THE SILVER PRESERVER

Inside the house of Emelia and Troy, captain Adam was inside after they welcomed him in after he suddenly appeared on their door step, both of them were surprised to see him as Troy saw him before so he knew that this was the infamous captain Adam Aravos.

"I offer you, and especially to you, Lady Emelia, my deepest condolences for the loss of your father.", Said Adam politely with his hand over his chest and a faint slight bow with his head that was barely noticeable, Emelia especially didn't know what to say from the surprise, she's standing before one of the most important and dangerous people in the kingdom.

"Thank you, captain, we're really honored to have you with us today.", Said Troy as Adam raised his head while looking at them seriously now.

"O-of course, I didn't know that you knew my father, he never told me before about knowing such a respectful man like you, thank you, captain.", Said Emelia in hesitation, she was actually questioning herself about this sudden visit.

"I'm sure that father didn't know captain Adam, could he be here to ask about what happened in Ebonmere? But that's not right, captain Adam's job revolves around the palace and king Walt only, why would he be interested in what happened in Ebonmere?", Thought Emelia while looking worried at Adam.

"You're welcome.", Said Adam politely while still looking serious.

"Sit down, captain, we don't want to be impolite, I'll make something for you to eat.", Said Emelia politely as Troy was going to guide Adam to sit but Adam raised his right hand to stop them.

"I'm fine, no need to bother yourself, lady, you can sit, by the way, I didn't know you were expecting a child so you need to rest well, congratulations in advance.", Said Adam confidently as Troy and Emelia was surprised that he noticed that Emelia was pregnant although she was still in her early months and she's not wearing tight clothes at all.

"Thank you, captain, not a lot knows yet but I'm trying to keep her safe as possible.", Said Troy before looking at his wife.

"You can sit down, Emelia.", Said Troy, Emelia was a bit hesitant about sitting while they're still standing but decided to listen to her husband.

"I'm not relaxed about this visit, he might be trying to know what happened in Ebonmere and Emelia wants to protect this hunter and the hybrid, I can't let her down after losing Miller.", Thought Troy while looking directly at Emelia's eyes, they could clearly understand each other.

"I actually came here to ask you some questions about the horrible incident that happened two days ago at Ebonmere, sorry again to remind you with that.", Said Adam politely but in the same time Emelia was feeling that Adam is so serious right now but he's just keeping the officiality.

"Captain, my wife has already told the officers all what she knew about although she was barely in a good condition to talk, I don't think she's ready for anything more after Miller's funeral except resting, I don't mean any offense of course.", Said Troy politely while defending his wife.

"I know what happened, Mr. Troy, but you said it, she was barely in a good condition to talk, maybe she missed something, unintentionally of course.", Said Adam before looking seriously at Emelia who was getting worried gradually.

"Sorry again, lady, but are you sure you know nothing about what happened?", Asked Adam politely, Troy decided to let Emelia talk.

"Indeed, captain, I'm sure that I've missed nothing.", Said Emelia while trying to look confident.

"And about the hunter and the hybrid that was with him, I heard they made a quarrel with the missing lumberjacks, all of the lumberjacks and the hunter along with the hybrid suddenly disappeared the same night of the accident, since you are Miller's son and he was the closest one to the hunter, didn't you notice anything wrong?", Said Adam seriously.

"No, captain, I said all what I know to the officer in Ebonmere, Jaxith and Irene left before the sunset, my father and I personally bid them farewell, they got nothing to do with what happened that night.", Said Emelia while trying to hide her nervousness, Adam's experience and cunning was enough to detect that she was lying, he smiled at her, this smile made Troy and Emelia even more nervous.

"So you know nothing about the warehouse at Ebonmere's east border?", Asked Adam while still smiling and Troy was surprised after hearing that, this smile was a tool to confuse his suspects and put them under mental pressure, to tell them what he knows gradually not all at once.

"How does he know about the warehouse? There were no bodies found except outside the inn, all the bodies that I saw at the warehouse that night wasn't there the next day when we were on our way back to Bernia.", Thought Emelia.

"No, what does this warehouse has to do with the murders?", Asked Emelia innocently while she started rotating her fingers around each other in tension and Adam noticed that too.

"Looks like you're hiding something my lady.", Said Adam boldly.

"Captain, I'm sorry but you're talking to my wife now and I think you're putting unnecessary pressure on her, Emelia already said all what she knows and no need for that interrogation manner with her.", Said Troy seriously as soon as he felt that Adam was intensifying the conversation in unacceptable manner for his wife.

"Mr. Troy, I got my ways to know if someone is lying to me or not, your wife started getting tensioned and moving her fingers continuously around each other nervously just after I mentioned the part of the warehouse.", Said Adam seriously while looking at Troy.

"That's her habit, captain.", Said Troy boldly.

"Maybe.", Said Adam before smiling back to Emelia, the same sly smile.

"I don't want to put any pressure on you, lady, maybe you truly know nothing but getting nervous like that is only for someone who's trying to hide something.", Said Adam while still smiling.

"I'm just still nervous about your visit, captain, your prestige and presence are enough to confuse us.", Said Emelia politely.

"Thank you for the respect, so back again to the warehouse, you said the hunter and the hybrid left the village before sunset.", Said Adam.

"Indeed.", Said Emelia.

"And they didn't go to anyplace except the inn while they were staying with you?", Asked Adam.

"Sometimes Irene was out during the day having fun with some of the village kids, except that they left the village without wandering around anywhere else.", Said Emelia.

"Weird.", Said Adam while looking at Troy.

"What's the weird thing, captain?", Asked Troy, Emelia felt afraid again.

"I didn't know that the village kids like to play in the warehouse.", Said Adam while smiling cunningly!

"What do you mean, captain?", Asked Emelia in fear, Adam turned to look at her.

"The hybrid was in that warehouse, lady, and from what I've found she lost control again there, the same like what happened at the bedroom in the inn during their first night at the inn, but it wasn't on a vast range this time, perhaps someone was controlling her, and looks like the hunter didn't like what happened, say I'm wrong.", Said Adam seriously while his smile gradually faded away.

"Captain, I really don't understand what you're talking about.", Said Emelia while her fear is reaching the peak, her heartbeats are increase rabidly.

"We better cut the chase, tell me what really happened cause that hybrid is more important than you think and the hunter is hiding something dangerous.", Said Adam seriously and in a cold manner, Troy couldn't take it anymore.

"With due respect, captain, I can't tolerate someone calling my wife a liar even though if he was someone as respectful as you, my wife is a pregnant woman that has just lost her father in a massacre at Ebonmere that no one knows the person behind it, sorry, captain, but she suffered more than enough to bear extra false accusations.", Said Troy angrily while talking to captain Adam, Emelia was sitting speechless after hearing her husband's firm attitude against one of the most important men in the kingdom, someone who can change anything by the king's order, that's why she married him, he truly loves her and will do whatever it takes to protect her.

On the other hand, Adam stood boldly while looking at Troy talking angrily before looking back at Emelia who was afraid to meet Adam's eyes.

"As I told you before, I can detect if someone is hiding something from me.", Said Adam boldly while looking back at Troy who didn't like what he heard now.

"Troy, relax, we don't want captain Adam to think we're impolite.", Said Emelia politely while looking at Troy who looked at her in worry, Adam noticed the tension in the atmosphere but suddenly another thing caught his attention.

"ADAM, DARK ENERGY OUTSIDE, ON YOUR WEST.", Said Guiscard in his royal sound, Adam is the only one who can hear his bound spirit so no one heard Guiscard, Adam looked in worry at Emelia because she was the one on the west!

"GET DOWN!", Shouted Adam seriously while a faint silver illumination emitted from his left hand while moving towards Emelia before suddenly a great explosion from Bethra's ember destroyed the house in a second like a bomb!

People were screaming outside while running away as they witnessed what a single spell of dark energy can do, and that's not a simple spell, that's a one created by a hell grade dark caster blessed with Bethra's blessing, Vossler stood there silently while watching the house burn in green flames.

The screams of the people were filling this part of the district, people around were leaving their houses in a hurry while looking at the hooded dark caster standing in front of the burning house.

"I'll widen my field to decrease the heat pressure on both of you, especially your pregnant wife.", Said a familiar voice, Emelia was opening her eyes gradually, she was seeing a lot of green fire around her but there was a strange silver semi transparent field around as a barrier keeping the fire out, she noticed someone in front of her, she was laying on her left side on the ground so she was only seeing the hem of a silver coat nearly touching the ground and dark brown boots, is that Adam who is talking? She wasn't focusing well because the explosion nearly made her lost her conscious.

"I'll create an opening inside my field so you can pass between it with your wife without touching the fire as the field will keep pushing the fire away, just avoid touching the field, the silver Avion energy is very dangerous and can cut you easily.", Said Adam, his voice is getting clearer now, Emelia suddenly felt someone carrying her, that's Troy's grab, what's happening?

"What's happening, captain?", Asked Troy, Emelia gradually averted her head to see Troy but she wasn't able to open them up well yet and the heat was intolerable.

"She's hiding something and I know that you too are hiding the same thing, she's targeted by a dark caster with Bethra's blessing, escape now and I'll talk to her later after I deal with the one outside.", Said Adam, Emelia was hearing everything and was afraid, she grasped the shirt of her husband in fear and immediately Troy knew what he should do, his wife is in danger and afraid, if it wasn't for Adam they would have been dead, so it's a second chance for him to get her out safely.

"WE NEED HELP, SOMEBODY CALL THE SOLDIERS.", Shouted one of the men while helping the others to escape fast, when a dark caster or a demon is seen within a town, city or even a village it's considered a complete terror for the citizens, either the dark caster or a simple demon can take many lives before someone strong enough is around to stop him.

Vossler looked at the people running away and listened to their cries.

"WE NEED A SPIRITUAL KNIGHT OR DIVINE CASTERS, NORMAL SOLDIERS WILL DO NOTHING.", Shouted another man while getting a woman with her kids of a nearby house, Vossler's expressions were so disgusted.

"Your pitiful cries sicken me to the core.", Thought Vossler before raising his left hand and a green fire ball was created above his shoulder and getting bigger, one of the people saw what he was doing, he was going to blow them!

"RUN!", Shouted the first man.

"QUIET!", Shouted Vossler before he released the Bethra's fire ball towards the group running away! The men at the front closed their eyes in fear before suddenly the same silver semi transparent field was created and striked Vossler's fire ball causing it to explode and the bits of the silver energy scattered away.

"What?!", Thought Vossler while looking confused before gradually his expressions turned into fear as he noticed that a strong circular field was created inside the remnants of the house on fire and started expanding strongly pushing the fire away from the house.

"No way, that only means one thing, since there's no one else to use the silver Avion in this kingdom except him.", Thought Vossler in worry before he noticed that Troy was carrying Emelia from the side of the the remains of the house after the fire was extinguished by the silver field, he was going to act but his sight range for looking at Troy and Emelia was blocked by a fine looking double edged silver sword swayed to the side, Vossler gradually looked at the person swaying the sword elegantly like that, the one who rescued everyone around without any trouble.

"Adam.", Thought Vossler while looking angrily, Adam's hair and coat were moving by the act of the wind, scattered fire here and there behind him, the people running, Adam was walking boldly closer with a cold look towards the dark caster standing away, his sword was about 40 inches totally from the hilt to the tip of the sword, completely silver in color even the hilt grip doesn't look like it's leather as it's also silver, the guard above the grip was having a cross-guard with blue quillons extending on both sides in the form of a cross and in the middle between a blue gem lies( unlike the black titan with Jaxith which doesn't have a cross-guard at all and the guard is blatant and directly above it starts the blade with the golden mark that rotated in the fight with John Rascliffe), at the bottom of the grib a fine looking blue pommel was placed for supporting the weight of the sword while attacking or blocking, the blade was double edged and looking not so heavy as Adam was moving and raising it midair to guard all the people around him, the blade's width was about 1.25 inch, the sword was shining with the silver energy and looks charged and, hot?

Yes, it's temperature was high as there were strange waves affecting the sight around it ( due to light refraction).

"So you're truly after hybrid, zealot.", Said Adam boldly before stopping and leaving a distance between them, Vossler looked at Adam while looking surprised after hearing that but the hood was hiding his expressions.

"Did he really connect everything by now? Impossible, he must be still in doubt from the recent incidents, but appearing here must have proved it further for him, anyway, I need to buy myself more time while I get some spells ready to be able to escape him, I can't win in a single fight against Adam Aravos, that's impossible practically.", Thought Vossler before he started looking at several spots on the ground around.

"Your silence proves that I'm right, tell me, how did you know about that girl? Among all the hybrids you chose the most important one for the continent right now, that's not a coincidence as I'm seeing a lot of them lately, who's the rat, zealot? Maybe I'll spare your life after this.", Said Adam boldly while raising his sword and pointing it towards Vossler in a threatening manner.

"He's suspecting that someone is a traitor, I hope he doesn't reach Alphonse because the eye is on him now.", Thought Vossler while still counting his options, he must fight him until he creates the biggest spell, in other words, he needs to stall him as long as possible.

"Are you zoning out on me, heartless human?", Asked Adam while getting ready to attack, his left leg moved a bit away from the right one.

"Or are you thinking what to do now, I told you, talk and everything will be smoother, it won't matter that much because all of you are heartless people, come on.", Said Adam boldly, Vossler started getting annoyed from the heartless people mentions but he kept silent again.

"Your choice.", Said Adam before he tightened his grasp over the grip of the sword and the blue gem in the middle shined for a moment and Adam's body started shining silver before the sword shined even more and he swayed it in the air creating a strong silver slash that in high speed reached Vossler who immediately raised his left hand.

"VOLIANK!", Shouted Vossler before a wide green shield was created to protect him and the silver slash hit it and immediately the slash broke the shield but it was consumed too.

"I need to take care of his spiritual weapon, the silver judge, this sword can use the Avion energy the same way the silver sentinels used it, and he doesn't have a normal silver sentinel, he has a royal one, the strength of the attacks combined with this energy will be devastating, he broke my shield easily with a simple attack.", Thought Vossler.

"Heartless people? Is that what you think of us?", Asked Vossler angrily, Adam lowered his sword again and started charging it.

"Indeed, all of the Cragmoore zealots are blind heartless people that will do anything to be powerful under the name of faith.", Said Adam seriously before he launched another silver slash towards Vossler who did the same and used the same spell to protect himself before he found that Adam has already moved closer and tried to slash him but Vossler quickly moved to the side and Adam while his body was shining he went for another quick slash but Vossler stepped back and raised both his hands and immediately green fire was erupting from all over around him so Adam jumbed back to avoid the fire and Vossler lowered both of his hands and ushering them towards Adam then a surge of Bethra's ember was shoot towards Adam who didn't have time to react except for using his left hand to create a field around him which isolated the fire away then he started changing the shape of the field after Vossler finished shooting green fire, Adam was changing the field into a large tube with the end towards Adam being closed, he simply collected all the fire inside the field while rotating it then immediately with a move by his left hand the field shoot the fire back at Vossler before the field diminished!

Vossler was surprised by Adam's quick reactions and effective decisions but he quickly used his hands to control all the fire he created and swiftly moved his body in rhythmic manner close to a dance then lowered his hands swiftly on the ground before the fire seeped inside the ground and disappeared?!

Before Vossler could react he noticed Adam so close to him and going to stab him with the charged silver judge.

"RAAAAGH.", Shouted Adam seriously while delivering his powerful attack which immediately met another green shield but this time after it broke from the powerful silver thrust then the sword immediately shoot a silver ray of pure Avion energy toward the chest of Vossler who at hit was thrown away on his back with a little shockwave between the two men!

Adam gradually lowered his sword after the shockwave caused him to stagger a bit but it was nothing to make him step back, Vossler was laying down on the ground because of the strike of the beam of Avion energy which was released from the tip of the silver judge, he was silent but there was a strange dark energy leaving his body in the form of vapour, but there was something strange, he wasn't bleeding, how? A direct strike from a concentrated beam of Avion energy can penetrate buildings, how he wasn't affected? That's because a special ability for all the dark casters.

"He used up a layer of scarlet shroud to protect his body from my lethal attack, that's why I applied my attack without fear of killing him, I need him alive and thankfully it looks like he's not a veteran in dark casting, because until now he's using basic Bethra spells and this is a one layer scarlet shroud which means he will need few minutes to recharge this layer back to protect himself again.", Thought Adam while watching Vossler who started raising himself a bit while taking his breath, his hood has fallen down and his face is revealed, he was kneeling while looking seriously at Adam who was proudly standing with his sword ready in his right hand.

"That was a close call, if it wasn't for my scarlet shroud I would have been dead by now, and what's making it worse is that he's barely using his spiritual energy, he's reserving most of it in case I used stronger spells or there were others around, he's smart to use only his basic abilities like that to put me down, he still hasn't transformed into his spiritual form yet which means he's still holding most of his skills, improved physical strength, speed along with protection for his body, I need to get that spell ready faster because it's the reason I can't use my dark energy at the fullest so I'm depending on basic spells, it's the only reason to escape someone like Adam, maybe I can depend on other tricks while I get it ready.", Thought Vossler before looking at the pockets of his clothes, there were several black stones!

(Quick note about the scarlet shroud: the scarlet shrouds are defensive layers over the body of the dark casters that they can activate whenever they want to protect themselves from upcoming lethal attacks that they don't have time to react for, the layer can protect its user from a single attack only after it's activated, after that it needs time to recharge again by absorbing dark energy from the dark casters' body, in that time the dark caster should be careful because he might be easily killed by any lethal attacks as the dark casters although their immense power they are still physically equal to normal humans, except in specific cases that will be mentioned later, the number of layers in the scarlet shroud varies from a dark caster to another according to his experience and training that exact talent, also if the dark caster has a blessing then that blessing will affect on the scarlet shroud layers too, for example the offensive blessings as the Bethra's normally doesn't focus on spells that may enhance a defensive static talent like the scarlet shroud, that's why Adam is considering that Vossler isn't having extra layers to protect himself along with the basic spells part.)

"You didn't attack me after knocking me down.", Said Vossler while still kneeling.

"What are you implying to?", Asked Adam boldly.

"You could've killed me by now, look at yourself, you're talking instead of finishing a dark caster bearing Bethra's blessing, you sure know how dangerous and wide effective this blessing are, we can burn everything around in a matter of time.", Said Vossler while smiling, he's actually buying time for himself for two reasons, the first is to recharge the layer he lost, the second one is focusing on getting this complex spell ready.

Adam stood silent for a moment while eyeing Vossler boldly.

"I knew it, you don't want to kill me, you're still looking for answers and I'm your best clue, isn't that right?", Said Vossler in a sly manner, Adam started getting annoyed.

"You're already making me regret it.", Said Adam while swaying his sword to the side and getting ready to act again, Vossler didn't show how worried he's.

"All of you are worthless criminals without a heart that deserve to die in the worst possible way.", Said Adam angrily.

"Are you still believing that nonsense you're talking about?", Asked Vossler while looking angrily.

"Nonsense? You sacrifice the ones you love just to be able to use dark energy, the power of the demons, you crossed all the prohibited lines for nothing, you'll gain nothing at the end except misery and pain, like you always do, you'll die without anyone to cry on you.", Said Adam angrily, the exact religious topic between these factions are difficult, the difference on the beliefs between them is the cause of that, someone who believes that the gods are the reasons for everything good that happened to the humans while the other thinks that all of that is a scheme and the demons didn't receive any kind of justice.

"You know nothing about us, you know nothing about the tears we shed after losing our beloved ones, our faith is incomparable with your fake blind faith, you're just a bunch of delusioned people.", Said Vossler angrily.

"QUIET!", Shouted Adam angrily while looking super mad, the religious topic for the most of Plistura is the same, they can't accept anyone to talk about their religion like that, the gods for them is untouchable.

Adam immediately sprinted towards Vossler while his sword was shining again, Vossler calmly started creating green fire again while standing up before

BOOOOOOOM!

A huge explosion in the middle of the town that everyone noticed how strong the fight is going as a storm of green fire and Avion energy was rotating around each other with a strong illumination!