Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Anton and others sighed in relief reaching the foot of the mountain. It was already midnight when they finally reached safety.

They moved silently to the entrance to notice someone was waiting for them. Wrik was among them while the rest were just guards. A couple of them held limelight lamps while the others with spears. Two maidens of the Mah'shai clan were among them.

"Did you guys get into some trouble?" Wrik asked, counting the people that were coming in. He was worried because it took Anton and others two hours more than usual to come back and, seeing the additional person with them, he guessed the reason. 

"Good to see you, Evan," He said and then noticed Evan's bloodied clothing and injuries. While his body was in such condition, the man gave a slight smile to Wrik. "It appeared you guys really got into some trouble. Let's go inside first."

Wrik led the four of them inside, and in the way, they told the tale. Fortunately, Evan was the only one who was injured like that. The other three were fine, just tired. The reason they were so late was that they were more cautious in their way and took more turns than the straight path. But that was not unfounded, as the one after them was none other than Scythe. 

Apparently, Even went to find them in their old fortress that they had abandoned in the morning. Clearly, the former inquisitor acolyte could not find them, instead, he found the masked guy. Evan had a hard battle with Scythe and in the end, he chose to flee, as he could feel there was no way for him to win.

But the battle was not for nothing. In between the battle, Evan got some information from Scythe about the conflict between Wrik and Arjamith and there was some battle happening. Though Even did not find out where the clash was going on, he found the burning fortress. He realised that Wrik's party had won and burned the fortress, so he went there searching and found the trio of Michelle, Jacob, and Anton instead.

Wrik's party was clearly in a better position than Evan had thought. Finding the empty fortress, he had already assumed they were in a dire situation, but now it seemed they were in a position to be more than a threat to Scythe. 

"Evan, what do you think of Scythe?" Wrik asked Evan. "You had a one-on-one encounter with the guy today. Clearly, you could tell me something about him."

"Monster" was the only word Evan uttered. 

"I am sorry?" Wrik arched his eyebrows, looking at the pale face of Evan.

"Monster," Evan repeated. "Scythe is a monster. His power is not something any of us could deal with."

Wrik softened his eyebrows, and he did not have to ask to elaborate. Evan did it anyway. 

"That guy had an abundance of mana, a body as hard as reinforced steel and skills, like a proper inquisitor. I had a suspicion before, but now I am sure. . ."

They reached the room they were staying and found a few of them were inside it. Tanya was sitting with a worried face. Her countenance turned a little better seeing they had come back, but she was still worried about Byul. Lora and a few of the other Maiden were present, and on the corner were Davin and Fraser—similarly silent. 

Wrik and others helped Evan and others to tend to the injuries, and Lora brought in herbal tea for everyone. The little lass who was so enthusiastic about everything was silent after the two battles she had seen between her clan. No, she was not depressed, but clearly, the battle took a toll on her mind. In the end, she was barely fifteen. 

Lily and Dairyl came after that, but they refrain themselves from speaking. Waiting for someone to do it.

"I know you guys had got through a hard battle, but why are so many long faces here?" Anton asked, finding the situation a little unsettled. "At least the win demands a little celebration, isn't that it?"

Wrik shook his head. "We will celebrate after we win against Scythe." 

"Oh, right, that guy," Anton said, nodding. He sat freely on the stone seat and continued. "I'm still bad at leaving Kevin. We should deal with this guy soon." 

"Not just Kevin, He got Byul too," Davin added, biting his lips. "Theiron had betrayed us."

Anton turned silent and looked at Wrik with an expression that asked for what Wrik intended to do.

"The test had gone on long enough," Wrik said quietly in the stone room. "It is time we end it."

"Are you thinking about a head-on clash?" Evan asked.

Wrik shook his head. "There was no way of us winning in a head-on clash, but I don't think we could avoid that as well," he said. "Fortunately, we are not powerless, either. Lily, how many men did we get after defeating Arjamith?"

"About a couple hundred," Lily answered. "But most of them are not motivated to fight even though we freed ourselves from the enslavement."

"That's not good," Wrik added, frowning. "Does anyone have anything that could motivate those men?"

"I think your speech could work," Davin added.

Wrik shook his head. His motivating speech might work on a few of them, maybe half of them, but the other half could destroy the mindset of the rest doing nothing. Arjamith and the other Borgemen had not treated them any better than actual slaves, and they have encountered whatnot. A month like this one was enough to break a man.

"I have nothing to entice them." Wrik then focused on Evan again. "Evan, you are saying something about Scythe." 

"Yes," the former Inquisitor Acolyte said. "The way Scythe fought with me had the vibe of him being trained in the way of inquisitors. And all the power he had was not cultivated by his own. I am sure he was not someone like us."

"What does that mean?" Anton asked, arching an eyebrow. 

Evan sighed a heavy breath. "Do you guys know anything about inquisitors? How were they selected? And what type of test and training do they have to go through?"

Wrik, Anton and most of them shook their heads while Lily opened her lips hesitantly. 

"There are few legends about them in our clan and most of them were the element of fear. They held great power in mahasaying and body as harder than steel. I don't know if these are all true after all these legends are thousand of years old."

"Some of it is true," Evan added. "But there was a price for the power they gain as well. After an Acolyte was selected and given the post of an Inquisitor, and even after that, they were put under surveillance for years. And from the council select, the most elite and loyal subject and they were given the power. But there are complications too. Half of the subject could not even endure the pure even after the years of training." 

"You mean through some experiment or something?" Anton asked, still frowning. He recalled in his battle with Ben, the crazy guy could extend his bone outside his arm and those things were harder than reinforced steel. He thought about it before, but he was not sure about it. 

"Yes. Bioengineering, and other mystical inheritance," Evan said with a dark expression. "When I said scythe did not gain the power all by himself, I meant that. But that does not mean he had not worked hard for the power. This power was not something free. I have. .. heard it is torturous and could break people."

The room turned silent again. Wrik had seen Ben and now he could guess how he turned out like that. He did feel a little pity for the guy, but he hardened his heart immediately. The level of power and intelligence this guy showed was not meant for pity. He wondered if Scythe was better or worse compared to Ben. 

"Wait a minute, he is supposed to be an inquisitor. Why is he climbing the tower then?" Davin could not help but ask. According to his knowledge, Inquisitors were not supposed to climb the tower. Well, there were a few exceptions who were selected from the climbers, but that was rare. Here Scythe already had succeeded in the test and was given the power. But why he was still here?

"Let me guess, Power struggle?" Wrik said. What else could it be? There was no way Scythe was in his own—others were supporting him from above to pull everything. Or else how could he dominate the test in such a way. 

"Seems so," Evan added, grunting a little. "I don't know the exact answer, but there was some power struggle in the council. There have been three or four fractions between the High Seats, and most of them have their own agenda. In such a situation, I'm not surprised they wanted to make a new member as one seat was empty for over a decade."

"So this guy we are against was supposed to be the pillar of the Tower," Davin bit his tongue, saying that. The thought was frightening enough, much less the actual battle. 

"I don't think it's that easy," Wrik said. "Scythe may very well be a candidate for the position of high-seat, but he was far from succeeding it." Who knows, there might be tens of such candidates in the past."

_______________________

Vote if you appreciate the work!