The Beginning After The End

meditated their ki centers.
The lingering pressure in the room had stemmed from the fact that, during the last stage of the King’s Crown, it was legal for contestants to deal lethal blows to their opponents.

 

All of the contestants, including myself, had known that they could die today.
Lady Vera and the other trainers had done their best to keep me from thinking about that, keeping me focused through various exercises.

 

I still remembered all of the contestants I had fought against, both young and old, small and large, every fighter at the top of their class.
Most importantly to me, none of them had been bribed by Lady Vera to forfeit the match.

 

I remembered trying to convince myself how great Lady Vera was.
I had reasoned that she had purposely cleared the road of obstacles for me not because she didn’t trust in my abilities, but because she wanted me to be at my best for the final rounds.

 

If only I had known then, what that day would entail.
I still thought to this day, what I would’ve done differently if I had gone back to the past on that very day, if I had known the truth about Lady Vera.

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 ‘Arthur!’ Sylvie’s voice pierced through my head, snapping me awake, just moments before she jerked her body to dodge a giant arc of lightning.
Another arc of lightning soon shot at us from below, piercing through the clouds.

 

By this time, both Sylvie and I knew who was responsible for this.

 

“Bairon!” I roared, amplifying my voice with mana as I jumped off of Sylvie.
“What is the meaning of this?”

 

A figure rose from the layer of clouds below us, along with several soldiers mounted on giant armored birds.

 

“You disobey direct orders and run away from battle, then ask the meaning of what I’m doing?” Bairon boomed, his voice emanating mana as well.
“While my orders remain verbal, I advise you to return to your post, Arthur.”

 

“Verbal?” It was Sylvie that replied, her husky voice laced with anger in her draconic form.
“You fire spells capable of destroying buildings at a lance and an asura ?”

 

There was a moment of hesitation before Bairon answered.
“We are at war, and your human bond has chosen to take orders rather than give them.
I’m merely enforcing my duty to my subordinates .”

 

“Enough!” I snapped.
“You’ve received the updates from General Varay as well.
The enemy forces that we’re engaged with at the bay are all prisoners of Alacrya.
We need to reorganize our troops and scout for the enemy’s main force before—”

 

 

 

“Those decisions are up to me and the Council to make,” Bairon interrupted, drawing in closer with his soldiers surrounding him.
“You were the one that forfeited the burden of responsibility.”

 

I gritted my teeth, frustrated more at myself than at Bairon for all of this.
It was true that I was the one to run away.
Even now, I would hesitate to take a position of leadership, but I couldn’t just stand by while I watched as we played right into Agrona’s hand.

 

“Please stand aside.
Don’t waste your energy on this and let us go to the Castle.
I’ll get Commander Virion’s approval as soon as I arrive if that’s what you want,” I said, calming myself.
“Let’s go, Sylv.”

 

The mounted soldiers fanned out, preparing their spells as Bairon floated, aiming a lightning-clad hand directly at us.

 

“I assure you that this one won’t miss, General Arthur.
This is the last warning to get back to your post.”

 

“What is with you and your brother always resorting to violence?” I spat out, annoyed.

 

With a rage-filled roar, Bairon charged, his entire body engulfed in lightning.

 

Bringing up Lucas might not have been the smartest choice, but it was too obvious that this show of power had less to do with me leaving my post, and more to do with proving he was superior to me.

 

Cladding myself in mana as well, I utilized the moisture from the clouds below and conjured an arsenal of ice lances.

 

Sylvie unleashed a beam of pure mana from her maw directly at Bairon while I launched the ice-spears at the mounted soldiers.

 

The formation broke easily as Bairon’s soldiers swerved to avoid my spell.
Bairon himself had to stop to defend against the wide cone of pure energy, giving us the brief window we were looking for.

 

 Sylvie.
Let’s go! I sent to my bond.
I grabbed ahold of her leg as she flew past me and in a mere second, we flew past Bairon and his soldiers.

 

Just when I thought we would get away, Bairon launched his cape at us.
It was a magic artifact, no doubt, because the cape soon dispersed into a large net composed of metal wires which he was able to control with his lightning.

 

 Human form, now! I ordered.

 

My bond’s body shrunk to that of a little girl just as the net encompassed us.

 

Sylvie immediately formed a barrier of mana around us, but that gave the other soldiers enough time to regroup.

 

It was growing more and more frustrating trying to deal with them without actually hurting them.

 

 ‘Are we allowed to hurt them, yet?’ Sylvie asked impatiently while keeping the lightning net from closing in on us.

 

The mounted soldiers released their spells as well, and their combined power was enough to put cracks in my bond’s mana barrier.

 

I nodded.
Just don’t kill them.

 

Sylvie responded by conjuring dozens of mana arrows outside of her barrier and launching them at the soldiers while I manipulated the clouds below us.

 

With a wave an arm, I withdrew Dawn’s Ballad and sliced through the lightning-charged metal net.
With Bairon distracted by the mana arrows, his artifact didn’t stand a chance, and the two of us were free.

 

As Sylvie toyed with the soldiers by launching a never-ending assault of mana arrows at them, I conjured a little present for Bairon himself.

 

Fashioning a compressed sphere of wind in my hand, I combined it with fire and lightning, creating a swirling blue fireball the size of Sylvie in her dragon form that crackled with trails of electricity.

 

Bairon retracted his net and was already preparing to defend against my attack when an unusual glitter of light in the distance attracted my attention.

 

Everyone stopped what they were doing as we stared at the source of the red and black blaze miles away.
We looked at one another in search of someone who knew what was going on, until a wave of shock and realization leaked onto me from my bond.

 

I turned to Sylvie to see her eyes wide in horror.
She turned to me and spoke aloud for everyone to hear.
“That’s… the Castle.”