Way of the Knights

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"Her name is Celestine Agnes, the youngest amongst the current War Gods of our sect." 

Raven was briefly startled, he didn't expect that Henry would follow him here. Well, he could tell that this was a clone of his but still, he wasn't expecting him to appear here. 

"Senior Brother! I wasn't expecting you…"

"Don't sweat it, this is just a clone of mine. My real body's with the rest." Henry smiled at him and continued, "More importantly, I wasn't expecting you to come here. In fact, those who board this ship rarely visits this place."

"Oh, that." Raven sighed and said: "I figured that I should take advantage of my time here. After all, I don't know when I'll be able to board this ship again."

"Is that so?" Henry chuckled and said: "Don't worry, if you perform good enough, you'll get to board this ship as many times as you want. Hell, you can even buy one so long as you have enough Merit Points."

Raven similarly chuckled and said: "That'll be tough. The price tag is already enough to make me feel discouraged." 

Henry merely smiled and looked at the light screen in front of them. He then said: "This event was pretty recent. Just some odd years ago. Someone caused devastating damages on the Agnes Clan."

Raven listened as Henry recounted the details of the event. 

"Had it been a fair fight, Celestine wouldn't have reacted this way. Unfortunately, the enemy of her clan used underhanded tactics and it was proven as well as witnessed by many people. Due to that, they managed to royally piss her off."

"While Celestine is the youngest amongst us, she's the one that has the shortest patience. As soon as she got wind of the news, she asked for permission to cleanse a certain planet's filth. After the Elders deliberated the situation, she was permitted and the result was…well, you're watching it."

Raven's interest was piqued as he asked: "Did she destroy the entire planet?" 

"If she wanted to, she could've. After all, she got clearance to do so. With the backing of our sect, even if she did. No one would question it nor condemn her for it. Sure, she might receive some of the people's ire but that's all there is to it. No one would really dare to confront her about it."

"In the end, she didn't." Henry added, "She just wiped out everything that has connection with the enemy of her clan, including the ones that fled to another location. After that, she came back to the sect and remained there since a War God's position requires her to do many chores."

Raven let out a breath, hearing all of that coming straight from Henry's mouth made him think about many things: 

'From my guesses, she must've killed at least millions of people all on her own. I don't know if she spared the innocent from her rage but even still, that's too many. Right or not, doing that will normally cause alarm from the council, they might even place a bounty on her head. But since she's a War God and has the backing of the Ancient Elysium Sect, not only she was given a license to kill, she could even destroy an entire planet if she wanted to, and she wouldn't be hunted because of it.'

'Such is the power of a strong background.' Raven sighed inwardly, being more convinced that his decision to join the sect was correct.

"How many War Gods do we have Senior Brother?" Raven asked curiously. 

"Including me, we have eleven." Henry replied, "Nine are currently within the sect while the other three are out on a mission. It'll probably take them decades to come back, but it also depends." 

"Then…" Raven hesitated for a bit before eventually asking: "What are the requirements to be a War God?"

Henry looked at him in a surprised manner, and seeing Raven's earnest expression caused him to roar in laughter as he said:

"Good! That's a good attitude to have!" Henry patted Raven's back multiple times, "However, you don't have the necessary qualifications to know that yet. Your first step, is to become an Inner Disciple. When we arrive at the sect, you will know how to become one."

"Understood." Raven wasn't too disappointed by Henry's reply, after all he wasn't expecting him to answer his question anyway. Still, he provided him with clues which will eventually lead towards that step. That's plenty enough. 

"Oh, another thing Senior Brother…" Raven said, Henry looked at him so he asked: "How come we encountered Space Beasts on out way? Aren't we following a specialized route? If we are, then something like that shouldn't have happened. Did the protective array suffered some damages?"

Henry was genuinely surprised this time as he said: "Oh, to think that you're aware of the Specialized Routes. It seems that you've done some extensive research huh?" 

Raven merely nodded his head and waited for Henry to continue. 

"We are indeed following a specialized route. Don't worry, the array isn't damages or whatnot, it's merely disabled. From what I heard, its being upgraded in order to be more effective against foreign invaders. It'll take anywhere from months to years I think before it's erected once more. Don't concern yourself about such things. When time comes, you'll eventually encounter them anyway."

Raven nodded once more and returned his attention back to the screen depicting Celestine's massacre. The atmosphere around them turned silent as they both watched. Eventually, Henry opened his mouth and asked:

"I'm rather curious..." He said, causing Raven to look at him. "Why didn't you join the tournament and the little contest just now?"

'Ah, so that's why he's here.' Raven inwardly chuckled, although he had some suspicions earlier, Henry's words just now confirmed everything. 

"Eh, well…there's no merit point rewards." Raven answered while scratching his head, "I don't feel motivated without merit point rewards so I didn't participate."

"Ah, so you're one of them…" Henry whispered gently while placing a bland expression on his face. 

Raven heard his remark but decided to act as if he didn't. Well, it's more like he couldn't care less about his Senior Brother's opinion of him. 

"You know, I actually created that sort of game in order for you to bond with your fellow disciples." Henry admitted. 

'Ew.' Raven spat mentally.

"Just so you know, you twelve will form a single unit. I can't tell you much but you'll eventually had to work with them more often than you think." Henry added. 

'Gross.' Raven spat mentally again. 

"So I was thinking that it'll be better if you guys experience some form of friendly competition. Maybe that way, you'll eventually develop a closer friendship." Henry sagely added. 

'Is that how it works?' Raven sarcastically asked inwardly. 

"Uh, my bad. I didn't know that was your intentions." Raven half-heartedly replied. If he's being honest, he's not looking forward to it but what can he do if that's according to the rules?

"It's fine. You had no idea anyway." Henry smiled kindly to him, "Either way, amongst all new recruits, it's only you who I haven't seen in action just yet."

"Huh? Weren't you and the two elders watching how the exams went?" Raven frowned as he asked this question. 

"We are, but that's that. Seeing it person is completely different." Henry stated, but Raven could tell that he's lying. 

He could tell that Henry was at least half-serious when he said that he's curious about Raven's combat prowess. However, Raven could tell that he has other purpose. He refused to believe that Henry was that interested about someone's power due to his title as a War God. Sure, he might be curious but that's all, Raven's certain that anyone at Henry's caliber would go to such length in order to satisfy their curiosity over some petty reasons. 

"Well, I'm not really that impressive Senior Brother. I still have a long way to go. I would just embarrass myself in front of everyone." Raven made some random excuses in order to reply to Henry but in all honesty, he couldn't care less whether Henry realizes this or not. 

"Don't sell yourself short. Have some confidence." Henry kindly smiled, although his encouragement was very half-hearted. "Well, this clones will be dispersing. Carry on with whatever you wanted to do, just be careful to not go to the restricted areas."

"Understood. Thank you Senior Brother." Raven clasped his hands towards Henry as the clone dispersed into nothing. 

Raven placed his attention back at the light screen but he wasn't really paying attention to it. Instead, he was scanning the area within his spying range in order to check if there are someone spying on him. 

After finding out that there was none, Raven sighed but remained vigilant. He eventually finished watching Celestine's cleansing and saw that the light screen was displaying another individual. 

Raven eventually lost interest so he decided to move away from the screen of light proceeded to read some book titles and occasionally unfurl some scrolls. 

Some managed to pique his interest, he took some with him and read them on the nearest table.. This was how Raven spent his time as the rest of his fellow disciples tussled with some re-animated Space Beasts.