Lord Shadow

The sound of gasp and look of fear is evident in many of the faces of the people in the stand .
Some people who saw what is happening could only down in acceptance . Azief who is formless, looking like a translucent ghost that could not be seen by anyone look at the group of people being dragged toward the stand .
Azul face was pale and his hands were trembling of fear or indignance . Azief understand the feeling
Azul is seeing the Avengers of Chaos dragging unconscious children their feet dragging the soil and mud, looking battered and beaten, bloodied and bruised .
One of the Avengers glower down at the trembling victim who were not unconscious looking intimidating .
Azul recognize him as Avenger Damian who comes to his father estate a few times in the past .
Looking big, decked with the uniform of the Avenger of Chaos uniform, with a face that invites dread he shouted, his voice echoes around the square .
"Foolish peasants! Conspiring against the Empire to run away! Hmph!" His finger jabs toward the haggard young children head, pus.h.i.+ng one of the children to stumble .
Azul clenched his fist so hard that his veins bulged .
Most of the people being dragged had nothing to do with Azul but one of the children… . Azul knows her .
"How can you be there?" Azul asked himself
They are some of the children he has been teaching and instructing in secrets among the crowd that the Avenger brought to the town square .
There were Erena, a young girl he taught using staff, crouching in pain; her lips are bloodied sign of being punched in her face .
Beside her, is a battered Ymir, a young kid who is always cheerful blindly s.h.i.+elding Erena from being hurt by Avenger Damian .
A sickening fear descended upon Azul . While the Reaping take lives, they rarely take the life of a child .
This is even frowned upon in the Canon .
But that Avenger clearly intending to Reap these children lives . And the more he thought of this, old feelings welled up inside him .
Azief also notices it… . and he also feels it . He could no longer remain detached . It was like he was synchronizing with Azul
Azul tries to ignore his hammering pulse but then like he is being pour cold water, his heart become calm . He began calculating risk .
He knows what he wanted to do, and his heart wanted to, so his mind begun thinking of ideas to make his heart intent into a reality
He saw that the peasant outnumbers the Church people in the square and on the stand .
But what would motivate these peasants whose fear of churchmen is as much as they fear the n.o.bles?
Should he give a speech crying out that the Canon never condone such deeds of Reaping young children not of age?
Trying to reason with Avengers and Learned Ones?
Then Azul scoffed at his thoughts . If that work…there would never be Reaping in the first place .
Azul didn"t know who started this idea of Reaping but Azul is sure one day people would revile that person .

So, Azul does the only thing he knows best .
He knows that might rules over all and might is the only truth in this world .
That is how the Empire did it . And might and power in the wrong hands has shown how disastrous it can become towards the common people .
Azul hearth beat like a war drum, his hand stopped trembling and his breath become harsher and then he runs .
He runs before he even knows what he is doing and then he lunged towards the Avengers that the closest to him .
Azul smile as he collides with that Avenger . There is one thing that he did not tell the peasant group he met in those secret weekend retreat .
It is also the secret he kept from his family .
He could use Blood Magic . Blood Magic is heavily regulated by the church .
Advertis.e.m.e.ntThe Church makes people believe that the only people that could use Blood Magic are the people from Church and those blessed by the Winged Ones of Thonos .
And those who can use magic resembling the Blood Magic of Church are called Agents of Chaos and are believed to come from Phaesnos Heart .
Phaesnos breeds Demons in his Chaos Realm . And those who used magic that is unpurified, which is not from the Church is considered Demon-Touched
But Azul knows that is not true .
After all Azul could use his own blood to do the same effect like the people of the Church and its effect is even longer than what he knows of Blood Magic of the Churchmen .
With enough blood, people who use magic can move and push people and objects, heal illnesses and disease, create fireb.a.l.l.s, manipulate the elements of the world and many other marvels .
But most of blood magic is fleeting, quickly consuming the blood that fuels it . It is the reason why The Empire only uses magic in times of war and to keep the Four Wall intact .
And it is because of that Azul rarely uses his Blood Magic from the first moment he knew he could do it .
For he fears the Church will take him away somewhere or charge him for trying to consort with Phaesnos .
And he clearly would not use it in this moment, right in front of Learned Ones and Avengers of Chaos . He is just using his physical prowess
Azul run and head b.u.t.t the nearest Avengers, a sensation of pain runs through his forehead . But he gritted his teeth and endures the pain as his eyes become determined .
BOOM!
Like the sound of a gong hitting a steel stick, the sound sounded loudly in the town square . The peasant gasped at this . They could not believe someone would interrupt the Reaping .
The Avenger staggers backwards, flailing out with his staff .
"Who is it that dares attack the Avenger of the Church?!" The Avenger shouted as he tries to take a swing .
Azul smirk as he knew that attack would not connect .
Fortunately Azul stay too close to him so the Avenger could not get a good swing at Azul .
Azul take the opportunity that is handed to him . Before that Avenger could recover from his dizziness Azul push that Avenger away and stamp down on his feet .
The Avenger crumples in pain and Azul jump and executed a spinning kick at the Avenger neck, cracking it .
"ARGHH! Run away!" The people in the crowd scream and scramble out of the way, clearly terrified that the Church will enact its terrible vengeance upon them too .
Death by a.s.sociation is not impossible in the Empire . On the crowd, Azul could hear his father barking and denying .
Azul is standing there on the middle of the town square, his eyes clear and for the first time in a long time his heart is free .
"Hah . Hah . " He breathed loudly, a smile on his face .
A few more Avengers charge towards Azul from the distance, armed with their staff
Azul smiles carefreely . For some reason, he smiles . He did not know why . Azief seeing this also smiles .
Others may not understand . But he understands . Being free . Freedom . That is something Azief understand .
He, like Azul yearns to be release from the shackles of the world and hold his own fate in his own hands .
He did not want anyone dictate to him what should be done and what is to be done . He wanted to peer through the heavenly secrets and learn the truth of the Universe
Azief understand . So, he smiles too . Azul look at the people running and the Avenger coming towards him .
Even though that attack was impulsive, Azul is not entirely bereft of reason . He knows he needs to get the crowd on his side .
He alone could not overwhelm the Church people .
On the n.o.bles stand, Azul could see his father crouch and cover his face, howling curses at you and there is disappointment in his eyes .
But now, Azul is free . Azief could feel it . Azief could like something that shackling Azul has been broken .
Azul took the staff that the Avenger had dropped and get ready in a fighting stance position as a few more Avengers is running to get him
"Get the boy!" One of the Magus on the stand shouted in anger and disbelief . By now, h.e.l.l is loose on the stand and below it .

The kids in bondage try to free themselves while avoiding being captured by the Avenger of the Church .
Ymir comes beside Erena and brought her away the moment he got the rope around his hand loose . Ymir eyes are red as he looks toward the red hair Magus .
Ymir picked up a dagger form the ground belonging to some merchant running away .
Erena grab his hand
"Ymir what are you doing?"
"For my friend, I need to take that Magus head!"
"Ymir!" Erena shouted, her eyes fills with tears as she sobs .
"I could not lose you too" Ymir halted and then sighing he hug Erena but his eyes did not leave the Magus
Meanwhile one of the Avengers comes swinging wildly towards Azul .
Azul smirked .
With the staff Azul deflect the wild swing and drive the staff into that Avenger throat with one fluid motion .
The Avenger folds over, croaking and the other two is surrounding Azul, their eyes full of vigilance clearly recognizing this boy is no normal peasant boy .
Azul remember the blademaster guidance to him during those years he teaches him, to move like water, un.o.bstructed and formless .
And with that Azul seems like he is dancing in the battlefield, elegant and beautiful, the staff on his hand seems to be attacking in an unpredictable way, yet beautiful like a dew drop from the edge of a leaf .
Dancing backward and forward, while at the same time dodging blows and returning a few hits back, Azul is slowly overwhelming the Avenger .
For some reason, Azul find himself to be so talented in fighting that even he did not know how he could be so talented .
In the middle of the battle, he even bring out moves he never learned before .
But this move is not the moves that his teacher taught him . This moves he brings out is lethal and deadly, its sole purpose is to eliminate the threat .
Azul never remembers learning such lethal battle tactics .
But Azief could see it .
The intuition of Azul the Divinity of Fire .
Behind Azul, there are some people that did not run instead they are standing there on the square .
They saw the children being hauled for the Reaping . And some of those children have fathers, relatives and older brothers .
Those that did not run, the peasants that is too brave for their own good, started a cheer while some of them raises whatever they could .
They could not let children to be sacrificed for the reaping .
It is one thing to take their lives but maybe the Reaping of young children is way over whatever line that is drawn
Even self-sacrifice has a limit .
The peasant could sacrifice their lives to the Reaping because the church promised them that their children will be taken care off and for some they believe the promise of heaven .
But even if that bet is off…what would they hope as their lives being Reap by the Sword of the Church?
Azul could see where the wind is blowing . He cried
"Join me!" as he landed a hard fist into one of the Avengers knocking him down unconscious .
"Together we all can drive them away!" By this time the Learned Ones and the Magus on the stand clearly could not stand it anymore .
"Impudent brat!" The Red Hair woman Magus shouted as she crushed a vial and blood seeps into her hands .
She waved her hand and people could feel the air around the square changes .
From a cool temperate temperature the square turns into a place of biting cold . Azul then find himself floating upwards and upwards .

Like his body being pushed upwards by an invisible force, clutching him from the ground .
And before he knows it he is higher than a two story building, below his feet is nothing but air
If he is dropped from that height he would surely die . And if that is not enough the magic seems to be messing with his mind .
Azul will himself to be awake even when the magic is clearly trying to affect his mind to sleep .
Azul even decided if worst comes to worst he would nick himself and use his own blood to use magic .
What is more important that his life rather than the fear the Church finds out he could use Blood Magic?
Up in the air, Azul could see the despair and the fury of his father in the stand . He could see his older brother gloating at his fate .
His brother never liked the fact that he seems close with the peasantry .
Azul however had something in his heart more important than the acknowledgement of his family .
It was never something he strived for anyway .
He could not allow that feeling of family bring him down . What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong .
This conviction crystallized and Azief who is flying to the air and watch Azul beside him could feel another shackle is being broken .
Enlightenment…does that means letting go? Or… . finding something more worthwhile? Is that the only answer?
To let go?
What Azul didn"t see is how his act of rebellion against the Church authority, his act today of defying the inviolable image of invincibility of the Church has emboldened the peasant on the square .
The two Magus on the stand also began to notice this . They become pale as they could see the way the peasant look at them changed . They were no longer afraid or meek .
They could see it . Anger . Hatred in those eyes .
But the Magus acted too late, overconfident of the Avenger ability to bring down the kid thus making this situation .
But to be honest it is not really overconfidence .
If this was any other kid, how could they battle with three Avenger of the Church and even knock them out cold like Azul?
Who could have thought his talent in fighting is this powerful? With his skill if he went to Ashaya he could even be given a post in the Imperial Guard .
Seeing that Azul brought down the Avenger of the Church single handedly has given the peasant the courage they were lacking and at the same time the taste for vengeance .
As the tradesmen, n.o.bles , distinguished person at the edges of the town square scatter and flee as they felt the way the situation unfolding slowly turning into a riot, the crowd of peasant, walk forward, their eyes red, and their heart firm and strong, surges forward to the stand with an animal like roar .
They are charging the stand
The Avenger of the Church on the stand panicked to be charged by a mob since they never encounter such situation .
"ARGHH!"
"KILL THEM!" The shouting of the mob drown any scolding the Avenger shouted at them
No matter how powerful the Red hair Magus, it is on the basis of her blood vials that she could uses magic to deter the peasants and the people that want to do her harm .
The Magus plainly don"t have enough blood vials to fuel magic more complicated than throwing people and objects around .
There is not enough blood to contain this charging mob
They could not turn the tide of this mob through magic alone . The Magus is seen using her hands to fling people away from the stand
Ymir hides below the stand looking an opportunity . He already sent Erena to an uncle he knows . He needs to avenge his childhood friend or his heart would not be at ease .
"Kill that Magus!" One of the blacksmith shouted as he throws a huge boulder at the red hair Magus .
She crushes another vial of blood and she waves her hand as the boulder exploded and dust covered the area .
As the Magus could not concentrate on Azul who is on the air right now, her grip on her magic towards Azul weakens and Azul plunged down to the ground .
"By Thonos!" Azul shouted
Azul grimaced and bite his finger and blood comes out from his wound .
"This is it . All or nothing . "
The area below is in chaos, shouting and screaming is the only noise that could be heard . No one would realize what he is doing right now .
The blood seeps into his finger and Azul concentrate his mind as he could feel the energy around him, like a force that surrounds everything .
And he wills that force to stop .
To stop him .
To stop the force that pus.h.i.+ng him down .
Just before he falls down to his death, he stop in the air for a few seconds, dispersing the force that would crush him if he falls down for that height
For three seconds he floats a few feet from the ground before the magic lost its effectiveness .
Azul then landed on the ground safely
"That was close" he said to himself as he looks around him, confident no one saw what he was doing .
He look at his left and right and smile in satisfaction as no one saw what he had done .
Amidst the screaming and the chaos and the fighting around the stand against the authority of the Church
The Shurley riots .
The crowd of peasant is going to reach the stand . On the podium nearby the stand the n.o.bles are all pale .
The peasant does not understand why the n.o.bles are pale and they would hardly care but Azul understand the n.o.bles fear .
The wrath of the Church must not be underestimated .
Azul need to make the choice . The mob seems to lose all reason in their anger and now that the spark of rebellion has been ignited in their heart it is hard to extinguish it .
Standing there it was like time slowed for Azul .
He could see the fighting, the Avengers being beaten down, the people climbing the stand and the people rus.h.i.+ng to lynch the Churchmen .
Then he knows this is the time for him to make the choice . It is now or never .
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This is actually only a part of the chapter . I separated it into two chapters because it is too long . I wonder why I never broke through the fifty ranking . Is it because my chapters are only around 191 chapters .
But I write long chapters right? Or should I cut long chapters into short chapters? But that will cut the flow of the story
Tell me what to do you guys think? And thanks for some people who donated last week . With that I buy a few necessities for myself .
The bike is still not repair . DO you want to know how the state of the bike is? I could made a video of it or take some pictures .
Nah… . that seems to be over the top right . Amway, at the time of writing this I hope my friend would be coming home so he could send me to a cyber café or my other friend café for me to post this chapter .
And tell me you guys what do you think? Because if I really don"t split the chapters on webnovel, the amount of SS you have to pay is around 50 for each chapters and you must store a very long time to read one chapters of my story .
So, I really wanted to know your thoughts on this .
Anyway, don"t forget to support me by either leaving some comments, or voting me on webnovel .
Tomorrow a new chapter will be posted . It is a scheduled timer . For patreon the chapter 192 is already posted .
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