The Path of Ruin

The sword was full of cracks. The leather of the hilt was tattered, even the tip of one of the crossguards was missing.

It was trash in the truest sense of the word.

But instead of throwing it away, the man began to clean it with the utmost care. His dark green eyes were narrowed but sharp, not allowing himself to be distracted in the slightest.

And it was at this moment that he heard a knock on the door of his room.

He paused, pulled out the cloth he had used to clean the sword, and spoke in a deep voice.

"Come in."

The door to his room opened slowly, and then closed just as slowly.

He knew who had come in. And he was also waiting. So he let him approach without saying a word.

The young man with dark blue hair stood in front of him, then respectfully got down on one knee and bowed his head.

"I have returned from my mission, Master."

The old man, General Loukan... did not react in any way. His expression was flat, emotionless. And neither was his voice.

"I heard you failed, Matthew."

Matthew didn\'t deny it, didn\'t even look for excuses.

He just... admitted it.

"Yes."

The only reason he lost was because he lacked strength. And it was his own fault he was weak.

He had no excuse.

But Loukan didn\'t care too much about that. The mission was not something he had set up to succeed in the first place.

Matthew\'s real mission was something else.

"Kael... how do you think he is?"

"Talented. Even though he\'s not particularly strong, he tries to do things with great care and skill. His senses are sharp, he moves very carefully. He has more eon than I\'ve ever seen in anyone before, and its characteristics are so distinct that if I didn\'t know better, I\'d think he was a Pursuer, not a Follower."

He paused for a moment. His eyes narrowed, thinking of all the time he had spent with Kael during the mission.

"Besides... he seems trustworthy if he\'s on our side."

These were his thoughts about Kael. Nothing more, nothing less.

General Loukan was silent for a while. Then he let out a deep sigh.

"He\'s someone we can use, you say."

Matthew answered without thinking this time.

"If we can get him to trust us... yes."

"So you don\'t think he trusts us yet?"

"Yes."

Loukan was silent for a short while. Then he sighed a little, picked up the cleaning cloth, and began to clean his sword again.

"Blessing of Arcanoa and Path of Ruin... I want to use him."

A tiny smile appeared on his expressionless face. His eyes remained serious and focused on his sword, though.

"Start spending time with him. Make sure you trust each other. Once I feel he is completely trustworthy... I will start training him with you."

So far, Matthew had listened and accepted his Master\'s words without question, but now... he couldn\'t help but pause.

"No matter how powerful his Path is... I don\'t think he is compatible enough with you to train him, Master."

He was completely honest. There was not the slightest hint of jealousy in his words, not the slightest idea of getting in Kael\'s way.

General Loukan was the Savant of Sword. So, his knowledge and techniques were all related to \'sword\'. That\'s why his students had to follow the Paths related to the sword, or at least use a \'sword\'.

Kael\'s Path was neither related to the sword nor did he use a sword as a weapon.

It would have been far better for him to find a Master who was more compatible, and therefore more suitable for him, than General Loukan.

"Trust me, Matthew. You know best that I will not make a wrong decision."

Matthew raised his head and slowly stood up. His azure blue eyes were on his Master. And then... all he could do was sigh slightly.

"As you wish, Master."

Knowing that they had nothing more to say, he turned and walked slowly out of Loukan\'s room.

\'Kael, huh...\'

It seemed that... he would soon have someone to train with properly.

*******

Kael\'s days, as they often do, became monotonous pretty fast.

Training with Hakon, trying to improve his Follower ability, stepping into hell to improve physically, honing his chosen \'circulatory system\' method of using eon... and so on.

Yet he never complained. He accepted everything he was told without a single grimace and started doing them quickly.

And because of this, his progress was rapid.

Day by day, he grew stronger. And, additionally, as he continued to feed his curse, no matter how minimal, the eon in his body also increased and became of better quality in every aspect.

Finally, a week into the Halve mission... someone caught his eye in the garden of the Imperial Palace.

\'Isn\'t he...\'

Without thinking too much about it, he walked over to the person he had seen, who soon noticed him.

A small smile appeared on Kael\'s face. And so did the other person...

"Hi, Matthew... I didn\'t expect to see you here."

Matthew replied in kind, his azure blue eyes fixed on Kael.

"Likewise..."

Even though their mission had failed... Kael had come to trust him a little after what they had been through. It wasn\'t blind trust, of course, nor was it \'complete\'.

Just... he saw him as closer to him than the others, if nothing else.

"You\'ve been absent all this time. At least I didn\'t see you anywhere... Where have you been?"

Matthew widened his smile before answering the question.

"I had some... important things to do, let\'s say. I returned to the palace today."

And Kael was inevitably surprised to hear that.

But then he realized that his surprise was absurd.

Matthew had been more powerful than he was from the beginning, he had been a Follower for much longer than he had been. And Followers were important people... so of course he would continue to be sent on missions.

"But I\'m surprised, because... you\'ve improved. At least your eon doesn\'t fly everywhere like it used to."

Kael put one of his hands on his waist and smiled again.

"I\'ve been practicing. I have a long way to go... but thanks."

And then...

The two suddenly found themselves in an awkward silence.

Neither of them had much to say.

"Did you hear what happened to Halve?"

And finally, Matthew decided to bring up such a topic.

Kael paused for a moment.

Now that he thought about it... he had no idea what had happened to Halve.

"Do you have any information?"

"Yes. After Scher and our reports, a large team was sent to the town. They decided that rebuilding the town would be too costly. So the survivors received financial support and were relocated to any nearby town they wanted."

Kael inevitably felt a little relieved to hear that at least something was being done on behalf of the survivors. But Matthew\'s next words made him stiffen.

"There was also... some information about the Guardian."

"Oh..."

Now, that was... something he was really intrigued.

"What\'s the case?"

"About thirty years ago, there were rituals performed by a cult under the town. People from the surrounding area were kidnapped and sacrificed. The cult was trying to produce a seed. And, well, they did..."

So that was... the story of the Guardian.

"Then... That woman knew about the cult. And among the sacrificed were people she knew..."

"Most likely."

This... confirmed many of the suspicions he already had.

And with it, he found it even more difficult to see her as an enemy.

She was... just one of the countless human beings who had had their share of life. Only, unlike the majority, she had found the time to fulfill her dream, survived, managed to grow stronger, and finally succeeded.

Just like Kael was trying to do.

Actually... they were quite similar, huh?

But Kael had another thing on his mind.

"What about... Amar?"

Matthew shook his head from side to side without much response. Then, Kael let out a deep sigh.

Whatever he\'d been poisoned with... he didn\'t really want to face anything that could put a Seeker in this position again.

He couldn\'t help feeling pity for Amar, but at the same time, he couldn\'t care much for him. What had happened to him was something of a lesson.

Never trust anyone or anything without knowing what it is.

"Do you have any free time?"

He paused at Matthew\'s sudden question.

"Sort of, I was just about to go for lunch."

"How about eating together?"

And he was surprised by the offer.

He had thought that after their small talk, they would go their separate ways. Just like after Halve.

Matthew apparently thought differently.

"Sure, I guess."

But he wasn\'t inclined to refuse the offer either.

Why should he dismiss the existence of a friend with whom he could chat? He was aware that humans were social creatures, and the idea of a \'friend\' with whom he could occasionally communicate was not a bad one.

So they went to the cafeteria together.

They ate their meals in conversation.

And wished each other a good day before parting ways.

On the way back to the training room, Kael... sighed and looked up at the sky.

Matthew was... strange, yes.

But he wasn\'t a bad guy.