The Undying Lich, Part I, page 16
He still did not stop. I began gathering water element and molded it so that it was chain-like. Like a live snake, the Chains of Water latched onto the man’s body… But he was not one to be messed with. He never had been.
He made a quick turn and slipped out of the Chains of Water while swiftly executing several chops with his sword. He even cut the flow of water, the Chains of Water breaking into several links. They fell to the floor and reverted to ordinary puddles.
Although the Chains of Water had been cut apart, I had gained a small but sufficient amount of time to dash to his side. I looked at him as I gathered the Chains of Water once more, letting the chains spread densely around the space next to him. Even if doing so could very well spell my doom, I was afraid he might run away again.
“You dare tell me to halt?” But he was no longer trying to escape. As he stood in place, he lazily said, “You’re certainly growing more and more audacious!”
I was rendered speechless. Normally, even deferentially asking him not to move was an impossible task, let alone telling him to halt. Since always, he has been the one who tells others to halt. No one has ever dared to tell him to halt.
Who would dare tell Neo Sun, the strongest Sun Knight in history, to halt?
“Teacher…”
He was indeed my teacher, Neo Sun, the strongest Sun Knight in history. Even though he wore a cloak, he could not block my sensing ability. There was no way I wouldn’t recognize my own teacher.
Be it his appearance, that free and easy posture of his, or that huge amount of pride he held such that he was practically egotistical, everything about him announced that he was my teacher, except for one thing… Teacher was right-handed, but the man before me was currently using his left hand to hold his sword.
“Teacher, your right hand…” I felt almost like I was having difficulty breathing. I struggled hard before I could finally squeeze out a sound.
“Why aren’t you using your right hand?”
He didn’t answer me. I rushed forward and in one fell swoop, I tore off the cloak that he was wearing. Teacher’s right sleeve is empty… There isn’t an arm there in the first place!
Teacher remained calm and composed but somewhat sternly said, “Child, calm down. Although we are in an alley, it’s not as if nobody will pass by. Do you want to let others see the Sun Knight in such a sorry state?”
“Calm down? You’re telling me to calm down?” I could not bring myself to believe it and moaned, “Teacher, you’ve lost an arm! And it-it’s your dominant hand that you’ve lost!”
A swordsman losing his dominant hand… How is this a situation where I can calm down?
Teacher arrogantly proclaimed, “Even if I lost both of my hands, I would still be the strongest Sun Knight in history!”
“When did you lose your arm?” I was a bit at a loss. I frantically said, “Did you pick it up? Perhaps we can still reattach it…”
Teacher’s cheeks puffed in laughter. He said, “It’s been quite a few months already. There’s no way it can be reattached.”
Quite a few months?
“I see.” I calmly nodded my head, trying to maintain my composure as I spoke. “So, at the time when you and Aldrizzt left me in the forest, it was to look for someone to reattach your arm?”
Teacher casually replied, “My entire arm was blasted into pieces. How can it be reattached? I just didn’t want you to find out that I lost an arm…”
Suddenly, he stopped talking and stared directly at me.
It really was severed then! When I exhausted my holy light from purifying the dark element in the cave and fainted, Teacher’s arm was severed… No wonder they abandoned me in the middle of the forest and didn’t wait until I woke up before leaving.
“Who…”
“What?” Teacher stared blankly.
I was so outraged that I started shouting. “Who was the one who did this? Who had the guts to cut off your arm!”
Yet Teacher fell silent and did not respond.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” My suspicions rose further. Judgment has things he won’t tell me about. Silent Eagle also has things he won’t tell me about. Even Aldrizzt is lying to me! He plainly said that Teacher didn’t come to Leaf Bud City, but Teacher’s here right now, and to top it off, he was hiding from me.
Is there something going on that everyone’s hiding from me…? But why would they all need to hide it?
“Calm down! Your teacher lost an arm. It’s not as if it’s something I can show off to my student, is it?”
Teacher patted me on the shoulder, but I still did not really believe his words. Even if it’s not something worth showing off, there still isn’t any need for Teacher to hide it. After all, it’s not as if he can hide it from me his entire life, unless he chooses never to see me again.
“Who cut off your arm?” I pressed on, determined to find the answer.
Teacher looked a bit uncomfortable as he said, “It-It was… a little girl.”
I was surprised for a moment. I questioned, “It wasn’t Pink, was it?” Teacher was acquainted with Pink. If it was Pink, he wouldn’t say “a little girl.”
Indeed, Teacher shook his head. I hesitated for a moment but still asked, “Was it Scarlet?”
He looked at me for a long while before he finally admitted it in an unperturbed manner, “Yes, it was her.”
“I did not know that you also knew Scarlet.” I started feeling more and more uncertain. Perhaps Scarlet and all the things that she is involved in are even far more complicated than what I imagined.
Teacher shrugged as he said, “Ten years ago, I killed her… Or should I say, I killed the corpse she was using at the time.”
“Ten years ago?” I was utterly shocked. So Scarlet already came into the picture that long ago?
Teacher said rather impatiently, “This is just unfinished business between me and her. There is no need for you to exact vengeance on her for me. I cut down her body, she cut off my arm. Sometime in the future, I’ll get my revenge, so this has nothing to do with you.”
Unfinished business? So to put it another way, Scarlet took advantage of the time when Teacher had just finished assisting me in purifying the dark element, when his powers were weakened, to take her revenge? Maybe the time when I lost my memory was also part of her revenge. After all, I am Teacher’s student. The debt accrued by a teacher shall be paid by his students. It would not be strange if she had wanted to direct her revenge at me.
“No, it does have something to do with me now.” I spoke coldly, “Scarlet killed Judgment Knight!”
Teacher was shocked. He hurriedly asked, “She killed Judgment? That child, Lesus, is dead?”
Seeing how frantic Teacher had become, I hurriedly explained, “I revived him. He’s alive and well right now. But he has, without a doubt, been killed once before.”
“Were there any side effects?” He asked with his brows creased.
“Nope.” I shook my head.
Teacher paused for a moment and then asked, “Then what price have you paid for this once again? Aldrizzt told me that you went blind after resurrecting Leaf Knight.”
I momentarily dispelled the element surrounding my hair before covering it again with a new layer and said, “My hair turned white.”
I don’t know whether I was mistaken, but it sort of felt as if Teacher had relaxed a bit. He nodded as he said, “I guess that’s nothing much. And you can stop worrying over this issue. I’ll take revenge for that child, Lesus, together with my own.”
I fell silent for a moment and then spoke, “If that’s the case, you should return to the inn for the time being! Pink’s there too. Perhaps you guys can chat about old times. Come with Aldrizzt to the Holy Temple tonight, and we can have a couple of drinks together, alright? Teacher, it’s been some time since you have tasted the apple wine I brew.”
Once wine was in the picture, Teacher’s face practically lit up. In high spirits, he said, “Okay, then. We’ll come find you tonight to drink together.”
“See you tonight.” I nodded and saluted my leave to Teacher like old times. After which, I turned to leave. Once I was out of the alley, I yelled, “Cloud, Earth, we’re leaving!”
Cloud had been following me all along ever since I ran out of the inn. Earth followed too when I was cutting across the tavern. When they saw my teacher, they sensibly stood at the mouth of the alley to let the two of us have some time alone to talk.
Teacher suddenly shouted to stop me, “Child, where are you going off to now?”
Slightly reluctant, I turned back to reply, “To patrol. There is an excessive number of undead creatures within the city, so much so that even His Majesty, the king, has become alarmed. It will be a problem if this isn’t resolved quickly.”
Only when I heard Teacher respond “ah” did I actually start to leave.
After we had walked over ten steps away from the alley, Earth lazily said, “Patrol? Since when have you been this diligent? I never knew.”
“Of course I’m incredibly diligent. No matter what, I must find that murderer!” I instructed, “Protect me now. I’m going to use my sensing ability.”
Cloud promptly nodded his head, and Earth only nodded after he muttered beneath his breath, “I knew there was no way you’d be so diligent about patrolling.” Once again, I extended my sensing ability. Since I’d executed sensing on a large scale many times before, I had long perfected the skill. I can even walk while doing this with no problems at all!
“Found her.” I smiled faintly as I spat out the name of the person whom I’d only be content with after her death, “Scarlet!”
“Pole…”
What?
Bang!
“There was a pole in front of you.” Earth sighed, “Well, I couldn’t warn you in time. It’s your own fault you went and ran into it so quickly… People are coming!”
I immediately transformed from my squatting form agonizing over the bump on my head into a good-looking, perfectly postured holy knight, and even wore a smile like a breath of fresh air on my face. Earth changed to an honest and sincere expression, and also looked slightly silly. As for Cloud… Cloud disappeared.
After the group of people passed by us, I swiftly searched for Scarlet again with my sensing ability. Shortly after, I bellowed, “I can’t believe she’s escaping!”
“Changing to a ferocious expression right after smiling… Are you putting on a face changing show?” Earth said, plainly not in a good mood. He then stated matter-of-factly, “If she is running away, then just chase after her!”
“She has already noticed that I was looking in on her, plus she has a unicorn. The chase would fail.” I wrinkled my brows as I said, “Crap. I fear she wants to flee the city.”
“A unicorn? Is it that Whitey you mentioned before?” Earth scratched his head and said, “Looks like we can only head back to the Holy Temple to gather people to encircle the area.”
“Encircle the area?” I clapped my hands together. “Right! We can try encircling the area! She’s about to get away. Let’s start surrounding her right now!”
“Right now?” Earth snappily said, “What good would three people do?”
Three people would indeed have no chance of surrounding the area, but what about twelve? I am able to see all the people within the city and even use psychic magic to attack them… Since even attacking is possible, perhaps I can “pass on messages”?
I might as well try it out, rather than just thinking about it. I immediately released my sensing ability and located all of the Twelve Holy Knights. Not only did I use my mouth to speak, I followed what Pink said to “think about it” as well.
“Twelve Holy Knights, hear my command!”
At this point, all of them stopped. In spite of whatever they had been doing previously, they were all staring wide-eyed now. A few of them were searching left and right, and some were even completely shocked stiff.
Judgment was the calmest of all of them. He was in the confinement room, even shaking his head, as if he felt there was nothing he could do about my actions.
“Do not be alarmed. I am Sun.”
Everyone nodded their heads, though many of them looked at a loss.
“Listen to me. Scarlet is about to escape from the city. I need all of you to immediately stop whatever work you were doing and suit up. Our final objective is to form a perimeter around the eastern city gate to make sure she cannot escape.”
“Ice and Moon, you two are nearest to the eastern gate. Head eastwards and lead your platoons to hold the eastern city gate. Do not let anyone resembling a little girl leave. As for everyone else, your positions are…”
While I was giving instructions, I was simultaneously using my sensing ability. I had a clear view of Scarlet riding Whitey and beginning to head towards the eastern city gate to make her escape. At the same time, the Twelve Holy Knights had also started to move. One by one, they called upon the platoon members within the vicinity, and then mounted their horses and rode to complete the tasks I set for them. They moved in the direction of the eastern city gate while slowly spreading into a semicircular formation.
When I had finished giving orders to the distant holy knights, I turned my head and said, “Cloud, you’re fast. Go look for the royal knights who are on patrol today. Tell them that the Holy Temple is capturing the culprit of the recent disorder in the city and requests that they help us maintain order by forbidding citizens from approaching the eastern city gate.”
“Okay.” Cloud nodded his head obediently and then vanished into thin air.
“Earth, on your way to the eastern city gate, you might as well help spread the message to the citizens to stay clear of the eastern city gate.”
After I finished my order, Earth immediately asked, “And you?”
“Me?” I was slightly confused as I replied, “Of course I’ll immediately rush towards the eastern city gate to lead the troops…”
Earth interrupted my speech right away, using an extremely suspicious tone as he said, “You’re sure that you’re not going to run off and do something stupid by yourself?”
I was taken aback for a moment and denied it, “Of course not.”
Nonetheless, Earth still did not believe me right away. He looked doubtfully at me from head to toe and said, “The others told me to look after you and to make sure that you don’t run off on your own. No matter what you say, they said to keep following you, even if it kills me.”
“What!? I’m not that untrustworthy, am I…” At this point, Earth immediately nodded. Geez, give me some credit! I could only change my previous remark and said, “Even if I was like that in the past, at the very least, I’m telling you guys the truth now!”
I was a little put off, but it was not as if I could protest very much. Why did I have to hide so many things from them in the past? Now, if I try to defend myself, I’m afraid they’ll just use a whole bunch of past examples to refute me.
“Extremely untrustworthy,” Earth stated without any hesitation.
Indignantly, I said, “Fine, why don’t you just follow me, and we’ll leave the task of warning the citizens to the royal knights.”
“But since you’ve spilled everything, I guess I’ll just trust you this one time.” Earth darted a look at me and reminded me, “But you better not be lying to me! If you’re lying to me, there won’t ever be a second time.”
I was utterly shocked and slightly unable to react to the situation. Why did he start off saying I’m untrustworthy only to say he’ll trust me later? But since Earth was still waiting for my response, I simply responded with an “oh.”
Earth promptly ran towards the main street and started shouting, “Emer-Emergency! Undead creatures have appeared at the eastern city gate. May everyone p-please not go over to w-watch? It’s very dangerous!”
I looked at Earth, still feeling somewhat taken aback. To think that this guy, who appears honest on the outside yet is extremely sinister on the inside, would actually follow my orders obediently too?
Suddenly, Earth turned back to look at me. Even though I was only using my sensing ability, I could still see the blazing expression in his eyes spelling the words “Get lost.”
And so, I smiled while taking my strides, “getting lost” toward the eastern city gate.
The Ninth Misdeed of an Undying Lich: “Giving Rise to Panic”
My pace was not particularly fast. After all, I was doing three things at once. I had to keep track of Scarlet’s location, prevent her from using her psychic magic as a counterattack, and command the Twelve Holy Knights, all at the same time. If I walk too fast, I’m afraid I might make the same mistake twice. Who knows what I’d walk into next time.
It seemed like Scarlet had discovered that the eastern gate had someone guarding it. However, I believed her sensing ability was probably not as good as mine. After finding the eastern gate guarded, she began running in the opposite direction, unaware that someone was also waiting where she was headed. Judging from her movements, it seemed like she had yet to notice that she was being surrounded.
“She’s riding a unicorn at the moment at high speed. Pay close attention to roofs and dark alleys. If she advances in a straight line, she will pass by Leaf’s side…”
As I said this, the surrounding landscape was suddenly covered in layer after layer of fine yarn. Gradually, I felt my vision become fuzzy, and I immediately reduced my sensing scope. After doing so, I was able to see again. I really was too careless. If I had reduced the sensing range just a little bit later, I would’ve probably once again become a blind person.
However, the encirclement had more or less already taken shape. I was filled with confidence in the abilities of the Twelve Holy Knights. Scarlet and Whitey were big targets. There was no way the knights would let them break through the encirclement.
“Please listen to me…”
I stopped in my tracks and with widened eyes, looked left and right. However, there was no one in sight. The voice had not come from my surroundings. Rather, it had sounded directly in my mind. …I really have been too careless. Since I can perform ‘telepathy,’ it’s only natural that Scarlet is able to do it as well.
