A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1128 A Changing World - Part 6

1128: A Changing World – Part 6

1128: A Changing World – Part 6

Claudia, had first, had been apologetic, as she realized that her defending against Ingolsol with her own attacks had caused damage.

But now she in no position to have sympathy any longer.

It was all she could do to hold on to her own survival.

And yet, she indeed managed that.

Somehow, as they warred, it seemed that Claudia managed it even more.

It seemed as if Ingolsol’s strikes suddenly were beginning to have less weight, and that Claudia’s counter attacks were beginning to have a place for themselves.

By a different law than he, Claudia grew stronger.

She survived Ingolsol’s strength, and as time went on, she found progress through it, and she grew stronger herself.

So evening fell, on that final day, and their battles still continued.

The slight little spark of light that was Oliver Patrick’s remaining sense of self flickered weakly, as if about to go out.

The Fourth Boundary still had not been breached, and the time was up.

Still, the weapons of the two warring Fragments clanged together with a relentlessness.

“WENCH!

YOU HINDER ME!” Ingolsol roared, infuriated.

“IT IS MY ROLE!” Claudia barked back, strength in his force.

Every word that they spoke seemed to have the same force of the roaring wind.

It tore at Oliver’s mind. freēwēbnovel.com

It was undoubtable that they had grown stronger, the two of them, and now it could be well said that they were evenly matched – but at what cost?

The walls of Oliver’s soul were left as ruined as a besieged castle.

“…THE TIME RUNS OUT,” Claudia acknowledged.

They had promised to Samuel that Oliver would make his return just after sundown.

Only now, seeing the sunset, did she realize what a state they were in.

She reached for the Oliver that had relentlessly withdrawn into himself, and protected himself with all that she had, and she found nothing but the barest fading light.

His eyes seemed to be relics of the past.

They hadn’t been seen in days.

They laid open, as he groaned, and stared emptily at the sky – one pupil of solid gold, and one pupil of solid purple.

“HE’S DONE, WENCH,” Ingolsol barked.

“OUR BATTLE CONTINUES!”

“OLIVER!” Claudia shouted.

The minutes ticked by.

Oliver’s light only continued to grow weaker.

They would be late, it seemed.

Five minutes were left, that was all.

Ingolsol did not let up.

He cared not for the schedules of normal men.

He was fully enveloped in the war that he had started, and he was determined that he would not lose.

Four minutes, and Claudia was forced to fight back again.

Ingolsol came at her with the most ruthless of all the attacks that he could muster.

He’d been fed on all the experiences that Oliver had gathered the past years, and he had made them his own.

He hoarded them as if they were rare goods.

Three minutes.

Claudia did much the same.

She needed to.

In order to survive, she’d had to claw at pieces of Oliver, and make them her own.

Only then did she have enough strength in order to make her own sort of progress.

Two minutes.

Another one fell.

Claudia seemed to acknowledge that the recovery of Oliver was all but impossible.

The light that marked him as him had all but faded.

There was naught left but the faintest remembrance of the heat that it once had.

The least that she could do, she thought, would be to contain Oliver here.

One minute remained.

Ingolsol cackled, knowing that things would be going in his favour from this moment on.

There was naught neither Oliver nor Claudia could do to slow his war.

When Oliver’s light faded completely, then it would be his victory, for he could take all that Oliver had managed to keep defended for himself.

And then the time was up, and it was over, as suddenly as it had begun.

The war that they’d started was forced to an end.

A simple command, from a giant blazing flame that should have extinguished days ago, put both Fragments back in their place.

“Enough,” it said, blowing them apart from each other.

For Claudia to be surprised was one thing, but for Ingolsol to be surprised was another.

He was stunned, rooted in place by the power that had blown him back.

“What in the name of..?” Ingolsol began.

“Did you think that you were the only one to make progress, Ingolsol?

And you, Claudia?” Oliver said.

“Do you think that you Fragments and your divinity have nothing to offer me?

Just as you took from me, I have took from you.

Alas, it seems it was not enough.”

He stood up.

Somehow, he didn’t feel bitterness for his failure.

He had not entered into the Fourth Boundary, but when he clenched his fist, he had to acknowledge that he was far stronger than he had been the week before.

His gamble had failed.

He would have to admit that to Samuel and his men, but still he would not admit to himself that the experience as a whole had been a failure.

It was hard for a man to fall shy of his goals, especially a man like Beam, or Oliver Patrick.

Even as they accepted their failure, and they dismissed the bitterness, it was hard not to dwell on the fact that they had indeed missed.

To acknowledge progress for progress, rather than missing what had been achieved for lack of it measuring up all the way to the hopeful expectations… That was a skill that required learning, and one that Oliver knew that he certainly hadn’t mastered.

Even as he lifted himself up, and checked his body, looking at his hands and ensuring all was once more in order, he knew that his peace would not likely last forever.

It was a risky week he had spent, but still it was not enough.

Ingolsol had been allowed his free rein, and both he and Claudia had been allowed their war, and Oliver had survived it, hidden deep within his own soul, armoured against the violence.

He’d done all that, but it was not enough.

“Of course it wasn’t,” Oliver said.

“The Boundaries are ever elusive.

Aiming for them… Well, it hardly seems to make sense when your aim works out.

They’re always evading, as if to irritate you.

The fact that I haven’t been able to touch it makes more sense than if I had.”