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Coldera
"Seek even greater power!"
Shun's mind had completely gotten rid of any extra thoughts. He completely
succumbed to the voice. He marched away from the burnt village. Taking food he never got to eat. Clothes he had never dressed in. He marched. To what? Not even Shun knew, however, whatever was out there was calling to him and yet he continued to march.
Snow fell heavily upon the ground, thickly layering the earth beneath. Blizzards were usual in Coldera. But to march through it was extreme! His face became numb quickly. His eyes looked forward with extreme focus and such intent even though it was nothing but snow as far as the eye could see, but even so, he marched.
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Sedah's Cave
"A person to the north might be forming a contract. It's quite impressive, I haven't heard of anyone being contracted at such a young age." Kagekawa looked up while grasping his chin.
"A contract is the signing of a great power. Typically, a celestial emissary is sent down from a god to carry out this task. This rarely happens unless there's a really special human that catches their attention. Now, the benefit is that both the god and the person get a power-up. This is dependent on the synergy between the two. The stronger synergy they have, the stronger they both become. Now, this 'synergy' is a kind of obscure concept and unfortunately, I cannot explain it in much detail. Ah! Furthermore, a god or goddess can only ever contract to one person and this is permanent. You got that Arthur?" Sedah explained as best he could to Arthur.
Arthur nodded, quickly grasping the concept.
"Now, you dammed swordsman. Why did you come to me? Surely it's not just to talk about some low-level contract, right?" Sedah questioned. His voice made it quite clear he was irritated by Kagekawa's presence.
"You already knew, didn't you?" Kagekawa postured himself so he was ready to fight at any time.
"Of course I did." Sedah let out a huge sigh.
"Wait, did you just say 'Low-level'?!" Kagekawa looked surprised.
"Aren't you feeling too confident?" Kagekawa formed a smirk on his face while raising an eyebrow and then continued to speak. "Regardless this contract that's being formed is not from a god or goddess. It's definitely caused by a great and powerful demon. I'm sure of it! The animosity and hatred I felt can only be a great demon. However! I have no idea whose presence I felt, so I came to you, the only other demon I know, for answers, so answer this question: who is he forming a contract with Sedah?!"
"A demon? I'm the only one left. Sorry, but I can't help you. Regardless, I couldn't say who this god or demon is until I sense his magical presence, and right now, I'm too far away. Now I have a question for you, O' great swordsman, how did you sense his presence? We're in Vastos right now, and Coldera is very far, far away, so how?"
"I was on the border of Vastos and Coldera and I sensed it, quickly trying to find the only other demon I know."
"Ohh ~ are you saying this demon could've covered an entire country in his presence? And then you ran like a chicken! Hah! You better not be joking or else I'll kill you where you stand." Sedah replied with a serious tone in his voice, glaring at the swordsman.
"Watch what you say, you false hero," Kagekawa replied with a serious tone, his hand now placed on the hilt of his sword.
Sedah clicked his tongue at Kagekawa. "I forbid you or anyone else from killing this northern boy. I want to see what he does and how he grows! And if you decide to do otherwise, I'll kill you. Simple, right?" Sedah replied with a cold and detached tone.
Arthur had never heard such an icy tone come from him before. Sedah's goal remains unchanged, wishing to die in battle, therefore, he must find or nurture someone stronger.
"You can try Sedah. Regardless, I'm not going to kill him. Especially not now; murdering a child just doesn't seem to sit well with me. I guess no matter how much time passes, your goal will remain unchanged, you still wish to die in battle and you hope this boy to the north can develop into someone that can kill you, am I right in assuming that?"
"Close, but not quite! I'm going to make Arthur into a great fighter and make him battle against the northern kid." Sedah replied with a smirk on his face.
The swordsman turned to Arthur, "Kid, you know what this means, right? Eventually, you'll have to battle and cross swords with Sedah and may even slay him. That is if you even win against the northern boy. So tell me kid, can you kill him?" Kagekawa straightforwardly asked the young Arthur.
Arthur felt conflicted; as he grew up, he trained under Sedah, even though Sedah constantly reminded Arthur to kill him one day in battle, Arthur had not gained a murderous intent to slay him. To Arthur, Sedah had grown into somewhat of a father figure even though neither had realised it at the time. Sedah's goal weighed heavily on Arthur's mind.
To tell this to a boy to kill the very man, who had raised him, would leave any child disturbed, and Arthur was not an exception to this idea and with an unsettled expression, he replied, "I can't..."