The Godsfall Chronicles

Quick as lightning! A flood of cutting darkness descended on Cloudhawk . Jupiter was as skilled as people said, and that made the Nilam family members nervous .

Idonea didn’t care much for this Lance character but she didn’t wish him harm, either . As for Jupiter, he was rash and immature but they had grown up together . If he murdered Lance it would be no small matter .

A blood feud would erupt between three families . People would come after Jupiter for vengeance and the Argyris name would be dragged through the mud . If Idonea understood only this much about the potential political turmoil, it was enough . She didn’t want any of this . The consequences would be irreversible .

Noah and the other family leaders were about to intervene when, much to their surprise, the whip in Cloudhawk’s hand began to move . Like a bolt of lightning or an angry snake, the whip lashed into the dark fog . There was a deafening CRACK, like lightning striking a tree .

What did Flamevolt hit?

A second later the fog dissipated . The power of Jupiter’s spear faded away and its bearer was revealed . He’d been knocked several meters back and a stinging pain burned across his chest . The young man looked down to find a black mark across his front . His armor had been split apart and the surface radiated with red heat .  

“He was knocked back?!”

Shocked mutters rippled among the crowd .

Instead of battling recklessly against Jupiter’s attack, Lance had bypa.s.sed it all and struck right where he knew  the younger fighter would be . In the midst of the onslaught the whip caught the Merlo family youth square in the chest .

It made sense . Why fight so hard? There was no point in charging through an attack when you could cut it off at the root .

Cloudhawk’s rapid attack hadn’t been strong, but the speed and precision were enough to surprise everyone . His steward fumbled over the words, “Y-young Master, what a shot! Has he been hiding this skill all along? I heard that before we left for the capitol he defeated his older brother . It seems the stories were true!”

Cloudhawk wasn’t stupid enough to unleash his full strength . Just a fraction of his ability was enough to thoroughly embarra.s.s this child . His earliest memories were of struggle and b.l.o.o.d.y survival . He came to Stormford a grizzled survivor .

What’s more, he was absorbing more of the Demon King’s memories every day . Mysteries of how to use relics and more effective ways to kill flooded his mind . And what of Jupiter, this member of the ‘Mighty Ten’? It was a fancy name, but given to a bunch of children who’d grown up in an era of peace and plenty . Stormford hadn’t seen any conflict in centuries . He was a n.o.ble’s son, which meant there was no chance that he was trained like a real soldier .

Jupiter wasn’t discouraged . It was luck, that’s all! This time he would cut the b.a.s.t.a.r.d in half! Bolstering his pride he lashed out with his spear once again . Innumerable cuts filled the s.p.a.ce, threatening to envelope the foreign n.o.ble .

Cloudhawk was moving even before Jupiter’s attack began, like he knew it was coming . His arm whipped up and Flamevolt wrapped around the branch of a nearby tree . It contracted, pulling on the st.u.r.dy bough and launching Cloudhawk into the air – and out of the way of Jupiter’s attack .

“Where are you running!”

Jupiter wrenched around and stabbed toward the sky . In response Cloudhawk disentangled Flamevolt from the tree and whipped his arm around . The slender weapon slithered pa.s.sed the flurry of blows to strike Jupiter in his right hand where the Spear of a Thousand Shadows was being held .

Crack! A pained yelp followed .

Cutting shadows disappeared in an instant . The most dangerous of them, aimed toward Cloudhawk’s forehead, vanished mere centimeters from its target . Nevertheless Cloudhawk never showed any signs of fear . Once again he easily disarmed Jupiter’s attack .

That difficult to avoid thread of fire and electricity was causing Jupiter no end of trouble . Its position was changing constantly, even during an attack . It made it difficult for him to lock down his target .

How?

Cloudhawk didn’t offer Jupiter any chance to save face . He lashed out again and again with the whip reaching a full ten meters toward the target . Every strike was different and fell upon the young man like a lightning storm . Scorched whip-marks peppered his body .

Noah was stunned . Members of the Nilam family were, too, as well as Idonea .

They watched the oft maligned Byzantium dandy almost whip his opponent to pieces . Jupiter’s attacks were far stronger than Cloudhawk’s, but somehow the older challenger saw right through each of them . Likewise, while Cloudhawk’s attacks weren’t strong they were so precise as to be unavoidable .

In a handful of seconds Jupiter had been caught by twenty lashes .

Black burn marks criss-crossed his entire form, but especially his hands . His metal gauntlets were in tatters and dripped blood . Jupiter’s hands were too mangled to hold his weapon .

Anger welled up inside of him, so intense that Jupiter wasn’t thinking straight . His attacks grew more and more imperfect while his foe’s superhuman perception picked out even the slightest flaws . He felt helpless .

No, it didn’t matter! He would crush him under his full strength! Idonea would not be stolen away by this foul man!

Jupiter howled like a beast caught in a trap . Mental energy poured from him in an unmitigated flood and his spear launched into another set of attacks . However, this time they were not spread out across an area . They coalesced into a single stream .

“No! Jupiter is going to kill him!”

Everyone could see the young man was throwing all of his strength into this attack . It reached up to a hundred meters and was shockingly wide . If it struck, there wouldn’t even be a corpse to bring back to Byzantium .

Jupiter’s eyes were wide and bloodshot .  “Diiiee!”

The Spear of a Thousand Shadows stretched unsettlingly until it was eight or nine meters long . It screamed toward Cloudhawk, yet he remained calm . The whip in his hands never stopped its dance, spiraling around to form a vortex before him .

When the spear reached him he pulled . Cloudhawk’s whip wrapped around the spear’s shaft and tugged it to the side . At the last instant the spear’s trajectory s.h.i.+fted, just as it released its energy in a deadly torrent .

The thick wall of the Argyris family mansion was blasted to pieces! Jupiter’s impressive strength was on full display . But the attack had taken nearly all of Jupiter’s power to execute . After using it he was tapped for the moment . While Jupiter was catching his breath, Cloudhawk pulled his spear back .

The younger man felt a sharp tug, more than his beaten hands could contend with . His spear slipped from his grasp and was flung a hundred meters away . It buried itself in a small hill on the mansion gardens .

The outcome was clear .

Cloudhawk looked over at Jupiter who was nearly mad with fury . “A soldier’s weapon is ten times more important than any lover . If as a soldier you can’t even hold onto your weapon, how are you supposed to protect the people you care about? As far as I can tell, these Mighty Ten are only mighty in name . ”

Members of the Argyris family looked on with confused expressions . The Nilam family entourage looked sheepish . Beating the poor boy was enough and some banter meant nothing . But insulting the Mighty Ten? This young outsider certainly didn’t mince his words .

Noah interrupted with a gentle cough . “Jupiter, you’ve lost . ”

The beaten youth looked up at Lance, then over to Idonea . Like a broken man he turned away and left, even leaving his spear behind . Today he’d lost not only the girl he loved, but his pride .

Cloudhawk watched him go with a smirk . Shame was important, if you allowed it to make you stronger . Experiencing defeat was what made a real warrior . Jupiter was young, he would bounce back .

“Congratulations Young Lance!” Noah strode forward . “You have won victory over Jupiter and have the right to count yourself among the Mighty Ten . ”

The steward joined in excitedly . “When your mother and father hear the news they’re sure to be thrilled!”

Idonea watched Jupiter slink away . Only once he was gone did her eyes turn back to the mysterious n.o.ble who had come to marry her . She felt… strange . If Lance was able to defeat Jupiter then they all had underestimated him .

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