Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

The Aether Cataclyst, as Alaric feared, was designed for massive destruction, except calling it a design would be an insult. Alaric was highly sensitive to aether, and this falling orb was the brightest concentration of aether his senses had ever locked on. It was an unnatural contraption with tonnes of aether crammed into a small space, and the more concentrated the aether was, the more unpredictable and unstable it became, making this orb one of the most dangerous things Alaric had ever set his eyes on.

These thoughts took a back seat in his mind.

In reality, his body had reacted before anyone could catch up to what was happening. He shot off Dara'k's back like a bullet, heading straight for the falling Cataclyst. A greedy smile bloomed on the Dark Mage's face as he saw Alaric dive below the clouds, shooting straight for his death.

[ It's made of aether, so there must be some way for me to stop it from exploding or at least, redirect it somehow. ] Alaric relayed his reasoning to his guardian. If he didn't figure something out, the orb would explode, and he would be the one closest to it.

[ Your instincts protect others, but they protect you first. You jumped in without thinking, so you must have something figured out. What was running through your mind when you chose this suicide mission? ] the guardian asked Alaric.

Alia kept a calm tone despite mocking his decision, but Alaric could feel her emotions. The guardian didn't agree with his decision at all, but she wasn't about to stop him either.

The cold wind blew through Alaric's hair as he willed it, and everything around him to push him even faster. If it weren't for the urgency of the situation, he would have noticed the Orb slow down as space itself bought him time to reach it.

Soaring forward, he caught a glimpse of the petrified looks on the Emperor's Men's faces down on the ground. It was clear none of them had expected a Cataclyst to be dropped on their heads. Such was the feeble relationship they had with the Dark Mage.

Alaric reached the Orb seconds after it breached the Dark Containment spell and slowed down, falling along with it, his head upside down. A sense of nostalgia overtook him in that moment. 'This is a lot like the time I stood before Aiden at the Coming of Age Ceremony. Utterly clueless. Then I made him A-class.'

His heart hammered like a thunderous drum as he continued to fall.

The aether in the orb pulsed with a frightening frequency, fighting to be released. He stared at the orb for two seconds as time slowed. Within it, swirls of packed wild aether revolted and protested like a beast screaming to be released.

'Detonate…' Alaric's thoughts rumbled. His body moved ahead of his thoughts. He understood what he needed to do, but had no time to word it.

He held his hands out, and runes burst out of them, stunning him for a split second. Since when could he summon runes? He had no time to ponder the runes. He knew the alphabet of the language of the Constellations and how to read runes, but he knew nothing about how to use them.

This was the second time runes were appearing out of nowhere during his spell-casting. Alas, he would have to ponder this another time.

The runes flew without waiting for instruction, scattering around the orb to create a variety of rune circles before Alaric plunged himself into the equation entirely on instinct.

The orb cracked and a torrent of aether spilt out, only to curve and rush straight into the boy's body. An updraft of wind appeared below the orb, slowing its descent while torrents of aether shot out of it.

Another crack sent a new stream of aether shooting through Alaric's body. Alaric took a deep breath through gritted teeth, calming his mind against the chaos that was his humming body, then sent the aether straight through aether channels and into his reserves.

His body felt lighter and stronger in an instant, but he didn't stop there. More rune circles appeared around him, capturing the flow of aether into rings around the boy.

The rings of aether reduced the strain on Alaric's body and bought him time, but it wasn't enough. Alaric's reserves were getting full very fast, and that was saying a lot for someone like him, yet he could tell he'd only emptied half of the aether in the Cataclyst. It still packed enough power to rip a massive hole in the city.

More aether continued to spill into his reserves before Alaric buckled. Quickly, he cut off connection to his aether reserves and curved the streams of aether around into the spinning rings. The aether listened to him and curved around him. Without the Face Mask, magic was easier, and he was grateful for that.

Before long, he was trapped in a ball of spinning circles of aether siphoning off torrents from the falling Cataclyst.

There was a moment of tense balance during which Alaric's eyes sparked with a deeper understanding of what was happening.

For all that had happened until this point, he'd been flying purely on reflex. He had no idea whether this had to do with his past life, Soren, or if he was borrowing from what he'd learnt back in the Barren Mountains to achieve this. In that moment of stiff silence, his mind caught up, and just in time, too.

Another crack appeared on the surface of the Cataclyst, spilling another ray of aether into the unstable equation of runes. The aether curved into the rings around Alaric chaotically, destabilising the balance.

'This is Aether Containment, a version of the runes I added to the Storm Shield,' Alaric mused, 'Ah! Now, I get it. This also lies within the power of Circe: The Constellation of Aether and Magic.'

The weak, trembling runes shimmering around the rings of aether sparked to life with purpose, stronger with Alaric's clear intentions and will.

With Alaric's mind finally caught up, the runes burst to life, glowing like vicious chains around the glowing rings of aether. He watched a rune manifest from his hand, for the first time understanding how he'd created it.

Without wasting another moment, he sent out more runes and enhanced the capacity of the rings of aether. His body was burning from the invasion of aether, but now, with his spell complete, the strain left his aether channels.

Without warning, Alaric flipped and landed in a crouch, four fat rings of aether rotating around him like silver disks. The Cataclyst, now reduced to a broken, clear glass orb, fell to the ground with a thud.

Alaric regarded the Red Cloaks staring at him for a bit before turning his attention back to the sky. There, a Dark Mage had come lower to witness his solution to the problem, chuckling excitedly, "Oh my! Such power! I shudder in fear."

Alaric's heart was pumping fast in the presence of the Dark Mage. The man's oppressive aura was even more unbearable when his attention was directed at him. It felt like he would collapse from staring at him alone, but he steeled himself and looked up.

A week ago, perhaps, this staring competition would have been too much. But Alaric was not the same as he had been a week ago. His guardian had made sure of that. During his time with the Heaven-Crested Eagles, he'd stared death in the eye countless times, and if he was being honest with himself, the Dark Mage's gaze was a joke compared to Alia's.

That lesson had been pummeled into Alaric's bones.

"What are you so happy about?" Alaric's voice rumbled in response to the Dark Mage.

Avaros's smile dimmed, and he rose higher, "Nothing much! Just pleased to be in the presence of a true legend. The Protector! Is that why you dove right straight at a Cataclyst? To protect a city that's done nothing for you."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Alaric frowned a bit. He didn't remember this man being so jolly or talkative, for that matter. He got the sense that his one source of excitement was battle, or something perverted version of that.

Now that they'd met, there was most definitely going to be a fight, so Alaric chose to imitate his clone and rile him up, "Cataclyst? You mean this glass ball? You'll have to try a bit harder."

"Is that so?" the man grinned, rising even higher. It always sent chills down Alaric's spine when the Dark Mage's voice carried to his ears no matter how far he was, "I'd hate to disappoint you then. Let's try this."

The space around Avaros lit up with soft glints. A total of eight such spheres appeared around the man's body, curving around him in a ring. His grin threatened to split his face. His voice echoed with venom, "Catch these, and I won't even have to fight you. You'll be a corpse."

Chains of runes had started appearing around Alaric's body before he scoffed at the Dark Mage and said in the Old Tongue, "DETONATE."

Alaric's voice came out raw and ancient, shaking the world as it came from everywhere at once, vibrating through the walls of the buildings and humming with the air. The glass orbs around the Dark Mage cracked, wiping the scowl off his face with a pale mix of fear, anger and surprise, "You wretched…!!!"

BOOM, the sky lit up with the explosive force of eight Cataclysts.

The noise could be heard from several miles away as the bombs of aether powerful enough to destroy the whole of Melbourne eight times over detonated all at once. Multiple chains of red runes flew all about in the chaos that followed, diving in and out of the exploding mass of aether at breakneck speed.

Purple swells of dark magic mashed into the mess of white and amber as various forces were engulfed by the searing wave of magic.

The explosion blew all the air away first, setting the city up for the flames and aether that would soon eradicate everything in sight, including the Purified Zone. Alaric's body shot up, plunging head-first into the aether whilst several long chains of runes shot off his body and into the aether.

The Dark Mage's influence on the world collapsed in the pandemonium, leaving Alaric's peaceful one to reign. Too focused on his magic, Alaric missed the way space curved and slowed down the explosion, bending time just slightly enough for his spells to take root.

It was a race against time. The top floor of the Sisters of Fragrance, being the tallest building, was completely blown off by the explosion, and the concrete turned to crystallised dust in seconds.

The ground shuddered as something heavy was thrown into it, leaving a massive crater that rendered the road, as well as a nearby house, unusable.

For a few short seconds, the world had come to an end, covered in white. The few short seconds soon turned to half a minute. Half a minute of everyone waiting for their lives to come to an end.

They didn't die… and when they opened their eyes to find out why, they saw a boy floating high above the city in the middle of what could only be described as a giant halo. A gargantuan round disc floated high above the city, rotating in undulating waves as the aether inside of it roared like a fast river. Alaric moved his hands about, channelling the rest of the wild aether into a halo floating above the whole city, hypnotic in its motion.

[ You've taken the Constellation of Aether to a whole other level. ] Alaric's guardian let out a breath she'd been holding.

Alaric's mind had never been clearer in its understanding of a spell, and as he waved his arms around, he grasped control of the chaotic waves of aether and tamed them with tyrannical control.

[ I think I'm starting to understand who Soren was. ] he responded, [ Whenever I don't know what to do, my body seems to know. It's because of him, isn't it? He… was my past self. ]

The guardian was quiet for a while before replying, [ Yes, Alaric. Soren was your name in your past life. ]

[ Was Soren a prince? ] he asked.

The guardian burst into laughter, [ No, he wasn't a prince. He was just like you. ]

Alaric finally stopped moving his hands, having stabilised the halo of aether floating above the city. On his back, a circle of runes had appeared, connecting him to the halo of runes maintained by multiple rune circles. On the ground, Alaric spotted the Dark Mage at the centre of a crater that had destroyed both the road and a building at the side.

The man was battered, bruised, but still in one piece. It was unimaginable how anything could have withstood that blow, but there he was, struggling to regain his balance from the bottom of a massive crater.

'I'm not even sure if that weakened him.' The boy's heart sank. 'I can try to fight him, but I doubt I'll win.'

[ That's okay. Just buy me some time. With his Dark Magic interfering with your aether, your magic won't be enough to erect an S-grade Concealment barrier he won't break. We just need to teach the Matriarch how to create a domain. She will cast the Barrier. I'll handle the rest after that. ] the guardian spoke.

The plan was solid, and frankly, Alaric's only way out of this. Filled with doubt, Alaric attempted to erect the Barrier himself. As soon as magic started shimmering, the Dark mage raised his hand, and the spell shattered. It was a trick Alaric had seen before but hadn't quite understood.

During the massive explosion of aether, the Dark Mage had indeed tried to shield himself. The aether from the explosion had been a lot, though, overpowering the Dark Mage easily and dealing the damage Alaric saw now.

Just to confirm, Alaric summoned fireballs around him and watched each one fizzle out in the order that he summoned them. "Dark magic counters any kind of magic."

Avaros staggered to his feet, chuckling to himself, "Scared now?"

[ Now, do you understand, Alaric? I've sent your clone to speak with the Matriarch. Her domain can allow her to raise a barrier strong enough to stand against this man's influence. Think you can hold him off? ] Alia asked.

Alaric stood on the edge of the crater with a sword in hand. [ Is this man weaker than the ones that hunt us? ]

[ Much weaker. ]

[ Fine then. Don't take too long, or you might miss the part where I kill him myself. ]

With that, Alaric dipped into the crater and shot straight for the Dark Mage. Avaros had his sword ready by the time Alaric made contact. For a brief fraction of a second, he stood against Alaric's blade, withstanding the shockwave that roared in the wake of this clash.

A moment later, however, the dark mage was flying out of the crater and onto the road, amusement flashing across his eyes.

"Impossible! What just happened?" he growled.

A whistling sound seized his reflexes, forcing him to leap out of the way of a golden spear. The spear lodged itself into the ground only for a spiked ball to sail by it, singing with a chain connected to it and in pursuit of the Steel Rank slayer.

Alaric shot forward with the steel ball, holding a sword on the other end. Avaros stepped to the side, allowing the ball to sail past, then grabbed the chain and pulled the boy forward.

A sword came hurtling carelessly towards him. Alaric didn't mind losing the weapon, as in the next moment, he pulled yet another sword from his bracelet along with a round shield. The boy was in his face a moment later, his sword hurtling down with untrackable speed, "Scared now?"

Avaros gritted his teeth as the force of the blade, even when parried, sent shivers through his Steel Rank bones. The shield followed, skimming right past the Dark Mage's eyes. Had he been slow by even the smallest fraction of a second, he'd be blinded.

The boy's heel slammed into the dark mage's neck less than a second after the shield passed, 'This kid!' It was the same spot the clone had hit, but this one, rather than cause a slight irritation, sent him flying right through a wall.

Avaros didn't get the chance to regain his balance as the boy appeared above him an instant later, sword raised high for a fatal blow. The shadows in the building surged, and with one powerful battle cry, the building exploded.

Alaric appeared outside the rubble, unscathed, wielding his sword and shield at the ready. Avaros burst out from the rubble and landed on the road, fuming, "Don't you want to know…"

The boy was in the man's face before he could finish speaking, his sword striking down with the same power that had thrown him out of the crater and slammed him into a building. Avaros blocked it against his steel vambrace, but the force cracked the ground he stood on, rattling him.

Alaric saw Avaros grit his teeth hard before ramming his shield into his chest. The blow threw the dark mage back again. The man was disoriented, confused, and very eager to understand how a Wood Rank was tossing him around, but Alaric wouldn't allow himself the pleasure of that victory or award Avaros the time to figure it out.

It was only a matter of time before he figured it out. He shot forward, closing the gap in an instant.

"Spiritual Layering," the Dark Mage's voice rumbled with a grin.

When Alaric's sword landed on the Dark mage's vambrace once again, it was his hand that hurt from the sword's rattling. Ignoring the pain, he leapt back and crouched in a stance with his sword on top of the rim of his shield, pointing forward, "I was hoping to get a few hits in before you figured it out. Shame!"

"That won't work on me anymore," Avaros cracked his neck and summoned blades from the shadows. A long chain attached to two scythes appeared in his hands. "Let's go again."

Alaric grinned, "I love fighting arrogant fools."

"Only a foolish Wood Rank would challenge a Steel Rank," Avaros thundered before closing the gap between himself and Alaric.

When his scythe struck, it hit nothing, only for a blade to cut right through his calf a moment later. The Dark Mage gritted his teeth and sent his chains to the side, striking nothing.

His knee gave out instead, the tendons slashed. Shadows gathered around the mage and burst outward in a wave that destroyed everything around.

When it cleared, Alaric appeared in front of the man's face, sword coming down yet again. Avaros roared, throwing his fist wreathed in shadows forward. The blow, once again, struck nothing, sending a powerful torrent of wind into the sky.

Pain shot through the man's body as the golden sword slashed open his back, cutting through his black armour like it was nothing.

"Layer your Spirit Vessel all you want. Claim power from the Diamond Rank and peek at what lies within the realm of Saints, but know that you will not strike me. You'll leave the rest of your body weak for me to cut, arrogant fool."