A large shadow fell over Roland as Marcus walked towards him and knelt down next to him. He showed concern, instead of keeping his usual stiff expression. He placed his hands on Roland’s wrist to check his pulse and looked back at Roland’s sword hung in the guard’s neck.
"You didn’t let go of the sword till last," Marcus smiled, his voice carrying an edge of pride. "Good."
Before he could say more, a soft green light flashed beside him as Elara hurried out from the back and knelt on the other side of Roland. She pressed her glowing palms against his chest, sending a cooling stream of essence inside to stabilize his broken bones.
"He is completely out, Marcus," Elara said quickly, checking his breath.
"His core is entirely empty and one of his rib has a clean fracture. The burns on his hands are superficial. But it is nothing life threatening, he will be healed shortly."
"He did well," Marcus responded, letting out a long breath. "Elara, Can you please stabilize him? I don’t have an elixir on me right now."
"No need to ask, Marcus. I was going to heal him myself," Elara said as she pulled a small flask from her spatial pouch pouring the thick fluid down Roland’s throat. "And I always carry some elixirs on me."
After pouring the elixir into Roland’s mouth, she directed the elixir inside through her essence and began to stabilize him.
"Are you completely out of your mind, Marcus?!" Sofia shouted as she rushed over. She glared at her brother, wanting to beat him.
"He could have died out there! Vessel against Manifestation is nearly a suicide battle and you just stood back and watched his bones break. He is your own son, not some soldier on the front line!"
"He didn’t die, Sofia. A future lord of Hayes cannot be sheltered from the battle," Marcus replied as he stood up, clearly aware where his sister was coming from. "I will be not there every time to protect and shelter him. This battle was necessary to force his breakthrough."
Sofia knew what Marcus meant but she didn’t like the approach he had taken. But before she could argue further, Prince Asher stepped closer to Sofia as he rested his hand on her shoulders, calming her down.
"Marcus didn’t neglect him, Sofia. He just made sure he gained enough," he said softly, gradually directing his gaze towards Marcus.
"Marcus, you have trained my nephew well. Even if you helped him slightly but to force a nascent manifestation royal guard to such limits at his age ... his talent is terrifying," Asher whispered as his voice cracked slightly with a mix of awe and apprehension.
"But be aware Marcus, nurturing talents is hard."
Kellan and Dorren also stepped out from the shadows near the barrier’s edge. Their eyes lingering on the traces of essence in the air.
Kellan let out a slight chuckle. "The Prince is right about his talent. The fact that the boy endured that much raw thermal pressure from a higher realm is highly commendable. Most kids his age would have had their vessel shattered."
Dorren stood by Kellan side, crossing his arms. He also nodded in grave agreement. "A true warrior’s heart. He didn’t even blink when the sword was coming down to him."
Marcus turned away from his sister, his gaze locking onto the prince. "The dead don’t carry tales, Asher. His talent belongs here, and they still have me till they grow up."
Asher smiled, understanding the warning in Marcus tone.
With a silent gesture from Marcus, the focus of the group shifted towards left flank, where the battle between Thomas and a senior guard, both being at the harmonized stage of manifestation stage.
The battle there was nearing it’s end.
Thomas was a master of shadow while the guard was a master of wind manifestation, a high speed battle between two entirely different yet similar combat styles.
The trunks lay flat on the ground, some stripped of it’s bark. The ground between the two men was almost a wasteland as the air around them still shook from the last clash.
Thomas’s coat hung loose as blood ran from his temple into his collar. He gripped his both daggers, their edges painted with red.
In front of him, the guard was worse. His armor was split along his ribs as it’s runes were fading out. His left arm was dislocated from the earlier clash as it bent backwards.
He raised his blade, gripping in a single hand as his stance slightly shifted to right. He was panting heavily, trying to maintain his focus.
He pulled in one long breath and utilized his essence. The heavy wind came back to life, gathering the wind around him. He didn’t waste energy as he lunged forward, his blade pointing towards Thomas’s neck.
Thomas did not pull back. He dropped low, shifting into the shadows. The guard’s sword hit nothing but the air as the wave tore through the area where Marcus stood a second ago.
Before the officer could adjust his balance, Thomas emerged directly beside the guard, aiming the daggers at his back.
The officer reacted instantly using his essence to trigger a pressure burst from his runic armor but he was a second late.
Thomas had already plunged a concentrated spike of dark shadow essence straight toward the guard’s back and tried to back up immediately.
But, as soon as the attack landed, the armor’s array completed charging as it sent out a brutal shock wave of wind essence at a point blank range.
BOOM..
The blast detonated between them, tearing up the ground.
Because Thomas was a tad bit slow to pull back completely, he tried to defend by concentrating most of his essence towards the strike zone.
The blast caught his left shoulder completely, but only grazed him a little as the wall of essence took most of the attack. But the force of the attack still sent him skidding back a hundred meters.
In front of him, the guard was in worse state. The shadow spike had pierced clean through his armor as black essence was leaking heavily from his lower back.
The runes were fading on his armor like dying embers. He was barely holding his sword up as his body was slowly giving up.
Thomas didn’t give him the chance to stabilize his breath. He became a silent streak of darkness racing forward as he closed the distance before the guard could even lift his blade.