"Aura…" muttered Ezra, dazed.
"…!"
It was an astounding development.
"I thought aura could only be formed at Expert-rank"
'Apparently I was wrong'
What he brought out before Bard on their first meeting was an imitation of aura, not a true aura.
He took a deep breath as a sense of fulfillment came upon him.
He stared at the black halo, suddenly straightening his hand and closing his arms.
'Concentrate, focus. That feeling…was it like this?'
Immediately, the halo blended onto his arm like a gauntlet.
"Hoo…" surprises just kept compounding.
Then, the halo faded away, leaving a smile on Ezra's face.
'It's still unstable I guess'
He couldn't control it well.
The moment it faded away completely, Ezra's thinking slowed down to a slug's pace.
Before he could wonder what was happening, he fell on his back and blacked out.
—-----------------
Meanwhile, the Emperor was experiencing setbacks of his own.
"Gah! How is this possible? It should have been completely expunged by now!"
Five years had passed, and unfortunately, expunging the entirety of the poison still proved to be too much of a task.
His budgeted five years had elapsed, yet his aim remained unaccomplished.
The war burnt through resources faster than wildfire, and while this wasn't depreciative in the short term, long term though, Niton would find itself worse for wear at the war's end.
Thankfully, what remained wasn't much.
'This'll be over in a year' he thought with conviction. That was the maximum amount of time he could keep the war going as people had gotten tired. Stretching it anymore could have unpredictable consequences.
—--------------------
Bolton tapped his cheeks in contemplation.
He'd been instigating incidents all over the place.
Among them was the Black Jaws failed assassinations.
And the fact that they survived an attack from a Master-rank assassin meant…
'They have a Master in their midst' thought Bolton.
'This is becoming troublesome'
He had gauged the strengths of Cabrera and Nathan with hidden artifacts.
So he was sure it was neither of them.
'This was unplanned for' Bolton sighed.
'Just who is it? Who could it be?'
It was irritating.
Having checked the status of all known masters in Niton, nothing came up on finding the Master connected to their guild.
He then began checking on masters of the nearby powers.
Alas, that search came up fruitless as well.
Bolton wanted to pull out his hair in frustration. Black Jaws was more annoying than he initially thought.
But giving up wasn't an option.
'I have to get to the bottom of this'
—-----------------------
Meanwhile, other scenes were happening in the war zone.
At Niton's main camp, few sat around, tending to their injuries.
A line of people walked in, their bodies bloodier than most but their gazes unwavering.
"Is that them?" one asked.
"Yeah" his comrade replied.
"I heard they are all from a new guild"
The other sneered.
"That's impossible. You must have heard wrong. Didn't you hear? Their kill count is in the top hundred. Top hundred! Even though they arrived about a year ago!"
"Eh? I don't think they've joined for a year though"
"Exactly my point" the other said.
"So how can they be from a new guild?"
"Then how come we never heard of them till now?" the other countered.
"That…" he blinked in confusion.
"Maybe they trained in secret"
"By who?"
"Eh…could be the royal family" he nodded to himself.
"Or any of the five great noble families"
Cabrera, who could hear the conversation, just smiled in amusement.
Yes, the group being discussed was the Black Jaws unit.
Ever since they stepped into the scene of war, they had accomplished much.
From the death of thousands with poison and traps, to the advanced fighting techniques of the members, or the fact that their unit of Experts took down a Master…
There was too much to say.
As their fame skyrocketed, so did their enemies, and Cabrera wouldn't have it any other way.
Of the initial five hundred Black Jaws guild members, four hundred and fifty-six remained.
Beside him was another figure cloaked in a black hood.
This was Fredrick. Thanks to a Platinum-rank artifact, his level was hidden away from everyone.
Even Grandmasters would have a hard time seeing through it.
Once the assassination failed, Fredrick knew that it wouldn't take a genius to realize that Black Jaws was hiding something.
It was for this specific reason that Cabrera came to the warfront.
He came to use the experience to propel himself into Master-rank.
—----------------------
Ezra woke a day later, panting as his muscles felt like iron.
Fatigue had compounded on him.
It was a baffling situation. Ezra's physique should stave off fatigue for at least five days.
'But…this much fatigue? How long was I in the mind space?' he wondered, looking around.
Wiping his hands on the floor revealed dust, lots of it. And looking at the ceiling, cobwebs lay at his gaze.
'This much dust and those cobwebs…a month?'
He had used a month without realizing.
A small chuckle left his lips, when his stomach cried out. Hunger hit Ezra's senses.
He rolled to the jar of grains and shoved them into his mouth.
Only after shoving it into his mouth did the hunger go away. Afterwards, he stood - with a lot of struggle - and cleaned the place and his body.
For three days he didn't train and just rested, and when he realized his body had recovered, he dove right back into the combat imprint's mind space.
His next goal was confirmed.
'I'll master aura and Infinite Forms…who knows, maybe I can combine them'
Like so, he called out his aura and began practicing with it.
His days went as such, at first calling out his aura wore him for a whole day, but soon, he could call it out twice a day, and after, three times a day, and so on.
All the while, he sought to assign a purpose to it.
In his past life, his purpose was to bring death to all the enemies of his lord.
In this life…
'I'll kill everyone-'
He stopped.
'No, I won't just kill them. I-I'll…'
He went on chewing his tongue, looking for the right word.
Then it hit him…
'I'll obliterate them!' he nodded.
'And it won't just be my enemies, but everything and anything standing in my way!'
At that moment, something awoke in him, and in the next moment, he was back in the real world.
He didn't know why, but then, he somehow did.
Without prior knowledge, he pressed his hands together in a lotus posture and dived into meditation.
He found himself in darkness, his body also made of darkness, but he could see clearly.
'The trial?!'
To master aura and turn it into one's own, a test was given, one to test and temper the will of the person. Aura was wielded by, and forged by, one's will, which is why the power of one's aura differed from person to person.
Ezra was surprised.
'Since I have already mastered aura, I didn't expect to be brought for a trial once more'
'What will it be this time?' he smiled.
In his past life, it took three days to pass the trial, because as long as one was true to himself, it wasn't difficult.
Suddenly, the darkness warped and a bowl the size of Ezra's two palms combined appeared.
In it was a white water.
Then a small light shone into the darkness and into the bowl.
'Hmm?' Ezra sat next to the bowl, looking around.
He dipped his finger into it.
The water rippled, and at the same time…
"AH!" Ezra screamed as the tip of his finger was erased.
He retreated, looking around, but nothing changed.
He sought to understand the essence of such a trial.
He looked at the darkness, looked at the light, at the bowl, then at himself - who was made darkness.
'Cleansing darkness with light…to shed one in the light of another'
In a word, it illustrated a 'change'
Ezra's eyes opened in realization, to give one in light of another.
He took a deep breath, clenched his fist to steel his decision and then, he reached the bowl, and poured its contents over himself.
What came after was pain beyond words.
As his body was erased, he saw the light shine brighter, and then, a flash of light took away his consciousness.
"Ugh!"
Some time later, he rubbed his head, grunting in pain as he opened his eyes.
But what he saw left him speechless.
From his body, silver light poured forth.
He stared at his arm covered in this silver light.
Skyfall shook, falling off his clothes and onto his palm.
Upon touching his palm, it enlarged.
'What's with you?' Ezra was perplexed and held it.
Upon doing so, his chest heaved and he felt their connection grow deep, deeper than ever before.
"Hoo…" Ezra exhaled, coming back to his senses.
In those minutes, memories had poured in, memories of Skyfall's previous wielders.
'I see. I was challenged because you didn't take me to be worthy'
Such was the flaw of Kaldun's weapons.
The weapons were semi-beings. They lacked a personality, but could express intent.
Only, they expressed malicious intent the most.
Why? Because they were made with parts of demons.
It took one to be acknowledged by them to wield them at will.
So unlike Ezra's hunches, he wasn't being challenged to increase his scythe mastery.
Instead, the scythe had been aiming for his life.
Ezra frowned deeply, knowing you were almost killed pleased no one.
"And you expect me to trust you in battle? No chance"
It shook from Ezra's anger, before transmitting its intent.
Ezra made a weird face.
"What do you mean-"
He halted, having caught sight of something.
The egg.
It was shaking.
