Guild Wars

"Silence!!" Walter roared as he stood tall.

He glared at everyone in the council room, releasing a thick pressure that forced all of them into silence, even the Councilors. All eyes fell on the usually taciturn and reticent Councilor who had hardly ever spoken even to his own wife and child, much less the rest of them.

Walter leapt through the air while glowing with Knight Energy and landed right before Kiran. Looking at the father and son standing together, no one doubted Kiran's heritage anymore. The two of them were so alike that they could be mistaken for brothers born quite far from each other.

Walter's expression became gentle as he gazed at his son. He placed both hands on Kiran's shoulders and brought him into a hug.

"My son, I'm sorry for not being there for you. Because I was too weak, I couldn't save your mother. Because I was too weak, I had to give you up to your grandfather to raise because, praying every day that I did the right thing."

Walter's voice broke slightly as he apologized to Kiran, whose eyes were wide with shock. He had expected his reunion with his dad to go many ways, but this type of apology had never even crossed his mind.

Why should his dad apologize for being weak? It wasn't his fault.

Kiran also embraced Walter and spoke firmly.  "It's not your fault, Dad, you have nothing to apologize for! Rather, it's the fault of that bastard's father from what I've been told. Luckily, Mom is relatively okay for now, otherwise I would have long teamed up with you to kill them!"

Walter felt like electricity struck his body as his knees became weak and his arms like spaghetti.

"S-Son… what are you… saying?" He asked with difficulty.

Kiran saw Walter's reaction and understood in his heart how important his mother was to his fahter. This comforted Kiran and made him feel much closer to Walter despite consciously meeting him for the first time today.

Kiran manifested his sarira, which made Walter's eyes widen. When the Clan Head had initially condensed Juno's soul into it, there had merely been a faint aura of her presence. Now as Kiran manifested it, her aura was like a storm, washing over Walter so much that it felt like she was in his arms again.

Even further, he could see an image of Juno sleeping within the sarira, which was impossible to see years ago. Seeing the miniature form of his wife did things to Walter's heart and soul that couldn't be put into words.

Kiran placed a hand on his father's shoulder with a smile. "Mom's not dead. I have a way to revive her, but we need to wait for her to wake up. She's excited to meet you too and has been telling me about you guys for months now."

Hearing that hos son had spent plenty of time with his mother was a great catharsis for Walter. In that case, Kiran was not alone and bereft as he thought. Not to mention, Kiran said something about reviving her?

"How is that… possible?" Walter asked with confusion.

"Uncle Misery will explain, but it looks like you guys have something to do before that, right?" Kiran answered with a smile as he stood back.

Seeing this, Walter shook his head and woke up. He saw that Edward and Hector had left their seats to come and stand beside him while Misery was casually walking over. Hector slapped Walter on the shoulder with a hearty grin.

"See, kid, I told you that all that brooding was for nothing. Hasn't everything worked out?"

Walter laughed angrily as he elbowed Hector. "Damn you, you still dare to call me kid?"

Edward was also grinning widely. "You will always be the brat amongst us."

Walter rolled his eyes and gave up. With Misery here, one could almost see the scene of their youthful selves overlapping with their mature forms, both hand-in-hand and laughing.

However, the rest of the Council were not as casual. Councilor Sebastian sighed and closed his eyes, while Councilor Meredith hesitated greatly. Councilor Damien's face had paled and he was gripping a sword tightly while Councilor David was tense, ready to pounce in a heartbeat.

Councilor James continued sharpening his claws but was breathing heavily while Councilor Adrian was trying to sink deeper into his seat.

The knights by the side gripped their weapons, sensing that something was about to happen, while Genevieve casually brought Sublime backwards a little. Those like Darius, Winston, Charles and Kevin had grim expressions as they stepped forward and manifested their power slightly.

Just when it seemed like an explosion of danger was about to occur, Misery suddenly glanced at Adrian and asked casually.

"By the way, I forgot to ask, what happened to my grandma? And who is that brat in her seat?"

The moment Misery asked this, the tension immediately defused as a sense of intense oppression appeared. The faces of everyone changed greatly as if they had remembered something they had practically forced themselves to forget.

Walter, Hector, Edward and Sublime paled greatly as they looked at Misery, while Genevieve bit her lip with worry. Winston and co took a step back with fear as sweat formed on their brows. The sitting Councilors all became grave as they stopped what they were doing and refused to look Misery in the eye.

Only the kid called Adrian seemed to shake in his seat, yet he was actually was the only forced the inquierer's gaze.

Misery would naturally be a fool if he couldn't tell that something was horribly wrong by this point. Without showing too much worry on his face, despite his heart sinking to the bottom, he smiled.

"What's up guys, why the long faces? Did grandma pass away? If so, that fine, she was getting on in her years. I'm not gonna go ham because of that."

However, his words only made the strange aura spreading in the room grow stronger. Misery looked around, trying to make eye contact with everybody but they did their best to shift around and avoid it.

Suddenly, a very familiar voice spoke up.

"Oh, it's you? The brat from that aged whore? You're here for her?"

From a door to the right pf the council room, a familiar figure walked out. It was the same not very handsome face, bronze skin and burly body. The same red robes and arrogant expression, though the features had aged significantly.

Seeing him, Misery's expression became frosty. "Well, well, if it isn't jantan or something from the Pain in the Butt clan."

"It's Ao Jiantian!" The fellow roared with anger and then coughed out some flack of blood.

"Well Mr ouch, you don't look so good. Is age catching up to you?" Misery teased.

"Oh this? This is due to an injury I got during a clan operation a few years back." Ao Jiantian seemed to come alive as Misery mentioned this.

"Oh?" Misery raised an eyebrow.

The hateful fellow nodded and crossed his arms behind his back. "That's right. Last time you came to the Council, I was done in by that filthy witch, Scathach. More than that though, I realized that there was a hidden danger within the subordinated Merlin Lineage that was not favorable to the status of the Pangu Alliance, so I reported everything upwards."

Ao Jiantian smiled widely. "And wouldn't you know it, the Elders agreed with my sentiment, so they dispatched a whole team of Elders over to assist me in subduing the interloper. We offered her a simple choice, come with us and end up imprisoned willingly or get executed as an unwanted variable."

Ao Jiantian then snapped his fingers. "Naturally she chose to resist, because why not? And so, with much pleasure, we beat her down into submission."

The fellow then rubbed his chest with pain. "However, she was quite powerful and crafty. Before we took her down, we lost 30 Elders and 40 juniors, and I got severely injured. Still, it felt great when she was dragged like a dead dog to our clan's Heavenly Imprisonment Tower and locked there to be tortured everyday till she died."

"That was about 15 years ago or slightly less. Since she'd suffered a different torture every day, that's almost 5,475 days of different types of torture. Of course, that's assuming she is even alive today. It would already be a feat if she made it to a 100 days." Ao Jiantian revealed with a pondering expression, ignoring the council room which had become cold to the point of freezing.

"However, you don't have to fret. We Chinese are known for many things, but we have one of the most diverse studies under torture and have developed many ways to inflict pain and agony without harming the will to live or the fundamental lifeforce." Ao Jiantian finished with a wide grin.

Misery simply stood where he was, watching Ao Jiantian silently as he spoke of all these things, his expression still but severe. With every sentience the fellow spoke, Misery drowned one full cup of booze. When he stopped, there was silence for a while before Misery asked.

"So she's at your clan?"

Ao Jiantian nodded. "That's right. You're free to try and save her, but I doubt she'd want you to see the current her. She must look like shit now from the high and mighty appearance she had before."

Misery nodded. "You're right, Nanna did always care about cleanliness and meticulousness. What about the brat?"

Misery pointed to Adrian. Ao Jiantian glanced over and a look of intense disdain flashed in his eyes.

"That thing? Its a homunculus created by Scathach that is molded from the remnant genes of who I assume to be your father and mother, in an attempt to create a sibling for you."

Misery froze and then glanced at Adrian once more whose eyes dimmed when he was referred to an an 'it'. Now that Misery looked closer, Adrian did have the same brown hair and grey eyes that he did, and there were some slight facial similarities.

"A miracle of magic and science that thing. However, it was Scathach's first attempt, so obviously, its flawed. Its learning ability and whatnot is astonishing, but it's unable to inherit bloodline abilities, making it practically no different from a normal person. What a waste!" Ao Jiantian cursed freely.

Misery sighed. It was a light sigh that could denote fatigue, sadness or relief, but when everyone else heard it, it was like thunder in their ears. Misery's body swelled by one level and retracted, like something had exploded within him.

Immediately, a white aura billowed out of his body that shook the entire council room. The continuous shockwave blew all those who were weak out and about, like ragdolls in a hurricane.

Ao Jiantian and the others managed to remain firm, but their eyes narrowed when they felt Misery's aura.

6th Order Mage!!

This was the mastered level of power needed to become a Councilor in this era. 4th Order qualified one, 5th Order was a guarantee and becoming 6th Order was the height of a Councilor's power.

Heck, only Walter was currently a 6th Order Knight due to his talent, and Sebastian was 7th Order due to his accumulation, the rest were 5th Order.

However, if it was just this, the crowd would not be so shocked. One could feel Misery's aura brewing stronger as suddenly released a stronger phenomenon, and his mage aura swelled.

7th Order!!!

An image of Scathach formed behind him, something which shocked Ao Jiantian especially as he still had nightmares about this evil woman.

When the image appeared, a resplendent robe formed around Misery's torso that ended in purple-golden cape. However, that was not all.

BANG!

A worse and even more terrifying aura emerged from Misery, covering the entire Buckingham palace and forming a line of white energy that went right into the sky, forcing the clouds aside.

An image of Cu Chulainn formed behind Misery, and his lower body was enveloped in medium armor while a blood red spear appeared in his right hand. In his left, a purple-bound tome appeared, one that Misery would always be able to recognize.

What was worse was that an aura of a knight appeared in Misery, and it was rising rapidly!!

1st Order Knight!

2nd Order Knight!!

3rd Order Knight!!!

4th Order Knight!!!!

5th Order Knight!!!!!

6th Order Knight!!!!!!

7TH ORDER KNIGHT!!!!!!!

BOOM!