Chapter 409: Tiber flexes his power
Tiber was a bit surprised at how a single word ignited all of them into action. But at the same time, he understood a bit. The Matsumoto Knights were conquered, defeated without even raising a single finger to fight back. That frustration had built up and reached near breaking.
And now, they finally saw a chance to pour it out. In many ways, it's also the chance to prove themselves.
Unfortunately, Tiber wasn't going to make things easy for them, as he was totally looking to crush them.
He began to walk down the palace.
Xuehan, rigid as a stone, sneered. His muscles flexed, and a dangerous aura covered him. His tone shifted from his carefree nature and turned cold and flat. "Commander Tiber, do you want to fight me?"
"I sure hope so, Xuehan. But unfortunately, you alone cannot defeat me. Find more to join you. Only then can I accept your challenge." Tiber spoke in a reasonable voice, as if he was explaining a rule to a stubborn child.
Xuehan bristled, and he wasn't the only one. It spread among the other Knights like a wave that visibly affected all of them. As Xuehan said earlier, he was part of the strongest Errant Knights, and some might even say the strongest. Every single Knight there knew his capabilities, so when Tiber spoke down on him, it was as if he was speaking down on all of them.
They might not be a Clan, but they still had their pride as mercenaries.
Xuehan grinned, all his teeth flashing in what appeared to be a growl. But he also wasn't stupid. "Commander Tiber, are you hiding an artifact to secretly fight?"
Tiber chuckled. "If I use an artifact in the duel here, I'll leave my post as Strategic Commander. Slya, you can bear witness."
Xuehan's eyes shifted from Tiber to Slya, his expression shifting. A look of greed entered his eyes.
"If I..." He corrected himself quickly with a smile. "If we defeat you, what will be our gain?"
Tiber blinked. "Well... I can't give you my position as it's directly given by my Lord Athrimir. But I can promise you this, My Lordship treasures strength, and if you can defeat me, that will place you in a favorable position in his eyes. I can then promise that you'll work closely by his side."
"I agree!" Xuehan said fast, as if Tiber might change his mind.
"But what if you are the winner, Commander Tiber?" a voice called.
A woman slowly walked up to Xuehan, looking at Tiber all the while. The question came from her. The lady wasn't slender, but she wasn't fat either. Appearing chubby, she carried a long spear on her back.
Tiber shrugged. "I don't know yet. Everything will depend on how strong you guys are. Is that it, only two of you?"
"I will join too," a guy said. He was quite short, with dark eyelids.
Tiber waited, but no one volunteered again. Perfect. "You two are....?"
"I am Aldwin," the guy said.
"And I am Fengzhi," the lady said as she twirled her spear, creating a faint yellow light that flickered like a small charge of lightning.
Tiber smiled. "Good. I should warn you, I don't know the strength of my own power."
It was the truth. After Vale made advancement in his powers, the feedback reached Tiber and Slya as well, boosting them to greater powers. They were far above the Errant ranks but not even near the Master ranks. This made a lot of their techniques unusable. Fortunately, the feedback came with some techniques of its own, charging their usual techniques.
The change was more pronounced for Tiber, as his techniques were already complex, unlike Slya's shadow forging.
So, he really did not know the strength of his own powers.
But the others only got even more annoyed with his words, as if he was looking down on them. Xuehan sneered as he said, "Since this is a duel, I'll tell you the basics of our powers. I can use some force energy to my advantage."
Fengzhi shrugged. "I use lightning."
Aldwin said, "I am in the Prime Order of Beast Taming, but I follow the beastification aspect."
That was how proper duels were made. Each person was expected to say something about their powers. The basics without really touching on them, and sometimes, they could even be misleading.
Tiber nodded. "I am from the Mystic Order. I can affect dreams."
Technically, he's from the Forbidden Order since he's tied to Vale. But at the same time, his power's foundation is in the Mystic Order and even shares some similarities with the Dark Order.
Aldwin snorted. "I don't think you should have challenged us. Aren't your powers more suited for information extraction and the like?"
Tiber looked at Aldwin in surprise, his eyes turning dark. "Aren't you part of the elite?"
Aldwin narrowed his eyes. "I am."
"Then, do you make your elitism without critical thinking?" Tiber smiled, his eyes turning even darker. "Would I have attacked you without knowing how my powers can get me victory?"
Aldwin scowled, but he really had nothing to say to that. It really was a stupid question to ask. To cover up the irritating shame he felt, Aldwin began to make a move. His body changed, covered by a brown, dirt-colored light. His skin took on a stringy kind of look, and every part of his body was now covered in long, fine, shining brown fur.
Merely looking at that fur, Tiber felt irritation and an instant fear of getting closer. What in the Infernal hell is that?
Even the other two on the team moved out of the man's way, giving him space.
Aldwin didn't seem to care, because the next moment, he jumped forward, and some of the fur hardened before it was blasted forward in a storm of sharpness.
Instantly, dark energy covered Tiber, reinforcing his body as he stumbled toward the storm with incredible speed, only to jump up incredibly high the next moment, completely avoiding the fur in a single jump.
Aldwin didn't seem surprised by that. In fact, his face only split into a smile as the fur turned around simultaneously, rushing at Tiber once more!
The others seemed to have anticipated this, as they only watched on leisurely, enjoying Aldwin probing their opponent.
It turned into a bit of a comical situation then, as Tiber began to run around to avoid the fur, neither using his powers to avoid it nor an attack to dispel it. He simply ran, and ran!
Aldwin was stunned. This was the first time he'd seen someone actually taking great pains to run away from his fur. Most times, people underestimated it because it was simply fur. Did this Commander Tiber know about it beforehand?
He added more speed to his attack, and yet no matter what, the fur just wouldn't reach the Commander. Each time, there would always be a distance of six or five feet between them.
And yet, the other two stood there, watching without doing anything.
Xuehan frowned, and then suddenly blurted out, "We should be attacking as well. If we can attack together, that will be good!"
And yet, none of them did anything to help Aldwin. Even Aldwin himself didn't use any other attack, his mind narrowed to using just that single one.
Xuehan might be bold and arrogant, but he wasn't stupid. To be a Knight is to be above stupidity on average. His body twitched as he felt uneasiness. His brows furrowed. "Why am I not attacking? Why am I hesitating instead of moving and doing things? Why am I not attacking....."
It was as if a bolt of fire struck his mind as his head whipped up in surprise, looking around at his surroundings. He realized then that it had grown dark at some point in time, and he couldn't hear the sound of others apart from the ones Tiber and Aldwin were making. Worse, he could not clearly see the faces of those around him.
Something is wrong!
His mind screamed at him, and that was when he became aware, especially once he realized Tiber's power. He can affect dreams!
"I am in a dream!" Xuehan exclaimed in surprise, a chill crawling his spine. "When? When? I did not even realize!"
"Fengzhi! Aldwin! We are in a dream! Wait, are they in here with me? A shared dream?"
Aldwin froze, and Fengzhi's eyes widened as she took a step back. The fur attack suddenly froze and disappeared. Even the fur on Aldwin withered away into nothing.
The three of them looked at each other, astonishment on their faces. They realized that they were indeed in a dream. Simultaneously, they flexed their will to break out of the dream!
But nothing!
Xuehan trembled slightly. All of them shuddered. From what they knew and had learned, those who manipulate dreams relied on deceiving their victims. As long as the victims did not realize that they were in a forced dream, or that they had been tampered with, then the dream manipulator could hold the upper hand.
But once they knew, the dream would shatter into nothing. Especially if the Knights could flex their unwillingness to be there.
But....but...why were they still in the dream?
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Author's Note.
Thank you for reading guys, I really appreciate this. I just want to say, if you have anything you want to point out in the book, negative or positive, just say. It'll help me improve. Just don't drop the book please, I'm already short on readers. Tell me so I'll make improvements.
Thank you so so much!!