it was upon them.

‘He’s about to step on a trap!’ Percy grinned.

This wasn’t some big coincidence either. He and Nesha had practically filled the place up with them. It was never a question of if it would happen. Only when.

That said, their window to act would be brief, and he refused to waste it. Taking another deep breath, he forced his boosting art to take effect, clenching the invisible scythe tightly in his grasp. The cyan and silver motes leaked out of his pores, soon blending into a teal halo, enveloping his reddening skin as he accumulated fused mana.

‘I sure hope the concealment rune works.’ he thought, rushing to complete his preparations in time.

Percy had carved one on the tree’s trunk too, to hide the sudden spike of mana until the last second. Shifting his weight on his backfoot, he extended his right hand – the one holding the weapon – backwards, tensing his muscles.

Then, he sprung forth using all the strength he could muster, throwing the Soul Harvester through the trunk, its sinister edge spinning soundlessly towards the enemy mage.

The scythe covered half the distance in an instant. Percy’s heart skipped a beat, thinking it was going to land.

But it wasn’t meant to be.

The experienced noble noticed something was off at the last second, instinctively stepping out of the crescent blade’s path. Unfortunately for him, however, his foot landed right on top of a pitfall!

Not wasting a moment, the girl triggered the pocket rune, causing him to fall through the collapsing ground. Sadly, he barely sank a few inches before hardening a sheet of dirt underneath his feet, arresting his momentum.

Realizing this was the best they were going to get, Nesha toggled the enchantment again, managing to slice the man’s left foot off as he leapt out of the trap. The earth mage let out a pained groan as a fountain of blood poured out of the stump.

But he didn’t let the injury distract him, immediately rolling on the muddy ground, narrowly evading the barrage of teal projectiles raining down at him. Percy clicked his tongue in annoyance, lamenting the fact that the throwing stars weren’t engraved with concealment runes like his scythe.

That wasn’t the end of their offensive, however, as a handful of black butterflies rapidly zigged and zagged around the trees, homing onto the noble from several directions. At the same time, Nesha activated all the other pitfalls around him, trying to destabilize the ground.

Yet, the man wasn’t having it.

Pulling a ridiculous amount of earth mana from his sternum, he sent a violent shockwave underneath him, crushing all the traps into dust. At the same time, five stone pillars rose from the ground, accurately slamming into the butterflies, one after the other. The earth constructs shattered upon impact, but so did Nesha’s spells. While space mana was powerful and destructive, it could still be overpowered with enough brute force.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Luckily, Percy had one last trick up his sleeve.

Reaching out to his scythe – which was currently lodged in the ground a few metres behind the earth mage – he pulled it towards him, while robbing it of its substance.

Spinning through the air at a frightening speed, the now-incorporeal construct was on course to chop the oblivious noble right in half!

The man was still trying to get back to his foot when the weapon reached him. He did notice it again but, between the scythe’s close proximity, and the agonizing pain of his injury, he reacted a second too late this time. Granted, he barely managed to avoid a lethal wound, but he failed to dodge the construct entirely.

Willing the scythe to materialize, Percy watched a flash of teal illuminate the gloomy bog, slicing through the man’s arm. The severed limb splashed into the mud a moment later, as another fountain of blood gushed out of the wound.

Falling to his knees, the colour drained from the Green’s face, the man looking like he was about to pass out. Though he didn’t let that happen. Experienced as he was, he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to keep looking at his opponents, keenly aware that his life would be forfeit should he feint here.

Percy smirked, thinking they had this in the bag, when he noticed something strange through Mana Sense.

“Shit! DODGE!” he warned his companion as he caught the man’s sinister intention at the last second.

Leaping to one side, he barely avoided getting impaled by a stalagmite, before shifting his attention to Nesha. The girl hadn’t reacted as quickly as him, the construct rending a chunk of flesh off her thigh. It wasn’t lethal, but she wouldn’t be able to stay in the fight.

Turning back to the earth mage, he saw the pain in his expression was strangely muted, a subtle grin now replacing it. The bastard was just baiting them before…

But that was only the beginning, as the guy manifested two massive javelins, each thicker than Percy’s arm. Next, he launched one towards him and one towards Nesha, evidently intent on finishing her with this move.

“Micky!”

A comet of green and amber dove towards the javelin at a ridiculous speed, crushing it in his talons. Following Percy’s earlier instructions, he snatched Nesha up, flying away before the earth mage had the chance to follow up. Though a few words seeped through their bond a moment later, tinged with worry.

‘What about you?’

‘What else?’ Percy shrugged.

‘I’ll finish the job.’