Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

"I will keep my bargain, but before that, you guys need to pay some debt."

Scythe did not utter a word, nor did he move. After all, he was in the sword point and too exhaust to move a muscle.

Wrik stooped down, still holding the masked fellow's neck in the sword point. He came closer face to face and eye to eye with Scythe, and said in a voice that had no other emotion but coldness and anger. "Listen here, if you or your men came after us. Me, my brother or any of my friends, I won't be as lenient as today. You may have the backing of some big shot, but it won't matter. Like it did not today. Do you understand?"

No voice or gesture came from the guy. 

"Do you understand?" Wrik said coldly, the blade of the sword reaching a little lower.

Scythe gave a small nod. 

"I did not hear you."

The eyes hidden behind the mask looked at him. There was no quiver, nor was fear in those eyes, staring at the beaming silver eyes of his. The masked figure said, "Yes, I understand."

The voice was faint and dull. It was not filtered out, as Anton had damaged the mask to some portion, but it still lacked most of the emotion.

"As long as you understand," Wrik said. "Now for the debt." 

Wrik removed his sword from the neck and caught the right arm of the scythe. Without uttering a word, he cut off four fingers, leaving only the thump behind it. He had not removed the armguards while cutting them off. Blood came out in smearing and proved the masked fellow was a human. But no cry of agony of pain came from the masked guy. He only flinched while still looking at the flickering eyes of Wrik.

"This is for my brother," Wrik said and left the four fingers to the guy. Scythe had ordered to cutoff the middle finger of Anton and now today, he got a somewhat revenge, cutting off four of them. He could have let Anton do it, but that fellow was on the ground with no strength with the injury.

"I left our flag with that crazy guy. Congratulations on winning the Little War."

Leaving the congratulatory words behind, Wrik left the fellow in black clad clothing and went near his friends. Dairyl, Lora, Byul and Kevin, who had been hiding, came back after the battle had ended and joined with the others on the ground. Most of them were a little surprised at him for giving up the trial in such a way, but Anton was not so. But he was quite stunned when Wrik cut off Scythe's fingers.

"I did not know you would give up like that after all the hard work we all put through," Tanya said, though her lips were curled up a little. 

"I knew none of you will blame me," Wrik also smiled at all of them.

"So what made you give up on the test?" Dairyl asked, with a somewhat curious expression. Every one else held the curiosity with her as well, though they could guess a little.

Wrik sat down with them and looked at the fully risen artificial sun on the horizon. Fake or real, the canvas it painted looked devastatingly beautiful. The chilly wind now complacent their exhaust body for the first time in the test.

"The tower is way more complicated than I assumed," he said. "Winning might have been great, but I would have made many enemies in the way and we will all suffer for that. And more—"

Just a few minutes ago, they were on the way to some horrifying prison with the crime they had never committed. What happens if they won the war? What would that hypocrite Judge would do? He could not expect every time someone like the Winter Queen to save him. And there were more reasons that.

Wrik found everyone was looking at him about what he had to say. "And more, I learned a lesson. I was fixating on other things than what's important. Well, for another matter I should apologise to everyone here, I was a little bossy during these few days."

"A little?" Tanya said, raising her eyebrows. While the others joined in, arching their brows at him.

"Well, maybe more than I realised," he said, shying away from the stares. "I'm really sorry for that. I know you guys have put forth more than your best for my sake, even though we were not friends for long. I made all of you suffer just to win a farce."

"It's alright," Tanya said, smiling at him, like the smile he had seen her on the very first day he had met her. Carefree and radiant. "I think leading suits you best."

"Yeah," Michelle and Jacob joined in together, and so did the others together. 

Wrik felt truly thankful to all of them. He made the right choice in choosing them over the test. Friends who went through boundless struggles with you were far more important than the minute's glory. He would rather sit in a bonfire and enjoy a meal with them to win a farce that would get him into more trouble. 

Davin and Fraser were unconscious. Tanya had helped them with the pain and freezing the wound, but they will need proper treatment soon. All the healing talismans could not do what needed, as most of the residual energy was still left in their body. 

On the far end where Wrik battled Ben, a figure stood up with a flag stuck to his chest. Wrik said he had left their flag to Ben and when his companions saw how he left it, they could not help but approve it. 

Ben looked at them once and removed the flag from his chest abnormally. Then moved towards his boss, who was still on the ground. A heavy wound was on his stomach, which was already recovering while not so good at the fingers which were cut off entirely. Ben collected them and found Scythe was staring at him. 

"I'm sorry," he said. 

"Is that what you wanted?" Scythe opened his mouth in a faint tone. It was not horrifying, at the least, though still monotonic and emotionless. 

"I'm sorry," Ben said again. 

"I forgive you, stupid brother of mine," Scythe said. 

Ben's pupil turned big, and shone, hearing out that Scythe called him brother.

"If only you would talk to me before doing something on your own," the masked fellow said in a faint tone again. "I'm at fault too. I have closed myself off from everyone. Even you, my only family." 

"No, no, it's all my fault," Ben gently grabbed Scythe's arm. His voice was shaking as if crying, though there were no tears in his eyes. 

"We can talk about who is at fault later. Let's move from here first," Scythe said. "For some reason, I'm feeling cold."

Ben nodded heavily and pulled his sibling up, shouldering, knowing Scythe was in no position to move alone. With all the strength they were given, there were few drawbacks to them, too. Like Scythe has to rest for a couple of days, if not more, to get back to his health.

Giving a last look to the group who beat them here, the two of them move away from there at a steady pace. 

"What the hell!" complained Anton. "Why do I feel empathy for the two of them after all they did to us?!" 

Gust of wind hit Wrik on the face, swaying his long hair. He looked at the leaving figures and felt a little something inside. Something of pity, something of fear. Pity because he remembered Evan's words. To gain the inherited power of inquisitors, the candidate has to endure countless torture and it could break them. Even though the two fellows were standing and moving, they were broken inside. 

And fear because of the strength these two showed. They literally have to employ everything in their arsenal to beat Scythe and he recalled the unwavering gaze when he cut off the fingers. They did not feel pain, did they?

Wrik sighed inwardly and chose to not think about them now. Davin and Fraser were in poor health. While Anton was in similar shape, even though he kept his consciousness. They were just waiting for the trial to end before bringing them to the medical care. Fortunately, they did not have to wait for long. 

[The Little war has ended. The final evaluation will be announced in two hours.] 

[All the participants will be teleported back to their designated sanctuary soon.] 

Beams of light came out of nowhere and surrounded them, and they vanished from the grassland.

About twenty miles away from the grassland, Lily stood with blood all over her body. The black spear stood with her in the glory. The others maidens were behind her with about fifty men who were left after the battle ended.

Even with the odds against her, she had won the war. 

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Next Chapters: Reward.