I took my stance while Edward settled his feet into the ground, facing off against the beast.
I couldn't feel my legs any longer, but neither did I crumble under the weight, nor run back into the carriage.
If it was anyone else... but Edward I need to watch him.
Why is he not moving... is he really going to defeat it using just three techniques?
Edward stood still, his blade pointed at it—even the Roc had to be confused.
It was a meager human that opposed it.
My entire sight was taken away.
All I could see were the brown clouds flying—moving toward us.
It swallowed all it passed, rocks were lifted, tree roots were revealed—nothing was left in its wake.
Edward had been swallowed, almost reaching the horses.
And I would be next.
I pulled my arms toward me, and covered my entire upper body, hiding behind my own legs.
It was all I could do, it had reached me before I could even turn around.
I hope the rest wi—
I heard laughter around me.
But that was all I heard—the cloud had already passed over us.
The Roc had risen into the sky with a single flutter.
But everybody and everything was still around me—around us.
Nothing had been taken away, a circle of trees and rocks had formed around us.
With a red barrier separating the destruction and where we stood.
My head spun to the carriage, but all I saw was Katherine sitting with her legs crossed, smiling at the girl that slept opposite of her.
But I knew it, she had done it—she halted the destruction.
Nothing had happened, not to us and not to her.
It was her essence.
One filled with warmth, but unlike Wode or Caleb—a different type of warmth.
A cozy one.
A painful one
A comfortable one.
A pitiful one.
A beautiful one.
"One!" Edward screamed, his entire body was left covered in dust.
His scream was followed by the appearance of a gaping hole in the sky.
The Roc had opened its beak—big enough to cover the entire mountain top.
Able to eat us and more.
But it knew better than that.
But my eyes weren't focused on the Roc—the thing that drew more of my attention was Edward.
He simply stood still, the only movement he had made was his scream.
An attack is coming, what is he going to do?
As I thought that something appeared in the beak of the Roc.
It was a ball.
One that was see through.
Or at least—it should have been.
It was compressed tightly enough that not even light could pierce it, bending around it, and revealing its existence.
Before I could register it the ball had reached the tip of his beak.
The attack was coming.
Now!
Nothing could be heard.
Nothing could be seen.
The ball had simply disappeared.
And Edward had moved.
A clean hole had ap—
There was a blast loud enough to tremble the earth we stood on and the sky it flew in.
As if the world itself hadn't realized it, sounding the attack only after it found its target.
A path had been carved into the mountain road.
One big enough for me to horizontally lie in.
It diverged right in front of Edward, it didn't reach him—penetrating a straight hole upwards into the mountaintop.
Unknown how deep it went.
After its attack the Roc had descended onto the flat ground underneath it.
"Two!" He screamed after it landed.
The cracks in the ground beneath him reached my feet as he lunged forward, readying his finishing attack.
He had appeared right next to its neck, his presence itself was enough to dwarf it.
Its eyes had followed what seemed invisible to me, anticipating his arrival.
That same instant it had encircled him with its wings.
Its feathers had straightened, pointing at its target.
A black blur appeared as the feathers left its wings, covering every inch where Edward could be.
He was unable to dodge them all.
And the moment it opened its wings, nothing was left.
A crater was left in the mountain as it swung its wing past the spot Edward stood.
But he didn't leave a single trace behind.
The only trace left was that of a light shooting up.
The sound of a blade cutting right through the air, followed by the sizzling sound as if the air itself was getting boiled.
It had happened right in front of me.
The place where Edward was supposed to stand.
No.
It was the place he still stood at.
He had never moved.
A golden light appeared.
It spread from the base of the blade, to the top of the mountain.
Illuminating all in its path, swallowing all the shadows the Roc brought with it.
The light brought a heat with it, hot enough to make the rocks smoke next to it.
But cold enough to give us its warmth.
This was Edward's essence.
"Three."
A light struck down, leaving no sound behind, as it made the air itself smoke.
The Roc moved its wing, but all it managed was maybe a feather's length.
It was split right through, leaving only its burning corpse behind, and the rumbling that came with it.
The strike replaced the path the Roc had carved, for a bigger one.
One reaching from the road down to the cliff.
But not a second had passed, before a thinner line appeared.
Both sides were left equal in height.
It had been filled with molten rock, sealing it in place.
The road's descent had halted.
That was its natural course.
Edward still stood there.
Not a single footprint surrounded him.
He hadn't moved a single step.
I was able to taste the dust and the burnt corpse on my tongue.
I looked around me, and saw everybody simply—smile.
"Hahaha, that is what our master does." The guard said to the other guard.
Both laughing as they spoke.
Is this normal to do?
"Tjer, what did I show you just now?" Edward passed by me, with the small dust parts tearing my eyes up as it burned my nose.
"That you are too strong..." I had to keep my own mouth closed as I looked up at him.
"Hahahaha, you are right about that—but no that was not what I showed you—"
"Did I go too big...?" He muttered, looking up to the sky, ruffling his beard that didn't go past his chin.
I simply looked at him as he looked at the scenery he had left behind.
"Okay Tjer, those were the three techniques of your family's swordstyle—The Veylan swordstyle."
"Veylan?"
"Yes Tjer, that is the name of your family—Tjer Veylan."