Chapter 496: Roots of Corruption

Jasmine grinned as her attack landed. However, there was no resistance. A moment later, she realized the opponent had disappeared instead of being sent flying.

"Where are you?" she shouted, and a crushing presence descended from above. Jasmine lifted her head to see the Seika flying high above her, having appeared in a position that allowed him to attack.

Furthermore, he seems to have been activating runes on his mechanical arm. Jasmine was confused because she thought the mechanical arm only had a barrier.

"Shield yourself!" shouted the general, and Jasmine decided to listen to his words. The Seika struck with his arm, his eyes leaving a trail of golden light as he punched.

A fire dragon appeared from the arm, diving straight toward the princess. Jasmine realized that somehow, the dragon was not that impressive. However, something changed at that moment, and the dragon got bigger and dived faster.

BOOM!

The dragon landed and shook the ground, startling the whole city. The flames exploded everywhere and rebounded toward the sky as Arthur landed. However, they did not harm their owner in any way.

Arthur landed on his feet a few meters away from the center of the explosion. Gears moved in the mechanical arm to switch between the protection runes, offering continuous protection.

"I know that you are still standing," grinned Arthur as he looked at the center of the flames. "Let"s not play hide and seek."

Then, from the center of the flames, darted the figure of Jasmine. Most of her clothes have turned to ashes, but beneath her clothes were bondages that held together a light armor. She arrived in front of him and stomped on the ground, making it cave in.

"A monster," grinned Arthur as she watched her unharmed. Jasmine punched forward, and sonic booms made his ears sting as a result. His barrier broke once again, and once it did, he disappeared. "You can never hit me."

Arthur was a few meters behind her now, standing at the edge of the burning crater. The punch struck empty air, and the land in front of it was destroyed. As he stared at the destruction, Arthur gulped.

"That arm of yours," muttered Jasmine. "It must be the thing that is making you disappear. What a cowardly fighting style," she spat.

"You can try provoking me, but I will never fight head-on with a monster like you," shrugged Arthur. "I believe this concludes our battle."

"I have not lost," Jasmine glared.

"You lost the moment you failed to touch me," said Arthur. Jasmine gritted her teeth as she raised her arm to the side and grabbed the wrist protectors, trying to remove them. However, General Yosef appeared in front of her.

"This is our loss," said Yosef to her. "You might not have given it your everything, but he did not as well. I can tell that his weapon has more runes than just the ones he showed."

"That is absurd," she spat. "There is no way an artifact can handle more runes. This is the same level as a national treasure."

"This is just a toy, your highness. However, I must say, your strength is befitting of leading a great empire like Yozia."

Jasmine stared at him with resentment and wanted to say more. However, the earlier explosion attracted the rest of the city, especially the knights.

"SEIKA!" shouted a high-pitch voice that almost made their ears bleed. Arthur sighed as he stared at Ma, stumbling toward them with tears in his eyes. "Please tell me that... these two are not..."

"I am suddenly blind," said Arthur as he looked around. "I cannot see what is happening. Is that you, Ma?"

"Seika! These are the guests, aren"t they? You said that you wanted to make them feel welcomed! Yet, you... you..." cried Ma as he pointed at the destruction.

Yosef looked at the crying man and felt quite sympathetic because they suffered the same fate of looking after reckless people. The Seika seemed to ponder the situation before turning to them.

"I have some matters to attend. So, dear guests, please make yourself at home until the auction starts. I am sure you will not be disappointed," the man said, and then, he disappeared.

"Ah, he ran away!"

***

Amon was startled by the explosion which shook the city. Then, however, an announcement was broadcast that there was no attack, only experiments on new defense weapons.

It made the advisor wonder what kind of weapons would make such an explosion. However, the person in front of him did not seem all that shaken by the event.

"I believe that you came to me for a reason," smiled the Knight of Courage. "Your meeting with our lord must not have been fruitful."

"You talk too formally with me, Courage," smiled Amon. "I understand that you need to keep a natural stance since you serve the Seika now, but your loyalty should still be the kingdom."

"I still serve this kingdom, but I believe the Seika is the man who is going to save it," said Courage before sighing. "Instructor, I will never forget how your lessons changed me. If you ask for my blood, I would happily spill it for you. However, the Seika is a headstrong man."

"The Seika is young," frowned Amon. "I was accused of ignorance by a man half my age. There is more at stake than he realizes. The kingdom is being swallowed as we speak."

"The Seika is aware of that," she smiled. "I believe that you have seen how much he studies. Those papers and books never leave his sight. This is all for the kingdom."

"It would have been admirable if we had a few years, but we do not," Amon shook his head. "I came to you because the Seika trusts you. The king needs to be stopped."

"I thought you wanted me to be loyal," she smiled. "How can I betray my king?"

"His Majesty is not thinking of the kingdom but an old buried love. He is like a brother to me, but this is a path he will regret."

"Then, you want the Seika to oppose the king? This seems like an elaborate scheme to entrap us," she said with a frown.

Amon realized that the woman in front of him changed somehow. There was a strong feeling of belonging rooted in her towards this place. She has served as a t.i.tled Knight for years, but she did not get attached to anything. Amon told her of this.

"When I first reached this city, it was an empty one. We built houses from scratch for people. Elderlies kissed my hands when I handed them their houses. It felt more rewarding more than any rage-filled fight I had."

"You belong on the battlefield," Amon frowned. It was difficult to see one of his students losing her edge.

"I belong on the battlefield indeed, but only one where I protect the things I love. This city was one we built together, even for a short time. The things that the Seika did exceed your imagination, Amon. This kingdom is lucky to have him as an ally."

"There is no guarantee that he is," frowned the advisor. "I only want to keep a civil war from occurring. I don"t want to lose any more people," he sighed.

"That is what the Seika plans on doing," she smiled. "We will remove the roots of corruption from this kingdom soon enough."

***

Arthur placed the mechanical arm back into the chest with an adoring expression. He spent the past month working on this arm day and night, studying everything he needed to advance his runes.

His progress was steady, and for some reason, Arthur enjoyed learning. It was as if he was getting to know the world with which he was becoming one. Then, all of a sudden, it was not as scary.

"That woman," sighed Arthur. "What a monster has the Yozia Emperor cultivated? Those stats were abnormal. And I could tell that she was still hiding most of her strength."

It was a test to see the strength of the famed princess, who was said to be stronger than giants. However, Arthur knew that his forte was not his stats but his runes. The mechanical arm was still a prototype, and it was the combination of his knowledge.

[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (93%)]

Arthur stared at his progress with pride. It has been quite the time since he created Runera, and his strength showed drastic leaps. There was not much left before he could evolve to be a Vetus-Ranker.

"Ahem," a knock came on his door, and Arthur knew it was Gruen. The dwarf pushed the door open and walked into the study.

"I feel that you look a bit different," stared Arthur at the dwarf, who had a black face and burned beard. "Are you trying a new style for Aimee?"

"A certain explosion did this to me. I was lucky to stay alive," Gruen seemed upset, and Arthur felt sorry. "Anyway, I am here to report our project."

"Which one?"

"The most brazen one," grunted Gruen. "We have replicated the structure, all that is left would be the runes to move that metallic monster."