"Kid..."
A deep voice broke through the quiet night.
"What type of leader do you want to be?"
The man sat on a large leaf, his legs folded, posture relaxed but steady, like soone who had seen too much to be surprised by anything anymore.
A hat rested low on his head, a scarf covered his mouth, only his eyes showed.
Calm and sharp.
A long dark coat hung from his body, blending into the darkness behind him as the firelight flickered in front.
Opposite him...
Veda sat still in silence.
He wore only a black singlet and black shorts, but his body told a different story.
Bandages wrapped around his arms.
His legs and torso. His cheek was swollen.
One eye slightly puffed, bruises lined his face and neck.
He looked like soone who had been broken, but still chose to sit upright.
Veda stared into the fire. The flas moved, crackling softly.
He didn’t answer imdiately. His brows tightened slightly as he thought, then he sighed.
"Ahhh..."
"Master, I know you would definitely hate my answer but..."
His eyes sharpened.
"I want to be a leader who cherishes his people."
His fist tightened.
"I want to be soone my people can stand beside... soone they can trust... not as a god... not soone untouchable..."
His voice grew firr.
"But soone they can follow as a friend... because all my people... will be my family."
He finished.
Val stared at him expressionless for a while.
The fire crackled between them.
"You are right about not liking your answer."
His voice ca out flat.
"But it’s your choice. So, who am I to stop you?"
He adjusted the burning wood with a stick, pushing it deeper into the fire.
"So... you really think I should be a leader like my father?"
Veda asked, the hesitation in his voice was clear as day.
"Hmm..." Val shook his head slowly. "Veda, you are not like the others."
His tone changed slightly.
"You think about how others feel before yourself... you are always ready to help those in trouble... so would say you are naïve... kind..."
He paused, then pointed the stick at him.
"And stupid."
Veda froze.
It felt like sothing pierced his chest.
"Stupid?"
He pouted.
"But even then..."
Val continued.
"Even when your own family treated you like nothing... you still think about how to save them... how to carry off the burden on your twin sister..."
He exhaled slowly.
"When I think about it properly..." He looked at him. "That is a very stupid mindset. Others would think of revenge... of paying back those who wronged them..."
He rubbed his face.
"But you... you are the complete opposite."
Veda scratched his head, a small smile appeared.
"Hehehe... so I’m different."
"It’s not a complint." Val narrowed his eyes.
Silence for a while...
"Veda..."
Val leaned forward slightly.
"What if you get betrayed by your closest man... or everyone leaves you because of that naïve thinking?"
His gaze sharpened, he stared at Veda with a serious expression.
Veda looked down; his hands clenched slightly.
That question was heavy, too heavy because he knew that things could never go easy, that wasn’t how the world worked but the mont he starts to doubt his people it would be the beginning of cracks.
But that wasn’t what scared him the most.
"Master...I don’t know about that..."
He exhaled slowly.
"If it happens... it just ans I failed to make them my family."
He pointed at himself. "And trust master, I’m really good at gathering comrades."
A small smirk appeared on his face.
"But..."
His voice dropped low.
"I’m more worried about seeing my people die."
His grip tightened on his shirt.
"I don’t want to be in a situation where I can’t save them... where even after I beco stronger... they still die in front of ..."
His expression twisted.
The pain and mory of his maid. How she was executed in front of him, not able to do anything but cry. Everything flashed again in his mind.
"Then beco stronger."
Val answered imdiately.
"Strong enough that fewer people die in front of you."
He paused.
"But people will still die. That won’t change, but you can reduce it and if you trust your people like you said, if they are your family, then believe they will grow too. You aren’t the only one fighting for sothing, but amongst them..."
He raised a finger.
"You must beco a goal for them. Not a god...But soone they look up to. A role model. Your twin sister is already an example. So, you must beco one too and when you do..."
He looked straight at Veda.
"Your presence to them will be a staircase they must continue to climb. A motivation they need to push their growth and as a leader..."
His voice hardened slightly.
"You must never let your people see you lose."
***
Veda rembered those words clearly, so clearly that it felt like he was back there again.
A small smile ford on his face.
He turned his head slightly and glanced toward the castle gate, even from here he could feel it.
Their gaze.
Waiting and hoping for his win.
So, this... is what he ant by being a pillar.
The smile faded and his eyes sharpened.
Then...
He moved.
In a blink, the two revolvers left his hands, tossed slightly into the air.
At the sa ti, his arm reached behind him, fingers gripping the wooden stakes that had been planted along the wall and ground by his group.
He pulled them out in one motion and threw them forward.
Hard.
The force behind the throw tore through the air, the stakes spinning rapidly as they rushed toward the Kalian.
The Kalian didn’t slow down, it kept running toward him as its feet dug into the ground, each step cracking the surface slightly, small bursts forming under its feet from the sheer speed and pressure of its movent.
Its blades moved fast.
The whip-like edges cut through the incoming stakes mid-air, cleanly splitting them into pieces that scattered in different directions, then it thrust forward.
Its right blade shot out like a spear, cutting straight through the air toward Veda’s chest.
Veda stepped in. Forward.
His hands caught the falling revolvers mid-motion and leaned slightly to the side...
CLANK!
He used one revolver like a baton, pressing it sideways against the thrusting blade, stopping it just before it could reach him.
Sparks burst out.
Bright orange sparks, as tal scraped against tal.
His feet moved, running forward while redirecting the force, then he spun.
His other hand adjusted its grip on the second revolver.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots fired in quick succession.
The Kalian reacted instantly. Its other blade moved.
Slash, Slash, Slash.
Each bullet was cut apart mid-air, small flashes bursting as they split into fragnts, then its arms rotated.
Both blades expanded.
Spinning.
Turning into a violent vortex of whipping steel that tore through the air toward Veda’s position.
Veda stepped back, just a little but enough, then he moved sideways.
A quick side sorsault carried him out of the path of the first slash, the blade passing close enough for him to feel the pressure of the air shift against his skin before he could land...
Another slash ca.
CLANK!
He raised his other revolver and blocked the slash.
Another ca for his neck...
Bang!
He fired from below, the bullet striking the incoming blade just enough to redirect it upward, saving his throat by a narrow margin. He didn’t pause.
His body kept moving.
Step, slide, turn. Every motion, tight and controlled.
He avoided everything, barely.
Click, Click.
The cylinders of both revolvers spun empty. No hesitation, he threw one revolver straight at the Kalian’s face, at the sa ti his fingers slipped into his space bag, three daggers appeared between them and he threw them smooth and fluid.
The Kalian shifted.
Left and right.
Its body weaving through every incoming weapon with precise movents, avoiding them by the smallest margins.
Then...
Clap!
The sound ca from right in front of it. Too close.
The Kalian’s eyes dropped instantly.
Veda, standing directly before it. Cognis surged between his palms, visible like a faint pressure in the air and an alchemy circle ford instantly beneath his hands.
The two revolvers on the ground lted.
The Kalian reacted imdiately.
Its blades snapped back from their extended whip form into shorter, solid blades.
It stabbed forward with both hands, but...
The weapon had already ford. A rifle. The Repeater Sword Rifle.
The mont it appeared, Veda grabbed it, he jumped and spun.
CLANK! CLANK!
Both incoming stabs were blocked mid-air as he rotated, the rifle catching the blades and pushing them aside with force.
The Kalian stepped back. Its footing was unstable for just a brief second.
Veda landed, one knee touching the ground. He didn’t give the monster any space of ti.
Bang! Bang!
He fired imdiately.
The Kalian’s tail moved. Armored.
Blocked both bullets, then the Kalian’s body tightened. Its muscles flexed and presence changed. It surged forward fast.
Its blade slamd against Veda.
Veda turned the rifle horizontally and blocked but the force lifted him off the ground.
The Kalian vanished.
Then...
It reappeared above him and disappeared again.
"Argh...!"
Veda adjusted mid-air, twisting his body...From the left...The Kalian appeared again.
Its blade ca down hard.
CLANK!
Veda blocked again but again the impact sent him flying to the right.
His hands trembled, the force behind that strike ran through his arms, shaking his grip.
"So, this..." He muttered under his breath. "...is the strength of a ister rank alchemist."
Before he could recover...The Kalian appeared again behind him and struck.
He was sent flying forward.
"Tsk...!"
All this ti, he was still mid-air.
No footing, no stability.
His eyes moved, trying to track it, but before he could...
It appeared again above him.
"Shit."
CLANK!
Their weapons collided again mid-air, sparks scattering briefly before fading into the cold air.
The Kalian pressed down hard, driving him toward the ground.
BOOM!
Bang!
A shot rang out.
They crashed.
The ground split deeply from the impact, dust and fragnts erupting outward in a violent burst imdiately the Kalian jumped back, its hand went to its right ear, then it roared loud, pain-filled.
Veda had fired mid-fall.
His left hand had already moved into his space bag during the descent and took out a Big-4barrel revolver and fired.
The aim wasn’t perfect, but it hit.
The monster’s right ear was torn apart as Veda crashed fully into the ground, but his Cognis hardened his body just enough to reduce the damage.
He pushed himself up slowly, using the Repeater Sword Rifle as support.
Blood ran from his mouth and from his face, his breathing grew heavier.
He looked up.
The Kalian stared back, rage filled its eyes, its arms moved outward.
The blades stretched again, returning to their whip-like form, then it thrusted like a harpoon one the trees nearby...
The blades pierced through them and it dragged them, then it threw the huge trees toward Veda.
Veda reacted imdiately.
The mont the first tree ca crashing down in front of him, he pushed off the ground and jumped backward, his boots scraping against the snow as he created distance, the impact of the falling tree sending fragnts of wood and snow scattering into the air.
Before the debris could settle, another tree followed.
He leaned forward and leaped over it, his body clearing the trunk as it slamd into the ground behind him, the sound heavy and sharp.
Then...
He shifted direction mid-air and stepped onto another tree that was still falling, using it as footing despite its unstable movent, his balance adjusting quickly as he ran along its surface.
The Kalian appeared above him.
Its body cut through the air, its blades extended and thrust forward spinning rapidly, turning into a violent vortex of steel that tore through the tree beneath Veda’s feet.
The wood split apart instantly, breaking into fragnts that fell in all directions.
Veda pushed off, jumping, twisting his body mid-air and fired.
Bang!
The shot was direct.
But...
The spinning blades intercepted it, slicing the bullet apart before it could reach the target.
Both of them landed.
Almost at the sa ti.
The mont their feet touched the ground...
They moved again.
The distance between them closed instantly as steel clashed.
Veda stepped in and blocked a horizontal slash with the body of the Repeater Sword Rifle, his arms tightening as he absorbed the force, then shifted his weight and returned a shot at close range.
The Kalian tilted its blade and deflected the shot, sparks bursting out as the bullet glanced off.
It countered imdiately.
A downward strike ca.
Veda raised the rifle.
Blocked.
Then drove his shoulder forward, attempting to disrupt its balance.
The Kalian stepped back half a step, then kicked fast.
Veda brought his knee up just in ti to take part of the impact, but the force still pushed him backward, his feet digging into the ground as he slid.
He recovered.
Adjusted his stance and moved in again.
The fight beca continuous.
No pauses, no openings.
Veda blocked, shifted and shot while the Kalian sliced, turned and struck.
A punch ca from Veda.
The Kalian leaned slightly to the side and avoided it.
A blade followed imdiately.
Veda twisted his torso and let it pass, then countered with a shot aid at its side.
Blocked.
A kick from the Kalian ca next.
Veda intercepted it with his forearm, but the force still pushed him off balance, forcing him to step back again.
The blades followed, relentlessly not giving him ti to recover.
"Argh...!"
Veda gritted his teeth.
His fingers pressed against the ground as he forced his body to stabilize, then spun low to evade another incoming slash, the blade passing just above his back.
He rose imdiately and returned to fighting.
The exchange continued.
Fast, close and both being very precise with their attacks and defense, but as ti passed...
The difference began to show.
Small cuts appeared on Veda’s arms, on his side and blood began to stain his clothes.
His breathing grew heavier while the Kalian...Remained steady.
Its movents were sharp and unslowed.
"This is bad..."
Veda muttered under his breath as he weaved past another strike, then blocked a follow-up attack, the impact forcing him to take several steps back before he could stabilize himself again.
Another barrage ca imdiately.
"The power of its steel alchemy is very profound..."
He bent slightly, allowing a thrusting blade to pass just inches from his face, the wind from it brushing against his skin.
The Kalian appeared at his side again.
Its leg moved. A kick...
Veda blocked, but the force was overwhelming.
It pushed him away further than before.
The blades followed closing in, giving him no ti to breathe.
"Argh...!"
He forced himself to react.
His body twisted, feet planted and hand pressed against the ground to anchor himself...
he spun.
Evading the incoming strikes by narrow margins before stepping back into range again.
The fight continued, but now...
He was on the defensive.
***
Cognis, derived from natural energy—Essence. In its origin, Essence is divided into two forms.
Life Essence and Death Essence.
Every type of converted power, energy, or gift cos from one of these two, but Cognis is different.
Out of all the converted energy, it is the only discovered power to be derived from blending both Essence.
That was why Alchemy carried two aspects; to destroy and to create.
An alchemist could break down material and form sothing new or destroy what had already been created. Creating the Alchemy principal cycle and within that principle...
There existed a skill.
A skill only few Alchemists can use.
So alchemists had learned how to apply the destructive aspect of alchemy directly in combat.
They targeted their opponent’s alchemy by passing in their Cognis into an opponent’s creation and destroying part of the alchemy structure that held it together.
This technique— was known as the Law of Inversion.
And very few could master it, not to talk of using it.
One of them being Vera, who had used it before.
During her sparring match with Priscilla.
***
Veda’s eyes were fixed on the Kalian’s blades.
Watching them, tracking them and trying to understand their structure.
I have to use it now. No matter what.
His grip tightened.
He had been taught by his master on how to use the Law of Inversion. Guided step by step, but he had failed to master it back then.
So, he kept training. Again, and again.
It took him close to three years to master half of the skill, but now it had beco a trump card for him.
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