Divine Mage

by L Travern

  "What are you laughing about?" She asked with displeasure.

  "I have no problem with it," he lied. "Sadly for you, there's no way you can do it. You're welcome to try if you want. Look, I'll even remove all my items, just so you'll be sure I'm not depending on any of them to resist you."

  He stood up and removed his clothes, his necklace of spatial rings, and the rings on his hands. Completely naked, he sat on the table. He only left a couple loars on the table beside him, just in case he had to defend himself and restore his mana while on it.

  "Oh, you're welcome to try too, Miss Shadow One," he said, looking nowhere in particular. He couldn't feel her, but he had no doubt at all that she was watching him from somewhere. There was no way she had been reading Shadowfox's memories until now.

  Just as he expected, she appeared out of thin air, still wearing her armor that only showed her face. She had been standing in a corner of the room the whole time.

  Helina's eyes widened yet again, seemingly not believing Matthew had agreed just like that.

  To be fair, Matthew should be upset by anyone asking for him to lay his soul bare for them, but Helina's request was perfect for him to check on Shadow One's soul. She would have to use her own soul to try to invade his and he might use it to determine whether she was a golem or not.

  Besides, he expected her to check on his soul sooner or later. It would be better if she tried to do so in a controlled environment.

  Thirdly, he had a hypothesis about her true power and it might be the chance to confirm it.

  The Crusader wordlessly touched his head, Helina hurried and did the same.

  Matthew felt wave after wave of mana entering his body and soul, scanning every single part of it. Some of it was painful, some of it injured his body, and some of it tried to injure his soul, too.

  Helina's and Shadow One's soul were completely different. It wasn't about form, both would look humanoid if he looked at them. It was about what they were made of, their textures, how they felt when touched.

  Helina's soul behaved like a human's. It was malleable, flexible, had some softness to it.

  But Shadow One's power was like a huge rocky mountain hitting him! It didn't necessarily mean she was a golem, but golems' souls were constantly tempered by the Earth and Metal Elements that the golems were made of, and thus they tended to feel like those elements.

  What he felt next though, was even more important than Shadow One being a golem.

  Helina only showed an Eminence's level of power. But Shadow One's power completely overshadowed Helina's.

  She was an Ascender!

  That was his hypothesis. When he saw Shadow One the first time and used Check Level on her, he saw that she was an Eminence with a veil to pass up as a Champion. However, during her fight, she managed to create a barrier to lock space that resisted the Eminence trying to destroy it, another barrier to resist the attack from two Eminences, and still mounted a counterattack.

  She had tried to act burdened by the fight, but even Matthew wouldn't be able to do something like that if he was fighting other Champions in the same situation. There was simply no way he would have enough mana to withstand the all-out attacks from three other Champions in two different fronts, which showed that either he mana pool was too large or she had access to a treasure that aided her with it.

  There was also the very strange fact that the Temple of Time's Ascender had immediately run away without even trying to save his companions as if he wasn't confident in being able to do so.

  Since then, he had suspected her being more powerful than the average Eminence, and now he had confirmed it!

  She was most likely a golem though, not a Mage. Her soul was likely from a human, which had been put in the golem, but she was like a beast, with access to magic in a different manner than humans. What magic exactly depended on many factors he didn't know of, like the materials used on her construction, the formations placed on her, what kind of core she was using, her elemental constitution, and even how long she had been functioning.

  What he did know was that she had only shown Eighth-level spells when going against the Eminences, but Ninth-level spells when trying to infiltrate his soul. Maybe she didn't think he would recognize soul spells, or was too anxious about doing it, or even only had access to Ninth-level spells of the Soul Element.

  Regardless, her mana pool was Ascender-level and she was bound to have some cards on her sleeve.

  All of that meant he had to change his plans.

  To begin with, he wouldn't be able to talk her into betraying her master and joining his side; golems were absolutely loyal to whoever controlled them. If she had been a Champion Golem, he might have tried to 'hack' her and forcibly take control of her, maybe even an Eminent Golem, but he couldn't do so to an Ascending Golem.

  Also, the trap he required to deal with her should be fit for an Ascending Golem who might be a human Ascending Mage, and it had to be infallible, or she would kill him the moment it failed. But the only way to achieve that with his Champion power was by making her trust him enough to analyze her and understand what she was made of, so he could adapt his trap to her.

  He...

  He wasn't sure he could make her trust him. He had ways to improve his chances, but he couldn't be sure.

  He would plan for it, but he would also look for an opening to flee from her. Plan C would be borrowing an uncontrollable external power to deal with her while he fleed.

  Thus, he formulated plan A, plan B, and plan C, and he just had to luck out with one of them to survive. Unfortunately, luck had to be part of his plans.

  Meanwhile, Helina and Shadow One assaulted his mind repeatedly. He didn't protect himself; he merely didn't open his mind, and his soul resistance protected him passively. Strong dizziness and mental pain befell him while they tried to weaken his mind to invade it. If his soul was any weaker, his mind would've been broken by the powerful attacks.

  In fact, despite Helina's attacks being of the Eighth-level, her attacks were almost as effective as Shadow One's Ninth-level spells. Matthew could vaguely feel that her mana wasn't coming from her body and guessed at her using a treasure to achieve that.

  The process took hours. It had been a long time since Matthew was put under so much pain for so long, and he found it... Interesting.

  Pain. He had long forgotten how horrible it could be. How effective its usage against weakly-willed people was. If he was just a demon and not a reincarnated Origin Immortal with eons of experience lapidating his willpower, he would've failed to resist the drilling spells.

  As it was, he ignored it and used the opportunity to analyze all the spells that were used on him. Even though he couldn't see their signatures, by feeling their power, the mana they were made of, and their effects, he could analyze them to a degree and be inspired by them.

  About three hours later, Helina gave up. Blood was coming out of her nose and ears and she was whiter-than-white pale. The failed attack had cost him dearly.

  Two hours after that, Shadow One was the one to take her hand off of Matthew and step back. She, however, was looking perfectly fine.

  Matthew immediately used a spell to heal his body, stood up and put his clothes back on.

  "This is impossible," Helina whispered, then said aloud, "I saw what she did, how could you resist it?" She turned to Shadow One. "The power you used was-"

  "Prophetess!" Shadow One said, interrupting Helina. "You will stand out of the Immortal Crusade's business, or I'll make you!"

  Helina, who had recovered a bit in the last hours, paled again and shut up. Matthew confirmed then that Shadow One didn't think Matthew would be able to detect her true power through her soul attacks.

  He finished clothing himself. "I told you that you couldn't do it." He smiled and decided to lay the bait for his trap before Shadow One became frustrated and attacked him directly. "Now, can we discuss the plans for the future? I'm sure the Immortal Crusade must be dying to know what I plan on doing with m
y life." He said provocatively and hoped it would keep her interest. "Sara, wake Mark and get Darkfox to prepare breakfast for us."

  "Yes, young master," she said.

  Shadow One frowned while looking at Matthew but didn't attack. He considered that a success.

  * * *

  Less than half an hour later, Matthew, Mark, Sara, Shadow One, Helina, and Darkfox were sitting around the table, which was filled with all kinds of food.

  "This is delicious," Matthew told Darkfox. Although the food couldn't compare to some of the things he had eaten when he stood at the top of the universe, it was still great.

  "Thank you, First Champion," Darkfox said.

  Sara poured Matthew some juice as soon as he emptied his cup.

  Matthew was surprised at her recent docility, but he had seen stranger things. The mind of people could work in mysterious ways sometimes.

  Shadow One wasn't eating but looked more anxious by the minute. Matthew believed that he had postponed her next attack by speaking about his future plans, and now that her mental state was unstable it was time to lay the second, most important bait.

  "Alright, people," he said with his mouth full. "Tomorrow, we'll start our journey to the White Sea."

  Although it was called a sea, the White Sea was, in fact, a huge area covered by salt as far as the eye could see. Some believed it was a natural geographical feature, while others believed it had been created by magic. It was brimming with Earth and Metal mana, and many smith artificers had set up their workshops in there to increase the quality of their items.

  "Are we visiting the Flying Continent?" Sara asked excitedly.

  The Flying Continent was, as its name suggested, a huge landmass that floated somewhere in the almost endless oceans of that world. Each continent had portals that led there, with the portal of the Fire Continent located at the White Sea City. The portal was a big source of revenue for the city.

  "No," Matthew lied; the Flying Continent was the escape plan he had decided upon, and a fort city on the way had the power he wanted to borrow. "I seem to find an enemy every other step of my journey and the best armor at a relatively close location can be found there, so I'll go and buy one. If I'm lucky, I can also find a flying ship with good defense. I miss my carriage dearly."

  He turned to Darkfox. "I want you to deliver Firestar a message for me."

  "I'm sorry, but I can't, sir," he said with an apologetic voice. "I have other matters to attend to."

  "It wasn't a suggestion," Matthew insisted. "I'm ordering you as the First Champion, in the name of the Valdian Family, using the Urgency Protocol."

  The Urgency Protocol was a tool available to any Notable Mage or stronger in the family, which allowed them to control any other person in the family as long as it was a life-threatening situation. It could override any other order except if an Ancestor told the family member receiving the order to ignore the protocol.

  It wasn't an absolute order; both the people giving the order and the one receiving had to agree that it at least might be a life and death situation. If it wasn't, the one who gave the order would pay the consequences for it, and pay dearly. On the other hand, if it was but the person receiving the order didn't consider it so, that was the one who had to pay.

  It worked that way to discourage fake usage of the protocol, while at the same time encourage family members to help each other in case of great need.

  Dark Fox frowned at that. "I don't see any urgent issue in here, sir."

  Matthew didn't hide his displeasure. "Are you kidding me?"

  Chapter 30 - Onward to the White Sea City

  Chapter 30 - Onward to the White Sea City

  "I'm being hunted by the Temple of Time for harboring someone they consider a traitor," Matthew said, "an Immortal Crusader is following me and actively investigating me, I was ambushed twice before reaching the city — once by an Eminence, another time by beasts —, and hunted by a crazy Duke of the family. Is that proof enough of my life being in grave peril?"

  The man stood straight at his chair. "Hunted by a Duke? Which Duke?"

  "The Duke of the West, of course. I killed a domain wraith in the Unleaving Forest, and he showed up a few days later with an army to kill me. I was lucky that they provoked a lot of beasts in the forest before they managed to get to me."

  "So it was really you," Dark Fox said.

  "Me what?"

  "The Immortal Crusade decided to investigate the Duke after he sent an army hunting for three people without apparent reason. They discovered him to be in cahoots with demons, there was even a pool filled with blood in his basement. The Capital of the West was vanquished by the Crusade, the Duke is missing, and the entire country is under lockdown for investigation purposes."

  It was Matthew's turn to frown. "What do you mean, lockdown?"

  "Flying ships filled with Crusader Mages are stationed all around the country, maintaining a mighty spatial formation that prevents anyone from entering or leaving unless they have special permission from the Crusade. The Ancestors themselves are behaving like lap dogs to the Crusade, doing whatever they can to please them so they leave as soon as possible."

  Matthew turned to Shadow One. "You can get us past the barrier, right? I must get to the Three Towers and if I have to wait, I won't be able to visit the White Sea City first."

  "The investigation will probably end in a week or so," the Crusader explained. "It should take us longer to get to the country's borders."

  White Sea City was two weeks away from Lamia.

  "How so?" Matthew asked. "It will only take one week to investigate the entire nation?"

  "There are more formations being used than just a spatial lockdown one," she replied without providing more specific information.

  That made sense. It seemed that finding demons who hadn't yet used demonic magic was very difficult, as seen by the Crusader who was personally investigating him, but a simple formation allowing people to spy anywhere in the country, and enough people to do the spying, and the chances increased considerably.

  Not to mention that a formation to detect demonic magic would do wonders to find the demons who weren't that good in hiding, especially if news about the investigation was kept suppressed. Matthew, for instance, had spent an entire day in the market and heard nothing about it.

  "Even if it's not complete by them, they don't want to waste more resources keeping us in lockdown for much longer than that, unless they find something big, or the Ancestors piss them off," Dark Fox said.

  That also made sense. An Overlord might be powerful enough to fuel a formation to lock space around a nation, but it was unlikely that he would waste his time like so. Thus, equivalent mana energy had to be spent, be it by using Ascenders or mana crystals.

  In either case, even by wasting an Overlord's time, the Immortal Crusade wouldn't want to just keep the spatial lockdown going on forever, especially in a small unimportant country like the Valdian Kingdom.

  Matthew nodded. "So, not only was I ambushed by the Duke of the West, but he's also a demon-lover fugitive wanted by the Crusade. It should be enough to prove my life is in danger, right?"

  Dark Fox nodded. "Yes, sir. Even though the Immortal Crusade is required to protect you for at least three days, that's not enough time in your circumstances."

  "Wait, the Crusade is required to protect me?" Matthew wasn't aware of that, Sara had said nothing either, and even the Eminence hadn't known it.

  It was clear that Dark Fox was a very special intelligence agent. The door, his identification or knowledge of Shadow One being a golem, his knowledge of the Crusade rules despite being only a Champion, everything pointed to there being more to the man than met the eyes.

  "That's enough," Shadow One said.

  Dark Fox looked at Matthew. If the latter ordered the former to disobey the Crusade, Dark Fox would, but he would rather not.

  Matthew shook his head. "Anyway, the message to Firestar. Will you deliver it?"

  "Yes."r />
  "Alright," Matthew said. "Tell him to go fuck himself."

  Everybody in the table, including the Crusader, froze in surprise.

  "I..." Dark Fox started.

  Matthew smiled. "Don't worry, he'll understand. It's a code between us."

  It wasn't a code between them, but Firestar would understand. After losing control over Sara, and probably over Mark too, then being told to go fuck himself, Firestar would be aware that Matthew had figured some of the man's ploys and wasn't happy about them.

  "Alright, sir," Dark Fox replied without much conviction. It just wouldn't be healthy to tell the most powerful man in the family to go fuck himself even if it was a coded message, and Dark Fox was already regretting having agreed to deliver it.

  "Good." Matthew turned to Mark. "I found something in the market that will allow us to begin your training sooner." He produced a black flower from his spatial ring.

  "What is this, young master?" Mark asked, his eyes gleaming in happiness for being able to get strong faster.

  "A simple Dark Moon Flower, a fifth-grade ingredient. It can store an ability signature inside, which can later be forced upon the body of a warrior, speeding the process of learning new martial techniques. Sadly, using it consumes it, and although its grade is low, its rarity makes it expensive. Only wealthy warriors end up using it."

  "It will allow me to learn a technique before my body is fully healed?" Mark asked, trying to guess how it could help him.

  Matthew shook his head. "No, we'll try to test a conjecture of mine. As you know, one of the reasons warriors fail to learn Martial Arts, sometimes dying in the process, is that their bodies have muscle memories that affect their movements. The new Valdian Martial Arts change that by using both martial movements that are more familiar to anyone and completely different movements that won't be affected by faulty muscle memory.

  "Now, your body is healthy enough to keep walking for an entire day, but I still won't allow you to practice Martial Arts. Why? Because a big part of your life was dedicated to the faulty Martial Arts that you learned previously and you still have muscle memory from that time. Although the new Valdian Martial Arts are harmless for a newbie warrior to learn, the same cannot be said for people who already learned different Martial Arts before. Your mind is almost hardwired to work in different ways.