The Broken Halo

Chapter 979 - 978: My Hero [Magic Castle Bonus - ]

[A/N: This bonus Chapter is once again thanks to Honestreader2092]

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The pain beneath Rowan’s ribs eased, and his heartbeat settled. Celeste kept her hands against him until the damage inside his body had healed, then let the white light fade.

”How do you feel?” she asked, searching his face.

Rowan took a careful breath. Nothing caught in his chest.

”Better. All thanks to you.”

He pushed himself upright, noticed the blood beside his knee, and shuffled away from it. There was far more spilled blood than he expected.

Adrian passed him a towel. Rowan wiped his mouth while Sir Luke crouched in front of him.

”Boy, you have a frightening talent,” Luke said. ”A wonderful one, if we can keep you from killing yourself with it.”

Rowan lowered the towel.

”You think I can learn more techniques like hers?”

”I suspect you can learn almost any martial art you see. A clear demonstration might be enough for a simple one. Something more complicated could need you to see it two or three times.”

Luke glanced at Celeste before continuing.

”You watched her this morning, remembered the movements, and changed them so you could fight without her pistol.”

”I couldn’t use the gun,” Rowan explained. ”So I tried to leave those parts out.”

”You make that sound rather easy,” Celeste said, looking astonished. ”I spent months learning how those movements fit together.”

Rowan rubbed the towel between his fingers.

”It didn’t feel easy.”

”Nor were you performing it perfectly,” Luke told him. ”But you were making corrections as we fought. You’re learning from what you see and using it to improve what you already know. That interests me more than the copying.”

Adrian shook his head in disbelief.

”Would it work with a manual?”

”Possibly. He might understand a written method after reading it once or twice. We’ll have to find out.”

Luke returned his attention to the boy.

”If I had attacked you, I believe you would have started learning my movements too.”

Rowan almost asked him to demonstrate something. Then he looked at the bloodied towel.

”Does it only work with swords?” he asked instead.

”I don’t know. Spears, axes, unarmed techniques... we haven’t tested any of them. As for elemental spells, we’ll have to wait until your System awakens and you can sense and use Aether.”

Celeste sat back on her heels.

”I thought Adrian was exaggerating when he first told me about Martin,” she admitted. ”At this rate, you might turn out to be more talented than I am.”

Rowan gave a sheepish smile.

”I’d be happy just to finish your technique without needing you to heal me.”

”And that,” Luke said, his voice firming, ”is what we need to discuss.”

Rowan straightened.

”Your body is far too weak for what you’re trying to make it do. If you copy an art well beyond your limits, it can leave you permanently crippled. Some would kill you before anyone could help.”

The boy’s fingers closed around the towel.

He had felt his weakness against Martin and the students. After the medicinal bath, he could train longer and reach openings he used to miss. He had thought the problem was finally going away.

”I didn’t feel anything wrong at first,” he said.

”That’s part of the danger. The Saintess’s technique requires Aether. It supports her body through the movements and follows a particular route while she performs them.”

Luke pointed toward Rowan’s chest.

”You forced the physical movements without that support. The strain nearly ruined the pathways that will carry your Aether when you awaken.”

Rowan looked up sharply.

”My pathways?”

”Yes. Without the Saintess, you might have died here. Surviving with damaged pathways would have been little comfort. You could have lost the ability to cultivate properly.”

Celeste touched Rowan’s shoulder.

”They’re healed,” she assured him. ”You don’t need to worry about permanent damage from this.”

He nodded, but his hand lingered over his chest.

”Will awakening make it safe?” he asked Luke.

”It will strengthen you, but it won’t make every technique safe to use. You’ll have to learn which arts suit your condition, what they demand, and when to stop.”

Luke rose and picked up Rowan’s sword.

”Until your birthday, we’re working on your body and the basics. I’ll also teach you how to judge a technique before you attempt it. No borrowing moves from anyone else without asking me first.”

Rowan stared at him with wide eyes.

”You’re going to keep teaching me?”

”That’s what I just said.”

A smile broke across the boy’s face.

”Thank you, sir. I won’t waste your time.”

”I’m doing this because the Saintess asked,” Luke replied. ”And because I think you could be a great help to her one day.”

Rowan looked toward Celeste.

”I’d like that.”

”Good. But don’t expect lessons like Martin’s. You’ll be tired, sore, and thoroughly sick of hearing me correct you. I won’t lower the requirements because you learn quickly.”

”I don’t mind,” Rowan said eagerly. ”I want to get stronger.”

”You say that now.” Luke handed the sword to Adrian. ”We’ll see how cheerful you are after a few sessions.”

Celeste smiled at the exchange, then studied Rowan more carefully before asking a question that had been on her mind.

”Is Blackmoon the only reason you want that strength?”

Rowan’s smile disappeared.

He looked at his hands for a while before answering.

”Yes. I want to kill him.”

Celeste waited.

”But not only him,” he added. ”I want to wipe out the rest of the demons too. All of them.”

Luke gave an approving nod. Adrian’s expression warmed, and Celeste squeezed Rowan’s shoulder.

”I’ve seen what they do,” Rowan continued. ”Mum and Dad used to tell me about invasions, but I didn’t really understand. Then I saw those villages. And the battlefield.”

He swallowed.

”I don’t want them coming back.”

”Then you’ll need to become someone who can stop them,” Luke said.

Rowan nodded.

”My father used to tell me stories about someone who did. The previous Hero of Earth.”

Adrian stopped wiping the sword.

”The Halo of Earth,” Rowan added.

Celeste’s hand rested motionless on his shoulder. Luke glanced at her, then back at the boy.

”That isn’t a name you hear praised very often,” he said.

”Why not?”

”You must have heard what people say about him.”

”That he became a traitor?”

Luke nodded.

”Most people believe it. The accounts say he turned to something dark, that what he intended to do would have endangered humanity.”

”My father never believed that,” Rowan said, shaking his head.

”He knew the stories?”

”He’d heard them. He didn’t believe those were the whole truth.”

Luke let him continue.

”My grandfather told Dad other stories. Ones our family had been telling for generations, about how the Hero protected our ancestors during the wars.”

Rowan rubbed a dried spot of blood from his wrist.

”Sometimes Dad would tell me where they’d hidden, or how they’d escaped. Then he’d explain that the Hero had stopped the demons before they could reach them.”

His mouth lifted briefly.

”I used to ask for the battles instead. The parts where he fought something enormous.”

Celeste gave a small smile, but Rowan didn’t notice. He was remembering his father’s voice.

”Dad said there were families like ours everywhere. People who wouldn’t have been born if the Hero hadn’t protected their ancestors.”

”And that was enough for him to dismiss the accusations?” Luke asked.

Rowan hesitated.

”He didn’t say he knew everything. He just didn’t think he should forget what the Hero had done because people started calling him evil.”

Luke considered that without answering.

”I don’t know what really happened either,” Rowan admitted. ”But he killed the Demon King of Death. Even the people who hate him say that.”

Adrian nodded reluctantly.

”They do.”

”And he wanted to go into the Demon Realm and finish it. So the demons couldn’t keep coming here.”

Rowan looked toward his sword in Adrian’s hand.

”If I became strong enough, that’s what I’d want to do.”

He turned back to Luke.

”The Halo of Earth was my father’s hero,” Rowan said. ”He’s mine too. That’s the kind of person I want to become.”