Swordmeister of Rome

<Akun-Kal>

The Unkaras did not side with the Drakuns. They were neutral and hated anyone invading their territory. They were also a very violent race that would choose to self-destruct rather than lose. Aksarai needed them alive and thought of an idea. He only needed the smog, not their race, so he poured his power into having magic absorbed into the smog that was created. He then returned to wait for the barrier to spread.

The Lukras did not notice its existence at first since it was created in a faraway place, and was slowly increasing in radius. But the Akun-Kal eventually spread across the continent. Within the Akun-Kal, the Drakuns' energy increased in power and they were able to know where the Lukras were. It also made other races other than the Drakuns stay under its barrier.

The barrier confined the Lukras, making them unable to move out of their land. When they noticed its existence, Akun-Kal had already covered the entire continent other than the Holy Land. The Lukras had no other choice but to retreat into the Holy Land and ended up in the current state.

Even when Aksarai died along with Broxian and Gran-Ra, Akun-Kal did not disappear. However, it was almost time. Akun-Kal was now pushing away the power of the Holy Land.

<We are not sure why the power that had been standing strong for thousands of years is waning, but the barrier is eating away at the holy power even as we speak.>

The priest pointed to the sky. As Sian turned to the sky, the cloud within the mountain and outside seemed different. The top of the mountain also had clouds, but they were clearer and transparent. It was probably because the cloud before the barrier covered it.

The clouds outside of the mountain were normal clouds that Sian had seen for days in Ra-Sian. He never thought of it as strange, but he was able to tell the difference now.

'So we weren't allowed to fly from the beginning.'

Sian realized how powerful Aksarai or Gran-Ra were. Destroying the continent while fighting, or covering the entire continent with their own magic was not something Sian could have imagined.

'Sickening.'

He realized why the Lukras were so afraid of Aksarai coming back. He also could guess what they were going to ask him to do.

<So you want me to go there and destroy the barrier.>

The priest nodded.

<Yes. To be specific, we want you to kill the Unkaras who created the smog. If we wipe them out, it will give us more time. Our Holy Land will stop being eaten and it will also thin out the barrier. Then, we might have a better chance.>

Sian then asked, unconvinced,

<If that's the case… wouldn't those Unkaras be under heavy guard? Isn't that barrier really important to the Drakuns?>

The priest shook his head.

<No, that will not be the case.>

<…>

<The only race powerful enough to kill the Unkaras is us, so the Drakuns will not divide their forces to defend the Unkaras. It's not needed because we are not able to walk out of the Holy Land without them knowing.>

Sian then remembered what Lagaope said to him.

'That's why he couldn't return with the Lukras' blood.'

It seemed that Sian did not have any Lukra blood as he was not caught by the Drakuns when he walked around. He probably only had the traits. Sian then concluded,

<So you want me to sneak in and kill them. But am I powerful enough to kill those Unkaras? I'm not sure how strong I am.>

The Lukras told him that they wanted to check up on him. It meant that he needed to be strong enough to do the job. The priest, however, looked away.

<…You don't know either?>

<How would we know? We never knew such a race existed until we read the Drakun's memory. Even the Drakun we captured had never seen them. They never come out of the ground. We just thought you might need a bit of strength as the Drakuns might have done something.>

<…>

<Do not forget. This is not a matter of 'if you can'. It must be done. If the Holy Land's power weakens enough, they will begin attacking.>

Sian grabbed his head as he felt a headache coming on.

<Can't we just destroy the magic left by Aksarai? We don't need to fight then.>

The priest laughed.

<Are you so sure? Then why not go out and kill all those Seven-Horned Harijans and wipe out the Drakuns? If you can destroy the magic of Aksarai, that should be easy. If you want to know how much power was put in when Aksarai made the barrier, I'll show you. The Drakun I read the memory from saw it.>

'…Dammit.'

Sian realized there was no way to avoid it.

Sian pondered for a while.

He knew the location. It was probably the mysterious mountain that he and Duke Lorvall fought on. The place was filled with mysterious fog and he now realized that was probably the smog made from those Unkaras.

The area that he destroyed was quite large, but it was nothing compared to the size of the island.

'Maybe I should've just destroyed the whole place while I was there.'

Sian thought about it but shook his head. If he did, he would have probably been caught by the Drakuns and killed. Thus, he was able to pinpoint two important things.

The first was to see how strong the Unkaras were. The second was to find a way to run to safety after dealing with them.

If he were to be caught by angry Drakuns after destroying the barrier, that would be the end of his life. The Lukras said that they would draw away the Drakuns' attention, but he wanted to play it safe.

<I will see if there are any possible routes to run, and check them out. If I can deal with them, then great. If I can't, then I will hide and train.>

He did not dare fight when he knew he would not win. He needed to check how strong the Unkaras were first. He also had to decide how to escape. He needed teleportation magic and he knew where to go.

'I should look for Conrad or Lagaope first. Where would they be?'

It quickly became obvious to Sian. He probably got someone to send the message and it was done by the teleportation magic. Lagaope said the magic to teleport across the continent required power of the core, so Sian decided to check on the repaired cores of Ciculus first.

'I should keep training along the way.'

Sian then went to inform the Lukras that he would leave soon.

Lagaope coughed and Conrad turned towards him. Lagaope shook his hands.

"It's nothing. I just feel something very bad."

"Hmm? Why is that?"

Conrad became confused but returned to his job on fixing the cores. Lagaope then found something on him was flashing. It was the communication artifact. He took it out and answered. It was Liviath, telling him that he returned.

"You're back."

<Yeah. I checked Amaran and the other places but there was no use. I just brought the few things that you mentioned.>

Lagaope then nodded. He then found something strange.

"But… where's Mister Sian?"

Liviath turned away.

"…."

<Uh… he wasn't there when I went to look for him, so I asked Stiel to give him the message.>

"And then?"

If the artifact and the message were delivered, then there was no problem.

<But… I felt a terrible energy was unleashed. Not something you would think that would come from a human.>

Lagaope became grim. There was only one person who Liviath would consider that way.

"It must be Mister Sian."

<Yeah, then he went straight up north.>

"…north?"

<Yeah. Toward the Great Forest.>

"Hm…"

Lagaope quickly guessed what had happened. It seemed Sian had run from something as things had gone wrong. There were only three things that would make Sian run in that continent, and it seemed that he had run into the Lukra's land as he might consider it to be the safest.

"I can't believe he's that unlucky. I even had an easier way… let's hope that he didn't die."

Lagaope shook his head.