The Sword and The Shadow

Mutual Destruction

Leguna smiled and spoke a word that only he could hear. After the word left his mouth, a fully transparent barrier covered Innilis. Since he inherited Njolvinr's power, he came to understand some words in Njolvinr's divine language. Like the true word of power of the sun god, the divine language could resonate with the divine power in a true deity and a person containing divine power would be able to channel the power upon speaking the word.

"Huh?" Innilis curiously tried to touch the barrier, but it receded as she stretched her hand out.

"It will protect you," Leguna explained. He didn't reveal the fact that while the barrier seemed thin and transparent, it had consumed a quarter of his divine power. Apart from his own impetus, he now also had a part of Njolvinr's pure divine power. It wasn't all of it, as most of the primeval god's power still slumbered in him. The only reason he was even able to use part of it was due to his unconscious absorption of the power through the past year.

"Okay!" Innilis felt completely relieved after hearing him say that. She even dusted a spot on the execution platform unhurriedly and sat down, hugging her knees.

After making sure Innilis was fine, Leguna breathed a sigh of relief. His figure blurred and he appeared next to Lisana. He avoided Soulslay's attack without even looking and squatted down to haul Lisana up, under Soulslay's terrified gaze.

"You… you're here…" Lisana, now only with one eye, smiled weakly. "I knew you wouldn't die so easily."

"Don't speak for now." He tapped a few pressure points to stop her bleeding and placed his right hand against the back of her body, aligning it with her heart, and channelled some of Njolvinr's divine power into her. Even though Njolvinr was a god that mastered the shadow aspect, he was surprisingly able to find a trace of pure holy power within it. It was just the right thing to use to heal her.

Lisana seemed much better after the infusion. She blinked her left eye and said, "Looks like you owe me one more favor now."

"I'll never forget your kind deeds," Leguna said. Lisana had saved Eirinn once near Fort Kesta, and she ignored Alissanda's orders to save Innilis today. He knew that had she not delayed the execution for some ten minutes, he would've been too late when he arrived.

"You better remember!"

"I will." He nodded and put her in a comfortable position.

"Wait…" She grabbed him.

"What is it?"

She stayed silent.

He patted her hand to reassure her. Then, he stood up and looked at Alissanda. The two of them finally saw one another once more after ten years at the same place.

"Leguna… Leguna!" He grit his teeth tight in rage, causing blood to flow out of the corner of his lips. He seemed so angry that he couldn't wait to swallow him whole.

"You look as if I was the one who betrayed you," Leguna said nonchalantly, though the look of rage in his eyes burned just as strongly, maybe even stronger than Alissanda's.

"Why aren't you dead? Why won't you die?!" he roared.

"Because…" Leguna's expression turned savage. "Before I kill you… before I avenge Annie… how could I?!"

"Alfreid!"

"I'm here." Alfreid stood beside him in full gear. Apart from wearing an expensive magus's robe, he also held a staff in his hand. The staff was half wood and half bone. It was Hela, the Staff of Reincarnation which Soulslay pilfered from Nidhogg!

"Even though I'm a knight, I will ignore all my principles, honor, chivalry and rules when fighting you. Killing you is the main goal!" The moment he spoke, unit after unit of fully armed warriors appeared behind him. Their armor and weapons glowed magically and they were at least of the 8th stratum! They weren't normal soldiers from the imperial city guard. They were the hand-picked trump cards Alissanda intended to use to eliminate Leguna.

"So, you got 200 mid-order warriors?" Leguna smirked and wriggled his fingers, causing two shadow longswords to appear in his hand. "Then, let these 200 dogs be the appetizer I offer up to Annie."

"Warrior of the empire, charge!" Alissanda raised Lunaminous against Leguna.

The 200 warriors were even more domineering than tens of thousands of soldiers, but Leguna seemed as calm as an undisturbed pool of water. He lowered his center of gravity and slowly accelerated towards them.

The moment he clashed with them, cries of agony rang through their ranks. The 200 warriors charged so neatly together that nobody could have slipped between them, yet Leguna moved as he pleased amidst them, his two swords spelling out the true meaning of devastation to those who did not know it before. To the warriors, Leguna was a blurry shadow that caused heads to fly wherever it went. A few of them tried to raise their weapons up high to block, but the weapons snapped in the same instant their necks did when Leguna passed.

He fought them for five short minutes and more than half of the warriors fell. Each one of them was a mid-order warrior with the potential to wipe out a whole town of commoners! Yet, they were being harvested like helpless stalks of wheat. Even Alissanda and the cold Alfreid winced from their losses.

Since the utter extermination of Goldeagle at Fort Kesta, the empire had been planning to reform it in the past decade. The 200 warriors were candidates for the new Goldeagle, yet nobody would've expected Leguna to kill off half of the men they had spent a long decade to cultivate.

"Enough!" Alissanda and Alfreid ordered in unison. They had wanted to use them to drain some of Leguna's stamina away, but his power was too shocking. They weren't able to tire him out at all and were instead dying in vain.

"Stand down!" Alissanda charged into the fray with Lunaminous held down at his waist. He surged his impetus for a horizontal cut.

Alissanda's Lunaminous clashed with Leguna's shadow swords and let out an ear-piercing whirr. He was blown back by the sheer force and Leguna was also staggered from the blow. That instant, Soulslay manifested behind Leguna and shot his dagger out like a venomous snake.

Seemingly knowing that Soulslay was going to strike, Leguna avoided the attack with a move that defied all understanding of gravity and possible human postures. However, that was within Soulslay's calculations. He dropped his dagger mid-attack and leapt at Leguna from the back, grabbing him tightly.

"Lord Premier!" Soulslay cried. He was trying to take Leguna down with him!

Wham! the sword of light Alfreid had been charging up the whole time landed squarely against Leguna!

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