Arcane Era-Chapter 70: Moving Forward

Ne’sh!

The mysterious force that the Divine Ones created, imbuing it into every one of their Armaments. It was an unnatural energy that had long faded from the world, only found within the Arcane Instruments, Arcane Apparitions, Arcane Vessels, and the Tainted Blights.

"The presence of Ne’sh is what makes Armaments work, granting them the energy to cause mystical phenomena to occur. Without Ne’sh, the Instruments lose power, and without the Instruments, the Ne’sh has no conduit to be channeled into, and so it fades away."

Drake nodded as he heard all of these things. "All of these pertain to the Laws of Ne’sh Distribution and Arcane Expression."

"Indeed. Normally, infusing a normal object with Ne’sh yields a qualitative increase in the object’s constitution, but the energy is quickly lost since the object does not have the special property of Armaments to trap Ne’sh inside them." Shen continued, calmly revealing his scholarly side. "Arcane Vessels are special because they house Ne’sh without the energy being lost, which means they possess special properties that are more akin to Armaments than regular objects."

What did this mean? Arcane Vessels and Arcane Instruments were very similar because they could hold Ne’sh, though the former were seen to be capable of only producing but not using Ne’sh to create supernatural phenomena, and the latter could create supernatural phenomena but were unable to produce Ne’sh.

This created some form of symbiosis... but also a paradox.

"There are Armaments that produce Ne’sh without Vessels... So why can’t there be a Vessel that causes supernatural phenomena without Armaments?"

"But those kinds of Armaments are exceptions, not the general rule!" Damon quickly retorted.

"And what would you call Theo?"

The moment Shen said this, all eyes in the room were open and they could all see a glimpse into what he perceived about the world. Shen Ak’ashi’s golden eyes dimmed slightly, and he chuckled, quickly doing away with the tense atmosphere.

"Still, that kid really isn’t bad." Fae smirked mildly. "He was able to fight toe-to-toe with the Mercenary King for some time..."

"Right? Didn’t the guy have Imperial Grade Armaments at his disposal? The fact Theo stood his own against someone like that is terrifyingly impressive..." Damon added.

"Or it could be that the Mercenary King was unable to properly use his abilities." Terra interrupted, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, his use was sloppy at best." Drake added.

The only ones among the Zenith who weren’t speaking were Dinah and Jake—the former because of how difficult it would be to extricate herself from the conversation if she got too involved, and the latter was simply always quiet throughout conversations like this.

Shen watched the back and forth for a while, his amusement never ceasing.

Until, finally—

"Both sides have flaws here. Theo is indeed impressive for holding his own, but not to the extent that you think, Fae." He finally spoke, intercepting all of their words in one fell swoop.

All eyes were forced to look at him as their ears gravitated to his voice.

"Gerald is by no means a fool. He is able to properly wield Armaments, and he can be very brutal towards his enemies. Unfortunately, his flaws were made evident in his battle with Theo." Shen smiled. "He has always had a soft spot for kids..."

"E-eh?"

The Zenith members were stunned to hear this.

"It’s true." Laughing at this point, to the point where his voice filled the hall and reverberated with passion, Shen began to have flashes of memories in his mind.

"He’s an idiot, really... What a guy. I’m sure he must have had opportunities to kill Theo, but he hesitated at those decisive points, using various kinds of excuses to justify his inefficient actions. Even in their battle, there were many windows that Gerald had, and he could have easily killed Theo in a single strike... but his blows lacked the intent to kill, and that inevitably led to his downfall."

"Now that I think about it, his moves did seem odd to me." Dinah quickly chipped in, smiling a little before falling silent again.

"Yeah. He probably never realized it, but subconsciously, he let his biases cloud his judgment. In the end, he lost because he wasn’t resolute enough." Shen sighed. "And such a weak-willed man thought he could become a True King that rivals the Divine Court... laughable."

More laughter echoed in the room, with Shen’s voice being the dominant sound among the few others. "Regarding Theo, he has immense potential, but that still isn’t enough."

All in the hall paused and listened attentively.

"I know another Arcane Vessel who can do what Theo did, so while it is extremely rare, it isn’t some kind of exclusive gift."

"Oh? You know someone else like that?" Drake’s eyes instantly shone, clearly up to mischief as he quickly gave in to his curiosity. "Who is it?"

"My friend, Zagan. Still interested?" Shen smirked.

"U-um... no..."

Drake quickly shrank back, and everyone else in the room was stupefied. After all, Shen had just named a Supreme Lord—one famed for being the most mysterious out of all the Lords of Trae’h.

Supreme Lord of Time... Zagan V’mabel.

"In any case, I’m quite excited for the mission to come." Once again, Shen changed the mood, laughing heartily this time.

The members of the Zenith all had mixed expressions on their faces, but that didn’t stop him. He laughed ceaselessly, while the image of a young boy continued appearing in his mind.

***********

The next day came, and Kamara stood in front of four people—most of which remained strangers to her. Other than Liyah, no one else was familiar with her.

"Nice to meet you all again, and I’m glad to see that you’re all so prompt."

They were outdoors, within a park in the Middle Court, with no one else occupying the space but them. Kamara was as stunning on this day as always, wearing an identical outfit to the one she had on the previous day. Her black hair swayed with the wind as she looked at the four seated youths.

A lot went on in her head, but she wasn’t the only one with deep thoughts.

’Liyah already told me about her, but I’m still very curious about a lot of things...’ Theo thought as he maintained a calm smile while staring at his team leader. He avoided staring deep into her pitch-black irises, but instead observed all her very distinct features.

’Oh? So he has a water pouch by her waist. I didn’t notice that yesterday...’ He silently remarked, also noticing how her glove had a special marking on it that pulsed faintly.

It was most definitely an Armament.

’Apparently, she’s been in the Guild for ten years... and she has a Captain rank.’

That was one step away from the Zenith!

"Lord Shen has put me in charge of the team, which also means I get to share the details of our assignment based on my discretion." She began, her voice calm while still maintaining a smile.

Everyone paid rapt attention to her words, especially Theo.

"What you all need to be aware of at the moment is that the Sarvos Nation is at a very critical point in its ongoing Civil War, and some recent events have made the situation worse. To resolve these problems, the Sarvos Royal Family has requested the assistance of the Ak’ashi Guild."

Theo’s heart began to race.

A few months had passed since his escape to the Ak’ashi Guild, and while a lot had happened since then, he had not—for even one second—forgotten about Sarvos. At this moment, a lot of questions churned within him, but he held them back.

He listened silently, his curled up lips quivering mildly as he clenched his fists.

"In short, we’re going to Sarvos and hopefully put an end to the Civil War."