Valerian, The Legendary

74 Hurt.

Valerian and the other forces joined hands and they all worked very efficiently. The speed was very fast. Not because they were skilled, but because they were brutal. The warriors gave up finesse and displayed what true brutality could look like. The enemy forces were already under great psychological pressure after the commander died.

After a few minutes when the enemy forces dwindled, Valerian restrained himself from killing, he just knocked out those who were alive, and weak, but if someone tried to act out and try to harm him, they were sent to the underworld. Ensis noticed this and asked her people to do the same.

These people from the enemy forces could still serve a purpose and ease up their tasks. Why shall they be laid to waste? In half an hour, the situation was overturned and completely grasped by the forces of the empress. However, Valerian was not ideal. He moved around and helped the shadows who were injured.

The shadows already knew about him when they were in the Acies city, yet, they did not tell anything to the Empress, which showed their loyalty to the mission. Shadows will serve one master at a time. They were serving the princess, so they were loyal to her.

Valerian healed them all as much as he could with his mana reserves. When he was done, he said to Ensis, ‘Go. I need to recover first.’

Ensis nodded and without any formality, she left the place with the Shadows. The empress was still fighting back at the night camp and they wanted to aid her as soon as possible. Valerian was quick and fast for his age, but that was not enough to go against grade five mages.

Valerian sat on the ground catching up his breath. He was not very worried about Fragrantia. The lady was an Arch-mage. The difference was that you can be a grade seven magician, yet unable to become an arch-mage. But an arch-mage could be anything from a grade five to grade nine.

Their real level was never easy to discern because grade five silent cast was the minimum requirement. Thinking about this, Valerian decided to do something better. He stood up after a few minutes and walked up to the side, where the warriors had stacked up the fainted people after they broke their limbs.

Valerian dragged one of them to the side and cast, ‘Sanatio Lucis.’

.....

The simple healing spell brought the guy back to the world of the living, and Valerian took off the hood covering his face. His actions made the person groan in pain as he opened his eyes. Initially, he was shocked, he could not comprehend what was happening.

This guy was still fighting with the enemy in front when someone hit him hard and he blacked out. However, he still recalled vividly how this child killed their commander, thinking about this, the man grit his teach and when he opened his mouth, it seeped out with blood.

Valerian was surprised at this as well, but then he understood that soldiers like this were trained to suicide if captured. Now that he knew this, he could take precautions against this. Leaving the dead enemy warrior, he came and dragged another one to the side.

This time he removed the hood slowly and opened the mouth of the enemy. The books described such units and squads throughout the world, who had similar practices. They usually placed a poison pill inside the cavity, and in a situation of capture, they commit suicide as quickly as possible.

Valerian used Luminare and found the teeth filled with a poison pill. He pinched the tooth between his fingers and exerted some force. The strength of a warrior was enough to take out this already altered tooth. To make sure that things worked, he used the healing spell again and the warrior woke up groggily.

He saw Valerian and was aware that he was going to be tortured, so he tried to break the molar at the back of his jaw, but he found that the tooth was missing. His heart sank, this silver-haired boy was very dangerous. Now that his conjecture was proved, he wanted to deal with the hand in the dark. Such covert actions were guided by a big player.

Valerian wanted to find that person, however, since he was not good at torture, and Priscilla was not around, he decided to use a trick and improvise. Knocked out the test subject again, and he went back to the warriors who were laying on the ground but he could not tell the difference between them.

Recalling back the uniform of the commander, he looked at the pile of corpses and found that two people had a uniform different than the rest. He looked among the unconscious people and found that one such person was laying there as well. He smiled and bought that guy out of the pile and placed him near the test subject.

The poison tooth was removed, and the healing spell was cast. The warrior woke up, and his responses were better than the rest of his companions, so it was obvious that he was stronger and he was the superior officer.

Valerian greeted him with a wide smile on his face, this shocked the man, he tried to break his teeth and commit suicide but the emptiness at the back of his mouth filled his heart with dread.

He asked in a deep voice, “Why not kill me?”

Valerian scratched his head and a blob of light appeared in the void. The officer was shocked, he could not believe, that the boy who was not even his teenager cast a spell without a chant. The fear became even stronger.

He recalled that when Valerian attacked the commander, he did not chant at all. He thought Valerian was an Arch-mage. This shocked him. A child only this big, was an arch-mage.

The illumination spell was cast so that the officer could see Valerian speak in signs. Valerian said, ‘Why should I kill you? You are the superior officer among these people, you must have more details and news. Would it not be a waste to kill you.’

The officer did not answer immediately, but asked, “Why don’t you speak?”

He did not know that Valerian was mute, the child sighed and did not say that he was a mute, why make the enemy think he was superior? Valerian replied, ‘Training rules.... you do not need to bother with what I do, just answer my questions and I will let you go.’

The enemy shook his head, and said, “Feel free to kill me. I will not betray my master.”

Valerian nodded and said, ‘I appreciate your loyalty, but what is the point in serving a fool? Also, not everyone is like you.’

The warrior on the ground was shaken, he was not a fool, he could tell the underlying meaning of this statement from the boy. He responded sub-consciously, “What do you mean?”

Valerian pointed at the other man lying on the ground, ‘This guy is a mole among you, why do you think we came back to raid you all? Even if the shadows knew about your attack, why should we return after leaving this place? That was obviously to deal with your forces in one fell sweep.’

The warrior shook, he could not believe that they were betrayed. He said, “Then why is he not awake?”

Valerian smiled and said, ‘His purpose has been served, so why should I waste my mana over him? He will wake up on his own. Well, he has already told me that your master is here, I was just cross-checking you. Now that I think about it, the others can also die, I should kill them.’

The warrior reacted, ‘Do not do not kill them.’

Valerian was not surprised by the reaction, because the people in these secret organizations treated each other like a family closer than family. They were bounded with life and death of each other so how could the warrior watch his comrades die?

The silver-haired boy asked, ‘Why should I spare them? You are not even answering my questions. I may not look like it but I am very angry, I want to vent.’

The warrior said, “I will tell you everything I know, just spare them. Please do not kill them.”

Valerian smiled and said, ‘Go on, where is your master, and please be more detailed.’

...

Ensis and the others have reached the Empress but they were surprised to see the lady sitting on a throne made of wood. Her elbow was resting on the hand rest, and her palm supported her chin as she leisurely gazed at the men in front of her.

They were all entwined with wooden vines and thorns. Ensis was scared, not because of the men kneeling and bound in front of Fragrantia, but because the dress of the Empress was stained with blood and she seemed to be bleeding. Fragrantia was hurt.

Ensis shouted, “Someone, heal, Her Excellency!!!”