Part one:
It was the 20th day at the Aperture Temple, and the night had already fallen.
Nonetheless, it wasn't late yet. If it was summer, the sun would be visible for at least 3 more hours. It was time for dinner, and both Zafer and Skil were headed toward a nearby town to satisfy their hunger.
The town wasn't as big as Razihelnor, but it was still the 3rd largest city within the National neutral territory. The two friends had already investigated a big portion of the pubs and delicacies the city had to offer.
This time they found an interesting-looking pub decorated with fishing nets and anchors, revealing the type of food one could taste here.
"Can I order for you this time?", Skil asked.
Zafer wasn't the one paying for this trip anyway, so he agreed. Skil started listing through the menu as if he was looking for something.
"Have you ever tried octopus?"
Zafer frowned, "What's that?"
"It's an undersea animal. You will see", he put the menu down, "the National Security paladins use it as a badge".
"Just like we are using a four-pointed star?"
Skil nodded, "Yes, except they also use it as a strength measurement. The more tentacles someone's badge has, the more powerful the individual is".
Now, spotting a regular paladin was rare for a regular citizen, but a member of the National security? That was even rarer!
Though Zafer had ventured into the world of paladins, he was far from immersed in it to the extent of constantly being surrounded by such individuals. It was only natural he didn't know this fact.
Members of national security didn't wear a single badge representing the whole organization. Instead, there were five different versions of a single emblem centered around the octopus.
This "ranking" system, based on an individual's strength, differed from those in other factions, where ranks were divided into recruits and officers. It was known as one's Threat Level—and it was something taken very seriously.
"What's the highest number of tentacles one can have?"
"Six, and there is only one person designated with that badge".
"Only one?"
"Yes, and there is also only one person designated with 5 tentacles as well".
Zafer was shocked. "How is that possible?"
"Well, I don't know how they measure that stuff, but obviously not every paladin can reach such strength and power", or so he assumed.
"Their weapons must be equipped with every strongest rune…"
Skil laughed, "Oh no. The Threat Level doesn't have anything to do with one's weapons. It purely resembles one's combat and destruction capability".
This meant that no possessions like weapons or scripts were taken into consideration when deciding one's Threat Level.
Important note was that this didn't apply to one's anomalies, since those were considered to be a part of every human's physiology.
The Simple Physiology of Anomalies: Paragraph 11
The anomaly under serial number 7, the Adjustment, was the feature of the skin of its owner that allowed reality-alternating codes to be written on it. The codes had to be in ancient language which took decades to master.
As they made their way back to the Temple, walking through the leafless forest, an unusual aura began to radiate through the air. Only Zafer could sense it but dismissed it without a second thought.
It was only halfway towards their accommodation when they spotted a tiny figure appear on the dirt road in front of them. The moonlight could barely reach and illuminate the ground.
The figure wore Miyalin armor and was equipped with a sword made out of the same material. It was Arcanie!
They both halted.
"Well, your anomaly really did mess me up. I had a headache so strong I could not stop throwing up for 3 days".
Arcanie eyed Zafer down.
"Crap! I don't have my potions", Skil whispered at Zafer who already had his sword out.
"Drawing your blade? I won't kill you", she said calmly, "However, I will kill you", she pointed at Skil, "and everyone else in the Temple. So that only one suspect remains. I wonder who is going to get to you first. The National Security, or your beloved Temper?"
Zafer swallowed his saliva and it slowly descended his throat.
He didn't yet grasp how powerful Arcanie truly was, but if she could follow through on her threat, it would spell serious trouble for Zafer—especially since no one knew anything about him. Even Simra's sympathy was a mystery to him.
Also, until now, Zafer only saw regular guards patrol the Temple. This was because NS assumed that nobody was crazy enough to attack the Aperture Temple since it was located near the 3rd largest city within the neutral border.
If an attack happened, and an alarm was sounded, plenty of NS paladins could instantly teleport to the city and take care of the merciless attacker.
"Foolish woman", another mysterious voice came from the nearby darkness.
Both Zafer and Skill reflexively turned around to see the 4th officer Uk! He wore a Miyalin armour that resembled that of a samurai and had a long thin sword hanging from his waist.
It seemed that not all paladins were preferring axes over swords, however, just as Zafer thought of that, Uk stretched out his arm, and a Miyalin axe appeared in his palm out of nowhere.
"Sir Uk! I'm unarmed!", Skil informed him as he walked by. It was rather a shame to be caught in a situation like this. Good paladins never parted with their weapons, and Priest would have scolded him like never before if he found out.
Fortunately for him, officer Uk didn't care much about either the Skil or Zafer, but only about his target, neglecting Skil's announcement.
"Don't get in my way", he addressed Zafer
Arcanie frowned unsheathing her Miyalin sword and dashing towards Uk not wasting any time. Even she wasn't able to sense his presence. How long has he been here? Since Zafer and Skil first arrived at the Temple?
As the two fought, Zafer remained frozen, unsure about what he should do. Should he disobey and try to help, or just watch and admit that he was useless?
He clenched his sword, but Skil grabbed him by the shoulder, "Don't. It's an axe versus a sword". This implied that officer Uk would come out victorious.
The two were moving too fast for their eyes to catch every detail, with no chance tell who was winning. Neither Uk nor Arcanie possessed superhuman speed or strength, meaning that both had to have drunk a potion before they stepped out of the shadow.
There were only 3 major types of potions with different effects.
The blue one which enhanced one's reflexes and overall speed.
The red one was granting regenerative power and,
The purple one was enhancing one's raw strength.
The blue and the purple ones lasted 20 minutes, while the red ones lasted only 10. There were special places where one could buy potions, and the price was the same everywhere, as well as the dosage.
Zafer didn't know how much the dosage was in numbers, but it was approximately 3 big gulps for him. This information will prove to be meaningful later, as the speed at which one could consume a potion was highly important.
It was much easier to harm someone while they were consuming a potion, so it was in every paladin's best interest to keep the consumption period as short as possible.
A lightning bolt suddenly struck from the clear sky, crashing down directly on Arcanie—an attack triggered by one of Uk's axe runes. Her armor protected her from the damage, but there was another problem.
The strike neutralized all potion effects she had, forcing her to consume them again while simultaneously fighting Uk.
Zafer remembered reading about the rune in the Book of Runes and Curses.
It was called Purge and was able to summon lightning even from a clear sky on a single nearby enemy, resetting their potion effects and burning them, even though it was way weaker than the real lightning.
The rune could activate automatically, and also manually, as soon as the cooldown ended.
Nevertheless, this time Uk was unlucky, and Arcanie managed to create enough distance to drink the blue potion.
Now that she could move as fast as Uk, it would be somewhat easier to replenish her body with the remaining red and purple potion.
However, just as she took the gulps, Uk did something rather surprising. He unsheathed his katana, completely letting go of his Miyalin axe which fell on the ground.
Although he was over 50 meters away from Arcanie, he swung with his sword horizontally in the empty air.
By the point he returned his katana to its scabbard, a deep horizontal cut appeared on Arcanie's neck. Blood spilled down her throat.
Her head and neck were unprotected by the Miyalin armor.
"Damn it. Barely within my range", Uk scolded himself.
The vial slipped out of Arcanies palm, having the potion leak out on the fallen leaves. It was the red potion, and she was so close to consuming it.
The fight lasted only 8 minutes, and it was already over.
She fell on her knees, grabbing her neck and trying to catch a breath. But that was impossible. She was drowning in her own blood.
Even if she managed to pull another red potion out of her pocket and successfully drink it, it wouldn't change her fate. The wound would close, but her respiratory system would remain filled with blood.
That was after all how fragile humans are. Both anomalies and weapons were able to cause mass destruction, but a single cut across the throat, and one was dead. The same applied to the heart and the head.
No red potion could regenerate those 2 faster than the soul could leave the body.
Zafer came down running to Arcanie, kneeling down beside her.
Her chest was heavily rising and descending as fast as her eyes were filling with tears. Was this really what she deserved? Death? And this kind of one? He wasn't sure why, but he could not accept that.
He pulled a red potion out of her pocket, placing the vial on her lips, but she threw up most of it by coughing uncontrollably. Not like it would help her anyway.
"What are you doing?", Uk held his axe firmly.
Zafer could not take his eyes off of her, "I don't know. Maybe… we can just hand her to the National Security and have them deci-".
"That's impossible. Nobody cares about that piece of trash. Just leave her. Get up", he ordered.
Zafer exhaled, pushing himself to stand up, but then Arcanie grabbed him by the clothes—her pale blue face asking him to stay and keep trying, but that wasn't something he could do.
Not after the 4th officer of Temper ordered him. Just the mere act of him approaching her like this was enough to question his loyalty to the faction, and if not that, nobody really needed a fragile paladin who would act on his emotions.
He heartbrokenly pushed her hands, standing up to join Uk and Skil, overhearing their small talk.
Part two:
Supposedly all of this was already planned by Banana who knew how vengeful Arcanie was. Being robbed of the opportunity to plunder the 2nd strongest faction by a clueless nineteen-year-old boy was a humiliation.
It was only now that Zafer understood why Simra asked him to join Skil on this expedition, with Uk secretly following their every step.
It wasn't that Temper cared about the bounty or the past crimes she committed to the National Security, but simply that nobody liked her. She was a sly fox who betrayed and destroyed her own faction for her benefit.
Everyone in the Paladin community would be better off without a person like her.
The fallen leaves on the ground rustled and all three of them turned around to where Arcanie was still lying. Her body wasn't moving anymore as far as one could see from that distance, but both Uk and Zafer felt something strange.
She wasn't dead yet, and the reason behind it dawned on them very quickly.
"You have to be fucking kidding me", Uk frowned taking a step back.
A weird and disgusting gurgling sound resounded as Arcanie threw up all the blood throughout her mouth on herself. She then slowly stood up, turning around, showing her both eyes liquefied and leaking down her cheeks.
"What!", Skil was horrified, "I thought that dead people cannot turn into apparitions!"
Uk gritted his teeth, "They can't".
It turns out that she went inverse with her last breath.
The skin on her face started to solidify and horns punctured through her skull. She kneeled grabbing her sword, as if she was still self-aware and sentient. But she wasn't.
She wasn't human anymore. Everyone was born with random 3 anomalies that were at the beginning almost negligible in intensity, but as one trained, the strength and intensity of anomalies would increase.
An apparition on the other hand, had all 9 anomalies unlocked and boosted to a certain degree of development that was based on their former strength and the individual's former anomalous stamina.
Since Arcanie used to be an officer of one of the major factions, it was safe to say that her anomalous stamina and strength were formerly finely developed, but now, when she turned into an apparition, they knew almost no limits.
If a regular human turned into an apparition, only a skilled paladin could take it out, but if a paladin turned into an apparition, it was a death sentence.
This happened very rarely because paladins were somewhat resistant to mutating, but if it happened, it was a faction-level threat, being able to wipe cities from existence.
They indeed were very unlucky.
"Run!", Uk screamed.
The leaves on the ground scattered as the invisible wave of the air approached them, hitting the officer at the speed of the sound.
His body suddenly got pulled towards inverse Arcanie as if he were a magnet. It was the telekinetic power old Arcanie never had.
With Uk flying in the middle of the air, unable to control his body, the mutant raised its sword ready to slash right through Uk's Miyalin armor. Given his velocity, it was quite deadly.
Luckily, officer was able to kick himself off the ground, flying over the inverse Arcanie and rolling on the soil until hitting a tree.
However, the mutant immediately followed up, not letting him take a break. They went at it once again, but this time Arcanie didn't need to drink any potions. Her raw strength, speed, and regeneration were far surpassing that of Uk's potions; hence, the mutant could fight more aggressively.
Cutting its limbs was pointless since it could grow them back in seconds, and the only weak point was its heart which was protected by the Miyalin armor Arcanie wore.
That only left her head and neck, but as she currently had all 9 anomalies at her disposal, she could repel any attack that was meant to her face, just like Zafer, except in this case, it would immediately kill Uk.
That's just how strong each of her anomalies currently was. However, her technique and fighting skills remained the same, if not worse than before she turned into this abomination.
Unfortunately, the presence of all anomalies was making up for it, and even the 4th officer Uk stood no chance of fighting her. At least not without some sort of a special artifact or script, but those just weren't things paladins would walk around with.
"What should we do?!", Zafer panicked
"We should run! As far as possible from here!", Skil obeyed Uk's orders.
"No! I'm not leaving him!", Zafer unsheathed his sword, but Skil grabbed him by the arm's and pulled him aggressively.
"Are you out of your mind! We can barely see them!".
Both Uk and Arcanie were moving even faster than before, mostly because Uk was just being tossed around by her, trying his best to protect his vital points.
Zafer pushed him, "But he will die! I can see that much!".
Skil got frustrated, "He can't run away or teleport because the mutant would then target us! Let's go!"
This was true. The only reason Uk was still fighting that thing and not trying to get away from it was that he was afraid of leaving Zafer, especially Skil alone since the Priest cared about him a lot, and he was actually a contributing member of the Temper province.
He was a scriptman.
"So, if all three of us manage to vanish, what happens with that thing? Do you think it will go to the Temple or the city first?"
Skil went silent. This was also true. How many civilians would die before a member of the National Security appeared? Despite them not being on the territory of the Temper faction, the lives of people here were just as valuable as those in his country!
"We need to stop it here!", Zafer made his final statement.
At that moment Skil fell into a state of hesitation. He was so close to jumping on Zafer and dragging him away using force, but that wasn't possible. He was weaker.
Zafer rushed towards the apparition, waiting for the right time to jump in so that he didn't get in officer Uk's way.
He could not see them very clearly but relied on his senses, and as soon as he jumped into the battle, his skull was immediately pierced by a blade. However, this was exactly what he wanted to happen.
Since he wasn't lacking only speed, but also fighting ability, the only way he could help in this situation was to provoke the apparition to harm his face in as deadliest was as possible.
This was enough to automatically activate his anomaly, and the stab that should have killed him got repelled in a non-physical way.
Unlike the last time, however, he didn't hold back.
This almost completely emptied his anomalous stamina and was a blow that could kill even an experienced paladin. That was the whole point of his anomaly after all. The whole point of his innate gift.
The explosion lifted all the leaves off the ground and even ripped the nearby trees from the soil. The constant pounding between Miyalin came to an end, rendering silence.
As the leaves slowly fell like snow and dust settled, Skil could barely close his wide-opened mouth. It was the first time he had seen it.
"You did it!", Skil stared at Zafer who climbed out of the crater as fast as he could.
His face was sweaty, and blood poured down his eyes. This was a sign that he was close to overheating since his anomalous pool almost went empty.
It was the best he could do for now and unfortunately, itwasn't nearly enough to stop it.
The apparition still stood there, in the middle of the crater.
Unfazed.
"Fuck!", officer Uk's hope got devoured.
He spun his axe, summoning another lightning bolt, but that didn't knock down the apparition either.
It seemed invincible, but in reality, Arcanie was still there somewhere. She had no memory or any active cognitive function, but could still feel pain, most of which was actually coming from the transformation itself, rather than these futile attacks.
Zafer's bloody eyes were staring at his superior who was getting thrown left and right, and it was only Uk's skill and technique that were keeping him alive at this point.
The feeling of knowing that even his superior felt helpless in this situation, awakened a new emotion inside of him.
There was nothing he could do anymore. He looked at Skil and they both nodded in agreement. It was time to run and just hope for the best. At least they hoped that Uk could still survive and get away on his own.
However, a firm hand suddenly grabbed Zafer by the shoulder, preventing him from moving.
It was a man who was the same height as Skil but was brimming with strength. He wore a straw samurai hat and had a katana sword hanging from his waist, just like Uk did.
"This doesn't look that good", he observed the fight.
Zafer never sensed him approach, suggesting that his strength was at least on the same pair as that of officer Uk.
That was until he noticed the badge on the man's chest. If he had seen it yesterday, he would have thought that it resembled a monster from children's stories, but the more he gazed at it the more familiar it seemed.
It depicted a human skull with six tentacles unfurling from its jaw. They intertwined and slithered upward, some curling into the hollow voids of its empty eye sockets and coming back outside.
That was a badge of the National Security! The strongest one of them all! The man looked at Zafer seeing his condition and calmly told him and Skil to close both their eyes as hard as they could.
Almost reluctantly, they did so. Everything went black, and the sound of Uk being thrown around immediately ceased.
"That should curb it until someone from the extermination unit appears".
Unsure if they should already open their eyes, Zafer and Skil hesitated but then committed. They could see both Uk and Threat Level 6 guy standing next to each other, while the inverse Arcanie was pinned down to the ground with several Miyalin blades penetrating its limbs.
It was over in a blink of an eye. In the most literal sense.
"What do you mean? Lightning bolts falling from the clear sky, explosions… This is after all the 3rd biggest city in neutral territory near the 3rd biggest forge! I thought of coming to check earlier but had to go buy eggs before the store closed".
Uk said something in a lower tone to him—neither daring to look away.
"Yeah, sure. I have to go now anyway".
Zafer was baffled. Someone who was supposedly one of the strongest paladins in the whole Temper province was almost killed by an apparition, but the strongest one from the National Security not only restrained himself from killing it but did it in a couple of seconds.
"Is this the strongest elite warrior in the National Security?", he wanted to confirm it with Skil.
The latter nodded, "Yes. Wabler. Many consider him to be the pillar of the whole Pashtrik".
Zafer pondered for a few seconds, "he doesn't even seem to be that old".
Skil laughed, "How old do you expect him to be? After 50 one can only degrade and get weaker. His body is currently at its peak! The one who is actually talented is our officer Uk".
The one who almost lost his life? Zafer frowned.
"How old is he?"
Recalling how the apparition got him by surprise and how officer Uk managed to fight it off for several minutes, it was obvious to him that Uk indeed was one of the strongest paladins in the whole Temper.
"He lived to see 20 summers. Practically the same age as us".
The Simple Physiology of Anomalies: Paragraph 9:
The anomaly under serial number 5, the Iron Fist, was easily distinguishable by the extremely strong hand grip its owner possessed, with trained users able to crush Miyalin in less than a second…
…Even the strength-enhancing purple potion could only imitate a fraction of its power.