NOVGO.NET Chapter 552 Ignis
To that end, I let go of Ayame’s hand, and on my mental command, my Soul Reaper blinked out of my storage ring and flew right into my hand. I pointed it at the woman in particular, ignoring the doggy.
“The Consortium is about to face a grave challenge that could see our future as a collective ruined, yet you feel the need to bark at me for no apparent reason. You shouldn’t take your frustrations stemming from your inability to rank up out on others; it’s what they call fatherless behavior. Grow up, woman. If you can’t do that much, then cease your antics and just come at me like a proper combatant. Let’s duel. I’m ready.”
The five of them were baffled at the sight of my saber when I pulled it out without using my hands. Its ethereal, ghostly blue flames and ominous air didn’t help make my weapon appear less otherworldly either.
However, when my words reached their brains, my sword no longer seemed to be that interesting. Well, to be fair, the three background character ladies didn’t seem hostile to me. Their expressions told me they didn’t wish to fight a man with my reputation. Furthermore, although Ayame was much less known as Heralds didn’t have a role to play in the tournament event, Blade still had a reputation of her own. She’d slain numerous people in the elimination game, displaying her combat genius.
Their opinion wasn’t asked by the de facto leader of the group, to their dismay, who stomped her feet on the ground and screamed, “We’re as strong as Eclipse Enforcers; the higher-ups are just too stingy with permitting one to rank up! You’ll see how difficult it is! Just because you had a nice performance once, don’t think you’re such a big shot!”
Once Selene 2.0 was done with throwing her temper tantrum, she let go of Ryker’s arm, who instantly dashed at me as soon as his leash was released.
I was more than ready to meet his attack head-on. With a firm slash, my blade sliced through the air, unleashing a powerful attack.
However, before my blade could connect with his fist, a deafening bang resounded as a result of a fiery figure descending from above, slamming his foot onto Ryker’s back and pinning him to the ground effortlessly.
At the same moment, he reached out and caught my blade mid-swing with his gloved hand. To my surprise, my weapon didn’t harm him. I didn’t use all my force in the attack, but it was meant to be a mighty one. A man catching my blade this effortlessly wasn’t within my expectations.
Truly, this world was full of surprises.
“Hoho… youth, always so energetic.”
The man chuckled with his deep and resonant voice, carrying an air of undeniable authority.
He was a rather imposing figure; his black coat was outlined in dancing flames, and his fiery orange sunglasses radiated heat, hiding his eyes. While his charcoal-gray hair seemed to have smoldering embers taking root in his locks.
(Picture)
I heard a sharp intake of breath sound all of a sudden. Plump Fox 2.0 stiffened like a cornered animal, and she quickly bowed deeply in his direction with her arrogant expression replaced by one of worry.
“Lord Ignis…” she muttered with a trembling voice as she held her bow.
Ignis? Unlike Ryker, I heard about this man. He was a Phenom from Kael’s generation, meaning he was a few decades older than a hundred. And unlike the Cryomancer, he became a proper Vesper Phenom who was now a Shadow Vanguard, and one of the strongest ones at that. Rumors said he was close to reaching the illustrious Veil Walker rank, likely putting him dangerously close to reaching the level fifties, if he wasn’t there already.
As for his class, it was an Epic-tier evolution of the Rare-tier Pyromancer class called Ashbringer. Being a Pyromancer was one of its unlocking requirements, while the other was not publicly detailed, but it was widely believed that one had to be a tremendously talented melee combatant, as the Ashbringer was a curious class that provided the user some of his Magic stat as physical ones. The exact ratio wasn’t known, but by investing in Magic, he received bonus stats in Strength, Vitality, and Agility, making him a natural hybrid.
He was Broker’s Phenom, which would’ve been troublesome as Black Fang’s relationship with Broker was full of hostilities. However, Phenoms weren’t exactly subordinates of their sponsor. The relationship between Phenom and the sponsor was a mutually beneficial one that went both ways.
As Vex said, Black Fang was not my master, not even my boss in a sense. I could ask for a different sponsor, and that would be the end of the topic, but doing so would likely put me in a very bad light in the Consortium’s eyes unless I provided a good reason for doing so.
All that is to say that once Ignis’ Phenom status ceased existing, his relationship with Broker ended as well, at least as far as I knew. He was a normal Shadow Vanguard, his own person who would listen to orders from the higher-ups like a normal member but didn’t have a specific boss unlike Vex, for example, who could only be ordered by Black Fang and by Orianna by proxy as she was Black Fang’s right hand.
Him being independent from factions and the seven heads was a privilege enjoyed by Phenoms and ex-Phenoms only. We were meant to tread our own paths to become as strong as possible; hence we were given more freedom than original members, as we were the new blood of the organization who they hoped would one day take the mantle of leadership from the old generation.
With that out of the way, I watched Ignis completely ignore Ryker, who was groaning painedly under his foot, and similarly dismissed the fox woman’s submissive bow only to turn his full attention toward me.
He whistled at the sight of my blade before releasing it, after which his grin widened as he looked me up and down, taking his time in assessing me. “Fatherless behavior, huh?” he finally said, echoing my earlier words. “Can’t say I’ve heard the phrase before, but I love it. It’s strangely descriptive of pampered women like this one who never heard the word ‘no’ while growing up. I’ll be stealing that phrase if you don’t mind.”
I raised an amused eyebrow but stayed silent otherwise. I didn’t have information about his personality, but I can’t say I disliked what I was hearing. As far as first impressions went, he passed with flying colors.
Ignis then continued, “Also… You’re the super rookie called Devil, aren’t you? Everyone heard of you and how you kept chatting up a hot babe in the audience stands instead of paying close attention to the competition as if they were no concern of yours. I’ve wanted to meet you ever since your victory over that arrogant brat Kael, who failed to grow up even after living for a century. You didn’t disappoint – man, what a brutal physical attack that was for an Elemental Sovereign! Aren’t you supposed to be like the epitome of the wizard archetype? You nearly sliced my arm into two without casting a single spell… Now I completely understand why Black Fang was so interested in you that she even left seclusion after such a long time only to observe you with her own two eyes.”
This man turned out to be a bit of a yapper, but I can’t say I didn’t like his attitude.
Be that as it may, with the confrontation between me and Plump Fox 2.0 interrupted, it was time to traverse to Shadowhold and learn what role I might be given in the upcoming events.