The Runic Alchemist

It finally ended. Damian and Mindseer also moved near Land-breaker and Hellstorm. He did not expect Asael to show any mercy to Hellstorm, who had seriously tried to take the fourth ranker’s life. Without the powerful dungeon relic—made useless by him—there was a very real possibility Hellstorm might manage to injure Land-breaker; killing him would take more than that.

Still, the Land-breaker had stopped hearing Hellstorm’s words. His giant sword was still in the air above Hellstorm’s fallen figure.

Suddenly, Damian heard some grunting from a distant edge of the rocky island—all four of them looked in the direction of the noise. It was Lily of Ruin, finally regaining her senses and managing to fly up the mountain from the rocky side with one broken hand. The full fight had not lasted even two minutes.

Just as their eyes fell on her, she too looked towards them, quickly putting the situation together from the scene before her eyes. Surprise, fear, despair were evident. She knew at that moment that Damian or the Land-breaker could kill her any second if they wanted. She took a split-second decision, turned around, and tried to get away at her maximum speed.

Damian chained four wormholes and caught up to her easily—actually, he was ahead of her. A kick to her fleeing stomach sent her crashing near the ruins of Bastion. Once again unconscious. If Hellstorm had any hopes of escape left in his heart, it was truly squashed now.

Damian landed beside the Land-breaker; he was still staring at Hellstorm with gritted teeth.

“There is a line between doing a knight’s duty and mindless subservience,” Asael said at last.

“Easier said than done when you are the strongest existence in the world—not everyone gets a choice,” Hellstorm answered, then spit out the blood.

The man had frustration in his eyes, even some moisture—a total contrast to his earlier façade of a cocky attitude.

“Whose idea was this? You already had a powerful dungeon relic with you to trap me. Did you take this island so you could ambush me right as I come out of the dungeon?” Asael asked.

Hellstorm nodded. But he did not give up the name. “I won’t betray the trust of my liege.”

It was simple enough to guess from just that. Nothing in Faerunia happened without Sea Snake’s approval. For such a risky job, it had to be schemed by the Sea Snake himself. The Land-breaker snorted, then he pulled his giant sword back, placing it on his shoulder.

Mindseer started asking, “Should I not have—” but Land-breaker grabbed her shoulder mid-sentence.

“Death is the appropriate punishment for this lot—but I did not defeat this one entirely on my own,” Land-breaker said.

All three turned towards Damian himself. He would have loved to rob Faerunia of its three third-rankers—but having them as bargaining chips would be much less troublesome and useful. Well, technically only two chips—one was long gone.

Damian looked towards Hellstorm. “Believe it or not—even if your nephew has turned his face away from us—I don’t want to take his loved one away from him. You once spared me—now the debt is paid.”

The relief in Hellstorm’s eyes told them clearly how much ‘prepared’ for his brave end he really was. Still, the guy was indeed an exemplary knight. Damian doubted it was also a reason why the Land-breaker had spared him himself. Not to mention Hellstorm was the best student the Highsword Academy had produced for a century—Land-breaker was present at that time.

Damian still pulled out the heavy runic steel handcuffs he had made. He modified it a bit for Lily of Ruin—focusing on aura leakage instead of mana. Pugilists had barely any trace amount of mana; if he put the normal ones on her, she would go into a coma from extreme lack of mana. The corpse of Depthcaller was also taken by him—he was going to meet the Faerunian representative alongside the Empire’s and Eldoris’. He could pass along his terms there.

Done with the minor convenience, Land-breaker and Mindseer visited the city below. The people of Edgeheaven, Damian had never seen as emotional and happy as he did today. The Supreme Blade was indeed loved by his people. A refreshing mood of festivities and a brighter tomorrow washed over the mundane-looking town—especially when they realized they had finally gotten rid of all the Faerunian soldiers and all the conflict they brought with them to their city.

They had left the unconscious soldiers back at the ruins where they had fallen—Hellstorm and Lily of Ruin were also with them. They had no way of getting out of there, as all Faerunian sea vessels were captured by the common people of Edgeheaven on Mindseer’s orders, and seeing their defeated Transcendents, Damian doubted anyone would even try. They were all his prisoners now.

Damian stayed for only a while as he watched the civilians welcoming their guardians back and offering them all that they had to rebuild the Order of Highswords. When finally Damian stepped aside to leave, Mindseer and Land-breaker approached him—the people of Edgeheaven gave them some privacy.

“Though now I am indebted to you for saving me twice—my earlier statement still stands,” said the Supreme Blade.

Damian nodded with a smile. “I would expect nothing less.”

Land-breaker also showed a rare smile and nodded. Then added, “There are things we need to do here—but you should take Mindseer with you when you go to meet this alliance. The truth about the Demons should be known to everyone.”

Damian agreed. Right now, both humans and the Demons saw each other as their natural enemies, and it was not going to go away anytime soon even if they ended the war—but they could stop the violence that was harming thousands every day, at least. If the Demons truly had killed or imprisoned the members of Highswords along with Voidshaper—Land-breaker would not look kindly upon them, whether their kind was treated unfairly in the past or not.

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