(Meanwhile, Su Yang and Aegon Veyr’s POV, The Time Stilled World)
Over a year and a half had passed since Su Yang first entered the Time Stilled World, and with diligent practice and aggressive perseverance, he too had reached the Monarch Tier of strength.
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
The clash of steel echoed sharply across the barren training plains as Su Yang’s blade swept forward in a fast diagonal arc, the strike cutting through the air with lethal precision as the man standing opposite him reacted instantly.
mander Sparrow stepped back half a pace as he deflected the blow, his own sword twisting smoothly as the metal rang loudly against Su Yang’s weapon before both fighters separated again with controlled footwork.
Dust rolled across the training ground beneath their boots as the two Monarch-tier warriors circled one another carefully, their breathing steady despite the long sparring session that had already stretched well past an hour.
Inside the Time Stilled World, Monarch-tier fighters were rare, and although Su Yang only knew the warrior standing opposite him as mander Sparrow, the truth was that the man before him was none other than the Cult’s Dragon, Aegon Veyr.
After concealing his identity, Veyr had adopted the alias mander Sparrow, a nickname that had been given to him because of the nimble and elusive nature of his footwork during battle, and somehow the name had stuck ever since.
With so few Monarch-tier warriors inside the Time Stilled World, sparring partners at that level were extremely limited, which was precisely why Su Yang and mander Sparrow had found themselves crossing blades almost every single day for the past several months.
On the surface, the two men could not have been more different.
Su Yang was a prodigy of the Su Clan, a younger master whose veins carried the bloodline of one of the universe’s most powerful families, and even though he had chosen to remain within the Time Stilled World for extended training, his life here was still one of fort and respect.
mander Sparrow, on the other hand, was believed to be nothing more than a disciplined cult soldier who had climbed through the ranks through sheer effort, a man who trained like a possessed madman and who rarely left the training fields except to sleep.
Yet despite the difference in their reputations, the moment their blades met, those differences vanished pletely.
Because mander Sparrow fought like a monster.
Their blades clashed again as Su Yang lunged forward with a rapid series of strikes, his sword flashing three times in quick succession as Veyr parried each blow cleanly before sliding forward with a counterattack that forced Su Yang to twist his body sideways to avoid the returning strike.
*CLANG*
Steel rang again.
Both men stepped apart simultaneously.
For several seconds neither moved.
Then almost at the same time they both burst forward again.
The next exchange came faster.
Sharper.
More brutal.
Blades collided repeatedly as the sound of metal striking metal echoed across the empty plains, their footwork tearing shallow trenches across the hardened ground as both fighters pushed themselves to the edge of exhaustion.
Finally, after nearly another ten minutes of relentless exchanges, both warriors disengaged at the same time before collapsing onto the training field.
Su Yang fell onto his back while Veyr dropped beside him, both men staring up at the strange sky of the Time Stilled World while their chests rose and fell heavily.
For several moments neither spoke.
Then Veyr finally chuckled.
"You’re quite a tough nut to crack,"
Veyr said as he turned his head slightly toward Su Yang with a tired chuckle.
"I? I am a tough nut to crack? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound? I am Su Yang, and within me flows the divine blood of the Su Clan. You, Sparrow, however, are nobody, and yet you can go toe-to-toe with me. You are the real freak of nature here."
Su Yang countered, as mander Sparrow merely smiled faintly at the pliment.
Internally, however, Aegon Veyr almost scoffed.
If Su Yang truly knew the bloodline that flowed through his veins, the young master might not sound quite so confident about that parison.
But the thought remained unspoken, as he instead replied the way mander Sparrow would.
"It’s all for the glory of the Cult,"
Veyr replied calmly, as Su Yang pushed himself up slightly on his elbows before raising an eyebrow.
"This is something I don’t understand about you Cult soldiers," he said thoughtfully. "Why are you all so fanatically loyal to the Cult? If you ever considered joining the Su Clan, I could make you richer than most military manders in the universe and ensure you lived like royalty.
Now don’t misunderstand me, I would never poach a soldier from my good friend Leo, but I am curious why someone like you would willingly stay here."
Veyr remained quiet for a moment as he stared at the sky above them.
Then he answered.
"The Cult is my home," he said simply. "The Cult raised me when I had nothing, and a man who forgets his roots and his honor is not a man at all. It does not matter how powerful I bee later in life, what matters is who stood beside me when I was weak and who believed in my dreams when nobody else saw anything worth believing in."
Su Yang listened quietly.
"That man," Veyr continued calmly, "is my Lord, Leo Skyshard.
He has put his life on the line for the Cult more times than anyone in this universe could count, and when a leader stands that firmly for his people, the only honorable response is to stand just as firmly beside him when the battlefield calls."
He turned his head slightly toward Su Yang.
"When my Lord calls for me to fight, I will answer. And so will every soldier who stands beneath the banner of the Cult."
For a moment Su Yang said nothing.
Then slowly he nodded, a trace of genuine respect appearing in his eyes.
"I see," he said quietly, as he finally realized as to why the Cult was such a formidable force.
They worshipped their leader to death, not because they had to....
But because they wanted to.
And such loyalty was hard to beat.
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