Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

The next morning, Finn was up early, more than willing to be done with this city. The sun was still a fair hour away, but the situation was too dire for him to enjoy the rest of his sleep. His mind wouldn't rest, and for good reason, too.

Unlike everyone else, he was a rare breed of Slayer—one without an active guardian.

Finn had heard of people with stubborn guardians who just didn't listen to their master's orders, like LionHeart, who ended up getting expelled after his guardian maimed a couple of bullies.

More stories like this made their rounds among the students of the Academy. Silently, Finn wished he had a guardian like that. He felt it was much better than the kind he had. LionHeart's Aslan seemed fine now, after all. So, it was possible to resolve whatever was going on, which wasn't the same for him.

As far as Finn was aware, his guardian was inactive because of something it referred to as a Job Clash and that only a 'Great One' was capable of resolving this. It didn't make sense, but Finn wasn't about to give up on finding this 'Great One.'

For now, though, he had to be careful. He had to survive. He reached for his Storage Bracelet and started going through the items inside. Apart from the basic items the Tower of Seekers had given them, he'd added a few of his own.

Alchemists had all sorts of pills and elixirs they made for all sorts of purposes. He'd purchased some of those and was still debating when to use them. Alchemical products were so expensive that using them often felt like throwing money away. Today, however, Finn was sure he'd need this stuff.

On top of the pills and elixirs he'd purchased, he had added a few rune stones, which were sometimes confused for pills.

Rune stones were small, refined aether crystals polished down into small orbs and, unlike pills, were embedded with magical runes that performed a spell when activated. They were cheaper than pills and elixirs, but could only activate a spell for a short time, unlike pills and elixirs, which sometimes had permanent effects.

There was a knock on the door, prompting Finn to store everything in the bracelet except for one rune stone. The familiar stone was black, pulsing with aether of the Constellation of Space, Novak. Rune stones were generally cheaper than pills and elixirs, and yet, even then, this specific type of Rune stone remained expensive. It stood out above the rest, uniquely for its complexity in design.

'Only for absolute emergencies,' he muttered to himself, then walked to the door and opened it.

On the other side, Brett stood in light steel armour and a sword sheathed safely at his side. The dark-skinned boy no longer looked like the rabid thief they met at the Tower. Brett was ready for battle, even though they were getting ready for an evacuation.

"You ready?" the boy asked Finn.

Finn shook his head. He had never bought himself armour as fancy or bright as Brett's. Anything even remotely heavy was dangerous for someone like him, who was only a Lower Glass Rank. This was further escalated by his favourite fighting style, the Dance of the Serpent, made for maximum agility. It limited his options of armour, which was why the boy was adorned in leather armour enhanced by a few enchantments.

Brett's steel apparel was far too heavy for Finn at Glass Rank Level Three. At Level Seven of the Glass Rank, Brett was strong enough to wear heavier armour without it slowing him down.

"Just one more thing," Finn said, holding up a rune stone that had Brett's eyes popping out of their sockets.

"Hell nah!"

"Nothing bad will happen," Finn yelled back, "I've used these many times before."

"So have I," Brett bit back, "And I've never seen crap like we saw yesterday. I'm not trying some Teleportation stone in this creepy city."

It took a lot more to convince Brett to take the stone and keep it for emergencies. They needed an exit strategy, and this was their best one. After convincing the dark-skinned boy to take it, the pair made their way to the City gates.

The sun was still down, and the cold air bit at Finn's exposed arms, chilling him more than he would have liked. This close to the Barren Mountains, the morning air bit with a vengeance.

At the gates, they found a group of people gathered, most of them wrapped in scarves, thick sweaters and occasionally, wool blankets. Commoners, merchants, adventurers and many other kinds of people had gathered, men, women and children all huddling into little groups as carriages were being prepared outside.

The guard from earlier saw the pair and beamed, approaching them with a grateful expression, "You made it! Good. Investigator, you're in the first carriage with me. Sidekick's in the last. The Adventurers offered their help as well, so hopefully all goes well. Let me know your names. I'd hate to keep calling you Investigator and Sidekick."

The process was a feverish one. The first carriage filled chaotically with everyone fighting to be the first one out of Melbourne.

"Get out of my way, scrub!" a man yelled, pushing a boy out of the carriage that was already full. He reached forward and grabbed the scarf of an old woman, "Get out, woman!"

Before he could pull on her scarf, though, a dark-skinned hand was on his, squeezing it so tightly that he winced and let go of the scarf immediately. "What is the meaning of this? Do you know who I am?"

Brett didn't bat an eyelash, "For one with such rotten behaviour, nothing. You will ride in the last carriage. Say another word, and you'll be kicked to the second evacuation."

The man glared at the boy, then turned on his heel, heading for the second carriage. At that point, a guard stood between him and the carriage, "Are you deaf, merchant? Last carriage."

Brett let the rest unfold without him and crouched beside the boy who had been thrown to the ground — all knees and elbows, his scarf askew, wide eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Are you okay?"

The boy shook his head, curls bouncing, voice thin and cracking, "My mother… She's on the first carriage."

"Then ride in the second carriage and don't lose sight of the first. You'll be reunited at the Tower of Seekers," Brett said, helping him to his feet. He dusted off the boy's coat, then gently smoothed a leaf from his tangled hair — a small gesture that felt far too tender for the chaos around them.

Similar occurrences punctuated the whole boarding process before the first carriage took to the road. Brett felt the holy barrier go through them as the carriages sped away and yet, he couldn't ignore the twisting feeling in his stomach as the carriages rode on. The road was silent, and the entrance into the Barren Mountains appeared shortly after leaving the Holy Barrier.

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They would be free soon. The Tower wasn't far and sat inside a domain powerful enough to protect the people of Melbourne, at least until the issues in their home were settled.

BOOM went a sound high above them and that sinking feeling returned, magnified, 'Crap.'

High in the sky, Brett watched, horror written in his eyes, as a purplish explosion shook the clouds, then began to rain down like water rolling down a glass dome, constructing an abhorrent barrier above the city.

The blue surface of the Holy Barrier was covered in a web of cracks before it shattered completely, destroyed. The purplish dome, however, was much, much larger, starting far higher than the Holy Barrier had and spreading much further.

Brett could project its circumference at a glance, and it made the knots in his stomach twist even tighter.

"IT'S A CONTAINMENT SPELL. FULL SPEED AHEAD!" one of the guards in the first carriage shouted, "They are trying to trap us inside!"

The horses screamed as they were spurred to move faster. Their hooves hammered against the dirt road, pulling the carriages chaotically forward against the rushing surge of dark magic.

The veil of darkness quickly spread, shooting much further than the Holy Barrier and ahead of the carriage. The carriages powered forward, only to skid to a halt seconds later as the dark veil touched the ground with a resonating hum. Even with the added speed, the carriages had not come close to escaping the dome.

"He's covered the entire Purified Zone," the coachman of the first carriage said quietly.

Brett had heard of the concept of protection against demons from the Academy, and as his mind struggled to catch up to the implications of this Dark spell, Finn's frame came into view. "Turn back. Return to Melbourne. The Dark Magic has erased all traces of Holy Magic in the area. Without it…"

Finn didn't have to finish his sentences as a heavy growl punctuated the silence he'd commanded. Brett finished his sentence with a heavy breath, "Demons are coming."

"Yes, they are. All carriages should race back to the City and close the gates immediately," Finn explained. The guard didn't have to be told twice. He started yelling orders, and the carriages began to struggle to change direction.

Growls filled the air, and people started to panic. Brett joined Finn at the side of this whole mess, where the boy watched over the commotion silently. Once again, the dark-skinned boy found himself wanting to know what was happening inside the boy's head. What were those calculating orbs seeing that he wasn't?

"Aren't you going to help?" Brett asked.

"I am helping," Finn responded nonchalantly. His eyes were darting about, never making eye contact with Brett while they spoke.

Brett watched the commotion, too. He saw a woman jump out of a carriage and brave a mad dash for the city, only for one of the city guards to stop her and yell at her to join the others.

Unfortunately, the people weren't having it. One woman easily became three, and soon the crowd of running men, women and children had grown larger, disorderly and fueled by fear. The fear-stricken people punched, kicked and stomped on each other just to get ahead and be the ones to survive.

The woods surged with dark mist. From the rolling mist, creatures emerged, abominations of all shapes and sizes. They growled, hissed and gurgled with dark, sinister auras.

The screaming of the civilians seemed to make them even more eager to attack. "Adventurers!!!" a large man dressed in full armour yelled out so loud that the demons took a step back to reassess the situation, "RALLY BESIDE ME!"

The man slammed his large sword against his equally gargantuan shield and faced the demons with a look of pure determination. A particularly tall creature in the shape of a large mammoth towered over everyone with a curious glint its senseless eyes.

Large tusks twisted down its swishing trunk before it charged forward. The adventurers answered the man's call, rallying right beside him, weapons and magic drawn, to face the charging mass of demons and keep it away from the panicking civilians.

The man's shield radiated as he met the mammoth's charge head-on. A powerful explosion shook the ground, and the surge of demons was thrown back by a large force field emanating from the man's shield. Guildmaster Schiller gritted his teeth, bunched his muscles and single-handedly through the wave of demons back with his shield, stopping their advance.

The forcefield disappeared, and the adventurers jumped into the wave of disoriented demons, hacking away at the scourge.

Brett dashed forward as well, aiming for the end of the line of adventurers. He'd had enough of Finn's quiet contemplating. He was going to help the others fight off the demons, like he always did. He was still curious, but no curiosity was worth someone's life, so he shot forward with a simple, 'They need us.'

Finn replied with 'I'm right behind you,' and stayed standing in one place, watching it all happen.

Finn wasn't as strong as Brett in terms of temper rank. The difference of four levels accounted for so many things. Speed, vitality, endurance, strength, aether and much more. Finn was lacking in more ways than one.

Still, he wasn't useless. He wasn't quick at battle analysis like Alaric, but he'd learnt from him. While he stood, he allowed his mind to observe the whole battlefield, his eyes darting from one place to the other, taking in the finest of details before moving on.

He saw the kid dragged at the hand by his mother, the merchant tripping over the old woman, the boy with a bloodied nose after tripping and colliding nose-first a running man's knee, the girl trying to help her grandmother up in all this mess, the guard rushing in to make sure his family was okay, the cowardly adventurers blending in with the running civilians despite being peak Glass Rank.

He saw it all and much more. He saw the demons surging forward in an attempt to breach the wall of killing adventurers with little to no success. He saw the woman fighting with a pair of flying maces, the man cleaving demons left, right and center with a giant meat cleaver, the woman dressed in tight clothing, burning, freezing and encasing demons in plants, her magic spells rolling off her tongue faster than the demons could regroup.

Finn considered himself back up… the ultimate supporter. He was going to limit their losses and ease their burden.

A couple of green rune stones appeared in his hand, and he threw them into the middle of the fumbling civilians. The stones exploded into domes of green energy and healed the injured instantly. The carriages were getting more organised now that they were lighter, and the commotion had moved away from them like some amoeba of confusion.

Standing on top of one such carriage, Finn watched patiently. The adventurers were doing well. He watched one gut a demon twice his size with brutish savagery and admired several similar spectacles, until he saw it…

It ran with speed like no other, weaving through its demonic comrades with eight lengthy arms built for speed. Its mandibles salivated as it stared at the line of running commoners running for the gates. Finn vanished from the top of the carriage.

It was time.

Aether roared through his body, and he shot forward as fast as his Glass Rank body could manage. A cork fell to the ground soon after, a glass bottle fell as well. Energy swirled through his body as the elixir took effect, bringing his speed up to Glass Rank Level Seven, at least. It was nothing compared to the real thing since he lacked the strength, vitality and other perks of being at Brett's level but that didn't matter.

The Dance of the Serpent was built for agility and as something that fed off speed; this elixir was more than enough to raise his fighting capabilities beyond his wildest imagination. This was one loophole in the system that worked greatly to Finn's advantage.

The demon shot past the adventurers and reared back with a clawed hand going straight for a running girl, glee shining in the demon's greedy eyes before…

SLING went the sound of a sharp sword slicing through the air. The demon brought its hand down, but nothing happened. Instead, a stump of a limb swiped down uselessly. The creature looked back and saw its leg rolling to a stop. The realisation hit late, and by that time, the demon needed that leg to keep running, so it tripped and tumbled into a rolling mess.

SLING went the sound of another sword swing, and with this one, the demon's head rolled off its shoulders. The mysterious swordsman appeared a moment later right next to Brett, felling the chitinous demon he was fighting with one slice to a groove in its chitinous armour.

"Forward!" Finn grunted, "The demons are going after the civilians. I need your help."

Brett stared at the glowing bastard as he dashed off to clear yet another demon, making it look easy in the process. A loud cackle filled the air, "So you do ask for help!"

Deep down, Brett was fired up, not ready to allow this boy to outshine him. Finn had earned his respect, 'He is Glass Rank Level Three and yet he fights like a freakin' demon. Now, I see why Darla and Aiden respect him so much. He's a lunatic!'