Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

A brief smile covered Alaric's face as he faced the battered demon.

"Seems you had a weakness all along," the boy acknowledged before shooting forward, heading straight for the kill.

There was a stream of unintelligible sounds spilling from the creature's mangled maw in those last moments before a white line appeared across its body and it fell to the ground, silent and dissolving in a white, thick mist.

A high-pitched ringing echoed in the boy's head. He was breathing hard and had lost most of his perception at the cost of entering an extreme state of battle clarity.

Now that his opponent was down, though, it was time to return to normal. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, 'One sense at a time.'

First came the roar of blood in his ears, then the searing sweat slicking his skin. Last, he dared to open his eyes.

When he tried to take a step, however, his body wouldn't move. His grip on his blade remained absolute and unyielding…

'Cooling down has never been this difficult,' he thought to himself. The very fact that he could feel each change in his body sent shivers down his spine.

His aether reserves quivered and his senses shuddered… He could feel his hands straining, yet there was no reason to.

'My body's reacting to something…'

And yet, his gut remained silent, and yet he could tell something wasn't right.

His heartbeat started to relax, but with each notch it came down, he became keenly aware of the world of pain his body was going to experience. It was a kind of pain he'd never experienced. His mind could only prepare.

The black vambrace on his arm vanished, finally relieving him of the burden of containing his guardian's power — but at the cost of leaving him weaker.

The boy swayed, then collapsed on the ground, holding himself up while gritting his teeth, 'What… is… this?'

Alaric's whole body was screaming now… especially his aether channels. Thunder boomed in the distance and the woods shuddered in response to his current turmoil. The aether in the air seemed to swirl around him…

[ You're breaking through to another level, ] Alia spoke calmly, [ You need aether. ]

[ I have aether… ]

[ Your aether isn't enough during an event like this. You're growing stronger, so you need more aether to fill the gaps that will open in your reserves. ]

LionHeart was at the boy's side a moment later, all healed up, "Alaric… what's wrong?"

His voice was distant but Alaric could hear it through the storm of pain his body was currently undergoing.

The boy's voice came out hoarse, "Aether… I need aether."

"Aether? You're not…" the man's eyes went wide with shock and recognition, "That quack Alchemist wasn't lying after all! SARIAH!"

"On it," the woman replied, "Maple, help me make a tub from ice."

"What's going on?" Bumi called out.

"He needs aether. He's breaking through to his Temper Rank," Sariah replied as she searched her ring. In a fit of frustration, she summoned everything inside it so she could search faster.

The large man put a hand on Maple's, "Let me make one from earth. Ice is too cold."

The woman nodded and stepped back.

Bumi held a hand over the earth and called on his Inborn Ability, only for a voice to cut them all off, "Bring the boy here."

Everyone turned to see the Naiad towering over them. The towering water spirit looked serious and left no room for discussion. Everyone was frozen by the Water Spirit's words before LionHeart asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to help him."

"What do you want in return?" the man asked.

The creature smirked, "Oh, you wouldn't understand even if I told you. The boy would understand."

"Try me…" the man growled, holding Alaric close to him.

The Naiad sighed heavily, "To have the Protector indebted to you is to have the very world indebted to you. I will discuss that with him after saving his life."

Alaric wasn't exactly unconscious while all of this happened but he was in too much pain to offer his opinion. His shadow bubbled and a white copy of him emerged.

The copy looked exactly like Alaric except for its colour. It looked at the boy for a second before saying, "He's fine with that."

"You don't speak for…"

"Hurry, Leon. We don't have much time," the clone said, cutting LionHeart off. You wouldn't want your charge dying on you now, would you?"

With that, the clone vanished, having delivered a decision from Alaric's subconscious. Gritting his teeth, LionHeart gave in and brought Alaric to the Naiad, placed him on the shore and stepped back.

As the naiad bent down over the boy's form, it took everything in the man to keep from attacking the Water Spirit.

The Naiad ignored this and stared at the boy for a bit. For a moment, she even looked awestruck, "No doubt about it… He's the one! It's no surprise the Tainted Ones want him dead."

After that, she slammed her hand into his body and immersed him in more glowing water than any tub could contain.

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Scarlett was at the shore in an instant, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"My my! You could raise your voice this whole time?" the naiad floated away from the girl with a shudder.

"Cut the crap!" the girl launched herself at the Naiad. Water shot from the Shimmering Creek and struck the girl right in the gut, sending her back several metres. Scarlett landed on the balls of her feet in a skid, blades now in her hands.

"I'm just giving the boy aether… That's what Body Tempering calls for, isn't it?" the Naiad yelled at the girl before she could start her next attack.

Sariah shouted amidst the pile of items she was searching through, "Not just aether. There is more!"

She pitched a glass bottle from the mess and sent everything else back into the ring, leaving her with a few dainty vials. "You need to add these to the water."

Scarlett got ready to attack again, "She's drowning him!"

LionHeart quickly stood between the girl and the Naiad and waved his hands at her, "No, she's not. Haven't you ever seen a Tempering Ritual?"

Scarlett furrowed her eyebrows at the man as Sariah handed the vials to the Naiad. No one else seemed to be panicking, which only worked to confuse Scarlett more. Who didn't know a Tempering Ritual?

While Alaric's body floated in the Naiad's glowing palm, the watery spirit squashed the bottles in its other hand and poured the contents into the glowing water.

"A Tempering Ritual is done inside a Chamber with dense aether… Not in water!" Scarlett growled at the man.

"It can also be done in water, Scarlett," Sariah tried to calm the girl down.

"How?" the girl yelled, "He'll drown."

It took some time to explain the details to the girl. Among the portions Sariah had given the Naiad was Silver Deer Essence, a special ingredient that nullified the need to breathe to survive. There were alternatives, but it was the easiest to find in this region of Valeria.

Still, Scarlett was near inconsolable.

The Naiad had to bring her hand down so the girl could see Alaric better. The portions they'd poured into the water were swirling around him… but he didn't look like he was dying. If anything, now he looked peaceful.

The painful expression on his face was gone, replaced by an innocent one. The heavens were no longer thundering either.

Then, the water began to glow brighter and bubble. The Naiad's face contorted…

"Human, summon that tub!"

Bumi looked once, then feverishly got to work. Cracks rippled across the ground and the earth convulsed under his panicked control. Random pillars rose only to be squashed by his indecision.

"Hurry…" the Naiad cried out.

Bumi gritted his teeth and focused his mind.

The Naiad's hand was boiling feverishly by the time Bumi was done summoning a large earth tub. Water flowed from the Shimmering Creek and into the Water Spirit's hand, feeding the boiling mess that threatened to destroy her hand.

A muffled scream that sounded more like a drowning maiden escaped the Water Spirit as she fought the pain of having her hand mutilated.

"I'M DONE!" Bumi yelled and got out of the way as the naiad dumped Alaric's body in, as well as every bit of boiling water she didn't want near her. The tub filled rapidly and spilt over, steam billowing out of it as the water continued to boil violently.

A quiet scream kept everyone silent as more and more water flowed from up the Naiad's body, dousing the creature's hand in a stream directed back into the river.

This continued for another minute before the Naiad stopped to inspect her hand. To her disappointment, a stub stared back at her where her hand had been.

Whatever had burnt was powerful enough to damage the spiritual structure that defined her watery form.

After a few moments, the naiad threw the stub of her hand up in frustration. "I helped that brat, and this is what I get?" she bellowed.

The lesser naiads in the water swam around her, spouting various phrases in the Old Tongue. She turned to them and yelled, "Don't tell me to calm down. Great Protector, my foot! Can't you see what his magic did to my hand?"

The smaller naiads inched away from her, taking this as their cue to dive into the water until their mistress had calmed down.

Scarlett stood by the rim of the large earth tub and watched the water boil. Alaric was floating in the middle of it with aether spilling out of the water and into the air in billowing waves.

Lucy approached the angry naiad against Byron's quiet protests and asked the Water Spirit gently, "Can I take a look?"

The Naiad spared the girl a glance, narrowing her eyebrows before sinking down to her level. She extended her hand to the girl and watched her work her magic.

Lucy's magic had been working overtime for some time now. And while she hadn't complained yet, the Naiad could see the sweat and paleness of her skin.

But that was not all. Something about that determined look on her face as she cast the Healing Spell spoke to the naiad.

"How can one so blessed bear a face so troubled?" the Naiad asked the girl.

Lucy looked up, "Says the Naiad, missing a hand."

"Hey… It was you who offered to heal me. Had it not been for you, I would wear this scar like a badge of honour… for helping someone like him, of course," the naiad replied with a smug expression.

It was only then that the Naiad picked up the underlying message in Lucy's words, "Forgive me for prying."

A set of heavy footsteps alerted them to someone else's presence. Byron walked up to the girl with an angry expression. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Healing."

"Like hell you are," Byron bellowed, "This wasn't part of your agreement with that boy."

"It's up to me to decide how I handle my agreement with Alistair. I think he would have wanted me to do this… and so I will," the girl replied, "Is there a problem, Byron?"

The man folded his fists, ground his teeth, then started pacing in thought, "This mission has been one nightmare after the other."

"We've only had one nightmare," Lucy pitched in with a chuckle, "…and Alistair got us through it."

The argument continued for a while… but during that time, Scarlett sat by the earthen rink and stared at the face of the boy she was waiting for to wake up.

She took in his features. An exceedingly handsome face, smooth skin, and an expression built to practically melt the insides of any and all that gazed upon it. It was a face far more handsome than the one she was used to.

What bothered her, however, was the fact that she didn't recognise this face. It was the face of a stranger. She'd come to know Alistair… and yet, he was a lie.

When Alaric revealed his identity, Scarlett felt a deep sense of rage. She was a former assassin. It hurt that she hadn't seen past his act. What if he was working for the mercenaries she ran away from?

In that moment, staring at the stranger's face, Scarlett knew: the boy she trusted never existed. And yet... here she was, unable to tear her eyes away.

Being friends with a liar just didn't sit right with her. But then, she remembered the expression of pain on his face as his aether channels burned.

Despite having no attachment to this face, she'd rushed to try and help. In the end, she was of no help… much like it had been through this whole journey.

Now, he'd received help. Now, Alistair was stable and on his way to recovery. She had no hate left for him.

'What do I do with him now?' she mentally cried.

[ Smack him a hundred times for lying to you. ] her guardian offered input.

[ That would definitely make me feel better. ] the girl chuckled.

In her state of confusion though, she understood one thing. Alistair was not at fault for hiding who he was. With everything after him, it was only logical for him to use a Face Mask.

If anything, she was the one acting weird… and yet, she didn't want to admit that. 'He's a doofus… so he won't catch on.'

[ Ouch! That's diabolical… even for me. ] her guardian added with a chuckle.

The girl sighed, only to be interrupted by a voice to her right, "Boyfriend of yours?"

Maple was standing beside her, wearing one hell of a coy smile. It sent shivers down Scarlett's back.

"NO," she recoiled.

Maple raised her hands in defence, backing away just a bit, "Okay… Okay… Still, it wouldn't hurt to try. He's quite the looker."

"I'm not having this conversation with you," the girl squealed.

"Okay, okay… Relax," Maple laughed.

Scarlett wasn't having this conversation… Not with Maple. Not with anyone. Her guardian hovered at the back of her mind, trying her best to mind her own business… and failing miserably.

"Huh… That's odd," Maple's voice caught the girl's attention.

"What is?"

"Is it just me or is this boy now at Wood Rank Level Four?" Maple asked, squinting her eyes.

Scarlett chuckled.

That had to be a joke. Still, curiosity piqued in everyone present, and they found themselves surrounding the stone tub.

Spirit Sight was activated all around, followed by a myriad of speechless reactions. Lucy, who was still taking care of the Naiad's hand, giggled at their reactions, "I take it he's skipped a whole level."