Ascension of the Nephilim

Kyros was covered in a deep sweat. The process of breaching and connecting with Martha made him so weak that even the Temple was affected.

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Warning! Temple Overload!

Energy output exceeded. Nephilim Sealing Temple will be in a dormant state for three days.

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Kyros was seated and was being supported by Aron and Branze.

"What happened?" Aron asked.

"I don\'t know. A God or Fallen is fighting somewhere near or on the Planes World. And then a seal was made to isolate the entire region from sending any messages! So even your Message Talismans shouldn\'t work anymore! Not until this seal is broken!" Kyros explained.

"What rotten luck! Or should I say, what rotten Destiny! It actually caused gods to fight for this?!" Branze cursed.

Kyros was faint. He focused on healing himself and began to munch on some food that the knights quickly brought.

"Daradiel. It must be him! The Greater Gods have found him and are locking up this region so that he can\'t call for help."

"Yes. It means he should be somewhere in the Planes World by now. I wonder if it\'s still in that place or if the location changed. Your return must have made several changes on how the Greater Gods and the Fallens would act."

"I\'m more worried if that Fallen or God will look for you! You just breached their barrier!"

"Not exactly. The distance between me and Aunt Martha isn\'t too far from here. So to the enemy God, he\'d probably assume that a more powerful Message Talisman was used, and it deteriorated halfway through. If that message did indeed cause some turbulence or notable fluctuations, the enemy would just assume that it\'s Greater God Daradiel trying to send a message."

Kyros continued to eat as he was mentally conversing with Calaminus.

"Should we go?" Aron asked.

"No. It\'s too risky..." Branze answered.

"Branze. That\'s my wife!"

"You haven\'t even met her!"

"Uncle. Dad is right. I\'m worried about aunt Martha too. But this could be a trap by Destiny. Besides, Grandfather is coming here with an escort of humans. With the Temple incapable of healing, it will bring huge changes to our preparations and how we follow through without plan. In short, we are needed here."

"Then send me alone!"

"Uncle! Aunt Martha has the Path of Combat too! I sent her there knowing that it was a trap by Destiny! This has to happen!"

"What do you mean?" Aron frowned.

"Kyros is right. He just told us what he faced. The Blood Calamity. Look at those wings he brought in! It was made with a bone that is so hard! Not even our True Cut could damage it! And although we\'ve only begun to understand a minuscule percent of the real True Cut, it\'s something that can wound Commanders if we use it at the right time! And yet, your attack didn\'t leave any marks on it!"

"What does that have anything to do with Martha?!"

"Everything! It isn\'t kind, but it has to happen. We have to know how terrifying Destiny\'s traps are! How will it work? What level of danger will it give? And since you\'ve experienced firsthand how Fate toys with your life, then we can conclude that Destiny will learn from his losses! If Kyros didn\'t send Martha in and allowed her to fall into that trap, Destiny would be more careful, cruel, and cunning in the next traps! This was a very weak and poor trap! And Kyros allowed Martha to fall into it so that we can learn!" Branze explained.

Aron was silent.

"Couldn\'t have said it better myself. Uncle. This has to happen. And I have my reasons. I\'ve seen Aunt Martha and roughly can tell how strong she is." Kyros explained. 

"As an archer, she is considered far superior to her peers. She is a Force User like you! And that\'s very rare within Captain level. But apart from that, remember her lineage! What are the Bowheart\'s known for?"

"The Bowheart family is known for their impressive agility that makes them extremely difficult to kill in close-range combat," Aron answered.

"Right. It was made famous by the current Patriarch of the Bowheart Clan, Faust Bowheart. He has performed legendary deeds and made them the most reliable archers. They are archers that can be deployed on a battlefield\'s frontlines and have high survival rates. We all know that Viscount families pursue alliances with them. Faust Bowheart is known as the \'Close Combat Archer\'. Are you saying that Martha has this potential?" Branze asked.

"Yes." Kyros confidently answered. In Kyros\'s past life, her title had become quite known. In this life, only a few who personally knew her called her the Genius Archer abandoned by Her Family. But soon, her name would be of such renown that she even eclipsed the name of Faust Bowheart.

"But I thought you easily defeated her and her platoon! She can\'t face something like Destiny!"

"Er... Uncle. I don\'t usually like to brag. But I defeated and outsmarted enemies and monsters several times stronger than me. I even fought a saint-level creature. And although she was sealed, she was still quite strong. Could you confidently face a saint-level creature and escape with her wings?" Kyros challenged.

"..." Aron couldn\'t answer. He couldn\'t even defeat Stoph! Much more a creature that is a Saint-level!

"Too bad the Temple is dormant. How are we going to heal your uncle from that burn?" Branze shook his head.

"I can confidently say that Aunt Martha is very strong. Well... Just don\'t compare them to me. I mean... seriously, Uncle. You got Hyperion\'s Code because you\'re his descendant. I got it because I understood his powers without any help from his bloodline. Don\'t make me point these things out to you. I\'m already keeping it low-key and humble."

"..."

"Knights! Get me some burn heal herbs for Lord Aron." Branze ordered.

"Anyway..." Aron was resisting the urge to smack some respect into Kyros.

"You still forced her into a trap!"

"Father already explained why. Besides. Given Aunt Martha\'s potential, she has something now that will make her far stronger than whatever potential she already has!"

"Your Coven? Your Blood?"

"Well... Those things will already change her. But that\'s not it. What she has was the embarrassing taste of defeat from me. I easily defeated her. I haven\'t explained to you the details of how we met. I almost killed her. I thought it was Fate, but I believe the first time I met her, and when we were fighting, Destiny was tricking me into killing her. That\'s how important she is to Fate as an ally. I even had to use one of my secret weapons to defeat her. That speaks miles of her ability."

"That was me, wasn\'t it?! You only defeated Martha after you made me use Splash!" Calaminus spoke proudly! Calaminus recalled how Kyros used a secret weapon. And that secret weapon to defeat Martha was his Calaminus\'s very own Calaminus\'s Splash attack, to distract Martha in a critical moment.

"But is it enough?"

"Aunt Martha was almost killed again as Fate allowed her to experience a battle against several Viscounts. These things are experiences that Aunt Martha has been keeping in her heart. We have faced many battles since then, but it never really brought us to a near-death situation in all of those. But now... Aunt Martha will finally bloom. Trust in that, Uncle. She is the perfect person to be challenge Destiny."

"Hunter, Hems, and Hemsey are good knights. I..."

"Uncle. We can only hope and pray for their survival. You have to understand. In this battle against Destiny... Sacrifices should be expected. This is also a good place to start for our family. We haven\'t lost anyone yet. But this won\'t stay the same forever."

"They will do their duties to the end. You thought them that, brother." Branze added.

Aron was silent. Those three were among his original team of mercenaries. He already bade farewell to them once. He was relieved to see that Kyros managed to save them. And now, he felt a great sense of fear in his heart.

"I just feel... that their fate... that their destiny... ends in this mission..." Aron finally revealed one of his deepest worries.

"Then their choice is to awaken Fate Challenger. Just like Aunt Martha. Trust that aunt Martha already taught them that! And while the risks are high, the rewards are greater. I cannot imagine how strong Aunt Martha or those three will be after they become the first Dragon Slayer of the Steele family." Kyros smiled.

Back in the cave of the dracanae...

Martha ran fearlessly towards the approaching horde of dracanae. 

A dagger and a sword appeared on her hand. Martha had divided her blood weapon to envelop her best dagger and her best sword.

Despite not having any formal blessings from any sword gods, Martha still charged without fear.

The monstrous creatures before her that brought her knights to pitiful conditions did not faze her. On her free moments, she would replay and mentally rehearse a mock battle against a being that she never stood a chance of defeating. The more she saw the abilities of this enemy, the more she felt helpless, and the more she kept thinking of ways to improve her battle.

Compared to fighting Lord Kyros, this dracanae seemed cute. Her knights were no longer in the way. She didn\'t have to worry about protecting them. She just needed to keep the enemies busy.

Three dracanae ran towards her and prepared wide, sweeping attacks.

Since acquiring the power of the Heretic Archer, Martha had sensed that it was as if she received several blessings all at once. This gave her the ability to wield Force energy with frightening accuracy paired with her great speed. Martha didn\'t use her bow because, in her mind, she was going to use her body as the arrow itself.

As Martha approached, force energy erupted on her foot and threw her quickly to the front. But unlike her previous ways of using this, she didn\'t just move in one direction, but she moved in a zigzag. 

Of all the many things that Lord Kyros had, speed was the most formidable trait. And that was the first thing Martha chased after.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Three heads of the three dracanae fell. The creatures didn\'t have time to harness and strengthen their neck when Martha had already zoomed past them and left three slashing attacks. 

"The arrow has left the bow." Martha smiled as she charged to the other dracanae.

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[Ninja Job Acquired.]