56 The Solitary Sword Sovereign!

Mutoko, one of the top tier cities of the Gutu empire. Although it was only a minor city among the 23 top tier cities, its influence within the province was unmatched.

"Caw!"

Above the city, within the vast skies, a large bird like creature flew at incredible speeds. Saru sat atop the bird with an anxious look on his face.

As a man who stood at the peak of the Gutu Empire, Saru was well known for being calm, after all, what could possibly freak out a man of his caliber? Today however he had received news that made his stomach churn.

His destination was Madhara, the Elephant Foot Guard training base close to Mutoko, it also happened to be the place were Taku was trained. Madhara was one of Saru's areas of relaxation. A place which he used to calm down and observe the next generation of the empire.

Yet as he got closer and closer to Madhara, an invisible pressure he was all to familiar with crept into his consciousness. The bird seemed unnerved, but Saru knew that this was because it was simply too weak to feel what was happening.

The bird arrived at a valley and landed. Saru swiftly jumped off the creature and went on his way, not even bothering to pet the creature as he usually did, much to its chagrin.

An old friend of his was already waiting on the ground. He wore simple robes and had a scholarly feel to him. He was Saru's best friend, and one of the best hunters in the Gutu Empire.

"Ticha, tell me what happened."

Ticha sighed as he started walking with Saru. "Bhure received a notification that someone barged into your private area, so he took it upon himself to investigate, but he never came back. I decided to check for myself, when I felt the Sovereign's presence. Thus I sent the message to you."

Saru then looked toward his friend, "Any idea why the Sovereign is here?" Ticha shook his head. Saru remained silent and simply walked on. He said little because he knew that the Sovereign could hear their words, from the moment he could feel his presence, he was already within that person's domain.

By the pond which Saru usually fished at was a peculiar sight. A young man was walking around a young woman who was training her sword moves, while Bhure stood still frozen. Literally frozen, in ice.

Once they were within a few meters of the young man, they kowtowed on the ground. "Saru and Ticha pay their respects to The Solitary Sword Sovereign."

The young ma had a head of white hair and brown eyes. He had dark brown skin and wore a light blue robe. A sword was sheathed by his side while both his hands were covered by gloves. He looked to be about 16 years or so.

The young lady seemed was a typical Gutu girl. Curvaceous, brown skin with short hair. Her face however had an unusual masculine vibe to it.

The girl kept swinging her sword while the young man started walking toward Saru and Ticha. "Hey guys, long time no see. I hope I didn't come at a bad time. Rise"

Ticha and Saru rose. Saru then said. "No, no, Sovereign. Anytime you visit we will be at your beck and call. Might we ask what we might do for you today?"

The duo completely ignored the fact that Bhure was frozen. They knew he was alive, so they decided to see if they could please their visitor first. He was known for being eccentric.

"Jumping right to it huh. Anyway Saru it has come to my attention that your disciple has wondered into a pocket world I made. I thought I should give yah a heads up, you know, since we are friends and all."

Saru's expression eased up. He thought that the Sovereign had come to order him around as he usually did, but it turns out it was actually to help him out. Ticha became befuddled. Since when was the Sovereign so nice?

"Here are the coordinates." Information suddenly popped into Saru's mind without warning. Ticha shuddered as he thought of what was happening to Saru, because he had experienced it multiple times. The idea that their minds were like playthings to the Sovereign was very disturbing. They could hide nothing from him. It was no different from being naked. For a person like Ticha who was used to being in a position of power, this was quite immaculating.

"Saru you crazy bastard!" Without warning, the Sovereign suddenly jumped and shouted. Ticha had no idea what was happening and looked at his friend in dismay. Saru looked back saying with his eyes that he had no clue as well.

Three chairs made out of ice materialized out of nowhere and the Sovereign signalled for the duo to sit. "Saru my boy, tell me about this Taku kid. And I mean everything."

...

Saru then went on to explain everything he knew about Taku so far. Ticha was also quite shocked. Saru had told him that the young man was special, but he had no idea it was to this extent.

Once Saru finished his explanation, the Sovereign lifted up his palms. A large three dimensional projection appeared before the trio. A blue orb was clashing with a red orb, with smoke being produced as a byproduct.

"This gentlemen is Taku's soul. The blue orb represents the dominant soul, the lightning element. The red one represents the original owner of the body, the fire element. This gentlemen is a case of a Pyroclastic Soul." The Sovereign saw the looks of confusion on Saru and Ticha's faces, and decided to go into detaiis

"Ehem, when the original Taku was born, only the fire element soul existed. Someone wanted to kill Taku without actually killing him, thus they took advantage of the fact that the original Taku had a powerful Soul and cast a nasty spell on him. Resulting in serious Soul Deviation.

The left over soul was just a piece of energy without a consciousness to guide it. Now comes the interesting part. A soul with a living consciousness with equal strength to the original one entered Taku and slowly took over his body. This is the lightning one. The fire soul decided to reflexively put up a resistance, resulting in their clash. The new consciousness spread across both souls.

This will result in three things. First the body will find fire techniques much easier to do as they are more compatible with the body. Second is that he will find that soul techniques requiring the fire soul to take action are very difficult to do.

The third and most crucial aspect is the creation of a third soul. The fire and lightning souls are 100% equal in terms of power but oppose each other in terms of attributes. Finding two souls that are 100% equal in terms of soul power is extremely difficult, and I doubt anyone would find any if they tried, even an Immortal such as myself. Personally I thought it was only a rumour until i saw this."

Ticha and Saru took in a breath of cold air. They knew the implications of what was said, especially an expert of the soul like Saru.

"The two souls have equal soul power, opposite attributes, but are balancing due to the fact that they share a trait. The red soul is the Empyrean Nether Flame, known here as the Imperial Nether Flame, that the Gumbo royal family have, which has the aspect of purifying excess. The lightning soul posses the 9 Heavens Empyrean Thunderclap. A lightning that possess the trait of purifying evil.

The flame is purifying the excess from the lightning, while the lightning is purifying the evil from the flame. And the resulting product is the smoke like soul. A force of pure purification. No, erosion is more like it. So long as something has an evil trait or has excess, which is almost everything in existence, it will get wiped out of existence by the smoke."

Ticha stood up from his chair and slapped his cheeks. He could not believe what he had just heard! The Empyrean Nether Flame! Of the Gumbo Royal Family! That means Taku was royalty! And his lightning soul was nothing to scoff at. Ticha had never heard of anything like the 9 Heavens Empyrean Thunderclap. And judging from Saru's face neither had he.

Saru was more concerned about the smoke. A force that exists to purify all excess and evil, how frightening was that?

"The smoke like soul is acting like a glue, holding the three entities together. So instead of saying we have three souls in one body, it would be more accurate to say that we have one soul that is split into three parts. If i am not mistaken, the more the boy uses the smoke, the less balance there is between the fire and the lightning soul."

Saru then clapped his hands in realization. This is why he goes berserk! But then a new issue came up.

"Ehem, Sovereign, Ticha and I have no idea what to do with this boy, what advice would you have for us?"

This was what the Sovereign had been waiting for. "Don't worry about him. I will help you out regarding him. He is the most impressive Gutu child I have ever seen."

Suddenly, a voice called out from behind the Sovereign. "But Master, I thought you said I was the most talented Gutu you have ever met.

It was the girl. She was done with her training and was moving towards the trio. Ticha and Saru looked at each other in dismay. A child who had been referred to as the most talented Gutu by The Solitary Sword Sovereign himself. What was she?

" Ah yes boys, this is my new disciple, Kudakwashe. She is a gold level talent."

Saru opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. There had only been seven gold level talents recorded in the entire history of the empire, now there was another? A gold level talent was the most valuable resource of the empire. They would without a doubt become a peak level powerhouse if they didn't die. The most well known gold level talent, the current heir to the throne, was also a world shaking powerhouse despite her age. That would mean that at this very moment, the empire possessed four gold level powerhouses at once. This was without a doubt the peak of their strength!

"Kuda, let me explain. You have far more talent than him, but he has more potential. Talent and potential are not the same. Because talent can be measured were as potential cannot. I can already see your limit, but i have no idea how far that Taku boy can go..."