Chapter 86: The Shrine (2)
Garran’s eyes were full of fire and hatred. The old man pointed at him.
"Yesterday, you were the little rat whose mana I felt at the manor. So you are the fucker who ruined everything. You heard my plan. That is why Robi came prepared."
Lucard stood calmly above the shrine ruins.
Robi looked from Garran to Lucard, then smiled faintly. He did not deny it. There was no need. Garran had understood part of the truth, but not enough. Garran thought Robi was the planner and Lucard was the spy. That was still better than knowing Lucard had shaped almost everything from the middle.
Celia looked at Lucard too.
Her eyes carried worry, anger, and something else she refused to name while standing on a hill that might become a battlefield. She noticed he looked different now. His face had regained color. The wound in his chest did not seem to trouble him anymore. His eyes had a strange red depth when the last traces of bloodfire faded.
She wanted to ask what had happened.
She also wanted to shout at him for hiding in the shrine and almost letting everyone burn.
She did neither because Garran was still there.
Lucard looked at Garran and said, "You speak a lot for someone whose spell was just eaten by the ground."
Garran’s face darkened.
"The ground did not eat it."
Lucard lifted his hand. A tiny trace of red-black flame danced for half a breath before vanishing. "No. I did."
The Velkhur fire mages froze.
Robi’s eyes sharpened.
Celia’s mouth opened slightly.
Garran stared at Lucard’s palm. For the first time, his anger had something like caution inside it.
"You absorbed my Bloodfire."
"Yes."
"That is impossible."
Lucard looked at him calmly. "Your grandson thought the same thing about dying."
Tina gasped.
Adrian’s face turned white.
Garran’s mana exploded outward for a moment. The grave ash on the platform scattered. Several guards staggered back. Celia raised her barrier again. Robi’s silver mana formed around his metal hand, ready to block the next strike.
But Garran did not attack immediately.
He studied Lucard.
The young man was not a normal mage. That was clear now. He was not a simple fallen noble. He was not even only a blood spell user. He had absorbed a Blood Ember Stone’s released bloodfire through a hidden formation and lived. He was standing above the shrine with a calm face, as if stealing forbidden flame from a Velkhur elder was only a small afternoon task.
Garran hated him.
But he also began to understand why Dorian died.
Robi spoke at that moment.
"Garran, your forbidden art nearly killed everyone here. You used a Blood Ember Stone during a meeting. There are enough witnesses. Do you still want to call this an explanation?"
Garran turned his eyes toward Robi.
"You think witnesses matter after this?"
Robi said, "They matter to families who still care about reputation."
Garran sneered. "Marovain cares about reputation because gold is soft. Velkhur cares about strength."
Lucard looked at him from above. "That explains why you cheat so much."
The whole platform became silent.
Robi’s smile widened despite the danger.
Celia almost looked away because she could feel the fight worsening again.
Garran slowly looked up at Lucard.
"What did you say?"
Lucard said, "If Velkhur only cared about strength, you would not need dirty tricks, hidden fire threads, Blood Ember Stones during a meeting, or ambush men waiting nearby."
Garran’s eyes narrowed.
Robi’s expression changed slightly.
Celia looked toward the surrounding grave stones at once.
Lucard’s words had a reason.
He had not said ambush men by accident. After reaching Second Blood Circle, his senses had improved. The change was not huge, but it was enough. The blood in his body moved more cleanly. His hearing was sharper. His skin felt the air better. More importantly, the trap under the platform still carried a little of his blood, and through it, he could feel small disturbances in the death mana around the hill.
Something was hiding nearby.
Two things.
One was heavy and stable, like a body full of trained force. The other was quiet but deep, like a mage holding back power behind a covered lamp.
Garran had not come with only the people standing in view. He had prepared more.
Garran’s face slowly changed from rage into an ugly smile.
"So you noticed something."
Robi glanced toward the upper slope, then toward the stones near the lower path. His metal fingers moved.
Celia stepped closer to Robi. "Uncle."
Garran laughed.
"You heard my plan, little rat, but you did not know everything. You are still a tiny rat in front of me. Did you think one stolen formation and one old fox beside you could stop me?"
Lucard did not answer.
Garran raised his right hand toward the sky.
Fire gathered at his fingertips.
Robi immediately moved. "Stop him."
Celia’s barrier shot forward, trying to cut Garran’s spell line, but Garran released the fire before it reached him. A red flame beam shot into the sky and burst above Black Barrow Hill like a burning flower.
The signal lit the dead hill in red.
For one breath, nothing happened.
Then the ground shook near the broken tombs on the left side of the terrace.
A large stone slab moved aside.
A man stepped out.
He was tall and broad, wearing dark armor with red fire patterns along the edges. A long sword rested on his shoulder. His body released a heavy force that was different from mana. It was sharper, more physical, and more direct. A faint layer of aura moved over his armor like heat over metal.
A Rank Four knight.
A knight who could use aura.
Peter would have felt crushed if he stood before this man. Even Orven and Malik would not be able to take him easily. His steps were heavy, and every step cracked old stone under his boots.
At the same time, the air behind the ruined shrine became hot.
Lucard’s eyes turned slightly.
From behind one of the broken upper pillars, another figure walked out.
This one wore a dark red mage robe, with the hood lowered enough to reveal an old face and cold eyes. A fire crystal staff rested in his hand. His mana was deep and controlled.
A Fifth Circle mage.
He had been hiding above the shrine, closer to Lucard than anyone else.
The mage looked at Lucard and smiled.
"It seems the rat climbed too high."
Below, Garran laughed loudly.
"Now," he said, spreading his arms, "let us see who prepared better."