Chapter 551 Expectations of Predecessors (1/2)
”You can't help others fight every battle.”
A mild and familiar voice wafted from the depths of the Void straight into Joshua's mind. He smiled gently, while dissuading him a little grudgingly. ”Everyone has a trial that belongs to them—this one belongs to Brandon. Joshua, you must trust in your comrade's strength and conviction that he could solve this problem.”
”…Sage?”
Joshua would not have stopped his charge if he did not recognize the owner of the voice, but since he was now aware of the other's identity his attack was now rather unnecessary.
Standing halfway up the sky, Joshua looked at the land below. On the white snow plains, the dark and corrupt domain of vengefulness was rapidly unfurling, and was now a great quagmire that occupied several kilometers around it. Countless fearsome and terrifying behemoths and enchanted beasts struggled within, unleashing their own evil and malevolent rage and vindictiveness, distorting everything around them.
If not for the Sage's advice, Joshua would definitely have never allowed such an unstable factor to do whatever it liked in his territory. Furthermore, if no one came to stop its spread, the quagmire would extend to the outskirts of the heavily populated main city in a dozen minutes at its current speed, devouring and polluting more than half of the satellite city construction ring and causing a huge disaster amounting above ten thousand in casualties.
Such was the terrible power of vengefulness that the Sage shouldered in days long past.
And yet, the voice was right. Joshua assuredly could not replace others in their fight and every person had duties that they must carry on their backs—since it was the trial for the wielder of the Dual Blades of Order, the warrior should not interfere and instead await his comrade's triumphant return.
”However, if the peasant's safety is at risk, I would still interfere,” Joshua said in reply of the Sage's voice within his mind. ”If that domain of corruption spreads near the main city, I would utterly wipe it out. It would be there around ten minutes at its current speed, that counts as Brandon's trial too.”
”You won't have the chance to act,” the mild voice said, firmly trusting the blond swordsman and offering no excess explanation. ”Look, Joshua.”
Just as the voice that resembled the Sage's uttered those voice, the dark quagmire churned into a chaotic tide. Innumerable magical beasts bellow synchronously yet silently within, and the middle, surrounded by all those increasingly agitated monsters that appeared to be given life soon, Brandon's figure still did not react as if completely consumed by the darkness. Joshua flew, following the advance of the tide and watching the monsters as they urgently expanded the borders of the corruption domain. Time passed, and Joshua kept his promise with no intention of assisting—it was until ten minutes elapsed and the domain was about to reach the villages and towns around the main Moldavian city that he clenched both fists, prepare to muster his power and stop it.
It was also in that moment that the dark domain abruptly paused its expansion. The black vengeful tide, ready to push away a forest filled with frost and snow stopped, as if time itself has frozen. Meanwhile, at the heart of the domain, two pure and bright glints from blades shone from the darkest spot, tearing apart the black fog of gloom and vengeance and revealed an exhausted figure before the warrior's eyes.
”Thanks, Joshua!”
Having exhausted all efforts in the spiritual realm and finally shrugging off the endless vengeful curses from monsters and beasts alike, Brandon's body was encircled by virtually infinite wailing soul shards. He spared no effort in brandishing his two swords, shattering and slaughtering every single vengeful spirit. When that was done, he looked up towards Joshua who was high up above the sky, and smiled tiredly yet purely.
”Leave the rest to me!”
At present, Brandon's eyes were flashing with a pale-blue light. It was his gift borne from making company with death and vengefulness since he was a child—those were eyes that could pierce destruction and nothingness. Using that power, the blond swordsman studied the multitude of vengeful monsters before him. Though they appear powerful, the creatures' bodies were filled with black spots that represent 'death' and destruction'. Brandon would never have been able to defeat them regardless of how hard he tried if those monsters were in their genuine form, but every single one of them present in the dark domain now were illusory soul shards.
That way, it would not be difficult for the swordsman to wipe them out.
Panting for a brief moment to recover some strength, Brandon tightened his grip on the hilts of his blades and stepped out, turning into a streak of green-gray light that darted towards the multitude of monsters surging within the quagmire. On both sides of that light, silver and white blade glow intertwined as if streaks of leaping light arcs, and where it passed, everything was quickly cut down without any fragment left, be it savage marine behemoths or bizarre monsters with many legs.
”I did not have such a trial back then,” Joshua frowned and complained a little disgruntledly, watching as Brandon exchanged blows against the many vengeful monsters within the dark domain. ”This inequality isn't fine.”
”Most would not deliberately seek such a difficult trial. Furthermore, you're Legendary—any difficult mission doesn't amount to much for you.”
That mild voice laughed, before offering a patient explanation. ”The Dual Blades of Order is the only weapon amongst the Legacy left behind by the Sage. It is the power to massacre and subjugate agents of evil— there are no other factors, which is why to wield it one must experience a trail more profound than the others.”
”Those who hold the Dual Blades of Order must never be obstructed or disturbed by a mere, little vengefulness. If Joshua could not do that, the dual blades would seal itself, awaiting the next successor who fits the requirements.”
”That's really harsh.”
Despite his words, Joshua did not feel anything wrong with the matter. He actually nodded, his expression clearly accepting before he sensed something was not right—he could certainly tell from that little difference in phrasing from the person's words.
”Wait… You're not the Sage?”
The mild voice paused for a moment before answering, perplexedly yet leisurely. ”Of course not. I'm a Legacy spirit condensed out of a portion from the Sage's memories and only that, so how could I be the exalted Sage? You are the successor of the Azurite, and should have come in contact with my kin. Why would you still have such a question?”
No.
Joshua now could no longer pay attention to Brandon as he fought diligently below. He furrowed his brow, looking at his palm where a thin layer of silver radiance was flowing obscurely. There was the also mark of a little crown which precisely the power that the Azurite had left behind.
That's completely different!
Joshua's heart was shaken when he remembered the sight when he came across the Sage's mirage in the Azurite for the first time all those years ago. What he saw was definitely no Legacy spirit but the genuine form of the 'Sage's childhood'! Be it form, speech, demeanor or power, the Azurite's mirage was immeasurably more powerful than this mild voice. Without question, that was the difference between the genuine and the Legacy spirit, but why?
Why did he saw a true part of the Sage then, while what was solely a spirit from the Legacy was shaped out from the Dual Blades of Order?
Memories flashed rapidly. Joshua recalled everything from the beginning when he first met the Sage at the Ural fortress until the moment he returned from the world of Grandia. He was infinitely convinced that it had been real bygone memories from the Sage, even part of him and not a shadow he created. When he had moved the survivors from Grandia to the world of Karlis, the Sage's power within the Four Legacies even helped him fulfill his wish.
”Wait, it seems to be that moment!” Joshua recalled a moment, finally finding what was not quite right: when he carried the Flame Seed from the world of Grandia to the Mycroft Continent, the remaining power inside the Four Legacies aided himself in moving the survivors to the world of Karlis. After that, the Four Powers vanished without a trace—Joshua believed them to be burnt out and hence within the Legacy objects to recover. Now, however, it appeared that the Sage's real power had definitely left entirely, leaving only a specious Legacy spirit.