Chapter 9: Chapter 8 – Fool

*Swoosh* *Swoosh*

Jacob sends two other flying claws aura attacks at his opponent.

*Bam* *Bam*

But the earth armour absorbs them. Not even a scratch is left behind on that thick earth shell.

"Dammit! You Arpagos weasels are too crafty! To think they sent you with a Rank 9 artifact..."

"Hahaha! You're mine now!" the enemy laughs like a maniac.

"Well, thank you for the nice spar. I have some important business to take care of. See you next time!" says Jacob as he casually runs away.

"Motherfucker, you're going nowhere!" Jackal rages and starts chasing after him.

*Bam*

Jacob evades a stomp aiming at his back.

His enemy easily caught up to him. Compared with a Warlock, a Knight like Jackal has more mobility when using the Earth Golem manifestation.

"You can't excape!" roars the invader, as the roles have now turned.

"You shitty Arpagos turtle, what's the point of having a hard shell if you can't even hit me?" Jacob mocks him, after he dodges a few of his punches.

"We'll see about that!" says Jackal as his attacks get more intense.

*Bam*

One leg strike finally connected, sending the butler flying.

"Huff, huff!" the butler catches his breath as he gets back on his feet.

"Haha! Told you so!" the enemy is grinning inside his shell.

"Just a lucky strike, nothing more!" replies Jacob as he makes another attempt to run away.

"How about another lucky strike?"

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Several heavy strikes hit the ground, missing their target.

"Dream on, Arpagos dog!" Jacob taunts him, after dodging the previous attacks.

"You filthy animal!"

Several more enemy barrages take place, as the butler's taunts erage him even more.

*Bang*

Another earth hardened punch lands on Jacob's face sending him tumbling over the ground.

"Haha, stright into that filty mouth! I wonder how many hits can you take." the enemy is enjoying himself playing with his opponent.

But just as he was gloating, his armous started to shine.

Earth Golem is both an offensive and defensive spell, which makes it super tricky to face. But its dowside is that it doesn't last too long. Warlocks can use it in battle for around 5 minutes, if they cast it on themselves. But if a Knight uses it, after the manifestation is stored into a high grade artifact, it can only last 2 minutes at best. 

"Dammit, the manifestation will wear out!" Jackal starts to panic at the realisation of his impending drop in power.

"Aaar!" he shouts, as he runs towards the fallen Jacob and body slams him in a final Earth Golem attack.

*Bang*

The butler gets crushed under the heavy armour, a few seconds before it actually vanishes, as dust flies everywhere.

"Curse you Arpagos... One day... I'm gonna... ruin you..." a bloody and bashed Jacob mumbles as the dust cleans on.

"Dream on, scoundrel. This is the power of Arpagos. All you can do is bow down in awe!" says Jackal as his gladius appers back into his hand.

"So you... are from Arpagos... after all..." the butler struggles to speak.

"Yes, I am from the mighty Apagos Empire, a giant that you ants can never oppose!" admits the enemy, as he gets closer to his vctim to deliver the final strike.

"Ok, that's all I wanted to hear!" Jacob says, as he raises his head from the ground with a smirk on his face.

"W-What?" Jackal jumps back frightened by the action that looks like a scene from a horror movie.

"Look here, you fell for it."  Jacob says, as he holds a quail egg sized cristal in his right hand.

"A Recording Crystal..." the enemy is scared even more.

Just as he saw that small round object shining, he realised the obvious. His opponent faked weakness and taunted him numerous times, all to make him comfortable enough to get a confession out of him.

"You motherfucker... You tricked me!"

"Not my fault you're such a fool!" the butler mocks him, as he gets back on his feet, while dusting himself off.

"Shit!" Jackal says, as he turns the other way, running for his life.

Jacob appears right behind him, in a flash, and he slaps him over the head with the back of his hand.

*Bam*

Jackal gets planted into the ground, while his head is twisted into an unnatural angle.

"You thought you can escape, after stirring some shit in my Lord's land? If you were after what I think you were, your sin in unforgivable!" the butler's gaze turns cold.

"Urgh!" the enemy moans, after he was literaly bitch-slapped into a broken neck.

"Now, why don't you quietly come back with me?" says Jacob as he bends down over his wrecked enemy, removing his storage ring and storing his gladius in his own storage artifact.

Funny how the tables have turned so many times during the course of this battle. Even more funny, if you consider how precisely the Rosevind Family's Butler has manipulated the flow of the battle from its very begining.

Jacob places his foot on the enemy's back, pinning him down. He grabs his left arm and completly tears it off his body.

"Arrrgh!" the enemy screams as he has his both arms removed.

"Quiet, little piggy. I will bring you to the slaughter house soon enough!" says the butler with a vicious smile.

"Arrrgh" Jackal's legs got pulled off too, below the knee.

Jacob stops his bleeding by applying mana on the surface of his stubs. Then he throws the limbless torso on his shoulder and descends the mountain, towards Rosevind Territory.

"Hehehe... so the stories... were true..." the mangled enemy laughs histericaly.

"You think you're... different... but there's ... a demon... inside you... that makes you... look down... on all the rest. Maybe you... don't unleash it... upon the weak... but Arpagos fire... flows through... your veins!" adds Jackal, as he's carried away.

"Do you want me to gag you?" Jacob warns him, as his face twitches at his remark.

"Hehehe... who is... the fool now?" concludes Jackal, as they fade into the distance.

***

*Clop* *Clop* *Clop*

Mulong and his group have returned to the Backheel City, on their horses.

"Stop right there, Grandamaster!" one of the two guards guarding the city gate says.

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"Excuse us for our rudeness, but we're operating based on your order!" the other guard adds, as he comes forward.

Finding out about some enemies lurking around, Mulong made preparations to sniff out any enemy who might use a transformation artifact.

"Yes, yes, just get on with it!" speaks the oldman, casually waving his hand.

A green shard of glass with shiny patterns all over it appears in the guard's hand. He puts it over his right eye and takes a glance at the men before him.

"So it's really you, Grandmaster. Welcome back!" says the guard, after he comfirmed through the glass that there's no one in the group who changed their appearence with an artifact.

"Good. Now let's go inside!" Mulong leads the others into the city.

After a while they reach the City Mansion where Mulong, the South-West Governer resides.

"Welcome back, Grandmaster!" a servant comes and holds the reins of his horse, as he gets off his horse.

"Hm!" Mulong shortly replys.

 "I should go out more often, Cornelius. It's the first time I leave the city in years and this is what I got..."

"Grandmaster..." Cornelius doesn't know how to comfort the old man.

*Sigh*

"How's the lad?" says Mulong, as he turns his head to the servant.

"He's still in shock, Grandmaster. But we put him to sleep with medicine, as you ordered." answers the servant.

"Good, good. You can go now."

"Yes, Grandmaster!" the servant leaves with the horses.

"You guys too, go back to your positions." says Cornelius to the two Rank 6 vanguard soldiers, that went with them when they discovered Stones' corpse.

"Yes, sir! Grandmaster!" 

"Hm!" 

They leave after saying their goodbyes.

"Let's go see how the kid is doing. What do you think of that man that brought him in?" says the old man as he starts walking ahead.

"That Karl guy? Looks like a decent warrior, even though he's quite young." Cornelius replys, while following the old man.

"Not only that, he has a good head on his shoulders." Mulong adds.

"Oh? For Granmaster to say such things, means you're surprisingly fond of that guy."

"Don't you ever resent me, Cornelius?" the old man stops and turns to look at the 30 years old man.

"What type of question is this, Grandmaster? It's an honor to..."

"You're still young but you're stuck with guarding this old man..." Mulong interrupts him.

"Don't worry Grandmaster, I lived my fair share of troubles. A peacefull, comfty life is not something that I look down upon." Cornelius replys with a smirk.

"You cheeky brat! Your glib tongue doesn't work on this old man!" the Grandmaster turns back and resumes walking, with short smile.

"Being the bodyguard of a high level Engraver has its perks. Not only that I don't lack resouces, but I can also stay away from the actual battlefield. Don't get me wrong, I do what I'm supposed to do, but I've seen too much blood for my age. A boring life is what my family needs the most right now."

"Ha? So you're telling me I'm spoiling you too much, brat?"

"Haha, perhaps..."

The two men stop before a room guarded by one sentinel.

"Grandmaster! Sir Cornelius!" the guard greets them.

"Hm!" Mulong respond with his characteristic short grumble, while Cornelius just nods at him.

Cornelius opens the door, allowing the old man to enter first.

Inside the room, a ten years old boy lays asleep in a big central bed. Near the bed, at his side, is a twenty-something young man on a chair. He is Karl, the soldier who first delivered Stones' message to Jacob. He later joined the Abba Village rescue mission, making his escape after securing the Governer's son.

"Grandmaster!" Karl gets up from the chair, after he saw that Mulong entered the room.

"Hm! How's the boy?" the old man asks, after Cornelius closed the door behind them.

"He's a bit shaken by the events, but he is his father's son. I have no doubt that he'll get past it. Please, take a seat, Grandmaster!" replies Karl, as he moves aside from the chair.

"Hoho! See that Cornelius? This lad treats me like I'm just an old bag of bones!" Mulong smirks.

"Yes." replies his bodyguard, also smirking.

"I-I meant no offense..." Karl says, thinking the old man took it as an insult.

"He's just messing with you." says Cornelius.

"Indeed. I recognise when someone tries to suck up to me." speaks Mulong, as he takes a meaningful glance at Cornelius.

"Ahem!" Cornelius lets out an akward cough.

"Even if I still look in great shape, my age is catching up with me." says the old my as he sits on the chair.

"Such is the price of wisdom." adds Karl.

"Heh! Enough with that, lad! Tell me, you're Stones' man, aren't you?" Mulong asks.

"Yes, Grandmaster! I've been in his service since I was just a boy."

"Then, there's no pleasant way for me to say this... The man you served... is dead."

"P-Please don't joke with me again, Grandmaster. That man is not so easy to kill. Based on my estimate, even an 8 Rank would have a hard time fighting against him!" Karl's expression is visibly shaken, as he tries to convince himself that the old man might be joking again.

"Unfortunetly, he's speaking the truth." says Cornelius, as the old man is silently gazing at the sleeping boy.

"That's a... H-How can that be!?" Karl was very close to call it a lie.

"We recovered the body ourselfs..." adds Cornelius.

"Poor kid... he might be his father's son, but it's not easy to lose your parent at his age. Alas, only the Young Lord is more unfortunated than him in that regard..." the old man mumbles as he's gazing at the sleeping child.

"Precisely. The Governer's death is a big loss for his family, but it's a great loss for the Rosevind House!" adds Cornelius.

"Sometimes a personal loss is greater than a military loss, lads. The Rosevind House is not weak. They'll come to know that, even if they killed that brat!" Mulong eyes radiate a fierce glint.

"Grandmaster.... You said that you have recovered his body.... Can I... see him?" Karl turns towards the old man, with moist eyes.

"Very well..."

*Knock* *Knock*

Just as he was about to pull Stones' body out from his storage ring artifact, someone knocks on the door.

"Yes, enter!" says Mulong, with his hand still in the air.

"Urgent message from Lady Erhilda, Lord Commander!" says the messager, as he enters the room.

"Hm?"