Bayran Handsworth was an expert warrior. He did not reach King Class by mistake. While his antics and personality were a bit odd, in terms of raw combat experience, Bayran grew up alone in the wilderness fighting for his life against various creatures.
Abandoned at birth on an Exotic World that was plagued with remnants of the Demon Race, Bayran learned from a young age how to hide, how to fight, and how to kill. He learned of the importance of Magic Herbs and of great power, and took those two concepts to heart.
More than 80 years had passed since then, reaching roughly middle age for a normal Shade, and he had achieved all of his goals.
He cleansed the world he had been born in of Demonic remnants. He became an accomplished warrior and an even more talented Alchemist. He was considered one of the rising heroes of the Shade Race, with the potential to reach the Pseudo-Angelic Class.
If there was one thing he hated most, after Demons and Demonic remnants, it was fools that led other innocent Shades to a pointless death against Demons or Demonic remnants that they did not understand. His memories of his own youth, of the brutal life and death battles that perpetuated in it, had hardened his opinion on this.
So when he was informed by one of the agents of the Southern Duke of Shadow of Lord Inigo's actions and how he was merely Lord Class, he had understandably been enraged.
'You are an idealistic fool! I don't care how much you love your wife, I will not allow you to lead these innocents to their deaths! Every powerful Shade lost is a valuable resource given away to the Demons!'
Bayran's eyes flashed as he lashed out with all his might, his powerful Heaven Slaying Cauldron smashing through the air as it aimed at 'Lord Inigo's' chest.
Just as he was about to land his second blow, one he felt might be sufficient to force 'Lord Inigo' to step down, the impossible happened.
The cauldron was mere inches away from Lord Inigo's hands when Bayran's foot landed in a small rut in the ground, a hole that had been created when Dorian slammed his feet into the ground to stop himself from flying away.
Bayran's full attention had been on his target before him, but that didn't mean he wasn't aware of his surroundings. His training and life as a whole meant he had excellent situational awareness.
Only, this small rut in the ground had actually been obscured from his vision for a split second by a particle of rocky dust that had floated in front of his eyes, just for an instant. A passing piece of debris that shouldn't have had any effect.
But because of this brief instant where his vision was covered, he missed noticing the rut in the ground.
"Huh?!"
WHOOOSH
As his foot caught on the rut in the ground, Bayran, somehow, despite his long years of training and skillful technique, lost his balance, almost as if Fate was playing a trick on him. He slipped and began to fall forward at an accelerated rate.
"Woah!" As Bayran felt this, he immediately pulled down with his cauldron, trying to counteract the force of his foot slamming in and digging into the ground. His skillful movement was able to just barely let him step forward instead of slamming down into the ground.
However, because he was already leading forward with a powerful attack, using his special Heaven Slaying Cauldron which weighed several thousand pounds, his cauldron instead shifted, the huge weight and force behind it causing him to fly upward. He couldn't just stop an attack of this scale out of the blue.
This had the unfortunate side effect of throwing Bayran high into the air, causing him to somersault over Dorian.
"Ahhhh!" Bayran let out an astonished scream as he flew almost three dozen meters high into the air, sailing through the sky until he crashed down on a local bakery, blasting through the roof. A few panicked cries of Shade civilians could be heard as they fled from the shop.
.. .. .. .. .. ..
Leader frowned as he watched the developing combat between his target and some other, unknown Shade. His focus was drawn tight as he saw everything, waiting for a single moment when his target's guard was clearly down.
"Huh… Did he redirect the force of the blow and send the other Shade flying?"
Leader frowned again as he saw Lord Inigo toss the other Shade aside. For an instant, it almost looked as if the Shade had somehow tripped and somersaulted on his own through the air.
But such a thing would be ridiculous. His eyes must've been playing a trick on him, maybe through some weird technique by Lord Inigo.
"Damn vile bastard! I'll kill you here and now!" Leader swore, his eyes hardening.
Despite that, he couldn't shake the feeling that this scene seemed oddly familiar…
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
'Well, that's a new one.' Dorian forced himself to not grin as he watched everything unfold, maintaining his powerful and austere air.
"Wooo! Lord Inigo!"
"Did you see that?! He just deflected the attack like it was nothing!!"
"With his bare hands! His bare hands!!"
Cheers and shouts sounded off from the Shades on Dorian's side, while all the other Shades looked on in surprise, jaws dropped and eyes opened wide.
"Hehe, of course! He is the Holy Highlord that will wipe out the Demonic Ruins, on a grand mission to save his dearly beloved!" Fabian's voice boomed as he spoke loudly.
He then turned to Ayra and Horbold, the other two of the three Captains of the Moria Liberation Force, and said in a whisper,
"I never doubted him for a moment, understand!" He glared at the two of them as if daring them to say otherwise.
Unfortunately, Fabian's whisper was the equivalent of a loud shout. Dorian rolled his eyes as he heard this, focusing back on the now emerging Warrior-Alchemist.
"You!! You bastard! How did you do this?!" Bayran was covered in sticky baked products, his reedy frame practically a sweet shop in its own right. The colorful jams and bread that decorated his body made him look rather ridiculous.
"How?!" He yelled, absolutely infuriated.
As Bayran blew apart a large collection of baked goods, including a rather sizable contingent of freshly baked pies, a quiet, annoyed huff could just barely be heard, as if an observer saw this and was displeased.
Dorian couldn't blame him for being angry. After all, his powers weren't exactly fair, not that that had ever bothered him.
It had cost him roughly 4,000 points of energy to redirect the powerful Alchemist's movements ever so slightly, causing a chain reaction that sent him flying in the air. By framing his command and order in just the right way, he was able to minimize cost while maximizing the result, something he'd gained from his personal experience manipulating Fate.
If nothing else, Dorian could be considered the most skilled Anomaly when it came to manipulating Fate.
"I do not want to seriously injure you. You and I, we are one and the same, Bayran. We both are here to wipe out the remnants of Demons on Moria." Dorian's voice contained a certain level of wisdom, his Valorous Aura giving his words a powerful impact.
"I-I-I…" Bayran stuttered, glaring at Dorian in an uncomprehending rage.
"Absolutely not! That was nothing but a fluke!" Bayran's body vanished once more as he charged at Dorian, flinging through the air. Bits of jam and bread slipped off his body as he charged, flung off him due to the wind pressure his movements caused.
'Fate, help me out again!'
BOOM
Dorian just barely managed to sidestep Bayran's charge as the powerful Warrior-Alchemist flew past him, his cauldron tearing a ten meter long gouge in the paved stone road, throwing up shards of rock and dust.
'Who is going to fix that? Do you have any idea how much it costs to pave a road?!' Dorian glared at the Alchemist, his opinion of the man dropping.
'I mean, I don't know either, but I know it's not cheap! How dare you waste taxpayer funding!' He couldn't help but feel indignant. Magical and mighty people all too often seemed to forget the woes of the common folk.
'Come on, Fate, I need to stop him without killing him, I can't risk offending the big powers in this city! Bend to my will!' Dorian's soul seemed to writhe with energy as he stared at the Alchemist, mentally enforcing his will on reality.
The only other options Dorian could think of were far too risky to use with so many people watching. While his own subordinates might trust him blindly, any powerful observers here likely would be suspicious if he used too many of his standout Abilities.
He considered trying to absorb the cauldron since it was an Artifact, but tossed that thought aside as well. He'd need to place his hands on it and take a second to absorb it. For that to happen, though, he'd need to stop it and hold on, something that seemed impossible to do without causing severe injury right now.
That, and he wasn't sure if absorbing it here with so many potentially powerful experts watching would give anything away. It was yet another risk he wasn't willing to take, not with Helena so vulnerable. All of these chains weighing his actions down frustrated him enormously.
'Do as I command, Fate!'
WHOOOOSH
Energy fled from his soul in a wave.
In a single second, he spent more than 5,000 points of Energy.
At the same time, Dorian felt more than saw something. A string of knowledge, of information, appeared in his mind.
Information about Fate itself. This information was vague and restricted to an unclear feeling on what he should do. But it was enough to help point him in the right direction.
Dorian leapt backwards, positioning himself in a specific area between the distant World Bridge and the Warrior-Alchemist. His eyes flashed as he clapped his hands together hard, causing a large gust of wind to spread out.
This strange action caused the pursuing warrior to pause staring at Dorian in confusion.
"Bayran! This is your last warning! If you truly make me act, I cannot promise that you will survive! I do not want to harm you!" Dorian's voice shook the air as he spoke, full of potent power. It was filled with such confidence that his threat sounded like a certainty, causing some of the weaker-willed Shade onlookers to faint.
The soldiers in his makeshift army all shivered, looking at Dorian with worship in their eyes. The various onlookers all stared as well, curiosity and interest filling their hearts. Everyone wanted to see Lord Inigo's true power.
"Hmph! You are nothing more than a sham! Do you honestly think you can harm me?!" Bayran whipped his cauldron in front of him protectively as he spoke. Despite his apparent disdain for Dorian, the rumors of Lord Inigo's deadly prowess, as well as the weird technique that made him trip, had made the Warrior-Alchemist uneasy.
"You are forcing my hand." Dorian shook his head sadly, his voice full of genuine regret.
At the same time, his hand drifted till it rested upon the hilt of his sheathed sword.
A sudden hush stole over the street as everyone stared, watching Dorian's actions intensely. Not a single soul present would dare take their eyes from what they were about to see, hidden experts galore waiting with bated breath.
"Hahaha, you think your little blade can break my Heaven Slaying Cauldron?! This was an Artifact forged with the help of the Wise Lady herself, one of the Five Great Heroes! Nothing in the 30,000 Worlds can shatter it!" Bayran twisted the cauldron in front of himself, still holding it out protectively.
"I can tell the blade you have in that sheath is nothing special! A low-level Artifact, probably crafted by an apprentice! I could buy a thousand of them casually!" As Bayran continued to speak, he thumped his chest proudly, the powerful Aura around him rippling. His entire body hunched forward as he prepared to defend himself, extremely focused on Dorian.
"Do not measure a warrior by his blade, but rather, by his skill. The lightest branch can shatter even the greatest mountain in the right hands." Dorian's words sounded as if they were full of mysterious wisdom and not something he made up to sound cool.
Bayran's heart shivered with anticipation as he heard this.
'Is he truly a super genius..? Did I misjudge him?' He even began to doubt himself as he hid behind his cauldron, his powerful Aura unrelenting.
"GRRR!" Despite his worries, Bayran bravely rushed forward, his Heaven Slaying Cauldron covering almost his entire body as he blasted towards Dorian. If nothing else, he was not a coward.
Dorian simply sighed, shaking his head.
"So be it."
He closed his eyes and drew upon his soul, commanding Fate to twist.
'What is it I need to do, Fate? Quickly, tell me!' He could tell that his actions had changed Fate somehow, in an imperceptible way. Only, he wasn't exactly sure what he needed to do next.
WHOOSH
Energy fled from his soul once more. This time, a huge, massive amount of energy.
50,000 points in a single moment.
As this energy swept by, inspiration suddenly struck Dorian, his eyes opening wide.
He crossed gazes with the charging King Class expert.
And then, without hesitation, activated the Thundering Wings: Flush Gale movement technique to take an excessively fast, but also very short, single step backwards.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
"Gotcha." Leader's eyes flashed as he saw the Shade known as Lord Inigo stand still to talk.
SHWICK
He released the arrow from his bow.
"Breaker Empyrean Shot."
WHOOOOOOOSH
An arrow made of condensed energy and light flashed forward with enough destructive power to level a mountain, piercing through the air itself. This arrow, unlike Leader's normal Empyrean Shot, was sharply pointed with an arrowhead that twisted like a drill.
Instead of creating a massive, thousand meter wide explosion, this arrow would pierce forward, melting through the air and anything in between. A pointed, direct strike, the result of his own research and practice. A technique he created himself.
This bolt of energy moved forward so quickly its speed was difficult to fathom.
On Earth, a normal arrow shot from a good bow would typically fly through the air at speed between 100 and 200 meters per second.
A bullet fired from a gun would typically shoot forward at anywhere from 500 to 800 meters per second.
Leader's Breaker Empyrean Shot moved forward at speed of roughly 3300 meters per second from his new bow, around 10% faster than his regular Empyrean Shot. That meant it was moving forward at speeds 4 to 6 times faster than a speeding bullet.
It moved so incredibly quick that it was almost physically impossible to dodge, even for extremely powerful figures. Leader was a powerful King Class warrior who had put everything he had into this attack.
The fact that Yukeli had managed to redirect one of Leader's original Empyrean Shots despite possessing a vastly weaker body didn't mean it was an easy attack to block.
Rather, that was a testament to the freakish skill and talent that Yukeli possessed when it came to martial techniques. He was absolutely unmatched.
Indeed, this attack moved so fast that even the secretly spying Excelsior Gamin, a Pseudo-Angelic expert who was hiding in the shadows and watching the ongoing battle, was unable to detect the attack until after it had been fired and already landed. Unlike Leader's normal Empyrean Shot, his Breaker Empyrean Shot was incredibly self-contained.
In a single split moment, his attack covered the distance from the World Bridge he was standing on all the way to the depths of Cracktyl City.
As he released the arrow, his entire body was blown down into the World Bridge, forming a small crater. The backlash from the explosive technique was enormous, causing the earth to crack and twist for hundreds of meters. Dirt and debris were thrown into the air, crowding Leader's vision.
But not before he saw his energy arrow pierce all the way through the air…
And miss.
"Huh?! What?!" Leader couldn't believe his eyes.
In the exact moment that he had committed to releasing his attack, firing it off…
His Shade target had taken a step back for some odd reason. But the step was not a normal step. If it had been, his attack still would've landed fine.
Instead, it seemed as if Lord Inigo had used some high level movement technique to move almost instantly.
But only to move a single step backwards.
"Who does that?!" Leader's eyes fluttered as the full backlash from using the overwhelmingly powerful attack hit his body, almost causing him to faint.
If the Shade had taken a large leap backwards or made any big movement at all, Leader would've been able to react and readjust at the last second. But because he only took a tiny, minute step, Leader had been caught off guard and missed.
Leader forced himself to stay conscious and began running up the World Bridge to escape, cursing in his heart at Lord Inigo's ridiculous luck.
'Did he somehow detect my attack?! Even a Pseudo-Angelic Class being should've been taken by surprise! Whaat kind of monster is he?!' Leader's thoughts were in shambles as he fled, a newfound seed of fear planted in his heart.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
WHOOOOOOSH
Leader's Breaker Empyrean Shot melted through the air and pierced exactly where Dorian's heart had been, just a moment ago, before he stepped backwards.
A microsecond later, it continued to pierce forward.
Right into the waiting Heaven Slayer Cauldron of a certain charging Shade.
THUNK
The energy arrow hit the cauldron.
Bright lights flashed as the powerful Artifact interacted with the Demonic energy present in Leader's arrow. This artifact truly was a legendary one built by one of the greatest geniuses in the 30,000 Worlds. Despite the colossal force in the arrow, it was unable to pierce through the bottom of the cauldron.
Of course, that didn't mean the gargantuan amount of force behind the arrow disappeared. The impact was redirected and reduced slightly, but impossible to neutralize.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" A panicked yell burst out from the lips of the accomplished and well-respected Warrior-Alchemist Bayran as he was knocked backwards and then flung up into the air.
"Oh dear."
Dorian watched as the famous Shade turned into a tiny speck in the sky and then vanish, flung so far away that he couldn't even see his figure.
A stunned silence filled the street as every single person on it looked at Dorian in sheer shock and awe.
"I couldn't even see him move his arm, let alone his blade!"
.