The Amber Sword
chapter-778-30041322

“How-how will I do this?” Freya looked up at the sky, where the sound was coming from, not knowing when she stood up from the round table, “How can I stop a god from waking up?” Her thoughts were in a bundle and she had no idea why Milos would choose her. She was just an ordinary human being who had nothing to do with the gods. She thought she had high acceptance already. She hadn’t been able to wrap her mind around everything that happened since her escape from Bucce, but as soon as her mind was clearer and she had started to get used to being a knight, this new thing occurred out of nowhere. Why would a god want her to stop him from reviving?

What capability did she have to bear such a responsibility? Was she going to draw her Lionheart Sword and kill the Giant God? Of course, it would probably be written this way in future legends. At the end of the Year of the Sword, when summer was coming to an end, the female knight Freya had stabbed and killed the last god- The Father of Front Giants, Milos, putting an end to the era of the gods, following the Azure Knights. These accounts would then gradually be dusted off in scrolls over time, collected in the bottom layers of the Mages’ parchment literature, and would not be revisited until thousands of years later.

Freya suddenly pulled herself back from her imagination and shook her head as blood rushed up her cheeks. This is ridiculous. How could I, a mortal, kill a god?? No matter how she thought about it, it seemed nothing but ridiculous. Drawing out the Lionheart Sword and killing the Frost Giant? Absurd. This may only be possible if Brendel was the author of the history, only he could write such ridiculous stories.

She patted her cheeks lightly as she tried to calm herself down while waiting for Milos to say something.

Milos finally said something after a while,

“It’s actually quite simple. Just stab me with the Lionheart Sword when I wake up, that’ll do the job.”

Freya widened her eyes and her jaws dropped. She stopped patting her cheeks. She was frozen.

Milos laughed out loud suddenly, “What an imagination you’ve got there young lady. But as you are thinking, it’s not something so simple.”

Freya blinked her eyes, her lashes following her eyelids’ movement as she came back to her senses, realizing that the Father of Frost Giants was teasing her. She felt a bit bitter but could not say anything, as he was a god. How could a divine creature joke with a mortal? Does this even happen? But even if it was a dog, it was still as quirky as Brendel. Freya thought for a moment before pulling herself back from her overwhelming thoughts. Flustered, she said, “You can read my mind?”

“I’m a divine creature after all. Don’t worry, young lady, I don’t mind those things.” Milos laughed.

“Back to what I was saying, young lady, this task is actually not something hard to you.”

“How could that be? I’m just an ordinary mortal. It’s impossible for me to stop you from waking up.” Freya shook her head, convinced that she was incapable of doing so.

“Because you’re a mortal. That’s exactly why you’re chosen.” That voice replied.

Freya was startled. She knew that there was an underlying meaning in that sentence. Confused, she asked, “Why?”

“Because in an era like this, only a mortal has the right to choose their destiny.” That voice stopped for a while, then continued, “Have you heard of the story of the Azure Knights?”

“Are you talking about the incident where the Azure Knights striked through the Heavens, causing the stars to fall to earth, thus bringing about the age of the mortals?” Freya nodded melancholy, “I’ve heard of such a story when I was little.” That time, she was still surrounded by the greenery of the Bucce mountains. During spring, flowers bloomed in the mountains and fields. The term ‘war’ was something far away and unfamiliar. Who would have thought that ten years later a day like this would come?

Milos seemed to notice the downslide in the girl’s mood. He consoled in a gentle voice, “I’m sorry, I must’ve made you think of the past. But this story, is important to both you and I.”

“Isn’t that a tale?” Freya lifted her head and asked warily.

“Do you believe that it’s happened before?”

This was a good question. Freya was stunned at this question and she just stood there, frozen. Did she believe in legends and tales? There were countless legends and tales in Aouine and Kirrlutz, from the Pale Poem to the story of King Erik and his knights conquering new lands, there were even folklores such as stories that scared children, the Dark Prophecy Book. But the question was, should people believe in these stories? Some were fabricated while some had truths to it. But after decades or even hundreds of years of muse, and with more or less of the art of exaggeration, many of them had long lost their original face.

Maybe the legend of King Erik was nearer to her than she had imagined while the story of the Flame King and the other three wise men are left as glorious descriptions on a mural. About the legends of the Twilights, it seemed so far away to her like some dreamland. Of those dreams, there were good dreams and nightmares, but nobody knew which of them were real and which were fake.

Freya froze for quite a moment before she asked, “That’s real, right?”

“Some of it, yes. It has happened before on this land.”

Freya knew what Milos was going to say next was the important point, so she quieted down and listened to the Father of the Frost Giants. The surroundings were quiet, leaving only the flickering sound of the firewood burning in the fireplace. She sometimes felt that this spacious room might be located in the mountains as d she could even feel the trembling from the depths from the mountains. Not knowing since when, a deep humming echo sound could be heard from all around.

The tea’s aroma lingered, and the tea beads that were spilled onto the tablecloth was still warm; silver knives, forks, and white porcelain plates reflected the warm candlelights that were flickering.

“It’s linked to the war of the Twilight Dragon. Because the gods knew that in the future there would be a war, Marsha and our mother watched us from beyond the hall as usual. Ebabel Tower later became ruins because of the war but at least in those days, where we were still in the hub of civilization, the golden Holy Cathedra, were marble floors as beautiful as floating clouds. The gods lined up there, while I could only stand at the end of the long line. At the peak of the war, the entire hall echoed with the voices of Alphonse and Crystal.

“You mean the Dragon of Fury and the Knowledge Dragon right?”

“Yes.”

“ “Why do we have to carry out this plan?” Alphonse said so sharply. He was the most irascible of all his mother’s children; Tiamat, though more rigid, was much more composed than he.” The voice said slowly, as if telling a story he had seen with his own eyes, “Crystal did not return, but Alphonse continued to sneer, ‘The generation of Bronze has been lost, in my opinion, the ancient times are more in line with the beauty of Order. We should not even bother to listen to those stupid lies, let alone put the decision in the hands of those useless dogs, this is a plot by the Twilights, just in time to wipe us out.”

”Shut up, Alphonse.” At this time, Crystal finally said something. She is the youngest sister of Alphonse, the relationship between the two was once considered by the gods to be stronger than the immortal pinnacle that never breaks. ”They are also mother’s children, are you saying that to make mother sad?”.

Under the aggressive attack of his sister, Alphonse panicked, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He replied, but Crystal’s wisdom is endless so she continued, “The arbiters will judge what you have just said and they will decide if it’s right and wrong, our task is just to guard the operation of the Order and not to interfere. You can only choose.”

After staying silent for a moment, Alphonse replied, “I will never agree.”. He looked at his sister as disappointment overflowed from within her. The break between the two was like the birth of a new sea, the gulf was quickly formed and could not be bridged.”

Freya listened quietly to the unfolding story. By just listening to Milos’ description, she could imagine the fierce dispute in the floating cloud Holy Cathedral, but she felt some wonder as to how it was possible to have a dispute between the gods. Weren’t they supposed to be the guardians of the Order, like generous elders, quietly watching over the beings on the continent of Vaunte? Be it mortal’s slander or gratitude, that favor had always come from heaven, but there had never been any demand.

“Why?” She finally couldn’t help and spoke, “The ‘useless dogs’, is it referring to us?”

Milo paused for a moment, “Yes, our dispute stems from one choice.”

“A choice?”

“A choice whether to continue the mistakes made since the days of the gods or to leave the choice to the mortals. Especially in the face of an enemy like the Twilight Dragon, such a choice seemed to be extremely burdensome even to the gods.”

“But why did such a choice need to be made?” Freya asked.

“Do you know the generation of Bronze?”

Freya frowned and shook her head.

“Actually, you’ve seen them.” The voice prompted.

The young girl was slightly stunned, but this time Milos didn’t left her in doubt, but proceeded to answer, “The expression ‘generation of Bronze’ is rarely spoken of anymore, both the Silver Folk and the Golden Folk have destroyed all the relevant documents, and the few parts that have been preserved are locked deep in forbidden places beyond the reach of ordinary people. Because it once proved Lord Marsha wrong, although mother did not care, it did not mean that we children could easily accept that, same goes to the Bugas. As for the generation of Bronze, they are the magical monsters that are scattered across the earth. On this land once upon a time, in addition to the Glory Folk of Order, was the Twilights of Chaos. To the monsters, there was no such thing as middle ground between Order and Chaos.”

Freya was completely stunned, she knew both the Golden Folk and Silver Folk, as well as the Black Dwarfs. The generation of Bronze that was left behind in between the Gold and Silver… How did that happen? She subconsciously rubbed her forehead, feeling a little dizzy. Milos noticed this, and he asked, “Are you feeling a little incredulous?”

Freya nodded.

“That would have to start with the Order of the pre-ancient era.”

……

Korfa’s cold voice echoed in the hall-

“Before the world of Vaunte was born, the Divine Folk and Marsha – the Supreme Being – were the first to appear in the Chaos. With the help of Marsha, the Divine Folk wove this world and created 17,000 gods to govern it. And then the gods created the Golden Folk out of the blood and corpses of the Divine Folk, and that is how the Golden Folk came to be.”

“The Golden Folk, were servants as well as warriors, and were firm guardians of Order.”

“And then came the Silver Folk, who were created with Elements because of a pact made between Marsha and the four Elemental monarchs. There were millions of Silver Folk, who live in the kingdoms of the earth, and are the subjects of the Order.”

“This is the ancient classical Order, which was the most glorious era. The Ebabel Tower stood in the centre of the world, watching over the earth, with a fortress above each of the four realms of the kingdom, Valhalla and Avalon were just two of them. Legend has it that in those days the ground was paved with silver, the sky shone with the light of diamonds, the trees bore the fruit of gold, and the rivers flowed with rich milk.”

“But such a glorious dynasty fell in the Twilight as well.”

“In the following two eras, the Divine Folk rebuilt the world twice, but what was the result? The Divine Folks passed away one by one, and all the wisdom of the ancient era that has survived to this day were left in scraps, and the most glorious victory of civilization over the Twilight Dragon was from the last war.”

As she was saying each word, the entire Spiral Hall was trembling under some power’s control. The central platform had been completely distorted under the huge force, more than ten long bridges twisted into a knot and were pulled downward into the abyss below. At first Brendel thought that the sudden change was a life saver, but turned out it was just a path into the tiger’s den.

The reason for everything was due to Korfa’s previous action.

Everyone’s attention was focused on the middle of the fierce battlefield when Brendel and the little female dragon happened to be raiding Arreck, resulting in chaos on this side as well. The eldest daughter of Hati took this opportunity to fly towards the Ash Sword Saint Mephisto. She had only battled with him once in mid-air when she was slashed by his sword at the waist. Just as Mephisto was still wondering how this demigod-level being from the Chaos era was so weak, Korfa was thrown to the ground with a slash from the Ash Sword Saint.

She fell in the direction of the center of the hall, and behind her, in addition to the throne on the platform, the purple crystal hanging in the air.

The battle was so intense that the two fighting parties had no time to see in what direction Korfa had fallen, but it was this neglect that gave her the greatest opportunity. In the moment of approaching the crystal, Korfa turned back in mid-air and grabbed the crystal. If Mephisto had noticed this subtle movement of Korfa, he would have been aware of her acting skills, because the force of that grasp was so terrifying that it was at least at Law Peak, and with just one grip, the crystal instantly shattered in pieces.

In a moment, it happened that Brendel managed to dodge the Lizardman Sword Saint Zu’s sword.

The Spiral Hall shook and then the whole ground rotated and sank downward, all the long bridges above the abyss were torn into a long thin belt. Except for the small number of people with the ability to fly or had spells, most people, including even those black-robed knights fell first time on unstable footing. Brendel then knew things were going downhill. He looked up, barely able to look across the hall, where Scarlet who struck the Azure Lance into the wall. Luckily, she didn’t fall, but the Laurenna couple was not to be seen anymore in the crowd, not to mention the young prince and the royal eldest son of the Kirrlutzians.

Nothing was heard from Ciel and the others. Brendel tried to communicate with them through the Psychic Connection, but he only heard buzzing white noise. What on earth is disrupting the Psychic Connection in this hall?

In this place, he could only think of one thing.

In just a second, he saw a huge mouth emerge from the darkness below. It was something like a giant sandworm, its mouth packed with teeth. Brendel knew what it was in just a glance- Devourer’s Teeth. This damn thing has been here all along. It did not live within the glaciers, but instead, it had been trapped under the hall.

He should’ve thought of this sooner.

But he gripped the edge of the long bridge with one hand and looked up, somewhat puzzled, at Korfa in mid-air, not understanding exactly what she wanted. He had never heard of such a play in the game.

“I once experienced that war myself.”

Korfa floated in mid-air and finally finished her last sentence, with some confusion in her eyes she said, as if she was reminiscing.

……