Pathless Origins: Bane of the Gods

Within a mediaeval looking stadium, made of brick, were a group of people, all of which were dressed in fancy uniform. The girls wore plain blue tops and plain white skirts, the boys wore plain blue tops and plain white trousers, all of the tops were long sleeved. Most of the people looked like teenagers, some being in their early twenties.

Standing in front of the young adults, was a youthful woman, she too wore a uniform, hers however was different; her top was white, abundant with blue pattern, whilst her skirt was blue with a corresponding white pattern, on the left breast of her shirt she had five stars displayed. She was viewed with admiration and envy by the majority of the students.

Behind her stood three other people, two female and one male, they also wore the fancy uniform. The male, and one of the females, displayed three stars on their chests, whilst the other female only had one star on display.

The young woman in front of the crowd was Alice Macier, she was the Student Council President, of the White Glacier Spirit Academy. Today, she was taking charge of a lesson, most lessons were handled by 5th and 6th year students, such as herself. Teachers would only observe, silently on the sidelines or intervene at critical junctures.

Alice's lessons however were an exception to that rule, she had the complete trust of the academy, thus there was no need for any teacher to observe her lessons.

As is tradition in the school, the first practical lesson would be taught by the Student Council President. This class were the lucky bunch amongst the first year's, for Alice was usually far too busy to teach.

Alice cast her clear blue eyes around the stadium, to observe her class.

"Right, as you all know, my name is Alice Macier. I am the Student Council President of the White Glacier Spirit Academy. Today, I have been given the honour of conducting this lesson."

Honour? Please! We all know you hate this, it's in your eyes!

"With me today are my companions in the Student Council; this is Yvette Cotz, my Vice President. " She announced, as she pointed to the young woman behind her with the three stars. "This is my Treasurer, Woodzy." She pointed to the young man, proudly displaying three stars. "And this is my Assistant, Letisha Crouch."

'My'? Does the Student Council belong to you? Man, she is such a drag, I wish there was coffee in this world!

As she introduced each person, the crowd would make a fuss, and rightly so, at that!

Yvette was a stunning beauty, with vivid red hair and enchanting red eyes, when her name was called, she put one hand on her curvaceous hips and winked, sending the male students crazy.

Woodzy was a tall, slightly buff, lazy looking guy, with dark hair and dark eyes. He merely waved with one hand, the females went crazy over his little wave, some even screamed out his name. The guy just yawned at the attention, as if it were normal to him.

Letisha was a cute, slightly chubby girl, she wore a spectacles and hid behind her brown hair. Although she wasn't as strikingly beautiful as her companions, something about her meek looking demeanor made you want to protect her. Following her introduction, she bowed nervously. This cute little action won the hearts of everyone in the crowd.

She obviously practiced that! But of course, I'm the only person who can tell, as usual.

Well almost everyone.

Last, but definitely not least, was Alice herself. To put it simply, she was the epitome of physical perfection, a blonde bombshell with a curvy body, slim waist, enchanting blue eyes and cherry red lips that send your imagination running wild.

Man, I miss pizza and my bed!

Alice went on to talk about her roles and duties within the school, she also lectured about the school's great history, etc.

Geez, when will she stop talking?

"Yawn!"

A faintly audible yawn was heard by the group, everyone turned their heads to look at the source. It was a lad with white hair, average looking. He was not handsome, but he was not displeasing to look at either, yet he had bags under his eyes showing how tired he was. The lad was tall, although not too much, and skinny. His head was topped white, shaggy hair, some strands, messily covering his eerie, silver eyes.

Alice looked at the boy, although she still had a smile on her face, she was clearly not happy. This boy had yawned during her speech, making her look boring. Alice effectively lost face.

"You! The boy with white hair! Come forward." Alice demanded, in a sweet but chilling tone.

"Hhmm." The white haired boy saw that she was pointing at him, not to mention, he was the only person with white hair. He walked forward slowly and presented himself before Alice.

"He dared yawn during 'Lady' Alice's speech, he is so dead!"

"I heard, that anyone who makes an enemy out of 'Lady' Alice won't survive in the academy!"

"Man, Yvette is so hot! I would totally give anything to have her as my wife!"

As the white haired boy walked, some first year's talked amongst themselves, in hushed tones. When he reached the front everyone fell silent, awaiting his punishment.

"What is your name boy?" Asked Alice, in her ever charming voice.

"Artillian, my name is Artillian Skye." Replied the white haired boy, lazily.

Alice was surprised that he was still calm in front of her, considering his blunder. She was still angry, so this thought only lasted a few seconds.

"Well then Artillian, why do you look so tired?"

Artillian found this question rather strange, he thought the answer was obvious!

"Uhm, because I didn't get enough sleep."

The students roared with laughter when they heard his response.

"I can't believe he is that stupid."

"Hahaha, my stomach hurts."

The laughter continued, until Alice gestured for everyone to quiet down.

"I know that, my question is, why didn't you get enough sleep?" Alice was annoyed at having to clarify her question.

"Oh, I slept late last night." Artillian casually replied.

Another wave of laughter came from the students, this time, even the people behind Alice couldn't help but laugh.

Alice however, wasn't laughing, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. She didn't consider it possible for someone to be this stupid.

She ordered Artillian to stand next to her, and continued her speech.

"As I am sure you all know, this academy only takes in spiritualists, before our lessons begin, let's have a quick round up of spirits, for our less mentally..." she looked toward Artillian "... capable students."

Chuckling could be heard as soon as she said this, some held their mouths to stifle the noise.

Alice ignored them, smiled, and continued on: "A spirit is a tool we spiritualists use to carry out many jobs or duties. It is believed that if you have a spirit, you are a direct descendant of a God. These spirits exist in our bloodlines, and can only be awakened by a select few. Only one out of every ten humans is born with a spirit, and only one out of 50 can awaken it. Spirits grant their owners incredible abilities, for example, beast spirits can grant one beast-like abilities, possibly to grow wings or grown fangs.

A sword spirit can grant incredible power if you have a sword in hand. A water spirit can grant the power to manipulate water, there are thousands and thousands of spirits.

"In general there are five types of spirits, there are beast spirits, enhancement spirits, nature spirits, projection spirits and tangible spirits."

"Beast spirits grant one beast-like abilities, enhancement spirits enhance a certain aspect (or aspects) of your body, like your speed, strength or senses, nature spirits give you the ability to manipulate a force of nature, projection spirits are spirits that allow you to manipulate other beings, and tangible spirits are spirits that are actually physical, like tools or weapons."

"Some spirits can have traits from two or more types. These spirits are rare and often quite powerful."

"Spirits come with spirit skills, which are a manifestation of that spirit's' true power. The more you train your spirit, the more spirit skills it will have."

"The level of a spirit is determined by how many spirit skills it has, for example, if your spirit has five skills, it is a fifth step spirit, a sixth step spirit has six spirit skills, etc."

"Now I require volunteers, to battle in the arena and showcase their spirit skills and abilities. Artillian here, has so joyously volunteered, who would like to go against him?"

"Huh?" Artillian was surprised, he never volunteered for anything! It was clear that Alice was trying to embarrass him.

In front of Alice, many hands were raised, plenty of people wanted to use this opportunity to get into Alice's good favour.

She picked a large brute with brown hair to be his opponent.

....

Everyone was seated around the stadium, waiting for the onslaught that was about to occur.

The large brute was called Tiberius Stone, he was one of the shining stars amongst the first year's, and was well known for his violent nature. He came from a well-known noble family with a very powerful spirit. His eyes were red with fervour; and like a bird of prey, he eyed Artillian.

Alice was now seated with her companions, within a private viewing area. Letisha picked up a pile of papers emotionlessly and started reading the information out loud.

"His name is Artillian Skye, he is a commoner, his history is unknown and his spirit is called Pathless Origin, it is an enhancement spirit that increases his physical strength.

During the entrance exam he showed no skills, so we do not know what step it is, it is also a unique spirit, we have never heard of it before now. During the entrance exam, his future projection was half star."

Alice smiled at this information.

"Tiberius had a two star projection, there is a massive gap in their skills. I want that white-haired runt crushed, he will pay for embarrassing me!"

Woodzy shook his head whilst Yvette giggled: they knew Alice well enough to know that she cared about reputation the most. This boy was truly unlucky.

...

"Don't hold anything against me brat, you can only blame yourself for being an idiot!" Roared Tiberius, as he cracked his knuckles.

"Can we please get get this over with? I'm tired, and unfortunately there is no coffee in this stupid world!" Artillian replied, as he yawned and stretched his arms.

"What on Earth are you talking about? No matter, I will do as you wish, garbage like you deserves to be properly thrashed!" Tiberius was itching to impress Alice.

"Don't talk to me like I'm your mother, you retard!" The whole stadium roared in laughter at Artillian's rebuke.

He isn't so stupid after all! Woodzy thought to himself.

"You're courting with death!" Tiberius was furious, he immediately summoned his spirit.

"Stone Magistrate" he bellowed.

A large, illusory rock appeared behind Tiberius.

"Spirit visualization! It's spirit visualization!"

"My goodness, I didn't know he was that strong!"

"Doesn't this mean that his spirit is at least at the second step? And he is only a first year! What a genius!"

"The 'Stone Magistrate' is a famous spirit, it's ability to manipulate rocks is infamous!"

When they saw his spirit, the other first year's went crazy, even Alice and her friends were impressed at what they saw.

"A freshman who is already at the second step, during the beginning of the year, not bad." Observed Yvette, as she crossed her legs.

"Rock Slide!" Bellowed Tiberius, as he slammed his hands onto the ground, immediately afterwards the earth heaved upwards in front of him, the massive pile of earth then slowly travelled towards Artillian.

The crowd gasped at this incredible sight, in response, Artillian knelt on the ground with one knee, his right hand faced upward, forming a claw like shape, he placed it in front of his face, his left arm extended behind him, away from his body. Then he gently summoned his spirit: "Pathless Origin."

A small, blue, energy orb formed on his hand, it constantly revolved, releasing random sparks of purple electricity.

Its energy looked fire like, its colour was enchanting, its radiance was incredible, the orb had something mystical about it, something that just gathered your attention.

"World... Origin!" Artillian exclaimed, as he smashed the orb, an explosion spread outward, raising dust with it. The battlefield became hard to observe, people thought that the dust would settle, but it didn't.

...

On the battleground, a huge dust cloud had obstructed the entirety of Tiberius' vision, he had no idea whether or not his attack had done any damage.

Suddenly the dust cleared, that's when Tiberius first viewed Artillian, sprinting toward him. Due to his unmatchable speed, within three seconds he was in front of Tiberius! On Artillian's hand was what seemed to be a small constellation of star-like lights, this constellation was slammed into Tiberius' body by Artillian.

Tiberius expected the shiny display to do some, damage, so he had braced himself, yet nothing happened.

Artillian jumped back, continuously, until he was at least 50 meters away from Tiberius' body.

Tiberius realised that he was unharmed and started laughing madly. His spirit was not only a nature spirit, but also an enhancement spirit, it could increase his defense and make his skin as hard as rock!

"Haha, is that the best you can do? You pathetic shrimp!"

That's when Tiberius realized, they were no longer in the stadium, there was nothing around them. It's like they were suddenly teleported to a random plain. There was only grass as far as the eye could see and it looked like it would g on indefinetely beyond the horizon.

"This! What is this?" Tiberius was stunned: he had no idea what had just happened. He started panicking, looking around cluelessly. Artillian, on the other hand, was enjoying seeing the foolish brute freaking out and panicking.

A fire, in the shape of a woman, suddenly appeared next to Artillian.

"Artillian, why did you activate 'World Origin'? What are you planning on doing?" asked the womanly-shaped flame. She was a being only Artillian could see and hear. She was Hestia.

"Relax Hestia, I'm just teaching this retard lesson. Something tells me that if I don't teach him some manners, he will cause me problems in the future! If you're removing weeds from your garden, it's also best to remove the roots!" As Artillian said this, a golden spear appeared in his right hand: it was adorned with images of war and death, from the shaft, all the way to the tip!

"You couldn't possibly be planning to...'World Origin' can't withstand this! It will collapse! You will kill everyone in the stadium!"

Artillian ignored her plea, he started running forward. "I Shall Destroy All That Stands In My Way!" Artillian chanted as he ran.

Tiberius observed Artillian's run, due to his panicked state he was on full alert. He expected Artillian to throw the spear at him, only to be surprised once more. After his short run, Artillian threw the spear to the sky, he threw it with such ferocity that a sonic boom was released.

The spear disappeared almost exactly after it was released, it was almost as if the spear had sunk into a pond in mid air, the ripples spread out, across the sky.

Tiberius had to cover his ears and he closed his eyes, due to the oncoming shockwave. After the shockwave had subsided, nothing happened, Tiberius looked around, only to find, nothing. Artillian on the other hand had moved away, he was at least a hundred meters away, Tiberius thought that Artillian must be using a powerful skill, because, the more words a chant contained, the more powerful the skill it would produce!

"What did you do?" Tiberius felt humiliated, ever since this battle had begun, nothing had happened that he could understand. Artillian ignored him and kept walking backwards.

"If you won't talk, then I will smash the truth out of you! 'Mountain Break'!" A huge rock, the size of a house, suddenly appeared above Tiberius. "Talk, you piece of trash! I can't control this skill, so I can't guarantee you will live!" He roared.

"Funnily enough I was about to to say the same." Artillian retorted, he made a gun like gesture with his hand, aimed at Tiberius. "Look up buddy!" Artillian then closed his eyes and chanted with a low tone, "Bane of the Gods - First Tome: Orion's Fall."

Suddenly, the earth started shaking, an ominous feeling appeared within Tiberius' heart: he looked up toward the sky, and witnessed the most unforgettable scene in all his life.

Massive ripples were travelling across the sky, as though the sky had liquefied, from out of the ripples came a humongous spear tip. Just the spear head itself was as large as a mountain, it was exactly like the one that Artillian had thrown up. It was bearing down on Tiberius, moving slowly, giving the illusion that there was time to run away.

"The spear is headed for you, you piece of trash! No matter where you run, it will follow!"

Impossible! Impossible!

Tiberius refused to believe Artillian's claims, for something like this to be possible, he must have been marked at some point! That's when Tiberius remembered...

The small constellation!

Artillian had struck him with small constellation like object, he had just viewed it as a weak attack, then be realized that it wasn't.

It was a marker!

The marker had been placed on him, there was nowhere he could run, nowhere he could hide. With Artillian's mobility, there was no way Tiberius could catch up to him. Tiberius fell down to his knees, he was afraid, so afraid that he started urinating himself. Logically speaking Artillian couldn't kill him, if he did he would be kicked out of the academy.

This logic couldn't come to mind, all he could see was the imminent spear and his untimely death. The spear was not only large, it exuded an aura of death and destruction, it enveloped Tiberius, suffocating him. The pressure forced Tiberius to kneel hopelessly on the ground.

At one point it no longer looked like a spear, but a large golden serpent, one with massive fangs, that had tasted the blood of many a mortal... And perhaps even a god's!

At some point turbulent winds had started forming around the spear, wrecking the surrounding environment. Tiberius himself had become the eye of the storm. All that he could see now where the winds, the debris and the harbinger of his doom falling down on him with the pressure of a mountain.

Tiberius closed his eyes, hoping for a quick death. After a short while, the wind stopped, the debris fell. I, it became deathly quiet. Tiberius opened his eyes and he was back to the stadium. Artillian was standing next to him, looking down on him.

Artillian reached out with one hand grabbed Tiberius' throat, he lifted him slowly, until he was at eye level. Tiberius was scared, scared to the point that he could barely speak. The reason was simple, Artillian's body was radiating killing intent. Tiberius was merely a spoilt noble, he had never been on a real battlefield before, whereas Artillian had seen far too many.

"Listen, you spoilt peace of crap, I don't have time to deal with all your nonsense. I am a man who is stingy with kindness, but I am very generous with giving out punishment. My marker is still on you, it will be with you for the rest of your pathetic life. If you ever piss me off again, I won't even be as considerate as to leave a corpse for your family to bury. Let alone what I will do if you ever tell anyone what just happened!

"If you do, I assure you, you will beg for a quick death. Be it the new gods, or the old, nothing will save you from my wrath. Understood?" Growled Artillian, with a devious grin. Tiberius nodded his head, like a hen picking corn.

Artillian let go and walked toward the viewing gallery, where Alice and her associates were seated.

From their point of view the battleground was covered with a dust cloud for about ten minutes or so. Just when Alice was about to interfere, she saw a quivering Tiberius, who was being held by the throat, Artillian whispered something to Tiberius, to which he nodded vigorously. Artillian then dropped him to the ground and walked towards them.

He stopped right in front of Alice and said defiantly "I hope you enjoyed our little demonstration. I look forward to getting some pointers from you on this battlefield in the future, now if you may excuse me, I need a nap."

Without even waiting for her reply, he turned around and walked away. Alice opened her mouth but no words came out. Woodzy whistled, he was very impressed. Yvette laughed at his actions.

"Oh my, looks like we have potential this year. Now I have a new toy to play with!" Yvette giggled, as she licked her lips seductively.

"Letisha, I want you to get all the background you can on this boy. I want to know where he came from, what he can do and what his objectives are. Also make time in my timetable, I want to have a private meeting with him." Alice ordered authoritatively. She didn't even bother trying to him back. She was smart enough to know that he didn't care about whatever she said. That only made him more interesting.

"Alice he has such good potential, the Continental Academy Meet is this year, we need talented students like him, please don't make him an enemy." Pleaded Letisha, oddly enough still with an emotionless expression.

Alice smiled and replied, "I don't want to make him an enemy, I want him to join me. That boy is hiding something, and i will find out what it is. If not then my name is not Alice Marcier!"

...

Artillian was out of the stadium, he was walking on a pavement, when the womanly-shaped fire appeared next to him.

"You were too careless, you could have gotten yourself and the other students killed! Why did you even join an academy? I can teach you everything, , and much, much more." She reprimanded.

"There is something this place can teach me, something very important, something I have have lacked ever since coming to this world, and my performance today made me realize this even more." Claimed Artillian mysteriously.

"Oh really? What's that?" Questioned Hestia.

Artillian looked toward her, confidence brimming from his countenance: "Common sense!"

On top of a tall building in a certain city, stood a teenage boy, he was wearing torn clothes, his face, normally handsome, was strained with fatigue, his eyes were red (due to countless hours spent crying), dried blood covered his body in patches.

His white hair, displayed a red hue, due to the blood. His red eyes appeared determined, as though he had made a decision. His bare feet started creeping towards the edge, each step heavier than the last.

Upon reaching the edge he stopped, to take one last look at his bloodied hands, regret filling his heart, never in his entire life, had he felt such misery. Never had he thought that he could do something so terrible, so vile, with his own hands.

The blood on his hands flared up at him, as if it was reminding him that even in death his deeds would follow him. The boy looked up, toward the horizon, one last time, so he could see the sun, a beautiful view he knew he would never see again, as he looked he was mesmerized by the sight.

Like any other human, he had looked up at the sky his entire life. The sun to him had been something he was used to, he had seen thousands of horizons. Yet none had ever looked so beautiful, he started to regret ever having seen its beauty.

It really is true; you don't know the value of something until you lose it...

The boy steeled his resolve, after taking one last breath; he closed his eyes, spread his hands wide and smiled. The most serene moment in his life, would be his death, a suicide no less, the irony of it was amusing to him.

I deserve this; at least I can decide when I die, unlike her...

The boy jumped from the edge, plunging straight into the unknown, never to return to this life again.

...

Hestia witnessed the boy fall; she had also seen the events that had preceded this, which had led to the boy's decision. She felt truly sorry for him; her heart ached, as if she was the one who had suffered. She had always been empathic towards others; this and her kindness had been part of her downfall.

Now she was just a lowly spirit. The last of her divine essence would only allow her to live on for a few centuries. After which her soul would be gone...forever.

Although she was sad about the fact that she was practically doomed, she was even sadder at seeing the boy jump.

It was at this point that she made a choice. To her there was no meaning in living for a few more centuries if she could not help those she came across. She would rather use up her remaining years to help the boy gain another chance at life, than live on like as a lower spirit in such an abandoned world like earth.

On this world no one had enough spiritual power to see her, let alone help her. She had been sealed in this tiny world and had no means to leave.

Thus she decided to help the boy. She would give up a few of her years and use some magic, to seal some of his memories. That was the least she could do. As the boy was falling she floated next to his body as it was descending.

She put in some of her divine essence and attempted to seal his memories and stop his fall, but there was a problem. The boy's body kept sucking divine essence out of her body. It was like a ravenous black hole, devouring everything in reach.

This? This is? How is this possible?

Indeed. Although she was only a lower spirit, she still had a little bit of divine essence left. At most it should have only taken a second to seal the boy's memories and stop his descent! Yet at this rate the boy was almost hitting the ground yet nothing had happened. He just kept on sucking out more and more of her essence.

She had intended to spend her last few years helping as many people as she could, but now she decided to put in her all into saving this boy. Although she didn't know why he was devouring her essence so much, she didn't care, once she put her mind into helping someone she would go all out. Even if it meant her life was at stake.

How low I have fallen. To do such a simple spell is devouring my divine essence. Well at least I will die knowing I am doing the right thing.

Just when the boy was about to hit the ground, Hestia put through all her divine essence. She didn't know if she was going too far or if it wasn't enough. All she knew was that she would do anything to save his life!

...

Thousands of soldiers were marching in formation. These soldiers were all adorned with armor matching their ranks. Those of higher ranks were wearing shiny metallic armor, whilst the new recruits were wearing cheap leather armor.

Their destination was a plain that was a day's march away. This was the army of Atley. Atley was having at war with their neighbor Ragah. The two countries had been at war for the past 10 years or so. They engaged in all types of battle against each other, from tiny skirmishes involving only a few hundred soldiers, to full scale wars like this one which involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

This led to both countries aggressively recruiting soldiers. Messengers and bards all across both countries spread tales about the glory of the battlefield. About how one can obtain anything there, from money, to fame, land or women. One could even become a noble! This propaganda led to a period of mass recruitment in both countries.

Men in villages, towns and cities across both countries swarmed to recruitment offices hoping to join the fray. Once a man or woman becomes 16, they become eligible to join. One such case was Artillian.

He was from an orphan from a small village near the border between the two countries. After becoming 16 the orphanage kicked him out. He didn't mind anyway since he had the intention of joining the army.

He was a handsome young lad. He had fair hair. His blue eyes only served to show his vigorous vitality. He was neither tall nor short. His build was lean like a leopard. He was fast and highly agile.

Growing up in a poor orphanage makes one become very competitive. This resulted in him being physically fit. This however wasn't the result of him fighting, but the result of him running. Artillian was a coward by nature. He always avoided fighting if he could. He had probably run from a confrontation so many times that he could run backwards as fast as a normal person runs looking forward.

In a society were honor and courage are taken very seriously, people like Artillian are ostracized. He was often bullied and teased because of his cowardly nature. Even though he was quite handsome, the girls in the village thought him unattractive due to their mindsets. They would rather die than be together with a coward.

At some point the boy was sick of it all. He wanted to prove everyone wrong. He wanted to show everyone in his village that he was actually the bravest in his generation. He walked up to the prettiest girl in his village and asked for her hand in marriage. He told her that he would do anything to get her to agree.

The girl told him that if he wanted her hand in marriage, then he should join the army to prove himself. If he came back with some accomplishments she would definitely marry him. As soon as the other villagers heard this they laughed at him. Artillian was determined to prove them wrong and get the girl of his dreams. He went to the nearest town and joined the army; his resolve to marry the love of his life was all that was keeping him going.

Little did he know that she had married the son of the village chief a few months after his departure. Currently it had been 6 months since he had left his village. Most of the people in his village had probably forgotten that he existed.

After his training Artillian believed that he was a true warrior. He believed that he could gain glory on the battlefield. Perhaps even slay enemy officers and gain a promotion, just because he now knew how to use a spear somewhat.

Currently he was in one of the infantry formations. With a spear and a shield in hand he marched on, brimming with confidence.

At night the soldiers stopped on a hill a made camp. Plenty of tents were raised all around. Soldiers surrounded hundreds of fires, having perhaps their last supper. There was cheering and merry making everywhere.

Artillian was sitting with some soldiers near a fire. He was reserved so he didn't talk much. He wasn't good at talking to strangers, so he was mostly ignored. He just sat there, maintaining his shoddy equipment whilst listening to the other soldiers talk.

"Hey I heard a very interesting rumor. Apparently if any young soldiers show potential in this battle, they may get a chance to enter a battle academy!"

Bastian looked up as soon as heard the phrase 'battle academy', he stopped what he was doing and started paying attention to his counterparts.

"I heard the same rumor too. Apparently all one has to do is slay one of the enemy generals during battle and bring his head!"

" Wow, are you serious?"

"Aye. It's true. There are however other conditions necessary."

After hearing this, the soldiers frowned. They were afraid that these conditions would only make an already impossible task harder.

"What conditions?" asked one of the soldiers.

"First you have to be below 18 years of age. Second you must kill at least a hundred men. Lastly you must possess the aptitude to be able to contract a spirit."

After hearing these conditions, the other soldiers couldn't help but smack their lips in jealousy; after all, they were all above 18...except Artillian.

Battle Academies were schools the finest of warriors were made. Rumor had it that if you were a graduate from these academies, you would automatically become a noble. Not only that, one cannot reach the upper levels of society without having graduated from one.

For example, to become a general in a normal army, all you need is to do is climb up the ladder. To become a member of a special army however, like the royal guard, you must have at least spent one year at an academy. It must be known that any member of the royal guard is far more valuable than a measly general from a normal army.

For these people could use powerful things like magic to battle. Anyone who could use magic was very valuable to a kingdom.

The issue here was that the conditions were too strict. Artillian had dreams, but he was no fool. He knew that there was no way for a novice like him to kill a hundred men, let alone an experienced general. As for what a spirit was, the boy had no clue.

He had grown up in a small village. So the amount of knowledge he had related to magic was tiny. One could even say he knew practically nothing.

Like the rest, he could only give up and try his best in the upcoming battle tomorrow. As long as he could survive he would be happy. He stopped listening to their conversation and decided to sleep early. There was no point in thinking about something beyond a peasant like him.

...

In the middle of the night, Artillian was woken up by loud shouting.

"Enemy attack!"*

Sentries were busy shouting and waking up soldiers, in a futile attempt to fight the invaders.

Artillian saw the chaos around him. Tents were on fire, thousands of men were battling everywhere. The sounds of metal clashing were reverberating in the boy's ears.

He got up as fast as he could and put on his armor. As soon as he was prepared, he looked up and saw one of his comrades being beheaded. It was the soldier who had talked about the wandering rumor.

His head rolled on the ground and stopped near Artillian, the look of disbelief still in his eyes.

Fear immediately gripped Artillian. He realized that he was too frightened to do anything. His shield suddenly felt unbearable and his spear felt heavy. He was rooted to his spot, completely unable to move.

The enemy who had beheaded the talkative soldier then put Artillian into his sights. He was a large man with hair covering most of his face. His eyes radiated killing intent. He held a spear in one hand and a sword in the other. Both weapons were as light as sticks in his hands and he waved them around with experienced proficiency. Without wasting a single second he ran towards Artillian.

Artillian was too frightened to do anything. He could only watch as the enemy drove a spear into his heart. Seeing that the boy was falling, the enemy soldier was convinced that Artillian was dead. Pleased with his work, he walked past Artillian. He looked for his next prey. He immediately found a soldier who was dressing up a few meters away and grinned savagely. He assumed he had found another easy kill and took a step forward, when suddenly a spear head had gone through his throat.

The pain was unbearable, but it was nothing compared to his shock. He didn't understand what had just happened. He was confident that no other soldiers were behind his back. There were at least a 5 meters of safe space around him. Only dead bodies were within that space. As a veteran he was confident in his abilities as was sure that he was not wrong.

The spear head removed itself from his throat, blood leaving his body in a fountain. He used his final moments to see the man who had killed him. What he saw made him feel powerless.

It was the boy he had just killed! It was Artillian! The large man was shocked beyond belief. He was positive that he had pierced the boy's heart, yet when he looked toward his chest, there was no wound. Although there was a hole in his armor, his chest was perfectly fine.

The large men wanted to know what had happened, unfortunately he never would. He hated himself for letting his guard down; even though he was sure he had killed the boy. Unfortunately, there was no cure in this world for regret.

Artillian saw the large man fall. His eyes filled with satisfaction at his work. He had killed the man, whilst he was in a stupor. Although he wasn't fully conscious of his actions, he was pleased, pleased that he had gotten revenge.

That's when he properly took in his surroundings. A look of disbelief was on his face. He looked at his own body in disbelief, as if something was off. He then noticed that his originally fair hair, which was dangling in front of his eyes, was turning white right in front of his eyes. It became white as snow. Even though it was in the middle of the night, the raging fires all around made things easy to see.

The look of confusion quickly turned into a frown. Artillian then spoke in a voice that sounded somehow different.

"What the f*ck?"

"......"

"Argghhh....WHY DO I SOUND LIKE A BITCH!!!!!!!!!?"

"Do you mind not using such vulgar language in the presence of a Lady?"

As he spewed vulgarities in his mind he suddenly heard a sweet but annoyed voice ringing in his ears. He had a baffled look on his face as he looked left and right trying to figure out where the voice was sounding from, but the more he looked at his surroundings the more dumbfounded he became. The scenes he was witnessing were those of blood and gore, and in these scenes there was no woman in sight.

"Who?"

"Just shut up and run, I doubt you will be able to survive here. Judging by how weak you are now it will be impossible for you to fight all these men seeing as how the former host's side is at an disadvantage"

"Who are you and where are you.......?." said Artillian while looking for the source of the voice.

"Listen child, just run and find a safe place to hide in. I will explain everything then"

Artillian the said, " I don't know if you've noticed ma'am but there is nowhere to run, its slaughter in every Direction" Artillian was confident that whoever was speaking to him was nowhere nearby, but now was not the time to be picky about such details. He could tell that whoever was talking to him meant him no harm. On the contrary she seemed to be attempting to help him.

"Just run to your right and as for those soldiers do not worry about them I will deal with them, there is a cave about a mile from here, you should be safe there "

"Sorry lady I was raised not to trust strangers."

"Well now it's either you listen to me or you die for a second time, your choice young man."

"How did you-?"

"Child just run!!!" shouted the voice.

Artillian vigorously nodded his head as he started running straight toward the heart of the battle, not knowing how he was going to survive. He ran with no weapon in hand so the opposing soldiers saw him as an easy target, so a group three began to charge towards him with malicious glints in their eyes. As he noticed this Artillian began to sweat bullets and just as he thought his life would end for a second time the lady took action

"Hearth Second Technique: Flaming Tiger of Beauty and Rage"

Just as she finished her chant an illusionary Tiger embodied in flames rose up behind Artillian and with a loud roar it collapsed into a sea of flames as it swept the battlefield burning everything and everyone it came into contact with. Artillian was shocked with what he saw, and as the flames raged, a trace of fear could be seen in his eyes and this led to his speed to increase several folds.

He kept running until he reached an area that was slightly rocky and he noticed that the cave was just about 20 meters away from his current location. He slowed down because he could not see where he was stepping so he had to be extra careful with his footing, and because of that it took him at least five minutes to cover 20 meters. He entered the cave and sighed in relief as he plopped down to the ground and lay there like a dead dog for a full 10 minutes before he regained his wits.

"So ummm....very...... powerful..... Lady..... Could you please explain to me my current situation and how you are just a voice?" said Artillian in the most polite tone he could muster.

"Listen carefully young man, I do not have much time. That last attack took most of my energy, so I need a full night to recuperate. My name is Hestia, and I am a soul currently residing inside your body, how this happened I am not too sure but I am sure everything will be explained in due time, but for now I will explain what I know so listen..........

When you jumped off that building I decided to save you using my Divine Essence, but in the process your body started sucking in all the essence I had thus this explains why I am inside your body and this also explains why you are in this situation. You see because you sucked in so much of my Divine Essence I was powerless to stop you from hitting the ground, and even though you did die because of my Essence your soul did not enter the reincarnation cycle properly thus it forced itself to be reincarnated without the proper procedure that is why you ended up here. So do you understand?"

After hearing the explanation, all Artillian could say was, "Uhhh........."