The Return of the wilderness God

Deceptions and Alliances

 

A teacher's weapon always feels twice as cold when it is pointed at your heart.

"Lower the staff, Master," Valerie said, her voice shaking but her feet remaining firmly planted on the stone floor. "I saw the internal receipts. I saw the map. You helped them design the artificial circles that destroyed my hometown. You knew my family was there."

The Chief Alchemist did not lower his weapon. His face remained completely emotionless in the dim light of the archive room. "Individual sacrifices are necessary to fuel the grand barrier of the capital, Valerie. Your brother refused to understand that basic equation, and now you are making the exact same mistake."

"You murdered him," Valerie said, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her hidden acid flask. "You covered it up and called it an accident."

"We did what had to be done for the greater good," the old man replied smoothly, his silver staff gathering a bright, dangerous electrical charge at the tip. "And now, I am afraid your research project ends here."

Before the light could leave the staff, a sudden shadow fell across the doorway.

The heavy stone door frame cracked as Ethan stepped into the room, his eyes scanning the tense standoff. A faint purple light flickered along the veins of his right arm, pulsing in perfect synchronization with the hidden artifact inside Valerie's leather satchel.

"Your energy is spiking too much, Valerie," Ethan said, walking past the rows of wooden shelves as if he were taking a casual stroll in a garden. "I could feel your distress from across the entire stadium compound."

"Ethan, watch out!" Valerie yelled. "He is a master of high-tier elemental acceleration!"

The Chief Alchemist spun around, his eyes widening as he recognized the boy from the arena sand. "The courier boy. You should be in the waiting lounge for the next bracket."

"Your stance is completely wide open," Ethan said, not slowing his pace. "You are focusing all your spiritual density into the tip of that metal pole, leaving your front knee totally unprotected."

"Impertinent brat!" the old man roared.

He swung the staff forward, unleashing three jagged bolts of lightning directly at Ethan's chest. Ethan did not draw his iron blade. He simply took a short, sharp step inward, tilted his chin by an inch, and let the electricity hiss harmlessly past his ear. With a fluid, effortless flick of his wrist, Ethan tapped the base of the old man's forearm.

A loud bone-snapping sound echoed through the archive room. The silver staff flew out of the Chief Alchemist's grip, clattering uselessly against the far wall. The old man dropped to his knees, clutching his broken wrist, his face twisted in pure agony.

"How?" the master wheezed, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "That was an advanced lightning barrier. You should be paralyzed."

"You talk too much during a fight," Ethan said, standing over him and looking down with a cold expression. "Where are my parents? The holy knights took them from the northern valley two days ago."

"Do not tell him anything!" Valerie snapped, stepping forward and picking up the fallen silver staff. "He is part of the high council. He will just lie to buy time for the guards to arrive."

"He will tell us," Ethan said calmly, placing his thumb directly over the old man's uninjured shoulder joint. "If I press this nerve, your spiritual channels will reverse their flow. It feels like hot lead running through your chest. Where are they?"

The Chief Alchemist looked into Ethan's dark eyes and saw absolute certainty. He swallowed hard, his arrogance completely evaporating. "They are in the dark cells. The Subterranean Abyss Prison."

"Where is that?" Valerie demanded, her voice sharp. "The official city maps do not show any prison beneath the capital."

"Because it is hidden directly beneath the royal palace," the old man groaned, sweating profusely as Ethan's thumb tightened. "It sits right at the deepest point of the central energy well. Only the high priests and Commander Kael have the activation keys to lower the iron cages into that sector."

"Why did they take them?" Ethan asked, his voice dropping into a dangerous whisper. "What do the supreme entities want with my family?"

"Your lineage," the Chief Alchemist wheezed, a desperate look appearing in his eyes. "Your family carries the untainted spiritual bloodline from the age before the seals. The supreme entities need that specific energy frequency to power the grand machine. They do not want to kill them yet. They are using them as a living battery."

Ethan pulled his hand back, his face hardening as he processed the information. "We are going to the palace, Valerie."

"The palace is locked down tightly because of the tournament," Valerie said, checking the hallway outside to ensure no guards were approaching. "We will never make it past the outer drawbridge without a royal pass."

The old man on the floor suddenly let out a low, bloody laugh, his teeth stained with red fluid as he looked up at them with a twisted smile.

"You think you can just walk in and rescue them?" the Chief Alchemist chuckled mockingly, his voice full of dark malice. "You fools have already walked right into the slaughterhouse. Why do you think Commander Kael was so eager to let you reach the final round of the tournament, boy?"

"Speak clearly," Ethan said, his hand dropping back toward his sword hilt.

"The tournament is not an athletic exhibition for the nobility," the old man spat, his laughter growing louder and more erratic. "It is a highly calculated harvesting trap. Every single match is designed to aggregate maximum spiritual tension in the arena sand. Tonight, during the grand finals, the high priests are going to open the floor. They are going to sacrifice the strongest fighters and the entire audience to a supreme entity from the deep Abyss."