Chapter Nine - The World Unveils
At that moment.. the ecstasy of victory was snatched from us..
The resilience of the loser nullifies the joy of the winner.. It might sound like a well-known cliché..
But, for some reason..
I felt it completely.. that damn person who refuses to grant us a moment of triumph.. he made my joy filled with regret and fear..
I didn't know then.. was his resilience a mere facade framed by pride and refusal to surrender? Or was it the reality of a hidden power?
I didn't know..
And why didn't I know?..
Because at that moment.. the Armored Knight stood with pride.. he raised The Banner Reaper.. and a double amount of energy gathered around him compared to before.. a dark energy even blacker than what preceded it..
And in an instant..
An overwhelming anxiety cast a shadow over everyone's hearts..
Even Jo, driven by his evolution.. became calmer..
In a glimpse of time..
And from behind the Armored Knight..
The void split open..
A violet vortex of small magical particles, spinning like a wheel.. with extreme speed.. it kept growing until it reached a diameter of 10 meters..
A fierce wind rushed from its depth..
And sneaking along with that wind..
Two delicate hands..
Their fingers..
Dancing with the air and manipulating bright violet magical threads..
No sooner had the sword The Banner Reaper almost finished gathering its energy.. than the Knight stopped it.. and lowered it to the ground..
The Knight's expressions were like someone who had surrendered to an inevitable fate.. and in an instant, the magical threads surrounded and encircled him..
Then.. they pulled him violently like a weightless piece of wood..
And he was swallowed whole into the center of the vortex..
"We shall meet again.. and I will shatter your axe."
The Armored Knight's words flew from the middle of the vortex..
Before it closed and vanished sequentially..
The usual calm returned to the space.. a calm I had long detested.. was now what I was most happy about..
Jo turned toward me asking:
"Are you alright, My Lord?"
Suman followed with the same words..
My lips parted into a smile..
Well.. I didn't actually want to leave Monali's embrace, haha, but.. my image before Jo and Suman is important.. I stood up quickly, moving away from Monali's embrace.. and answered with pride that everything was fine.. everything is fine as long as you all are fine..
From her side.. Monali smiled slightly for a moment.. then her rigid expressions returned..
Two hours had passed.. of course, I needed to shake the dust off me with a hot bath.. and then change my clothes.. yes, the shop contained two other outfits.. each at a price of a thousand dinars.. I bought them quickly..
What about Monali, Jo, and Suman? Well, I had already bought them a house and a bathroom.. the two of them went to bathe by my order in preparation for a meeting between us to understand what happened..
Monali, on the other hand.. yes, I bought her a private house just for her.. with a bathroom similar to what I have..
Upon buying the house.. she truly reminded me that she is a woman.. the matter doesn't concern her physical attributes.. no, I don't mean that.. damn you all..
What I mean is her temperament.. in the case of Jo and Suman, buying a ready-made house was what they desired.. and in less than ten minutes, it was a complete house for them.. but as for her..
Well.. she simply said:
"It won't be my home if I don't choose its items with my own hands."
Her voice was like South Pole ice.. and although I should be her lord.. yet, for the sake of restoring our relationship, I allowed her to choose all that...
Dammiiiiiiit.. I won't do that again.. even if the relationship scatters.. women and choosing things are two matters that can never come together.. what a headache..
Well.. we are now standing before 3 houses.. I stand in the middle before my house.. on my right is Monali's house, and on the left is Jo and Suman's house...
In order to calm the atmosphere.. I decided we should do something fun..
We agreed to choose the best house while the food was cooking..
Whoever you think has the most beautiful and organized house, you stand in front of it..
Well..
The bastards left me alone.. and stood in front of Monali's house.. where is the loyalty to the leader?
"Damn you.. let her be the one to feed you!"
"Don't be sad, Leader.. women cannot be competed with in organization.. accept it with an open heart, haha."
Jo's words were accompanied by a sense of humor.. followed by Suman's laughter and Monali's smile..
And for the first time..
I felt that they were.. real..
Perhaps now.. it has become harder.. treating people as they are.. makes things quite difficult.. I must now protect them.. arrange the situation for them.. make everything go as it should..
Well.. the meeting began.. and in truth, I wasn't very sad.. although the Armored Knight's strength was greater.. our resilience against him and pushing him back was an established fact..
Now we must develop our strength bit by bit.. perhaps I'll request special training.. or wait for some weapon to appear in the shop..
To begin with.. I could only pray that Monali would speak about what she knows..
"Monali.. was that warrior truly your brother?"
-"Yes, My Lord."
-"Let me ask you something.. your brother seemed to know you were here.."
For a moment.. I thought she wouldn't answer.. but she surprised me and did..
"We are the Moon Siblings.. we are five.. linked by blood, and also by the Moon Covenant.. others can be tracked as soon as you know the location of one."
-"The Moon Siblings then.. why did your brother try to attack me? I don't think there are problems of any kind between us?"
-"In fact.. there is a problem."
-"Really? What is it?"
She hesitated for a bit.. then answered:
"My Lord.. the title 'The Man Known by the Shadows'.. do you know what it is?"
-"No." It was time to truly learn what that title was..
"The outside world.. has titles.. every title has a rank.. and every rank has titles.."
-"What do you mean by this?"
I had to ask.. honestly, I didn't understand.. how every title has a rank and every rank has titles... yes, I appeared ignorant before her.. but the path to knowledge requires that..
"My Lord.. for every rank, there are titles.. this means that lords have ranks that increase or decrease sequentially.. in every rank, they possess a private title that cannot be granted to others.. as for the rank, it has titles.. when you enter a certain rank, you possess a title specific only to you.. and you can also strive to obtain a certain title.. that title is granted from the heavens to everyone, and everyone can obtain it..
The difference between the two is that the rank title is one, and every lord is given a title.. the vast world has millions of titles.. and lords are far fewer in number.. which always allows for the availability of titles granted only once.. they cannot be granted again.. unlike the rank titles."
-"Ummm.. okay, I partially understand.. but what is the difference in power between a private title and a public one?"
-"There is no difference.. the power of the private title itself lies in its rarity.. in the end, it will only be available to one lord."
-"So my title.. what about it?"
-"My Lord.. your title: 'The Man Known by the Shadows'.. Shadows is a title given to the people of the Forgotten Moon.. all the contracts you forge with followers.. the priority will be exclusively for the people of the Forgotten Moon."
Ohhhh.. I finally understand..
Well, it's not a total surprise.. I had reached that fact long ago.. but there's no harm in confirming it..
But I have questions..
"So.. Monali.. why is my title related to this matter?"
-"My Lord.. the title belongs to the one who holds it, and to the one who defeats its owner."
-"That's dangerous.. but are titles visible to others? How did your brother or his master know my title?"
-"No, that is not possible, My Lord.. that's why lords.. don't let anyone truly know their titles.. except for those whose title features appear publicly."
-"Does my title show its features? How so?"
-"No, My Lord.. but"
-"What?"
-"There are certain titles.. random.. not linked to rank.. but linked to the arrangements of the world itself.. even the lords don't know those arrangements.. when one of those titles is granted.. the news reaches all the lords."
-"So that's how they knew."
-"Not exactly.. the notification that arrives doesn't grant any information, except for one message only.. its content is that the named title has been granted.. the reason that made my brother's lord know that you are the one granted the title.. is because of me."
-"I see... so when I was granted the title.. my first summon was you.. and when you accepted.. your brother's lord became aware of my location because of your link to that contract you mentioned."
-"Yes, My Lord."
This is truly terrifying.. another attack from that lord will be painful.. now, after one of his followers' attacks failed.. he might send someone stronger, or an entire battalion.. the situation will be very bad..
"So we must prepare.. after your brother's attack failed.. perhaps his lord will send someone stronger than him or several people.. it won't be good then.. how do we strengthen ourselves? Any ideas?"
-"My Lord.."
-"Yes, Monali."
-"No one other than my brother can visit us here.. the place here.. possesses a strange energy.. stranger than any energy I've witnessed before.. my brother's link to me is what created a gap to cross.. as for anyone else, it is impossible.. I dare say it is impossible even for the lords themselves."
-"So this is good news for us.. your brother.. he is undoubtedly strong.. but we've seen his strength.. we increase together bit by bit, so dealing with him becomes easy, right?"
-"My Lord.."
-"What?"
"My brother... was not at 10% of his strength.. perhaps because you hadn't met him before.. it wasn't clear to your eyes that.. he was without attributes."
Yes... this is what I need.. for the opponent who gave us hell.. to be at a tenth of his strength and without attributes..
I thought there was something positive..
But now.. I have to wake up every day in terror of that bastard appearing to kill me.
[ Ding... Ding... Ding ]
{ Message from an Unknown Source }
{ Oh new Lord.. glad you repelled the small attack from my reckless follower.. what do you think... let's forget the grudges.. and trade. }