TS5: Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Upon the stage, Thorn was surrounded by cheers from the audience as the attendant announced his third victory. The first and second fight had drawn people's attention. But with this third fight, having defeated Domik, it was clear that Thorn had gotten the attention of not only the temple's magisters and guardians, but of the other Prime Ascendants.

On the fourth stage, Joresh Tuma was gripping his blade tightly, looking like he wanted nothing more than to jump over to where Thorn stood and challenge him. He even started to move when a loud snort from Zahar caused him to freeze in his tracks.

Shooting a glare at Joresh, Zahar stood up from his chair.

"Are there any more challenges?" he asked, looking over the gathered Ascendants, all of whom avoided his gaze.

"No, that's what I thought," he said, "Announce the victors."

The attendant hastily bowed, quickly calling out the names of those who remained on the platforms.

"On the first platform, unchallenged, the Prime Ascendant, Muras!”

A loud cheer broke out, forcing the attendant to pause as he waited for the crowd to quiet down.

“On the second platform, holding her position against three challengers, Prime Ascendant Tolariah Artaith!”

This time the cheers were more muted, but Tolariah clearly had her own fans in the crowd.

“On the third platform, having defended two challenges, the Prime Ascendant of the Adini family, Kitsek Adini!”

Lifting his hand, Kitsek waved to the cheering crowd, flashing a brilliant smile.

“Holding the fourth platform against three challenges, Prime Ascendant Joresh Tuma!”

Unlike Kitsek, Joresh didn’t take his eyes off of Thorn as the crowd began to cheer, still looking like he wanted nothing more than to charge at the Titan and fight.

“And finally, in a surprise upset, making a challenge of his own and defending against two other, our final winner, Ascendant Thorn!"

In the stands Alph, who had been waiting for that moment, sipped a green potion and let out a discreet burp that grew in volume until it rolled like deafening thunder across the crowd.

“Oops,” he whispered, his voice so loud that the people in the stands in front of him were knocked head over heels.

Drawing in a breath, he was about to shout when he caught Cassius the Eternal staring at him, and shrank back in his seat.

“Go Thorn!” he muttered under his breath.

The words, as if spoken by a god, deafened most of the crowd who erupted into panic, yelling as they staggered away from him.

“Ahem.”

Like a soft, warm blanket, Cassius’ gentle cough brought calm to the crowds, erasing the echo of Alph's voice.

"Congratulations to all of our winners," he said, smiling down at the five individuals standing on the platforms. "We will be announcing the five positions of those who will enter the puzzle within a few hours. Before that, I would be interested in speaking with each one of you. Come."

With a wave of his hand, the world filled with light, and when it cleared, Thorn found himself standing in a simple room. Windows along one wall revealed that they were high up in the temple, and he could see down below the platforms where they had just been standing a moment earlier, now little more than dots against the ground. With him were the four prime ascendants, and as Thorn turned towards them, Joresh stepped forward, his finger stabbing towards Thorn's chest.

"We should fight."

Though he raised his eyebrows, Thorn couldn't say that he was surprised. He had been expecting Joresh to challenge him as soon as possible, and he could sense the burning anticipation in the swordsman's gaze. Before he could respond, Kitsek stepped up next to Joresh and grabbed the ascendant's finger, pressing it down.

"Please excuse my unmannered friend," he said, flashing a smile. "He knows nothing of social niceties, and his brain is filled with nothing but combat and blood. My name is Kitsek. I am of the Adini family. This is Joresh Tuma, son of Zahar the Bloody Blade, of Guardian Zahar the Bloody Blade. And I'm sure you know Tolariah Artaith, and of course, the first of the Primes, Muras."

Bowing his head slightly, Thorn nodded.

"I've heard all of your names," he said, "though this is my first time meeting you. Well met."

"But we don't know who you are," Kitsek said, his smile still fixed across his lips. "You don't belong to any of the families in the temple. Are you unaffiliated?"

"His master is the steward of the tower," Tolariah said, causing Kitsek to cover his mouth in shock and take a step back.

"Oh my, it seems we have a celebrity among us."

If Thorn wasn't listening carefully, he may have missed the faint mockery in Kitsek's voice, but he didn't let it get to him, and instead turned towards the door. Kitsek's eyes narrowed as Thorn didn't take his provocation, but before he could speak, the door opened, and an elderly priest stepped into the room.

"The guardian will see you now, starting with the fifth position."

"I guess that's me," Thorn said, waving at the others. "It was nice to meet you all, and I'm sure we'll see a lot of each other moving forward."

Walking out of the room after the attendant, Thorn found himself in a long hallway. A simple crimson carpet covered the floor, and the walls were bare, except for the occasional worn tapestry displaying heroic scenes, most of which seemed to involve the slaying of god beasts. As they proceeded down the hall, Thorn examined the priest in front of him. Though old, the priest was in the eighth tier at least, and there seemed to be a secret strength hidden inside of him, one that Thorn never would have noticed if not for his improved light affinity.

Though he was curious about it, he didn't want to be impolite, so Thorn didn't pry, and soon they arrived at a large, ornate set of doors that stood open, revealing a large, richly decorated hall beyond them. Instead of passing through them, though, the priest stopped at a small, plain door at the side of the hall and knocked carefully.

"You may come in."

Hearing Cassius' voice, the priest opened the door and gestured for Thorn to enter. He had to duck to enter the room, and the eight-foot ceilings wouldn't let him straighten up completely. The only thing in the room was a simple pillow upon which Cassius sat, his legs crossed under him.

"Please have a seat," he said, gesturing to the floor.

Crouching, Thorn folded his legs under him and sat across from Cassius. The feeling that Cassius gave off was one Thorn was familiar with. It was the same feeling he had when he faced his master Keadore. It was as if an unlimited amount of strength had been compressed into the body before him. But that strength was carried so effortlessly it was almost invisible. The easiest way, in Thorn's experience, to judge someone's strength was how discordant their existence was with the world around them. Yet both his master and Cassius seemed to have passed beyond that threshold, and their strength was so great that it felt as if they were the world.

"Thank you for being willing to meet with me," Cassius said, after giving Thorn a long look. "I anticipate that your success will cause quite the stir in the Temple of Man. In fact, it already has. Even now as we speak, the Council is meeting to determine whether or not you should be allowed to enter Urmag’Tal's puzzle."

Seeing the faint frown on Thorn's face, Cassius chuckled and gestured for him to speak.

"I don't mean to be disrespectful, sir, but what right does the Council have to deny me one of the five seats? I won the challenge fair and square."

"Fair is often a relative term," Cassius said, shaking his head. "And you don't need to glare at me like that. I didn't say you wouldn't get the seat. I just wanted to let you know that you've made waves. But in truth, that's not all I wanted to talk about. I'm curious about you. Your divinity, particularly. It's something I've never seen before."

Though he tried not to show it, Thorn could feel his body tensing as Cassius spoke.

"Is there something unusual about it, sir?" Thorn asked, but Cassius just shook his head.

"Who knows? Though I've lived for a long time, I haven't seen everything that the Endless Worlds holds. So who am I to say if it is unusual or not? Have you? I believe, though, that you have already undergone one blessing, a holy blessing. Is that correct?"

"It is," Thorn said. "The Quilla family was kind enough to give me one of their slots."

"And it is through that blessing that you were able to decipher the attacks from the Vakatora, Suatrius, and Kessel family children?"

"Yes, sir," Thorn replied.

"I see. Would you mind telling me how you did it?"

Unsure what exactly Cassius was trying to achieve, Thorn thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Yes, sir. My gifting has always been in my ability to learn. And I know enough about the elements to identify how the Vakatora flow light art worked. From there, it was simply replicating the mix of elements that they used with my own. I have an absolute fire affinity, and so that made it possible for me to mix flame and light. Though I confess, I doubt that I would be able to do it as well as a master of the flow light art."

"I see. And what of the Scepter of Sartorius?"

"Ah, the ability that they use closely resembles a spell that my master possesses. The ability to create a micro-void by collapsing the air is something I'm familiar with, and once I read the flow of mana in his weapon, it wasn't too hard to replicate it myself."

"The ability to read the flow of mana in an opponent isn't common," Cassius said offhand, before gesturing for Thorn to continue. "And what of the last? I'm curious to know how you made it out of the Prison of Light."

"A combination of the first two skills, sir," Thorn replied, looking at Cassius doubtfully. He was positive that the Guardian knew exactly how he had done it, and was curious as to what the old priest was trying to achieve. It felt almost as if the old priest was trying to stall, and when Cassius' head tilted to the side as if he was listening to something, Thorn knew he had guessed it right.

"It would seem that the council has come to something of an impasse," he said, smiling at Thorn. "Why don't we go and see what's taking them so long?" Rising to his feet, he gestured for Thorn to proceed him out the door.

Thorn, reaching out to open the door, felt a faint wave of mana, and when he walked through the doorway, he found himself standing in a massive room of pure white marble. A large circular table stood in the middle of the room, and arranged around it were ten chairs. Beyond the table and chairs was a platform, a raised platform, where five throne-like seats sat. Four of them were occupied by the four Guardians, and a moment later, Cassius appeared in front of his own seat, leaving Thorn standing in front of the ten Magisters.

"Have you come to a decision yet?" Cassius asked, looking at the Magisters down below. Almost immediately, two stood up, Thorn Imoset Quilla and another man Thorn recognized as Magister Vakatora. Before they could speak, however, Guardian Zahar slapped his armrest.

"We will have no more of this foolish bickering," he said in a growl. "You speak first." Seeing that he was pointing at Magister Vakatora, Imoset paled and bowed, sitting back down.

"We have not come to an agreement yet," Magister Vakatora said. "But I do believe we are approaching one."

"What's the issue?" Zahar asked.

"Well, I would agree that Ascendant Thorn has won the challenge, and in that regard deserves one of the spots in Urmag’Tal's puzzle. The method by which he did so concerns me, and I'm sure many others. You just don't like that it was your Ascendant who was beaten," Imoset said from across the table.

Ignoring the remark, Vakatora looked around the table at the other Magisters.

"Every single one of us got to where we are because of the strength of our families, strength based around the sacred arts that we practice. For my family, that sacred art is the Flowlight Sword. While I will not claim it is the strongest sword art in existence, it is incredibly powerful and equally complex to execute. Only those who have trained for an exceptional amount of time are able to master it. Even among my family, the number of people who can execute the Flowlight art is small, and yet today we witnessed a random nobody who can somehow use a twisted version of it.

“I would ask you all, how could this be possible? And my family is not the only one whose sacred art has been stolen. Sartre's family seem to have suffered the same fate. Isn't it curious that an Ascendant appears from nowhere, already knowing the arts of the Magister families? Stealing the combat arts of a Magister family is a crime punishable by death. And though we don't know who leaked these arts and which families have been stolen from, we have the thief before us.”

"What are you suggesting?" Guardian Adini asked, adjusting the spectacles on his face.

"I'm suggesting that Ascendant Thorn be placed under arrest and handed over to the Office of Justice."

"Are you mad?" Imoset asked, standing up and slapping the table with his palm. "You have no proof that he stole anything, and yet you would turn him over to the Inquisitors?”

“No proof? You saw what he did on that stage. How can anyone who has not looked at our sacred arts mimic them like that?"

The two Magisters glared fiercely at each other, as many of the others began glancing at Thorn.

Squeezing the bridge of her nose as if she had a headache, Guardian Artaith let out a sigh and looked at Thorn.

"Do you have an explanation for yourself?"

Before Thorn could reply, Guardian Adini snorted and shook his head.

"Since when has an Ascendant had the right to speak in a Council meeting?" he asked.

"I understand it's not common practice," Artaith replied, her expression unruffled. "But I think it prudent to give him the opportunity to explain himself."

"Why, because you're afraid of his master?" Guardian Adini said with a smirk.

"Yes, and you should be too."

Eyes narrowing, Guardian Adini turned and looked at Artaith.

"What are you implying?" he asked, his voice hard.

"I think she is saying that before you beat a dog, you better know whose dog it is," Zahar interjected. "Just let the boy speak, and we can be done with this tiresome nonsense."

"Fine," Adini snapped, sitting back in his chair. "What do you have to say for yourself, Ascendant Thorn?"

The entire time everyone else had been speaking, Thorn had been thinking about how to answer the question. And now that all attention had turned to him, he opted for the unvarnished truth.

"I learn exceptionally quickly," he said, his voice calm. "And when I say exceptionally, I mean exceptionally. It's not difficult for me to replicate abilities that use elements I have high affinity in. My fire affinity is absolute, and my light affinity close to it. I was able to deduce from the way Gevin Vakatora was manipulating the light elements in the air around him how it was interacting with the water element. From there, it was simply a matter of adjusting the characteristics until it could do the same for fire."

To demonstrate, Thorn swiped his finger, leaving a burning trail of crimson behind. "The manipulation of elements is something of my specialty," he said. "And while I would not claim to have mastered it entirely, I believe my understanding of how it works is fairly accurate. As for the Scepter of Suatrius, while it isn't expressly an elemental art, it still utilizes light-attributed mana to create the effect."

This time, Thorn clenched his fist, causing the air around it to flash with bright light as it cracked apart. "I'm willing to swear that today was the first time I had ever seen either of these two arts."

Letting out a long breath, Magister Vakatora looked like he wanted to argue. But before he could, a firm voice spoke up from the chair next to Cassius the Eternals.

"Wouldn't this be simple to verify?"

All eyes turned to Petra the Immovable as he rose from his seat.

"I will show you an attack," he said, his eyes fixed on Thorn's. "Let's see if you can replicate it."