chapter5

  The vast silver sand and the galaxy over the night sky added radiance to each other, casting shine over nature. At the very centre, there erected a building of the Eldus named “Hall of History”.

  A young man Anshar crossed the land at air-cutting speed. With no sign of weariness, he actually much enjoyed it. Before long, “Hall of History” was reached from the other side.

 

  Stepping into the building, he put his hand onto a guard’s shoulder and asked excitedly, “where is Saint?”

  “He’s in the central room...oh wait! He and the grandmasters are——”

  Before the guard finished his word, Anshar already ran to the room beyond his reach.  He could not help but simply watch Anshar barge in directly.

  All the Eldus in the room were shocked by his rudeness. However, Anshar was Anshar, for nothing could shake his will for what he decided to do.

  “Saint! I’ve understood a new attack spell. Come test with me!”

  Sitting at the end of a long table, Saint the youth stood up to advise Anshar softly.  “Later Anshar. I’m discussing the matter of withering planets getting more frequent with the other Eldus.”

  “Withering planets?” Anshar frowned to ponder. “Oh you mean some alien species are consuming the life of the planets. But what does it have to do with our Eldus? Just mind our own business. Wouldn’t it be better to spend more time on spell research?” 

  Bang! A lady slammed the table to stand up; her charming gaze met Anshar’s.  “Mind our own business? We Eldus are bound to take on more responsibility because of our superiority in nature. If aliens come to destroy the planets, we should be the first to stop them. That’s how we live up to our pride and honor,” she spoke coldly.

  “Hahaha!” Anshar burst into laughter as if he heard a joke. A moment later, he responded confidently in the center of the Eldus, “Ishtar, just stop making your beautiful excuse. You don’t care about the honor of Eldus but Saint’s.”

  “Wh-what! I, I just——” Ishtar blushed as she looked at Saint and had no idea how to react.

  “Enough.” Finally Saint could not take it and broke the deadlock. “Anshar, it’s fine if you don’t want to get involved in this. But I need to save those planets. Now you may leave.”

  “But I do want to let Saint watch my new spell…Oh!”

  “I got an idea.” Anshar knocked his palm. “I’m with you. Let’s put on a competition of how many aliens we can beat!” 

  “Anshar! We’re not playing around! If you keep on with such attitude——” 

  “I can go right?” Anshar ignored Ishtar to ask a grandmaster who’ve been silent. “Saint, let him join,” answered the Eldus.

  “Understood.” Saint accepted with no objection. Despite Ishtar’s unwillingness, she had no choice but to put up with the grandmaster’s decision.

  Then, Anshar, Saint and Ishtar set off to the alien-invaded planet together.

  Seeing a gigantic, bizarre flower bud from above, Anshar itched to battle.

  “It’s that bud consuming the life of the planet.” Ishtar whispered to Saint.

  “Then destroy it.” Saint gathered mana to prepare for the fight, but Anshar patted his shoulder, “let me do it.” 

  Thinking for a moment, Saint nodded and made way.

  “It’s my good chance to test the new spell!” Unable to contain his excitement, Anshar triggered his new spell to conjure two light shields with mana. Crossing hands, he overlaid the shields, which were giving out gleaming radiance.  Even at a distance, Saint and Ishtar were able to feel the core of the power.

  Aiming at the rooted flower bud on the ground, Anshar chanted sacred rhyme to eliminate the bud in a split second with the light beam.

  “It’s a powerful spell indeed.” Saint praised with a smile as he put his hand on Anshar’s shoulder. “Alright, let’s go down and lobby with the aliens.”

  However, because of the invaders’ arrogance, Saint’s negotiation was a failure, resulting in a war.

  “Hmm, so you’re the one who ruined my lovely bud earlier.” Vulthoom, sitting on the colossal plant, taunted as she blocked Anshar’s way.

  The indomitable Anshar was happy to accept the challenge. “Haha, so you created that weird stuff. But thanks to you, I could test my new spell,” Anshar spoke as he stroked his nose.

  “Oh well cocky boy, how about this?” Vulthoom waved her hand; a few, gigantic flower buds appeared to surround him.

  Anshar focused and created several shields with the spell——Crack. All were broken immediately. Feeling a threat in the air, Anshar let his superior reflexes take control, dodging whips of thorny vines by backward flips.

  Vulthoom kept the pressure on with continuous attacks. Although Anshar already struck wherever he found a chance, she had successfully avoided each of them.

  When the situation came to a deadlock, a painful cry sounded from afar.

  “Did Saint defeat the enemies...I can’t lose the competition!” Seeing Saint’s victory, Anshar was so desperate to win the game like a child. 

  He activated all power to chant a few spells at the same time in order to trap Vulthoom and her flower buds.

  “Die!” With a shout, beams of mana were unleashed to blow the place up; what remained was only the dregs of the flowers.

  “I did it——Ahh!” Looking at a hand piercing through his stomach, Anshar spat blood.

  “Oh boy, luckily I escaped in time. You Eldus are really violent.” Vulthoom whispered in his ear with a smile. “You are too obsessed with honor, but look down on the enemy in front of you. Now you’ll pay for your rudeness!” 

  When Vulthoom gave him a last strike, a shadow dived at high speed; Seeing it as a threat, she leapt to escape in order to save her own life.

  “Anshar!” The last scene he saw was Saint’s anxious look...

  Thanks to him, Anshar was safe and sound. After the treatment of recovery spell, he soon recovered, backed by his excellent physique.

  However, the mental impact was not easy to fix. 

  The humiliation of defeat and the shame seen through by Vulthoom had been tormenting Anshar's soul. Trying to get rid of this stigma, he buried himself in practicing.

  Finally, the time has come.

  Those aliens were coming to the planet of the Eldus for their captured fellow. “Time to pay back,” Anshar wore a rare grin after knowing the news.