After getting his license, Corven noticed it was getting late out.
"It's getting late," Corven noted, as he exited the Adventurer's Guild Building, seeing the rising shadows around himself and the setting sun in the distance. "I should probably go. Master will be waiting for me. I cannot be late."
As Corven made his way out of the Adventurer's Guild building, he had only just pulled out the map scroll his Master, Athan, had given him to find the training area, when he bumped into something — or, rather, someone — solid.
Looking up, Corven saw five people, each with varying hair tones of dark, red and dirty blond, with hulking forms, solid and tall, around 5'10 to 5'11 each, the tallest being one whom Corven considered the leader — A blond, soft-faced guy, who, like his brethren, wore leather chainmail armor, all Viking style, with the helmet, boots and everything else Vikings seemed to wear. He had brown eyes and fair skin, similar to his brethren. He had a sword in one hand and a shield in another. One of his brethrens had twin axes; another a bow and arrows. Two of them were daggermen, carrying what looked like daggers in hand and on-body.
"What is it now?" Corven rolled his eyes lazily, annoyed with his own luck. He's read enough webnovels to know this was going to be a "Young Master" moment. He was getting tired of those at this point. "What do you guys want now?"
The group began surrounding Corven, locking off all exits.
"You are a powerfully gifted young cultivator," the one Corven assumed to be the leader said, fixing Corven with wide eyes from behind his forests of a beard. Corven didn't like the sound of his voice; it irked him. "On behalf of Gaetir, we offer you a position in our ranks, by order of our Chieftain."
Corven fixed the man with a blatant look of disregard that the man seemed to think was shock.
"Yes, be shocked, youngling, for the one of Gaetir' Great Chieftain himself invites you into his ranks," the leader viking said, chuckling loudly, along with his crew. "Let us rejoice and drink mead tonight in celebration. For tomorrow, we bare arms and—."
"No, thanks," Corven said, already walking away past the enclosure of warriors before they could even react.
"Yes, yes, it tis' truly an—- Wait, what?!" the viking leader went wide eyed, but Corven had already side-stepped the warrior, completely ignoring the group as he went on his way. Eventually, the leader viking got over his shock and spoke, voice dangerously heavy. "It was not just an offer, little warrior. It was a command. You are coming with us."
Suddenly, Corven was surrounded by the group of warriors in the blink of an eye, cutting off his escape. The area was heavy with the aura of the warriors surrounding Corven, threatening to force Corven onto his knees, if they had to. They had orders. They were going to follow them. End of story.
"What the Chieftain wants, the Chieftain gets," the redhead archer viking notched an arrow.
"And the chieftain wants you," the axe wielding dark haired man said, hefting one of his axes.
"Conscious or not, ya comin' wit' us," one of the daggermen said.
"Yea," echoed the other.
"I don't even know who you are,"Corven said, eyebrows twitching.
"We are the Pillaging Five, of Gaetir," said the leader, stepping forward, hefting his sword onto his shoulders, shield in hand. "I am the leader, Thorin Blacksbane. That archer there is Thorneye Briar; the axe maniac over there is Siq Slasher, and the two daggermen twins are Stevens and Buchan Bearclaw, aka, the Slicer Twins. We're all Ascendant Stage fighters. You have no chance of winning against us, should you choose the fun route. Just come with us willingly and you can keep your belongings. You have my word."
Corven squinted his eyes. He was thinking of ways to rip that bastard's arrogant smirk off his face. He wanted to rip the man to pieces, maybe find new ways to murder him using his shadow element. It was something he might just do, honestly. Or, maybe…
""Hey," said Thorneye Briar, her red hair long as she was muscled. She gave Corven a wink, her bow aimed at his chest. "No sudden moves, or you get an arrow to the chest. As a powerfulcultivator, you'll probably survive that; you'd just be a little worse for wear."
"Can't we kill 'em, Boss," said Siq Slasher, his tongue lapping at the air like the sickest of snakes. "I would give anything to slice him up, just a little bit."
"Restrain yourself, Siq," said one of the twins, Stevens. "The Chief wants 'em alive, so."
"We can't kill 'em right now," said the other twin, Bucchan. "But we can."
"Fight 'em if hav'ta," Stevens finished.
"Preferably, I'd rather get through this peacefully," said Thorin, with a thoughtful expression. "Just come with us willingly, and we won't have to fight you. Like I said before, we're all Ascendant Stage fighters, so there's really no point in resisting."
Corven had his head down, hair covering his eyes, his face unreadable. "What part of 'I'm not going with you' did you all not understand… ," Corven's voice trembled with an unspeakable rage. "I said I wasn't interested, and now you want to force me? Fine, I suppose it's time to have some fun, huh? I've been wanting to try an experiment anyway. I'm going to turn you all into Shadowbrorne. You'll be the first to be blessed by yours truly. I'm so excited."
This response startled the five warriors, even Siq Slasher the Psychopath. Before they could even react, Corven dashed at the archer, quickly as a blur disarming her, he forced her onto her knees, his thumb on her forehead, eyes concentrating. Willing energy from the Progenitor's Seed in his head to course through his body and into hers, Corven watched as her tan skin turned pale white, with slightly blue-ish purple tint, her hair turning completely violet black instead of its usual vibrant red. Suddenly, her cultivation also skyrocketed; she was at the beginning stages of Legacy rank, but, suddenly, she was at the Peak of Legacy rank, completely skipping mid and high Legacy rank, before settling on an inbetween state of power as shadows and darkness swirled around her, forming a cocoon of darkness and shadow.
"So that's how it is," Corven opened his shadow, and Thorneye Briar's cocoon sank inside. "I will check on her later… Right now, though….," Turning around to face the others, Corvene had a devious smile on his face. "Who's next?"
The other four were too shocked to speak. They've just witnessed their companion … undergo some kind of transformation before being whisked away! What else could they be besides shocked?
"What…what did you just do?! Yah!" Thorin charged at Corven, furious. "I'll kill you!" Suddenly, Thorin was enveloped in a strange red aura. "Blessing of Tyr, I call upon thy to –!"
"Cap'n, watch out!" came Siq Slasher's voice, but he was too late.
Corven leaped into his own shadow, reappearing directly behind Thorin before he could finish speaking, and kicked him into the stone wall of the building next door. Then, looking at Siq Slasher, brought out his mid-level Demigod Dual Blades, Greenfang Blades, and charged at the charging slasher maniac.
They met head on, Corven using his agility and practice of Kor'kon to flip and disorientate his opponent with his usual dual sword movement technique. Every slash of Siq's axes was met with a slash of Corven's own blades. From their clash, came many cuts and punctures, though mostly this came from Corven to Siq; Corven still sustained minor injuries.
Now, Corven was not the most agile combatant. His moves were stiff and visibly unrefined. If he had given his agility in combat a number between 0 and 100, hee would have given it a 27, honestly. But he knew he was still quite agile, agile enough to handle these guys…. Or, at the very least, Siq Slasher, anyway.
Blocking an axe to his neck, Corven leaped backward and threw a kick Siq's way, to which he blocked, but the force of the kick sent Siq flying hard into a tree not too far away.
It was then that the twins. Steven and Bucchan Bearclaw decided to charge forth, but Corven had no desire to prolong the fight more than necessary. Instead, he summoned two shadow clones who took care of these twins using shadow tendrils to bind them in seconds, helpless.
Corven walked over to them, placed a hand on each of their foreheads, willing energy from the progenitor Seed to enter their bodies, causing a similar transformation to occur to them that had Thorneye. Their skin turned pale white, with blue-violet tints; their eyes turned a sharp violet color and their cultivation momentarily skyrocketed from Beginner lvl Legacy rank to Peak Legacy rank, and was still climbing, even as Corven saw them both become enveloped by a cocoon of purple and indigo energies.
Corven immediately sent them both into his Shadow Space via his own Shadow, just in time for him to look up ahead to see Thorin Blackbane and Siq Slasher each getting up from where they had been kicked, equally enraged.
"What have you done? What have you done?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!" Thorin was pissed as he charged forward.
"You're the bastards that ambushed me," Corven and his clones said in unison, already preparing to charge the man.
"I'll cut you up into pieces, and then use you as painting materials," exclaimed a crazed Siq, joining Thorin in his charge towards Corven. "You'll make a gory crimson hue! Hehehe!"
Corven's brow twitched at this. 'What the fuck…' he thought, an uncomfortable shiver running down his spine. "This one is insane…".
Corven summoned three more clones for this battle, making his summoned clones five. Instead of charging forward himself, he willed them to go in his stead. He decided to stay back and observe.
Swords and axes clashed with short words and clones clashed with a duality of fighters, leaving the duo of fighters shocked. They had not expected to face such a tricky opponent. For every clone they pushed back, another attacked in their stead. They eventually realised that Corven wasn't just an ordinary person they had been sent to apprehend. They couldn't afford to hold back against him, they'd realized. If they did, they would die, or worse: Face the same fate of their comrades.
Locking eyes, nodding to one another, Thorin and Siq Slasher released their power — Siq, a mid lvl Legacy rank cultivator, and Thorin, a high lvl Legacy rank cultivator — Their aura sent Corven's clones stumbling backwards, with three of them turning into wispy shadowy smoke.
"I see, so they were holding back their real strengths…," Corven nodded, his face blank and expressionless. "No matter, this ends the same, either way."
"Now, Severing Technique: Twn Axe Razors!" shouted Siq Slasher, slashing a white and red "x" into the air with his axes, his tongue out like a loppy tongued dog.
But Corven paid him no attention. He was looking at the darkening evening sky as he sighed comfortably.
"To back his attack, I'll use Sword of Tyr, Special Grade: Barrage off Sword Strikes!" yelled Thorin, his blade releasing multiple arcs of sword slashes with the stroke of his hand. "Now die!"
Corven closed his eyes, even as the attacks bypassed his remaining shadow clones, turning them to smoke, and continued on towards him. Then, right before they could reach him, he smirked. "You're already too late. You belong to me. The Sun has set and darkness reigns. I summon…Shadow Dome!"
Then, out of nowhere, the shadows all around Corven began to twitch and expand, forming a dome of shadows the size of a three story building that arose around the trio of fighters. In the chaos, Corven thrusted his hand high, forming a wall of shadows that caught his enemies' attack, swallowing it whole in its entirety. The duo attackers watched in horror, as their attacks were swallowed up by the shadows, leaving Corven completely unharmed.
"Wha–?!" Thorin was flabbergasted.
"You came here with the intention to capture me , yes?" Corven asked, materializing directly behind Thorin, who seemed to shiver in fear. He tried to back away, but found he couldn't. As hands and tendrils of shadows grabbed onto him, sealing him from all movement, keeping him in place. "So, then, you came prepared to be captured yourself, right?"
Corven's cold, heartless voice and his words caused Thorin to audibly gulp, as Corven forced him into the same process as his brethrens. He willed his cocoons to sink into the ground and enter his Shadow Space, alongside the others. Corven then turned to a shivering Siq, who had already dropped his axes in horror.
"What… a-are you?" was all Siq could ask as he too was converted.
"I am… Darkness," was all Corven said as cancelled his Shadow Dome, and headed out into the forest for his training with master Athan, completely unaware that eyes were watching the whole thing…