Chapter 268: Wind Blade

In the Control Centre, Lucen watched the scene playing out.

He didn’t need anything else to understand, nor did he need another second of watching to know who was the Outer’s pawn in the trial.

His armor radiated intense gold as his eyes shot at Hugh. "Explain this to me so I can understand!" he ordered in a very slow and calm tone.

Hugh, who was watching the scene as well, wasn’t stupid. Just the look of Moon’s attack was something he knew for a fact not a single man from his empire was qualified to block, not to mention sending it flying elsewhere effortlessly.

Hugh fell to his knees, unable to take the pressure Lucen forced on him, not even able to stay seated in that situation as his knees went weak and he fell.

"Sir Lucen, I have not the slightest idea he was affiliated with an Outer." Hugh tried to reason. "I swear on the Tower and my own Echo, I never knew... I don’t even know his name."

"That..." Lucen shook his head and stepped closer to Hugh. "...isn’t the explanation I want to hear."

"Sir Lucen, please, I don’t know a thing about this; last I heard of Outers was rumors over a hundred years ago, when I was an active ascender."

Lucen didn’t answer, but locked his gaze with Hugh, who found his neck stiffening in fear.

"Sir Lucen, it’s impossible for anyone to discover an Outer believer unless his abilities were deployed."

Hugh’s words were all very well-known facts within the Tower’s ascension circles. It wasn’t some exclusive knowledge to the clans or political forces.

Anyone who was affiliated with Outers could live and ascend just fine, join groups, get recruited by different factions.

They could live for hundreds of years perfectly fine within their groups without the need to use their different authorities.

If anything, they would usually pick the time when they could not be defied or seen to express these abilities.

Only a few of them would expose themselves, like how that soldier did.

"Then why would he expose himself in a useless second-floor trial?" Lucen said angrily, turning back to the console.

"It’s a quest," Samuel spoke for the first time in days. "The Outer wanted to see the exact state of the trial, not through the status window, but with his own eyes, and gave him a quest."

Another piece of info fell into place; though, this wasn’t common knowledge.

Only a few, very few, knew of it thanks to their previous conflicts or interactions with those who worked for Outers.

"Once his quest is over, we might never find him again," Samuel added calmly, though his gaze was glued to the screen.

Lucen knew this as well; thus, the first thing he did was block the broadcasting audio from the audience.

"How are you, fucker, doing this without Echo?" Moon said, but no one heard him but Lucen within the Control Centre.

Enzo also didn’t hear it; for some reason, Moon’s voice was never transmitted to his ears as it should have.

Ding!

[Hey kid, this is Lucen]

A Tower window appeared before Moon’s eyes...

’The hell?’ Moon squinted behind his helmet.

[You already noticed that the soldier is not using Echo, but an Outer’s authority.]

Moon’s eyes widened; he remembered what he was told about them, but he couldn’t relate what little scattered talk to a person standing in flesh before his eyes.

[I don’t know what secret methods Edmond and Samuel taught you; don’t hold back anything if they have told you.]

[Kill him by any means; I’ll cover for you and also reward you. You must kill him.]

Lucen wasn’t done; another line came.

[If you don’t, you might die instead without knowing how.]

Before Moon could get his eyes off the screen—

Wuff~

The sword the soldier was holding slipped into the sand.

The soldier opened his arms, raising the left slightly; instantly, the sand particles flowing within the wind current changed direction and started to orbit around him.

Whoooo~

The current, still intact and unbroken, expanded and turned into a slash, aimed at Moon’s neck.

Moon was unable to see the wind, but he could see the sand particles within, and he could hear the noise it produced lessening.

Lessening to such a frightening degree that the hairs on his body stood erect.

Ding!

[Fate Alert: 43% → 77%]

Even Fate Alert came alive for the first time in the battle; Moon instinctively ducked.

Hoo~

As the wind passed over his head, Moon felt the imminent dread. His skin was screaming at the danger right above his head.

Knowing his head was about to go flying, Moon ran forward at the soldier. He needed to kill him before the next attack.

Yet, before he even had a chance to take action—

Vooo~

The wind blade expanded, turning into something that looked like a ribbon, yet instead of soft silk, it was made of wind and sand.

The wind sounded louder again, and maybe less threatening. Still, it was far from being harmless.

Moon stopped in his tracks, realizing what was happening.

He dragged his feet into the sand, sending a large amount of sand upward into the ribbon.

The wind current was expanding, reducing the amount of sand that could be seen; thus, Moon was feeding it extra sand to be able to track it better.

The rest of the ascenders behind that soldier started falling back, unable to participate or even comprehend what was happening right now.

"Hooo, that’s an impressive guy," Enzo exclaimed, shooting his gaze at Mando. "You hid someone that strong among them on purpose?"

"Sir Enzo, I swear I had no idea he was that strong," Mando said truthfully. He was facing the same situation Hugh, his emperor, was currently facing.

The only difference was that both Mando and Enzo had no idea that soldier was using an Outer’s authority, and not some kind of Ascension Gift as they suspected.

Not everyone was as sensitive to Echo as Moon was; at their distance, it was even less likely for them to tell the difference.

An Outer’s authority seen in action was very rare, and even if seen, not everyone used it the same way.

What the soldier used as wind might be entirely different if another Primordial Flow affiliate used it.

But one thing was now clear to Moon, now that he could see it better thanks to the sand flowing along the wind.

That current was only one closed, endlessly circulating flow of wind.

It expanded, overlapped, became a blade and changed length, but it was just one uninterrupted line that didn’t end.

The expanding current descended on Moon, like a meat grinder.

Moon heard Fate Alert in his ears once, before his Echo appeared under his foot, sending him sidestepping a little too far from the wind current.

That wasn’t everything; Liquid Mountain was also thrown, flickering forward at the soldier’s face.

The soldier waved his hand to the right; the wind expanded at the end—

Ting~

Shielding him, while sending Liquid Mountain flying in the same direction.

Moon yanked his wrist, attempting to retrieve Liquid Mountain, but the soldier had another plan for him.

The wind widened, before shrinking around Moon’s body.

The soldier brought forth his open hand and closed it into a fist.