《paladin》


 prologue

    In the beginning the gods Lyft over man scoping ta world using their powers. They thrived throughout the world, many people lived happy lives all of their wishes and hopes granted by the gods and in exchanged their gratitude kept the God''s Fed but granting so many prayers became too dubious of a task and the gods decided that they didn''t need that much to keep them full so they devised the system. The leaders of man would decide on one prayer a year that prayer would be offered up to the gods in exchange for granting that prayer all their gratitude. So I''ll be offered up to heaven so long as enough people were grateful the leader would be deemed doing their job and would keep its position. Of course with more civilizations more Kings began to crop up leaving to 21 Kings in total. Doing such 21 different prayers would often appear since the gods would unanimously Grant only one. Wish all 21 Kings needed to agree upon it so of course a council was formed among them and the system continue to work until Solomon came during the great era of Kings a great scholar had existed known for his Superior witch and ability to solve any problem with his mind. He earned himself the title of a true genius. He was so well acknowledged that even the 21 Kings would respect his opinion when it came to prayers offered to the gods. But of course Solomon was a man of hubris. His want for knowledge made him a glutton and knowing that God ''s exist beyond man made him crave what existed in the beyond so much. So he started to plot with such a wish. He knew it would be difficult though he was acknowledged by all 21 Kings. He also knew that only three of the Kings actually liked him with so little asking a favor of the Kings to Grant him his wish it would be denied and he would be too far away from it. So instead he came up with a plan. He gathered his own 21 Kings. Then you searched the existing ones though it sounded to be quite the plot, in fact he didn''t usurp all the kings. Three of them who sided with him kept their positions. Tricking both man and King alike. He had them Grant his wish to become a god. Well, the powers of God he can explore the great beyond and gain knowledge beyond all and so that prayer was offered up the gods bound by their word. Honored the prayer once he ascended there was a greater change. Now is a God like the others, both his soul and mind influenced and scoped the world with a corrupt soul and a warped mind. The world began to fall apart a world world once full of peace and joy, now covered with fear and treachery so much so that the other gods began to starve from mugging one another to mass murder and plagues no one was truly safe and sorrow was the only thing that could be felt. The gods grew ever hungry but strangely not Solomon. Having become a god, his powers were corrupt and the sorrow became his nourishment with a full stomach and plenty of power. He showed no remorse for the lives he ruined. Thanking the 21 Kings for their service. He granted each of them a bit of his power, thus leading them to rule with an iron fist. Each individual King would Lord their power over man only by satisfying their wants and needs. Would they in turn Grant their wishes? The more the Kings ruled the more powerful and full Solomon became. Eventually the gods new something had to be done. The hubris of one evil God and his tainted followers was ruining the balance they had billed. But no matter what, only their power could ever touch the land. They themselves live beyond it. Regretfully they had n''t no alternative options originally. The Kings would offer a prayer up to them and that prayer would be the thing they''d Grant, but they needed to find a prayer. A prayer that they could answer that would alleviate the problem itself quickly. All the gods sifted through the prayers they could find. Hoping for one that would be the answer to their problems while they did find quite a few. Almost none of them were perfect. Four of the gods had an idea The gods of wisdom, valor, piety and culture came together each with an individual prayer. The god of wisdom presented a prayer of a mother wanting a child with the father dead. Her hope was that she could have a child that could carry on the family legacy. The god of valor presented a prayer or wish for a hero. One strong enough to deal with Injustice to those who would Lord over others without Honor the god of culture found a very odd prayer a man wish that his sword was his lover and the god of piety from the wish of a struggling sage to achieve magic individually. The wishes seems selfish, irrational or just plain strange, but if put together in the right combination, the gods could solve their problem bringing together the other eight gods a plan was formed. Combining the four wishes, two types of humans would be born to the mother and swordsman they will be granted the miracle of a new race beings with the ability to become weapons. They will be known as armories and to the rest of man. The ability to harness magic shall be bestowed upon them, but of course those without the ability to become weapons would be deemed as paladins each armory would have a destined paladin to wield them and with that prayer brought into the world, it began. The young swordsman became a paladin and a sword although crude became a lovely woman and the mother had became pregnant with another armory for the future and the wizard became capable as well of using magic. Also becoming a paladin as time went on more and more paladins began to prop up each paladin would eventually find their partner and would lead an assault to oppose the 21 Kings with their power and the backing of the gods gratitude soon returned now well nourished the gods could finally make a move against Sullivan with every ounce of strength that they had. They sealed him away into the furthest reaches of existence and divide it up. His power sealing them away within his vassals now cut off from their limitless power. The vassals grew weaker and eventually were defeated by the paladins soon enough the original Kings took their places with New rulers taking the place of the traders and that''s a new era began.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

 The princess and the wolf

    A young girl wanders down a clear-cut road ahead are two intersecting paths, one leading down the same path as where she''s coming but in a different direction and another leading in a path heading towards the forest at the end of the that path is a church-like building cuz the girl walks down this path. She couldn''t help but move with excitement. See this girl had just been licensed as a paladin and was on her way to find her partner while walking with a skip in her step. She couldn''t help but notice a young man. A few hops ahead of her. The very young man appeared to also be heading to the church like building. Excited to have an exchange with someone. After so many days she decides to pull ahead and introduce herself


    Evelyn: hello there, would you happen to also be heading towards the orphanage?


    Reaching out to the young man. He begins to be startled by her sudden appearance. His first instinct just to pull away from her, not knowing who she is but feeling he''s being a bit too rude. Even though they''re strangers he decides to speak to her


    Luca: hello, yes I just so happened to have business with the caretaker at this establishment.


    Hearing this Evelyn couldn''t help but light up


    Evelyn: That''s great news! That means just like me. You also are a newly licensed paladin!


    While gearing out her assumptions, she pulls from her breast pocket, a Small metal emblem bound to a leather. Brandon on it is a sword engraved into a shield like mold.


    Luca: I''m sorry but I don''t like expressing what my business is to strangers.


    He starts to pull away from her not feeling comfortable enough to share. Evelyn feeling awkward at her. I''m becoming forwardness puts away her emblem and starts to walk in silence while doing so. Ta two. Reach closer and closer to the church.


    At the front door, Luca begins knocking and the one to answer is a rather young nun the nun Olympus around and then looks down noticing the two aspiring paladins.


    Nun: ah Luca, we''ve been expecting you welcome.


    After greeting Luca, she looks over to the young lady who tries to think about it but could only draw a blank.


    Nun: had to apologize but you might be?


    Evelyn, embarrassed considering she''s showing up out of the blue tries to give her the most formal greeting she can muster.


    Evelyn: I apologize for the sudden appearance. The name is Evelyn Lancaster, estranged daughter of the ever prominent Diego Lancaster at your service.


    The sister of the cloth being off put by her sudden response tries to avoid asking more questions and instead welcomes that you win. She then proceeds to guide both of them to the director who is waiting in his office while walking through the Halls. Evelyn looks around with craze while Luca acts as though this isn''t his first time being here and sees nothing worth being excited about the walls were pristine and white, and the floors were an earthy marble with the occasional rug thrown around. Occasionally you''d see a window with a stained glass design of a type of weapon. As Evelyn takes in the sights, she grows ever more excited at finally meeting her partner inside the director''s office. The sites were rather unimportant by her standards into the right were a decorative items some of which could easily be considered luxury. Nothing that she sees how it matches. Anything that could be found within her father''s domain sitting at a solid oak desk sifting through paperwork is a rather middle-aged man with hair that had a concerning amount of white to gray to Black, showing the amount of stress he had clearly experienced during his time in this environment.


    Nun: I apologize sir. It would appear that Luca has arrived.


    Not looking up the director continued to sift through his paper and gave a simple response.


    Directory: very good. Leave him here. I shall be with him momentarily.


    Not sure what to do. The sister starts to fidget a bit then speaks up once more.


    Nun: also directory something unexpected has shown up as well.


    Directory: unexpected huh.


    He looks up from his work and gazes upon. Evelyn, Young Noble lady with messy brunette''s hair. Her eyes screame chaotic influence, but her appearance shows refinement and elegance.


    Directory: I see more than one guest and a rather interesting one at that. And what might your name be.


    Pulling on herself together. She tries to give a genuine response.


    Evelyn: just an unwanted child traveling the world now licensed to work as a paladin. But of course I guess you could say my reasons for being here are to get my partner?


    She continues thinking on her statement while scratching her head. The director proceeds to take off his glasses to give the interesting individual his full attention. He then proceeds to stand up and walk over to a shelf on the left.


    Directory: is what you say. It''s true. You must be aware of the standards of this particular orphanage caring for armories is no small task. Not only can we not let just anyone partner up with an armory, it must be qualified and capable and since you showed up without an appointment, I need to make sure that even if you''re licensed you are capable of partnering with my chargers.


    Reaching the show for the left. He grasps for a rectangular box on the top shelf taking it down. He walks over to Evelyn then pulls off the lid. Inside is a glass sword, but the type of glass is unclear.


    Saying the sword Evelyn immediately knew what the director was asking. She picks up the sword one-handed and it begins to Glow upon glowing a gale of wind shoots out of the sword in all directions. The sword then transmutes from glass to Metro then a rainbow colored flame explodes from within the blade and soon after the blade turns to dust all within an instant.


    Seeing what happened to the valuable testing blade, both the director, sister and Luca all fall back onto the ground. The director knowing the value of this item begins clutching his heart trying to resist having a heart attack.


    Directory: well, then it would appear that you are qualified to wield the best of the best in terms of armories. But I do have to say I don''t think I can consent to you partnering up with any of those in my care with that much mana you could kill one of them just by breathing on them.


    Feeling bad about destroying The caretakers testing blade she produces a red fabric pouch from one of her pockets, then passes it along to the fallen directory.


    Evelyn: ah yes, I believe you might want to hear my story. It might help you understand better why I came so far.


    Needing fresh air after the incident before relocated to a table in the courtyard of the orphanage.


    Evelyn: so my tail begins like this.


    Since she was born the young Lancaster had more than a tremendous amount of mana so much so that everything she did from infancy to toddler to even childhood results in mass destruction. At one point the property damages became so severe. Her father prevented her from going outside and whenever she did go outside she was required to carry around a large sum of money in order to pay for anything. She broke. None of this was on purpose. Of course, the fact is there was just so much of it that it would constantly pour out of her. Sometimes in droves, sometimes in storms there was even an instance where she tried to stop some of it from leaking out which led to the next day when she eventually exploded the explosion was so great that the survivors began complaining about workplace hazards and of course the house didn''t survive soon enough priests wise men and anyone else who is in need of money to charge some ridiculous contraption or invention would come to their family to borrow some of her mana for which she had enough to power a city. In fact, one inventor who took up shop within the Lancaster territory decided to make a mana Stone power plant which would feed off the access. Mona she produced. Because of this, a lot less destruction happened within the territory and the civilians lived rather modest lives with luxuries. They normally wouldn''t experience. Of course the amount of Mona the power plant drained from her was so competitive. Litter body learned to adapt and somehow leading to an explosion for the power plant. Thus, in response the inventor had to make 27 more occasionally having to repair any of them should one break.


    Today she finally became of age. Evelyn made the decision to become a paladin. Her hope is that her distant partner would be more than capable of taking her excess mana on the day of the test. When it was her turn after passing the written exam which focused on the night''s code she went for the practical exam. Which consists of as already experienced within the director''s office is very simple. A unique sword made of a peculiar glass is presented to the candidate using as much money. As the candidate can muster, they must change the sword from glass to any of its other more capable forms. The highest possible form being mineral some believe that there are even higher forms but of course it takes tremendous control and skill to achieve those say upon taking the test she managed to make it miserable but then the sword disintegrated on the spot. The examiners having experienced it wanted nothing more than to just send her back to her territory upon her father''s request, but considering how capable she would be as a paladin they had no choice but to pass her and make her license. But a paladin''s license is only good when a paladin is partnered with an armory feeling that no armory in the world could possibly exist to compact that much energy. They were able to postpone her deployment having her remain on standby and her father''s territory assumably and definitely while The entire assignment team would go through every known armory on record to find even one that''s capable of surviving your power leaving the examination site and returning home. She''s intercepted by a peculiar Bishop. The bishop himself had dark skin, black nails and white hair with red eyes.


    Bishop: that was quite the exam you did there.


    Evelyn, looking up at the rather tall father of the cloth grows. Ever curious at why he stopped her on her way out.


    Evelyn: thank you. I was expecting to pass only on the mana test what I didn''t expect to get full marks on the night exam. Too bad about my deployment though.


    The bishop maneuvers himself against the wall then proceeds to take out a cigarette. Lights it with a bit of magic.


    Bishop: ah yes, not having a partner who can handle you would delay your appointment and is another disappointment, but I think I know a certain individual who may or may not be the partner for you.


    Skeptical Evelyn looks at the shady member of the church indulging in sin and wonders what he''s trying to sell.


    Evelyn: you just happen to know who my partner is. I feel like I heard somewhere that only a paladin can tell who there''s bound to or at least I think I heard something about that.


    The bishop text the smoking cigarette from his mouth then laughs out a clad of smoke with a considerable chuckle.


    Bishop: true! So true, but the individual I have in mind is more than capable of handling you even if the two of you aren''t bound. But I have extreme doubts. That''s the tomb of your are not.


    Listening to the bishop she grows ever certain at how confident the man is but can''t figure out why. Then something tells hr she won''t get any answers on that front


    Evelyn: okay I''m all ears. Who''s this individual you have in mind?


    Taking another drag of his smoke. The bishop lets out a heavy puff then says.


    Bishop: I''m not going to name drop otherwise it won''t be destiny but at the edge of the Royal Capital. There''s a forest and an orphanage this particular orphanage contains only triple s rank armories and extremely dangerous ones too. The reason for them being located at that particular Forest is because there''s a rumor that somewhere in that Forest is one of Solomon''s pillars who just happened to be sealed there. And as you know, wherever pillars go monsters are always hanging around.


    Curing what he has to say she grows ever more curious


    Evelyn: that makes no sense why would an orphanage be located in such a dangerous place? Clearly the risks are too high with such monsters hanging around The orphans would be dead and the orphanage would have been destroyed 10 times over.


    The bishop let''s add another chuckle and then responds with.


    Bishop: that would only be true if there wasn''t a barrier. Plus the thing you''re looking for prevents their more serious ones from breaking said barrier. I mean it''s like I said it''s an orphanage where only triple s and really dangerous armories stay. The reason for that is because all the staff members are people of the cloth who have expressed permission to operate as paladins and exterminate the active monsters in the area in order to control it so they don''t overflow and cross into nearby kingdoms and villages.


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.Understanding what he''s getting at, she does see where he''s coming from but now has two more questions of her own.


    Evelyn: but if what you''re saying is true. First of all, that would mean that my supposed partner is a key part of the orphanages ecosystem and puts it at Great risk if they were to leave with me and also me just showing up. Wouldn''t guarantee that I meet the person in question yet along wouldn''t guarantee that the orphanage would just let me take them.


    Finishing off the cigarette he smokes. He drops it on the ground and stamps it out making sure that not a spark remains.


    Bishop: if you tell them this conversation and then say my name, the bishop will know exactly who you''re here for and I guarantee you. If it turns out you are their partner, you''ll be walking out with them no matter what anyone has to say.


    The bishop gets up turns away and heads back further into the corridor before vanishing.


    Evelyn: and that''s my reason for coming here. Of course it took me about 7 weeks to make it all the way here and I didn''t know how to send forward a notice that I''d becoming without my father interfering so I had to be settled.


    Taking in the story, the director thinks really hard about what all hears.


    Directory: quite the story indeed. Well then I had a good idea of what he''s talking about. Although I have a lot of doubt about it, but you said he dropped a name for you to use that would guarantee I know which armory he''s referring to.


    Evelyn nods then thinks about it really hard considering it had been a while since he mentioned the name then says.


    Evelyn: he said it in a hush tone so I''m not sure if I''m right but when he reached out to me he greeted himself as Merle of would Drake orphanage. Of course on my way here. I wanted to give him a thanks for the information. So I stopped at it near my church to pass along a letter to his orphanage but when I mentioned wood Drake orphanage they said it wasn''t in their records.


    The Bishop''s eyebrows began to furrow and he gave a rather intent. Piercing stare he then tries to take a sip of his tea to calm down. He then looks at her making sure she''s not messing around then says.


    Directory: The man you spoke to was an imposter. That I''m sure of as a fact, but clearly the individual you spoke of had one particular individual in mind. I know for certain of who that individual is, but frankly speaking, after hearing what you just said that I definitely shouldn''t introduce you to them with that. You''re welcome to check to see if any of the other armories in my care are your partner. Would I ask that you respect my wishes and stay away from that one.


    The bishops face screams beyond serious. Unsure what to make of it. She somehow feels an uncontrollable urge to meet the individual in question.


    Evelyn: could I at least get a name? I''m not sure why but for some reason all this tension and lack of information has made me crave a name.


    The Bishop shakes his head denying her request then turns to Luca


    Bishop: I''m sorry for keeping you. Luca young Maria has been eagerly awaiting your reunion. Now that you are of age and have an official license, the two of you can begin your partnership in Earnest. The paperwork has already been approved and submitted and mailed to the paladin''s records knowing that your partnership is now without a doubt official, but unfortunately you showed up while Maria is doing her chores. Once she is finished she should have her things ready for the two of you to disembark. You also can have a look around the orphanage at your leisure.


    The bishop stands up from the table bows to the other three and takes his leave.


    Wandering around the sister takes Evelyn and Luca to see the orphans and facilities. The sister has a clear goal of trying to introduce Evelyn to as many armories as she can in hopes that one of them may be her partner while wondering from the pool to the gymnasium to even the classrooms and library, eventually returning to the main foyer, of course on their way back to the main area Evelyn stops


    A peculiar sensation overcomes her. Not sure what to make of it. She watches as a sister giving a detailed conversation with Luca. Leave her behind. She makes a turndown a peculiar hallway. She knows she didn''t get to see before walking slowly down it. She couldn''t help but notice linen closets and a door labeled basement and beyond the door marked basement. She could feel it though. It''s subtle. It''s definitely there strands upon strands of her mama leaving her not leaking out uncontrollably and definitely not preparing to whip up a storm or explode. But instead it''s just marching off of her purse heading down into the basement. Curious she couldn''t help but want to check it out but knowing it''s unbecoming to explore facilities of a place that isn''t under her own care. She''s has tent in opening the door but can''t control the fact that her hand is moving on its own. Reaching out it insists on grabbing the door knob but before she could even touch it, the door flies. Open behind the door is an interesting young lady like Luca. She''s who has blonde hair but unlike Luca, her hair was dirty blonde, but her eyes has an aqua blue versus Luca''s olive green.


    Giving the situation a bit more thought just starts to wonder why she keeps comparing the two. Although Luca is one of the more recent individuals who closely resembles the girl that she just so happened to be associated to after not talking to people for about 3 weeks, she doubt that would be their reason. She knows plenty of people whose looks resemble both Lucas and these girls, but somehow some way she could just feel this air about her that our minds her of Luca, but unlike Lucas rather than his isolated sensation, hers is more of a tender and understanding.


    Maria: I do apologize. I don''t recognize you. Are you new around here.


    Evelyn snaps out of it noticing she''s trying to strike for a conversation. Of course she doesn''t know what to do. She''s not supposed to be here and she can''t help but want to go where that girl has been.


    Evelyn: I''m sorry, for some reason I felt compelled to be here or at least to go wherever this leads. I don''t know why and also I don''t know if it''s me but for some reason this area seems to be zapping away at mana. Do you also feel that?.


    The girl''s eyes wide net Evelyn''s statement. She then grabs hold of Evelyn''s hand then looks around to make sure that no one is in sight and pulls her into the basement closing the door behind her.


    Maria: I can''t believe it and here I was worried about leaving him all alone but she came to me and now I can bring her to him before they can stop me. He must leave this place as soon as possible. I don''t want to leave him in this place. No one even likes him here anyways, but we have to hurry before things get worse or before they''re pushed apart.


    The girl keeps muttering things to herself. Evelyn, having a hard time keeping up finds that her legs are moving over of their own will following the girl''s actions and movements first. She makes a left then she goes straight. Then she makes a harder left and then a shorter one as she continues along within the basement baskets and bags of laundry are scattered about as well as boxes and other items of the orphanage aren''t using at this time. When she finally stops. It''s at a cell embedded in the wall. The bars properly sealed with a single door triple chained as well as an iron board blocking the door and what looks to be seven. Different types of locks on the other side of the bars is about a single bed made of wood with minimal blankets and pillows. Change against the wall to suspend it from touching the ground and a single window that shows outside laying on the bed in the most relaxed and comfortable pose possible on the most uncomfortable bed. Possible dark-skinned boy with white hair and red eyes similar to that of the bishop. Evelyn had met back then, but if that''s not all, a strong uncontrollable sensation has now taken over as well as she''s noticing that immeasurable amounts of mana are pouring out of her while her body is constantly refilling and she can''t figure out for the life of her. Why? But before she could figure that out, her mouth starts to move on its own.


    Evelyn: please let me wield you?


    Speaking those words she begins to cover her mouth but her hands move away and she speaks once again.


    Evelyn: I know this is Sutton and we just met but I know without a doubt that I and only I can properly wield you. So please allow me to take hold of your power.


    For some reason she can''t control herself and is having a hard time figuring out why she''s saying all those things.


    The young man living comfortably in he cell with an iron collar around his neck and a chain leading all the way into the wall, he opens one of his eyes that had been comfortably closed spots. One of the girls then says.


    Shill: dang it Maria. You already came here once and I keep telling you not to come here. Plus you''re getting out of here anyways so stop coming also who''s The freak and why is she so adamant on using me?


    Mari, you''re not able to hold in. Her excitement begins going on a tangent.


    Maria: Don''t be rude. ShillI brought her here because she''s important to you. I know you can''t feel it yet but she definitely can. Don''t you recognize that look? She''s giving you hymen this is what you''ve been waiting for. You can finally get out of here. You don''t have to stay cooped up in this cage anymore.


    The boy opens up his other eye lazily looks at the two girls focusing on Evelyn. He notices the odd expression she has on her face. He then starts to feel like he''s seen that same expression somewhere before but then realizes he doesn''t care. He then proceeds to close both of his eyes then says.


    Shill: Don''t know. Not my concern. Both of you get out of here before the director gets here and starts throwing a tantrum about how I''m ruining his facilities and can corrupting you.


    He then proceeds to grab his covers and lives it over his head before attempting to doze back off.


    Maya, seeing that show''s just being difficult tries to resist scolding him in hopes that she can win over is cooperative side while Evelyn still can''t seem to control her body at another at some point she finds her right hand moving again this time reaching out to shill.


    Her hand starts to omit a large amount of mana then begins to flow into him, noticing the large amount of energy she''ll emerges from his covers with an agitated look bearing his teeth with all four canines present he yells


    Shill: I don''t know who the heck you are, but you better back the heck off and you do not know what you''re messing with.


    But before he could finish his warning and before she could even perceive what she was doing, a black energy begins to spread upon the trail of mana leading from her body it quickly and furiously makes its way to her, but before it reaches her a larger darker Shadow emerges from the ta cell biting down on the thread. Tearing it off the shadow, then retreats within this cell opening up forming large teeth that surrounds the young man his eyes were now glowing red and two wolves that weren''t in the cell before appear beside him.


    Rubbing her eyes. Evelyn tries to make sense of what just happened. Not only did hermana try to do something but also flesh and blood wolves that came out of nowhere are now glaring at her furiously. Not sure what''s going on. She feels she should be intimidated but for some reason she''s not. Her hand starts to do it again this time with more mana than before. Another large stream of mana flows from her towards him


    Shill: knock it off. I don''t know what your problem is but you''re barking up the wrong tree. I don''t care what your station, title or amount of achievements are. Trying to wield me can and only will results in your death.


    While yelling at her, the flow connects to him once again stronger than before. The shadowy fangs bite down on the stream once again, but the darkness still blows through the stream making its way to her. But before we could reach her, the wolves bash into the stream breaking it off. Evelyn now unsteady from the backlash of the stream breaking falls back landing onto a box behind her. Mario concerned walks over to grab her and shill falls back onto his bed with the wolves guarding him.


    Evelyn''s body gets up again. Trying to make another attempt as her body tries to produce another stream of mana. The wolves begin to growl heavily preparing to attack once more before Evelyn''s mana could leave her body she gets knocked out. Mario looks over at her attacker she was too distracted with the events unfolding. She didn''t notice that both the director''s sister and Luca had entered the basement and approached her the director giving a serious look picks up the unconscious. Evelyn and retreats back upstairs bringing Mario with him, Luca and the sister of course following behind.

 The first interaction

    Wood Drake village long ago during the Kings era that particular knowledge was the birthplace of Solomon course. After deciding to follow his dreams, the world paladin to ruin resentful. At first all the people of wood Drake were seen as vile kin. Anyone who shares blood ties to the evil God deserved any and all forms of retribution because of this fact after the god was sealed away was surviving people of wood Drake had been burdened with a stigmata by the gods. Originally all people related to the wood drink village had dark skin, and white hair of the godstigmata added red eyes and black nails or red eyes. Even if they don''t have the clans noticeable skin color and hair color were would be someone who shares genetic ties to the the the evil Solomon.


    Evelyn wakes up on a luxurious couch in the director''s office. The director had gotten back to work and was work sitting diligently at his desk. There was no one else in the room.


    Evelyn: what happened?


    Directory: you experienced your first interaction with your partner. Of course your partner rejected you and I couldn''t afford to have the two of you connected, so I had you put to sleep.


    Evelyn rubbed the back of her neck where she had been struck. Then sat up straight so as not to be laying down comfortably when someone else''s couch. Ever busy? The director continued doing his paperwork while they talked.


    Directory: since you''ve managed to get yourself this far into our situation I''ll be nice enough to give you a bit of insight but understand no asking questions until I''m finished. Answer any questions that I ask and stay quiet during my explanation. With that said, we''ll have to start with shill according to the story you told me earlier some individual from Wood Drake village approached you with the intention of introducing you to him. Frankly speaking, the name that was used could not be the person who introduced you to this place. Frankly speaking because that person is dead. Originally, Wood Drake village at an orphanage and shill was one of the residents under that village''s care. Just to clarify, Drake village is not an actual village despite its name. In fact, it''s an entire nation or to be more exact. It''s a series of villages that form a nation which borders are so obscure. It''s hard to indicate when and where you''re actually within its Nation. In total the nation only has two orphanages four armories, originally there were three and that child is from the third one The thing is the director of that orphanage got the bishop and all the children and nuns in danger. Somehow he managed to piss off the pillar of judgment. He then proceeded to come down to the orphanage and destroy and kill most of the orphans as well as the director and Bishop. Typically speaking, when something like this does happen, all the armories are supposed to be transferred to the nation''s next available orphanage that has room. But frankly speaking, the other two villages were more than at Max capacity since shill is classified as a damaged artillery due to the fact that he has no mana the Drake village deemed it necessary to abandon him offering our nation to take him in since he''s still artillery since his nationality is drakian He''s supposed to be legally bound to the village but unfortunately since he''s now in our systems he''s legally part of our country. But to make matters worse, no one knew that judgment felt it necessary to put a curse on him. He won''t tell us why or what actually went down. None of the other orphans want to speak about it either, but frankly speaking, his curse is sucking away. Man added very dangerous rate. Anyone who tries to wield him almost nearly wilts up and die just from a single swing. If that isn''t enough, his lack of mana makes it impossible for him to transform on his own. He needs a supply in order to transform. Of course, the original plan was to just keep him into the orphanage and eventually employ him as a church hand seeing as he''s defective. But then some more complicated things came to light. Frankly speaking, we''ve recently discovered that another pillar had taken up residence in the nearby forest, The hermit frankly speaking, he''s not much of a threat considering he sealed himself away somewhere inside The forest but the problem is the monsters. You keep attracting since they''re drawn to him. They''re number one desire is to seek him out, but since they can''t find him, they tend to loiter around the forest and some even come to the orphanage attempting to attack it and if that wasn''t bad enough, even though we have very powerful armories here, they''re still underaged and therefore not as capable of using their full potential. Some of them don''t even know what their abilities are, so we''ve been petitioning for the king to have the orphanage move to a new location or at least have someone investigate the situation involving the pillars, not even that kept being put on hold due to the Kings strained resources look out at one point. Turns out, shill, despite having no mana has an amazing ability and ability that explains why there''s no mana. Anyways, we need that ability to keep the monsters at Bay but as another plus the king was kind enough to send a court mage to erect a barrier. The barrier can handle certain class of monsters and strength and that''s the current situation. As it stands, we would love to get rid of the guy but we currently need him.


    Have an understanding what he''s talking about stands up. Not saying a word and makes her way to his office door but before she can open it he tells her.


    Directory: I''m sorry I truly am but we can''t afford to let him lose, especially considering the other circumstances I can''t talk about.


    Your text early of opening the door once on the other side she closes it shut and takes a breath. Not sure what to do. Shin tries to think but can''t. Something seems off. She looks around trying to figure out what. Zane at her feet she noticed a wolf at first. She''s a little startled but she tries to hold it together. Thinking about it. She feels like she''s seen this wolf somewhere before. She looks the wolf in the eyes. The wolf looks back at her. She decides it''s not doing anything to her so she proceeds to take a walk by walking around the orphan and she hopes to you clear her head and figure out her next move. Of course during her walk she couldn''t help but notice the pitter patter of paws and claws following behind her. This is bothering her. What could a wolf want with her? She tries thinking about it. She doesn''t have any of her food on her. She searches her pockets to be sure, but there isn''t any dry meat. She stops walking for a minute, pulls a few strands of her hair and gives it a whiff. While it''s clear she hasn''t had a bath in a minute, it doesn''t smell like anything that an animal would be interested in. She then makes a mention not to take a bath later and keeps walking. Of course the wolf s still following her. At some point she reaches the entrance of the courtyard where she was initially before with Luca and the director so and then shouts out to her on her left.


    Maria: there you are. We''ve been looking all over for you.


    Maria and Luca come up on her left. Lucas dressed and ready to go. Maria carrying her luggage and wearing a hoodless robe.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    The three of them settle down in the courtyard having some tea per Maria''s request Luca joining them seems to be rather against doing this. Apparently he''d rather get on the road as soon as possible to their next destination.


    Maria: sorry about earlier. The director stopped you before you could finish connecting before I leave. I want to help you finish the connection that way. Shill can go with you.


    Not really caring about the conversation. Luca decides to sip away at his own tea. Then he couldn''t help but notice the wolf taking up a resting position next to Evelyn at her feet.


    Evelyn: I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it appears that I''m the only one who wants this partnership to happen. Both my partner seems against me as well as the director himself and it seems that there''s another person who''s just as opposed to him leaving this place.


    Letting out a sigh she picks up a biscuit. Him bites into it. Noticing the wolf panting next to her. She decides to offer her a biscuit too. The wolf smells the basket licks it once then loses interest out about it. Crushes the biscuit in her hand then drops it in a pouch. He carries around for trash and rubs her saliva covered hand on her skirt.


    Maria: I don''t think shill has no interest in you, especially considering one of his wolves is following you. Let us help you. Me and Luca can do as much as we can and I''m sure the director will have no choice but to let it happen.


    Hearing what she says, Luca cost s up the tea. He was drinking then pounds his fists on his chest to help correct his breathing. Meanwhile, Evelyn looks back down at the wolf analyzing it. She then couldn''t help but notice left. The one next to her isn''t the only one though. They''re not as easily noticeable. There are quite a few wolves hanging around the area, some out of you, some completely on the other side of the building and some observing her from higher points of view.


    Luca: there is no way I''m helping that guy. Do you realize just how much he sucks. He''s rude to everyone. On the list of people trying to kill my father he appears to be number one. He once put jalapeno extract in my milk. Not to mention all the times he''s tricked me when I''m walking in the hallway. Frankly speaking, if that collar wasn''t preventing him from leaving this building, I''d suspect and sneak off to my home and harass me for fun.


    Maria looks at him with a frown


    Maria: Don''t be petty. You''ve done just as much to him as he''s done to you. You''ve laughed at his inability to use. You know that the circumstances involving him and your father are very complicated and he cannot help that he''s a threat to him and you started it with the milk thing. Frankly speaking, I don''t care if you help or not. I can''t leave this place knowing that he''ll be all alone once I leave the orphanage won''t have anyone with strong enough holy magic to go down and care for him. And he''s not supposed to leave the basement because of how much of a threat he poses to everyone else, I want to make sure he''s taken care of before I leave no matter what.


    Maria gets up and prepares to grab Evelyn''s arm so that she can take her to the basement. But before she could the Wolf''s to her side stands up. At first it growls at Maria but then when? Evelyn rubs her head to get her to stop. It does then it sniffs her hand and stops.


    Acting different than before the wolf stops. What it''s doing turns around and looks up at one of the slanted roofs to the outside of the building laying on the roof. Taking a nap was shill with what appeared to be the shadow of a Non-Existent chain leading around the building following the walls and ending right near his neck.


    Evelyn gets up and walks over to where he is. Her hand starts to move on its own. Reaching up for him before she knows it. Her hand takes hold of a position where the shadow of the chain exists on the wall. She then grasps I''d wear the shadow is feeling something in her Palm and Yanks at it. Doing so shill sent flying into the courtyard landing on his back, a cloud of smoke forms at his landing position then clears shill agitated at the sudden rude awakening hops to his feet and starts yelling.


    Shill: who the f*** did that? Don''t you know it''s rude to interrupt someone while they''re sleeping?


    Zane: roar


    Shill: then this is where you''ve been. You''re supposed to be guarding me. You just appeared so suddenly. I got curious of where you went but never mind about that. Someone is out here flinging me!


    Shill looks to the location of his potential attacker only to find Evelyn standing there. He''s agitated expression. Became one of mild annoyance.


    Shill: uh your back. Didn''t you get the hint the first time? I want nothing to do with you leave. I''ve got better things to do than deal with you. Zane, then let''s go back.


    He gestures for the wolf to come along and then tries to leave but doesn''t feel her following so he stops. More agitated. He turns around glaring at Zen. She in turns tilts her head panting aloud as if nothing that''s happening has any bearing on her. Evelyn baffled by the events unfolding couldn''t help but let out a light chuckle


    Shell: oh glad to see you''re having a laugh because of you, One of my followers is showing signs of insubordination.


    Evelyn: I don''t know what you''re talking about. She started following me of her own accord, not just her. A lot of them have been following me for a minute now.


    Shell: obviously they would after your little show back there. They think you''re part of the pack and somehow my equal can''t have that the moment someone messes with the order of things, the less disorganize the pack becomes and the more likely it falls apart.


    Kneeling down. Evelyn begins rubbing zen''s back. She then starts messing with her ears, ignoring shell and his cynical ramblings about hierarchies and how he needs to have control of his wolves and all that eventually he stops yelling at her and realizes that Zen''s not going to leave her side until she leaves. So instead he goes over to the tree growing in the courtyard and climbs up. It taking a nap on one of its higher branches. Realizing he''s upset. Act they''re unwelling ness to respond. Two more wolves appear out of nowhere and start guarding the tree.


    Maria: that was unexpected. Usually when things start to not go his way, he goes on a rampage and destroys things and his wolves follow his command. But the fact that his wolves aren''t hostile towards you and they see you as part of his pack is further evidence that even he''s aware of who you actually are to him.


    Evelyn finishes playing with Zen and looks back at Maria. Maria has a confident expression, her face and Luca still sitting behind her drinking. His tea has lost even more interest and is staring at the tea pot possibly. Thinking of getting another cup.


    Silence falls over the group as it stands, Maria wants shall to leave but he would rather not. Evelyn wants Shell to leave but she doesn''t want to push him into a difficult situation Newark make things worse for the director. The silence continues and then allowed playing hits overhead.

 new leader

    The sunlight was blocked. The forest was still a Giant stood over the entire orphanage swinging down it''s fist it attempts to break the barrier so when you get this down he tries to attack but the barrier stops it as if propelling its existence. The three of them stood in silence baffled at me of incident unfolded.


    Maria: how did a giant get so close to the orphanage? shells wolves should have killed it before it got this close.


    Lucas finally breaks out of his days and gets up from his table. He grabs hold of Maria.


    Lucas: announced at the time to think about that. We got to do something change for me.


    Accepting his request, she''s clatted in a flashlight. An ultra great sword takes her place. Lucas grabs the hilt then raise the blade jumping up. He gets up to the giant''s face and attempts a swing but the swing doesn''t follow through missing by a wide margin.


    After Lucas''s attack fails to hit the Giants, smacks him into the Earth Lucas gets up then yells at Maria in her weapon form.


    Lucas: you''re too heavy !


    While Lucas keeps jumping up, trying to hit the giant and getting knocked back down heavily notices the residents of the orphanage all trying to get to a secure location running to the Halls. At another point, the director comes from one of the Halls. After stopping in the courtyard he starts to paint. Clearly running around. For someone or something.


    Directory: where is shell? His wolves should have taken care of this?


    The director notices the wolf sitting next to Evelyn. He then starts to scan around the area in a tree to his right. He spots a sleeping shell.


    Directory: what are you doing? Lazing around order your wolves to deal with the problem. We have an agreement.


    Shell opens one eye while resting in the tree. Looking at the director, he shows no pity, sympathy or interest in what he has to say letting out a minor site, he closes his eye again.


    Directory: Don''t ignore me.


    Shell let''s add another. Sigh. And gives him simple response.


    Shell: can''t do what I can''t do you want me to order the walls but they can won''t listen to me anymore.


    The director gives an agitated expression while gripping his fist tightly in his hands, then yells.


    Directory: what do you mean? They''re your wolves. Of course they''re listening to you.


    Shell lives one of his arms then points to Evelyn and the wolf settling by her feet.


    Shell: as you can clearly see, the hierarchy has shifted now that my So-Called partners here and proven herself before the pack. I''m only second in command and since the leaders are around her orders, Trump of mine.


    Lucas, slams back into the ground standing back up. He looks over at Evelyn then back at Shell.


    Lucas: you got to be kidding me. Don''t give me that BS just because you''re only second in command now doesn''t mean you don''t have the right to order them around. So stop messing around in help.


    Shell shrugs off his comment then tries to get more comfortable in the tree.


    Shell: funny you say that considering you of all people should understand Royal etiquette. A pack works just about the same way when the king is present. Why would anyone want to listen to the queen? At most The queen Kim suggest actions, but as long as the king is present only some of them would listen. And right now we''re in the middle of ascertaining if our leader is worth following. Which is why Zane has been hanging so firmly around her. After a little show in the basement. It''s clear who she is and the others have already heard. So now it''s a wait and see.


    Frustrated at his statement. Lucas decides to get back to attacking the monster. This time he coats himself in a rather golden aura moving faster than ever. He blinks out of existence straight in front of the monster''s face. This time his swing manages to hit but only scratches. The monster''s cheek angry the Giant swats him with both hands then slaps him away into the distance .


    Shell : that was interesting. I really didn''t see that coming, but all together very much worth seeing you. In fact, I''d pay to see it again.


    Looking around Evelyn observes the situation more Lucas has just been sent to God knows where all the wolves haven''t moved an inch constantly watching her. She then looks down at Zen. Zen looks back up at her. She then contemplates what Shel just said kneeling down she gets close to Zen.


    Evelyn: can you help me out? I would really appreciate it.


    Zen gets close to her face and licks her cheek. She then walks over to the tree where Shell is resting. She howls with all her might then stops for a minute after a minute more howling can be heard from around the perimeter from all around the sound could be heard. Zane, then Ben looks up at Shell.


    Shell: tch guess that''s majority vote you really do piss me off lady.


    Hopping down from his tree he gives a shallow laugh then walks over to where Evelyn is following behind him is Zen. He then places his hand on her shoulder. In that moment, a stream of mana comes out of Evelyn and enters into Zen, then begins to grow an ominous blue and starts to sink into her shadow, then dives in along with him after he completely disappears, a peculiar sword rises from her shadow. A sword made of a single piece of steel dual edged yet the face is hollow and lacks a tip. One would think that the blade is broken, but it''s design indicates not and there are no scratches or cracks along the outer blades at the center where the face should be stands in inverted cross and on the hilt is a black rope with the end dangling like a tail. The her eyes landed on the weapon she could feel it with every fiber of her being. This was her armory but her excitement started to fall down a bit. For some reason. He didn''t know how she knew but she could just feel it. This wasn''t shell pawn closer inspection. She could feel that this was Zen.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Shell: what you thought you could wield me on your first day. I don''t even know how strong you are or how long you''ll last. Can''t afford to have you dying The first day? Let''s ease into this. Hurry up and grab her hint.


    Reaching out Evelyn grabs hold of Zen''s hilt the moment she grips it a large portion of her mana is pulled out of her. Then the rope binding. The hilt begins to turn red at the same time. She could feel it something strange yet familiar. Replacing the mana that she had lost in no time at all. She was filled with tremendous energy. She pulls out Zen''s blade from the ground christan a giant cut leading into the building. The moment she processes what she did, she becomes stunned. Zane a. Black energy begins flowing in between the two blades where are the inverted cross shaped hole is located the energy bursts out forming the tip of the blade.


    Shell: too bad. Looks like you''re just weak enough to wield her.


    Evelyn: what was that? Is this your power?


    Shell: it is, but it isn''t. My power at work is the fact that you''re able to wield an animal as well as that dark energy seeping from the center of the blade. The sharpness is her own thing. The more mana you pour into her the sharper she becomes that is Zen''s power. I however can enhance it making her sharper than she ever would be incapable of slashing through air itself. She doesn''t even have to make contact in order to slice her opponent.


    Curious of how true his statement is. She looks at the tree in the courtyard then lightly tugs the blade in that direction. A blade like krampus begins forming in the path of the blades movement reaching all the way to the tree, cutting off several of its branches and destroying a window as well as forming a deep crack in the walls. Amazed at the tremendous power. She feels like she could do anything, but at the same time she notices that she''s kind of sluggish not able to resist. She then leaps at the giant. Much like what Luca did the moment. Her feet leave the ground. She finds herself immediately in front to the face of the giant the giant reacting to her sudden appearance tries to grab her with both hands unable to maneuver in the air. She starts twisting and turning to evade the hands. Doing so a series of cuts appear on both hands as she spins around frantically trying to dodge.


    Shell: wow aren''t you graceful? Anyways it looks like Zen''s blade is rather dull. Give her some more minus so she can sharpen up. We don''t want to waste too much time.


    Hearing his words, she forces more mana into the blade when the blade starts sucking it up, it pulls out more than she intended to. Then the blade itself began to shimmer as of becoming brand new.


    Zen: thank you with this I shall be able to cleave his head off.


    Evelyn: what was that?


    Evelyn no longer having the momentum of being in the air begins to fall on our way to the ground, the giant proceeds to stomp her into the Earth. What? Evelyn does a quick spin lopping off said leg at the thigh. Unexpectedly, another cut starts to appear around the ankle. Cutting the limbs into two pieces hitting the ground. Evelyn gets back up and jumps back towards the head thinking she could finish this with that one strike. She is blindsided a golden ray of light immediately intersects her as she rises towards the head, sitting her flying into a nearby tree, opening her eyes while pinched to the tree. She sees Luca who appears to be dazed as to how he crashed into you. He must not have her Ascent when he had re-entered the vicinity charging at the Giant.


    Luca, assessing the situation notices a silver sword in Evelyn''s hand.


    Luca: is that shell?


    Maria: no, that''s Zen stupid. How could you mix the two up?


    Luca: how can you tell?


    Maria: are you saying we all look alike?


    For some reason Evelyn fell twice as annoyed so she kicked the two out of the tree with her watching them plummet into the ground before she launches herself back at the giant. Seeing her coming the giant attempts to block her movements but she cuts right through his orm with her blade panicking the giant tries to grab her with the other arm, but instead of cutting through that one, she instead uses it to gain more momentum in the air by kicking off of it. Then while in the air she gives a downslash severing that on once that arm had been severed, she then proceeds to lop off its head during The descent landing on her feet. The now dead giant begins to disappear into Ash thinking that the fight''s over she starts to lower her guard but then notices several pry knives, some wolves, some monsters. The wolves don''t seem to be taking action, but the monsters are steadily approaching.


    Evelyn: why aren''t they helping? I''m supposed to be the new leader so shouldn''t they be doing everything in their power to help.


    Zen: it''s as shell says I personally see you as the new leader and had relinquished my title as second in command to him however. Ken, Ken, the third leader does not approve of you. He definitely would rather follow shell than you and the others do agree while some would rather see if you''re worth following.


    Evelyn : I''ve been wondering about this for a minute, but are you for chance? Zen?


    Shell: wait. Did I not explain that part? All the wolves are either weapons that I made that''s turning them into wolves or stray wolves that I find patched with making them half weapon, thus adding them to the all-encompassing power that is my armory, which in turn is your armory. In short, one of my powers is an arsenal of wolves that turn into a variation of weapons, all of which have different abilities that can be boosted by my ability. Of course I in my weapon form have another ability.


    Once may stop listening to shell a new wolf approaches her. This one has well taken care of Fur and a serious look. Which was a contrast compared to Zen. The wolf stopped in front of Evelyn.

 desert

    Traveling a vast desert floor heavily struggled to keep moving forward. Barely able to hold back thirst. Tired and hardly able to her feet she looks back and wonders where she went wrong in line meanwhile behind her is shell taking forever with the canteen of water.


    Evelyn: you done yet.


    Shell: nope still thirsty.


    Agitated she picks up a rock off the ground and throws it at him but he manages to dodge.


    Evelyn: was it okay to leave things like that?


    After defeating the giant, she was approached by Ken a member of the pack, could you close his opposition of the status quo. With monsters zeroing in and Ken obstructing The use of the wolves Evelyn is in a tough spot me. With no other choice, she prepares the fight off every last One of them but to her surprise she''ll intervenes.exiting her shadow he has Ken stand down.


    With no one standing in our way, she could finally have the other wolves clear out the forest like they usually would but she has a hard time understanding why shell would help. Of course before she could ask him he disappears and then the director leading her back to his office decides to have a chat


    Directory: how did this get so complicated.


    Sitting at his desk clutching his head with both hands. He can''t help but feel frustrations. Evelyn watches him wanting to help him out but that means things just are progressing the way they naturally would so so she feels there''s nothing she could do. Without much to resolve this issue, she decides to just stay quiet and let him work through his feelings after about an hour. Finally looks to have pulled himself together and he reaches into us asking Paul''s out of Manila folder. He drops it before her.


    Directory: read this.


    She works over from The couch to his desk then flips open the folder. She starts reading page after page and as she does her expression grows from concerned to sad to upset but before she could finish reading shell kicks open the door on his is a large backpack vetting was down from his shoulders. He also appears to be wearing a long leather jacket with a fur padding on the inside. He looks Evelyn.


    Shell: what are you still doing here? Let''s get out of here.


    Evelyn looks at him in confusion. He didn''t seem interested in going before she grows even more concerned about a sudden change of heart as well as his change of behavior. But before she could ask him any questions, he walks over and smacks a iron cuff onto her wrist. He then begins tugging or the invisible chain pulling her wrist along there. Now I''m no longer bound the to this place.


    Evelyn: what are you talking about? You can''t leave here and you know why


    Shell: Don''t worry about it. The director already has the letter ready. I know it


    Ken walks around to the other side of the desk where the director sits pushing the directory aside. He opens up the middle drawer and pulls out a red wax envelope with his name on it and The wax has a door oil seal on it. He then proceeds to leave the office flicking off the directory and urging her on. She then proceeds to follow feeling the tug of the chains while watching the director sit sit in his desk even more stressed out than before.


    The two continued walking through the desert with two wolves trailing behind.


    Evelyn: leaving like that just didn''t seem right.


    Shell: The other time to worry about gifts you give people even after you''ve already went to the trouble of buying them and handing them over.


    He finally answered the flask of water after taking forever to drink with a lot of strength she has left. She snatches the flask out of his hands and starts drinking feeling rehydrated. The two of them continue walking in silence in the distance I could see at dust cloud. Curious Evelyn''s turns her head to face that direction focusing on it. She can clearly see the cloud moving in a specific direction ahead of it. She could see three black dots from the distance.


    Evelyn: what are those.


    Pointing at the black dots she convinces shell to look. Without bothering to move his head, he turns his eyes into the direction she''s pointing.


    Shell: oh that just some kids being chased by tumbleheads.


    Evelyn: tumble what?


    Shell: you know tumbleheads those monsters with a giant heads and the tiny legs that are all together larger than the average man also spikes where hair should be. They''re really common in mountain and desert areas. At least that''s what I read.


    Evelyn gives him an irritated look. I just flippant attitude towards children in danger but monsters in pursuit of them. Zane at full speed towards the rampaging desk cloud shell moving at a slow pace gestures for one of the wolves to go with her. The gray wolf with red eyes and short fur coat nods to his gesture then proceeds to chase after her.


    The three young boys running as fast as they can are slowly but surely being caught up to by four giant Boulder like creatures rolling out of furious speed towards them while they continue to run. Two of them scream at the top of their lungs. One wants to scream but it''s too tired to Owen is slowly losing his footing at the moment his step misses and his face starts to get closer to the ground. He finds that he''s being pulled by his collar as well as the other three. Evelyn, managing to catch up to stands before the boys holding the three by their shirts in one hand. She then starts to realize she may have jumped the gun and has no way of defending herself against the monsters. Zane, she catches a howl coming from her. Left the wolf catching up to her begins to Glow.


    Evelyn: Flint, thanks for the backup.


    Flint begins to shine brighter and brighter until there was nothing left, but a bright light and from that light shot a bastard shield landing into her free arm. She uses the Red bastard shield to block one of the oncoming rolling creatures. At first the monsters push her back, but with each bow to force the rolling sphere like form loses its momentum until eventually it''s unable to push back at all. Evelyn, confused on this. Prospect looks over to Shell.


    All the way several miles still close to where she started show cups. Two of his hands up to his mouth and shouts.


    Shell: point reduces ta power of anything he makes contact with as a shield.


    Hearing this new bit of information she decides to shrug. Using our strength she send s the still spinning tumble head into the air in the air. The creature stops spinning revealing a giant hideous looking face with Sharp teeth and leg sticking out of its cheeks as well as arm sticking out where its ears should be and several rows of Spike going down its head or back? Evelyn then realizes that she doesn''t know how to finish her photos off with a shield. Staring up at the slowly falling monster. She starts to run through her options then remembers that there was another wolf with her. She believes his name was Rusty before she attempts to call for him. She realizes he had been standing right next to her for a minute. Now she lets go of the three boys. Them proceeds to reach out to him.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Realizing it''s his turn rust y starts to Glow too as he finishes glowing. He turns into a bastard sword grouping the bastard sword in one hand and the bastard shielded another. She uses the shield to propel the enemy in the air once more. Looking around the other three, remaining tumble heads had begun circling around her. She leaps into the air flying parallel to the falling tumble headed does a full slash but to her surprise it doesn''t cut in half instead the strike breaks a majority of the spikes on the tumble heads back? The attack sends it flying towards the direction of shell who Dodges without much interest confused. She then looks at the blade. Wondering what happened considering she put mana into it.


    Rusty: I''m not like Zen refined slashes aren''t my thing. I''m all about brute Force. You want to destroy a mountain? I''m your Guy.


    She decides to conclude that all the wolves work differently. Seeing the other three closing in on the boys down below, she dives down with a stabbing motion running through one of the tumbleheads the impact of the downward strike since the other two flying backwards upon her entry, the topple head dissipates into dust, leaving her on the ground recovering quickly. She leaps over towards one of the falling back tumble heads. Rest you with a bit more mana she goes for a heavy strike the swing from that blow creates a minor shock wave that causes the monster to dissipate in the dust and blasts her towards the The next tumblehead she then reads Flint filling him with mana and shield bashes that one into the ground. The impact didn''t kill it but caused it to severely weaken to the point where it looked like it would kill over on its own. She then uses Rusty to pierce its forehead causing that one to dissipate into dust. Realizing she left shell alone with the last one. She quickly turns to rescue him only to find that Ken had already killed it. She didn''t even notice Ken entering the area.


    Finally grouped up she managed to sit down and have a talk with the boys who are being pursued.


    Evelyn: what were you doing all the way out here alone.


    Boy one: we were doing our job as paladin''s and reducing the monster population.


    Shell: ha! Yes, that makes sense. Good job and here I thought there wasn''t enough paladins doing their job with the seriousness it deserves.


    Shell begins to chuckle slightly while giving the three boys a semi serious look but is immediately jabbed in the ribs by Evelyn.


    Evelyn: show me your paladin''s license.


    The three boys start to get a little nervous.


    Boy one: it''s rude to ask for someone else''s license before showing your own.


    Expecting such a childish response. She proceeds to show both her emblem proving she is approved to operate within the country but also her license proving that she is able to operate as a paladin in any given area.


    Evelyn: hurry up and show them


    They hand over their licenses with anxious looks on their faces and one of them sweating a lot. Evelyn takes the licenses and reads over each individual one. The license is Read as The following Leonard Jack Howard student IDs/ training paladin licenses.


    Evelyn lets out a nice long sigh. While shell is laughing his ass off rolling around on the ground. Eventually she gets fed up of the laughter and kicks him in the back run hands back the training licenses to The three idiots should just happen to stumble across.


    Evelyn: do you three happen to have an instructor with you?


    Leonard: Yes, he''s in town currently. Most likely him and his heart and I are looking for us.


    Jack: shut up Leonard for all. We know she''s the enemy and you''re telling her confidential information.


    Shell: yeah, shut up. Leonard, no one likes a snitch.


    Evelyn lightly comes Jack upside the head to keep him quiet then proceeds to use Zane to drag shell back to her side then kicks him again for good measure. Afterwards she finished interrogating the three. Apparently the one known as Jack got a bit full of himself and wanted to prove his abilities as a paladin so he convinced the other to to slip away from the training group. The instructor had brought out here to investigate a mine that supposedly has monsters occasionally appearing. Since there''s no sign that a pillar would appear, it was decided it would be safe for them to check it out and get some infield experience.


    The five of them plus the two wolves decided to travel together. Going to the nearby town Evelyn normally would have just sent them on their way considering how much of a problem her partner is, but realize that the capital is too far off and she needs to get there in order to get shell registered. So she''ll need more supplies for the time being and decided to detour to this city is an order plus looking into the instructor that somehow managed to lose three of their students did pique her interest in terms of how qualified they are to teach.


    After an hour or so, they''ve reached a small town that generally lacked the structural integrity that usual cities have. None of the buildings were made of stone except for the prison and Bank. Instead they favored wood and there appeared to be a large water supply located on the west of town entering in from the south. Evelyn couldn''t help but notice a sad and musty looking guy standing in the middle of town. Looking in all directions. Share the feeling that this is the person she''s looking for but didn''t want to jump the gun. But before this she had the chance to approach him and ask him if he''s looking for something. The guy immediately looked in her direction and started waving at the three children. This in some way shape or form clearly spells out the fact that the educational system for those meant to enforce the law may be in Jeopardy. At least that was her opinion. Meanwhile, her partner had already disappeared that hadn''t even been inside the town for a minute freaking out. She looks around to see if maybe he''s still out in the open. Looking down she noticed that Rusty and Flint were still with her so I should figured when there''s she''s ready to leave. They''ll probably let him know.

 prison wolf

    Evelyn has arrived at the desert town of vagabond a small town with only one paladin stationed there currently speaking. She''s at the canteen with said paladin Douglas discussing us issue he currently has and hoping to recruit her for his efforts while she''s passing through.


    Douglas, so you see the thing is once a year the school sends out the students that are doing well on their classes to get them in field experience. And typically we would have an array of paladin''s on site to aid them during their field training. The thing is, as I''m sure you''re aware the pillar of the priestess is currently standing really close to one of our borders and is demanding something of the king, but the king refuses to acknowledge whatever she''s demanding and stand in response. He sent a all but one of each of every Town''s paladins. Because of this fact, the training dispatch was gravely limited. Each town that had flexibility to have a paladin train. Some students is limited to one one and the number of students is too vast this year. In other words, we''re kind of screwed. Luckily for me the only hot spot for training is the mine and I have no qualms leading a bunch of kids down The mine by myself. But the thing is with so many of them and as you''ve seen a rather rowdy bunch, I''m going to need some backup. So I''m hoping you might stick around for a bit and help with the mind venture afterwards. I''ll load you up when supplies and you can be on your way. Sound good?


    While listening to his proposition, she casually eats away at them food on her plate who is nothing extravagant just some seasoned mashed potatoes, some roasted chicken and some water with a hint of alcohol to prevent the water from taking on rust within its content. Nothing to write home about.


    Evelyn: I''d love to help you with the mine, but as you''ve probably noticed, my partner has gone and wandered off somewhere. I have these two wolves here which are more than enough for simple jobs, but if things get a little too serious I''m not going to be much help without him.


    Douglas looks at her enjoying her meal, then look down at the two wolves, a gray wolf with red eyes who seems to be constantly on alert and a brown shabby looking wolf with blue eyes who''s clearly checked out for the day. Curled up for a nap barely visible from beneath the table after assessing the two he shrugs then says.


    Douglas: I''m fine with that if things go south. Me and my partner could tear up this entire desert like a hurricane.


    Douglas proceeds to tip up his hat as a show of arrogance and relaxes into his seat. He then decides he should take a bite of his own food while he has the time.


    Has Douglas scoops up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and prepares to put it into his mouth? A well-dressed man enters the canteen he looks around frantically sweating rapidly.


    Douglas: sheriff good evening, how was your day?


    The sheriff looks over to Douglas who''s still holding the spoonful of mashed potatoes In front of his mouth while lifting one hand signal his position to the sheriff but sure if they can quickly jogs over to their table.


    Sheriff: do you happen to know where the mayor is?


    Douglas begins to scratch at his chin thinking about where last he heard the mayor would be. He then proceeds to adjust his hat and says.


    Douglas: I asked the mayor to give the students a tour of City Hall while I sort out the escort arrangements for visiting the mines. Why what''s up.


    While physically looking at the sheriff, Douglas begins eating his potatoes, the sheriff begins taking a napkin from one of his breast pockets and starts to dab off some of the sweat.


    Sheriff: oh it''s probably nothing. Just want to confirm something details with him. Anyways, enjoy your meal.


    The sheriff begins taking his leave first by bowing at the two, then heading out heading. Outside the canteen he begins. Heading straight down the road towards the centermost building where City Hall is located at City Hall. He spots a plethora of children all scattered about the the offices looking around some not even bother to look around and are just taking up a seat somewhere. Reading a book or staring out a window clearly bored out of their minds. Ignoring the gathering he had straight towards the office where the mayor should be at the desk. There''s a great hair man wearing a poncho signing documents.


    Mayor: what is it this time.


    The mayor didn''t need to look up from his desk in order to. I understand who was entering his office and could easily assess that whatever he''s here for could be chalked as trivial at best. Nervous the sheriff quickly closes the door making sure no one is in the room, then hurries over to the mayor''s side leans in and whispers something into his ears. The mayor hearing what he has to say starts sweating rapidly eyes widened and an uncontrollable cough starts to take over. mayor are you sure? Are you positive you''re not mistaken or hallucinating or anything like that? Cuz there''s no way what you''re saying can be real.


    Sheriff: I''m telling you without a shadow of a doubt as soon as I Saw I immediately went to check all of my paperwork and everything and there was no record of it and when I tried asking questions I got nowhere. What should I do.


    Curing the unsettling news the mayor''s head falls comfortably into his palms due to the newly found stress his one and only sheriff has brought his way .


    Douglas continues eating enjoying the meal. He think he''s for the waitress to bring him another drink. Evelyn looks at him wondering what all of that was about before with the sheriff picking up one her intentions. He gives her a simple reply.


    Douglas: don''t worry about that, giving it the sheriff. He''s probably freaking out that another rattlesnake showed up in his filing cabinet again. Happens every week, sometimes twice a week.


    Confused on the dangers of rattlesnakes and their commonality and how serious ones appearance could be she feels she must say something about it but stops herself. Having looked to her left and right and remembering, she currently has two wolves as her escort, a creature which is known to man to be dangerous to encounter under most circumstances. So she decided to let things be and continued her meal.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The next day Evelyn wakes up in the motel she was introduced to by Douglas. Her first action upon waking up is to look around and see if shel has found his way to her room but no sign of him. Although flint and Rusty had taken up both sides of the bed looking extremely comfortable. Then gets out of bed looking around for the possibility of rattlesnakes considering how common Douglas stated they are. After looking through the cabinets, the bathroom cabinets, the medicine cabinet in the mirror and the shower just to be doubly sure not to mention the latrine. She eventually concludes that there''s no possibility that there is currently a rattlesnake in our room making a mental note to check later on. When she comes back she then decides she''d go out to meet Douglas for what they agreed upon waking up. Ta two wolves who are acting as her liaisons during this endeavor. Usually show would have the wolves switch it up so that she could familiarize herself with the variety of wolves that can become weapons in order to boister her chances of wielding him. But since shell is God knows where right now. No such order had been commenced and she''s not sure how to order them to do that.


    Flint: if you''re worried about the master, He''s fine. From what I heard, he found adequate lodgings and is choosing to camp out there for a majority of his time here. We of course know where he is so if things do go south a simple howl will bring him here without delay.


    Nothing to blint''s words. She continues to dress herself according to Shel. What are the many abilities that comes with being his partner includes what is not limited to being able to communicate with canines. According to him, most things classified as canine are able to speak with her even if they''re not wolves per se. Of course. He also proceeded to explain that the line starts to get a little bit fuzzy when it comes to things like hyenas although he did fail to explain how he had managed to have a encounter with a hyena yet along a conversation. Of course, like most things he chooses to only let her know about the little things and prefers to keep the more major events in his bag of need to know exiting the motel. The three proceed to the canteen to get breakfast before they have to head out to the mines on their way there. She couldn''t help but notice the sheriff and a rather experienced looking man hanging out in front of the building made of wood, but the back area seems to be made of stone. Her curiosity peaked and what the two seem to be doing frantically standing around the building. Curious to know if she looks at the sign at the front which red police station. Knowing that and the fact that the sheriff is loitering with great discomfort in front of his own place of business, only incurred more questions for her.


    Rusty : listen up little lady. I''m more than a little hungry right now, so could you please move along unless there''s something really important you got to do here?


    At Rusty''s demands, she proceeds to abandon her curiosity in favor of food and heads over to the canteen. Entering the doors she looked to find Douglas fixated on a bowl of grits with strips of bacon in his hand, she decided to go over and have breakfast with him considering eating alone. Isn''t that ideal? And you can''t really be talking to wolves? People will think she''s crazy sitting down. She hoped that Douglas wouldn''t notice her but to hurt his appointment. Not only did he not notice her, he stared at his bowl of grits shredding up bacon and tossing it in as if the bacon had done something horrible to him and this is his way of getting back at it. The waitress had noticed she arrived and sat down next to him and she came over to get her order. Evelyn proceeded to order for Flint a plate of eggs and bacon and a bowl of milk and for Rusty biscuits and gravy minus the biscuis. Of course he also wanted a bowl of tea to go with his biscuitless gravy. Then Evelyn ordered for herself biscuits with preservatives to spread on it as well as a thing of tea, some sausage rolls and a fruit cup before the waitress and Evelyn could finish the order. They both stopped noticing that Douglas had run out of bacon to tear into his grits and was reaching for something in the middle of the table. He then proceeded to grab a bottle of hot sauce and furiously shake into the grits until it turned extremely red, then sat it down and began slurping on it as if it was the most delicious thing he''s ever eaten.


    Evelyn: is he okay?


    She muttered


    Waitress: yeah he does this every time. The reason seems to be that Zander often slaps him awake every morning cuz he refuses to wake up on his own.


    The waitress then looks back at Evelyn to see if she wants anything else before heading off to the kitchen to complete the order. After a while the two finished eating their meals. Douglas only halfway through noticing she was there. They then started witnessing the students piling in one after another. Slowly waking up after everyone had had their meals. Douglas introduce them to Evelyn and they single fouled their way out of town towards the mine.


    On a different note, after The two paladins had left town. Ta mayor and the sheriff suddenly watched them leave before they could no longer be seen in the horizon. Them proceeded to run as fast as they could into the police station entering into the detainment area for prisoners they proceeded to go to the furthest cell held all the way to the back that the sheriff would typically never go considering there are only so many prisoners that can be held in town before they need to be sent someplace else.


    Mayor: you haven''t told anyone else about this right.


    Sheriff: nope, I''ve been keeping my lips as tight as possible although I have a feeling Douglas knows something is up.


    The two stare into the empty cell to see a young dragon boy with a steel collar and a fur coat who had miraculously acquired breakfast and a book and was just lounging around in the cell.

 armored rattlesnake

    The mayor and sheriff had gathered into the far corner of the prison located at the police station. Inside one of the prison cells was shel Shell who had lazily made himself at home with a blanket, a six-course meal and a series of books scattered across the cell seeing this the sheriff felt nervous. Not only what''s some random individual inside one of his cells but he has no record of them being transferred nor anything about him being arrested. Scared that something might have went wrong. He decided to ask the mayor of something was going on that he didn''t know about. However, upon consulting with the mayor, he too had no idea and the fact that the individual in the prison cell is a native of drakewood village and it is found that he had been wrongfully imprisoned. It could turn into an international event. The king would have his head. Without any much options, they decided that while the local paladin was out and about, they would interrogate the guy. That way there''s no evidence of whatever had gone done.


    Mayor: who are you and how did you get in here.


    Shell: I don''t feel like I need to share my name, but frankly speaking, I''m just a guest passing through. I shouldn''t be here for too long.


    Sheriff: you say that but how did you even get in there? There''s only two keys to all the cells and neither I nor the mayor lets you in.


    Shell: yet another thing you don''t need to worry about. All you need to know is I''m a guest and I''ve chosen the cell as the perfect room and board.


    Mayor: that makes no sense. How could a place meant to detain and punish criminals be the perfect residence for a so-called guest?


    Shell: it''s one of those things you just can''t get rid of. Once you''ve spent most of your life in a cell, you feel uneasy unless you wake up to find yourself behind bars. Of course, having your freedom is always a great sensation once you let out.


    The two of them dance around in frustration at not being able to get any answers.


    Meanwhile, further away from town, the gathering of students plus Douglas, Evelyn and a rather tall man wearing a full y black dress shirt and Blazer with a red tie and rather decadent pants with glossy leather shoes stand outside of the mine.


    Evelyn: so this is a calcium mine. I''d imagine it''d look more like a giant graveyard or The skeletal remains of a giant with tons of holes in it, not your average hole in the wall with rails leading inward.


    Douglas: yeah can''t say I get where you''re coming from and anyways Xander you might want to transform.


    Xander looked at him side then flick them off before being enveloped in light within the light appeared a boomerang with a fascinating design that anyone could swear there was a frowning face etched into it. Douglas grabs the boomerang Zane nuzzles it into a harness he had set up on his back and then let out a grievous. Sigh and looked to Evelyn.


    Douglas: hey, if you need to get anything ready now is the time it''s a tight fit in there so any maneuvering you might want to make could be limited going forward.


    Hearing that she looked down to Flint and Rusty. The two in turn nodded and transformed into the bastard sword and bastard shield respectively. Not wanting to carry them in the ready. She positions Rusty into a position under Flint''s shield. Luckily for her, the grips hold just enough room to fit his blade without being too loose.


    Watching that Douglas gives a remark.


    Douglas: interesting. I''ve never heard of an animal armory before.


    The two plus the lineup of 23 students proceed down the mines. According to Douglas, the mines aren''t in use right now, specifically because for some reason the calcium inside the mine draws in monsters that have metal-based bodies assumably the monsters, eat the calcium, but others seem to speculate that the calcium serves as a good nesting material since the place had become such a hotbed and there aren''t enough paladins in the area having people use the mind seemed to be more risky than reliable so it has been shut down typically speaking, Douglas''s job is to maintain peace in the area by thinning out any monster herds hanging around while also surveying the calcium mine for any and all possible risks to the rest of the Kingdom.


    Just sending further into the mind. The kids start to get rowdy and curious as they enter a new area. Every time they enter an open spot, the children would fan out touching most things while sometimes Douglas would have to yell at them telling them they shouldn''t be touching things in caves, especially for calcium mimes because supposedly there are toxic chemicals that show up in minds like these due to the unique environment the calcium tends to form in. Then the occasional bat type monster or insect type monster would show up and Evelyn or Douglas would have to deal with it. The children would of course take notes on their fighting styles or their approaches as they should be doing considering it''s part of their studies.


    Meanwhile, at the same time the mayor and sheriff had brought up chairs to the cell. Still interrogating shell. The mirror at this point had loosened up his tie and his sweating bullets at the amount of stress this conversation is causing while the sheriff had gotten rid of a majority of his clothing leaving only his pants and shirt left at the same time. The person in question had gotten even more comfortable being on his third book and at some point when they weren''t looking his lunch had arrived.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.Mayor: what are you? Who are you? Are you some kind of diplomat? Why are you here?


    Shell: I keep telling you what you''re asking has no relevance nor the need for me to answer. All you need to know is I''m here until I''m not.


    The mayor smacks his head in frustration.


    Sheriff: okay so you told us all the things that we can''t know. So why don''t you tell me something that we can know.


    Shel takes a minute slightly closes his book using his finger as a bookmark looks up at the ceiling and thinks about it for a minute. Using his free hand, he rubs his chin, then proceeds to scoop out some tomato soup from his lunch sips a bit of it from the spoon and then drops the spoon back in the bowl.


    Shell: I guess telling you I didn''t come here alone wouldn''t be considered a hindrance also the fact that this tomato soup is pretty good and I guess judging on the state of the situation I should be leaving Tomorrow or today depending on my companion''s mood.


    Not seeing any use in the information provided. The sheriff begins to bury his face in his palms. Then the mayor starts lifting up his head realizing he has a companion.


    Mayor: you have a companion? There is someone who knows who you are.


    Shell: indeed, I believe she should be somewhere around here. I don''t know. She''d let me know when she''s about to leave. Given how invested she seemed to be, I figured it would take about 2 days to leave this place, but I received a reports which indicates she may be staying an additional day, but what do I know.


    The mayor''s eye is lit up realizing he may have finally gotten a lead that could help him figure out this irritating mystery.


    Mayor: All right then could you tell us the name or anything at all that could help us locate your companion so that we can move past this.


    Looking away from them, shell continues reading his book continuing on to the next page.


    Shell: My companion''s name is Evelyn. Apparently she''s some kind of noble. Anyways, I''m not quite sure on her whereabouts. All I know is she and some guy named Douglas are hanging out right now so I guess if you can find this. Douglas guy chances are you''ll find her and she should be able to answer all your questions.


    The mare''s eyes begin to shine brightly as he realizes he''s finally getting somewhere and just as he turns to the sheriff to find Douglas, the sheriff gives him a dark look. Wondering why he begins to think on the subject some more and remember something very terrible. Douglas had left quite early this morning with those students from the academy, he also seemed to recall that a woman who just blew into town yesterday was also with him and had left town with Douglas to go to the mines and given the distance from here to the mines, not to mention what they''re doing there he The person that they''re looking for as well as Douglas himself won''t be back till tomorrow realizing this those two men begin screaming at the top of the lungs in frustration.


    Meanwhile, back at the calcium mines douglas with a large group of rowdy students had made it pretty deep into the mines and as they go deeper, they''re starting to notice that the monsters are getting more ferocious things like spike heads or armored mantists metal snakes and the occasional chainsaw beaver are starting to make an appearance.


    With such dangerous things starting to show their face, Douglas feels that they should start going back to the surface. Not really having an opinion. Evelyn decides to agree with him, but of course the students begin protest and claiming they want to see what''s even further down. Of course Douglas gets mad at them considering they''re not the ones risking their lives and thus have no say in how far they go. If that said, they start to ascend but as they do, a strange metallic sound begins to echo deep within hearing that Douglas decides that it''s definitely time to head back so they start to get a move on. But as they do, the noise starts getting louder and louder resembling a mace or a stone Hammer banging on a steel wall. Feeling a sense of urgency. Douglas decides to pick up the pace urging the children along while Evelyn with her enhanced instincts. Thanks to Flint and Rusty Reddy''s. The two for battle Douglas in agreement decides to keep his hand rested on Xander just in case as well. The faster they go the louder it gets soon enough. Not only the mysterious, loud sound filled the cave but also the sound of their footsteps. And at one point when they finally see the exit, a strange hissing sound comes from behind them sounding almost on top of them. This causes Douglas to react grabbing. Xander and holding him like a shield with both hands picking up on the situation. Evelyn as well to block while using Rusty to whip up a small shock wave between them and the student sending them flying backwards. Douglas and Evelyn were launched out of the cave on the tip of a giant Snake with iron scales.

 where did he go?

    Evelyn and Douglas are now soaring in the air above the cave. Well, soaring is a bit of an exaggeration. The two of them are being forced into the air while blocking the fangs of an iron rattlesnake as it launches itself out of the cave at a rather high velocity. Looking down, Evelyn can see the students knocked on their backs below them. If this continues, the snakes will land on the students before they have a chance to recover and move out of the way. Fearing the worst case scenario. She uses her strength to repel herself off the snake, allowing herself to fall instead of being four stop words. Noticing what she''s trying to accomplish. Douglas proceeds to keep the snake distracted by blocking landing on the ground. She sees that the children are still stunned to pours as much mana as she can muster into her blade then swings the blade upwards in a flurry creating as many shock waves as possible using them to offset the snakes landing path with each hit, the snake''s body starts to angle more and more causing the face to enter a nosedive and the ascending body to Arc going up then down, realizing that he may be in a very inconvenient position, he too decides to repel himself off of the face to descend in a less direct position landing on the ground he hits back first and Xander as a boomerang hits the ground next to him. The snake smashes into the ground borrowing under creating a rather large tunnel. The two paladins seeing this widen their eyes in shock. Evelyn begins looking West for any signs of the snake. While Douglas starts looking East for the snake, the students are still unconscious suddenly in between them, they feel a rather large rumble knowing what this means, the tooth began to separate going in opposite directions while facing each other. The snake again ascends from a hole it creates using its body separating the two countering Evelyn''s as many shock waves as she can afford at the snake exiting the hole while Douglas watches the face rise and calculates a good angle to throw Zander. When he tosses the boomerang, it creates a wind duplicate that then fully circles around the snake scratching at its body as it rises upwards in a tornado formation while the original returns to Douglas. He then toxins it again to make even more wind duplicates of the boomerang well the two continuously attack the snake. Then I realized that their damage isn''t really showing on the snake''s body. Evelyn starts to wish that she had shell here to make this battle easier. The snake reaching its apex angles itself at Evelyn launching its head towards her at a high speed. Evelyn ready''s Flint to block the snake crashes into her hitting the shield but didn''t form a crater Flynn''s power has been gradually reducing the amount of damage and defensive the snake while she blocks a snag. Who is determined to push its way through Douglas from behind begins throwing even more when boomerangs act the snake''s body. Thanks to Flint, some of the iron on its back starts chipping. Noticing this a snake begins maneuvering itself away from the girls. Seeing that something is wrong, it then starts burrowing again into the ground using its tail to whip act Evelyn from the side in hopes of doing her damage. The two paladins group up in an attempt to regain control of this situation. The students are now starting to get up snapping out of their stupor. Things have gotten complicated, with the s up in Mobile, their natural instinct to panic will eventually kick in and they''ll start fanning out, making protecting them more difficult and giving the snake more opportunities to take out their group.


    Meanwhile, back in town the sheriff starts complaining to the mayor about how they have to spend the whole day watching The Young drakian boy who let himself into a prison cell because they were afraid they''ll lose him before they can get answers. The mayor begins to complain back at the sheriff and how he''s so incompetent at his job. He lets random nobodies reptiles and other such creatures just into his office without even noticing a thing they continue to bicker over this while the subject of their argument is leisurely eating a bowl of ice cream that mysteriously appeared in his prison cell along with several more bucks. One of them begins to wonder where these books are coming from and the other seems to point out that some of the books have been disappearing noticing that not all the books are the same on the floor and in his hand and that the dishes from the previous meal he was eating had already vanished.


    Back at the desert Douglas tries to group off the kids to get to keep them in one position. Since his weapon is capable of ranged attacks, he should be the best person to control the fight while guarding the children, especially considering it''s his job. Meanwhile, Evelyn has a idea as to how to lure the snake out since a snake is most likely monitoring seismic activity above it for the greatest opportunity to strike, it''ll most likely try to maneuver itself underneath the children knowing that they''re the weakest and will systematically monitor her movements as it''s identified her as the biggest threat to its onslaught, meaning that Douglas guarding the children would be ideal to lure out the snake so she moves herself a great distance away from it. The crew and begins channeling Mona once more into Rusty in his bastard sword form. She notices that the Mona she pours into him starts to ooze out as immense power. Wondering what that actually means, considering she''s mostly been going off of what rest of himself said he starts to wonder if she can can push it further. With that in mind, she tries to control the amount of mana present within him while also pushing more and more into it. At one point it begins to feel like a damn about to rupture. Each time she packs more and more into it, it starts to force itself out with even more strength. At one point she feels she doesn''t have the enough endurance to keep it all weld inside and knows that this is the best she can get. She''s then concentrates on the movement beanie for feet, focusing for an external source of mana. Feeling a slight presence slowly but surely coiling itself beneath the children. She readies her stance remembering what she felt when she first wielded Zen Zane focusing on what she feels when she wields Rusty this present. That seems to be guiding her on the most proficient way to wield him to herself not having much experience. While she tries to refine the point of release for the power, she feels that every instinct in her body that''s being provoked by the sword itself is telling her to brute force it with all her might unsure of what to do. She begins to swing her sword downwards. The only thought crossing her mind is forcing the snake out with absolute power in that moment. Rusty''s blade touches the ground and the world starts to stand still. Zane within seconds. A rush of wind scatters in all directions as if a split second hurricane had touched down and dissipated within moments. The children all grabbed on to each other with the most front student. Hanging on to Douglas who also barely struggling to stand up is using Zander in his boomerang form as a prop. Dig ging one of his ends into the ground. When the gust of wind passes, they notice something strange. A giant cut-like crack had formed from Douglas''s feet all the way back to the point where Rusty''s blade touches the ground and from that crack erupts a giant flow of dark particles. The flow continues pouring out for several minutes before stopping. Zane, the crack shatters as a snake runs through it, creating its own hole appearing from the ground. It reveals a giant gash running across it s back near its neck not wanting to miss this opportunity. Douglas attempts to release more wind boomerang clones to continue agitating the rattlesnake in hopes that Evelyn will finish it off. Preparing to do the attack again. Evelyn gets back into her stands beginning to pack up mana into the blade and as she does that she starts to realize that the initial attack had taken out more than she originally thought. Calculating her current circumstances, she realizes that this attack will be rather shallow compared to the first unsure of what to do. She tries to figure out a way to compensate for the lack of endurance necessary to pack in the remainder of the mana she can provide as she starts to panic. The snake starts to close in more and more Douglas of course continuously attacking it. But at this point the armor of a snake just barely registers his attacks versus the giant gash on its neck and knowing who caused it. It''s not willing to surrender of course. Still panicking. Keeps trying to pack as much of it as you can when.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Shell: it''s like they said you ran over your head. You know for a SSS rank. Paladin you need to be able to handle beasts on a b. Rank scale if you wish to. Can contend with my power as you so claim but since I came all the way out here I''ll happily help you.


    Evelyn is startled by The voice of shell.


    Shel tells her to place Rusty into late scabbard portion of his shield. She then proceeds to firmly The bastard sword in a comfortable position between the bastard shield and her arm. Suddenly she starts to feel her connection to Shell, meaning that he''s officially equipped himself to her through her shadow and in that moment she feels something different and overwhelming sensation starts to flow within her and instinct on what to do. She readies herself with Flint, while Rusty is carefully shaved blocking the incoming attack from the rattlesnake with all its might. It lunges at her crashing into her at an intense force, causing her to temporarily leave the ground before landing back on her feet and being pushed back more and more. Until eventually, it''s completely halted and immense amount of Shadow energy starts to erupt from her body. As she guards with a shield, the snake continuously forced itself at her striking with its mouth digging into the ground and lashing at her with its heavy metallic rattle tail then rising from the ground again from behind to go in for a bite. But her instincts tell her she needs to turn around and block the snakes. Fangs meet The shield and as it touches another large flow of darkness from her body as this. Thanks. Hatcher shield and the fang starts to crack around the base and falls to the ground. Looking down, Evelyn cease the discarded fang and realizes that she''s suddenly feels filled with more energy than she originally had.


    Shell: both Rusty and Flint are a-rank weapons. Their abilities work great with each other without me the ability to intensify and boost all forms of attack and the ability to reach your opponent damage. However, with me equipped and any of the wolves equipped, I can move their rank up by one and allow them to gain access to an addition ability. For instance, flexibility to leach your energy off just takes energy. Doesn''t really put it anywhere. But as an s rank he can move all the energy he''s leaching off into you or a weapon connected to his shield. Of course. That''s not the only thing. Rusty, as an s-rank weapon is capable of reaching triple, the stats increases. It''s normally capable of in terms of.


    Hearing this Evelyn immediately knows what she needs to do. Angry at the damage that it''s taken. The rattlesnake wraps his body around lashing. Its back at Evelyn who blocks it with her shield. I''m adding even more darkness with snake then digs into the ground. She can feel it way better than she did before. The sneak is retreating. It knows it can''t win. Chances are it''ll resurface towards the children to give her a reason to be distracted so that it can get away then wants to recovered. It can see crowd for revenge. That''s most likely it''s plan is what she deduced. Knowing this, she draws the bastard sword from Flint''s shield, writing it with both hands. She begins the process. She performed once before packing in as much mana as she''s capable of with the strength she''s received from the snake. She feels she could do it twice over. In fact, she could feel she could achieve something far greater with shell support. With that she begins packing all of them, it in her body into the sword. Then when she feels it reaching its zenith her instincts tell her to do something different. She then lowers the blade leveling it to her side, then running her fingers across its face. As she does this, her body instinctually starts to change the finer nature of the blade from an outside view. It looked as though the blade itself was glowing, but in reality it''s surface had grown so refined from the amount of mana that the darkness element within it had begun repelling all forms of light that touched the blade. When our fingers reach the tip of the blade, she then lifted the blade once more into the air healing the power reaching in even greater but was still more room to grow. She then begins packing even more of her mind at this point. When the blade had filled once more she barely had anything left and could feel something dangerous from the blades she wielded and then one word enters her mind.


    Evelyn: cleave!


    And she recites this phrase. She swings the blade with all her might sensing danger Douglas instructs the children to run away from the path of her swing. Pushing all the children away as fast as they can. The children confused only begin to walk into crawl but he''s starts yelling at the top of his lungs telling them to move or die. He even starts pushing and shoving the children trying to get out of the way himself. Knowing that his life is on the line when she begins to move time itself feels like it has stopped. That''s one swing. Felt like it lasted an entire year by the time the blade had touched the ground. Once more she felt as though she ''d experienced an entire lifetime then snaps out of a trance that she notices. The tip of her blade had touched the ground but not just that at the tip of the blade was a black line that led into the distance without seeing its end. And if that wasn''t enough in the sky, the very same line being mirrored in the exact same position leading in the exact same direction also rode into the horizon not being able to see where it ended. For some strange reason the world was even more silent than before. It was so silent. The word eerie crossed everyone''s mind. It even felt like the sky itself had stopped moving. The Lions started to disappear following its path into the horizon and with it the ground started crumbling erupting into the sky with all the gravel. The iron snake two Rose into the sky perfectly. Segmented down the middle without missing a beat before touching the ground itself. Its body continuously disintegrated turning into dust. Even the fang that rested at her feet started to disintegrate realizing the threat had passed, she started to relax and her body felt extremely numb and she couldn''t help but fall to the ground noticing that all of her strength had left her and the world continued to move once more. But of course Douglas not sure what he could make of the events he had just witnessed had finally made a rather upsetting realization. The individual he had been interacting with was actually not a b rank like himself.


    Soon enough at the same time as these events unfolded, the mayor and sheriff realized something strange had just occurred but couldn''t put their finger on what noticing this. The two looked back into the cell and had just paid notice to the fact the prisoner or person or should have been in the cell was no longer there and they began to panic knowing that they had lost something that most likely was very important.

 nothings ever simple?

    Evelyn and shell by themselves yet again traveling down an open path this time. However, that open path is a mountain range and yet again. Evelyn finds herself tired. Not from dehydration this time however, but from the traveling trunk that''s been fashioned into a backpack that she now has to carry if that''s not enough, she hasn''t had a break since she left the desert town due to the fact according to Shell she struggled to defeat a b-ranked monster and had to rely on his aid when having to a ranked weapons on hand should have been more than enough for a triple s rank like herself.


    While walking across the ridge is of the mountain. Evelyn can''t help but slump over due to the excess weight. Meanwhile, shell is enjoying some dried meat having a brisk walk and today a rather shaggy looking wolf with a maroon. Her color is accompanying them.


    While they continue their March, Evelyn can''t help but look down. There are plenty of random spots of green appearing all throughout the mountain and tons of paths both traveled and untraveled.


    Evelyn: you know this wouldn''t be as much of a pain in the neck if we just continued on the main route.


    Shell: if we continued traveling on the main road, it would have taken longer than just crossing the mountains. By crossing the mountains, we''ll be able to enter a nearby town that''s closer and from there we can go directly to the Capitol without wasting as much supplies.


    Evelyn: but this route is more dangerous.


    The two continued Evelyn complaining about her circumstances and shell refuting all of her circumstances with semi-reasonable statements as they continued along. Evelyn spots out of the corner of her eyes. Something interesting.


    Evelyn: hey look over there.


    She points down the edge of the cliff. They''re walking along shelling the wolf both follow the tip of her finger to the indicated destination.


    Shell: what?


    Evelyn: what do you mean? What those bandits and those people surrounded by bandits.


    Shell: yeah and?


    Evelyn turned around and gave him an angry look.


    Evelyn: what do you mean? Yeah and those are thieves. I''m a paladin. I should be stopping them.


    Shell: well no one''s stopping you go ahead.


    Evelyn holds out her hand shell raises one eyebrow not reading what she''s getting at.


    Evelyn: I need a weapon.


    The two looked at her crazy.


    Shell: they''re just bandits are you crazy.


    Evelyn: a normal weapon you idiot.


    So hesitantly reaches into his traveling bag, undoing the drawstrings then pulls out a hammer meant for blacksmithing. He looks at it a bit. Unwilling but inevitably hands it over to her.


    Shell: don''t break it. Lose upon it or anything else in between. It''s really important.


    Helen looks over the hammer. Not sure why he''s so attached to it then. Shrugs and repairs to go down and she kneels over to climb down the cliff. She finds herself falling off seeing as shell kicked her off the edge. The thieves stop their current heist of a caravan noticing allowed scream coming from up ahead. Looking up they see Evelyn falling swinging her arms wildly clearly not capable of landing on her feet. The thieves attempt to move out of the way as Evelyn lands she quickly gets up and runs at the nearest bandit confuse. The bandit is caught off guard and is nailed in the face with a hammer. The other bandits tried to recover the knocked out bandit but as soon as two of them get closer she swings the hammer again whacking. The nearby bandits only three bandits remaining. Looking at The Three bandits she noticed the stuff they''re keeping their distance. One of them tries to ready a bow and Eric not allowing that to happen. Picks up a rock off the ground and smacks it at the bandit. Writing his bow using Mona to boost the a shot that bandit was taken out isn''t worth it. They decide to cut their loss and run for it, but of course she''s not having any of that. Having greater speed than the two bandits. She trips one with her legs and smacks the other in the face with a hammer. All the bandits have been eliminated the Coachman and merchant in charge of the carriage approacher thinking her repeatedly. They of course offer her a ride stating that they will be heading to the town of Tipton but she refuses stating that they''ll be going to memorial City actually watches them. Leave she waves while shell lowers a rope down for her to climb back up the mountain wall back up on the cliff shell asks her an upsetting question.


    Shell: didn''t know you were pro-slavery.


    Evelyn: what do you want about now?


    Shell: what are you talking about? You just saved those slave traders from those bandits heck you even got them more merchandise. Way to go you.


    Evelyn took a moment to think about what you saw. Large carriage with many horses. A single well-dressed merchant despite the size of the carriage. Thinking about it, there might have been signs that they we''re in fact slave traders that she just didn''t notice In the heat of the moment. Feeling she just was made aware of something awful. She shakes her head in denial and continues walking after picking up her backpack style. Travel trunk Shell follows her from behind laughing at her misery.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Later in the night the two set up camp. Evelyn too tired to move. Finds herself forced to sit up staring at the fire. Afraid that if she lays down she''ll never be able to get up again. Next to her is last. The wolf was accompanying them during this stretch of the journey and me on the other side of the campfire his shell who is engorging himself on a strip of dried meat while looking as comfortable as can be.


    Shell: hey so like...


    Evelyn looks at him with a tired expression.


    Evelyn: what?


    Shell: never mind.


    Trying not to humor him. She opens up her travel trunk and pulls out the vanilla folder. The orphanage director letter key. She opens it up and begins reading some of the pages inside.


    Shell: you still have that thing? You should have left it with him.


    Evelyn: the director said he want s me to hang on to it saying it''s too dangerous to keep it in an stationary place where anyone could come and get it.


    Shell: yeah, but having that makes you the king''s enemy and since we''re heading to the Capitol for dispatch trainings so that we can be assigned work, you''re bound to run into him and knowing what you know about me and him is not the best thing for you.


    Evelyn shrugged off his warnings and continued reading. At some point she notices that three unidentified figures seem to be slightly outside her line of sight she looks up from the vanilla folder to see that a group of coyotes had decided to pull up to the campfire.


    Coyote leader: would you mind sparing some of that meat you''re eating?


    Evelyn looked at Shell both startled and confused at the talking coyote.


    Shell: I told you before being my paladin memes, you''re now able to speak to all canines that includes coyotes.


    Shell reaches into his travel sack and tosses towards the coyotes a sack labeled dried meats and has a date written on it that goes slightly beyond 3 months. The coyotes rip open the sack revealing stacks of dried meat. They begin snacking on it while shell use his his travel sack as a pillow adjusting the jacket he''s been wearing to be used as a blanket then goes to sleep. Evelyn finds herself irritated that he''s willing to share his rations with wild animals, but not her. Looking back down at her file she notices that last placed another sack labeled dried meat with a date marked 2 months ago. Unsure of if this was just lasts doing? Or if he was following the orders of shell she opens up the sack eats on some of the meat. Her continues reading into the night until she gets tired.


    The next morning the three of them find themselves walking down the cliff. Unsure if they''re heading in the right direction in the distance. There appears to be a strange man wearing a cloak into sombrero as they get closer. The person starts to notice them waving at them furiously hoping to get their attention. Evelyn looks at the man and then at Shell shell of course had already noticed and chose to ignore the man. Unsure I had to take that considering her impression of shelf so far is he''s antisocial in the worst way possible so he could be ignoring the man because he''s a threat or he could just be ignoring the man because he just doesn''t like the Man.


    Man with a sunbrow: hr hey you guys appear to be out and about. You''re on your way to the big city. Would you mind the little extra company?


    Evelyn begins to give him a response but before she could.


    Shell: sorry Guy, we actually are traveling the mountains looking for something. We''re not going to be hitting the city anytime soon. Give us luck is to do it along or wait for someone else to travel with.


    Sombrero: oh is that so? Too bad. I was really hoping to have companions on my return trip.


    Evelyn, started to look like she wanted to say something but before the man could take note of her expression. Shell kicked her in the back yelling at her to keep moving insisting that she gets further and further away. The odd part is last who was uninvolved with Shell''s active acts of bullying was also pushing her to get as far away from the man as possible after there were several kilometers away. Evelyn asks.


    Evelyn: okay what was that all about?


    Shell :.... I don''t know what you''re talking about.


    Last: sorry Little Miss boss. Man''s choice of actions was right. That man wreaked of all kinds of blood, even humans. Whatever his deal was I can guarantee you want no part of. The two then proceeded into the mountains further. After a while the city was firmly. In view from where they were walking they could see a wall with two border guards guarding the mountain pass. Excited. Evelyn stops walking for a bit to open up the travel trunk and pull out their travel papers as well as her paladin''s license reaching the entrance. The man reviewed their documents. Shell notices the gods looking at him. Apparently they were fascinated with him being a member of drakewood village traveling with a normian civilian. In response to this, he lifts his arm preparing to flick them off, but before he could Evelyn punches him in the gut causing him to fall over. She then proceeds to lift him over his shoulders, getting free passage to enter and proceeds to find a hotel.

 The disappearance

    After checking in to their hotel Evelyn and shell wander around town. Looking for a chapel looking around they noticed that there aren''t as many people in such a big town as there should be. While wondering Evelyn decides they should stop at a butcher selling meat skewers for their afternoon meal upon ordering said meat skewickers from the butcher he happens to notice that shell is a drakian. Realizing this, he offers to sell them bones that still have the marrow in it that he cook over a fire for them. Evelyn, of course not knowing about why he would offer such a thing to shell attempted to refuse, but shell of course kindly accepts with more enthusiasm than she''s ever seen him have since the two of them had started traveling together while walking around. Looking for the chapel shellwood casually chew on roasted bones omitting a casual crunching sound as they walk. Eventually they hit the Eastern district of the city where they can finally see the church a stone bill to structure with stained glass windows and multiple entrances / exits.


    Enjoying the church. They are met with a nun


    Sister: welcome to The holy Church of paladins.


    The nun looks over to Shell. Curious about his presence.


    Sister: that''s a drakian doing in a church?


    Shell: I asked myself that same question the moment we walked in.


    Evelyn pulled out her paladin''s paperwork.


    Evelyn: we''re here to check in according to the guards at the front. This is the HQ for paladins in the city.


    Taking the paperwork the none leads them over to another area of the church with a desk. She starts looking over Evelyn''s paperwork and pulls out a form for registry verifying Evelyn''s presence in this town. How she fills out the paperwork Shell disappears yet again this time leaving a note.


    Reading shells known. Evelyn verifies that he''d rather die than sit around in a church all day. Call him if she needs him. Knowing this. She figured it would be easy to get a hold of him if she needs him looking at her iron bracelet that''s used to bind her to the collar around his neck. She figured if worst comes to worst she could just yank at the chain and it would drag him to her.


    Sister: glad you checked in. I actually was in strong need of a paladin right now. The only one that we have in town that isn''t hanging out on the border is a way on business and recently we''re getting reports that people that should have came to town are not coming to town. And also we''re getting reports of a strange man hanging out on a route near the town. Of course no one seems to be giving exact information and there are other concerning details to be had.


    Evelyn nods to the nuns series of statements while looking down at last who while present was not listening or paying attention instead what was looking out a stained glass window over to the right. Looking at the very same stain glass window, it''s rather hard to tell what it is from one angle. It looks like it''s a man stabbing another man, but on a different angle it might be two fishes and bracing quite the art piece.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.Sister: I need you to head back out and look into this matter for me. It shouldn''t take too long. I''m sure by the time you figure it out you''ll be back in town and we can put this all to rest.


    I''m on hands back. Evelyn ''s. Registry papers as well as a wooden tag verifying she''s on a job for the church. Unable to determine that she had taken the job. She unconsciously claimed the tag along with her paladin registry. Technically speaking, he can''t take certain jobs without her deployment training and since she and shell only just became partners, she hasn''t received her training yet which is why she''s heading to the Royal Capitol, meaning the fact the only place with the proper facilities to do her deployment training that''s currently fully operational right now.


    Evelyn: I can''t really be deployed. I haven''t received formal training yet.


    Sister: I''m well aware since you''re traveling through here. Heading straight towards the capital. It''s pretty obvious you''re trying to get your training out of the way. But lucky for you, I''m qualified. She give this job to you as a credit towards your provisional training. So good luck!.


    Ben unclaps your hands together and shoves Evelyn out the side door and close the church''s doors behind her.


    Watering the city with the job tag and an admission statement in hand. She wonders can she handle this job? Currently she''s underqualified and while she has a sneaking suspicion of individual she''s supposed to be investigating. She doesn''t really feel obligated to do the job, especially considering the man seemed More or less harmless despite the warnings from both last and Shell earlier returning to the hotel room. She decides to rest for the day and head back out tomorrow. Holding that show would be back by then The next morning the current trio head towards the exiting gate shell chewing away on some leftover roasted bones. Evelyn, feeling a slight migraine from the stress of a job she''s not prepared for and last just seems to be going with a flow as they cross the border back into the route from when they originated from. They sat out to find the guy from before. Evelyn, she traveled her feet aching and the air dry. Luckily for her she could leave her baggage back at the hotel room. Since this is a round trip having the bare minimum, they move quite fast with shell, clearly not bothered by the previous nor the current Pace which does start to text Evelyn.


    Reaching the point where they had an interaction with the man in question. I could see no one around but footprints heading off towards more mountain-like areas and the distance feeling obligated to follow through. Evelyn proceeds to follow the footprints.

 mountain trolls

    The three heroes along with an army of wolves scavenge the side of the mountain looking for the man in a poncho hoping to clear their mission. However, it''s better to say that the three heroes along with the army of wolves searched for their target up to a certain point for which shell decided he didn''t want to participate anymore and placed himself with in Evelyn''s Shadow. Evelyn, having been placed a responsibility of the searching mission is now heading up the operation along with the army of wolves. While searching, she receives constant reports of things in the area. Apparently there''s an array of different types of newts that have taken up underground refuge. One wolf claimed to have detected smoke coming out of a side of one of the mountain walls with no better leads and have Linda said to follow this clue.


    Arriving at the hole in the wall in the mountainside. She finds that there is indeed smoke emanating from the hole as well as a light source that seems to be from further in unsure of what you''ll find. She instructs last to transform into his whip form last just so happens to be a three-tailed whip each made of a different type of metal with whooping hand. She goes deep into that cave the further. She travels the brighter. The light source becomes looking up. She noticed that there are less bats hanging out in the deeper portions of the cave with a light is more present. At some point she verifies that there are voices up ahead which you finally reaches a clearing. You discovers quite the sight.


    One man wrapped in bandages laid down before a fire. While another man has milk melt over the first man presenting himself in a more aggressive horror over shadowing position, the side was indeed quite something is how Evelyn put it.


    Guy one: so I know what this may look, but believe me when I say it''s not.


    Evelyn: yeah, so sorry to interrupt. I''ll go back outside and we''ll try this again in about an hour or less. Give us a call when you''re decent.


    Evelyn proceeds to turn around and head back out of the cave when the man calls back out to her insisting that she''s misunderstanding. The other guy seems very confused at what''s happening and is just taken to sitting crisscross next to the fire. Quite the bold man was Evelyn''s opinion, but as she tries to leave the man grabs on to her blazer, begging her to stop and hear him out.


    After deescalating the situation, Evelyn finds herself sitting before the fire where three men she barely knows keeping last and whipform in case things change from talking to fighting. The first guy introduces himself as a paladin by the name of Austin and the guy who was standing over him is his armory Dave. Apparently they''ve been surveying the mountains looking for something but things went South and they were attacked. He got injured and Dave was applying for his aid. Evelyn decides to accept what he''s saying at face value rather than fight back on this issue.


    Austin: so essentially speaking, they''ve taken up refuge higher up on the mountain. I''m supposed to push them out before they kill more travelers, but there''s too many for me to solo the mission and I only have a b rank.


    Evelyn: so these trolls are the reason for The disappearance.


    Dave : yeah, that''s what we''ve gathered. We''re still working on dispatching them but it''s going to take a while.


    Evelyn: why don''t you return into town and report to the nun at HQ about this so she doesn''t keep sending paladins passing through to resolve the issue.


    Austin scratches his head thinking over what she says after a while he turns to her and says.


    Austin: no. Can do if I take off to go and tell her so try to petition the capital for more paladins to attack and have me wait for them to come. And while we''re doing that, the tools might make more problems and deal more damage.


    Evelyn takes a minute to think about it. More like pretending to think about it. What she''s really doing is asking shell what he thinks and not to her surprise. His response is basically you could kill them all easily. What the only problem is you''re stamina sucks. So you''ll probably need to take a break between battles to refuel, but you should be able to take out the first half of the trolls now and then the second half of the trolls later after telling her that he then recedes to calling a tirade about all the many things he could criticize regarding her which caused her to ignore him and rolled her eyes.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Evelyn: okay, I''ll take care of the trolls since I''m already on this job. Shouldn''t take but 1 or 2 days.


    Austin takes what she''s saying and denies her offer. Tools are see rank of peace and there are more than a dozen of them on the top of the mountain here and if she was pretty up there on the rankings, she doesn''t appear to be that high. In his opinion, the armory on her person is not us. Rank well, at least that''s his opinion. Last just so happens to be an a-rank armory or pseudo armory.


    After a long back and forth of yes and no regarding her helping, she eventually begins to ignore his refusals and heads up the mountain herself. Austin, of course, tatting behind insisting that she turn around and return to town blocking out his pleas child points out to her that a couple of trolls are about to jump down from up above. She readies her whip for combat. Not sure what to make of her response. Austin is too ready for combat since Dave is already in his poncho form, he''s already fully equipped. Dave is a type of armor armory that specializes in resisting attack.


    From above four trolls drop on either side of the two who are standing dead center. Their weapons are barbaric in nature sticks tied to rocks that are either shaped like blades or blunt enough that they can be used as a hammer for a moment Evelyn is stunned but snaps out of it when Shell yells at her inside of her head telling her to keep her wits about her and if even one of those weaklings manages to hit her he will force her to do push-ups with boulders strapped around her waist for 5 days. Hearing this she lashes out last s. Whips all three tails wrap around two of the troll''s necks with two of the tails wrapped around one of the troll''s necks. She tries to yank them forward but ends up launching herself towards them realizing how heavy they are. She panics but tries to position herself to land a kick on one of the troll''s faces while her kick does land. The troll''s face is quite rock solid in terms of defense. Not even phased by the contact of her foot releasing the grip of the whip she starts lashing at them swinging wildly creating abrasions on their body. While there are plenty of scratches, none of them are phased by the damage My tool gets ready to smack her with their makeshift Stone ax she of course pours Mona into Last''s tail to wrap around the troll''s body and create a binding restriction preventing the troll from swinging down its arm. But the more the troll resists the more mana she has to pour into the whip to keep it from succeeding


    Evelyn: maybe last wasn''t the wolf for the job.


    Last apologizes, profusely within her head for not being meant for brute Force Shell of course disagrees and ridicules her for not being able to use Last''s full potential hearing this. She feels that she might be incompetent and failing as a paladin controls one of the tails of the whip to unwrap itself from the troll''s arm she then increases the reinforced strength of the two individual whips and proceeds to wrap The freed tail around the troll''s throat forcing it to tighten more and more around it till its neck is crash and the troll turns to dust thinking about it. She starts to wonder if maybe the last selling point is his ability to freely control the three individual tails as well as strengthen and reinforce them. The remaining troll on her side panicking blows a horn calling for more trolls


    The loud sound of the horn echoes throughout the mountain and screaming comes from all around panicking. Evelyn begins swirling the Three tales of the whip overhead quickly. Reinforcing their strength with mana with all her might lashes at the troll before her. With all of her strength, the spinning tails create a whirlwind that smashes into the troll rapping the tails around its chest and arms. Using her control over the tails she restrains the troll binding its arms behind its back. She then closes in on the troll pouring Mona into her fist and smashing. The troll''s face in the troll begins to turn to dust and Evelyn shakes her hand trying to alleviate the pain of punching something akin to Stone looking back she sees that both the trolls Austin was facing had already been felt one having a huge hole and its chest and the other one choking on his fist.


    Looking I had the two paladins see an army of trolls rushing down the mountain heading their way they ready themselves for combat.

 Battle of the mountain

    Troll swarm from all over from the top of the mountainside to the edge of the cliff. While at the center, two paladins struggle to hold their ground. Evelyn whips to and fro executing as many tools as she can while the other guy punches them out. The more they dispatch the more tools are clear. At some point, it starts to feel like they''re spawning out of nowhere. Evelyn tries to push away forward big up the crib whipping left and right as the three tails strangle lash and snare her opponents she can feel her stamina burning out but her will to live keeps vetoing her body telling her to stop. Every push stride or leap she made against the endless sea of trolls it was literally and mentally had nothing against the seemingly endless Force, it was a trial and maintain her composure. Funny enough while you''re standing up. Facing the bottom her mana pool still seemed practically bottomless and when she looked around for the allied paladin. He too had already drowned in the near-infinite waves feeling alone finally time noticed that her own body was aching which encouraged her to whimper at her state. Yet her current schedule as well as her foreseeable future did not seem to allow her time to complain. So she continued to get back to work, pushing back more and more other near-endless threats. Evelyn''s mind and body were telling her how far and close she was to her limit causing her to question. If this is her end without fail, she won''t give up on the fight so long as she is able. But of course, whenever a troll fell, another one took the place of the fallen. There were so many of them that it almost seemed like whenever she knocked out one of them another would show up and pick up. The guy knocked down and continued onwards. If that wasn''t enough. She''d finally noticed the ground shaking looking up in a daze she saw it. Her situation had grown beyond quanta viably worse it was tall with a simple body and legs. So long she questioned how it hadn''t breached the atmosphere. Its head was carnivorous by nature and had four limbs with a snake-like disposition. Though it was thousands of miles away. Its size made it appear as though it was only a couple of feet away a dreadnought the worst of Solomon''s creations to put in perspective when Sullivan became a God and blessed in 21 Kings with a little of his power, he decided to propel the world forward be released many of his creations into the world in abundance. Their goal was to seek out anything that had the potential thing to move the world and do everything in its power to propel its growth through violence, assistance or pure unadulterated voice at the top of these creations were creatures beyond all rationale, one of which is the dreadnought a creature both of large snake-like with limbs on like actual snakes. The creature would only ever come into existence when enough chaos head corralled in one area. Its gold is always to consume the cause and use it to fuel Solomon''s power. Witnessing this Evelyn truly knew she was in over her head. She couldn''t even begin to imagine what it would take to get her out of this. I''m sure if she could get along should lay down her weapon. Her movements began to stagger but not just hers. The trolls also began to stagger. The dreadnoughts pressure was so omnipresent. Everything struggled to move in the vicinity.


    Shell: TCH I didn''t want to do this, frankly speaking, it''s too early for you to even attempt this, but the universe is playing my hand these days.


    Evelyn was not sure how to respond to Shell''s words. Truly she would have if she could process what he was saying but her mind was already at its breaking point.


    Shall: drop last. You won''t need him for what''s to come.


    Not responding. She loosened her grip dropping wolf turned three-tail which then sank into our Shadow. Once the last of that whip had been devoured from her shadow along a steel rectangular rod or ascended from her Shadow. The length of the ride was as tall as her.


    Shell: take hold of me and no matter how weak you feel, don''t let go. I doubt you last more than an hour but I''m going to need you to hang in there for as long as possible.


    Without thinking about his words or giving him any response. She just felt in every fiber of her being that she should just do it like grabbing hold of this object was not only the right thing to do. It was her god-given right to do so by the god of valor herself grabbing hold of it with one of her hands. She could feel it an endless void sucking out every last drop of Nana inside of her, though her manipulled seemed endless so too did the hunger for the weapon. Her body desired to grab hold of it with her other hand and so she did which increased as the consumption of her mana which still had not begun to bottom out. Then her mind demanded that she pull out the full length of the weapon from her Shadow and in doing so everything went black for her before she knew it. She was standing before its shell, leaning against an extraordinarily large set of doors. The doors were held close by a lock. The lock back was in the shape of a very detailed wolf the keyhole that was placed at the center of the Wolf''s mouth with designs of flames seeping out she couldn''t imagine but felt instinctively that what was behind the door where Shell''s heart and the power that was rightfully theirs but locked away due to her in inexperienced nature.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Shell: I was right. You''re not ready yet, but lucky for me you''re getting there today. You were only strong enough to last thing 30 minutes, which was enough time to eliminate all the trolls and curve the interest of the dreadnought Ken, it seems that allowing you to witness this was enough to educate you or how much Sherlock him. But I pray that someday you can open the door cuz I feel that one day we''ll need it. S me that you won''t be able to remember my true form due to Alan''s training. Your mind and body are but it excites me to know that you''re capable of wielding me to this decree and how far you''ll go with time. I look forward to that day but time is up.


    Evelyn estado. She wanted to say something. She felt she needed to say something. She had so many questions. Every of her soul screams should take advantage of this opportunity before she can say anything the world returns to her. She finds herself lying on the ground in a Creator. Lying next to her is last who sensed her stirring and stared her in the eyes at a distance outside the crater stood Austin, who appeared to be standing guard while she slept in the sky. The sun had already lowered fairly far. She wasn''t even sure how many days had gone by I was getting up. She immediately tries to make her way towards the edge of the giant hole the other paladin kneels and reaches out to pull her out after she gets out last hops up onto the edge to remain by her side. Exiting the hole she takes in the side around her. Unclear on what she did. It was clear that her powers as an SSS rank paladin were far more drastic than any upscale in power she''d ever heard of. Parts of the fountain could be seen missing from her position. Many more creators as well as giant slashes and even further down across the mountain there could fissures be seen on the base, whatever shell weapon form had done or was capable of was something she would want to win a master but both fear and excitement filled her soul at the prospect. Looking at her hands she could feel phantom sensations of how the weapon felt in her hands yet no matter what she could not recall, what it was that she had used. All she could remember was that every sway average strike in every attack felt right and was sensational to her very being. The euphoria of using the weapon is still the winner of the battle. That''s nothing concrete or Revelation up regarding what Shell did whenever she tried to force her memory, she could feel herself fighting back. It was clear to her at that point she didn''t lose her memory due to the overwhelming power of his weapon form as an armory. It seems that a part of her voluntarily sealed off those memories because she was well aware she was nowhere near ready to wield him and didn''t want the spoiled notion of that. This was something she could rely on at any time should the needle arise accepting her feelings. She fell to her. Knee took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs. She continued for hours until she felt she couldn''t no more then she got up, and back into town, decided to continue her journey while engraving this lesson into her mind, body, and soul.

 regrets of a wolf

    So far in his life shell has only 4 regrets. When his father died he chose to burn his merchant''s cart in honor of his memory. Instead of keeping it at the time, he wanted to do something as a show a respect but in his later years he realized that now he has nothing to remember the life he once loved and the people who had left him behind. Then there was a time he was separated from his mother. He had one opportunity to say goodbye but his pettiness and pride wouldn''t allow him to look around the eyes and nice she had disappeared from him never to be seen again. That was a second regret but nothing compared to his third regret for the sin he committed. After his father''s death, he didn''t have any more guardians. When his father married his mother, a woman who act drakian his grandparents disowned his father and my extension ignore his kin having no one he was forced into an orphanage. Funny enough he would have there ended out there anyways once he always considering he''s an armory. When he first arrived at the rundown building that resembled the small school house, he noticed that there was a small array of children of different walks of Life. The kids would distance themselves from him being the new kid. Sam would bully him. Others would ask why he preferred pig bones versus cow bones. No matter what exchanges they made, it would always give the same results The distance between him and the other kids would always grow wider and wider the loneliness of failing to connect with anyone caused them to spend his days in the woods. He would simply find a tree climb up. It make him sound comfortable and either watch the wildlife clay out around him or taken out at the time the father in charge of the orphanage would come seeking them out. Worrying about his lack of socializing with the other children whenever he would ask shell about it. There would be no response. He would simply look at the father. Pity this man for feeling obligated to worry. Then return to either napping or watching nature. One day shows wanted a wolf pup injured in alone. Curious. He started absorbing it on the first day it showed up. It was injured and dying. Not wanting his new way entertainment to go away so soon. He decided to give a helping hand. You had a little better lunch away in a sack. He''d keep with them at all times. He dropped some of the dried meats. One to the ground the baby wolf would at first be cautious of the mysterious following meats, but after sensing no signs of danger it would eat it. Zane hide a bush to see comfort to rest the next day. The wolf was added again. It was still injured and struggling them all around. It tried hunting a bird that was braising on the forest. Four the bird Ed first did noticed the wolf trying to seek Apple on it but the wolf was 2 comes injured and them bribe was starting to catch on wanting to boost its ego shell picked up. Eric, on the ground he got a little closer aligned to mature without being noticed and struck one of the birds wings. It was so fast. The bird can respond and with an injured Wing it couldn''t fly away when the wolf pounced on it having successfully obtained another meal the baby wolf grabbed on to the bird with its now and dragged it into its bush. 2 days later the wolf is doing better. A lot of its wounds were closed in the up and it was being Ed properly and capable of hunting on its own now. Shells still spent his free time watching a little guy without bail observing daily motion which now to pass the time to him one day the father tried. Once again reason with shell about the pros of getting along with the other kids. Unfortunately that was the same day. Shell was observing the wolf and the father witnessed it feeling obligated to do something considering the risk he took shell away and informed the hunters of the nearby threat. The father would Force shell remain by his side. He understood the man was looking out for his best interests but the wolf was the best thing that ever happened to him him and wanted nothing more than to keep it safe as things. So one night he snuck out while the hunters were still looking for the wolf. He tracked the thing down to try and guide it out of drakeian territory but by the time you found the wall it was too late. Several hunters had it quartered seeing that he had failed his first instage was to go home having his after it''s spoiled and seeing the wolf scared cornered them alone, he felt obligated to see it all the way out. He watched as they finish it off till its last breath. Since it''s a wolf, the hunters decided to spread out and move the corpse there for now, making sure there weren''t any other wolves in the area. At that moment shell decided to get closer to wanted to say his goodbyes. He knew the wolf didn''t know him, but he know the wolf all too well as of that closer before her Jackie into addiction he picked up a single flower, tied it to the wolf''s ankle. Then dowsed the wolves pelt in a little balming oil as a sound effect you stood there for as long as you could to let the moment to mention his mind, but he started to hear someone coming before he could retreat. He was captured by his wrist thinking it was a hunter. He tried to struggle as much as he could but when his eyes met he was surprised to find a peculiar man a homeless guy war with clothes so ragged you''d think he was in a fight against a monsoon of moths and on his back with something odd. A giant gourd that seems to be admitting a peculiar sensation judging Aura that seems to urgent to either drink it or be drawn into it. Lining his mind taken this man''s presence. His body stopped moving not of his own accord and his mine were more and more fuzzy well as it felt like everything about him was on display for that man. That''s sensation that could only be described as scrutiny at its finest. A piece of his mind is trying to remind him of something something pertaining to this individual and all of his existence. But he couldn''t focus in enough to come to that conclusion. The man looked him oneself and then looked over the wolf. He snushed the air


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Judgment: balming oil


    The name ooked at the wolf''s ankle then looked back at Shell. He looked at Shell''s Palm and gave it a whiff Shell. Wanted to feel repulsed at that, but his mind was incapable of such a independent thought. But the fact that he thought it he could feel was on display. The man let go of shell and he fell to the ground. His legs refused to cooperate, not that they were broken nor was he paralyzed. His legs just felt as though there was no point they weren''t in danger nor would it look good in the eyes of the greatest judge ever to exist every part of his body wanted to display just who he was as a person and not how he felt in the moment. The man coward over him scanned the forest took in a deep breath. Let out a settle, laugh drag into his pocket. Dropped a small bag onto him.


    Judgment: open it!


    The command bearing some importance to him. He did as instructed. Inside was a piece of steel. A moderate piece of steel. Not big enough to overbear his Palm but in act to fit into the center like the size of a slightly larger Marble he felt like he knew what to do with it his body instinctively walked over to the Wolf''s corpse. He could feel it. His body always being forced to feel it. There was Mana, not a lot nor and now for what he was trying to do question that he had to ask themselves. What exactly is he trying to do? He doesn''t know. All he knows is this man his presence, his existence! He''s compelling him to do something thing that he knows how to do yet he doesn''t know how to do it standing over the quips holding the marble in his hand. He couldn''t help but feel confused at help with us. His body uncontrollably looked back at the man.


    Judgment: what oh you need mana well I guess I got enough spare for you but it''ll cost you.


    The man walked over to Shell placed his hand. One shells back and the man pushed mana into Shell''s body Shell could feel it mana enter them of mana a small half pint of it leaked out. His body was incapable of retaining mana for long periods of time, but the amount was enough to do what he had to do. He guided the mana through his body, tempering it for his needs them doing something new. He could feel himself molding the steel, changing it warming something unique his hands without of a sculped her and the metal was his clay shaping away with the metal and cleaving the pieces that hagley used who couldn''t retain enough mana leaving on the a pure and a natural form when he was done a new instinct to go with one hand held the object he had created the other radiated a a critical and unforgiving he dug that he owned beep into waffles chest pulling out. It''s hard. He then fused it with the object creating an uncontrollable on Mount of Manor more than their original was buried the new and improved heart back into the wolf as he did that the wolf''s body be empty heel. The wolves eyes began to twitch and shells now the end. I know he might had under his breath from this Dave forward right your name shall be Ken. Return to me when you are ready. The Wolf''s ears twitched in acknowledgment and a set of voice crossed shells mind


    Ken: who are you and why do you save me?


    Shell doesn''t give him a response. He simply smiles and turns away leaving the whoop to heal its wounds. He grabs one of its legs and drives it away from the spot where he died. The wolf clearly did not like it but didn''t have the strength to resist and shell drags him to a moderately sized cave further away outside of the border of the drakeian Territory and informs him. He''ll be safe here while he heals and then leaves as he exits the cave. He realizes the mysterious man is still with him.


    Judgment: I understand now. When I first observed the two of you, it seemed that you were simply toying with the wolf for your own amusement, but you do show them more and a willingness to take responsibility for those you influence. Fascinating! I like it but now I must judge the father. Once I judged him, I shall decide what to do with the both of you. In appreciation for the site you''ve given me, I shall give you two nights to recuperate and I can''t allow you to warn the priest. So I shall repress this memory so that you know it exists but are incapable of manifesting the thought.


    Hand over shell head an unrelenting Aura blows out of him and coats his body Shell''s eyes widen at the sight.


    Judgment: I guess it''s rude of me to go so far with an individual without offering a moniker. I believe the people of this generation call me The pillar of judgment AKA the 22nd King who ruled after Solomon Nice to meet you.


    Confused and shocked Shell tries to grasp everything that''s happened but no matter how much he tried, his mind refused to focus. The strange aura began to consume his body and with it his mind.

 regret of a wolf 2

    Shell wakes up in his room at the orphanage. He feels that''s not right for him to be in his room in the orphanage. That is correct. He is there but he feels like he shouldn''t be there like he should have been somewhere else like he was somewhere else like something was supposed to have happened or whenever he tries to zero in on it. His focus is eaten away at as if it''s not time for him to remember so he chooses to let it go in the mornings while doing his portion of the chores. Okay, he finds himself cleaning and can''t help but Dave''s out at nature. He finds himself wanting to observe it but never too any focus on it. Something eats away at his focus. Driving him back to doing his chores again at lunch. The nuns serve him drive meat. He loves dried meat. It''s convenient. I don''t know whenever and he doesn''t have to eat right away. he can hold on to it for days and it would still be good. Not so much the stuff, but for some reason he finds themselves wishing with Sneak actress but he can''t focus on Wawa cuz again his focus eating the way the more he thinks about something, the more it drives them to a certain thought, a certain thought and that triggers his focused to be even way at soon enough. he can''t help her find himself lying around in a daze to mess up Father and Rose. He''s worried about doing away with the wolf. May her dad ever do more harm than good? Went to a psyche but he knows that in the end eliminating the wild animal is for the best. According to the hundreds last night, they did eliminate the wolf but when they came back to claim his corpse after confirming no honors, they found that it was gone. Miss speculation. Is that the other ones saw the corpse and decided to take their brother back to their hideout? They plan to organize a more thorough and larger grill that should go into wolf extermination just to make sure they''re on to me one in the area hearing this. The father feels he can let the reins he had placed on the boy. He went loose now that he knew his charge wasn''t at risk of being killed or in any other form of danger but no matter what he couldn''t help but observe the boy''s behavior and feel worried. The next day, Shell had a dream. He can''t remember what, but he feels in his heart that something bad is happening tonight, but whenever he focuses on what his mind is further even away. He''s learned from yesterday that focusing on things that his mind doesn''t want to is bad right now, but he feels that once tonight hits that won''t be a problem for him. He just can''t figure out why as he tries to troubleshoot his problems. He notices something not something near or something far. His instincts are telling him he needs to go that way. His eyes uncontrollably always land and one specific direction without thinking his likes carry him for the duration he needs to go walking uncontrollably he finds himself further and further until the woods. He exited the territory of his hometown and found himself at a large rock with many entrances leading into it. For some reason, he could feel the thing he seeks to be below his feet which is instinct decides he needs to go within their rock so his legs do just that. That shell is very confused. For starters. He doesn''t know what''s going on or why he wants to do this. Following his instincts, he finds themselves in a deep, dark cavern that seems to span for miles in all directions at a centralized area he finds a gathering of wolves all large uncountable number of them at the center are two a large gray one with a bluish tent and on a large black one with a grayish tent. Both circling each shell though writing themselves for the battle curiosity of what''s going on overwhelms them and a tiny portion of them feels that he shouldn''t be here and that he has somewhere else to be with. His body wants to witness this way and his mind agrees even if it''s only the majority. He watches us the two fight. The majority of them feel he knows the one with the blackish-gray mantle and the name Ken comes to mind. For some reason he doesn''t seem to know but feels that he could learn to be attached to the black one looks over to Shell only glance before returning its gaze to the other wolf the crowd of wolves surrounding the two don''t do anything. They are simply watching now. The outcome''s name is Ken doesn''t change his expression, but he could somehow feel its mood has lifted knowing he can''t figure out why The two wolves clash against each other. Ferociously at one point, Ken is on top. At another point, the other wolf is they''d scratch and claw at each other clearly out for blood with each struggle. One has the other push back with great vigor nobody would want to be in the middle of this fight blood from both. What was either splattered on the ground or trickled down their legs due to open wounds? Ken was persistent and determined by the end of it. Both are breathing ragged and it was clear there wouldn''t be any exact winner with that clarified the other wolves started to exchange looks with each other. It was obvious that at this point the crowd would decide who they wanted to be. The winner and the wine him known as Ken was starting to, obviously not be considered a crowd favorite realizing Ken was getting into a bad spot, his body started to move on its own towards him. I''m running on my own. His body starts to run towards the crowd and jump over it landing in the center and standing there. him couldn''t help but notice that his hand was reaching out towards Ken the wolf''s eyes widened before they would relax and his body would release an intense glow from it. A weapon is born a Halliburton specifically the potential of this weapon that he lacked Mana so we couldn''t reach it Even so his instincts told him he didn''t need to the wolves stared at the situation in confusion. Sean walked up to the second wolf and struck it down in doing so Ken''s weapon form coated itself in the Roman wolves Mana and transferred it to Shell feeling it he knew he needed iron or steel but lucky for him there was a lot of it below him. He pressed his palm to the following wolf''s chest and followed a familiar yet unknown action he couldn''t seem to call that he knew the fallen wolf''s body started to react. Shell could feel her body recover he could also feel him doing something to her heart and when it was done the wolf''s breath returned to it and their souls became insane. Under his breath, he matters.


    Shell: from this day he shall be Zen.


    Acknowledges her new name by twitch and her unheard voice passes through his mind.


    Zen: why did he save me?


    Shell did not respond. He couldn''t respond. He had no idea why he did what he did. He just felt a sense of kinship and his body responded to that but his actions caused the surrounding moles to go into an uproar they started to surround Shell and Zen and weapons from Ken. He turned back into A wolf and the three of them fought just to subdue the army of wolves. Each time a wolf was down, Shell instinctually performed the same actions he did on the other two to bring them onto their side. Soon enough, no wolf in the cave was under his influence, and by the end of the day, he left the cave having full ownership of it. The other wolves welcomed their master, the leader, returning to the orphanage. The sun was starting to set. His mind was clearer, clearer than it had ever been these past two days. One name surfaced in his mind.


    Shell: judgment.


    His eyes are widened. His heart started to race. His breathing had slowed. He couldn''t figure it out. Was he too late? A time was not indicated of night. He''s the only thing he had to go on given that the sign is already sunk for all he knew this could have been the point or the point could have been later. If it''s later, he could still warn him, but the fact that he remembers means that it must be now without hesitation. he walked up to the front door of the orphanage and opened it to an interesting site at first all the orphans were gathered at the door. Looking as if they''d heard bad news the father''s Lina''s sight met the open door where Shell stood. He started to look relieved, then angry with the children, and observing the father''s expression turned and met the image of Shell standing at the front door. They all gave an angry expression as well. He started to work on his perspective first. he didn''t see judgment at all or anyone injured or dead. So we could only assume that either Judgment didn''t do anything and shout out or he hasn''t shown up yet. His response was at first I feel edged but then he couldn''t help but notice his vulnerability and the sensation of hatred oozing from the crowd. The disdain they felt for him and his presence. Leo heads that is comforted by all of these feelings being focused on him without her fail. He started to feel well only once more unwanted and knew where to go when that last feeling hit him he circled back around and engaged with the crowd. Those were their feelings, but for some reason, there was a hint of Albert Gretel viewing as if they felt his feelings and when that guy crossed his mind, his eyes wide and fear overtook him which then started to circle the room he knew judgment was here from a random door on The left laughter could be heard. The door opened. I now came to the familiar man dressed like a homeless person with a large gourd giving off strange sensations. Across the room enter the classroom on the right in an open door. Everyone followed with the looks on their faces made it clear none of them were doing it up there on the cord. Their expressions screened fear and confusion. But also for some reason, it felt like everyone in the room was an old book and could easily be read by anyone who was observing it. Was that man? Something about him made everyone open up in a way that they didn''t even want to. But they had no choice from them. Opening up was instinctual their mannerisms through herbal habits, their expressions, anything subtle or unsettle anything subtle or unsettled was on full display for anyone to see. He came before the podium where the father would usually teach a chair in the corner of the road full over behind him. He sat down on other chairs who flew behind each person. Knocking them down to sit in the or was it? They felt the intent of judgment wanting them to sit so they knew that when the chairs were there they would sit. It was hard to tell and everyone romaine confused.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Judgment: the court is in session we are here for the quote loving and understanding, Father Laurel.


    Everyone looked at the father, nothing but fear could be right off the father. His hands, his eyes, his face his hair. The way he moved everything just screamed fear. The father didn''t have to be introduced to know who this man was and the way he was being read to everyone indicated that his fear wasn''t from the confusion but it was from what this was leading to. The father''s body indicated that he was trying to run away but his body wanted to be exposed. Triggered by judgment prevented him from leaving by the end of it. He spilled everything all his sins. All his wants on his desires and the last thing he said Drew a tear from Shell''s eyes. His words heard him. He never trusted the man. He loved his distance since everything that he loved was gone. But for some reason in that moment for the first,time she knew anger he wanted vengeance he wanted to know. Peace. He couldn''t have any of it. All he could do was expose himself to the crowd, the captive crowd, all of which were gazing at him up Pelham the Father''s words, some looked at him with pity others and looked at Shell with disdain but even in that disdain was pity. The father walked before judgment. The man laughed and uncorked his gourd the father kneeled before that the opening of the gourd and readied his lips. He could feel it either he would drink the gourd or the gourd would drink him by but before his sentence was carried out, Shell somehow was able to move and his first and most natural instinct allowed before judgment''s power was to kick away. The father, every fiber of his being told him that if the gourd had the Father, no matter which way it came about. The father would be three of his crimes. His sins would be gone and Shell would no longer know. Peace. He felt that judgment had his eyes on him as well and that maybe a piece of him could join the Father inside the gourd and get vengeance somehow within it. But he knew that would not be satisfied. Reading shells, every emotion while under the influence of his power judgment had the most baffled expression at how he''s able to move that then gaining an understanding the most demonic smile replaced judgment placed his hand on Shell. Showdown looked him in the eyes and said.


    Judgment: I like that look in fact, I love it! So I''ll give him a chance. I came to collect the sins of wicked souls. But I liked him at first I thought it was just his way of life. he maintained that old school mentality I missed but now that I see it it''s more than just that.


    While he''s talking judgment''s hand produces an unnerving aura that forces its way into Shell''s body causing him to buckle to the ground. He feels like he should be in pain but he''s not. He asks himself if he''s on the ground would cause him to be on the ground but he can''t understand it. It''s like he felt something that he didn''t. He wonders what exactly that oral was. Shell looks to judgment, but he''s no longer by his side. Instead, he''s made himself across the realm heading toward the children. He stands in front of them, then Madison says.


    Judgment: I''ll give him one opportunity here an armory and that father over there is a capable paladin team up with the man who wronged him to defeat me and I''ll let him claim the right to judge that man and I''ll let the both of him go but if I defeat the two of him I will take what''s mine and leave. But if the two of him don''t challenge me. I''ll kill these children. They have enough sin inside them to justify their deaths.


    The two looked at each other and acknowledged his proposition Shell would always look back at this moment and ask many questions. Why did he choose to fight? Why had he never noticed the way the father insisted on interfering with him? Could he have done differently that would have ended things more peacefully? Should he have done what he did to the father at the end of it? All well. The thing is when they started fighting three things became clear. One the father had retired from being A Paladin because his age caught up with him two. Judgment did something too Shell causing him to take away from the father''s mana just by being within the vicinity of him and wielding him made it worse I think and three they couldn''t win even if they tried due to the large cabin levels between the two of them also, their combined strength was nothing compared to the strength of a pillar, especially judgment. After their clash, it was clear the two of them had completely and utterly lost in their final moments. Judgment wielded his gourd to claim both of their lives in an act of desperation shell tapped into the curse placed on him and claimed the life of the father before Judgment could do this causing him to stop and smile. He kneeled saw their eyes meet judgment again placed his hand on Shell''s shoulder and a strange sensation again. Overtook shell when he finished, he stood back up and snapped his fingers. The whole orphanage had been set of ways judgment walked out of the classroom and headed towards the entryway and when the front door swung open he prepared to leave but stopped and and said one thing.


    Judgment: I knew I liked him for a reason so I will abstain from judging him until he''s completed his vengeance keep in mind I am not abstaining from judging him entirely. I will be watching him for his whole journey, the good and the bad. And when he finally exacted attention when every last person who has wronged him and his family, I will appear before him and everyone who has gathered around him and give him the final judgment he deserves.


    With that said, he walked through the door and disappeared escaping the place. The remaining sisters and orphans all watched as the place burned to the ground. They kept their distance from him the whole time looking at him with hatred and pity. They knew what happened to him but couldn''t help but hate him for what he did in return.

 The wheels pain part 1

    He was jealous of his brother. A man always loved but never hated. A king, amazing, knowledgeable, and imposing. A father, supportive and supported. He was respected among the rulers and acknowledged among his people. Many words could be used to describe this man. But the thing is, this man is not that man. This man is petty. He only sees what his brother has and hates that he has not. People don''t talk to him, they ask him about his brother. People don''t see him, they see a pathway to his better sibling. People don''t respect him, they respect the people he has blood ties to. Edward, Giovanni, the second prince of the first family of the Kingdom of Normania. One day he was approached by the wise man with an offer. He didn''t want to refuse, their first interaction was breathtaking when he spoke to him. The wise man never spoke of his brother. Every conversation they had was about him being observed. It was not a conversation in which he would count the hours of when this conversation would end. You felt acknowledged and wanted that people gave his father the wise man gave him to assist him in his dream, he did not hesitate to say yes. When you finally learned of the consequences of this way, he found himself not regretting his actions but wishing he got more out of it. After you served me to the throne from his brother, he became the new king of Normania and with it, great power and respect. Although he himself could feel that his respect was shallow and his power was temporary. Because of this, he did what he had to. When the wise man ascended to become a god, he was gifted a blessing as thanks what he asked for. Was it ever growing mind that understood the workings of man in society? The ability to keep the world moving something even his brother would struggle with using this. He installed himself as a necessary evil to keep the kingdom moving while many of the other kingdoms fell apart. The evil, God''s Ascension because the world to constantly fall apart. It''s the world is based off of a dream. The more the evil guide forced his will to bring him into reality the more the world fell apart with everything he was gifted. He did what he had to to keep the world together, even employing the newly born paladins that other gods created in an attempt to stop the evil God and save the world and thus thus stabbing in the back. The wise man who put him in the position who is greatly in as he saw anything to hang on to the temporary power. Respect means nothing without power. At least that''s how we saw it. When the world finally settled and Solomon was finally sealed, the gods made their decision. Everyone was to be punished for the Kings who let this happen. They would return into pillars that would keep Solomon sealed and for the people who stood there and let this happen. All of each society have been placed with stigmas. The number of stigmas was based on the role they played in Selena''s Ascension. The drachians and foliages were placed Three stigmas on our ways. The four main Titan isis received two was stigma''s the underworlders had also received to stickers from the heaven bound received two stigmas ia for putting the most effort towards stopping Solomon had received one stigma a gift and honor for their actions. All 21 races receiving a the Kings wishes from the gods had been Hadley restricted as well and the path to become royalty had been heavily regulated All of this to stop some of it. Then, as an added precaution, each of the pillars was cursed with immortality and a rule binding them. Edward, being one of the 21 Kings who aided Solomon was dubbed the wheel and his job as a pillar was to travel the world and find things that didn''t work and exert his ability to keep it moving. His presence was only allowed in places that didn''t function and when nothing was not working he would cease to exist and exist only when things needed fixing as the wheel. This was his burden. Of course the standard restriction was also placed on him. No more than Sath and pillars can exist in a single area. If all 21 pillars were present within a single area, the gods would kill the majority till only seven remained or matter the level of disaster they bring about to make it happen with this, he found himself as an agent in charge of the paladins. Organization That''s sole purpose is to maintain order and keep the world moving because the quick est place for him to exert his authority and maintain his existence without incurring the wrath of the gods in recent years with the kingdom to have placed him in charge of the SSS paladins they since they are forbidden to be employed under any kingdom''s authority. Of course, nowadays, he grows ever wary of the current situation. The priestess has been acting out lately. For some reason, she''s gotten a whole army riled up and standing on top of normania''s borders. If that''s not enough, judgment has been busy as well. Keeps jumping borders, throwing up. Trouble stealing The souls of Solomon and sometimes genociding entire nations. All in the name of Justice. Edward would complain to him but the man who does what he wants and frankly his actions keeps the wheel from ceasing to exist. But of course, what''s really concerning is the fact that hermit hasn''t moved his stronghold in over a century. Death is showing signs of reviving. He keeps getting reports of random troll migrations, indicating the possible return of the emperor. Also, the hanged man may have left the underworld. That plus himself makes seven which is pushing it. The problem is with death the hanged man and judgment in play, judgment is likely to leave the heaven-bounds territory which makes eight things are getting ugly and if his instincts born from his job cursed upon him by the gods weren''t acting up. Something big is happening or even worse. Someone is doing something that they shouldn''t be which means the gods want him to stop them knowing this. He can''t help but feel his anxiety Richie and climax he can''t control and if that is it''s enough. If is waking up, that means the prisoners of finality will come back into play and another international or incident is guaranteed to play out and Justice seems to be playing some sort of sick game with the King of normania and drakian orphans. Edwin looks over his paperwork, assessing what he can do. He knows that this situation is bad. What? He doesn''t know why it''s bad. His body tells him he needs to do something about it, but he''s not even sure where to begin. Every time he thinks he has a solution, something else is pointed out that could cause the problem to escalate. He needs a key, which he doesn''t know what kind. He requires working parts, but he''s not sure where to get them. Everything is scattered. He''s not sure how to put it together. The more he thinks about it, the harder it pushes back. He keeps asking himself what to do or how to do it because if he should reach out to one of the other pillars He''s not hostile, but if more comes to play it makes the situation more risky. He''s not sure what moves he can take. If he removed himself from play, it could reduce the numbers. But if more become active, the situation would still cause the gods to intervene. He also could be reborn a month later that could do nothing at all. He bangs his head on his desk at this impossible equation. What can he do? He asked himself how should he act. He wonders aloud. His struggles remain his.


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 the Wolves vow to a princess

    Shell sits before a monument, sitting cross legs. He drank from his flask reminiscing of something he''ll never experience again. The love of a family as he contemplates the words of the judgment. He couldn''t help but remember what happens next.


    After judgment burns down me orphanage he disappears but only the father died and the orphanage burned down the children and sisters of the facility or safe, but unfortunately everyone heard where the father said about shell and the senior most sister reported it to the Grand Drago. After he heard word of a spoken and what happened. He decided to move all the children and sisters to a new organizing a different drakian territory. However, show was not that lucky instead of being moved with the others, he was brought back to the Grand dragos pavilion where he would remain in a single room with a single guard who would only bring him food three times a day and check when him poor time today to make sure he has not escaped. This continued for about 6 months on the 7th month he was brought before the Grand Drago the ruling. Figure the drakian Nation.


    Grand Drago: so this is him.


    Advisor 1: Yes my Lord. According to the reports, this is the kid from the event the father spoke of.


    The boy looked at the Grand dracout like all Drakians, he had black inhaled signifying his cursed skeleton which requires Merrell to prevent curses from manifesting red eyes that are burdened with the knowledge and white hair bench dark skin signifying their thick hides but sensitive awareness. But of course, since he''s royalty and also has the Royal stigma that makes him appear dragonic in nature, a trait passed down and the core members of the loyal drakian family.


    Grand Drago: is what what I heard true about this boy. Jade, normania truly participate in the involvement of this child''s parent''s death.


    The drakian Lord, gazed at shells direction you of course would have given the ruler the information he wanted but refuse to speak not out of spite but simply because since he wasn''t being spoken to Norse looked at instead the Lord''s side landed past him to another man he had felt just walked into the room.


    Normanian representative: we do apologize the great Lord Grand Drago cried master of the varying colonies of the drakians territories.


    After they got introductions out of the way the two spoke in great detail about my parents death. It was obvious that normanian representative was leaving a lot of details out. The Grand Drago did not point it out. He was well aware of what details he was leaving out and felt no need to approot something he didn''t clearly lie about. But after all was said and done. The Romanian representative had one of his escorts present the Lord of this land with a bag of many jewels and gold and silver coins as reparations of the events that occurred due to Armenia''s negligence. This was of course, under the assumption that they would take to normania with him. Giving the information provided below. Its arm was twisted show was a member of his people a problematic member but stealing nonetheless. Someone is outbound to protect. But unfortunately normania has a right to him , so he had no choice not to send him away.


    After being transferred to the kingdom normania he was immediately brought before the current king and shell sensitivities were going off left and right. Not only was he prop before the king but before all of his top grass the glares he was receiving were coming from all around. Everyone in this room didn''t like them. He could feel that with every fiber of his being and during the jury which took 3 months, Joe hasn''t eaten any bones. While he was in the care of the pavilion, they fed him chicken bones. But during his long travel all the way to ormania''s Capital at which takes several months to get there had any bones but no bones and he could feel a curse began to manifest inside of his body.


    King of normania : so you''re the last of my mistakes, no, that''s not correct. I make no mistakes. You''re the remnants of the sin I chose to bear for this nature.


    As the King began to flatter himself in front of his people, the knights began to close in on shell. He could feel himself in danger.


    Normanian King: look child. This is nothing personal but your existence. Exposes the world to what happened to the former King and princess , we can''t allow such a thing to walk around the fact that another Nation, especially one of forced Hicks knows of what I did to claim. My right is unforgivable so I shall put you to death. Unsubjects bear witness to this act so that they may carrying out my intentions should something similar in nature like her compromising my role.


    Shell could feel it. This was purely lip service. The fact that these people were here is so that they are all held just as liable in the event that any of these comes to light. But of course the fact that the man responsible for the death of his mother and father, as well as his grandfather and grandmother and Aunt irritates him to him. Alarming a degree. Allah''s face didn''t Express it. His anger was so strong that is Aura began to flare, Laney knights and nobles in the room since the change in Aurora and if that wasn''t all the wolves he had brought under his control began to crawl The mata The Shadow. The number of wolves and a seemed endless.


    The night started preparing Nana onto their weapons nate to fight off the wolves but the curse manifested with in shows body took effect. Apparently it was a curse consumes surrounding Mana and stores it within his body. Confused more and more knights started to use their Mana and even nobles started to join in the struggle no matter who tried their minda was consumed by shell. The wolves had surrounded everyone and the King was climbed on top of his throne trying to create as much distance as possible from the wolves. The knights tried to find an opportunity to strike the wolves but in the opening they saw was covered by another wolf guaranteed a death for every injury meaning of the wolves number would not lower. but the number of people in the room would clearly drop. This was not good. The king knew this.


    Normanian King: foolish boy, you''ve played your hand. Now I know that you have rules at your command which will make killing you all the more easier. You should also be aware that killing me would bring the wrath of the kingdom down upon you. My child would see to this you vile hick.


    The king tried to spit on the ground for some antics but a nearby wolf saw the opportunity to growl and snap at him causing him to resend his action. Shell looked around the room and contemplated executing everyone in this Kingdom with his wolves in this curse. It would be doable but then he couldn''t help but remember a certain being who judges people''s actions and takes away The souls of the guilty. As he remembers judgment, a spine begins to tingle not just his fine. The sensitivity had gone off. Someone had just appeared in this room. His eyes wandered over to a corner. There stood a familiar drakians drinking from a rather large gourd. He was dressed like either a scholar or an aristocrat but still he was drakians no matter how he looked at him and the aura he exuded was extremely familiar. Presence that compels you to expose your sins onto the world and those eyes that judges all of things without bias. It was the pillar of judgment. Realizing he had been spotted, he decided to clap for the performance he seen had seen.


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    Judgment: it''s been about a year since I saw you last and you have already located on majority of the people who have wronged you. I''m impressed. Perhaps I will be able to judge you soon enough.


    The king of normania managed to break enough out of his fear to notice an additional drakian in the room.


    Normanian King: who are you and what brings you to my castle? Also I order you to slay this insubordinate fool.


    The two ignored the king and his attempt at bravado. Judgment walked over to a nearby pillar and arrested himself upon it as he walked the wolves made room for him not because they wanted to, but because they could feel instinctually that this man something wasn''t right about him resting on her life. He continued his conversation with shall.


    Shell: what brings you here.


    Judgment: after I left you, I remembered some of the priests words which really stuck with me, especially some details. I really felt I needed to confirm so I took a trip to the underworld. I had just recently left the underworld and could feel with every fiber of my being a great crime about to be committed here. I know I had to see this for myself.


    Judgment cracked a smile at those words.


    Shell: I admit I considered killing everyone in this Castle, but I know not everyone is as guilty as the people in this room. Although not everyone in this room is the majority of the people who have wronged me.


    Shell felt compelled to speak about this matter to judgment. Not that he trusted the man. Not the or he exuded just made him somewhere he could trust with his thoughts and feelings without feeling belittled or betrayed. Hearing this the man rubs his chin in thought the king.


    Normanian King: please hear me. Oh great pillar of the evil God. He who judges right and wrong. Take the soul of this sinner your lord commands it.


    Judgment: pride, especially unearned pride is a sin just is great if not greater than wrath. The way I see it your arrogance brought you to this point. But of course no matter how things play out, All souls will be collected for the God of balance.


    He lifts himself off of the column he was leaning against, then walks to the center of the rim. Where shall and the King stood blessing himself in between the two he points at the both of them.


    Judgment: I have a suggestion Shell hear clearly feels that killing you has way too many cons than pros and from my opinion I can see that some of these cons can be easily overturned with time. As for the man who thinks he rules everything you''ll argue of defense against your own death. Is that your death would bring down the wrath of the Kingdom led by your son.


    Judgment smiled and gazed up to the heavens. No, there was no ceiling nor lights up above where he stood a giant godly. Ray began to envelop the three.


    Judgment: by the power invested in me by the god of balance. I propose a contract. The king shall live until a suitable heir is available to take the throat. Upon doing so, shells right shall be invoked should he choose the path of vengeance then the god of balance shall allow him to bring down the heads of every individual who played a part in the demise of his family , on the off chance. He chooses to abstain from vengeance on that day. I shall judge him on the life he lives for claiming the souls of those who bond him.


    The God Ray broke into three distinctive lights. The first light in circles judgment producing a Goldy rain on his index finger. The second night encircles the king christan a metal ankle brace made of iron. The last light circle shell producing a steel collar with a chains only visible through his shadow.


    Judgment : I see this here collar keeps you in line. Should you attempt to kill the king, the collar will bring you before me to be judged whether it be early or late. If it''s early, the color will bring you before me. If it''s after the fact, the collar will bring you before me then disappear from your neck. If you abstain from killing him at all, the collar will just disappear. Then there''s that iron ankle brace. It weighs you down in the presence of the collar should you choose to run away or do anything to prolong yourself from his rightful Vengeance the brace will weigh you down. But if you face your sins head on the brace shall lighten your load. Finally, this ring it''s to remind me of this contract. Should the contract be broken, it shall bring me to the offending party. The contract is fulfilled. The ring will disappear and I shall be informed of the events and I shall find and judge whatever remains. But of course any attempts both direct, indirect or through anyone who is is directly or indirectly under the king''s influence, the king shall die for his actions.


    After that, judgment left the kingdom. The king of normania now in an extremely difficult situation had no choice but to put shell someplace. he could not easily reach the king, fortunately for the king, when the kingdom has an orphanage on the far side near a forest full of dangerous monsters due to the fact that the hermit has taken up residence there.


    Shell was placed in the care of the father of you orphanage for the SSS rank armories, the director was giving a folder explaining the situation in its entirety to him. At first the director pitied shell for his situation and tried everything he could to get him to fit in with the others. But unfortunately, the new found curse Jill had manifest had taken rooting to his bonds so he could no longer be purged with marrow. Due to this, everyone within the vicinity of him starts losing an alarming amount of Mana. Whenever they''re near the closer they got the more Mana it was sapped away. The director couldn''t have this, especially since it put the other armories at risk, so we cleared out a space in the basement for him. Sadly, the only room in the basement was a prison cell and that was the collar was not a good look. But the thing is he''s just too dangerous to be kept upstairs. Of course the director tried to be accommodating. He was well aware of Shell''s various activities you would go out at night and wander the holes of the orphanage. Occasionally sneaking food from the pantries and some of the sisters would occasionally see him with wolves of different Ace species patrolling the forest and occasionally killing monsters eventually and type of niche was formed between New orphanage and shell you would control the animal population and stay in the basement during the daytime and at night you would have free rein of the area so long as he stayed away from the other armories.


    A couple of months later another new armory was brought to the orphanage a skytopian by the name of Maria. At first she was under the impression that she was the only non-nomanian in this orphanage but in later day is when when this one of the sisters realizes how out of out of place she feels she was led towards the basement. Introducing her to shall feeling a sense of kinship. She willfully made herself a big sister Phil figure for shell every time she had free time. She would spend it mother and shall who had taken on and more nocturnal lifestyle. Only sparing small amounts of time during the daytime to be awake to humor. Maria, the director had come to the conclusion that the reason for this was he felt for her and her situation being the only other non-normanian in the area.


    Shell let out a long sigh. He looks down at the pedestal of the monument he gazes upon on the left side was a heavenly orchid, a popular flower among skytopians for honoring the dead. He runs his hands across the engraved where it is" this monument is in place of the grave for the heavenly forge" The monument was the Statue of a cross with a. Forging Hammer leaned up against it having his fill. He placed down the flowers. He brought a set of blaze Willow Lily''s a drakian tradition for honoring the dead. He wipes his face. For some reason his cheeks were wet yet it hadn''t rain. He knew it had to be something like rain considering you could not fathom crying for someone he did not have the chance to meet.


    Deciding it was time to move on. He heads back to the hotel room where he knows Evelyn is waiting for him from the day she randomly showed up. He knew that this was a sign from the god of balance. That is his decision must be made soon and while he does hate the man, he doesn''t know if he''s hardcore enough to kill him. He had been contemplating his decision since the moment they stuck him in the orphanage of course after meeting. Maria and that Prince his decision had become less and less obvious then then out of nowhere Evelyn showed up. Somehow. Maria knew that she was exactly what he needed. He couldn''t leave his decision to Evelyn, that would be unfair for everyone involved. What he felt that letting her guide this journey would do wonders for him in helping him make a decision. At first, you didn''t want her becoming a pawn in this nonsensical situation. He found himself in but he had to admit something about her screams, trustworthy, not the kind of trustworthy he felt from judgment but genuine trustworthy. Miss you can only find someone you''ve known a while which was odd considering he only just a matter but he just knew in that moment that he can make a vow when the time comes. He wants her by his side when he decides if he''ll execute the king for what he did.

 Deployment training part 1 foliages

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 Lisas adventure( Lisas story)

    The Sea of trees home to over millions if not billions of foliages people all burdened with the stigma of plant life growing out of parts of their body in place of body hair, they also have pointed ears but no one really cares about that because of their peculiar stigmata. They find that living in more progressive places burdens their bodies needing more open and less stifling sources of oxygen as well as an easy form of access to things like dirt and water for which the plants growing out of their body will occasionally need depending on the types of plants that grow on them. In some circles, the types of plants grown can be seen as a form of status while in others growing plants that can either develop particular types of poisons or other forms of deadly matter could be seen as a threat to society and it therefore shunned upon but of course, the leader of the foliages and


    master of the Sea of trees is the Great sage. The Royal representative of this race sadly enough the Great sage is a royal bloodline that is non-linear like the drakians instead of one based on genetics. It''s based on spirituality. The Royal bloodline for both drakians and foliages follows a spiritual group in which the soul diverges from the original Royal onto its descendants and those with the strongest spiritual connection to the Royal line is to be dictated as a sage or Grand chieftain which can result in different circles or tribes becoming the Royal air. In this instance, Lisa has already been determined to have the highest spiritual connection next to the current acting sage and is therefore the rightful next sage something that a lot of other circles do not appreciate nor approve of when it was later found that her qualities as a paladin were just as high reaching the standards of triple s. Those circles had a brilliant idea as known by most people in very high points of authority all paladins votes within s rating of anything above. S are not allowed to participate in anything government-related as far as work is concerned which includes Royal positions. So the only thing they had to do was find her armory which luck was on their side. The kingdom of Romania just happened to find a certain individual on there Kingdom with a residence level that is exactly matching Lisa''s. That''s the show of Goodwill between the two acting nations. He was sent out to retrieve her and bring her back to normania as is tradition. International law also dictates that all armories must remain in this nation that they''re born in with little exception. The only times and armory is to leave their Nation is it''s acting under explicit direction of the paladin meant for them. Any other paladin would be seen as a criminal act in the paladin would be executed while the armory would be detained they''re correct. Paladin can be found and guide them to the correct path hearing that. Lisa ''s. Armory had been found and was then explained that she is to take up a position as a paladin in this nation of normania as an emissary for the Sea of trees, which caused her to lose her direct access to the position of sage. However, Lisa did not even care about the position and was rather excited about the idea of leaving the forest or becoming a paladin. Her hope was that City Life would be interesting, although she did worry about the challenges of being a foliage in the city things like soil, water and other nutrients that the plants that grow and her body needs may not be as easily provided for her and therefore a challenge for her survival on the day she finally meets her armory. It was rather fascinating. Of course, since this was an international interaction, it was a very public affair with plenty of people watching. The man himself was taller than her and was for some reason wearing a suit of some kind. The material not of natural origin, but the design is something she''s familiar with. Having met normanians before. The items in question were a blazer, something that a lot of normanians like to wear to look fancy as well as a dress shirt and tie things with odd names. And of course even there are pants were made of a material that seemed to


    have hints of animals, materials, but also had other materials that seemed astray far from nature. Quite the odd get up. He had this


    representation of himself. Made him all the more


    appealing to Lisa''s curiosities.


    Mugen: greetings young Lisa, my paladin my name


    Mugen Augustus as many of you may have guessed, I am a half Romanian half underworlder.


    Moving proceeds to lift up the back end of his


    semi long hair revealing patches of white then opening up his mouth rather wide to reveal things. The crowd stares in fascination but backs away a bit slowly.


    Mugen: my father is an underworld or Noble.


    Hearing this Lisa''s eyes begin to widen sparkle. This is her first time meeting a half bread. Half braids are rather rare due to the stigmata risk. In some cases, the two separate stigmatas will either merge to create a super strong one or a super weak one or a one of moderate results displaying your interest wide open. She gets rather close to Mugen clearly invading his personal space while the The other s tried their best to distance themselves from the man uncomfortable Mugen proceeds to reach into the coat pocket of his


    Blazer, pull out a cigarette, light it and then exhale. Lisa, stares at the cigarette with fascination not just the cigarette but is whole attire plus him being a half-breed. The whole experience is novel normanians rarely ever visit the Sea of trees. Fact is they''ve considered the place to be a hillbilly society and if that wasn''t enough, half-breeds are not very common for reasons mentioned before but there are a few out there. They''re about as uncommon as guns for people of the sea of trees. Guns aren''t commonly seen within the forest. Only collectors really have them after the crowds fascination with Moog and had cleared, he then


    proceeded to present a letter to the sage. The letter verifies he''s believed compatibility to Lisa as her armory of course, upon reading it, the sage


    grimaces.


    Sage: I will have the two of you team up to fight one of our own paladin armory pairs.


    Excited by the prospect of teaming up with her


    armory for the first time. Lisa, lets out a gleeful! Yay! While Mugen moves a cigarette from his mouth in size, having already expected this to be the case, he secretly hoped that they would forego tradition and just hand her over so that he could be on his way. He hates doing the extra work that Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    he doesn''t have to. Then your idea crosses his


    mind.


    Mugen: since we''re doing this, why not make this cultural exchange a bit more fun for the people who have to witness such a boring process.


    Sage: oh what did you have in mind.


    Mugen: nothing too Grand since it''s an exhibition


    match to confirm compatibility, why not do a little wager as I''m aware a couple of your people like to collect knick-knacks from other nations as a hobby. I for one happen to have two oil lamp


    lighters on me. I''d be willing to wager it on us winning the bout.


    The sage furrowed his brows at Mugen''s. Unprofessional suggestion, but before he could refuse stating that it''s unbecoming of such a


    official proceeding, one of the other foliages in the crowd speaks up.


    Foliage civilian that''s my collection I''d love to


    wager you some of this. I''ve been growing back home.


    Mugen begins to chuckle at the idea before he


    says anything. The sage attempts to speak up turning down the idea but then another foliage from the crowd speaks up.


    Collector foliage preposterous that lighter wouldn''t be wasted on that fool''s collection. My


    collection is where it would truly shine. I''ll be wagering this alcoholical orange juice that I have been developing one sip in your on your way.


    Growing frustrated. The sage tries to interject one more time, but more and more people start to speak up, provoking a laugh from Mugen. Given how deep and healthy the laugh is, many could tell it was genuine.


    Morgan look I''m happy if you guys wait you''re all


    that and then you can host an auction for the ladder. All I''m looking for is er to pass the time.


    While all of this is going on, Lisa stood to the side silently staring in awe at the expressions she got to witness from her partner. They just started and already. She''s learning so much about him. She


    could just feel it in her gut today and the future was going to be purely amazing.


    After sorting through the whole arrangement of


    the wager they made their way to an open area used for combat practice. The sage had picked one of his guards in a-rank paladin as the sparring


    partner. Although both Lisa and Morgan are SSS in ranking, they would still be considered amateurs and therefore not as capable enough to give the a rank. Too much of a run for his money at the perfect test for their compatibility. If it''s truly the case. If not, even if they both are of the same rank their quality would at best be s rank or lower.


    then


    The Paladin readies himself. His armory partner transforms into a tribal shield The paladin reveals from his back a peculiar-looking spear that appears to have a mechanism that allows it to collapse in one itself. Lisa, feeling spry does some


    quick stretches and then reaches out to shake


    Mugen''s hand seeing the gesture Mimics reaches out on his end to grasp her hand before they knew it. Something interesting happened at the moment of the connection the two''s eyes met


    at no point before had he actually look at Lisa. Now that he is, he could feel their natural connection that the two of them were meant to be together his body instinctually admitted an all-encompassing glow the glow then began to morph his form into a sash that wrapped itself around Lisa''s toga forming a cummerbund resembling a thimble for a thread wrapped comfortably around her waist on her left side hanging and sheaved.


    He''s a straight arm-length kolonna with a handguard that resembled a sort of weaving symbol of interlinking squares, the handguard 2 was wrapped in a rather Stern-looking rope with woven patterns on it. The referee of the match drops down his arm signaling the beginning of the fight. The a-rank paladin rushes. Lisa with a furry


    Mugen: Dodge left then right then down then jump then left again.


    At first, startled by Mugen''s commands hearing


    him out of nowhere despite him being nowhere.


    But on her waist, she at first is frightened by the sudden conversation but then trusts him and follows his commands. None of the airing paladin attacks lands a hit on her mugen. Chuckles at his brilliance.


    Instinctually Lisa reaches for Mugen''s hilt when


    she grabs it and then sheeps him and an intense red aura erupts from her body the a-rank paladin picks up on this and attempts to withdraw but before he could he notices something strange. His arm is stuck. He looks to a shield-wielding arm and notices blue twine wrapped around his wrist and pinged to the ground with a large metal pin resembling that of a sewing pin. He looks back to see that Lisa had disappeared. He tries to withdraw him himself to get free of The binding but then his legs had been bound as well. Morkins have surrounded him. He attempts to use a speeder to cut it. But before he could, Lisa intercepts it with Mugen. His Spears blade struggles to game Force while Lisa manages to deflect it and get a couple of gashes on the man without restraint while he is on arms. She attempts to go for more using all of his strength.


    The a-rank paladin to guard the strike of Morgan''s blade on to the armory shield, call Eric natural repelling effect a cut appears on Lisa''s shoulder. Seeing it, Reese''s eyes begin to red in and a smile


    takes hold of her face. She moves faster causing her to disappear. More slashes appear on the paladin''s body. He attempts to move his


    shield to guard as much as he can, but each time when he tries to move or break Free more bindings pin him down the paladin has been


    defeated the match before he could die. Seeing the site, the sage did the obvious thing he commanded his advisor to go and retrieve an eye them. What was the advisor was absent? He approaches Lisa attempting to congratulate her on her battle. Move him back into his human form. Takes a smoke at a distance looking indifferent to it all the other foliages give medical attention to the paladin that had fallen The attendant soon returns with a red card. He gives it to the stage who gives it to Lisa and instructs her on what to do with it. They then prepare her things to lay the forest at the edge of the florist is an extremely large lake with a dock plus a one-way ticket for the ship that doc''s there that will take them back to Normania as they get ready to board moving put a fist to his palm remembering something as if it''s the most natural thing in the world.


    Mugen: since you''re my actual paladin pretty sure


    it''s important you know paladins of s and above get a a boon one Boone per each s. Since you have three s''s you get three boons, I''m not going to tell you all of them right away, but one that I think you should really know about is the ability to manipulate luck. I get this ungodly feeling that it''s going to be important at some point.


    After saying that he shrugs puts out a cigarette and grabs their thing so that they can board the ship. I''m not really sure what to make of this news. Lisa also shrugs and follows him.