City of Desire [Kingdom Building] - Chapter 749: Blade
Proofread by Thomas F
I found myself in my office, but not in the chair I was sitting in. I am sprawled on the floor, with blood dripping from my face.
It seemed like I had stressed myself and bled through my orifices.
I only glanced at it before turning to the sets of eyes looking at me. Bell, Caena, Margaux, Stone, and Carla. All looking worriedly.
“Have I succeeded?” I asked, turning to Bell. “Look at your hand,” she replied.
I looked down and saw a fist-sized crystalline crimson hollow ring with a black and moon-white lattice pattern on it hovering over my hand.
As I looked at it, I could feel the faint connection with it.
Seeing it, I couldn’t help but frown. I had imagined the rapier, but I got a ring.
The ring, as if hearing my thoughts, floated up in front of me, and a black and moonstone pattern lit up, before it disappeared, and the ring began to get bigger, till it reached palm-sized.
I was looking at it in surprise when something shocking happened.
A rapier began to come out of the hollow ring. The hilt came first, before the blade came out, which seemed long. Too long.
“My god!” gasped Margaux. “It’s beautiful,” added Bell, just as enamoured.
I looked at the blade in front of me, too mesmerized to be able to speak. It took me a while before I was able to look at it with a clear mind.
In front of me, a rapier or a sword, whose blade stretches one and a half meters, made from a material darker than night— it is the same as the outline of the head I saw in the vision.
So dark that it seems to drink in light.
The edges of it seemed so sharp that it felt like they would cut through reality itself.
I focused on the quillon, which seemed to be made of overlapping tiny, delicate crests, just like crests I saw on a beast, shining beautifully like a moon.
Above the quillon is a crimson hilt, which is the same shade as those eyes, bright crimson. That feels beautiful and scary at the same time.
Surrounding the hilt is a swirling guard of interwoven black ivory and moonstone, curling like frozen tendrils in mid-motion. It’s enchanting.
Over the hilt is a hollowed sphere of moonstone, inside which a tiny black scale is floating, that seemed even to scare the light.
“It’s the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen,” I said breathily, looking at the blade floating in front of me.
It’s not a true rapier, but rather a fusion of a rapier and a traditional sword. The blade is also unusually long—about a meter and a half—though I would prefer it to be just one meter.
I had never used anything this long, and I have till tomorrow morning to get used to it.
After studying it for a moment, I reached out and grasped the saber. A thrill ran through me—I could feel its power resonating faintly through the connection between us.
This blade is mine, and I am going to use it in the battle tomorrow.
Hun!
My hand reached the hilt and gripped it. The moment I did, I felt the powerful suppression and weight, but also the emotions that wanted me to suppress everything.
I nearly lost the grip, not due to its weight, which is considerable, but because of the suppression and emotions it evoked.
I took a deep breath and bore it. I bore the suppression far greater than this.
So, I gripped it tightly, feeling its power. It’s an artifact, but different than any other I had seen. It’s not as structured as theirs.
However, the first level of it had formed.
With time and effort, this can turn into a structured artifact, but unlike other artifacts, these abilities would be tailored to me.
I got up and swung it around. It is taking some effort, but I can manage. However, I might need to adjust my fighting style slightly to use it proficiently.
“I need to test it,” I said. Looking at Bell.
“You should first address the people, relieve their worries,” said Carla.
“Something happened?” I asked. “Look at the legacy,” she replied. It made me frown, and I looked at it, shocked by what had happened.
“It shook the whole tower. A minute more and it would have gone for the core itself,” Caena added sombrely.
I had not connected the forged seed to the core; I am not an idiot.
I had connected to the extractor, which contained a large amount of emotion essence and core essence, obtained from Hayward Emporium.
All of it is drained—every single drop of it.
After it finished with it, it had connected itself to the core and began to harness the emotional essence from it. It had harvested nearly all the emotional essence.
As Caena had said, a minute more and it would have harvested the core essence, which would have damaged the core.
It didn’t, but we are still in trouble. We will need the essence of emotion tomorrow to power our spells and artifacts. I could see waves of emotions coming from the legacy, but we will need more.
“Extend the party by an hour,” I ordered.
“People are worried, you should address them,” repeated Carla. It is the last thing I want to do. I want to test my new artifact, but people are more important.
I will test it right after I address them.
So, I looked at the blade and the ring that was hovering behind my hand, which once more moved forward.
Its size begins to increase as before, and when it reaches the size of the palm, the blade starts to slide through it until it disappears completely. Meanwhile, the lattice design of black and white appears on the disk, and it returns behind my hand.
“It’s quite a show this blade creates,” Commented Bell, and I smiled, before activating Get Ready.
Immediately, all the blood, dirt, and everything else flowed down my body, while my clothes straightened and my hair moved to its place.
A few seconds later, I was fully ready and walked toward the door.
I will quickly address the people, assuage their worries, and then spar with Bell.
I need to be as familiar as possible with my weapon if I want to use it against the undead tomorrow in the battle.
…
Ina Knox
I heard the sound of footsteps behind me, but I didn’t turn.
I kept looking at the empty city in front of me from the roof of the city hall. It was so quiet that I couldn’t hear any voices at all, nor could I see any carriages, which used to fill the roads.
I was able to take the population of the city to near peak in just half a year.
A month, two at most, and I would have been able to surpass it. I poured my blood and sweat into the city. It pains me to see it like this.
Barely fifteen thousand have left the city. Many of them are the ones who had lived in the city during the undead’s reign.
They should be the first to escape it, but many stayed. Seeing that, I couldn’t bring myself to leave the city, abandon these people when they need me the most.
“It’s so quiet,” said Argis, my assistant. He could have left, but he had stayed as well.
“It’s quiet before the storm,” I replied.
The undead are coming tomorrow, with numbers to conquer the whole region. The only thing standing against that is Master Silver.
Carla has said there is a plan, and she sounded optimistic. I hope it is just as good as I felt from her voice.
I have firsthand experience of what the undead do to the cities and their people. I don’t want those things to happen to Greltheaven and my sisters.
“Let’s hope that the storm avoids us,” he said, and I smiled at that.
The intelligence indicates that they will bypass Panar and proceed directly to Greltheaven. Let’s hope it does, because we cannot defend against them.
“If they come, we will not go down without a fight!” I replied.
We might not be able to defend against them, but we will fight them with everything we have.
…
Tamal Wraithhearth
The horse’s feet made a melodic sound as I rode toward the city gate.
It will be the first time I will pass through the gates of Ashton Harbor since I came here. The deal had been reached weeks ago with the merchant state, but I didn’t.
I had promised myself that I would only leave the city on the day when I was leading the horde to conquer the region.
Today is that day.
Tomorrow at eight, our forces will move toward Greltheaven.
It won’t matter if Gats had left or not. It is time; the high command has asked me to move, and I will follow the order.
“We have waited for this for quite a long time,” said Liorian beside me. “Yes, we did, but it’s worth it, since we are going to conquer the whole region,” I replied, and he grinned.
Soon, we reached the gate and passed through it. Feeling the freedom I had not felt before since I came here.
I rode out of the gate and looked at the vast horde waiting for me. This horde, it’s a horde that even those bastards of Kalgha would take seriously.
In front of me are three million undead; thousands of powerhouses, from mages to warriors.
This is enough to conquer the whole region, but it is not the complete horde that will move to conquer the region.
A horde of a million undead is gathering at the boundary; it will have undead from Almin, Gailhorn, and North, with another half a million coming from Bilgas.
Once gathered, it will be a horde of four and a half million. A great horde, not just in name; this time, there are special undead and powerhouses.
Including the ones that had awakened the aura.
The most powerful of the horde are the three of us. Except for Gats, there is no one in the region capable of stopping us, not even Grimvale.
“The flame of revenge is burning in my heart; I could barely wait to kill that bitch!” said Yark. He had recovered, but faint burn marks were all over his body.
The flames of that sabre have the element of a dragon. The marks left by them are not easy to heal.
“Tomorrow, you will,” replied Liorion.
He had trained Yark personally. Letting him gain complete control of his new abilities. Even his control over aura had improved drastically.
The horde separated as we moved through it until finally we reached the front of it.
“Forward!” I commanded, starting my conquest of the Renwell region.
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