Raith stood silently with the others, in front of all of them...
...
...
"Can’t I just step back a little?" He begged again.
"No great one. You can’t" Hans insisted.
The soulless leader had insisted that Raith stayed in front of all the gathered soulless to receive the bounty hunters who had left so years ago to source for resources for the others.
Raith had thought that it would take them a while to return, at first he was shocked that they were coming back so quickly. But the later he thought about, the more he realized this was a good situation for him. He wouldn’t have to fight the sky lord after all.
Based on the way the people revered these guys, the way even Hans looked, Raith could tell they were big shots. Perhaps the strongest soulless around here.
Soon they began to co. What Raith first felt was a heavy footstep and a trendous aura that got his skin hair up. He frowned a little bit and paid more attention than he was a second before.
Of course nothing freaked him that much about the aura that he felt, if anything, he could take care of it with [force] but one of the things that having [soul force] had done for Raith was enable him to accurately judge an opponent’s power.
If he is an accurate judge of power, then needless to say, he had to be a reasonable respecter also.
Imdiately, Raith felt the powerful aura, he knew. This was not the aura of so guy who had inherited power from so gods or archons or any supernatural entity.
Whoever it was, the guy reeked or bloodlust and slayed souls. The floor shook gently as they drew nigh towards the gate. So did the expression of the people. They grew wider in eyes and lips gaping in excitent.
A massive, wolf-like creature lumbered into view, struggling to fully fit its imnse fra through the wide gateway.
Though the gate spanned over ten ters across, the beast’s sheer size still made passage difficult. Loads and packs of all sizes were strapped across its back and sides.
While its head was that of a typical wolf, the similarities ended there.
Standing before Raith was a hulking creature with snow-white fur covering its powerful, pillar-like limbs. Its paws alone looked to be the size of small boulders. This was no ordinary wolf - this was a beast of legendary proportions.
Perched atop the mythical creature was a high-spirited young man with a daring gleam in his eyes. He had a lean but tautly muscular build, with a rugged yet striking face that hinted at his intrepid nature.
Trailing closely behind the beast were three weary figures, their clothing tattered from arduous travels.
One had a vibrant red scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth. Next to him walked a striking woman with long, snowy hair that cascaded over her porcelain skin.
Though her eyes lacked pupils altogether, she strode along steadily with no support.
Lastly ca a brown-haired young man with a blood-stained face half hidden behind a faded blue muffler coiled around his neck.
That was him... that was the guy.
Raith’s eyes stayed on the last guy with a blue muffler. Even in his disheveled state, an aura of determination and resilience surrounded him. He walked with his eyes closed, hands folded over his chest and sword stuck in between.
But all his senses were vigilante, as if he too had sensed the presence of sothing that had never been there before.
After they entered, the guy on top of the mount slid down and tumbled to the ground, body breaking apart. He stood and rearranged himself like he was a doll.
With a big smile, he approached Hans who was standing behind Raith.
"Mr Hans. It’s been a long ti! How long now? Like four, five years?" He babbled, eyes looking up as he tried to rember.
Then he belatedly caught wind of the person next to Mr Hans. He stuck his head forward, a frown of curiosity etching on his face.
"Who is this stranger?" He inquired.
Strangely enough, the mont he did others shifted their attention to Hans who was about to answer.
Hans cleared his throat, looked at Raith and opened his mouth.
"This man here... is the great one. I sent you a ssage that a man has passed the qualifications to be our leader. The darkness in the depth has been vanquished and the shadow-bourne has finally died."
The guy with a blue muffler beca very grim and stepped forward.
"Each one of us trained for centuries for the sole purpose of defeating that thing and you claim that this scrawny human entered and defeated it?"
"Tsck, oh oh, watch your language Reeves."
He frowned and continued in arrogance, staring intensively at Raith.
"You trust Hans don’t you... if he is saying it then it must be the truth." the lady said softly.
"I know... but who can tell what his intentions are for us? Didn’t you see what the leaders of human nations do to the world. Because of their decisions, this world is falling into ruins, everything is getting worse by the second."
"And you think you can do a better job?"
Raith’s cool voice interrupted him.
Reeves paused, heaving angrily at Raith, his brows furrowed while his eyes stayed on the porcelain skinned young man before him.
Everyone was equally silent and expecting him to say sothing but instead he gritted his teeth and stayed in silence. At least he was wise enough to know that answering such a question would be very stupid.
Raith nodded and smiled a little bit.
"You question the way kingdoms are ruled, you question why things couldn’t be better, everybody thinks they can do a better job but in truth you’ve never been at a position where you need to lead before so you just might ss up as bad. You’ve never been put in a place where you’ll be making decisions for tons of people, what? You think it’s a walk in the park? You don’t think every leader out there is in a dilemma because they can’t choose what their people want but rather they can only go for what is necessary."
Raith looked at the guy keenly and sighed.
"See, I’m not denying the fact that there are bad people. What I am trying to tell you however is that, you do not judge the leaders based on how the world has turned out. There are too many factors at play here... cut them so slack."
When Raith was done, everyone fell utterly silent. None of the bounty hunters could say anything, all four of them stood speechless.
Maybe they’ve never had soone stand up to them in such manner before.
"Yeah! I wanna fight him! Can I fight him Hans?! Is he strong?!"
"No Taman, you can’t fight him."
Hans replied to the high spirited young man.
"Speaking about fights. We have one coming up very soon." He said to the hunters.
At once all their faces beca serious again.
"What happened? Did the sky lord co again?" The lady of them asked.
Hans looked and nodded.
"You’re right, he sent his lackey again and this ti I think he will be coming personally... since now we have a leader."
Reeves frowned, "he’ll try to initiate a duel. Winner takes it all."
"That is the sa thing I said." Hans alleged.
"Hans, all four of us co together cannot defeat the sky lord. How do you expect any of us to win?" Reeves asked, almost panicking in his voice.
Reeves, Toman, the lady – Eileen, and the silent guy – Sanuf all stayed silent for a second or two. Then a slight frown creased upon their faces. They all turned to Hans with an unbelievable expression.
"I swear, the great one is a man capable of fighting..."
"Hans stop. We’ll be the determinant for that. I told you... four of us co together wouldn’t still be enough to best the sky lord and yet you recklessly think this guy here can beat him?"
Hans frowned.
"I’ve made my decision as the regent of this group, and I don’t need your consent for it. You either trust in my decisions and the prophecy of the Divine Nightmare or walk out this instance."
All of them beca silent.
"Hans, I believe and I trust you decision. There’s no ho for apart from this place." Toman comnted and moved closer to Raith.
He glared into his grey eyes and moved back his head after a couple of seconds away, shoulder shivering as he walked away muttering.
"Scary, so scary"
Reeves frowned at Raith. But he seed to be the only one with problem. Then he sighed and let ease the facial expression.
"I’m sorry, I didn’t an to undermine your authority. I’m just really cautious and I don’t want humans taking advantage of us."
"What does it matter Reeves? The most important part is that he defeated the shadow Bourne. What else do you need?"
Reeves smiled, closing his eyes and dropping his head.
"You are right. That belief has ford our culture and that is the most important thing, even we tried over and over again but could not defeat that thing. Each ti we are left hanging by death’s door, to have soone defeat him is a miracle... which is why I want to ask for a favor."
His eyes got very serious as he now looked at Raith.
"What is it?" Hans inquired.
"Is it okay if I test him?"
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