Lord Shadow

The wind of the plains is soothing. The girl thought to herself as her cheeks enjoys the breeze.

It was not cold like the winds of the Ice Region that could make you shiver all the time.

It is not hot like the winds of the Flame region making you sweat buckets. It was not suffocating like the winds of the desert, winds with sands.

The wind of the plains is unrestrained and gives a sense of serenity.

As the wind blows Sofia long silky hair as it waves around following the wind, she began her explanation about the Seven Fairy

Azief was still at the helm holding the reins, his face looking forward, his ears listening

‘The Seven Fairy is the undisputed ruler of the Western Plain, living nearby the Red Mountain with the Mountain Clans. Even the World Government gives them respect.’ Sofia said and Sina who was beside her nodded.

After all they did clash with the Seven Fairy. It was not a good memory to revisit.

‘Hirate tried to recruit these seven but they do not want to be bogged down by the World Government rules and they have some irreconcilable grudge with Lord Oreki.’

Azief nodded as he keeps listening

‘What are their names?’ Azief asked.

‘Their names are Kim Sohye the Alioth, Kim Doyeon the Mizar, Choi Yoojung the Alcor, Im Nayoung the Alkaid, Kim Chungha the Megrez, Kim Sejeong the Phecda and Jeon Somi the Merak. With Seven Fairy, with seven swords, they employed the Big Dipper Formation, entrapping powerful people and annihilating their enemies.’

They named themselves like the stars Azief mused.

But then as he thought about it again he smirked as he recognizes these names.

In Earth Two, there is a girl gr- and his thoughts were dashed by Sofia words as Azief shakes his head.

‘Yeah, and that’s about it.’ Sofia said. Azief was still thinking to himself. Of course, how could there be such a coincidence.

But as he was about to listen again he caught Sofia words.

‘What? That’s the only thing you know about them?’ Azief said shocked at how little Sofia knows her enemies

‘Yes.’ She replied uncaringly

‘I thought you clashed with them’

‘We did.’

‘Didn’t you observe them?’

‘I did and that is the result of my observation.’ Azief rolled his eyes at Sofia and Sofia become slightly angry

‘It’s not like we have time trading greetings when we are busy trying to save our lives don’t you think?’

‘Hmph.’

‘What about other things? Anything.’

‘They’re young’ Sina suddenly interject.

‘The youngest of them is 15 years old.’

‘That….is a kid’ Azief incredulously stated.

‘Yes, but she is the strongest. Her vicious strike could lop off hundreds of heads.’ Sofia added as she remembers the last time she was running out of grounds to run.

Of course in stories it depicted her and Loki easily run away but that is not the real version of the story.

‘And they are cute’ Sina said again as she smiles a bit. Azief shakes his head and then he said

‘It was my fault to think you have any considerable intel’

‘That’s why I ask you why you punish Loki. He would be useful here.’

‘Ok, enough of that. I make a mistake, ok. It happens.’

Sofia giggles looking at Azief exasperated face.

Then Sofia and Sina began chatting again, while Azief like usual watch the sky as they continue their journey home.

***

MEANWHILE IN A HILL NOT FAR AWAY FROM EDEN

‘Red Abalone Soup, Roasted cockatrice skewers, spicy meaty fish and many more. Buy, buy, buy’

The sound of merchants peddling their wares fill the hill as the people on the hills, warriors, assassin, scouts and soldiers from many factions also participate in this gathering.

And when there is this kind of gathering, merchants swarm in searching for profit.

Warp was sitting on a chair on a newly built tavern. His hair has grown longer and so is his height.

But he still retains his childish looking face and his smooth skin. A lot of people can be seen drinking and eating.

There is a beautiful woman seating not far away from Warp flirting with some warriors.

But Warp knows behind that flirty looks and enticing words, she is a spy for the Royal Family of Britain.

She was wearing beautiful armour and jewelry all over her.

But this does not make her looks gaudy instead because of her personal charm she looks elegant.

Must come in handy in wringing out poor bastard out of important information Warp thought to himself.

Emma. That is her name….or one of her names. Warp as one of the important people in the League of Freedom of course knows such information.

Not far away from her, sits Maximoff. A Sniper. His long brown hair reaches his neck. He was sturdy and tall, buff like a gym maniac.

Behind his back is a sniper made of obsidian black like crystal.

The weapons of the World Orb are always a little weird but still retain the shape of some of the Earth weapons.

Maximoff is known to keen minded and has a gathering of intelligence network in the Ice Region far away from the prying eyes of the Revolutionary Army.

His mentor is Paulette, Emperor Jean woman.

Then there is Takashi the Poison Master.

His motive is easily inferred. He must have come for the Genius Alchemist Sina to gain more understanding on his path.

Warp has heard the story that he battles with the Medicine Sage Liu Wenzhang in herb comprehension and pill making competition.

Everyone here has their own motives. They all recognize each other but they did not bother each other.

Now, that is a battle for another day.

Spies have their spying missions. A sniper has their sniping mission. And for people like Takashi who wanted to improve themselves he must have his own goals too.

Warp also has his mission and agendas. Then Warp heard others shouting.

‘Buy swords from me! I guaranteed even encountering an Legendary type monster, my sword will not break.’

Then another man shouted with a loud voice and jovial tone.

‘Don’t listen to him. His Blacksmithing skill is worse than I, Romund. I dare say buying from me would be more beneficial for your quest then buying it from that stinky git.’

There is this kind of banter all over the crafts alley, an alley dedicated to sell crafts. Of course these alleys would disappear after the event ended.

The district would be torn down, the alleys would disappear and this festive hill also will return to be a lonely hill like before.

In this hill today, hundreds of character gathers together.

There are craftsmen selling their wares. There is also some butcher that sells exotic livestock gotten from all over the world.

Griffin’s meat, hydra meat and even wyvern meat.

Hundreds and hundreds more kind of food all can be bought if you have the gold.

All of these could give warriors and combat related profession buffs and even give some people unique abilities though this depends on the person eating it.

Carpenters, builders, smiths, bakers, leather workers also come to the gathering to promote themselves selling their services to other people.

While it is true that the production class is not that favorable in battlefield but without them most of the things that the warrior wears will be not up to par.

With great blacksmiths you will have great weapons. With great armorer you will have great armour.

With good chef, you can enjoy great food that boost your regenerative capabilities and even increases your level.

Even builders also have their uses.

For someone who wanted their own home if not builders, who else can they turn to?

With their specialized skills, give them enough resources and they can build you anything. Of course their way of leveling up is different than normal people.

They still could try to raise their level by following warriors to battle but that will not help them much since their EXP gain will be higher if they follow their production path.

Not all is like Lord Shadow, Raymond, Lord Oreki or Katarina. Not all of them have unique classes and have their own preference and artifact that grows with them.

Take for example Lord Shadow.

His Six Saber is already a Celestial Weapons that once shakes the universe during the Deva and Shura Great War five thousand years ago.

His Ten Rings once belonged to a Demon King that killed thousands of Demon Dukes and thousands of Demon Count.

Then take a look at Raymond. His weapon is a huge hammer but that was before he found Sharur when he was exploring a ruin.

Sharur is an enchanted talking mace. It has the power to fly across vast distances without impediment and communicate with its wielder.

It provides crucial intelligence to the wielder.

Sharur may also take the form of a winged lion.

And while Katarina did not reveal any of her weapons, many speculates that when she defeated the Yeti, she might have been rewarded a great weapon.

But no one truly envy them for having these weapons?

Why?

Because they bet their life on the line to get those weapons.

Azief endure humiliations and had to swindle, lie, and cheat to survive in the Demonic Realm and finally manages to become the fisherman in troubled water and acquire the Ten Eternal Rings.

Raymond lost a lot of his loyal soldiers in his expedition to defeat the monster at the end of the cave.

The same could be said for Katarina.

She is even wounded and is still recuperating with many of the Revolutionary Army defenses is left to Jean.

Without risk, these great people would not have these weapons but how many really dare to risk their lives to gain strength when they could live peacefully and slowly rise up the ranks.

But what these people would never realize, that going slowly while it is a noble virtue, they also would be left behind.

Each day they laze around, these great people would leave them a thousand steps behind. Another days passes and their figures could no longer be seen.

The more days passes, these great people will left them so far behind that by the time the lazy reach these people, they could only bow and prostrate themselves like a subject in front of a might emperor.

The purpose of the World Orb is to strengthen humans but if the humans could not be brave and thrive though life and death trials, how could humanity become strong?

It is the people who manages to risk their lives and emerges alive will stand atop among the masses.

The mentality of the strong can be said to have these kind so thought. ‘I rather die than being weak.’ ‘I’ll survive.’ ‘I will enjoy these troubled times.’

These are the kinds of thoughts they have. Some are molded by the death of their loved ones.

Some are molded with the intuitive feelings of survival. Some are guided by righteous notions.

Some are guided by divine powers. While some….just loves the chaos and would add fire to it.

Then the sound of the shouting and bantering enters Warp ears again and he shakes his head.

All of these craftsmen promote themselves.

Some smith told the warriors sitting under a large tree nearby the hill, that he could forge a weapon that could cut a mountain though no one believes him.

When Warp first arrives here the blacksmith also told him the same thing and Warp almost laughs.

There are many craftsmen like that. The question remains?

How could these weak craftsmen without any strength to fight a large army could survive these chaotic era and even travel here unharmed and without delay?

Because they have the Merchant Association.

In terms of wealth, resources, talents there is no organization on earth right now that could rival the Merchant Association.

They dab their hands on a lot of pies. They sell information, weapons, rare items, transportation, artifacts and even people.

It is not surprising that not anyone would readily offend them or try to fight them directly.

And not to mention in all the scuffles between factions or organization, the Merchant Association is neutral, making no one really have any justification to attack them or unite people to attack them.

They just supplied whatever these factions wanted and that’s it.

The taverns that are erected on the hills, the market that is thriving in the hills will be destroyed when this meet ends.

This is the power of production that the Merchant Association had.

And the Merchant Association also has their own reason for also coming here other than just profits.

They want to assess how much of a threat Lord Shadow really is.

Warp smiles a bit as he look outside the tavern. At least he could get out from the Lords of the Forest meeting.

The Demon Ape on the Western Forest is behaving strangely which even prompt the High Lord Lee Sangmin to orders the Council of Lords to quickly engage the Ape Mountain.

Not to mention, the fact that the atmosphere here is like a festival.

People flirting, laughing, eating, playing, it has been a long time since Warp feels like this.

Since the Fall, Warp has always been afraid.

Afraid to die.

So that is why even though the secret mission for unique class is dangerous he does not mind since he could teleport anywhere he wanted to if he succeeds.

He wanted to disappear.

Who would have thought even though he could teleport he still manages to put himself in danger time after time.

The things he does for brotherhood.

On the outside of the tavern is a large screen made of a monster hide that is connected into an Image Crystal and shows the aerial situation of both the camp of the Seven Fairy and the village of Eden.

On the Seven Fairy side, from the screen people could see that the Seven Fairy has started to move again to the village with large dust behind their trails.

Ten thousand people moving together with their family with caravans on the back rear and hundreds of stuff on tow surely creates a magnificent scene.

On the village two hundred cavalry can be seen outside the village, on the open field looking murderously at the sight of the dust.

‘Bring me some wine’ Warp ordered as he keeps looking at the screen. The main event is not yet started but the prologue sure is interesting

‘Right away, Sir’ one of the waiter of that tavern quickly takes Warp orders. This tavern belongs to the Merchant Association.

The merchant Association is headed by Patrician Enzo.

He is known to travel anywhere there is a demand.

Where there is a demand there is supply from the Merchant Association. After the White Explosion the World Shop could not be accessed anymore making that the only one who could access Shop is the Merchant Association.

They have dealings with all the major powers.

Enzo has dealings with the Revolutionary Army, the World Government, the Forest Region, the Fire Region and with the factions all around the world.

A merchant is different from other classes in that their EXP is gained when they make a profit.

Their attack strength is weak but the amount of weapons they have is enough to make some low level warrior to feel despair.

Now that the area around Eden is full with people wanting to see good show, how could the merchant association not use this chance to send rookie merchants to gain experience by selling assortment of goods.

Most of the people here in the Hill is coming here to gauge the strength of the Seven Fairy and Lord Shadow.

They are unstable elements. Lord Shadow rises to fame in just one leap.

By defeating Sasha the former number one figure of this generation, he has cemented himself as the strongest person in the world.

Not to mention his battle video has already been sold to the interested parties by the Merchant Association.

The Merchant Association has eyes and ears on everything and everyone.

Some say they work with the Eye, another organization that is as mysterious as the Forest Region Lords of the Forest.

In that video not many could see Lord Shadow full power since Lord Shadow overwhelm Sasha from beginning to end without using his full power.

If these organizations could not gauge true power of Lord Shadow, how could they plan to take him down in the future?

Know your enemy.

Any wise man would employ this tactic.

But not all that came here has these objectives. Some just like a show like the Twelve Pale Ghost of Tianshan.

The Twelve Pale Ghost of Tianshan is bunch of Orb Forming bandits in Yue. They occupied a mountain and name it Tianshan.

Because of their pale face and their eccentric demeanor people call them Pale Ghost of Tianshan.

During the Wei incursion to the land of Yue, the Pale Ghost help Feng Jing by showing a route hidden by the forest to mount a sneak attack on Yue defense.

At the time Wang Jian was the General in Chief of the entire army.

Because of the Tianshan Ghost help Wang Jian lost thousands of men, his brothers and comrade.

Incensed with anger, Wang Jian sent his army to burn the mountain and kill the other bandits hiding in that mountain.

Since then they wander the land. Today, they just came here to enjoy the show. Then they are also the Immortal Couple.

People only call them the Immortal Couple and does not know their name. They were both young.

The woman was beautiful and possesses this otherworldly beauty with white flawless skin and long silky hair that reach her waist, she was like a fairy, an unrestrained immortal playing in the mortal world.

The man was handsome with a boyish look, like a cute boy but possess the charisma of a man, his hair was wavy and his stature was imposing like a great general leading millions of men

The male uses a big brush that is full of runic design coiling around the brush tip.

The woman uses a flute that controls the beast around the hut and even controls vibration around her.

They were Energy Condensing Stage Middle Realm Expert who lives a life of seclusion from the outside world and rarely do they go out from their hut on the Forest Region.

But now they come out to see the battle.

They already spend lavishly in the tavern ordering all kinds of exotic food and drinks while drinking, laughing, flirting and kissing each other , not caring for other people gaze and looks.

Warp knows them.

He even met them a couple of times, as he tries to recruit them to enter the League of Freedom but he has never been successful.

This couple really not care about happens to the world and just keeps being lovey dovey all the time which disgust Narleod.

But Warp on the other hand admires this couple.

To remain in love and steadfast even after the world has gone to hell, to have each other, to have a hand to hold and someone to love, isn’t this a blissful life?

Someday, Warp also wanted that kind of life.

After Narleod is finished with his revenge, Warp will ask him for him to be released from the League.

He wanted to live freely, to travel all over the world, to see all the regions and enjoy good food and fine company.

‘Hmm’ he sighed.

To be as leisurely as the Immortal Couple, travelling the lands with a lover, kissing and enjoying each day in a blissful manner, to laugh at the world and travel where the wind blows.

Warp is not as leisurely as the Immortal Couple as he was tasked here to find out the Seven Fairy strength.

Warp knows he has no chance of recruiting man as powerful as Lord Shadow.

Strong people have their pride. How would Lord Shadow let himself be subjected under others?

And reading the reports about Lord Shadow, probably the moment Lord Shadow meet Narleod, he would kill Narleod.

But the Seven Fairy is different.

They even have grudge with one of the Quorum members.

Warp has decided that if the battle between the Seven Fairy and Lord Shadow turns disadvantageous towards the Seven Fairy, he will save them using his Teleportation ability.

Right now, his teleportation ability has level up.

He now can teleport around 20 people as long as the weight did not exceed ten tons.

And Warp is not the only one who wanted to know about the Seven Fairy.

After all the Seven Fairy level of powers is as just as mysterious as Lord Shadow.

They rarely fight. And even if they fight they rarely employ their formations and unleash their whole strength.

So no one knew how powerful their formation really is.

Even though, Oracle Erika has proclaimed to the Revolutionary Army that the Seven Fairy when combined their powers would not lose out against a Seed Forming user, that still just talk.

Some come here to verify whether the Sword Formations of the Seven Fairy is really as formidable as it was told in rumors.

Not to mention all the Seven Fairy is at Energy Disperse Stage Middle Realm.

How would they fare against the Seed Forming High Realm that is Lord Shadow?

‘Here is your wine’ a waiter served a bottle and put it on the table. Warp just nodded and gesture him to leave

‘The glass, sir?’

‘Don’t need it’ he said.

The waiter nodded and understands.

The waiter knows how to serve a customer, but after the fall, rarely one could see people drinking or eating as gentlemanly as before.

Most warriors just drink like barbarians; eating food is also the same.

As long as they get meat, they will open a fire pit, roast the meats, seasoned it with some spice, gathered together in a large group and eat it while laughing and bragging about today hunt.

After the fall, etiquette is not that important but people become freer. Eat when you are hungry.

Get angry when you are angered. When people hit you, you hit back. When people stole your stuff, you stole it back.

You like her and she like you? Have sex on a bush somewhere if you could not find any house.

You could die tomorrow or the next hour. So people stop caring about how they would look and become braver.

Since every moment is precious, they live without regret, they love without pride, they seek great adventure, they enjoy each moment.

They climb the tall mountains, they run through the rivers, letting the water wash over them, they breathe deep of the clear air of a reborn earth, and contemplate the precious stillness.

They fight great monsters and even if they die, they die with a smile.

Why?

Because they live so vigorously, so diligently, so honestly, so that at the last moment, there is nothing to regret.

Even Death would envy their lives.

Humanity becomes more honest.

Only people who are at the top have the leisure to eat slowly, to drink slowly.

The people who schemed, who directed wars, who fought for land and amass armies and weapons.

The people who will lead this chaotic era.

They eat slowly. They drink slowly. Because they scheme with each sip taken, with each piece of meat eaten.

And they have a lot of regrets.

Why?

Because their ambition is bigger. Some unachievable. When they take their last breath most of these men would feel dissatisfied.

They should have done more. They should have more. Too many things they desire that most of them forget what is in front of them.

But without these dreamers, humans will not move forward. If Earth is to survive the troubling times ahead, they need the dreamers.

And in the end, there is no right answer to life anyway.

Thinking of this, Warp uncork the wine bottle and take a gulp, smiling all the while, thinking to himself, how happy he would be if he could smile at his last moment, without any regret on his heart?

Then as he put back the wine on the table soundly someone shouted.

‘Look! Look! Eden cavalry has engaged the Seven Fairy.’ Warp was shocked as he stands up on his seat.

Why cavalries of Eden would suddenly attacked the Seven Fairy? Shouldn’t they wait for Lord Shadow to come first?

But the people in the tavern could all see as the two hundred cavalry is breaking through the encirclement of Seven Fairy armed guard and one of the officers of Eden decapitated the head of a woman.

And they started swinging their weapons left and right killing men, woman, children and the elderly.

With a momentum of an unstoppable tornado, the cavalry swept through the defenses of Seven Fairy camp like a sharp blade that tore through a paper.

Kill! Kill! Kill! these yells and shout filled the open field as people keep dying left and right, as blood keep drenching the open fields, as heads keep rolling without end.

The Seven Fairy can be seen trying to stop the attack and is shouting

‘We come in peace!’ One of them even shouted

‘We’re seeking an alliance with your Lord’ and suddenly Warp has a bad premonition.

Even on the screen the voice was clear and the resolution is even higher making some of the people gathered here to puke and vomit seeing such one sided battle.

Warp studied the screen and he realizes an important fact.

Seeing the composition of the Seven Fairy people, most of them are elderly, woman, children and disabled men.

Could they come to Eden seeking protection?

And then he remembers the weird behavior of the Demon Ape and how High Lord Lee Sangmin warned that the Forest Region might be attacked by a horde of monsters, that the tutorial is over and now the real game begins.

On the screen, the two hundred cavalry keep killing and trampling people with their cavalry.

One of the officers even kills a five year old kid.

The mother tries to stop the officer from killing his son but the mother got herself cut into two.

This kind of tragedy repeated itself in that field.

Some are crying, while some try to fight but in front of the cavalry and the organized army how could those ragtag bunch muster energy to halt their advance.

From the screens; one could see that one of the Seven Fairy was crying in sadness.

She was pretty and her face was innocent and soothing to look, charming everyone with each glance.

But seeing this scene, her tears that could render any heart man to waver could not stop flowing but then her sadness quickly turned into fury as she shouted

‘Sisters. Let’s employ the Seven Dragon Rampaging the Sky Formations. We come in peace but it was them that provoked us. We could not let our people to die meaninglessly.’

All Seven women who were trying to explain to the officers that they did not come with bad intention all change their stance and killing intent as sharp as a blade emanated from them.

The land beneath their feet sunk by 1 meter and sharp aura fill the open field, a sharp aura that seems to be able to cut through anything.

Then a dragon roar pierces the sky as an image of a white dragon appear on top of the field.

The Seven Fairy moves into their position and then they unleashed seven sword energy that gathered together to form a gigantic image of a 20 feet white dragon composed of sword energy that attacked the cavalry charge.

The dragon roars, and the clouds changed colors as pressure of a mountain could be feel to descend to the field

One of the officers in the front when he saw the dragon image coming towards him shouted as loud as possible

‘Retreat! Retreat! Ret-‘ But even before he manages to retreat his body was shredded by the dragon which is composed of tyrannical sword energy.

Not even his bones were left as it was shred. It was the equivalent of putting a man inside a giant blender machine.

Warp on the other hand began to understand something. There is a great conspiracy here! This is because as he looks at the screen he recognized a person.

To be more accurate,, it is not a person he recognizes but a pendant. Ten pendants on ten officers.

Warp could not help but grit his teeth. Narleod, could you be this cruel? Warp thought angrily at himself.

Warp closes his eyes and he finally put the pieces together.

This is Narleod play.

And Lord Shadow and the Seven Fairy is the actor while he is the director. The pendants which Warp saw is the Thousand Face Pendant sold by the Merchant Associations.

It is a top secret invention of Merchant Associations and is very rare. It is molded after the ability of the Trickster after his last stint on the World Government.

There are some rumors that the Merchant Association has someone capable of mimicking certain abilities and transferring that ability into accessory.

And that pendant, there are only 20 in production.

But Warp is not the only one who realizes it.

The group of people who knows the dark secrets of the organizations, like Emma, Lord Takeshi, Maximoff of course also recognizes the pendants but they could not do anything.

Since they too understand why Narleod would do such a thing.

An alliance of Lord Shadow, the strongest man in the world, with the formidable Seven Fairy of the Western Plain is not something any other organization would like to see.

But Warp knows the other reason why Narleod do this.

The reason why Warp is here. The supporting actor.

Narleod wanted this battle to happen because Narleod is confident that Lord Shadow will defeat the Seven Fairy and he is sure that Warp act of saving the Seven Fairy will surely wins the Seven Fairy allegiance.

But as Warp watches the battle that is happening in the open field, he ask to the wind

‘How far have you fallen, Leonard?’

***